Progress....

Okay. Before I get to the nitty gritty, please remember I am doing this training for my health. This has never been about my body, or losing weight.  I have made HUGE progress in strength! A few blogs ago I posted about being able to do pull ups for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!! Also, last Friday night, I was taking a class Shawn was teaching that had 3 16 year old boys in it.  They have endless amounts of energy, but I still finished the workout when they didn't. That's HUGE for me!

Nonetheless, I promised as part of my accountability in this, to post progress pictures every month. So here we go.

Here are photos from Last month

THIS MONTH

 

Another view....

LAST MONTH

 

This month

Mostly, my body is just getting stronger.  And that's cool to see.

I'm also down almost 5 more lbs from last month, which is exciting! I'm at a total of 16 pounds of weight loss since my start on May 19th.


I'm excited about progress!

Shawn and I are leaving tomorrow at 7 AM for VACATION!!! WAHOOO! I'm going to be spending a week on the beach with my hubby and the rest of his family. It's gonna be great! I'm gonna allow myself one splurge item of food a day. Whether that's something sweet, or a rich meal I don't know, but it's vacation, and I want to enjoy that.  I'm still gonna try to keep up the exercise though! Hopefully I won't go overboard... HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE :-)

See ya'll in a few weeks, with pics from the trip.

4

Two months of training have flown by!

4 months from today (November 19th) I will be running the Spartan Race with my hubby and a gaggle of friends!

Want to be part of it??? Message me and I'll give you a discount code for the race! Don't actually feel up to the challenge? Then come watch! You get to stand where the start and finish line meet and you can watch me jump over fire at the start and then be attacked by a Spartan warrior at the finish!

4 to go!

Ps progress pics coming soon!

the FIRST... of many

For the FIRST TIME IN MY WHOLE LIFE I can do something that I couldn't before. Want to see?

Watch:

Also, please disregard the sweat stains. I had just finished an hour workout with Shawn when we filmed this!

2 Years ago today....

Today is a special day.  I'm going to take a second to stop blogging about my physical health to talk about my heart's health.

Shawn Richardson is the man I love. I am so happy I get to be his wife. God truly is good.

Two years ago today, he asked me a very important question.  I couldn't be happier that I said yes.

For your viewing pleasure:

Om Nom Nom

In case you are wondering, "Om Nom Nom" is an onomatopoeic word. Sure it's a made up word, but it's the sound you make whenever you eat food like you're the cookie monster. 

Today I'm going to talk about the things I Om Nom Nom every day (aka, the things I eat every day).  I haven't been on a specific diet, but I have been trying to eat healthier.  Here's the big key that helps everything:

SCHEDULE

I try to eat 6 smallish meals a day, and one thing that I believe has accelerated my metabolism is the repetition I utilize every day.  Here's my routine:

8 AM- Breakfast

10 AM- Snack

12 PM- Lunch

2 PM- Snack

4 PM- very light snack (usually this hits about an 1 hour before I work out

7 PM- Dinner

Following this schedule has helped so much. Another thing that has greatly helped is this little nugget of knowledge:

CHANCES ARE I'M NOT GOING TO ACCIDENTALLY EAT WELL

I always try to think ahead.  I try to pre make meals at the start of the week.  Of course, I don't always have time to do that, so I also buy things that are easily put together.  If worse comes to worse, and I don't have any opportunity to make a healthy lunch, or dinner, I always swing by Trader Joes and buy one of their pre-made salads.  I'm in and out in 5 minutes.  Planning is essential.  However, it's also important that you don't become all-consumed with planning, at which point you have crossed the line into obsession. 

Oh, and one more thing that charges my day

FIBER

The more fiber I eat the more full I feel. My day is chuck full of foods that fill me up for hours.  I honestly have to remember to eat every couple of hours because most of the time I'm not feeling hungry.

So, want to know what I eat every day? Here are the principles I apply every day:

Breakfast: Something high in fiber and protein (this will help you feel full longer)
Snack: Fruit, because a piece of fruit gives you sugar energy (to help a morning slump)
Lunch: Again, something high in fiber and protein.  I like to add as many veggies as I can into this mix, as I never get enough. Mostly my salads are 95% greens and 3% protein, 1%dairy 1% dressing.
Snack: High fiber high protein. (TJ's has snack sized trail mix. They're only 200 calories and are a great source of lasting energy. I also recommend edamame, or these crunchy green beans that TJ's sells)
Dinner: 1/3 protein 1/3 veggie 1/3 fruit (to make you feel like you got dessert)

Because repetition is easy, I tend to eat the same thing every day for a week. (I vary my dinner daily though) That way, when I pack my lunch bag each day, there's no guessing. 

Want a taste?

I tracked everything I ate for one day.

