Work Week Lunch Box Turkey Style!!

Open Faced Turkey Swiss, and Cranberry Feast!












What you need!

• 1 slice Dave's Bread, "Good Seed"
• 2 oz. Deli sliced smoked turkey
• 1- deli sliced Swiss cheese ( great without if you need less calories in this meal!)
  
• sliced Roma tomatoes
• sliced purple onion
• sprouts
• red leaf lettuce
  
• brown spicy mustard
• horse radish
• 1/8 c - organic whole cranberry sauce

Assemble as you would a sandwich, (only do not top with 2nd peice of bread) top with cranberry sauce! Grab a small knife and a fork and dig in!!

SOOO Holiday GOOD!!

Calories =398
Protein = 23

I prep all ingredients and package up on Sunday to take to work on Monday and make a fresh sandwich each day for lunch. If you do not have a work fridg, you can prep for the week and throw it together in the mornings before work!

NOTE: I use organic cranberry sauce because all others are made with High Fructose Corn Syrup. If you want to go healthier and have the time you could make your own...=]

Bon Appetit!

MY HOLIDAY CHALLENGE TO YOU...

November to January, is where I am at most risk of packing on the pounds!! Halloween candy, baked goods, Thanksgiving dinner....and left overs, Christmas parties, egg nog, Santa cookies, Peppermint Mochas, apple pie....ala mode, the list is never ending!! I know I'm not alone. NY Times reports, the average person packs on 7-10 pounds with in this time frame. I've surpassed that a time or two!

One way I choose to hold myself accountable is to keep a food log. I love myfitnesspal.com
( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ ) I use this site to track my calorie intake, food choices, and exercise deficit. They also have a great phone app that syncs up with your account!

I am at a point in my journey where I don't need to use it all of the time, but during the holiday months, I can get a bit carried away if I'm not diligent about my accountability. I at least, have to own it! It is during the holiday months that I go ultra public as well. You'd be surprised how much more you care, when you know everyone is watching. I go public for a couple of reasons.

• Accountability
• prevention
  
• Motivation
• Inspiration

My hope is, through putting myself out there for all to see, that you will do the same. Whether you are trying to reach goals, maintain good health through out the holidays, or want to be an example of good health for others, I invite and encourage you to join me on myfitnesspal.com and Facebook and go public with your efforts, successes, and failures (which without, we can't succeed). You can link or share your progress on both sites and encourage others to do the same.

You can find me on myfitnesspal.com through the "community" tab, and click on "Find Members" (on the blue bar just below), and type in my user name, "KellyShredFit" next to the Search Bar, and "Search". Feel free to friend me and follow!

Are you brave enough to get serious about your goals, and publicly own your positive and negative behaviors that help or hinder your success?

You must be 100% honest...We are all human, so no worries! Something you may find interesting about me...I could EASILY scarf down a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.... and not feel the least bit sick...but if I was really being honest, I could also grab a spoon and a half gallon tub and go to town!! Ssssshhhh....don't tell anyone...

Take the Challenge! Reach your goals...learn about yourself...stay motivated...and INSPIRE others!

Who's with me??
Check out my page!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/KellyShredFit

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

CHANGE YOUR FOCUS......CHANGE YOUR RESULTS!

"I've been working so hard in the gym and I'm not seeing results!" I hear this more than any other complaint! It can be beyond frustrating to work that hard and still be in the same pant size that you started in!! I remember when I was trying to lose weight. I found myself frustrated to tears, declaring, "The weight only comes off when I'm perfect! As soon as I slip up, it comes right back on." It felt like the truth....

Truth is, I wasn't being very honest with myself. Sure, I would do great for a while, but when I slipped, I fell into the deep pit of my old ways and it took forever to completely climb back out. I was good at lying to myself, declaring how one slip up would put all that weight back on. Well, that one slip up wasn't a cheat meal, it was a cheat weekend leading to a cheat week, followed by more cheats into the next week as I tried to get my act back together.

It wasn't until I decided, "I'm not going to try to lose weight, I am going to be "healthy" that it really started to happen for me. With that came some realizations:

• Occasional indulgences were healthy. Carrying that indulgent into the next meal...day...week...was not.
• Working out was healthy. Restricting too many calories and not feeding my body to support my workout was not.
• Learning about calories in/calories out was healthy. Counting calories on a Big Mac was not.
• Switching to lighter lunches was healthy. Lean Cuisines and other "diet" foods as a replacement were not.
• Cutting fat was healthy. Avoiding fats like, nuts, avocado, and olive oils, was not.
• Cutting out sodas was healthy. Switching to diet Sobes and other chemical ridden drinks was not.
• Extra hard workouts were effective! Over eating because I worked extra hard was not.
• And finally, looking good didn't equate to feeling good....Feeling good equated to looking good!
  

