Same Old, Same Old Healthy Stuff!

Well, I’ve been eating really well since we came home from our vacation.

Yay.

I can’t tell you how much better healthy food makes me feel!  I’m always amazed.

When I eat junk food for a few days+, I can noticeably tell a difference.  I feel sluggish and tired AND I look fatter!

I really do.

My body seems to bloat up when I eat too much sugar.  Sad, but true.

On the flip side, when I start eating healthy again (after eating junk for a few days), I feel happier and more energetic AND the water weight comes off quickly.  It’s really remarkable.

I’ve witnessed this phenomenon a million times and it always floors me! You’d think I’d finally learn that crappy food makes me feel…..hmmmm…..crappy!

It’s rocket science, I know. 🙂

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Anyway, I’ve been eating pretty much my same old, same old healthy staples.

I’ve had this same breakfast for three days in a row now….

4 egg whites, spinach, bell pepper, onion, ham, olives and feta…all topped with homemade salsa! Yum! I also have a slice of pan-fried low carb toast on the side. Love it.

After breakfast, I went to my Muscle Works class at the gym.  It was awesome!  We did a bunch of lunges back and forth across the room.  In fact we did so many that my legs turned to jello and I could hardly walk.  It was awesome.

We also did a bunch of upper body exercises (biceps, triceps, shoulders, back) with dumbbells.  Loved it.  Then we ended with some clean and presses with barbells and some killer abs.  Yay.

When I got home, I made myself a Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Spinach Protein Shake.  I didn’t take a picture, but if you want to know what it looked like…..just take a look at any other protein shake picture on my blog.  🙂  Sadly, they all look the same…..grayish green yumminess.

The recipe for this one was: 1 C. Unsweetened Almond Milk, 1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder, 1 T. Cocoa, 1 T. Flax Seed, 1 T. Natural Peanut Butter, a little almond extract, 2 big handfuls baby spinach and about 6 ice cubes.  It was awesome and really filled me up!

I also snagged a couple of these from my oldest son’s candy stash (he really shouldn’t leave it in the kitchen!)

 

The stash. 🙂

Ya know, that Milky Way hidden at the bottom really called my name, but I remained strong.  The Twizzlers were just perfect.

Later on, I had a yummy bowl of cereal topped with strawberries.  I ❤ cereal!  I had some Kashi Go Lean mixed with a little Pumpkin Flax granola.  Heavenly.  Love it.

 

I asked everyone what they wanted for dinner and the winner was Tacos!  Yay!  They take me 10 minutes to prepare….love it!  Sorry, I didn’t take pics, but I know you all know what tacos look like.

I actually didn’t even have any.  I was still stuffed from my cereal.  I did have a few slices of banana bread though.  I made some earlier in the day (my Grandma’s recipe).  It is so freakin’ good, I could eat the whole loaf.  I just had 2 good sized pieces and it was heavenly.  I’ll have to share the recipe with ya’ll sometime.  It’s not healthy though…just your typical banana bread, but I love it.

Well, that’s my day in a nutshell.  I hope you are all happy and healthy!

Healthy Day + Great Gym Class!

Today was a great day!  I started off with a version of my typical breakfast…

1/3 C. oatmeal + 1/2 of a chopped apple covered with water and nuked for 2 minutes in the microwave.  When it came out of the microwave, I added a little more water and mixed in 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 T. ground flax seed and cinnamon!  Yummy!!  Love it!

I also had 4 egg whites w/ peppers, onions and spinach topped with a little low sugar ketchup.

I love this breakfast….obviously. 🙂

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I headed to the gym at 10:00 for one of my favorite classes!  It’s a “Muscle Works” class and it is always so so awesome, but it was especially awesome today!  My instructor always encourages us to lift as heavy as we can, but today she pushed us even further!

We started out with our “typical” heavy weight and then kept adding more and more weight.  Crazy, but I loved it.  We did a whole heck of a lot of squats and lunges with a barbel.  I could barely lift the bar onto and off of my shoulders!

I’m thinkin’ my bar weighed around 100#, which killed me because we did a million reps.  We also used that same bar for dead lifts.  We also did a bunch of biceps, triceps, shoulder presses, chest flys, chest presses, reverse flys, and a bunch of other stuff.  I used 15# dumbbells for all of those (usually use 12#).  Then we ended with some killer abs on the stability ball.  I’m sure I will be feelin’ it tomorrow!  Love it!

