Ok time for an update

Its been a while but its time to update. I have gained back every pound I lost last year and since I had Elena. Sad, I know. But I am determined to get to my goal. We moved to Texas at the beginning of December and our apartment complex has a fitness center. So far I have gotten up all but 3 days since last Monday. I plan on going every morning except Sundays. I will have to work up to that this week and so far so good. I still need a scale. I'm thinking we'll get one next week or in January. I am also using my spark people app on my phone to make sure I'm not overeating and making sure I burn enough calories.

I have been pinning cute out fits on Pinterest so I can motivate myself. I even pictured myself in one of those outfits this morning and tried to run towards it on the treadmill. I know, weird but effective. I have also been pinning some inspiration. I'm thinking in a year I will be where I want to be. I don't want to give up. I want to be healthy.

I am also planning on ordering some Juice Plus Complete so I can have some shakes for meal replacements. I am also planning on starting my Juice Plus capsules order so I can be taking it daily and so my kids can get it. I'm excited about the future. Besides, shopping here in Texas is amazing and I want a piece of that action but I can't enjoy it until I drop like 5 sizes!! So I look forward to those days.

Chicken Salad first try

So I attended a back to school lunch today with a few friends where we learned about healthy eating and foods to avoid and where we learned more about Juice Plus+. We were supposed to bring something to eat and the only thing I could think of was Chicken Salad but I have never made it before. I don't know why I wanted to make some so badly but I thought I would give it a try. Here's what I did:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
two stalks of celery chopped ( I like it small)
Half of large red onion chopped
12-15 red grapes chopped
Minced onion
dried sage
Olive oil low fat Mayo
In a large pot I added water enough to cover 4 chicken breasts, and I added maybe a tablespoon of Sage and two table spoons of dried minced onion. I didn't measure I just shook like crazy into the water. I added maybe a teaspoon or two of salt to the water. When water starts boiling add chicken breasts. Boil chicken for 10-12 minutes.
While chicken boils chop other ingredients.
when chicken is done, remove from water but do not dispose of water. Let chicken cool a little then cube into small pieces. Put chicken into a bowl and add other chopped ingredients. Add maybe 4 Tablespoons of Mayo or just enough to coat all ingredients after stirring. Add a small amount of the chicken broth from the pot into the mixture to make it moist to add more of that chicken flavor.
Cool in refrigerator or serve immediately(like I did because I ran out of time to cool it) Serve by itself or on whole wheat bread or rolls.
I really like it and I am usually not a fan of Chicken Salad.

Udate

So school has started for my little kindergartner. I can't believe it. Since we are on a new schedule I have not had time for exercising, well I have but I haven't tried hard enough to fit it into my schedule. I do want to be walking in the morning before I have to pack a lunch and get the kids in the car for the school dropping off madness. Hopefully next week I will have it all figured out.

I have been trying to focus on nutrition lately. I'm trying not to buy crap because I know that if its in the house I'm gonna eat it. And since I snack all day long because I have no self control, I need to be snacking on things that won't pack on the lbs and are healthy for me. I have been taking Juice Plus+ capsules to make up for the fruit and veggies I don't get. If you don't know about Juice Plus+ then go here and check it out. Watch the video. A friend of mine sells it because she has done her own research on it. She and her family have been on it for 2 years and they feel great and they haven't been sick since they've taken it. Sounds like actually eating healthy is good for you. She has also taught me how to read nutrition labels what foods to avoid. I know that my shopping habits have changed because I want only good food in the house.

I will post the info from the handouts she has given me because I think that info is worth sharing. But check out Juice Plus+ it maybe what you're missing.

Bad week

This really has been a bad week. I mean bad. I haven't done any exercise. I've been snacking like the world is ending. If I don't get up tomorrow morning and at least go for a walk/run then I'm going to lull into an exercising depression. I hate those because its so hard to come out of. My kids just will not sleep through the night lately and makes me so tired in the morning. I really need to push through this. I need to stop eating bad. I almost need to plan out what I'm going to eat through out the day in advance, maybe that would help. I haven't weighed myself since I started running again and I'm glad about it this week because I'm sure it would tear me down. I have to push tomorrow. No matter what.

