Ladder Workout + Filming + Chicken Salad

I am going to make this super short and not ramble because I am extremely busy but do not want to put my blog on the back burner because it is important to me. Blah blah blah, already rambling.

My sister, Bria and I

Today, Trumi the gym I am a trainer at was on Twin Cities Live. It was so awesome. They filmed the adult signature program and the kids Troopers program. The kids and I had so much fun, I mean they were worried about getting enough sleep so they looked good on camera… Puh-lease is that not the cutest thing ever?

The other Trumi trainers, Sara and Michelle. We all got matching Athleta outfits
with our Trumi 'coach' shirts. 

I also made this yummy chicken salad yesterday. Bomb! It was so tasty, great flavor and kept me full all afternoon. Most foods do not do that anymore! I got the recipe from pinkwhen.

I cut the recipe in half and put it into My Fitness Pal as a two serving recipe. It came out as 174 calories, 2.5g of fat, 14.3g of carbs (2.6g fiber/9g sugar), 20g protein. YUM. I highly recommend this recipe.

I can not leaving  you without a workout… So here is a little ladder workout. For a more clear video visit my instagram account -> baileymckenziesff 

I am off to a friends cabin for the weekend but I promise to be back Monday with something good :)

Planning For Success

That quote is one of my favorites. I live by this quote weekly! I prepare my meals, my workouts, my water bottles, my snacks, my outfits, my sleep schedule and my social life a week in advance so I can succeed. Does it always go as planned? NOPE.

Either Friday or Saturday I take my planner out and look what I have on the schedule/my activities for the week. The next piece of paper is to plan my meals and snacks (not pictured, it was on my phone this week). Another sheet to plan what I need at the store.

I am a little extreme. Some people only plan their workouts and food. I like to take it an extra step so I can be prepared and use my special markers to write pretty words.

Let's break it down:

Activities for the week-

I look at my workouts. Am I going to double workout one day this week? What's the weather like for this week? How do I need to prepare for work? Do I have any dinner plans? Am I in town all week?

Then I write it all on a sheet of paper. I also write things I need to do for the week, pick up meds, get fitness insurance, get new shoes, returns, errands, etc.

I got this planning sheet for a gift, but I want to say it was from the dollar section at Target

Meal planning list -

What do I feel like eating? What do I have at my apartment/house already? What activities do I have this week {for example some weeks I eat out more than others}? What is on sale at the grocery store this week? Do I have time to make many meals? Can I make meals that are time consuming? Who am I cooking for - myself or multiple people?

Then I come up with my meals for Monday night through Friday lunch:

Chicken grilled for chicken salads

Cauliflower pizza

Fish grilled for fish with broccoli, asparagus and a side salad

Spaghetti squash

Turkey meat seasoned with a taco packet for salads, wraps, etc.

Lunches – leftovers or turkey, salads, easy stuff.

Snacks - almonds and berries, Cucumbers, celery, carrots and peppers, quest bars, Turkey lettuce wraps with tomatoes and cheese. Refer to my 50 HEALTHY SNACKS for more snack ideas. 

***Breakfast- everyday protein shake post early morning workout OR 2 eggs + 1 egg white and turkey bacon with fruit

These meals and snacks will put my calories around 1700-1900.

Grocery list-

Look at meal list and decide what I need in the house to makes those meals. Often it would look something like this:

Head of cauliflower

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Pepperoni {organic and healthier version of course}

Asparagus

Head of broccoli

Bag of lettuce

Spaghetti squash

Strawberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Bag of organic carrots

Organic celery

Bell small peppers

Cucumbers

Pizza sauce

Spaghetti sauce

Chicken sausage

Sliced organic turkey

Chicken breasts

There are things I buy in bulk at Costco so I do not need to buy as often for example, nuts, buffalo sauce, greek yogurt.

(For a more complete list of some of my favorite Trader Joe’s finds, click HERE) 

Next I get my butt to the grocery store with every other Minnesotan Saturday or Sunday.

After I go to the grocery store I prepare! I grill chicken, cook up meat on the stove, cut up veggies, make cookies (healthy paleo cookies), etc. This week I have turkey bacon, 93/7 turkey meat, 99/1 turkey meat and not pictured is grass fed beef.

 

When I am finished I feel like a rock star because I have healthy food for the whole week I relax and get ready mentally for the week.

Anddddd because my fridge looks so pretty!

Marathon Talk

Have you ever thought you had a cool idea, did not really think about it, moved forward with it, then woke up and thought “what the hell?”

Pretty much sums up what I am thinking about for this marathon I am running in October. I had been thinking for a while I should just sign up because I am already in running shape from my half marathons in August. Ok totally true. Then I look at the training schedule and saw I only had to run twenty miles once. ONCE. Ok totally cool. Then I thought how cool it would be to run 3 half marathons, a triathlon, a duathlon, a 15K, a mud run, the color run, a marathon and more races all in one year. Yeah, I was thinking rock star status too. So pretty much these three things convinced me to sign up for a full.

Then I went to bed and could not sleep. I maybe slept for four hours because I was up thinking about the race ALL.NIGHT.LONG. I woke up to go workout and literally wanted to punch myself in the face. But the best part was when we did our warm up laps at boot camp I wanted to die. I hate short runs. Some crazy stuff.

