My new weekly tracker spreadsheet is working like a charm! I’m using it to track old Weight Watcher Points, but you can really use it for anything. Here is the template embedded click here to download the Excel spreadsheet. It contains all the formulas to calculate the totals.
Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.
I’m literally falling asleep as I type this. It was a looong day. An early morning workout, cleaning, taking care of baby, running errands, helping with homework, I’m pretty sure every moment of the day was utilized.
I’m spent!
BUT I couldn’t go to bed without sharing my food journal. Check it out I figured out a way to embed it!
I <3 Google Docs. Click here to download a copy of the tracker for your own use!
I have a picture of everything but I don’t have the energy to prep them all. I did, however, post the Orange Ginger Tuna Salad on GreenLiteBites, here’s a pic…
I also had a little fun at “Dads” expense on Baby’s First year.
Not a bad day’s work. ;)
ok. Sleep!
How exactly?
I was dealing with some boiling water while draining the whole grain noodles that were cooking. Half of that scalding water went down the drain like it was supposed to. The other half landed on my leg.
It hurts really bad. At first the skin looked as if it had melted off my leg, but then it bubbled up with blisters.
If a pot of hot water can do this, I can’t even imagine how people go through worse burns caused by direct flames, hot oil or chemicals.
Please be careful in the kitchen. And please keep your little child-spawns out of the kitchen while you’re cooking. For right now I’m gonna deal with this pain and hope this burn doesn’t cause too much of an interruption in my workouts.
And now in other news… all I ate tonight was a salad. My stomachs definitely have some caloric wiggle room for a small bowl of ice cream.
Update 12/13/11: So the burn looks 10 times worse this morning. I’m calling it hideous.
A while ago I jetted off to LA to speak on a panel about branding, blogging, and making your passion your income.
(I know. That last piece was an attention grabber for me, too. I learned a TON while sitting on the panel which is the reason I want to share…)
One of you I was swamped by requests for a link to the panel, but had assumed it was something only available with a virtual ticket to the event.
Blog World was gracious enough to allow me to share the recording and I encourage you to watch it when you have the time.
There’s lots of helpful information shared by panelists and interesting audience questions addressed as well (and yeah. my name is misspelled. you’ll have that. a lot.)
The above video is only one of over 100 recorded sessions from BlogWorld Los Angeles 2011. You can get all of the videos — plus nearly 100 bonus interviews and other bonus content — by picking up the entire Virtual Ticket here: http://www.blogworldexpo.com/virtual-ticket-la-2011/Tags: blog world expo, branding, monetization
I did something this morning I would have dreaded in my 20's (I can’t even say a few years ago anymore, how sad is that?! I’m OLD! Anyway….) I ran to the gym, took a step class, stayed for BodyPump and then ran home. I was engaged in physical activity from 7:15 AM until 9:45 AM.
I know. I know.
I’m CRAZY!
Believe me. I can’t stress enough how this was not only out of the question for me 10 years ago, but I made fun of people who did it. I remember rolling my eyes at friends who went running while on vacation. I mean WHO runs on vacation. You’re on VACATION!
Now, I do it routinely. Heck! I look forward to the change in scenery.
I dreaded, despised, hated and loathed any type of exercise for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid I would fake an injury to get out of running laps in gym.
Seriously.
My point is… I am an exercise immigrant.
How’d I get my citizenship?
By finding things I like to do instead of forcing myself to do things I thought I should be doing.
“An hour of basketball feels like 15 minutes. An hour on a treadmill feels like a weekend in traffic school.” ~ David Walters
It’s all about finding your “basketball!”
That’s the ticket in. The first domino. The rolling ball.
Exercise is simply moving. Sometimes I think we try to make it more complicated than that.
It’s isn’t.
Funny thing is… when you do start to move more, momentum can take over. 6 years ago I started walking with my (first) baby, something I still love to do, and now I look for every excuse I can to get to the gym or go for a run.
I wouldn’t have believed it either.
Today started with 3 generations in the house.
