Holidaize!

So the last time we talked I was going on about trying to get up for a workout early in the wee dark cold hours of the morning. Well I did it, I got up, got over there and got my workout on!

Early Morning Wod

Bench press 1 rep max

(thanks to my awesome partner) 80#

10 min amrap

10 box jumps 20"

10 dead lifts 85#

10 ring dips scaled with band

3 rounds + 6 deadlifts

Cherry - 800m run (yes I did that too)

5:05 (I think, it was either this or 5:15)

This was such a good idea in the moment, but it was one I would pay for later. I don't get much sleep when I am at my dads because the kids wake up all night long so I knew I would already be losing sleep and the 2 extra hours I would have got Wednesday morning would have been perfect. Alas, I really wanted that workout and I felt great all day. So while I was tired and am still paying for it I am glad I went. I am dying to find out my 1 rep max dead lift!

So when I packed up for our short trip I packed running clothes, I needed to do a 25-30 min run for the running class. I wasn't sure if I would run but the prospect of running with my stepmom was in and of itself exciting. Wednesday night I was talking about running and my cousin said she was running a turkey trot, I had planned on running one here until we decided to spend Thanksgiving with my Dad so I was like oh I should go. Then when I was up at 7:30am after no sleep the next morning I was like no I need to rest, my legs were sore (I am out of omegas yikes!) then I saw everyone on facebook talking about their turkey trots so then I felt like a bum for not going. So I just got dressed and decided to run, luckily my awesome stepmom went with me! We did a short 21 min 2 mile run. I had to stop twice because we were running some country hills and my legs were literally on fire and just gased. Hear me now people...nutrition is essential to recovery. I have not truly zoned in 3 days and I am feeling it. Still it was great to finally be able to run with her and chat!

So for Thanksgiving I didn't really eat much. For one I have limited choices with my allergies and for two I am just not that into food. My older brother asked me what food I looked forward to the most during this time. I thought and my mind went blank, like meditating blank. I used to the all about the food. Not so much the turkey, but the noodles and potatoes and dressing. Yum! I would be in a carb daze for like 12 hours. Oh and the gravy...gravy. But this year I wanted two things, protein and to not eat anything that makes me sick. I don't expect people to accommodate my allergies. I had wanted to make something but was told repeatedly no, so I didn't bring anything. So I knew turkey was safe and that the mashed potatoes weren't instant and thus safe. I had some plain green beans, cranberry sauce and called it dinner. However, this conversation and my reaction left me thinking a lot. Because I did used to be a food junkie, I have the pictures to prove it. I have always been, but it started showing after I hit my 30s. Now food is a fuel and in some way an enemy. 

I only think about food when I am actually hungry and it is usually in terms of what is going to give me optimal energy and well not make me sick. I think between my allergies and eating a mostly paleo diet I have changed my mental outlook on food. I am happy about this because I think I have a good healthy relationship to food where as before I would say not so much. So in a nutshell, lots of turkey, some sides and never once felt stuffed or even full, just nicely satisfied. I did gut a couple of pieces of pumpkin pie though, mwah! I should also give some props to the Whole30 because I am sure that doing that has landed me where I am. 

So tomorrow no running class but coach class and WOD, I am going to throw in a home wod from my running workouts because I have kind of slacked on them this week. I was planning on hitting the box today but I am just so tanked from my lack of sleep that I doubt I would be able to do anything, plus I am a tad moody when I am tired. So some simple dinner, a hot shower and I am going to bed. 

Working for the Turkey

Ha, aren't we all? How many times have you been like I am going to do X workout so I can have Y? Me I wasn't exactly thinking turkey with my workout it was family. I am going to see a lot of Family in the next two days I haven't seen since my Grandma died in August. There has been a big change since then and I am excited.

I am starting to think that I have some sort of CrossFit addiction, or maybe an endorphin addiction. When I go more than 2 days without a good hard CrossFit workout I tend to get a little...well bitchy. I start getting crabby and restless and just a general feeling of wanting to go DO something.  Because of this I am stressing a little over this week and the Holidays, I mean Thanksgiving is on my workout day! I am trying to get as many workouts in as I can before we head over the river and through the woods, then jump right back into it after. CrossFit Regeneration has a great schedule this week but I fear there may be a 5:30 or 6:30 am class in my future...yikes!

