Yummy in my Tummy

Hey! I hope each of you had a fun filled weekend. I made it down to Atlanta for a quick 24hr trip to visit a good friend. I’m a little exhausted now but it was well worth it. I will be sure to give you a more in depth update of that in the coming days. But for now, I wanted to share a couple easy meals to help you get your week started off on the right foot.

1. For an easy, high protein breakfast:

Grab 2 frozen whole grain waffles, some almond almond butter, raisins, and a few chopped walnuts. Toast the waffles, smear on the almond butter, and sprinkle on the raisins and walnuts and you’re ready to go. I cut up an apple to go along with this. It was super filling and very delicious.

2. For a quick snack:

Grab the blender, throw in a banana, some greek yogurt, a handful of frozen strawberries, a little water and ice, hit blend and you are good to go. I like to add a few chi seeds in the mix as well, but not necessary.

3. For a complete lunch or dinner in minutes:

All you need is a sweet potato, frozen broccoli, pre-cooked chicken (I bake a couple chicken breasts at the beginning of each week to have on hand), and some low-fat shredded cheese. Stick the potato in the microwave for about 7min, steam the broccoli for about a minute in the microwave, and warm up the chicken for about 30seconds. I put it together like a loaded baked potato and finish it off with a little bit of cheese on top. This last time I added half an avocado to the mix for a little something extra.

So what are some of your easy, go to meals? Please share in the comments below.

I hope you week gets off on the right foot!

Hello Freezing Cold!!

Holy Cow! Y’all it got cold today in Charlotte! And yes, I am complaining, I do not like the cold! There is a reason I don’t live way up North. But regardless, I still had to get in a workout so to the overly crowded gym I went. Since it was so packed, I didn’t even attempt to plan a workout using any of the machines but rather grabbed a mat and a a set of dumbbells and picked my itty bitty spot in the corner and got to work.

Today’s workout was 3 rounds of the following. Each set is done for 4minutes continually and each exercise 10reps at a time. Complete as many rounds as possible during those 4minutes.

Set 1:

Bodyweight Squats, Rows, and Walking Planks

Set 2:

Lunge, Bicep Curls, Leg Lifts

Set 3:

RDL, Tricep Kickback, Supermans

Besides being a little tight on space, tonights workout was a success. Next time you are stuck in a crowded gym or at home with minimal equipment, give it a try.

Happy Wednesday Y’all!!

What Happens at the Scale….

So as you learned back in October in my “Let’s Play Catch-Up” post, I work for a weight loss company. Part of working for a weight loss company is that you weigh in A LOT of people. To some it is just a number but to others it might as well be life or death. Also, at the scale you learn a lot about a person…. so here are the 5 types of people who get on the scale….

1. The Avoider…how long can I stall?! Maybe if I keep talking about my cute, new puppy and crazy, ex boyfriend she will forget that I need to weigh in and that brownie I ate will totally be void this week. I’ll just keep telling her about my awesome plan to go to the gym this coming week so she doesn’t have to know about that whole bag of potato chips. I’ll totally work it off this week…well maybe. Shit! She didn’t forget! What can I do now…time for plan B…I need pee, that totally buys me 3minutes!

2. The Stripper… How many items of clothing can I take off and it still be acceptable for me to be on the scale standing beside a total stranger? If I take off more than I did last week then it will be like I lost more weight than I really did and if I don’t lose as much next week, I will be able to blame it on heavy clothes that week. Perfect plan…let me first take off my light weight sweater, shoes, socks, bobby pin, lipstick, belt, necklace, ring, ponytail holder, belly button lint…Perfect!

3. The “Don’t Tell Me, I Can’t Look”… I’m just going to step on the scale backwards and not look unless I did good, in that case totally tell me and I want to see. Oh and if I didn’t do good I am about to confess to eating my whole refrigerator, pantry, and tray of cookies at my neighbors house. Then tell you about how I haven’t worked out all week and I might have binged watched the entire first and second season of Scandal while drinking a bottle of wine and eating a bag of fun sized snickers….but hey they were fun sized, thats got to count for something!!

