It's time to return

It's been too long since my last blog post. I was totally gung ho about the paleo lifestyle and working out. I still am actually, I just let life start to make my decisions rather than making my own decisions about life. I have a 14 month old boy, who is energetic to say the least. He's non stop from the moment he's out of his crib in the morning, till his afternoon nap, then till night time. He keeps me busy, and he is exhausting! I love him and I wouldn't want him to be any less active, but it's been my excuse the last few months to slack. It's not a good one, and I am done letting it be an excuse not to workout. I have plateaued in my weight loss, right around 200. I have, for the most part, stuck to Paleo, I have traveled a lot in the last few months and it's much harder to stick to Paleo when you're not at home.  At least it is for me.

I just recently joined a crossfit gym close to the house. I've been going for 3 days now, and I can't say enough good about it already! I love it, and I know it's something I will continue with. I am not very good at working out by myself, I lose motivation easily, and I procrastinate often, which leads to giving up on trying to workout because it's too late in the day. It's been hard for me to find something that I truly enjoyed and felt like I could stick to. I'll tell you a couple reasons why I love crossfit so much, first off, I feel like I have a second family! The moment I walked in, I was greeted by smiles and kind words, I had aiden with me, and they told me I was always welcome to bring him. So I did! The second day I went, he was wonderful, playing and walking around with another little 2 year old girl who was there with her mom. Today though.. was a different story. Aiden started out fine, but shortly into my excruciating 30 min WOD, he got very upset and wouldn't stop crying. I was about to go over to deal with him and planned on most likely leaving, but as soon as I started to walk over to him, one of the trainers picked him up and started to comfort him. It didn't help, since all he wanted was me, but it was amazing, they kept saying "it's ok, it's a learning process for the little ones, he'll get use to it, we got this, just keep going with you workout." I was blown away, by their kindness, understanding, and willingness to put up with my screaming baby. Even the rest of the crossfitters there didn't mind and were also encouraging me and saying it was ok. That's what solidified my choice to keep going to their gym. Secondly, I just loved the workouts! The WOD(work out of the day) is fairly simple, but it's intense, and it gets really hard after a while. Today was the "chelsea". It was 30 minutes long, the more advanced crossfitters(unlike myself) did EMOM(every minute on the minute) rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats. If you couldn't make the top of the minute you had to wait for the next minute before starting your next round. Most everyone got 20 or higher on their completed rounds! Incredible. I did every 2 minutes, because this is my 3rd day and they don't want to kill me! I was able to do 11 rounds out of 15 that I was supposed to accomplish. Which is pretty good! Especially for being so sore already. That amounted to 55 pull-ups, 110 push-ups, and 165 squats. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do 30 minutes of that. It was hard, but there wasn't a point during the workout that I thought I couldn't do it. I felt great, I felt energized and encouraged the whole time! 30 minutes went quicker than I had expected. Aiden did finally calm down too, for the last 10 minutes or so. I sat him down right in front of me while I did my push ups and squats, and I counted out loud for him to try and understand what I was doing. It ended up working well and he was happy by the end of the WOD. My last reason for really enjoying crossfit, is because I finally feel great about myself, I feel like I have accomplished something important once I finish. Life is short, why wouldn't you try to be as healthy and fit as possible, to be there and to keep up with your children/grandchildren, and to feel good for a long portion of your life!? Health and fitness are so incredibly important, having a child really changed that for me. I realized he needed a good example, and needed to be brought up in an environment that encouraged that kind of life style. Too many diseases and problems in our daily lives could be avoided, simply by exercise and dietary changes. I want to give my child the best life possible!

Crossfit is my calling, I know it's early to say it, even though I'm so sore, I can't walk up the stairs without pain, I still look forward to going again. I've never felt this way about any other type of exercise before. I'm so happy that I have a loving and supportive husband who is letting me do this. I wouldn't be able to do this without him. I also want to thank my friend Kara, who has been my workout partner. I don't know if I would have been so excited to tackle crossfit alone! She has been a strength to me that I am quite thankful for. She is working on getting super fit before she ships off to Marine boot camp! I'm proud of her for working so hard before she leaves. She will be a wonderful asset to the military!

I plan to continue to blog more often now that I am doing crossfit, I seem to have more energy despite being so sore and exhausted after my workouts. I don't feel the need to take a nap in the afternoon like I had been the last few months.

Life is good! I am so thankful for a body that works perfectly, that I am able to challenge it, and continue to improve in all aspects of life.

Cheat Day.. gone bad.

