Seeds of Change

The last time I fell off the face of the earth it was because I was hiding – ashamed of my non-exercise and terrible eating habits. But this time, this time my excuse is actually a healthy one. I think anyway.
I’ve become, in the past month or so, a healthy-eating, exercise- lovin’ fool! My hiatus from the blog-o-sphere has not changed that. I’ve had this massive revelation injected into my brain and now it’s trickling down to my stomach and my legs. It’s like I can’t get enough of exercising and healthy foods.

The time change is probably the biggest factor for my not blogging. I had been running in the morning, but due to the sun not getting out of bed until about 7 a.m., I am stuck running in the evening. Also, my yoga instructor was in a car accident, so there haven’t been any good classes in the morning. But on the plus side, my hubby is running with me more and I finally got to try Zumba. I heart Zumba!
I am just trying to figure out how to juggle this new schedule, which has included eating dinner as late as 8 p.m. on some nights. And somehow, I’m ok with a late dinner. My life used to be based on my food schedule. Now, if I’m hungry, I just wait to eat.

What has changed?

I am trying to figure out this new enthusiasm. I feel like if I don’t figure it out it’s going to slip away from my grasp.

Anyway, despite my lack of presence, I do intend to continue my blog. I have a couple ideas for blog updates that may make my life easier. We shall see.

What have you all been up to lately?

So far. So good!

A quick post to say that so far I have kept up with my training, and I even talked my mom into running the 5k with me!

Training started out on Saturday with about 6 minutes of running and 14 minutes of walking. Sunday I did 12 minutes running and 28 minutes walking. Both of those days I just went out and ran to see what I could do. Monday I lifted weights for 40 minutes. Tuesday I ran for 10 and walked for 30. And finally today I lifted weights for 20 minutes and then rode the stationary bike for about 22 minutes.

My plan was to do yoga on my off days, but my yoga instructor got into a car accident so class has been canceled. :( I am really missing yoga.

I have been pretty tired this week and haven't felt much like getting on the computer to blog. I did a trial and error of a new recipe and I hope to share that in the next couple of days.

Question: Have you ever ran a 5k?

Blessings,

Shawnee

When all else fails, sign up for a 5k

So after my last pathetic pity-party of a post, things are looking up in the health and wellness department. The change of heart went something like this:

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning. I didn't get out of bed and rush to yoga like in weeks past. Instead I lay there, and like a 7 year old who had been scolded for her wrong doing, I thought about what I had done.

I thought about my poor eating habits for the past week and my failure to comply to the exercise gods. I came up with two solutions...

1.) A mini-morning fast

2.) Sign up for a 5k

As I sipped on my detoxifying lemon juice that morning, I browsed the web for upcoming 5ks. I didn't want one too soon, or too far out. I discovered the Earth Day run on April 24th. After thinking about it for an hour or two, I pulled out the credit card, paid, and officially registered.

That's right, I'm running a 5k.

Either the 5 hour fast provided me with mental clarity or it completely clouded my brain with a nasty crust of craziness.

I have seven weeks to train. Today is day one. I am going to take up the Lord on his beautiful sunny day and punish myself and push myself and see how far I can run without stopping.

I'll be starting with week 3 of the Couch to 5k running plan, as I can already run for about 5 minutes at a time. My exercise schedule will look like this: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 1 hour of yoga and strength training; Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, run!

I'll keep you updated with times, distances, triumphs and failures. Wish me luck.

Have an awesome rest of the weekend!

Shawnee

P.S. The picture is from Courier-journal.com.

Ode to Exercise in the key of E minor

Every time I start to write my “Ode to Exercise,” which I promised last week (or was it two weeks ago?), it starts out as a history of my exercising patterns. Blech. Who wants to read that?

Instead I decided to do a quick in-a-nutshell recap of exercising then, in between and now…

As a kid: Hated it.

As a teen: Obsessed about it.

As a college student: What is exercise again?

And now…

I don’t know what it is. Some way, some how, I’ve been exercising for nearly a month. I joined a fabulous gym that has group exercise classes, exercise equipment, programs for kids, a water slide, a lazy pool and a lap pool. The best part is membership is only $25 per month. I KNOW, RIGHT?

Miraculously, I’ve been working out 4-5 times a week. A month ago I only averaged 1-2 times per week, if that. Now, almost every morning, I roll myself out of bed, throw on some clothes and partake in the amazingness that is yoga and Pilates. And for variety and cardio I throw in a little walking with the hubby, elliptical and cycling machines.

Wow! I impress myself.

So I am trying to figure out what’s changed? I think my success in all of this is…

1.) Knowing I am paying for it.

2.) The fear of having my coworkers ask if I worked out this morning.

3.) Grace.

Grace should really be #1 on that list. Probably twice a week I wake up and just don’t go or I sleep in. Only once have I felt like a huge failure. Otherwise, I give myself a pep talk which goes something like, “Okay Shawnee, you’re doing awesome. So you’re tired. You’ve already worked out 2 times this week and there are still 4 days left after this. You are doing this for you and you alone.”

I know soon I will have to kick it up a notch, adding in more strength training and cardio, but for now...wow. Did I say that already?

Questions: How many times a week do you work out? How many times would you like to work out?

Tomorrow I hope to post my thoughts on portion sizes and nutrition.

Blessings,

Shawnee

P.S. The picture is from www.prevention.com.

P.P.S If you didn't see my new recipe from Wednesday, check it out.

P.P.P.S Check out Dancia Daily's amazing giveaway!

Something Clever

I have exactly 20 minutes to write something clever.

This Friday at approximately 11 a.m. our house became a shiny beacon of hope -- A door opening wide into an old world made new. It's a fast paced land where information is magically accessed using only my finger tips and the help of my trusty sidekick, Mouse. That's right! The world-wide-web.

