Oh boy...here comes February!

So, the question is, are you ready for it? How are you doing in 2011? Well I, for one, have had a rough start this year. Not terrible but definitely not on track. I made a plan last week to finish out January on the right foot and start February off right. If you're off to a slow start this year, just accept where you are and make a plan to make progress in February. Join me, won't you? Let's knock it out in this new month!! If you're already rip roaring and raring to go then let's keep it going through February.

I got my place completely straightened out and clean over the past weekend. Clean, clean, clean and organized too. I still have a lot of culling and organizing to do. But I'm going to do that over the next couple of weeks so I don't get too overwhelmed. I also made quite a bit of food yesterday. Let's see...what did I make? Ummm...broiled tilapia, Traci's Thai crockpot chicken, Thai Shrimp Bugers (well, balls actually) with Slaw, and I cooked some kamut so I could make my Kamut Salad with a Kick, which I just finished making. Oh my, I don't think I remembered how tasty that is. Oh boy! I'm going to have to have that with some of my broiled tilapia tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

So I changed my workout plan this week. As you may recall last week  I was doing fasted cardio and weights at night. This didn't work out very well for me because I find it frustrating to do weights when it's really crowded at the gym which would be after work. So today, for example, I did a great shoulder workout and then tonight I did 32 minutes cardio. I'll write out my workout tomorrow but for cardio I did 3 minutes warm-up walk on the treadmill. And then I did...are you ready...17 minutes of running!!!! I don't know if you remember but just a couple of weeks ago I started running and did 7 minutes. The next time I ran I did 10 minutes, then 12 and today SEVENTEEN!!!! WOOHOO!!! Quite proud of myself since I am, indeed, NOT really a runner. It really is nice for a change and I'm enjoying it.

My meals were right on today too!

1) 1/2 scoop protein and 1/4 cup oats shake
2) 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 4 walnut halves
3) Same as 2 with salsa on my egg whites (Thanks Iris!!!)
4) Traci's Thai Crockpot Chicken with 1/2 cup brown rice
5) 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup Voskos and 1/2 scoop protein powder
6) 7 Thai shrimp balls with slaw
7) Will be Chocolate Mint Protein Tea and pecans...yummy!

So I'm feeling good coming into February. I'm going to carry this motivation, positivity and enthusiasm through the month!!! Hope you feel it too. WOOHOO!!!

Thai Shrimp Burgers

Thai Shrimp Burgers

For bugers:

1 lb large shrimp, peeled

3 large garlic cloves, minced

2 T minced fresh ginger

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

6 T minced cilantro

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup Thai peanut sauce (store bought or my version below*)

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs** (crumbs from 1 slice Ezekiel)

For slaw:

1-2 t fresh lime juice

1 T rice wine vinegar

1 T water

3-4 drops stevia

1 16 oz bag cole slaw mix (most carrots removed)

In a food processor, blend 1/3 of the shrimp into a paste. Add remaining shrimp, pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeno, 4 tablespoons cilantro, 2 green onions, 1/4 cup peanut sauce, and bread crumbs. Combine with a fork. Divide into 4 portions. Pat with fingertips to flatten to about 4 inches wide.

Whisk remaining peanut sauce with lime juice, rice wine vinegar,stevia and water. Mix slaw with remaining onion and cilantro; toss with dressing. Refrigerate. Toss every once in a while as slaw will “wilt” a little as the sauce gets absorbed.

Heat pan on medium and spray with nonstick spray. Add patties to pan and cook about 4 minutes per side. If making shrimpballs, place in pan and turn to brown all sides about every 30-60 seconds. They need to cook longer than the burgers, about 10-12 minutes total.

For you lucky grill people: Put burgers on hot grill. Cover and cook, turning only once, until opaque throughout, about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes per side.

Put 1/4 of the slaw on/in dish and then place burger on top. Or you could serve the burger in a pita with slaw as condiment. Eat it up! Yummy!

I made half of this recipe into 2 burgers and the other half into about 12 shrimpballs. I plan on having them with maybe some shirtaki or kelp noodles. Not sure yet. But they sure are cute!

*Thai Peanut Sauce

3 T peanut butter

1 1/2 T rice wine vinegar

1 t garlic chile sauce

1 T sesame oil

4 drops stevia

1-3 T hot water

Mix all together but hot water. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time to incorporate. Using all 3 tablespoons makes exactly the right amount for the Thai shrimp burger recipe.

