Worry Free, Healthy Me

Well the season has already changed and I haven't written in forever. It is now October and literally freezing out. One of the many things I love about the start of Autumn is that the weather is perfect for exercising. I know everyone has preferences about which season is the best for running but for me I love being out in the cold. I'm able to go longer and increase my time as well. Maybe it has something to do with my background in figure skating? Either way, I love this new temperature. Today I decided to do some festive activities with a friend. We made some pumpkin spice cookies. These were delicious! I only had one because to be honest, they aren't very healthy. Afterwards we went for a walk to look at the leaves changing and all the beautiful autumnal colors. We went 2 miles with hills so it was a nice bit of relaxed cardio. Then we watched the movie Hocus Pocus. Very festive if I say so myself. Since my last post I haven't been following the one ...

This weekend has been great! Friday started off with my husband getting off work and starting his two week leave. Yay! Now we actually get to see each other and spend time together. During the day I deep cleaned the kitchen, went grocery shopping, and did quite a bit of studying. Right now I'm on lesson 11: Fitness Assessments. And for some reason it's taking me a bit longer to go through this lesson. I will probably have to take an extra week to finish it. That's okay though, as long as I understand the material before moving onto the next lesson. I was so tired from all the errands and Jake was so excited to start his leave so he brought home pizza! I know I made a post earlier this week about eating extra healthy but pizza is a treat that we don't usually have. Saturday, I finished a care package to go to one of our friends who is deployed. I think it looks amazing! It has baked goods, some candy, snacks, and some treats to help him have some fun with the...

Hi! I thought that to help hold me accountable I would write everything I eat during the day. I titled this post "My Favorite Foods" because I usually eat the same kinds of food everyday. Why do I eat the same kinds of food every day? Because I usually eat healthy food that tastes delicious. When I started eating healthier, I started craving healthy food. Here is what I ate yesterday. For breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Hash browns 3 eggs a dash of coconut milk some Mrs. Dash some sliced turkey a little bit of cheese hash-browns mixed with Mrs. Dash and turkey For lunch: Fruity Power Smoothie 1.5 cups of home-brewed green tea 2.5 cups of mixed fruit For my late lunch: Italian shredded chicken pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, and chicken breasts in slow cooker brown rice Cheesy Vegetables For  supper: Beef Stew stew meat, celery, carrots, onion, potatoes, and low sodium turkey gravy mix in slow cooker Snacks: Banana Apple spri...

Today my husband and I completed the Warrior Challenge Obstacle Course and Mud Run! We got there at 07:30 bright and early. Before we went I ate a little bit of fruit and packed some things we might need (lots of towels, baby wipes, eye drops, snacks for afterwards, water, and electrolytes). I really enjoyed myself and it was empowering to accomplish it! Jake and I did it together all the way through. I'm so thankful that I have such an amazing husband that is so patient with me and helped me all the way through the event. The event was just short of 6 miles. It had over ten obstacles and included mud pits and a run through the woods that was very muddy! At the end we got some free water, Gatorade, fruit, snacks, and beer! I was very surprised but my Fitbit Surge held up pretty well! The only thing is when we got sprayed with water at the end, the force of the water must have hit one of the buttons and it turned off my Fitbit. That was as we were crossing the finis...

So tomorrow I will complete a Mud Run/ Warrior Challenge Obstacle Course. The running portion won't be that difficult for me as it is 7 kilometers. However, the obstacle course will be challenging for me (hence the name warrior challenge). I am not concerned about my time and am focusing on being able to complete it. I do change a few things in my routine leading up to a run or race to help me the day of: 1. Increase my carbohydrate intake. Increasing your carbohydrate intake can help you exercise for a longer period of time at a higher intensity. This is because your muscles store carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. The more glycogen is stored, the longer it will take for your body to deplete its body's preferred energy source (glycogen). This will help prevent fatigue in long endurance events. 2. Increase my electrolytes and water. You can easily become dehydrated during your run or race especially if they don't have water on the course. Increasing your ...

I love coffee. I don't necessarily NEED to have it. I even stopped drinking it for a while and just had tea but I love the taste of it. I used to drink Starbucks all the time but now I make my coffee at home. When it started to get hot here I stopped drinking my coffee in the morning because hot coffee and hot weather was just too much for me. Then I realized I should just make iced coffee! I have a couple recipes I have been using lately and would love to write them. Some of them are healthy and some of them, not so much. Vanilla Creme: Half Coffee Half 1% milk (or coconut milk) Drops of Vanilla Creme SweetLeaf Stevia Drops  to taste Chocolate Raspberry: Half Coffee Half 1% milk (or coconut milk) Drops of Chocolate Raspberry SweetLeaf Stevia Drops  to taste Iced Mocha Coffee: Half Coffee Half 1% milk (or coconut milk) A couple squirts of Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup You can basically make it anyway you want to. I would love to get the flavors of Hazelnut, Pumpkin S...

In one of my earlier posts I said that I am going to school to become a Certified Personal Trainer. I am taking online classes through the American Council on Exercise (ACE).  I am loving it so far! I bought the premium package and it included all the study materials plus a CEC math class, an online syllabus, and even videos/lectures that I can view online. It also came with a re-take exam voucher just in case I don't pass the first time. I am on lesson 10 now. I am going over Chapter 7 in the ACE Personal Trainer Manual and have already completed the Exercise Science portion. I am doing about one lesson a week. I take my quiz for the lesson on Friday and then on the weekends I review all of the Exercise Science book and Personal Trainer Manual. You can do it at your own pace but if I don't structure the lessons for myself I will probably fall behind. The schedule I have set up works pretty well for me but it took me longer than a week to go through a lesson when I was doing E...