Wow... Has it been a while....

I have officially become the worst blogger on the face of the Earth. My last post was more than 2 months ago in which I wrote maybe 3 sentences that was mostly me whining that I wasn't motivated to keep working out at that time. I still haven't gotten fully back into the grove of things but I have been able to start working out at a normal pace like I was before I injured myself in May. Which at this point I need to just pull my self together and even if I am tired and don't want to go because I had a long day at work, just go to the gym and work out any frustration I may have had throughout my work day by working off some calories. But the last couple weeks have been so busy because of Mak's wedding and everything that goes along with that and going to Bills games on one of my only days off in the week I have worn my self down that I feel like I need a few days off just to get back to feeling like I will have enough energy to get my ass to the gym and have a meaningful workout. I think at this point my biggest problem is that I don't like going to the gym when I know I'm going to half-ass my workout. If I know I'm not going to be able to go all out I don't want to go at all which just ends up hurting me more because then I'm not going. I still go when I see my trainer and Christine is fantastic and getting me in the groove but when I don't see her I feel lost. Like I can't do it if she isn't there. Which is incorrect because I used to go to the gym without a trainer all the time before. 

~~~Bottom Line~~~
Karen needs to get her act together and get her ass to the gym!!!!!

Now that I said that, I think I can finally check one of my goals off of my list... #3! For those of you who did not read my goal list check out my Goals tab on the top of the page.

Now I won't know if I like how I look in the pictures until those come out from the photographer but I easily fit into my dress with no problems whats so ever. No I didn't have to have my seamstress take the dress in which would have been best but not having to worry about fitting into my dress in the weeks leading up to the wedding was a great feeling too. For the pictures that I have seen so far I am confident that I will actually like these pictures for once in my life. Fingers crossed!!!!

Need Motivation

When I first started this Blog I had so much motivation and determination and now.... NOTHING!!! What do I do now. I need to find some motivation in something and at this point I will take anything to kickstart this journey again. What is a girl to do... I was on a mission and doing great but I feel like I have had a horrible setback and don't know what to do at this point... Someone, anyone please send some suggestions. This girl needs HELP!!!

Tool Time

I have discovered throughout this process that not only do I need to have the will to make this go of being healthy the successful one but you also need the support from those around you and also the right tools to make sure that I am on track with my goals. When I originally started my 100 day workout challenge I started by tracking on poster board showing the number of days I had worked out and each day I wrote what I had done that day to be active. Whether it was just taking a walk or what I did at the gym that day. Now I have selected to also get something that will track how active I am being throughout each day. I have some friends who have tried products like FitBit, Jawbone and similar monitors to track sleep, distance or steps travelled, etc. I have found that since I have started using my FitBit Flex Monitor I can see when I haven't been as active and make a more conscious effort to correct that by the end of the day. I selected this product because I needed something to help track what I am doing. The sleep tracker seems to shed some light on why I tend to be so tired when it seems I have been sleeping for hours on end. Now I'm not saying that I need this activity tracker to be successful but it couldn't hurt, right? 
I started writing this post probably about a month ago and finally was able to finish it today. At this point I have also started my 100 Day Challenge over again. As you know I hurt myself back in May while traveling in Memphis, TN and had planned on once I had healed I would start up again from where I left off. After thinking about I have decided to start completely over again! Wish me luck once again!

...And the Results are in Part 2

As you know I finally got my MRI results in after about 3 weeks due to a backup of results at the office, and as of my last post I was getting a CT scan done that day. I did get those results back in a very timely manner, YAY! I now have the conclusive results that I have a proximal medial non-displaced fracture of my left tibia and what does this mean?! I can only use a bike for cardio so no treadmill or elliptical until I see the doctor again in 3-4 weeks. Until then it is arms, chest and back at the gym until further notice which I will keep doing under the watchful eye of my amazing trainer Christine!!! Thank you for all of support and for pushing me to my max even with my injury!!! Love it!

For all of my loyal readers please visit my new page documenting all of my goals and see when they get accomplished and how I have transformed!

...And the Results are in!

