My New Fitness Adventure

Hi friends! I know, I know. It's been awhile. I'll skip the excuses and get down to it.

I'm getting married in 5 months (160 days to be exact, and that number just gave me a small panic attack) and I want to look my best. I also want to make this new chapter a HEALTHY one. It's been a busy year. I'm in my first year teaching, which is busy enough on it's own, and I'm planning a wedding. As someone who has always regularly worked out, I found exercising slip waaaay down on my priority list. Honestly, it slipped off my priority list. I found myself with very little energy at the end of the day, I was grumpy (sorry, Kevin), and just not happy with myself. It's hard to find motivation to go to the gym after 8 hours of 23 kindergarten students. My Aunt Kristin came up with the perfect analogy, it's like "trying to herd cats." Because I wasn't able to motivate myself to go to the gym after school, I knew I needed a lifestyle change or I would continue on this way. Having a wedding on a horizon, that isn't an option.

So, I joined Farrell's! I have been wanting to do Farrell's for a long time, but couldn't justify spending the money. What really motivated me was hearing the stories of Kevin's co-worker who joined Farrell's with his wife. I don't know their end results, but after seeing them when they finished the program I was amazed at how good they looked! Kevin helped me make the decision (the financial decision was what was holding me back) and encouraged me to do it.

Farrell's is a 10-week, 6 day a week program. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is kickboxing and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is resistance bands. I was a kickboxing instructor in college and am in love with it. Until I started FXB, I didn't realize how much I missed it in my life. There is something about kicking the crap out of a punching bag while thinking about all your daily griefs that is so motivating and fulfilling. It's the best stress reliever. Bands are a new thing for me, but I love them already, and they're kicking my butt! We are also each assigned a coach who we can ask questions and they help keep us motivated. My coach is Carma, and she is very motivating and very fun.

For me, the exercise is the easy part. I look FORWARD to going to Farrell's at 5:30 everyday. I give 100% and feel amazing after the workouts. In Farrell's, they call this "Living Life at Level 10." The hard part, of course, is the nutrition plan. It's very specific and for a some a huge lifestyle change.


I'm no expert, but so far this is what I've learned. We think of food a fuel. Only put into your body what it needs. We don't count calories. We focus on REAL food: lean meats, whole grains, fruts, and veggies. Most importantly: KEEP IT SIMPLE!! We eat 6 small meals a day every 2.5-3 hours. Your meals should be the size of your palm in size and in thickness. We need to eat a protein within a 1/2 hour after our workouts.  This is what our meals should look like.

1: 1 protein and 1 carb
2: 1 protein and 1 carb
3: 1 protein and 1 carb and 1 veggie
4. 1 protein and 1 carb and 1 veggie
5. 1 protein and 1 carb and 1 veggie
6. 1 protein and 1 carb

Examples of protiens: eggs, almonds, cheese, greek yogurt, protein bars and shakes
Examples of carbs: veggies, fruit, whole grains (avoid foods with a high glycemic index)

Some things I have eaten this week: baby carrots, greek yogurt, almonds, chicken breast, broccoli, potato, oranges, appleas, fruit and spinach smoothie, low-fat english muffin with peanut butter, low-fat string cheese, Koshi cereal, etc. I am a VERY picky eater, and I am trying to expand my palate and giving other foods an honest try.

Went to the grocery store and came home with this! I tried liking peppers but I couldn't do it.

I plan my meals ahead of time and fill up my lunch bag and grab things throughout the day. Being a teacher, it's hard to get 6 meals in a day because I can't exactly eat when I'm trying to teach the children. I eat 1 meal before school, 1 meal at lunch (which is actually at 10:40am...I know), 1 meal during specials at 1:00, 1 meal after school at 3:30, 1 meal when I get home around 6:30 after Farrell's, and 1 meal later in the night usually around 9. It's hard to get all the meals in, sometimes I only get 5, but it's a work in progress.

