Enjoy the Little Things!

 Just thought I’d do a quick post….

I took my little kidlets to McDonald’s yesterday, and since McDonald’s is the epitome of health, I thought I would tell y’all about it!

LOL!

They actually do have a few decent things on the menu though.

However, I wasn’t too hungry yesterday, so I just stole a few of the kids fries. 😉

But….
I’ve had a couple of their salads with grilled chicken and light dressing and they are pretty dang good, I must say.

The fruit and walnut salad dealy thing isn’t too bad either.

And, just a good ‘ol small hamburger isn’t a bad choice either (sadly, I think they’re pretty good too.)

Now, I wouldn’t classify McDonald’s food as totally healthy, BUT if you are going there (for whatever reason), there ARE decent choices on the menu.

Yay.

Anyway, the point of my post was not really about the food, but more about enjoying life RIGHT NOW.

After we ate our lunch, my cute kiddos played on the playground for a bit.

I was sad because my 13 year old son and almost 11 year old daughter thought they were too old to play on the playground.

😦

😦

😦

I don’t like that.

At all.

My kids are growing up too fast!

My crazy 8 year old “ball of energy” son loved running around and of course my 2 littlest ones LOVED it as well!

Sadly, it had been a while since I took all 5 kids to a fast-food place and just let them play as long as they wanted.

As I sat there on the bench watching my kids play, I just soaked up the moment.

I realized how quickly they are growing up and how much I want to cherish each of them right now!

I know life gets crazy and sometimes my kids drive me crazy, but I love them so much!

I felt so much joy watching my older kids take care of the little ones and seeing their smiling faces.

Love them!!!

It was just a reminder to me that sometimes I get so caught up in all the stuff in life that doesn’t really matter that I forget to cherish and enjoy all the things that matter most!!!

So, as I was soaking up the moment, I wished I had my camera with me.

Dang.

My poor little dinosaur cellphone’s camera is pretty lame too.

But, my oldest son had his DSi with him, so we took a few pics.

Not the greatest quality, but here they are…

Ya, that's my crazy son ON TOP of the slide!

Maybe I see where my "crazy son" gets it, huh.

My sweet, sweet daughter is such a big help with the younger kids!

Love these guys, SO MUCH!

‘Till next time….be happy….
oh ya, and healthy!

My New Year’s Plan!

Well, I told you all I was cookin’ up a “plan” for the New Year!

Yay!

I finally put it all together.

I’m basing it loosely off of Tosca Reno’s Eat-Clean Diet Stripped Plan.

Love this book, BTW.

I love all her books, however I really love this one.
It’s geared toward those who are trying to lose the last 10 pounds, but it’s obviously helpful for anyone.

She has a one month plan in the back of the book that inspired me to write my own.

Her recipes are awesome, but a little too “gourmet” for me.

I’m all about simple, easy, practical and convenient.

So, with that being said, click below for my “Healthy Eating Plan” for January…

One Month Healthy Diet

Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to fit it all on this little blog post.
I hyper-linked menu items to recipes on the web, so if you press Control and click on them, they will take you to recipes either on my site or other places on the web.

K, I want to emphasize that this diet plan is obviously customized to ME and what I like to eat!

You can easily customize it to what YOU like to eat!

If there are things on my plan you don’t like, feel free to sub it out for something similar.
If you have questions about comparable substitutions, feel free to comment or send me an email and I’ll be happy to give you my two cents. 😉

ALSO, you can switch any of these meals around.  So, if you really like omelets and want to eat one every day for breakfast, that is fine.  You can have the same snack, lunch, etc. every day too if you like.

I just made a different menu every day for variation.

Also, if I find I have oodles and gobs of leftovers, then I’m going to use them as my lunches/dinners until they are gone…or I guess I can freeze them.  I’m going to play it by ear.

I hate wasting food.

Anyway, I’m excited to start this endeavor.

Yay.

Also, here is my exercise plan for January.

I’m going to strive to exercise 6 days a week.

