Fall is into full swing and I love it!!! Aside from Christmas, this is my favorite time of year :) The boots, scarves, smell of cinnamon and spice, family-time, pumpkin patches, changing colors of the leaves... I absolutely adore it all! However, this time of year is quite challenging for me, nutritionally. When it gets cold outside I just want to cuddle up in giant sweatpants and eat warm pumpkin bread and drink mulled cider. Trying to stay focused and on track proves to be rather difficult, but as I've said many-a-time, I fully intend to enjoy my life while on this Path, and I most certainly have been enjoying. :)
Moving on, my workouts have been going really great. I decided that what I was doing wasn't enough so I added Insanity to the mix! As described on their website, it's "10 INSANITY workout discs packed with plyometric drills on top of nonstop intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab and core training moves." In lamence terms, it KICKS YOUR ASS. Or well, my ass currently. I don't love working out at home but I can't tell you how many times I have been working out out and said out loud "come on!", "let's go!" or just shouted while doing this workout. It's crazy hard but it's not super long (average around 41 minutes start to finish), you get rest periods between work periods and I feel really accomplished (and pretty badass) when I'm done! So I've been doing my regular workouts in the morning, going to school and doing Insanity when I get home. It seems to be working out pretty well this way. With the Insanity schedule, I have switched my rest-day from the gym to Sunday so my weekly schedule looks like this:
Monday: 60min Cardio & Long Ab workout; Insanity
Tuesday: Chest & Back(strength), Short Ab workout, 30min cardio; Insanity
Wednesday: 60min Cardio & Long Ab workout; Insanity
Thursday: Legs & Butt(strength), Short Ab workout, 30 min cardio; Insanity
Friday: 60min Cardio & Long Ab workout; Insanity
Saturday: Biceps & Triceps(strength), Short Ab workout, 30min cardio; Insanity
Sunday: Ressssst.
I started Insanity last week but I was off schedule with the calendar that came with the DVDs SO I restarted on Monday to stay on track. Then I missed yesterday so I had to do 2 workouts today, plus my regular gym time this morning. Not gonna lie, mama's a little tired!
Like I said the other day:
"If you've got it, flaunt it. If you don't have it, go get it." The 'it' in that quote will of course vary as everyone has their own opinion of what is healthy/attractive; I know what I want, and I'm going for it. I joke around about it but I'm not aiming to be Olsen-twin skinny... I have a big head, a super skinny body would look ridiculous. I aim to be lean as far as body fat, but thick with muscle. I love muscle, always have and always will. The power of muscle has always fascinated me and I think it's absolutely beautiful on (in) the human body. I've been noticing some promising changes in my physical form... more defined quads, tighter and better defined calves, same with biceps and triceps... I love it!!
People make comments all the time like "I don't know how you do it!" "I wish I had your motivation!" I can honestly say that seeing these changes in my body has become my motivation. The reason I wake up at 4:30am to get to the gym, bust ass 6 days a week, sacrifice my social life... simply put, it's important to me. I realize that it may not be important to everyone else and my way certainly won't work for everyone but I do hope that more people start to see the importance of over-all health - and also understand what it means to be healthy.
I went to the doctor for a general check-up the other day and for some reason, was thoroughly shocked. I mentioned to the doctor that I was slightly concerned about my blood pressure being a bit high. Even after losing over 100lbs, it still tends to be a bit high. This is in thanks to heredity and too much stress in general. He immediately instructed me to "stay away from processed foods and canned soups... and to try to get some exercise, maybe try walking." I just sat there for a minute, I couldn't believe that he would assume that I would eat that shit or that I wasn't already busting ass. Then, I realized that most of the people that walk through his door DO eat that shit and DON'T move their asses... which is most likely one of the biggest reasons they're walking through his door in the first place! After leaving his office, I went to the pharmacy (within the grocery store) to pick up my birth control and ahead of me in line was a woman picking up a number of prescriptions, and I couldn't help but notice that her cart contained the following: white bread, boxed cookies, boxed pastries, lean cuisines and soda. HELLO? The ignorance (and sometimes just laziness) of the general population is depressing. I walked through the store to pick up some EVOO and every cart that I spied contained a generous portion of red meat, processed shit, soda, simple carbs and nearly NO produce or natural, healthy foods. It's frightening. I was sincerely upset when I left that store and immediately sent Branden a text message that read only as "We have to get Nora out of this place."
I am so beyond proud that my daughter will pick up junk food and say "We don't eat this because it has a lot of sugar and it's bad for our bodies." - and she isn't even 3 years old. She exercises with us and, honestly, has more knowledge of nutritional health than some adults I know. Of course, she is a toddler and will throw the occasional fit for a sweet treat but we make a point to let her know that although that treat isn't good for our bodies, it's okay to indulge on the occasion.
Some people criticize our parenting tacticts but honestly, I don't give a shit. Our goal is to raise the best person we can... and that's what I feel we're doing.
Okay, enough ranting... recipe time!
I made a new protein waffle the other day and it was delicious! I made a batch, froze them in zip loc bags (2per bag) and I've been toasting them and putting a little natural pnut butter on them for breakfast in the morning. I'm obsessed!
Protein Waffles
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder (I use pea isolate, natural chocolate from www.truprotein.com)
2tbs baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/8tsp salt
1 cup strong coffee
2tbs - 1/4cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (use to find correct consistency)
Mix everything up until the almond milk together.
Batter will most likely be thick, use as much almond milk as necessary to get the right consistency for waffles.
Cook on waffle iron.
**MAKE SURE you spray your waffle iron with non-stick spray VERY well! There is no fat in these waffles so they will stick. Be patient, pry them gently off of the iron... they're great. :)
Alrighty, I think that's about all I have for today! (I'd say it's enough!) :)
Here are a couple of pictures from the Alumni night that I forgot to post!
Good ol Glory Days! :)