Another important element is drinking TONS of water (1/2 your body weight in ounces). Again, HARD for a teacher. I can't exactly leave the kids unattended to use the bathroom after drinking all that water but my body is getting used to it. They also recommend drinking a lot of water before a meal, so you eat less. Makes sense! I like drinking water so this isn't hard for me.

We had a nutrition seminar today where we could ask questions and give advice and recipes, which was very insightful. Here are a bunch of random things I learned:
*We learned a lot about toxins and things we're putting into our body. For instance, think about those vegetable steamer bags: microwaving vegetables in a PLASTIC bag?
*Our leader also talked a lot about diet soda being "the devil" and told us she'd even rather us drink regular soda. Very eye opening!
*Ooh! This was another good one. When we use sweeteners or flavors like Crystal Light in our water, our body treats it more as something to digest rather than something hydrating our body. Very interesting to think about.
*When you're hungry you should eat a protein, when you're tired you should eat carbs.
*If you like cottage cheese (I don't) if you eat a 1/2 cup of non-fat cottage cheese a 1/2 hour before bed, your body goes into burn mode for 6 hours rather than storage mode.
*Fiber is good for reducing toxins in body, it makes them sticky and "exit" the body quicker
*HyVee has a "Nuval" number listed by their prices where you can see the food's nutritional value. The higher the number, the better.

Another important aspect of Farrell's is that you get a "free day" each week. My free day is on Saturday, since I'm home more and Kevin and I tend to eat out this day. Your free day is 8-12 hours of eating whatever you want. Literally. Whatever. Today is my free day and I had a little sugar that I had been "craving" after eating clean for 6 days, and you know what? I made me feel sick! It did not taste good to me AT ALL. Now at this moment I am craving baby carrots instead! Never thought I'd see the day. And that's just after eating well for a week.

I made a bunch of pre-made smoothies, so now in the morning I can just throw a bag in an add a few other ingredient rather than getting ALL that stuff out of the fridge. My typical smoothie consists of a couple of handfuls of spinach, an assortment of fruit, 1/2 container of Greek yogurt, oatmeal flakes, and milk. Tastes delicious, trust me!

Last night Kevin and I wanted to go out to eat, but it wasn't my "free day" so I knew I needed to be careful. I looked up the menu of the restaurant (bar) we were going to (Quintons in the East Village) to look at what they had. I ordered a grilled chicken breast and a side salad and a glass of water...at a bar! It was painful but it felt good. Today is my free day, and I get to pick the restaurant :)

I only at one slice of the wheat bread and used fat-free dressing, which was disgusting by the way. I gave cucumbers an honest try and actually liked them!

When you first start FXB, you are in a 10-week program. We get measured, weighed, poked, and prodded (just kidding) to begin, we do it again at 5 weeks, and then again at the end. We also take a before and after picture (could have done without that one...) I can't wait to continue with this program and see where I am at the end. I "taught" Kevin all about the nutrition plan and he has been following it as well, though he's not enrolled in the program as he is in busy season right now. After busy season is over, he is going to do the program with me and I am SOOO excited! I really can't wait to do it together. After the first 10 weeks, the program changes a bit but I'm not well-versed on life after the first 10-weeks yet.

That should about cover it! Congratulations on reading this whole thing. Hope I didn't bore you to death. If you're interested in changing your eating habits and have questions about what I'm doing, ask me! I love talking about it (just ask Kevin.) I don't feel like this is a "fad" diet, or a temporary thing, I truly believe this is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE and I am so excited about it.

Thanks for reading! I'll check back more frequently to update my progress and thoughts on the program as they change and evolve. YAY FXB!

Engagement Pictures

Here are our favorite engagement pictures taken by the wonderful Logan Clement Photography. I am beyond happy with how they turned out and am really looking forward to printing them off and using them for wedding things. Enjoy :)

I know, completely unnecessary to upload that many pictures but I went from 99 to 34 and couldn't cut out any others!!

Cookies and Cream Popcorn

I am a lazy blogger, as I did no tutorial whatsoever with this, but my pictures will never do it justice, so I'll just tell you about it and trust that you can figure it out. I found this recipe on Pinterest and I started salivating and I think I gained 10 lbs. just by looking at the picture. Here is the link to the recipe. See for yourself...