**For bread crumbs, leave a slice of bread out overnight or you can just leave it for a couple of hours or so in an unheated gas oven till dry. Grind in food processor or blender.

Workouts are right on track! Nutrition is getting there...

I'm sticking to my "plan of attack"! I did my heavy shoulder workout on Tuesday and then my Back and Plyo Legs Superset workout yesterday followed by about 30 minutes varied cardio - 5-7 minutes jumprope, 15 minutes mini-spinning class (self-taught!), 10 minutes stepmill. Today I did 30 minutes stepmill speed training level 10 and followed that up with 15 minutes treadmill 4.6 @15% incline!

Food has been on and good. I did go out for Indian food last night. It was a delicious dinner. The Indians really know how to make their dishes flavorful! I just marvel at the complexity and layers of flavor! To die for! We had potato pancakes with tamarind chutney - OH MY! This was by far my favorite...I think? They also serve pappadums with some tomato chutney (spicy and yummy). We also got the eggplant deva and lamb vindaloo. All were very good and the service was fantastic. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a great meal with great company, particularly if it's a meal I can't make for myself. It just fills my soul with happiness. I can't even explain it!

So I'm on track and feeling so much better already. It seems like when I just let your life spin out of control then I'm really not happy. Having structure, mini-goals, plans, etc. really make my life a simpler and much more enjoyable place. Who's with me here?

Here's to a GREAT Thursday. The weekend's almost here. Knock it out today and tomorrow! Make yourself proud! No one else will do it for you!

Digging Deep

I don't know what's up with my year so far but I don't seem to be very consistent. I had a great and fun and GROWING weekend. I ate more than usual though and things I haven't been eating like candy and french fries. So even though last week was supposed to be my clean eating week, I don't think it really worked out like that. So here I am feeling less than good about myself and my body and knowing that I know better. Okay, chalk up another one for lesson learned. I can't eat whatever I want whenever I want without some consequences in how I feel. So, now my plan of attack.

Since I started out this week feeling under the weather, I have to regroup now. I don't really like it when I get off to a rocky start on Mondays. With that being said, I now how room for improvement this weekend, right? So I have a plan and it is this. I will be cleaning up my nutrition through the rest of this week and do more cardio than I have. I was aiming for 3 days a week but I think I was only getting in two. I will also do weight training 4 times this week. With this plan in mind I started out my day with 45 minutes fasted walking on incline treadmill 4.6-4.8 @ 12.5-15%. Felt good. Wish the stepmill were working though because I really like breaking up my cardio more. Tonight I will be going back to the gym for weights. So here's my plan for the rest of the week:

Tuesday (today)
Cardio: 45 minutes steady-state fasted morning
Training: Heavy shoulders, abs

Wednesday
Cardio: 30 minutes steady-state post training
Training: Back & Plyo Legs

Thursday
Cardio: 45 minutes steady-state fasted morning
Training: REST

Friday
Cardio: 30-40 minutes steady-state fasted morning
Training: Shoulders, Triceps, abs

Saturday
Cardio: 30 minutes steady state post-training
Training: Heavy Hams and Glutes

Sunday
REST and FOOD PREP for the following week

My nutrition aim is 6-7 meals per day. I will be cleaning up my eating as the week progresses and come next Monday I will back to my clean eats. Not because I have to but because I want to and I know I feel better when I eat better. I'll give up my mealplan over the weekend for next week.

See? I feel better already having it laid out for me. My training and cardio mixed up with some healthy eats and I'm good to go. I'll keep you posted. Hope you all have a fantastic day and your week is off to a good start!

Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action. ~Napolean Hill

  

“Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” ~ Napolean Hill

  

I love GROWING

Over the weekend I feel like I grew a lot! Not in my body size but in my mind, mentality and personally! As you get older it's so odd what becomes important to you. Through my contest prep last year I feel like I grew so much. And as I get older I feel like I'm constantly learning, falling down, and growing. I couldn't be more grateful. I look at some people and think "wow, don't you want to grow?" I see them avoid things in life that would certainly enhance their lives if they would attack them with the idea that they will grow and learn no matter the outcome.

I saw someone this weekend that I haven't seen in years - a friend of a friend. We talked about my competition. She kept saying how huge it was that I did that. I agreed. It was huge but I was never scared of it. Later in the evening she asked me how I placed and I told her 4th out of 4. She asked if I was okay with that. I was honest and told her that it kind of hurt at first but when I had time to reflect I was more than okay with it. I had set out to get on that stage and do the best I could to get there. That journey helped me grow exponentially. In the end did it matter how I placed? No. And that is definitely something I learned through that experience. It's hard to not get a "measure" on a journey you take. But if you don't measure your journeys in anything other than what you have gained, learned and how you've grown then your journeys will be so much more rewarding. As I look back at other journeys in my life, it really puts a new twist on journeys I've taken. I've had a varied life - some instability, hardship, victories, losses, etc. but all with constant growth. Shouldn't that be our aim in life?

