M & M

Moderation and Motivation

Two key things that need to be in my lifestyle now. 

Motivation:

I was up late one night talking to my husband about getting fit and staying on track. I was complaining that I use to be so much better at keeping my life, health, and work outs up to par. He said I just need to commit. However, it is hard to commit when you are motivated. I asked what could keep me motivated. We went back and forth on ideas like posters, rewards, and such. Really it came down to all that stuff that's inside you to stay motivated. You can't just say that you want to do something, then never stick to it. And you can't really stay motivated when you make silly things like posters, or rewards. At least for me. Because what happens when you run out of room on the poster or you run out of money or ideas for the rewards.

And that's where I was left. Looking in to self motivate. And the need to commit. But also having a little play room is healthy as well. 

All things in moderation.

Moderation:

I talked about getting healthy. And let me clear the air. I'm not going to be going crazy with only buying health nut stuff. But what I AM going to do is make more meals. I am a stay at home mom for crying out loud! 

So again, I say all things in moderation. I can't just CUT out sugar in my life (do you KNOW me?!)! But what I can do is not eat that entire box of oreos, chips, or loft house cookies. I will treat myself to one thing. May it be a square of that dark chocolate bar I just bought, a few chips, or ONE cookie treat. Moderation. I'm going to make my meals instead of going out to eat at a fast food restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I will still eat out. Everyday? Forget it. Try only on date nights or on fun adventures. And I will even get the "healthy" option on the menus.  

One thing I am going to just cut out is SODA!!!! Are you kidding me! Carbination! 

In high school, I decided to cut soda out of my life for one year. One year. It could be done. And I did. 

Guess what?! I dropped 20 POUNDS!!! TWENTY! 

Now I have a soda addict for a partner, but honestly I can do it. Moderation my eye for soda. This is all about commitment. 

Alrighty. Well that's my little gab about this past weeks going ons. 

Want a recipe? My Aunt said this is like the BEST and TASTIEST bread ever! So I will share with you and we can try it out and discuss our success rates next week. And sorry for being late with the post. Been a crazy week.

Bread recipe of goodness:

Mix together:

7 cups flour
5 cups hot water
 
Add:
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup oil
1/2 tbsp salt
 
Mix.  
Then add:
4 level Tbsp instant yeast
 
Mix.  
Then add:
About 6 cups flour (a couple cups at a time) until right consistency.  Knead for 3-5 minutes in bread mixer or roll out on floured surface and knead by hand.
 
Divide into 4 med/large loaves or 5 small loaves.
Put in greased pans.  Let raise about 30 minutes or until ready.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Leave in pans to cool for about 10 min. before turning out onto cookie racks to finish cooling.

Let's try this baby out and see how tasty it really is. Because just by the looks of it, I already want to eat it all up!

Welcome

Start to a New Lifestyle

Welcome to my new blog where we talk health. 

But first, a background to where it all started. 

I just had a baby. By "just" I mean 4 and a half months ago.

I swear I've never been bigger. When pregnant, I walked EVERY DAY. I ate healthier. 

Then, I gave birth to the cutest little Forsberg baby boy ever. Ridge came into my life and instead of sticking

to my healthy ways, I have been doing the "snow ball" affect. Spiraling out of control.

How sad.

I've tried just me changing. However it's hard when you are married to a junk-food loving, soda addict for a husband. I decided that if I was going to start this new lifestyle, every one in my family would. 

Where to start? 

I had a few Facebook friends having dinner pages. But no one ever posted recipes. 

And honestly, I just didn't care what others were eating. 

I cared about the cookies that were sitting on the counter.

I asked a sister to borrow her Shaun T (amazing guy) DVDs that she had. I told her and my mom that I was going to get fit and look smoking hot! Their response? To get in shape, it all started in the kitchen.

You had to eat healthy. 

I can do this

That dawned on me, but I still had a husband who didn't like to eat hardly veggies or really anything.

How could I start eating healthy when going out to eat had been so tempting and EASY. 

I needed to get my husband on board. 

We went grocery shopping. It was a little spendy to start with, but we were rearing and ready to start our new change. We both needed to be able to keep up with our baby (all boys are active, so better start now).

And so it begins

We bought a new car, SUV, and gas is costly. Instead of driving wherever we go, we were going to walk. 

Instead of spending 20 dollars going out to eat at a restaurant, we would go buy groceries.

Sleeping in? No. Get up early and jump start the day.

Work out. 

COMMITMENT!

Yadda-yadda!

Yesterday was really the first day that we actually started our new lifestyle. 

I was nervous that Tyler (husband guy) wouldn't like what I was going to make. I had told him what I was going to make. He was hesitant to say the least.

But it was SO SUCCESSFUL! SHOCKER! He ate EVERYTHING! 

And what really was amazing was the fact that he wanted to invite people over to have this again! 

OH MY GOSH! 

Tyler. The guy who hated all veggies and loved Pepsi so much, drinking water was out of the question.

What did I have that was so successful? Spaghetti squash. 

Dinner is Served

Instead of just telling you what I HAD for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I decided I would post my recipes, or really how I made it.

Breakfast and Lunch first though (this was for today, dinner yesterday).

Breakfast, Applejack's-dry with a cup of 1% Milk. (Got to have some sugar otherwise I'll go crazy)

Lunch, salad consisting of mixed greens, two strawberries, 1/4 avocado, hard boiled egg, grated cheese, and balsamic dressing. It was delicious.

Now the star of the ball. Our Sunday dinner.

Spaghetti Squash and Salad (as mentioned above)

1 Spaghetti Squash

2 whole mushrooms

Diced onions (I buy mine diced because I can't cut them *tear*)

Spaghetti Sauce

Poke a few forks holes in the squash, then put the whole thing in the microwave.

Microwave on high for about 8 minutes (I had to cut after and re-microwave for another 5ish minutes).

While the squash is in getting all heated up, in a frying pan, saute mushrooms (sliced) and onions. Add spaghetti sauce to the frying pan once onions are translucent.

Take the squash out of the microwave, if you haven't, cut it in half lengthwise and remove seeds.

Like I stated, I had to cut mine in half, then re-heat.

I prepared the salad while everything was simmering and cooking. 

Plated up dinner with the squash cut in half, sauce added right in the middle (you can gut the squash, but it was fun eating it right out of the shell/skin). Salad on plate. 

Then... ENJOY! 

It was fun and easy. My kind of healthy!

Do you have any other recipes using spaghetti squash that have been a success? 

Share them in the comments!