Day 3! Setting myself up for success, trader joes, garbage salad, Curb the sweet tooth craving!

Yay! Another day almost to an end! Honestly though, the end of the day is the hardest! Last night I was craving something sweet so bad! I ended up sitting down with a bag of left over rice chip crumbs. I know, not the best choice but it was better then me riding my bike into town to pick up some Dairy Queen!!

Last night my 2 month old slept a 5 and a half hour stretch and then slept until 8! So I woke up energized and ready to go! (And I am sure a lot of that morning energy is due to spark!) 

I met up with a great friend of mine this morning at caribou coffee. I am not a coffee drinker but am a sucker for their breakfast sandwiches. I had already had a meal replacement shake so I didn't need to eat breakfast, but it is just a bad habit to eat one anyway! So in preparation I brought a clementine and some nuts :) And I avoided the sandwiches.

After, I went over to Trader Joes to just check it out. I havent been in there in a long time. I think I am going to find myself shopping there more often! Plus the prices really were not that bad- alot of the things were the same pricing as Cub! While there, I picked up some frozen peppers/onion mix, a nut trail mix, and a chicken salad wrap for lunch

I CHECKED THE LABEL :) It was Whole wheat, non-bleached tortilla, yada yada yada.... The only thing I was unsure about was the mayonaise in it... but I figured since it was from Trader Joes I could have it :D.

For supper I made a "garbage" salad. Dont get scared- it wasn't toppings from a garbage pizza! I just combined a bunch of random things that I had for a salad: chicken, yellow pepper, hard boiled egg, avocado, strawberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, tomato, and topped with my new salad dressing! It was yummy!

I then went to RIPPED then went to Cub and picked up some more tortillas, apples, oranges, and the salad dressing. I picked up apples because... I am trying a new recipe to curb that sweet tooth!!

Cinnamon Apples

Cut up an apple into thin slices. Spray the pan (stove top) with the non stick spray so the apple doesn’t burn. Cook on med-high and sprinkle cinnamon over the apple slices. 

Lastly, I wanted to just say that- it is amazing of what just 3 days of this has already done for me. I feel so much more energized and my body just feels so much better in general! I was talking with my friend Jamie who is doing the challenge also, and we both were just reflecting on how awesome we feel already! I am excited to see how as we continue to do the challenge how even more awesome we will feel!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! I appreciate the support!!! :)

And here is an "exclusive picture" of my babe Jalen :) love him!

Day 2! Avocado Chicken Salad and Tried the ketchup!

DAY TWO is coming to an end! Woo!! Yes I still have a buttload of more days to go, but I can celebrate every day I conquer! 

Started out the day with a HALF dose of Spark- a whole lot better! I still felt energized with a lot less jitterness! It was great. I even did better with the fiber drink! I didn't gag... just had to take some nice deep breaths with positive thinking :). Along with catalyst and meal replacement shake for breakfast.

Got off to the Y bright and early (for me anyway) to RIPPED. I love that class. I really like the music in this season. If you are a "RIPP-er"- my favorite song is the Intervals track. I don't know the name of it but I love the upbeat, dancy-ness to it (kind of like a twist). I have fun while burning calories! They say you burn 750-1000 calories per workout... I will take that!

For snack: clementine

Lunch: I made a simple Chicken Avocado Salad. George Foreman helped me out by grilling the chicken and then I cut them up into chunks, mixed it with avocado and tortilla'd it :). I added lettuce and tomato also! I also had a bell pepper with a little bit of Walden Farm Ranch and some strawberries.

Snack: A handful of unsalted raw nuts

Dinner: I had yesterday's leftover fajitas! yummy. And then the OmegaPlex.

Tonight I will try my hardest again to resist the sweets craving. I gave the rest of my Skinny Cow ice cream bars to Jenna (our roommate!) :) I also am making some Hard boiled eggs in the oven! They will be a great go-to snack and also something I can add to a salad!

Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven
Set oven to 325 degrees
12 eggs in a muffin tin for 30 minutes
Cool down for 10 minutes in ice cold water!

I also tried the Walden Farms Ketchup! It wasnt bad at all! I mean obviously it tastes different from the "normal" but I think it is a worthy substitute!! So check it out! 

have a good night! 

24 Day Challenge Day 1 of Cleanse Phase!

We finally started! Today is Day 1!

