Snacks Galore

I couldn’t seem to get full today.  I have learned to just embrace what you can and eat something healthy if you just feel incredibly hungry.  I think this was how my day went today.  UGH!

   

Breakfast:

Advocare Spark

Coffee with creamer

2 scrambled eggs

Snack #1:

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

1 cup spinach

¼ cup raspberries

¼ cup strawberries

ice cubes

4 oz of water

blended all together for a smoothy

Lunch:

4 oz grilled chicken

2 cups lettuce

4 walnuts/chopped

10 cucumber slices

¼ cup broccoli

Made a salad type thingy

Snack #2:

Advocare Spark

¼ cup strawberries

¼ cup cantaloupe

Snack #3

Extra small apple

15 grapes

Dinner:

4 oz grilled chicken breast

10 stalks of asparagus sautéed in olive oil

5 cherry tomatoes

Snack #4

Chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar (120 calories)

½ homemade banana muffin (75 calories)

See peeps the struggle is real.  Somedays you are just hungry.  It’s all good.

Show up and make it count,

Cindy

Supplements That Keep Me From Throat Punching People

I take 25 pills a day to supplement my diet.  Yep, you read that right, 25.  Carly Jo teases me that I take my supplements to keep me “balanced”.  I think there is a lot of truth to that observation.  I take them for a few different reasons.   They keep me moving so that I can run, jump and lift.  Others help me to have more energy.  Others help me to not kill people.  Finally, some of them help me to not catch on fire due to hot flashes and these crazy cray hormone surges.  I take some in the morning and the rest at lunch.  Maybe you could look over the list and see if any of them might help you out.  If some of them seem weird I would encourage you to google them and read about them.  Also, be mindful that natural supplements take time to work.  If you decide to start using them you must give them a chance to kick in and work.  Some take about 3 months to get to a level in your system that will help with whatever you’re needing.  Talk to your doctor, too.

Supplements for energy, to reduce inflammation and just make me feel like a Rock Star most days.

Advocare Thermoplus-fat burner and for energy 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Osteo Bi Flex-helps reduce inflammation so that I can run like the wind and lift like I am strong like helm. 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Omega 3’s (fish oil)-helps to reduce inflammation so that I can actually get out of bed and move, which is a good thing.  Also, heart health.  I take 3 at breakfast and 3 at lunch.

B12-energy 1 at breakfast.

Triple Strength Gluocosamine Sulfate-reduces inflammation so my old knees will actually move.  1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Supplements that help me to actually be a nice person and not thunder punch people in the throat.  They also have helped me to not catch on fire due to these hot flashes from hell that I have been experiencing.  Getting old ain’t for sissies peeps.

Theanine Serene-mood stabilizer 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

DHEA-aids my adrenal gland and hormone balance 15mg at breakfast.

Black Cohosh-helps reduce hot flashes 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Vitamin E-helps reduce hot flashes 1 at breakfast.

DIM-helps body with Estrogen absorption and helps me not catch on fire 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Emerita Progesterone cream-hormone balance 1 tsp rubbed into the skin a day.

Women’s 50 Plus-multi vitamin-1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch.

Again, if you need advocare just click on the link above and they will ship it to you.

Boom, you are now balanced.

Show up and make it count!

Cindy

Another Day Another Meal

As I said before, I will try and post as much as possible on my meals.  I am one of those people that if you are very specific and the food is half way decent then I am in.  Enjoy these ideas.

Breakfast:

Coffee with creamer

Advocare Spark

2 scrambled eggs

1 piece high fiber whole wheat toast with a teaspoon of peanut butter on it.

Snack #1:

Extra small apple

1 tbsp of peanut butter

Lunch:

3 oz grilled chicken breast diced

½ cup brown rice

¼ cup broccoli and ¼ cup carrots cooked in a small amount of water for 2 minutes in the microwave

1 cup spinach

I made a little salad bowl out of this with the spinach on top.  Sort of like Chipotle.

Snack #2:

Advocare Spark

½ scoop vanilla protein powder

4 oz water

½ cup frozen peaches

¼ banana

¼ cup pineapple

4 ice cubes

Added to the blender and make a smoothy.

Dinner:

1 8 inch whole wheat tortilla

1 scrambled egg

1/8 of an avocado

salsa

I made a burrito out of these foods.

2 oz cantaloupe

I totally enjoy a breakfasty type dinner sometimes. If you need any of the Advocare Spark just click on the link above and they will ship it right to you.

Show up and make it count,

Cindy

The Chub Struggle Is Real

I have been on this journey of better health for over 9 years now.  Wow!  I can hardly believe it.  Lots of ups and downs, but all in all, it’s been good.  I started back to Chubby Girl (Weight Watcher) meetings back in December of 2014.  My weight had started to creep back up and I thought I needed the support of the wonderful community of Weight Watchers aka Chubby Girl once again.  I have weighed in pretty consistently once a week since last December.  This is an overview of how it is going.  My starting weight was 141.  This is 9 pounds over my goal weight at Chubby Girl of 132.  This has been the roller coaster ride on the scale 141, 138.4, 138, 138.6, 137.6, 137.6, 137.6, 137.4, 137, 136.2, 135.6, 137.8, 136.8, 136.4, 136.4, 137.8, 138.8, 138.4, 138, 138, 137.4, 138.6, 137.6, 137.6, 138, 137, 136, 137.2,136.4, 138 and 138.2.  Yes, peeps, the struggle is real.  

I am completely fed up with this process.  I really want to get back down to my goal weight for many reasons.  Those reasons are that I get to go to the Chubby Girl meetings for free since I am a lifetime member of WW, my clothes fit better, my knee feels better when I run or lift and I know that from a health standpoint it is good to be at this weight.

