You CAN!

It bothers me when people assume that I don't have struggles with working out. Like it's not hard to just get it done. Every day, I have to make the decision to work out, just like everyone else.  Is it hard decision? YES! Sometimes it's easy. I really enjoy my workouts. But the majority of the time, it doesn't matter how amazing the workouts are or how amazing your body is starting to look thanks to said workouts, it's still working out. My bed feels great, I didn't get enough sleep, I am so comfortable vegging on the couch, I just want to cuddle with my kids, I want to go shopping, I want to clean my house...I have a ton of excuses just like.everyone.else.

The difference is, I realize these are excuses, and then I find reasons WHY I need to work out.

I love this quote. I am framing it in my office. It can go for so many things we make excuses for.

I have a piece of scrap paper with a list on it in my night stand. I made it one morning when I was struggling to get out of bed and go workout. I had 3 hours of sleep that night. I was bloated. I had already lost so much weight, and felt good about myself. I think I had every excuse in the book floating around in my head. I turned on my phone, and saw this quote, and found the first piece of paper I could see, an envelope from my internet company, and made a list. 

My hand writing is sloppy. There's 2 water rings on it from setting my water bottle on it at night. It means something to me though, and I look at it often. 

What are reasons why I CAN? I can because I am physically able. God gave me two legs. He gave me two arms. He gave me a healthy body. I can because it shows gratitude for the healthy body I've been given. I can because I want to. Not always initially, but it feels so good when I'm done. I can because I've been given the great opportunity to inspire others and show them it's possible. I can because my husband let me invest in these workouts, even though at the time we were very short on money. I can because it's an investment of time in myself,. I can because my kids are asleep, or I can distract them or they can play, or do the workouts with me. I can because we are blessed with a nice warm home, electricity to turn my TV or lap top on, and press play. I can because I know this program works. I can because it makes me a better person, I am happier and more patient. I can because I can do hard things, and it makes me stronger. 

What about YOU? I'd love to hear your list. 

Upcoming Holidays and staying on track

I've had so much fun being a coach, and being a mom, I have forgotten my blog! I post recipes here and there, but I haven't kept up on it like I was planning on doing. I've really been stressing out for my customers and friends, as well as myself, for the upcoming holidays. I know how easy it is to get into a habit of eating whatever you want because you're trying to enjoy the good seasonal food while you can. There's nothing wrong with indulging here and there. The problem is that it's so easy to let ourselves lose control. When that happens, it's even harder to break those bad habits. How many times have you lost your self respect because of how much you ate during the holidays, set New Years resolutions to do better, and then made it maybe one or two days? Just me?? Surely not!

That's what happens to me nearly every year. I hate the way I feel when I go to a family get together, tell myself I can have one piece of pie, and end up eating three. Or set a limit on how much I can eat at dinner, and double it when the time comes. Food is good. If it wasn't, no one would have a problem with over eating! Well, that's not true because if we got into emotional eating, that's a whole separate issue. 

So do you have a plan in place? Do you set rules for yourself? You can make the holidays even more enjoyable if you can avoid the guilt of over eating, I am certain of that! 

One thing I am personally doing is focusing on how I eat NOW, to prepare for all those get togethers in a few weeks. If I can control how I eat when I'm on my own, I can control how I eat when I'm around others. If you're like me, eating around others isn't as comfortable. I do this by following my meal plan, watching my portion sizes, eat slowly and chew thoroughly. If I'm mindful of HOW I eat, I'm more mindful of WHAT I eat. 

I am also making my workouts a habit NOW. I workout 6 days a week. I firmly believe in a rest day. My workouts, of course, are 30 minutes a day. Sometimes I have enough motivation to add in a little run with my dog, Lily, but I don't make it an rule. Am I going to beat myself up if I don't workout 6 days a week the week of Thanksgiving? Or Christmas? No. Beating yourself up isn't productive, or helpful! I'll probably get a run in early Thanksgiving morning, but I would also like to sleep in and cuddle with my husband on Christmas morning. It's important to get exercise, as I've stated before, I battle depression, and I feel happier when I workout. The holidays are stressful, and working out relieves stress. It's good for you. 

You can make exercising fun for the whole family during the holidays. One thing we are planning on doing is 10 pushups for every time someone rings our door on Halloween night. Obviously my kids won't be able to do 10, but my husband and I can, and my 3 year old can do at least one! Here's a list of different challenges you can do during the holidays with your family to make fitness fun! 

