Beautiful Behaviors - April 2017

Ugh, what's the word for people who want something for nothing? I'm frustrated at that today. (and it's someone I work with, I wish everyone had good morals and values). **Rant over. I'm just gonna keep the faith and pray for people.

Everyone is adopting healthier habits and I'm lovin reading about it and seeing pics!!! Set goals and crush them, no matter how small they seem I promise they are adding up!

Update: Yesterday I took about an hour nap when I got home - this is monumental because I can rarely fall asleep during the day. I took a rest day because I could feel my body needed it. However I do have a non-scale victory to report - I was determined to have dinner at the Mexican restaurant around the corner and my bf talked me out of it. For some reason I was starving when I got home from work so I had tuna fish and cottage cheese before my nap. I wasn't hungry and he said he would just eat later.

Thought for the day: Happiness is not defined by size. ***I always preach, 'love your body and life at any size'. So many think that once they lose the weight happiness will come. You can be unhappy at any size and you can be happy at any size. I've weighed more and I've weighed less. Don't push pause on life or activities/adventures that you want in life because of your size. I saw a post once that stated - the guy wanted to travel and go to school but didn't want to do it while he was big. Why? Live life, we all know life is short. I, myself had to learn this. After my mom passed I realized I was always saving money and delaying trips I wanted to take. Yet my bills are always paid, so that next year I started traveling. I love building experiences with my kids and my family or even just for myself.

Happy Friday all!

Hello everyone! I had a rough week. My neighbor was pregnant with twins and in the hospital on bed rest. She went into labor and delivered them at 27 weeks, a boy and a girl. Sadly, the baby girl passed away the next day. The baby boy is still hanging in there. The parents are just reeling and overwhelmed, so I have been trying to help them muddle through things, planning a memorial service, etc. I can't imagine being in their situation. As the father put it, he wants to be happy about his baby son, but it's so hard when he's grieving for his daughter at the same time. Prayers for baby Katrina and her family would be most appreciated.

I have a very busy weekend coming, and I'm feeling emotionally drained and overwhelmed with my to do list, so I haven't been logging my food, but haven't gone crazy with binging, either. I will allow myself some wiggle room to get through the next few days, then I will pull myself together and start strong again on Monday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and has a chance to enjoy some nice Spring weather!

Great news on my Dad! He moved his legs on command yesterday so it appears that his spinal surgery was a success. My sister and I found out while walking our pups in a crowded park. We both screamed for joy. I'm still over the moon about it. It's been a pretty stressful week and I'm glad I only had one slip up by hanging out with my good o' Irish friend Jameson last weekend and bawling it out. (kinda the only time I've cried about the whole situation...maybe I should work on that.) All in all, I handled this week much better than how I tend to deal with stress = FOOOOOD!

@sabinki it's perfectly ok to indulge with the 80%clean/20% (or less) naughty food. It helps stay on track in the big picture. Being too restrictive can lead to major binges or never getting back to it because it seems too hard.

@mbam89 - giiiirl, I love dancing. I try to secretly dance in place at my standing desk at work. I have my own office, but it's front and center. I play that cool move of being like "stretching" or something when someone walks by. I'm sure they've caught me. Hahahaha. hashtagPROFESSIONAL.

@jessiquoi a friend of mine has gone keto...aka low carb and dropped her a1c from a 8 to a 5 between tests. Its going to be so worth it!

@str8bowbabe Are you looking for low fat recipes for a specific meal, meal prepping, or just something new? I'm trying out that skinny Pad Thai Chicken tonight!! I'll give a report. I'm going to use PBfit powder instead of peanut butter to reduce the fat of the peanut sauce.

All you other kids, keep being the beautiful people that you are! Everyday your just that much closer to your goals! Today my beautiful behavior is to maintain the behaviors I have been focusing on this week. Water, a.m. workout (check), and sober fun on a Friday night with friends! ;-)

Today, I behaved myself.

Yeah, it was that boring.

Chickweed @fitzmonkey13 is much less bitter than dandelion. That's why I cannot believe the number of people who buy it in capsules and take it like a pill!

Oh. Oh. Oh. Today, I boiled split peas and flavored them with salt, cumin, and then added tilapia. Dang, it was good!

Love to all.

Lea

Do you guys have any favorite salad recipes? @aleahurst 's chickweed inspired me!

@fibonacci227 - lettuce has so little flavor (for my taste) that I'm on the search for more interesting salads! Have you ever tried cutting up about 6 strawberries on a salad? It makes the salad so pretty and good. My homemade dressing is NOT low fat, but has good fats. My other go to is about 6 wild violet blooms. They look pretty and are surprisingly tasty.

@jessiquoi - I'm so proud of you! Yay! That's me cheering. Can you see me jumping?

Today, I will sit outdoors in whatever sunlight we have for about 20 minutes and dig my toes into the grass. Vitamin D, earthing, and gardening. Yeah!

Oh. Wait. I'm taking serrapeptase in the a.m. on an empty stomach. It seems to help, but I'm still in the wait and watch state on that.

I now use spirulina daily and need to remember to not use it at night. It keeps me awake!

Love to all.