When I focused all of my efforts on losing weight, I inevitably failed (even though I would occasionally and briefly succeed). The "diet" industry is HUGE!! We all want to lose weight, look good and feel great. These goals are very emotional and emotions are easily marketed! Pills, cleansers, programs, diet foods, strange exercise contraptions, and unsafe shoes with big weight loss and sculpting promises. We are complicated creatures that want instant gratification without having to put down the Big Mac. Large corporations give us permission to have our Big Mac and eat it too!! Focusing on weight loss allowed me to buy into all the untruths that kept me fat and allowed me to play victim to the "diet" world.


When I focused on being healthy, I began to change my thinking and make choices that revolved around being healthy. I came to the mind set of,

"Number one Goal should be to get healthy and balanced....Everything else will fall into place."

IT DID!! It began to fall right in place. With every step I took to get healthy, I learned what healthy was. AND IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE "WEIGHT LOSS" OR "DIET" INDUSTRY! It had to do with:

• balancing all of the fundamentals of fitness
  
• education
  
• fresh, whole, clean foods
• educating myself on proteins, carbs, and fats (and how important each is, despite what the diet industry wants you to believe)
  
• proper sleep and adequate water
• stress reduction
  
• developing a healthy relationship with food
• And most important, developing a healthy relationship with self

None of this comes in a magic bottle and you can't put a time frame on it. It's called life. As with everything, it takes time to program ourselves to reach new mile stones. Get out of your head that you need to look a certain way by a certain time, and begin a journey to a healthy life style. You will be surprised at the difference and how it all begins to fall into place!
CHANGE YOUR FOCUS, CHANGE YOUR RESULTS!

WORK WEEK LUNCH BOX !!

CHICKEN SALAD SALAD!







Chicken Salad:

** 2 - 10 oz. cans chicken breast
** Light mayo ( sparing if your a mayo junkie like me)
** Brown spicy mustard (to taste)
** Chopped red peppers
** Chopped purple onion
** Chopped jarred (tamed) jalapenos
** Chopped raw pecans
** Sea salt/ pepper to taste
** 2 tbs. wasabi sauce (optional)

Salad:
** Organic's mixed greens
** Red and yellow pepper strips
** Chopped tomatos
** Avocado (chopped fresh when piecing salad together *)
** Pecans
** Craisins
** Eating Right blue cheese yogurt dressing (I only use this if my chicken salad portion was not enough for the salad - Usually the chicken salad dresses the salad nicely on it's own)

Throw salad together and add a generous (ice cream scooper) Scoop of Chicken Salad on top!
YUM!
*Avocado keeps best after opened when stored in ziplock with all the air sucked out!

When sick, Take care!

Being sick this past week has really given me time to reflect on my fitness journey. Once upon a time, I would be very stressed about being out of the gym this long and what it would do to my waist line.

Truth is, my waist line has probably incurred a bit of a swell from all the comforts grilled cheese, soup, and ice cream has offered my throat and tummy. Why am I not stressed? Because I am healthy. I finally understand what it means to have a healthy relationship with myself and food. I know as I begin to feel better I will return to my healthier eating habits and workouts in the gym. Any swell my waist has incurred will subside before long. I feel no stress. No worry about gaining weight, no big rush to slam on a bag before my lungs are ready for a cardio workout. I could easily go to the gym tonight and knock out a light weight lifting session and go boxing (Ya'll know I really want to!), but I'll wait one more day and save the other gym goers the stress of listening to me cough, wondering if they will get it next. One more day to give my body ample time to recover from the virus it worked so hard to fight off.

So the next time you get sick, remember; your body knows best, so listen to what it is telling you. Just as a stomach flu may cause you to lose weigh, a flu or cold may put on a pound or two. No matter which category you fall under, your weight will return to normal when your eating and exercise get back to normal. Much to my dismay, I have never had long term weight loss success with a stomach flu. Just sayin'.

THE LOADED BOWL from the Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients

3 c quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 can balck beans, rinsed and drained

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 c fresh chopped cilantro

2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and chopped

fresh lemon juice, to prevent avocado from browning

salt and pepper

juice of 4 limes

zest of 1 lime
Sauteed shrimp (optional)

DRESSING:

1/4c EVOO

1/4 c white vinegar

2-3 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper

Directions *

1. Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Cover and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add beans tomatoes, and cilantro. Toss to combine.