Grandma and Grandpa visited so Mom and Dad could have fun Friday night at an office Holiday party and fun we had! Let’s just say Saturday I had a bad case of the "Beer Flu" or rather the "Vodka Flu." It wasn’t pretty but Friday night rocked and The Husband and I had a blast. I look forward to his office party every year. It’s a fun dressed up night out.
Anyway, for breakfast I made myself a mushroom and kale omelet.
Start keeping track, this is kale consumption #1.
Little Bean had some cheerios, banana and eggs.
Now it may look like he’s pounding the omelet, but truth be told he needs a little help getting it down. Check out our latest Baby Food Adventure and you’ll see what I mean.
Little Guy didn’t have breakfast with us, he was at a sleep over.
The rest of the morning was spent following around our little crawler.
Grandma and Grandpa left once Little Bean went down for nap and soon it was time for lunch.
That’s kale consumption #2 – a Kale, Pear and Hummus Wrap. Click here for the recipe.
I actually didn’t plan on eating so much kale today. I just have a huge bag and every time I open the fridge it’s staring me at the face. This is why I organize my fridge the way I do.
It was already midday and I really didn’t get much accomplished. I attempted to start the laundry, but it just sat in the foyer.
It was a really laid back weekend. I feel like we are winding down for the end of the year. It’s nice.
Around 2 we picked up Little Guy and finished up some Christmas shopping. I have a few more things to pick up for the husband but other than that and wrapping, we are done.
We came home and I actually got a load of laundry in. The Baby went down for nap and so did somebody else…
Right next to him on the couch…
Little Guy and I played Don’t Break the Ice.
Dinner time and kale consumption #3 – Tacos!
I used a little less than 1/2 pound of lean beef, a can of black beans, 2 cups of chopped kale, my taco seasoning and a splash of salsa. No one said a thing about the beans or the kale. Everyone loves taco night! Especially me. It’s so easy to bulk it up with healthy stuff.
I also discovered Little Bean LOVES black beans. He was pounding them while I was cooking!
After dinner we did our Science Sunday experiment. This is a weekly tradition we are trying to keep although, to be honest, we forget most weeks. Thankfully Little Guy got a Chemistry Lab as an early Christmas gift from Grandma. It gave us just the nudge we needed.
With the boys getting ready for bed I prepped a Spaghetti squash I roasted earlier. Honestly, I totally forgot about it. Around lunch time I popped the whole thing in the oven without even cutting it. Then when we left I shut off the heat figuring it would still cook and…
It did! Perfectly! I’m psyched to have it all ready for the week.
Right now I’m watching the finale of Iron Chef. I’ve been a bit obsessed.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to call today’s post. I normally go with some variation of Sensational as that’s the whole point of my Sunday’s, but I honestly felt like I didn’t do much. I didn’t workout. I didn’t take the boys on some adventure. It was just a low-key day with the family. Then, when I looked at the photos, I realized how awesome it really was (and how much kale I ate.) What else could I possibly want out of the day? I ate good food, spent time with the family and got ready for the week the best I could. That’s what Sensational Sunday’s are all about.
But what the heck is Kefir, exactly?
Pop the top. Open up your nostrils to breathe in the aroma and you might think you’re getting regular Greek yogurt, but Kefir is actually more similar to sour cream in taste and texture. It also has a more savory, decadent element to it, plus live and active cultures that sour cream does NOT.
Karoun’s Kefir is an excellent way to get in those much needed cultured enzymes to make your gut happy while keeping those taste buds highly satisfied. The combination of decadence and cultured enzymes had me very excited to whip up some homemade salad dressing and dip, because more and more I despise buying the processed/packaged kinds.
Greedy Recipe: Basic Homemade (and healthy) Salad Dressing and Dip Ingredients
Do you see those ingredients pictured above? From left to right, you have:
Parmesan cheese (you can also use Pecorino Romano)Extra Virginated Olive OilyKaroun KefirSpices (onion powder, pepper and garlic powder)To get my Ranch-inspired homemade salad dressing, I used:
2 Tablespoons Karoun Kefir (approximate)Drizzle of the olive oily2-3 Teaspoons Parmesan cheese (approximate)Sprinkling of pepper and garlic & onion powdersLight dashes of saltinessI encourage you to go by taste when you whip this up (I didn’t do precise measuring). Mix in the ingredients gradually and sample the flavor as you go along to determine the precise tastiness that is right for you.