Even with the Internet freshly installed at my home, I failed to make a post. :( I did have hopeful intentions, however. I created a new recipe, my take on Carbonara. I planned to share said recipe with you, but I fear my cord for my cell phone has made itself scarce, probably hiding in a box somewhere.

I also want to share with you all my new found passion for exercise. Yes that's right, I the Ex-Perfectionist, have committed to exercising regularly. And, I've kept it up for more than a couple days.

So in the next few days to come, be prepared for a Shawnee Creation (new recipe), an ode to exercise, and hopefully a review of a really great book.

Many Blessings all,

Shawnee

P.S. Did you have President's Day off and what did you do?

P.P.S Thank's Alli for the Starbursts.

Get off your butt and eat some Stewi

You'll have to read the whole blog to get the title...sorry. LOL

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I am so excited to see my family and eat good food. Josh and I may just be buying a flat-screen tomorrow too. We decided the deals on Black Friday for the tvs are really not that good. *shrugs*

I didn't photo-document everything I ate yesterday, but here's the gist of it...

Breakfast: Medium caramel latte with nonfat milk, an apple and an orange.

Lunch: 1 cup steamed rice and steamed veggies with a little teriyaki-ginger sauce.

snack: 2 pineapple spears and 1 serving of blue diamond almonds

Dinner: (see below)
I had one whole wheat La Tortarilla Factoria tortilla with cheese, salsa and a chopped up veggie burger and a side of sour cream.

Evening snack: I was still hungry so I ate 2 WASA crackers with cream cheese and chicken broth.

Today...

Breakfast:
Pumpkin pancakes! That's right. You heard me. This recipe was deliciouso and oh so filling. I switched out the white flour for whole wheat. White flour burns off too much. I topped them with peaches, a few walnuts and light syrup!
Thanks Martha Stewart for the recipe. :) Click here to give it a try.

Lunch: 1 whole wheat Thomas English Muffin with cream cheese, salsa and cheddar cheese, lightly melted. YUMO! This temporarily satisfied my salty-starch craving.
Dinner: I shall call it Chili Stew. I tried to come up with something more clever, but the alternatives were Stile or Chew or maybe even Chew-e. LOL Yeah this is one of my odd ball creations.
I threw into the pot:

• left over frozen bean soup (1 cup or so)
• left over frozen sloppy joes (1 cup or so) Made with 7% fat beef
• 3/4 cup green beans
• 1 small can of portabella mushrooms
• 1/4 cup or less of corn
• 1/4 cup of salsa
• a dash of chili powder and garlic powder

This creation came out surprisingly really well. It tasted really close to chili, but added the big chunks of veggies like I like in stew. I ate this with a flour tortilla on the side (I ran out of La Tortarilla tortillas)

Get Off Your Butt: My revelation:

If you're one of my regular blog readers (I think I have 2), you may have found my goals, hopes, aspirations and the outcomes of them to be rather flakey. I agree. It seems like I can't stick to anything. I can't.

*sighs* I googled "How to get motivated." I periotically browse the internet for solutions to my life's problems. I found an article titled: "Get Off Your butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You're in a Slump."

I am really lazy. I see patterns of behavior starting to emerge from myself that are a mirror image of my father. He's a "when I get around to it" type of guy. Getting around to it rarely comes often. I can't live my life like that.

Anyway, the author of the article discussed how people who set goals for themselves set too many at one time. That was the biggest thing that stuck out to me. I listed out all of the changes I would like to see happen in my life. There are 8 daily habits that I have been working on impleminting in my life:

• Wake up earlier (at 5:30 a.m.)
• Spend quiet time with God (at least 10 min daily)
• Clean daily
• Exercise daily (1 hour)
• Cook dinner and prepare lunch daily
• Cut calories down to 1300
• Incorporate yoga (at least 10 minutes daily)
• Write my book (1 hour daily)

Each one of these daily habits should individually be goals. The author of the article talks about taking each goal one day and week at a time and breaking them down into obtainable goals.

For example waking up earlier: I'll start with 6:10 a.m and then each week I'll set the alarm back 10 minutes until I am at 5:30 a.m.

The thing is I can only work on one goal at a time. I broke down each of these goals week by week and getting through this would take me until July. But I am excited about it.

The big picture goals in my life are: lose weight, write a book, travel and start a family. I think that if I start working on these goals, I'll get there. I'll still be exercising and cleaning, but my focus for the first five weeks will be waking early, so I have some more time to do those things. If I lose weight in the process, awesome! If not, that's ok too. I want more than anything to be healthy and happy. I think this is a way to achieve it. I am going to give it a try. I'll start waking up at 6:10 on Monday morning. Until then I am going to work on waking up at 6:30 a.m.

Right now, I am going to have some dessert: vanilla yogurt and granola.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Peaches and Cream: Is there a better way to start my day?

Good morning!

I finally feel like I have a little direction at my new job. It's always intimidating starting a new job and learning how things work. This position is kind of scary in that I'm dealing with people's lives. Well, their education anyway.

I'm in charge of recruiting, informing, and getting prospective adults enrolled in our Family Studies degree completion program. For many of the adults, this is their last chance to finish the degree they've put off for 20 years (or whatever), or it's their chance to get involved in ministry or counseling and help people who've struggled with the same problems the prospective student has struggled with; problems such as drugs and alcohol, or physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Anyway, I am the one who has to make sure these adults are on track with their incoming (or transferring) credits, I have to make sure they complete all the steps necessary to be accepted, and as of right now I, along with my director, am the acceptance committee.