I have learned much about myself over this past weekend. Sometimes it's hard to accept that you're half of every relationship you have. That means if you're expecting someone else that you're in a relationship with to compromise then you really need to be ready to compromise yourself. This has been a very hard fact for me to accept and learn. This weekend I finally made some growth in that area. Now I'm not saying to lower your standards or drop what is truly important to you. Instead I'm saying to check what things need to be compromised on and see if you are okay with those things or if they are, in fact, things you can't come to a compromise on. I know for myself that there are things that have always worked (or so I thought) when I was younger that won't work now. And this goes for all relationships for me. So these are some new things I've learned and thought these points might help some of you make better relationship choices and enhance those relationships you already have.

* Own your part of the relationship!
* Ask yourself if that relationship enhances your life or if you would be better without it
* Figure out what compromises you could make to make the relationship better
* Define ways to GROW in the relationship
* Define ways to GROW within the relationship
* Find what makes you happy in the relationship and put a spotlight on it
* Delve deep inside and bring out the best you for all your relationships
* Give your all and if you don't, don't expect the other half of that relationship to give their all
* Be grateful for the relationship
* Be present in the relationship

Those are my pointers and I used each of those this weekend. Relationships and journeys come and go and I've decided to GROW whenever possible through both. Growth is uncomfortable, awkward and TOUGH but just look at all the times you've grown. Aren't you glad you went through that growth no matter how uncomfortable, awkward or tough? I would think your answer would be yes. I just feel like I arrived at a whole new level this weekend and I'm more than grateful for this opportunity to grow!

Here comes Monday. Are you ready?

Bad human communication leaves us less room to grow. ~Rowan D. Williams

So how is YOUR Clean Eating Week going?

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January 17th - 23rd

NATIONAL CLEAN EATING WEEK
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I put myself to a challenge and so far pretty good. Last night's meal isn't one that would be considered clean really. It was more of a refuel but I don't think it affected me adversely. I made a conscious choice to eat there and enjoyed the food and the company. To me that's worth so much more than the food sometimes. Sometimes it's just nice to take the time to be with someone or "someones" and share in good food. In America I find we do this too infrequently. Everywhere you go there are distractions from the food. I'm quite food focused and love to talk about it. You know the saying, don't just talk about it...be about it. Well, that's me and food! I am ALL about it! LOL!

Today was a good day. I started out with 40 minutes of fasted cardio. 25 minutes treadmill walking 4.6-4.7 @ 12.5-15% incline and then 15 minutes stepmill level 10. I came home and had a Matcha Green Tea Protein Shake with 1/2 cup oats. DELISH! Then it was off to work. Work went fast today but I felt a little scattered. Sometimes that happens, huh?

Tonight I just rested and created my newest recipe that I LOVE! Very tasty. Asian Kamut Protein Snack Mix. I realized after that I needed to make sure the edamame was dry when I started. I also put in too much salt. I mean, I like salty crunchy things but it was a tad salty for me.

I'm just sitting down to my final meal here and then it's off to bed for some early sleep. Trying to make that goal happen if nothing else!

Today's meals:
1) Matcha Green Tea Protein Shake with 1/2 cup oats
2) Zucchini Loaf w/ walnuts
3) 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup homemade applesauce, 4 slices dried sweet potato (I'll post a picture...something I found at the Asian market that I love because it's CHEWY!)
4) Crunch A Munch Salad with 4 oz tilapia
5) 3 Jamie Eason Chicken Meatloaf Muffins and sugar snap peas
6) 2 thin pork chops (about 4 oz) in Chili Verde - so yummy!
7) Chocolate Mint Protein Tea w/ 1 T NuttZo PF - makes it creamy and adds some fat..yummy again!

Goodnight my dear sweet blog readers. Here's to Thursday. See you soon Friday!!

