Getting My Veggies!

One thing I have found that I sometimes have difficulty doing is getting my veggies.  I really do not know why that is.  I actually like most vegetables so theoretically it should be fairly simple to to get the 4 servings of vegetables (according to www.health.com) that active women should get each day.  It isn't.  I'm not really a girl who digs salads.  Well, let me retract that.  I prefer my salads to be slathered in dressing, and not the healthy kind (Blue Cheese is my absolute favorite!).  So, since that isn't exactly the healthy way to eat salads, I just don't eat them.  That leaves me with a problem in getting my veggies then, doesn't it?

That is one of the reasons I eat smoothies the way I do.  I can throw 1-2 cups of kale in the blender and get some veggies that way, then I don't feel bad about not eating salads.  I throw veggies like zucchini and squash in with my eggs which I love.  I try and sneak them in any thing I can so I make sure I am getting them.

I also love noodles.  Unfortunately noodles aren't exactly low in calories even though my new favorite kind, Ronzoni, is much lower!  So, a while ago, I tried something at the suggestion of the Hungry Girl called Tofu Noodles.  If you know me at all you know that I am NOT a tofu girl.  I am a meat and potatoes girl.  But, she talked about them so highly I thought I would give them a try.  UGH!  Yeah, they were GROSS!!!!  Yuck.  I have kept my eye out for another idea for noodles.  I heard about spaghetti squash which I tried with fantastic results.  Seriously, if you haven't tried spaghetti squash, run to to the store and get some!!

In my daily perusal of Pinterest, I found that Hungry Girl had suggested using Broccoli Slaw instead of noodles.  Now, I like slaw, I like broccoli, and I like noodles.  But, this seemed a little crazy.  I'm willing to try new things though, so I bought a bag.  I gave THIS recipe a try.  Oh My Goodness.  It was very good.  Now, realize up front, you are not eating noodles here.  They are still a little crunchy, but I put some home made pasta sauce (thank you Aunt Terri!) on them and a little Parmesan Cheese and it was really very good and very filling.  I will most definitely give this another try!  It was only about 170 calories for the entire bowl!  AND it gave me 2 cups of vegetables (that does not include the veggies in the pasta sauce either!) for my lunch.  Personally, I think it was WAY better than a salad!!

Let me know if you give it a try, I would love to know what you think!!

Faith. Courage. Strength. Change.

Challenge!!

I do a lot of skulking around Pinterest and have lots of different boards, but one of my favorites to go back through and look at is my "A Shape Other Than Round" Board.  I have SO many workouts saved on there that it is great just for inspiration if nothing else.   Some of the workouts that I have pinned on there are 30 day challenges to increase the number of push ups or squats or other exercises that you can do.  I have tried to do these type of things before and sometimes I have worked my way through them.  I have obviously been working hard.  But, I really like to keep things mixed up and exciting so I do not get bored.  Also, the dreaded swimsuit season is right around the corner (the horror!).  So, the other day I decided that I was going to kick it up just a notch and put in some extra work.  I also thought this would be a great chance to hit my 50 push ups and 5 minute plank goal that I set at the beginning of this journey.  I looked through all of these different challenges and put together one that would be difficult, but doable.  It includes different movements to help build strength.  I plan on doing these exercises as an INCREASE to things I am already doing.  They will not take the place of my current plan, but will add to it.

I put it out on Facebook that I was doing this and asked if anyone wanted to join me.  I was OVERWHELMED by the response.  There are so many friends that want to join me on this journey and either bump up their hard work or to get themselves motivated.  I LOVE IT!!!  It is so exciting to be a part of this with these amazing people.  I even made a FB group and invited them all.  I had people posting to me first thing this morning that they had already completed their Day 1 workout!

I finished my Day 1 workout this morning after a KILLER rowing class and then a vicious spinning class.  I was pretty much wiped by the time I was done, but I was really excited because I was able to do the 5 push ups on my toes!  Woo Hoo!  If you want to take part, please let me know and I will clue you in.  This was today's workout:

50 Squats
5 Push ups
20 Second Plank
20 Second Wall Sit
5 Sit ups
25 Crunches

Think you are up for it?  Of course you are!!

So, the killer rowing class and vicious spinning class that I just mentioned were just that.  Killer and vicious.  In rowing class, we did some different things than we have been doing.  We did some new races which were fun and fast.  I was pulling 100 meters in 19 seconds.  I pulled 150 meters in about 30 seconds.  That is pulling pretty fast.  Our instructor said we weren't going to do a 500 split race.  After the class, we all stretched and cooled down.  Apparently though, we all got hit with the idiot stick and decided that we needed to do a 500 split race on our own.  So, we did.  I didn't pull as quickly on it as I have been, but I was still under 2 minutes which I am happy with.  Then I went to spinning and I don't know if it was because of the rough rowing class or if spinning was just exceptionally difficult today, but about 20 minutes in I hit the dreaded WALL.  I truly thought there was no way my legs would turn any more.  I thought about stopping and being done.  Thankfully, I was working with an AWESOME instructor and she is so motivating.  I knew there was no way she would let me quit.  She was encouraging and helped me keep my head in the game.  I busted through the wall and even set a new high for myself at 150 rpms!  I have NEVER done that.  I was pretty excited!  I just kept going.

