Ericka: Lesson Learned the Hard Way (6.30.13)

First, the baked collard green wraps were amazing. I don't know which version I like more. Next time I'm going to do 1/2 and 1/2.

Yesterday, I had a busy day. So busy that we didn't make it to the 3rd stop, because Deuce was cranky and tired. He fell asleep in the car on our way to the party, and we decided to just let him sleep, because he had a long day. Big mistake! The boy slept from 3-6, and didn't go to bed until a quarter to 11 last night. I usually go to bed around 9:30/10 p.m. if I'm not doing anything so last night was kind of rough.

Making Groceries

Oh the Insanity

So you're just going to stay up all night?

Back to my lesson learned. When it was my turn to bowl yesterday, I bent down into a bowler's stance (I'm a complete amateur, in fact a notch below amateur), and I felt a pull the side towards the back of my left thigh (gracilis muscle...thanks Google). I felt it more and more every time I went up to bowl. Lesson learned: DON'T NEGLECT STRETCHING BEFORE EXERCISING! I know, I know it can be tedious and boring, but it's necessary to avoid injuries. I did a few stretches when I got home, and this morning my thigh felt a lot better.

Because I did moderate to high intensity exercises Monday through Saturday, and in light of yesterday's muscle pull, I decided to start my Sunday with yoga. I am not a yogi by any stretch of the imagination. If I do it twice a year, then I've done it plenty. Most recently, as in last year, I did a couple of Bikram classes also known as hot yoga. Bikram yoga is relaxing and mentally challenging all at the same time. The first time I went I started laughing, because I was not prepared for how loud the breathing was going to be. I swear some of those folks had megaphones connected to their throats. After thoroughly embarrassing my friend and myself, I began to pray, because who can laugh during the "Our Father", oh right me. It worked after a couple of tries.

Today I did 2 YouTube yoga videos. The first was a 10 minute Weight loss Yoga for Beginners with Tara Stiles. I really enjoyed it, and will try to incorporate doing it 3 times a week.

Then I did a 20 minute yoga video that was so relaxing. The guy's voice was so tranquil, and I really enjoyed it. This one may become my Sunday morning routine.

Well I'm off. Chris & I are taking the little one swimming by my grandmother's house. It will be my first time swimming in at least a year.

-E

Chris: Finding my groove (6.29.13)

As usual, I am posting only an hour or so before midnight. As you can see, I am a night hawk, which is probably why I can't get up for 6 am to do workouts with Ericka. However, I did get a 2 mile run in tonight with Deuce in the jogging stroller, so I definitely did my fair share of exercise today. Not to mention chasing Deuce at Children's Museum and of course dominating our family bowling day (I won both games). As for my eating, let's just say I BEASTED it today!!!! I started the morning off with a green smoothie, didn't eat lunch due to running around all day and ate 2 of Ericka's baked green wrap with a scrambled egg. I feel really good about my day and am looking forward to ending the weekend on a good note.

Tomorrow, we are taking Deuce swimming by Ericka's grandmother house, so hopefully he'll be up for it. That's about all I have tonight. I can actually say I'm not dreading this work week as I have a 3 day week and a 4 day weekend, woohoo!!!!! Talk to y'all tomorrow.

Ericka: A Tasty Recipe, A Morning Workout & A Busy Day (6.29.13)

Yesterday evening, I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for the dinner I planned, an Asian Crunchy Salad (yum ) http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/02/crunchy-asian-salad/ and a no carbs Portobello Mushroom Cap Pizza (double yum). I usually free style my mushroom pizza, but I saw this great recipe http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/25/delicious-healthy-pizza-recipe/. Both recipes are tasty additions to your clean eating diet.

However, when I went to the store, there were no portobello mushrooms caps. So I decided to take the filling from the mushroom pizza recipe (minus the leeks but adding kale) and put it in a collard green wrap. I got the collard green wrap idea from this recipe http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/04/collards-stuffed-with-red-beans-and.html, but I made quite a few adjustments. Take a look at the recipe to get a better idea as to how to fold the leaves. For the salad, I substituted peanuts for almonds, because A. I prefer almonds, and B. I forgot to get peanuts...whoops!


