My Food and Fitness Plan [2/29]

Happy Leap Day!

Things are getting crazy around here and I will likely have less time to blog, which makes me super sad, but hopefully it won’t last too long. 

But TODAY I have time, so a few pictures:

Lunch: quinoa salmon patties topped with hummus with a kale salad

Ina (senior) and Ina (junior) whispering “secrets"

Ina drew a picture of me

Future surgeons

Fun at the park with friends (Thanks for the pic Liz!)

Jumping after church

Star Wars Day at the zoo (thanks Hannah for the pics!). 

We didn’t actually see any of the professional Star Wars characters, but we did see plenty of zoo patrons who dressed up, which was good enough for us. My newest goal is to grow my hair out to up my Princess Leia bun game.

Here is my plan for the week:

Food:

• Monday: roasted sausage, potatoes, peppers, and broccoli 
• Tuesday: dinner at Danielle’s 
• Wednesday: easy chicken and bean bake
• Thursday: lemon chicken stew
• Friday: very veggie fried rice
• Saturday: out to eat

Fitness: Rest today, Ripped in 30 Week 1 Tues and Wed; rest Thursday; Week 2 Fri and Sat.

I hope you have a lovely week!

Thankful Thursday

Good morning. 

Things are kind of rough over here, but in the middle of a storm we should still be thankful.

 source

 So, with that, I am thankful for healthy kids. No fevers or fussiness within the past 24 hours. Woohoo!

I am thankful for workout videos. The problem with any other type of workout is that I can’t really do it first thing in the morning due to lack of equipment. So, I decided to start JM’s Ripped in 30. Week 1 Day 1 is already in the books.

I am thankful for sleep training. Julie’s post motivated me to try to sleep train Cora. Last night was the first night and she slept from 8 PM to 5 AM! She woke up a handful of times and was fussy, but always soothed herself back to sleep within 5 minutes and never broke out in a full-on cry. I am hopeful that night 2 will go as well. Now if I could only sleep train Ina.

I am thankful for Jamberry nails. When spring seems so far away, I can just look at my hands and my mood is lifted.

And those little chickies...

I am thankful for Cora’s patience with Ina.

 

Oh the joys of having an older sister...👭

A video posted by Racheal (@runningwithrach) onFeb 25, 2016 at 5:02am PST

Does the fact that I didn’t stop that make me a bad mom? Cora didn’t seem to mind and Ina is having issues going under water at swim school, so I thought we might as well start her early...

I am thankful for new mercies every morning. 

Have a lovely day. 

My Food and Fitness Plan [2/21]

Good morning!

What a beautiful weekend it has been. We opened up the windows and let the fresh air in!

Although, we have had a few failed plans. Friday night we went to a church event which I mistakenly assumed was for the whole family and soon found out it really wasn’t meant for children. After Dan and I took a few turns out in the hallway and then were both out in the hallway, we decided to throw in the towel and leave. Then, last night we had plans to visit Top Golf with friends, but there was a FOUR HOUR wait, so we ended up at the casino instead. It was still a great night. 

Other than that, the weekend consisted of me doing laundry, dishes, and organizing Ina’s puzzle shelf. Oh, and Cora and I had a great little stroller workout while Ina was napping. 

 

Cora and I busted out a quick stroller workout: jog 0.25 miles and in between do 25 squats•10 push-ups•20 lunges•minute plank. Repeat for a 2 mile run. 💪🏼

A photo posted by Racheal (@runningwithrach) onFeb 20, 2016 at 2:21pm PST

Today is church-park-food prep-small group. Here is my plan for the week:

Food (still detoxing):

• Sunday: chicken a la croilla with brown rice and roasted brussels sprouts
• Monday: shortcut veggie ragu with spaghetti squash
• Tuesday: coconut curry chicken with brown rice and roasted broccoli
• Wednesday: chicken and lentils in the slow cooker
• Thursday: paleo stuffed sweet potatoes
• Friday: out to eat
• Saturday: dinner at a friend’s house
• Breakfasts: hard boiled eggs + smoothie or some banana pancakes I made over the weekend
• Lunches: prep these salmon patties and roast some extra broccoli
• Snacks: almond dates lemon snack balls, sweet potato bites, veggies and hummus

Fitness:

• Sunday: rest
• Monday: circuit + HIIT
• Tuesday: 3 mile run
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: rest
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: spin class

I hope you have a blessed week! <3

Thankful Thursday

Hello there! 

