Becca’s Very First 5k

Posted in Motivation by fitmittchicks

I face-planted on rocky, New England dirt, next to a peaceful cemetery that was decorated with golden trees and stone walls. Face-planted. Hang on, let me back up a few moments and miles.

A few weeks back I registered for my very first 5k, which was also a fundraiser. I signed up to support the cause (Amirah fights human trafficking) and my friend, Fit Chick #3, Steph who is the agency’s director. I knew I would be in Boston at the time and it seemed too perfect. I had never really set out to walk a specific distance aside from the occasional one-mile walk near my parent’s farm. I had no idea what 3.1 miles would look or feel like to my body. I imagined it would be something like walking pleasantly through fall leaves, smelling the brisk air and reflecting on life. Then we arrived to THE LAKE. I got out of the car and looked at this mother of a lake. Freaking BODY OF WATER. Ummm I usually look for close parking spaces at stores. The distance around this lake was like as if I was headed to the mall at Christmastime and decided to park at the freaking expressway, nowhere near the freaking stores!!! It looked far!!! Have you entered into the drama that was spinning through my mind yet? I was freaked out. Like, ok I might make it halfway around this mug.

Then we started walking. Quick shout-out to Steph & Dave (Steph’s husband). They each walked with me and kept me encouraged and a lot of the time, distracted with great conversation and hilarious stories. My mind vacillated constantly between “there’s no way I can finish this” and “oh my gosh, I’m freaking doing this!” My mind does that. I think most of our minds have that little evil voice that keeps stomping on what we try to do. We dismiss it or listen to it. Anyways, after a mile, I was breathing so loud. You know how you try to be cool when you walk up the stairs like “What?! I’m fit!” There was no hiding this. Imagine Beyonce’s song “Lose My Breath.” It was something like that dramatic gasp for air (YouTube the song). Then I made it to the beautiful, serene cemetery. It was gorgeous. I was almost done. I had about a half mile to go. I looked to the right, saw the gorgeous cemetery with golden leaves and seriously old headstones. Then I immediately face-planted into the dirt. I got up, dusted off and kept going. I don’t have any deep thoughts on the fall like “don’t take your eyes off the path that you’re on” or “when you fall, get back up and try again!” I just thought it was a funny part of the story.

When we finally reached the end of the path, I was excited. But that evil little voice came in and was like “uh, you know it was just 3 miles, right? It wasn’t a marathon. You didn’t run it. You walked 3 miles and some change.” So what did I learn from my very first 5k? We all start somewhere. That’s what I learned and that’s what I told that little evil voice inside. I pushed my body and walked a freaking 5k. For some, it’s going to be a marathon and for some it’s half a mile. We all start somewhere. And little evil voices can kick rocks.

28Oct2015

My Shrinker Drinker – Trim Healthy Mama

Posted in Food by fitmittchicks

I super love this drink. It’s not strictly paleo because of the stevia, but it is delish and a great cleanser and metabolism booster.

Shrinker Drinker (Rah’s Version)

4 Oolong tea bags, Brewer in 3 cups of hot water, let cool

1/2 cup Almond milk

4 small packets of stevia

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond

cayenne pepper to taste (1/2 tsp for me!)

Once tea cools, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well. Fill a 2 qt mason jar with ice, pour your tea over. Sip all day long!

Enjoy!

26Oct2015

An Easy Start – Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa

Posted in Food by fitmittchicks

The first “clean eating” recipe for me was the hardest. I was so intimidated by all the rules. This recipe changed everything for me. And I’m pretty sure we ate it at least twice a week during the summer. If you love Mexican fare like we do, then this meal’s for you.

Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa

Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa – served in lettuce wraps…this time

Mango Salsa:
2 ripe avocados
1 ripe mango
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic
handful of cilantro
juice from one lime
sea salt
*optional: roma tomatoes, jalapeños (for kick)

Chop avocado, mango and tomato (if you’re using it) into nice bite sized pieces and set aside. Dice red onion, mince garlic and toss in bowl with cilantro, lime juice and salt. Mix the two together (careful not to mash the avocado). Take a big bite to be sure it’s not poison. Good? Are you sure? Take another big bite just to be sure. Ok. Let it sit, out of sight, so you’re not tempted.

Now, the chicken…

Grilled Chicken

Come on, did you think I was going to give you a recipe for this?