This was me today during today's wod...on paper it didn't seem so bad, or I should say as bad as it ended up being. It was so hard for me I was all but chanting this as a mantra for the last round. Here are the deets..

Back Squats (3X10) 45# (way too light!)

3 rounds for time

20 wall balls 10#

20 burpee pull ups (scaled)
Time - 21:23

Yep, you read that right, 21 minutes and 23 seconds. This workout kicked my a** and took a couple of hits at my lungs while it was at it. I am getting strong, I am lifting more weights than I had in the beginning and I can tell I am getting more fit (9:18 mile anyone?) but I am still really weak in the cardio condition area. I was dying in this workout. I used a 10 lb wall ball because I knew 14 would kill me, but for the burpee pull ups I had to scale it to a point of pure hell. We did 10 burpees, 10 pull ups, repeat. There were 2 times during this part of the workout where I thought for sure I would yack on the floor. It was coming, I could feel it. I think the saving grace was the fact that my body was so taxed from the workout it didn't have the power to throw up. 

I had planned on doing back to backs like I did Saturday, today there will be a running class WOD and I wanted to throw them both in at once. After this workout I was shaking and felt so sick I could barely choke down my protein...funny thing is, it was gone about 10-15 min after. I was fine, ready to do the second workout. However, I had Firecracker with me and needed to go so I decided just to do the running wod at home tonight. 

I had a proud paleo mommy moment today, after the workout I chugged chocked down a protein shake and  since I needed some fat brought a jar of coconut oil. Since Firecracker was there I brought her a snack too and after she ate it she wanted some spoons of coconut oil. Then she wanted a sandwich for lunch and I watched as she ate her turkey and cheese and left her bread, haha. She did chomp her chips though. But still, love my little cave girl. 

So the rest of the day I have become more and more tired, I really needed to do the running wod so after dinner, Daddy-O helped me get the kids to bed, and he got to put on his coaching hat and keep time for me. 

Running WOD

400 m run

tabata 

squats

sit ups

push ups

20 sec work, 10 sec rest 8 rounds each

1 min rest between sets

400 m run

So I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be counting, if you count anything on tabatas. I had Daddy-O running a tabata timer to tell me when to stop and start. Let's just say I was excited for him to see how fit I am compared to before I started this journey and welp that didn't happen. I was gased, The run was surprisingly easy even doing it with my new running posture but dang, that first squat I knew I was in trouble. I have been pounding protein and even more starches all day, recovering from earlier but I guess I just tanked my reserves earlier. I wasn't going to stop even though I was home I soldiered on. Let's just say the squats were the best part of the evening...I could barely do 3-4 push ups per round. Scaled push ups!!! Tanked. 

So I am planning, and I use that term lightly, on going to the 6:30 class in the morning. I am NOT a morning person and not too happy about getting up before the sun, BUT I get really cranky when I miss so many days of CF (as I mentioned before) and I want to prevent that with just stock piling for the next couple of days, plus tomorrow's wod is awesome!! I reiterate I am not a morning person, so don't be shocked if I choose bed over a cold box in the morning!

Saturday WOD...two days late

All weekend I kept meaning to sit down and write up deets about Saturdays fitness goods but 1) I started reading a new book series and 2) we renovated our bathroom. So if I wasn't painting or reorganizing I was reading...well and there was some motherly duties in there as well, I don't completely neglect my family when I am reading a new book...no completely.

So Friday I started reading The Mortal Instruments series, it is right up my alley. I hate to say this but young adult books are so much better than chic lit and such. Besides the teenage angst they typically contain story lines which are much better, imo. It is a good book , I finished it in 3 days...another plus for YA books, quick reads. 

So Me!!

So Saturday I got up read a chapter then headed to CrossFit Regeneration for my first running class & the coaches class. I am fairly excited that CF.com has started adding 2013 certification class dates, whoop! So anyway about my wods...

