Learning something new everyday

1. Eating clean = eating at home = running the dishwasher EVERY night

2. I'm down 5 pounds in one week (Hell Yeah!)

3. I did 5 WODs this week and can still walk

4. I cannot stay up past 9pm (falling asleep on the couch is what all the cool people do)

5. Day 4 I almost killed my whole family - if looks could kill.......

6. Day 8 and I am super mom on speed - so much energy!

7. My kids actively watch what I eat and are saying things like "Paleo", "clean", "healthy"

8. I do not NEED sugar, swedish fish, peanut butter, flavored coffee creamer, or bites of my kids food

9. I can make it through a birthday party - decorating cupcakes with ridiculous toppings - and not even sneak a taste.

10. If I'm hungry I eat (clean), if I'm not hungry then I don't eat (duh)
 

The BEST part? Sam's cooking. He has really stepped it up this week cooking clean clean clean. Jealous? Oh, and he's down 8.8 pounds this week. Stupid boys and their ability to drop weight. grrrrrr

Pan seared Tilapia with cucumber cilantro lime salsa

Filet with Purple cabbage

Horseradish flank steak with cucumber salad

Italian sausage (label carefully read) stuffed peppers

Paleo Pizza (crust is eggs)

Post workout drink

Getting through the day one meal at a time

I've had a few people ask what Paleo is and what I'm eating. I thought I'd share some of my snacks and meals that have been keeping me full, clean, and not on a hungry killing rampage. I am eating when I'm hungry, not when I'm bored (what a concept!)

Breakfast: I need quick and easy. I'm also a creature of habit, so every morning is the same. I also have coffee with coconut milk

Green Monster Smoothie:
Spinach (yep, raw spinach...a hold handful)
Ice
Almond Milk
(protein powder when not doing Paleo Challenge)

Almond Milk is my fav. I did find a NEW one yesterday that I actually cheered for in the store. Slightly embarrassing, but I didn't care. Are you ready for it?






The combination of two of my favorite things. I'm loving almond milk and I'm obsessed with coconut. YUM! I am so happy about this combo.

Snacks:
Hard boiled eggs
peppers
guac
cucumbers
tomatoes
mushrooms
lean meat
carrots
kale
squash
turkey bacon (salty fav)

Lunch: This is always my tricky meal. I have a hard time eating meat that has been reheated in the microwave. I swear it changes the texture and then I want to vomit. Maybe just me, but I can't handle it. So, I have a toaster oven in my office to make chicken breast, otherwise I eat left overs from dinner cold. It works for me. Making a bigger dinner to ensure there are leftovers for lunch has been a life saver! I have replaced all diet soda in my life. I do miss the bubbles though. I LOVE seltzer water. I need the bubbles



Dinner: My husband is a trained chef (jealous?) so dinners are GREAT. We have a smoker so sometimes it's smoked meat or fish, sometimes it's baked, grilled, you get the idea. Lean meat and lots of veggies. The veggie of the month has been kale - which I suspect we are getting tired of. Cabbage makes a lot of appearances as does cauliflower. Don't worry - all gas inducing veggies are Paleo friendly :)

My energy level has been normal and I only find myself hungry when I should be - not all day. I haven't tried to sneak anything - candy is my weakness - so I'm really happy about that.

Last night I did my first box jump! Yeah!!!! I also am making the vow to get double unders. The WOD last night called for 40 double unders or 120 single unders. Ugh. 120 single unders times 4 was killer. The double under will be mine!

Team Hardman: The begining

How did Team Hardman come to be? Glad you asked.....

I moved to Va in 1992 and so did Sam and his family. I was in 7th grade, he was in 8th. We were both At Robinson Secondary School and I could have never guessed we would have ended up together.

Sam has a brother that is my age. We had almost every class together - they did all scheduling alphabetically. Are you ready for this? He is Hardman (duh) I was Harmon. Yep. Wrap your brain around that one. Wedding day? Hardman Harmon wedding. People thought we were cousins, there was a typo, and we were really related. Hahahaha

So, we met in 1992 - were friends, but didn't hang out that much. We had alot of the same friends, Sam dated one of my best friends in High School. He graduated and went to Coast Guard boot camp and made a series of moves that landed him in Florida. I graduated and went to Longwood University in Farmville (yep, real place).

Winter break my sophomore year Sam had moved back to Virginia - our parents now lived in the same neighborhood. Summer break Sam's car spent most of it's life in the shop. Paint, body work, all kinds of "custom" stuff I don't understand. We now had the same group of hang out friends and we spent a lot of time together. He didn't have a car and I was forced to pick him up daily to get him where ever the fun was.

I was a lifeguard that summer and Sam started bringing me snacks, sodas, lunch - just the "stopped by to say hi". He was in love. :)  It took most of the summer for me to realize how great he is and that I needed to stop playing hard to get. Our first date? A wedding for his family friend. It was so fun - and we've been together ever since.

He supported me through college, graduate school, two kids, weight watchers, marathon running, triathlons, and now Crossfit.  He's a pretty great dude.

Now, I get to support him. He found out last night he got into George Mason University!!!! I could not be more proud.

Finish at Reston Olympic. He went back and found me so we could finish together

Our first wet suit swim at Lake Anna

Mother's day 1/4 marathon

Best Dad ever

After I love the Tavern Tri

Theme Party

Chris Cooley's breast cancer awareness event

My Fav. After the marine corp marathon

7 year anniversary

Morning of Sam's first 1/2 marathon

Cherry Blossom 10 miler

After Sam's 1/2 Ironman

Pale Challenge Day 2: I'm still alive!