These are just a few ideas I came up with for the holidays, you can create a whole list for each holiday with your family. Include things even the younger kids can do. We mostly create our list for my husband and I, but my daughter does try to do them with us. You'd be surprised what kids can do. When they see you having fun with it, they have fun with it as well. It doesn't have to become a chore, or a fight, make it fun! 

I'd love to hear some of your ideas and plans to stay on track! Message me what your goals are, and how you're going to achieve them!

One Pot Cheesy Sausage and Spinach Pasta

This was a very simple recipe, I would make some changes for the next time, like adding tomatoes. It also gave me some ideas for some future recipes. I'm loving these crock pot and one pot meals! So easy and quick, perfect for working and busy moms, or dads!

Cheesy Sausage and Spinach Pasta
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 package of Aidell's sausage, sliced
1/2 onion, minced
16 oz chicken stock
2 cups pasta
2 cups spinach
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 crushed red pepper
pepper to taste
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in large pan on stove top over medium heat. Saute sausage and onion, stirring occasionally until sausage is browned on each side.

Add chicken stock, and bring to a boil.

Add pasta, cover.

Once pasta is cooked, about 5 minutes, add spinach and seasoning.

Stir frequently until spinach is cooked. Add mozzarella, stir. Enjoy.

Crock pot saves the day!

I love when I work hard all week, and look forward to a fun weekend with my family, and then the weekend comes and we're all sick. That's pretty much what happened to us this weekend. It was actually a pretty eventful week. My brother came home from serving a two year mission in Argentina. We got to email him once a week, and talked to him on Mother's Day, Christmas, and when our younger brother passed away, but besides that we hadn't seen him for two years. It was so nice to have him back! Plus, he got to meet my 1 year old for the first time!

My kids were very rambunctious all week, mostly from excitement with Halloween coming. We did lots of shopping, running errands, and going to the library to keep busy and get through the week. I REALLY look forward to having my husband home to help with the kids on the weekends. Saturday wasn't too bad, the kids were just starting to get runny noses, I had a sore throat. It was a crummy day out, and we had a lot of yard work we wanted to do. We got our lawn mowed, that's about it. 

When we feel crummy and it's crummy out, we like to make soup. I'm sure most people do. There's something therapeutic about having the smell of a savory soup permeate your whole house for several hours. I love it. 

This soup was purely an experiment, but I would like to think it turned out pretty well! We all had a cup for dinner Saturday night, left overs on Sunday, and there's only enough for me to have so me for lunch today. Usually we can have soup for dinner three nights in a row. Someone had seconds (I won't name any names, but he's the only full grown man in our house...)

Anyway, here's the recipe! Hope you enjoy it!

Crockpot Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

4 chicken breasts 

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stocks, chopped

1/2 onion, minced (I actually ran out of onions so I used a tablespoon of dried minced onion, but fresh certainly would have been better!)

3 cups chicken stock, or low sodium chicken broth

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano 

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

fresh ground pepper to taste

Place chicken, vegetables, seasoning, and chicken stock in crock pot.

 Set to low heat, and leave for 4-6 hours. Once chicken is falling apart, shred with two forks.

Stir in almond milk and pepper.

 Enjoy!

Serving Size: 1 cup

Makes: 8-10 servings

For 21 Day Fix, a serving counts as 1 red, 1/2 green

Piña Colada

I'm going to be realllllllly honest with you, I used to be envious of the people who would drink their healthy green smoothies and actually like them. I would try to make them myself, and they'd be gross. Or not super green. It sounds so dumb now, but I wanted to have a healthy drink that I enjoyed. I'm so glad I found Shakeology! I got Greenberry first. I liked it best with ice, water, and some plain Greek yogurt. I've heard people like it with frozen berries too.

Chocolate Shakeology will forever be my favorite, but every once in a blue moon I want something fruity. Yesterday was one of those days. I'm so glad I experimented and tried this shake, and now I'm going to share it with you!

Piña Colada Greenberry Shake
1/2 cup crushed ice
1/2 cup coconut water
1 scoop greenberry shakeology
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup frozen pineapple
1-2 Tbsp shredded coconut

Blend all the ingredients in blender until smooth.  To avoid any pineapple chunks, you can put the shake through a strainer. For extra fun, sprinkle some of the shredded coconut on top.

