Yummy Food!

Last night, I tried an AMAZING new recipe! With better eating, unfortunately comes getting really bored with eating the same food over and over. So, I have been searching for new ideas for some good for us food that my kids will eat without complaint. Now, if you have kids, you know that sometimes getting them to eat food that is good for them is like pulling teeth.  Luckily my kids are really pretty good eaters. They love salad, veggies, and fruit. But, like so many other kids, they absolutely prefer pizza and ice cream. Now, we are a pizza eating family and I am okay with that, but sometimes we just need to eat the healthy foods!

So, I have been scouring Pinterest (oh, Pinterest, you are such an awesome invention!). Thankfully I have been able to find some good, yummy, healthy recipes! I will share them as we try them. This one, I think you will like. There was some prep work involved, but it was pretty simple. Let me tell you, all 5 of us ate and LOVED it. All three of the kids raved about it.

It is called a Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet. You can find the recipe HERE.

 I think it would maybe be even better with a little Siracha or hot sauce on it instead of the chili pepper. I only used about 1 T. of EVOO to cook the turkey and added about 2 T. of water to the skillet to steam the sweet potatoes. I DO highly suggest that you stir this quite often. I also did not put the skillet in the oven to melt the cheese. I just took the skillet off of the burner, sprinkled my cheese on it and covered it back up for just a second or two to melt the cheese. I also used green pepper, red onion, and dried parsley instead, but only because that is what I had on hand.

This will be something I will be making again. I highly suggest it! Give it a try. Let me know what you thought. What changes did you or would you make?

Oh, yummy food! I love yummy food! Yum Yum Yum!

Blessings!

Randomness of Life

Random thoughts for a rainy Wednesday! (At least it is rainy here. But, it is Indiana. I will give it 5 minutes, it could change!) These kind of blog posts are my favorites. Yes, they are simple to do, but they are fun for me. I hope you enjoy them. I need to come up with a fancy name for these kinds of posts. Feel free to give me any suggestions!

1) My best friend, Carli, has talked me into joining a new app called "Periscope". It is an extension of Twitter and is essentially a video post that you can comment live on. You can watch other people's videos or make your own. Each video is kept up only for 24 hours then it is taken down. You can go back through and watch people's videos if you follow them (just like Twitter). I got to watch Michael Rosenbaum's Scope (that is the lingo, kind of like a "tweet") earlier. It is kind of funny. I did my first Scope last night. I am still not sure what I think, but I will try it a little longer.  How about you? Have you checked this new form of social media out? What did you think?

2) Have you ever found a TV show that you really didn't think you were going to like and then just HAVE to watch every single episode? I have found that in the show "Supernatural". Seriously people, I thought it would be a total corny, and at times it really is, but it is a really good show. Now, do not worry, I am fully aware that it is NOT real. That said, it is pretty cool that the show pulls in scripture. I have looked up a lot of what I have heard on there in the Bible. Obviously, big time liberties are taken, but it is still really interesting and I have learned quite a bit about my own faith just from watching a TV show. Huh, who would have thought.

3) Speaking of TV shows, a fellow cycling instructor told me about a show called "Hollywood Cycle" and it is about a gym in Los Angeles called Cycle House. It is a reality show, which normally I do not watch. But, it is about cycling, so I thought I would try it. Ugh. So much stupid, non-sense drama. I can't see any redeeming qualities to this show. Even they way they were cycling goes against everything I have been taught. I am sure there was a rhyme to the reason, but it looked ridiculous! And the women! Oh. My. Goodness. They were showing these women in full makeup and in teeny tiny clothes.  Now, I realize it is LA and life is different there than in good ol' Indiana, but I guarantee you if you came to my class dressed like that in full make up and shaking your butt for all they boys to see, well, I would be working your butt off even more!  Craziness! I do not think I will be watching it again.

4) I have been trying to decide if I am ready for school to start.  I am not really ready to go back to the school schedule, but let me tell you, my kids are driving me CRAZY!! Anyone else in this boat?

5) I am obsessed with Skinny Pop Popcorn! Have you tried this? Oh my goodness, it is so amazing!!  Go, try it. I promise you will not be disappointed.

