We tried the beef with broccoli recipe (with stir fry veggies instead of just broccoli) and it was a hit! We had gymnastics, so I asked hubby and the 8 year old to make dinner. Hubby found the easy simple and quick and we all want to make it again.
Day 2 was GREAT! The girls are excited about combining containers and we got together to make our shopping list and pick recipes to make. We are making a mess in the kitchen at all times but it’s totally fine!
YAY for them picking foods to eat and recipes to try!
I printed off the Eat the Rainbow trackers for my littles. They’re 6 and 8 and eat pretty healthy, but were excited to “track like Mommy.”
Here’s some things we learned from day 1:
Activity levels are really different than what we thought. One of my kids is considered sedentary, the other is considered moderately active. While I feel like they’re active, like the creator says, we often think the noise level means they’re active. 2 girls = lots of noise.
Because of the activity level adjustments, my kids are close to the same portions, but the little one actually gets a bit more than the big one, but she can’t totally handle it (More on that later)
Like their Mama, both my girls are healthy fat addicts. The big one tried to make her own lunch with the instructions to “combine a few colors at each meal!” She made herself a chicken slice/cheese stack. Hubby intervened when he saw how much cheese. It ended up being the equivalent of 5 servings!
The Little Bear has a very little tummy. She’d pick what she wanted to combine for each meal and end up being unable to finish it all. We will keep working on feeding her smaller meals more often, which is actually the way we should all eat to prevent stretching our stomachs out!
On to day 2!
The rest of the workouts flew by. We did a lot of zoom calls on Saturday mornings to do our cardio flow workouts together. They are SO much better with friends.
After 80 Days, I learned to prioritize sleep and practice self-care. I fell in love with my foam roller and stretching and made it a part of my weekly schedule. Sometimes it’s not about the before and after pictures, it’s about learning how to improve yourself and be your best self.
The results were pretty awesome.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen some carving on the front of my core!
Momlife is no joke. The timed meal plan is definitely helping me with discipline and using those bits of time to strategically get things done. Here’s what my day looked like.
6:48 wake up before alarm. Roll over for a bit more sleep
7:30 get up
7:50 downstairs and putting together preworkout meal. Remember to test blood sugar before eating. Happy with fasting number improvement.
8:08 done with preworkout meal. Put in trash bag.
8:10 go into the office to load posts for 2 fit friend groups.
8:40 back downstairs for energize and to make iced tea for hubby.
8:45 on the couch with the high temperature blanket to do yesterday’s row and think about the highs of this weekend. Mindfulness is so good. Take laundry down 2 flights and throw in a load.
9:15 workout
10:30 recover with raspberries
10:45 take out recycling and move laundry
11-12 shower and change and post workout meal
12-2 homeschooling
2:05 eat meal
2:15-3:15 pack up prizes for team
3:30-3:50 post office
4:00 gymnastics and finishing school with L
4:30 meal
5:30 home from gymnastics
7:30 dinner
8:00 family game time
10:00 hopeful for bedtime!!
Had to post this morning since when I usually blog we were at hubby’s championships. They made it to the semifinals when they didn’t expect to get past game 2. It was a good but late night.
I almost kept the girls home and cooked and blogged but I want to go support hubby. It was a good choice because I got to see all his goals! (Normally he plays defense on his other teams. It’s was fun to see him shoot at the goal instead of protecting it!)
So this morning I’m food prepping amaranth as a healthy carb for my meal plan.
AMARANTH
While not technically a grain (it’s a seed), gluten-free amaranth has a nutritional profile similar to grain. Originally from Peru, its cultivation spread through Central and South America and played a crucial role in Aztec rituals and their diet. Amaranth contains more protein than most grains, is considered a complete protein, has three times as much calcium as other grains, is rich in iron and magnesium, and is the only grain that contains vitamin C. It has been shown to lower blood cholesterol in patients with coronary disease and hypertension.
