Weigh-in 1

Well today is June 15. I posted the other day that I wasn't going to weigh in since it was the already the 12th. But this morning while I was getting ready, I saw the scale and thought might as well... 

Drum roll please....

I'm down 3 pounds for a total of 11 since  starting my blog, and a grand total of 76 since I was my heaviest. 

I worked out with the new trainer at Camp Gladiator, Edwin, on Thursday. Holy craaaaap. He is tough! He wants you moving the entire hour. Even when he was explaining exercises he wanted us like marching in place, and to rest and catch our breath, he had us walk a little lap. We did exercises that I've never done before, and I had to do quite a few modifications. Edwin was really nice and encouraging, but he didn't let me not finish an exercise. The last part of the workout he actually made the rest of the people do it again to finish with me and another girl. I felt a little bad about that, but since we are slower it wasn't as hard on them, and they seemed happy to finish with us.

To finish camp Edwin brought some noodles (like for the pool). We played Star Wars; he named it. We used our noodles as light sabers chasing each other around and hitting each other below the waist. If you got hit, you had to go outside of the circle and do some jumping jacks. It was really fun. Edwin is an elementary PE teacher, so I'm looking forward to all of the silly games we'll play. 

That's all I've got for now. Yay Saturday!!

Hump Day!

Has this seemed like a long week for you guys? It really has for me. I started feeling sick on Monday night, I was sick yesterday, and I'm about 80% today. I don't really know what I had because I didn't have any real symptoms except that I felt really tired and achy. Because I did not feel well, I have not been very active, and that probably just exacerbated the feeling tired. Who knows? I'm starting to feel better though, and I'm ready to get back at it.

I don't know if I told you guys that my trainer at Camp Gladiator, Rand, left! His last day was last Friday. I was REALLY bummed because I really liked working out with him. He's a trainer that is very supportive no matter your fitness level. He was encouraging without being mean. He's like Bob from Biggest Loser kind of, and I LOVED HIM. So... yeah, I'm bummed that he left, but he is off to grad school so good luck to him! I think I'll make +Jimmy Ho be friends with him on Facebook so I can keep in contact with him. We had a Camp Gladiator happy hour on Friday to say goodbye. Check out me and Rand.

Such a cutie, right?! Sorry ladies.. he's taken (and he's like 22!)! I got so much stronger working out with Rand. When I first started, I could not do a burpee or jump to hands (click on the links for explanations) to save my life! I did not go to Camp Gladiator last Thursday because when I went last Tuesday it was SO HOT I honestly thought I may die. So instead, I got up at 5 freakin 30 AM on Friday to go work out with Rand on his last day. He made us do 25 reps of like 20 different exercises. It was TOUGH, but you should have seen me doing jump to hands!! I actually did all 25 and was able to jump back and forth. Check me out!!!!

Since I started this whole journey back in March, I have only lost about 8 pounds. I know I'm gaining muscle and all that jazz, but I still feel like I should be losing more. So.. I think it is time to get more strict about my diet. I do pretty well most of the time, but I still go out for drinks with friends and eat pizza and burgers sometimes. To encourage myself to keep pushing, I am going to start weighing in on the 1st and the 15th of each month, and I am going to post here how much I've lost.. or gained.. eek!.  No, I won't put my weight, but I will be honest in whether I've lost or gained. Today is the 12th, so we are going to count this as my 15th weight in and say I'm down 8 lbs overall! I would like to lose 100 pounds by May of next year. That's my ultimate goal. Wish me luck!

Btw - I met the new trainer, but I have not trained with him yet. Tomorrow will probably be my first day with him. I'll keep you guys posted.

Last week was a lot of fun. On Monday night we had concert tickets to see Of Monsters and Men. They are from Iceland, and I absolutely love them. I have been dying to see them for about a year.. after they were here for SXSW in 2012, and I did not listen to a friend about how awesome they were. A few months later, I discovered them and became obsessed. Should have listened to you, Eileen! Before the concert Jimmy and I grabbed some Vietnamese food since it was Meatless Monday.

I don't remember a lot about the food we ate last week except that one night we had some beef fajitas, and they were delicious!

I got my 2nd haul from our local farmer on Friday, and I was really surprised. I got cactus. CACTUS?! I realize people eat it, but I didn't know it was grown locally. So.. I have not tackled it yet. I'm a little intimidated. I also got some grass that a friend believes is Onion Weed. What in the world do I do with that? I got some more Swiss Chard, green onions, peppers, greens, carrots, herbs, garlic, and I think an eggplant. I think I'll just have to start biting things to taste them. Getting produce from a local farm is like a box of chocolates... you know the rest.

