Exercise Queen!!!!

Whooo Hoooo!!! I made it to 30 minutes on the elliptical last night!!!!  I felt euphoria, I felt empowered, I felt ecstatic, I felt like an Exercise Queen!!!!!

I was so happy that I had the time to stop by the gym on the way home from work.  It wasn't really crowded yet and I knew that if I went home first, it would be hard for me to get out of the house again.

Anyway, just wanted to drop a message that my workouts are going great so far.  I hope to continue!  I will try to get a SPIN class in sometime this weekend.  Might be tough with the Memorial Day holiday and all, but I will try not to make any excuses.

Until next time, stay strong and eat healthy.

20 Minutes and Portion Control

Why aren't the pounds coming off????  This is becoming a little bit frustrating to say the least.  I have been tracking what I eat since February and I have not seen the scale go down at all!!!  Now granted, I have cheated at times by eating things that  I know I shouldn't.  Things like pizza, ice cream, and candy.  But, I feel like overall I have been eating MUCH better than I used to.  I started exercising in hopes that it will help.  Like I mentioned before, I have been going to SPIN classes.  My goal is to go 3x a week but that hasn't always been possible, since  I have to find someone to watch the little one for me.  I also managed to use the dreaded elliptical.  This is the machine that I had trouble doing 3 minutes on so I was prepared for it to kick my butt again.  However, the first time I did it at the Y, I was able to stay on it for a full 15 minutes!!!  WOW!!!! Yippee!!  Hooray for me!!!!  I know I was able to last that long because of the SPIN classes.  They helped my legs stay in it.  So, yesterday, I had about an hour or so of free time so I headed over to the Y and hopped ont the elliptical (there weren't any SPIN classes going on at that time).  I figured I'd do the 15 minutes and then ride the bike.  Well, 15 minutes came and I felt like I could keep going.  I said, "ok, I'll do 16 minutes".  Then it got to be 16:02 and I have this crazy notion tat I can't stop on anything but the minute mark.  So, 17 it was.  But when I got to 17, I said, "hey why not try for 20."  And guess what???  20 minutes it was!!!!  I lasted for a full 20 minutes on the dreaded elliptical.  Yes, me!!!!  The one who could barely do 3 minutes not so long ago.  So, even though the scale is not going down, I am going to continue to fight this battle.  This week's concentration is on portion control.  I am going to seriously concentrate on eating until I am satisfied and not until I am full or overly full.  I don't like that feeling anyway.  Wish me luck!!
Until next time, stay strong and eat healthy!

Hungrier and Hungrier

I know I have only started my exercise program this week at the Y, but it seems that ever since I started, I have become hungrier as the days go by.  Yesterday before lunch I had to make this as a snack to tide me over until lunch:

It Sunbutter and banana on Healthy Nut Bread.  I was so hungry I bit into it and realized that I needed to get a picture.  It was delish!!!!

Do any of you find yourself super hungry once you have started an exercise program?

Unitl next time, stay strong and eat healthy!!

Spinning and Hydration

I've been missing in action lately, but its because I've been up to some new things.....

Let me first say that my legs and butt are tired and sore!!!  I joined the YMCA over the weekend and then on Sunday I participated in a SPIN class!!!  Now I have taken two or three SPIN classes before but I forgot how intense they are.  The seat was REALLY bothering me so the next time I have to make sure to pick up one of the seating pads.  The class was one hour and by the time we hit the 45 minute mark, I was ready to collapse!  The instructor was good and I believe he said that we should be drinking 40 oz of water (or sports drink) throughout the class.  Now to me, that's ALOT of water in one hour.  I only had a measley 16 oz bottle of water with me.  I will make sure when I go back (yes, I am going back for more punishment and pain) that I have my 32 oz bottle with me.  Hey, its a start. 
Let me show you some things that I have been eating lately:

For breakfast I have been eating oatmeal.  Throughout the blogosphere I've noticed that people put some kind of nut butter on their oatmeal.  So, since I received some samples from Sunbutter, I decided to put a little bit on mine.  I tell ya what, I really am beginning to like this sunbutter.  The taste of it mixed with the oatmeal was great!

For a snack, I had a banana and some strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

I'll be back with more later.  Oh, I just love to buy different bags so here is the latest.  I love it!  Its not too big and not too small.  Its from Timbuk2.

Its my little treat to myself.  Until next time, stay strong and eat healthy!

Sunbutter And Random Eats

Finally I am feeling better.  I was down and out for about 2 weeks with this darn cold\strep throat issue.  Since its late and I have to get up early for work tomorrow, I am going to show some of my food choices from the past days\weeks.  I hope to get back to "normal" posting soon.

I made a salad with romaine lettuce, radishes, carrots, dulse, buckwheat, and some avocado.

Almost forgot to take a picture of my veggie and cheese sandwich from Great Harvest Bread Co.  It was fantastic!  I will definitely get this again.

Random cheese and organic whole wheat crackers for a snack along with this:

I really liked the creaminess of this yogurt.

Some curried vegetable and chick pea soup....yummy!

I finally opened this organic sunbutter that was sent to me as a sample from Sunbutter.  I tried it on some toast and wasn't sure that I liked it at first, however, the more I ate it, the morre I began to like the nutty taste of the sunflower seeds.  Its definitely something I could get used to.  I plan to try some in my oatmeal and will let you know how that is.  I also want to try some on a banana since that is usually how I like to eat my nut butters.  I definitely think this is a good alternative for someone who is allergic to peanuts.

Ok, that's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed.  Until next time, stay strong and eat healthy!

Quick SuperFood Breakfast Post

Since I've been sick all week, I am behind on all of my errands so this is going to be quick.  Little Girl is still sleeping so I have a couple of minutes to get some things done.  Breakfast must be quick and since I am not too hungry I decided to try this out:

sorry for the blurry photo.  I take these photos with my phone so sometimes they are not too great.  Anyway, this bar hit the spot!  It is definitely my favorite.  I love the peanut butter taste and the crunchiness is the bomb!!!  Ok, gotta go....Until next time, stay strong and eat healthy.

Feeling Kinda Bleh....Still Attempting to Stay Healthy

Its been a couple of days since I posted.  Reason being is that I haven't been feeling too great.  My throat is killing me and I think my ear is infected.  So, I have just been laying low.  Today when I woke up, I wasn't too hungry so I chose this:

Its one of the samples that I received from the Amazing Grass folks.  It really did the trick because I wasn't hungry for a couple of hours.  It had a really good chocolatey taste and also had some great crunch.    Later on in the afternoon I had this: a nice smoothy which included frozen berries, a banana, chia seeds, cacao nibs, some collard greens, and this:

I could really taste the difference by adding this Berry Flavored Drink Powder to the mix.  I made more than I intended to make so I am saving some for later.

What do you eat\drink when you are feeling a bit under the weather?

Until next time stay strong, and eat healthy!