Silly low carb diets, Trix can be for everyone!

Ok, I was recently asked about this so I wanted to jot down a few thoughts on low carb diets, to help people get a better understanding of why they are so appealing, and why that shiny, brand new diet stops working so well after a while. 

First, let us talk about carbs for a second. Carbs are valued at 4 calories per gram. EVERY. SINGLE. CARB is worth the same amount of calories, whether it comes from a pop tart or a strawberry. I'm not going to dive into complex versus simple carbs, but let's just say that they are both 4 calories, and the distinctions have more to do with their ability to be broken down, and nothing to do with how many calories they are. One is not necessarily better than the other, but it is good to try and always go for variety in food sources. We all know where carbs come from, because they are usually our favorite food groups. Ice cream, pizza crust, cookies, fruit, so on and so forth. 

Low carb diets divert your intake from carbs and redirect you to an increase in protein and fat intake so you don't starve to death. Generally, people will see a rapid weight loss from starting a low carb diet, most of which is the result of losing water weight. Now, water weight can be an extremely obnoxious concept to work with because water weight increases or decreases can get confusing when it comes to your physique goals. This is what I want you to remember today....carbs hold water. 
Your body needs carbs to get through life. Glycogen is stored throughout your body. "Approximately 400 grams are stored as muscle glycogen, 90-110 grams as liver glycogen, and 25 grams circulate in the blood as glucose. When the body needs more glucose than is available in bloodstream to support energy demands, glycogen stores are used to raise blood glucose levels." (IAState.edu) When you ingest carbs, your body holds on to both water and sodium in order to process everything and keep your body balanced the way it would like to be. This water retention can be about 3g per gram of carbohydrate. Just think about that for a second! For your rice cake, which has about 7 g of carbs, your body will hold on to roughly 21 g of water and sodium...resulting in a possible and temporary water weight gain. 

So, when you cut carbs from your diet, your body isn't holding that water and you may drop weight quickly. As long as you don't add the carbs back in, you may even keep it off for a while. But, if you add in carbs, and especially if you do it quickly, YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT. It may just be water weight, but you will jump up. For most people, this is what sends them spiraling out of control, because they are frustrated and thats understandable. 

You need carbs to get in a good workout. Workouts help you reach your goals...so eat your carbs. If it makes you feel better to stick to natural sources, that's awesome! Berries are a great option because they have a ton of micronutrients and you can have so many strawberries for 20 g of carbs. Cutting out an entire food group, or in this case, attempting to cut out an entire macronutrient option is just not a good idea and I can almost guarantee that you will regret it, especially after a few days on "no" carbs and you see someone with a cookie! Find your balance, if you need help with that just reach out and ask! I could talk your ear off, but just wanted to put a little tid bit out there for now! 

I'll include some articles below for more information. 

Glycogen storage- Illusion of easy weight loss: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/56/1/292S.abstract

Glycogen Metabolism: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21190/

Can a high carb diet cause you to retain water?: http://www.livestrong.com/article/309135-can-a-high-carb-diet-cause-you-to-retain-water/

Beefy Pumpkin Tarts

Beefy Pumpkin Tarts

Ingredients:

1 pound of 93% lean ground beef

1 TB garlic powder

.5 TB McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

1 tsp chili powder

1 cup pumpkin puree (add salt, cinnamon and McCormick seasoning to taste, about .25 tsp each)

1 bag of steamable veggies (I used Archer Farms sweet potato, kale and cranberry mix)

2 Pillsbury Thick Pizza Crusts

1 TB Kerrygold butter

1 TB parmesan (optional)

Brown the beef with the garlic powder, steak seasoning and chili powder, drain. Mix up pumpkin puree with its seasonings, it will be the base sauce of the tart. Lay out pizza crusts on cutting board, slice into 9 rectangles. Spoon pumpkin puree on half the rectangles, then spoon beef mixture and top with cooked veggies. Top each rectangle with another piece of crust, crimp the edges shut. Melt butter, brush onto the top of each tart. Dust each tart with garlic powder and parmesan. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes, or until golden.

