Balance

I can't believe it is a month this the last post!  This week has been so busy with work, kids, kids church, home group, birthday parties, the grandma coming into town, I haven't had time to reflect.  I have really devoted a lot more time outside of the gym to my clients, figuring out what makes them tick and ways to improve their workouts when I am not there. I have spent time creating specific nutrition plans for each client who is really struggling, and all this researching in turn helps myself of course to achieve the body I want:)  I absolutely love what I do, I really think I will work in this field forever!  I am struggling however trying to balance my training life and my spiritual life. 
I think I have mentioned before how much I love our home group! We have been doing a fabulous study these past few weeks and I have learned so much.  I have written down several things that really stood out to me, but it's pretty deep.  One thing that caught my attention last night was that God truly wants to have a deep relationship with us.  And I know this on the outside,  but I get sucked into so many of lies that the world tells me.  The world says to me, "do what makes you happy, work work work, people only judge you by the outside, it's okay to spend lots of time doing something as long as it's healthy, fitness is your life, etc".  What I am trying to say in a round-about way is that I often let my job/lifestyle be my first priority, and even though it is healthy to work hard and take care of my body, it's not okay for me to let it get in the way of my  relationship with my God.  I want to read my Bible more, I want to find out more about what God wants to say to me through his word.  I am not saying that my job is sinful, I am saying that  I need to balance my lifestyle with my relationship with God, and that He needs to come first before anything.  A lot of the time I spend on bettering myself or learining ways to make muscles cry could be used to study God's word.   Sooo.....  I am going to do that now:)

An awesome week

This last week has been really great! Monday through Thursday flew by like crazy, I am very busy with my clients and love that so many of them are achieving awesome results. Yay!!! Thursday we had our home group and that was great! Ha, well for Sean it was, I was watching Cole outside... one day he will warm up to everyone there and not be so needy. Let's hope:) Friday we went out to Olive Garden with some friends, so good to visit and eat. I ordered a seafood soup off of the "light" menu... tilapia, shrimp, and scallops in a tomato sauce with spinach and spices. It had only 480 calories but man I had the worst stomachache after, sooo bloated! Come to find out it had 2,250 mg of sodium! Just so you know that is your total recommended daily intake. Not good:( After we went to another friends house and got to visit for a while. Brian and Tory you guys are amazing we love ya! We have so much in common with these two it makes for great laughs and good conversation. Those intentional relationships are very important, and I have learned a lot from these two.

Saturday, I went to the gym, trained some awesome clients, one of them lost 5 lbs in a week! You know who you are, keep it up! After that it was laundry and house work. Sunday was church, the sermon was on on adoption and how God calls us to take care of the widows and children without fathers. We are going to sponsor a child from Uganda and will be able to write him letters throughout the year! Really excited about that, I think it will be awesome for our kids to see how children in poor countries live and how blessed we really are. Next, I took Meadow on an 1.5 hour run and completely burned her out! Never thought I would see the day I would be able to our run our boxer, but I won't complain:) It was a beautiful day, I love to listen to my music, clear my head, and just go.   That evening I made a pretty good dinner. We had chicken that I baked in a sweet vidalia onion marinade, a sweet potato, spinach salad with a fruit dressing Ivy help make, and sauteed mushrooms:) Very tasty.

Monday, I went to the gym, trained, came home and laid the kids down for their nap and relaxed a good portion of the day. Later we went to my moms and had a great steak dinner with sweet potato and grilled corn. After, we had more friends come over to visit. Lots of fun this weekend! I love all the people in my life and am so happy to have met every single one of them. I loved all the conversation and laughs and food and the awesome workouts. Hope this week goes as well:)

Today for lunch I had a fantastic salad with garbanzo beans, corn, cucumber, avocado, and tomato with a balsamic vinegar dressing drizzled over. Very tasty and filling.

I hope all of you have a fabulous week!  Until next time.....

Lemon protein bars

My daughter and I made lemon protein bars today, and they are sooo good.  I am usually not much of a baker nor do I really like cakes all that much but this recipe is really healthy and super moist.  I got this recipe from Jamie Eason, a fitness model and spokesperson for bodybuilding.com, and I think it will feel any cake "void" you may be having:)    It makes 16 bars and 2 = 1 serving.  Calories 86  Fat 1g  Carbs 10 g Pro 9 g
Here are the ingredients:

1 cup oat flour -  you can just grind up regular oatmeal
2 scoops vanilla whey protein
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 qt mix Lemon Crystal Light (preferably without aspartame)
4 egg whites
1/2 cup Splenda
8 oz baby food applesauce
4 oz water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix oat flour, vanilla whey protein, salt, baking soda and crystal light, in large bowl.
Mix egg whites, Splenda, applesauce and water in a bowl.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together.
Spray 8x8 glass pyrex dish with non-stick butter spray.
Pour ingredients into dish.
Bake 23 minutes.

I didn't think to take a picture until after Ivy and I ate one for our snack:)  Try it and let me know what you think.  I know it is made with Splenda, but if you eat these types of desserts every once in a while that will kill those cravings and still be loaded with nutrition you will be okay... far better than a candy bar or soda!

I have created a monster...

