My first week back

I did it. I conquered my first week back to work after being off for (almost) 10 months.

I'm not gonna lie. I cried like a baby when I was pulling out of my driveway. My mom came down to watch the kids on my first day back. That was the only way I was going to be comfortable enough to leave the house.

Lucky for me, I had a transition day with my sub. This allowed me time to get the schedules set for the rest of the year. I had to plan for all the extra rehearsals, in school concerts, 3rd grade presentations, tryouts, and of course - finding a consistent time each day to pump. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOATHE pumping? I love nursing my kids but I just really really really dislike the whole pumping thing! I have a love/hate relationship with this thing:

Anyways - my original plan was to wake up at 5am every day to workout. If you know me, you know that the idea of me waking up at 5am each day is comical. I am NOT a morning person. I LOVE to sleep and I LOVE my bed.

Here's the good thing though - I LOVE MY NEW LIFESTYLE MORE! Both Thursday AND Friday, I was able to get up at 5am to workout! I even had extra time on Friday to get some Beachbody work done before heading to take my daughter to daycare for the first time.

And while we are on that subject - her first day was an EPIC fail. She slept for a total of ONE hour and cried from 10am till I picked her up at 4pm. They even called me at work to tell me she had a fever of 102! Well, she didn't really have a fever, she just had herself worked up! I felt like the worst mom ever. But I know that she will adjust and I LOVE my daycare. The ladies there LOVE LOVE LOVE my kids and cuddle them all day long. They are just like me!

Sorry for the aside about daycare - back to the main story!

I was also determined to keep up my clean eating while at school. This means that I needed to be VERY organized and have all my meals ready to go the night before. Again, if you know me, the thought of doing this is comical. I have never been a planner. In fact, I am usually late because I don't get myself ready in time or plan ahead.

I am proud to say that I planned ahead Wednesday and Thursday nights and had all my food ready to go each morning.

Here's how my meals looked for my first two days back. There was NO variety - I need consistency!

Breakfast: Shakeology
Mid morning snack: Pear and 2 cheese sticks
Lunch: All natural turkey breast and reduced sodium swiss cheese roll ups and a pear
Mid afternoon snack: carrots and roasted garlic hummus
Dinner: Whatever was already cooked in the fridge
Snack: Shakeology frozen yogurt

I am proud to say that it worked for me! I was not ravenously hungry during the day. I found times to eat, which can be hard to do in an allergy controlled school where NO food is permitted to be around the kids except food that is provided for them at lunch! Luckily for me, I have an office that the kids aren't allowed in, so I can eat in there. I also don't bring nut products to school, just incase!

So, now that the first week is behind me, I am prepping for my first FULL week back at work. This week is a 5 day work week. I am ready to go! I made my meal plan. I already went grocery shopping. I am cooking my food tomorrow morning. Everything WILL be portioned out ahead of time and ready to go - including our dinners. This will save me hours of prep time in the evenings and also save the headache of "Whats for dinner???" and the chaos that shortly follows!

Here's what my meal plan for this upcoming work week looks like. I am planning on making my hubby and son a meatloaf tomorrow because they don't always like to eat the healthy stuff I make. I try not to eat red meat because it upsets my angry gallbladder! I apologize in advance because the entire meal plan is boring. I like things to be consistent when I'm busy and I don't really mind eating the same thing every day.

Now you can see what I eat each day. Maybe it will help you plan out your week!

<3,
Kell

Beast Banana Pancakes

I've been having a REALLY hard time getting in all my calories for Body Beast. I mean, I have been eating 1600 calories for 4.5 months and all of a sudden I'm supposed to up it to 2300 a day???

Are you nuts???

It would be one thing if I could/wanted to eat 2300 calories of junk - think pizza, ice cream, candy - but I'm not going to do that to myself. Why work this hard if I'm just going to derail myself in the kitchen.

The challenge is to get 2300 calories of GOOD, SOLID NUTRITION. This is HARD!

So, I made some breakfast this morning out of the Book of Beast. OH-EM-GEE were these delicious! I'm a hardcore pancake girl, so I was very skeptical, but they did not disappoint in any way!

