Hello Stranger...

Hi Guys,

Long time no talk! I know I know...it's me, not you.  I'm hoping to blog more regularly now.  You have to start from somewhere. So, here I am...starting!  Let's just get over this awkwardness and straight into this post!

So, after a year and a half, I finally made it to the gym.  Why, after a year and a half?  Let's just say mom life has kept me pretty busy. I'm now into a solid routine and ready to get back at it!  As far as baby weight goes, I still have 12 pounds to shave off. More importantly though, I want to gain my strength back.  I feel my body is weak.  I want to gain back cardio strength, core strength and upper body strength.

It's so weird...I use to work out all the time.  In college, I skipped classes to go to the gym. Adult life, I always made time for the gym.  Due to all this I have always had strength. Sure, I may not have been the leanest of individuals, but I was a healthy, strong person.  More important than losing weight, I want to feel healthy, strong and energetic. I want to be the Energizer Bunny (my nickname after college).

How am I going to get there:

• Balance (family time: my loves, work:  productivity)
• Healthy diet (cut the sugar)
• Exercise (combine cardio and strength)
• Happiness (cut the negativity out in life)
• Sunshine (feel the rays on my skin) - I have always been a sun person!

How is this blog going to help me:
I want this blog to hold me accountable with the "How am I going to get there". I also hope to share my experiences. My ups and downs. Show people that this is what life is about...ups and downs. I want to share my exercises, foods, recipes and outdoor adventures.  For now...this is good. Baby steps with everything (no pun intended).

What I need to ask of myself:  Be patient.  If I can only lift 10 lbs of weight, it's OK. I'm starting. I will only get better. Just be patient.

What I ask of you: Sit back, relax and let's learn together!

Oh yeah,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

PS:  We got this...

30 Days of Health & Happiness... Day 4

Hey Hey,

How are you guys doing?  I started my day off with another wonderful green concoction:

This smoothie consisted of spinach, almond milk, mango and banana. Mmm... Delicious!

An hour and half later I had another Pret breakfast. Yup...you guessed it, another egg, cheese and mushroom brioche sandwich. 

Between breakfast and lunch I had a bowl of cut up plum and banana:

As well as a small bowl of pretzels and mixed nuts:

Soon came lunch. I forgot to pack my lunch so I went to Hale and Hearty and got a tuna salad on multi grain bread:

As you can see my food and calorie intake was going well. Keyword is WAS! A few hour after lunch I felt ravenous. I had not one but TWO big bowls of cereals:

The overload of cereal was my set back. Normally, I would continue eating horribly for the rest of the day but this time I told myself to just move on. Continue with my day. Do my workout and have a nutritious dinner. Don't let one setback total your whole day. 

So, what did I do? I continued on with my day as I would have. I got my 30 minutes of activity in:

And I ate a nutritious dinner. I had half of a baked falafel sandwich on whole wheat. Along side that I had another green smoothie:

This smoothie contained THREE cups of spinach, 1/2 cup mango and a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. 

I started my day off with a green smoothie and I ended with a green smoothie. Sure, I had a minor set back but I moved on and even got my activity in. 

Now, onto Happiness :-)

Green smoothies make me happy. I love knowing that I'm breaking a fast every morning by nourishing my body with super foods.

I hope you all had a great day!

30 Days of Health & Happiness... Day 2

Hello Peeps!

Today is day 2 of my 30 Days of Health & Happiness challenge!  So far so good.  I started my morning off with a Green Mango Smoothie. If you follow me on twitter..ahem ahem Kanwal81...you saw the following:

 And then...

BAM! The recipe right there. With pics. What more could you want?!? I promise... 

you don't even taste the spinach!

The smoothie was a great way to start the day. 

My breakfast was the same as yesterday. Puffins with almonds and almond milk. I will spare you the picture.

Lunch was left over falafel on a whole wheat bun with a sliced green bell pepper. Delicious.

In between breakfast and dinner I snacked on an apple and some mixed nuts:

As well as pretzels and mixed nuts:

I went back for another serving of pretzels... Ok maybe two servings. Since I felt I had my fair share of pretzels, I opted for a light dinner:

I had a diced chicken burger over mixed greens, carrots, green beans and sliced almonds. Delicious and filling!

I also managed to get my activity in for the day:

A nice long walk. I also walked a mile after dinner. 

As you can see, it was a day filled with healthy eats and some exercise!

Now, let's talk happiness:

I am happy for longer days, warmer weather and sunshine! 

:-)

With that, I say goodnight!

Tuesday Eats...

Good Morning!

We are now mid way through the week. Hope you're week is going well. I'm excited for today because temperatures are suppose to tip into the 90's :-) This could be my last hot and humid day of the season to enjoy. 

Alright, lets get down to business. Yesterday I had a very clean eating day. Mainly because I was equipped with healthy snacks. 

I started my day off with a slice of ezekiel toast with almond butter, sliced peach, and a hard boiled egg. A perfect breakfast with fiber, produce, protein and healthy fats :-)

A few hours later I had a Larabar for a snack. This held me over because I wanted to go to the gym before eating lunch. 

For lunch I had leftovers. Curried chicken with kale and barley in a sesame oil dressing:

A few hours after lunch, another snack: hard boiled egg and almonds. 

Last but not least for dinner I made whole wheat pasta with broccoli tossed in a garlic chili oil dressing (recipe to come later).

I also managed to get a lot of exercise in. During the day I went to the gym and hot up the elliptical and weights. At night, I went to the pool and practiced swimming for an hour. Not bad!

All in all I'm very happy with how the day went yesterday. I just have to keep up with clean eating and exercise :-)

How was your day?

30 Day Ab Challenge

Good Morning & Happy Thursday!

Yay...one more day till the weekend. Can you believe we are practically in mid August?!?!? This summer is flying by. The weather is also pretty fall like :-(. I miss hot and humid summer days! 

So even though summer is coming to an end I still need to keep up a gym routine and maintain healthy eating. I'm definitely getting back into the gym routine and with each meal I eat I try to make healthy choices. 

I've also started a 30 day ab challenge:

 I am currently on day 3:-p and I'm going to try my best to keep this up. Have you guys tried the 30 Day Ab Challenge?

My workouts have been looking a little like this: 20-25 minutes of cardio, ab challenge, push ups. Believe it or not... I get pretty schweaty at then end of this workout :-)

How have you guys been doing?

The Workout...

I was able to get a quick run in today as my workout! I started off by running at a 5.6 mph pace and finished off at 5.9. This was only a 20 minute run but I am hoping to increase my speed a little every day.

Tomorrow's workout will include cardio and strength. Were you able to get your workout in today?

So far so good...

So far today has been pretty good. I have not felt really hungry and I am right on track with my meals. Although I have not been hungry I started my day off pretty tired and still am pretty tired. This is only due to the lack of sleep I got last night. I drank some tea late in the evening and I'm pretty sure this is what put me on my long night of tossing and turning! Needless to say, I have been exhausted all day. Right now I am craving to go home, slip into my PJ's and watch some good old Antenna TV, while sipping my smoothie in bed!

Anywhoo, as tired as I've been today, I managed to get half an hour of cardio in. Not bad. I did try to do some push ups, but they were a total fail! I'm trying to to about 10 a day to build up arm strength.

How is your day going?

Today's Workout

Today I was able to conquer this funny elliptical-looking-but-not-really-thingamajig. Yes, as much as I did not feel like working out today, I managed to do for 30 minutes and burn 260 calories (according to the thingamajig).

I am glad that I was able to get my workout in. The goal is 5 days a week! One day down! Did you guys get your exercise on today?