Here's what it looked like:

BREAKFAST 8 AM

I LOVE this oatmeal from Trader Joes.  It has flax seed and plant sterols (plant sterols are good for your heart <3 ) It is super filling, and all it requires is a little hot water. I grab a cup of hot water as I walk in to work each day and eat it at my desk while I catch up on emails.  It tastes delicious and is a great way to ease into the work day!

SNACK 10 AM 

I eat an apple every day! High in fiber and not too filling to spoil my lunch.

LUNCH 12PM

OH MY GOODNESS! This salad is a newer creation for me and it is AWESOME!

Here's the recipe (not all measurements are exact, mostly I just eye the salad and decide what else I would like):

3 Cups Spinach
Pomegranite seeds
2 Sliced strawberries
A few blackberries
Garbanzo beans
Feta cheese
1/4 cup almond slivers

The dressing is homemade, and is perfect for this salad.  Want the recipe? (these are exact measurements. I made the whole batch at once. You only need just a little dressing on the salad as the flavor is strong and a little goes a looooong way)

1/4 Cup balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

SOOOO GOOD! Enjoy that one!

SNACK 2 PM 

 

Aw Nuts! Trader Joes has these amazing prepackaged nut mixes. This is one pack. Clearly, there's a lot of food in one pack! These are great for portion control.... and.... they make for some fun afternoon creativity! Who says you can't play with your food? Look what I made:

Creepy? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.

SNACK 4 PM

GOD BLESS TRADER JOES! These are yummy! They're just dried green beans with a little sweet salt on them. It's like eating a potato chip! They're high in fiber and have some protein to them as well!

DINNER 7 PM 


Now, this one varies a lot.  I'll show you some of my recent dinners that were DELISH!

Salmon with sauteed spinach, cherry tomatoes, and basil mashed potatoes... . OM NOM NOM indeed!

So, let me tell you what you're looking at:

A lean turkey burger with sauteed spinach, and mushroom mixed in with the patty.  In the center of the patty was a small ball of blue cheese, and I put a little blue cheese on top.  Then, I wrapped it in a piece of lettuce and put a dab of spicy mustard on it.

Next was the asparagus, which I boiled in lemon water (with a little olive oil and salt) then sprinkled with a touch of salt, oil, and lemon pepper when it was all done.

Om nom nom! It was soooo good!

Once a week, on the same night every week, Shawn and I visit the best Sushi place in the VALLEY! We're there every week and the waiters and sushi chefs know us! They've started telling us about their personal lives! It's awesome.

Want to check it out? It's Tokyo Ice in Encino. WOWZA they're good.

Shawn and I will share a JJ's roll (which is spicy tuna on top of a bed of tempura rice) with a jalapeno on top (I have to take the jalapeno off... too spicy for me) and a Dragon Roll which is basically a california roll with Eel and Avacado!

This place has the BEST dragon roll! Seriously. Check it out.


So, now you know what my daily digest looks like.  It's fun to eat healthy when you start to look for creative ways to do it! Prior to starting the Spartan Six, I was constantly nauseous. Not so since I started eating well.  I like it, and so does my body!

So, EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT PEOPLE! OM NOM NOM!!

Fourth Failure

Time to be honest.

The week before fourth of July I started to make small compromises in my eating.  The first 50 days of this routine were supposed to help boost start me, and therefore I created a strict diet and exercise routine for those 50 days.  Well, as I allowed myself to fudge a little here and there, I slowly noticed not only my diet was changing, but my mindset.

I started to think:

"I deserve this"

and,

"I'll just start my diet back again on Tuesday"

I started to think like I did in the past when I was all consumed with losing weight via some insane weight loss program.  I used to count calories and say: "Well, if I just lose 2 pounds a week I can be at my goal weight by_" I would spend my days thinking about food, calories, and what was the bare minimum I could do and still see results.  Of course, this never worked for me.  I was constantly thinking about what meals I could cheat on, and eventually I'd be back to my old bad habits.

This time has been so different because I have been looking at this process as "I just want to take care of myself daily.  I want to daily work towards a long term goal."  But as I began to cheat a little here and there my mindset switched back to thinking about weight loss, instead of my health. By the Fourth of July the excuse "It's a holiday" had become my mantra.  That weekend I think I ate more food each day than I had in an entire week.  To add injury to insult, I didn't eat a single thing with nutritional value.

Which is why I gained weight last week. 

I was up by about 3 pounds on Tuesday July 5. 

I was a little shocked to see that number, but it woke me up.  This HAS to be about my health.  Also, I wasn't devastated because this process hasn't been about my weight. I was more upset that my attitude had slipped so much.

And don't get me wrong, it's good to allow rewards and "cheat meals". In fact, it's healthy to do that.  But when I started to lose my perspective I was no longer focused on the healthy, but on my control over my own destruction.

After a few days of being back on track I've already lost some of the weekend bulge, but that's not what this is all about.  I have to be conscious of my mindset. Always.

Anyways, because of my fourth failure, I thought I'd include a little video with fireworks in it for your enjoyment!