Ok, here’s how I do it. I grab 4-6 frozen chicken breasts and plop them in a large freezer bag. I add 1/4 – 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 clove of garlic minced, salt and pepper. Seal the bag, silly. Now, shake, shake, shake. Ok, stop shaking. Put it in the fridge overnight.

Take it out about 30 minutes before dinner. Allow the chicken to warm up a bit, but not room temperature. Grill it to your liking. I like a little char on the edges. It goes great with the salsa.

Eat.

Most of the time we serve the chicken breasts whole topped with the salsa.

Sometimes we slice the chicken thinly and lay it on a bed of spinach or lettuce and top with salsa.

Sometimes we eat these like tacos in lettuce wraps.

Sometimes we eat all the salsa before the chicken is done and then we eat the chicken plain.

We’re impatient. And hungry. And impatient.

This meal is so versatile. And super delish the next day. But don’t wait two days or the salsa will not keep. Ours never makes it two days…we eat it too fast.

Enjoy!

2Oct2015

Eating Paleo is Too Hard…Expensive…Time Consuming…

Posted in Budget, Meal Planning by fitmittchicks

I’m really going to let the cat out of the bag on my point of view in this post. Here’s the skinny: I’m a full-time employee inside and out of the home. I’m a mama to four kids – two in school, two at home. I’m married to a wonderful man, who also works full-time. And as you can imagine, our life (and schedule) is as crazy at it gets. Time? What’s that? I am the most qualified candidate – the person with the greatest number of excuses NOT to eat this way. Before I started this journey, I, too, believed feeding my family a whole foods diet would be “too hard, too expensive, too time consuming.” I’m here to tell you – it can be done. And I won’t just tell you, I’ll show you. Here’s how my family eats (mostly) paleo/whole foods on a budget through planning and preparation.

#1 Budgeting is Helpful

We’re Dave Ramsey followers. We’ve done the baby steps and still use the cash envelope system. Our weekly grocery budget for a family of 6 is $150. Not outrageous. Oh and we buy most, if not all, of our food from Aldi. Occasionally, I run to Meijer to purchase “specialty” items for recipes, but that is very minimal. If your family is on a tight budget, don’t be discouraged. This can be done. You may have to plan more inexpensive meals in your week – meatless meals are a great way to accomplish that.

#2 Meal Planning is a Must

The absolute fastest way to fail at this is to NOT plan. What’s that saying? The failure to plan is a plan to fail. Or something like that. You get my drift. If you wait to plan dinner until you’re on your way home from work, when your stomach is growling and your kids are crabby, trust me, you’re going to pop a frozen pizza in the oven and shove chips in your face. BUT, if you spend just 30 minutes on the weekend, mapping out your dinners for the week, you’ll shop smarter and have a plan for eating better after a long day of work. A tool that has helped me immensely is http://www.emeals.com. For just $5 a month, I get a complete weekly meal plan sent to my email with a shopping list. The best part is, you can choose your eating style. So, obviously, I’ve chosen to receive their paleo plan. Beef & Sausage Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Spinach and Basil Salad…Baked Thai Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Asparagus and Mushrooms. Is your mouth watering yet? Seriously, eMeals is the easiest way for you to plan ahead and therefore plan to succeed!

#3 Buy Your Meat in Bulk

The most expensive aspect of this lifestyle for us is the meat. Its the part that scared me off for several months, if not years. And I’m not gonna lie, buying the right protein can be pricey. But, there’s two ways around this. 1) Save up and buy your meat in bulk. We used our tax return last year to purchase beef and pork from a local butcher. It was more affordable that way and we had a nice stock pile to last us a few months. Find out when your local grocery store has meat on sale – look for the organic, junk-free stuff. Believe it or not, you can even find organic, grass-fed beef at Aldi. When you find a sale, load up and freeze it. 2) Eat less meat. You can accomplish this by preparing hearty, meatless meals or by reducing the portion size of your meat. Just because you’re eating a “caveman” diet, doesn’t mean you have to consume large quantities of expensive protein. In fact, you’ll probably find out very quickly that a little goes a long ways. You don’t need a 12 ounce steak. Many times, my husband and I will split a 10 ounce steak, because we just can’t eat the whole thing. Especially if you add in some mashed cauliflower or a baked sweet potato. Trust me, you’re going to be full.

