My dear 6 year old Tyler has been eating better over the past few months. We've seen improvement but we still have a ways to go.
Last week we signed Tyler up for football for the upcoming fall. At the sign up we were reminded to eat right and lay off the junk food this summer. He needs to do push-ups and sit-ups and condition himself for running in the heat. Tyler loves sports and being outside. I think the workout will be easy for him but he needs to improve his diet. While we were signing up I looked him in the eyes and told him that he has to eat right if he's going to play football.
A few days later I took the kids to the drive-thru at McDonald's for our weekly fast food pick up and visit with the great-grandparents. As I'm pulling in Tyler says, "What about my football?" I said "What?" What was he talking about? We don't have a football in the car, practice doesn't start for 2 months. Tyler said, "I can't eat McDonald's because of football." I almost cried I was so proud of him. He gets it. He does listen to me.
As I sat there in the McDonald's line smiling and telling him how proud I was of him, I realized I was still in the McDonald's line. What should I do? I've already called the grandparents and I have their order ready to go for McDonald's. We were in a hurry. So I first looked at the menu with Tyler and tried to find something he would eat that was maybe a little healthier than his normal fries and chicken nuggets. No luck. All of the other fast food options in our town are not any better. So this was my chance to teach "everything in moderation", which is one of my biggest weaknesses. I told him that it's ok to have junk food once a week if we are eating properly the majority of time. I think he understood.
What amazes me about this is that a 6 year old is capable of being motivated and driven. As adults we search for our motivation. My current motivation is that I don't want to gain weight while I've got this boot on my foot. I can't do cardio and I'm motivated to not blow away my weight loss progress I've made. To my surprise a 6 year old is old enough to be motivated. So no matter what your age - young and old - go find your motivation!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Boot
The last few weeks I revved up my cardio ...just a bit too much. My body was accustomed to my 3.8 mile walk but I decided to run/walk 5 to 5.5 miles 3 times a week. I was loving it! My heart rate monitor read 700 calories burned on these excursions. I was looking forward to pushing myself even more... until the foot pain started.
I was previously showing signs of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. It wasn't too bad and I kept running. This was causing me to put extra weight on my right foot. My right foot said enough and I now have a stress fracture in my right foot. I was given the oh so glorious boot to wear. I can only remove it to sleep, shower & drive!
At first I was devastated. 30 days in a boot. No cardio. How will I burn calories? What about my workouts? Will I gain weight? I've worked so hard to lose weight I can't gain weight! So what did I do? As soon as I walked out of the doctors office I found the nearest fast food restaurant - got a burger & fries and called my Mom and cried. (No, I'm not an emotional eater. Ha!) So many things were racing through my head. How will I keep up with the kids and their activities? What if Olivia runs from me when we are in a parking lot? How will I chase her? What about the upcoming wedding that both of my kids are in and how will I help get them to walk down the isle?
This self pity party lasted about 2 days. Then I realized the cookies and junk food were making me feel like crap! I thought about the people that don't have use of their legs and how difficult life must be. How stupid of me to feel so bad about my set-back. I have many reasons to be thankful!
I'm thankful I'm healthy. At least my injury is the result of trying to do something good for myself.
I'm thankful it's just a little stress fracture. I will run again.
I'm thankful I have family and friends to help me.
I've also learned a few things.
Gradually increase mileage when running.
Listen to your body when you have any sort of pain.
Time seems to pass quickly and so will my time in this boot. I'll be back at it soon!
I was previously showing signs of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. It wasn't too bad and I kept running. This was causing me to put extra weight on my right foot. My right foot said enough and I now have a stress fracture in my right foot. I was given the oh so glorious boot to wear. I can only remove it to sleep, shower & drive!
At first I was devastated. 30 days in a boot. No cardio. How will I burn calories? What about my workouts? Will I gain weight? I've worked so hard to lose weight I can't gain weight! So what did I do? As soon as I walked out of the doctors office I found the nearest fast food restaurant - got a burger & fries and called my Mom and cried. (No, I'm not an emotional eater. Ha!) So many things were racing through my head. How will I keep up with the kids and their activities? What if Olivia runs from me when we are in a parking lot? How will I chase her? What about the upcoming wedding that both of my kids are in and how will I help get them to walk down the isle?
