I stayed in blissful ignorance until two weeks ago at a friend’s house when I weighed myself and saw I had gained nine pounds in the two months since the wedding. Well, I think her scale was off, because the gym scale the next day said I was 173 (not 177) but that is still five pounds more than the 168 I had ballooned to two winters ago. So in the past two years, I have put on 18 pounds!!! I blame my husband entirely. He has way too much a of a sweet tooth it’s hard for me to be good.

Thanks to MyFitnessPal app, I am recording my food intake and my exercise. In two weeks, I have already gone from 173 to 169. Now, I know that is pretty much all water weight, but a victory on the scale is still a victory.

Anyway- my current weight is 169 now and my goal weight is 150.

Friday- I was in SLC for my brothers graduation and while I did not get in a formal work out. We spent and about two hours or so walking; around campus at University of Utah and at a cool pioneer village. (291 cal)

Had to wear my little brother’s shoes because all that walking in heels was impossible!

Saturday- Hiked to Fifth Water Hot Springs! And then when we cooled off in the hotel pool I did some aqua jogging for a good 15 minutes or so. (539 cal)

Approaching the hot springs and waterfall. There were a lot of people there that day

Sunday- Sat on my butt for 13 hours driving home. Ugh! NOT fun!

Monday- Yoga (128 cal) and a short 10 minute run with the puppy to the ball diamonds to watch a little league game (102 cal)

Tuesday- HIIT @ lunch (230 cal)

Wednesday- Zumba (452) and 18 rounds of golf (1012 cal- which seems high to me but is what find on several calorie calculators)

I just love being outside!

Thursday- Softball (385 cal)

We have a TON of girls on our team so there was a lot of sitting. Not to mention I struck out all four times I batted! I was SO frustrated!! I need to step this ball thing up and start really putting some practice hours in.

Total Calories Burned- 2,127

Darn! Not quite enough for a full pound, though I have taken off a pound in the last week. I guess I’m not taking into account the low-cal clean eating I have been sticking to as well. It’s been a good week!

You can read the full article here.

3 Foods You Should Never Eat

Breakfast Cereal: Breakfast cereals are high on the glycemic index (GI). For many people, a dose of high-glycemic carbs in the morning is the prescription for building excess body fat.

The GI of an average piece of chocolate cake is between 31 and 38, a Snickers bar is about 43, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are  132!

French Fries: Possibly the worst foods you can eat. First off, potatoes are high-glycemic and not good for you in any form. But when you take potatoes and deep-fry them in trans fatty oil, you have a recipe for sickness and disease.

Bagels and Breads: Don’t fall for the “whole-grain goodness” trap. When it comes to the glycemic index, it matters very little whether breads are made from whole grain or not. Grains spike your blood sugar, and you know what that means. You should avoid grains at least until you get as lean as you want to be.

I actually ate a large bowl of this chocolate ice cream the night I took this picture… whoops!

I am trying to get serious about my fitness and I keep hearing “You can’t out exercise a bad diet” which I will admit I have been trying to do. I have no problems working out regularly, I enjoy it. My biggest problem is eating- ESPECIALLY eating at night. I will be doing awesome all day but the minute I get home I crave sweets and junk.

According to a great article on  Health.com, before electricity and all-night diners, we humans used to spend a long stretch every night without food passing our lips. “Staying up and eating late is a very recent phenomenon in human history,” says Satchin Panda, PhD, associate professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. So our metabolisms are hard wired to expect a nightly fast, which is a key time for your body to burn fat.

“Eating only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and then not eating for at least 12 hours, should give your body enough time to burn all of the stored glycogen plus some fat every night.” (Read full article here)

I know that if I am serious about weight loss this needs to stop so I’ve Googled a few tips on how to try to stop it.

• Don’t keep junk food in the house. This is a classic that I learned from my mother. If we kept junk in the house, we ate it. If you have to leave the house to get junk, over half the time you decide it’s not worth the effort (especially in the snow) and you don’t bother. This has been made easier by living in the small town I live in. No fast food restaurants, only a gas station.

