Good morning friends.
First things first. I’ve selected a winner for the fun Cafe Zupas cookbook and gift card giveaway! The winner was chosen using Random.org and the winner is…..
#15 Aubrey! September 18, 2013 at 12:09 pm I follow your blog.
Congratulations! Please email me at happybeinghealthy@gmail.com and tell me how I can get your prize to you. I hope you love it!
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I’m sorry I left y’all with such a downer of a post last time. I’m happy to say I’ve since chilled out and am feeling much better now. Ahhh, big sigh.
I started off my morning with a yummy breakfast…
1 egg + 4 egg whites scrambled with some orange bell pepper and purple onions, a slice of Dave’s Killer Powerseed Bread (pan toasted in a little olive oil) and some wonderful little tomatoes from my sweet friend, Sheree.
This was fabulous. In fact, I’ve been having this for breakfast the past several days. It’s easy, yummy and a great way to squeeze a few veggies in without even trying. Yay.
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I had a very busy, yet fun weekend.
I told you guys we were having a little birthday party for our 10 year old on Friday night, right? Well, it turned out great.
My son is a huge movie buff, so we decided to turn our upstairs room into a makeshift theater!
It wasn’t anything extraordinary and you certainly won’t see my party ideas on Pinterest or any major party planning websites (ha ha!), but it was super easy and my son was thrilled. Happy kid=happy mom.
We just played some games, had pizza, watched a movie in the “theater”, had cake and ice cream and then opened presents. Easy peasy.
For the “theater”, we just laid a bunch of blankets and pillows in front of the TV and hung up a few Christmas lights to make it feel “special.” I also bought a bunch of popcorn, some cute little popcorn containers and a big ol’ bag of candy at Costco.
I didn’t take a bunch of pics, but here’s one of my daughter and I being the “concession stand people”…
We sorted the big bag of candy into separate containers and let the kids fill a bag with what they liked. I made sure to buy a bunch of non-chocolate type candy so it wouldn’t tempt me too much. 😉
This was the perfect party for a “crazy busy stressed out” mom.
Oh, and I usually make fun cakes for my kids birthdays (you can see examples here, here and here), but this year my son asked if we could buy a cake at Costco. At first I was a little disappointed (you don’t like my cakes!?? Sniff, sniff), but then I decided it would really simplify things.
So, we got a cake at Costco and my son was happy.
He told me he wanted me to write his name in Skittles, so that is what we did! Again, you won’t find this cake on Pinterest, but he loved it. Oh, and just so ya know, Costco cakes are the best! They are HUGE and only $18. They also taste fabulous. Seriously, these cakes are the only store-bought cakes I even like.
Oh and yes, it was very hard for me to resist this cake! Auuughh. I really wanted to face plant into this cake and eat it all up! It was tough!
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On Saturday morning, I went to my favorite muscle class at the gym. I grabbed some “breakfast” as I ran out the door…
I actually ended up eating this after my workout though. As I was driving, I decided I wasn’t really hungry, so I saved it for later.
I’ve also heard from several sources that it’s very effective to workout on an empty stomach. The Body for Life book says you shouldn’t eat before a workout unless you really need the extra energy or endurance. That way your body can use up and burn fat instead of food for energy during your workout.
So, If I’m really hungry before a workout or if I’m going on a longer run, I will eat something; otherwise, I just eat immediately following the workout. It works out fine for me.
Anyway, I got to my class 15 minutes early. It’s such a popular class that if you don’t show up early, you don’t get in! Seriously, every open piece of floor is usually filled. It’s crazy. Here’s a quick pic I took about 10 minutes before class started…
This picture only shows about 1/3 of the room, but you can see that it’s almost full. Oh, and yes I was trying to be super stealthy when I took this pic. I was pretending to just check out my phone. I’m so sneaky (and a little bit dorky)….hee hee.
Anyway, it was a great workout and the perfect way to start my Saturday!
On Sunday, we had a bunch of my family over to celebrate my mom and dad’s birthdays! We hung out, chatted and had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. Yum.
By the way, Hawaiian Haystacks are a wonderful thing to serve at parties! People can customize then anyway they like and It’s really easy to make mass quantities of them. I love them so much.
Here’s my plate….
Oh, and my brother brought some yummy meatballs too. They were awesome. Oh, and these plates were tiny, so I went back for seconds too.
I also made some yummy rolls to go with dinner.
These are so good! I ended up having a couple as my “treat.”
Oh, and yes we had plenty of treats kickin’ around too!
I pulled out the rest of my son’s birthday cake and my mom brought some homemade Oreos and some Scotcheroos. Daaaa…nnn…gggg.
I didn’t have any, of course, but my sister had some!
She really enjoyed them and made them look really, really good! Oh, and my sister is a mega fit marathon runner who can somehow eat mass amounts of treats and still stay skinny! Lucky duck.
Anyway, we had a fun night!
Body for Life and Sugar Challenge Progress
A bunch of you guys have been wondering about my Body for Life and my No Sugar Challenge lately. Soooo, here’s an update!
I LOVE Body For Life. In fact, I plan to loosely follow it forever!
I’ve been doing Body for Life for about a month now. I was extremely strict the first two weeks, I slacked quite a bit the third week and now I’m following it pretty well, but with my own twist.
I’ve been following the workout schedule very well. I’ve missed two of my 20 minute runs, but that’s it. However, I’ve been getting extra cardio in a bunch of my classes, so I don’t feel too bad about missing some runs.
I’ve adapted the food plan quite a bit. I’ve been having protein and carbohydrates with every meal and I’ve really been watching my portion sizes, but I’ve only been eating 4-5 meals a day (not 6.) I’ve just been listening to my body and eating when I’m hungry. I don’t watch the clock, I just “do my thing” and eat when I feel like eating. This has really helped to simplify things and I’ve seen more results since I’ve started doing this.
I was a little frustrated last week because I’ve been working so hard and I’d only lost ONE pound. I realized I was too caught up in “checking all the boxes” and doing everything right, and I think I was just eating too much food in general! So, this past week and a half I’ve concentrated on eating smaller portions and just eating less.
AND, it’s totally working!! I’ve lost another pound and a half since I’ve started doing this. So, I’ve lost 2 1/2 pounds total. Ya, 2 1/2 pounds is not that great, but I can actually see a difference too. I know I’ve gained some muscle and I feel a lot leaner too. It’s great.
Oh, and I’m still going strong with my No Sugar Challenge! I haven’t cheated at all! I did have a dinner mint a couple weeks ago, but that’s it. I did grab a small handful of Froot Loops the other day too, but I don’t count them as an official treat. 😉
Anyway, that’s the latest. I will take a progress picture at the end of this week and compare it with my “before” picture to see if I can see any difference. I will share it with you guys too!
Well, I gotta go get a cute kid ready for Kindergarten. I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday!
Good for you for sticking to your guns and not falling face first into that cake. It looked amazing!
Thanks so much! It was tough, but I just remind myself that I’ve gone this long and I don’t want to give up now!
Thanks for adding your crazy sister on this post! U r nice and I don’t stay skinny!
Ha ha Holl, I love this picture of you and YES, you always stay skinny!!!
Your son’s party looks like so much fun. What a great idea. I don’t know how you refused that cake. Looks so good! Your willpower is amazing.
Thanks so much! I know, that cake just about killed me. Man. I struggle with willpower all the time….that’s why I’m making myself see this challenge to the end. I just want to prove to myself that I can do it. 😉