Getting Back Into It

So the good news is, I graduated college. The bad news is, these last couple months I have let my health go by the way side. I made a lot of excuses on why I just couldn't make time for me and my health. I told myself I was too tired to make dinner. I told myself that I didn't have time to work out. I told myself I was doing my best. Maybe I was doing my best. These last 3-4 weeks I have averaged 4-6 hours of sleep a night max. They were not blissed out full blocks of sleep. Let us not kid ourselves, I still have a baby who is up at night. I have spent every waking moment doing homework, taking care of baby, or finding a way to de-stress so I didn't FREAK OUT on the family I love so much. Although in hind sight, I find it odd that i did not work out to accomplish this. I always feel so much better working out. Which is why I think there were lots of excuses involved. Let us compare pictures from March 9th and May 19th:

So other than the fact that my new phone takes way better pictures, and the fact that I dyed my hair, and it looks like I took the time to clean my bathroom counter last time you know what differences I see? Not very many. I see the lack of transformation, due to the lack of effort. It is time to change all that. It is time to get back to taking my health seriously. I am starting a new round of the 21 day fix on May 25th. I am putting all the effort I have into it. I am worth it.

Zucchini Lasagna

So I posted about a week and a half ago on facebook that we had zucchini lasagna for dinner. Well Last night I made the lasagna again and thought I would post how I made it. I looked at a couple of recipes and got the general gist and then as usual made my own thing. I am sure this is really similar to something someone else has done though. The first thing I guess I should say is that I am a big fan of using what you have. The recipes that I looked at had nice slices of zucchini. I do not have a kitchen tool that will do this. So like when I make zucchini noodles I just use a potato peeler, I simply just used a knife. You will see my precision in the pictures to follow.

Need:

Zucchini (I used 4)

Ricotta Cheese (1.5 C)

Turkey Meat (1lb)

Spaghetti Sauce (2 C, which is roughly 1 jar)

Mozzarella Cheese (1C)

Spinach (2C)

Spices (I used garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano)

So the first thing I did was preheat my oven to 375. I then sliced my zucchini and laid them out on paper towels. 

Notice the evenly cut slices of zucchini. I don't claim to be a pinterest mom, I just make tasty food.

Then I put a little salt on them. I got this tip from a fellow beachbody coach when she made her lasagna. https://sites.google.com/site/jbfamilyroomfitness/recipes/zucchinilasagna It helps pull the water out. I let the salt sit while I brown my turkey in a pan. To the turkey I added my spices. After the turkey was browned I took a paper towel to the zucchini and got rid of the excess moisture. I also added a cup of sauce to the turkey.  Then I made a layer of zucchini in the bottom of the pan. I sprinkled some garlic powder on the zucchini. Then I added all the turkey and sauce on the layer of zucchini. 

I then put down another layer of zucchini. (More garlic Powder.) On top of this zucchini I added the Ricotta then the spinach.

Then I put the final layer of zucchini and more garlic powder. (I like garlic.) I then added the second cup of sauce. On top of it all I put on all the mozzarella cheese. 

Then I put it in the oven and baked for 45 minutes. 

When I pulled it out it still had a LOT of liquid. 

So I carefully drained some of the liquid off. I then cut into 4 and then served. Please forgive the abundance of pictures. I am sure you really didn't need a step by step picture book on how I made my lasagna. I got a new phone, and was excited.

Banana Breakfast Shake

So I have a really hard time eating breakfast in the morning. If I try and eat breakfast it takes me 3-4 hours after I wake up to actually do it. I don't know why I have such a hard time, but I do. A month or so ago, a friend and I were talking about how he makes shakes for breakfast, he loads them up with a bunch of stuff and they last him till 1 or 2 in the afternoon. He has the NurtiNinja, and said it did a great job. His wife commented on how it blends up the seeds in strawberries. So I went to check it out. It was on sale at my local Walmart. So I bought it. Since then I have breakfast shakes. It has made a huge difference in my day. So I am going to share my favorite. I have this one at least twice a week. I adapted this from a shake I found from Google, that I cant actually find anymore. The original recipe called for a lot more almond milk and peanut butter. This is more fix friendly.

8oz of unsweetened almond milk

1 banana

2 tsp peanut butter

1/4 cup of old fashioned oats (At this point I just put in a small handful and say it is about 1/4 cup.)

Ice- The amount of ice is up to you. I like mine really thick so I add a lot of ice. 

I used to blend the almond milk and the oats first, and then add the banana and peanut butter, which I blended again. In fact that is how I made my husband's shake this morning. I ran out of time this morning making my own shake and had to run my eldest to school. So I left the oats in the almond milk for about 20 minutes before returning home and finishing my shake. This made the oats blend in a lot smoother. So if your blender is less powerful, or you want your shake smoother that is the way to go. Probably something I will start doing in the future. So there you go. My go to breakfast.

My Beginning

Around mid January 2015 I realized I was miserable. I hurt. I would go to bed in pain. I would wake up in pain. I would wake up some mornings and just want to cry I hurt so bad. I was always tired. Because of this in turn I wasn't eating well. (It is a vicious cycle.) Most of the foods I was eating were processed foods, if not fast food. I would pick up Drew from work and the family hadn't eaten yet, and hey look at that Sonic is on the way home. It was really bad. I made excuses. "I am tired." "The baby was fussy, I didn't have time to make dinner." "I tried all day to do school work and didn't get anything done, let alone make dinner." I was eating bad food, and feeding my family bad food. My six year old got so used to eating out for dinner that when she got home she already had an idea where she wanted to go for dinner. It is so expensive. We were spending a small fortune to eat out all the time.We were spending too much money. All these things compounded to make me feel just awful. So I decided to do something about it. I have been casually watching one of my friends change her life for the last couple of years. She posted a post that spoke to my heart about feeling sluggish and having no energy. SO I sent her a message. (Admittedly that was the second message, the first one was in October and I just wasn't ready. I hadn't hit the point where a life change was NECESSARY. I just wanted to get off the baby weight and look awesome.) To start my change I started the 21 day fix from Beachbody. My body needed a reboot and this was going to deliver. Since I started the fix I feel SO much better. I have a lot more energy. I don't hurt any more. I get up most mornings feeling refreshed (I mean I still have a 6 month old who wakes up at night, some mornings just are what they are.) I am eating REAL food, made by ME. I have tried a whole bunch of foods that I have never tried before, and continue to eat them. As a plus, although not one of my goals, since starting to work out and eat well, I have lost 2 inches off my waist. I am stronger. It doesn't hurt my back to hold my baby any more. I can pick up my 6 year old again. (Although she is 44 inches, I am 61 inches size alone says this cant continue much longer lol.) The picture above is a before and after picture. The one on the left was before I started the 21 Day Fix. The one on the right is after two (not so perfect rounds) of the 21 Day Fix. Looking at these pictures is amazing. I was hesitant to put myself out there when I first started the program. I am afraid of failure. But I have learned if I don't try I have already failed. So I am no longer afraid to try.  I posted something similar to this on facebook and received so much positive feedback . That feedback made me stronger and more confident. So thank you all!