• Keep healthy snacks around. If you open the fridge craving junk and all you see are fruits and veggies, you’ll settle for what you have. One of my favourite evening snacks is mango. I don’t know if that is exactly the best option as it is sugary, but better than ice cream!

• Drink up. Grab a glass of water or sip on herbal tea.

• Pick an eating deadline. I have made my eating deadline 8 p.m. and it’s amazing how easy it is to stop eating if you have a hard and fast deadline like this!

• Distract yourself. I read this one a lot. They say watching TV makes you crave a snack which makes sense. My only problem is evening TV time is my cuddle time with the fiancée  I love that couple of hours where we snuggle up and talk and enjoy a movie or a tv show.

• Break the Habit. Remind yourself when you start to get hungry that it just from the habit you’ve formed and like smoking, you need to tough it out.

 Anyone who follows my blog may recall that almost two years ago I packed on 13 pounds in a couple of months and since then have struggled to get rid of them to no avail. I tried restricting calories, I did two hour workouts six days a week, cross training, running, nothing worked. I went to my doctor and we had my thyroid tested and the first test said I had a slow thyroid but we did two more just to be safe and they said I was fine. I saw a nutritionist who looked at a months worth of eating and she couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t losing. That’s when I gave up. I kept up an active lifestyle (lunch workouts, softball, hiking, running, triathlons and road races) but I gave up with clean eating and gave up on trying to lose.

Now I have a wedding coming up and I refuse to diet or kill myself working out in the vain hope that I will lose weight. But it would be nice if I could tone up my arms and flatten my tummy.

Prepare for a shift in my posts with a few adventures mixed in for good measure.

No difference despite regular work outs. I did notice my arms are a little more toned though so that’s positive. But tummy wise- nothing!

Gut is the same

I do notice more muscle in my back now. But again, the waist is the same.

One thing I love to do is start my day with a spinach smoothie. I can say truly and honestly that I feel more alert and have more energy on the days when I start off with one. And the spinach has no taste so you can chug it easily.

Today I pulled together what I could find really quickly. Today’s green smoothie had spinach, yoghurt  1/2 scoop of lemonade mix, kiwi and water. The 1/2 scoop of lemonade mix was too much and it made the juice almost too sweet. But I chugged it anyway.

My fitness inspiration these days is Gwen Stefani. This woman is 43 and has two kids! If she can look THAT good I can at least lose a few pounds!

43 year old mother of two. Say what?!?!

I plan to spend some time this winter trying out all these recipes.

Nix those suspicions that good, homemade food comes with an exorbitant price tag. We found exactly the opposite, actually. If we roll up our sleeves and make homemade pasta, cookies, or just about any other food, it costs a whole lot less than buying the pre-made versions. Not to mention the pride of putting a from-scratch meal on the table.

Breakfast

1. Granola bars
$0.48 each for homemade  | $0.69 each for Kashi brand
Who doesn’t love a crunchy, chewy grab-and-go snack? But there’s no need to shell out big bucks or entrust our health to unpronounceable ingredients. Oats, nuts, berries, and honey star in this recipe and significantly cut back on costs. Also check out Greatist’s Fruit and Nut Bar recipe.

2. Granola/Breakfast cereal
$0.37 per ½ cup homemade | $0.41 for Arrowhead Mills brand
Skip the boxed stuff and DIY it for a personalized cereal. These homemade bran flakes rival the store-bought stuff in nutrition and flavor. Add a small handful of dried fruit and roasted nuts for some extra crunch and flavor.

3. Oatmeal
$0.25 for homemade | $0.28 per packet Quaker Oats brand
Swap that paper package of instant oats for classic whole rolled oats. Whip up a big batch at the beginning of the week and then soup up each serving with add-ins like fruit and spices.

