K, so I took some of the kiddos over to the park today to fly a kite and play on the playground. We had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!
It’s actually really hard to take a picture of a kite being flown + the person flying it, so I did it in two parts…
There ya go. My oldest son has always loved kites. Today was the perfect kite flying weather too! I really love spring weather in Utah. It’s usually the perfect temps (~65-80 degrees) and we get cool rain storms, hail storms, rainbows and it’s just beautiful! I love it!
The kiddos also enjoyed playing on the playground for a bit and I had to snap this cute pic…
My oldest son swinging on the baby swings with his baby brother! We both decided that he’s probably thin enough to still fit inside the swing, but didn’t want to test it out, lol!
My oldest LOVES his baby brother! He dotes on him all day long and they have the cutest relationship. My baby gets sooooo excited when he comes home from school. They love to play basketball, catch, hide and seek and peek-a-boo together all the time. It’s very sweet. Love my kiddos!
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Well, I wanted to update y’all on my healthy eating/no treats thing I’ve been doing! Well, after 7 1/2 weeks of not having any treats, I finally caved and had some! AND, it was awesome!
It was actually a conscious decision and I don’t regret it one bit. I’ll tell ya why. Last week, Kev met with a nutritionist at Max Muscle Sports Nutrition store and had a body assessment done and a meal plan worked up. FYI, Kev has a friend/workout buddy that did the same thing several months ago and Kev was really impressed with the results his friend was getting….so he wanted to do it too!
Anyway, after meeting with the nutritionist and getting a plan worked up, he came home very excited to get started and work hard! The nutritionist asked Kev if his wife would be able to support him in his diet/exercise plan and Kev said, “oh ya, she loves this stuff!”
However, if ya’ll have been reading my blog you know I’ve been working really hard for about two months now! I’ve been loving my diet/macro counting/exercise plan, but I could tell I was starting to get a little burned out and needed to take a short break. I LOOOOOOVE health and fitness and I LOOOOOVE living a healthy lifestyle, but I’ve learned that I can only go “all out” for about a month-6 weeks before I start to lose steam a bit. It seems like my protein intake slowly starts to go down, my carbs and fat go up, I start snitchin’ too many (insert crappy food item here), I start slackin’ a bit on my workouts, etc. etc. It’s then that I realize I should probably take a small break so I can rebuild my motivation.
So anyway, when Kev came home soooo excited about his new diet plan and exercise regimen, I really really really wanted to be so excited and feel gung-ho with him, but I knew I was just absolutely burnt and had no enthusiasm left in the tank. It kind of felt like finishing a hard race….you love it, feel great, are so glad you did it AND THEN….your friend (or significant other) asks you to go back and start the race all over again! Auuuughh!
Soooo, I told him “Ok hun, I’d looooove to do this plan with you, but I think I need to take the weekend off to rebuild my motivation, stamina and “can do” attitude! Ha ha. Soooo, the weekend consisted of lots of yummy food and treats and it was absolutely blissful!
I pretty much had a stomachache all weekend long, but it was just the break I needed! By Monday, I was more than ready to get back to work! I’m not following Kev’s diet plan exactly. I like a lot of the meals on it, but I’m definitely giving it my own spin. The meal plan Kev is following is actually not all the hard! I think he’s eating about 2200 calories a day and it seems like a TON of food! I’m still aiming for 1400-1600 calories, depending on my workout (or lack thereof) each day.
I was happy to see that the majority of the food on Kev’s plan was things I regularly eat (eggs, veggies, fruit, cottage cheese, yogurt, veggies, brown rice, chicken, tuna and protein powder!) However, I was surprised that the plan included things like whole wheat bagels, pita bread, granola bars, whole wheat pasta and whole grain pancakes. Although I don’t think those things are necessarily bad for the body, I just know my body would bloat right up if I ate them on a regular basis. They are too carb dense for me! They would also kill my macros. I’d rather replace those things with Flatouts, Ezekiel bread, low-carb bread, protein bars, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles and protein pancakes.
