Food and a cold

I've had to take the past 2 days off of my workout routine because I caught a cold. Boo!!!!! So not loving this. The good news is that if I rest for the next few days I should hopefully be back on Monday to start my next 21 day challenge! Wohoo! I'm totally going to focus on 4-5 days of Hammer and Chisel and then 2 days of Piyo. Good to mix it up a bit I think.

So my dear friend, Cherry asked me yesterday to give her some tips and easy recipes she could do to focus on her meal prep and nutrition. I've jotted down a few recipes that I've tried and liked. The prep usually takes me no more than about an hour. This will be to prep for about 4-5 days of lunches and dinners. It's really not that bad, considering I don't have to think about preparing food for myself for 4 days! It's honestly a treat to just pop it out of the fridge or lunch bag and be ready to eat with no hassle. Something a busy mama of 4 loves! Here are a few lunch and dinner options:

LUNCH OPTIONS:

1. Lettuce wraps with chicken, avocado, and feta cheese

(just use grilled chicken. Stuff a leaf of lettuce with any healthy veggies and grilled chicken) You can also sprinkle some homemade greek yogurt dressing

Greek Yogurt dressing:  1 1/3 cups of plain nonfat greek yogurt, 1 pack of hidden valley dill dressing mix, 3 TBSP.  of coconut milk or plain almond milk

2. Spaghetti Squash with olive oil,  sauteed mushrooms,  and lean ground turkey

3. Thai ground turkey stir fry http://frame.bloglovin.com/?post=3585074961&group=0&frame_type=a&context=&context_ids=&feed_order=&blog=1130542&frame=1&click=0&user=0

4. Buffalo chicken bowls (can be eaten as is or on top of lettuce or spinach as a salad) Godes with Greek Yogurt Dressing recipe

Buffalo Chicken Bowl

Buffalo Chicken Bowl Yields 6-8 servings 21 Day Fix approved: 2 Yellow, 1.5 Red, 1 Blue, 1/2 Green Ingredients : 2 (15-oz.) cans orga...

DINNER OPTIONS: (serve with any kind of veggie on the side or sweet potatoes)

1. Baked Salmon flavored with lemon, salt, and pepper

2. Creamy Paleo chicken skillet Creamy Paleo Chicken Skillet | Paleo Grubs

Creamy Paleo Chicken Skillet | Paleo Grubs Instant recipe favorites are created when I cannot stop sampling a dish even while I am cooking it. So it was fo...

3.Grilled Chicken with veggies

4. Extra firm tofu with ground turkey and veggie stir fry

5. Blackened tilapia or Cod, or Mahi Mahi with cucmber avocado salsa Blackened Tilapia with Cucumber Avocado Salsa [21 Day Fix]

Blackened Tilapia with Cucumber Avocado Salsa [21 Day Fix] WHEW this has been a crazy several days! I have been trying to find a spare minute to cook, photograph, and post...

6. Chicken fajitas without the tortillas or served with brown rice

Easy Chicken Fajitas - Spend With Pennies

Easy Chicken Fajitas - Spend With Pennies These Easy Chicken Fajitas are the perfect way to get a delicious and healthy meal on the table in minutes! A ve...

My absoulte fave right now is the buffalo chicken bowls and the cucmber avocado salsa topping for really any kind of fish! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! 

Okie dokes. Now that I'm officially hungry, I'm going to go pop out a lunch meal from the fridge! Happy Friday! Here's to hoping my cold goes bye bye asap! :)

Hammer and Chisel

Today I decided that I needed to up my game! I have been maintaining my results, but what I really want is some visible definition in my mid tummy area. So, I decided to give the Masters Hammer and Chisel workout a try today. All I can say after my 1st workout this morning is....Oh my WOW! I did the Plyo workout and their 10 minute ab workout. Just WOW! I was sweating like a little piggie realizing it was going to become bacon!

 It was a great workout! Tough but great! I had to stop a few times and modify, but I really enjoyed it! I felt like I pushed myself to the next level. I'm excited to see the results after doing this for a few weeks. I took a before pic, but I won't post it until after week 3 to see some difference (hopefully!)