Collard Green Wraps Ingredients:
6 collard green leaves               Chicken                                Part Skim Mozzarella         Baking spray  
4 tomatoes (diced)                   Cayenne Pepper                    Lemon                               EVOO
1 onion (diced)                         Honey                                  1 Kale Leaf
Minced garlic                           Fat Free Feta                        Sliced Mushrooms
Shredded carrots                     5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves           Parsley

Chicken Marinade: mix together
1-2 tbsp of honey
Sriracha to taste
A pinch of cayenne (helps burn fat)
Pepper
A little bit of chopped parsley
You can add salt if you like, I didn't b/c I can't cook with salt right now, but it's still tasty

Dice long ways 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs and place in marinade. I didn't have time to let it sit in the marinade b/c this was a last minute idea, but if you have time, place the marinated chicken in the fridge for at least an hour. Once your chicken has finished marinating cook it in a pan. I used a grilling pan.

Now for the rest:
Boil a large pot of water. While that's boiling dice your onions, tomatoes, and basil.
Once the water is boiled place your clean collard green leaves (I soaked mine in warm water for about 20 minutes) in the pot to blanch them for 3 minutes. While that process is going on, begin sautéing your onions in a pan with EVOO. When the onions start to caramelize add your tomatoes, garlic, & kale & continue to sauté until tomatoes & kale are tender. Top it off with the basil and continue to saute for a few more minutes

You should have removed all of the collard green leaves by now, but if not, remove those from the pot of water to let cool.Spray the leaves w/ a little Pam on both sides

Take the cool leaves and remove the end of the stem on each. Then use a sharp knife to shave down the center stem on the leaves. Now lay the leaf stem side up with the widest part facing you. Then add a tbsp or 2 of the filling, a little bit of chicken, 1-2 portobello mushrooms a little bit of shredded carrots, a pinch of mozzarella cheese & a sprinkling of feta. Do not over stuff. Now roll tightly, after the 1st roll fold the leaves in to seal and then continue to roll. Voila that's it...kind of.

For dinner last night I ate 1 wrap just like that with my salad and it was so good. 

Delicious as is without baking

However I made 9 wraps that I knew I couldn't finish by myself so I decided to bake the rest to make them more appealing to my husband.

Preheat oven to 350. Place the rolls in a pan that has been lightly greased w/ baking spray. Then bake for 40 minutes.

Before Baking

Post Baking

 I'm going to eat these bad boys for dinner w/ the Asian crunchy salad.

You can stuff your wraps with whatever you want. Get creative!


Now on to today's workout. This morning I woke up at 6 am, and did the following workouts 1. Move your body twice ( the 2nd time was w/ my 12 yo brother Joe) 2. Keaira Lashae's Hip Hop Booty Shaking Workout, 3 & 4. Pop Pilates w/ Cassy- Butt on Fire Routine & Total Body Workout for Beginners. The total workout time was about 50 minutes. I had to finish my Pilates workout with Deuce either laying on my back during cobra or crawling under me during downward dog. Luckily, Deuce was only awake & running around for the last 10 minutes of my workout. After my workout I once again had one of my delicious kitchen sink smoothies.

The Pop Pilates routines are a beast! Cassy provides you with great directions, and pushes you to push yourself to the limit. I usually get delayed muscle soreness 1-2 days after my workout, but yesterday after doing Cassy's leg, arms and abs workout I was sore that same evening. In fact, I was even sorer this morning, and I LOVE IT! I'm one of those weirdos who loves DMS. There's nothing better than a deep tissue massage when your body is sore from a good workout.

Now I'm off to chase my kid around at the Children's Museum, then I'm taking him bowling with our family, and then I am going to take him to a toddler's birthday party at one of those places where the kids run through obstacle courses & jump around. I am tired just from writing that!

Have a good one!
E

Chris: Back on the Grind (6.28.13)

I'm going to hit you with the back to back posts today. And I have bounced back strong today if I do say so myself. For breakfast I had a boiled egg and for lunch, 2 grilled chicken thighs and collard greens (nothing had salt). So, I'm feeling good. Plan is to workout after lunch and maybe even take Deuce swimming. One thing that has been hard is to work out daily. I plan on going to the gym and/or running 6 times a week. So far, Wednesday (bowling night) is the only day I didn't do either. But I feel very good about today and the weekend. I know it may seem weird but the weekends are actually easier for me because I don't have to worry about eating lunch out with friends or coworkers or what's in the breakroom. We don't have many groceries, i.e. no temptation at home, lol.

