How exercise is going now

Well, after my 10 day hiatus from exercise, I decided to just jump right back into it yesterday. I did a HIIT workout and then a core workout. The HIIT was a struggle to get through, I'm not gonna lie. I was so tired this morning, but I was glad that I pushed through it. I did the Fire 45EZ workout today, and it wasn't much easier. But again, I just persevered through it, telling myself that I could finish it. It sounds cheesy sometimes use "self talk" when you are working out, but I tell you, it works. I can definitely attest to that. Yes I was still tired and I still had to struggle, but when you tell yourself that you can do it, your mind tells your body to finish. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's the best way I know to describe what happens to me. I will continue to monitor my energy levels to see if I am getting my stamina back.

It's what's for dinner!

Well, I decided to try something new for dinner last night. I was pretty pleased with the results. It was a variation of a recipe I had seen on the show 5 Ingredient Fix on the Food Network. The original recipe was called Turkey Robinson. So, I tried it the way the recipe read a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty good. Only thing is, I just don't like the taste of cooked spinach. I have tried and tried, but i just can't get past the gritty taste I get from it. So, I will eat my spinach in salads. Anyway, I decided to give the recipe another go, with a few modifications. So, here is my version. I hope you enjoy!

Turkey What's For Dinner

1 pound lean (93/7) ground turkey

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 can great northern beans, rinsed and drained (you can use whatever white bean you like)

1-16 oz bag frozen green beans (if you don't want extra liquid, thaw and drain beans)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, add the ground turkey and garlic. Cook over medium heat, breaking up meat and incorporating garlic. When meat is no longer pink, drain. Add the chicken broth and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the canned beans and green beans. Allow everything to heat through. Season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve over brown rice.

Browned turkey with chicken stock. Let the liquid reduce by half.

Thaw your green beans first if you don't want the extra liquid in the finished dish.

The finished product. I put 1/2 cup of brown rice into the bowl and added the turkey on top. It was pretty yummy and filling!

After Dinner Treat

So, in keeping with watching my calories, especially since I haven't worked out in 9 days now, I decided to try lightening up my dessert. We bought some apples at the store last night but I didn't want to put the same old peanut butter on them. So, I had seen a facebook post from Holly Rigsby where she had suggested adding a little yogurt to peanut butter to up the protein content. So, I played around with it and came up with something that was quite tasty. Here's what I did:

Yogurt-Peanut Butter Dip

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon agave nectar

8 drops Sweet Leaf Vanilla Cream flavored stevia drops

cinnamon to taste

Mix everything together well and store in the fridge. Indulge when necessary.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Yes, I shamelessly stuck my finger in the bowl when the apple slices were gone!

Being sick is NO fun!

Well, I have finally come down with something. Not sure what it is, though. I think it's bronchitis, but I am not sure. I refuse to go to the doctor unless I am like dying. The only real bummer is that I haven't been able to workout for like 6 days now. That is what really stinks! So, I have been spending some time pondering things. Where I am, and where I want to go in the second half of this year. I am definitely extremely disappointed in my apparent lack of progress on the weight loss front. But, I can beat myself up, or I can move on and focus on what it is I would like to accomplish. So, I bought a book and downloaded it to my Nook reader. So far, it definitely speaks to me. The book is called Reshaping it All by Candace Cameron Bure. She definitely had struggles just like me. I will let you know more as I delve further into it.

I have made a decision

Well, I have been thinking about it the last few days and I think I am just going to take the plunge. I am going to attempt a round of P90X when I am done with Turbo Fire. That will make my first day July 4th. What a way to kick off Independence Day! I have been looking over the nutrition guide, and The hardest thing for me will definitely be the eating. It's a hard pill to swallow not eating hardly any starchy carbs for 30 days. I will definitely begin to prepare for that starting now. I don't want to start the workout and be going through withdrawals as well as trying to handle getting used to a grueling workout schedule. So that is the plan. For right now, my ongoing journey is still to clean up my eating. I am such a wuss sometimes and I won't just say no when I should. Definitely working on that. I have started journaling my food so that I can actually what I am eating. I think that is definitely a step in the right direction. We will see what the next 4 weeks brings for me.

What's for breakfast?

Well, I have been eating eggs every day this week and I was craving pancakes this morning. So I decided to throw together some ingredients and see what happened. The result was not too shabby.

So I started with some eggs, since that's what I try to eat in the morning. I then added some salt, cinnamon, vanilla and a touch of agave. Next I put in some oats. I got out my stick blender and whizzed it all together. The resulting mix was quite runny, which I knew it would be, so I added some almond flour and coconut flour to thicken it up a bit. I cook

ed them on my griddle and served them with a bit of maple syrup. A trick I learned is that if you cut up your pancakes first and then drizzle on the syrup, you can get away with using a lot less

of the stuff. I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons on mine. So, me and my 2 year old ate them. She approved and even asked for seconds! Ahhh, success.

I used a 2 tablespoon measure to ladle them onto the griddle and ended up with slightly large silver dollar pancakes.

The finished product

My 2-year-old is camera shy

So, here is my thrown-together recipe:

In a blender, place:

4 eggs

1 tablespoon agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup oats

Blend until combined, then add:

1/4 cup almond flour

1 tablespoon coconut flour

Blend again until combined and cook on a nonstick griddle or in a pan, if you prefer. Enjoy!

Success and contemplation

Well, I have had tangible success now. I have dropped a bra size! When I began my journey back in January, I was in a size 38 bra. I am now in a size 36! Yes!! Now I need to work on my post-baby belly. So, now onto my contemplation. I am seriously considering trying P90X when I am done with Turbo Fire. I am really enjoying the Turbo Fire workouts and am hoping that they will begin to melt the extra blubber that has taken up residence in pretty much every part of my body. I really feel that the gains I have made in the last 6 weeks are largely due to this program. I am going to try my best to stick to the eating plan for the second 6 weeks and really see what kind of results I can get by doing the program the way it's supposed to be done. I have not weighed myself yet, maybe I will get around to that sometime this week. I also have not taken any measurements, although I do know that I have lost some inches at least around my chest! I am definitely going to take a closer look at the eating plan for P90X and see how much work it's going to require on my part. I will definitely have to make a decision soon as I like to plan ahead on things like this.