I’m thinkin’ this nutritionist is probably trying to come up with a plan that is realistic for most people. Most people wouldn’t be happy if they took most bread out of their diets and probably wouldn’t stick with it for the long-term. That’s just my guess.
Anyway, I digress.
Soooo, I’ve made my own version of a meal plan to fit my tastes and my macros. It’s been great. Kev’s nutritionist guy told him to “give him two perfect weeks of eating”….so that’s what we’re committed too. So far, I’ve done great, although Kev and I went out for Chinese food tonight and it wasn’t 100% perfect, but it wasn’t too bad either. I was also craving sugar and treats soooooo much tonight and I seriously considered having a little somthin’ somethin’, but I stayed strong! Woo hoo!
It really is a daily battle full of daily decisions and daily victories! You just have to decide to eat well and exercise and then make that decision day after day after day. THEN, when you miss a workout or pig out….you just have to decide to get right back to work once again. That’s really all there is to it.
Anyway, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the meals I’ve been eating now that I’m counting macros. Soooo, I thought I’d share! I’m not perfect at macro counting, but I really try hard to keep a good balance. I’m trying to keep a 40% protein, 30% carb and 30% fat ratio, although it is quite tough to hit those percentages all the time. SOOO I’m happy if I’m around 33% across the board sometimes too. I’m really just striving to get enough protein in and keep my carbs and fat in check. It’s really helpful and motivational to keep track of macros because it helps me to make better food choices and not let my diet get too out of whack.
It’s really just about balance. If I want to have a little more carbs for breakfast (oatmeal), then I’ll have less carbs for lunch (salad.) I really like to have a little peanut butter on my protein pancakes, so I choose to just have egg whites (not the yolks) on the side to keep my fat in check. If I need more protein at the end of the day, I may have a little chicken, a protein shake or some Greek yogurt. If I put fruit in my protein shake, then maybe I’ll skip the fruit at another meal. It’s just all about balance!
I also think it’s very helpful vital to just find meals you enjoy and eat a lot of the same things often. It really simplifies things and makes healthy eating almost easy!
Sooooo, if you think some of my meals look nasty….you don’t have to eat them! Just figure out stuff you like! I’ve also decided that I’m just not a fan of fish. I’ve tried and tried and tried to like it and I just DON’T! Thankfully, Kev doesn’t like it either. I used to keep trying it and felt like I needed to have it occasionally in my diet because it’s good for me! Well, I’ve since decided that I don’t need to like it and I don’t need it in my diet! Side note: I do eat tuna fish on occasion and if someone else makes fish for me, I’ll eat it. But, I just don’t have it often. Soooo, if there are healthy foods you don’t like….you don’t have to have them in your life! Just find the things that are healthy that you DO like and eat them a lot!
Anyway, with that being said….here are my typical meals.
Breakfast is either this…
Protein pancakes (sometimes 1, sometimes 2) topped with Walden Farms syrup and sometimes peanut butter (Jif Whips) + 3/4 cup scrambled egg whites topped with ketchup or salsa.
Or this….
Oatmeal (usually 1/3 cup) cooked in the microwave and then mixed with 1/2 scoop protein powder (I love PEScience right now!) 1 Tablespoon of ground flaxseed, 1-2 Tablespoons PB2 and topped with a little Walden Farms chocolate syrup with a side of scrambled egg whites (3/4 cup) on the side topped with ketchup or salsa.
Those two meals make up my breakfast 99% of the time! I love them both, never get sick of them and they fill me up for hours!
My lunch is usually either this…
Some form of a protein shake (lately I’ve been loving 1 cup unsweetened cashew milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop PEScience protein powder, chia seeds and/or ground flaxseed (I don’t measure), a splash of either almond, peppermint, vanilla or rum extract, a scoop of Amazing Grass Green SuperFood, two big handfuls of Power Greens (kale, chard, spinach mix from Costco) and a bunch of ice! Sometimes I’ll add some frozen blueberries or some PB2 depending on the flavor I’m going for, but I have this shake (or various versions of it) 99% of the time!