4. The Overly Emotional…. I AM THE MOST AMAZING PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! Let me sing and dance and scream and let the whole world know, I just lost 1/2 a pound…. and now I am skinny!!! I did everything perfect and I am so awesome.. its like unicorns are jumping over rainbows and singing in voices of angels! (as a consultant, I love these people but far too often get—>) OH NO!!! The world is coming to an end… I GAINED 1/2 a pound the week of Christmas where I had three parties, a family dinner, and a cookie exchange!!! Time for that total stranger to put on her therapist hat and grab the box of tissues, I may need to be admitted to the hospital…my body has to have something wrong with it, I did ALL the right things!! I should be losing like 12lbs a week!!! This could quite possibly be the worst day of my life!!

5. I’m Totally Going To….never ever see that number again! It is too high, I must lose weight! I’m going to do it this week!….But I am not going to give up my nightly bottle of wine, bag of Cheetos, caramel-frappa-mocha-double-shot-extra-whip-hotty-totty-1400000000calorie latte, or even consider exercising. Yea…I am 100%, totally on board the losing weight train! I am going to have a great week and I am going to tell you the EXACT same thing next week when I am STILL DISAPPOINTED in the number.

So there you have it, the 5 types of people you meet come weigh in time…..

I know this post was a little out of the ordinary for me but I thought you could all use a little glimpse of into what a day in the life of a weight loss consultant looks like…. And don’t get me wrong, I love each of these people. The avoider, you give me a good laugh, your creativity is fantastic. The stripper, you scare me at times, please keep your clothes on! I don’t want to see all that! Mister (Miss) I can’t look, I know you are peaking, and I am okay with that! The Overly Emotional person, I’m always here to support your roller-coaster no matter how high or low it is. And finally the I’m going to do it…you’re not fooling me but I can’t wait for the ah-ha moment when you really let me help you get to your goal.

Happy Tuesday Y’all!

Screen Shot 2015-01-06 at 9.41.30 PM — *http://www.lindsayalexis.com/2011/10/dreaded-scale.html*

Let’s Get the Party Started!

Happy Monday Y’all! I’m sure many of you are headed back to work or school after a nice hiatus through the holidays. I unfortunately did work through the holidays but still managed to squeeze in all the holiday fun I wanted (see yesterday’s post) which has put quite the damper on my typical healthy eating and regular exercise routine. Originally I had planned to kickstart my workouts at the beginning of December after taking a short break to recover from the marathon, as I mentioned in my Offseason Training post. That worked great till about the week of Christmas…. So here I am, ready to kick off the new year with a new training program but this time with a new goal.

This new goal is something I have wanted to accomplish for a long time. And I especially wanted to accomplish before turning 25. So this is the year. I am training for my first ever FULL IRONMAN!!! Thats right, that 140.6mile race consisting of a 2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, and 26.2mile run. I signed up over Christmas (Merry Christmas to me) to compete in Ironman Cozumel November 29th, 2015. And you might ask why before 25, well the answer is simple. 25 is when I move into the big girls league. Racing at 24, my age group is still small and tends to be a little less competitive but come 25 and beyond, the numbers and the competition greatly increase.

So now comes the hard part…training. How in the world do you train for a race this long? How long do you train for this? Should I complete all the distances before going into that day? Should I do a half iron as a warm up for this race? The questions go on and on. So for now, although as I talk to more people this may change, I am going to start my training now. I have found a 36week program online from Trifuel (anyone used it before??) that has gotten good reviews from others who have used it before with the only caveat to add a little extra distance to the long runs. I know 36weeks puts me starting the week of March 23rd so in the time leading up to then, I am going to work on building a base. I plan to pick a half marathon to do in the month of March as kind of my season opener so I will train for that plus adding in some miles on the bike and in the pool as cross-training. However, up till March, my main focus will the half marathon and strength training.