Prior to starting my competition prep, I was already tracking my intake and usually chose to keep breakfasts and lunches pretty clean so that dinner could be something that we all wanted to eat. So, tonight I present you with my latest concoction: Beefy Pumpkin Tarts! I told Ryker it was a dinner poptart, hoping it would trick him into wanting to eat it over his current obsession with jelly sandwiches. For the record, it didn’t work tonight. Vic did serve as taste tester and he liked them! He requested less veggies and more meat, and I have to say, I could have fit more into my tarts but I was worried they would spill out. They didn’t, so now I know that I can pack them with a bit more! I’m excited to try these with other flavor combinations, too. These are pretty carb heavy with the pizza crust, but they're loaded with pumpkin and veggies and lean meat, so I call them a win!

Traffic, Disneyland and Muffin Cookies

It has been a week, let me tell ya. I'm the kind of person that professionally stresses, like really...when is someone going to start paying me for all of this stressing I do? This week, I have my final project for a Sports Finance class to do, the class is the last one in my Sports Management graduate certificate to go with my Masters, and I just want it done. The class is pretty far over my head, I'm not a balance sheet kind of girl. So, I decided that I would take the kids to Disneyland this last Thursday for some magical R&R before diving into this powerpoint over the weekend. I wanted to get there when they opened, because the lines are shorter and they do some special stuff with the characters in Toontown first thing in the morning.

So, we left at 6:30 in the morning...and I hit the worst traffic EVER. Siri had me weaving through side streets to avoid the terrible freeway, and then dumped me at a freeway entrance that took almost an hour to get onto with the traffic lights and congestion. We finally get to Disneyland, Cora has been screaming the whole way, and they loop me around the park three times before sending me into the parking lot that is furthest away. Now, here's the thing, I go to Disneyland sometimes for my cardio! So the walk wasn't really a problem, except that I had been in my car for an extra hour and a half and really had to pee. I unload the car and load the stroller only to realize there is a piece of metal sticking out of my low tire. I call Vic freaking out, and we decide to call USAA and have roadside assistance meet me after I get a few hours of Mickey with the kids. Fast forward to running back out to the car, it turns out the metal was barely in there (I didn't mess with it too much for fear of creating a leak) and we were on our way home. There were so many tears from all three of us in the car, but in the end the day was great and I actually wanted to try again the next day. Disney problem much, anyone?

Days like that are great for perspective, and helped my parenting a bit. I was a terrible Mom in the car, despite the whole trip being about giving the kids and I a great day! Cora wants to hold my hand, from the back seat, while we drive. All the time! So, she's screaming at me, Ryker wanted her to be quiet and wanted to know when we would be at Disneyland and traffic was making me crazy. I muttered to myself that I was going to throw Cora out the window if she didn't shush, and that sent Ryker over the edge. "Don't throw Cora out the window, Mom! She's my best friend!" It took a good 20 minutes to calm him down and convince him that I didn't mean it, that I was just frustrated. He's so aware, and at three, I forget that he's turning into a real little person, he's not a baby anymore. He thanked me and apologized for "making you impossibly crazy" all day. All I wanted to do was ease his little mind's worries and get a smile on his face, and Disneyland never fails there! I generally have a long fuse with the kids, but with my prep and everything it has definitely gotten shorter. That morning was a reminder that I chose to do this for me and I need to keep my shit together for them!

Now, on to the fun stuff. The recipe I'm going to share is from a family cookbook. It is supposed to be muffins, but I baked them as cookies to make it easier for Cora to hold them. I don't suggest the cookie route, they were too moist and Ryker got weirded out, so, we'll stick to muffins! It's been hard for me to not snack on these all day, they've got a good amount of pumpkin and banana, so they're healthy in my book, haha! I ran the macros for the recipe done as cookies, and for 40 little cookies it came to roughly 120 calories, 4 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs and 2 grams of protein. Let me know if you try them!

Head down, thoughts high

Yesterday was my Grandmother’s birthday, she turned 75! Her birthday happens to be my half birthday, which has been a fun little thing for us to share and laugh about for years. When I called her yesterday, we spoke about what is going on in her life (she’s about to move closer to all of us), and she asked about how my competition prep is going. I told her about how Vic and I both had the flu this week, and how after 8 weeks of prepping, I’m starting to get burnt out and a little frustrated. I told her that I didn’t know if I could ever do this again, that I love the results but that the grind and focus on needing to do more is starting to wear me down.