It's a huge job, with tons of stuff to learn. I've felt like I've had stuff just kind of thrown at me in terms of paper work and responding to students. In the midst of all that paper work, I've also had students "walk in." In these cases I have to drop what I'm doing and go over the program with them. Of course, for now I have another coworker in there with me.

Ok, that's more than you ever wanted to know about what I do. LOL sorry. I just think I needed to write that to see who important my job is! :)

Anyway, on to eats...

Peaches and Cream!

Ingredients:

• One whole peach, sliced into sections
• 1 serving of organic Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup of oats
• 2 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of butter (or I used Smart Balance Light)
• A sprinkle of Cinnamon

First melt the butter on medium heat in a non stick frying pan. Place the peaches in the pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over the top. Let the peaches saute for a few moments. Next sprinkle the oats over the top of the peaches. Stir frequently, but be careful. Peaches are delicate. It's done when the oats are soft. Place most of the yogurt in a bowl, place the peach/oat mixture on to top, place the rest or (a dollop) of the yogurt on top of the peaches, and sprinkle with a tiny amount of Cinnamon.

If I had to have a favorite way of eating oatmeal, this would be it! This was the perfect breakfast, with the right balance of carbs, bulk to fill me up after my morning run.

The rest of my eats:

You might be able to click that and make it large, if you want to see what I'm eating. :P Sorry for the bad handwriting.

Anyway, I was so full after lunch. My coworkers and I ate at this little restaurant in Salem, OR called Rolling Bagels. SO GOOD. They had a salad bar, a soup bar (with about 7 varieties of soup), sandwiches and fresh bagels. I highly recommend this place.

I ate a little too much. I also had a strawberry cobbler, as it was my director's b-day and well...I was away from my desk making copies and a piece of it was already dished up and on my desk. So I ate it. It was amazing too.

I balanced the big bulky lunch with steamed veggies and rice for dinner. :)

Exercise:

I was only able to run for 17 minutes and walk for 13. I'm not quite up to my 20 minute jog like I was hoping to be.

Weekend plans:

Tomorrow I am going to Portland to makeover/organize my friend's dorm room for her b-day. My friend Britt and I have some tricks up our sleeves to make her tiny space more livable. Plus, we're sending her away to enjoy a day to herself while we clean.

I plan on blogging about my weekend on Sunday!

Have a fabulous weekend all.

--Shawnee

Look who's back, back again

..Shawnee's back. Tell a friend. (Wicky Wick Slim Shawnee) HAHAHA. Sorry you may be too old, or too young to get that reference. ;)

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am on my lunch break at work, so I'm going to make this super fast. :)

Last week: I fell off the face of the earth by choice last week. I just woke up and decided, I'm going to take the day off from blogging. Though, I fully intended on blogging on Sunday. Anyway...

Thursday Night's Dinner: Lemon/Citrus Chicken

I borrowed a cook book from Brittany that has nothing but fabulous crock pot meals in it. I tried the Lemon Citrus Chicken one.

I would give you the recipe, but I'm not sure on copy right laws and such. But basically this was a whole lemon, orange juice and honey. I also threw in some carrots and a yam on top.

The flavor was really mild, but absolutely fantastic.

I ended up soaking a piece of french bread in the juices. YUM!

Saturday's Dinner: Deceptively Delicious Chicken Quesadillas and Brownies

Here is the deal, my husband despises beans of any sort. With these quesadillas I was able to hide white beans in with the sour cream mix. He had no idea he ate beans. He may have induced vomiting had I told him. ;) Also, this sneaky recipe hides butternut squash puree in with the cheese.

The husband's verdict? Well he said he would have preferred just chicken and cheese and had the sour cream on the side. I don't think I could have gotten away with just the cheese/butternut squash mixture. He may have been able to tell.

Anyway, I think I will make these again, but put the sour cream on the side for him. :) At least he'll get in some beans.

Are there green specks in your brownies? Why yes, yes there are. In fact, my husband stuck his face about three inches away to inspect this mixture. All he said was, "That's brownie batter?" And then walked away. LOL But what he doesn't know is that I hid spinach and carrots in the batter. MUAHAHAHAHA

Thankfully you can't see the green specks once cooked.

He told me I was zero for two. Meaning, he wasn't excited about either the quesadillas or the brownies. I didn't really like the brownies at first, but with a little powdered sugar over the top, they're pretty darn delicious.

I think my husband didn't like the fact that they weren't very sweet. The recipe called for only a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Most brownies call for regular sugar, and a lot more of it. I liked them though, they had a dark chocolate taste to them and they're really moist and fluffy!

Check out http://deceptivelydelicious.com/ for more information on Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook.

My weekend at a glance...

Here are some of my highlights for the weekend:

• Watched "The Soloist" (Great film)
• Watched "Knowing" (Ok-cheesy ending though)
• Began watching season 1 of Heros (L-O-V-E IT! Yes, I'm a nerd at heart)
• Cleaned the whole house (8 man hours between Josh and I)
• Hiked all of Silver Creek Falls (8 miles)
• Planned all of my meals for the week

I don't normally watch that many movies or TV in a weekend, but I was so exhausted from my first week of work that I just wanted to relax. It really felt good.

I started food journaling again!

That's yesterday's journal. :) I didn't exercise 'cause my legs were still sore from the hike on Sunday, but I did exercise this morning. I plan on pushing up my jog time to 20 minutes on Thursday.

I'm gonna run. I'll post tomorrow morning. :)

Have a great weekend all!

--Shawnee

The way snacks were meant to be

Quick post this morning. I don't really have anything exciting to share with you in terms of creative or exciting meals.