3. Dice avocado, drizzle with lemon juice, and set aside in fridge.

4. Add all dressing ingredients to a food processor or mini chopper. Pulse until garlic is blended and dressing appears creamy. Set aside in fridge.

5. Fluff quinoa with a fork and add bean mixture. Season with salt and pepper and add lime juice and zest. Toss to combine.

This salad keeps well, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 days. For best results, add avocado just before serving.*However when prepping for work, I keep the dressing, shrimp, and avocado in separate bowls and assemble daily for added freshness!

Love Clean Eating Magazine for inspiration!! Packed with Great ideas!

MY GOLDEN 5

So I finally finished The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. This was a fun read for me. I am naturally drawn to psychology, new ideas, and self improvement, so this book was right up my alley. I had people ask me when I was reading it if I was looking for happiness. I have been wonderfully blessed with the happiness gene. In the worst of times, I have always been able to see my way through and turn it into a positive learning experience. Where others would crack and fall apart, I've always been able to pep talk myself out of a bad situation and strategize ways to turn things around. I am by nature happy. I am also by nature a happiness seeker. I love new ways of thinking, new ideas, and learning about myself and others. This book had some fun ideas.

You may ask, why is this in a fitness blog? Well, that's easy! Being fit and healthy is not all about food and exercise. As a matter of fact, I would even go as far to say, if you don't look at improving your relationship with self, than the obvious components if being healthy will always be a struggle to maintain. Believe it or not, being healthy and fit does become second nature when you get this component in check. This is where your attitude and relationship with food changes.

I have created 5 golden rules for myself on areas I need to improve upon. These were areas of my life that give me the most trouble. You will notice that while I am naturally happy, I am also naturally high stress. A funny little personality glitch. Gotta love yin and yang. The thing about personalities is, you are who you are, but you can improve on how you handle certain traits that cause you the most issue.

Here are my issues at hand that I want to work on now.

My 5 Golden Rules


1. Loved ones Always come before loved things.

I seem to be very ADD these days. It takes every ounce of concentration to involve myself in a project. I have a developed a really bad behavior pattern over the years of getting visibly frustrated or exasperated when interrupted while planning or choreographing a class, blogging, emailing, or reading important info. This is certainly not because I love my jobs or hobbies more than my family, but I'm pretty sure it feels that way as I huff and moan when someone interrupts me. I don't ever want my family to question if what I am doing is more important to me than they are, so this is my number one rule.




2. Stress has as much power as you give it.

I hate those moments when things don't go (or aren't going) as planned, or as I had hoped they would. So much of my stress is caused by high expectations of myself or others that are not met. I have gotten much more flexible in my old age, but I still feel the need to chill a bit and let go of the idea that everything has to be perfect or under my control. Why is taking the pressure off of yourself the hardest thing to do?

3. Eat the biggest frog first.

Procrastination was never in my nature, but for some reason, it seems to be now. Maybe all of the added responsibilities and expectations I have put on myself has made me a bit passive aggressive with what I get done in a day. As a result, I seem to be constantly playing catch up. I guess the first step is to figure out what is important to keep and what can I simplify. Then I can give myself a swift kick in the butt to getter done!

4. Relax! Chasing your tail is a waist of time....You don't have one!

Notice a theme? This seems to nicely pair with rules 2 and 3. Putting too high of expectations on myself typically has me chasing my own tail. Letting go of these expectations is the hardest thing for me to do. I want to give everything I do 100%... 100% of the time and then get frustrated when I see areas slipping. (I wonder if the "new math" has a solution for this!) At the end of the day what I desire isn't a perfect fitness class, but a fun one with laughter and lots of sweat. Not a perfect house, but one with lots of love and laughter, that is welcoming to friends. Not a perfect body, but one that is strong and healthy and does not come with a tail to chase.



5. Live in this moment, it's the only one you have.

Now that I am done reading The Happiness Project by: Gretchen Rubin, my plan is to pick up, The Power of Now by: Eckhart Tolle. I have the book and read half of it 2 years ago and put it down because the more I read, the more unattainable it all seemed. I think I am now in a place to pick it up again and re-read it, knowing that perfection does not have to be the goal. Living in the moment seems like such a peaceful, balanced way to be. Unlike always chasing my tail to catch up from what I've missed, or get ahead of where I am now.


So those are my 5 for now. I probably could have condensed 2-5 into one, but this has always been my issue, so I broke it up into several parts.

I challenge you to create your own list. The more you concentrate on learning about yourself the richer your relationships with others can be. You may also find a deeper relationship with self that allows to naturally draw towards the healthier things in life.

What is Your Golden 5 for Self Improvement?