Busy? No Problem!

Can you believe it's Monday already?!  Where did the weekend go? 

People often tell me "I'm too busy to eat healthy" or "I'm too busy to exercise".  Those comments are not true, if you set yourself up for success.  Here are some tips:

1-  Don't buy junk food.  That way, you have no choice but to eat healthy at home!  Easy snacks are apples, bananas, almonds, raw food bars, cut up veggies, or green drinks. 

Make your lunches to bring to work the night before.  Some things I like to throw together are an avocado taco with an apple and some trail mix, or a salad with an orange and some almonds.  Both of these lunches take no more than 5-8 minutes to make.

It takes a lot less time to make a meal at home than to go out to a restaurant, whether it's a drive through or a sit down place.  My favorite breakfast is oatmeal, and it takes 3 minutes to prepare.  I take 1/2 c of quick cook unflavored oats, and add in 1 c of water.  Put the oats in the microwave to cook, or cook over the stove.  In the meantime, cut up whatever fruit you would like to put in, and get out whatever spices you like (I use cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice the best).  I also put in a little bit of organic black strap molasses for a little sweetness and iron.  Once the oats are cooked, I throw it all together!  That's it!

As far as exercise, there are a TON of short workouts (20 minutes!) that you can squeeze in.  Here are some ideas:

*On your lunch hour at work, spend 20 - 30 min taking a walk.  If you have stairs in your building, use them! 
*Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is CHEAP on Amazon (under $10!), and each work-out is 20 min long.
*To get the most from your work-out, incorporate weights and cardio.  For example, if you are riding a stationary bike, do some arm curls, shoulder press, and tricep extensions at the same time.  The goal is to get your heart rate up to make the most of your time.
*Cleaning the house really gives you a workout!  If housework is looming over your head, do some calf raises while you put away dishes, or squats while you load the laundry.  It all adds up!

So the moral of the story?  You are not too busy to eat healthy, nor are you too busy to work out!  If you don't have your health, you don't have anything.  Make your health a priority.

Walking... oh the pain

Brenton and I competed in a Walk/Jog/Run 4 Miler to raise money for the symphony that I play in this past weekend.  Thinking that it's hard enough for me to RUN a 5K, which is 3.1 miles, I had the grand idea of doing the Competitive Walking division.  AND after doing Insanity for the last month, I'm in the best shape of my life.  Oh, and there were prizes to be given to the top finishers in each area, and if you know me at ALL, I am queen competition!  Out for blood- I'M WINNING A PRIZE!!  This'll be a piece of (raw) cake, right?!  ...o...m...g

So the buzzer sounds, and we're off.  Brenton and I are at the far right of the group, letting the runners go by.  And then, these 40, 50, 60 year old women ZOOM by me, walking like I've never seen before.  LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT COMPETITIVE WALKING ISN'T WALKING... IT'S A CRIPPLING MESS OF FLYING HIPS AND FLAPPING ARMS.  ...mind you I am HUFFING and PUFFING trying to keep up with thiese people.  Brenton's prancing along with no problem, of course.  Sure, someone that can run a 7 MINUTE MILE WITHOUT STRUGGLE WOULD DO SUCH A THING.  ...oye.... 

Seriously... this is a Summer Olympic Sport.  I DIDN'T KNOW THIS UNTIL I GOT HOME FROM THE RACE. 



It's unreal.   I can't believe how these people do it.  Needless to say that days later I'm STILL SORE.  On an upside, Brenton and I BOTH won 1st place for the CW 20-29 age group!  We both got a free meal at Chipotle and an Itunes gift card.  Then, he got a free 30 min Foot Reflexology session at a local massage place (that I'm using, hehehe), and I got a free pedicure. SO, we DID WIN!!  ...but Brenton made it very clear that he didn't want to do that ever again LOL. 

5K Day- 4th of July!

Good evening all. I'm taking a break from getting ready for the week ahead... a 5 day week?! What AM I going to do?!

Well anyway, yesterday, I ran in a 5K. My goal was to run the whole thing... and run it in under 40 min (37 to be exact). I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I was not born a runner. I'm not built like a runner. Endurance is not my thing, and it never has been. I'm more of a bulky sprinter/weight lifter type person. I'm a FAST runner... but for a VERY short amount of time... and then I fizzle. That said...

