Wednesday Weigh-In: First Day of School!

I’m down 1.4 this week?!? That was surprising. I haven’t been very diligent in the diet department, falling into a pattern of night time snacking again. Actually, I haven’t been very diligent this whole month which is why I’m only down 3 lbs for August, BUT…

I’m living the life I want to live and that’s more important to me than a number on the scale will ever be.

wow… I’ve come a long way.

So besides weighing in, I saw my Little Guy off today. It was the first day of 1st grade! Why do I have a feeling Kindergarten was the tipping point when it comes to the kid growing up. I have this sinking suspicion the next 12 years will be gone before I know it. School has a habit of fast forwarding time. At least it seems that way to me.

Just look at him! He’s all grown up!

(P.S. I don’t know if you can tell but the right side of my face is all swollen from yesterday’s fall, I covered up the bruise with makeup so other Moms at the bus stop wouldn’t think the Husband beats me. lol)

I decided not to run or workout today. I’ve been battling a small headache since the fall and my shoulder is really sore. It’s amazing how much damage a simple trip can do. I’m hoping to make up the workout tomorrow at the gym and then do tomorrow’s run on Friday, but we’ll see. With Little Guy back in school I need to find my groove with a new schedule.

I was able to finish the new GreenLiteBites page today. Click here to check out my School Lunch Ideas page and see Little Guy’s lunch for tomorrow. I’m glad I got it done. It will keep me motivated to change his lunches up a bit.

Other than that, I shared a short post about Baby Milestones. Little Bean is entering a new stage. He’s 6 months this month!

Ok, must go. I’m exhausted!

Kept my food journal on twitter today.

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Amy's Light & Lean Soft Taco Fiesta Review

I picked up Amy's Light & Lean Soft Taco Fiesta, realizing that I hadn't yet tried any of the varieties in this line. Each of the meals in Amy's Light & Lean line provides less than 300 calories and contain 5 grams of fat or less. In addition, as with all Amy's products, Light & Lean Meals are organic, vegetarian, and are made without the use of trans fats or GMOs.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 bowl (225 grams)
Calories: 220
Total Fat: 4.5 grams, 7%
Saturated Fat: 1.5 grams, 8%
Sodium: 560 mg, 23%
Carbohydrates: 40 grams
Fiber: 5 grams, 20%
Sugars: 6 grams
Protein: 7 grams

When this emerged from the microwave, it looked like a hot mess - really it looked like puke. I was very apprehensive and was literally scared to take a bite. But wouldn't you know it - this is one of those foods that looks disgusting but tastes amazing! It's exactly as is described on the back of the box - a layer of black beans and cheese on top of a soft corn tortilla - below that is a bed of brown rice, shredded vegetables & sweet corn. It sounds complex, but it's delicious. I cut through all the layers with my fork and made sure to have some of the flavorful black bean & cheese layer along with a piece of the soft corn tortilla and a little rice. I'm not kidding when I say I ate the entire thing - not even a single rice grain was left by the time I was done.

Each bowl of Amy's Light & Lean Soft Taco Fiesta (227 grams), provides 220 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat, 1.5 grams of which is saturated (7% and 8% of the daily value), 560 mg sodium (23% of the DV), 5 grams of fiber (20% of the DV), 6 grams of sugars and 7 grams of protein. There is also 25% of the DV for vitamin C and 20% for vitamin A.

I purchased Amy's Light & Lean Soft Taco Fiesta bowl for $3.18 - at the same time I bought other frozen dinners for $2.50. Amy's meals (and Kashi's too) are usually more expensive than Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine & Weight Watchers, but at this price point, which is not too much more than the other meals, I would definitely buy this meal again. Not only does it make a tasty and filling lunch, but the nutrition facts & ingredients list are quite impressive too.

{Website: Amy's (Light & Lean)}

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What Can You Accomplish in 15 Minutes?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post called Work Smarter Not Harder where I, sort of, confessed my workaholic-ness.

It’s true. I work a lot.

Don’t we all?

Lately I’ve been finding myself procrastinating. I get so overwhelmed with all that has to get done that I don’t actually accomplish anything. It’s a maddening circle.

My inbox will stay full for days. Laundry baskets of clothes sit waiting to be folded. The dinner mess waits until lunch the next day. I’ve even been procrastinating grocery shopping. And I love grocery shopping! Last week we ran out of bread, milk, and eggs!

Then I got inspired to put a work smarter not harder concept into practice.

Little Guy and I cleaned out a cabinet making room for his water bottles and the Baby’s new bowls and cups. When we finished, we both had such a sense of accomplishment.

We got SOMETHING done!

Then I looked at the clock. All it took was 15 minutes.

