POW Camp

This morning was brutal. I spent 100 minutes with my trainer and a bunch of other exercise enthusiasts. Saturday sessions are called "Weekend Warrior" but I teased Tammye today and told her that I felt like a POW not a Warrior. Haha. Yet, somehow I keep coming back for more. I also went to a session on Wednesday; it is her advanced group which I try to avoid but I couldn't go on my regular Thursday so I tried it. A couple things I have done this week for either the first time in a long long time or never before: I jumped rope (don't think I've done that since 6th grade), ran at 8.0 on the treadmill (even though it was only a minute it almost killed me), walked at a 15 incline on the treadmill, and did one legged gliders (see pic below).

When I first started working out I could not even do two legged gliders more than once. This week I did one leggers 15 times on each side. Yay! When I did this I thought my trainer might cry. She was like "Cheryl I am so proud of you, this is a major breakthrough for us". It was a proud moment. If you'd like to try these at home, you can use paper plates to imitate as the gliding disk. It is better if you are on carpet. You can also do them with a paper plate under each leg and that is an easier modification.

I know that I am the strongest I have ever been in my whole life. I have been trying to take some pics of some of the crazy things we do and I'll be doing a post soon with several pics.

Today we did several exercises. We started out with some circuits using elastic bands, jump ropes and medicine balls; this included exercises such as lunges, squats, rows, chest press, overhead press and all sorts of crazy jumps with the rope including normal jump rope and then some drills wear we laid the rope on the ground and did mogul jumps, speed skaters and a modified football run. Then we went for a little run. We ran 4 minutes and then did 50 air squats, ran 3 minutes and did 30 air squats, ran 2 minutes and did 20 air squats, ran for 1 minute and did 20 air squats and ran for 30 seconds and did 10 squat jumps. (this may not be exactly but close enough). We also did a series of ab exercises such as bicycle crunches and reverse crunches. The torture never ends. We then hit the stairs at the amphitheater doing mountain climbers with torso twist, spider man push ups, tricep dips and box jumps.

The weather was so beautiful we did our entire workout at the park today. It was awesome! After all of that...I thought I'd die but then the group headed to the parking lot for more drills, we did a combo of running, shuffling, high knees and running backwards, then did some elastic band bicep curls, followed by firewalkers. These freaking hurt. It is just a little elastic band you put around your ankles and you walk side ways (step together, step....ouch these make your entire leg burn) and then did some lunges while holding the medicine ball over our head. Did I mention that after all that we did it all again??

This is serious torture. I am not sure what water boarding is like but this has got to be close. Not really but you get what I am saying. However, when you are done you feel so good. There are people of all different strengths, shapes and sizes in the group and we all keep each other motivated. It is fun and motivating to see some of the true athletes in the group.

Bod Pod

Sorry I havent blogged in a while. I was without a computer for about a week and just didnt like the idea of blogging from my phone. I am headed to Chicago tomorrow and as soon as I get back I am getting a test done called "Bod Pod". It is one of the most accurate ways to test your lean tissue vs fat tissue percentages. I know how much weight I have lost but I have also gained a lot of muscle and as we all know muscle ways more than fat so I am interested to see the results. I will be re doing the test in 60 days. It isn't very expensive for those of you wondering....$40 for one time or $60 for two tests. I am really excited. I am also planning on getting a blood panel done to test cholesterol, insulin levels, triglycerides, etc. Just thought it would be great to get a base line. I'll let you know what I find out.

Just how does the BOD POD work?

While a person sits inside the enclosure, a rapidly vibrating diaphragm in the wall of the test chamber produces small changes in air pressure between it and an adjoining reference chamber. The changes in air pressure can be used to determine the amount of air the person displaces in the test chamber. In turn, that measurement leads to an estimation of the person’s body volume, corrected for the volume of air in the lungs at the time of the measurement.
Then, taking the person’s body mass (obtained by a scale) and dividing it by the person’s body volume, the body density is determined. With that, a person’s percent body fat can be calculated.

Mini Meatloaf & Mashed Cauliflower

These are two great recipes that you can make whether you are on low carb or low fat diets. You can always tweak the ingredients a little to make this right for you. It is also nice because the meatloaves are portion controlled. This is super easy and very yummy. Even if mashed cauliflower sounds gross, TRY IT! You might be surprised, it is very similar to potatoes with out the carbs and lots of fiber.

