Friday Five

It was a balmy 52 degrees here today, and tomorrow it's going to be 55, so maybe I'll lay out and tan. Just kidding. Honestly though, with the temperature creeping up past frigid, I’m getting itchy for spring. Also,  I’ve decided to introduce a new, monthly segment: Friday Five. Without further ado, here are my first Friday Five...

1.       Recharge. It’s basically a healthier alternative to Gatorade. During my Power class last night I apparently went ghost-white, and even though I felt okay, I decided to take it easy on weights the rest of the class. Reflecting back on it, I think I didn’t eat enough/drink enough before class, and a friend suggested I bring Gatorade with me to the gym to help stay hydrated. I've been really tired today too, so I figured it would be a good idea to get in some extra electrolytes. Recharge tastes like watered down Gatorade, and I actually really like it. It is significantly more expensive than a Gatorade of comparable size though, so I'll probably rotate the two. 

2.       Punxatawney Phil. He’s a creepy little thing and I’m hoping he doesn’t see his shadow. 

3.       The 90s station on Pandora.  Pushed me through my mountain of paperwork today. The first song to play was TLC’s “No Scrubs”, followed up by some Destiny’s Child. Perfect.

4.       Soba noodles. These noodles are made out of buckwheat and are very versatile; I highly recommend trying these if you haven’t already. Fabulous recipe over at Alexandra Cooks, which you can find here. The sauce complements the noodles perfectly. I added more than a few extra squirts of Sriracha because I love the heat, and if you like heat then you might consider doing the same. 

5.       This quote: “Don’t try to win over the haters…you are not a jackass whisperer.” – Brene Brown, seriously I love her.

Have a fierce and fabulous weekend!

That Time I Poached Chicken

Sometimes I'm weird. Some of y'all are probably like, #duh, we know, but bear with me. One thing that I’m weird about is meat. I don’t like to touch raw meat. I especially don’t like to touch raw chicken. In fact, I don’ t really like chicken that much in general, cooked or not. I am very, very picky about the type of texture it must (or must not!) have, and about how it must look. Usually, I just have my husband cook chicken when we do have it, or I dump it into the crockpot and let it cook until it’s extremely dry, thereby, in my mind, killing all bacteria and creating the perfect texture.

The other night I needed chicken for a recipe and had forgotten to put it in the crockpot to cook while I was at work. In an effort to stick to one of my resolutions, I decided to get outside of my comfort zone and try something new. Enter: Poaching!

OMG Y’ALL! How am I so late to the poaching party? I had heard of poaching but I just could not bring myself to believe that poaching chicken was really as simple as boiling it, so I had always avoided it. Plus it just seemed gross. I was so wrong. I literally just plopped the chicken into a large pot of boiling water, and fifteen minutes later had perfectly cooked chicken breasts. It was easy to slice, didn’t gross me out, and was actually not as dry as cardboard!

I used some of that chicken in a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Soup from Skinnytaste, and let me tell you, it was on point! Archer ate three helpings and Troy cleaned his bowl too, plus it made enough for two nights of dinner and one day of lunch. I paired it with some biscuits made with Bisquick heart healthy mix that I topped with a sprinkle of garlic powder and grated parmesan. The biscuits aren’t required, but you should just go ahead and get something to lap up every last bit with, because you will want to. I promise.

Anyone else weird about meat or other foods? Tell me it’s not just me!

 

 

New Gym and Beastie Balls

We changed gyms on Saturday and I am so glad. We re-joined the YMCA, after leaving to become members of Gold’s for about the past 15 months. We joined Gold’s when they were running a special and because they were closer to our old apartment, and decided to switch back because the Y is closer to our apartment and work, and because they have a pool. I’m excited because they have a wider variety of group exercise classes to choose from, which will be perfect for helping me keep fitness fun and giving me options when I don’t feel like lifting.

Saturday was actually my first day back in the gym in a few weeks. Between moving and Christmas, I didn’t make it to the gym, and I was starting to get a little antsy. I definitely could have made it, but it honestly did not make it to the top of my priority list, and I’m okay with that. I focused primarily on legs on Saturday, and let me tell you, yesterday I was feeling it. I was actually having trouble walking up and down the stairs on Saturday after my workout, which is not a fun problem when you live on the 3^rd floor. On Sunday though, I felt like someone had beat my legs with pillowcases full of bars of soap, so I decided to take some action.

Beastie Balls!