6) We have been getting ready for 4H the past couple of weeks. We have a ton of sugar cookies in my freezer. I am trying to avoid them as much as possible. I have been really doing well the past 2 1/2 days. I only had 1 yesterday to test the recipe (promise!). The balanced food plan is going well. I feel better and my system seems to be running better, even after only a couple of days.  Yay for healthy choices!!

Ok, I think that is all I have for today! Have a great day!!
Blessings!

The Time Is Now

I have obviously been very lax in writing in my new blog here as I think it has been about a month and a half since I have written anything.  It isn't for lack of trying, I just haven't really had much to write about and my family has been extremely busy.  The busyness is normal. Three kids involved in things means mom is running everywhere. Mom involved in things means that life is just nuts. Time being nuts in our family is my normal. It doesn't bother me too much.

The not much to write about however is a different story.  My motivation in all things that I would want to report to you has been pretty much zilch. In a previous post (which you can read HERE), I discussed that I was going to start following what was essentially a macro-nutrient approach to eating. I had all the good intentions of starting this, I really did. Unfortunately as you probably know, intentions mean SQUAT if you don't have the motivation to back it up.  Part of me REALLY wanted to burn off the fat and the other part of me knew I was working really hard and just wanted to eat (and we aren't talking the good choices either!!).  Guess which part of the brain won? My motivation, my stamina, and my energy took a huge dive.  Now, I have classes on my schedule to teach, I have kids that have to be taken to their activities, I had VBS weeks that I had to work for.  I was busy.  Do you know what happens when you are super busy, trying to do it all, and you are feeding your body crap food? You hit a huge brick wall.

That point was last week. I was barely pushing through. Now, I have gotten pretty good over the years of putting on a motivated face and sucking it up and doing it anyway, but eventually even that will catch up with you.  Yesterday, I was almost in tears as I tried on some skirts that fit me just a couple of months ago and when I tried to put them on for church, they were too tight.  Now, I am NOWHERE near back where I started. Honestly, everything else fits me fine, but not being able to put those two skirts on was a HUGE wake up call.  All my hard work and I was back sliding.  I stood there and told myself NO.  No, Theresa. You are NOT going back to that point in your life. You are going to take CONTROL and you are in charge. YOU are the only one who can make the decisions needed to make better choices.

I also realized that not only was I making REALLY bad choices and decisions in my kitchen, but I have also been taking the biggest part of my life out of this journey. When I started, I prayed every morning for God to be with me and to help me stay motivated. I prayed that He would help me make good decisions that were the best for my body, my mind, my spirit, and my family. I prayed before, after, and during every single workout. I FELT Him with me because He was there and I was inviting Him to come along. I realized yesterday I have not been doing that.  Well, geesh, no wonder I have felt so alone and unmotivated in all this! I knew I had to go back to where I started. I had to do what worked for me before. I had to ask Him to come with me. Not for my own glory, but for HIS GLORY. This is His temple and I need His help to make and keep it strong. I had forgotten that.

So, I knew I needed to make a change.  And that is what I am going to do. You heard me. Obviously, I have said this before. But, today just feels different. Today my head is in the same place it was when I started this journey to be the best me that God put on this planet. Maybe it is coincidence that today is exactly 1 1/2 years to the day that I started this journey, but I do not think so. I don't believe in that much of a coincidence. January 6, 2014 was a huge turning point in my life and even though, I have been pretty stagnant lately, July 6, 2015 is going to be another turn.

I have this. My 36th birthday is August 12th. I plan on hitting that birthday in the absolute 100% best shape of my life.  I am going to know that I did everything possible to be the best me that God wants me to be.  If I seem a little obsessed between now and then, well, perhaps I will be. But, I know that this journey is between me and Him and I know that He has my back. This is one temple that will not be torn down, especially not by my own thoughts, words, or actions.

My prayer that I will say constantly is this:

"Jesus, help make me the woman YOU want me to be."

If and when you hear me say that, just know that I know I am not alone and that He is my assistant chef, my lifting spotter, and my coach. He is going to get me through. He knows what He wants me to be, and He is going to help me get there. Oh yeah, WE'VE got this.

Iron Sharpens Iron

IRON sharpens IRON, so a FRIEND sharpens a FRIEND. Proverbs 27:17

I mentioned this Bible verse back on my introduction to this blog as one of my favorites and I stick with that today. I have been thinking about it a lot lately though and running it over and over in my head. What does this verse truly mean and how does it apply to my every day crazy life?