And since training for an Ironman is soooo many grueling hours, I figured why not reward myself?! I have created a jar that I will be putting a dollar in for every workout that I do leading up to the race. That way, when the race is all said and done at the end of November and I am an IRONMAN, I will be able to treat myself to something nice. Not sure what it will be yet but once I figure it out I will let you know.

So there you have it, my 2015 goal. What are your goals for 2015? Please share in the comments below.

LET’S GET THIS training PARTY STARTED!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hey y’all! I hope you have had a very happy holiday season, are well rested, and have a good jump on those new years resolutions. Since I have been so pitiful on my holiday updates, I am going to take you through the 12 holiday high points, sort of like the 12 days of Christmas…

1. A visit with our good Friends the Coggins kicked off Christmas week for us. Congrats Jaclyn on your engagement!!

2. Christmas party at my parents house with family friends. I won Left Right Center and we had a Gingerbread House Competition. So Fun!

The “Kids” … I think it is safe to say we have all grown up a bit. 2 in college, 4 college grads, and 1 engaged!! WOW, where has the time gone?!

3. Baking Christmas cookies. Let’s just say we had the good, the bad, and the ugly amongst our 90+ cookies!

4. Christmas Eve Christmas shopping with my little brother… this has become a tradition at my house and I love getting to spend a little time just the two of us.

5. Writing our annual letters to Santa. Alex always has the most creative of letters. That boy, although he can be a bit much at times, sure is a funny one.

6. New Christmas jammies. Grandma has been giving us an ornament and PJs every year on Christmas Eve since I was a little baby.

7. Santa stopped by and was WAYYY too generous at our house! Those elves sure were busy this year!

8.NEW CAR!!!! Thanks daddy!!! My pretty little girl still remains nameless… Any suggestions??

9. A quick visit from our friends the Andrews. It was great getting to catch up with them.

10. Belk Bowl! Go Dawgs! So much fun to see a former Kimball Farmer (my childhood neighborhood) tear it up on the field. Congrats to David Andrews on finishing his college career with a great performance and a victory.

11.New Years eve… dad and his girls (mom, grandma, and I)! We went to Vine American Kitchen for dinner and it was delicious; a great last meal of 2014.

12. New Years Day….Moving day! Well moving day wasn’t exactly the best but being in a new apartment is pretty awesome! The place is great, roommate is very nice, and there is a crazy cat named Izzy. I’m sure I’ll have some Izzy stories for you as the year progresses.

Meet Izzy! The crazy cat the plays fetch and is a ton of help unpacking…Can’t you tell?!

That was my holiday season in a nutshell…. So what are your high points of the holiday season? Please share in the comments below. I love getting to know more about my readers 🙂

Offseason Training

Happy rainy, cold, windy, nasty Monday y’all! Ha that sounds appealing right?! Well, regardless of the weather, today was my first day back to “organized” workouts since completing Thunder Road Marathon mid November. I have enjoyed the time off but I think my body has finally completely recovered so it is time to get back into the swing of things. As I mentioned previously, I need to work on building strength. I feel like through the last few months as I was adjusting to working life and my new city I only did cardio workouts which usually meant running and even at that they weren’t exactly the most quality of runs. So now its time to get back in the saddle and get my booty in gear! But before I get to the workouts, I set a couple [broad] goals for myself….

1. Build Strength. I want to feel toned and strong come the start of next triathlon season.

2. Increase Speed. Now that I have been doing endurance events for a couple years, my body has really adjusted to the longer but slower workouts and thus I have also been slower competing… even when I felt I was in as good, if not better shape than the year previously.

3. Add Variety. I have gotten in such a rut with my own workouts. I feel like I can creatively come up with good, quality, non-boring workouts for others but I struggle doing that for myself.

4. Increase Flexibility. This is not something I enjoy working on. I never feel like I get a workout when I when I go to yoga or am stretching and foam rolling on my own because it doesn’t make me sweat. Nevertheless, flexibility is so important for avoiding injury that I am going to make time for it this season.