I thought I would take a picture of my lunch for today, which I packed last night.
My lunch looks really large, but its actually about 4 small meals or snacks. For my first snack I'll have the Oikos with blueberries and granola. For my actual lunch I have 3 of my enchiladas (in the smaller Tupperware container) and two wee oranges. Third lunch includes carrot sticks, cucumber slices and 1 tbsp of almond butter. Meal number four includes watermelon and a small slice of cheese.

The method behind my lunch madness? Well, I was reading an article in Real Simple magazine that talked about snacks and what they should include to keep you full and energized throughout the day. Basically your snacks should have bulk, protein, and a carb.

Thus, each of my snacks/meals have bulk with the fruits and veggies, which are also my carbs in most cases, and protein. I have protein in the yogurt, the beans/turkey in the enchiladas, a slice of cheese, and almond butter.

Of course we've all heard that we should eat smaller meals throughout the day. I fully agree. Smaller meals will keep you satisfied longer.

Anyway, my in-service day went well yesterday. There was a whole lot of talking going on, but being a Christian work environment, I kind of enjoyed some of it.

All three meals were included. For breakfast I had eggs, hash browns and a large serving of fruit. For lunch I ate a salad and splurged on the blue cheese dressing. :) I also had a half sandwich with turkey and pepper jack cheese. Oh and I also had a cookie which I should not have eaten, 'cause it kind of pushed my full-o-meter over the top. For dinner I had a salad, a small chicken breast, a small scoop of potato salad, and a dinner role.

I think throughout the rest of the day I ate a banana, a plumb, two starbursts, grapes and a slice of smoked Gouda.

I did not exercise yesterday. My excuse was that I had to leave for work at 7:30 a.m. and I didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. I was really tired, but I should have still forced myself to at least walk for a few minutes.

I'm now off to run and shower. Today is day 3 of my new job. Wish me luck. :)

Blessings to all,
--Shawnee

I've fallen off the wagon

If you're looking for the "Deceptively Delicious" Cookbook giveaway, click here.

*hangs head in shame and can't bare to meet your eyes*

I haven't exercised for 3 days and I've lost track of all I've eaten. Bad Shawnee! Here are my excuses. Keep in mind they are just excuses and I know I am entirely at fault for not exercising and not eating clean...
I had a semi stressful event take place on Monday, and knowing that it was coming, I had massive anxiety about it all weekend. On top of that aunt Flo is coming to visit and we all know how much of a pain in the you-know-what she can be.

Like I said, I know that all of these things are just excuses. I should have nipped my naughty behavor in the butt and got off the couch and exercised. I also should not have given into my salt cravings. :(

But instead of dwell on my misfortunes, I can rejoice in some of the good choices I made:

• While I did eat one of my husbands corn dogs for a meal, I only ate one!
• Even though I had a massive craving for Subway, at least I wasn't craving Burger King. I had a 6 inch sub.
• I spent a couple hours cleaning my house.
• Even though my husband came home from his trip yesterday, and I ate fast food twice, *screams* I made good choices for those as well (or better choices at least). I had a McDonalds' Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad (only about 450 calories, with lots of veggies). I also had an Arby's French Dip, with no fries.

Anyway, instead of just sitting and moping about this weekend, I'm going to get right back on that wagon and ride baby ride! I'm going to write down my food intake today, and enter it on SparkPeople. I'm also going to exercise when I get off work.

I can do this, and I will do this! I am not going to let little Mrs. Perfectionist get in my way and tell me that I've screwed up this weekend, so there's no way I can achieve my goal.

One interesting eat in the midst of all this chaos:

My very own Mexican Pizza!

Like I said above, I was having these massive salt cravings, so I really wanted something salty the other day.

I try to always have some homemade pizza crusts on hand (see my July 19 post for a link to the recipe), and I had a bunch of Mexican type toppings left over from when I made my Quesadillas and Mexicana Hummus. Here is what I came up with:

• For the sauce, 2 tbspn hummus, 2 tbspn cream cheese, 1 tbsp salsa.
• Black beans
• Chopped Belle Pepper
• More salsa!

It was the best pizza I've had in a long time, period! ;)

Well, my goal for tomorrow is to wake up early and post. Tonight is Scrappy Tuesday. :) Hope you all have a great one.

-- Shawnee

P.S. I had every intention of making those Spinach brownies, until I realized they also call for carrot puree! I am out of carrots, so maybe I'll get some tonight (or tomorrow??)

P.P.S Not that anyone would notice, but I accidentally deleted my links at the top of my page, under my header. I hope to get those back up in the next couple of days.

Bakin' Fool -- Day 5

Uh get your bake on. Uh get your bake on.

Yesterday, I baked whole wheat bread and whole wheat tortillas (to die for) for myself, and I made white bread for the husband.

I discovered the recipe for the whole wheat tortillas at House of Annie's blog. It is so easy and ... mmm mouth watering.

The bread recipe, of course is from a bread machine book.

I just love making homemade bread products. It's really relaxing. And so much healthier too. I know every single ingredient in my bread and tortillas. Plus, the tortillas are only about 100 calories each!


Tortilla and Black Bean Veggie Burger

This meal idea came to me when I realized I didn't have much in the fridge for lunch. I did however have one of my trusty homemade black bean burgers left in the freezer. I am going to have to make more. For the recipe, click here.

After deciding a black bean burger would be my meal of choice, I realized the bread would not be finished for another two hours or so. That's when I decided to make the tortillas.

In the process of rolling out each of the tortilla dough balls, I simply cut one in half and made two smaller tortillas. Almost perfectly the size of my burger.
I topped it with bbq sauce, lettuce and tomatoes. Very satisfying. But the tortillas were so good, I ended up having another one. :( Not good for my calories in.