I’ll also mention (I’ve mentioned this before many times), but I really don’t love protein shakes. I just really don’t like drinking my food! I’m not a big ice cream or shake person either. I’m just not. I don’t know why!? But, I drink a protein shake most days because it’s so quick, easy, simple and healthy!
Lunch is also sometimes this…
A yummy sandwich made on a Flatout wrap! I usually buy the light Flatouts, although the non-light Flatouts aren’t bad either! I just really love Flatouts because they are so versatile, taste good and have awesome macros (90 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 14 grams carbs, 9 grams protein!) Woot!
This particular wrap has a little ranch dressing, ham and leftover salad on it. I also love to put things like hummus, light mayo, mustard, guacamole, avocado, turkey, chicken, tuna and all the veggies on them too! I usually can’t even close my wrap….I just make a big mess trying to eat it. But, I love it!
I’ll sometimes make my Flatout into a pizza too…
It’s usually a little marinara, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, rotisserie chicken and veggies. I cook it in a 350 degrees oven for 10 minutes. Sometimes I’ll broil it for a few minutes to crisp it up too.
Lunch is sometimes just a salad (especially if I had a ton of carbs for breakfast!)…
This salad is super duper simple….just leftover rotisserie chicken, artichoke hearts and romaine! I usually add a few more veggies, but sometimes I just keep it simple. I’ve been loving Bolthouse Farms dressings! They are low-cal, taste great and come in a lot of yummy flavors!
The only thing I don’t love about salads is that they don’t fill me up for very long. Sometimes I’ll throw some leftover quinoa or brown rice into the mix to up the satiability factor. Sometimes I’ll have a little bit of fruit on the side.
My snacks throughout the day (usually afternoon or late at night) are usually this…
One or two rice cakes topped with a light smear of Jif Whips peanut butter and lowfat cottage cheese. This is actually pretty good, although I’m sure most of y’all out there think it looks gross, lol!
I’ve also been loving this snack lately…
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese topped with 1/2 an apple and a small dollop of peanut butter (Jif Whips.) Super good!
I also love this snack…
1/2 to 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (depending on what macros I have left!) mixed with 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder, a pinch of stevia powder and a little unsweetened almond or cashew milk. I sometimes add mix-ins like nuts, cheerios, chocolate chips, coconut, etc…..depending on my macros!
If I’m craving something sweet, I may have a protein bar or part of a protein bar. I don’t eat protein bars too often, but I usually have Quest, Think Thin, KIND or just Nature Valley (I buy those for my kids and I think they are perty good!) There are a ton of great protein bars out there, but I just don’t eat them too often so I’m not familiar with all of them! If I do eat a protein bar it’s usually because I’m out and about and I had one stashed in my purse!
Dinners are different all the time, but my typical dinners are this…
Tacos! We make tacos often because all my kids love them! I usually make me one on a Flatout or just turn it into a giant taco salad.
We also have this quite often…
Grilled chicken (this is my favorite marinade!) with veggies and/or potatoes, mashed cauliflower, salad, fruit, etc. on the side. The kids all love this meal too!
We also make homemade pizza a lot for dinner and I’ll make me one of a Flatout (see my picture in the lunch segment!)
I also make spaghetti for the kids a lot (all but one of them love it!) and I make strange spaghetti concoctions for me like this…
Leftover rotisserie chicken and veggies topped with marinara sauce.
Or this…
Spaghetti squash for me topped with meat and sauce with salad on the side.
We had this for dinner the other night…
Steak!!! We don’t make steak too often because it’s $$$, but it’s nice to have once in a while. We had it with green beans and brown rice on the side. I also had fruit and chips for the kids.
The kids love it when I make breakfast for dinner (pancakes/waffles, eggs and turkey bacon.) I’ll usually make this for me…
An omelet loaded with veggies and sometimes a waffle on the side.