5. Have Fun. By this I mean I want to continually reevaluate to make sure I am still enjoying what I am doing. By about June / July of last year I was so burnt out on training that I was no longer enjoying it. So this year I want to make sure I am doing all this for the right reasons…because I love it and I find joy in it, not because I signed up for a race. The race is important but at the end of the day there are ways to keep training fun if you are creative.

….Now for the execution.

To achieve goal number 1, I have put together a strength plan for the next 8 weeks. I keep it to a max of 4 “lifts” and 2-3 core exercises of my choice that day. Since I do not enjoy doing strength workouts I kept these workouts short.

For speed, I have had to do a fair amount of research to see whats best. I had always assumed that building a base during the offseason then incorporating speed workouts (intervals, hills, etc.) during the early parts of season was best but apparently I was wrong. This year, my offseason workouts will be kept decently short but full of tough intervals that gets those fast twitch muscles firing.

Group exercise classes will be used for the add variety for the time being. It is always fun to see what other instructors come up with. It is a great place to get new ideas for workouts.

Increase flexibility…I have added 5min to the end of all my cardio workouts. During this 5min I am to stretch and/or foam roll.

Have fun. This will be achieved by taking the time at the beginning of every week to actually think about what I am doing and how I am feeling about it. If I find that I am bored or not enjoying my workouts, I am going to step back and adjust that weeks workouts then.

So there you have it, there are my goals and how I am going to execute them through the next couple of months.

Day 1 [today] started with a short strength routine:

3 sets of each of the following:

15 Squats with a 12.5lb. dumbbell in each hand.
Chest Press with 30lbs. 15x
15 Lunges with a 8lb. medicine ball.
Lat Pull Down with 45lbs. 15x
:30 planks
3o Russian Twist with 8lb. medicine ball

Then I headed to take a 45-50min spin class. The instructor was great; she had us climbing hills, sprinting, and laughing all at the same time. Killed three birds with one stone there: speed work, variety, and fun. And once that was over, I headed back to the gym where I spent 5minutes on the foam roller. I tried the rumble roller for the first time today, needless to say, I’m not ready to officially graduate to full time use of it yet. It hurt so good! haha

So there you have it, my goals, my plan, and day one’s workouts. I won’t be updating you daily on my entire workout but I will be sure to keep you in the loop with my progress.

Now its your turn, what’s your plan this winter to combat the want to hibernate in big sweaters on the couch till spring? Comment below letting me know!

Brother Bear’s 22!!

Hey y’all! I hope you all had a wonderful Friday and those of you following the Couch to 5k series are ready to tackle the 5k in the morning. Please comment below letting me know how it goes! Good Luck!!

Anyways, today started out with a quick 45min workout. 30minutes on the spin bike where I did 1mile easy warm up, 8miles of .5mile hard, .5mile easy, then a 1mile cool down. I followed that with a 10minute core routine and 5minutes of foam rolling and stretching. After my morning workout I came home and (even though I tried burning them) made a breakfast burrito for my dad and I. It was a quick and easy breakfast that was high in protein even if it was a little bland today. Not a ton in the fridge to choose from so today’s was just an egg, egg beaters, cheese, and salt and pepper wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla.

After breakfast, I got in the car with my parents and we headed up the mountain to Boone to celebrate my baby brothers 22nd Birthday!! After a little running around when we got there, we sat down to lunch at Macado’s. It was pretty good….Well, sort of…. the service was pretty slow and the food was average but the dessert was on point so that made up for everything else the restaurant was lacking in my book. It was a giant cinnamon roll with ice cream on top. Sorry I didn’t get a picture, the 4 of us devoured it before I even thought to snap one. You’ll just have to take my word on it, it was AMAZING!

After lunch, since nothing we do is super conventional we opened birthday presents in the car. I made my brother a birthday BRO-quet. I think it was a pretty big hit and I had a lot of fun putting it together. I’ll be sure to post the details of this one in a later post.

