Nuggets of knowledge I think you need =)

  I am so happy and delightfully overwhelmed by the feedback I've gotten from this handy dandy little blog, that I've decided to continue writing. LUCKY YOU! hehe. So... today I will share one of my most favorite paleo dishes, and my not so favorite Crossfit workouts that we did this week. And, if you're nice, I'll give you Collin's blog so you can fill your nuggets with health knowledge. =)
  First, before I go into the workouts, let me set the previous record straight. Apparently, I hurt Jeremy's feelers when I referred to him as devil man and Collin as a guru. Soooo, let me explain. Jeremy was my intro coach, thus, earning the name devil man. For at least the first 3 sessions I felt like death was a better option that what I was going thru. BUT, it turns out, he too knows his shit and is TOTALLY not scary at all and everyone should be so lucky as to have their intros with him. There. I think I said it how he told me to. hahaha but seriously, he is the devil in a good way. All the trainers know their shit and will change your life with their plethora of knowledge that they share each and every day and I love them all!
  So, onto the workouts. This week we did tabata workouts. I hate tabata so good. It hates me even better. I have bruises on my clavical from the push presses and I have sore muscles in my upper body that I didn't know existed from the pushups and pullups. I may even go to open gym tonight for a little more torture. If you want to know exactly what tabata is, join Crossfit. ;-) or ask me...
  Now on to the good stuff... the paleo meal I promised. It's quick, it's easy, it's effing delicious. As I before said, I LOVE http://www.paleomg.com/. It's a great blog. Go check it out. Today's recipe comes courtesy of her. I give you "Meatza." We don't eat grains. But, we still love food, and pizza, is one of those goodies. Read it, cook it, devour it...

Ingredients

• 1lb ground beef (as lean as you can find. grass fed is best)
• 1lb ground pork
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 cups marinara-no sugar added or pizza sauce
• Chopped bell peppers, any color (I used red, yellow, and green)
• 1 container mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 onion, roughly sliced
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• fresh basil, to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pull out a large mixing bowl and add your beef, pork and eggs and mix well to combine.
3. Now add in all your spices to your meat mixture: garlic and onion powder, oregano, parsley, and thyme and thoroughly mix the spices in with the meat.
4. Now grab a 9 x 11 glass baking dish and throw your ball of meat into the dish and press down until meat is the same thickness throughout. Much like you would meatloaf.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. While the meat is baking, chop your veggies to get them all ready to plop on top of your meatza.
7. Once the meat is done cooking, pull it out of the oven, top with the rest of the ingredients: marinara, veggies, and garlic. Also add salt and pepper to your preference.
8. Put back in the oven for 12 minutes.
9. Enjoy. =)

  You can really top this pizza with any and all the veggies you want, the more the better! This is just the recipe the way she makes it, but make it your own. Go crazy with the veggies!!! I know you're probably thinking WHAT THE HELL MAN!? No crust? No cheese? Hell no. You don't need that shit. It's better without, trust me. Don't taint this yummy delight with crap. Remember, just because it's good for you, doesn't mean you can eat the whole thing in one setting. PORTIONS PEOPLE! I know it will be tempting, but it's just as good leftover. TRUST ME. =)

  Now, the added bonus. I feel as though you are probably all being "nice" to me via actually reading this... so here is Collin's blog... findyourline.tumblr.com You would be wise to read and pay attention. He's a smart man! Until next time peeps.

Still reading? Good!

 With the combination of my Crossfit workouts (which I hate so good and suck so wonderfully), and eating paleo, I feel better than I have my entire life. My journey is forever continuing and not even close to being over. I am no where close to where I want to be, but I will get there. I am on the road and I love every step of the way. I truly wish everyone knew how good working out and eating right feels. I say this because, if everyone knew, there would not be one overweight person on this planet. Living healthy makes me a happier person. I am a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, person because I am no longer unhealthy and slugish. My goal is to one day be a trainer. I want people to know that if I can do it, so can they, and I will be there to motivate, push, support, and cry with them every step of the way. There is literally not ONE thing from stopping any person on this earth from living healthy and happy. The hardest part is walking through the door and making the choice to NEVER look back. I will continue to document my journey and share some great tips, tricks, and recipes that I find along the way. I hope I haven't bored you to death and you continue to read. If I can help motivate one single person to change their life, I'll feel successful. Stay tuned, it's sure to be an interesting ride... =)

Crossfit and Paleo, Yep, I said it.