4. Pancakes
$0.13 per pancake homemade | $0.29 per pancake Eggo brand
Put down that Bisquick. Whipping up pancakes at home is an opportunity to add in whole wheat flour and raisins for fiber and a little sweetness without sugar overload. Plus, the added fiber helps us feel full and improve digestion.

5. Waffles
$0.85 per homemade Belgian-style | $1.31 for two Kashi brand frozen
Leggo my Eggo! Skip the refined grains of classic toaster waffles and the exorbitant price of the healthier versions. Instead, try some hand-crafted whole-grain waffles. Extra points for using fresh-cut fruit instead of corn-syrup heavy Aunt Jemima’s.

Snacks

6. Salsa
$3.40 per 16 oz. homemade | $3.75 per 16 oz. jar Green Mountain Gringo brand
Take a page out of Slim Shady’s book and serve up some salsa. Boiling and blending creates a restaurant-quality dip that’s way better than the jarred stuff.

7. Guacamole
$0.75 per ¼ cup homemade | $0.87 for ¼ cup Santa Barbara brand
Guacamole’s an easy and stove-free snack to whip up on a warm, summer afternoon. Making it at home not only ups the freshness (and flavor), but also makes it easier to control saltiness and the heat. Pair with homemade tortilla chips for even more healthy points. Ole!

8. Hummus
$0.21 per 2 tablespoon serving homemade | $0.43 for 2 tablespoons Sabra brand
Dangerfood or not, this dip is delicious. And when restraining ourselves to a two-tablespoon serving, it costs less than a quarter. Plus, the directions are simple — just blend! No more $6 hummus tubs needed.

9. Soft Cheeses
$0.63 per ¼ cup homemade (paneer or ricotta) | $0.67 for ¼ cup fresh specialty brand
No need to be a professional chef to make cheese. Paneer and ricotta are ridiculously easy to make at home, and they’ll always be fresher than what can be bought at the store.

10. Yogurt
$0.43 per 8 oz. homemade | $1.07 per 8 oz. Stonyfield Farm brand
It’s like a miracle! It’s possible to turn ½ cup of yogurt into 2 quarts just by adding milk. Okay, so there’s a little more to the process than just stirring them together, but DIY yogurt saves a pretty penny and yields a fresher final product that’s easy to feel good about!

11. Fruit snacks
$0.63 per roll homemade | $0.72 for Fruitabu brand
Homemade fruit snacks or “fruit leather” is a steal even when buying the fruit from the grocery store. But if it’s mid-summer and that fruit tree just keeps producing more, fruit leather’s an awesome and practically free way to preserve it. Just add lemon, sugar, and spices (which are actually optional!).

12. Tortilla chips
$0.31 per 12 chips homemade | $0.53 for 12 chips Tostitos brand
Don’t buy the family-sized bag! Repurpose old tortillas as chips by lightly spraying with oil and baking. While any tortillas will do, we recommend the homemade ones below.

13. Tortillas
$0.13 per tortilla homemade | $0.27 per tortilla for Mission brand
These Tex-Mex staples are actually a piece of cake to make. Simply combine flour, baking powder, oil, salt, and milk — no intimidating yeast! Swap in whole-wheat flour for added fiber and a richer texture. Gone gluten-free? These can also be made with corn flour.

14. Pita chips
$0.41 per 2 oz. serving homemade | $0.77 for 2 oz. Stacy’s brand
The recipe for pita chips isn’t all too different from tortilla chips. Simply coat with oil and seasonings and bake. No more wasted pitas, no more wasted cash on the packaged stuff!

Lunch

15. Jam and jelly
$3.04 per 8 oz. jar homemade | $3.77 per 8 oz. Sarabeth’s brand
Yes, it’s possible to make jam and jelly in the microwave. Seriously. All it takes is some frozen fruit, lemon, pectin, and sugar. Just remember, this doesn’t preserve the jam the way true canning does, so it has to be gobbled up within a few weeks.