Then the real fun started. We went and chopped down the family Christmas tree. And no, it was not like the Griswold’s, no one froze from the waist down, goofy carols were not sung, and we didn’t hike miles into the woods, but we did have lots of fun.

We went to a Christmas tree farm where they have tons and tons of trees to choose from and people to help you when you need it. Alex, Mom, and Dad have all done this together the last few years but this was my first time and I thought it was pretty cool.

When you first get there they hand you these giant poles so you can measure the trees; out on the mountain none of them look huge but trust me, some of them are GIANT! Or as my brother says, they are GONKERS!! Mom seemed to find those trees even though she was “looking” for a small one.

After lots of searching and maybe a little bit of playing,

we found the perfect one….

Just kidding we didn’t go with the Christmas palm tree but it did give us a good laugh. Once we picked out our tree, a guy in a big tractor comes by and chops it down, brings it down the mountain, and trims it up…I think he had maybe done this once or twice as he was pretty quick! …Faster than we could pay for it and grab our free hot chocolate and cookies.

After tying the tree to the top of the car (funny story, the guy helping us phone started ringing and his ringtone was something about beer and titties. Mom, Alex, and I did all that we possibly could to keep a straight face but we failed…we are all so mature 😉 ) it was time to say our goodbyes to the birthday boy and head back down the mountain. Mom and I joked with Dad that the tree kept falling off the entire way down, but no worries, it made it all the way back to the Queen City with no problems. I’ll be sure to post a picture once we have the pretty tree up and decorated.

This pretty tree looks like a keeper to me!

So who else chops down their own tree? I highly recommend it to anyone in Charlotte looking to buy a real Christmas tree this year. It could be a fun day trip with the family or your significant other. There are tons of Christmas tree lots up in Boone to choose from.

Comment below if you are doing your 5k in the morning and if you have ever chopped down your own tree.

Happy Friday Y’all!

Dysfunctional at its finest… sorry mom 😉

Thanksgiving

Hey Y’all! So this will be my last Thanksgiving post for the year…I feel like I have said “Happy Thanksgiving” enough on here already. But before I close out the holiday, I thought I would give you a quick recap of the Thanksgiving weekend…Gobble Gobble!!

Wednesday after just a half day of work I headed to the Charlotte house to be with my family. My brother was already there so the festivities began upon my arrival. Dad and Alex headed to the hot tub and Mom and I baked our first ever apple pie…. it was pretty good if I do say so myself! That night we had family dinner which ended in a big game of (Alex’s Rules) Rock Paper Scissors…I’m still not sure who won but nonetheless it was a lot of fun and many giggles were had.

Thursday started off with the Turkey Trot. Mom walked the 5k and I ran the 8k. It was so much fun. For as much as I love doing marathons and other big, epic races, races like this are so much fun. You have people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and abilities, everyone is smiling and having fun, and there are lots of costumes. It really was a fun way to start the morning.

After our fun morning we headed home to walk the dogs and get to cooking. Everyone else arrived at the house between 2&3. We had my grandma and another family for dinner. It was a fun afternoon and evening with all of them. Lots of chit chatting and catching up before dinner and WAYYYYY too much food for dinner. Everything was delicious, even the ginny pig fried turkey, so it was hard to stop at a little portions but I did as best I could…I had to save room for my apple pie!

Friday was pretty uneventful for the majority of the day, I made my way to the Y for a cycle class but that was about it for the morning. It certainly felt good to get a good sweat in after a day of eating and drinking.

Then that evening as a family we went to the Charlotte Hornets game. My brother and I had a good time laughing and saying “What are we doing with our lives?!” as we looked at the roster and noticed that a fair number of the players were younger than us.

Saturday started bright and early with a morning shift at Jenny Craig. As much as I didn’t want to get out of bed, I was really proud of my clients that came in that morning. The majority of my clients maintained their weight loss over Thanksgiving week and a few even lost. One lady lost 3lbs over the course of Thanksgiving week! Just further proving that you can lose weight over the holidays! So proud of her!

