Baked Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal


Makes 1 serving • Ready in 35 minutes

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup water
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp nonfat cottage cheese
1/4 tsp baking powder
Dash sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp allspice
1 piece crystallized ginger, crushed (optional; available in the spice section at supermarkets)


1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Combine all ingredients in an oven-proof bowl. Stir to mix thoroughly.

3. Place in oven and let bake for 30 minutes. Remove and serve.

Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 213, Total Fats: 3 g, Saturated Fat: 0.5 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Sodium: 103 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 38 g, Dietary Fiber: 6 g, Sugars: 9 g Protein: 9 g, Iron: 2 mg

http://www.oxygenmag.com/Health/Articles/Baked-Pumpkin-Spice-Oatmeal.aspx

P90X - Day 16

March 6, 2012

Workout:
     Today was Plyometrics day... unfortunatley I was unable to get this done prior to my kiddo's going to bed. Seeing as my workout room is also conected to their sleeping quarters I just couldn't figure what to do about it. THANKFULLY for me my hubby was willing to take me to the gym at 10:00pm to get in a long cardio workout :-) I did 15 minutes of intervals on the ARC trainer (burn those quads!) 15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill and 5 minutes on the rowing machine. I figure that all the quad, hamstring, calf and shin pain I am suffering should make up for my missed Plyometrics. I am just kidding btw. I'm not in pain, I'm just pleasantly aware of them at the moment!

Diet:
     Everything looks good today. I kept myself on a regular eating schedule, did not let myself get too hungry and took all my suppliments like I am suppose too.  Here's my journal.

1 c honey nut cheerios
3/4 c milk
-----
1 sm apple
2 c water
-----
3/4 lg everything bagel
1 chicken breast
20 oz diet soda
-----
1 chocolate chip cookie
-----
lg green salad
6 oz chicken breast
dried cherries
light ceasar dressing
2 oz sharp cheddar
croutons
2 c water
-----
1515 cals

~Laura~

Sweet & Sour Chicken


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4 breasts), chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 cup)
• 1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 cup)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 12 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Place chicken in a large shallow dish. Pour soy sauce mixture over chicken, tossing gently. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and marinade and sauté for 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add bell peppers and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are slightly tender. Add pineapple and cook for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately over rice for a complete meal, if desired.

Nutrients per serving (1 1/4 cups chicken mixture; not including rice): Calories: 161, Total Fat: 1.5 g, Sat. Fat 0.25 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.25 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5 g, Carbs: 17 g, Fiber: 2 g, Sugars: 13 g, Protein: 21 g, Sodium: 404 mg, Cholesterol: 48 mg

http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/Recipes/Recipe/Sweet-Sour-Chicken.aspx

P90X - Day 15
March 5, 2012

Workout:     On the schedule today was Shoulders & Back. I am actually starting to really like this day. Today I really noticed a difference in my ability to do more Reps on the pull-ups and push-ups. I was even able to do 1 REAL push-up! Now I am by no means looking like the people in the DVD but at least I am seeing some real improvement. I use some major assist but I am doing 12 pull-ups of each variety now and I was able to dig down deep and do 25 standard push-ups!!!! (on my knees of course :-)

Diet:
     Not so great on my food intake today and thats because I let myself go too long between lunch and dinner. NO No on my part! I just got super busy and let things get away from me until I was STARVING! So here's my journal:

1 med banana
1/2 c shredded mini wheat
2 c water
-----
cheese stick
-----
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp homemade freezer jelly
2 c water
-----
3 cinnamon bears
1/2 c 100% juice
-----
protein, p90x recovery and alive powder
1 c spinach
1 c water
-----
2 hotdogs w/ buns
1/2 c NASTY mac-n-cheese (can't believe I ate this it wasn't even good!)
1/2 c shepards pie
2 c water
diet soda
-----
6 vanilla wafers
-----
1840 cals

~Laura~

P90X - Day 14

March 4, 2012

Weigh-In:

     Today's weight was..... 228.0, YEAH even with my week of skipping workouts I was able to take off a little bit of weight. I'll take the additional 1.8 lbs that is gone!

Workout:
     AHHHHHH Sunday my day of rest! I so enjoy you :-) No workout for me today, just church and beautiful sunshine today!
Diet:
     Sunday is not only my day of rest, but also my weigh-In and diet "Cheat" day - now I assure you that I am not going to use it as an excuse to gorge, but I have read and most of my skinny friends attest to enjoying a built in "cheat" day in their schedules. It is suppose to make sticking to a regimented eating plan easier as well as trick your body out of the starvation mode it can get into from too many low-calorie days. Studies show that by upping your calories (just 200-300 cals) on a random day each week that you can actually drop weight more quickly and avoid plateaus, thus see better overall results. Here's my journal:

1 c. oatmeal w/flax
2 c water
-----
v8 juice
fruit & nut bar
-----
whole wheat bread
4 slices lean ham
Dijon mustard
2 slices low fat cheese
1/4 c sprouts
2 c water
-----
3 Cinnamon bears
-----
1 1/2 c Shepard's pie w/ cheese
2 c Caesar salad w/ croutons
diet Dr. Pepper
-----
1 scoop ice cream
2 c water
-----
1720 cals
2 c water


~Laura~

P90X - Day 13
March 3, 2012

Workout:
     Today's scheduled workout was KENPO X and I promise I didn't skip it because I was wimping out :-) A whole bunch of my couples friends all got together tonight and played 2 hours of VOLLEYBALL! YEAH! I absolutely love volleyball. I played in Junior high / High school and I miss it so much :-(
So whenever I get the chance to play I AM ON IT! We had so much fun and I was sweating like a pig so I know my heart rate was up there. I figured Volleyball would be a good enough substitute for Kenpo X since it requires speed and agility to do it well.

