Goodbye Breads and Sweets!!!

I will see you at Easter!

Last year for Lent I gave up sweets and it was extremely hard to say no to all those good looking cheesecakes that rolled into our office for everyone's birthday! But, I decided to take it up a notch again this year and add bread as well!

So that is 46 days and nights with out bread (I will miss French Bread so much!!) and any kind of refined sugars.

I think I am going to be sick at Easter from only eating bread and chocolate!

Day 1 - complete, 45 to go!

Egg Muffins

A friend of mine - Evelyn Lambrecht (Health Coach SD) was recently featured in out Alma Mater's newspaper about the necessity and benefits of eating a well rounded breakfast. Check out the article:
http://www.thedailyaztec.com/2012/02/morning-meals-make-for-healthier-habits/


I was intrigued by these so called "muffins" and decided to try them myself!

So first I cooked the turkey bacon in the over. I like to put it in the oven because it doesn't really have enough fat to cook as well in the skillet. While the turkey bacon was crisping up I cut up some onions and sauteed them. Once they were done, I also sauteed some spinach. In the meantime, I combined 6 eggs and 2 egg whites in a bowl with a splash of milk and little bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Then I scrambled up the egg mixture and put all of it together in the muffin pan.

Then I threw it in the oven on 350 for about 12 minutes and they came out smelling great!

They are so easy to make and you can just pop them in the microwave before you go to work. I think next I will try them with chicken sausage and broccoli!

Thank you Evelyn for the idea!!! Evelyn Lambrecht Is the Founder of Health Coach SD and has a wealth of information and tips on both her website and Facebook page. So check her out!

www.healthcoachsd.com

http://www.facebook.com/healthcoachsd

Embarrassing but Awesome

So the other day I was at 24 Hour working on my double unders. For those that don't know a double under is when you are jump roping and the rope goes around twice during one jump. Needless to say I have not mastered this yet. Anyways, this is not the point of this story...I was jumping and trying my hardest to get 5 double unders in row when my pants started falling down. I didn't want to show the whole gym my ass but I was on 4 and just needed one more!

Good thing I was wearing a longer shirt and messed up on the last jump because I was able to pull my pants up before anything bad happened!

Now I haven't conquered the double under but at least my pants are too big! I think right now I would prefer to go to with the pants and I will continue to practice the jump rope.

I think I need to make a trip to Lululemon this weekend though! =)

A Little Valentine’s Break

Sometimes you just need a little break. On Valentine’s Day I was feeling a little run down, like I was getting sick. So, I decided not to exercise and instead I stayed at home with my two dozen roses and Skyped with my fiancé (sorry I had to brag a little). I had a couple glasses of wine (probably didn’t help the sickness, but hey, its Valentine’s Day!) I then went to bed early in the hopes I would feel better the next day.

On Wednesday I was still feeling really tired and had a headache, so once again I decided to forgo the workout. I really hate missing workouts, especially two days in a row! I wasn’t very happy with myself and kept trying to think of ways I could make up for it.

Today I felt much better and went on a run after work and then went to my CrossFit On-Ramp (intro) class. I felt great after both workouts and realized that I just needed a little break.

Sometimes I am guilty of pushing myself too far and not taking time to relax and recover. I need to learn that missing a couple days isn’t the end of the world and in many cases it helps!

Quinoa Failure and Rise to Triumph!

So, last week I got a message from best friend/sister/Maid of Honor, Kristin. She was really excited about this new breakfast she discovered. I have never heard Kristin so excited about something healthy.  Now, if she had left me a message about some amazing pizza or a new menu item at Sol Food I wouldn’t have thought twice about it! So, since this is so out of character for a woman I have known for almost 24 years, I obviously had to call her back to see what was going on!

She told me that she and her boyfriend started eating healthier and their new favorite breakfast item is: Quinoa, vanilla almond milk, banana and walnuts. She just kept raving about it! Heat up the Quinoa and milk then add the banana and walnuts – its that simple! Apparently…

I have heard about this Quinoa stuff…but wasn’t really sure about it, but based on the recommendation I decided to try it.

So, late last night I decided to make the Quinoa so I could have it for breakfast after CrossFit the next morning. First, it tells you to wash of the Quinoa to “wash away any naturally occurring bitter tasting saponins (soap-like substances).” So far this is not sounding so great. If you read farther it then tells you “when done…the outer germ layer will separate.” This is totally turning me off about now…

However, I decided I had to at least try it. Let me tell you though, when you are washing Quinoa it literally looks like wet sand. I am really starting to think my friend has led me astray! But I persevere… I put the Quinoa in with the water and put it on the burner to start boiling.

