Switch Witch

Halloween is tomorrow and that means our houses will be filled with so much unwanted candy!! Ok fine, we want it we just don't need it. My friend Kristi (shout out) told me about Switch Witch and it is how we will be handling all Caleb's candy... 

Here is the poem I found online:

Do you know the witch of Halloween night?

The Switch Witch is coming; she’s coming all right.

She flies by the moon and down with a swoop,

She’s in with a blast and out with a whoop.

It’s candy she wants, and candy she’ll get.

Stuffing it into her black little net.

She wants your treats for her sugary face,

Leaving a special toy in its place.

So pick out 5 pieces you want for yourself,

Eat 1 right now and stash 4 on a shelf.

Bundle the rest in a trick or treat bag,

Tie it all up with a zig and a zag.

Leave the bag on the table and jump into bed.

The Switch Witch is coming, just like I said.

Have a Happy and Healthy Halloween

We will be trading Caleb his candy for movie tickets to see Free Birds this weekend! 

Keeping Track

Here lately I have been asked a couple of times how I keep track of my foods. Do I have a journal? Do I have an account on www.Myfitnesspal.com (MFP)? Do I wing it?

Well to be very honest, I wing it! I hate (and I mean hate) logging my food and counting my calories with a passion. I have used MFP before but I always end up stopping after a few days/weeks. I have tried the whole journal thing but I don’t like writing down anything so I always end up letting Caleb just color in it.

How do I wing it and lose weight? That’s the next questions I get a lot… well, when you eat clean it makes winging it so much easier! About 95% of the time I eat only fresh meats, veggies and fruits. Eating that way allows me to not have to be so “strict”. Now, please know I am not training for anything right now, just living healthy. If I were training for something (let’s say a figure competition) I would have to totally journal or keep a log of some sort (depending on my trainer) for sure!  

Here is what I try to keep in mind when I do eat:

1.   Protein is key. Eat it at almost every single meal

2.   Fruit is your friend, in the morning and early afternoon time

3.   Veggies are okay any time and any amount IF you cook them correctly (not fried obviously)

4.   Carbs are okay if they are good carbs (whole wheat rice, sweet potatoes, oats, etc.) and treat them like a fruit and only eat in the morning and early afternoon

5.   WATER!!! Drink half my body weight in water a day!

6.   Protein before bed no matter what

7.   Eat every 3 hours even if I am not hungry

Really, that is it. If you are eating clean (nothing frozen, nothing pre-made, no fast food, no canned foods, etc.) and you aren’t training for a certain thing, then you don’t really have to log (unless you just want to).

My motto – if a caveman could have eaten it, it’s okay for me... And I am pretty sure that cavemen didn’t log their food on MFP (but I could be totes wrong)!!

Yall have a happy and healthy weekend staying active!!!

I need your opinion...

Last week was a REALLY rough week for me, eating wise, working out wise, staying motivated, etc. Now I am sitting here thinking if I should repeat week 2 of Phase 2 over again since it ended up so badly… what do you think?

Last week started off great, like the past 5 weeks have been going. Then Monday afternoon my schedule got messed up a little with my parents coming in town and staying at my house. I did workout but didn’t do as much cardio as I should have done.

Tuesday I took off work so that I could attend my great grandmother’s funeral. Before the funeral I made it to the gym and completed my entire workout, I loved the empty gym! Then we went to the funeral and it just happened to be at the same cemetery my Gaga was buried and it brought up some emotions that I hate dealing with… so instead of dealing with them, I turned to food. I mean like right after we went to a local Mexican joint and I ate more carbs then you can imagine!

Wednesday I did my work out over lunch and skipped about half the cardio because I was in a hurry so that I could leave work a few minutes early. That night my family came over (brothers, sisters, spouses, kids, the whole nine yards) and had dinner at my casa… a dinner my Momma made (she was happy to cook for so many people again and went overboard, like always). And… I ate it, plus some!

Thursday I trained with Lo, which was a killer workout but it also meant I skipped my cardio because later that night was my dear friend’s wedding! I had 2 huge sugar cookies for my appetizer along with some vodka sweet tea (oh my gosh yummy) and then we went to Fuzzy’s and ate some more… bad!

