Well I had a birthday a couple of days ago. Woot!
I had a very nice day and I really love birthdays, but this whole “getting older” thing really blows my mind! I am now firmly “in my 40’s” and it’s seriously tripping me out.
Ya know, last year it felt so weird to turn 40! Seriously, I could hardly say my age out loud without flinching. Ha ha. However, I finally got used to being 40 and actually started to like it! Forty is a nice round number and a good solid age….not too young/not too old. Forty-one feels exactly the same, but it just freaks me out to realize that I just keep getting older every single day!
I guess I just need to learn to cherish each moment and enjoy every stage in life, right?
I did have a fun birthday! In the morning I decided to pick up some of my very favorite donuts.
Dunford Donuts (I think you can only get them in Utah) are seriously thee best donuts!!! I could probably eat that whole box. Love them! They have other varieties of donuts, but these chocolate chocolate ones are my fav. They’re also the donuts that Dunford is famous for.
My baby and I shared one…
And it went all downhill from there! Ha ha. When Kev got home from work, he brought some of my other favorite donuts home with him…Banbury Cross (another Utah donut place.) Ha ha! He knows I love donuts! Banbury Cross is in Downtown Salt Lake City though, conveniently (i.e. dangerously) located right near Kev’s office.
Sooooo, we had plenty of donuts around our house! I was grateful my kids had a bunch of friends over so we could all share!
That night, I went out to dinner with Kev. We went to Carver’s, which is an amazing steakhouse. Kev and I had only been there one other time….clear back when we were first married, so we decided it was time to go again.
The food was phenomenal! I got the Filet Mignon, topped with their “Bleu By You” concoction which was Cajun spice, melted bleu cheese, bacon, mushrooms and onion strings. Holy yum! I also got it with their au gratin potatoes on the side. They were fabulous! I also got a spinach salad too.
Kev got the Rib Eye steak with a Cajun spice rub. He also got the au gratin potatoes and a spinach salad.
Our server heard it was my birthday and brought me a free dessert, their mud pie which was “Layers of Pecan Ice Cream, Rocky Road Ice Cream, and Oreo Cookie Crust. Topped with Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sauce.”
It was so good, but Kev and I were SO FULL! We seriously rolled outta there.
Afterward, we went shopping for a little bit at Nordstrom Rack, one of my very favorite stores! I got me a few fun things. It was a great night!
Oh, Kev also got me some beautiful flowers…
I love them so much, but I have to tell you guys something funny about them! If you look closely, you can see that there is a giant leaf wrapped inside that vase. It’s very cool looking, although it’s a little hard to see in this picture.
When my 8 year old saw the flowers, he said, “What is in that vase??” I told him it was a huge leaf and he said, “Oh, I thought it was one of your protein shakes in there!”
Bwwwhahahaha!
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Well folks, now that the birthday party is over, it is time for me to get back to work! I am more than ready and so excited to be back on track again.
In my last post I talked a little bit about the new program I am starting. I’m doing The Extreme Transformation program by Chris and Heidi Powell and I think it will be an excellent program!
It is JUST what I need right now!
Seriously I am stoked. I know I will not quit and I will see it through to the end. I actually started today. I know starting on a Saturday is weird, but it actually makes sense for me.
The design of this program is to have four high protein/high carb days followed by two high protein/low carb days and then one “reset day,” which is just a high protein/high carb day + 1,000 extra calories.
Soooo, I decided I wanted to have my “reset day” on Friday…..so I decided to start the whole program on a Saturday so my reset day will land on Friday. Make sense? I also think it will be easier to do my two low carb days during the week instead of on the weekend.
I actually decided to make a vlog about the program and some of my thoughts about being in a health rut and finding motivation. Yay! I find that sometimes it’s easier for me to just talk instead of type.
I hope to be able to make/share a few more videos throughout the program.
So, I’m almost through with Day #1 of the Extreme Transformation program and so far, I love it! I love the food, I feel great and I can already tell my body is detoxing from all the crap I’ve been feeding it lately.
I’ve been peeing all day long! TMI, I know, but that is such a great indicator to me about how my body is doing. When I’m eating crappy, I cling to water, bloat up and hardly pee. Once I start eating well again, my body starts letting go of the water again. It’s great. I’ve also developed a headache today and strangely, I’ve also learned that’s a sign that my body likes what I’m doing.
I hardly ever get headaches, but whenever I start eating well after being a slacker for a while….I get a headache. I think it’s a “withdrawal symptom” from sugary, fatty, salty, high carb, crappy food!
Freaky.
I’m happy to be eating real, yummy, healthy, nutrient dense food once again. I actually love a lot of the recipes that are in the Extreme Transformation book. They really look great and a lot of them remind me of things I make all the time.
