Day 14: You Can Do It!

I’m now on day 14 of my 21 day challenge.  This weekend was a little rough!  My brother’s 30th birthday party was last night, and it was also the only day that I allowed myself to cheat!  I didn’t actually do too bad on the food side of the coin, but I did indulge in a few other things a bit too much…like cake!  So today, it’s back on the wagon (that’s such a strange cliché, isn’t it).

I am very happy to report that despite my slight headache and sleepiness from staying up way too late last night, I got up this morning with vigor!  🙂 (How’s that for a fancy word!)  I woke up and got to work planning for this week.  I spent time looking at my calendar and planning my workout schedule for the week.  Here it is!

Week 3 Exercise Schedule

I also planned out my dinner menus for the week.  I find that this simple act has helped me maintain a healthy lifestyle probably more than any other trick I’ve acquired.  The reason is because I only have to go to the grocery store ONCE, maybe twice a week.  I also find that I’m more likely to eat healthy if I already have everything planned for the week because I don’t really have any excuses since I already spent the money on the food. Below is week 3’s dinner schedule.

Week 3 Dinner Schedule

Monday: grilled chicken breast, roasted green beans with mushrooms

Tuesday: salmon, zucchini bake

Wednesday:  It’s my bff’s bday and I’m going out to dinner with her (the hubs has to fend for himself)

Thursday: feta meatballs, shirataki noodles, pasta sauce, spinach salad

Friday: Out to dinner

Many of these recipes can be found on my Pinterest account. under the “I’ve Tried These” board.

I am finding that I really look forward to my exercise time throughout the week.  I can feel myself getting stronger so the exercise is a little bit easier on my body.  I’m not as sore the next day either, which is a major plus!

Awesome Recipe!!!

Protein Powder Balls

I ran across this recipe on Pinterest several weeks ago, but I hadn’t tried it yet.  (Yes, I’m completely addicted to Pinterest, but it’s where I get pretty much ALL of my recipes these days.  There’s just soooooo much to choose from.) My friend, Meghan, came into town and she had some of these little balls of deliciousness, so I tried them.  I was amazed at how good they were.  So, I made some last week, and I made some again today.  They last pretty much last all week.

My husband, whose diet is not the best, has been eating them every morning for breakfast. (When I met him he used to eat a Honeybun for lunch nearly every day and say it was because he needed a high calorie diet because of his work!!!  He’s a welder.  Since then, I’ve been working diligently on trying to get him to understand that crap food like that will only make him feel sluggish in the end after the massive sugar crash, and he will NOT have any energy!  It’s been a slow process, but he’s starting to come around! He is no longer on a Honeybun diet.  Now, if I could only get him to give up the Mountain Dew!)

I got the basic recipe from this blog, but I changed a lot of the ingredients based on what I had in my kitchen.  The ones I made last week are more like the recipe she has posted.  These little protein balls are SO easy to make and are SO tasty!

Ingredients

• 1 c. of raisins (NO sugar added)
• 1/3 c. walnuts
• 1/4 c. wheat germ
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/3 c. chia seeds (the original recipe calls for ground flax seeds, but I didn’t have any)
• 1 heaping scoop of sugar-free vanilla protein powder
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 c. almond butter

Here are all the brands of food I used.

Directions

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix well.
2. Add 1 tbsp. of warm water at a time until you get the consistency desired (it should be mushy, but not watery)  I used 2 tbsp. of water.  Last week I used 3.
3. Once blended well, roll ingredients into 1 inch balls.
4. Place in a plastic container and store in the fridge.

This is what it looks like once completely blended with water.

Tada!!!  Delicious, chocolatey, protein packed balls of goodness!

Each ball, made with these particular ingredients, has 85 calories, 4.7 g. fat, 8.3 g. carbohydrates, and 3 g. protein.  I eat them mostly when I want something sweet but don’t want to eat sugar.  I hope you enjoy them!  They are delicious!

Until next post, have a great Sunday!!

 

 

Day 2

Well, I survived yesterday!! 🙂  I even turned down the TWO desserts staring me in the face last night at the banquet we attended.  Woohoo!

I realized last night that I had given info about my dinners along with my exercise schedule for the week, but I have a KILLER smoothie recipe that I thought you might enjoy.  I drink this smoothie for breakfast nearly every  morning, and it keeps me full for several hours.

I got this recipe from my best friend since Kindergarten, Cari.  She’s given me lots of recipes over the years, including this one!

Berry Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 c. frozen or fresh berries (I use a combination of blueberries and strawberries, but you could use whatever berries you like.  FYI, if you use fresh berries you’ll probably want to add some ice)
• 1/4 c. non-fat plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk (you could use regular cow’s  milk if you want, just watch for any added sugar)
• 1 rounded scoop vanilla whey protein powder (try to find the kind without any added sugar.  It will keep you from crashing)

These are all the products I like to use.  You could use any variation of these.

Directions

Simply mix everything together in a blender, pour into a cup, and enjoy!

• Here’s just one helpful hint when drinking this absolutely “so delicious you’ll think you’re drinking a milkshake” smoothie, keep some dental floss nearby.  The blueberries especially like to hide in the tiny crevices of your pearly whites.  🙂 

Hope you like it! 🙂