I made some last night and had to give it away or I knew I would devour it! It was sooo yummy. I sent a bunch to work with Kevin, mainly for his new coworker who is from Zimbabwe and just arrived in the USA this week. According to Kevin he enjoyed it. Hopefully he doesn't think Americans eat like that all the time! Anyway, you should make this, too because it's yummy. The recipe made two batches, or 2 bags of popcorn. Which is a lot of batches. 

I'm off to a Say Anything concert! I'm very impatiently waiting for Kevin to get home so we can WALK ACROSS THE STREET to the concert. Awesome. I've been looking for Sherri Dupree Bemis since I got home from school, but so far no sign of her. I'll be back later this week with a recap of the show! 

We also have our first field trip (my first field trip EVER) tomorrow to the Apple Orchard. I'm very excited! 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Weekend

Hello! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! It's definitely feeling like fall around here. A little toooo much like fall, but I enjoy the change in seasons (unless that season is winter, then I'm never ok with it). It's an exciting time. I enjoy switching over my closet from summer clothes to fall clothes. I enjoy pulling out clothes I forgot I had. I also realize that I have far too many cardigans, but I'm not convinced that is such a thing. I also bought 2 more today. Oops.

Aaaanywho, we had a great weekend. We spent Friday night with some friends, eating out in the East Village and we came back to our apartment for some drinks. All the guys were groomsmen in Chris and Allison's wedding last weekend, so we did a toast to their honeymoon, complete with duck faces and "deuces." Please note all the faces in this ridiculous picture. Happy Honeymoon, Chris and Allison!

My family came down for the Color Run. I did the Color Run in Minneapolis this summer with my friend Maddy (WHO JUST GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS MADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I wasn't too overjoyed to do it again. My mom had bought a ticket for my dad, and then kicked him out and forced me to do it. It was obviously a lot of fun so I'm not sure what I'm complaining about. My sister, aunt, and cousin also ran the race, though we lost them along the way. I had hurt my knee three weeks ago (moving furniture in my classroom, I don't want to talk about it...) and wasn't able to run at all leading up to the race, so I wasn't expecting any great performance, or even the ability to run. My knee hurt off and on, but my mom and I ended up running the whole thing! I know 5K may not sound that impressive to some, but for someone who hates running (my mom) and someone who hadn't run in weeks, we did good! The race ended up a big hill, and we ran up it all the way through the finish line. Now that I have seen I can run 3 miles, I have no excuse not to run more often. The race was 2 blocks from our apartment, so I'll have to run the route again to prove to myself I can do it again.

My good friend Andrea (former roommate and bridesmaid, so not just any ol' friend!) also came to town for the color run and brought along her boyfriend, who I went to high school with. We ran at different times, but we met up afterwards for drinks and dinner and had a lot of fun. I miss her so much! Every time a friend comes to visit I realize how much I miss them. That is one thing I miss about living in Des Moines, is close girl friends. Kevin will only put up with me showing him my outfits and giving me opinions on hair dye for so long.

(insert picture of Andrea and I that she has yet to upload but will inevitably be precious)

Today Kevin and I spent some time looking for clothes to wear for our engagement pictures, which we are taking next weekend. We spent too much money, but got some good stuff and we are gonna look fly! Or something like that.

I'm spending the night grading tests (Tests in kindergarten?! Don't get me started), cutting out lamination, lesson planning, and watching the Jon Stewart/Bill O'Riley debate. I also want to note this is the second Sunday IN A ROW I didn't have to go to school :)

This week was a good amount of family and friend time, and relaxing time. I need weekends like this more often. Life is good.

Wedding Plans

I have been in wedding planning MODE this month, I'm not sure what my problem is after doing pretty much nothing wedding-wise all summer. My vision is all starting to come together and I'm very excited for the big day :) Only 266 more days to go! Here's a little about what's been in the works this past month.