Saturday night as a family plus my brother’s girlfriend, Lindsey, we headed to the Comedy Zone in Uptown Charlotte. We saw James Gregory, he has to be about 70years old but he was hilarious. I really enjoyed his show because it wasn’t raunchy, dirty funny but rather (almost) clean funny. He had us laughing from the beginning all the way to the end from both his facial expressions and his jokes. I personally think he’d make a great Grinch. Has anyone else seen him live, what’d you think? Also, for anyone living in the Charlotte area, I definitely recommend checking out the Comedy Zone if you are looking for a fun night out.

And finally Sunday, Alex headed back to school and Lindsey back to Charleston, but only after our “First Annual After Thanksgiving Pancake Toss”….We, being the competitive family that we are, threw left over pancakes off the back deck having a competition to see who could throw the furthest. Not sure we ever officially declared a winner but I am going to go with Alex as the champion of this one. It was a great final laugh to end the fun, family filled holiday weekend.

And now it is back to reality…and time to work off those couple of pounds I put on these last few days! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Holiday, please share some of your highlights of the weekend in the comments below!

Happy lets get those abs back before Christmas Monday! 😉

Get to planking y’all!

Couch to 5k Series: 6

So who gobbled till they wobbled yesterday?! Or who is feeling “fluffy” and “puffy” today as the instructor of my cycle class said morning?! If either of those apply to you then you are in the right place as we kick off training for the 5th and final week of our Couch to 5k series!! If you are just getting started be sure to check out the warm-up, week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 to get you all caught up. This week you are committed to about two and a half hours total. I promised you when we got started with this series the commitment would be totally doable and look, I followed through…all the way to the end!

Monday — 2min walk, 3min jog x7

Tuesday — 20min walk

Wednesday — 2min walk, 3min jog x8

Thursday — 20min walk

Friday — Rest

Saturday — RACE DAY!! 3.1miles!!!!

Sunday — Rest

So who is ready to tackle their final week of training and their 5k this weekend?! Comment below if you’ve stuck with it or are planning on getting started towards training for your first 5k soon!

Just a Few Thoughts: 2

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all! I hope you all have had a happy turkey day full of giving thanks for all of your many blessings. As I have been going through the day, it has made me think about what I am thankful for and I came up with a list of my top 3 things that I am especially thankful for….

1. My family. THEY.ARE.GREAT. Really, they are.. Yes they may drive me crazy sometimes (it is in their job description, I know!), but at the end of the day they are my biggest fans and most loyal supporters. Mom, always being their to listen to my every complaint and dry every tear, Dad, guiding me with his vast wisdom as I grow in my career and next stages of life, and Alex (aka Little Brother), always making me smile, laugh, and forever keeping me on my toes. I am beyond grateful for these three goobers that I get to call mine!

2. My Health. It has been over the last couple weeks that I have become especially thankful for this. While running the marathon nearly two weeks ago and the turkey trot today, it has made me feel so lucky to have a body that is healthy and strong. I look around at my brother and dad who are hobbled from cheering me on, and friends and other family members who are battling things much worse than my baby aches and pains and I just feel so lucky and blessed to have my health.

3. My Growth over this past year. This time last year I was one month from graduating college and didn’t have even the slightest clue as to what I would be doing the day that diploma was handed to me. Since then I have had several jobs and I feel so lucky to have learned so much about the big, scary, foreign, real world. I know I still have a ton more to learn and will only continue to grow but I feel so blessed to have a baby start to a career in a field that I love in a city that I am slowly starting to love and call home. Not every second of every work day is perfect but y’all, how cool is it that I get to make money doing what I love. Really, that is definitely something to be thankful for.

I feel like I could go on and on and on about each of these three things but that would put y’all into even more of a sleepy coma than the turkey so I will leave it at that.

What are you thankful for? Please share in the comments below!

Thanksgiving Turkey