Outside of that, i plan on taking Deuce to the Children's Museum and hanging out with him and Ericka over the weekend. I'll keep y'all posted on my workout tomorrow. Also, I am trying to do these tapes with Ericka in the morning but 2 key issues:

1) How does she wake up at 6-6:30 am????? Man, it's just so hard for me. I am not a morning person

2) Why is every workout tape just a rendition of females popping in the clubs or shaking their @$$. I mean really, I have to change it up so much so that I don't feel totally ridiculous. Luckily, there is no taped evidence of me doing any of these tapes.

Chris: Peer Pressure (written on 6.28.13 for 6.27.13)

Ok, sorry guys, I missed yesterday due to the NBA draft. I got home late and it was either post or sleep. Blogging will lose out in most cases, lol. Back to my day yesterday. I can't go without talking about one of my biggest personal sports achievements to date. I'm in a bowling league with my dad, uncle, cousin and good friend, and I rolled a personal best 211!!!!!! I finally broke the 200s. And that came after bowling a personal low 93!!! So, I am still excited about that, not to mention that I passed on our team's weekly wing fest at the bowling alley concession for a MangoFest smoothie. GREAT JOB CHRIS!!!!!

Needless to say, I woke up yesterday and dropped another pound. However yesterday didn't go as smoothly on the food front. As I mentioned above, I went and met up some friends for the NBA draft at Buffalo Wild Wings. I held strong on the drinking front, refraining from beer or liquor the whole night, but when the plate of wings came, I FAILED. I ate about 5 wings and I'm pissed off today about it. Part of me did it because I was hungry since I went there straight from work and hadn't eaten, but I have to admit that part of me just wanted to fit in and eat wings without being asked why I wasn't eating and only drinking water. I haven't told Ericka so hopefully she doesn't read this entry (shhhhh). If so, I'm sure I'll get an earful tonight. Aw well, I'm used to it by now, lol. Anyways, just because I gave in yesterday doesn't make me want to quit today. In fact, it gives me more motivation to get better and not fall of the wagon again. I'll keep y'all posted on it.

-C

Ericka: Poor Planning (6.28.2013)

When will I learn  that in order to get a good a.m. workout I have to get up at no later than 6:00 a.m? While I did get in an awesome 30 minute pilates workout, it wasn't without interruptions due to the beast. This morning I did a Pop Pilates YouTube workout. The instructor, Cassey, provides great workouts with good music that almost (well barely) takes your mind off of the difficult task at hand. Today I tried out her legs, arms and abs workout. I wanted to do her 10 minute  "On Fire" butt workout, but alas mommy duty called. I may give it another go this evening.

Another casualty of poor planning is my lunch. I usually wake up early in order to make a nice healthy lunch, but I didn't have time this morning. I did get to have my green smoothie this morning. Today's concoction was the same as yesterday, but I added strawberries a 1/2 tbsp of "Better N Peanut Butter". It tastes similar to PB, because it's made from peanuts. However it's only 100 calories per serving size (2 tbsp). I use a 1/2 serving of regular crunchy PB when I don't add Greek yogurt to my smoothie.
Back to my lunch dilemma. The options around my office are limited considering I can't eat anything cooked with salt for this detox. I could get a smoothie, but I am trying to go along with Chris' one smoothie a day to further cut down on the whites. Hmm, what to do what to do?  All I know is that if don't get some kind of meal in my belly I will not be able to workout this afternoon.