Asian Kamut Protein Snack Mix

Asian Kamut Protein Snack Mix

Asian Kamut Protein Snack Mix

2 cups puffed kamut

1/2 cup shelled edamame (dried)

2 t wasabi powder

1/2 scoop unflavored whey protein powder

1 T furikake seasoning*

1-2 T toasted sesame seeds

1/4-1/2 t sea salt**

1/2 t granulated stevia

1 egg white, beaten till frothy

1/2 package Trader Joe's roasted seaweed snack

Put kamut and edamame in a medium bowl. Mix wasabi, protein powder, furikake, sesame seeds, salt and stevia together in a small bowl. Pour egg white over kamut and edamame and mix with spoon to cover. Add small bowl of seasonings and stir to mix well. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in 325 oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and break apart. Place back in over for another 10 minutes or so. Remove from oven. Let cool.

While mix cools, cut seaweed snacks first in thin strips then cut strips in 3-4 pieces. When mix is cool put in serving dish with seaweed and mix together with hands.

*Furikake seasoning is rice seasoning made with seaweed and other ingredients. Very tasty on rice too!

**Snack gets saltier when it bakes so be sure not to oversalt. (That's my little lesson learned.)

Pretty good nutrient breakdown too! Try it if you want to! If you're a crunchy salty lover, you'll LOVE this!

Tuesday and Wednesday's meals

Tuesday's Meals
1) 1 scoop protein 1/2 cup oatmeal 1/4 cup blueberries 1 T NuttZo
2) 4 egg whites 1/4 cup oatmeal 4 walnut halves
3) 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/2 cup homemade applesauce
4) 4 oz pork in chili verde sauce...OH MY! YUMMY!! 1 Ezekiel tortilla
5) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 4 oz yam
6) Crunch A Munch Salad with 4 oz tilapia
7) Pumpkin Souffle with 1 T almond butter

Wednesday's Meals
1) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup blueberries
2) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
3) Thai basil chicken mini meatloaves
4) Quest Bar - Almond Crunch, 1/4 cup dried cranberries
5) Chinese dumplings - pork dumplings, spicy shrimp wontons, shrimp wonton soup - not necessarily "clean" but handmade right in the restaurant so not necessarily "dirty" either ;-)
6) Protein shake

Monday's Meals - Count 'Em...EIGHT!!

As promised here are all my meals for yesterday:

1) 1/2 protein shake, 1/4 cup oats

2) 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup blueberries, 20 almonds, 4 egg whites
3) Zucchini loaf w/ walnuts
4) 1 piece Julian bread w/ 1 T peanut butter
5) Halibut w/ yogurt sauce and 1/2 cup brown rice, side of Crunch a Munch Salad
6) 3 Chicken Meatloaf muffins and Sugar snap peas
7) Caesar Salad w/ 4 oz shrimp! YUMMY!
8) Pumpkin souffle w/ 1 T NuttZo

Gotta love accountability. Yes, I ate 8 meals but as you can see some of them were smaller than usual so it basically ended up about the same. Hope your day is going well! Mine is!

Start It Right Monday

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 17th - 23rd

NATIONAL CLEAN EATING WEEK
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here it is another Monday. Are you ready for your week? Did you get rejuvenated this week? Get a lot done? Some or all of your meals prepped? Veggies washed and chopped? Workout plan all set? Well, if not you may want to do that now to ensure a smooth week!

I had a very nice relaxing weekend. It was fun and I'm back in my groove! Thank goodness because I was kind of way out of my groove for a little while there! My weekend consisted of going out to a club/lounge and staying out late (which I just don't do) and also going on a 7 mile hike. This was the view from the top of the hike.

Yes, it was a gorgeous day in the upper 70's and clear! What a day and what a gorgeous hike. I love hiking and getting in touch with nature. It just makes me feel so good!

Yesterday I got in my grocery shopping and some food prep for the week. I made some Jamie Eason Chicken Meatloaf Muffins and also some Crunch a Munch Salad as well as a new fish dish which I will taste and then share with all of you if it's actually good! ;-) Basically I'm ready for my week with my food. Tonight I'm going to make some Thai Basil Chicken! Yummy! I need to broil some tilapia tonight as well.

I was up and at the gym at 5:30am! My shoulder is feeling better but not quite 100% so I did a shoulder workout but lightened up the weight quite a bit. I also did some pushups and ab work:

Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3x12 15#
Single Side Lat Raise - 3x12 15#
Front Raise w/ Dumbbells (palms down) - 3x12 10#
Rear Delt Raise - 3x12 10#
Push Ups off DBs - 3x10
Superset with Decline Ab Crunch - 3x20 10# plate
Rear Delt Flyes (palms down) - 3x12 10#
Crunches on the ball - 3x15
Double Crunch - 3x15

This was not a very intense workout but I wanted to work out my shoulders and get that in even if I had to lower the intensity. It felt good and I think I'm back on track.

