Day 5 of 56

It's Friday, and I feel great! 

This cutting out carbs and sugar thing really had me worried. I thought I would have massive cravings but honestly it's been smooth sailing. I have to give credit to the smarties who create delicious meals with unconventional ingredients and so graciously share them on the internet. Here is a sampling of some of my food from the week (in low-res phone pics, of course):

  

1. Spinach Smoothie
2. Grain-Free Apple Crisp
3. Grain-Free Fried Chicken with some salsa, avocado, and cauliflower "rice"
4. Salmon, green beans, butternut squash with toasted pecans 
5. Grain-Free "Pancakes" with berries
6. Baked Kale

Surprisingly, I've been able to get most of the unconventional ingredients that I've needed at the Commissary, where I normally do my grocery shopping. There were a couple items that I could only find at a local natural market. I've tried a lot of new foods and LOVED them. Cashew butter is amazing, and so is Sunbutter, although that has some sugar in it so that is just for Sweetpea at the moment. She is also trying everything with me, which I'm so proud of. I really hope to raise her as a curious eater.

Today was the first day I've ever made butternut squash, and man have I been missing out. It's like if a pumpkin and a sweet potato had a baby.

 A delicious, delicious baby. 

I've also been doing all the required workouts for the challenge. That, on top of ballet class and other random workouts that I throw in each day. I feel really good and I'm so excited about the next 51 days! I can't wait to see how I look and feel at the end.

Tomorrow I plan on making these for girl's night:

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Guac Poppers 
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...and possibly these:

Cauliflower Tots
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I'm not usually the biggest fan of cooking, but all of these things are easy and quick to make. And since I'm eating well and in a solid workout routine I have a lot more energy to commit to things like cooking and cleaning.

Who am I?!

My goal in sharing all of this is to hopefully inspire someone to start making healthy choices. In no way do you have to make big changes like I am right now (I'm kind of a health nut so this crap gets me giddy), but little things everyday will add up over the weeks, months, and years.

 Love your body and it will love you back!

-Barbie

Day 1 of 56

I've started a fitness challenge. It is 8 weeks long (56 days) and by the end I hope to be stronger, leaner, and most importantly, healthier.

I'm no rookie to working out. I really like getting my sweat on, but tend to do the same cardio and light lifting exercises, which give me the same results. I wanted to change things up a bit and see where it will get me. Working with the trainer over the holidays clued me into how awesome it is to feel strong!

So for 56 days I will be eating more lean protein and no refined carbohydrates. A paleo diet. I do love my carbs, so it will be a challenge. I normally am not an advocate of carb free diets, I just don't think it's healthy to eat a lot of meat because of the saturated fat, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Why not? It definitely won't be forever.

And of course I'll also be doing a different workout everyday. I get the workout sent to my email the night before so I have all of the following day to fit it into my schedule. 

Today was good, I'm optimistic. Hopefully by the end I have enough upper body strength to do at few pull ups. Can't even just do one, so part of my work out today was to just hang for one minute, which is actually much harder than you think it would be!

I've been pinning a bunch of "fitspiration" to get me motivated. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest!

And just to set the mood a little more...

Stay strong!

-Barbie

I was hibernating.

Random phone pic snapped during a layover today.
I like it.

Actually, I was in Omaha, Nebraska visiting family for the past month.

Got to visit with my friend Kim from The Wicopy for a day. I kick myself for not spending more time with friends while I was in the area, but honestly I didn't do much. Was a good vacation, minus Daniel being gone.

           Slept a lot. It was awesome.

Worked out a lot, too. Actually lost a teensy bit of weight over the holidays, and GAINED a good bit of muscle (my upper body is weak!) woot! If you are in Omaha and want a kick ass trainer hit up Aundrea.

And read the Hunger Games series. Pretty good, quick reads, and yeah I'll probably see the movie.

Don't have any big plans for the new year, just class and work like usual. No excited blog plans either. Maybe some fitness stuff? We'll see.

          Missing Daniel. Just waiting.