WOD #1 aka - running class

We started the class by video taping us run, wow no pressure. It was funny and it felt like I was auditioning for a running commercial. Afterward we lined up to run 1 mile for time. I knew we would probably run some sort of distance so I grabbed my phone & headphones and plugged in to some Bruno Mars. I love his new song "Locked out of Heaven" because reminds me of Journey, Kings of Leon, and the Police all wrapped up into one. After the mile run we got a lesson on running form...wow, forget everything you have ever been taught about running. This concluded with us watching our running postures. I was praying more for no visible jiggle as we watched me move in slow mo...

At this point the coaches and competitors class was filing in so I ran grabbed a protein shake, changed shoes and chugged it down. The running class was moved outside for drills while I stayed in to start the coaches class. I want to be a better runner but I want to be a coach first, plus Coach Kari rocks and she offered to take a moment after class to go over what I missed. 

Running class summary

1 mile for time

time - 9:18 

(previous best 10:27)

You read that right, improved my time by over a minute!!

Okay where was I? Oh yeah coaches and competitors class. So we started this out with going over Kettlebell clean and jerks. This was one of those moves where my brain is in over drive and also if you do it wrong you will get bruised and of course I got a few good whacks in...

                                  

This is my arm the day of, at about 5pm                       This is my arm Sunday morning, gnarly

It felt like I had been given a bad shot, I had a knot and everything, well still do. It is pretty crazy, good thing it is time for long sleeves. 

So after our instruction on some kettlebell moves we got down to business. Saturday's WOD #2

100 double unders buy in

3 rounds

10 KB taters

10 KB clean & jerks

10 HR push ups

100 double unders cash out

Time 17:58 (scaled)

So I used a 15 lb kettlebell mainly because I wasn't sure I could do the workout with heavier and the 25 one kept beating up my arms. I decided to go light rather than do anymore damage including but not limited to busting out my teeth on the taters. I loved the taters BTW. I also scaled the DU with 300 single rope jumps. 

In the future I am not sure if I will do a WOD with jump rope involved. I was having all sorts of problems with my fribroid while taking taekwando, problems I wasn't having with CrossFit and was unsure why. I know why now, with TKD you are in constant movement, bouncing around, kick, punching. Jumping rope made for some massive irritation of the thing residing in my uterus. I am sure this is why you aren't supposed to do these types of things pregnant, like hard bouncey things. I do have hope that this will get better as my torso and core get stronger, we will see. 

After this wod I finished up some more basics from the running class, grabbed my junk, a paleo kit and headed home. The rest of that day I was pretty tanked. No matter what I ate I seemed to just be completely out of energy, I took a couple of short naps while trying to do stuff around the house but it never seemed to get any better. I was in bed and reading for the night at like 9 I think. Exhausted!

Speaking of Paleo kits, I got my first box of goods from Steve's Original. I grabbed some of the Apple pie kits, paleo krunch and some berry kits. 

This is stuff is amazingly good. Daddy-O and I split a regular kit which is a perfect meal replacement for 1 adult. Lots of protein and fat, the snack size is what I had post wod and it was also a perfect portion, I have been wanting to try these for a while. I thought they were perfect because it is hard to find allergy free jerky for me and/or quick grab snacks. I plan as much as possible but there are always times I go hungry because I am not where I can eat regular food or I am somewhere that doesn't have food I can eat. I can throw one of these in my purse and always be prepared. I know a bar would be easier but most bars are mostly sugar and fat if they are paleo and I need protein. Protein bars are out...allergens, sugar and junk, not thanks. An added bonus to these kits is they will go great in an emergency kit. I bought a sample of stuff to see what was good and how filling they were, I will be buying more for our kits. The Paleo Crack Krunch was just something I wanted to try. I have always loved granola and while this is purely a fat and calorie supply and mainly for enjoyment, it would be a good snack grab in a pinch. It was superb...yikes, too good actually. I couldn't seem to stay away from it. Then...it was gone. 

So speaking of emergency kits, we are supposed to hit a pretty nasty winter around here so I have been planning for such. I was a Jeep girl before I succumbed to the minivan so big snows weren't a huge deal. Now I drive a front wheel drive mombus...not even all wheel, I am not going to go gallivanting out like I would in the Jeeps. Because of this, I am going to have some emergency stocks in case we get snowed in. We have a nice freezer to stock and I am going to start stocking the pantry, but I also want to have items for times when we are stuck without power. I have been researching preparedness and kits and stuff and I have to say...some people have it right but some people miss the boat on food. 