When I got home from the gym, I had a very yummy Chocolate Chip Spinach protein shake with a side of fruit (strawberries, raspberries and kiwi!)

I loved this shake so much (it filled this glass 2 times)!  Here’s what was in it…

• 1 C. Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder
• 1 T. Cocoa
• 1 T. Ground Flax Seed
• a couple drops of almond extract
• 2 big handfuls of baby spinach
• 6-7 ice cubes
• Mini chocolate chips (~ a Tablespoon)

I mixed everything together in the blender except the chocolate chips and then added them in at the end.

Nutritional Facts (according to Livestrong.com):  Calories: 309, Fat: 11 g, Sodium: 244 mg, Carbs: 20.6 g, Fiber: 5 g, Protein: 31.6 g, Sugar 11 g.

K, I know the chocolate chips add 70 calories, but they are worth every one!  In fact, it seemed like a million were in there, so next time I’m only going to use 1/2 T.  They really do make the shake so yummy and indulgent.  I loved it.  I would highly recommend it!!!

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Later on I had half of a banana, a few strawberries and a string cheese for a snack.  Then, we had a very yummy dinner.  We had turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, salad and fruit.  I loved it and it felt like a SUMMER meal!  I will share the recipe with y’all tomorrow.

I gotta go to bed.  I really am trying to be a normal sleeper.  It’s tough, but so worth it.  I love you all. xoxo

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s holiday!

We celebrated the New Year up at my parent’s house.

They’ve had a New Year’s Eve party at their house every year for as long as I can remember!

A bunch of my aunts, uncles and cousins come out and we all talk, laugh and eat food!

Me with some of my "fam".

It’s always a lot of fun.

It’s so funny though because the party usually ends around 10:00 or 10:30 because everyone wants to go home early and avoid a lot of the traffic.

Sooooo, we usually “bring in the New Year” along with those who live on the East Coast of the country.

Too funny.

We always say “Happy New Year” and then stand in a circle, hold hands and sing Auld Lang Syne.

It’s a fun tradition.

However, this year for whatever reason, we all decided to do the Hokey Pokey as well.

So, all of us (ages 3-mid 70s) danced around and did the Hokey Pokey.

It was memorable.

Here we are "Hokey Pokin" it!

I told my mom that she puts on a “mean” party.

LOL.

Anyway, I hope you all had a “memorable” New Year as well!

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I also hope you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions and are having success with them!

So far, I’ve done great with mine and I love it!!!

On New Year’s Eve, I ate so much crap (which was awesome!) because I knew it would be my last chance for a while.

However, I was SO READY to be disciplined once again.

Yay.

So, yesterday (Sunday) I just kind of made up my own menu (since my “One Month Plan” started on a Monday).

I had an egg white omelet w/ a small banana for breakfast, a protein shake for lunch and then just snacked on healthy things (almonds, veggies and guacamole, low sugar/no salt kettle corn, string cheese, turkey, etc.) the rest of the day.

Today, I pretty much followed my “plan”, with a few alterations.

I had an egg white omelet (I added a little Feta cheese and it was so yummy!) and a small banana for breakfast again…

I had a small handful of Blue Diamond “dark chocolate” almonds for a snack.

I LOVE these things!

I usually just have plain raw almonds, but these are so so yummy and healthy too!

I love them and they really help me when I’m having “sweet” cravings.

Btw, for 24 almonds (I usually only have 8-12) it’s only 160 calories, 9 g. carbs, 3 g. fiber, 4 g. sugar and 5 g. protein!  Love it!

For lunch, I had an open-faced tuna fish sandwich (w/ pickles and a little bit of lite mayo) on 1 slice of low-carb bread and a very small bowl of chicken taco soup (Kev and I shared one serving from the freezer).  I topped everything with avocado slices.  Yum!

Before I went to the gym, I had a small chocolate mint Protein Shake.

Then, for dinner we had Swiss Chard Grapefruit Chicken (from Oxygen Magazine).

It was so good.

It’s similar to my typical Chicken Veggie Stirfry (which I had planned on my menu thing), but it’s a little different.

I just found the recipe a few days ago and have been dying to try it.

I will post it on here tomorrow.

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So…..so far, so good.

For the most part, it hasn’t been hard to eat well.

I did have a few intense chocolate cravings today though!

They seemed to come out of nowhere!!!

However, I was strong, they went away, and I DID NOT STRAY FROM MY PLAN!

Woo hoo.

So, I’m going to keep on pluggin’ away.

So, let’s all stay strong….K?