My competition suit!

As I sit here this morning, drinking my coffee in my silent, sleepy house on a Saturday morning, I am reflecting on that conversation, and a number of other conversations that I’ve had with Vic and my Mom lately in regards to competition prep. I’m typically an all or nothing kind of person, if something doesn’t grab me enough to be an “all”, it will usually end up a nothing. I’ll just move on. There have been a few times that I’ve told Vic “I don’t want to do this anymore”, “I don’t know how people can do this, this sucks”. But then I shut up and I eat my perfectly portioned meal, I drag myself to the gym and I get the work done. While I may have had some growing pains throughout the last couple of months, this has been my “all”. I’ve bitched and moaned about it, but instead of quitting and finding a way to justify moving past this, I’ve fought to continue this prep, to continue to push myself further and find what happens when I commit to changes and new challenges.

First progress picture

I hit a new low this morning, so maybe that’s where this veiled positivity is coming from. My coach is hoping we’ll break in to the 120’s at the end of prep, and we are quickly approaching what I thought was an outrageous scenario. I’ve focused on how hard this is, how much I hate it and how I just want to have different goals, and yet I fight for this one, I’ve been desperately clinging to my need to finish this, and to finish strong. Maybe I secretly love this? While the road to the results may suck a bit, I think I’ve found one of the best examples of my personal version of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Competition prep is not for the light hearted, and I don’t know that now, being 8 weeks in and just under 7 weeks out, if I would suggest it to majority of the people I know, but I do suggest this…take a second to reevaluate your words, your thoughts and your actions about the things you choose to spend your time on. I know, after my little coffee revelation this morning, I am going to grind through the next seven weeks with a different attitude. I’m going to honor this choice I made and the work I’ve put in with a positive light, with motivating thoughts and with pride, because I’ve worked too damn hard so far to not take a second and applaud what I’ve been doing.

7 weeks out

I hope that you have that something like this in your life, and if you don’t yet, I encourage you to go ahead and jump head first in to that project you’ve been thinking about. Especially those of us that are parents and give so much to our families, work on you, and don’t feel guilty about it! And above all, take a second to look at your attitude and adjust accordingly. Now, I need a new cup of coffee.

All Star Weekend

“It was there during an NBA’s Board of Governors meeting, USA Today sports later reported, that Warriors President Rick Welts — who is openly gay — told league owners that he would not feel comfortable attending the All-Star Game in Charlotte given the passage of North Carolina House Bill 2, a law that removed some anti-discrimination protections from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people” (Dawson, 2016).

For practically any big event, from the Olympics, to the Super Bowl, rugby and soccer tournaments, and of course, the NBA All Star Game, there is some sort of bidding process that takes place, where large cities across the United States put together their best package to offer to the leaders of professional sports leagues, in an effort to have the opportunity to play host to some of the world’s largest sporting events. In theory, cities will see economic boosts from hosting an event, especially if they already have the infrastructure in place. In some other cases, like the very recent Rio Olympics, it may be a struggle to pull together what is needed to seamlessly host a successful event.

The NBA All Star game occurs every Spring, and is an opportunity to show case some of the more fun aspects of Basketball, like slam dunk contests and skills challenges. Like many other events, it moves every year to a new city. The 2017 All Star Game was being planned for Charlotte, NC. On July 21, 2016, the NBA announced that due to conflicting opinions and values in regards to a recent law that was passed in North Carolina that has been criticized as discriminatory against LGBT people in the state, they will not be bringing their game, nor the out of town fans and economic boost to North Carolina. “We know that hosting an NBA All-Star Game generates a healthy seven-, eight-figure economic impact,” Gahl said. “There’s also a marketing win in hosting a major sporting event.” (Taylor, 2016)

Of course, other cities jumped at the opportunity to put in their bid, but considering that the conversation was beginning in July, and the game occurs in February, there was little time to be wasted. New Orleans was recently awarded the All Star Game, after rushing to quickly deliver their package, representing the ability to excitement of the city in reference to the opportunity. “In less than a month, city officials cleared significant hotel space, moved major events and convinced the league that New Orleans was prepared for an influx of additional visitors on the already-crowded weekend that opens Mardi Gras” (Dawson, 2016).

