Get Moving

I put together this little slideshow from an article I found online. (The link is on the second slide). I shared this with our health group (Discovering Wellness) a few weeks ago.

I definitely like to be reminded of extra benefits of exercise.

I tend to forget all these great things, especially at 5:15 am.

(Since I'm technologically challenged, I can't figure out how to get it on here as a slideshow, so I will post each slide individually. Sorry...I will try to figure it out when I have more time.)

Discovering Wellness

Our fearless trainer and a couple of other people have organized a health and wellness group.

We meet every other week and discuss the basics of being healthy.

And, um, well.

We are still pretty new but have already heard from a couple of really great guest speakers. This Thursday, Dr. Vaughn Johnson is speaking to us.

We heard Dr. Johnson's seminar last year, right as we started training with Mike and it was life changing. 

If you can get to Orem this Thursday, please come! It will be well worth any amount of effort to get here.

Unexpected Sweat

Slowly but surely, we are getting back into this blogging thing.

Why does life always seem to get in the way of blogging about life? 

Weird.

So, today, I got to hang out with this cute little girl. We went for a nice Sunday afternoon stroll - which turned out to be basically a climb up the face of a very tall mountain.

Only because I suck at directions.

(I promise, she was having a really good time. Right up until, and every second after this picture, she was laughing and jabbering away).

And, do you want to know the worst part? Neither My Fitness Pal nor my phone's health app correctly tracked the many, many miles (it was honestly only like 3) that I huffed and puffed today.

And, of course, I forgot to strap on my Fitbit this morning.

Basically, a whole lot of energy wasted because there is no record of it...

Just kidding, but I was a little bugged.

It was most definitely the perfect Utah day. Low 70's, hardly any wind, lots of sunshine.

Spring is my jam.

I am so grateful that I am strong and healthy enough to really get out and enjoy this beautiful time of year.

As we were sauntering along, I remembered a day about 18 months ago, right after this little angel was born. I was with her and her mom in Walmart and we were standing at the front of the store, just about to leave. Her mom was holding her, her diaper bag and her blanket. A complete stranger walked up to us, turned to me and said, 

"Oh, how old is your baby?"

Um...really? Granted, this kiddo's mom is super, duper skinny and probably won't ever look like she's ever had a baby, even if she has 20, but the nerve of this lady to just assume that I had just given birth was astounding...

...and completely embarrassing.

I mean, I wasn't even holding her...or any of her paraphernalia. Please don't just assume that I had recently given birth just because I was fat. Geez.

I quickly muttered, "She's 4 days old" and walked away.

There's really no moral to this story except, to quote Brian Regan: "Never guess at that never, ever, ever, ever..."

I thought everyone had gotten that memo by now.

I guess not.

Anyhoo, here's proof that she did, in fact, enjoy our little outing.

(Sorry that my thumb made it into this picture).

She's pretty awesome.

The Comeback

So, yeah, um...hi there.

Long time, no see.

We've been AWOL for a little long while but we're excited to be back.


I have found some delicious and healthy recipes lately that I want to share. I made this one last week and it is definitely going to be in the regular rotation.


I adapted this recipe from here.

Healthy Chicken Bake
1 lb chicken breast
4 medium red potatoes
1 small onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3 medium zucchini

(zucchinis?)
2 garlic cloves
1 c + baby carrots
olive oil
2 T basil
1 T rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Cut everything up in bite size pieces and put in a large baking dish. Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil the basil and rosemary. 

Stir it all around.

(Oops...forgot the carrots)

Put it in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Pull it out and stir it every 15 minutes.  The last 5 minutes, I broiled it on high to make it crispy and awesome.

<< Fantastic food truly makes my heart sing >>

It takes a little work to cut everything up and stir it every 15 minutes but it is so, so delicious!

And, by my calculations (on My Fitness Pal), each 1.5 cup serving is only about 182 calories. Not bad for a pretty tasty and filling meal.

It's also super good left over.

Enjoy!

Can We Please Go Back To 2014?!

So, as you can tell from the above (poor quality, seriously lacking iPhone) photo, this night is not going well for me.

Can you see that there is no pink dot next to the PM? 

That's because it is (now) 3:44 a.m. 

<<in the morning>>

Since I climbed into bed at 11:23 p.m., I have...

...spent an embarrassing amount of time on Facebook

...Instagram

...Pinterest (x3)

...I have checked my email

...texted a friend

...talked to a friend (on the phone)

...cleaned my bathroom

...filled (and emptied) my water bottle

...twice...

...tossed and turned and tossed some more

...gotten a snack (I haven't eaten in 6 *waking* hrs)

...checked my bank account

...spent more time on Instagram (people don't post much in the middle of the night)

...had one more look at Pinterest (I really want to learn how to sew)

...seriously evaluated my 5 year plan

(Just kidding. I don't actually have a 5 year plan).

...also seriously contemplated vacuuming since I have put it off all week, but I will blog instead.

Aren't you lucky?

(I am totally kidding. My late night early morning rants have no chance of being witty, helpful or probably even worth anyone's time).

I nearly just had a melt-down when it took me a good 30 seconds to find the ABC button. Thank you Blogger for not removing it. I really like it sometimes.