16. Bread
$0.40 for 2 slices homemade | $0.52 for 2 slices Arnold brand
It’s not always easy to discern which breads are masquerading as health foods and which are actually good for you. But making bread at home helps clear things up real quick, since it’s easy to control exactly what ingredients go in the bowl. Since fresh baked varieties don’t contain preservatives, remember to eat within a week, or freeze for longer safe keeping.

17. Nut butters
$0.29 per 2 tablespoons homemade | $0.29 for Smuckers Natural brand
It’s peanut butter-jelly time! Homemade nut butters eliminate the need for crazy preservatives and over-the-top fat and salt content. Just grind those nuts up for any variety of nut butter imaginable!

18. Salad dressing
$0.52 per 2 tablespoons homemade | $0.64 per 2 tablespoons Maple Grove Farms brand
This one’s a Greatist favorite: toss some olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a nearly empty mustard jar and shake. It’ll get out those last drops of flavor from the mustard and serve as a simple storage container for the dressing. Not to mention it’s C-H-E-A-P. Or try one of these easy recipes for some variety.

19. Soup
$0.90 per 1 ½ cups homemade | $2.23 for 1 ½ cups Amy’s brand
Skip the potential threat of BPA in the canned stuff by whipping up a big pot of soup at home. Combine any veggies, broth (check out how to make it from scratch below), pasta, and any leftover meat on hand. Freeze in single-serve portions for easy defrosting!

20. Chili
$2.77 per 1 ½ cups homemade | $3.19 for 1 ½ cups Amy’s brand
Canned chili can be seriously disappointing. Instead, control the spiciness, type of meat, and overall fat and sodium content but going homemade. Our buffalo turkey chili is surprisingly healthy and a fun twist on the traditional version. Go cheaper (and meat-free!) by using an assortment of beans instead of the turkey.

21. Baked beans
$0.31 for ⅓ cup homemade | $0.38 per ⅓ cup Bush’s Original brand
Baked beans are a heart- and tummy-warming recipe, that doesn’t need to be ultra-heavy or sugary. Stick with dry beans, molasses, and just a few herbs and spices to keep it cheap and healthy.

22. Croutons
$0.11 per serving homemade | $0.17 per serving for Olivia’s Croutons brand
These salad toppers are notoriously dangerous since they’re typically made with refined grains and lots of oil. Instead, DIY it for guilt-free added crunch.

23. Frozen burritos
$1.81 per burrito homemade | $2.99 per burrito for Amy’s brand
Believe it or not, it is possible to imitate the gooey goodness of a freezer burrito at home. Combine a homemade tortilla, cheese, roasted veggies, and leftover meats. Wrap in foil, freeze, and reheat! This is especially great for those with allergies or intolerances!

Dinner

24. Marinara sauce
$0.97 per ½ cup homemade |$1.22 per ½ cup Amy’s brand
Pasta sauce is the original sneaky way to add veggies to a meal, so why settle for the store-bought stuff? It takes just a few minutes of active prep to get the basic ingredients together, then just let it simmer.

25. Broth
$1.21 per quart homemade | $3.29 per quart College Inn brand
Stock and broth seem like one of those things only fancy-pants cooks make, but they’re actually super-easy and a great way to use up stuff that’s already on hand. The basic recipe is water, bones or carcass, vegetables, and seasonings. (The seasonings are actually optional. Technically, broth is seasoned while stock is just a blank slate.)

26. Pesto
$0.64 per 2 tablespoons homemade | $0.72 for Buitoni brand
The crisp, green taste of pesto is best when made with ultra-fresh basil. Store-bought brands tend to compensate with loads of oil and salt. When that basil plant’s growing as quick as a weed, grab a few handfuls and combine with a touch of olive oil, cheese, pine nuts, and garlic. If basil’s out of season, capitalize on in-season greens like kale or spinach. (Bonus points for superfood greens!)

