Something new to motivate you...

Today while I was looking at pintrest I found a pin for a website that sends out daily email challenges for you to do. I thought that was such a great idea so I signed up. You can invite your Facebook friends so you can experience changes together and you get points and awards and some other little things. I'm not much into the points and such as much as the idea of having my friends involved with me.  "The Daily Challenge is a social well-being experience that gives you the opportunity to positively impact your life every day by doing simple daily challenges and sharing the experience with your personal connections" -(per the daily challenge website) The website can be found here.Today's challenge was to write down a personal mantra or motto and put it up in a visible spot. This is what I wrote-

Keep up the good work! You can do it! You can do anything you put your mind to!


I'm excited for this since it is just something small and easy that I can do each day. I like that they come by email and if you haven't marked "done" once you have completed the task they send you a reminder email later in the day. Just another small thing to help make a difference in my lifestyle!

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki

Since my experiment to try a new recipe each week, this is the best I have made yet. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and also added steamed broccoli and green beans as well. Next time I make this I will also add more veggies just to amp it up even more. I got 6 servings out of this recipe and served it on rice.
Here is the link for the original recipe. Below is how I made it.

CROCK POT TERIYAKI CHICKEN

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 1/2 teaspoons cold water
1-2 lbs steamed vegetables
Hot cooked long grain rice

Place chicken in a 4 qt. slow cooker.  In a large bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, cider vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender.  Remove chicken and shred or cut into bite sizes pieces. Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm.  Skim fat from cooking liquid.  Place liquid in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Combine cornstarch and water until smooth.  Gradually stir into liquid and stir until sauce is thickened. In the meantime, steam the veggies until tender. Once the sauce is thickened, toss in the chicken and the veggies and stir until everything is coated.  Serve with and rice and top with sesame seeds.

This is when I decided to add the veggies. There seemed to be too much sauce. 

Here it is with just broccoli. I added the green beans when I ate it for another meal. 

Finished product. Doesn't it look yummy?!?!

Enjoy!!

Week 7 and week 6 recap

Well another week has passed and I really didn’t want to blog today. I am disappointed to say that I gained half a pound. This past week was my birthday and I celebrated for 2 days. I didn’t work out and I didn’t pay any attention to my diet. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. I need to figure out how to enjoy these moments in life with moderation and not use them as an excuse to just eat and drink whatever is put in front of my face. I have good intentions going into the events but they all fly out the window. I’ve always used food and drink as a social outlet. Trying to erase these past habits is really one the hardest things for me to do. I need to just remember to take each day as it comes. Don’t beat myself up and do better the next time. Sometimes that is a lot easier said than done.

Here are the new steps for week 7 that I will be adding to what I am already doing. The full list is in a previous post. 

-          Add core exercises and crunches to my workout routine at least 3 times a week.

-          Start reading the ingredient list on the back of food labels. Watch out for additives and sodium especially.

Week 6 (and week 5 RECAP)

Week 5 was really a hard week for me. For some reason I started to get a little depressed on Monday and it lasted for a couple days.  I really had no reason to be depressed that I could think of but I didn't let it stop me from doing my workouts. I had also decided to take some time off from work. It has been about a year and a half since I took more than one extra day off so it was a much needed break. Looking back it was probably needing this time off that was making me depressed. Anyway, I didn't go anywhere I just decided to have a staycation. It was awesome. Snowdown was happening so I packed up some clothes and went to stay at my parents house and partake in some of the festivities. During this time (Thursday to Monday) I didn't follow my regime and got off track. I ate and drank whatever I wanted and didn't do my daily bike rides or exercises. Luckily I did walk around quite a bit on Friday and did some heavy cleaning on Monday so I did get some movement in. Needless to say last week was bust. I didn't gain and I didn't lose. I guess that is a positive thing. I am back on track now and ready to start kicking ass again.
I am noticing small changes to my body and the way my clothes are fitting. Yay!

Week 6 - 
This week I am not going to be adding any new steps. This is for two reasons. One reason is that I didn't do any of the steps from week 5 and the other reason is that the new steps in my books are ones that I have already been doing. I am noticing as the weeks progress the steps in one book will be ones that I am doing from the other book. This week also marks the half way point for my 12 week program.
Here is a recap of the steps so far. I think I will print out several copies and keep them all over my house so that they are always on my mind and I don't forget to do something.

1.     Shop once this week to keep my pantry stocked with healthy foods

2.     Stay between 3 and 6 on the hunger continuum and register my hunger and satiety level in my journal

3.     Maintain my food journal

4.     Drink 8 glasses of water a day

5.     ride my bike for 20 minutes at least 5 days a week and increase the resistance and note my rides in my journal.

6.     Squeeze some exercise into my daily routine.

7.     clean 1 drawer/cabinet/closet a week

8.     create and maintain an efficient laundry system.

9.     Eat 3 meals and 1 or 2 small snacks each day

10. Add stretching to my workout routine

11. Take a multivitamin each day – I am actually taking a multivitamin, a fish oil pill and a Llysine pill. (this is for cold sores so that I hopefully won’t get them too often)

12. be aware of my posture. Walk tall and with confidence!

13. Limit alcohol to one night a week and limit number of drinks to 2. Unless it is a margarita from Chavolos then the limit is 1.

14.  When going out to eat or at friends, chose food that is not fried and don’t graze around the food table. 

15.  Replace bad fats with good fats.

16. Add one fun element this week. (going dancing, playing basketball, etc.) This can take the place of one of my bike rides.

17.  discover the benefits of yoga (once a week)

18.  clear the clutter from a mail pile, front door, etc and maintain a system to keep it clear. 

It was really hard to get on here and tell you that I didn't do good last week and that I didn't do the things I was supposed to do. That is the great thing about this blog, the accountability.