This self pity party lasted about 2 days. Then I realized the cookies and junk food were making me feel like crap! I thought about the people that don't have use of their legs and how difficult life must be. How stupid of me to feel so bad about my set-back. I have many reasons to be thankful!
I'm thankful I'm healthy. At least my injury is the result of trying to do something good for myself.
I'm thankful it's just a little stress fracture. I will run again.
I'm thankful I have family and friends to help me.
I've also learned a few things.
Gradually increase mileage when running.
Listen to your body when you have any sort of pain.
Time seems to pass quickly and so will my time in this boot. I'll be back at it soon!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
I Need Cardio
For the last few weeks I've been trying to figure out how to squeeze more cardio in my life. I make it to my workout sessions with my trainer 3 times a week during my lunch break on Monday, Wednesday & Fridays and I am supposed to do cardio on my own 3 times a week. But lately with my side business keeping me extra busy I have failed to do any cardio on my own. My only free time without my kids are my lunch breaks.
Cardio and diet are essential to continue on my weight loss journey. So what's a busy girl to do?
Sure I can try to walk with the kids on some nights. But my walks with a 6 year old and a 2 year old are very discouraging. Tyler can only ride his bike for so long & Olivia doesn't want to stay in the stroller very long anymore. I need to run, I need to sweat. I need it to be scheduled in my day. I need to use my time efficiently.
Here's my idea. I spend approximately 20 minutes in the morning making breakfast. What if I make my breakfast in advance and get up 10-15 minutes earlier than normal? That would give me a 30-35 minute workout every morning.
Here we go...Dust off my treadmill...
Week 1 Results...
Monday - Stayed up too late finishing up side business work on Sunday night. Then Olivia was up 3 or 4 times in the night starting at 2 am to 6 am. Power went out at 4 am. Baby monitors started beeping, clock and alarm had to be reset. Had trouble falling back asleep thinking about getting up to workout. Alarm goes off at 5:45. It's time. I'm exhausted. I hit snooze and I lay in bed an try to count the hours of sleep I've had. Went to bed at 11:30, up with Olivia...hum.. I've had under 6 hours of sleep. Reset the alarm for 6:20. CARDIO FAILED
Tuesday - On Monday night I made sure to go to bed immediately after Tyler went to sleep. Started kids bedtime routine at 8:30. Got Tyler to sleep by 9:45 pm. Some nights it takes him forever to fall asleep. I'm asleep for sure by 10:15. Yes, sleep. Olivia starts getting up at 12 am. What? Why so early? She asks for milk. About 3 weeks ago we broke her of night wakings asking for milk. Why all of a sudden is she asking for milk again? I tell her she can have it in the morning. She gets up 2 more times. Then at 5 am Tyler is up with bad dreams. I'm glad I went to bed early. I reset the alarm for 6:00 instead of 5:45. I'll shoot for a 20 minute workout today. 6:00 alarms goes off. I can do this. I don't want to-but I will. I make my way to my treadmill. I start with a 5 minute slow warm-up. After about 4 minutes I start to feel awake and good. I can do this. I turn up the speed-let's do a little running. After 1 1/2 minutes of running-Olivia is sitting in the doorway crying for me. By the time I get her settled down and back in bed it's time to get myself ready for work. Should we round up and count this as a 2 minute workout?
Wednesday - Up with Olivia a few times during night. Tyler up 7 minutes before my alarm goes off. No morning workout. I'm starting to think my morning workout is not going to work. However, after my workout today with my trainer I hopped on the elliptical machine and did 32 minutes. Woohoo!
Thursday - I've given up on mornings! So instead I went to a boot camp at lunch!
Friday - Normal workout with trainer. No extra cardio.
Once Olivia is a little older I'll try this morning workout again. For now, I'm going to add cardio to my MWF workouts and do my best to get some sort of cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All I can do is keep trying!
Cardio and diet are essential to continue on my weight loss journey. So what's a busy girl to do?
Sure I can try to walk with the kids on some nights. But my walks with a 6 year old and a 2 year old are very discouraging. Tyler can only ride his bike for so long & Olivia doesn't want to stay in the stroller very long anymore. I need to run, I need to sweat. I need it to be scheduled in my day. I need to use my time efficiently.