Report for this week

Well this week was a busy one because of Girls Camp. I wasn't due up to Girls Camp until Tuesday so I got up Monday morning and did my run which was 3.35 I think. At a better pace than I previously ran 3 miles too. Then that same day I did the work out group. Tuesday I left for Girls Camp and I think just being up there is good exercise because you have to set up stuff and walk everywhere because there is so much to do. Wednesday I walked through the meadow for a while to prepare a compass exercise and then had to do it twice with two different groups of girls. Thursday was the actual hike. It was so hard!! It was hard last year but this year I was carrying 30 extra lbs up the mountain. I was glad when I finished though. The total of the hike is almost 8 miles and in the heat of the afternoon it felt like 20. I've been told that hiking burns more calories because you are trying twice as hard because of the thin air. Since I have been back I have been reading some articles on hiking and apparently it's extremely good for you. It can do many good things for your body physically and mentally. Its been known to lessen depression. I think I need to do more hiking. Now I just need to find a hiking buddy.

Questions for Facebook friends

This week I have declined in distance in my running. I ran 2.6 on Monday and 2.4 on Tuesday and today I ran 2.2. My excuses for not going very far on Monday and Tuesday were because of time. I woke up late because my two year old was up more than once the night before. For some reason that makes me drag in the morning. So I got up later than I had planned and needed to get home so my husband could get to work. Today was so hot and I was also very tired. I have been using Map my Run app on my phone when I run which tracks my time and route, so when I get home I can calculate my pace. I have never really been concerned about my pace but its interesting to look at. So as I've seen the different runs I have done this week, I noticed that that even though my distance has been shorter (not by much I guess) my pace has improved. So I kind of got excited that I was running faster but then I wondered, should I be excited? Should be running longer or faster? So I questioned my friends on facebook and this is what they said:

• Pamela Nguyen I say faster because after a certain point in running you body stops burning calories but that's just my 2 cents lol

  7 hours ago ·
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  Katy Allred Nichols Longer!

  7 hours ago ·
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  Alison Randall Moreno This week I went from 2.6 to 2.4 to 2.2 but my pace has increased each time. My excuse for it being less today is because its frickin hot.

  7 hours ago ·
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  Jeremiah Malich it all depends on what you're training for. Which reminds me, I'm going to do this. It looks awesome! you should think about it too. http://toughmudder.com/eve​nts/socal-2012/

  

  SoCal 2012 | Tough Mudder

  toughmudder.com

  Tough Mudder SoCal Sat Feb 25 & Sun Feb 26, 2012, Vail Lake Resort Updates

  7 hours ago · ·
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  Larissa Taylor You burn the same amount of calories if you walk three miles or run three miles... The difference is, the time you finish in. I say you're doing awesome regardless!

  7 hours ago ·
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  Alison Randall Moreno I don't think I can do that Jeremiah, it says be running 5-7 miles 3-4 times a week and 6 pull ups. I can't even do one pull up. Maybe next year. That looks rough. Thanks Larissa!

  7 hours ago ·
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  Jeremiah Malich yeah it does look really tough. The neat thing is that it is yearly and there are 2 in California each year. I was thinking about doing the Nor Cal on this Sept., but i think i would die so i'm going to push it back to the So Cal one in Feb.

  6 hours ago ·
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  Alison Randall Moreno Yeah, I would definitely need to work more on my upper body strength. I'm working on it now but I don't think I would be there by this year.

  6 hours ago ·
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  Jami McAllister Larsen Distance first - then increase speed

  6 hours ago ·
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  Karrie Sorensen Bunting What jami said.

  6 hours ago ·
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  Rick Watson I say, run longer and faster. That way you get the best of both and quit being a sissy :). I say this while sitting Eating doughnut and watch Dragon Ball Z.

