Out of my comfort zone

I posted previously about looking into doing a sprint triathalon. Our local gym is starting a training program this week, and I am nervously going to do it. Tonight I am going to a swim clinic, and I am really actually dreading it.

That sounds depressing I know, but swimming is not my strong suit. That is part of the reason I am doing this; so I can get better, but I am nervous. I am nervous that I am going to be the weakest one there, and that I will feel dumb.

I was talking to Greg yesterday about my past swimming experiences, and I remembered all the negative experiences I have had. (Belly flopping off the diving board in gym class in front of my PE class, being on the swim team and being the worst person, belly flopping off the starting block in a swim meet because the pool was way shallow and I was afraid I was going to break my neck.) And those are only part of my experiences. It brought back all those negative feelings, and I have seriously considered just backing out completely
of this crazy idea. Greg has convinced me to atleast go to the first clinic tonight before I make a decision (he is such a patient man with me) so we will see how I feel when I get home tonight.

But I am really nervous! Change makes me nervous. But we don't grow if we don't step out of our comfort zone right?

****I survived the swim clinic!! While I realized that I have a LONG ways to go, I also realized that I am have real potential, and that makes me really excited to get out in the pool again soon and to get better.  I will definitely be moving to a much lower level, but I want to stick with this!!********

Grocery budget

Whenever I go groccery shopping I come home feeling torn. I always feel like I spend too much money on food so I feel guilty about that, but then at the same time I feel happy that I have lots of healthy options for my family to eat. I struggle big time sticking to a groccery budget, and I have decided I need to be more frugal with my shopping. Lately I have felt more guilt than satisfaction when I get home from shopping, so that is my cue that I need to make some goals and form a plan to reach those goals if I want to see any change

Currently, I do plan a weekly menu and I am pretty good about sticking to that plan. This is something that I struggled with in the past, so I am happy with the progress I have made in this area. We eat lots of healthy and yummy meals in our house, and that makes me feel good about my role as a homemaker. I only plan dinner at this point, but I am thinking I will start to plan our other meals and snacks too. I think the more planning I do I will be more organized and that will help me to avoid some impulse buys.

So here are some goals that I am setting to helps me become a more frugal groccery shopper:
-My weekly budget will be around $125. Some weeks might be less, considering on if I need to stalk up on anything like meat or canned goods.
-To help me reach that goal, I will bring a calculator to the store with me to help me kelp track of where I am at.
-I will have all my meals planned out and my list written up before I head to the store so I know exactly what I need.
-I will stick to my list! This is a struggle for me, so this could be hard for a while b
-I will try to plan more meatless meals to help cut on costs.

Now I want to bring my groccery bill down, but I don't want to sacrifice on health. I am determined to keep feeding my family well on a smaller budget

I am currently stocked up on food, so I should not have to go shopping for a week or 2 (i am hoping 2!) I am going to try really hard to "shop" in my pantry and use what I have on hand before I do a big trip again. I will try to post my meal plan on here as well to help me feel accountable to this endeavor.

Do you have a grccery budget? If so, how do you stick with it? Any good tips you can pass along?

Drink Your Water!

Last week I made the goal to drink a gallon of water a day.  That's a lot of water right!?

I had thought about doing it before, but it just seemed like a huge amount of water, and I didn't think I would be able to do it. But one night I decided that I would fill up a container with a gallon of water and made sure it would all be gone by the end of the day.  Well the next day I had all that water gone by dinner! I was surprised how easy it was to get it all in one day, and now I am hooked.  I have done this for a week now, and I am committed to keep it up.  It helps with those mid afternoon munchies and before bed time munchies, which are my biggest downsides to healthy eating. 

Now the downside of drinking this much water means a lot of potty breaks, but I'll take it! I love how refreshed and hydrated I feel, and it just feels good to do something good for your body.

Have you had your water for the day??