So after more then 2 weeks of waiting I finally got the results from the MRI I had done on my knee. So good news is that I do not have a torn meniscus but bad news is I have a non-displaced fracture. Where you might ask is this fracture... not entirely sure. I got the results while driving in Vermont last weekend with my old college roommate, Molly, and the PA who called was not very specific in this description. Today I had a CT scan done to see... not entirely sure but I think they told me its to be able to see a better picture of the bones since it is a fracture. I love how after a several weeks of waiting to see what is wrong with my knee I still don't know. It has been almost a month and a half since I was first hurt and none of the results I have gotten back are conclusive in the least. I am hopeful that after it taking almost 2 weeks just to get the MRI results that they are a bit quicker to get back to me with these results. I am tired of being scared that I am going to hurt my knee more if I work out too hard or push it before it is fully healed and make things worse. I don't want this to be a set back that keeps going on forever and ever. 

Lots of challenges ahead but I promise to be positive and look to the finish line as a checkpoint in my journey but never the less to enjoy the journey all the same.

Ps. New goal to be added to my journey:
Train & Run in a 5K, 1/2 Marathon and Full Marathon one of which must be in San Francisco so that I can hang with Molly!!!

Health Check

With this being my first post since I have been back from Memphis and my most recent injury I wanted to give an update about what I have been able to do since then but more importantly what I have been eating since the working out has been extremely limited. Since being home I have seen an orthopedic surgeon to look at my knee and tomorrow I go for an MRI to see what internal damage there may be since he seems to believe that I have a torn meniscus and if that is the case I will be having surgery ASAP. Since I am still is some pain from whatever is wrong with my knee I have not been doing any cardio other than walking since this has happened. Luckily enough walking on crutches did help raise my heart rate some when I was using them. I have been off of crutches for about a week but still don't trust my knee to not buckle to walk on a treadmill or ride a bike. What I have been doing is still seeing my trainer once a week to at least get some abs, back and arms worked out. It still keeps me accountable to make sure that I am still going in and still have someone to report to essentially. I never thought I would miss going to the gym when I couldn't go anymore.
My diet has been more important then ever since this has happened and to be honest I haven't always eaten the best since I have been injured. But that has changed over the last week. I put together meals for the week and I'm not eating the crap that they call food at the cafeteria at work. Granted the food isn't all that bad but it most defiantly is not the best but more than anything its expensive and by brown bagging this last week i've saved so much money I can't even fathom it! 
While writing this post what I realized more than anything is that I don't necessarily have a problem choosing healthy options I just have a problem with portion control. I tend to eat way more then I need to and it clearly shows. 

Memphis in May

My trip to Memphis started as optimistic as one could be. I'm going to excercise daily before going to the competition grounds keep doing my smoothies and eat relatively healthy when most of the food is anything but that. First couple of days were great the weather could have been better but other than that I would say that I was doing just fine. On Friday however things took a turn for the worse, being the clumsy person that I am I twisted my right ankle while stepping half on the grass half on the sidewalk while heading to my teams booth and when I tried to catch myself before falling I popped my knee and am in an extreme amount of pain. So much so that I took a trip to the urgent care center for X-rays. Good news is nothing is broken but I'm on crutches for the foreseeable future and need to keep icing it. 
Other than this unfortunate incident on my art my time in Memphis and later in Nashville was fairly enjoyable.

My BBW team Too Sauced to Pork did very well with 2 calls to the stage meaning 2 top 10 finishes. And what was even better was a 1st place finish for our Vinegar Sauce!!!!! Our other call was for 6th place in Ribs which for the Super Bowl of Swine where we are competing against the best of the best we couldn't be more happy to finish where we did!!

Here's some evidence of our awesomeness!!

Not only did we get a trophy and bragging right but also a giant check!!!

Too Sauced to Pork showing pride while accepting our award!

Vinegar Sauce concoctors!! Frank and Dave from New Hampshire

We also love sharing the experience with so many people from around the world, Check out this link!