Sometimes dinner is super simple and I’ll make grilled cheese sandwiches or quesadillas for the kids! When I make dinners like that, I’ll usually pull out leftovers for me or make me a protein shake.
I also regularly make things like soups (taco soup, white chicken chili, cheesy vegetable soup, chicken tortilla soup), Hawaiian Haystacks, casseroles, stir-fry and sandwiches!
Well that pretty much sums it up! That’s pretty much what I eat most days. It really doesn’t get boring because I love all of these foods! I’ve also found that as long as I don’t let myself get too hungry, it’s really not too hard for me to stick to healthy eating! When I let myself get too hungry, I want to eat all of the sugary, fatty, yummy, crappy food in the world. Ha ha. Sooo, when those mega cravings come on, I try to recognize it and eat something healthy…then all the temptations and cravings usually go away.
Oh, I also thought I’d mention that I drink a ton of water all day long. I used to keep track of how much I drank, but I don’t anymore because I just really enjoy water and feel like I get plenty in every day! I rarely drink any other drinks except for unsweetened almond milk and cashew milk on occasion. I might have a small glass of regular milk if I have cake or cookies….because that is necessary. Ha ha.
I don’t drink alcohol or coffee ever. I know that may be shocking to most people, ha ha, but my religion (I’m LDS/Mormon) has a health code called The Word of Wisdom that basically teaches us to take care of our bodies, eat lots of healthy foods and stay away from harmful and addictive substances (alcohol, drugs, coffee, etc.) and I’m grateful! I’ve seriously never tried alcohol or coffee, so I don’t know what I’m missing. Considering how addicted I am to sugar, I think it’s a good thing!
I only mention this because I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I fit alcohol into my lifestyle. Well, there ya go!
However, I’m very much aware that the rest of the world drinks alcohol and coffee regularly. I would just recommend that if you’re trying to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle, just decide for yourself how often you’re going to have it. Just make up some sort of rules or guidelines for yourself. Healthy living is all about self evaluation and changing things as necessary.
Well I think that’s all I’m going to talk about tonight! I was going to talk about exercise stuff too, but I think this post is long enough. I’ll save it for next time! I hope you all have a wonderful night and weekend!!!
LOVE your approach and I LOVE that Kev is now on board and you two can do this together!!! 🙂
And um, why the heck is Walden Farms syrup so friggin’ good?! Should be illegal, haha! I remember when I made a Walden Farms taste test video – everything was so nasty, but that syrup was soo… MMMMMMMM!!!!!! ha ha!
It’s always so much easier when Kev and I are on the same page!!! I really love the Walden Farms syrups! I put that chocolate syrup on everything! I don’t understand why they can’t figure out how to make a decent salad dressing though.
I personally just like straight up olive oil, or no dressing at all! I let the toppings lend all the flavor to salad 😉
I agree about letting the toppings be the flavor! YUM!
We eat very similar things. Oatmeal, egg whites, salads and chicken.
Your body must be so clean and healthy internally too with never having coffee or alcohol.
I love the simple, healthy foods and never get tired of them! I’m sure my body doesn’t love my love affair with sugar though, lol!
Thanks for sharing, very interesting. We would totally be best for friends because I love everything you eat, except protein shakes. I can not drink my food. I like eating, I like textures. We don’t have that flat bread here in France (though a ton of other breads), too bad.
I hear you about being motivated then getting burnt out.
I am trying to loose a few pounds before I start training for my next big race by cutting back portion sizes a bit. But its hard !
I don’t love drinking my food either, but ya can’t beat the simplicity of a protein shake….so I keep making them, lol! I would be in trouble with all the lovely bread in France. I’ve heard so many good things!!
I too have tried and tried to do fish because I know it is so healthy and good for us, but I am just not a fan!
I’m sure it’s an acquired taste, but I just can’t seem to acquire it, lol!!!