Out of the funk

After three days of feeling like crap from allergies, I finally got to the gym for cardio boot camp this morning! I don't ever get to finish the whole workout because I have to get ready for work but got in 2 miles and 2/3 of the workout. 

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So as promised, my meals so far......I am really trying to do everything I can to get my glucose levels down on my own without the help of meds. 

This was Monday's dinner that I picked up while grocery shopping. Dave and I had these last week before he left. This is how they are packaged and all you do is put it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. For $7 you seriously cannot beat it! I didn't finish all the potatoes since lots of carbs are a no-no. 

Snack prepped for the week since I didn't get to it on Sunday. I love these containers. I bought them off Amazon and they just make prepping so much easier. Snack packs included colby jack cheese, grapes, strawberries, whole raw pecans, carrot, and a turkey roll up. 

Dinner last night was a variation of Everyday Paleo's Spicy Stuffed Bell Peppers. I had never done stuffed peppers with sausage so it was a little different. I don't think I would do it again though. 

And tonight's dinner is just going to be amazing! I brined a whole chicken (first time for everything) over night and then used Salt Lick Garlic Dry Rub before I threw it in the crock-pot. There are large chunks of onion and potato in the pot too. 

3 MORE DAYS until the 15K trail race and I get more nervous every day. I am hoping I have the strength to pull it out with my girlfriends. I am feeling so much better today so fingers crossed this crud is gone for good!

The life of a klutz

I had a girl once tell me that it takes a lot of skill to fall on flat surfaces....and she is right! But I can fall just about anywhere, anytime, barefoot or not. My best friend came in last minute so I didn't get my Saturday morning run in. I was ok with it because I had a good week. Plus breakfast and the beach sounded way better right about then. Living in a small town away from my friends in family means when they do come visit, I pretty much drop everything to hang out with them. 

But first, my glorious Boston Pork Butt that I slow cooked on Friday made an amazing dinner! 

I actually ate this same thing twice - once Friday night and once Sunday night. There is a sweet potato underneath there I promise!

I have been driving the Hubster's truck all week because I needed it to take the furkids to the vet so it came in handy this weekend going to the beach. 

I love living so close to the beach. I don't get in the water (have you seen our water....it's brown) But I do love the atmosphere and spending time outside. However the older I have gotten I realized the dangers of skin cancer so I pretty much stayed under that tent on the tailgate wearing my long sleeve fishing shirt. And I must say my Irish self didn't get sun burned!

The worst part of the weekend - a slippery boat trailer and me. After we pulled a few rocks out of it I was good to go but I am sidelined today and maybe tomorrow because it absolutely hurts. 

I finished the weekend off with three days of meal prep since Dave is supposed to be home on Wednesday, if not sooner. I love the containers I got from Amazon....they make prepping so easy!

Breakfast - leftover pork mixed with onion and an egg to scramble. 

Snack - cheese, summer sausage, celery with PB, and fruit

Lunch - Cold pea and green leaf salad with a hard boiled egg & organic ground beef mixed with potato, tomato, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno with a side of corn and fruit. 

A bat & a toad!

After weighing in yesterday, weight loss is on the fore front of my brain! I told D that he is now my accountability partner and if he needs to be mean to me to help me reach me goals its ok! I may regret that later but I need all the help I can get! 

Lunch yesterday was a field green salad with pouch salmon and then topped with Seasnax crumbles. It was delish! I forgot I still had some Seasnax in the pantry so it was a good find. I had to go to the store to buy more lettuce since for some odd reason my big box of field greens froze over the weekend while I was visiting my parents. HEB even had a coupon for green lettuce leaves so it was a bonus!

Dinner was solo since D is working so I had a salad, a Bai5 Mango, fiesta salmon burger and 10 sauteed shrimp. Totally filled me up. I sually like to eat by 6 or 6:30 at the latest. I do not like eating late because my stomach usually doesn't like me in the morning if I do. I also noticed I usually don't sleep as well. 

While making dinner I was also making my lunch and dinner for today and some snacks. Sauteed chicken with bell peppers, onions, and a jalapeno; green leaf lettuce salads, mixed fruit, cheese square and celery with peanut butter. I even found some great meal prep containers online at Amazon. My MIL has prime so they should be here by Thursday. 