I have been having such a sweet tooth lately, but I really need to stay on track. I found a recipe on Pinterest for some oatmeal raisin cookies, and I feel pretty good about them. No flour OR sugar! 3 mashed bananas (ripe), 1/3 cup apple sauce, 2 cups oats, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup raisins (optional), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I used 2% milk because I didn't have any almond milk. I haven't tasted them yet, but they look and smell delicious!

That's all I've got for today! Hope you guys have a great Thursday and Friday!

Shaking things up...

Lots to share this week! I have been cooking quite a bit this week. Here is a glance at some of the foods I've had.

Veggie patty is under the avocado!

Kale, Raspberries, and Apple

There is chicken under that avocado mixture!

I have also tried some new recipes! One of them is called Bubble Pizza that I found on good ole' Pinterest. You cut up biscuits and use them as the pizza dough. You add your toppings, and pizza sauce then bake for 20 minutes at 400. Then add the cheese and bake for another 5 minutes. Take it out and sprinkle with oregano. Viola!  It was SO simple. I found WHEAT biscuits! I was so excited, but quickly found out that just because it is wheat does not mean it is healthy. I followed the pinterest recipe and used the whole can of biscuits and all of the cheese. You make it in an 8X8 pan, and cut it into 8 small pieces. It ended up being about 650 calories for 2 servings which is just crazy. I may as well had 2 pieces of deep dish pizza from Pizza Hut! So... next time I'm going to use half of the biscuits because there was a ton of dough, and I don't think you would be missing anything by cutting it out, and I think I'll use half of the amount of cheese (that one will be tough!). But, just by doing those 2 things, I will save 260 calories!!! And if I can have 2 pieces for 390 calories, I feel a lot better about it! Here is a pic of each step.

Oh, oh, oh! I did something SUPER exciting this week! I made my first omelette!!!! Should I be that excited about it? Um, yes! Because making an omelette is not that easy. I've tried before, and it was just a mess. I was so excited about it, that I'm pretty sure I texted 3 or 4 people. I used 2 eggs, some pico, and cheese. It was delicious. I'm feeling pretty confident now. Many more omelettes to come!

In continuing our pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, I have been wanting to get most of our produce from a local organic farm. I finally contacted one that is pretty close to our home and makes home deliveries every Friday. Well.. we signed up! We got our first delivery this past Friday. The produce looked and smelled amazing! We got Swiss chard, kale, carrots, potato, a pepper, peaches, leeks, green onion, and some cherry tomatoes. Getting these deliveries every Friday will push us out of our comfort zones to eat things we haven't eaten before, to eat more vegetables, and to learn to cook new things. Here is a pic of our haul.

With that said, we had never had Swiss chard! I took that on tonight. I found a great recipe. For those of you like me and don't venture out with veggies, the easiest thing to compare it to would be fresh spinach. Not so much the taste, but in the way that it looks and the preparation. I sauteed it with olive oil, real butter, garlic, purple onion, carrots, white wine, lemon, and Parmesan. I was pleasantly surprised! Jimmy and I really liked it. It was so flavorful, and I felt like such a culinarian! Even +Jimmy Ho thought I seemed like a real chef! It was pretty exciting. It was so colorful and delicious. Take a look!

Isn't that amazing? I am so looking forward to all of the new things we will start making.

Because I have such a sweet tooth, I NEEDED to find a way to make something that would satisfy it without undoing everything good I have done. This week, I found it!! Thank you to @SmugCookery on Twitter, I will be able to survive. Watch her YouTube video that saved me here. So what did she do? She taught me how to make a creamy, not icy, homemade ice cream in my +Vitamix! It was SO simple and takes 2, yes TWO ingredients. Buy some ripe bananas, peel them, cut them in halves or pieces, and freeze them. After they are frozen use about 2 cups of the frozen bananas and 100 ml (in between 1/3 and 1/2) of a cup of milk. We used 2%, but she used fat free in her recipe. The ice cream is ready in like 30 seconds. It was creamy. It was sweet. It was amazing. The recipe is enough for 2 people, and if you use fat free milk, it is 152 calories per serving (per @SmugCookery). Ours had a few more calories since we used 2% milk, but not a lot. Just another reason to love the Vitamix!!

As you can tell, I had a pretty productive week! I also worked out pretty hard at Camp Gladiator! But.. we made time for some fun this weekend too. We went to a beautiful wedding on Friday night. Congrats to Claire and Tre! So happy for you guys!! We did some yard work and gave the dogs their summer haircuts. We went and saw the new Fast and Furious movie. I know you're thinking really? How can it be good? It is the 6th one! I know.. but it was! It was good! We also checked out Top Golf today with a friend which was really fun.

This was a pretty great week, and next week is off to a good start! We are going to see Of Monsters and Men tomorrow night, and I can't wait! I've been wanting to see them for over a year now. I'll post pics of that next time. Hope you all have a great week!