Here's what the program looks like:

I am on a mission here folks. Now, I'm not really doing this because I plan on flaunting my abs around town (modesty).... BUT I really want to prove to myself that I can do this! A mommy of 4 with a stretched out tummy can actually see definition! Here's to crossing my fingers and hitting it hard and eating clean!

Happy Friday ya'all! ;)

Mommy's Manic Monday Morning!

This morning I set my alarm at 5:30am to wake up, which I did, and I got out of bed slowly so as not to wake the baby. I got this I thought to myself! I changed into my workout clothes, pressed play on my piyo video and did the 5 minute workout. This was going great, despite the fact I was feeling tired from the weekends festivities. Then......... just as I was getting ready to really start my workout....BAM! The baby woke up! Waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! (That's me crying...not the baby!)
So, there went my early morning workout. Luckily, after feeding the baby I took him to the living room and sat him on his play mat with his toys while I did an alternate workout from Popsugar. It was shorter but at least I got something in along with an extra 10 minute ab workout. Not quite what I was intending for today, but I'm happy I squeezed it in. I'll probably do another ab workout tonight just to get a bit more in since I'm trying to hit it a bit harder this week. It's already May and I need to see me some abs by June! I'm giving myself 4 weeks friends to see me some decent definition! It's doable right!!?? I hope! Haahaa!

Here's my photo proof I submitted on my 5 day facebook challenge group today:

My goal is to up my weights from these 8 pounders, but this morning, that's what was readily available!

So, meal prep this week consists of buffalo chicken bowls/salad (requested by hubby) and spaghetti squash with pesto, chicken, onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers. The spaghetti squash doesn't look that great, but honestly it really tastes yummy!!

spaghetti squash

I'm still drinking my shakeology in the morning after my workouts along with greek yogurt and blueberries for my morning snack. In the afternoon I'll also still have my OatFit Oatmeal, with blueberries, apples, cinnamon, and maple extract. So yum! 

Happy healthy eating this week! And hopefully my little one will be more cooperative throughout the week so this Mama can get in my workouts! No excuses though right!!?? I WILL get it done no matter what! 

Happy Monday!!!! :) 

Weekend Cheat Days and Arm Veins!!!

This past weekend was very eventful! We have been doing some mini celebrations for my hubby's 40th birthday on Saturday and Sunday. Although it was a lot of fun it also meant having 2 cheat days. I'm usually pretty good when I go out to eat, keeping in mind that it's ok to treat myself and order responsibly. I had a bbq chicken salad at Wood Ranch BBQ on Saturday with the most tasty roll ever! Today I also indulged in some ribs and a slice of delicious chocolate birthday cake. *sigh..so good, but I actually didn't feel so great afterwards. I think my body has become accustomed to healthier eating habits that when I put heavy foods in my belly, it just makes me feel heavy and bloated. Not fun. Crazy how your body just knows what it needs to fuel itself!
Here's a pic of the hubby and me at Wood Ranch:

Tomorrow I'm beginning another challenge. It's only a 5 day challenge, but I'm excited! This one will lead into another 21 day challenge, which I will gladly accept. It just makes working out way more fun! Kind of feels like I'm meeting up with friends at the gym! Also excited because 2 of my friends are joining the challenge too! I am hoping this means positive steps forward for them in the working out/getting healthier process! Wohoo! Small steps lead to giant leaps forward right!!??

Okie dokes, on a side note... my hubby has been noticing that my veins have starting to really pop out lately. I don't know if that's because I lost so much weight or because of working out with weights. Hmmmm... It's kinda scary looking. Haahaaaa.... I'll just take it as a sign I'm building muscle!
Here's a pic:

Ahhh!!!!

Okie dokes, I'm going to go spend some time with the hubby catching up on some shows, but I am ready to start up again tomorrow and hit it hard this week. Here's my 5 day schedule! 

Aunt Flow and more recipes!

I know that title totally doesn't go together! Haaaahaaha!

This past week has been pretty tough for me. The week before I get my monthly visit from Aunt Flow I always get SO incredibly tired. It's the kind of tired like how you feel in the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Not fun! Also, I notice that I seem to crave more sweet things during this time and resisting the temptation of sweets seems just a bit harder than usual. Sigh. 