Calories in/ Calories out

Calories consumed: 1750

Or more, I did a little mindless snacking, I tried to write it all down.

Calories burned: 235

16 minutes of jogging and 14 minutes of walking on the treadmill. I also did another SP (SparkPeople), this time 5 exercises for the abs. I feel it today.

I am starting to reevaluate my calories in/out. It seems as though what I am doing right now is not working. SparkPeople has me eating 1550 calories and burning 288 per day. I really need to stick to this.

21 Day New Habit Challenge -- Day 5

I completed all of my habits yesterday: wake up at 5:45 a.m., exercise for at least 30 minutes, and do the dishes.

As Tony Horton, creater of P90X, says, "Do your best, and forget the rest." Just remember to love yourself as you are, and where you are!

--Shawnee

Enchilada Burgers

Tonight I thought I would share with you all my little creation...Muahahaha.

I call this recipe: Enchilada Burgers.

This delicious dish is basically a black bean veggie burger, cheese, salsa, and enchilada sauce in a whole wheat bun. YUMO. Hey Kelly, I guess this is one of those recipes that could go in my book ;P. LOL. Though the veggie burger part is not my own.

Ingredients:

• Black Bean Veggie Burgers (see the recipe at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Black-Bean-Veggie-Burgers/Detail.aspx)
• Salsa
• Cheddar Cheese
• Whole Wheat Buns
• Enchilada Sauce

After you've made the veggie burgers, fry your veggie burger. I already had a batch on hand in the freezer. While the veggie burger cooks either make homemade enchilada sauce (which is what I did) or open a can of enchilada sauce and warm in the microwave.

After your veggie burger cooks, place the burger on the bottom half of the bun. Place the bottom half of the bun and the veggie burger back in the frying pan. Put a couple of spoonfuls of salsa directly on the burger. On top of the salsa place one serving of shredded or sliced cheddar cheese. Cover the frying pan and allow the cheese to melt.

Next, pour desired amount of enchilada sauce over the top of the bun, veggie burger, salsa and cheese. Place the top of the bun on the veggie burger. Cover the pan and allow the enchilada sauce to warm up. Serve with a little of the enchilada sauce on top of the bun.

OMGoodness this is one of the best recipes I have come up with thus far! LOL. Oh, eat with a fork! As you can see, I served mine with raw carrots, cucumbers and one celery stalk with a bit of peanut butter for desert.

Disneyland: 3 days left

Last night I went grocery shopping for my food for Disneyland.

I got a good assortment of healthy foods. I did get some fruit and veggies, they should last until then. Oh Safeway had a great deal on organic blueberries, buy one get one free, so I got two packs and put them in my freezer. They'll be good on my cereals.

For some of my main course meals, I bought Amy's Organic Raviolis, Amy's Bernie O's (Spaghetti Os), Organic Minestrone, and Amy Chang's Japanese Chicken and Noodles. I also bought all my sandwich and cereal stuff. :) It was expensive buying all this organic packaged stuff, but you can't put a price on health!

Exercise Woes

I did wake up and exercise this morning. I did 21 minutes on the Wii Fit. I am proud of myself for waking up early, but not so proud of myself cause I didn't exercise last nights. *hangs head low*

I am getting ready to publish this post, then I'm off to exercise. I really don't want to, but I don't want to be lazy. I also need to pack, do the dishes, and pick up a little more around the house.

Tomorrow, I hope to get back on track with posting my meals. It really helps with keeping myself accountable.

Blessings All,

Shawnee

P.S. I edited this post to add that tonight I jogged for 20 minutes and walked for 13!! Woohoo. That's a total of 54 minutes of exercise! :) I'm proud.

How Shawnee got her Groove back

I had every intention of posting the other night, but I fear the blogging bug fluttered away for a time. Not to mention my whole routine is shot. I need to find it again.

Speaking of routines, my cleaning and exercising routines are dissolving into a state of nothingness. Ever since having two weekend mini vacations in a row, I really lost my groove. My home isn't a complete disaster, but I haven't been picking up after myself every day.

As for exercising, I think that groove danced its way out of my life a long time ago. I've only been exercising about 3 times a week lately, and that's to do my Couch to 5k running program.

*sighs* How the heck did Stella get her groove back? I never saw the movie. Any suggestions for me?

Goals for the next 5 days

For the next 5 days, my goal is to get rid of any additional water weight I have gained in the last two weeks, so I can better fit into my shorts.

I didn't want to do another full-out detox, so I opted for eating some of the detoxing foods, while still enjoying life. :P

Everyday I will have organic cereal or oatmeal with fruit for breakfast. For lunch everyday I'll be having a Sweet Spinach Smoothie. For dinner I'll be having vegetarian meals, with one serving of grains/carbs. For example, tonight I'll probably have vegetarian spaghetti with steamed broccoli and carrots.

Another one of my goals is to exercise every day leading up to Disneyland. I am trying to wake up early every morning to do it. Today, all I did was 12 minutes on the Wii, but it's more than I usually do in the mornings! I still plan to do my couch to 5k workout this evening.

Also, I have a goal of getting back into my cleaning routine, even if just for this week.

Disney Dos and Don'ts (Goals)

My goal for my upcoming Disneyland trip is to eat healthy. I am going to assume that walking around the park every day for 8+ hours is going to be exercise enough.

I usually end up gaining a couple pounds on theme park vacations. The culprit? Food! Well this year, I have planned out all my meals according to what the teenagers (we're taking our youth group) will be eating.

For example the first day of driving, I will eat cereal and fruit for breakfast. For lunch I'll have an almond butter/honey sandwich with fruit and fresh veggies. For dinner, since they're all going to be having fast food, I am just going to stick to a salad. I'll also have a granola bar for a snack.