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/25532504/bbq-fest-welcomes-teams-from-across-the-world#.U3e2GYBYye8.facebook

Peach Mango Smoothie

I find that changing up a smoothie helps the same way that changing up what workouts you are doing. It makes life more interesting and helps to make it something new that you want to try. I started with going to the frozen fruit section of my supermarket for inspiration. I found peaches and mango and knew I already had strawberries at home. Then I looked into add some other ingredients to make it more interesting. I decided to add some ginger root to my smoothie. While ginger isn't commonly used for weight loss it does have use in other cultures to help with the common cold. I figure that if it can help fight a cold it may be able to help prevent one too and have been sick several times this past winter. Plus it tastes great in this smoothie!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Tropicana Farmstand Peach Mango Juice

1/4-1/2 cup Milk (use whatever you have around; regular, soy, almond, etc) 

Handful of frozen Peaches

Handful of frozen Mango

1/2 Handful of frozen Strawberries

1/2 inch of peeled and finely grated ginger root (I use a microplane)

Large Handful Spinach

1/2-3/4 scoop unflavored Whey Protein Powder

Layer in Blender and blend on high until smooth. Start with 1/4 of milk and add more if needed to help blend the ingredients.

***Notice that I don't use any ice in my smoothies. If you use frozen fruit in your smoothies you won't need to use ice and on top of that they won't be watered down. And Bonus frozen fruit is less expensive then fresh fruit!! If you have a good farmers market near you go there to get good seasonal fruit and you can always freeze them yourself for an even better deal.




To freeze your own fruit, follow this process:

1. Find the freshest fruit that you can. Don't use fruit that is over or under ripe because once you freeze it, the quality will remain at that state. 
2. Wash, skin and trim the fruit depending on what it is. For berries with leaves, wash and trim the leaves off. Make sure to dry the fruit thoroughly before freezing other wise you will have a lot of ice crystals which you don't want. Anything like melon or stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, etc) cut to the size you want before freezing. 
3. When ready to freeze place on a cookie sheet and place in freezer overnight. When completely frozen, remove from pan in store in ziplock bags. Stores well for 6 months.

Making the Time

I have never realized how many things I have going on in my life until this week. Starting to add these workouts into my days are not necessarily making things more difficult but making them slightly more challenging to get stuff done in. Always worrying if I have enough time to get to the gym, get all my errands done, get my lunch made for work and be showered and ready for work without losing my mind in the process. 
I wish I had a solution for adding hours to the day but I can't. I can only make the most of the time that there is in a day.

I am working to still make this new life style be a part of my life and not the thing that keeps me from having a life. But I will not alter my mission. I thought about changing it but in reality changing my mission isn't going to help me at all. I need to keep being encouraged to keep going to keep working towards my goals. Please comment your encouragements to me and I will be sure to keep telling you of my journey and the struggles I may encounter along the way.

Recipe Watch

I found this recipe while being inspired from a new Instagram member. I love researching and finding new and healthy protein packed deliciousness! I know that this may seem to have a lot of fish. If the portion is too much and I think for me it would be you can also just top a piece of salmon with the filling and bake for a little less of the time. 

Stuffed to the Gills | Salmon Stuffed with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Feta

Serves 2-3 generously. If feeding a larger group, increase the size of the salmon fillets and double or triple the filling ingredients. Also be prepared to adjust the baking time. Make sure that your fillets are very similar in size and have a relatively even thickness throughout. If the fillets are thick in the centre and thin at the ends, you will end up with cooked ends and an uncooked centre, or a cooked centre and overcooked ends, which would be a real shame. 

2 fresh salmon fillets (skinless), about 1/2 pound each and 1 inch thick

1 TBSP. olive oil

2 heaping cups of fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil (drained and roughly chopped)

1/3 cup + 2 TBSP. crumbled feta cheese

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lemon, halved

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a shallow casserole dish or baking sheet with non-stick spray. Lay one of the fillets down in the baking dish. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-heat and saute the spinach until just wilted, about 1 minute. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and the garlic, and stir for another minute. Remove from heat and stir in 1/3 cup of feta cheese.

Spread the mixture evenly on top of the fillet. Squeeze half of the lemon over top of the filling. Lay the second fillet over top of the first, lining it up as evenly as possible. Squeeze the other half of the lemon over top, and then liberally sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the remaining feta cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the salmon is just cooked through. Please note that the baking time will vary greatly depending on the size and thickness of your salmon fillets, so adjust accordingly. I suggest keeping a close eye on it after the first 20 minutes.

This recipe would be perfect for a lunch or dinner. For a simple lunch pair with a greens salad and a small piece but for dinner kick up the flavor a bit some citrus and herb orzo salad and of course some nice steamed broccoli.

Recipe and Pictures courtesy of onceuponarecipeblog.com