I got these little bad boys for Chad as one of his birthday gifts. I highly recommend buying your spouse presents that you can use too. Just Kidding. Sort of. They are made by the same company who manufactures the Rumble Roller foam roller. The little knobs really work those sore and tight muscle fibers, and they are handheld, giving you more direct control over pressure and the area worked. They make fun attachments for the Beastie Balls, allowing you to use them in a wider variety of ways, but I have yet to purchase those (I’m Balling on a Budget, ya’ll! Get it Balling?! ). The clear is the original, and the green is the extra firm, or as I like to call them, Hurts So Good and This Just Freaking Hurts.

I spent some time using the green one on my IT bands and trying not to vomit, and overall I would say that my DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) was much less than it normally would be had I not worked the muscles with a little myofascial self- release ( the technical term for what I was doing).  My in-laws gave me a foam roller for my birthday a few years back, and I do use that when I’m sore, but I find it to be too much/too intense for my IT band; it actually feels like I imagine getting kicked in the groin feels, so I can say that I prefer the Beastie Balls for areas that are extremely tender.

What do you do for sore muscles?

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! Happy first full week of January!

It has been freezing cold here, but I really can’t complain, because there are plenty of other places all around the country that have been hit much, much harder with cold weather. I will just suck it up and be grateful to have warm food and a warm bed to sustain me.

So, the talk all around the web (and in real life) has been all about New Year’s Resolutions. Are you someone who makes them? I usually make a list and then it gets lost somewhere, but I wanted this year to be different. I’ve come up with a number of goals for 2014, some fitness related, some more personal, and I have decided to be intentional about working on them. In order to help me complete this, I’ve signed up for Chalene Johnson’s FREE 30 Day Push program!

I’m really excited about this program because Chalene is someone whom I aspire to be like. She is a very successful entrepreneuress with a background in fitness. She has really branched out into the world of personal development, and I’m excited to see what I can do using the tools she provides through this program. I’ll let you know what I think of it and where I am after the 30 days.

In the meantime, here are a few of my health and fitness goals for 2014.

1.       Do not engage in negative body talk about other women.

This means not commenting on other women’s weights, hairstyles, clothing choices, make up choices or lack thereof, etc. In general I am really good about this, especially not commenting on other women’s bodies, but I have room for improvement where the other things are concerned. I rarely initiate these types of comments, but not initiating them isn’t good enough for me. I want to make it clear to my friends and loved ones that I will absolutely not participate in this type of talk about other women.

2.       Squat my bodyweight on the bar.  This one’s self explanatory.

3.       Run a 10k. So is this one.

4.       Become less rigid about my workout schedule.

At times in 2013 I was pretty strict with my dedication to weight lifting, even if there were moments when I wasn’t really enjoying it. I think that there is a time and place for this, for example, if you are training for a competition, but for the purpose of training just to train, this really will not work for me. I do hope to one day compete, but 2014 will not be the year for that. Instead, I’d rather focus on trying new things and having fun with fitness.

5.       Stop micromanaging my diet.

 There were times during 2013 where I would feel like, OMG I can’t eat that, it’s not clean. There were other times when I would just eat whatever, justifying it with the fact that I work out. In 2014 I want to work towards nutritional balance. I actually started working on this the latter part of 2013, in large part to Lean Bodies Consulting.

6.       Prepare my meals weekly.

I would go through periods of time in 2013 where I was really good about meal prepping for the week, but then at other times I would just completely fall off.  For 2014, I plan to make it happen on a weekly basis.

 

So, what goals do you have for 2014? How are you going to reach them?

Meal Prep Monday

One of the goals I have for 2014 is to be more consistent about prepping my meals for the week. I’ll talk more specifically about health/fitness/lifestyle goals in another post, but I wanted to share a little bit of my meal prep for the week with ya’ll. In the future, I will most likely prep on Sunday nights, but with the way our schedule is for the week, it worked out that I did my shopping on Monday night instead.

Here’s our dinner menu for the week:

Monday: Whole-wheat spaghetti with marinara. ( I like to add lots of veggies to the sauce!)

Tuesday: Lighter Loaded Baked Potatoes ( Loaded with veggies, a sprinkle of cheese, and salsa.)

Wednesday/Thursday:  Balsamic Crockpot pork loin, kale, and brown rice with gravy. (I’m Southern. Sometimes I have to have gravy.)

Friday/Saturday: Betty’s Bean Casserole , cornbread. (This is a recipe from my Mother-In-Law that I need to tweak a little bit before I share with everyone. It’s not really a casserole, more like a stew/soup thing and it is seriously so good.)

Breakfasts are usually oatmeal and fruit for me. The boys will often get a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit and fruit, or a waffle and fruit, something that they can munch on while we drive to school.  