To get my Sour Cream & Onion inspired veggie dip I used all of the above, but added just a bit more onion powder for the right taste effect.
These recipes are very foundational, so go on and get wildly creative by adding herbs, for instance. Kefir can also be used in fruit smoothies and spreads, and as a thickening agent in soups and other creamy concoctions. The use of Kefir for homemade dressings and dips empowers us healthy peeps to eliminate the evil, unnecessary ingredients in store-bought versions. I encourage you to go Kefir-krazy in your holiday recipes and all year long.
I’m still a Kefir newbie, so if you’ve used it in any other kinda way, please don’t be stingy with your knowledge – tell us about it in the comments. And if you plan to try out Kefir now, share your bright ideas!
(Im clinging to the belief there’s no other way to blog from the WordPress Android app. If there is *I* can’t figure it out)
It is BigPicBigPic WordsWordsWords again–but it was such a fun experience and I wanna share.
Friday I woke & immediately made me some hotelroom coffee.
I *love* me some hotelroom coffee.
I set it up the night before (nerd alert) and crawl over & press ON as soon as I open my eyes.
Love.
Then, after feeling my bod move in slow motion, I knew I should workout (hence the pic of my gosportid bracelet. I’m a worrywart in that way and guessed correctly Id be the only one in the hotel gym. On the flipside of my Seuss quote? An emergency contact #).
I *needed* to do cardio.
Just a little (though as per pic I sweated plenty for some reason) but enough to give my body what it was screaming for: STRETCH & FOAMROLL.
(How much do I love the hotel had a foamroller? How much is that an indicator of getting older that I wake up and my bod screams for a foamrolling & not otherstuffs 
I then donned the thinnest down jacket known to (wo)man kind (and grown up shoes!) & headed out to meet with Shape Magazine.
And got lost.
A lot and again and AGAIN started out in a cab & was unceremoneously dumped, err, lovingly deposited at the wrong spot (!).
Ever the capable misfit I not only found someone to point me in the proper direction I located me a menorah & made said someone snap my picture with it.
(I have many fears but apparently one of them is NOT being thought a tourist. I own it.)
Finally I found Shape Magazine, secured my security sticker, & was on my way.
The offices were precisely what Id imagined (mags everywhere. My vision of heaven though I was far too professional to snag any) & the flaxseed icing on my protein cake was the fact there was a casting happening & I got to glimpse myriad models up close and SHAPEpersonal.
Very cool and they were all exceedingly friendly (well, after I killed em with AustinKindness).
LOVED the woman I met with at Shape.
She spent close to two hours with me talking about YOU. About bloggers.
Bottom line is, love the mag or skip it as a read, Shape Magazine gets us, Shape Magazine appreciates us, & Shape Magazine sees value in us.
So. Freakin. Refreshing.
Next I was on to Mens Fitness (same floor as Shape which offered even me little opportunity for getting lost).
There I gained lots of insight into the male mind (watch out Ren Man) *and* the male mind as it approaches social media and magazines.
So. Freakin. Interesting.
At this point I was so exceedingly hungry.
I was thisclose to hallucinating.
I had a big case of the sads Id eaten the last of my beef jerky that morning and almost threw myself on the floor and had a TornadoWorthy meltdown in the MF offices.
Quicksnacksadlynotpicturedlater (I’ll never be a food blogger) I was on my way to the Yellowman offices.
On my way in a cab driven by an individual who knew precisely where we were going.
It was a Christmakkah miracle.
Yellowman, after learning my love for them and all things tattoo, invited me to preview upcoming lines.
Good lord I loved me some upcoming lines.
All of it.
Beautiful tattoo prints, new cuts of apparel, & myriad bright and more muted colors.