This morning I woke up, drank Spark (nutritional energy drink- which happens to have to same amount of caffeine as an 8 oz cup of coffee), took 3 Catalysts, and fed my bebe. I got up, got ready and mixed up the fiber drink to down it.... GAG. Yup I gagged, initially, but sucked it up and got it down :). I think from now on it will be better now that I know what to expect. I still might dread it though. I washed it down with some water after. All better! Then I mixed up a meal replacement shake and headed off to the Y!

I made it to Turbo on time! Woo hoo! So I am in class, doing the warm up and we started our first round... Then all of a sudden- BAM! The spark kicked in. I have never taken it before, and NEVER drink caffeine. I don't drink coffee, don't drink pop or juice... pretty much drink water only. I all of a sudden felt so wired and energized! I was definelty "turbo" in class today :).

I have felt wired and somewhat jittery all day- might do a half dose tomorrow! But I feel great!

Snack: I had a cup of strawberries and blueberries.

Lunch: Grammy Janet wanted to go out to lunch- "crud" was my initial thought- but then I decided that I can handle making good choices :). We went to the cafe in town and I got a grilled chicken salad with peppers, onions, and cucumbers (hold the cheese please). And then I brought my own salad dressing! That worked out well!
Also took 3 more catalyst beforehand.

Snack: Banana and a handful of mini rice cakes. I was craving something crunchy. 

and then 2 turkey sausage sticks.

and 1/4 cup of nuts.

Not going to lie, I am definitely really hungry today. But I am going to eat to my hunger d/t me breastfeeding. Otherwise maybe I would try to hold back a little bit :) but I am so excited for supper!! :)

Dinner: For dinner I am making crockpot Chicken Fajitas! Yum! I will add the recipe. I also will take an OmegaPlex at this time.

CrockPot Chicken Fajitas:
-3 Chicken breasts
-1 medium onion
-1 large bell pepper
-1 tbsp cilantro
-chili powder
-garlic
-1 can diced tomatoes and green chili's. 

You can also add jalepeno, coriander, and other things... but didnt have them

Stick in crockpot on low for 4-5 hrs.

I havent decided what I will serve it with yet- 100% whole wheat tortillas, in lettuce wrap or with brown rice......

So far I feel like today is going very well! My jitters/anxious feeling finally slowed down around 3pm. Definitely will be doing the half portion of spark tomorrow!

Hopefully today continues to go well! I have a sushi making class tonight- but I wont be eating any! (Well-maybe just one!)

Lastly, I will take the Herbal Cleanse Tablet before bed :)

Have a great rest of your day! Thank you so much for reading!

Last Hoorah!

So today is the last free day before our challenge. So, naturally, we had to do a last "pig out" 😊. We went out to eat with some friends to Mongo's in MG. 

Yummy! Soup, salad, and stir fry. It was delish! Thanks Dan, Kasie, Bethany, and Evelyn for inviting us! 

And of course we had to stop and get some ice cream. Come on, it's like really hot out! Ice cream was definitely needed! 

But to make it all better, we will be running our tooshies off at our soccer game tonight. So at least we will be doing one thing today that is healthy!

Stay cool everyone- and you are cool for reading my blog! 😜 

Grocery Shopping!

So today I went grocery shopping for the challenge. It actually went a lot smoother than what I was thinking! A huge part of making this trip less stressful was having my sister with me. She is my encourager, challenger, resource and best friend. I don't know what I would do without her! And today she helped me more than I know! 

She is very knowledgable on different foods and products that are good alternatives and that are yummy! She helped me search through brands, labels, and options that are best for the challenge and best for the cleanse! 

It was actually really fun and exciting to be putting all of this healthy eating "talk" into action. I went to 3 places: Aldi, Coborns and Cub. 

Here are some of our finds!

Walden Farms Products

Most of their products are sugar free, fat free, gluten free, and calorie free! It honestly sounds too good to be true but I have heard good things about these products! I have not tried these myself yet- but I have heard great things about the ranch. I have read both very good and not so good ratings about the ketchup- but I thought I would give it a try! (Especially for those of you that know me... I put ketchup on everything!) I will definitely follow up with how I thought these two things tasted! Also- a tip for you, Coborns has a larger variety of choices than Cub! Although I am still on the lookout for the honey mustard and BBQ sauce!

Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil

I do not use a whole lot of mayo in my house. I could probably use avocado for anything you would use mayo for, but my hubby (who is also doing the challenge with me) would probably appreciate this with his chicken salad rather than avocado ;). I am glad to have found a good alternative! 

Peanut Butter

The biggest difference here is that this peanut butter has almost 100mg less sodium per serving than my Planters brand! 

A few other finds (but don't have pictures) 

-100% whole wheat tortillas. Cub brand has a packet of 10 for just under $2! 

-A big bag of already chopped romaine lettuce (very convenient!) Tip: (which maybe already everyone knows) the darker the leaves, the better. So romaine is better than iceberg and spinach is better than romaine. I will maybe get spinach next week :)

-A few other things I got were rice cakes, lots of fruit, beef jerky (for Luke), salsa, cilantro, chicken, and avocado! I also got freshly sliced turkey (not deli). Coborns has a good brand- too bad I don't remember the name! But it starts with a K :) 

So there is a little update for you on my journey to a healthy living!

What suggestions do you have for tasty, healthy foods?? 

Better Choices

In preparation for my challenge (and just for a better lifestyle) I started looking yesterday at "better options". 

To start off with, Coborns has fresh, already prepped veggies to grill/cook back in their fresh meats counter. Onions, green and red peppers, and mushrooms. We have been getting this lately when we have grilled, and I love it! It's a quick and easy way to get those veggies in when grilling. 

I am all about convenience and "quick grab". I have to have things close by for on the go snacks for when hunger strikes and I have little time to think about a healthy snack. Because this will easily turn into a time is bad choices! So I picked up some unsalted mix of nuts. 

I was pretty pleased with the taste. Although I missing the chocolate ;). 

Next up is a suggestion my sister gave me: rice chips. They are yummy! A better alternative to potato or kettle chips when I am craving that crunch!

My last pick (wont be doing this during the challenge but since I haven't started yet- why not?!) to crave my sweet tooth, was I picked up some skinny cow ice cream sandwiches. They taste delish and are only 150 calories. I can do that :)

So those are a few picks of my alternatives to help me get onto the right path. I know some of the options still may not be the best, but I'm taking baby steps here! :)

What are some of your "alternatives" that you have found? Please share!

Curbing that sweet tooth...

I admit it. I have an addiction. A problem. 

I have a major sweet tooth.

Not just any sweets,

but CHOCOLATE.

I HAVE TO HAVE chocolate every day. It is a terrible addiction. 

Before I was pregnant I was doing a pretty good job about letting myself have just a small amount everyday. (I tried the whole "only have some every once in a while" thing. Ya. Did not work!) But this was working pretty good for me! But then this thing called pregnancy happened and that rule somehow disappeared like it never existed.

Now here I am, with a 2 month old, wanting to lose weight, but my sweet tooth is in full gear. 

I had 3 chocolate chip cookies tonight. Plus some cookie dough. I limited myself to just one cookie's worth of dough, though. Im not even going to say how big the cookies were. No special occasion, just an addiction.

So, in preparation for the challenge I have been researching a little bit about how to kick this habit to the curb.

First of all, sugar is a carb. I have been trying to convince myself that while on this "low to no carb" challenge, that sugar is not included and that I should just "limit" it. But in all reality- CARBS play a huge part of weight management and SUGAR is apart of that! So I want to really try hard to get this under control!

Some tips that I found that I am going to try.....

- If needed, give in a little. I think this is key. When I tend to have NO sweets what-so-ever, I find myself going into a full splurge! AAAHHH, not OK. I would rather give in A LITTLE then to splurge. 

- Chew gum 

- Go for a walk when you feel the urge coming on (I like this one, makes me realize that this really is an addiction). Change the scenery. Distract yourself. WALK AWAY from the source. 

- Reach for fruit. ALWAYS have it handy! 

- Eat regularly- we tend to splurge when we are not satisfied. Choosing protein, fiber- rich foods will keep you full and feeling satisfied. 

-Slow down and think before eating! Is this a WISE decision? Is this decision going to help or hurt my goal??

So these are some tips I am going to try my best to follow... especially leading up to the start date. I want to be prepared! 

Do you have any advice on how you curb your sweet tooth? Please share with me in the comments!