#4 Plan to Go Without to Build Your Stockpile

“What? How do we do that?” Well, here’s how we do it. Occasionally, we have weeks that we don’t eat at home as much as we expect. Maybe we’ve had a few outings for work or church where dinner was provided. Or maybe we’ve been on vacation for a long weekend or had dinner at a friend’s house and the pantry and fridge are still fairly stocked. Those are the weeks that I go on a “grocery shopping fast.” I tell the family we’re eating what we have – which usually requires a bit of meal planning creativity and a lot of groans – and we save our grocery money for the week. I then make a plan for that extra cash to build our whole eating stockpile. It might go toward a bulk meat purchase. Or I may use it to buy supplies for a freezer meal cooking day (more on that in an upcoming post). Bottom line: I love to find ways for us to go without. Why? Because I think it reminds us that we can’t have whatever we want, whenever we want it. I think it forces us to think creatively and to be grateful for what we do have. And, at the end of the week, the added benefit of having some extra cash for special purchases is nice too. Especially when it doesn’t break the bank.

I promise I’m not pulling your chain. Feeding your family whole, nourishing foods is not too hard, expensive or time consuming. It does take resolve, discipline and planning. But it can be done.

Stay tuned for my next post highlighting our favorite (budget friendly) meals!

Peace out paleo pals.

14Sep2015

Living Up to Our Name

Posted in About Us, Goals by fitmittchicks

Why hello there. Welcome to our little blog. We are the “Fit Chicks from the Mitt.” You can read more in depth about us in our About Us section, but suffice it to say we are three friends, all from Michigan, who love each other dearly and have something to offer in this facet of eating well, living life fully and having a ton of fun.

To start off our very first blog post, we thought we would let you know our goals for the short term. So, you are hearing from all three of us in this blog. In future weeks, you can expect updates from each of us, points of views from all of us, recipes we make up and try, and lots of hilarious anecdotes along the way.

From Rah:

I stink at goal setting. There, I said it. Correction, I stink at accomplishing goals. I’m great at accomplishing things, but the accountability of goal setting first is hard for me. I’d rather not tell you what I’m striving to achieve beforehand. Ya know? That said, the achievements in my life that I’m most proud of were really goals, that I set or were set for me and I reached them. When it comes to healthy living and eating, my immediate goals are simple – feel good about what I eat, how I feel when I eat it and how I look as a result. I’d like to lose another 10-15 pounds to get closer to my goal weight by Christmas. That’s a super specific goal, but its something I’d like to work towards. Which means I have exactly 101 days to do that. Completely accomplishable. Anybody want to join me?

From Steph:

I’m a massive goal setter. I set goals in my work, in my workouts, in my cooking (last Thanksgiving I did a pumpkin challenge and incorporated pumpkin into all of my dishes), in pretty much every facet of my life. Sometimes though, once I smash the goal I had, I will get lazy again about that goal that I crushed. This is called maintenance. I’m incredibly disciplined when I have a number to reach, but once that number is passed, I am horrible about staying disciplined to maintain. So, I lost 34 lbs and then I gained probably 12-15 back. Yeesh.

So, my goal with this blog is to be real about the struggle of maintaining this life of discipline, to be real about the struggle of finding time in my day to work out and to be real about the struggle to get those 12-15 lbs back off (they were the hardest to get off last time, and are proving so again). My short term goals? Work out consistently 4 times a week for the next 3 months, and lose 8 lbs in the next 3 months.

From Becca:

I’m great at making short-term goals but the long-term, more difficult goals rarely get a commitment from me. In April-ish 2015, Fit Chick #3 (Steph) asked me what my big, huge, long-term weight loss goal was. I freaked out as I thought about it. Then she mentioned a number and I laughed. I didn’t even know what to guess because I hadn’t been under 200lbs since probably early high school. Then something happened. I thought back to the goals that I had crushed in prior months (32lbs lost my first month, 65 total throughout the year) and still in 99% disbelief, I shared a number: 155 pounds. Typing that still makes me laugh. I still feel unsure about my very big goal, but I share it because I want it. I’ve learned that sharing my goals helps me push myself in reaching them. I’ve also learned that setting slightly-bigger-than-I-think-I-can-reach goals are helpful to me. That being said, my short-term goal is to to workout at least 7 times each week and to lose 40lbs by Christmas.

My goal in sharing with others is to share my own ups and downs of long-term, big-time weight loss. 2015 has been a rocky summer in the health and fitness department but its true that we can’t start the story over but we can start now and change the ending. Or something like that.

Fit Mitt Chicks

Three fit chicks from the Mitt