So, I think I have a point to this post. Please bear with me.

The first 23 days of 2015 have been pretty rough for me. And, actually, a lot of people I know as well. I am not looking for sympathy or for the opportunity to go into detail in such a public forum about my personal demons/issues/catastrophes but I do want to address the fact that I am extremely frustrated that I cannot pull myself together enough to get back on the health and fitness wagon.

Seriously.

This is not brain science.

Or rocket surgery.

I still have good, strong moments. I just seem to be unable to string enough of them together to have good, strong days and weeks.

I actually haven't even gained that much weight back. I'm still pretty far from having to be cut out of my house.

I hope.

I also am doing pretty okay with exercise. There's definitely room for improvement, but I manage to work out on my own about 3 times a week and, of course, I let Mike beat on me another 2 times each week. 

However, I still feel defeated. 

I have definitely lost the excitement and motivation I had last year.

I know that it's completely mind over matter and I just have to decide to make this a priority again but I can't seem to find that switch.

So, for now, I just have to go through the motions and be successful when I can make myself and keep trying to pull my butt out of bed every single morning (not tomorrow...uh today) at 5:15 a.m. to work out.

Why is that my Everest?!

I just need to decide that I want to be healthy more than I want anything else.

So, I am going to re-brush my teeth and (hopefully) fall right to sleep and start again with being completely dedicated in about 6 hours.

Thank goodness it's the weekend.

(btw, thanks for listening)

Blogging is way cheaper than therapy.

New Year's Resolutions

Where has December gone?

Where has 2014 gone?!

Seriously.

Time is such a crazy thing.

I love everything that goes into celebrating a new year. I love the chance to look back over the past 12 months, excited about the good things and recognizing things I hope to improve during the next year.

I have had a pretty strong case of bronchitis for the past week. Not a very welcome Christmas gift, if you ask me. I don't get sick very often - thankfully - but when I do, it hits me hard. This current plague has not been an exception. I've been pretty miserable but am hopefully on the uphill climb.

With the combination of being sick and not sleeping well for the past week, I am exhausted. I had to work today and was reflecting on this past year as I drove home. Before I reached the freeway, I was in tears. I was so upset because I couldn't think of anything significant that I've accomplished this year.

Like I said, I was super tired and, apparently, this translates into being overly hard on myself.


My life has changed drastically - for the better - in 2014 and that is very exciting. I have accomplished a lot in the past few months regarding health and fitness and I am so thankful.

As I think about resolutions for 2015, I - of course - want to reach my ultimate weight loss goal and continue to improve in health and fitness.

***

So, I started this post on 12/31/14 and today is 1/17/15. Sorry that I've gotten pretty side-tracked and have seriously slacked with this blog. December and, so far, January have been super tough months for me and that has translated into slacking in the diet and fitness departments.


It's really hard to post about health and fitness when I haven't been putting much priority on either. That is changing right this second.


On 1/1/15, my aunt passed away due to complications surrounding a recent surgery. It was absolutely heart-breaking and eye-opening because the complications had to do with her weight. I would like to say that experiencing this loss kicked me back into gear, but - unfortunately - when I'm sad, I eat.


Really bad food.


It is so frustrating that I've let myself slip so far and now crave carbs every single second when, just a few weeks ago, I was celebrating the fact that salt and vinegar potato chips were a thing of the past.

So, I have a choice. I can continue my downward spiral and be fat and (un)happy like I was prior to 3.26.14 or I can re-commit, blog more often (I need this accountability!), put more thought and effort into eating and get back to exercising every single day.


I choose option B.


Let's do this.


<< Again >>



I saw the funniest thing on Instagram the other day.

That's so true.

(Well, when I workout on my own. NOT when I workout with Mike. He's back and super intense, as usual. We warmed up with 300 jump squats on Thursday).

Saddle up and ride.

(In the future, someone please remind me to take pictures before the workout. This one's pretty scary!)

We've missed you Señor Andam. Please don't ever leave us again.

Disappointment

I will preface this post with sorry you have not heard from me in forever!!!  Cali has been carrying us cupcake girls by way of posting…

I have not been completely on board with my nutrition lately and the last thing I feel like I am qualified to write about is nutrition or exercise…

Mike recently decided to weigh us in again since he had given us leeway for WAY TOO LONG!!!  I stepped on that scale and was so disappointed that I had gained “7 POUNDS” Holy Cow!!! You know how hard it is to take off 7 pounds? But how easy it is to put it back on? I was embarrassed and very disappointed in myself.  

May I quote Mike when I stepped on that scale, “Well you gained ALMOST 10 pounds!”  That was hard to hear from him, I really honestly try to make him proud of me when at all possible.  When Mike stares in to your eyes with his very disappointed look you really just want to cry!  

So a week and a half later we weighed in again, I lost 2 pounds which means I am still up by 5 pounds!!!

I really need a SWIFT KICK IN MY PANTS!!!  So back to the drawing board for me…  

I feel like I have been stuck so long that it no longer seems possible for me to accomplish this goal.  I know that’s not true but your mind can convince you of anything.