Lunches will consist of either blackbean or chickpea burgers, cucumber salad, and other items such as yogurt, string cheese, carrots and hummus, or nuts. Also, I love to throw in a square of Ghiradelli Dark to help me keep cravings for sweets under control. My husband eats a little bit differently than me, but he has the luxury of being 6’3” and having a very physical job. So yeah, I’m jealous about that.

I’m excited to use my 6-pack bag again. This thing is a tank. Naturally I’ve lost most of the accompanying tupperware, so I’ve stuffed some stuff in baggies and shoved it into the little compartments. Cause that’s just how I roll, baby!

Do you pack lunch? Do you prep ahead of time or the day of? I’d love to hear any tips for staying consistent that work for ya’ll!

Holiday Indulgences

Hey ya’ll! I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I know I definitely did. The kids woke up early to open their gifts and then we all pretty much sat around in our pajamas and ate chocolate all day. I’m actually not kidding. Bri, my former stepmom, stuffed our stocking with some of my favorite chocolates: Dove and Ghiradelli, so basically it was over before it started for me. And you know what? I don’t feel guilty. I’m not looking up how many burpees I need to do or how long on the treadmill it will take me to burn all of that off, and I am certainly not weighing myself. I’m just moving forward. I saw something posted on Facebook by one of my favorite pages, Lean Bodies Consulting, that said

“Exercise should not be done as a punishment for what you have consumed. Doing extra cardio in an attempt to offset a dietary deviation represents a dysfunctional relationship with both food and exercise.” –Coach Mark

Wow. That is so powerful, true, and simple, and yet how many memes do we see on Facebook, Twitter, IG, etc, that are of the exact opposite nature? I for one have stopped following pages that promote that kind of thinking, because it is the type of thinking that I was enslaved by for so long, and am working hard every day to be free from. Also, that is why one day, should I ever be able to afford them, I will be going with either Lean Bodies Consulting or Curls and Whey, their “sister site” for diet and training plans.

Have you indulged this holiday season? I hope so. Do you feel guilty? I hope not. Let it go.

Life lately...

Lots has been going on in our household over the past month or so. We moved back into Roanoke, and finally into our apartment last week. We are in the final stages of unpacking, and the boxes of stuff to throw out/give to Goodwill are now outnumbering the boxes that need to be unpacked. Whew! I will tell you this, moving a week before Christmas with a 4 year old, 16 month old, and being 22 weeks pregnant is no small feat! We were lucky enough to have the boys go stay with their Grandma and Aunt for part of the weekend, and we were able to get a lot done in that time. We also had some help moving stuff in from some friends earlier in the week, and my dad came and helped move furniture on Saturday. Everyone has been earning their sleep!

Chad and I were able to go out to dinner without the kids this weekend, which is something that rarely ever happens. It was awesome. We had plans to go to a favorite restaurant of mine, Wildflour, because I had a gift card from my secret Santa at work (who turned out to be my officemate!), but by the time we were actually ready for dinner the restaurant was only open for another hour. We opted for a trusty standby: Mexican food. We had a go to Mexican place by our old apartment, and have lucked out this time as well; one of their sister restaurants is just right down the street. I have to say that I thought the food at this location was actually better than at any of their other locations! Chad had a margarita, while I looked on longingly.

This weekend was the first time that I have actually felt pregnant. Of course, I have realized that my body is growing and I have been feeling Baby Boy moving for quite some time now, but other than early stage morning sickness, I really have not feltpregnant. That all changed on Saturday in the shower. I had this moment where I was like, Oh my God, here we go. I am like, pregnant pregnant. Unless you have had a baby, you probably won’t be able to relate to this sentiment. I was kind of like, hmm, maybe I can just order in and put my pajamas on and we can go to bed. I was glad I forced myself to get dressed and go out though, and I know my husband appreciated it as well!

We were able to do some child free shopping this weekend as well. We picked up some things for the apartment, and I got a new water bottle. If you know me well, then you know that I have a problem when it comes to water bottles. I collect them. I have to. I say I have to, because I always end up breaking them. Who breaks a water bottle, you might ask? I do. I drop them and they break. I personally prefer to have a water bottle that has a straw, that way I can just drink water hands free at my desk while typing and talking on the phone; however, I have not been able to find an indestructible, pink, water bottle that has a sipper, so I went back to the only water that I know that even I cannot break: a Nalgene. I already feel more outdoorsy/preppy. But seriously, I love it. I love knowing that when it inevitably drops out my hand, I will have the last laugh. Because it can’t break.  No really, it is pretty much impossible to break. Look it up on YouTube. 

Am I the only one who has a specific water bottle or cup that they must use?