This morning I was fully intending to wake up at 5:30am to workout, but alas...it didn't work out! ;) Lol. Deacon, my 8 month old came down with a little cold so we was waking up CONSTANTLY through the night. I just couldn't do it. This mommy needed to squeeze in any amount of sleep I could before the day got started (which really wasn't a lot at all...maybe 3 hours?) Not sure. It's all a blur.

I'm going to workout tonight when my hubby gets home and the kiddos are all over the place. Crazy chaotic time to workout, but it's what I have to work with today. My body needs to workout. I think I actually start to feel sluggish now when I don't have that boost of energy from my morning workouts. Crazy how your body just knows know what it needs to make it run properly.

Ok...enough rambling. I wanted to talk about my go to healthy recipe I make all the time that is so super healthy and lean.... Ready..... Salmon!!!

The simplest way I make it is just with large size fillets that I sprinkle with salt and pepper and little lemon pepper seasoning. Mrs. Dash makes a good one with no sodium! Then I put it in the broiler for about 15 minutes or until it looks done. (make sure to constantly check it while in the broiler.)
I'll usually serve it with a side of some veggies or sweet potatoes.

There you have it! Aunt Flow and the easiest recipe EVER! Haahaa....

Alright. I don't know if anyone is even reading this anymore. Hope you can relate to some struggles I have or love easy peasy delicious healthy recipes like I do.

Have an awesome Friday! :) 

Food!!!

Let's talk food! Yum!  Who doesn't love delicious food!? I think people automatically assume that if you are dieting or trying to eat healthy it has to be bland and boring. SO not the case! I've been finding some really amazing meal prep recipes on pinterest. Most of the ones I look for are approved for the 21 Day Fix if you are doing that. I will usually meal prep lunch and dinner meals for about 5 days. It really isn't that time consuming (probably about 1 hour prep time). Then you have 2 different meals for lunch and dinner for the next 5 days and you don't have to worry about it at all! I don't have any fancy containers. I just use partitioned rubbermaid containers from the grocery store.

Here are the containers I use:

These are perfect for just popping and warming up real quick which is awesome when you have little to no time like me! :) They are also great for on the go eating too! 

Today's meal prep consisted of lunch: Buffalo Chicken Bowls 

http://www.kelseytorr.com/buffalo-chicken-bowl.html

These are so tasty and the secret is using nonfat plain greek yogurt. The only modifications I used with this recipe is that I didn't put the chicken in the crockpot. I just seasoned and cooked them on the stove and then diced them into really small pieces. Also, for the veggie mixture I added a splash of lime juice and a tiny bit of salt and pepper. 

I give this recipe a 2 thumbs up! After chilling it in the fridge it's so perfect on a hot day like today! I ate it while driving to pick up the kiddos from school. Perfect for on the go! 

For dinner, I'm on my last container of tilapia with avocado cucumber salsa.) That is also a phenomenal recipe! The hubby loved it too and I can totally see using this salsa on top of other types of fish. Here's a pic and the recipe for that. 

http://www.thegarlicdiaries.com/blackened-tilapia-with-cucumber-avocado-salsa-21-day-fix/

Happy Healthy Eating!! :) 

Not feelin' it!

This morning I woke up a bit later than usual and I was just not feelin' it. I dragged myself out of bed though and pressed play for my Piyo workout video.  Once I got started though, I just wasn't pumped like I usually am. Then, 10 minutes into the workout Deacon (my 8 month old) started crying. So, off I went to nurse him and when he fell asleep I thought I'd give it a go again. Except......he woke up again! Lol! Oh, the life of a mommy I tell ya. Sometimes it works out sometimes it just doesn't! At that point I really wasn't feeling it anymore, so I decided to just get the kiddos ready for school and do all the morning tasks. Even though I really didn't want to workout at this point I mustered up the strength to get through 2 popsugar workouts. I was sweating by the end and really glad I didn't give up today!

We are all going to have these days, but I find it's on these days especially where we REALLY need to push ourselves and remember what our goals are. DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!!!

Here are the 2 videos that I used today. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAQK22crBWc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3320EhbImLY