-Ericka

Ericka: Little Goals (6.27.13)

Day 4 of the detox, and I have already lost 2 pounds!Add that to the 5 pounds I lost during the 2 week period prior to starting the detox and I have a total of 7 lbs lost! While a lot of it may be water weight, and it's hard to keep up this weight loss pace, I will take what I can get. It feels good getting on the scale and seeing it move in the right direction for a change.
I've decided to come up with some short term goals. The first one is to weigh at least 10 lbs less than what I was the last time I get pregnant. Chris and I are considering adding to our family, but I cannot go down that rabbit hole until I lose some weight. I have 15 pounds to lose to reach that goal, and I'm hoping to lose it by my birthday, September 20.
This morning I got up at 6:30 a.m to do some light exercise. I made Chris join me. We started off with 20 jumping jacks, 20 triceps dips, 20 push-ups, 10 burpees (ugh) and 10 high knees. We then did Keaira Lashae's standing ab work-out. Some of the moves were geared to females, so Chris had to do some modifications which was pretty funny.

 For breakfast I had another green smoothie, but this time I made it with yogurt, 1/2 serving of oatmeal, 1 banana, a tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder, a tsp of of instant coffee crystals, a little bit of honey and almonds. My smoothies are usually 300 calories or less, and they are quite filling.
For lunch I had 2 grilled chicken thighs smothered with onions and seasoned with my own marinade of sriracha, garlic, honey & cilantro. I LOVE CILANTRO! I would bathe in it if I could. For my side I had a boiled egg without the yolk.

Since Chris has once again upped the ante on the no whites detox, I decided I too will cut out a smoothie and either have a carbs-free & salt less breakfast or dinner in addition to lunch.

Well I'm spent. I had a long day, and a tough lunch time tabata workout. Tabata, for those of you who don't know, is a high impact interval training workout. You do an exercise for 20 seconds, but you go full out balls to the wall, take a 10 second break, and then do it again. Usually it's 8 rounds of various exercises.

Good night all,
E

Chris: Day 2 - Tired of this blogging thing already, lol (6.26.13)

Day 2.........Not gonna lie, a brotha a lil hungry at work but it's all good. I just think about the end result, and I'm back on track. And honestly, work is so busy right now, it's actually the best place to be. Don't think I will get a chance to run tonight as I'm in a bowling league and won't get home until late. But, my dinner plans are to pick up a smoothie on the way to bowling from SMOOTHIE KING!!! I think I'm going with the MangoFest. Other than that, today is pretty good. My plan was to wake up early and do some workouts, but waking up in the morning is very hard forme to do.

As for my no whites diet, I have decided to boil two eggs in the morning as a replacement to the smoothie because smoothies have natural sugars (sugars =white), so I will cut it down to only a smoothie in the evening.

Ericka: It's Easier in the Beginning (6.26.13)

Dieting and exercising always seems easier in the beginning. It's when I'm the most motivated. I've already lost 6 lbs in the last 2.5 weeks, and it's keeping me going. My dedication usually starts to wan after a few weeks. I get tired of having to eat healthy when everyone else seems to eat whatever they want without any consequences. Then I start to hit a plateau, and the weight starts to drop off a little slower. I can't promise you this time will be different, but for some reason it feels different. It feels like the summer I lost 30 pounds right before I took the bar. I was dedicated to a jogging routine, and after 30 days it became a habit.

This morning I woke up around 6:30am with the hope that I'd be able to get in a 40 minute workout before the beast, my 19 month old son, woke up. Well that didn't pan out, but I did put in a good 20 minutes without  any distractions, and another 10 minutes with him dancing next to me. Not quite 40 minutes, but still better than nothing. Today I did various YouTube workouts. For my warm-up I did Beyonce's "Move Your Body" from the First Lady's fitness campaign.  It's such a fun way to start your morning.

 Then I did Keaira LaShae's Valentine's Day Workout Routine, and I did it in heels!

I also did her Rihanna "Cake" workout routine, the tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64i2Y-VygVE  and the actual dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGRSdetpI_s.

If you don't know about Keaira Lashae, then you need to get familiar. She has awesome workouts that usually incorporates dancing, which I love to do, but she also has kickboxing, tabata, and interval training routines, and she provides great fitness tips. Check out her YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/superherofitnesstv

For breakfast I had one of my kitchen sink green smoothies. This one had raw mixed greens (kale, spinach, collard greens), pumpkin seeds, non-fat vanilla greek yogurt, 1/2 a pack of low sugar cinnamon spice instant oatmeal (cooked), 1 frozen banana, handful of baby carrots, a tsp of honey, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a sprinkling of coffee. I put all of the ingredients in my handy nutribullet and voila! It made 2 servings, and the protein from the yogurt kept me full until lunch time.