The program recommends sticking to a 1500 calorie diet (for women.) It also breaks down each meal and tells you how many calories of protein/carbs and fat to have. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. I’ve just been plugging my meals into My Fitness Pal and it makes it very simple.
I decided to simplify it even more so I picked some recipes from the book and I decided I’m just going to make a lot of the same things this week. I’ll then pick new recipes each week and eat a lot of the same things each week. Make sense?
This is what I decided to make this week….
Breakfast: Raspberry Almond Oatmeal or Scrambled Eggs and Hash
High Carb Meal #2: Honey Dijon Chicken Snack Wrap
High Carb Meal #3: Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie
High Carb Meal #4: Barbecue Chicken Salad
Low Carb Dinner: Chipotle Turkey Burgers
My other Low Carb Meals I’m going to have on my Low Carb days are…
Low Carb Meal #2: Cheesy Chicken and String Beans
Low Carb Meal #3: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake
Low Carb Meal #4: Chicken Slaw Dip or Deviled Eggs
I’m also going to make things like Taco Salad, Low Carb Soups and leftovers for our Low Carb dinners.
I plan on using a lot of the recipes in the book as a “guide,” but I will definitely tweak them to make them my own!
Well, I went to my gym this morning and got a killer workout in. LOVED EVERY SECOND! When I got home, I made the Raspberry Almond Oatmeal, except I used strawberries…
It was so good! It is very similar to the oatmeal I make all the time. It was pretty much just oats, water, protein powder, peanut butter, almond extract and berries. I loved it!
I also had it with my BCAA’s (Branched-Chain Amino Acids.) I’ve been trying a lot of different BCAA’s lately. Pretty much when I run out of one, I try a new one! I found this one on Amazon and it is so good! It’s made by BPI Sports and it tastes awesome!
I was impressed with the ingredients and it was actually pretty cheap too!
For my Meal #2, I had this Honey Dijon Chicken Snack Wrap and it was great!
I just used a low carb tortilla and I topped it with some chicken (I made my fav baked chicken recipe), cucumbers, spinach, pepper and honey dijon mustard.
It was way good and that honey dijon mustard gave it a ton of flavor.
For my Meal #3, I made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie. It’s pretty much just like the shakes I usually make, but it had a whole frozen banana in it. This is what I put in mine…
- 1 cup homemade kefir
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 whole frozen banana
- 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 2 Tablespoons PB2
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass green superfood
- 2 big handfuls Power Greens (spinach, chard and kale)
- 6-7 ice cubes
Soooo good!
So far I’ve loved all my meals! They are yummy, satisfying and full of so many good things. LOVE IT! I’m excited to see and feel the changes in my body. I’ve been absolutely loving my workouts, so I’m hoping that when I add consistent kick butt meals in, it will be like synergy.
Yay.
Well, I think that’s all I have to say today. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Happy Birthday! I have a funny donut story, I have been talking to my mom about going on an elimination diet. She’s been having GI problems that I think might be related to something she’s eating, and I talked to her about what it was like when we did an elimination diet years ago as a family effort to see if something could help my son (it did, he has a wheat intolerance). Aaaanyway, I was walking down the street, minding my own business, thinking about how I could help her with her diet, and how my husband and I should do the Whole30 thing ourselves, and wondering if I could give up sugar and cheese and still be a nice person, when I see my friend and she’d just picked up a box of Guru Donuts (they’re a Boise thing), and offered me one.
Well, I’m all for fitness and nutrition, but I also think this was a sign from God of some kind. I’m not sure what he was telling me, but when life gives you random donuts like that, you must be sending out a signal of some kind, don’tcha think?
I know. I need help. And by the way, thanks for the inspiration!
Bwwwwhahahaha!!! I’m always a sucker for donuts! Yes, I think you should always listen when life hands you random donuts. Ha ha. That is awesome!
I would love to hear more about how you make kefir and where you got your start from.
I will write a post all about it! Making kefir at home is not hard at all. I’ve really been enjoying it. I just got my start from a friend, but I know you can find them in your local classifieds or on Craig’s List.
Amazing Mel!! I want to start that transformation diet too! You make it sound so easy!!!
Thank you my darling friend! <3 I wish you lived closer to me and we could do this diet together. I'm lovin' it!!
Happy Birthday!!!
30 didn’t bother me, but the closer I get to 40, the more freaked out I get!! I still have about 3 years until hitting that number 😉
Thanks so much Jen! 30 was super weird for me, but 40….MAN….it seriously wigs me out. Ha ha!
What an awesome birthday. Those donuts look so good!
Turning 40 was weird for me too, but once I got used to the idea it wasn’t so bad at all. 40’s have been fabulous!
Sounds like a solid program.
Thanks Char! I’m glad to hear your 40’s have been fabulous! I really think I’ll love my forties too. <3