This would make 1 serving, and count as 1 purple, 1 1/3 red, and 1/2-1 orange (depending on how much coconut you add in)

I hope you enjoy this shake as much as I did! 

Vegan and Vegetarian meal plans and options

Throughout the several months of coaching, I have chatted with a few people who are vegan. One is a coach and has been eating a vegan diet for 5 years, and has been doing the 21 day fix eating plan for a little over a year. She told me that she didn't have to change much when she started 21 day fix, just had more direction of what to eat. Everyone else I've talked to were people who were interested in the 21 Day Fix.

Here is a meal plan I put together (just an example) of how you could eat while on the 21 Day Fix:

Now I'm not vegan, and have never been vegan, so if you see anything that needs changed or removed, I'd love the input. I did get some help from the coach I had previously talked to, but didn't get her to look this over yet. 

Here is a list of sources of protein you can have while on the 21 Day Fix. Some of the items on the list are actually considered carbs when you aren't vegan, so if you aren't vegan, you can't count beans, quinoa and a few others they have listed here as protein. 

I only listed the carbs and proteins since that's the only thing that would be different, except of course the dairy for vegans. 

Are you vegan? I'd love to hear how you're doing on the program! 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mug Cake

I LOVE my chocolate mug cake, I make it nearly once a week. With it being Fall, I figured I'd spruce up my recipe, and make it more Fall appropriate. Plus I had a ton of extra pumpkin puree to experiment with.

It's quick and easy, and even Princess Anna (AKA Kallie) approves!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mug Cake
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 scoop vanilla Shakeology, or other protein powder
1 egg
1 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

Mix ingredients together in a mug. Microwave for 90 seconds. Keep an eye on the mug to make sure it doesn't overflow. The edges will start coming away from the mug when it's done.

This is one serving, and counts as 1 1/2 Red, and 1 Yellow (treat swap)

Minestrone

Funny story. When we were first married, my husband decided to be cute and make me breakfast in bed. He made a huge deal about it all week. On Saturday morning, I heard him sneak out of bed, and then rummaging in the kitchen. The microwave dinged, and a few minutes later he brought a plate in. I pretend to be surprised and stretched, and looked down at a burrito. A burrito with beans and hot dog in it. For breakfast. I tried to stomach it, but I had to turn it down. He continues to make me laugh with the food he comes up with. He actually eats and enjoys his crazy creations.

Anyway, have I mentioned in the past that I love my crock pot? It's easily my favorite item in my kitchen. During the fall and winter I can make soup every day without slaving in the kitchen. During the summer I don't have to have my oven on ever. Any time of the year, I just throw random stuff inside it, turn it on, and it almost always turns out.

Tonight was another success. I love minestrone. Back in my non-gluten free days, I loved Olive Garden. The hardest decision I had to make was soup or salad. I love their minestrone! It's also easy to make, so that's always a plus. There are tons of variations, adding beans, different types of beans, carrots or no carrots. I prefer to add sausage so I don't have to bake chicken or some other meat. It's just a one pot dinner! Done and done!

The recipe calls for fire roasted diced tomatoes, but the kids and I don't like tomato chunks, so I substituted that for tomato paste and added a little more seasoning. Opted out of celery because of all the food my husband will eat, he won't eat celery (I know, bizarre right?)  And added sausage, of course. You can do green beans in the place of zucchini.

Minestrone
1 package sausage sliced (I used Aidell's apple chicken sausage)
2 cans of beans (I used a can of black and a can of kidney because that's what I had)
2 cans of chicken broth
2 carrots peeled and chopped
1 celery sliced
1 onion minced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 bay leaves
ground pepper to taste
2 cups small whole grain pasta (we used small shells)
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Place sausage, beans, chicken broth, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and seasoning in crockpot, cover, and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Add pasta and zucchini, cover, and cook an additional 30-60 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Stir in Parmesan, or sprinkle on top of each serving as garnish, and serve.

1 cup is a serving and equals 1 red, 1 green, and 1 yellow.

Makes 6 servings.

Lime-Chili Chicken

I'm pretty picky when it comes to meat. I LOVE this chicken recipe. I had to share it the moment we finished dinner. Enjoy!