(Source: https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/7-best-grains)
I get mine in bulk from The Head Nut at Reading Terminal Market
Enjoy and let me know how you add it to your meals!
My Facebook feed says that the only thing important right now is the test group. We are Obsessed with a capital O. I’m actually good with it. A lot of people in it are sharing encouraging and funny posts and tips for food prep and workout moves. It’s good stuff.
One of the things I love about the group is that we have a chef who is making recipes for us that are healthy and tasty. One of my favorites is Chicken Pepperoni Crumbles. I found out last fall that I have an immune reaction to pork and I had to cut everything pork related out of my meals. I didn’t love pepperoni (not like I love Kalua pig and bacon) but the flavor is so good on things.
Normally, the recipe calls for browning the meat in a pan, but as a Mom, I want the easiest cleanup possible. Enter Sauté mode on the Instant Pot! I wasn’t sure it would be hot enough to cook a double batch in a timely manner but it did awesome!
Note, this is for a double batch. You can always cut it in half if you don’t want a lot (but trust me, this doesn’t last at our house!)
Spice mix:
Other ingredients
The chicken pepperoni crumbles are delicious on homemade pizza, wraps, salads and I eat it over spaghetti squash (see yesterday’s post) with some tomato sauce.
Let me know how you like it!!
You’ll probably never read this, but I wanted to say thank you. You were pushing your infant in the stroller and stopped to say hi and remarked how cute I looked. Thank you. You’re always coming up with kind amazing things to say even as you juggle working and being a new mama. It meant a lot.
It meant a lot because I had just changed into a sun dress after what I was cooking dropped and sprayed my 2nd outfit of the day. I was stressed about trying to get fish, veggies and biscuits done at the same time and onto the table hot after coming home late from dance and dawdling kids. I was feeling spread too thin and aggravated that hubby came home and played his app games instead of starting dinner the way he wanted it. I had made the mistake of asking him how I should cook the fish then got mad when it wasn’t the fast way I had scraped up to get it made. If he had started cooking I would’ve felt bad that he had to work then come home to make his own dinner.
Sometimes it’s so hard to snap out of the grumpy cycle. The dishes slam on the table, the pot covers close a bit too hard and sound like cymbals.
So thank you sweet neighbor for your kind, heartfelt compliment. It broke my self-criticism, negativity and frustration. I am grateful for you.
I used to be a one book at a time, start, read, finish it, kind of person. I think it’s the organized, check off boxes, kind of personality I have. It would stress me out a bit to have too many books started at the same time. This year, since my goal is to read 100 books, I’ve started being a little more relaxed about starting multiple books and having them all going at the same time. One book at a time would slow me down and take too long to get through.
It’s super interesting to me how the different books I’m reading tied to gather. Right now I’m reading Present over Perfect by Shauna Niquist and that’s really helping me focus on my inner drive to perform versus my need for rest. I’m also reading Growing Strong Daughters by Lisa Graham McMinn, and it’s making me think about how my inner drive and perspective is affecting how I raise my own two daughters. And then I’m also doing a lot of brain training with the Dana Wilde, and that’s making me realize that I need to focus on what’s going right, and not worry about what I need to be doing more of, more action to take. Finally, we are all listening to the Anne series by LM Montgomery, and it’s such a wonderful refreshing reminder of life’s important lessons and just a wonderful nostalgia. I’m glad I’m not going one at a time through books.
I wish I got a quarter for every time a busy mom tells me how tired she is, how she wants to feel good again, how she needs to lose the baby weight, but how she doesn’t have time. Time is so fleeting as a mom. There’s always house stuff and kids stuff and laundry and work (inside and outside of the house!)
I totally feel the time crunch. So I went on Beachbody On Demand and made a list of all the workouts around 20 minutes or less. Most kids will watch a half hour PBS show, so mom can sweat a little. I thought there would be a few but there was actually 100! So many options!!
Coach Tiffany Birkholz 