Saturday Sampler: Food, Fitness and Fun

Balance is beautiful.

Miyoko Ohno

Wow, where does the time go? While I still feel very busy, this moment I am feeling like I am closer to having balance, I really am appreciating how things are falling together and I am trying to stay patient with the things that are not moving as quickly as I would like them too. It is late so I am just going to do a quick catch up:

Food:

What is working? Roasted Unsalted Almonds, V8 low sodium vegetable juice, whole grain bread from Trader Joe's as well as the British style English muffins and multi-grain oatmeal. I love fiber. With my previous eating habits incorporating fast food for lunch every single day I was only getting 10-15 grams of fiber a day. Now I am usually at 15 with just my breakfast. I am also chugging the H2O. Hydration has become a mainstay for me now and I am very happy with how easy it was to build that habit, it used to be so hard. Not sure what clicked, but I am happy it did.

What's not? Pretty much anything super processed. Don't get me wrong, I devoured a chocolate brownie thing for Valentine's day, but the better I eat the easier it is it is to realize how yucky certain things are for me. Today I had a great meal, there were a couple things on the menu that I was iffy about blueberry muffins from a package and crescent rolls from a tube. I was right, they have wreaked havoc on my digestive system. Boo. Will I eat other processed food that doesn't fight my tummy? Probably, but my hope is that the more whole food I eat the less desire I will have for the crap.

Fitness:

So this week Super Hubby came up with a brilliant idea. One I have had for over a year, but have been too lame to ask about. He suggested that we walk during our lunch break instead of eating out to fast food as we normally do. Monday was a rainy day, but instead of bailing on the walk plan we headed across the street from my office to the Home Depot and walked every single aisle. The whole old people walking the mall? Yeah I totally get it now. LOL What else is new in fitness land? I had a nice self directed workout with a friend Thursday night. We are going to try and make it a weekly thing. We warmed up with a jog and did the following workout over the course of 45 min to an hour.

• Warm up
• We just ran down the block and back
• Block 1 we switched off activities
• Step slides with a band-3x 1 minute as many as we could do (both directions)
• Lunges (stay in place and hop to switch sides)-3x 1 minute as many as we could do 

• Block 2 we did together
• Ran down the block and back to keep the heart rate up 
• Karaoke-3x across the street and back
• Butt Kickers-3x across the street and back
• High Knees-3x across the street and back

• Block 3 we switched off activities
• Wall sits- 3x 20 sec hold, 10 sec rest
• Planks- 3x 20 sec hold, 10 sec rest
• Crawls- 3x 1 minute

• Block 4 
• Sit ups 3x 1 minute as many as we could do
• Medicine squat with ball to out side of foot, bring to the top and down to the other side 3x 1 minute as many as we could do
• Bicep curls- 3x 1 minute as many as we could do (free weights)
• Chest press-3x 1 minutes as many as we could do (free weights 

I love creating workouts and I am very excited I have some company now. If only I could be consistent. Eating habits are coming along, hydration is coming along, I know I get fitness to be more of a habit, but for now I have to keep working on it. Consistency, consistency, consistency. I am currently addicted to Pinterest and often see workout suggestions like this one...I think I am going to start fiddling with some. They are straight forward and honestly they are better than sitting around doing nothing.

Fun:

Oh there is lots of fun happening. Thursday my workout date really felt like a total social visit, we just so happened to be sweating the entire time.Yesterday was the most productive day of the year so far. It was all about kindergarten registration. I visited 5 school sites, entered the lottery for the enrollment, hit two school district offices, managed to get a pedicure with my friend whom I haven't hung out with in a while and had Sushi Friday lunch with both my friend and hubby. I am pretty sure I could live off of hamachi nigiri.

I even had time for Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Today was a great family day at my in-laws country house. I got in a nap, read my book and pop outside to enjoy the scenary briefly. It was relaxing for me, my dogs ran free, my kids had lots of attention from their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins AND I got a Thanksgiving style meal in February. Pretty great all around. Tomorrow will be fabulous too!

The Big Picture: Life is a process, live in the process! I too often expect the end result before I have even gotten started on the work needed to get there.

Why I Kick A$$: I was pretty much super mom yesterday so I am going to where that badge of honor for a while.

Thankful Three:

1. For Gluten Free Flourless chocolate cake--delish!
2. For attentive day care providers and getting a heads up on a possible ear infection early enough Friday that we could get a pediatrican visit in before the long three day weekend. Woo Hoo on avoiding urgent care & emergencies rooms...boo for the double ear infection. The Bug is taking it like a trooper though.
3. For new kitchen organizers: canisters and a new bread basket