27. Pasta
$0.34 per ¼ lb. serving homemade | $0.62 per ¼ lb. serving Bionaturae brand
It’s just eggs, flour, oil, and salt, and yet people tend to shy away from making their own pasta. Doing it at home makes it easy to control just how healthy and whole-wheat-filled the final product is.

28. Filled pasta
$0.50 per 1 cup serving homemade | $2.15 per 1 cup serving Buitoni brand
With that stockpile of freshly made pasta dough and ricotta in the fridge, it’s easy to throw together some homemade ravioli. Combine ricotta with sautéed spinach for quick and easy healthy dinner. Better still, filled pasta can be rolled by hand and is far easier to cut than that pesky, thin spaghetti.

29. Roasted chicken
$1.40 per ¼ chicken homemade | $1.75 per ¼ store-bought rotisserie chicken
Sure, it takes some time, but don’t be intimidated by the idea of roasting a whole bird. Making it at home eliminates all that broth-injected, unpronounceable-chemical-laced stuff that comes pre-cooked.

30. Mashed potatoes
$0.76 per ¾ cup serving homemade | $2.50 per ¾ cup store-prepared potatoes
Mash up some cauliflower rather than chowing down on boxed or prepared mashed potatoes. We swear it tastes the same! Can’t commit all the way to cauliflower? Go half cauliflower, half potatoes. And keep it light on the butter and milk!

31. Breadcrumbs
$0.11 per ¼ cup homemade | $0.16 per ¼ cup Progresso brand
Unseasoned bread crumbs are ultra-easy to make. Just grind up a few slices of bread and toast. For flavored crumbs, add in dried herbs. Use whole-wheat bread for added fiber and B vitamins.

32. Ketchup
$3.86 per 16 ounces homemade | $3.34 per 16 ounces Heinz brand
Some of us probably already have the necessary ingredients to make ketchup right in our spice cabinets, but are still turning to the high-fructose variety. This version is especially cheap if you have the spices on hand, and entirely worthwhile to avoid additives (and impress those dinner guests!).

33. Barbecue sauce
$0.09 per tablespoon homemade | $0.08 per tablespoon KC Masterpiece brand
Down-home comfort food is rarely healthy, but DIY barbecue sauce could be the answer for scrapping unnecessary sugar and salt. The magic ingredient? Coffee. We’d say $0.01 is worth knowing how to pronounce all the ingredients!

34. Pizza dough
$0.98 per 12″ pizza dough homemade | $0.98 for 12″ store-bought, fresh dough
It’s time to get Italian! The number one way to feel like a BAMF in the kitchen is to toss around pizza dough. Making it whole-wheat cuts back on the costs of the packaged stuff, and, say it with us, “gives us control of the ingredients.”

35. French fries
$0.72 per ½ cup serving homemade | $0.90 per ½ cup serving Alexia brand
Sweet potato fries are basically the new Micky D’s, and this is one trend we recommend everyone get in on. Just slice up some sweet potatoes and toss with oil, salt, and spices, and bake until crispy. There’s no frying involved and the potatoes are practically the only cost.

Dessert

36. Cookies
$0.32 per 2 cookies homemade | $0.35 per 3 mini Entenmann’s brand
We’d make homemade cookies just for the awesome smell, so getting to devour them is a pretty awesome bonus. Adding superfoods banana and oatmeal into the mix practically turns these cookies into a superfood themselves.

37. Brownies
$0.35 per brownie homemade | $0.52 per brownie Entenmann’s brand
Yes, it is actually possible to make delicious brownies without any flour. The surprising stand in? Black beans, which add fiber and protein. This is an especially great for those with celiac disease, who might otherwise shell out major cash to get a flour-free recipe. (Even wheat-lovers will devour this recipe, we promise!).