Here's my idea. I spend approximately 20 minutes in the morning making breakfast. What if I make my breakfast in advance and get up 10-15 minutes earlier than normal? That would give me a 30-35 minute workout every morning.
Here we go...Dust off my treadmill...
Week 1 Results...
Monday - Stayed up too late finishing up side business work on Sunday night. Then Olivia was up 3 or 4 times in the night starting at 2 am to 6 am. Power went out at 4 am. Baby monitors started beeping, clock and alarm had to be reset. Had trouble falling back asleep thinking about getting up to workout. Alarm goes off at 5:45. It's time. I'm exhausted. I hit snooze and I lay in bed an try to count the hours of sleep I've had. Went to bed at 11:30, up with Olivia...hum.. I've had under 6 hours of sleep. Reset the alarm for 6:20. CARDIO FAILED
Tuesday - On Monday night I made sure to go to bed immediately after Tyler went to sleep. Started kids bedtime routine at 8:30. Got Tyler to sleep by 9:45 pm. Some nights it takes him forever to fall asleep. I'm asleep for sure by 10:15. Yes, sleep. Olivia starts getting up at 12 am. What? Why so early? She asks for milk. About 3 weeks ago we broke her of night wakings asking for milk. Why all of a sudden is she asking for milk again? I tell her she can have it in the morning. She gets up 2 more times. Then at 5 am Tyler is up with bad dreams. I'm glad I went to bed early. I reset the alarm for 6:00 instead of 5:45. I'll shoot for a 20 minute workout today. 6:00 alarms goes off. I can do this. I don't want to-but I will. I make my way to my treadmill. I start with a 5 minute slow warm-up. After about 4 minutes I start to feel awake and good. I can do this. I turn up the speed-let's do a little running. After 1 1/2 minutes of running-Olivia is sitting in the doorway crying for me. By the time I get her settled down and back in bed it's time to get myself ready for work. Should we round up and count this as a 2 minute workout?
Wednesday - Up with Olivia a few times during night. Tyler up 7 minutes before my alarm goes off. No morning workout. I'm starting to think my morning workout is not going to work. However, after my workout today with my trainer I hopped on the elliptical machine and did 32 minutes. Woohoo!
Thursday - I've given up on mornings! So instead I went to a boot camp at lunch!
Friday - Normal workout with trainer. No extra cardio.
Once Olivia is a little older I'll try this morning workout again. For now, I'm going to add cardio to my MWF workouts and do my best to get some sort of cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All I can do is keep trying!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Croutons
It was one of those days...
Your stomach growls
you realize it's lunch time
you have failed to prepare meals in advance,
and you find yourself at the fast food drive-thru.
You choose the salad.
Not too bad you are thinking. You choose the grilled chicken. You'll only eat a little bit of the salad dressing. It's going to be okay....until...you open the bag and see CROUTONS!
First instinct is to rip the bag open and chow down on the croutons while you are driving. You are really hungry. (Done this plenty of times.) But here is the correct answer.
Take the bag in your hands and squeeze. Yes, squeeze & crush those happy little croutons into dust.. They are way less appealing when they look like saw dust.
Your stomach growls
you realize it's lunch time
you have failed to prepare meals in advance,
and you find yourself at the fast food drive-thru.
You choose the salad.
Not too bad you are thinking. You choose the grilled chicken. You'll only eat a little bit of the salad dressing. It's going to be okay....until...you open the bag and see CROUTONS!
First instinct is to rip the bag open and chow down on the croutons while you are driving. You are really hungry. (Done this plenty of times.) But here is the correct answer.
Take the bag in your hands and squeeze. Yes, squeeze & crush those happy little croutons into dust.. They are way less appealing when they look like saw dust.
and then put them in the trash!!!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Just Do Something
When I think about fitting in my cardio for the day I feel overwhelmed. Simply because there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. A good cardio workout for me has always been 1 hour of my time. But does it have to be?
First, if my trainer Claire is reading this...she is shaking her head telling me that I should know better. She has always told me to "just do something" no matter how much time I have. 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Just do what you can. I believe her but I have such a hard time making myself workout out for 10 minutes. It just doesn't seem like enough. So what do I do? I end up not doing any cardio for the day.