I've already gotten two meals in today:

1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup blueberries, 20 almonds

I will write up all my meals at the end of the day each day this week. I MUST be accountable. After all it's National Clean Eating Week and what better way to celebrate than to eat clean all week! LOL! Join me if you like! How are YOU doing with your eating? Any clean recipes or ideas you would like to share? Feel free!

Have a great week! Hope you started it right! HERE WE GO!!!!

Making progress...and my leg workout

Yes, today is off to a great start! I got up and got it done! I was up at about 5 and to the gym by 5:30. I kicked my own booty at the gym, working legs! Since I still can't work upper body due to my shoulder it's either cardio or lower body. I decided I was just going to have to be okay with that and get in a killer workout anyway.

So here is my leg workout for today:
5 minutes warm-up on spin bike
Leg Extensions - 1x12 60#, 3x12 75#
Lying Ham Curl (ham focus) - 1x12 60#, 3x10 70#
Smith Machine Squats - 1x12 50#, 3x12 70#
Stationery Lunges (bodyweight) - 2x30 each leg
DB Deadlift - 3x12 25#DB
Leg Pressdown on Assisted pullup - 1x12 60#, 3x12 80#
Butt Blaster - 4x10 70#
Rolled my life away...okay, just my lower body and chest, and was out the door and home for food! And supplements of course!

I had the same breakfast as yesterday along with many vitamins and supplements. Sometimes I wonder why I take so many but when I don't them I feel it. So I took my multivitamin, vitamin D, evening primrose oil, calcium, glutamine and BCAAs. So now I'm all doped up!!! LOL!

I weighed myself today...ummmm....let's just say I weigh MORE than I did. That's all you need to know. That's all I need to know. I'm past my upper weight limit. And that's all I need to know. The good news is that gives me a GOAL! WAHOO! Yeah for goals!! I knew I had to tighten up my eating but now I really know it! So that's it for next week. This weekend I'll still be a little loose on the eating but come Monday...it's ON...like DONKEY KONG!!! So watch out! I have my fire back so it's going to be an awesome week of clean eating and great workouts. I'll have to see how my shoulder feels and then determine my workouts from there for next week. Who's with me? Who's on board here? Join me, won't you? I'm officially making January 17-23rd Clean Eating Week!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 17th - 23rd

NATIONAL CLEAN EATING WEEK
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, it's going to be fun. I will have to come up with a new recipe, just because that's the way I roll!!! LOL! I realize I still owe you 2 recipes - Chili Verde and Caesar Salad Dressing. Don't worry. I'll get to them soon! PROMISE!

Have a nice Friday and into the weekend we go! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

This has got to be the funniest, most appropriate video EVER!

Hope you all get as big a kick out of this as I did!!

GEEZ...It's like pulling teeth!

2011....yep...a little rocky I would say! Nothing bad has happened but I certainly don't have the fire I had when I started 2010! No, my friends, I do not! With that being said, let me just say that I think I may be making progress. Yes, that is awesome! Let me tell you why. When you're not chasing after a huge goal and you're not attacking it every day (such was my 2010 - ya know, first figure competition and all), life is different for lack of a better word. I'm not saying it's bad but I was feeling a little blah, a little empty.

Luckily for me I have Gina's website and members to lean on. And I did just that. I posted in her forum about my struggles with this year so far and feeling unmotivated, unfocused and frankly BLAH! Well, lucky for me last night was her G-Chat. This is a great and fairly new addition to her site. The girls that were on the chat discussed my problem and they really motivated me so now I have some direction. I will be taking baby steps to get there but I will get there. And THAT my friends is what it's all about. Each of those baby steps adds up and next thing you know you are taking huge strides. Baby steps...yep, that's where it starts! That whole thing about having a goal or a focus is so very true! My problem is that I have lots of goals this year but not one in particular that I really wanted to focus on over any of the others. So they were all just stuck in my head with no place to go. It was like a constant ping pong match inside my head! Yes, balls bouncing randomly and knocking my head all about!!! LOL!! But I think I've regrouped and now I'm ready to start.

LESSON LEARNED: When you're feeling lost/overwhelmed/uninspired/empty...seek help/opinions/advice from people that you know are looking out for your best interests. You never know what people will say and when you'll get just that SPARK you need to start your fire. It's so important to reach out to others. We can't stand alone. We all need assistance from others every single day of our lives. Don't be afraid to ask for help. And don't hide in a corner expecting someone to ask you if you need help. They won't ask because they don't know. Believe in yourself enough to ask for help and understand that help can only come if you ask. I sought help and came back inspired and uplifted. Know who can help you and who can't. Share your problems with those that can help you. You can't go wrong!

