Inspire Me: Heatlhy

G-Morning lovelies! So I skipped last week, but I am back at it this week. So my updates are as follows:

1. I have worked it HARD in the gym 3-4 times a week and have done a workout at home every week

2. MOST of my days, I do in fact finish that 1 gallon jug of water. I'd say 5/7 days I completely finish it and the other 2 days, I get close. 

3. My eating has been superb! I tried this yummy recipe via Skinnytaste on Tuesday night and it was so yummy! Spicy & flavorful. I mean, very spicy. Like, even if you aren't a milk drinker, you better have a glass gallon on hand. 

Low-fat Chicken Enchiladas

Gina's Weight Watcher RecipesServings: 8 • Serving Size: 1 enchilada • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts Calories: 159.5 • Fat: 5.9 g • Protein: 16.2 g • Carb: 17.8 g • Fiber: 8.3 g   

Ingredients:For the sauce:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 tbsp chipotle chilis in adobo sauce 
• 1-1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
• kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste

For the chicken: 

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 8.5 oz (2 breast halves) cooked shredded chicken breast
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• kosher salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce

• 8 (7-inch) reduced carb whole wheat flour tortillas (la tortilla factory)
• 1 cup shredded low fat Mexican cheese
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions or cilantro for topping

Directions:In a medium saucepan, spray oil and sauté garlic. Add chipotle chiles, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Heat the vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onions and garlic on low until soft, about 2 minutes. Add chicken, salt, cilantro, cumin, oregano, chili powder, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Put 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll it.

Place on baking dish seam side down, top with sauce...  Then top with cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes.Top with low fat sour cream or scallions if you wish. (Extra points) Makes 8 enchiladas.

So this past week I've been sorta hoping on the Weight Watchers train. I only really do it with dinner, because I know what I eat and how much I eat during the day are lower calories. Nicky poo is even grabbed a seat on the "Lets get ridiculously hot before Mexico" train. So, since its easy counting wise, he is taking the Smart Ones frozen meals to work. Ive seen nothing but amazing results from all y'all, so lets hope we get your results! 

At the gym, I've been sucking in the weight lifting department. I seriously LOVE lifting weights, but I've become obsessed with shredding some el bee's around the muscles I do have. Im doing HIIT cardio every time I step foot in the gym. I haven't set anything in stone yet, but pretty sure I'll be continuing the straight cardio for the rest of this week, and then next week start lifting again. The point of HIIT is vs. regular cardio, you continue to burn calories 32 hours after you've already left the gym. You can use any cardio equipment, but what I've been doing is a total of 30 minutes on the treadmill and sprinting (9mph) for 1 minute, then walking 1 minute at 3.8 mph. Oh and I do a light jog (6.2mph) for 10 minutes prior to the sprint/walks. 

No pic this week, as I am too lazy to take one, HA! But I promise my love handles and saddle bags are for reals diminishing. 

Inspire Me: Healthy

Hey girls, hey! It has seriously been a cray cray week. I have been either cleaning all day, doing laundry, running to the grocery store, organizing shizzz in the house, making time to workout, etc. We leave for Denver tomorrow early for MIL's wedding so Im on packing mode. Then tonight I have an Encore Stella & Dot show from my launch show last Friday.

Just cause Im busy, doesn't mean I would pass on Kristen & Raven's link up. My goals I set for myself last week were to up my water intake and workout Saturday, Sunday, Monday and 30 day shred 1 other day. 

America has voted and The results are in: 

Water: NAILED it! I actually went and bought a gallon jug of water to give myself that visual of how much I need to drink. I've drank a gallon of water everyday thus far. I tell you what ladies, I have seen a difference just in how my skin looks and I feel fuller longer. I am able to chug a bunch of water during my meals and it fills me up and keeps me full more so than if I just had a glass of water with the meal. It might all be in my head, but I also notice how I don't bloat and I see more definition when Im drowning myself drinking that much water.

Workouts: I went to the gym Saturday, Monday. I know it's just an excuse, but I was too tired on Sunday. Not a valid reason IMO. I did 30 day shred once (goal met!) and I did this at home workout 4 times. I intended to take a picture after I shredded, but was too eager to shower. Sorry ladies, no peep show this week :)

Goals this week

Workouts: Monday do a Pinterest workout at home & Tuesday-Friday at the gym. Nicks schedule this next week will allow me to go to the gym before he leaves, whoop whoop! 