Monday: Bootcamp Class at gym
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Muscle Works class at the gym
Thursday: Power Flex class at the gym
Friday: Run
Saturday: Either Cardio Interval or Power Flex class at the gym.
Sunday: Rest

There ya go!  I love New Year’s and New Year’s Resolutions!

I’m excited to start!!!

Yay!

Protein Packed Pancakes!

Happy Day After Christmas!

I gotta say I think the day after Christmas is kind of depressing, but kind of relieving at the same time!

I’m sad it’s over, but HAPPY I can get on with life and have a little more free time!

Yay!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas BTW.

😉

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I had a great day today!

My sister came to my Bootcamp class at the gym with me tonight!

She lives 1/2 hour away from me, so it was fun to have her come!

It was a great workout, but the gym was pretty empty!

I loved it though.

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I also have a quick recipe I want to share with you all that I love!

I found it in an old copy of Oxygen Magazine (love that magazine, btw).

It’s in the December 2010 issue.

Just check out the AWESOME ingredients in these babies!
Nothing bad AT ALL and every ingredient is a health powerhouse!
Woo Hoo!

Here ya go…

Oxygen Magazine’s Pre-workout Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (or I’m sure you could use any flavor)
3 egg whites
1/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese

Optional Toppings:
Agave Nectar
Honey
Sugar-free syrup
Almond/Peanut Butter
Nuts
Bananas
Berries
Whatever you like!

• Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

 

• Refrigerate batter for 3 minutes while heating a pan over medium heat.
• Drop by spoonful to create 3 equal sized pancakes.
• When it starts to bubble gently flip and cook other side.

• Top with favorite toppings!
  I used Almond Butter, Agave, Sugar-free syrup and bananas!

 

• Eat and enjoy!
  These were really tasty!  Not your typical melt-in-your-mouth fluffy pancakes, but still yummy!  And considering how healthy they are, I think they are awesome!
  

Yum!

Nutritional Information (for 3 pancakes):

Calories: 380, Fat 6g, Cholesterol: 20mg, Sodium: 170mg, Total Carbohydrates: 35g, Sugars: 4g, Protein: 42g

Oh, and I thought 3 pancakes was a GIANT serving!  I could not finish all of them!  I think 2 would be perfect or even 1 as a pre-workout meal (even though they called these “pre-workout” pancakes, I think I would hurl if I ate all 3 before a workout!)

Next time I make these, I’m going to triple the recipe and freeze some.

Then when I need a quick meal or snack, I’ll throw one in the toaster!
I love simple, easy and convenient meals!

I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did!

A Perfect Christmas Eve

I LOVE Christmas Eve!

….Almost as much as Christmas!

We had a great day.

I sorta kinda got to sleep in.

Yay.

It was more like a “lay in bed and veg”, but it was very nice.

I then had my favorite pre-exercise meal.

A Banana w/ Peanut Butter!

Yum!

 Then……

I WENT ON A RUN!!!!!!!!

Yes folks, I’m so excited about it!

You see, I haven’t gone on a real run for about 3 1/2 months!

Quick recap….I ran a ton in the spring and summer.  Kev and I ran a really fun 12 person 200+ mile relay race in August and I did a couple other small races.  I was also training for a half marathon….and somehow I killed my IT Band (knee) and couldn’t run more than 2 or so miles without it hurting.  I took 6 weeks off and it STILL hurt!!!  So, my little Half Marathon didn’t happen.  I haven’t gone running since.  So sad.

But, I RAN TODAY and I felt GREAT!

Hallelujah!

Here I am "so excited" to go on a run! Eeee.

I was so worried I would have to go really slow, have to walk, be a wuss, only be able to run a mile, etc.

But, I really felt so good!

I only ran 3 miles, but kept an 8:40 pace overall (I kept it pretty slow the first half).

The cold air felt awesome and I just wanted to keep on running and running!

Yay, yay, yay!

And, my knee didn’t hurt AT ALL!

So, I think for now, I’m baaaaack!