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a few days. Yesterday was my 24th birthday, and Fathers day, Doel and I went to the zoo with Aiden! It was a lot of fun. We ended the day by making a papa murpheys pizza(I know, totally un-paleo). Well I can say it wasn't worth it. We devoured our first piece and both of us were full and feeling content.. for a little while. It wasn't long before both of us were sick as dogs! Doel had the chills and a terrible stomach ache, I was totally nauseated too. It was yet another big eye opener, we just don't miss those "cheat" meals! I was laying in bed with a spinning headache, craving green veggies to take away the nasty feeling I had. What a way to end a great birthday huh! lol I woke up at 4am to feed Aiden and I came downstairs, downed 2 huge glasses of water, a glass of coconut water, went up and nursed him, then came back down to get another big glass of water, I haven't needed to do that since I switched to paleo. I was so dehydrated, and felt miserable. I was exhausted, normally when I get up to feed Aiden and feel great. I don't miss bread, or milk/cheese, like I thought I would. It makes me way to sick now. We threw away the rest of the pizza, neither of us wanted a re-run of what happened last night!

I got up this morning had some hemp protein and almond milk and my stomach just felt better. I just finished running a mile, Aiden is napping, and I feel good again. If you don't think the excess carbs are bad for you, just try going without them for one month, then eat a bunch of bread and see for yourself how your body reacts. I didn't believe it before I tried it. How can the average person believe it when our government tells us to eat mostly carbs(sugar)!? See for yourself carbohydrate. Did you know that our body once it gets enough protein and fat, can take those and turn them into sugar? So why would you give your body excess amounts of sugar?? Sugar is what makes us fat, it's what causes diabetes,  and plenty of other diseases.. Like everything in life, we need moderation. Your body needs sugar but you get plenty of it in natural healthy foods like fruit and veggies. Why would you want to put in foods that do just as much damage as they do good? Wouldn't you want to only put foods into your body that do all good? That's paleo, it's just giving your body the most optimum foods available.

Sorry for the rant. Sometimes it boggles my mind, that people can be so selfish, money is more important than health. The agricultural gurus want to make money, so they will never tell you how bad these excess carbs are for our systems. They just need to sell their corn and wheat! Who cares if it's killing people. High fructose corn syrup is in practically everything that comes in a bottle. Look at your ingredients. It's even in hotdogs?? Gross, they find a way to put that addictive poison into every food possible.

Go without these foods that kill us for a few months, you will not miss them. I don't. I don't see how any normal person would miss feeling like crap. And that is how you will feel when you eat them once your body has healed from the damage it's caused in the first place.

Mixing it up

P90x is alright.. after a week of it, I needed a little more. So I have decided to mix it up and do P90x along with my own cardio and other workouts.

I did most of the shoulders and arms p90x workout, then I had to urge to run, so I went and warmed up my legs on the treadmill for a half a mile and ran a mile and a half. I haven't done that since I was in the air force. It really felt amazing, I didn't want to stop. I haven't felt that good running for a while. I am sitting here drenched in sweat, and I love it, I feel accomplished!

I also am down to 202!! Incredibly exciting to see the scale flicker in the 100's again :) I think by the end of june I will be below 200. A pound a week or so. I am feeling better and better. I wake up on my own more often, instead of waking up to a baby monitor.

This last week I have been slacking a little.. it sucks, I need to become more structured.. I have absolutely no daily schedule expect my child's feeding and sleep schedule. I'm good for a week then I am wishy washy for a week. The weight loss and seeing my body change is helpful and motivation some days, then others it's demotivation because I think I don't need it! haha.

I need to get some of those Virbram shoes, I have been using the treadmill in just my socks, but my feet still get dirty. I really like running without shoes, I lean forward and I hardly notice I'm running anymore, I just float. It feels good. I enjoying running a lot more than I use to.

Time to shower off the sweatiness!

Recovery Days and The Meatzza

WOW! I was sore the last few days.. so I took a couple days off. I could hardly sleep I was so sore.

I plan to get back on the P90x horse tomorrow. I just needed a couple days for my body to stop aching every single time I moved. Today I mowed the lawn with out Reel Mower(no engine all push) so I got a little cardio in!

Today I'd like to share a fun new recipe my husband and I made yesterday. It's called the Meatzza! We googled it and found some recipes, but made our own and we loved it. So much we made it again today. So today while I made it, I took some pictures, and I thought I would post how to make it for those who want to try.

Preheat oven to 350!