Water/food intake: Keep on keeping on with my 1 gallon/day water. Keep food clean all week with the exception of 1 cheat MEAL. Track calories this week and don't go above 1300 calories. Only 1 adult bevy 2-3 nights a week. That shouldn't be hard at all since I haven't been craving my normal 1 BLL or glass of wine. 

Inspire Me: Healthy

Another week, another Inspire Me post, Honey Boo Boo's. This week, I wasn't as strict as I'd like to be. So you see, with Mexico being 2 months away, I told myself I was going to have rules: 2 CLEAN meals a day, 2 CLEAN snacks a day and dinner being healthy (clean not a necessity). 1 time a week, not 1 day, I can devour anything I want for 1 meal. I don't mean I can order the entire dollar menu at Micky D's (like I'd ever go there anyways, yuck!), but if I have pizza? I can eat 3-4 pieces, but no more. Just so I could feel all wild and crazy and throw inhibitions to the wind. A girls gotta get a little wild every now and then, am I right? Also, I'd being giving it my all at the gym 4-5 days a week. I wanted to workout so hard, that I'd have to wash my hair from all that stanky sweat. 

Wellllllll some of that happened. Since I last updated y'all, my workouts looked like this: 

Thursday: Murdered my legs and did 30 minutes of HIIT @ gym

Friday: OFF

Saturday: Ran/walked the Color Run (distance: 3.1 miles)

Sunday: OFF

Monday: Leg day & 30 minutes of HIIT @ the gym

Tuesday: Upper body lifting & 20 minutes of HITT @ gym

Wednesday: OFF

Thursday: OFF

Sundays are a given that I give myself an off day, but I see 4 off days in there - no bueno. Nicks schedule has changed so now I'll be changing my workouts to Saturday, Sundays (before church), Monday & hopefully my mamacita can take Troy so I can make it to the gym 1 other day. With Nicks new schedule, I'd have to be at the gym at like 3:30 AM to even get a decent workout in - I.dont.think.so! I was crazy waking up at 3:45, but to BE at the gym at 3:30 is not happening. I really don't like working out at home, but I think to give myself something extra, Im going to add in 30 Day Shred or something like that just to drive home the point to my body, that Im not playin. 

Eating has been not so great this week. Sunday we had the 1st preseason game of the NFL season, so we got a pizza. I was good and only had 1.5 pieces, but then on Tuesday we had leftovers of the pizza. Im embarrassed to say what happened, but lets just say it wasn't okay considering I had already had my splurge day of the week. But I'd be lying if I said it was so delicious once it touched my lips. Over..and over... ha! 

So, this week Im setting myself a couple goals:

1. Sticking to the eating plan I had set out for myself in the first place

2. For workouts: 30 day shred today and the gym: Saturday, Sunday, Monday. 

I also need to up my water intake. Goal for water will be 100 ounces a day.

Hope you ladies kept it in check this past week - lets all raise a glass of our favorite adult bevie water for our goals next week - CHEERS!

Get Healthy Link Up

Here I am now (as in 5 minutes ago) - Day 1 week 1

Growing up was so not easy on my self esteem. I can remember when I was 10 and already had fully developed and was bigger than all the other girls.  I was teased in Junior High (the worst most awkward years of my life!) and from a certain brother of mine on my weight, which added to my low self esteem. By the time I was in high school, I was a 5'7 and topped the scale at 185. I would come home and eat straight out of boredom. I would finish off a whole bag of tator tots all before my mom was home from work and then eat the dinner she prepared. 

This cycle continued until I got married at 18 and started to feel that I needed to take control of my health. With my husband being in the Marines and seeing how disciplined he was, I wanted to give him the wife/future mother of our children, I knew he deserved.I did what I knew: I fell into the streo type that cardio is the only way to lose the weight and that if I did 1 hour on the treadmill, that milkshake on the way home wouldn't matter. I never once thought about doing weights because I didn't know to "bulk".

It wasn't until I was 22 when I picked up Oxygen magazine on the shelf at the grocery store, that something clicked. I wanted to lose weight, and be like those girls I saw in the magazine. So I kicked processed food out (for the most part haha!) and started counting my calories and worked it in the gym. 