  6 hours ago ·
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  Alison Randall Moreno Nice Rick.

  5 hours ago ·
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  Shelley Moreno Well if you increase your pace you burn more calories from fat, so if you go less distance but a faster pace it is actually better for you! There are three ways to burn more calories, increase distance, increase frequency, or increase pace.

  4 hours ago ·
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  Paloma Rivera First, assess what your goals are and why you run.

  3 hours ago ·
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  Alison Randall Moreno Mostly weight loss and health. Im not too concerned with how fast I go, however I don't want it to take all day to run 3 miles. I eventually want to be able to run a 10k.

  3 hours ago ·
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  Paloma Rivera Go with distance and then work on speed.

  3 hours ago ·
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  Julie Olson it all depends on your heart rate. you can find a target heart rate for fat burning calculator online and figure out where yours should be. if you don't hit it or go too high over it doesn't matter how fast or how long you run!

  2 hours ago ·
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  Carlos Casamalhuapa Another way to think about it is by intensity. For weight loss, keeping your intensity at a moderate level for a longer period of time (e.g., distance running) will allow you to burn fat. Moving it to high intensity (e.g., running fast) will actually force you to burn sugar because not enough oxygen will be delivered to the fast, contracting muscle, and oxygen is required to burn fat but not sugar. To keep it simple, keeping a moderate level of intensity for a longer period of time will promote weight loss from the burning of fat. But that is not to say you shouldn't run fast. In fact, feel free to mix it up to your enjoyment. Just keep in mind your goals and remember that whatever you choose as an exercise should be fun! And if you get board, try another form of exercise.

So if you were ever wondering like I was this morning here are some ideas. The last one is from someone in Med-school. And the rest are runners, new to running and old pro's.

Dear Journal

I like putting my thoughts on here because its better than just bottling them up inside and eventually quitting and regressing. I ran over 2.5 miles yesterday and 2.4 today. Thats actually what I was going for. I know that I can do over 3 miles but I haven't gotten up early enough to get out there and do it. Just as long as its over two miles, I'm okay. I've been exercising an hour and forty minutes to two hours which feels really good.
My diet this week has been better, I've been eating mostly veggies and fruit. I can already feel my body changing and its starting to feel a little bit like it did last summer. I kind of wish I had a scale to document it all. I could just go off measurements until we can get a scale.
Today while I ate lunch and fed my daughter lunch I watched extreme makeover weight loss edition. I love that show. I think it helps to push me because I am not as heavy as those people and look at all they can do! I should be able to push myself because I know I'm strong and I know I can accomplish this goal. So my goal is....(cue drumroll) I want to lose 50 lbs by my birthday November 16th. I will be 30 this year and as difficult as turning thirty will be, it will be excruciating if I'm 30 and looking the way I do. I want to be hot! I want to go shopping and actually enjoy it!
I've decided that a gym membership would be helpful. On the days I can't get out of the house without the kids, I can go to the gym and put them in the child care area and just have at it! I think my husband would benefit from it too. As soon as rafting is over, there will go all his exercise. I want him to have that option to exercise and I think he will. He's not one to waste something. So I'm feeling good, and as difficult as it is to push myself in the morning to get up and run, not walk, its so worth it and I need to remember how good I feel when I'm done. I need to imagine how good it will feel when I put on those dresses I bought last year when I lost the weight and they are too big!

So I went to this seminar...