(yada yada bears repeating I’ve PURCHASED most of my Yellowman. I’m just a tremendous fan of everything from the clothing to the way the brands creator appropriated a slur used against him, made it his own, & named his company said slur)
I channeled the FTC, resisted begging for apparel, happily left with a catalog and spent the cab ride back to my HardToLocateHotel circling my desires.
The rest of the weekend (the above was fridayDAY) was a whirlwind of talking, eating, laughing, picture taking, video shooting and TALKING.
I remembered why I love blogging (interesting opportunities for which I am tremendously grateful/finally meeting in real life ‘friends’ I’ve adored from afar for a while).
I (almost) remembered why I miss the east coast around the holidays (almost).
But yeah.
After 4 nights away I was so ready to git home to the last picture above.
*Am* so ready to git home to the last picture above.
I’m at the gate. My plane is here. And my misfitass is ready to board.
See you on the other side…..
I’m confident this post is jampacked with typos & other accidents of my thumbtyping. Please to forgive.
This weekend, while all dressed up at the Holiday Party I keep talking about (can you tell I rarely go out anymore,) The Husband gave me the best compliment ever.
It wasn’t that I looked beautiful or skinny. It wasn’t about my new dress (which I bought especially for the party. This one to be exact.) He didn’t notice my new shoes or the dangly earrings I dug out of my jewelry box. Nope, his compliment had nothing to do with my physical appearance at all. He simply leaned over and whispered in my ear,
“When did you get so confident?”
He may not have meant it as a compliment, but it made me blush then and it’s bringing a tear to my eye now. As I said in my Exposed post, it’s always been confidence I wanted.
P.S. Everyone is asking for a photo and unfortunately we didn’t take ONE PICTURE. I’m kind of mad at myself for that. In a way I took took the day off and that meant no camera.
I fear I may never learn the art of moderation. I seem wired to either behave in one extreme or the opposing other. In other words, I have no concept of the middle.
In my past, I struggled with addiction and all the fun stuff that entails–hopelessness, turmoil, shame…and obviously, no exercise. But since February of 2002, I’ve been one of the fortunate ones who has managed to stay away from that melancholy condition and spend my days in the opposite extreme—a life of sobriety—and for me, consequently, a life of running and marathons.
Three months into my recovery, my husband (who was my partner in crime and also has nine-plus years) and I had a surprise: I got pregnant with our first daughter.
Quoting from one of my own blog posts, “I often think of her as an angel sent to save us…I’m pretty positive that without her, Chad and I wouldn’t have this nine-year chunk of sobriety.” And then I go on to explain how I started running: “I was antsy from being a stay-at-home mommy. And an only one-year-eleven-months-sober mommy at that. No evening glass of wine to unwind with. No mother’s little helper. I needed a goal. And for whatever reason, I came up with running a marathon.”
And my polar tendencies kicked in. I went from unhealthy addict to running mom. From 2004—2010, I ran ten marathons, along with various other races to help prepare for those marathons. (And we also had our second daughter, where I took a one-year break from running.) I became the typical runner—weekly runs, long runs, track workouts, my running group, etc… Like many runners, the sport became a bit consuming for me. (Know any runners but aren’t one yourself? Are we ever obsessed or kind of annoying sometimes? For sure.)
In the thick of my pastime, in May of 2009, I severely ruptured my L4/L5 disc at a roller skating birthday party and had to undergo surgery, removing 50% of the disc material that had exploded into my spinal canal. The surgery was a success, and I resumed my running only a few months later.
But something was different; the intensity was gone. I wasn’t as into it, because when I say the surgery was successful, I mean that it cured my scary sciatica symptoms–but I was still left with a half-disc that would turn out to only be able to handle two more years of running.
As the “regular” back pain began to set in, so did the realization that my days as a runner were numbered. Half a disc at age 37, along with two other bulging ones, isn’t like tendonitis or other common running injuries. We’re talking my spine and it’s future as I get older. Therefore, I came up with the grand finale plan of switching gears and ending my racing with an ironman triathlon. And six months ago, I went out with a bang, participating in Ironman Texas. Since then, I’ve been retired from the world of running and races.