When I get ready to stock our kit I will not be turning to cereals and dried grains, so I will be turning to proteins and fats. Sure you can stock up on calories with grains and such but your body will burn right through them, where as with protein and especially fat it is a slow release of energy. I have been buying extra jars of coconut oil for this purpose, the zone has really opened my eyes to this. I find the only time I am hungry is when I haven't had all of my fat blocks. I also don't want to spend the zombie apocalypse in serious pain and agony from living off of allergy foods. So I am trying to keep a stash of high calorie, high protein and high fat options. 

CorssFit Regeneration had a charity event Sunday featuring the workout "Fight gone Bad" this is an amazing workout i was dying to do. I was still incredibly sore and tanked from two classes in one day so I had planned on going to watch and donate. Then this happened...

   

     Awful Aqua and peach bathroom (with Fircracker as a butterfly)  New concrete gray and white!

I don't really have a good picture of my bathroom before. It had an old white vanity we had painted after we got married and shiny silver accessories. We painted it a bright aqua to match a curtain and try to tame the obnoxious peach tile. This is the last room in our house that needed a major overhaul so we found a new vanity, mirror and paint color. We spray painted our shiny silver stuff with a satin nickle rustoleum, took down the bulky over sized 80s dated wooden medicine cabinet and voila...new bathroom! I actually found a bathroom on Pinterest and copied it almost exactly. I didn't want to go out and buy a ton of new decorations so I just kind of robbed different rooms in my house to achieve the same look and finished it off by printing some photos of us as a family from last Fall. I am pretty proud of it. Daddy-O and I are total DIY people so this was fun. 

It's not swagger, I am just sore. Ranting & Roast Chicken

First off I want to say I love re-reading a post I wrote while completely exhausted, it makes for good laughs. Not that my editing is great on a good day but last night was hilarious! Okay enough about that.

As I said before sometimes when I leave a workout I feel like I need to go back and do another because my recovery has become really quick. To me this was an indication that I was ready to try two days in a row. My goal is to get up to 5-6 days a week, this may not necessarily be a WOD every day, but that or a run or a home wod, because of scheduling and such. I do want to reach a point of working out, hard, most days. So yesterday was my first 2 days in a row workout. Today...I feel like I did after beginner workouts. Sore, tired, amazing. Man, it is really hard not to walk around with the CrossFit walk sometimes. I went to bed early last night slept 9.5 hours and I am still tired today. I am dosing my protein blocks and omega 3 and trying to stay away from nuts for today.

Today was Firecracker's Thanksgiving Feast at school, this is where they get to bring their favorite food and share with the class. Firecracker settled on goldfish, she didn't seem to really get that she wasn't picking snack for her snack week and kept bouncing between snack foods, finally settling on the goldfish. Geeps took shrimp to his last year, he went all out. So before the feast I grabbed a cheese stick and an apple and some coconut oil, I know I know but it is an easy fat, life has been crazy and I am being ultra lazy. I am a room mom so I was setting up for the party (btw this is why no CrossFit today),and I was looking like some crazy lady trying to get this table cloth on with my sore arms and shoulders. Then every time I would squat down, getting up was a challenge, I really wanted a sign that said I wasn't disabled just sore.

My little pilgrim eating a fry!

So when I got home I was good and hungry and Firecracker was full of all kinds of crap so rather than cook I just grabbed some more chili...I know I know I am pathetic. I told you I am a fiend for the stuff. I just hate that you are getting boring food posts, but worry not, keep reading I am cooking up something fantabulous for dinner! But more on that later, I wanted to say that that I think I have hit the mark on this zone paleo...I am seeing the scale move as well as a few places feel leaner (aka not so much padding) but the biggest thing I have noticed is that I am sated at meals and don't get hungry again until about 10-20 min before the next meal. I am also all about all 5 meals. I feel like I eat smaller meals than before but it is a good amount because I get hungry when I should and I am sated when I should be.