A few things I've observed this week might help me change my mentality on this one! First, at one of my workouts I did a fitness test. After push-ups, squats, situps, burpees, etc., etc., there was a 2 mile run. We only had time for a 1 mile run. (which was good because I don't know if I could have ran much more since my cardio has been slacking lately) That afternoon I started thinking how great I felt after that run. I had to push myself (actually my trainer Claire had to push me-mentally not physically...ha ha-You are such a great cheerleader, Claire!). My body had to work-Even though it was only 1 mile and only 10 minutes I was doing something to better myself and my heart.
Something else that opened my eyes this week is the "calories burned" results on my heart rate monitor. Check this out. Claire prepared a 24 minute high intensity workout for me. It was circuits of 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest. When I finished this workout my heart rate monitor showed I burned 400 calories. Later that day I went for a 3.8 mile walk with the girls from the office. We were gone 55 minutes and I burned 450 calories.
24 minutes high intensity = 400 calories burned (16.7 calories per minute)
55 minutes low intensity = 450 calories burned (8.2 calories per minute)
So a 24 minute workout burned twice as many calories per minute than a 55 minute workout. If I push myself and work hard any small amount of time will be good for me. If I only have a 10 minute window to squeeze some exercise in I just need to make the most of it. I could jump rope, run, do push-ups or burpees. Just Do Something.
Let's Go! Everyone join me.....Get up and JUST DO SOMETHING!!!
First, if my trainer Claire is reading this...she is shaking her head telling me that I should know better. She has always told me to "just do something" no matter how much time I have. 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Just do what you can. I believe her but I have such a hard time making myself workout out for 10 minutes. It just doesn't seem like enough. So what do I do? I end up not doing any cardio for the day.
A few things I've observed this week might help me change my mentality on this one! First, at one of my workouts I did a fitness test. After push-ups, squats, situps, burpees, etc., etc., there was a 2 mile run. We only had time for a 1 mile run. (which was good because I don't know if I could have ran much more since my cardio has been slacking lately) That afternoon I started thinking how great I felt after that run. I had to push myself (actually my trainer Claire had to push me-mentally not physically...ha ha-You are such a great cheerleader, Claire!). My body had to work-Even though it was only 1 mile and only 10 minutes I was doing something to better myself and my heart.
Something else that opened my eyes this week is the "calories burned" results on my heart rate monitor. Check this out. Claire prepared a 24 minute high intensity workout for me. It was circuits of 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest. When I finished this workout my heart rate monitor showed I burned 400 calories. Later that day I went for a 3.8 mile walk with the girls from the office. We were gone 55 minutes and I burned 450 calories.
24 minutes high intensity = 400 calories burned (16.7 calories per minute)
55 minutes low intensity = 450 calories burned (8.2 calories per minute)
So a 24 minute workout burned twice as many calories per minute than a 55 minute workout. If I push myself and work hard any small amount of time will be good for me. If I only have a 10 minute window to squeeze some exercise in I just need to make the most of it. I could jump rope, run, do push-ups or burpees. Just Do Something.
Let's Go! Everyone join me.....Get up and JUST DO SOMETHING!!!
Friday, March 23, 2012
This Week's Menu
I haven't had much time to grocery shop or plan meals lately. It's so easy to make bad food choices when I don't have fresh food at home. I'm excited to have time to cook this weekend. Here's what I have planned.
Chili - I'm going to make a big pot of crock pot chili. At work this week there was a chili cook-off and I missed it because it was during my workout!! The smells of chili in the office makes me crave chili. The chili will be my lunch next week. I plan to eat it with avocado, jalapenos and onions. I'll probably take a break from chili one day and pick up a grilled chicken salad from a restaurant.
I usually buy groceries on Friday so I'll start with Friday dinner. I'm just outlining our dinners below. We usually make enough for leftovers so we will eat those for lunch on the weekends. As for lunch during the week Tyler & Olivia eat at school and Dad eats lunch out.
Dinner:
Friday - Hamburgers. Bunless for Olivia and me-Grilled patty served on lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes & cheese. Dad & Tyler will probably eat the bun.
Saturday - Grilled Sirloin Steak & Squash pan fried in olive oil & Green Beans
Sunday - Grilled Fish & Broccoli (The kids and Dad will have oven baked fries too.)