Beyond the need for any city that hopes to host this event to show that they have the ability to house the many pieces of the All Star Game, to offer hospitality services to the influx of fans and just generally pull off the weekend, there is now a new factor that is being considered. Does the NBA, the back office officials, the players and the fans, want to be associated with your city and its politics? This brings a crazy new element to state politics, will a change in laws create a huge political AND economic backlash if they create outcasts? “Louisiana is the only state in its footprint — including Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina, which have NBA cities — that has a state law prohibiting discrimination against public employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign. That protection is the result of an executive order signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards in April” (Dawson, 2016)

Other cities are not wasting time in their attempt to lure the All Star Game to their homes and their stadiums over the years, and bidding will start soon for 2019. “Indiana Sports Corp. would look to secure sponsorships for the event and Visit Indy would ensure the availability for hotels and the convention center…We know that hosting an NBA All-Star Game generates a healthy seven-, eight-figure economic impact,” Gahl said. “There’s also a marketing win in hosting a major sporting event.” (Taylor, 2016)

With this new element added to the mix, it will be interesting to see how the All Star Game travels around the country from here on out.

REFERENCES

Dawson, B. (2016, August 19). 'A huge whirlwind': How New Orleans landed the NBA All-Star Game in 29 days. Retrieved August 24, 2016, from http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/sports/pelicans/article_2df9d922-6661-11e6-8efb-eb99929198f4.html

NBA All-Star Game History. (n.d.). Retrieved August 24, 2016, from http://www.nba.com/history/all-star/

Steinmetz, K. (2016, July 24). The NBA Took the All-Star Game Away From Charlotte. Here's Why It Matters. Retrieved August 24, 2016, from http://time.com/4419503/nba-all-star-game-charlotte-north-carolina-lgbt/

Taylor, N. (2016, February 13). Pacers to make case for hosting NBA's All Star Game. Retrieved August 24, 2016, from http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2016/02/13/pacers-plan-make-case-hosting-nba-all-star-game/80341416/

A new routine

Being home with my two kiddos has been a crazy switch up to the routine that I'm used to but I love it! There are definitely days where I don't know how I'll make it to nap time, or how we'll all survive until Daddy gets home but overall we're learning to settle into our new routines without work, daycare and having Cora home with us. Our Little Miss is two months old now and a smiley little thing, but of course she's very coy around the camera.

Our day starts early, with Cora and I up around 5 for her to nurse and I start the coffee. Usually, I try to have her back down in our room by 5:45 so that I can be at the gym by 6 am and get the bulk of my workout done. Ryker gets up around 7 and will play in his room until Vic frees our little monster for breakfast! I get back to the house around 8 and help Vic get out the door while trying to clean up after the tornado mess that the boys create in the morning. Cora usually nurses again around then and Ryker and I settle in for the Today show on the TV and either Mickey Mouse or Dinosaur Train on my computer for him.

Ryker, Cora and I play in their room until nap time, unless I'm brave enough to take everyone out for an adventure. I generally try to make sure that any out of the house excursions are planned to get the kids home by noon so that Ryker can get his nap in. This also gives me time in the afternoon to get the stuff around the house done since he usually sleeps for close to three hours. We've gone to the aquarium, the big park nearby and made many trips to Target for our adventures lately, learning to successfully get out of the house with both kids without forgetting anything has been a huge feat for me and I'm proud to say that I haven't forgotten diapers in the last week, haha.

I made myself a schedule, being the planner that I am, to organize my day and week around the house while the kids nap so I don't get stuck sitting on the couch and watching HGTV all day. Every day I tackle vacuuming the living areas, cleaning the kitchen, making our bed and doing one load of laundry. Then, each day has it's own assignment. For instance, Monday is master bathroom day, Tuesday is the kid's bathroom, and so on. It helps me feel like I'm getting something accomplished outside of our errands and has really helped my transition to being at home while I'm on the job hunt.