Well, because God knows how this world works MUCH better than I do, THIS picture came across my Facebook newsfeed this morning:

www.klove.com

Crazy right? All because He knew what I needed to see this morning!

I went to my Bible Study group and met with some of my amazing friends and got to see this verse in action.  If one were to use iron to sharpen something else that is iron, both would get sharper.  If you were to sharpen 2 iron knives with each other, one does not dull the other, but in fact makes for 2 sharper knives. So it is in friendship. As one friend sharpens another, the first does not diminish, but grows sharper as well.  Our group sharpens each other. Each woman contributes something to the group to help the other women of the group, either experience, joy, pain, laughter, or tears. With each bit of laughter or every single tear, each woman walks away stronger than when she walks in the door.

Tonight I was blessed to spend time with 4 of my dear friends in a very much needed Moms' Night Out. These women and I have been friends since our children met in Kindergarten 4 years ago. Our children are close, but we moms are closer. We lean on each other as we are going through life. Tonight we celebrated the blessing that one of ours got a clean bill of health after undergoing skin cancer treatment (Praise GOD!!). As I sat there listening to my friends and hearing things about these women, these FRIENDS that I did not know, I truly realized why God put each one of them in my life. I won't go into all the details, just rest assured that it was a true awakening for me.  Each one of them sharpens me in a different way. Each one of them helps make me iron strong. I pray that I sharpen them as well.

If you are reading this, my prayer for you is that you have at least one friend that sharpens you and that you sharpen in return. I am blessed to have many in different areas of my life. My best friend lives 14 hours away from me, but our friendship is just as close as it has ever been. I truly and firmly believe that is because we make each other better. She will straighten me out when I am going off of the deep end and I will do the same for her. We are women, it happens. Sometimes we go nuts.  However, having those friends that sharpen us and make us better, those that we help sharpen and make them better, it all just really goes to make our families better. May you be blessed with friends like this.

Blessings.
The Iron Stiletto

The Iron Stiletto's Kryptonite

I firmly believe in full disclosure ANY time I am talking about my journey and that will apply to what I write here on the Blog. So, you are going to get an honest look into a struggle that is very real in my life.

For a year, I watched every single bite of food that I put into my mouth and counted every annoying tiny calorie that passed my lips. I RARELY cheated and other than holidays pretty well stuck to the plan. It totally worked.  I lost over 90 pounds watching what I eat, counting calories and working my tail off in the gym.

DECEMBER 31, 2013

DECEMBER 24, 2014

Most of you know this about my journey so far and I have been really proud of the work I have done. It has not been easy and I have to make the decision EACH and every day to do it. I pray a lot and often times just have to ask the good Lord to see me through.

Why am I telling you this? Because this Superhero most definitely has her kryptonite. My kryptonite is the same as almost EVERYONE else that has been on a journey like mine.

Food.

Oh yeah.  Food.  Food is the most difficult thing for me to handle. I can lift and ride and do whatever else in the gym all day long.  But, in all honesty, the food is the worst. I have a total love hate relationship with it.

I have tried so many diets in my life.  Obviously, I know I am not alone here.  So many people have this issue.  Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Atkins, the list goes on and on.  Most of us have at least tried at least one of these at some point.  The majority have done more than one.  Some may have even had success, which is awesome!  But, for the main population of dieters, the results only last so long.  We fall back into old habits, or think that a week long binge on crap foods won't do anything to hurt our "diets". Not that I have EVER done anything like that, nope never!  Of course we do, then the weight comes back on and we start again on what is that vicious circle of Yo-Yo-ing, not only on our body, but also on our minds!

When I started this journey last January, I tried VERY hard to make sure this was NOT a diet. This was a lifestyle change.  I used the Calorie counting app from Lose It and creating that calorie deficit helped me. I could still eat some of the things that I enjoy, but it also helped me make better choices on the whole.

Fast-forward 17 months to today.

Today, I am struggling.  I really do feel that I made a lifestyle change. For the most part, my relationship with food is better.  It is not my immediate emotional fixer. I have turned to exercise for that which is obviously way better for me.  However, I am still finding myself eating a lot more than I should, and the choices I am making are not the best.  Although I am not emotionally eating like I used to, I still am finding much more enjoyment in the calorie intake than what the fit person inside of me wants to find.  Thank goodness for the amount that I exercise!  I would probably be in some trouble if it wasn't for the exercise!