It was by this lady that sells Juice Plus+. I had never heard of it, but before she tried to sell the product, she brought up a lot of interesting things that I was unaware of. She had been diagnosed with diabetes and hyperglycemia when she was in her 20's I believe and after that she decided that she wanted to live a healthy life. She is now a vegetarian and takes Juice Plus+. She gave us a list called "10 Easy Steps-The Path to Health" and here they are:
1. Reverse the path to disease! Rebuild the nerve force by changing stress and strain components.
2. Detoxify the whole system; lymph, skin, lungs, bowel, kidneys, liver.
3. Eat for regeneration, introducing higher quality foods.
4. Eat close to nature, 75% + of unrefined, unfired plant based diet full of enzymes.
5. Alkalinize your system; avoid processed and refined acidic forming foods.
6. Support the body, mind, emotions and spirit with positive energy.
7. Take self-responsibility for noticing the feedback from your body.
8. Eat more fruits and vegetables in rainbow colors; whole grains, beans, raw nuts and seeds, sprouts, fresh juices, raw foods all high in fiber, enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals naturally!! Drink plenty of pure water! Choose organically grown and vine-ripened food
9. Exercise, relax, sleep well, meditate, pray....stay in balance!
10. Supplement your diet with Juice Plus+ whole food nutrition.
She talked a lot on stress and how that can mess with your body and cause strain physically and mentally. She said that the more stress in your life can cause a lowered nerve force which can lead to Defective waste elimination (gross I know but important for a healthy body) and when that happens you can have toxemia. Toxemia has many symptoms like headaches, insomnia, irritability, fluid retention, inflammation, constipation, bad breath and allergies. She said when we have these symptoms we go to the doctor or the pharmacy and we take pills or have surgery which doesn't fix the problem. We have to find ways to deal with our stress.
She talked about how an animal based diet closes arteries and a plant based diet opens arteries. Diet is the only cure for heart disease and when we have a better diet our bodies are naturally healthy. A plant based diet can strengthen your immune system.
She talked briefly on the Rainbow diet but there is a book called What color is your diet? I think I might want to check that one out.
(As you'll notice, these are just snippets of what she said, thats because I'm just putting on here what I got notes on.)
She talked about how positive energy changes your life.
You should eat close to nature such as fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes. Fresh produce is the best because cooking vegetables takes the nutrients out them. Those nutrients are what make your body work to the best of its ability. She showed us a lot of books by Humbart Santillo who I think is the creater of Juice Plus+ but I can't remember.
She pointed out that we should be eating 9-13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, I know I'm not eating that.
Our diet should consist of 20-25% of Acid forming foods and 75-80% of Alkaline forming foods. I have never heard of this before. We need to test our body PH. You can look up a list of those foods online.
The darkest and deepest leafy greens and veggies. The more pixels the better. Eat as many as you can. You can't eat too many.
So these are the notes I took on the seminar. I'm definitely looking into this further because the things she said made sense. I want to do my own research and see what gives me more energy and makes my body work better. I have also heard of eating to your blood type. People with A type blood need more fruits and veggies for energy and O type blood individuals need more protein and need to keep their energy up. That will be tough for our family because my husband is O and I am A. He craves meet and I don't. I might need to start changing our menus around.
Read more on Juice Plus+ online because it seemed to be a good product giving you your serving of fruits and veggies in 4 pills a day 2 veggies and 2 fruits. I know that I do plan on going through my cupboards and cleaning out the processed foods and fatty things we have had stored in there secretly.

And I'm back!!!

I got up this morning determined to run since I did take a break yesterday. However I did not take a break from exercising, I still did the work out group which was just painful because of how sore I am. So this morning I got up and decided to run the same route that I used run last year, and I really wanted to run the whole thing because that meant it would be 3 miles. Well I finished the route and then I went a little further! I ran 3.41 miles!! Thats how far I was running last year. And last year it took me a month to get that far! It only took me five days! I'm so excited. I felt so good when I finished. Last year I wasn't eating well and now I'm doing better, so combine that with running over 3 miles and I'll be losing weight in no time.

Tabs on exercising

Today I ran 2.47 miles and did an hour of Body Pump at the gym. My body hurts all over. I might need a break tomorrow.

Slowly getting there

Last Thursday I walked a few laps then I ran a mile, the stadium is locked for stupid reasons but I'm determined to keep trying to use it. Today it was locked again so I came home and ran around the block and when I mapped it out I ran 1.67 miles. At that point I could have kept going but Jesús needed to leave for work and Elena was already awake. It was a nice cool 70 degrees which made it easier too. Lets see if I can keep it up tomorrow.

