My 1500 calorie day

One thing I've realized is I love food. I love cooking it, creating new meals, shopping for food, stocking up on food, and especially eating food! I always tell people I run so I don't have to think about what I'm eating. But I'm realizing my body is slowly changing after having a baby and I need to pay more attention to what and how much food I am putting in my body.

What I've finally realized that works the best for me is to rotate meals. I'm trying to get these extra few pounds off of me so this week I wrote out a day's worth of 5 meals (300 calories each) and I am eating the same meals every day this week.

This made grocery shopping easier, counting the calories and measuring out the portions easier, logging in my food journal easier, and getting my discipline back with the food I eat. On Monday I brought to work with me all 5 days worth of mid-morning snacks, lunch, and afternoon snacks. That way I'm not staring at my fridge the night before thinking "what should I eat tomorrow?"

Here is my 1500 calories meal plan I am eating this week  -

Breakfast:
(omelet)
2 eggs, scrambled
1/2 cup bell peppers and onion, diced
3 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups baby spinach

1/2 grapefruit

Mid-Morning Snack:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 medium Gala apple
1/2 cup of pistachio nuts

Lunch:
(salmon salad)
1 pkg cooked pink salmon
1/2 cup kidney beans
12 grape tomatoes
2 cups baby spinach
10 spritz of balsamic vinegar

1/8 cantaloupe

Mid-Afternoon Snack:
1 scoop chocolate peanut butter protein powder
10oz soy milk
3oz sugar snap peas

Dinner:
4oz grilled chicken
1/2 cup brown rice
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 cup broiled zucchini 

This all equals 1,522 calories. I am eating this many calories to help lose a couple extra pounds. Then when I am back to the weight I want to be at I will bump the calories up to 2,000. Even though I'm eating less calories, I feel my body is getting all the nutrition it needs and I am weening myself of the sugars that my body doesn't need.

Next week I will be choosing a new menu to eat. I'll post that next week as well!

Italian Sausage and Lentil Soup

I was looking for a good Lentil soup recipe and came across this recipe on one of my favorite blog sites. I made it last night exactly as the recipe called. The only difference was adding an extra cup of water at the end because I wanted it a bit more soupy.

I cannot begin to tell you how AMAZING this soup tastes. It's up there with one of the best soups I've ever had (only my grandma's soups are higher ranked). I recommend to not change anything from the recipe above. The turkey italian sausage made it tastes great and much healthier, too.

 I loved it so much I did the math and figured up the nutrition facts for it. If you follow the recipe above, you will get about 10 servings total. Each serving is about 1 1/2 cups full. Here's the nutrition contents for each serving:

Calories: 202
Fat:           6g
Protein:   22g
Carbs:     32g
Fiber:      16g
Sugar:       6g

One serving alone meets well over 100% of your vitamin A and vitamin C daily needs.

I just may make a pot every week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

Eating smaller portions for fat loss

I have 5 weeks before my first attempt at a half marathon PR. To lose the few extra pounds I have on me I am changing my nutrition plan to eating 300 calorie meals 5 times a day (1500 total calories). That will equal out to at least 5 pounds lost in the next 5 weeks.

After doing all my food prep yesterday for the week, I realized just how much good, healthy, filling food I actually can eat for only 300 calories. I'll be posting pictures over the next weeks of what kind of meals I am eating for just 300 calories.

Here's my eating schedule:

4:30am - 100 calorie snack (if I work out that morning)
6:45am - meal one
9:45am - meal two
12:45pm - meal three
3:45pm - meal four
6:45pm - meal five

It will be roughly 1500 - 1700 calories depending on how hard my cardio was that day to refuel.

I just had my lunchtime meal and I am so stuffed I can barely finish my 300 calories! Crazy!

Here's an article I found that gives a visual of what 300 calories of food really looks like. It's unbelievable how much I was underestimating the caloric balance of certain foods I was eating.

Let the storm subside

Let the Storm Subside (written from the Joyce Meyer Devotional)

I have faced so many storms in my life, some like the quick afternoon storms that are common in the summertime and some that seemed like category four hurricanes!

If I have learned anything about weathering those storms, it has been that they don't last forever, and I don't need to make major decisions in the midst of them.

Thoughts and feelings run wild in the midst of crises, but those are exactly the times we need to be careful about making decisions. I often say to myself, "Let emotions subside before you decide."

We must remain calm and discipline ourselves to focus on doing what we can do and trust God to do what we can't do.
Instead of drowning in worry and fear, get in touch with God, who sees past the storm and orchestrates the big picture.

He makes sure everything that needs to happen in our lives happens at the right time, moves at the appropriate speed, and causes us to arrive safely at the destinations He has planned for us.

Bottom of Form

Psalm 46:1-3

·     1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her.