15 minutes and I had an organized cabinet and momentum to accomplish something else.

I decided to put my 15 minute idea to the test a couple of more times.

Yesterday at 4:45 PM

I focused on the pantry.

15 minutes later…

Amazing!

Right? (Note: the baby only lasts about 15 minutes in the bouncy so I really was on the clock! ;)

All it took was 15 minutes!

This afternoon I tried it on my bedroom…

It was 12:41 PM

After 15 minutes…

Taaa Da!

"15 minutes" is my new mantra when I’m feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated. I take a deep breath, look around and focus on 1 thing for 15 minutes.

Every day I vow to do this at least once.

Take 15 minutes this week and DO SOMETHING. Something that’s been bugging you. Something you’ve been putting on the bottom on your to-do. Even if you only get started it’s a start!

What Can You Accomplish in 15 Minutes?

Let me know how you make out in the comments!

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Kindergarten: a pictures post.

(Yes, People, we are starting way back.  You’re lucky this post didnt being with baby pictures.  You can thank me for those edits later.)

Muffin Morning. Meet the teacher morning. No words required for how I adored her choice of  outfit right down to the running skirt.

She chose my outfit too & seriously I have no idea how she found that dress I’d forgotten I owned (thought I will admit her first choice was a racy red running skirt. I had to say no to that one). Somehow Ren Man was allowed to pick his own attire.

There were a few moments of Muffin Morning panic (suffice it to say shes NOT a fan of the school’s mascot) but all in all she loved her teacher…and the muffins.

After Muffin Morning.  The Tornado & one of her fave people (can you guess why? she’s a fun & fantastic as she is colorful, too)  She ran, leaped in her arms, & announced IM A KINDERGARTNER…almost!!!!

Kindergarten morning. I realize it’s shocking she’s awake and excited and it’s pitch black outside.

Inexplicably she grabbed my Zensah compression sleeves, slithered them up her arms & announced she was wearing them to school.

Here she is giving her idea a big thumbs up.

Thankfully she was willing to remove the sleeves for breakfast so she’d not make her sartorial choice sticky.*

By this point in the morning it was *still* dark out and Mama need more of the above to maintain the momentum.

The Tornado, to my delight, insisted she needed some of this to keep her momentum going.

Thankfully time passed & it was *finally* light outside for the mandatory photo op.

And the bus stop wait (and wait and wait).

Until at long last it arrived, she RAN up the stairs & was off on her first solo adventure.

I know I promised a post in pictures so Ill let the snapshot from day TWO speak for how she loved day one.

Oh and also, even with the little astrix below, she was tenacious with her Zensah leg-sleeves-as-arm-sleeves love.

*As you can see in the photo above she failed to replace her arm warmers after the pancakes.  I cant lie. I was a little disappointed.  I think Ren Man was highly relieved.

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Dannon Activia Selects 0% Fat Greek Yogurt (Strawberry) Review

When we asked in our poll, How Do You Yogurt, 60% of you responded that Greek yogurt was your thing. I'm more of a low-fat, low-sugar type of girl, but when I saw
Dannon Activia Selects Non Fat Strawberry Greek Yogurt, I decided to try it.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 6 ounces
Calories: 190
Total Fat: 0%
Saturated Fat: 0%
Sodium: 140 mg, 6%
Carbohydrates: 34 grams
Fiber: 0%
Sugars: 29 grams
Protein: 12 grams

I loved the texture, which is very thick & creamy as it says on the packaging. It's also rampant with bits of strawberries - it felt like there was some in every bite so I wasn't surprised to see that it's 3rd ingredient. What I also wasn't surprised to see is that sugar is the 4th ingredient, because this is suh-weet - not so sweet that you can't eat it, but it made me curious to see how much sugar is in each serving. Turns out there are 29 grams - which is quite a lot for a 6 ounce serving size - much more sugar in this than in Dannon Strawberry Greek Yogurt (Review), which has 16 grams per 5.3 ounce serving (or 18 grams in 6 ounces).

Each 6 ounce serving of Dannon Activia Selects Non Fat Strawberry Greek Yogurt provides 190 calories, no fat or fiber, 29 grams of sugars as previously mentioned, and 12 grams of protein.

The ingredients in Dannon Activia Selects Non Fat Strawberry Greek Yogurt are cultured grade A non-fat milk, water, strawberries, sugar, fructose, milk protein concentrate; less than 1% of maltodextrin, modified corn starch, modified food starch, natural flavors, carrageenan, carmine and black carrot juice concentrate (for color), sodium citrate, potassium sorbate (to maintain freshness), malic acid, vitamin D3.

