NaBloPoMo 2016

For all of you who weren't sure what day it is today... It is November 1st.  For many, this means that they are recovering from a sugar hangover from a night of overindulgence of Halloween spoils, for some it means it's the Day of the Dead.  For me personally, (as my friend Steve so kindly reminded me today) it is the first day of a month long writing bonanza known as NaBloPoMo.

  

What exactly is NaBloPoMo you ask?  NaBloPoMo stands for National Blogger Posting Month... or something along those lines.  It is basically when a bunch of Bloggers pledge to attempt to post a blog posting every single day of the month.  This process hopefully will help the creative ideas flowing in regards to writing as well as is a good test of determination.

We all know I have really sucked at writing blog posts lately.  The last time I posted was when I was starting my new job - about 4 months ago.  So why would I attempt to write everyday for a month when in reality I can barely even post quarterly?  Well... Steve made me do it.  Just kidding.  I figure it is something different and fun for to do, and if I miss a day, while attempting not to, it hopefully will give me the motivation to post slightly more frequently than once every 4 months.

So you have the what and the why.  And the where is right here... on this blog.... daily....

That's all I've got today... but stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Menu Plan Monday 07/25/16 thru 7/31/16

I realize it is Tuesday... Not Monday... so I am a day late.  But in my defense, the past weeks have flown by.  In the past month, I have resigned from a job I worked at for almost nine years, started a brand new job and have worked there for over two weeks now, as well as been attempting to keep up with kiddos and soccer, swim lessons, as well as trying to plan a wedding (my own - for those who may not know - the wedding is next year).  The past several weeks have been a whirlwind of unplanned thrown together last minute meals.

Needless to say, they have been more calorie laden then necessary.  In the past few weeks between the stresses of changing jobs and the meals we've been eating, I've put on a few pounds.  My beautiful sister-in-law suggested that I try e-meals for some of our meal planning.  Her and my brother have been happy with is so far, and they have a variety of meal plans (i.e., kid friendly, low carb, low calorie, clean eating, etc.) to choose from.  There was a two week free trial, so we are giving the low calorie plan a whirl this week.

So here it is - the meal plan for the week:

Monday, July 25, 2016

Beef and Black Bean Taco Salad w/Corn Salsa*

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Molasses Flank Steak w/Mango Salsa*
Broccoli

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Packed Lunches/Leftovers

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas*
Salad

Friday, July 29, 2016

Ham & Cheese Hash Brown Waffles*
Scrambled Eggs
Strawberries

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Raspberry Glazed BBQ Chicken Thighs*
Brown Rice
Broccoli

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Leftovers

All of the meals above with asterisks are ones from the e-meals plan.  All of the meals this week (at least the e-meals) are under 450 calories.  I am planning on making a few modifications to some of the meals to fit my families preferences (i.e., no mushrooms or peas in anything) but overall the recipes should be followed pretty closely.  Depending on how my family likes the meals on the menu this week and possibly next, we'll decide whether or not to continue with the e-meals plans after the trial has ended

What's on the menu at your house this week?

3 Day Refresh - Day 2 and Day 3

The other day, I was talking to my 10 year old son about making healthy choices when eating and how it is important to eat our vegetables.  I mentioned broccoli in particular during this discussion knowing that my son is at least willing to eat it most of the time.  He proceeded to tell me that he cannot eat broccoli.  He indicated that "Broccoli looks like trees, trees produce oxygen, and I need oxygen to breath.  We should just eat meat."

By the end of Day 2 of the 3 Day Refresh - I was right there with him on his ideas of becoming carnivores.

One thing I don't care for with the 3 Day Refresh program is while they include protein drinks, there is no meat at all included in what you can eat throughout the program.  Saturday night, while my family ate delicious  Thai Peanut Stirfry, I ate a measly plate of green beans.  Only 6 ounces of green beans to be precise.

Sunday morning, the final day of the 3 day program, I was exhausted.  I drank my morning Shakeology and just moped around the living room all morning.  By lunch time I was starving.  As much as I do not enjoy being a quitter, I do not like being hangry even more.

I ate nachos for lunch Sunday afternoon.  They were glorious.  And I had spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast for dinner. It was pretty darn amazing as well.

I don't know what my results truly would have been had I finished the 3 Day Refresh, but as it stood, I lost 1.6 lbs.  I think I am going to attribute this to eating less than 1,000 calories for two days in a row, not the miraculous power of the 3 Day refresh.

While this product may work for some (power to you). I am going to be taking Beachbody up on their 30 Day Money back Guarantee on this particular product.

2 Weeks Notice

Have you ever done something, that while you know is what you need to do and is the best decision you could make for yourself and your family, it was really hard and fraught with emotional turmoil throughout the decision making process and the follow through of the decision?

Today was one of those days for me.  While I know that I am making a good decision, it was a tough one to make and it made today incredibly hard.  I gave my 2 weeks notice today at a job I have worked at for almost 9 years.  While working for this organization, I gave birth to my daughter (not at the actual location but at the hospital), I made numerous new friends, learned a various range of skills, transitioned from married life to single life, and became engaged to my fiance.  And today I told them that in 2 weeks time, I no longer will be apart of their organization.

Going into work today was hard.  I feel sad about the friendships I leave behind, and even  the job.  I did enjoy my job and loved the clientele we worked with.  The work had meaning and made a difference for the individuals that used our services (a transportation service for those that are disabled).   But it is time for a change.  The department I worked for has become like a family to me over the years and I will truly miss all of them.  Luckily, I have two more weeks with these individuals. Knowing that while many of them will still be apart of my life in some way shape or form but that they will not be in it daily is a change that will surely take some getting used to.