So about a week ago I was going through some of my fitness magazines that I haven’t been able to read and I stumbled on to a pretty simple eating plan.  I started following it on that Monday.  Below is a sample of that first day.

Breakfast:

2 scrambled eggs

1 oz venison sausage

Coffee with creamer

Spark

Snack #1:

12 raw almonds

1 orange

Lunch:

Fill two butter lettuce leaves with 4 oz. of cooked taco seasoned lean ground beef, two slices of avocado and salsa and ½ cup fruit of choice.

Snack #2:

1 banana

1 tbsp nut butter

Dinner:

4 oz. seasoned grilled salmon; ½ cup cooked brown rice, 1-cup spinach.

That’s it pretty simple eating.  I have also continued to run 3 days a week and do a combo of cardio and lifting the other 3 days a week.  I continued eating this way for the rest of the week and I only ate out one evening and that was at Cotton Patch and I had no bread, water and the grilled chicken salad.

The beautiful thing is this.  When I weighed in at Chubby Girl on Saturday morning I was 135.6.  Yes, you read that right, 135.6.  Me, the girl who can’t seem to lose weight. 

This inspired me to start sharing my eating habits.  It is hard sometimes to follow a plan.  I know that I need specifics.  I will try and post what I am eating on a daily basis.  Join me if you would like.

Show up and make it count,

Cindy

47 takes 15 not 5

As I started my work out today I realized something that really had not occurred to me before.  At the age of 47 it now takes me 15 minutes to warm up those legs of mine for my run.  In the past it took maybe 5 minutes to warm up.  Now my friends it takes 15.  15 long extra minutes.  The good thing is that I ran like a champ after that longer warm up.  Go me!

Show up and make it count!

This I Know For Sure 2013

As I sit here on this beautiful September day I am reflecting on my last blog post and thinking "what fresh hell have the past 6 months been?"  It has been rough, but I now know a few things for sure.  Here goes...

The last post was regarding my sweet Carly Jo.  She had an awesome tournament and got to serve.  This was her first time to serve in club.  It was a glorious day for sure.  She played and she played a lot.  Little did I know that the months following would be somewhat less glorious.  Ugh!  Instead of going on and on about what a challenge those months were I will just say it to you straight.

The first thing I learned and now know for sure is this.  It is way harder watching your daughter warm the bench than it ever was for me to personally warm the bench.  In fact I think it was one of the harder things I have ever done.  But, instead of being frustrated, mad, angry, pissed, I have chosen to help Carly Jo get better in her sport.  You see people she isn't done yet.  One half season of volleyball will not define her as an athlete.  So we both carry on.  I have grown up a little as a mom of an athlete and she has grown up a lot as an athlete.  This journey isn't over.

The second thing I learned and now know for sure is this.  It is way harder to watch your daughter get her first broken heart than it ever was for me to get my first broken heart.  In fact I have decided that although her heart felt like it was shattered into a million little pieces, as her mama, I felt like mine was broken into a trillion little pieces, ran over with a truck, set on fire, put out and set on fire again.  Ugh!  The pain was too much.  The first cut really is the deepest.  In my book boys will continue to be bad.  The next one that shows up over here better be ready.  I will make it crystal clear to that punk that:
1.  I don't like you.
2.  I will never like you.
3.  I am not afraid to go back to jail.  (Never been, but he doesn't need to know that.)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  It might just piss the crap out of you though.

The third thing I know for sure is that I love these two girls beyond measure.  They are such a blessing.  I know they both will come out on top.  I know sweet Alex's heart will eventually totally mend.  She will find her way.  I just know it.  She is going to look back on this relationship and go "what was I thinking was I drunk?"  (I know I am so thankful for those UNANSWERED prayers from 1987.)  I know that Carly Jo has worked her butt off the last 4 months in the gym, on the sand and on the court.  She ain't done yet people. The journey begins again tomorrow as she has her first volleyball game of the season.  Starting year 5 of volleyball for her. Wow!

All three of us will continue to Show Up And Make It Count!  Let the journey continue.

The Serve

This past weekend was yet another long weekend of volleyball.  It was one of those ranking tournaments with Dallas Synergy playing in the open division.  In my estimation open division ranking tournament stands for "The Big Dawg Teams Are In Town And They Are Kicking Butt And Taking Names" and it is sink or swim.  Well, peeps this weekend we swam.  No we didn't win a lot of matches, but we played.  We played the entire weekend.  We played with intensity.  We were competitive.  We could have beat most of those teams, no doubt.  That is a great feeling.  

These other teams have girls on them that already have their jump serve down.  Unfortunately, my sweet Carly Jo is on the other end of the court trying to receive those jump serves and her job is to get them up in the air high enough for her setter to get under them and try to make a play.  It was intense to say the least.  Ugh!  

Anywho, another kid got to serve this weekend.  That other kid was Carly Jo.  It was the highlight of my weekend.

I am sure some people are like big deal your kid served.  Well, peeps this is a big deal to me.  You see Carly Jo's serve has been a long time coming.  She has been playing this sport since she was 9 and she is now almost 13.  Her serve has definitely been slow to come.  She made some mistakes along the way and we have made corrections.  We have gone 2 steps forward and 8 steps back with serving.  Lots of tears and frustration.  It has been a hard fight.  So for this kid to get to serve at the club level in a open division ranking tournament it is a big freaking deal to this girl.  I feel so proud for her and of her.  She stepped out of her comfort zone and she rocked it.  Love her so very much.  So yeah I am proud.  I have probably talked about it way to much, but I don't really care.  I know what it took for her to get to this point.  I feel so blessed to be on this journey with her.  

Go Dallas Synergy.  Keep showing up and playing with all your heart.  The wins will come.  You will get better and better.  I just know it.

Show up and make it count!