Diet:
     My food intake looks much more balanced today. I felt good and had lots of energy, so I must have chosen better. Here's the journal.

V-8 Juice
2 c water
-----
Protein granola bar
1 scoop recovery powder
2 c water
-----
1 slice 5 meat pizza (1/12 of large)
1 lg orange
-----
2 c water
1 c. spinach
recovery, protein & alive powder
-----
1/2 whole wheat ham & cheese
2 c water
-----
2 x 2 square no oil cake
3/4 c lightly sweetened strawberries
-----
1760 calories


~Laura~



P90X - Day 12

March 2, 2012

Workout:
     Today's workout was Legs & Back... Oh My Goodness! I am already sore! I struggle last time with finishing all the reps, so this week my focus was doing every rep for every exercise. I forfeited using any weight because I do not want to injure myself while gaining my strength. I did succeeded in my goal but my butt is gonna hurt tomorrow - Squats, lunges and calf raises will do it every time :-)


Diet:
     I ate a lot more carbs today but I was feeling a bit sluggish after my intense workout, so I figured it would do me some good to throw in a little sugar via my bread. Here's what it looked like:

V-8 juice
5 strawberries
-----
1/2 subway seafood sandwich (no mayo or cheese)
4 c. water
-----
1/2 subway seafood sandwich (no mayo or cheese)

2 c water
-----
V-8 juice
cheese stick
-----
2 slices 5meat pizza (1/12 of large)
1 slice pepperoni (1/12 of large)

1/4 pan cheesy bread
Diet Dr. pepper
2 c water
-----
2660 calories



~Laura~

P90X - Day 11

March 1, 2012

Workout:
     I got my lazy butt out of bed this morning and made it to my local gym for a raging session on my favorite elliptical machine. I set-up for a hill climb, turn on my heavy metal/ hard rock music and I kick it into high gear for 25-30 minutes. SWEAT pouring everywhere, heart pounding like crazy and I feel amazing when I am done! :-) I kinda chuckle at the other women there because it's like they are using the machines to take a Sunday stroll... what exactly is the point of going to the gym if your not going to sweat???
     Today had YOGA X on my schedule and if you recall I had a pretty traumatic Yoga session last time I did it, so today I waited until EVERYONE was in bed, popped in the video and just let myself be. I think once I am comfortable in my own body I could see how Yoga can be so soothing. The 1st half of the video is excruciating! All the poses are held for what seems like forever and your breathing heavy, sweating, tumbling, stumbling and falling. There is nothing peaceful about that! The second half of the video is balance poses and stretching and it is AMAZING! LOVE IT!

Diet:
     I did good today. Calorie count was great, but need to cut back some more on the processed stuff. Here's a glimpse of my diet.

1 c orange juice
4 c water
(early morning cardio session)
-----
1 scoop whey protein
1 serv. P90X Recovery Drink
1 scoop Alive multivitamin (super food) shake
1 c. spinach leaves
2 c water
-----
1 1/2 c. Louisiana Red Beans & Rice
2 c. water
-----
3/4 slice Costco supreme pizza
2 c light lemonade
-----
2 c buttered popcorn
1 oz. almonds
2 c water

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses..... Nope None Here!

     Did you miss me??? Can you believe that after all this talking about being motivated and focused, I just missed a WHOLE WEEK!! I would say that I am ashamed except for once in my life I'm not. Most of my problems with weight I feel have been the direct result of wallowing in my own ___________ (enter any of these emotions) - pity / grief / worry / shame / self loathing / anger / sadness.  Am I sad tht I managed to lose my focus so early on, YES. What I am going to do is NOT let it set me back from reaching my goals! My whole adult life up to this point has been setback after setback, NO MORE!

     Have you ever noticed that overweight/fat women tend to be very perky & bubbly??? That's because we use the food we gorge on to get a "high" during our personal pity parties and can thus go on about our day acting as if NOTHING is bothering us! I have always used food as a coping tool for my emotions. I am trying desperatley to change this behavior.

     So as to be accountable to you all I have not been totally off my game. I have worked out 2 out of the last 7 days at my gym and have overate 2 days. My weight today was the same as my last weigh in (... it was my cycle this week - go figure :-)) I have not been sedetary at all, as part of the reason for my loss of focus was how incredibly busy we have been! I went ahead and did my wednesday P90X shoulders & arms dvd today and will begin blogging my daily info starting tommorow. I am just going to consider this missed week a wash and begin my P90X countdown at Day 11.

~ Laura ~

P90X - Day 10

February 22, 2012

WORKOUT:
     Today was one of those days where I thought I was never going to get a chance to do my workout! It was a pretty high stress day emotionally. I had lots of foster-care drama today, TONS of phone calls to field, kiddos to console and amongst all this a tornado ran through my house and left me a HUGE MESS! It was literally so bad that I had to wash a load of clothes so my foster-daughter could go to school and do a load of dishes so we could all have eat a meal off of plates & use utensils!
     As my crazy day was winding down I was starting to come to terms with the fact that I just was not going to get my workout done today, I was feeling sorta okay with this cause food wise I had been awesome. Then I just said "SCREW IT" and when my hubby came home from his Wednesday night meeting at 9:30pm, I handed him the baby and a bowl of dinner and locked myself in my room for the next 60 minutes while I took care of myself :-)
     Shoulders & Arms was amazing. I lowered my reps and increased my weights today, because my main goal is to PUT ON SOME MUSCLE! I want my body to be a calorie burning machine and I want definition! I've been so long in this body with all of Gods beautiful creation covered in a THICK layer of fat that I want to make it into a work of art!