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla ice cream flavor)
• 1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (I used the 5 minute oats)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 dash of sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 small ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp safflower or coconut oil, divided (optional)
• Sliced fruit for garnish

Directions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Beat eggs in a medium bowl. 
3. Add mashed banana and almond milk to eggs. Mix well.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix very well. Add a smidge more almond milk if the batter is too dry.
5. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a large skillet. 
6. Use 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop batter onto the skillet. You should EASILY be able to fit 3 pancakes in one skillet. 
7. Cook until they bubble (aprox. 2 - 3 minutes)
8. Flip.
9. Check for done-ness (I like mine very light in color - aka not burnt).
10. Eat them up!

I can't wait to eat my leftovers tomorrow morning! They were SOOOO good!

<3,

Kell

Body Beast begins tomorrow!

I am SOOOO excited! Tomorrow (today) I'm starting Body Beast! I literally can't wait to get up and work out in the morning!

Who'da ever thunk that I would be excited to wake up and workout? Not this girl! But, it's true! I seriously can't wait to go to bed just so I can wake up and work out!

I first heard about Body Beast back in September. I knew that it was a serious weight lifting program. I knew that not a whole lot of women did it. I knew that I didn't want to do it because I thought you *had* to take the supplements with it, and I'm a nursing mom who doesn't like to do supplements. Little did I know then, but you DON'T HAVE TO DO all the supplements in order to complete the program.

Well, now I know and I'm READY to commit to the BEAST! I learned that I absolutely LOVE lifting weights when I was doing ChaLEAN Extreme. I learned that lifting make me feel strong and powerful, not big and manly. It has given me muscles, definition and strength. Oh, and it's helped me to lose 55 pounds! Woot Woot!

Now, with Body Beast, I'm going to be lifting a little bit different and adding A LOT of calories to my diet. I have been holding pretty steady at 1600 calories since I started my weight loss journey back in October. As of tomorrow, I'm upping that caloric intake to 2300 calories A DAY! Holy Moly!

I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared out of my mind! I mean, I just got into the 150's this past Thursday and now I'm UPPING my calories? AM I NUTS?

Well, no, not really. In order for this program to work correctly, we are going to be tearing down our muscles BIG TIME and then I'm gonna have to eat A LOT of the RIGHT foods to help them build back up.

Trust me, I'm NOT going to be eating 2300 calories of Lucky Charms, mashed potatoes with butter, and birthday cake. It's going to be 2300 calories of pure protein (chicken, fish, low fat cheese, beans, etc.), good carbs (whole wheat, fruit, veggies, etc.) and good fats (avocado, coconut oil, etc.).

Something else that is new to me with BEAST is tracking my macronutrients. I need to make sure that I'm getting the correct ration of carbs/protein/fat. In the Book of Beast, they recommend a ration of 50/25/25 for the first 2 phases. I know my body well enough now to know that I will gain A TON of weight if I eat 50% carbs. So, I'm going to back that up to 30/45/25. Hopefully that will work with my body type and allow me to gain muscle and not FAT.

I sat down yesterday and planned out my weekly meals. It was HARD! I realized that I'm going to have to take some type of supplement to help me reach my daily calorie goal. So, I stopped by GNC today to see what they had to help me out. I should have ordered the Beachbody Hardcore Base Powder, but I just wasn't thinking straight, and now I need it, so I couldn't wait for it to be shipped. Luckily, GNC had an all natural (no artificial anything!) whey isolate protein powder. I got Birthday Cake and Strawberry. They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so if I don't like them, or they don't agree with my daughter (still nursing - 8 months strong!), then back they go!

I spent  most of the day today (Sunday) doing meal prep. I made Sagi's Power Meatloaf and his Power Protein Balls. I also got out some chicken breast to thaw so I can make my Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers for lunch and dinner this week. I'll be making those tomorrow! I got some nitrate free/low sodium turkey breast and some low sodium/reduced fat swiss cheese at the grocery store today too. I'm going to be using those as roll-ups for quick protein and good fats. Also on the menu this week is an Ultimate Reset inspired beans and rice recipe. I love having that for lunch. If I get into a pinch and need more protein, I always have my cans of low sodium chunk light tuna in water. Those are great for making Tuna Salad.

So, tomorrow morning (it will be tomorrow already when you read this...) I will be doing Body Beast: Build Chest/Tri. I'm really nervous excited and can't wait to feel the burn!

I will be blogging this week with my "before" pics, weights and measurements. I have everything done except for the pics. It's been a busy weekend! I'll get them done tomorrow (today) - promise!

<3,
Kell