  I don't even know where to start with this one. Crossfit and Paleo to me are like boob milk and dry diapers to a newborn. Seriously. I can fully credit this chapter in my journey to my super awesome cousin Kaylea. I was telling her one day about my fitness inspiration, Emily Schromm. (check out her awesome blog: baconandskinnyjeans.blogspot.com) Kaylea says the magic words to me: you know how you get her body? CROSSFIT! I know Lincoln has one too! Crossfit? What is this Crossfit you speak of? So.... I look it up. I call. I join. I meet Jeremy. The devil man himself. =) I must give CFL props. From the second I walked in the door, I felt like a family member. The very first day, almost every trainer introduced themselves to me. Super friendly, super fantastic, super contagious personalities. And so, I began my intro sessions. Crossfit is hardcore and asskicking. YES! Score. Not only do I have new friends, but I can get fit too? What? Score again. I quickly learned that adding weight training to running is a super uber fantastic way to change your body fast. I am no longer worried about what the scale says because I can see the difference in the mirror. That was something new to me. When I was losing weight, I was still flabby, just in a littler way, so the scale was my best friend. It showed my progress when I couldn't necessarily see it. But still flabby. I have muscles now. Seriously. I have photographic proof. Muscles! Not the scary "is she a chick or is he a dude muscles", but the cute kind. The oh my LORD I want her body kind. Well, let's pump the brakes. I'm not there, YET. But, one day I will look like Brandi and Maranda. Just you wait. Anyway, back on track... fitness is super important and Crossfit is the perfect solution to fitness goals.
  Enter Collin and Paleo. Collin is our nutrition guru. Our doctor in training. Needless to say, the man knows his shit. And so, he introduces me to paleo. Paleo is a chosen style of eating by crossfitters. It's a fantastic way to eating and everyone should do it. It takes us back to our roots and eliminates all the man made shit that we don't NEED to eat. Collin can explain things WAY better than I ever could. SOOOOO, if you wanna know paleo, ask him. HA! But basically, paleo is lots of lean meats, fish, veggies, some fruit, some nuts, no grain, no sugar, no dairy. Now, to some, this might sound "hard" or "restrictive". BUT, you are talking to the girl who ate egg whites, tuna, and chicken for NINE MONTHS. To me, this is heaven! SOOOOO MANY POSSIBILITES! There are lots of good blogs and cookbooks out there that make my mouth water. I feel like I'm cheating every single night when I cook dinner, but I'm not!
 I wish I could force everyone to join Crossfit and eat paleo, but alas, I cannot. On to the next blog!

Get a Move On

  For some reason, still unknown to me, I decided that running would be the best way to enter the workout world. Now, let me explain how much of a non-runner I have always been. I did not play sports past junior high. I was a cheerleader in high school. Because I'm loud. I only did field events in track. I don't do running. BUT, the new 50 lbs lighter Jennifer, thought she needed to be a runner. Riiiiiiiiiight. Well, apparently, there was always a runner in there waiting to bust out. Who knew?! My very first workout I ran a half mile without stopping. That was a huge accomplishment for me. When I was a fatty, I could BARELY run a quarter of the track (as in 100m) without feeling like death was surely near. Again, back on track... two months after I decided to start running, I was up to running 5-6 miles a day. Now, do you see why I think maybe there was always a runner in me? It's simply amazing what getting rid of 50 lbs can do for your running ability! So, I was eating right and running now. I managed to shave off another 15 lbs. There is nothing in the world like feeling great because you're healthy. Running is a great workout, but it's a bit boring. AND, to be honest, 65 lbs and 9 months later, my eating schedule was getting pretty damn boring too. Enter moving to Lincoln, and *gasp* Crossfit...