Get Great Legs | Page 2 | Active.com

Get Great Legs | Page 2 | Active.com

I saw this link to a great leg workout. I plan on doing this tomorrow, and so should you!! We all want great legs don't we :)

Trying Something New

I have been having a lot of pain in my right knee lately, so I have been trying to take it easy but still get in good workouts.  Almost seems like an oxymoron doesn't it? Either way, it has been really hard emotionally and physically for me.  I do not like being injured one bit!

I went to the Dr this past week and they recommend that I start physical therapy again, and if that doesn't work I will have to get an MRI or something.  I almost wish I could get an MRI first because I really think there is something wrong with my knee, but because of insurance purposes I have to follow a certain order of things.  So for now, we are going to go that route and see where it takes me.

I have still be working out everyday, but with pain.  Yesterday I had a really blah workout. I could not get over the pain and I was just in this slump.  It was not fun at all.  I got done feeling glad that I still managed to get an hour in, but I just feel frustrated! The rest of the day did not go so well either, so I was so glad to start a new day today and get a fresh perspective on things again.

I was running late to work this morning, so I ended up running there. (It is like 1/4 of a mile from our place, so I actually normally run there anyway.  But since I was running late, I was basically sprinting.  As soon as I got to work I knew that I had pushed it too hard with my knee, and I could hardly bend it.

I came home, and we had planned on going to local gym to work out.  I was nervous about going though because of my knee, but I took some Ibuprofen and decided to swim instead.  That was the best decision of the day because my knee feels 10x better this afternoon.  I am in no way a good swimmer, but I know how to not drown.  I swam a half mile and felt like I got a good workout in, but to be honest I have this itch to go run outside as well since it is so lovely here today.

But because of the swim today I had the thought to train for a sprint triathlon. Our gym is starting a training program this next week for FREE, so I think I am going to do it.  Now I know I have been complaining about having a hurt knee, but I plan on being smart about it and not overdoing it too much.  I will listen to my body and if it hurts, I will stop.  A sprint triathlon consists of three events; a .45 mile swim, 13.2 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run.  Tough, but doable I think with the right amount of training!

Another reason I thought about doing a sprint triathlon is because I want to conquer my fear that I have of open water.  I know it might sound like a silly fear to some people, but to me it is real.  I am extremely afraid of water for some reason.  It is something I want to conquer, so I am hoping that by doing this I will be able to get over that fear.

*****I wrote the beginning part of this post last night, but I am happy to say that my knee feels a lot better today still and I contribute it all to the swimming.  I am definately going to keep this up because I love not being in as much pain!

Oh and the weather in this area is really weird; yesterday it was 54 degrees and today there was a mega blizzard with winds over 50 mph and the temperature was close to 0.  Crazy right!

I miss warmth!***

I have a lot of recipes I hope to post tonight or over the next few days because I have found a lot of keepers!

Out of Sync

I think with the sicknesses and my hubby being gone, I have really been out of my routine with nutrition, and I am really frustrated with myself! I know I am probably being too hard on myself, but I know better.  I know I can eat better than I am.  It is easy for me to get really down with myself in this area when I "mess up" so it is something that I am working on, but I am not there yet.

Starting tomorrow I am going to get back into gear! I am going to record what I eat, not snack between snacks and meals. I will drink a gallon of water. (This was a challenge on trainermomma.com's website, and I know that when I drink more water I graze less.) I am going to try and workout before the boys wake up, but I will plan on going to the YMCA if they wake up during my workout time. (They have been doing this lately; getting up a lot earlier than they are ready to.)

I think I am also kind of on edge because I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my knees and ankles lately.  I had problem with one of my knees this past year, but after going through physical therapy the pain went away.  Well a different pain is here now, and it kind of is scaring me because my right knee feels a little unstable. Not good. I am going to the Dr. tomorrow to have it looked at, but to be honest I am really scared they are going to tell me to stop working out.  I don't know if I can do that and not go crazy.  It is a part of my every day life like taking a shower is.  I know that things happen for a reason, so I will just handle what is given to me, but I have to be honest and say that I am scared.  Bad knees run in my family, and I think I may be inheriting that trait.  I don't know how I feel about this though because I can't imagine NOT running.