It didn't help that I did something odd to my shoulder last week and it started bothering me slightly on Friday and got increasingly worse by Sunday night. I finally took ibuprofen and went to sleep. Monday I woke up and it really wasn't feeling any better. So here I am 5 days into it and it's improving but still bothering me. I've been doing a LOT of lying on the good ol' tennis ball and lacrosse ball as well as stretching and using my hot pack and wonderful lavender neck wrap.

Last night I made my yummy Caesar Salad with Shrimp. I'll post the recipe later with a photo. It was so delish. I really enjoyed it. It also helped me get back on track. I was back in the kitchen making some zucchini loaves after that. I was feeling back to normal. As for today I was at the gym bright and early. I got my morning started with some delicious food also.

Meals so far today:
1) 3 egg whites and 1 egg, oatmeal with orange zest, orange sections and almond butter, and a 1/2 packet of stevia! OH BOY was it good!!! Sooooo tasty!
2) Zucchini loaf with walnuts
3) Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar and 1/2 cup Voskos Greek yogurt


4) Will be Caesar Salad w/ Shrimp and probably a slice of Julian bread or something like that!
5, 6, 7) TBD

Since I can only work out lower body I am resting today and it was just cardio. But I did get in 30 minutes on the stepmill and then headed to the treadmill. Apparently Nike Free shoes will make YOU a runner too. I am NOT a runner, nor do I pretend to be. But this morning after my stepmill I walked for a few minutes on the incline treadmill and then I ran...well let's say jogged...for 7 minutes straight. Now this may be no big deal at all to most of you but for me it is. I NEVER run! Since my shoulder still hurts it was slightly painful to hold onto the treadmill to do my incline walking so I just decided to run a little but I thought maybe a minute or two at a time. Yes, small successes. That's all you can hope for, right? 

That's my update for now. There will be more to come later and I'll be blogging back to my usual style. But for now I'm headed in the right direction and that in itself is exciting and motivating!!

Hold on 2011...HERE I COME!!!

So I was a little slow going at the beginning but I'm here now and really ramping up. I've worked on my goals and will post a good many of them below. I won't post all of them just because some of them aren't really for anybody's eyes buy my little slitty ones!!!! LOL!

Today was a pretty good day. I'm feeling more in control and as if I have a little direction. More to come later I'm sure but for now I have some goals set for the year with mini-goals to be set throughout the rest of the week and the weekend. Hence the title of this post!

I did get up and get 45 minutes of cardio in today. I did 30 minutes on the stepmill speed training at level 10 and then 15 minutes incline treadmill at 4.6 and 10% incline. So a little lower level on the stepmill and lower incline on the treadmill but I wanted to get time in and not necessarily intensity you see. So good job me!

I ate pretty well today too.
1) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/4 cup blueberries and 1 T coconut oil
2) 1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oatmeal
3) 4 egg whites & 1/4 cup oatmeal
4) Homemade chili verde!! (recipe coming soon in the next couple of days!), 1 Ezekiel tortilla - dessert was 2 dried apricots
5) 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup applesauce, roasted kabocha - dessert was 2 chocolate squares
6) Spaghetti squash with homemade meat sauce and parmesan

I'm finishing this post, washing my dishes, laying out my workout clothes for the morning and then it's off to slumberland! So early to bed is one of my goals for this year and it looks like I'll be doing just that. Woohoo!

2011 GOALS:
• Travel someplace I’ve never been before
• Maintain a clean house
• Expand caramel business
• Create my own fitness/nutrition plan for me (and hopefully others in the long term)
• Buy a new computer
• Go greener
• Redo blog/buy domain
• Create 50 by 50 list! – ooh! Big one! - stole this idea from Dani and this page she has! Great idea!
• Get personal training certification
• Spend more spiritual time/meditate
• Volunteer at least once a month
• Redo and maintain budget
• Declutter my home
• Unplug electronically 15 minutes a day and up to 1 hour by the end of the year
• Farmers Market – at least twice a month
• Journal at least twice a week (pen to paper kind! Not computer)
• Go to sleep earlier consistently (by 10pm)
• Be on time to work!
• Write e-book cookbook

I'll keep you posted on how my goals are going and action steps I've taken to reach those goals. Some of the goals I didn't write I will also share with you as I complete them.

