Family, Food and Exercise

I've decided to make a specific blog for journaling about my weight loss maintenance. The new blog is called Family, Food and Exercise. I liked the title because it takes in account everything in my life. It's all wrapped up in one big crazy ball...bouncing out of control most days it seems like!

Recipes

This week's workouts

Mon: CrossFit (49 mins)
Tues: CrossFit  (41 mins)
Wed: Slept in
Thurs: Insanity (35 mins)
Fri: CrossFit (27 mins) Run (10 mins)
Sat: CrossFit (26 mins) Run (10 mins)

CrossFit on Monday and Tuesday were killer. The workouts felt like they lasted FOREVER! I was kind of sore but mostly just felt good once I could breath and walk again. Wednesday, when my alarm went off at 4:40 a.m. though, I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't get up. I thought I'd feel rested when I woke up but I didn't. Plus the rest of the day I had to really watch what I ate since I didn't work out that morning (and didn't have the extra activity points). Wednesday was a pretty stressful and busy work day and by the time evening came around I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Plus Leah and Kim had been sick for almost a week and neither had slept well; which in turn meant I hadn't slept well. So when I went to bed I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow. I slept straight until 5:00 a.m when my alarm went off. I jumped out of bed feeling more rested than I had in days. Which I needed since Insanity kicked my butt again! Next week it's Core Cardio and Balance...bring it on!

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Lately I've been trying to make recipes that are healthier.  Last Saturday night because everyone was sick or getting sick I made Chicken Pot Pie Soup. It was so good, very filling and full of veggies. Seriously, after 1 1/2 cup (which was the serving size) I was done. I was going to get more (I had enough pts for the day) but it was just so filling I couldn't. And that's saying a lot when it comes to me and food! One thing I did do different with the recipe is I doubled the amount of veggies. I ended up having to doubling the amount of chicken broth too. I thought it would be really watery (since I wasn't adding anymore milk) but it really wasn't. I really liked it-quite the keeper recipe.

The day before that I'd made one of my family's favorites Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili. I ended up adding an orange bell pepper I had that was going to go bad soon. It really was a good addition I thought. This is another really filling recipe; especially when you put it over rice. If I could cook brown rice (just can't seem to make it work) I think it would be great over that too and but it's wonderful just by itself. The rice just helps some of my growing boys fill up better.

I also made Zucchini Lasagana which turned out WAY better than I thought. One of my sons even told me he'd been prepared to not like it; to have to make himself a sandwich. Instead he had seconds. "Darn healthy recipes that taste good" he told me. Score one for mom! I wondered what it would be like to have zucchini instead of noodles and really I didn't miss the noodles at all. I'd been able to slice them in perfect slices too with the amazing mandolin Kim bought me for Christmas. And yes they are as sharp as you've heard they are. How I haven't cut myself yet is beyond me!

The last new (and healthy) recipe I made this last week was Easy Macaroni Casserole. It turned out better than I hoped it would. It had tons of veggies in it. Even the mushrooms were good in it and I hate mushrooms. They weren't the star of the dish though; the other flavors made it easy to ignore the mushrooms. Plus I chopped them up in small little pieces. If you like mushrooms you could leave them whole or big chunks and I think it would still work the same (as far as the dish goes). It was almost like a homemade Hamburger Helper but MUCH better for you!

Now to find some recipes for next week. Hmmmm...

Week One

I've been trying to figure out a way to get back on track better. I've done pretty well this last week but I know I could be better. I know when I was training for my run last summer, I kept a daily log of my food/exercise. It kept me somewhat accountable and it worked really well. So I think I'm going to give that a try again. This time though, I'm going to put it up here. Maybe workouts, new recipes, good days, bad days, what worked, what didn't, new things I've learned... Kind of like a log but with a little more detail. Plus on bad days I can go back and maybe see how far I've come. :-)

So here goes....