I know I am being a total downer here, and I am sorry for doing so but I am just out of sync and need to snap out of it! Maybe writing it down will help me to get back into gear.

Here is to hoping for a good report from the Dr tomorrow, or at least some answer to my pain.

Sickos!

This little guy has been pukey the past couple of days, which makes it hard to workout since he wants to be held all the time.  Luckily, my hubby is the best and helps me to find time to get a workout in.  Thanks hun!

Yesterday I was trying to finish up a few weights, and Kayden really wanted to be held, so I just used him as my weights:

He loved it, and it did make these wall squats a lot more intense!

I am hoping our little family gets back to full health soon because this is by far the yuckiest sickness there is :S

I hope you are all staying healthy!

Whole Wheat Flax Crepes

Workout:

15 min HiiT on my bike trainer
45 min Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism DVD

**I can't wait until it is warm again; I am going a little stir crazy working out inside everyday!

The baby has a cold and did not nap well this morning, which is when I normally workout.  I felt bad but I may or may not have let him cry for an extra 5 minutes so I could finish my workout.  Darn winter colds! Either way, I burned some calories and I felt nice and tired afterwards!

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Today was a crazy day, and I felt like making something easy for dinner. We like breakfast in our house, but I personally am getting tired of eating pancakes all the time, so we made crepes tonight.  So yummy!!

Not my picture; I am not a food artist

Whole Wheat Flax Crepes

3 eggs
2/3 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 T butter (I used applesauce instead)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
*I added the rest just because I wanted to*
1 T wheat germ
1 T ground flax seed
1/4 tsp almond extract (I love this stuff right now for some reason! I have been putting it in everything.)

*Blend all ingredients in a blender and pour 2-3 T of batter in a pan; tilting the pan to spread the batter all over the pan.

Cook 1-2 on each side.

My batch made about 12 crepes.

Easy right!

Topping Ideas:
-Greek yogurt
-fresh fruit
-Whip Cream
-Syrup
-Peanut Butter
-Fruit sauce (like this  blueberry glaze)
-Anything else your heart desires! The possibilities are endless!

My Choice

One thing that I love about Greg so much is that he pushes me and inspires me to be a better person.

He sees potential in me that I don't see, and encourages me to go outside of my comfort zone.  I love that!

Last night I was talking with a friend who is pregnant, and we were talking about how once she has her baby she is going to stay home with her baby.  I personally think this is such a great choice obviously since I have chosen to stay home with my kids, but she expressed concern about what others will think and say about her choice.  Isn't that sad? Isn't it sad that we have to justify our choice to stay home with our children instead of putting them in daycare? While I don't necessarily disagree with the daycare setting, I do disagree with this stigma that stay at home moms have been given.  Somehow because you are a stay at home mom you are lazy, selfish, etc? Of course not!!

There was a link going around facebook today of an article that added to these thoughts.  Read it here.

Being a stay at home mom is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but I wouldn't want my life to be any other way.

Back to why Greg is so important to this post; he encouraged me to be a voice for stay at home moms and to give encouragement to other women who have made the choice to stay home with their children.  I am so passionate about this, and I hope that I will be given the chance to help other moms in the same situation because we need the support!

Now I know this blog has turned into a fitness/nutrition blog, but the main purpose of this blog is to talk about things that give me purpose and obviously one of my greatest purposes is being a mother.  This is something I feel so strongly about.

I have chosen to stay home with my children, and I am working each day to become a healthy momma for my sweet babies.

These legs of mine are just plain tired!