**Rant Warning**

So this afternoon I was chatting with my friend FitChick, now if you haven't checked out her blog do it, you can view it here. Not only is she a friend but she is my fitness and health partner in crime. We compliment each other very well and have some great fitness & nutrition discussions. She is very inspiring to me, she is the main reason I skip simple cheats and show restraint with food and well try when it comes to eating healthy 100% of the time. This woman has the resolve of a bull and more willpower than anyone I have ever met. She has fought hard for a 70+ pound weight loss (so far, she isn't done yet) and she has changed her life. One of my favorite things to do is talk about all of this stuff with her. Her blog is also amazing and inspiring...well on that blog she got an unwelcome comment. In so many words someone got extremely high on their horse and extra judgey of her methods.

See FitChick is on a medically supervised low calorie diet plan that involves shakes and such. She did a lot of research and found this plan and decided to commit to it. This person decided to ride in and go all, well here is my opinion, which involved passively aggressively attacking her life. Sound exaggerated? It isn't, she knows nothing about her but what is posted and she felt it was okay to get on there and let her have it. She veiled it in a post of "concern" and even after FitChick politely replied and defended her choices and current lifestyle this chick still came back to attack her...with "concern". I get it, we are online, our posts are seen by tons of people and we are going to get opinions, I am lucky I don't have the following she does which equates to less drama. This girl on her -I just graduated from college with a degree in your standard exercise science program- had no right to come and attack FitChick and it was stupid wrong. It made me quite mad, don't mess with my peeps! I ask that the 2 of you who read this please go check her site and give her a big ole you rock, because she does. I have seen her go from unhappy and unhealthy to a model for anyone wanting to live a healthy lifestyle and she has never posted peanut butter banana "healthy" cookies on her site.

Okay now onto some Nosh!!!

I have mentioned before I love nom nom paleo she has the best food porn on her site and she is a crazy cooking nut like me. A while back she posted a recipe for a quick and easy chicken and I am addicted to it. It is so good and worth the prep time. I don't get to make Thanksgiving dinner and I am apparently in the mood this year so I have been making a lot of roast chickens. You can find the original of this recipe here.

Roast Chicken and Veg
1 brined organic chicken
Roasting vegetables, I used parsnips, carrots, pearl onion, celery, and mushrooms
butter

Peel and cut up all of your veggies and place them in a roasting pan, dot with butter. Spatchcock your chicken, place over veggies and massage butter into the skin. I sprinkled with Old world seasoning from Penzeys. Place in a 425 degree oven and cook for 45-55 min until done.

before the magic

after the magic!!

I love Trader Joe's, I know I have said it before. The main reason is that it is easy to get the foods I like at a good price, but the close second is that they sell their foods in seasons. Like now they have tons of parsnips! Yay for me, I love these little roots. The only root I love more than parsnips are beets...mmm beets! I love parsnips so much that I cut up 2 whole bags of them for this recipe to make sure I had some leftovers. If you don't have a TJs nearby that sells organic brined chickens you can brine your own, it makes the best roast chicken ever!!

I am really itching to cook some good Thanksgiving eats, I am going to be traveling this year but I am considering making a paleo pumpkin pie-ish and maybe some other goodies to take. Jury is still out however. I really want to make some paleo truffles so look out for those before Christmas for sure. 

The day that wasn't...

YAWN! It is going to be a long day, I woke up early this morning to go eat breakfast at Geeps school to raise money for a family in need. I had gone not planning on having any options to eat and lo and behold I was able to get eggs and bacon & some orange juice, even coffee with real cream. Shocked I was, the only thing I was missing was some extra fat which I got by eating a couple spoons of coconut oil when I got home. Yep I did that.

Afterward I came home and had a couple of hours to get some work in before hitting CrossFit Regeneration again today, eeek yes I know two days in a row...I am a lucky girl. I ran into a food dilemma today before I hit the box. Typically I eat breakfast an hour before a workout, but since today was more of a lunchtime wod I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go. I do pretty good in the energy department if I get my 3 block meal in at least one hour before hitting the pavement (or bars whatever) so I was concerned what a 1 block snack, which is typically post workout nosh, would do for me before the workout. 

