More crock pot!

This weekend I got some good use out of my crock pots! Saturday I did a chicken breast for Jay, which I'll shred for Chicken salad and leave some plain for wraps. I also did strawberry applesauce for Lila. 

Today I decided to try black beans. I love dry beans but I never remember to soak them so the crock pot is the best method for me. 

1 lb black beans, sorted and rinsed added to the crock. One whole onion, quartered and two garlic cloves; add a bay leaf. Cook on low 5.5 hours, check for doneness, add tablespoon salt and let cook for 30 minutes. 

I also discovered you can freeze the cooked beans, so I let them cool and portioned them into one cup freezer bags and now I have them whenever I want! 

Recipes

Today I did boiled eggs in the crock pot and loved how they turned out! 

Add eggs, salt, enough hot water to cover. 3 tablespoons vinegar. Cook on high 2.5 hours. Cool down with cold water/ice. Peel and done!

Hayden eats two every morning for breakfast so I loved this method! 

Day 5: Friday

I will admit, Friday was a challenge in a different way. I am SO ready to be over with my period and doing this challenge in a different mindset with different chemical balance in my body and hormones I hate to "blame it" on that but truly it makes a difference in how I feel, what I want to eat and my motivation to be successful. I did wake up feeling pretty great after my cleanse day, which I think I missed the last challenge. I just seemed to wake up feeling starving instead of refreshed. This time I had energy, I had positive feelings and I wasn't dying to eat.

It started off fine, my usual morning routine. I met a friend for a visit in the morning at the MOST delicious smelling pastry shop. Everything was carbs/fat/flaky goodness so I resisted for the most part. After being there about an hour, I really needed a snack and didn't want to go off the rails, so I got a spinach/bacon/mozzarella croissant and split it. I figure the challenge for me this time is to reset and get back on track, so I've been less rigid with the program. In hindsight, next week needs to be much more rigid. But it was delicious!

I got to work kind of in a funk, just because there is much to do and little time in which to do it. I would have rather spent half the day at the gym. There's something freeing about it, and I hate sitting at a desk staring at projects some days. But this weekend I plan to do some work from home to put me in a good, caught up place so I feel less overwhelmed at work. This was the part of the day I really, really just decided I wanted a ham sandwich. I didn't want to drink my lunch today, I wanted something not super terrible for me but something I could chew. I pretty much was just feeling sorry for myself and trying to do some emotional eating.

I run my day pretty close to the chest on time, so I'm essentially always rushing somewhere because I left myself JUST enough time to get there. This day I had a presentation just across the way at the Academy, and went to the cafe with just enough time to eat. I ordered my sandwich, mentally vowed to eat only half of it and waited. And waited. And waited. And then it was time to go do my presentation, so I got my money back and left. It was a disappointment for sure, but I had a job to do.

After my presentation, I was really conflicted about what to do next. Should I go try again to get my sandwich? Should I go back up to my office with the pretense of drinking my shake to go to the gym, knowing that once I get up there I probably won't get to leave to actually GO to the gym? Do I just go to the gym? Well wait I can't do that, I haven't eaten lunch and I know my workout will fail early on an empty stomach. I kind of just sat in my car for a few minutes.

I looked around and realized I had an empty, clean shaker cup in my car thanks to my visit with my friend who returned it that morning. I had left it in her car WEEKS ago and we finally met up so I had it on me (the one I planned to use that day was upstairs at my desk). My lunch bag was upstairs with my shakes and supplements; but look at that, my purse was in the car and it had one shake. Last hurdle, water. I had exactly 8 oz in my water bottle! Okay fine, universe. I mixed up my shake and headed to the gym. With 11% battery on my phone for a workout I hadn't studied yet. JUST DO IT.

I spent a few minutes letting my food digest and then watched my videos for the exercises. I started to get really excited because I knew how to do most of them and was excited about the opportunity to do some new ones. Turned on my music and got to work. I had a rare tank top in my bag, I rarely work out in shorts or tank tops (body image, working on it) but it was serendipitous that I had a shirt that shows off my arms on a day I'm working only upper body! I got to see the progress for myself in how far I've come, but also by the end of the workout how much I had worked those muscles! My gym time has come to be really therapeutic and I love to see my progress.

I went back to work for the end of the day with a renewed faith in myself, in the program, and a TON of energy. I may not have hit all the goals for the day, but I finished strong and loved my workout. I took that momentum and registered for Camp Gorgo this summer, a fitness camp run by many of the coaches I'm working with. I'm nervous to step out of my comfort zone, but I'm excited about the possibility of new friends, new experiences, learning new things...and a weekend away. In July. In Kentucky lol.