As I wait for the water to boil…I am trying to clean the darn strainer because all these little grains are stuck!! I even pull out a knife to push some of the miniscule grains out of the strainer! Apparently this took too long because I could totally smell the Quinoa and I looked over my shoulder to see it totally boiling over!! Now, I wouldn’t say I am should have my own Food Newtwork show…but I can certainly boil water!

So, I clean everything up and I am seriously contemplating if I should try this again. Finally, I take a deep breath and give it another go.

This morning I decided to try Kristin’s breakfast (minus walnuts…not a fan) and I have to say it was REALLY good!!! It kept me full for a long time and was a great source of protein!

I think this might be put in my breakfast rotation on a more permanent basis.

Thank you Kristin!

Before...

*Deep Breath* 

Ok...so here are the before photos.

Not especially proud of them, but I have to say that I am already feeling stronger and more fit after a couple weeks of CrossFit. I only have 1 more week of the introductory program (On-Ramp) before I can start the real classes!

I will post pictures through out the journey so I can see the changes...that is always motivating! =)

HELLO! Welcome to My Blog!

For my first entry I will tell you a little bit about myself and why I created this blog.

First off, I would like to say that I am by no means an expert on health and fitness. This blog is meant to document my journey as well as motivate myself towards my goal. Hopefully along the way I might be able to motivate others as well!

I was a fat kid…pretty plain and simple. After looking through some photos at my brothers house I realized that I wasn’t just chubby…I was fat. And that’s ok! It has brought me to where I am now. The summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school I decided I didn’t want to be the fat kid anymore. I started eating healthier and working out almost every day. In the end, I lost about 25 pounds! I was no longer the fat kid and I had so much more self-confidence and felt like I could excel in sports even more!

I do have to note that like many teenage girls there were times that I went about losing weight in the incorrect/unhealthy way. I now know that is detrimental to my body and will never go back to that.

Anyways…so throughout high school I was able to keep the weight off through participating in sports, going to the gym and eating pretty healthy (for a teenager). My senior year of high school I decided to try wrestling…that was probably the best shape I have ever been in! I wrestled at 135 and most of it was muscle! =) Its pretty easy to stay fit and eat healthy when you know you have to make weight on Thursday afternoon.

When I went off to college I was a little scared that I would gain a lot of weight….Freshman 15. While I didn’t gain 15 pounds…I wasn’t in the shape as wrestling, that’s for sure! My sophomore year I decided to enlist some one to help me drop some of the lbs from freshman year. I was training with Sean about 2 times per week and working out on my own the rest of the time. I got in much better shape and was finally back to an “athletic” body fat percentage. Sean used to say I would be even fitter if I just gave up drinking…but isn’t that what college is all about!?!?

My junior year I studied abroad in Australia. To make a long story short…a lot beer, fries and hung over food equated to me gaining about 10 pounds.

Through out the pas 5 years I have lost most of the “Australia weight,” but I’m still not quite where I want to be.

I am a person that loves a competition and in order for me to really succeed I need to be working towards something. In January 2010 I ran a half marathon and most recently in November I participated in boxing match. Knowing that I have something to work towards really keeps me going. When I was training for boxing even when I didn’t want to go to the gym I would force myself so I wouldn’t get my ass kicked in front of all my friends!

One other thing…I got in engaged in July! What better motivation than knowing you have an upcoming wedding where those pictures of you will literally last forever! Not to mention everyone will be looking at you so you want to look your best!

So, that basically brings us to now. I have the motivation of my wedding as well as he self motivation that I know I want to make a move into the fitness and health industry. I don’t want to get to my wedding date and have this journey end, I really want this to be a lifelong thing that I am dedicated to sticking to.

I just ordered my study materials to take the test to become a Certified Group Fitness Instructor. So, in three short months I will be leading some group fitness.

Also, I just started Cross Fit…which I love so far!

Below are my goals for this blog and myself

• Blog at least 3 times per week
• Goal weight = 135lbs
• Body Fat Percentage in the “athletic range”
• Do 5 unassisted pull-ups
• Get certified in Group Fitness Instructing
• Eat healthy (explain in later blogs)
• Beat Tyler in our competition (explained in another blog)
• Set a goal each week
• Have fun!!!

Stay tuned! There will be a “before” picture in the next blog…which I’m not psyched about. But hopefully it will make the “after” picture even better!