In the morning, I started the day off with a piece of Ezekiel with AB and organic jelly, and water of course. I didn't want to have too heavy of a breakfast. Now unfortunately, we had to be out the door by 6:55am to get to the race site on time. YIKES! Too bad the night before we stayed up past 11:00pm... DOUBLE YIKES! But, overall, I felt pretty good, and not too tired. Yet.

We got to the race site, signed in, and pinned on my number. Number 2. Ok... weird.



My Superman pose- like I'm going to go save the day or something. So I was all rearin' to go. I had my heart rate monitor on, and my ipod was stocked with 38 min of Disney rides (haha... yeah I know.) Well, the first problem was, once the buzzer sounded to start the race, I couldn't figure out how to start my timer on my monitor! What are the odds... it wasn't until halfway through the race when I finally got it going. I was pushing the wrong buttons I guess. My Disney rides kept me company (for all of you Disers out there, I had Maelstrom, KS (the song part of the ride), EEA (the opening), RoC (whole thing), and LwtL (whole thing) ). I'm thinking next time though, songs might be a better idea just because it'll give me a beat to run to, and I'll better be able to keep track of time.

I started off the run at a slow-ish, but steady pace. I ran and ran (ok, jogged and jogged). I saw my brother in law pass me (after the turn around), then Brenton. I yelled to Brenton "I've run this whole time!!"... and then it hits. My legs did NOT want to run anymore. Yes folks, I had to stop and walk... but only for 20ish seconds to catch my breath. Then I ran again... and yet again had to walk a little bit. All in all, I ran more than I ever had before. Unfortunately, I finished at 40:26... not 37:00... but really, last year at the END of the year, I ran in the 39's, so this being my 3rd race of the year, 40:26 isn't that bad. And it's REALLY good for me. Here's me running and waving to my sister (who's taking the picture) at the end of the race:



Boy was I glad to see that finish line!!!!! Oh the heart rate monitor thing- once I figured out how to start it, I kept an eye on my heart rate... 183 most of the time!!! YiKeS!!! That's part of the reason that I had to slow down and walk a little bit. Considering my MAX is 195... not good.

The next race is sometime at the end of this month- The World Famous Pig Run at the Jazz and Ribs festival downtown. That's a toughie!!! It's at 7pm, and it's always HOT and kinda hilly-ish. Last year at that one the heat gave me and my sister a cramp.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to keep working on my endurance. Any advice would be MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Have a good start of the week! Namaste.

A new pantry! Mission Organization!

'Ello bloggies! On Sunday, my husband and I decided to tear apart the kitchen pantry and cabinets and do a MAJOR organization project. It's always good to get organized, go through things, and just get rid of the 'STUFF'. Here are the pantry 'before' pictures (don't judge me... ha!)...



Yeah, that's a lot of stuff. So, we proceeded to get it ALL out, and start over.


Talk about crazy! It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate!! We did a major purge, and re-org (as my husband says), and started to put things back...




PHEW!! It took about 3 hours, but it feels good to have some organization now!! We did the same thing to the kitchen cabinets, but I didn't take any pictures of that. Like the mountains of bananas and avocados? Hehe.

Even with all of the work in the afternoon, I still managed to make myself a FAB salad, topped with grilled shrimpies. WAY YUM!


And as if re-organizing the pantry wasn't exercise enough, Brenton and I decided to go out and enjoy the weather by kicking the soccer ball around. Lots of fun!!



After an hour of running around and kicking goals, we were spent! But, not a bad way to get in exercise!!!

Hope everyone had a great Sunday! Until next time, have some fun in your day!! Namaste.

Operation 'Lose 9 Pounds'

Good morning bloggies!! Today marks day 1 of 170 of "Operation 'Lose 9 Pounds' ". Let me tell you a story-

Last year, I competed in our office 'Biggest Loser' competition. At the very end of the competition, thanks to some water manipulation and other factors, I lost 22 lbs. Of course, since most of it at the end was water weight (around 5 lbs...), I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep it off. And since I knew that going in, I was ok with it. Today, a year from when I first started the competition, I am still 15 lbs. lighter. (YAY!). Since I've been able to maintain weight for this long, I have decided that I want to drop one more dress/pants size. I'm going to lay it all out here- I want to be a size 6. I haven't been a size 6 (consistently- not including the brief pilgrimage to that size when I had an anxiety disorder my first year of college) since I was probably in middle school.