Usually while the kids are down I'll also hop on my treadmill and knock out a few miles. I decided to start training for the Shamrock Marathon this Spring on top of my training with Ashley Horner, so needless to say I'm always sore! That outlet has also really helped with staying sane! Recently, I signed the kids and I up at Vic's gym so that I can drop them off in their daycare and Ryker can play with other kids while I work out.

Once Ryker is up, we all play outside with his water table or with chalk or if the weather is super horrible, it's been way too hot some days, we hang out inside and work on his letters and numbers and such in his room and then watch Planes, the kid loves that movie.

By the time that's all done Vic is usually home and he takes the kids so I can get a few minutes alone before I start dinner. This is all very different than waking up and putting on my steel toe boots and being in a building with no windows all day, surrounded by computers and I love it. Of course, the fact that I can wear yoga pants all day contributes to that and I love having my hair down, it's crazy how long it got after all those years of having it back in a tight bun!

There's a little peek into our daily routine, I'm off to prepare some iced coffee and get on my treadmill for an active rest day. Our little lady has her two month check up today and I can't wait to find out how much she weighs now!

A peek into our week

After hearing about it from Ryker's daycare teacher every day, we finally got the little man's haircut! He gets a haircut about once every two or three months, I just love his long little boy hair so much. Every time we cut it he grows up, I swear. I had them give him a cut that makes me style it, that way he looks a tad bit more put together instead of always having "impossible to manage, Harry Potter" hair all the time. He's super wiggly for pictures, so here's the best one I could get for you...

He's getting better about sitting still for hair cuts, places like Pigtails and Crewcuts are such a great concept! I remember going somewhere like that when I was a kid, hopefully he looks back on these and thinks they were fun experiences too. 

A while back, Vic and I were watching Jurassic Park and I made him a pizza. That night Jurassic Park Pizza was born! It's basically just a combo of sausage, chicken, tomatoes, onions and balsamic. I started making my own pizza sauce, I'll share that in a post of its own! We got the pizza crust from Target, it's the Market Panty Ultra Thin and Crispy and it made the perfect cracker crisp thin crust, which I love.

I've been all about the easiest lunches lately, otherwise I'll just forget and be starving at night. The other day I threw together about two cups of steamed broccoli, two eggs and ALL the hot sauce. Pair that with Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt popcorn and I am one happy girl. I'm obsessed with that popcorn! 140 calories for 4 cups? Done.

I've been doing a lot more running lately, a lot of which is done at a pretty hefty incline so it was time for new, comfy shoes. I tried to switch to shoes that were lighter, but I've run in Nike LunarGlides for years. I went back to my roots and found the cutest pair and my run today was amazing in them! It feels great to be getting my stride back.

And finally, my littlest cutie has decided that she is only happy if we are holding hands. I decided to just start riding in the back with her if Vic is riding because it's easier than reaching back to continuously pop her pacifier back in. She's a handful but she's amazing, so it all balances out!

I hope you're having a great week so far, we're almost to the weekend!

My favorite breakfast right now

People who don't like oatmeal freak me out, but then again, I don't like cheesecake for it's weird texture and a lot of people don't get that...I guess we all have our thing, right? I love oatmeal for how quickly it can be prepared and how much you can mix into it. When I'm home I'm all about the hot oatmeal, which of course is super quick with my tea kettle. When I was taking oatmeal to work I would do the overnight oats in a mason jar. Just add all of your ingredients, including the liquid (water or milk) and pop it in the fridge. I loved that option when mixing in berries, everything just tastes so great cold.

Right now, I'm obsessed with  my new protein powder. I've been using two different kinds, Vega protein and greens and peanut butter Quest protein powder. The protein and greens tastes like it has greens in it, so watch out, but it's not bad. I usually have that one post workout. If I'm looking to curb the desire for a treat I'm all about the Quest peanut butter protein. It's out of this world and amazing in oatmeal. Oatmeal is supposed to have lactogenic properties (it's supposed to help make more breastmilk), as well as some other spices and seeds. As soon as I had Cora I bought some of Mrs. Patel's lactation products to try and curb the supply issues I had with Ryker. I add the munch crunch to my oatmeal. To round out my favorite breakfast I add some Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate and Kerrygold butter so that I have a bowl full of protein, good fats and carbs that will keep me going until I remember to eat when the baby gives me a break! 