I FOUND MY WEDDING DRESS!!! I have looked at the picture online literally every day since we bought it. It's just what I pictured but 1000x better. I so badly want to share it with you but obviously Kevin can't see it. I was/am VERY tempted to show him, but I'm holding strong! I can't wait to wear it :) I will give you a hint. It's a mix between these dresses:

I will definitely need to hire some men to hold my hat up for me when I walk down the aisle. I've already got that expense budgeted.

We also booked a videographer! Our photographer recommended him and I'm very excited about it. The name is Gabe Noll of Dust Studios. His prices were extremely reasonable (some videographers can be SO expensive!) and he is very talented! Here is a look at one of his videos, and here is the link to his website if you're in the market for a videographer. Here is also a link to my post about our photographer, who is equally talented, and his website. Both gentleman are recent college graduates and I'm excited to work with them!

Megan + Joey - The Wedding. from Gabriel Noll on Vimeo.

Another BIG check off my list was finding bridesmaids dresses. I have been searching for a loooong time and trying to figure out exactly what look I wanted. I don't really have a color scheme I'm working with, so it was a little harder to narrow down. Looking through my wedding board on Pinterest, it was clear I was drawn to a mint/blue color, and that's what we went with. I had pinned this dress a looong time ago and even posted about it once. I'm not sure why it took me so long to make the decision. I'm thankful to Heather for already having the dress and bringing me to my senses :). Here were my must-haves:

1. A little more casual/vintage. Our wedding won't be fancy and elegant, it will be fun and unique. I want the dresses to reflect that.
2. Something cost effective. Being in a wedding can be expensive! From hotels, to gas to drive to bridal showers/bachelorette parties, etc., costs add up. I didn't want my bridesmaids to break the bank on their dresses.
3. Along the same lines, something the girls will ALL feel comfortable in and something they can wear again.

I even ordered one for myself because I love it so much and didn't want to miss out on all the fun! We are going to dress it up with a belt and perhaps a broach. I'm going to have the ladies accessorize themselves so they all look like their fancy selves. Gah I love this dress. Here's the link if you want one!

I also have a firm idea in my mind what our decor will look like. I got to the point where I needed to stop collecting ideas and make decisions. Here are a few pins that have inspired our decor:

I love the look of vintage bottles with wildflowers. I'm not into flowers and I think they're a huge unnecessary expense, so we will be saving on costs and sporadically using wildflowers and baby's breath.

We are doing pretty good on our mason jar collection. Our plan is still to use them for drinking glasses. I'm looking forward to having an assortment of paper straws in each mason jar all ready to go at the tables (even though the majority of guests will probably be drinking beer NOT out of a straw, this is a necessity.)

This picture is my main inspiration for our table decor I love the look of the sliced wood. I've been collecting vintage handkerchiefs, and will add those to the mix along with vintage jars and wildflowers.

I found our suitcase at an antique store last spring and it's currently decorating our coffee table. I am very excited about this as well.

 Another lovely use for mason jars :)

Kevin's dad got a chain saw for Christmas that he was pretty excited about, so I'll be sure to put him to use for our cupcake stands!

Finally, my brooch bouquet is back in the works thanks to Andrea! I was getting frustrated because I wasn't finding any "good" brooches. She gave me the brilliant idea of having a "brooch shower" kind of thing for my bridal shower, asking guests to bring a brooch if they can. This would add to the sentimental value of my bouquet! I also hit the jackpot on Etsy and bought 20 (no-so-vintage) brooches for a steal! (Ok, so I cheated a little on the "vintage" aspect...)

It's a little blurry, but they look like legit brooches and I like that they're sparkly. I'm looking for lavender, mint, aqua, and silver brooches to hopefully create a more uniformed look to my bouquet. We'll see what I end up with! I did a little research and I think I'm going to attempt to make it myself. This tutorial makes it seem do-able, anyway...

This weekend I'm off to celebrate our good friends Chris and Allison and their new life together! They are getting married this weekend and I have a feeling this wedding is going to be an epic one. Allison and I are very similar in style so I can't wait to see everything! Kevin is in the wedding which makes it extra fun!

I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for not giving up on my little blog :)