I never would have thought.......

We have gotten to know the gym manager pretty well. He signed us up for the gym and he is very friendly and we see him often. He knows that Trav works for a supplement place and that he used to work for BB.com and he is an ex-bodybuilder so we all just kind of hit it off.

Tonight we decided to take the kids swimming and as we were walking into the gym, he was walking out. He waved to Travis and said, "Hey man, sorry I've missed you the last couple times you've been here, good to see you". Then he looked over at me and he said, "I mean, I see her all the time, she is practically like a piece of furniture in this place, I see her every day". Did you hear that? A piece of furniture!

If you would have asked me 2 years ago if I thought someone would be calling me a daily gym goer and implying that I am there as often as their furniture, I would have laughed at you. I am really proud of my accomplishments in the gym. I take that as a real compliment to my commitment. I really do have the bug and love to go. I look forward to finding time and being there. No excuses, there is always enough time.

I have been wearing my bodybugg and on average I burn about 2250-2400 calories a day. This makes me feel optimistic about keeping my weight off once I get it off. As long as I eat less than that, I should stay the same. However a pound is approx 3500 cals, so to burn 2 a week, you have to have a deficit of 1000 a day or 7000 per week. That is why losing it much faster is so hard. I would have to be maintaining a diet of only about 1200-1300 calories a day. That really isn't much. That's okay though, I'm not in it for the short run. This is a journey and I know that someday I will complete it. I also know that creating my good workout habits will help me to maintain and stay healthy later.

Today was a great day! My friend Kristy and I took the kids to the park for about 3 hours and they had so much fun. It was a gorgeous day (I should have taken my running shoes to the park). Tomorrow Travis and I are going to run in our neighborhood. There is 300 ft elevation change and we can do a 3.5 mile loop. It will probably kill me but I am excited to try! It will help prepare me for the half with the large elevation changes that it has too. Hopefully it doesn't rain or get too cold. The problem with today was that I was super busy this morning. For breakfast I had a string cheese and a handful of almonds. However, I had several errands to run and was supposed to meet my friend at noon. I didn't have a lot of time to pack a picnic so we quickly ran thru chic-fil-a and got some food. I definitely over indulged but skipped dinner tonight. Our 3rd annual Super Bowl Party is Sunday, I am already preparing to have lots of healthy choices so I don't blow it!

Keen What?

Have you heard of quinoa? I was originally introduced to it by my sister-in-law, Shelley, years ago..however as of recently it has really gotten popular. Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) is a grain that comes from South America. The great thing about it is that it contains more protein than any other grain.

Quinoa contains an average of 16.2% protein, compared with 7.5 for rice, 9.9 percent for millet and 14% for wheat. Some varieties of quinoa are even more than 20% protein. But what makes quinoa’s protein special is the unusual high quality of it. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance very close to the ideal.

It is super easy to cook, similar to rice. If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to; especially if you are trying to reduce your carbs and eat more whole grains. You can find it in the rice section of the store or the health food section. It is very versatile. You can eat it like oatmeal, cold in salads (similar to cous cous), or warm like rice. It is a little crunchy and the texture is unique but I really like it.

Last night I made salsa pork chops and served it with quinoa instead of rice. It was delicious!

10 pounds in 5 weeks?

Two of my nieces are visiting from Idaho in March. They will get here 5 weeks from today. I am so excited; we are going to do lots of fun stuff. We are calling it Pinterest week because we plan to do lots of Pinterest ideas such as:

1) Fitness & Workouts

2) Cooking (healthy recipes of course)

3) Crafts

4) Style (shopping & pampering)

5) Travel (seeing some new things)

So far I have only been losing about 1-1.5 pounds per week. I know that I can do 2, if I get serious about everything I put in my mouth. I'd really like to lose 10 pounds by the time they get here. If I could do it; I'd be the thinnest that they have seen me in a long, long, long time. I know they love me no matter what but it would be a great little motivator. It would also be close to the half way point thru my half-marathon training. I can't wait to take the girls on a little walk-run on the greenbelt and to Zumba!

It is going to be lots of fun having a girls week. I am really looking forward to it. I think that the shopping will be a whole lot more fun if I lost the weight too because then I could probably be another pant size smaller!

Can I do it? I think I can..I think I can...I think I can....

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

I hate eggs! However, I know they are great for a morning breakfast packed full of protein so I have been forcing myself to eat them. However, I can't just eat them plain. I have been coming up with all of these breakfast casserole, quiche, etc. recipes. The other day I had made a black bean burrito for lunch and had left over beans. I thought that a mexican egg casserole might be good (like huevos rancheros). I googled a recipe and this is what I found.

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

1-2 tsp olive oil

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 yellow onion chopped

1 TBSP cumin

5 eggs

1 can creamed corn

1 TBSP cilantro

1/2 C shredded cheese

1 C milk (use skim)

cayenne pepper to taste

Sautee onion in olive oil for a few minutes and add black beans and cumin till warm. Add to casserole pan. (I used an 8 by 8 square). Mix all of the other ingredients and pour on top. I think it would be even better with a small can of green chilles too. Bake at 325 till eggs are no longer runny. I used my convection oven and this took about 35 minutes.

I thought this was really good and I served it with salsa. It would have been even better in a low carb tortilla (or whole wheat). Surprisingly, Travis didn't really like it. I am not sure why..I thought it was good and I don't even like eggs. I am usually the more picky eater (I'm not very picky though). I guess you'll just have to try it to see.

Another 1 bites the dust

Saturday I didn't have any time to go to the gym so I made sure to go down stairs and dusted off my Jillian Michaels Shred Video. It was quite the workout, can't believe I used to that daily. I also tried to dance off a few calories Saturday night.

For Tammye's birthday we went to a place called "Painting with a Twist". It was really fun. We all painted a picture. I had made her birthday cake (see pic above) and people brought snacks. Afterward we went across the street to the Cotton Eyed Joe for some dancing. I did lots of booty shaking and worked up a sweat! It wasn't enough but better than nothing. Here I am prepared to go shake it. I stole the feather boa from her cake and our friend Amy had brought those crazy glasses. Give me some heels and there I am posing like a silly girl. Check out my painting though! If you're wondering....of course I took that boa out dancing.

Sunday we took the kids swimming at the gym and I tried to swim a few laps. Tonight I did a run on the treadmill but tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous. I am hoping to run outside. It is really strange but my outdoor run on the greenbelt, even with the ups and downs of the hills was my best time yet. I would have never thought so. It seemed much more enjoyable outside. The KT Tape is awesome, I can definitely tell it is helping to stabilize my knee. I am excited to see how it feels tomorrow after spin. Wednesday my friend Nikki and I are going to try out Body Combat. Sounds fun!