The Meatzaa, sorry it isn't a full picture of the finished project we were way too excited to eat this!

Start out by finely chopping a veggie, I used broccoli, this will be added to the meat "crust" for extra nutrients.

I'm not entirely sure how much broccoli is this is, about half my food processor, you can decide how much you want.

This is what it looks like when its chopped up enough to be mixed with the ground beef.

Side view :)

I used about a pound and a half I think, use as much as you'd like.

Mix veggie mush with ground beef for added nutrition(I promise you won't taste the veggies!)

I added 2 eggs to help hold it all together.

I don't measure things.. I just throw in what I want. I used a little bit of everything you see here mixed with the meat. Minced garlic, garlic powder, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

MMM yum!

Mix well. It takes a while to get everything really mixed in.

Push into a big pan, to make the "crust" of the meatzza.

Try your best to make it even all over. Put into oven bake 20ish minutes depending on amount of meat make take longer, I cook it uncovered, and check periodically. 

While the "crust" is baking, put desired amount of bacon in another pan, and throw in oven, will take about the same amount of time to bake the bacon as it will the crust. You can skip this step if you don't want bacon on the Meatzza.

Time to make the sauce! 1 can of tomato paste, 1 can of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Again I never measure anything so, add spices to taste.

All ready to mix!

Stir together and you will have a perfect pizza sauce :)

Chop up whatever toppings you desire, we used onions, black olives, mushrooms, and bacon.

Take the "crust" out of the oven, I drained the fat before I took this picture. It will shrink up on you a little bit. After you take out the bacon and the "crust" turn oven to broil.

Add red sauce.

Add toppings, then pop back in the oven, I broil it for about 10 min. Or till the toppings look done.

Day 7 of P90x

Today was supposed to be the rest day, but I ended up not doing Kenpo X last night I was too tired. So today, I made sure to do it, I have now accomplished 6 p90x work outs in 7 days. I loved Kenpo X! It's now my favorite workout. It's fun and exciting!

I have figured out what I HAVE to do, so that I am fully motivated to workout, if you have fitness goals you need to do the same so you keep going. It's silly I know, but I have to take a shower before I work out, and after. It's like my reset for the day, after I lay Aiden down for his first nap I go straight to the shower, then put on my workout clothes, go downstairs, take half a scoop of Doel's pre-workout(it really helps me), wait for it to kick in(or go powerwalk/jog on the treadmill till it kicks in) then do the P90x workout. It's crazy I know, but if I miss one of those things, I just can't get into it! If I smell stinky starting, I just feel gross and want to quit and shower, if I don't take a pre-work out, I seem to want to quit early because I am just not into it, and if I don't do it during Aiden's first nap,  I won't do it later on in the day.

Today I almost quit halfway because Aiden woke up, and started to fuss mid workout, but I decided that I was going to power through it and let him fuss for a while. Don't let a fussy baby be a reason to quit, they'll be okay for 5 min, he calmed down and went back to sleep and now I have time to eat a post workout meal, and blog.

I plan to warm up some left over baked salmon, eat some fresh broccoli, and drink some water with straight glutamine and 100% hemp protein in it. I'm feeling sore already.

After that, I will go nurse my little guy, and we'll go wake up Doel so we have a few hours before he leaves for work.

Having healthy paleo food in the fridge prepared makes a huge difference for me. I'm not tempted to eat something crappy or not eat because I am tired. I usually have a big tupperware full of baked chicken as a go to in case I need something and frozen veggies in the freezer. I do a batch of chicken once a week usually, and an egg bake for breakfast is really nice too. Just throw in a dozen eggs, with whatever veggies, and (precooked)meat you like(I do ground turkey) and bake at 350 for 45 min covered and 15 min un-covered. perfect on the go breakfast!

I hope this is helpful or encouraging to someone :) I know it's not easy and I struggle daily to keep up with my health and fitness goals. But it's totally worth it at the end of the day.

Today I weighed 205 that's 2 pounds less than my last weigh in! Yay!

Day 5 and 6 of P90x

Sorry I missed yesterdays post. I was having a lovely day with my family!

Poor Aiden caught whatever bug I have had the past week. He's all stuffy and just wants to cuddle. It's okay :) Doel and I didnt' mind him wanting attention all day. He's doing better today than he was yesterday. Still a little runny nose. Hopefully he kicks this soon, he's got his 6 month check up next monday, I'm sure he would be one unhappy camper if he was sick and getting shots.