Friday was HORRIBLE and where it all went down hill… yes, it was going downhill since Monday afternoon so I guess this is where it crashed and burned!!! I woke up 2 hours late (hello vodka sweet tea), had to skip lunch (and my work out with Lo) to make up time, enjoyed Happy Hour with my girlfriends after work (instead of going to the gym like I should have). On the way home, I stopped at Sonic (duh) and bought not only a diet coke but also a Sonic Blast (mini but still). Then I went home and ate dinner… I felt so miserable but couldn’t seem to pull myself out of it.

Saturday was the pity party (sorry you missed it, it was GREAT fun… not)! Seriously, it was COLD (I get cold with any temp below 70) and all I wanted to do (after watching my nieces volleyball game) was lay on the couch and watch tv (and eat) all day long. I did NOTHING all day! NOTHING! That night Casey made me get up and go with him to buy him a new belt and he made me try on some Miss Me Jeans, which fit but instead of using that as a pick me up, I went back home (with Whataburger) and ate and sat on the couch!!!

Sunday was a wake up moment and I started to dig myself out of the rut… we all went as a family to the last day of the State Fair of Texas to cheer on my nieces cheerleading team (they won 1^st place baby)! I ended up walking a lot but I also ate the fried food so I am going to say I broke even (probably not but oh well a girl can dream). Then Sunday night instead of ordering food from a drive through or delivery, I went home and cooked… It wasn’t 100% clean eating but it was a heck of a lot cleaner then eating out.

Now here we are… its Monday again and I am really trying to push past this crap! I have been drinking my water (almost ¾ of the way done) and have stayed on track with my eating. I just left the gym and while I was there I really felt like I should re-do week 2 of Phase 2 since I slacked so badly. I want this 12 week trainer program to be the best ever and so that is why I think I should repeat… but wanted your thoughts before making that decision!

So… what do you think? Should I repeat week 2 of Phase 2, Yes or No?

Pumpkin Protein Bars - Recipe!!!

The other day I told you I would give you the recipe for my Pumpkin Protein Bars I made… well today is your lucky day!

I found Jamie Eason’s recipe on www.Bodybuilding.com (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-recipes-pumpkin-protein-bars.html) and I went off that the best I could, however I did have to make a few tweaks…

• ½ C Xylitol Brown Sugar Blend (Ideal) – I could not find this so I used Splenda Brown Sugar
• 1 - 4 oz. jar baby food applesauce  - I used some un sweet all natural applesauce I already had at home
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp. ground ginger – I didn’t have any of this so I didn’t use any
• ½ tsp. ground clove – Same as the ginger, just left it out of my recipe.
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt – I do not have any salt in my house so this didn’t make it in either
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 - 15 oz. can of raw pumpkin
• 2 C oat flour – I made my own out of Oats (see previous blog)
• 2 scoops vanilla whey protein  - I was out of vanilla so I used chocolate… oh my gosh YUMMY!!!
• ½ cup almond milk – I used skim milk
• ½ C chopped walnuts (optional) – I chose to add these, and I am glad I did!

I followed the rest of Jamie’s directions just like she gives ya on her site (mentioned above).

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Spray a 9 X 13 Pyrex dish with non-stick spray.
• Combine first 11 ingredients and mix well.
• Add the final 3 ingredients (4, if adding walnuts), and mix until incorporated. Spread batter into the Pyrex dish and bake for 30 min.
• Makes 24 squares.

Let me know if you make any and if you like them or not!! Oh and they were a HUGE hit with Caleb and Casey too!!

Recipe Alert - Breakfast "Quiche"

I have been TIRED of making scrambled eggs every morning so this weekend I had a brilliant idea to make an egg casserole for the week instead. Let me just tell you, it has made my life SO much easier this week… and its only Wednesday!!!

Here is what I did:

12 Eggs

*You can use the egg whites or the whole egg, I opted for the whole egg since I wasn’t the only one who was going to be eating this*

VEGGIES!!!

*The more the merrier*

Whole Grain Bread

*Whole Wheat, 9 grain, Oat Bread, really any kind of healthy bread*

9 X 14 baking dish

*Really any size you want will do*

Chop all the veggies up (I used spinach leafs, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes) and mix them in with the 12 eggs

Lay the bread down in the baking dish (I was able to use 6 slices – this equals 6 servings)

Pour the egg & veggie mixture on top of the bread

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350

Serving size is 1 slice of bread!

My family has loved these this week. It’s easy for me to just pop them in the microwave and reheat, then the boys will add cheese and sour cream on top of theirs… Casey even adds his favorite hot sauce.

Enjoy!!