Because I consider myself a Bodybuilder (even though I do not have the ripped muscles, although hopefully one day), I know that if someone is looking to build muscle, they need more calories and protein or the muscles do not build. Well, my muscles are growing, I know that much. The problem lies in the fact that I still have quite a bit of fat on top of these muscles.  So, I started doing some research.  I have been reading this book:

It has been very interesting.  It is written by a champion bodybuilder who used to be a "fat" guy with strong muscles.  Even though I hate that "f" word, I get his description. I usually refuse to use that word to describe myself, but in this case, I will.  I am a "fat" girl with strong muscles.  I do not want that anymore.

According to the book, it is almost impossible to both build muscle AND burn fat! What?!?!?!  Mind blown! So, to lose fat, one must create a calorie deficit. To build muscle, you must have a calorie surplus.  In other words, I have been trying to do both and driving myself crazy!! I am mad at myself because I am not losing fat, but am not building muscle either.  I am at a stand-still. Feeling a little dumb right now. I will have to lose the fat first. Then I can build the muscle!!  Light bulb!!

I am still working my way through the book and have a bit to go, but I am going to be implementing these changes starting Monday. That will be week 5 in my training program (Hard Body Training from T-Nation). I will have 6 weeks of HARD training in the weight room to go with this to see what happens. I am very excited about it. It doesn't really change my way of eating TOO much from the norm, but I will be increasing my protein intake and lowering my fat intake. The biggest change from my "watching my calorie count" norm is that I will be eating 40-50% of my calories in healthy (or as healthy as I can) carbs.  I have thought I needed to severely limit my carbs for so long that I feel guilty any time I eat pasta or potatoes.  Well Tom Venuto is telling me that carbs are necessary for my goals. OK, Tom, I am going to get past it because I am on board!

I made myself a good list of groceries with NATURAL carbs, lean proteins, and HEALTHY fats. I have a cabinet full of sweet potatoes, lentils (which I have never had before, so that should be interesting), and whole grain pastas. I have a freezer full of chicken breasts, fish, and lean meats. I really want to make this change, I want to be lean and ripped. I will take the fat off of me, and then build the muscles so I am a lean, mean, machine!

Blessings!
The Iron Stiletto

Just an addition here, I know that some people reading this might be coaches or consultants for different weight loss companies and I think that is great if that works for you. I really would prefer to not go in that direction, so please do not try and sell me something! Thanks!!

Crawl Out Stronger

This weekend was truly a ROUGH one on the ol' muscles!  On Friday, I did the equivalent of 4 workouts. I taught an hour of cycling, then taught 30 minutes of CoreFIT. Followed that with my catch up lift from Thursday and finished with the normal Friday Farmer's Walk and sprints. On Saturday, I just did the regular Saturday Hard Body lift from T-Nation that I have been doing for 3 weeks. Following that, we had a celebration for the One year anniversary of Parkwest Fitness (the gym I teach at!) and we taught an hour of CoreFIT outside in the beautiful sun. Oof! I was seriously worn out, but each bit of soreness was totally worth it!

I saw a shirt online that pretty much sums up my gym work the past 2 days..."Walk In Strong, Crawl Out Stronger." Yep, that is what happened! I feel super strong, juat super tired.  This was yesterday after workout #4 and I could barely stand up straight for this pic!

It has been a truly wonderful weekend! It has been filled with soccer games, time spent with my wonderful family, and time with friends! Friday night we got to watch J play a great soccer game and then we all watched M play on Saturday morning (he scored a goal!). Now, it got a little complicated Saturday afternoon though! Both girls had games at 4:30 pm in totally different locations. Captain E coaches both of the girls' teams; he is the head coach for J's team and the assistant for L's team. To top everything off, I had the Anniversary party at 4:30 as well! So, we played divide and conquer and thanks to helpful friends, we made it all work! J's team lost, but E said that she played really hard! I am truly bummed though that I had to miss L's game. They won 1-0 and she scored the winning goal!!! She had not scored a goal in about 3 years, so I felt really guilty I missed it.  She was very kind and understanding though.  That is just the kind of girl she is.  She knew that neither of us could be there and totally let us off of the hook. She came and celebrated at the Parkwest Party and really enjoyed being around everyone as all these adults congratulated her on a job well done!