Monday - Taco Salads
Tuesday - Chicken Fajita meat cooked in my NuWave Oven, Salad & another vegetable
Wednesday - Dinner at Grandparents
Thursday - Hot Dogs (Bunless for Olivia & me)
Breakfast: During the work week I cook scrambled eggs & breakfast sausage. On weekends I will fry the eggs, make bacon and sometimes paleo pancakes. This weekend I will make either a Paleo Breakfast Casserole or Mexican Omelet-both are new recipes I found online.
Fruit - Each afternoon when I pick up the kids we have another 20 minute commute until we are home. They are always hungry. I have bought some little containers. I will cut up fresh fruit for them to eat each day on the way home. One day they'll have apples & grapes, then maybe a banana the next day and then finally strawberries. Then we'll repeat. I'm going to try to get Tyler involved in the process each night of preparing the fruit for the next day. Wish me Luck!
I'm excited about this week's menu!!
Chili - I'm going to make a big pot of crock pot chili. At work this week there was a chili cook-off and I missed it because it was during my workout!! The smells of chili in the office makes me crave chili. The chili will be my lunch next week. I plan to eat it with avocado, jalapenos and onions. I'll probably take a break from chili one day and pick up a grilled chicken salad from a restaurant.
I usually buy groceries on Friday so I'll start with Friday dinner. I'm just outlining our dinners below. We usually make enough for leftovers so we will eat those for lunch on the weekends. As for lunch during the week Tyler & Olivia eat at school and Dad eats lunch out.
Dinner:
Friday - Hamburgers. Bunless for Olivia and me-Grilled patty served on lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes & cheese. Dad & Tyler will probably eat the bun.
Saturday - Grilled Sirloin Steak & Squash pan fried in olive oil & Green Beans
Sunday - Grilled Fish & Broccoli (The kids and Dad will have oven baked fries too.)
Monday - Taco Salads
Tuesday - Chicken Fajita meat cooked in my NuWave Oven, Salad & another vegetable
Wednesday - Dinner at Grandparents
Thursday - Hot Dogs (Bunless for Olivia & me)
Breakfast: During the work week I cook scrambled eggs & breakfast sausage. On weekends I will fry the eggs, make bacon and sometimes paleo pancakes. This weekend I will make either a Paleo Breakfast Casserole or Mexican Omelet-both are new recipes I found online.
Fruit - Each afternoon when I pick up the kids we have another 20 minute commute until we are home. They are always hungry. I have bought some little containers. I will cut up fresh fruit for them to eat each day on the way home. One day they'll have apples & grapes, then maybe a banana the next day and then finally strawberries. Then we'll repeat. I'm going to try to get Tyler involved in the process each night of preparing the fruit for the next day. Wish me Luck!
I'm excited about this week's menu!!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Fried Squash
Dad grilled some pork sirloins last night and we needed a side dish. I had some squash but wanted something different than my usual method of fixing squash (which is roasting it in the oven.) Growing up my Mom always battered squash in flour dipped in egg and fried it in shortening or vegetable oil. So I decided to Paleo-tize that recipe.
Fried Squash
2 squash - sliced
1 egg
Almond Milk
Coconut Flour
Almond Flour
Coconut Oil
I beat my egg and mixed it with a little almond milk in a bowl for my wet mix. Then in a separate bowl I mixed half coconut flour and half almond flour for my dry mix. I heated some coconut oil in a skillet (just enough to cover the bottom). I dipped my sliced squash in the wet mix, then dipped in dry mix and fried in the pan. I flipped the squash after the first side had browned. I had to wash my pan and start with fresh oil for each new batch-2 squash took me 3 batches to fry. It was so yummy!
Fried Squash
2 squash - sliced
1 egg
Almond Milk
Coconut Flour
Almond Flour
Coconut Oil
I beat my egg and mixed it with a little almond milk in a bowl for my wet mix. Then in a separate bowl I mixed half coconut flour and half almond flour for my dry mix. I heated some coconut oil in a skillet (just enough to cover the bottom). I dipped my sliced squash in the wet mix, then dipped in dry mix and fried in the pan. I flipped the squash after the first side had browned. I had to wash my pan and start with fresh oil for each new batch-2 squash took me 3 batches to fry. It was so yummy!
Here's a pic after we ate half of it!
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