The teens will be eating some sort of sugary cereal everyday for breakfast. So I will be having either have organic cereal or an organic pop tart, with fruit and soy milk. The teens will also be eating sandwiches every day for lunch (and sometimes dinner too). Since I am not supposed to eat lunch meat, I'll be rotating between Amy's canned raviolis, organic soup, almond butter sandwiches and tuna fish sandwiches.

One night for dinner, the kids will be eating pizza, and I'll be having a vegetarian personal pizza with no cheese. Other nights we'll be doing Subway or eating in the park. Those days I will go ahead and have a 6 inch sub and/or a chicken sandwich/salad in the park.

You should see my food schedule. It's planned out to the very last meal. I still need to go grocery shopping. :/

Tonight's Blog

Tonight I plan on sharing a couple recipes I tried/created this past week.

Have a good day everyone!

My Weight Loss Novel

I am hanging out at work for a few extra minutes, so I can do a quick post. My husband canceled our internet, and we’re probably going to wait until after we get back from Disneyland to get a new service provider.

GUESS WHAT?

I have not went up on the scale, in fact I am down to 169.4! That’s .4 less than I last weighed in. This is so encouraging for me. It’s seems like every time I have lost weight in the last couple months, it just comes back on in the next day or so.

My Weight Loss Story:

I thought I would take a little time to share my Weight Loss/Gain story with you. In 10th grade I was living at my heaviest : 189 lbs. I hated being thick. People called me names, made fun of me…you name it. I was definitely a victim of bullying.

At that point in my high school career, I decided to lose weight. My extra baggage slowly came off. By the end of my Junior year I lost about 19 or 20 pounds. At that point I had a boyfriend. Some things happened over the summer, while my boyfriend was visiting his dad in California. Because of those events I decided I was going to lose even more weight during the last month of my summer vacation. I was determined to look hot for my senior pictures and for my boyfriend.
I lost 30 pounds in a month and a half. I could fit into a size 7 jeans, sometimes a 5. Everyone thought I was hot. I joined the swim team, and swam about 3 to 5 miles a day. Because of that I could eat whatever I wanted. It was glorious!

College comes around, I break up with my boyfriend, go on a missions trip to Mexico, date a new guy (now my hubby) and the weight slowly starts to come back on. My husband is a fast food junkie, and while I am not completely blaming this one him. He didn’t help! LOL. By the Thanksgiving of our first year of marriage, I had but on 25 pounds. I was 20 years old at this point, so this would be 4 years after I lost all the weight.

For the last five years I have been fluctuating between 150 and 175 pounds. I am really disgusted with letting myself gain this much weight.

Things that lead to weight loss:

• Overeating
• Stress of school
• Not exercising
• Gallbladder not digesting fat
• A pregnancy/miscarriage in February (I gained 10 pounds from this)
  

Notice that much of this is just me being lazy. I am ready to attempt to lose this weight.

The weight I have currently lost is just such a blessing for my self esteem.

Recap of healthy choices this week

I’ve done really well for eating. For example, I made myself Quinoa stuffed Zucchinis for dinner on Monday and I made my husband Sloppy Joes. I did have a small side of the meat, but I didn’t want to overdo it on the carbs. (I’ll share my stuffed Zucchini recipe when I get the chance). Last night for dinner I decided just to have one of my Sweet Spinach Smoothies and a whole wheat bun (no high fructose!) with a drizzle of honey. Those are just a few of the healthy choices I have made the last couple of days.

Today I had a small bowl of Kashi cereal with two large strawberries, a serving of raisins and a ½ a cup of vanilla soy milk for breakfast.

I was starving at lunch time, so I had a small red baked potato with salsa. I was still hungry so I had two small corn tortillas (only 100 calories) a serving of cheese, and a spoonful of left over sloppy joe meat (I shouldn’t have had that, made my gallbladder hurt), then on the way back to work I grabbed a granola bar.

For a snack I had half a cup of cucumbers, 6 Ritz crackers and two cups of tea. I had way too many carbs L. For dinner tonight I am going to make myself a veggie stir-fry (with no meat or noodles) and I’ll probably have a Spinach Smoothie for desert.

For exercise, I didn’t exercise yesterday, but I did do my couch to 5K running on Monday. I went ahead and jumped to week 4 and let me tell you, it’s intense! I haven’t sweated so hard in a while! I plan to exercise tonight.

On the Blog Agenda for Tomorrow

A blog about my goals for Disneyland!

Blessings,
Shawnee

Adventures in Detox: Day 2

Day 2: Drop all protein and carbohydrates (grains). Unlimited fruits and Veggies.

First off, I am surprised I have made it to the end of day two. Weird. I didn't take pictures of everything I've eaten today (just dinner and desert). But here is a recap of everything I ate up to dinner: I ate the rest of my fruit salad, raw carrots and celery, orange, 2 red potatoes w/ salsa, tea and a cup of lemon water. Now on to the fun part.

I just have to say that I found the coolest website ever. I don't typically like to put links in the middle of my blog, but here it is: http://www.supercook.com/. This website allows you to type in the ingredients you have at home and it searches from hundreds of recipes from sites like RecipeZaar and AllCooks.

Broccoli and Mushrooms

First I punched in broccoli, mushrooms, chicken stalk and onions and SuperCook came up with "Mushroom Broccoli Medley" from http://www.allrecipes.com/. This recipe called for bacon and sauteing the onions and mushrooms in bacon fat, so I did a healthier version, and I added garlic.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onions
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cloves of garlic

First saute mushrooms, onions and garlic on low heat until caramelized. Then add the chicken stalk to the pan. Place the broccoli florets on top of the mushrooms, onions and garlic (this allows for the broccoli to steam. Salt and pepper to taste. Very delicious. For the fatty version click here.