Have a great evening! Keep up the awesome work and hope you've jumped on or are in the process of jumping on the bandwagon for a great 2011!!!

Here we come!

5 BY 2:00!

Yep, that's right...5 meals by 2:00pm. Impressed? I think I am!! I was hungry up until that point too. But after than my hunger waned which is just fine by me. So it looks like I'll be finishing out my day with 7 meals...PERFECT! What a way to start off my new year. Good job me! LOL!

I got in the gym early today. I'm going to try to hit the gym in the mornings and free up my nights for some down time and getting to bed earlier. We'll see how that works. Sometimes I like working out at night but mostly I prefer the early morning since there are far fewer people. I didn't even feel the flux of the New Years Resolutioners this morning. Yeah, people may make resolutions but they're not going to overdo it and think they can commit to a resolution at 5 in the morning. If they did, we would see a lot more of the resolutioners sticking with it. The ones that make the resolution to make it to the gym AND to make it there at 5 in the morning are serious and committed. Yep, NOT a lot of those this morning. In fact, I don't think I saw any new faces! Interesting...

This was my workout this morning:
Barbell Rows 4x6 50# (can definitely go heavier)
Assisted Chin Ups (5 sec negative) 3x6 50#
Incline DB Press 4x6 30#
Standing DB Shoulder Press 3x10 25#
Triceps Pushdown 3x10
SS w/ EZ bar bicep curl 3x10

It was a good workout and fairly quick. I really want to lift heavier but since it was a new workout to me I kind of had to gauge where I am right now and figure out how much to push without injuring myself. So it was a good workout and when I do the same workout next Monday it will be a GREAT workout!

I'm also trying to do a little less cardio. I'm just seeing how my body does with that. I was so used to being in contest prep mode that it's taken me a little while to figure out what's necessary and what I can do without. Basically I don't think I need to do as much cardio as I was doing. I would like to build a little muscle and lose a little fat so I'm switching up my meal plans a little, doing a different training routine and lightening up my cardio. I'll see what happens. It's great to know that if it doesn't work the way you want you can always switch things up again. No harm, no foul, ya know?

My meals were pretty doggone good today:
1) 1/3 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop protein
2) 1 egg and 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup blueberries, 6 walnut halves
3) 1 egg and 3 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup homemade applesauce, 4 walnut halves
4) 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 Think Thin bar
5) Traci's Thai Crockpot Chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice medley
6) 2 cups spaghetti squash, 1 - 1 1/2 cups Zesty Tomato Meat Sauce, sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan
7) 7 prunes, 2 pieces of chocolate, 4 TLC multigrain crackers - OOPS!!! Slight derailment!! No problem. There's always tomorrow...
8) Will be pumpkin souffle or 1-minute chocolate protein cake

So, yes, it was only going to be 7 but then 7 happened and trouble began!!! LOL! No problem. It's all fixable and redoable and I can't panic about something as silly as that now, can I?

Still working on my goals for the year and solidifying my action plan as well. But Wednesday is my date to be completed with goals and action plan so expect big things for me Wednesday. I'll be working on it all in the meantime. But I'll list several of my "big ticket items" on my blog just to make myself more accountable. Feel free to let me know some of yours as well. GOALS ROCK!

Hope your first Monday of 2011 was indeed MOST EXCELLENT!!! Keep smiling, eating clean, working out and breaking through! It's your year! What are YOU going to do about it?

Quick Zesty Tomato Meat Sauce for pasta or spaghetti squash

Quick Zesty Tomato Meat Sauce

1 lb. ground turkey, chicken or beef

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)

1 can diced tomatoes - no salt added (15 oz)

2-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1-2 shallots or 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped

Zesty blend seasoning (garlic & herb)

Red pepper flakes

Basil

Oregano

Fresh ground black pepper

Sea salt

Saute onion and garlic over medium heat in about 1-2 teaspoons olive oil. Remove from pan. Brown meat until cooked through. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, garlic and shallots/onions. Season with Zesty Blend, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper. I use quite a bit of seasoning. I like FLAVOR! Simmer for about 20-30 minutes till full flavor is reached. Serve over pasta or spaghetti squash. Top with fresh grated parmesan if desired. Super fast and super easy.

Happy 2011!!!

Yeah, it's here! Another year! Yep, that's right. Another year to do what YOU want to do, what YOU set your mind to and have accomplishments even YOU didn't believe you could accomplish! So did you write up your goals? Do you have an action plan? Did you hit the ground running yesterday? If not, why not start today or even tomorrow?