Yes I think I have created a monster!  Our 4 year old daughter Ivy would be the character of the family, and tends to absorb EVERYTHING I say.  Sometimes, it is a great thing and sometimes... not so much.  I have been teaching her that it is important to get her exercise and eat right and some other tips I have learned throughout my time training.  Ivy is very set on being healthy and I am proud that she cares enough to follow through with that choice.  I think it will definitely make things easier for her when she gets older.  Here are just a few things she has retained:  she knows that white sugar is bad, that fruit has good sugar, "but juice has a little more sugar so we just have a little bit", that veggies are good for you, cheese has "kinda a little fat" in it, and that "we want big, strong muscles, but not too big- we don't want to look like boys", and now, that protein ice cream is so yummy, etc.  Yes... she is a smart little girl and she has learned a lot.  But now she is telling kids who eat "crap food" (that's what we call it here) that they are not being healthy.  She asked Bennett (her brother)  "why don't you want to choose healthy cereal?"  That didn't going over too well, but it was funny to watch the in depth discussion:)  Hopefully we can find a healthy balance between the two! 

P.S.
Here is my lunch today-

1/2 huge zucchini from the garden, cut into strips
4 pieces of all-natural turkey chopped
1/2 all-natural spaghetti sauce
1 tbsp  Parmesan cheese:)
   Throw in a bowl and heat for 1:30 minutes
 YUM!

230 calories  16 g protein, 13 g carbs, 5.5 g fat

It has about 900 mg of sodium because of the lunch meat and sauce, so that's a little less than half of your daily intake.  Just watch your sodium the rest of the day and you will be fine.

A Pratical Atheist

   These last few weeks at church has been on being a practical Atheist.  This may be a shocking title to some, but all of us act like one at some time in our life.  I on the other hand, probably do things on a weekly basis that would make me look like an Atheist.  Let me explain-  I love God and say He is the center of my life.  Does my life always show that.... no.  In the past I have been selfish with my finances, I have hard feelings toward people in my life that have hurt me in the past, I judge people who I know have potential to do so well in life and yet throw their gifts away, and I want to make sure I am the one planning my life the way I see fit.  All of these things show that God is not the center of my life or has any part in my life whatsoever!
    I became a Christian when I was 11 and have always believed that there was a God since I was 4, probably.  But if I am honest, until recently, I have not been continually growing as a true believer.  Going to church on Sundays was good enough for me, and even if I missed a week or two every month I could handle that.  It says in Jeremiah 2:32, "Does a young woman forget her jewelry?  Does a bride hide her wedding dress?  Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me."  Who in their right mind would forget to wear their wedding dress on their wedding day?!  That is like the main decor of the whole event!  God is the main event in my life.  He is the reason I have life, and yet I put myself above all so many times. The past sermons have been on how believers will not forgive, how they are selfish with their money, how they judge others, and how they do not put God first.  I am that person, but I am going to continually seek God's word and pray about everything.  Whether it is about my family, friends, the way I train, the people I connect with, the house my husband and I buy, or anything else in life-  I want to live how God wants me to live.  His plan is perfect... whenever I get in the way I screw it up!


P.S.  On a MUCH lighter note, I created an awesome treat last night for dessert.  This makes a perfect 6th meal for anyone who struggles with late night sweet cravings.  I blended 6 oz of my all natural, no sugar added  Silk soy milk, with a scoop of my chocolate protein powder and froze it for about 2 hours and.... you have chocolate ice cream!!  So good, and only about 200 calories:)

Girls can lift heavy too

Lots of women think that if they lift heavy they will become manly looking.  Completely false!  When you train your muscles hard, you develop definition.  Naturally women do not have enough testosterone to build muscle like men do, and do not eat enough to fuel massive muscle gains.  In order to become stronger and leaner, you have to continually push yourself so that your body can "sluff" off the weaker muscle cells and rebuild stronger muscle cells.  The result- a strong, lean, fat burning machine.  Nothing is more womanly than that!  So keep training hard and continue to eat clean and your body will respond in a very possitive way.

Favorite snacks:)

Okay, so I preach all day about how you have to plan your meals in order to be successful in losing/gaining weight.  Yeah, lots easier said than done!  So here is just a few snacks I eat throughout the day and recommend to my clients that are about 100-250 calories and that have a good ratio of carb/fat/pro.  If anyone else has any others, please share!

Rice cake/1tbsp almond butter/ sliced strawberries on top   YUM YUM!

Sliced zuccinhi with cottage cheese on top and sprinkled with sunflower seeds

Green beans  and avacado wrapped with all natural turkey (I use 4 beans to 1 turkey slice, using 3 slices total)

Peanut butter apple sandwiches-  slice up an apple and spead a thin layer of peanut butter on to make sandwiches

Frozen grapes with plain greek yogurt- a sweet and sour treat:)

Prepare the night before so you have it ready , ENJOY!

Health- it is my life, well a huge part of my life.  I lay in bed thinking about exercises for my clients to do for the next morning, I think about my cardio workout at 5:30 am, I tell myself I will eat great food that is balanced and beautiful to look at.  I pray to God everyday and thank Him for everything I have- my encouraging family, my husband who is smart and works so hard for us, my kids who make me laugh everyday, my clients who motivate me to be a better trainer.  And finally, our dog Meadow-  she is a nut case but love her all the same!
 I am getting older, and hopefully more mature:) And I want to live this life to the absolute fullest. I want to help people and be a good  listener.   I want to have a great looking body that is strong and lean, I want my husband to join me.... one day I KNOW it will happen:)  I want to show my kids that it is important to be healthy and to be productive with their time.  I want to give my clients the knowledge and motivation to train and eat right and make it a priority in their lives.  I want to be a great wife to my husband, I want to stand by his side no matter what comes our way.  I want to be more productive with my time, and to be more organized.  Yes... I have LOTS of wants I know! 
So even though I eat right and workout I want to become even more healthy! I am turning a new leaf-  I want to grow in my relationship with God and make Him the center of my life. I want my marriage to continue to grow, I want to become a better mother,  I want to be honest and encouraging to my friends and family, AND I want to post great fitness tips and recipes for anyone who wants them!!!