Part Uno

I have often heard people say that "starting is the hardest part"... you're damn right it is. But not only starting, but having the will to keep going. There is no such thing as a quick fix or a diet. Lifestyle change is the words we are looking for here people. LIFESTYLE CHANGE. Change your damn life style. Hard? Duh. Worth it? Duh. I started out by talking to my sons daycare provider, Tanya. She is one of those crazy fit people who make ya wanna vomit. Especially when you realize she has given birth TWICE and still looks like a fitness model. Freak. =) So anywho, she gave me some really good nutrition advice to follow. I had to eat *gulp* veggies. Lots of them. WHAT?! I'm fat. I don't "do" veggies. Well, apparently, to be not fat, you have to eat them. And so I did. I'm not sure how the hell this happened, but I actually enjoyed them. Unheard of.
  Next, I had to have my strict eating schedule layed out for me. Some people like variety. I don't. Variety gets me in trouble. I need to be told exactly what to eat and when to eat it. The less choices, the better chance I have of not screwing up. And so, here was my new eating schedule: my breakfast consisted of 3 egg whites, a protein shake (powder and water), lunch was a can of tuna and black beans, snack was califlower, dinner was a chicken breast and broccoli. That's it. That's all I ate. I tried several other combos, but for me, this is what my body reacted best to. I wasn't an "exerciser", so eating just enough to keep my body functioning was my best bet. I also drank about a gallon of water a day. Hello bathroom break every 10 seconds. After my body came out of the, what I like to call "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME YOU CRAZY LUNATIC?!" mode, I actually wasn't hungry anymore. Some people look at what I was eating and go "are you nuts?! you were starving yourself!" Well, no, I wasn't. I literally felt full after every meal and wouldn't be hungry until it was time for the next. I ate this exact schedule for 6 days a week for 9 months straight. I allowed myself one "cheat" day a week. I used this day to eat all of the shitty things I had quit cold turkey. I feel like cheats are important because they keep you going. I feel like this is a huge spot of where people "fall off the wagon." One day, you will get tired of depriving yourself of these oh so bad for you yummies and say "eff it" and go hog wild, thus, falling right back into your bad habits. Eventually, you won't even want the cheats because they make you feel icky. But, initially, I think you need them to stay on track. Just by changing my diet, I lost 50 lbs in 7 months. I didn't work out a single minute in that 7 months. My body was to a point that it needed more. It needed more than just healthy eating. Enter workout stage...

A Journey Begins

  I embarked on a new journey one year ago, and I feel like I need to share it. Everyone says I should write it down, and so I will. Perhaps I should start by introducing myself. My name is Jennifer and I'm a crazy, fun, outgoing person who's outside appearance never matched my inside. I spent 27 years of my life being extremely unhealthy and overweight, and strangely enough, I couldn't figure out why I just couldn't lose weight. Uhm, DUH! Put down the fork and go for a damn walk or two or ten.
  Back on track... (bare with me, you'll learn that I have the attention span of a squirrel and the brain capacity of a peanut)... I spent a good part of my life looking for the quick fix or following the newest fad diet. Did they work? Oh sure. For a week or two. Did I lose weight? You betcha. But it always came back. Sneaky fat it was, ninja fat; gone one day and back the next. WHAT THE HELL!? Why was it coming back? I don't understand. I ate good for a week, I even went for a walk. Why can't I now go back to eating shit and not exercising and it doesn't just stay away?! Gah. The frustration of it all. Damn ninja fat.
  Soooooo, all of these fantastic little flaws in my thinking led me to be a 27 year old, very overweight, married mother of one. When I had my son, I tipped the scales at around 260 lbs. Now, some might say that could be chalked up to pregnancy. BUT, let's be honest, SOOOOOOO not an excuse. So let me put it in better perspective, 1.5 years after having my son, I was back to my "normal" weight of around 235-240lbs. Oh yes, there ya go. Size 18-20. Sexy. Oh yeah. WHAT?! My husband is 5'11" and weighs 150lbs sopping wet. For the life of me, I can't understand what the hell attracted him to me. He must have seen my sparkling personality shining thru all the fat. HA. Seriously, back on track. So, one day last April, I looked at my son and thought to myself: I don't ever ever ever want him to be picked on for something that is my fault (i.e. "you're mom is such a fatass..." blah blah blah). Kids are cruel, we all know this. So, I'd be damned if I was going to give them ammo against my kids. Hell no. Something must be done. My husband deserved a sexy wife, I deserved to be sexy damnit! And so... my journey began.