 My thoughts - 

Throughout my life I have been through many storms and I know I am not where I am today by my own strength. My parents divorced when I was 12 years old. My father was an alcoholic. Soon after, my mother also fell into the trap of addiction and chose cocaine for the next 13 years instead of her children.

I spent my middle school and early high school years living with my grandparents and the last two years of high school living in an apartment mostly on my own. I did not have the guidance, direction, or wisdom from my parents to help lead me in the right direction.

I knew God had a plan for me and it wasn’t to follow in my family’s footsteps. I threw myself into every school activity there was, tutored after school to elementary kids, and worked 20-30 hours a week to pay for bills.

I graduated in the top 10% of my class with several local scholarships for college and was even blessed to have a teacher of mine co-sign on a car for me to get me to college.

Throughout college, I worked 3 part time jobs to pay for my living and still managed to take a full class load each semester. I knew God had bigger plans for me if I kept working hard and staying faithful to him. He was my family, my support, my strength, my protector, my determination to be whatever He had planned for me.

I worked at an school with an amazing environment for two years my first years of teaching and then a school with a not so amazing environment for the next year. Even though I went through much pain and difficulties at my previous school, God allowed it to show me the kind of teacher He wanted me to be and what kind of environment He wanted me to use my gifts in.

The storm I had of going through a year of unemployment while also having our first child was not an easy one…but it allowed God to do a tremendous growth in me. I just kept remaining faithful and patient knowing He had the answers to my future even if I didn’t.

Coming to ACS was a definite “God Thing”. He knew all along that the hardships at my previous school would lead me here. I never would’ve imagined this is the path He had chosen for me. Sometimes we have to remember that the options we try to give God for our path aren’t even options because what He has in mind is so much greater.

What we have to realize as adults is our paths can be ever-changing. Where we are at may not be the final ending to God’s plan for us. It can be merely just a chapter. We need to remember that what we think other people should do really doesn’t matter because what ultimately matters is what God has planned for them to do. We do not have the privilege or telling people whether the choices they are making are right or wrong. God is directing their path…not our expectations of what path they should choose.

Whatever storm you may be in…little or big…God has the wheel, it’s His plan not ours, and it’s our job to wait patiently for Him to reveal it to us when His timing is perfect.

“let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;”   -Hebrews 12:1-2

29 ways to leap out of debt

Dave Ramsey put together a great article here about how to get yourself out of debt fast.

Remember to live like no other now so that later you can live like no other! Being debt free will free you from bondage to any loan company or third party. What's yours is yours!

We are well on our way to being debt free by using our taxes and my husband's bonus to pay off two more chunks of debt this spring. We will be paying off our car by the end of the year, also!

What's your "get out of debt goal"?

Eggplant Parmesan

I modified a recipe I found online for this eggplant parmesan. I wanted to make it gluten-free so I changed up bread crumbs and crushed up Rice Chex cereal instead. Try the recipe below!

Ingredients (makes about 4 servings) -

• 1 large eggplant, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 2 cups Rice Chex cereal, crunched up in fine crumbs
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 large can of pasta sauce, divided into thirds
• 2 cups mozzerella cheese 
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese  plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• generous dash of pepper

Directions - 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray. In one bowl, mix together chex crumbs, oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese. Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Take the eggplant slices and dip them in the egg (shaking off any excess egg) and then coat them each in the crumb mixture. Place the slices on the cookie sheets. 

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Turn each slice over and bake for another 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven. 

Spray an 8x8 pan. Pour 1/3 of pasta sauce in the pan. Lay half the eggplant on top of the sauce. Pour 1/3 more sauce on top. Then sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat with eggplant, sauce, and cheese. Lastly, sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese on top of the dish. 

Bake in the oven for another 15 minutes until sauce and cheese are bubbly. Serve hot. 

I refuse...

I refuse to quit.
I refuse to let someone tell me I can't do it.
I refuse to settle for mediocre.
I refuse to get tired.
I refuse to say it's too hard.
I refuse to be like the rest of the world.
I refuse to unconsciously eat and feel bad about myself.
I refuse buy things and get myself into debt.
I refuse to feel incapable because all things area possible through God.
I refuse to believe I am just a normal girl...God has a great plan for me.
I refuse to let the day slip by and not tell someone I love them.
I refuse to keep my voice quiet when I know someone needs to hear how much Jesus loves them.
I refuse to feel weak because God helps me be strong.
I refuse to let people in my life who are going to hold me back.
I refuse to go a day without laughing.
I refuse to try to live without holding God's word in my heart.
I refuse to not praise God for the amazing blessings He has given me. 
I refuse to feel unworthy because God thinks I am enough.

I am enough because God is more than enough for me.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 

Matthew 7:13-14