(source) 

I am thankful for the results of my health screening at work. All of my blood work was excellent, in fact my triglycerides were so low they were undetectable! The nurse collecting everything was impressed, so of course I took that opportunity to tell her about The Daniel Plan. The only thing that wasn’t at a “healthy” number was my weight, but it was close enough for me. 

Speaking of health results, my father-in-law had a wonderful cancer update - after his first few rounds of radiation and chemo the spots that were in his brain are now gone and the mass in his lung has significantly decreased!

I am thankful that restaurants like T.Loft exist, which make going out to eat while on a detox seem not-so-difficult.

I am thankful for Dan’s new temporary work schedule. This is a repeat from last week, but I am still so happy to have Dan with us at the dinner table every night and at church on Sunday. 

I am thankful for a forecast of beautiful weather for the next few days. I see a park date in our future.

I am thankful for these bible videos I just discovered through The Bible Project. Although I think it is important to read God’s word on my own, I also am such a visual person and these little videos are great.

I am thankful for grace, Jesus, and you.

<3

 

What I Ate Wednesday (Daniel Plan Detox Edition)

Good morning! 

Yesterday was Day 16 of the detox and eating these foods has pretty much become second nature by now. Everyday I miss coffee creamer, pizza, and wine less and less. (Although, I still do look forward to the day I get to eat a piece of pizza again.)

I thought it would be useful to show a day of eats WIAW-style.

Wake-up: cup of hot tea, because my Keurig wasn’t working

Breakfast: smoothie (frozen banana, two handfuls of spinach, T of peanut butter, T cocoa powder, 1.5 cups almond milk) and 2 hb eggs

Morning snack: handful of nuts at my desk

Lunch: salmon patties on a bed of roasted brussels sprouts brown rice and back beans

Afternoon snack: hummus-carrots-apple inhaled on my drive home after running after work. (Side note: I do think this detox leaves me with less “extra” sugar floating around and after I used all the available energy I had during my run I was super shakey and couldn’t eat that food fast enough.)

Handful of nuts while reading to the girls and waiting for dinner to finish up in the oven.

Dinner: roasted chicken and veg with a massaged kale salad. (I totally got seconds).

Dessert: a few dried figs 

So, even though this is a detox, I eat A LOT of food. I am rarely hungry and feel great. 

Thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting the WIAW link-up!

Good News/Bad News

Good morning!

Good news: I am all rested up and it feels great! Bad news: the reason I am all rested is because Cora and I have been co-sleeping in the guest room so when she wakes up 5 times per night I don’t have to get up to soothe her. Yes, I know we are creating a super bad habit, but she still has a cough and randomly gets choked and I don’t feel comfortable with her being so far away. 

And, I must admit that I have been sleeping great. So, let’s just be happy about that before the sleep training begins. 

More bad news: my (brand new) Keurig is broken. And I have “caught” Cora’s cough, even though I sound worse than I feel. And I have to fast until 10:00 this morning for my work health screening. 

Whew, now that we have all of those things out of the way...

We went on a family date for Valentine’s Day to Chuy’s on the plaza.

I loved it because it is easy to order detox friendly food (fajitas), Dan loved the spicy salsa, Ina loved the orange sherbet push-pop, and Cora loved that the waitress offered to bring a freshly made tortilla for her to take small bites of. 

It was a win-win-win-win.

After lunch we walked around and spent the majority of our time in the toy store, where I successfully convinced Ina to pick out a “useful” toy. 

Suitcase FTW.

Other good news: 

- I increased my weight in this workout yesterday

- Our Daniel Plan study group is going strong! (Something that really stuck out to me were questions to ask yourself/God when you fail at something. I hope to write an entire post on that.)

- These paleo salmon patties were delicious last night 

Have a lovely day!

My Food and Fitness Plan [2/14]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 [Throwback circa 2013. I need to update this one!]

Or as Ina says, “Valentime’s Day!” I told her that if we ask someone to by our valentine, that is like saying, “I love you.” So of course she walked around the house asking Dan, Cora, and me to be her valentine all day and kept on thinking of new people she wanted to ask. Then she finally said, “I want everyone who was at my birthday party to be my valentine."