Let me know if you give this a shot, it tastes amazing and really helps give me some energy to get through the day! 

Why I don't want my pre-baby body

If you type "Body after Baby" into Google you get 484,000,000 results. The second article that popped up had a tag line about looking "like your pre-baby self in no time!" That's silly. It's not easy, especially the first time around, to get used to the changes that happen to your body after you have the baby. They tell you that you'll still look pregnant, you hear "it takes 9 months to put it on, it'll take about that to get it off" and yet I'm sure I can't be the only one that walked away from the hospital a little pissed about not being closer to "normal".

If there is one thing that I have learned about parenting it is that you should never try to settle into a normal, because things are always changing. You are always adapting to new milestones, new tantrums, new foods that they love/hate and so on. So, instead of getting worked up about trying to look like I did a year ago, I'd like to know that I'm doing everything I can to look and feel the best I can after having grown and birthed two children.

Getting back into shape and feeling strong and comfortable in my body can't be accomplished the same way it did before Ryker or after Ryker, because now there is Ryker and Cora. They have both left their marks on my body and now he tries to steal my water bottle and headphones while she sets the timetable for the next time I need to breastfeed her. I get to the gym and I use that as my motivation. I know that I have a certain amount of time that I can be gone, so I better be killing it at the gym while I'm there. I want my kids to see that Mom has goals and she's going to work hard to meet them. There will be times when they come with me so that I can work with/around them and others where it's just not going to happen. As long as I don't give up, I feel like I'm teaching them something.  

I'll be six weeks postpartum on Thursday. I still have nearly 20 pounds to lose, which is saying something considering that I gained 30. I'm not that woman that drops majority of the weight upon giving birth, I hold on to almost all of it for the first few months (which is super frustrating!). So, I'm trying to focus on getting my 5k time back to sub-25 minutes and trying to make sure I'm lifting as heavy as I can. I also have to remember to eat and to rest, because all this work will be for nothing if a) my body is too tired and hungry to heal and prepare itself and b) I turn into a giant grouch and am no fun for my family.

Make your family a priority, but make yourself one too. You wouldn't expect your two year old to potty train in one day, so don't expect your body to bounce back that quickly either. Be forgiving. Of course, this is all easier said than done, but I'm hoping this reminder to myself may help someone else go a little easier on themselves when trying to settle into being a new mom of two little ones!

A little meal prep action

In an effort to work on our nutrition and fitness goals while saving money, we make sure to prep food for lunches as often as possible. I can't blame Vic for being sick of choking down grilled chicken every day, when it's plain there just isn't a whole lot that even seasonings can do, eventually you have to spice it up! 

 

Vic likes saucy chicken, so I started making chicken salad for him. It keeps better throughout the week and the chicken doesn't seem to dry out while it waits to be eaten on Friday. Tonight, I took 25 ounces of grilled chicken breasts, 11 ounces of Greek yogurt, half a cup of our favorite wing sauce and about a pound each of chopped celery and carrots. I really hate Greek yogurt, but I gave this a shot and it is so good! I might actually steal some of his chicken salad this week. 

I joined a transformation challenge with Ashley Horner last week that runs for the next 10 weeks and it has been a great kick start to get me back in the gym and eating right. Because it's a competition, my competitive side has really kicked in and I've been doing pretty great with my nutrition. I haven't had the most exciting meals, but tonight I absolutely loved this mixture. I can't stand to eat cottage cheese on it's own so I mix in a little bit of strawberry jelly. I'm basically surviving off of Ezekiel toast since it's easy to eat with one hand while I'm nursing Cora. I topped my toast with my cottage cheese mixture and oh man, it was amazing! 

I'll be sharing more information about the #TransformYou challenge that I'm doing coming soon! I hope you had a great weekend, are you meal prepping tonight?