I gotta take it slow though cuz I don’t want to re-injure myself.

So, wish me luck.

Oh and the weather was beautiful today!

Beautiful and sunny, albeit hazy. We aren't going to have a White Christmas though. 😦

We had a fun Christmas Eve night as well.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner; turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and green bean casserole!

My Plate. I made myself a sweet potato instead of the mashed potatoes. The green bean casserole looks pretty grody in this pic, but it was tasty!

After dinner, we sat around the tree with the kids and talked about our favorite things about Christmas, sang Christmas Carols and each of the kids opened one present (they had a gift exchange amongst each other.)

My little 3 year old could hardly wait!

We even called Kev’s family up in Oregon and got to listen in on speakerphone while his dad read “How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas”, a family favorite for decades.

Kev and the kids listening to Grandpa on the speakerphone and following along with our own copy of the story.

Now, the house is quiet and we’re getting ready for Santa to come!

My cute little puppy dog, Jimmer is laying in the middle of the rug with his favorite toy.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Get’cha Head in the Game!

I went to one of my favorite classes at the gym last night.

Kicked my can.

Loved it.

I LOVE exercising and one of the main reasons I love to exercise is it clears my HEAD!

It is so good for my mental psyche!

I’ve heard the effects of exercise on the mind are similar to the effects of anti-depressant drugs.

I’ve definitely found this to be true.

If I’m ever stressed out, worried, anxious, sad, angry….whatever…

Exercise ALWAYS makes me feel better!

Loooove it!

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Well, last night I was feeling really bugged at myself because I have been such a slacka with my eating!!

I was feeling a little bit chubb and I thought, “what the heck am I doing!!???”

I am such a good exercise lady.

I love it and rarely miss a workout!

So, what is the problem with my eating!!???

Why can’t I be as motivated and consistent with my eating!!???

Soooooo, I thought about this for a while and came up with some pretty deep thoughts.

I of course, will share them with you.

It’s kind of tough to put into words, so I hope I can make sense.

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I love eating well and exercising.

It makes me so happy, keeps me motivated and gives me an awesome outlook on life!

It also makes me look better, feel better and sleep better!

What’s not to love???

So, why can’t I just do it ALL THE TIME!???

?????????

I’ve decided I might be a “self sabotager!”

Auuughh!

For whatever reason, it seems like as soon as I start to see results or taste success, I withdraw.

Hello!?

I was reading somewhere that sometimes when we’re trying to lose weight we sabotage ourselves.

It’s not really a conscious thing.

There are many reasons we may do this….

Here are some of the possible reasons:

• Love of comfort foods (and their stress relieving qualities) and fear of giving them up.
• Afraid of the added attention from losing weight.
• Not quite ready to “let go” of the old comfy life.
• Fear of failure; “If we don’t try too hard, we can’t fail.”
• Social pressures of eating well (friends and family may not be supportive and may be a temptation to stray from healthy habits).
• Afraid of gaining the weight back and looking like a failure.

These are just a few I came up with.  I’m sure there are a zillion more!

I think I might do this to myself, but I can’t quite put my finger on why!??

Weird.

I think my main reason is that I associate my favorite, yummy (non-healthy) food with happiness, stress relief, parties, good times, etc.

I think I’m afraid of letting those foods go….so I cling to them!

Really weird.

It’s deep, I know.

I’m going to get to the bottom of it and figure it out though.

I’m not going to let all my hard work and efforts be in vain!!

So, I know I HAVE to GET MY HEAD IN THE GAME and allow myself to be successful!!

I hope someone out there can relate…

Or am I a quack?

I don’t know, but I DO know the whole mental part of weight loss is GIANT and essential to our success!

I AM going to hit it hard in January though!

Yay!

I will put my little eating and exercise plan up here ASAP and then if any of you want to do it too, you can!

Fun!

Oh, I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas!!!

It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow……Eeeeee!!!

I feel like a little kid.

I love Christmas….and I love you all.