Oat Flour

I decided to make a batch of Jamie Eason’s Pumpkin Protein Bars (I will blog that another day) yesterday. It is fall and getting colder outside and that means I am craving pumpkin… funny how that works!

One of the 1^st ingredients in the bars is Oat Flour. I am not much of a baker and so I have never seen Oat Flour before… probably because I have never really looked for it. However, when I did go grocery shopping I couldn’t find it. I was kind of bummed and figured I would use regular old “fat” flour (haha).

I decided to do some research on Oat Flour before I started baking and I am very glad I did… I learned something new!!! Wanna know what I learned? Well, you can make your own Oat Flour out of Oats!!!! Who would have thunk it?!

I measured out 4 cups and pulled out my blender. I did 1 cup at a time because I wasn’t sure if my cheap blender could handle more than that. Man I can’t wait til my wedding when my Aunt Dee will hand over my Kitchen Aid Mixer… I mean my lovely wedding present I am not supposed to know what it is! Anyways, I blended eat cup of oats for about a minute or so and then voilà… Oat Flour!!!

I am VERY proud of my Oat Flour, like VERY proud!!!

So remember, next time you need Oat Flour and you can’t find in at the store just blend up some Oats and you are good to go!

Enjoy!

The scale

That’s it! I am breaking up with my scale, at least for now! Next week when I go see my trainer, I am handing her my scale and WILL NOT bring it back into my house again until I am done with the LiveFit program. I bet you’re wondering why… well, let me tell ya!

I wrote the other day about sabotage. How when I get to 168.2, I freak out and sabotage myself… remember?! I have been going back and forth from 168 – 170 for weeks now and I am sick and tired of it. I know for a fact that I am losing inches, heck my size 11/12 jeans aren’t staying up today! I need either to retire these OR buy a belt! Another way I know I have lost inches the past couple weeks is because I own a purple silk shirt (the one I am wearing today in case you see me) and when I bought it back in August, the shirt would not button over my chest area. I had to wear a tank underneath or wear a non-padded bra (yep, cats out of the bag I have no boobs and wear a padded bra… Haha). Well this morning, I put that shirt on (with my lovely padded bra from VS) and it buttoned and is actually loose in the mid-section! BUT… the scale said 170! How gay is that?!

Here I am celebrating a non-scale victory and then the scale jumps in and says “WAIT, don’t celebrate just yet!”… No, you know what, I will not wait… I will celebrate! I am through with being abused by the scale! I am through living for what that number is going to say! I am through with being in bondage to that little blinking number! I am through with it all!!!

As of today, my relationship with the scale is O-V-E-R! Goodbye you mean piece of crap that has made me feel less important. Goodbye and good ridden to ya!!!

I mean heck, you people wouldn’t know what I weighed if I didn’t tell you… so why should it matter that much to me? As long as I am healthy, feel great and keep fitting into my size 8’s and 10’s, well then I am happy!

I will still weigh with my trainer but that is the only time!

I hope you all have a HAPPY & HEALTHY Friday and a wonderful weekend!!!

XOXO

Fit by Jordan

Cancer Sucks!

I had a reader email me asking if I would share their story on my blog and after hearing her story (and bawling my eyes out) I of course said YES!

Before I share Heather’s story, I want to share a little with you why her story made me cry (other than the fact I am a sappy person and cry all the time)…

When I was a child (shortly after my grandma died, which hit me very hard) my Mom sat us kids down and told us some news that would end up changing our lives forever… My mom and Step Dad proceeded to tell us that my Mom had cancer and the doctors weren’t sure if she was going to live. Talk about sucky timing… my Gaga just died and now my Mom is dying too?! Thankfully, they were able to catch it in time and with chemo and the power of God, she was healed! My Mom and I don’t always see eye to eye and we fight more than most mothers and daughters do, but I wouldn’t trade that crazy woman for anything. I chalk up a lot of my weight gain to emotional eating, dating back to when my Gaga died… I couldn’t imagine how bad it would have been if my Mom would have been taken from me too. Hello World’s Biggest Woman award!!!

Okay so on to Heather’s story:

I am a wife, mother, and a mesothelioma survivor. When my daughter was 3 ½ months old, I was diagnosed with this rare and deadly cancer, and given 15 months to live.  My prognosis was grim but I knew that I needed to beat the odds for my newborn daughter, Lily.  It’s been 7 years now and I feel that it is my duty to pay it forward and inspire others.