I do not want to say I am regretting signing up for a marathon, I just should have thought about things more. Things like starting a running club, starting a new school in the fall, training kids multiple times a week 45 minutes away, volunteering with Healthy Hearts Happy Heads, homework and lets not forget my social life.

Thankfully I figured out my schedule for school and I have no classes on Fridays. So I plan to long run with Katie on Fridays and we will probably spend our weekends together with Catherine too. I am so glad these two girls are training also because we can all bitch about running 20 miles together.

I will post my training schedule in a few weeks after I get into it more. Currently M-Th I workout at 5:30 AM, Friday I have off, I long run Saturday or Sunday and the other day is either off or workout of choice. When I start training I will have short runs Tuesday and Sunday, long runs Friday, boot camp Wednesday, off Thursday, Saturday cross train. Most likely :) It may change!

Pretty sure there are three things I am most excited about: girls night at a hotel, the feast I will eat after the marathon and the shirt that says marathon finisher.

Trader Joe's Finds

 Trader Joe’s is hands down my favorite place to shop when it comes to buying groceries. The pros definitely out way the cons, in my opinion. The only cons I see are: TJ’s is 20 miles from my house, TJ’s does not always carry all options (often they run out of an item and do not restock until the following week), and finally TJ’s expiration dates come up quicker than I would like!

I could go on and on about pros: great produce, I trust the food, it is clean, the workers are AWESOME (not to mention they care about food and almost always know what they are talking about), it is cheaper to get a lot of organic products at TJ’s vs. your everyday grocery store, there are samples (c’mon, who does not like samples?), ok I will stop now but seriously I love TJ’s.

I went shopping the other day and thought it would be fun to put together a blog post about my favorite Trader Joe’s finds. People always want to know what I eat besides meat and veggies! This time around I did not get any fruit and I got minimal veggies, but still got over $100 worth of groceries. (Soon I will post about preparing for the week, which will include a grocery list of items I get almost weekly).

Coconut oil spray – the bomb! I use this almost daily when I make eggs and I also put it in the pan before I do any baking or when I fry my meat on the stove. No one wants to clean and scrub a pan for hours. #whosgottimefordat

Inner peas – yummy! A salty snack that is not as bad as a potato chip. I love to put these in baggies and keep them in my car when I am in a pickle, aka want DQ.

Ground turkey – usually I get the 93/7 but I got the 99/1 because I want to make omelets that will have fat from eggs, cheese and avocado! (Side note: I almost always go for the fat when buying meat, those fats are healthy for you and much needed!)

Chicken dogs – currently my favorite meat. I LOVE these babies. And for only 60 calories you can have two without feeling guilty. Paired with some mustard, Oh.MY.Gosh my tummy is grumbling.

Turkey bacon – love it paired with eggs in the morning, 30 calories per a slice! Yummy.

Sliced turkey – I am picky with my meat, I like organic whenever possible, without having to put a down payment down to afford it. I will only buy Applegate’s turkey now and when someone in my family tries to buy something else I may or may not complain.

Just cashew meal – I have seen some people bake with it and I thought I would try it out. I’ll let you know what I think!

Greek yogurt – you cannot go wrong, ever! I love this with fresh berries or as sour cream in a taco salad. Recently I have been doing TJ’s taco seasoning packet with greek yogurt and my family is jumping on this dip like it is chocolate cake #JKbutseriouslyitsbomb

Cottage cheese - 4% fat cottage cheese is seriously the best snack. It fills me up because it has healthy fats and it is a great source of protein! I love cottage cheese with strawberries and cinnamon. 

Pizza sauce – I make homemade cauliflower pizza. This sauce is fat free and low in sugar, so it is always my go to.

Cucumber – organic, cheap, tasty, love em’           .

Celery – again cheap, organic, pair it with greek yogurt dip for a tasty snack.

Broccoli – always warming it up to eat with dinners for a tasty vegetable. Never disappoints!

Organic lettuce – easy for salads!

Cauliflower – not my favorite veggie, but when I put it in pizza – man I crave it!

Organic carrots – easy and quick snack that is always tasty.

Pasta sauce – paired with spaghetti squash it is awesome! Low in calories (45 calories/ ½ cup) and not much sugar. It is always my go to – until I get the courage to make my own!

Organic jam – I tried this today when I made a PB & J mug muffin. Lately for jam I have taken frozen berries and warmed them in the microwave then I would mash them. I needed something a little more so I broke down and bought organic, low sugar jam.

Peanut butter – can I say any more???? 9/10 times I buy my PB (nut butters in general) from TJ’s and they never disappoint. A spoon + a jar of peanut butter = one happy camper.

Taco seasoning – SERIOUSLY A LIFE SAVER. I love this. I know it is best to make seasonings with the spices in your cupboards but I cannot be a rock star in all departments. I can pronounce all the spices in this seasoning and it is MSG free.

Green tea – I drink it warm in the winter but year round I make kombucha with it!

Super green drink – eeeekkk. I have not tried this yet but Catherine is kinda, sorta a fan. And when I say she is a fan she hates the taste but loves the benefits! So I will give it a try. I did notice it has soy, so unless I have some kick butt results from it (energy wise) I probably would not buy it again. Also, this small 30 servings container was $20! Heeelllloooo no new clothes for two weeks.

Do you have any Trader Joe’s favorites?