Carrots and Oranges??

The next recipe that SuperCooks came up with for me is "California Carrots" from RecipeZarr. I followed this recipe pretty close, except I used sweet onions instead of green ones, I didn't steam the carrots I boiled them, and I sauteed the carrots, onions and oranges until the onions were soft. Oh and I used whole chopped carrots instead of baby ones.

1 lb baby carrot

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 orange sectioned,chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped sweet onion

Salt and peeper to taste.

Cook the carrots, drain the water, throw in the onion, orange and orange zest and saute until the onions are cook through. Very good. For the original recipe click here.

A few of the reviewers didn't like the combination of the carrots and oranges. But I thought the dish was really fresh and the two flavors complemented each other well. This dish would be amazing with some teriyaki sauce or some sweet sesame sauce of sorts.

Fried Squash

For my main dish I chopped up a whole small summer squash and fried it (with cooking spray, I sauteed with the spray too. It's organic spray). I fried the squash until the slices turned golden brown. Mmm. I just die for summer squash fried with a coating of milk and flour. YUMO!


There you have it folks. A detox dinner! Not too bad eh? I ended up eating all the carrots, but I saved some of the broccoli for tomorrow. :)


I NEED YOUR HELP

Okay, I decided that taking photos of my food and blogging about my meals is really helping me stay focused. I mean, I did so well on this last little trip to Seattle. I actually left food on my plate for most of my meals! That never happens with me. Anyway, I am not doing so hot in the exercise department.

From now on it, or at least until I get going on it and have a good schedule, I am going to take some sort of photo that documents my workout. Here is where I need your help: if I don't do it for several days in a row, tell me about it! Keep me accountable. Leave me a comment that says, "Uh hello, what are you doing right now? SITTING ON THE COUCH. Well get off it and get moving!" Seriously, help me stay motivated. Please.




Now of course I would not have typed all of that had I not already exercised for the day. LOL. Today...wait a minute. I need to tell you something first. See I have been doing the couch to 5k running plan, and I love it. But I just got on their website to review it. Turns out I was doing it wrong. *shakes head in shame* I was supposed to be doing the same work out regimen three days a week for one week and then switch it up. I ended up doing the same work out regimen for three weeks! I feel really silly. :(

Anyway, so I officially started "Week 2" of Couch to 5K today. It consisted of a 5 minute warm up, and then 20 minutes of alternating running for 90 sec. and walking for 2 min. For the last three weeks I have been doing the warm up and then walking for 90 sec. and running for 60. Oops. Oh well, perhaps that was God's way of getting me in shape to get in shape. ;)

Sweet Spinach Smoothie

After my workout I was totally ready for desert. This recipe is completely my own. A Sweet Spinach Smoothie. Surprisingly very good. It hit the spot.

• 1 Nectarine
• 1/2 cup strawberries (mine were frozen)
• 1/2 cup Spinach
• 1/2 cup 100% apple juice

First pit the nectarine and place it and the spinach in the food processor with half of the apple juice. Next process the strawberries and add the rest of the apple juice. Add more apple juice if needed.

If you've never had spinach in a fruit smoothie before, I recommend it. The spinach kind of takes on the flavors of the other ingredients.

Great day everybody. Hope you had one too!

I'm better than that!

Yesterday I was listening to the Flylady network on Blog Talk radio and Johnathan (No Excuse Workout) was coaching a girl to say "I'm better than that" whenever she was tempted to gorge herself on foods she shouldn't have. So today, I tried to put that into practice along with my "Proportion" eating plan (see yesterday's post). Oh, and after talking with my husband, I have decided to allow myself five servings of protein, if I feel I need it.

For breakfast I tried something new with the pineapple/mango jam that I made. I had my regular old oatmeal with raisins and a Tbsp of almond butter, a serving of raisins, and 1/2 a cup of vanilla soy milk, but I also added (in place of sugar) two Tbsp of my jam. It was actually really good, and it held me over until lunch. At work, I also had two cups of coffee with three packs (total, not each cup) of Truvia and about 1/4 of soy milk (lol I just typed soy sauce, that would be gross).

My husband, bless his heart went to the grocery store today and bought bananas, oranges and veggie burgers for me. I was out of fruit and it turns out I have been eating too many nuts for my protein. They're so high in fat that they make my gallbladder angry if I eat too many. So my hubby, bought me veggie burgers so I would have some protein for lunch. I had a vegan Boca Burger on two slices of homemade whole wheat bread, one serving of cheddar cheese and some bbq sauce. I also had one pickle.

I was still a little hungry after lunch, so I had really big, juicy orange for a snack.

I didn't make it to dinner on just that. I was still really hungry at about 2 p.m. so I had a half of a slice of pizza that I found in the fridge at work and a handful of sliced pickles. I really really wanted that other half of the pizza, but I told myself "You're better than that!"

For dinner, I had stir fry with rice noodles. In my stir fry I put celery, onions, peas, carrots, green beans, 1/4 of a chicken breast (the husband had the rest), and a hard boiled egg. I tossed it all in about a Tbsp of homemade teriyaki sauce and topped it off with a Tbsp of sweet chile sauce. I also had a large cup of milk about 1 3/4. It was delicious! I really like bold flavors all mixed together. Even though the culinary world probably frowns on it. I don't care. It tastes good to me!