So why 170 days? We're going on vacation to Miami in October!!!! WHOOO HOO!!!! So, since this will be the first time in a bathing suit in a LONG TIME, and I'm not in a 'lose as much weight as fast as you can' type of competition, 9 pounds over 170 days should be MORE THAN MANAGEABLE!!

I know that your anticipation is rising, so here is my plan--

My BMR is 1521. I'm going to eat at my BMR, and exercise 180 to 200 calories off every day (or, eat 200 calories less on my off days). This will make a deficit, by the end of my 170 days, of around 34,000 calories. Crazy!! This is about 10 lbs... give or take.

As far as exercise goes, here's what we're going to be doing-

Day 1- Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred

Day 2- Run for 30 min

Day 3- 30 min of Weights

Day 4- Billy Blanks Bootcamp (an hour long)

Day 5- Run for 30 min

Day 6- Denise Austin Yoga

Day 7- REST!!, then repeat the next week

As far as eating goes, here's what today's food plan is-

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of Oat Groats (soaked overnight) with Mashed Banana, 1 T Almond Butter, and 1/3 cup thawed Blueberries and Raspberries. ...and a cup of hot tea.

For a snack, I'm going with my trusty Larabar- in Cherry Pie. YUM!

Lunch today is a cup of Bean Soup that I made yesterday (thank you Trader Joe's Bean Soup Mix!), Celery and Tomatoes, an oz of Low Fat Cheese, a Small Apple, and a square of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate. YUM!

Dinner tonight will be Chicken on top of a salad made of Spinach, Tomatoes, Onion, Celery, with a spritz of Lemon for dressing. It's not made yet... but my Chicken is cooking in Trader Joe's Chicken Broth in the Crock Pot as we speak!

This time around, losing weight should be pretty easy. We only eat quality foods anyway- not that crap that diet plans endorse (you know, the fat free, chemical laced death "food"...). It's all about the math, people!

Until next time, count your calories and get up and move. Namaste.

If you have enLightened a life, raise your hand!

I would like to welcome everyone to my enLightened Life blog! Thanks for stopping by, and you're welcome anytime! I am an advocate for living a positive, healthy, organized, and enjoyable life, frugally. Living this way, to anyone who knows me, is no secret. I share my knowledge with everyone I can, so that they too can live an enLightened life.

So here's something that has been on my mind, and I will consider this my enLightened tip of the day...

One thing that drives me crazy is when people say 'Oh, I'm too busy to take care of myself', or 'Oh, I put everyone else before my needs'. Come on! Really?! Look people, if you can't (or won't) take time to take care of yourself, how on earth are you going to take care of anyone else? You HAVE to take time for yourself, and you HAVE to put yourself first. Believe me, I'm as busy, if not busier, than most of you reading this. I work a full time job, and a part time job, and own a home, and do all of the cooking and cleaning and washing and bills... yeah I could go on, but I'll spare you. We're all in the same boat here.

One thing I do to 'pamper' myself EVERY DAY is get up 20 minutes earlier than I normally would, and exercise. That's right, people, exercise. And since summer is approaching, I enjoy going outside early in the morning to walk or run. The breeze is cool, it's quiet, and I'm doing something right for my body. I invest time in pampering myself, and exercise is pampering, believe it or not. I invest time in my body. I put my health first. This, to me, is pampering. Oh, did I mention that it costs NOTHING? I've heard that for every $ in prevention is $80 saved in treatment costs. I think Jillian Michaels said that in one of her radio shows. I consider this a no-brainer... a FREE way to prevent having to treat illnesses down the road! It's so simple. The moral of the story? Pamper yourself with a cardio exercise you enjoy! Break a sweat! Just 20 minutes of exercise will release endorphins that will make you feel good all day.

How will you pamper yourself today?

Until next time, Namaste.