After the party, we had some wonderful friends, Kandi, Brian, and their 6 kiddos, come over for a bonfire. We hung out and ate yummy food, and had a great time until midnight!!  It was such a blast! We all got to bed really late and were pretty tired this morning, but I got up and went to church.  Afterwards, we went and watched M play his second game of the weekend and it just happened to be against 2 of the Wessel family's girls.  So, we hung out with them again.  THEN, my sweet friend Kandi watched all of our kids so E and I could go and watch the new Avengers movie (yay Superheroes!!). E and I had such a wonderful unplanned date.  It was truly fantastic to just spend time with my wonderful husband!  The girls kept calling it a Wessel/Crowell weekend and they were totally right! What a fantastic weekend!!! Special big thanks to my sweet friend Kandi and her amazing family for letting us be a part of it!

M and his friends that are girls!

So, the Avengers Movie!  Woo! I am not going to post any spoilers here, I promise!  I will say though, if you like these type of movies, GO SEE IT!  I really enjoyed it! Of course I am a geek and probably would have enjoyed it if it had sucked, but it SO did not!  I totally admit, I laughed, I cried, and may have shouted, "Holy Crap" at least a couple of times! Not sure it was better than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it was fantastic!

Looking forward to a busy, but wonderful week.  We are getting close to the end of school and we have a lot going on before then.  But, what do Superheroes do when things get tough? They get up, put on their capes and fly off looking for a challenge.  So, that is what the Iron Stiletto will do.  I will do what needs done. I hope your week is fantastic and SUPER!!

Blessings!

Finding My Super Hero Power

If you are on Facebook, most likely you have at least seen, if not taken, a Buzzfeed quiz (or something similar) trying to figure out what your Super Hero Power should be.  If for some reason you are not a TOTAL geek like me, you can take one HERE.

For what it is worth, when I took THAT quiz, I got Teleportation! How cool would that be? Sure would make visiting the Bestie a WHOLE lot easier!!  OK, moving on!

In real life, there is no teleportation or invisibility, or super-speed, even though people like me really wish those things did exist.  Every single day I see a household chore that I would LOVE to just use my FLASH powers and get the dishes done in a half a second. But, we know that isn't how it works. We actually have to do the dishes in real time. There is no short cut. That is part of life.

And all you mamas out there know that is a HUGE part of Motherhood. There are no short cuts in being a Mom, even when we REALLY want for there to be! Dishes must be done (unless you want to eat on paper plates with plastic forks all of the time...wait...is that an option!?!?!?!), laundry must be finished (that nudist colony sounds better and better some days!), and the kids have to be fed (and fed and fed and fed. Why must they always want to be fed?!?). There is no way around it. Things around the house have to get done and usually (at least in my friend circle) that means that it is mom's job.

And while every mother I know is a Super Hero in her own right, we are just human. We do not have special powers to help us get these things finished. We have to use our own gifts and normal, plain old non-super abilities to get them done. It is difficult. Make no mistake.  I realize I am preaching to probably about 90% of the choir here.  You mamas that are reading this KNOW it is difficult, but we do it anyway, don't we? We wash dishes, empty and fill the dishwasher, run the wash machine, try and remember to put them in the dryer, then run them in the wash machine again when we inevitably forget to put them in the dryer. Please tell me I am not the only one who does that!!

But, we get our jobs done don't we?  And not only do we get them done, we go above and beyond! We make sure our children are clothed, fed, and homework is done. We make sure our husbands are clothed (some mamas I know even iron their hubby's clothes...not me, but some mamas I know!), fed, and we try and help them relax after work. If we have pets, they get fed and walked. Houses get cleaned, kids get taken to sports practices and everything runs as smoothly as possible. I mean it when I say that the moms I know are Super Heroes. I mean, come on, we have to be!

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Whatever! I want to see Superman get 3 kids to soccer practice, teach a class at the gym, get one kid to 4-H, make sure all homework is finished, and then make everyone dinner. All in about a 2 hour time period! Where is THAT movie Marvel?

So, this post is for all my Mommy friends out there doing the very best that they can.  We may not have actual Super Powers, but we are all Heroes. You are awesome and you better make sure you wear that big ol' invisible "M" on your chest with pride!

Blessings,
The Iron Stiletto