It wasn’t as dramatic or devastating as I thought it would be. I was bummed, for sure, but I had to quit to protect my shaky back. I suppose I used AA’s Serenity Prayer–“to accept the things I cannot change.” Also, it’s been really nice to sleep in on Sundays instead of always waking up early for some long run or bike ride! And nice to not have some future event hanging over me, always on my mind.
So when Carla met me in October and invited me to be a guest writer on her blog, she was catching me in my present, opposite extreme—no exercise.
Zilch.
A rut.
I had planned to get super into Bikram yoga, but so far I’ve only dabbled with it and then haven’t been back lately. I also had planned to take our sweet, wild pit bull mix on longer walks, but so far she’s still just getting the same, short route around our street.
What was I going to write about! I guess this struggle with understanding the middle.
What am I talking about—the middle? In terms of exercising, I mean this place of just working out. Not needing to conquer something or feel an intense accomplishment. No goals, no finish lines. Just enjoying the moment.
But I went from zero exercise to training for a marathon. To training for more marathons. To training for an ironman. “Training” I get. But “exercising”? I’m unfamiliar with it. I’m not responding to it. Can I do this exercising? So far, no. I couldn’t just go to Bikram yoga a few times a week. I had to be typical me, making big plans of a 60-day challenge and someday teacher training.
But instead, I totally flaked and have barely been the past two months–still paying the monthly auto-pay, though, that I set up because I just knew I was going to go so much. Such a spaz.
Come on, Sarah. Cut it out with the extremes, the all-or-nothing. On the wagon or off are not the only choices. (Except in recovery.)
There is a middle. Find that middle. Learn to appreciate this mysterious place—one of humility, contentment and gratitude. And take your poor dog on longer walks.
Wish me luck!
Sarah Broyles is a stay-at-home mom with a history of marathons and triathlons. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband, two daughters, one pug, one pit bull mix and a cat. Her favorite food is icing, and her favorite drink is a Venti bold coffee, no room, from Starbucks.
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah.
(Which means we’ve been singing this song for over a month already. And dancing to it. This time of year it trumps even the Bieber in our domicile!)
I’ve talked before about how we celebrate the holiday and SO much more than anything Im thankful this year will be no different.
I wondered with the start of kindergarten if the Tornado would be more “things” & “stuff” focused this year and ask for toys and treats (she has not).
I wondered with the start of kindergarten if the Tornado would be more Christmas aware and focused and feel the tiny tug of wanting to assimilate (she has not).
Since I can’t invite all of you over for my infamous & potentially yucky famous latkes I decided to give you a different treat.
A piece of myself & glimpse into my life as it’s something I do on a regular basis.
This way we can be together in a virtual sense and nudgeprod each other into staying fit on the go during this hectic season.
I feel as though Ive connected with so many of you since last year and only grown closer to those I already knew.
It’s not a Big!Oprah!Giveaway!, but it’s something Ive made and, if nothing else, motherhood has taught me homemade gifts are always the best.
No admonishments to like me on facebook (but feel free to tell me why I should have a fanpage. I have no interest in a fanpage).
No you’d better tweet this post 3675 times to be entered to win.
Just comment if you’re interested and Ill include you in the drawing.
And to my Jewish friends a very happy Hanukkah.
Six winners. All are eligible. Winner announced 1.1.12.
STEPHANIE.
Email me (mizfit08 at yahoo dot com) and I shall connect you with yer SEXY BACK prize.
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.I’m tired of feeling out of control. Too many old habits are sneaking back in. The photo food journaling has been helping, a little, but I want more structure and accountability.
To help I’m returning to old Weight Watcher points. Don’t try to convince me to hop on the PointsPlus bandwagon. I lost my weight on the old plan. It works for me and I’m not about to fix something that isn’t broken. Yes, I’m a bitter old woman who refuses to change. ;)
That being said, I’ve created my own Weekly Tracker.
You can click here and see the entire document. Click here to download a copy.
Here it is in pictures. Minus the orange and yogurt. :)
I’m still not setting any unrealistic weigh loss goals during the holiday season. It will be what it will be. My goal is to take it one day at a time and be conscious of my choices. That how it worked the first time.