Yesterdays workout was legs and back, we don't have a pull up bar, so I couldn't do my back exercise that well.. my legs were on fire though by the end! All those squats. Yikes! I was a little sore today. Today is Kenpo X I actually haven't done it yet, I started my warm up on the treadmill and got my mile done right when Aiden woke up from his nap. So I'll have to hack out the rest of my workout tonight after he goes to bed. That's okay, Doel is working tonight so it all worked out fine.

Aiden is 6 months old today! I haven't really been feeding him food, just letting him chew on foods to acquire a taste. I believe it's about time to buy a high chair and start him on daily foods. It's just so much easier to nurse him for all his meals.. I've somewhat been dreading this day. Aiden is going to be a paleo baby :) he's going to eat exactly what we do! I think I'll start off with sweet potatoes, I'm just going to blend them up in our food processor, I've done a little reading into BLW(I believe that's what it's called, baby led weaning), basically it's letting them learn to chew before they learn how to swallow. I have been attempting it the past 2 months, but he's not really eating stuff still. Just chewing it, and maybe that means he's not ready for food, I'm not sure. He eats some things, I just know he's not in dire need of it yet, he sleeps through the night wonderfully and goes 4-6 hours between feedings and is exclusively breast-fed still. He's growing WELL! He's big for his size 85%.. Strong too, almost crawling, doing push ups every other second and getting those knees under him. He does quite a bit of moving, just.. backwards.

The baby food recipes will come soon though, he's to the age everyone thinks is appropriate to start eating solids. I somewhat want to keep nursing him exclusively and wait to feed him. I'm just not sure when the right time to start solids is. He'll never eat grains, legumes, or processed sugar. So most store bought baby foods are out of the question. I'm still debating whether I will give him milk/dairy after I quit nursing him.. I need to do a little more research on that before I make my decision.

I'm going to put my little guy to bed, goodnight! I'll write tomorrow about Kempo X, tomorrow is day 7 and it's a rest day. So I will enjoy not working out tomorrow!

Day 4 of P90x

Today was Yoga X.. and it's the first time I have ever done yoga! I couldn't finish the video because I couldn't even do half of the yoga poses right constantly looking up at the screen. I guess I'll watch the whole video tonight and really learn how to do them before I try to tackle that video again. At least I did my warm up of a mile on the treadmill, I feel like I get a decent workout from that alone.

Today was also one of those days I needed a bit of extra motivation, I started to tell Doel(my husband) that I was going to wait to workout, and maybe just do the treadmill today. He was so awesome, he said "No! Go workout now, I'll wait to do mine, I'll watch the baby. Plus it would ruin your blog, you wouldn't be able to talk about your progress."

So, moral of that story, I am not this extremely motivated person who is perfect each day by any means.. I am just incredibly blessed to have a husband who is kind, but challenging, and keeps me accountable! Ask your spouse or partner to lovingly help you be strong and keep up with your fitness goals, it makes a HUGE difference. I wouldn't be where I am today without all his encouragement. If your partner doesn't know how to motivate you, tell them, just be honest and say, hey I need you to motivate me this way if for some reason I start to slip. Plan ahead, have your laundry done with your workout clothes so you don't have an excuse to wait or not do it, plan out meals, so you know what you need and have it to make it. Fitness and health takes work, and being proactive, you don't have to be perfect though. We have our cheats days every once in a while. I am doing all of this because it makes me feel so good at the end of the day, knowing I ate right, and I exercised. I feel accomplished, I feel like a good mother, and a good wife.

That's about it for today. When it's my husbands weekend I really want to focus on spending time with him and Aiden. But I wanted to share our paleo breakfast along with a few tips!

Bacon, scrambled eggs, and banana pancakes :)

This is the finished product. Absolutely delish!

Tip for cooking bacon quick the best part EASY!

Preheat oven to 500 degrees, then just put the bacon in as long as you like. I like crispy bacon so I cooked mine for about 15-20 min. Make sure you use a pan or something with sides, because it gets very greasy, don't want that spilling in your oven! That's it though, no need to cover, or flip bacon, it comes out perfect baking it.

All done! Scoop and serve :)

My husband likes to use this on his pancakes, the plain stuff is ok.. I really love this blueberry flavored agave nectar my mom bought when I was in KS visiting.. it was incredible on pancakes!

Since I didn't have any blueberry agave nectar at the house, I went with a little bit of raw honey on my pancakes. Honey has a much higher glycemic index than agave nectar though, so I didn't use too much.

If you want an easy way to make pancakes, get a griddle! It really makes the whole process more simple because you can do so many at once.