After much mental debate I decided to have another 3 block meal an hour before the workout and hit a 1 block snack post wod. So for my 3 block meal I had leftover chili with sour cream and 2 blocks of nuts. I wasn't really very hungry but I knew I would need it for today's workout so I ate it up, dropped Firecracker off and headed to CrossFit Regeneration. Today's workout deets...

Skill practice - I worked on double unders

then

9 sit ups

21 thrusters (45#)

15 sit ups

15 thrusters

21 sit ups

9 thrusters

time: 13:47

cherry

5 min amrap

10 toes to bar (knees to boobies for me)

10 push press (45#)

10 burpees...

1 round + 8 push press

I really think that my body is starting to become the crossfitter my mind wants me to be. Sure I have a LONG way to go to be the fittest but today I did 45 thrusters with 45#...if you remember last time I worked on thrusters it didn't go so well, I needed major help from some warp drive engineers, but today while I didn't own it it wasn't completely horrible and in hindsight I would have probably performed even better if I wasn't a bit sore and fatigued from yesterday. Maybe. 

Afterward I downed some nuts and cheese, I need to hit the grocery! Somewhere in between the 100 errands I had today I stopped by my house to grab a second 1 block snack and since I had about 2 minutes to find something I just grabbed a scoop of protein and drank it up with some nuts. I am pounding the omega six today!

My day just didn't want to slow down or stop so after picking up Geeps I ran some more errands then took little man to taekwando, which went way too fast. It was spirit day at Chikfila for Geeps school and since I was beyond exhausted from a full day of running around I had Daddy-O grab dinner for us. I thought about getting the grilled nuggets like I always do and making some healthier starches at home with some fat but it wasn't happening. So I ended up having 6 grilled nuggets, fries (let's all gasp) and a dt coke, they I went there too! We got shafted because I should have had 8 nuggets so since my protein was lacking I grabbed on of the kids cheese sticks to full in, 2 tsps of coconut oil later and I was finished. Not my best day of food ever but hey. 

So it is late, I am tanked and ready to pass out! While I was great during today's workout I am feeling the effects of two days in a row...need sleep!!!

It's Tuesday

I gots nothing clever for a title today. My brain is just not working for me. Plus I typically write my blog throughout the day but today was full of fun surprises and fussy kids, so...

This morning was my typical crazy day getting everyone ready for their day. At 5 minutes before we needed to leave Daddy-O informs me he needs to be at work early...so I offered to take Geeps to school for him and save him about 20 min...I had 5 min to get Geeps ready, Firecracker dressed and ready as well as myself (not to mention I was trying to finally make my breakfast). I was a champ, got everyone dressed and bundled up but...moi. So here I was taking Geeps to school in my PJs, bed hair and all. Oh yeah, and my PJs were some cotton shorts and a long sleeved shirt. It was 28 degrees and I have leather seats...all I can say is thank God for Uggs & heated seats (and not being late thus having to walk Geeps in). When I finally got home and got Firecracker settled with some electronic entertainment I was able to make my breakfast which today is my pre WOD fuel.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, mushrooms, green onions & topped with hot sauce
                 3/4 avocado
                coffee with milk

This was a really great breakfast, I have decided to go ahead and cut my carb/starches and up my fats. One reason is 3 cups of broccoli is a lot of friggin food and I can't seem to eat all of my blocks of carbs. This is mainly because I don't eat things like bread or beans, it would be easy that way to get those starches in, but I eat a mostly low glycemic carbs so the quantities are huge. So today I had 1 block of carbs at breakfast and upped my fat to 6 blocks. This is why I think so many paleo zone people eat a crap ton of avocados, I wasn't going to eat 2 tsps of butter, so I opted for 1 block of butter, 5 blocks of avocado. It was quite tasty. This meal, which I fought to get in my gullet at least an hour before I hit my workout, was a gem. I had loads of energy during the crazy hard awesome WOD and had zippity quick recovery. Win, win. I think I found my formula. Here are some WOD deets...

Overhead Squats 3X10 35#

then

1000m row

30 HSPU

50 KB swings 25#

800m run

time 19:36

This was a crazy wod, I didn't know what to think about it last night. I mean after doing a pretty good workout with the over head squats you started a new one with 1000m row. This doesn't sound like a long distance but it sneaks up on you, then after you finish and your legs are numb, your shoulders tired, and your hips and butt gassed you have to work your HSPU & KB swings. When you finish that 50th swing your ass has to get moving for the run. 