The running has begun!

I went to the stadium today and ran 3 laps which is 3/4 of a mile. Kind of sad when I think that last year I was running over 4 miles. However, I need to not think about that and just focus on now. My very good friend Trish was with me to push me that last lap. It was tough because it was already 82 degrees at 6 in the morning. So we ran 3/4 of a mile and walked 1 and 1/4 mile then we did the stadium stairs for about 10 minutes. That was even more tough. My legs now feel like jelly but I came home and had a healthy breakfast which I am going to track on Spark People. Lets hope this is the beginning of something beautiful.

I've decided

Its time to buy a scale. I have only weighed myself on the Wii and I'm not even sure its accurate but that was also quite awhile ago. I think seeing my actual weight will scare me into starting to run. Tomorrow is a holiday but that just means I can get started on Tuesday. Here's hoping I can get back to running 4 miles again. Also I've been thinking about buying a bike, thoughts?

So those recipes...

Ok so I thought I would do these in the order of my favorites but I can't decide which one would be first so I'm just doing them in random order.

This is a Chipotle Turkey Burger. It wasn't a recipe we found anywhere, just something we came up with. We took 1 lb of ground turkey (not fat free, it bbq's too dry) then added an egg, maybe a cup and a half of fresh bread crumbs, maybe a third of a cup of dijon mustard, dried minced onion ( I add alot because it adds so much flavor) and some salt and pepper. We just bbq'd the patties on the grill and then my husband mixed a little adobo sauce with some mayo and we added a slice of provolone cheese and tomatoes. It was pretty dang good. I can't tell you what is on the shrimp because my husband created that rub but it was maybe some citrusy rub and then he bbq'd those too. Very tasty! Dont forget to use whole wheat buns!

If some one pointed a gun to my head and made me pick a favorite out of this list, the stuffed portobello mushrooms would be at the top of my list. So divine.
1 small yellow sweet pepper, cut in bite size strips
1 small red onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, coarsely shredded
1 carrot, coarsely shredded
1 stalk of celery thinly sliced (I did not use celery because I think its gross)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 to 3 TB of olive oil
1 TB snipped fresh basil
1 TB lemon juice
1 5 ounce package baby spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
4 4 to 5 inch portobello mushroom caps stems and gills removed
4 slices provolone cheese
pre-heat oven to 425. Line 15x10 pan with foil. In a 12 inch skillet cook and stir sweet pepper, onion, zucchini, carrot, celery(yuck), garlic in olive oil on medium high heat for about 4 minutes. Stir in basil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Top with spinach and cover. Cook for 2 minutes then remove from heat. Stir in crumbs and half of the parmesan cheese. Set mixture aside. Arrange mushrooms on pan and top with a slice of provolone cheese. Divide the mixture onto each mushroom. Bake for 15 minutes then top with rest of parmesan cheese and cook for 2 more minutes. I'm telling you, divine.
This was probably not a favorite for my husband because he likes flashy meals and this was rather plain but I liked it. It calls for Fontina cheese which I could not find but maybe it adds a little oomph that my husband was looking for. I might try it with sundried tomatoes next time. You can find the recipe HERE.
This has been one of my favorite lunches. Its a BLT salad and its quick to make and even my two year old eats it like crazy. The dressing is my favorite part. You can find this recipe HERE.
This is something that I saw on the Eating Well website then I just let my husband run free with it. We took 1 lb ground turkey, 1 zucchini chopped, 1 can water chestnuts, chopped( I'm not sure if they come chopped, I think we always chop them) 1 can bamboo shoots chopped, 2 teaspoons powdered ginger, a few tablespoons of soy sauce and a few table spoons of Hoisin sauce (its our new favorite thing) salt and pepper to taste and maybe a little hot sauce if you want a kick. Cook the ground turkey then throw in everything else and cook until the zucchini is cooked all the way through. I hope I'm remembering everything on this recipe because I'm not the one who makes it, my talented husband does. You can slice some green onions as a little garnish and then wrap it all up in a lettuce leaf. We ate this for mothers day because my mom really liked it.
This last one was also a little made up magic. We called it southwest pizza. We made some pizza dough ( I suggest whole wheat pizza dough but my husband isn't a fan so we made white flour pizza dough) Then we topped it with a homemade pizza sauce with tomato sauce garlic powder and dried minced onion and some adobo sauce to taste to add that smokey kick. We topped that with black beans and corn and chopped onion and some Monterey jack cheese. Then when it came out of the oven we sliced some avocado and added it to the pizza. It was really good, not much to it though.
I have a few other recipes that I haven't taken pictures of or I can't remember what recipes they are but I have pictures of them. This is a good start though.