Tip: My son doesn't eat as many vegetables as I would like. He pretty much sticks to peas and green beans. However he does like some of my smoothie concoctions so I share it with him. For the ones that have an earthier flavor, I mix a 1/2 serving with his milk and add a little chocolate to it, and he guzzles it down.

My little helper

Yummy

For lunch I had sauteed mixed greens and a grilled chicken thigh seasoned with lemon pepper. For dinner I will have another smoothie but sans the oatmeal.

Just 7 more days until this detox is over!

E

Chris: 1 day at a time (6.25.13)

This week starts the dawn of a new era. About 7 years ago, I had been accepted to the LSU MBA program, and I had just resigned from my job for the summer before starting school again. I had a free summer for the 1st in at least 6 years. One day, I stepped on a scale and weighed in at 309 lbs. I was so embarrassed and upset at myself that day, I vowed right there that I would dedicate the summer to running and eating better. By the end of the summer before my 1st day back at LSU, I weighed in at 272 lbs, so I was extremely happy of the progress I had made but not nearly satisfied. I continued to run and by the end of my 1st year in the MBA program, I had dropped to 255 lbs. Fast forward to graduation from the MBA program and I was a whopping 235 lbs. I went to Houston for that summer and worked my way up to running for an hour straight.

However, I started working full-time in the fall of 2008, got married in January of 2009, and slowly put on a few pounds here and there. Over the past 4 years, I've put on a good 25 lbs. Now, it is important to note that I have high blood pressure and a 1 year old son, which are two of the main reasons I have committed to this lifestyle change with Ericka. Also, I want to get more fit and feel better overall about myself. I know having done it once that losing weight is just as mental as it is physical (sports analogy!!!!). I also know that you can't expect instant results as this is a marathon, not a sprint (another sports analogy!!! If you can't tell, I love sports, lol)  So, I am more than confident that if I commit totally to our 30 day challenge, we will accomplish our goals.

Lastly, I believe this challenge will help Ericka and I grow closer together as we thrive off of each other when work towards a common goal. I think this will only strengthen our marriage and look forward to creating lifelong memories in our journey to better health and BEACH BODIES!!!!!!

Ericka: A change is coming (6.25.13)

I think I'm ready. No, I know I am ready to finally take losing weight seriously. While I've never been a small girl with a ballerina's physique, I've also never been this big either. It started when I got married. I was already a little overweight, but then I got married and started eating whatever my husband ate. I gained 40 pounds in 4 years. Every once in a while I would get on the scale, get disgusted, then get motivated and then 3 weeks later discouraged or distracted. Well not this time, I hope.I started this blog because it will keep me honest. I will have to tell you my success stories and my setbacks.

About 2 weeks ago I started juicing using the nutribullet. I've been making green smoothies and they are so tasty. The first week I drank one smoothie a day. Last week I stepped it up to 2 smoothies a day except on the weekends. And this week my husband has joined me on the 2 a day challenge, but he raised the ante. For our 3rd meal, we cannot have anything white (e.g. salt, sugar, carbs). We have to stick to this detox for 10 days.

Yesterday, while complaining to my hubby, Chris, that my 75lb weight loss goal seems like a daunting task due to the amount of time it will take, it dawned on me that A. I need to break my goal down into smaller more manageable goals and B. I need to break the time it will take to lose that weight into 30 day increments. Chris has decided to join me, because he wants to work on his bedroom/beach body too. So we devised a plan to come up with 10 fitness challenges and 10 healthy diet challenges. We're going to put the challenges into 2 different hats or bowls, and we have to pick a challenge from both and stick to it for 30 days. After 30 days we will take a week off before starting the next challenge. I'm nervous and excited. We plan on starting July 8th, 2013 after our detox. We've also decided to do other challenges that affect various aspects of our lives. We haven't come up with all of the challenges yet, but stay tuned! Hopefully we will meet our goals and inspire you to come up with your own challenges or you can join us for our challenges.

-E