The biggest thing that I did was this: I prayed that the Lord would help me bust through and stick it out. I continued to pray though out the rest of the Spin class to finish strong.   Some people may be thinking that these are silly things to be praying about and that God has better things to do than help me get through a class at the gym. I say that God loves me and He put me on this path and journey.  He knows me and He supports me.  He LOVES watching me succeed and He is there for me when I need Him (and even when I don't know that I do!).  It is because of God that I am where I am and I will gratefully take HIS support in EVERYTHING I do.  I hope that you will too.  If you are struggling in anything you are doing, then I suggest talking with Him.  He will show you what you need to do and where you need to go.  He will be with you, all you have to do is ask!

Have a wonderful day!

Faith. Courage. Strength. Change.
(I think this is going to be my new motto.  What do you think?)

Re-do!

I much prefer to workout in T-shirts instead of the cute little fitted spandex shirts that a lot of women wear.  But, sometimes T-shirts are less than cute looking.  I'm also cheap, so I'm always on the lookout for super inexpensive T-shirts (if they are Nerdy, all the better!).  Right after St. Patrick's Day, I found 3 different shirts at Walmart for a buck each.  They were all XXL and XXXL size (and since now those are too big for me!), but I figured for a buck, I could do something with them.  So, I checked out PINTEREST and then I took scissors to them and am SO excited about the result.  I have 3 awesome workout tanks to wear to the gym that don't sit insanely tight on me.  They are all green and about beer or the Irish, but they are CUTE!  I also had a great Marvel Comic T-shirt that had a hole in the sleeve and since I didn't feel like busting out the sewing machine, I took scissors to it too.  If I can figure out somehow to get pics in them, I will post them for you.  But, until then, I did something similar to these:

Tied Side Tank

Criss Cross Back (but I didn't cut all the way up the back.  Only about half way down worked for me, I didn't want an open back since I will be at the gym!)

The other two are really just T's cut into tanks.  Nothing really special, but they look very cute!

Now, if I could just figure out how to post links with the pictures that they are with, we would be in good shape.  Again, I will try and get pics of what I did though, because they are darling!

I might be a little obsessed with re-purposing clothes though.  So, if you have any T's you are wanting to get rid of, feel free to send them my way!!

Blessings!

Food Ogre

Nachos dripping with melted cheese.  Cookies with huge chocolate chunks.  A gigantic sundae with all of the fixin's.  A big juicy cheeseburger with a double dose of bacon.

Now that you are drooling, I will tell you that so am I.  In the past 3 hours, I have had a craving for each one of these decadent and calorie busting items.  I am not hungry.  I am craving.  I told myself that I didn't need them.  I tried tricking my brain with something healthy, but sweet.  It isn't helping.  Some part of my brain wants the junk.

Luckily, I don't really have any of this in the house or I probably would have caved about an hour in.  These times are so difficult for me.  I know that I don't need them.  My body doesn't need these things. But that part of my brain thinks it does.  I am struggling today.  It is almost painful.

I'm trying to keep motivated.  I read through my affirmation board on Pinterest (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made).  I prayed that God would take these cravings from me.  I'm writing on here just to keep myself busy and out of the kitchen.  My next thing is to update my planner and then do some serious knitting.  I'm really hoping that I can just outlast the cravings.  Today is my off day from the gym or I would be packing the kids up and heading in.  I am going to try some crunches though just to get moving and maybe shake the dang things off.

I would love to keep everything on my blog positive and upbeat, but real life just isn't like that.  And if nothing else, I always want to be real on here; even if it isn't pretty.  I know this journey I am on will have ups and downs and this is just a down.  But, it is difficult.  It would be so much easier to just give in.  It would be so much easier just to quit.  I know it isn't easier though.  Every single time I have looked in the mirror and cried, I know it isn't easier just to give in.  I will beat this.  Lord, please help me beat this.

Cheeseburger In Paradise

I really like to experiment in the kitchen.  With 3 kiddos, I try not to do anything too crazy, but I do like to have fun and see if I can come up with something new.  Yesterday I saw a recipe on Pinterest (Oh, Pinterest, what did we waste time on before you came along?) that sounded good.  The problem was that I didn't have the sausage the recipe called for.  I did have some Ground Chuck though and thought I could adapt it.

You can find the original Pinterest link for Sausage Brownies HERE. The original recipe link is HERE.

This is what I did instead!

Bacon Cheeseburger Squares

2 tubes crescent rolls

1 lb. ground chuck (that is what I used, you could use any ground meat)

1 onion, diced

1 8oz. pkg cream cheese

1 pkg. REAL bacon pieces

2 c. shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out one tube of crescent rolls in the bottom and up 1/2" on the sides of an UNGREASED 9x13 pan.

Brown your hamburger and onion in a pan and drain very well.

In same pan, melt the block of cream cheese on low.  Add meat/onion mixture to cream cheese and mix.  Spoon meat mixture over crescent rolls.  Sprinkle with bacon pieces and then top with the shredded cheese.  Unroll 2nd tube of crescent rolls and place on top of cheese, trying to seal the perforations in the dough, but don't worry about it being perfect.

Bake for 22-24 minutes.

They were really great!  The kids ate it up like crazy!  I think there are definitely ways to improve on what I did and next time I think I will try some A1 Sauce in the meat mixture for a little extra something.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Happy Cooking!!

Blessings,

Theresa