I got home from work and my plan was eat leftovers or go out to eat. We ended up watching some basketball before we left, so I was pretty hungry when we finally sat down. I knew I wanted chicken, no matter where we went. I needed a big giant piece of a white meat protein! We went to a steakhouse so I had some pretty good options. I ended up getting a mesquite grilled chicken with sweet potato and salad. I'm proud to say I resisted the delicious-smelling-but-carby-drenched-in-butter yeast rolls and skipped the in-shell peanuts on the table. I had a small salad but went light on the dressing; my chicken came with rice AND sweet potato so I ate some of the rice, a bite or two of the potato and ALL my chicken. My family devoured a banana creme pie but I skipped it, and it was gone so quickly I didn't have time to think about it! Ha!

I mostly felt good about my day, and tried not to dwell on the negative. I'm hoping for a successful weekend and a big prep day Sunday so I feel more successful starting the week off.

Day 4: Cleanse day

Ah, the dreaded cleanse day. Last time around, I was only partially successful at cleanse days so I was determined to do better this time. Armed with a little bit of the science surrounding it, I really wanted to do this for my body.

I started off early, with cleanse for life and Ionix supreme. I took my accelerator and really thought between ionix and CFL, I would be fine. And then it hit me again: the overwhelming urge to vomit. GEEZ. I have to figure out what to do about this supplement! It didn't affect me this way AT ALL ONE TIME last time. But I am not giving up.

So as I'm driving the stretch from dropping Lila off to work, about 30 minutes, I am trying to hold back the feeling to vomit by sheer will. I DON'T want to throw up; it hurts, it's messy, and I've gotten an hour into this cleanse day and I don't want to vomit pure money. So I had a few decisions to make: eat and bust my cleanse day before it really starts; throw up and start over; throw up and throw in the towel.

I opted for 2-3 almonds, and my apple. Small portions of food (50 cal or less) are approved for cleanse day, just not enough to really stimulate digestion. But digestion was what I needed to get over this hump and move forward. I also hate to eat an apple without cutting it but when you're driving and about to yak, you make a choice! So I ate the apple, drank water and kept saying, "You are not going to be sick. You are not going to be sick." It worked! By the time I got to work I was feeling much better.

This day was good because I was busy all around, so I didn't have a lot of time to just think about food. I had a college fair at 10am, which was going to bump a little into my next cleanse serving but not so much that I needed to make it while I was there. I drank TONS of water whilst there and it wasn't really hard to avoid the snacks they had out for us. It was all processed, all sugar and calories and sodium, and all in bags. So at least it wasn't delicious smelling pizza or something. I finished up right at 12 and raced back to make my next serving.

The next two hours were work, water, and wafers. When I got super hungry feeling or just needed to chew, I popped in an Isa Snack. My first time friends are NOT fans of them, but I have learned to appreciate their worth when it's the only thing I get to eat on cleanse day! Around 2:30 I left the office because I had scheduled a haircut! Finally! I never get haircuts because I'm terrible at making time for myself AND spending money but I did it and it coincided perfectly with this challenge and my first cleanse day. So I had a little pampering in my day :-)

I got home and realized the blessing and the curse of having dinner in the crock pot of cleanse day: I don't have to stand over the stove and cook food I won't be eating, but dang did it smell delicious! I felt prepared and slightly empowered, as I made the red skin mashed potatoes that looked wonderful. I didn't even taste them, because I have no willpower and that would have turned into full blown dinner. My family ate, I sat with them and drank my CFL and as an added bonus, the NCAA tournament started on my cleanse day which was a surefire way to keep me busy and my mind off food for four hours until bed time. I like to go to bed early on cleanse days to get them over with, but UNC was playing at 720 and I wasn't going to miss it.

I ended up falling asleep on the couch before the end of the second half but watched most of it and felt successful on my first cleanse day of the challenge!

Dinner day 2

Tuna & salmon on deck!

Cleanse day cut

Day 3

Loved the chest/back workout since I want to make some major improvement in both areas, but dislike how inadequate our gym can be! There are many basic machines that don't exist on our campus so I made a few modifications to the workout. But it was a good day! 

I've noticed that this challenge is really not as much as a culture shock as last time because of the healthy habits I kept up with months ago. I really do love my gym time; sometimes I just don't make that time for myself so I'm glad to be doing this challenge again to reset. 

Making my big batch of brown rice again proves to be a great prep tool, so I have that ready when the kids want something outside of good carbs. I will say, they have really learned to enjoy brown rice, sweet potatoes and whole wheat noodles. 

I love the accountability of our group texts and Facebook posts too! We are all a supportive bunch and it's nice to connect with like minded people. Viva la fit moms!