Fast forward a few years, I had dropped 35lb's since I first started, I was in kick as shape, Nick and I had moved back to California & I got pregnant. I was determined to keep my workouts up. No way would I screw myself and go buck wild with food and not exercise and fall back on the "Pregnancy Card". On my lunch breaks at work, I'd go to the gym & do 20-30 minutes of cardio, then when I'd get off work, would go back and do some weights & a little more cardio. I gained 30lbs when I was pregnant, splurged every now and again, and was happy & healthy by the time T Money made his appearance into this world. 

After 3 months we decided that my breastfeeding/pumping just wasn't for me, so it was on like Donkey Kong in the diet/workout department. I didn't have to worry about getting enough calories to keep milk supply up or if some supplements I wanted to take would effect Troy. 

Troy is 1.5 and I've lost the baby weight and then some, and feel more dedicated than ever. By joining in on this link up, I want to help keep myself in check. I can get sorta 'lax on the food department. Sneaking a few bites of Troys Mac N Cheese, eating some crust from his grilled cheese, having a handful of his veggie chips. Those babies add up. Other than that, Im pretty good on eating. Also, workouts can be dropped and Im not ok with it. Nick's schedule is always changing, and at the moment my only practical option is to go to the gym at 4AM. Yes, 4 AY-EMMMM! Its as fun as it sounds to get out of bed at that time. So as you can imagine, it's easy to talk myself out of a workout at that time. My goal is that I want to get to the gym AT LEAST 4 times a week & only splurge on the processed food 1 time a week. So maybe on date night, but keep strict the rest of the week. Also, Im going to Mexico at the end of October, so I want to be able to feel comfortable to take pictures even in a bikini. Thank you Kristen and Raven for creating this!

Back to the Basics

Happy Tuesday you guys! I am in a fabulous mood this morning. It's so chilly this morning & I am seriously considering listening to my Pandora Christmas channel this morning at my desk. I keep seeing all of these Christmas commercials (I even heard that Kay jewelers is already starting to run their holiday ads!)and I heard Jewels Christmas album playing next to the candles in Walmart the other day!

So let's discuss something that was the original reason for my blog creation in the first place: health and weight loss. On the way to work today I heard on the radio that a professor at some college proved his point that no matter what you eat, it's all about the calories. He lived on a diet of convient food store sorta food like nutter butters, Doritos, Twinkies and kit kats, etc. He lost about 30lb's in 2 months just counting the calories on the junk he ate. He went on to say that the other nutritional information doesn't play a part in your weight loss. Okay, so I lost about 35lbs counting calories using sparkpeople.com and think calorie counting is absolutely hands down the #1 reason why I lost my weight, so kudos to this guy for proving that point. I think when you write down your calories and your food for the day, you actually SEE what your eating & you become aware that yes, that "little snack" of a slice of a pizza, really isn't equal to a snack in calorie terms, but a meal. With that being said, let's talk health benefits. I guarantee you this guy had pretty much zero protein, had more than enough carbohydrates, and more than enough fat grams to last him for a long time. Not only that, but there are tons and tons of grams of sugar (and other processed junk) in the food he was consuming can not only lead to weakness and fatigue, but it can also lead to diabetes.
Obviously I know this guy was just doing an experiment and trying to prove his little point in regards to calorie counting, BUT I think there are some people out there who actually take this stuff to heart and think "so I CAN eat all the crap I want as long as it's not over 1200 calories". WRONG!! Your body NEEDS certain foods to keep it healthy and strong. I heard on Jillian Michaels podcast one day that "Abs are made in the kitchen". So true! People seem to think that if they just eat 1200 calories of cake and cookies that they will get that figure they want. WRONG. Your body needs certain nutrients, such as protein, that is going to fuel it better than any king size kit kat can, and keep your organs running in their proper functioning manner. Do I think if your trying to lose weight, you can't have that kit kat every once in a while? NO! This is your life and if your wanting a kit kat, have one. Just make sure you work it into your day by balancing the rest of your foods and allotting yourself some extra calories. Before pregnancy, I know I couldn't live without my dessert every night and I worked it into my calories for the day. It's a very practical way to lose weight. Eating 1200 calories in Twinkies? Not so much