Oh, before I forget, this is another video we watched and cracked up about that I forgot to put in yesterday's post. Hysterical quirky cat Maru! Too funny!



I, myself, didn't really hit the ground running and have decided to make January 3rd my new year. I think I needed to regroup after being on vacation and wasn't really good about jumping right into my goals and eating right again. I'll admit it. And no, I'm not ashamed nor guilty. I haven't been eating terribly but just not extremely clean. On Friday night I was going to make Chile Verde. Still haven't made it but have every intention of making it this week. I'm going to lighten up the recipe since it is normally made with pork shoulder which is quite fatty. I'm going to try to make it with pork loin or even tenderloin so I will let you know what happens and post the recipe as soon as I make it. At any rate I was definitely in a Mexican food mood so my BF and I decided to head to Armando's in Monterey Park. I LOVE this restaurant. It's delicious and has super spicy salsa - you know I love that! I ordered Albondigas and it came with rice and beans. It's not the nasty, flavorless red yucky rice that a lot of non-authentic Mexican restaurants serve. It's a deliciously flavored light orange rice that's clearly made with some garlic and onions and oil of some sort. So delish and the beans are delish as well. The Albondigas was so tasty and so great for warming me up. I don't know what's going on but I'm finding it hard to warm up here in So Cal!! LOL! Who would have thought?

We had a nice and quiet New Year's Eve. We got up and had a nice leisurely breakfast. Basically it was a bastardized Huevos Rancheros with chipotle sausage. I had leftovers from the night before and our fantastic waiter sent us home with extra salsa and about 5 tostadas (fried tortillas). I placed one of those in the bottom of a big bowl, made some over medium eggs (2 whites, 2 full eggs), topped with salsa and sausage! Divine! So, so tasty!!! YUMMY! I actually overcooked the eggs. Don't worry though. Today I redid that breakfast and didn't overcook the eggs. To die for! I actually could eat this for breakfast anytime I want...and you can too! Just bake a tortilla of choice that's been sprayed with olive oil until crispy. Then make your eggs or egg whites, top with salsa and have some chicken or turkey sausage on top. Yep, still clean and really tasty! Try it...you'll like it!

The night before we had decided to go to Santa Barbara for the day. We set out about 12:30 or so and of course there was no traffic and we probably got up there around 2 or so. We drove around beautiful Montecito and then went to walk on the beach by the Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel. This is a picture of the beach we walked along from the Four Seasons website.

It was sunny when we got there but then it was cloudy and cold but it was so beautiful and relaxing and so rejuvenating to have peace and ocean waves. We checked out the tidepools, watched the little sandpipers run up and down the beach eating the sandcrabs, checked out the sea anemones and their "catch" (lots of broken shells!), and saw a beautiful starfish. It was really, really great!!!

We ate Mr. Lee's sandwiches which we had bought in Monterey Park. They were the grilled pork (banh mi I think it's called) so they are made on a French baguette and stuffed with carrots, jalapeno, cilantro, daikon, and grilled pork. They are yummy! Then we walked around on State Street a while and popped into a couple of shops. Had a drink at Coffee Bean and then headed back to L.A. On our way back we wrote up our 2011 goals or all that we could think of at the time. I still have to finalize my goals and make an action plan. This may or may not happen today but definitely whatever doesn't happen today will be solidified by Thursday. So watch out world 'cause here I come!!!

So to answer my questions from the beginning of my blog...yes, I wrote up my goals...no I don't have an action plan and no, I didn't hit the ground running. But am I going to? Yes, absolutely! Last year being the first time I ever really wrote up any goals/resolutions AND an action plan I know the power of these now and realize that I must do it again. I wrote them at the beginning of the year and throughout the year. It's really the only way to go. Otherwise there's a lot of dreaming and talking and not a lot of doing. I've decided that I don't want to be just a dreamer and talker but a doer. I started this in 2010 and will continue it until the day I die. It's a much, much better way to live and gives your life much more meaning. And the best part is that at the end of the year you can look at all that you accomplished in the year. It's a great, great tool!!

Here's to another great year! Write up your goals and get the wheels in motion! Make them big but doable and break them into pieces so you don't get discouraged when you don't see forward movement. Here's to 2011!!! ENJOY!!!!

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ~Larry Elder (aka "the sage from South Central" American radio Speaker, b.1952)

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” ~Jimmy Dean

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” ~Albert Einstein