Lea

Quick update because I'm gonna spend time with my loved one
Worked out both Saturday and Sunday. Today I completed 113 minutes of Shoulders and Treadmill incline. Went to the gym by myself the past couple days because the bf had to work.
Thought for the day: Ain't nobody got time for fat. lol We have time, 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 2 hours. What ever time you have to walk, stretch, pick an activity, get out there. Enjoy your active life. Good night

This weekend was not a great one food wise. Saturday was open house in a lot of the local businesses, so we made it a Mommy son date with my 6 year old. We had cappuccino (happened to be sugar free) and nutty bars at the first place, then doughnuts and diet Mt dew at the next. After that we had big bowls of soft serve ice cream, and once we went to my mom's, I added cherry topping and a pecan bar, and tasted some of the buttermilk from her last batch of butter. I did help shake the butter, and still went for my run, but I felt pretty sick afterwards. Sunday we had coffee and toast with the homemade butter for breakfast, the. Went to my mom's, and had some jello salad and leafy salad, then made pancakes with rich syrup for lunch. Had a generous helping of those then later had more hello salad and some ice cream. Today is a new day, and I'm trying to start making up for it.

@ParanormaLauren, I followed your Pinterest board! So many good recipes- I'm excited to try them out.

@fangcat623 A plan is the way to go. You might have had a rough couple of days but your attitude about moving forward is what will get you where want to be. Good for you for looking forward and not back.

@wellthenwhat Weekends with lots of activities can be a challenge. I hope that you enjoyed all those treats! Not only is today a new day, it's a new week!

@ParanormaLauren I can't wait to try some of those recipes!

@happysherri You are a workout MACHINE! You are really inspiring me to up my game with strength training. I will be taking it slow to prevent injury, but I want to be tough like you!

@jessiquoi Congrats on getting through the first few days. I hope you will find things in this new way of eating that give you pleasure so that you can stick to it and see real results when you go for your next bloodwork.

@aleahurst You use so many interesting ingredients! I'm going to have to get more creative. You talked about split peas... Did you boil dried ones? Or canned? Or do you grow them yourself? (I know nothing about split peas, except that I've eaten them in soup.)

@fibonacci227 I love to make a salad dressing of pureed artichoke hearts with a bit of oil (usually olive), vinegar (balsamic or cider, or lemon juice sometimes) and Dijon mustard mixed in. It's sharp and has a strong flavour so a little goes a long way. I do a batch on the weekends and it keeps in the fridge for ages.


I had a great weekend. Made it through a toddler B-day party on Saturday with only a few indulgences and was well within my calorie target for the day.

I didn't get as much meal prep done yesterday as I'd planned because two long bike rides in two days left me pooped! (But yay bike rides!) I did get all my snacks done for the week, and I have lots of frozen soups and chili in the freezer, and it's a quiet week so I'll have time to cook dinners.

I have a job interview today that I wasn't expecting. My construction project is done and my last day at work is this coming Friday, but our client's Office Manager just quit, so things might work out kinda perfectly for me. (Though a little part of me was looking forward to a little downtime between jobs since I'm getting some severance pay.) And surprisingly, the nerves have not driven me to raid my Hershey's kiss stash!

Hey, hey beautiful people!

I either ate really healthy (pad thai dinner and salmon dinner) or reeeaally bad this weekend (banana split with all the fixings for girls night). No regrets! I completed a 4.6 mile, 1800ft elevation gain hike in 4 hours on Sunday. My buddies and I kept falling through the snow and I'm sure I burned a ton more calories trying to climb out of the snow and keep warm. It was beautiful and insane! I felt like a beast.

Skinny Chicken Pad Thai was a success. My zoodles cooked waaay down and we (2 people) ended up eating more of the chicken than intended, but I was ok with this since it helped me reach my protein goals for Friday. I poached the 3 chicken breasts (sliced thinly) in .5 cup of water with half an onion and three cloves of garlic. I added three medium zucchinis (spiralized) with another .25 cup of water after the chicken was cooked through. The zuchinni released a lot of water once cooked down. After I added the peanut sauce, I lost patience and added a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken the sauce rather than wait any longer. I garnished the dish with a ton fresh cilantro, red pepper flakes and lime wedges.

Skinny Peanut Sauce- I basically winged this and it can be adapted to taste. I have substitutes in here, but I starred the necessities. Water could be added to reach your desired viscosity.
*4 tbs of PBfit of P2B. Probably use just 1tbs if your going with regular nutbutter. The powered pb has way less fat.
*1 tbs of Brags liquid aminos (or low sodium soy sauce)
*1 tsp of fish sauce (or Worcestershire sauce)
*1/2 tsp of sesame oil
1 tbs garlic chili paste (or siracha)
*2 tbs of honey
dash of powdered ginger
red pepper flakes
dash of pepper
dash of white pepper.

@str8bowbabe and @fibonacci227 one of my super low fat meal staples happens to be the "cabbage soup diet" recipe with added protein (chicken, ground turkey, salmon, beans, etc.). I skip oil in the recipe and poach the veggies with water. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. I keep it versatile by using different hot sauces, changing the broth type (chicken, veggie, beef), fresh herbs, or adding Italian or Mexican spices. It's essentially salad in soup form. I make a huge pot once or twice a month and portion it out for lunches or lazy dinners. I've never done the crash diet itself, but I find the versatility and the volume of the soup super satisfying. I do think its important to add a protein source to help make it a complete meal. http://divascancook.com/wonder-soup-recipe-weight-loss-soup-7-day-diet-cabbage-soup/

Some of the other salad add-ins I use include: cottage cheese (instead of a dressing, meat or cheese), boiled egg or egg or easy (like the runny yolk) with bacon, nuts that I toast and portion out, sunflower seeds, fresh herbs and shredded brussel sprouts. I also like making a taco salad with ground turkey taco meat. :-)

@ParanormaLauren I just started following your board on pinterest! I'm super jazzed to try it out some of these veggie recipes!

Keep up the beautiful work everyone!