She knows how to get things covered.

This weekend has been great so far. Dan pushed me out of the house for a super cold run on Friday after work 

and then took Ina to the fish fry at the Catholic church down the street while Cora and I stayed home with our vegetables. (Last time I checked, fried fish wasn’t on the detox plan).

Then Saturday I did this barre burner, worked for a bit, then Ina and I went on a grocery shopping/library date.

We had a seriously good time and I need to remind myself to allow more one-on-one time with her. Because of the nursing situation, when Dan and I split parenting duties, I usually get Cora and he gets Ina. Now that Cora is eating big(ger) girl food, she doesn’t need me as often.

We ended the day with having some new friends over for fajitas, which was fantastic. 

Who says cold weekends have to be dull? 

Today we are going to church and thinking about going taking the girls to the aquarium to celebrate Vday with a family date. 

Here’s my plan for the week:

Food:

• Sunday: paleo salmon cakes with roasted broccoli and brown rice
• Monday: roasted whole chicken and root vegetables
• Tuesday: white chicken chili with roasted brussels sprouts
• Wednesday: Asian crack slaw
• Thursday: vegetable Korma with brown rice
• Friday: almond meal chicken fingers, roasted green beans, baked sweet potatoes 
• Saturday: out to eat with friends
• Lunches: leftovers for Marinated kale and chicken bowls
• Breakfasts: eggs in a basket and smoothies

Fitness: Winter Shape-up Week 4 

 I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day spent with the ones you love. 

Thankful Thursday

Good morning!

It’s been awhile, huh?

What started with a pink(ish) eye for Cora turned into a cold, which turned into a fever, which then turned into an ear infection, which then turned into croup. 

Hearing a baby cough with her entire body and being paranoid about her breathing is not a fun way to spend the night, but so far so good and she appears to be getting better. I am so thankful for medications like antibiotics and breathing treatments and ibuprofen. 

I am also thankful that she has been in a pretty decent mood with this whole thing and absolutely loves the extra time in the steam shower with her sister. 

I am thankful that Dan’s work schedule (very temporarily) changed! It is no secret that I am not the biggest fan of Dan working 12 hour shifts and every other weekend. So, of course I was elated when he came home and told me he was working 8 hour days Monday to Friday for the next few weeks! It has been great having him here to help with, well, everything that we have to do when we get home.

I am thankful for how great I feel after “detoxing” for 10 days. I use quotes because it doesn’t even really feel like a detox, I get to eat so many yummy foods. Well, except when I couldn’t eat soft pretzels at the super bowl party we went to. I felt that for sure. 

I am thankful for Danielle taking Ina to a “solar system” class yesterday. It seemed like she had a lot of fun and she liked her teacher.

Speaking of classes, Ina did even better at swim school last night. She only need an extra kiss and hug from Dan to be convinced to head into the water.

I am thankful for Pinterest for inspiring me to be extra cheesey for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s to a healthier end to the week! <3

Highs and Lows + My Food and Fitness Plan

Good morning!

This weekend has been great, despite the fact that both girls have had a fever and I have not gotten much sleep. But, let’s not focus on the lows. Some highs from the weekend:

- Another super easy dinner: chicken sausage, roasted broccoli, and smashed potatoes. One pan. Thirty minutes. Yum.

- Friday night bath time. When Cora is in her Bumbo she can almost actually play with Ina in the water and watching them interact is just about the cutest thing ever. Ina splashes water in Cora’s face and I almost stop her, but then Cora just laughs and loves it. 

 

Friday night bath party 💦👯🛁

A photo posted by Racheal (@runningwithrach) onFeb 5, 2016 at 5:14pm PST

- I made some paleo coffee creamer. The detox is going very well with one little problem - I REALLY miss cream in my coffee and almond milk just isn’t cutting it. I made this recipe and it helped. A lot. (But Racheal, I thought you couldn’t have coffee on the Daniel Plan Detox? Correct. However, giving up coffee when I am not sleeping at all would pretty much mean giving up on life right now and I am not ready to do that. So, I have significantly decreased my coffee consumption to one cup in the morning and occasionally one cup in the afternoon.)

- Danielle and I went on an early morning run on Saturday morning.

It was so nice to chat with her without our kiddos and have her there to keep me moving. It has been some time since I have run 3 miles at a good pace without stopping and I was spent by the end.