I clung on to hope throughout my whole journey with mesothelioma. When you have hope, it makes the battle easier.  I want people to be inspired by me, I want to make them fight; give them something to hold on to when all else fails. That is why I do it.  If I inspire one person, I've done my job.

I'm using my personal story to help raise awareness of this little known cancer, and to provide a sense of hope for others facing life’s difficult challenges.

Here is a video of my story that I am hoping to use as a tool to raise awareness. I would love it if you would be willing to share it on your blog with your readers!

Here is the link: www.mesothelioma.com/heather

My blog: http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherVonStJames

More information about mesothelioma: http://www.mesothelioma.com/mesothelioma/
http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/

Phase 1 Results

It is October 7^th… today I start Phase 2 of the LiveFit program (www.bodybuilding.com) and I am SO excited! But before I officially start, I want to share my success from Phase 1.

Let me give you a little background about Phase 1. I hit 168.2 on the scale and was wearing a size 10 about 2 weeks before I started the program… well, then I went to New York which was horrible for my clean eating plan. Then when I got home, I slipped into a huge funk (you can read about it in my blog). Between New York and the funk, I ended up getting back up to 182 and my 12’s were tight!!! I remember seeing that # on the scale and freaking out. That is when I decided to start this program, I needed something to focus on that would help start my motivation and determination back up.

With that being said… here are my results (everything except for measurements, I will have that on Thursday when I meet with my trainer)

Phase 1 (9/9 to 10/6)

Start Weight: 182.2

End Weight: 168.2

Total Loss: 14 pounds!!!

Start Pant Size: 12 (TIGHT)

End Pant Size: 8’s (and some 10’s)

Pictures:

*I can tell a LOT in my thighs, under my arms (armpit area), my biceps and my shoulders

 

*Look at my tummy, my shoulder is more defined, and my thigh isn’t as flabby looking

 

*The fat hanging over the top of my sports bra is going down, I can kind of see more definition in the middle of my back and my butt doesn’t hang as bad.

 

Now it’s time to start Phase 2 and add in some HIIT cardio!!! I am looking forward to sharing my Phase 2 success with you all after seeing my Phase 1 success!!!!

Sabotage

I have been dealing with sabotage for a while now and I have felt like such a loner. I have only ever talked to Casey about this and he says it doesn’t make sense to him (he is a guy what does he know) so I have kept quiet… until this morning. A friend told me the other day that the scale finally moved in a good way, after weeks of hard work and presistance. Then last night she reached out to me again telling me how bad she had eaten and how miserable she felt. I gave her some encouraging words and told her that tomorrow is a new day! Well, this morning I wanted to keep cheering her on so I sent her a text. After I sent the text I felt like I should bring up the sabotage issue with her. I have never brought this up to another girl before and didn’t want to feel stupid but for some reason I just knew she would understand… and she did!

What do I mean by sabotage?  Well… do you ever feel like you work so hard to get to a certain goal and you are on the edge of your chair about to reach it and some trigger goes off inside of you saying “Hey, you will never get there so why not just go back to your old ways?” AND YOU LISTEN AND OBEY?! It’s crazy, I know but it is what happens to me more than I like to admit. I have wanted to get down to 164 for a while now and for the past month or so I have been around 168. Every time I see 168.2 on the scale, that trigger goes off and BOOM I am back up in the 170’s and I was even back up in the 180’s once. It’s a scary thing!!! When I see the gain on the scale (or in my clothes) I freak out and get back on track and bust my ass… again… to get back to 168.2.

Why not just shut that trigger down and instead of going back and forth in my weight, why not keep busting my ass to push past 168.2 finally? Why is that trigger so easy to listen to? If I know this is what always happens, how come I am not prepared? Maybe it’s because I have never actually admitted the trigger exist?

That brings me to a GREAT point… I always tell people, asking for help and admitting you have a “problem” is the 1^st step in losing weight. Well if that is true (which I KNOW it is), it must be true for this part too. So… Hello, I am Jordan and I have a problem with ignoring the trigger that goes off when I get close to hitting my goals. There I said it! Now, time to learn to ignore that trigger and FINALLY push past 168.2 once and for all… and when I do push past it, not to go back again!

I hope I am not talking to a bunch of Casey’s here… people who have no clue what I am talking about. If I am well, oh well… This is something real for me and a struggle I face. We all have different struggles and we are all on different journeys… but we are all in this together!!!

I hope you have a HAPPY and HEALTHY Thursday!!!

XOXO,

Fit by Jordan