Dinner Recipes

A have tried some new recipes but I haven't blogged them and I dont really have time but I wanted to get the pictures up so I could remember which ones I need the recipes for. So here is just a sneak peek at what we've been eating.

A new summer

This summer will be like last summer but with some changes. I will of course be running again, as soon as I'm feeling better and I can get over to BC stadium, I will be exercising at the church with friends also so thats double the exercise. I will also be eating better which I didn't do very much last summer, my meals were healthy but in between I snacked like crazy. I'm going to have to figure out how to make sure I keep my eating to just healthy things and only for little meals about 6 times a day. Maybe a schedule and reward system? I'm aching to get out and run or at least walk for now. Hopefully soon.

Well I was on a roll

I exercised for 4 days straight and even when I was running I rarely did it for days straight. But last week I didn't exercise at all because I was sick the whole week. At first it was light flu like symptoms and I did what was necessary and then got in bed. The end of the week was strange nausea and I tried to get up to work out at the church and I gave up after 10 minutes of trying to get ready. So last week sucked but I am determined to get right back up and keep going. I worked out this morning at the church and I'm sure I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I would really like to start running again but the only thing I'm worried about is people and dogs. I'm nervous about who I am going to run into on the street. I really want to go back to BC stadium and run the track. Maybe I'll try that as soon as preschool is out.
I keep looking back at the times when I could have just kept on the right track I was on and I wouldn't be like how I am today. But I can't look at the past, the only thing I can change is now and what I continue to do. I need to get a scale, like yesterday.

Getting back to exercising

Even though my eating is about the same, I have tried harder to work out. I started working out last Thursday with a group of friends and from now on we will be working out Tuesdays and Thursdays. It feels good to work out with others and one of them is an aerobics instructor and she is awesome. I know I'm not going to skip a workout knowing they are there. I also was feeling a little down a couple of weeks ago and Jesús and I agreed that we needed to try a new work out video. I got the Jillian Michaels Ultimate workout for Christmas but it didn't give me the workout I needed so we got this new one recommended by a good friend. I have used it twice this week, Monday and Wednesday, the days I'm on my own to work out and it gives me a great work out. You work with resistance bands and it has a heart monitor. It tells you how many calories you have burned and how long you've worked out. So far I'm loving the new Wii work out and I hope I can keep it up. If I work out on my own Monday Wednesday and Friday and go with friends on Tuesdays and Thursdays and maybe go for a jog Saturday mornings then I think I will be on my way.

Next up: work on eating

Disappointment

I've been a little scared to get back to this blog lately. Mostly because I am depressed and disappointed in myself, because after all my hard work last summer, I am sure I have gained back all the weight, and I can barely run a full mile without wanting to drop dead. I eat non stop and I hate myself all the time because of it. I'm ashamed that I let all that hard work go right down the crapper. I'm too afraid to get back on a scale. I have no time to exercise. Even though I don't really buy fattening foods I eat everything I see. I got rid of all my fat clothes so now I have nothing to wear. When I finally get the guts to get back on a scale and post it maybe that will finally be me breaking through this barrier and my start back to a healthier me. Till then.....