There are quite a few strawberry Greek yogurts with less calories and sugars than this, including Oikos Organic Strawberry Greek Yogurt (Review), Chobani 2% All Natural Strawberry Banana Greek Yogurt (Review) and Brown Cow Strawberry on the Bottom All Natural 0% Fat Greek Yogurt (Review).

I paid $1.00 for a 6 ounce container of Dannon Activia Selects Non Fat Strawberry Greek Yogurt, and although it's tasty, I wouldn't buy this again given all the other lower caloric and less sugar options.

{Website: Dannon Activia Selects}

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Finish It Monday: One Month Down! It’s Time To Self-Critique What You’ve Done So Far

Me, after Insanity. Not sure how I was able to crack a smile. LOL!

Depending on when you started with us, you are now either one month into the Finish What You Started Challenge, or you’re just now joining in and ready to ROAR! (and a big ‘ole hello to all of our newest participants!)

The Challenge ends on October 31st, so you’ve got two more months to reach your goal, or, for you long term goal peeps, the Challenge is for you to remain consistent and end the cycle of stopping and re-starting with what you intend to Finish. Right?

(Download and view Week #5's message on the Star System Tracking Chart.)

This is your assignment for this week to earn 3 bonus stars for a total of 31 maximum for the week! 28 stars + 3 bonus stars = 31

Earn one bonus star gnawing on 3 or more salads.Earn 2nd bonus star for continuing with your pushups. I really wanna see you guys be able to celebrate some big time push ups progress when this is all over!Earn 3rd bonus star by evaluating what you’ve done since the Challenge began – a positive, honest critique of yourself (not self-judgement that brings guilt) – and then make any tweaks to your fitness and eating routines as necessary.

More On Evaluating Your Current Progress And Taking An Honest Look At What You’ve Done So Far

Okay, okay, I’ll go first so you can see how this is done….

Fitness: You probably already know I’m doing Insanity (it’s in my Beachbody shop), but the workout calendar is very rigorous. Maybe a bit too rigorous sometimes. It’s delivering quick results as promised (big time results!), but it can also be physically and mentally challenge to the point where the urge to quit pop ups in my brain a little too often. Noooo!!! So in order to prevent those urges to quit completely, I recently decided to do Insanity every other day (with a different workout in between) instead of two Insanity days back to back. This fitness critique/tweak means it will take me longer to complete the entire program (boo), BUT it’s working out better for me, because it’s eliminated my urge to quit completely, AND I discovered that a rest day in between Insane workouts actually enables me to perform at a high level and push harder on my Insanity days.

Eating: It sucks sometimes. Usually when I’m bored. I don’t get bored that often because of my happy-crazy-busy life, but when boredom does creep up, I’m capable of downing a whole day’s worth of calories before noon. Oh, hell no! So how do I fix this? I’ve decided to plan/pack food even when I’m home from work on the weekends. WeekDAY food planning has always worked for me at about a 95% success rate, so why do I abandon this concept on the weekends? No more weekend self-sabotage for me. The majority of my weekend eating will be planned ahead of time from now on, as much as possible. If I get bored and want to chew, my food selections will already be pre-determined.

These self-critiques did not reveal that I’m a loser. They do not prove that I can’t stick to a plan. It does not mean that I have to abandon all. It simply reveals that my plan needed tweaking.

So do you see how this works? Now it’s your turn. Go grabs your stars and make it a great week!

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I Promise There Are NO Head Locks Or Titty Twisters Involved In This Request

Frivolous Demands:
*Subscribe to the blog
*Follow me on Twittah
*Like me on Facebook
*YouTube my videos

Fitness Romance Saga? It’s like chick-a-bow-bow with some cardio & weights thrown in.

Product Spotlight: Put Some Zensah On That Ass!

My workout week: Week #3 of Insanity,  days 15-21 out of 60. My legs are morphing into sexy-awesome! Click here for my daily training log.

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Grab some Shakeology in my Beachbody shop.

Shakeology is a complete meal (shake) developed by Beachbody, the makers of P90X. It contains 16-18 grams of protein and 140 calories per serving. The shake will help you lose weight, reduce cravings, improve digestion, and lower cholesterol. It can also improve stamina and libido, alleviate hormonal issues (including menopause-related), aid memory, support immune function and boost serotonin levels to improve mood and symptoms of depression, while also reducing the symptoms of high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis.

Shakeology 30-Day Recipe Calendars

Chocolate and Greenberry nutrition labels.

90 Days of Shakeology: My Experiment

Shakeology money back guarantee.

If you’re passionate about helping people achieve their fitness goals and you’re committed to achieving financial independence, contact me now about becoming a Beachbody Coach.
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