The Start of Spring Break

Yesterday was day 1 of Spring Break for little man. As much as I would have liked to just hang out at home and enjoy the lazy day, he had other plans. So after I got my work outs done we got ready and made a trip to Subway to have a lunch date. He loves Subway and as far as fast food goes, I'm happy he enjoys healthy food choices. After we finished lunch we were off to go let him bounce at one of the local bouncy places. You know the kind with the huge inflatables that kids get to climb on and jump around in. Needless to say he had a blast and it was a great start to his Spring Break (not to mention that daddy took him ice skating after all that as well). My goal for his Spring Break will be "to do things that keep him busy" which in turn will keep me busy. And by busy I really mean active.

I do believe that this exercise thing is becoming more of a habit for me. Today is a scheduled "rest day" and I am really tempted to get on my elliptical. I do think I need to stick to my rest day, but perhaps we will go do something active as a family that will still get me exercise, but it will be family fun! That sounds even better than getting on the elliptical. Or I could do both.... Hmmm decisions decisions... LOL.

The end of my Diet Bet is here, I will need to get on my scale to see how I did. I am hoping that I lost enough weight to win! The pot is up to $5350! That gets split with everyone who loses 4%. This was the first time doing the Diet Bet, and win or lose I'm in for the next round!

My sister introduced me to Acai Alaska, and OMG! That is SO good! Not to mention addicting! The best way I know to describe it is: like a really thick fruit smoothie base (picture a bowl of ice cream but fruit smoothie) topped with fresh fruit and nuts! It was incredible! If you have never had an Acai Bowl, I recommend finding a place that serves them, you won't be disappointed! (My picture does not do it justice, next time I go I will try to remember to take picture before I start eating!)

Happy Saturday!

Kari vs elliptical

This morning I am struggling with finishing my workout on this bad boy (elliptical)! So I figured it's a good time to talk to you all. I increased the incline and the resistance and my body is rebelling! Needless to say I am working up quite the sweat. It's so funny because after I type up my post during my elliptical work out I have to come back and re read it all and correct the spelling and grammar errors. So if you find any that I missed please excuse them. (I rocked the elliptical!)

It looks like my mom and other sister are going to be joining my sister and I on our 5K in April, which will be awesome. I am excited to do this (I think I might have said that before, huh). I have talked about doing the 5K to a few people and I get the impression that some think I can't do this. And the only reason I can think of is that because I'm overweight. Never mind the fact that I am working out almost every day and training for it (doing my C25K).... Yes it struck a nerve, but I will be showing them not to doubt me, I am a very determined person when I want to do something. I know that my husband and youngest son (hopefully the older ones too, but they will probably be working) will be at the finish line cheering me on.

This weeks made 2 1/2 dozen breakfast burritos. I must admit, they are awesome! :). Try are a great breakfast in the go and a good staple for hubby's lunch box. (He usually eats a smoothie at home in the morning then eats breakfast at work.)

Breakfast burritos
Makes 28

5 c. Egg beaters
1# turkey sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 c. mushrooms, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
28 tortillas
28 tbsp shredded cheddar

Cook sausage, then add veggies and eggs and cook, stirring occasionally like scrambled eggs. Place 1/4 c. of mixture on tortilla and top with 1 tbsp shredded cheese. Wrap like a burrito and place seam side down on cookie sheet. After cookie sheet is full place in freezer to freeze. After frozen place burritos in a gallon size labeled ziplock bag and place back in the freezer.


Enjoy the burritos!

Running

As I have said before I am NOT a runner, but I am excited to become one. My sister asked me if I wanted to participate in the woman's run in June, so I got excited and started looking for more.... Yes I am crazy since I am just starting to run. But I did find one that is near and dear to my heart, literally. We will be running in the Alaskan Heart Associations Heart Run. When I lived in Spokane I participated in their Heart Walk, so this seemed to be a perfect fit. We get to choose from either a 3k or a 5k, and I believe we are going for the 5k. I am nervous and excited at the same time. The race is 8 weeks away and my C25k program is 8 weeks, so it's perfect timing. It seems everything is lining up perfectly. Now to find me some good running shoes that won't break the bank! Lol

This morning I did my elliptical work out for 25 minutes. However when I got to the 25 minute mark my distance was at 1.959 miles.... There was NO way I was stopping that close to 2 miles. So I kept on going until it hit 2 miles for distance, which got me 26 minutes! After I dropped little man off at school I came home and did my C25K around my house. Our road is covered with ice and over the weekend when I went out to run, I slipped so for today my house worked just fine.

Happy Hump Day! I am off to find some running shoes and look for birthday party stuff! In the next 4 months I have over 10 birthdays in my family!

Spending the day with the guys

Yesterday was a busy fun filled day! After we finished breakfast we headed downtown to see the start of the Iditarod.  While we hadn't planned on spending the entire say downtown, we did! It was a day full of walking!  Little man got to go on his first pony ride, horse drawn carriage ride, and not to mention his first ever Iditarod. We got to watch the Running with the Reindeer, that was a fun site. People dress up and enter this race (not sure how far it is, I believe it's only 2 or 3 city blocks) and they race reindeer to the finish line. There is also a carnival with rides, but we did that earlier in the week.  Yesterday I completed over 5 miles of walking.  Normally I average about 2 miles.

I felt like I did great yesterday with activity seeing how I walked so much and was on the go all day long.  But I was highly disappointed this morning when I got on the scale and I was up 3 pounds since yesterday morning! Are you kidding me?! I am sure that its due to my lack of water yesterday and my increased activity.  Even though I know there are good reasons for it, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow that my weight would go up so much overnight after being active! It can be discouraging to become more active if you see your weight spike so high so quickly.  Because we all low that it takes far longer for the weight to come off once it goes up.  So this little spike could take me a week to get rid of.  All because I am more active....  In the long run I am ok with that because I know that I am being proactive and moving!  I just have to keep reminding myself that the weight will come off and I am doing it the right way and making serious changes in my life, and my family's life.

As I was on my elliptical yesterday I noticed that it is getting easier for me.  I didn't realize that the incline and resistance were set until after I finished my workout.  Now I know that an incline of 3.5 and resistance of 1 aren't much, but the first time I set them, I noticed! And the fact that I didn't even notice them yesterday says a ton!  Speaking of which, I should probably get moving and do my workout for the day.  We have a hockey game to go to tonight and I hear the laundry calling my name....

Happy Sunday!

Ready for Iditarod weekend..... (Recipe posted)

This morning I decided to put together my work out schedule, up until now I've just been going by how I feel in the morning, and soon that's going to bite me in the bootie! So looking at my schedule its a little zealous, but I am determined to do it! Yesterday I started the "Couch to 5k".  I have never thought of myself as a runner in any way....well only if I were being chased by an axe murderer, then I might just run.  But, I must say that after doing Day 1, I am excited! I can't wait to finish this and be at a point where I will be able to run a 5K and not feel like I am going to keel over. I am excited for this new journey in my life.  I am also going to start looking around to see when there are races in Anchorage that I can participate in.  Then I will have a goal (other than weight loss and getting healthy) to work towards.  Who would have thought?!