Ok this blog NEEDS A NAME!

It's time to finally name this blog... I'm horrible at coming up with names, and so Sandie pretty much came up with these on her own. But I like a few of them and couldn't decide... so I'm letting everyone else decide! The poll is on the right hand side of this page. Please vote...not sure how long I will let this poll go, I guess until there is enough votes to count for something. Also, you can vote for more than one name, in case you like multiple. so...

PLEASE VOTE!

as Matthew would say "peesh" and "tink oo"

Quick Laugh

Ab Ripper X

Sandie and I did Ab Ripper X yesterday ... I hate it, but I love it! I'm proud to announced we both survived (well, I can really only speak for myself). We must be doing SOMEthing right because I don't hurt today NEARLY as bad as I did the last time I did it (like 3 years ago?)... so we are adding this to our weekly routine. After doing so much ab work, my waist kinda feels skinny today! I'm sure it's just because all the muscles are really tight, but whatever. I FEEL skinner, so I will go ahead and pretend that I AM skinner. Hooray!

Camp Food

So as most of you know, we just got home from our first camping trip of the summer. One of our biggest obstacles to overcome would be FOOD! And this is an issue on SO MANY levels. Food takes up a lot of space, wastes a lot of my time, requires a lot of clean up, and tends to be over done when camping.

Last summer was the first summer that Melanie and I had been working out and really trying to become more health conscious. We were working out and watching our food choices, etc... and then camping season started! Suddenly I was gaining 3-5 pounds over a weekend camping trip! I would spend the next week working the weight off, only to put it back on the very next weekend. I was so disgusted! So we really tried to get a better perspective. All the workouts and smart eating during the week couldn't compete with soda, chips, marshmallows, burgers, and hot coco during the weekend! So we started to slowly make changes. We left all of the soda and juices at home. Instead we brought along water bottles and powdered drink mix (Gatorade or poweraide). We started cutting out the snacks and instead just brought one treat (like marshmallows) that we didn't want to part with. Then I did a bunch of food research to find healthier meals that strayed from the normal burger options. Lastly we committed ourselves to stick with the food plans and not just stop somewhere and grab fast food, etc...

Well all of those strategies were good starts, but this year I decided to take it even further! This summer I spent a couple of weekends, well in advance of camping season, to plan "menus" and prepare/portion/freeze all of the food. I started with breakfast: I decided to make mini muffins (just using the tiny muffin tins), and then bagged them up by portion size and froze them (to be eaten a few at a time with a piece of fruit), and my Loaded Oats recipe that is super easy and super filling. I just bagged up all of the dry ingredients in Ziplocs. For lunches I decided to do stuff like chicken salad wraps. Wraps are a great idea in lots of ways, but my favorite so far is that a bag as flat as a pancake packs a heck of a lot easier than a loaf of bread! Then I bought a few snacks (pretzels, apples, banana chips, etc.) and bagged them in snack ziplocs per person, per day. Finally, for dinners I came up with a handful of easy meals that could be made, frozen, and easily reheated over a campfire when the time came. I used our slow cooker and made a huge pot of chili, BBQ pork, baked beans, and fried up ground meat. Then I measured out portions and froze it all. The chili and beans can be reheated and eaten with mini corn bread muffins. The BBQ pork can be eaten on buns, and the ground meat is for Hobo dinners.

Well our first trip this summer put it all to the test! The boys griped the first night saying "what do you mean this is all there is for dinner?!" and tried out lines like "so if I get hungry in the middle of the night...where are the snacks?" Well I put my foot down and didn't give an inch! Plus it helped that there wasn't a fridge that they could raid in the middle of the night;) Once they relaxed it was clear that there was more than enough food still. All of it was much healthier options, all of it was cooked in disposable foil trays over the campfire (and eaten out of them too, so no clean up!) and nobody went hungry. We went biking and exploring and got in some good exercise too! And when we got home everybody felt great with no guilt trips! Just a few sore muscles from the 6 mile bike ride:)

Back on track

So...I started this blog out as private so that anyone interested in posting, could do so without the whole world seeing! But as no one really posts, I think I am going to take it off private so that its not as confusing for certain people. Any objections? Ok, sounds good!

I'm going to actually start posting more... at this point I think that ANYthing that helps motivate me or encourage me is something I should be doing. I was really motivated around the beginning of the year and lost about 25 pounds... and then mid March I got lazy and completely fell off the wagon. I gained about 9 lbs back and now I'm stuck RE-losing that weight. I really really hate having to re-lose weight that I JUST worked so hard to take off! So no more of that. I'm done, and I'm back to eating healthy and working out.

So who has been doing well? We started our family biggest loser competition almost a month ago and I've only lost about 3 or 4 pounds... anyone else with better success? What all is everyone doing to try and get healthier?

Breakfast Smoothies

Okay, I think it's about time we had a new post on this blog, and it's about time Melanie thought of a "good title"!

As Melanie and I have progressed through our workouts one of the things we have stumbled upon is the value of a good breakfast. I LOVE cereal and feel that I'm somehow being jipped one of the best things in life if I don't get to eat a bowl every morning. BUT, cereal does not sustain the body for very long. Even after a couple bowls of cereal, I'm already hungry for a snack by the time I get into work in the morning. So that doesn't say a lot for cereal, no matter how much I love it! But I don't have a lot of time to "prepare" a breakfast before Elliott and I run out the door in the mornings. Plus I can't eat eggs and don't want just plain toast or anything. So I talked to a friend of mine who works as a physical trainer and asked her for some tips, and maybe a good breakfast idea. She gave me the basic outline for a good breakfast smoothie so that I could fill in the rest to fit my diet. Over the last year I've figured out what I like, and it has really helped! This makes a LOT, and it holds me over until lunch time EASILY! Plus it's a great way to add healthy things into your diet.

Breakfast Smoothie

In a blender add:

1 Cup of Milk (I use light vanilla soy milk or almond milk)
1 Serving of Protein Powder (I use the Chocolate Gen Soy brand)
1-2 Tbsp. of ground Flax Seed (optional)
1 Tbsp. of powdered Fiber (optional)
1 peeled Banana

After that has been thoroughly combined, add:

1/2 Cup of Oats (barely covered in water and microwaved for 30 seconds to soften)
1/2-1 Cup of FROZEN fruit (I like to use the bagged fruit blends)

Blend until all of the oats and fruit are COMPLETELY combined, then add:

3-5 Ice cubes, this will help thicken it up a bit

Blend until all ice chunks have been dissolved, about 10 seconds.

This will fill a HUGE smoothie cup, or can be broken into 2 cups to share if you want. If you freeze any extra, just make sure you give it proper time to thaw out a bit before drinking the rest. And don't worry it will not be gritty or chunky. Adding more or less fruit will change the consistency of the smoothie along with revealing or masking the taste of the protein powder. I like to not add TOO much so that I can still taste the chocolate flavor. Also, pretty much any dietary/vitamin powders can be thrown in here to work into your diet.

My 7 year old ,Elliott, loves this smoothie too and will often ask if I'll share some with him. It's great too because I can eat it on the go and it whips up in less than 5 minutes!

Christmas weigh-in

So, as usual these holidays have been filled with all the things that are bad for us. But luckily we got a Wii for Christmas! Who knew Nintindo could prevent weight gain?! Instead of death by chocolate, I've been "training" on Wii Sports! Boxing, baseball, tennis, bowling, and golf. Instead of gaining weight I've broken even! Oh, and solved 5 CSI cases! I suggest we all get Wii's!