- I spoke to pharmacy students about my career path, which I was happy to do, but also happy to get it over with. Those types of things always stress me out. While I was away Dan took the girls to his grandma’s house and they had fun playing. I don’t think they even missed me.

-We went out to eat for my mom’s birthday. 

No pictures of the birthday girl (I was busy making sure my meal didn’t have dairy in it and trying to soothe my fussy baby), but it was nice to see a lot of  the family. 

Today we are going to church, have some family after, then small group and watching the game while eating some chili. 

Here is my plan for the week:

Food:

• Sunday: chili + salad (I made a pretty good salad dressing with some fancy vinegar, EVOO, mustard, garlic, and S+P)
• Monday: chicken and veggie fajitas and spanish brown rice
• Tuesday: balsamic chicken with roasted vegetables
• Wednesday: crockpot picadillo, brown rice, and salad
• Thursday: pressure cooker chicken and lentil soup
• Friday: vegetaria korma with brown rice
• Saturday: salmon cakes with peas and roasted carrots
• Lunches: leftovers or with Greek Chicken with  Mediterranean quinoa salad (minus the feta)
• Breakfasts: smoothies or egg rice cups (working on a finding a recipe)
• Snacks: almond joy energy bites, hb eggs, or veggies with hummus 

Fitness: Week 3 of The Fitnessista’s Winter Shape Up:

 

 

 Have a lovely week! <3

Thankful Thursday

Good morning!

Today I a thankful for:

- this kettle bell, which Dan dug out of the trash and brought home a few years ago. I pressed play on this strength and Tabata workout and then discovered I would need a kettle bell. He knew it would come in handy one day. 

- the fact that I am not alone.

- Cora not having an ear infection! Yesterday she woke up with pink eye and I immediately thought she would have an ear infection since Ina just had both and Cora has been pretty fussy lately. So, I took her to the doctor and found out that she is in the clear and her fussiness is likely due to her teething. (The doctor also said that because Cora had a clogged tear duct as an infant, anytime she gets a cold, her eye is going to look like she has pink eye, so I need to continue the “massage” and drops.)

- Ina’s swim lessons went so much better this week. 

She still was still hesitant at first and when we pulled in the parking lot she informed me that she “didn’t need to go to Emler Swim School” because she “already knows how to swim.” However, after some gentle and not so gentle coaxing, a pink floatie, and the promise of a Blow-Pop at the end, she got in and was GREAT the rest of the lesson. 

- Ina’s new clothes from my mom. Ina has been growing like a weed and all the clothes she got for Christmas don’t fit her (her belly hangs out of all of the shirts). I mentioned this to my mom and she made a few rescue Kohl’s trips to outfit Ina for the next few months. 

- Being DONE with the spring/summer consignment sale. On Tuesday Dan packed my car and I dropped all of our stuff off at the sale over lunch. 

This was a lot of work, and likely not financially worth it, but I am happy to see someone else get use out of the girls’ cute clothes and plan to take the money they earn and put it in their college funds. 

- The easiest dinner in the world. 

Yesterday morning I took 5 minutes to arrange this dish and stuck it in the fridge before work. Right before we left to go to swim lessons I popped it in the oven for a “timed bake.” We arrived home to a delicious smelling house and a healthy dinner ready to go. 

I hope you have a lovely day! <3

Day 1

Good morning!

There was a dent in her breakfast bar and I was making her wear a shirt that had socks on it (???). Of course that meant her world had ended. Ten minutes later she was fine and all was right with the world. #THREEnager)

Yesterday was my first day of the DP Detox and it went great!

It is amazing what food prep and meal planning can do. Although, Dan stole my kale salad, which I suppose I should be happy about because he typically doesn’t eat kale salads, but I would have liked to know that mine was gone before I had 3 minutes to pack my lunch and my daughter was having a meltdown because her breakfast bar had a dent in it. 

In case you were wondering, I was late to work yesterday.

I also squeezed in a workout: 20 minute AMRAP and whew, I am soooore today. 

This was my first time doing an “as many rounds as possible” type workout and I really liked it. I got in 3 rounds in 20 minutes, but hope to get in 4 on Friday, now that I know the drill. 

Today is a busy day, so I better get to it. Have a good one! <3