We made it through day 1! Yesterday we went to the Box (hehehehe) and got our measurements, weight, pictures, blood pressure, and fat info - he used a sonograph thingee (technical term) to measure how much fat we actually have on different parts of our body. The results were sad, the graphs were cool, and all the numbers WILL go down.

Now, there is NOTHING like standing in a gym in spandex and a sports bra in the winter time. Brrrr. I had to keep telling myself this is for a good cause - the BEST cause. It's ok that I'm "chubby" now because I'm doing something about it.

The Paleo Challenge rules? Glad you asked:
1. One point each day for doing a WOD or at home workout
2. One point for drinking one gallon of Paleo Fluids (black coffee, water, water, water, water)
3. One point for eating Paleo - put that bite of cake down!

Yesterdays points = 1 for fluid. I did not workout as my back is almost fully recovered. I did not eat Paleo because we went out to eat for Sammy's 6th birthday. We went out for Chinese food - kinda fancy Chinese food. In the past I would have layered my plateS with rice, meat, rice, meat.....tastes so good. Not yesterday. I knew eating there would not count as Paleo (how much sugar is in those sauces????) but I wanted to make better choices. I did not eat ANY rice (easier than I thought). I ate a few JUMBO shrimp and my favorite dish EVER - Seschuan Beef Proper. Tastes like candy. I know it's terrible for me, but whatever. I had a great time, left feeling full and proud.

For dinner last night we had salad and flank steak. Yum! I have it for left overs for lunch today. Snacks are veggies, pepperoni, and guac. My new adventure? Coffee. Gotta figure out how to have some, enjoy it, and make it Paleo. Today I added coconut milk to it. It did not add sweetness, but I did like the creamy texture. Not as yummy as my previous coffee milkshake - but it will work!

Temptations were EVERYWHERE yesterday. Between eating out and the football game I made the choice to walk away from rice, alcohol, chips, cheese dip.......I think I won the battle of Day 1. So far Day 2 has been kind.

Flank steak and mushrooms

Our tracking sheet for the challenge

My new coffee adventure

Final Countdown

Tomorrow begins my first ever 60 day Paleo Challenge. I'm pretty stoked and a little nervous. Sam and I are  doing this together, which helps - but his will power is MUCH better than mine. I've been slowly getting Paleo over the last two weeks. I've cut out bread, pasta, rice and Thursday I stopped putting sugar in my coffee. That's right. My adult milkshake is getting healthier. I have a feeling I might be coffee free in a day or two - I really only drink if for the sugary sweetness (see my problem?).

I'm experimenting with recipes and things I can do that are cheaper (almond butter and coconut butter are $$) and seeing what I like and what I can live without. This week we've had red cabbage, kale, collards, and spinach. I liked them all - maybe green is my favorite color for a reason?

This week went pretty great with healthy eating. I didn't kill anyone - so there's that. My energy level is pretty good and my cough FINALLY went away. I did pull a muscle in my lower back, which I'm nursing today. Man, who knew you used your lower back for EVERYTHING? 

Tomorrow begins the Paleo Challenge. We are going to the gym to get measurements, BMI, and weight. I'm not happy about any of those things, but I'm going to focus on changing them. I don't care about the weight as much as I do the BMI and measurements. My weight hasn't changed much in 4 weeks of Crossfit, but my clothes are fitting better and I feel less jiggly. 

homemade almond butter. Pretty yummy

homemade coconut butter

two snacks for the work day

left overs from dinner for lunch

Coconut drilling

delish!

Planning to Fail?

Not me. Not this year. Not any more. I am planning to rock - not just this year - I am going to rock for now on. Look out, here I come!

Planning - I LOVE to plan. I do often focus on planning for others though and forget to plan for myself. I'm learning that if I don't first plan for me, then the planning I do for others just falls apart or is 100 times more difficult.

Meals. Planning meals can be tough. At night I'm tired, in the morning I don't have time. Solution? Plan a weeks worth of meals Sunday night. I bought a set of sectioned tupperware so I can make it happen. No more crappy pieced together lunches - it's Power Lunch Time!







I used to pack lunch in a tiny little tote. I didn't plan, I didn't pack much, I sometimes didn't pack anything. My days of running to Chipotle or Trader Joe's are over. I now bring a duffel bag with the amount of snacks and food I bring to school. Guess what? Not hungry or dragging at 1:00 like I used to.

this tiny tote holds just about nothing

I have just about every color plus a few special ones

 I also have a 24 oz water bottle with me at all times. I have found tons of lunch ideas from Pinterest, PaleOMG, etc.... If you have any good sites or cookbooks feel free to pass them on.

Workouts. Those need to be planned the most. Getting to The Box (I'm so Crossfit :) ) requires babysitters, timing, energy, dinner prepped.....Whew! It's amazing that I ever get out the door. Thankfully my husband is very supportive, my in laws help alot, and we have three babysitters on our street! Makes it so much easier.

Now, to stay motivated and keep on track with nutrition and WODS Sam and I will be doing our first ever Paleo Challenge beginning January 6th. We are going in that day to get our BMI (ugh), measurements (barf), pictures (double barf) and rules. It's a 60 day challenge and I WILL ROCK IT.

You can follow my Paleo journey here - and comments and suggestions are always welcome!

New Years Eve Foodie Edition

We had a great New Years. Full belly, lots of laughs, and I made it to Midnight. Can't ask for much more than that. Enjoy

Champagne flowed

   

Lobster on a bed of Mango and Avocado

 

Seared Scallops on a corn mash

Steak with Cauliflower Mash

Dessert bites!

My personal bartender. Signature drink was a French 75 (Gin, Champagne, sugar, lemon juice)

The Girls

  We had a great night and spent today laying around and making new traditions - dumping the kids at Nanna's and going to see a movie :)