Own It

Sometimes you look back at your life and regret things. And then sometimes you look back and see how far you've come. This mind set totally depends on where you are in life and if you're aware of who you are. In the mornings, I fall in between both of these two places depending on the day, but I fully intend to end each day knowing who I am and that I'm an over-comer.

I am strong, I am bold, I am beautiful, I am a little crazy, I am kind, I am a child of God, I am empowered, I am a winner. I am also slightly crazy...

My managers at my job both work out at this gym in town and were always talking about how hard the workouts were, how sore they were, and how much, despite the hard work, they loved going. I'm very much about trying new things and challenging myself but have been not so great about that in the past year or so. Hence the weight gain. Half of what I lost I was well on my way to putting back on. So the smart person that I am, decided to sign up for a free trial. Cause, why not? I can't be that out of shape right? So so wrong.

The free trial isn't sugar coated, it's not watered down, and it's hard. But if you need someone creating a workout and telling you what to do, like I do, and if you can push yourself and keep going, then this place is awesome. Being true to who I am, I pushed too hard (during the warm up...) and pulled something around my hamstring, but I finished the workout.

I'm not sure if you all have heard of D1 and their bootcamps. If you've done them, you KNOW. If you haven't, you just. don't. know. You don't.

I am on day four if you don't count my trial run. I go to the 6AM bootcamp. I hate waking up to get sweaty. But it's so much better to get this torture out of the way when it's cooler in the morning as the gym does not have air conditioning.

I got really excited my first day because Andrew the trainer asked if everyone knew how to karaoke. I was like, yes! I do! How will that work though if we're running around the field? He gave me a puzzled look, which I returned because it was slowly dawning on me that his karaoke didn't involve singing... what he really said was carioca, otherwise known as the grapevine. So yeah, starting off on the right foot here.

I've been introduced to box jumps, box pushes, medicine balls that I've lugged down the field and back countless times, tires and hammers, SO MUCH RUNNING, and jump ropes. I can't even begin to tell you how much running. I hate running, but if it makes me better, I'll do it, begrudgingly. Also, I've skipped more in the past two days then I have my entire childhood. I had to seriously delve into my memories trying to remember if I actually did skip in my childhood and the conclusion I've come to is there is NO WAY I skipped back then. If I had, I wouldn't suck so bad at it now. Have you ever tried to skip backwards? No? Imagine that, well, we had to. I looked so special. I actually stopped a few times to ask myself what was happening, as it wasn't skipping, I'll tell you that.

I could go on and on about what I've been challenged to do, but I'll save some for later ;) Here's a little nugget to end with:

Own it. Whatever you're doing or want to do. Pick it up and run with it, no one else can do it for you. Pick it up and don't look back, because whatever is behind you doesn't matter. For me, keeping my eyes on who God says I am is the most important thing. He says I'm a winner, that I'm awesome and beautiful. He says I can do this and He's right there with me.

Weigh In Wednesday

What up my small crowd of friends and family?? It's weigh in Wednesday and I won't bore you with my internal monologue other than saying... down one more pound. Slightly disappointed but grateful that it went away.

I took some time off from work to make my long weekend even longer. I went up to the Dirty Dusky for some quality time in vacationland. It was a much better trip than the 4th of July, soo yay! During my stay, I dragged my butt out of bed both of my mornings off and went to the gym with my mom... she's a beast and we were there much longer than I normally stay at the gym haha, oops!

I also ate very well knowing that I weigh in for the work contest tomorrow morning! Below is a slew of delicious things I concocted and devoured. I guess my blog is turning into more of a photo journey than anything else, but a picture speaks a thousand words right?



Keto Pancakes (recipe found at the bottom of the post)



Chicken Salad Salad

Scrambled South Western Egg Whites with Bacon

I also went sailing a ton! So very excited that it was nice wind and allowed for beautiful photos of Cedar Point and sunsets!

View of Cedar Point

Sunset near Marble Head, Lake Erie

Ariel's beautiful sails :)

Baxter, I just got your card and I totally had to blink 50 thousand times to try to read it, that background was CRAZY! Muah! I so miss ya and can't wait for you to be back!!