Meatloaf
Lean Ground beef
1 carrot grated (you could exclude if very low carb)
1/2-1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2-1 chopped onion
1 small can tomato sauce
1/4-1/2 C Oatmeal
1 egg

Combine all ingredients. Roll into small balls and fill 12 tin muffin pan (spray pan with cooking spray or olive oil). Bake at 350 until beef is cooked thoroughly. I add a sauce for the last 10 minutes of catchup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and a small amount of brown sugar.

Mashed Cauliflower
1 medium head cauliflower
milk or half & half
butter
salt
1/4 C instant potatoes (optional)
garlic/parmesean/cheese/chives (optional)

Steam cauliflower until soft. Combine all ingredients and mash with hand masher or food processor just as you would for mashed potatoes. I promise that this is good! You get the yummy goodness of potatoes with out the starchy carbs and you get lots of added fiber.

1 Year

Tomorrow is the big day!! One year ago I had my baby girl and weighed 252 pounds. How the year has flown by. How life has changed so much for me. I am already 76 pounds lighter, I left my job and became a stay at home mom, I started working out regularly with a trainer, and I've met several new friends, etc. Having two kids is definitely different from one.

I truly can not believe that my wee one is 1 year old. She is my little princess and has been such a joy to have in our lives. Her big blue sparkling eyes, sweet blonde curls, and 8 little teeth creating her precious smile melt my heart. She has been such an easy baby. She is learning how to talk and yells out words like ma-ma, da-da, ya-ya, jack, ba-ba, hi, na-na, uh-oh, la-la. Reese loves to blow raspberries and spit bubbles. She isn't quite brave enough to walk yet even though she started crawling at 7 months. She is wildly independent and definitely head strong. She already squaks when she doesn't get her way! Her and her brother are the best of friends and they spend hours playing with each other; Hudson has even convinced her to be passionate about cars. It has been so fun dressing her up and putting bows in her hair. I have definitely spent a little more money on accessories with this kid...hair bows, tights, shoes, leg warmers, head bands, sunglasses, tutus, bloomers, etc.

I sure do love my kids. They both bring so much joy to my life. Part of me can't believe that she is already a year old and another part of me can't remember my life with out her. Happy Birthday tomorrow sweet Sissy....We love you.

Kind of makes me sad that she is turning one. I mean, I don't know exactly what our future holds but for several reasons we think that Reese will be our last baby. I think that is why it is hard to see her grow up because deep down I know that I won't be having more babies. However, we are looking forward to the new experiences that we will get to have with older kids such as traveling, camping, boating, etc. Also after working this hard for a new body, I am not sure I want to risk losing it again by being pregnant. I have also been advised by my doctor that it may not be safe for me to have more since I have had two c-sections and my uterus is very thin in spots.

I am not sure if I will quite make my goal of losing 100 pounds in a year. It will be close. I started this journey in May 2010 and it is already mid-march. I wanted to start immediately after she was born but since I had a c-section it took me about 6 weeks before I was really ready to exercise a lot and it took that long just to feel like myself. I swear those first 6 weeks are like a big fog. So only about 6-8 more weeks to see if I can make the goal. It is lofty but I am just proud of how far I have came and that I am getting my health and confidence back. I know that this summer I will be the lightest I've been in a long time...and I can't wait to hit the lake!

Creamy Skillet Chicken

Tonight I made the yummiest dinner and it was super easy. You can modify this to be a low carb dinner or a low fat dinner. If wanting to watch fat just substitute light or fat free milk & cream cheese.

Creamy Skillet Chicken

1 TBSP Olive oil

4 boneless skinless breast halves (about 1.25 Lbs)

1 Envelope Lipton Vegetable Soup mix

1 C Milk

1 C Water

4 oz cream cheese

Directions:

In 12 inch skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and brown chicken turning once, remove chicken. In the same skillet bring soup mix blended with milk and water to a boil, reduce heat and summer uncovered 4 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until melted and simmer 3 minutes. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

I served this with green beans and a baked potato (for Travis); I just had an extra serving of green beans. You could also serve with biscuits, rice or noodles. It was very good and the extra sauce would be great over potato or rice.