This morning's workout was killer for me for some reason.  I hate when that happens.  I had every intention to do cardio for 30ish minutes and then get some weights in for another 30 minutes, but after the cardio I was done.  I just felt off.  I think a lot of it was that I ran 10 miles in the last 2 days, which I have not done for a long time, and that I get up by about 5 every week day morning.  I think it was just my body's way of telling me to calm it down! And I listened.

With my new work schedule, I am exhausted by about 8 pm every night.  Last night I was asleep at 8:30; on a Friday night.  Man, you can tell we are a couple of boring married people.  My poor husband wanted to do something, but I was useless.  He ended up staying up for a while and catching up on our favorite shows; The Office, Parks and Recreations, and Parenthood.  I would like to go back and watch the new episodes as well, but I probably wont.  The only time I have to do anything fun like that is after the kids are in bed and the only thing I want to do then is go to bed too!

Apparently in my incoherent state last night I checked my voice mail and sent someone a text message.  I also ate a snack size box of raisins.  All of which I have little to no memory of.  Kind of creepy isn't it? I hope I am not becoming one of those people who eat in their sleep and can't figure out why they are gaining weight.  That would be really weird.

After a lovely lunch of leftover sausage and rice casserole, wrapped in a flat out wrap (have you had these yet? If not, please try them.  They are so delicious and half the calories of a normal sandwich!) with a big side of green beans, I was feeling much better and ready to tackle my Saturday to-do list.  (I don't know about you, but my Saturday to-do list is always daunting and I hardly ever get any of it done.) But I also was really craving something sweet but I wanted to keep it nutritious.  I was craving chocolate, but that is really not an option right now so I blended up skim milk, cocoa powder, half of a banana and some splenda in the blender and it totally took the edge off my sweet craving.  It was so delicious and I think I may have found my new favorite snack.

I did manage to get most of the things done on my list, so I am ending this wonderful Saturday feeling good and ready for a day of rest tomorrow.  My body is still so tired today, so after I work on a lesson for church tomorrow I am calling it a day early. (My hubby is at work until late tonight so I don't feel too bad for being lame on a Saturday night.)

I hope you all have had a lovely weekend so far and that you have a wonderful day of rest tomorrow!

I did it! And lets be honest, I have the best husband ever:)

First off, I successfully went a WHOLE MONTH without eating dessert! Talk about a huge success! I am quite proud of myself:) Honestly, this is huge.

I had sugar for the first time last night and I was reminded why I gave it up in the first place; once I start, I can't stop! Talk about frustrating! I didn't go crazy or anything, but I did eat more than I was wanted to.  I was so frustrated with myself for some reason, but I am feeling a little better about it now.  Its all about perspective I guess.  I have decided though that I am only going to eat desserts on date nights and maybe Sundays.  I like feeling like I don't HAVE TO HAVE something; specifically sugar.  (My mom is my inspiration in that because she went a WHOLE year without eating chocolate and my mom loves chocolate.  Must be where I got it:))  Either way, I am happy to say I reached my goal! It feels good to do something that I set my mind to.

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Second, I have the best husband.  He is perfect for me.  He supports me in all that I do, and I am so lucky because of that.  I am a little obsessive about getting a workout in everyday. A day just doesn't feel complete without one, and today was just not going well.  I could tell it was going to be hard to get a workout in.  I called my husband; frustrated and going off about something and he graciously offered to come home early so we could workout. When he got home, it became apparent that it wasn't going to workout that both of us could work out, so he sacrificed his workout to let me have mine.  I was touched.  So I got to get out for a while by myself and had a great workout; 7 miles in 57 minutes!! I was definitely not planning on running that much, but once I got going it felt so good and went as long as I could in the time I had.  I came home refreshed and ready to be a better mom and wife.

I like reading about how to make a good marriage better, and I read recently that one of the best things you can do is to talk good about your husband to other people instead of talking bad. So I am putting it on the internet for all to see that I think I have the greatest husband ever.  I love that he supports me in what I love, and I love him for that.