I have a feeling, that while I am looking forward to the new opportunities that I will be afforded with my future employer, the next two weeks will be hard - trying to say goodbye to a place that has been a part of my life for such a long period of time is not something that is easily done.

3 Day Refresh - Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of being on the 3-Day Refresh program.  It was not nearly as terrible as I thought it would be, but it certainly wasn't fantastic.

The main idea of the program is you follow a specific meal plan for three days, which includes a fiber sweep drink and a vanilla fresh drink (it's a high protein drink).  At the end of the three days, you are supposed to feel less bloated and "lighter" or something along those lines.  They recommend light to moderate exercise with the program, but nothing too hardcore.

I actually prepared the majority of my meals the evening before, so it would be ready when I left for work the next morning.  Immediately, upon waking up, I drank 16 oz. water. 

Breakfast
Shakeology with 1/2 banana

Mid-morning
Fiber Sweep

Lunch
12 medium strawberries
2 Tbsp. hummus
5 baby carrots
Vanilla Fresh

Snack
Small Red Bell Pepper
2 Tbsp. hummus

Dinner
Spinach Salad
Vanilla Fresh

In the morning, afternoon and after dinner a cup of green or herbal tea is "allowed" as long as it is an hour before or after any of the other meals or snacks.  For some reason the program recommends not having it too close to actually eating. 

The program also recommends that you drink at least 8 cups of water on top of the water that is included in the Fiber Sweep, Shakeology, tea, and the Vanilla Fresh.  This is a ton of fluids!

On the average day, in the recent past, I probably drink approximately 20 - 50 oz. of fluid a day - mostly consisting of Diet Coke and coffee.  Yesterday, I drank a grand total of 116 fluid oz. of liquid - give or take a little probably.  Needless to say, by the end of the day I felt like I was floating.  While theoretically I expected to be a little hungry due to the fact that there is a limited amount of food being eaten, I was pretty much full all day because my stomach was so full of liquid. 

 I literally felt like I was in the bathroom to pee all day due to the liquid overkill.  I actually kept track, because I'm odd like that.  I went pee at least 12 times yesterday over the course of being awake maybe 15 or 16 hours.  But, as this is a cleanse, I did not have an overwhelming need to poop myself.  So that was a definite plus.

Any who, the Fiber Sweep drink wasn't too bad.  It tasted citrusy and as long as it was chugged, very doable.  The Vanilla Fresh wasn't too bad either - if it was cold.  At dinner, I didn't add ice to it prior to drinking it and it was so bad.  Note to self, do not forget to add ice.

The worst part about today was probably not eating any meat.  I am used to eating meat at least in the evenings for dinner and so that was a little hard for me to adjust to.  I also didn't care for feeling like I was floating all day with the total amount to fluids the program recommends drinking.  But, I am sure that my body will adjust to that if I continue drinking a substantial amount of water.  Oh, and I miss my Diet Coke.

On to Day 2.

3 Day Refresh

I have to confess.  I have eaten a lot of junk food lately.  When I say a lot, I don't really mean a few pieces of candy here or there.  I mean regularly, I have not been eating my veggies (bad example for my kiddos there), I have not been drinking nearly enough water, and I definitely have been eating too many sweets lately (in the past week, I'm ashamed to admit, I have eaten 3 Cinnabon cinnamon rolls).

To remedy this, I have decided I am going to start working out regularly again and eating in a healthier fashion.  I am having engagement photos taken in approximately 3 months, and I certainly don't want to be bloated due to poor diet or carrying extra weight from the summer in the photos.  Last year, I was following the 21 Day Fix exercise and meal plan (I'll blog about this later, as I plan on following it again).  I've decided to start that up again, but I think I need to kick it off with a cleanse or something to get out of the habit of eating so much junk and to hopefully start things off on the right foot.  In comes the 3 Day Refresh.

The 3 Day Refresh is a Beachbody product.  Am I a coach and trying to promote the product because I will make commission off of it?  No.  (Just a note, I have friends who are Beachbody coaches, and they promote the products because they work for them, not because of the commission).  Do I know if this product will work for me?  No.  But, according to the testimonials it works.  And according to some of my Facebook buddies, it works.  So we will see.  Worse comes to worse, there is a 30-day money back guarantee (minus s&h of course).  

I plan on starting the 3 Day Refresh on Friday, then following it up with starting the 21 Day Fix on Monday.  The 3 Day Refresh is basically three days of veggies, fruits and healthy fats with a fiber drink, a high protein shake and shakeology.  The product guide recommends light to moderate exercise, so I probably will just continue with my normal weekend activities and not add any exercise into my regime until Monday when I've complete the cleanse.

I plan on sharing my experience with this product, so you can share in my possible hunger pains - as well as to hold myself accountable to the plan and to share whether or not the 3 Day Refresh even worked for me.

So let's do this.

The First Weekend of Summer

This weekend marks the first official weekend of summer vacation for my two munchkins.  It is hard to believe that the next school year will be my son's last year of elementary school, with his sister just barely trailing behind him.

This summer we have lots of plans.  Between swimming lessons, soccer and the occasional baseball game, we are hoping to keep busy making lots of great family memories.  

Yesterday, we started the weekend right by just lounging around the house and as my son stated, "relaxing with some books."  Both kids watched television and sort of unwound from the school year.  Today, we went to our families house and had a picnic lunch and swam in the pool.

This summer is starting out on a good note!  What about you?  Any fun summer plans?