Lime-Chili Chicken
4 chicken breasts (I used the HUGE frozen ones from Costco, so I only used 3)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup water (unless you use frozen chicken, then you could use 1/3 cup)
3 large limes
3-4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp chili powder
*You could also add 1 Tbsp of crushed red pepper for a little kick

3/4 cup= 1 serving: 1 Red and 1 Teaspoon

Turn crock pot on to Low. Melt 1 tbsp coconut oil on bottom of crock pot. Add chicken breasts.

 Zest 1 lime (or all three for extra flavor) over chicken. Juice all three limes over chicken.

 Press garlic or mince and add on top of chicken. Sprinkle chili powder over chicken.

Add water and cover for 4-6 hours. Once chicken falls apart, you can use two forks to shred, or keep whole.

We shredded ours, and added most of the juices from the bottom of the crock pot in to keep it moist. I made brown rice quinoa mix and we added the chicken on top. 

It would have been really good on top of Spanish quinoa! I added avocado and plain Greek yogurt in substitute of sour cream. There is something magical about the lime and avocado when they are together.

This makes around 6-8 servings. I can't wait to have left overs for lunch tomorrow. You can have it on top of salad, in enchiladas, with rice and beans, or even make nachos with it! Mmm...that gives me some great ideas!

Quitting is not an option.

It's Monday once again! Monday's are hard for me, it's the day I lost my brother. But I work hard at being strong, and not letting that pain be an excuse.

Last week I reached my original goal weight. I didn't celebrate it or post about it like I thought I would. I think it's because it came, and I realized I wasn't where I want to be. I can do better. I can be better. I can be stronger. I reevaluated my goal weight. I also made goals that have nothing to do about weight, but about strength.

My goal weight, although it's not that important to me what the number on the scale says anymore, is a number I haven't seen {healthily} since I was in middle school. It's not unhealthy, it's not too low for my body. It's actually higher than I could go, because I accounted for muscle I want to put on.

This morning, I just didn't want to get out of bed. My house was cold. My bed was so warm and comfy. I stayed in bed for a few extra minutes savoring the warmth, and then my daughter came in my room and wanted to cuddle, which is rare. I cuddled her for a few minutes. Then, I realized, I am just making excuses. Sure, I could miss my workout. I'm at my original goal weight, actually 1.5 pounds less. Missing one workout isn't going to make a big difference. But it will make it harder to get my workout in tomorrow when it's even colder in my house. I jumped out of bed, did 10 jumping jacks to warm my self up, and then got my workout in. I feel stronger, I feel better.

Quitting isn't an option. I have to remind myself of this as I struggle with depression. It was a tough weekend. I don't want to get into my personal battles too much, but I definitely struggled mentally. I am considering increasing my medication (with my doctors consent of course). I have days I just want to give up, life can seem pointless, but in those moments when I'm at my weakest, is when I need to push the hardest. I can't quit. I have TOO much. I have so many blessings.

YOU can't quit either. No matter what you're working towards, no matter where your progress is at, you can't give up. I've seen what it looks like to quit. I've seen people quit trying, and it isn't good. Remember WHY you started. What helps you continue on when the going gets tough?

October!

It's October! This year has flown by. I can't believe my baby will be 1 this month. I took September pretty easy. I didn't set very many goals. I had a birthday, my daughter's birthday, hurt my foot, and just didn't give it my all. I missed workouts. I cheated A LOT.

But it's a new month. I'm so close to my goals, I can taste them. I just need to push through October and give it my ALL. I have 10 pounds left to lose. I need to get more organized in my business. I need to continue to build my business.

I have amazing tools to reach my goals, I just have to do the work. I am going to do my workouts 6 days a week! I'll be doing the 21 Day Fix workouts in the mornings, and when I can I'll be trying some new workouts in the evenings. I am going to stick to the meal plan and meal prepping. I am cutting out sugar for No Sugar October. I thought I had made this up, but apparently it's Breast Cancer Awareness month and sugar is the #1 food that causes cancer. If you'd like to join me, you can search No Sugar October on Facebook and ask to join! I am going to be doing research and studying to be an even better coach for my customers! I am going to  read all the personal development books I can get my hands on to build my business. It's going to be a BIG month for me, because I say so and I'm going to make it happen.

What kind of goals do you have this month? Do you need help staying on track? Do you lack motivation? Message me and lets chat!