Exercise this week
Mon: Crossfit 26 mins, Run 10 mins
Tues: Crossfit 37 mins
Wed: Insanity DVD 40 mins
Thurs: Crossfit 27 mins, Yoga 30 mins
Fri: Crossfit 35 mins
Sat: Run 45 mins, Walk 2 mins (to warm up)

The workouts this week at the gym have been really hard. I've really had to push myself. Well, other than Friday...it was a 5 Rounder. I didn't push myself at all on that one; I wanted to quit the whole time.

The Insanity DVD was harder than I expected it to be. I was sweating like a pig before we even got halfway through! But it was a great workout. Kind of like Crossfit but not at the same time. Either way Dallin and I are going to try to do that once a week to shake things up and help with our cardio more (and boy was there a lot of that).

My Saturday run was great. It was SO nice to be outside running. I miss it so much! Although I changed things up a little and went a different way, that ended up having a hill. It really kicked my butt but it's something I need to do more of so it was good. The bad thing was I'd eaten a big lunch an hour before running (I hadn't planned on running) so I had heartburn pretty much the whole run. Yuck. A hand full of Tums afterwards helped somewhat. All in all it was a good run. It's such a difference running outside compared to running on the treadmill. I have such a hard time with the treadmill now, which is funny because a year ago I would have picked the treadmill over outside 100%.

I wasn't as good about food this last week as I was about exercise. Well, I was good up through lunch then I'd get home from work and eat everything in sight. The problem was I wasn't planning out my meals in advance or even bringing food to work. When I do that I make really bad decisions. Plus I wrestled with my willpower this week too. I think I'm finally winning. At the beginning of the week I would tell myself "You don't need that cookie" and then would eat 3. By Saturday I was telling myself "You really don't need that cookie" and passing it up for an apple instead. So man man lai as far as food goes.

I made 2 recipes the last few days that are so filling. I mean I'd eat the serving size I'm supposed to and I was so full! They were Chicken Taco Chili and Chicken Pot Pie Soup, both from the website skinnytaste.com. So Good! And my family loved them too. Well...my oldest wasn't in love with all the veggies I put in the Chicken Pot Pie Soup (I doubled the veggies) but for the most part they were loved.

I'm not sure how this will go. If it will end up being too long, or if I'll have time to write enough. I hope I keep it up because I can see it being a great way for me to get back on track. There's something about writing things down.

Day One (Again)

From about Thanksgiving until now things have been pretty crazy...for everyone I'm sure. I've been so busy; each night felt like it had something going on. Food was either treats people brought by or I made, followed by dinners of fast food. Add on a stressful December at work and it was all a bad recipe-especially for an emotional eater like me. 

Also in November and December I stopped exercising as much or as hard. The days became short and the weather became cold so I had to stop running outside. I use to be able to run on the treadmill for miles but the more I've run outside the harder it is to run on the treadmill. As time went on I became so stressed and full of junk food it became harder and harder to work out. I grew slower and tired out so easy. Because of all of this the amount I exercised got smaller and smaller. 

And I felt all of this. I felt it in my body. And it didn't feel good. Unfortunately I didn't listen to my body for a long time. Finally yesterday I listened. I was exhausted and I felt sick to my stomach. I actually thought about quitting in the middle of my exercise workout-something I've never done even when I first started. I finally realized I needed to stop. I needed to rethink what I was doing and get back to what had made me feel good; what had made my body feel good. 

So today I started over...again. I'm back to tracking everything I eat on my Weight Watchers food log. Back to eating more veggies and fruits and less treats. Back to taking exercise seriously...or seriously exercising. 

I'm writing this because I've heard if you write things down you're more apt to accomplish them. I also writing this because I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever "fallen off the wagon." I'm sure there are others that have had the same problem I had during the holidays and feel like they just can't get back on track.

Man man lai. It's a Chinese phrase my husband learned while on his mission in Taiwan and it's one I've never forgotten. Literally I think it means slowly, slowly coming. But to me it means take it easy, no need to worry, let's take this step by step, little by little you'll make it. I love it. Man man lai. 

So that's what I'm doing. Going back to step one; day one. Man man lai...I'll get back to where I want to be again one of these days. I've done it before so I know I can do it again. And I know you can too.