Keto Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 Egg Whites (original recipe called for 2 whole eggs, I chose to keep it low calorie)
• 2 Tbsp of 1/3 Fat Cream Cheese (Kroger brand has the lowest carbs at 1g per serving)
• 1 Packet of Sweetener (Splenda for low carbers)
• Cinnamon (to taste)

Directions:

• Heat cream cheese for 10 seconds in the microwave while measuring out egg whites, sweetener, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Reheat cream cheese for another 10 seconds or so to soften it for easier mixing.
• Whisk ingredients together until as smooth as possible. If you have a blender with a whisk attachment... I envy you.
• Batter will be a watery consistency and more than likely will have some small lumps of cream cheese that refuse to give up the fight.
• Spray skillet with non stick spray and heat batter on low to medium heat. Flip when you start seeing "pancake bubbles" or when you can get your spatula under it without ripping. Use your fancy dancy flipping skills and let the other side cook for a minute and BOOM!
• Enjoy.

Weigh In Wednesday

Since starting my Keto diet, I've been weighing myself everyday. I used to think that once a week was plenty and I know (I KNOW) that numbers aren't really want matter. BUT, they do motivate, so you're going to have to deal with it.

Yesterday morning I weighed in and was one lb. away from 10 lbs down since began Keto three weeks ago. I had hoped this morning that I could get to 10, thus rounding out my numbers. Well... I lost four! I'm sure that's due to other contributing factors I'll leave unsaid (if you really want to know send me a message lol) but I'm very, very excited about my progress. Three more pounds and I'm under the big 200 mark. I don't know if that is the first time I've actually stated my weight on this blog. But whatever, it's the truth.

I've been very lax in keeping up with writing the past week, so sorry! I was sick, my boss was out of town, and life was just busy. Getting back on track this week and ramping up on including more strenuous exercise.

I've been incorporating more carbs in the form of grains. I've felt challenged at this point by the monotony of eating chicken, eggs, cheese, eggs, chicken, broccoli, turkey, chicken, steak, cheese and eggs. My mom had these tortillas in the fridge and they're only 60 calories and 4 net carbs. She got them at Kroger, so get out there and give them a whirl.

 

I've had these with chicken salad (shown below), tuna salad, fajitas, and I think I'm gonna make a breakfast egg tortilla wrap tomorrow morning.

 

I've been guarding my Quest Protein Bars so that I don't devour them too quickly, so I have been on the hunt for ice cream that is low carb and doesn't taste awful. Apparently there is one called Carb Solutions (don't get the low carb option from Beyers as it using high fructose corn syrup!)... and is apparently not sold in my normal grocery stores (Kroger, Giant Eagle, or Meijer). Instead, after three different stores and searching efforts, I settled for this stuff called Arctic Zero. It is gluten free and has whey protein, with only 36 calories and 5 net carbs per 1/2 cup serving! It's not an ice cream-y consistency as much as it's a frozen treat. It'll do my friends, it'll do.

 

In addition to my menu choices, I recently came across a pin on Pinterest that I found interesting. It referenced WODs for beginners interested in crossfit. I AM interesting in crossfit minus the heavy lifting, the barfing, and the rumored pooping. I gave it a whirl last night instead of Insanity and found myself pleasantly challenged, winded, sweaty, and sore! I will whirl it again tonight with another workout to see how it goes. This is what I did last night... and my tired, sweaty self after.

 



Happy Wednesday!

It's getting serious...

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that it's getting serious... when it comes to sticking to the diet!

I have 4 weeks left of my work fitness challenge and that means I need to kick it into high gear, dedicate myself to eating a low carb diet and working out no matter what!

This morning I've had my lovely egg muffins shown below. I know they're rough on the eyes, that's what egg substitutes do vs. using real egg whites. They're definitely flatter than other batches I've made.

For the rest of the day I've packed tuna salad made with reduced fat mayo with olive oil and sugar free relish. I also have a turkey burger, grilled chicken and a salad. For dinner I'll probably have more chicken, some zucchini and romaine.

Jealous right? ;) I think the only struggle I'm going to have is sweets and alcohol. I have a lot of celebrations in the pipeline that involve these two things, but I've learned some new tips and tricks to make it easier and to keep myself from getting into trouble.

Good news is, I woke up to do Insanity this morning and it was totally worth it :) Especially since it's raining cats and dogs.

 

Also, one of my coworkers lost his mom this weekend very unexpectedly. If you are someone who prays, please send a prayer his way as their family could really use all the love and support the Lord can lay on them. I can't imagine losing my mom at this point in my life, my hearts aches for his loss.