38. Ice cream
$2.43 per pint homemade | $4.19 per pint Ben & Jerry’s brand
Who doesn’t love having a little ice cream on hand to dip into now and then? Whip up a big batch (no need for an ice cream maker) and personalize it with any flavors or add-ins desired. Of course, several of these frozen treats are fruit-based, which makes them an even healthier option in our book!

39. Ice cream sandwiches
$0.52 per sandwich homemade | $1.07 per sandwich Skinny Cow brand
Sandwich together two small, healthier homemade cookies (from above!) and a dollop of that homemade ice cream and freeze. There’s a single-serving indulgence without the temptation of bulldozing through the whole pint of ice cream. Plus, you’ll avoid the additives and artificial sweeteners found in low-fat, reduced-sugar brands.

40. Pudding
$1.22 per cup homemade | $0.97 per cup Kozy Shack brand
Buckle your seatbelts, kids! We’re making pudding with avocado. Just blend with milk and honey. It may not be cheaper than a puddin’ cup, but we’ll let it slide because, heck, it’s avocado!

Drinks

41. Smoothies
$1.14 per cup homemade | $1.37 per cup Naked brand
Skip the watery smoothie drinks that can be packed with sugar and miss out on a lot of the fruits’ benefits. Blend together spinach, yogurt, ice, orange, banana, strawberries, and just about any other fruit for a green smoothie without any added sugar. And compared to that $7 green smoothie at the juice bar, it’s actually a deal!

42. Sparkling water
$0.25 per liter for SodaStream | $0.99 per liter Poland Springs
Bottled water is an easy way to flush money down the drain while also wasting lots of plastic bottles. Instead, rig up a carbonation station to add bubbles to pure, delicious water — no additional sugar or sodium.

43. Flavored water
$0.37 per liter homemade | $0.99 per liter Poland Springs brand
To create flavor-infused water, simply put water in a pitcher and add slices of lemon, lime, orange, mint or other sliced fruits. Let it sit for an hour or as long as you’ve got, then strain off the fruit for a debris-free drink.

44. Drink mixers
$1.31 per cup homemade Sweet and Sour mix | $1.25 per cup Mr. & Mrs. T’s brand
Put down the margarita mix! But no need to go margarita-less. Just make less-sugary drink mixerswith fresh juices and honey-water instead of simple syrup or packaged mixes.

45. Lemonade
$0.58 per cup homemade | $0.67 per cup Santa Cruz brand
There’s nothing more refreshing than this summer classic, but it can often be packed with sugar. Nix powdered mixes or bottled beverages and stir together water, lemon juice, mint, and just a touch of honey.

So yummy and easy to make!

The recipe:

1/2 red pepper diced

1/2 onion diced

2 tomatoes

Tons of cilantro

Dash of cayenne pepper

Red Pepper flakes to taste

Salt

That’s it! So easy! You can also add ripe mango which is really tasty too.

• 3 cups fresh spinach
• 1 cup chopped celery
• A handful of fresh parsley
• ¼ inch fresh ginger, diced
• 3 slices of lemon
• 1 ripe pear
• 1 container of strawberry yogurt
• Green Tea
• Ice Cubes

Super healthy breakfast!

I put it all together in a Tupperware container last night so I didn’t have to prep this morning. All I had to do was throw in the blender and blend. Try it today! It is SO GOOD!

I was nervous- My first sip- Surprisingly tasty!

Here is what I packed for a healthy road trip.

celery sticks

instant coffee and green tea

chicken sandwiches

cut up dragon fruit

Lots of fruit

Greek Yogurt

Pomegranate Seeds

Bottles of water

Two bags of snacks

Eating a pear on the road

Pomegranates on the road

Now, we didn’t follow my eating plan to a tee. We did stop for coffee at Timmy’s and got a cheeseburger at Wendy’s in Cranbrook.

Tmmy's, Ryan and the mountains. Three of my favorite things

But other than those two little slips we ate well and enjoyed a beautiful (but super long) drive through the mountains.