Blog Award

This month's blog award goes to one of my besties, Amanda Rayburn! I have been wanting to give it to her for sometime just because I love her so much but she wasn't following the blog as well as others so I had to put her off. However, as of recently she has became a good reader and she is also joining me on my diet for lent. It has been fun to talk to her about her workouts, eating ideas, etc. We are getting to our goals together.

Last time Amanda saw me, I weighed 231 pounds. I can't wait till I can see her again (hopefully in June) and show her the new me! I don't even know where to start in telling you about Mandy. Out of all of my friends and family she has came to Tennessee to visit more than anyone and she loves me so much that she even attempted to move to TN to be closer. She was here for about 4 months and got home sick. :(

When I think of Amanda here are some of the words that come to mind (you may not understand them all...but I do):

Cupcake, Smart, Music, Hoodies, Sex in the City, Pigtails, Camel's Back Park, Vault, Macbook, Pharmacy, Beautiful, Poetic, "I thought I got 100", New York City, Quiznos, muffcakes, Alto, St. Luke's, Radiohead, Creative, Old Chicago, Williams-Sonoma, Devoted, Sunglasses, Vue, Funny, Boise State Bronco, Friend, wisdom teeth, Talented, Happy Camper, Sucrose, I-Pod, Weeds, Eclectic, Knitting, Epidemiology, Tatoos, "Who Cares", Oranges in Tube Socks and Moonshine.

Amanda is a great friend. We have laughed many laughs. She is the kind that you can call for no reason or the type that would come over just to help you clean the house and hang out. She knows all my flaws but still loves me. We have been on tons of adventures together and I can't wait for even more. Love you friend. You mean the world to me. Miss you tons and wish you were still here. Good luck with Pharmacy school....I'll know you'll be great!

Isn't this picture of me disgusting? It was the last time she was here, right after Reese was born and we headed to Dollywood with my 3 week old baby. hee hee. Look at my shirt curling up over my belly. Gross!!

Easy Baked Ravioli

I got this recipe from my friend Rachel. While it isn't the lowest in calories, I still make it for my family and make myself a big salad and practice portion control.

Easy Baked Ravioli

2 tsp. Italian dressing
1 medium red pepper
1 small onion (finely chopped)
15 oz. spaghetti sauce-Recipe to follow or you can use bottled or your own recipe
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1 pkg. (9 oz) Ravioli cooked and drained
1/2 C Shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat dressing in a large skillet on medium heat. Add peppers and onions. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in sauce and crushed red pepper. Combine all ingredients. (the original recipe calls for layering of sauce and ravioli but I find this unnecessary. Bake 25 minutes or until heated through. Makes 3-4 servings.

Spaghetti Sauce

Let me start by saying that this recipe is famous in my family. My grandpa being adopted by Italians; this came from his ancestors and is a true "DeLuca" authentic Italian Recipe. My family won't eat anything but this. Hudson loves anything made with this sauce! I use it for spaghetti, lasagna, pretty much anything that calls for a marinara sauce. I will warn you that this tastes nothing like Prego or Ragu or your traditional american sauce made with hamburger and bell peppers. It may take some getting used to but everyone that tries it usually loves it. I have actually never shared it as it is kind of a family secret but thought that I would anyway. So for those of you reading, feel very fortunate. This will make quite a lot, so freeze half and pull it out next time you need some.

DeLuca Sauce

1/3 C Olive Oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 small-med onion

1 regular can tomato paste (they also make a really small can, make sure to use the one similar to a soup can)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP italian seasoning

1/3 C red wine vinegar

1 Lg can tomato puree (I think it's around 27 oz)

1 C water (may add a little more if it seems to thick)

optional: add Italian sausage, diced tomatoes (fresh or canned) & mushrooms

**I prefer Hunt's brand for the paste and puree

Heat oil in large pan, add garlic and onions till translucent. If using sausage and mushrooms add now. Add tomato paste and stir allowing to simmer for 5 minutes. Add spices and vinegar, let simmer another couple minutes. Add rest of the ingredients. This recipe is best if it simmers a minimum of an hour and up to 3 hours to really let the spices give it maximum flavor. Do not use hamburger in this recipe. It would be an insult to it's heritage. :)