Tempo Tuesday started off very interesting. First I found a baby bat injured in my covered patio. Pretty sure the dogs might have gotten a hold of it. I never thought I would ever get face to face with a bat. He was pretty pissed! Then as I was trying to leave I had to shoo a giant toad out of the garage and out from underneath my truck so he wouldn't get squished. Once I finally made it to the gym, with no animals being harmed in the process, I had a pretty good run. 

1 mile warm up at 6.0

2 min at 6.2 

2 min at 6.4 

2 min at 6.6

1 min at 4.0

Repeat three times

1 mile cool down

And yes I am a hot mess in the morning when I get to the gym. I try to match my clothes but the hair lately has been a whole nother story. 

Juicing + Smoothie = Joocie in my book!

When Dave is gone on hitch (usually a week at a time) I have a tendency to eat better than when he is home. Mainly because I only have to worry about me and I don't mind meal prepping and eating the same thing 2 or 3 three times. With that being said I am 60'ish days out from our wedding and I am going to adopt Joe the Juicer's Reboot Juice plan but with one meal a day.

I have tried his juicing plans before but never lasted as long as most people because I truly love to eat. Because of that I think I set myself up for failure. Plus with being an athlete/active person, there are just certain things my body needs to function.

The last round of juicing that I did I had a few people chat with me about juicing vs smoothies. I learned that juicing is great however in doing so there is great loss in the vitamins and nutrients because all you are getting is the juice - not the fruit/vegetable itself. If I had a better juicer I could add all the pulp back into my juice but I think for this first week 

A few articles I found to help better explain the difference:

Juicing vs Blending

Health Benefits of juicing vs smoothies

Juicing vs blending: what is the difference?

 

I am going to take the juice recipes that Joe provides and instead of juicing everything, I am going to try throwing it all into my brand new blender so that I can get all of the vitamins and nutrients from the ingredients. 

I also did find smoothie recipes on his website and I am going to throw those in the mix as well.

So my actual plan.......Breakfast will be a smoothie, 10 AM & 3 PM snack will be juice or smoothie, lunch will be a protein shake and dinner will consist of a lean protein, vegetable and a small amount of starch/carb.

I am hoping this well help me slim down a bit before the wedding.

Random side note - I was surfing the internet and read an article about how you can train your body to crave healthy foods versus the bad/fast foods that most adults in the US usually eat. I know that when I am really 100% watching what I am eating I do start to notice that I prefer healthier foods over maybe a breakfast taco! So fingers crossed this helps me navigate through the holidays without craving all the foods that taste so good but aren't the best for me!

Training this week

Sunday is usually my day for meal prep. At work we have 10 AM break and 3 PM break
so I usually pack a snack pack and my lunch.

 This week was a pretty good week for doing more of my runs & workouts outside in the South Texas 95+ degree heat and humidity. 

Found this app through reading blogs. It is sponsored or created by The Weather
Channel and I think it is pretty dang cool. 

The small town I live in hosts a bootcamp three days a week in the mornings and in the afternoons. I didn't go once it turned into Hades here in South Texas but I have recently picked it back to start getting acclimated to the heat/humidity again. Plus our instructor is former military and I do like the workouts. I leave a hot sweaty mess!

Monday's 6 PM session. That board is what Garza puts our workouts on.

Monday and Wednesday was bootcamp with Inez. Just over 2 miles in mileage mixed in with our workout. Garza likes to use kettle bells, along with lots of squats, jumping jacks, tire flips, mountain climbers, and ab work.

Wednesday's aftermath while stretching

Tuesday Inez and I went to the gym. I got roughly 2.5 miles before we did our CrossFit WOD in the back garage of the 24 hour gym we are members of. 

LOVE my second pair of Fabletics capris. I am so glad I found the website because they
are seriously my new fave pants!

Tonight won't be any running as we have family dinner for a birthday and tomorrow I am leaving work early to drive north to New Braunfels for wedding stuff in San Antonio this weekend. Mom and dad live at the edge of Landa Park so I am going to take advantage of that for an early morning run on Saturday before dress alterations and my bridal shower.