To make homemade Teriyaki sauce combine one part soy sauce, two parts brown sugar, two to three parts water and garlic powder to taste. Thicken with corn starch and water. I used 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 3 Tbsp water. I omitted the garlic powder, 'cause for whatever reason it makes my gallbladder grumpy. :( I can however eat a little bit of fresh garlic, or freshly cooked garlic. :)

I just got back from youth group (I am a youth leader), and there are always tempting treats taunting me there. I allowed myself two gummy worms, and a small bite of a brownie. Taste everything eat nothing! Easier said than done. I think I drank about 7 cups of water trying to distract myself from the goodies.

Recap of my portion control:

• Grains: 4 & 1/2 (I should have passed on the half slice of pizza)
• Proteins: 3 & 1/4
• Dairy: 2 & 3/4 servings (unless you count the soy milk, but I am counting that more as veggies, or maybe protein, I don't know)
• Fruit: 4 (orange counts as two and I am going to eat a banana now)
• Veggies: 3 to 4 (I didn't keep track of all that was in my stir fry)
• Sweets: Two gummy worms and a small bite of brownie (I mean small like, maybe two tsp worth). I limited this because I had the pizza.

For exercise today, I only got in 15 minutes walking part at a 10 percent incline and the rest at a 5 minute incline. I would have liked to get in more, but slept in a little again today. But I did get up an hour earlier than yesterday. Tomorrow is day two of week two of my couch to 5K training.

P.S. I've been using my cell phone to take pictures of my food as carrying around a big Nikon D40 is a little psycho looking. I realized at dinner time that my lens on my phone had a huge smudge on it. The dinner picture is much more clear than the rest.

No more counting calories

I just finished my day one of week two of my Couch to 5k regimin. It feels fantastic.

So, I've been thinking of was to de-perfectify my diet (yes I made up a word -- I'm an English major, I have creative liscense). Counting calories just doesn't work for me. I get so obsessive about only eating 1500 calories, that one day when I go over by 50 calories, I can barely look at myself in the mirror let alone get on Sparkpeople and count calories the next day.

Here is my new plan, one that has worked for me in the past, but I gave it up because I thought it wasn't perfect due to the fact that I wasn't counting calories. Every day I will limit myself on servings of each of the food group catagories. I will only eat 4 servings of grains, 3 servings of dairy (of which only one of those servings can be cheese), 4 servings of lean meat/proteins, one serving of sweets (no more than 120 calories), and I will eat a minimum of 2 servings of fruit and as many servings of fruit and veggies as I want.

So here is what I ate today based on that plan...

Two slices of homemade whole wheat toast with 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 tbsp pineapple mango jam, and 1 cup of milk.

One serving of Danon All Natural blueberry yogurt, 2 cups of coffee with 2 packs of Truvia sweetener, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1/4 cup of vanilla soy milk.

Two cups of romaine lettuce, one can of tuna, 2 tbsp cream cheese, 1 tsp Kraft fat free italian dressing, 1/2 cup apple sauce, and one serving of baked Ruffles.

One serving of raisins, and about an 1/8 of a cup of almonds/cashew mix.

Three shrimp and mushroom enchiladas (3 small corn tortillas, 15 shrimp, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1/8 cheese and 1/4 enchilada sauce), 4 corn tortilla chilps (homemade from one small corn tortilla), 1/4 of salsa.

Two chocolate caramel cups (110 calories) and 1/2 cup apple sauce. Also, somewhere in there I ate about a 1/2 cup of sliced pickles.

Okay so I didn't do perfectly today. I went over my dairy intake by 1/4 of cheese and I went over my protein by one serving (I should have only had 1/2 of the tuna). I may take time to enter this into Sparkpeople tomorrow and see what the calories are looking like. If I have some to spare, I may increase my protein by one. But, I can tell you right now that I am really hungry, so I must not be consuming too much.

If you've never heard of Sparkpeople, check it out. It's helped thousands of people lose weight and more importantly, learn how to be healthy. http://www.sparkpeople.com/.

Freaky dreams and good food choices!

Have you ever had one of those dreams right before your alarm clock goes off that makes it hard to get out of bed? I had one of those dreams this morning. It was kind of like a freaky flash back. I mean not really a traumatic experience or anything. Just one of those dreams that makes you think about the past. It threw off my whole morning routine.

Anyway, even after a late start, I was able to have a healthy breakfast at work. I've kind of decided to start documenting my meals. Perhaps it will keep me more accountable to what I eat. I also decided to take photos with my phone. Carrying around a Nikon D40 all the time is not really practical.

Anyhow, I had a cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal, a banana, a 1/4 cup of raisins, a tbsp of almond butter and a 1/2 cup of organic vanilla soy milk.

For lunch I had left over veggies and a cup of brown rice, a serving of cheddar cheese and 15 raw almonds. It was really good, but I think I had a little too much fat. It made my tummy angry.

Right after work I did my Couch to 5K workout while I watched The Devil Wears Prada. I love that movie, it always motivates me for some

reason.

After I exercised I ate an orange for a snack and then took Maddie out to play (not walking lessons).

I didn't really feel like eating dinner, though I was hungry. So I made a toasted sandwich (on homemade whole wheat bread) with cream cheese and tomatoes.

I was still hungry so I had two sections of imitation crab (not the most natural of food choice, but nothing sounded good today).

After youth group I had a half of a chocolate chip cookie. Oh and I have to admit, I had two spoonfuls of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Oh and two cups of coffee at work.

Over all a good day, health wise anyway. I did do a little mindless snacking, and I had real sugar in my coffee (usually I have Truvia). But, I am not going to beat myself up over it.

I am proud of myself that I completed day two of Couch to 5K. I actually really enjoy the program so far!

http://www.coolrunnings.com/ for more info on Couch to 5K.

P.S. What do you think of using the camera phone? I know it is poor quality compared to the Nikon, but...I don't know. It is easier!