Now I haven't posted in a few days because I was sick most of last week, then my allergies flared up so I had a fair amount of gunk in my head today. When I went out to run I got a little choked on all of that crap and yep...you guessed it...threw up. I was feeling a little sick during the KB swings and it just came to fruition when I choked while running. It was fairly small, not very dramatic and no one was around me. But there it is...

Post wod I grabbed my snack of 1 oz turkey, avocado, and tangerine. I think I am going to have avocado as my block of fat for all of my post workout snacks, it was very soothing to my belly. Score. 

After picking up Firecracker I scrambled home super hungry. Got her lunch all together and decided to make my old favorite, salad soup. Typically I like to eat my post workout meal before the 2 hour mark after working out. Today I was fighting like I did for breakfast...kids don't give two hoots about time frames haha. Firecracker was settled while I made some chicken salad-ish and chopped veggies for the soup. It was cooking and just as I was sitting down to eat the chicken salad-ish she started screaming in pain. Me = freaked...it ended up being her belly and was fixed with a good rub and a hot water bottle at which time she promptly passed gas and passed out. It is so much fun to be a mom!

While she snoozed I worked and finally got to eat my chicken salad-ish and salad soup. After picking up Geeps from school I was starting to feel tired and hungry. My recovery post workout has reached a point where sometimes I leave thinking I should workout again because I feel so good, but I am still hitting a point in the afternoon where keeping my eyes open is a challenge, add hunger to that and I am practically narcoleptic. So while the kids were chowing some after school nosh and watching Fanboy & Chum Chum, I grabbed some milk and walnuts. Milk is a combo food an counts as a protein & carb block, I threw in some nuts for fat. It livened me up a bit and sated me enough to get me to dinner. 

Speaking of dinner, we had chili...again. I am a self proclaimed chili nut. I am not exactly sure exactly how often I could eat chili before I got sick of it but I am sure it is a good amount. I also rarely make my chili the same way twice. Today I made a veggie filled version of a paleo chili. Oh ladies and gents it was tasty. Hit the spot and I added some sour cream for fat. 

Veggie stuffed Paleo Chili

2 lbs ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

10 baby carrots, chopped or cut into "coins" as my kids call them

2-3 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

2+cups beef broth

1 28 oz can of tomatoes

toppings - cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, avocado

Brown beef and onion (seasoning with salt & pepper) until cooked through, drain off fat. Add chopped veggies and cook until soft. Add tomatoes, broth and spices and stir to combine. Bring to a boil adding a bit more broth if it is too thick. Let cook about 20 min to meld and and cook the veggies. Adjust chili powder, salt & pepper to taste. 

Serve topped with sour cream (or other toppings, I just used sour cream) yum.

So I have to get up extremely early tomorrow for a breakfast at Geeps school (a wheat loaded breakfast I might add) but it is for a good cause so we are all going and well Geeps thinks it is fun to have us at his school. I am not a morning person and I want to make sure I have lots of coffee and a hefty dose of protein before we leave so, early night for me. But before I decided to turn in Daddy-O brought me a treat!

Coconut milk nog...dang! I love egg nog, like I could drink gallons of the creamy dreamy stuff. I am real partial to it to, it has to be good stuff. The best I ever had was like real deal home made liquid custard, hard to find that and I have never tried to make it. Although Mark's Daily Apple has one I might try this year. This stuff however hit the spot, it is early I know but if it is cold Nog is perfectly acceptable haha. He said they also had this mint chocolate too, sounds good but I would want it hot and I am a snot about my hot cocoa. I drink one kind...Penzeys hot cocoa, or mint hot cocoa...that is it. 

This stuff was amazing, had a bit of a coconut milk taste which I like and lacked that eggy custard flavor but still really good. You can see a picture of this in my glass on Instagram...are you following me on instagram? No? Well you should...supermomsteurer 

Motivation Monday

Also check out this post by the ever most awesome FitChick about self-control something I threw out of the window at the first sign of heavy stress today!! I might also add she has lost over 70 lbs and is a HUGE motivation to me and many others!