My new motto!

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. 

Success leads to happiness!

This has been a very successful week when it comes to diet and exercise. So far I have 4 workouts in and its only Saturday morning, so I still have 2 to go! I have by now lost 5 lbs this week and again the week is not over. What a difference it makes when you are actually seeing the results right away and best of all, the numbers on that scale going down.

I do have to say that I have been very strict when it comes to what I put in my mouth and I have been counting my calories. I have been keeping a food log on My Daily Plate as well as logging my workouts. Another thing that has really helped was switching gyms, my previous gym was 1/2 hour away from our place in the city and after almost 2 hours of commute it wasn't very appealing to me to drive another 1/2 hour to go workout after a stressful day at the office.

My new gym is a super cute neighborhood gym that is only 5 minutes away from home and yesterday I was able to get my little one and meet D at home with his little one by 6:15. We were at the gym in less than 10 minutes and we were able to get our cardio in come back home and feed the kiddos all before 8:15 pm, this would have never been possible before.

I am looking forward to jumping in the scale every morning and that is a first! I can't wait to next week's workouts and even better... next week's results =)

That's it for now!

XOXO
CM

And the Boot Camp started

I have always been curious about boot camps and how effective they are, well I started a Wedding Boot Camp today with Unicuss Fitness and let me tell you, they kicked my butt today. I can barely feel my arms right now which is pretty amazing as I couldn't do much when it came to push ups, I guess whatever I did which in this case was as much as I was able to do was enough to make my arms really really sore.

It was 45 minutes of exercises that switched every 45 seconds, the longest 45 seconds of my life! I feel so out of shape right now and can't believe how weak my upper body and abs are. I guess it is a good thing I didn't pass out on my first class although I did feel like I was going to barf several times, lol!

To kick it up a notch I am doing a GREEN CLEANSE this week, which means that my diet will consist of only vegetables and fruits. This should help me detox from my not so good eating habits and making it a habit to add a good portion of vegetables to my regular diet. 

After this cleanse I will add grains like lentils and beans to my diet as well as white meat and fish trying to stay away from red meat and some of my favorite carbs like pasta, rice, bread, etc. 

I will probably post before and after pics at the one month, two month and three month marks and keep you updated on weight loss, inches, etc. I can't wait to see the results and the changes that my body will go through, looking forward to a tighter and smaller body!

That's it for now!

CM

In the dumps

So I have been in the dumps lately, it's been a month since the last time I ran. I figured I signed up for the marathon to have fun and I was miserable every run, so I guess I just gave up. Being 20 lbs over my ideal weight has really affected my running, not only I was back on square one but I was really feeling it in my joints and mood.

I decided to quit, at least until I got rid of some of the weight but the weight is not coming off. I feel I am going to have to eat lettuce for the rest of my life to be able to get and remain on my happy weight and I am not sure if I am willing to pay the price. I am a food lover and having to stay away from the food I love is definitely a NO NO!

Also in September my wedding dress designer is coming from Venezuela to measure me and I am no where near to my wedding weight, they can always take in but 20 lb is a lot. I've seen the change in my body, stomach and hips are out of control so I have to start doing something NOW!

For my b-day, Dave gave me 3 months of the "wedding boot camp" that I wanted so I am actually looking forward to that, I am going to take before and after pictures (which I won't post until the after) and we are competing to see who loses more weight on the month of September. Dave is supposed to lose 2 lbs for every 1 lbs that I lose ;)

This week will be tough, boot camp starts at 6 am so there will be many early mornings which I will have to get used to. One cool thing? My friend "M" joined to so I guess we'll be pulling each other out of bed to make sure that we complete every single workout!

I am also starting a green cleanse this week so I will keep you posted on how that goes, my diet has been awful lately so I am looking forward to healthy eating on top of my new exercise routine.

That's it for now!

=)

Karma to thief!

Yesterday was a pretty upsetting day, my road bike was stolen! I've had this bike for almost 3 years and I have used it about 3 times. It had less than 60 miles on it and this was just cruel and ironic. 

I am freaked out by the bikers on the lake front as I am not very coordinated yet when on a road bike. The moment I hear "ON YOUR LEFT" my handles start shaking and I just feel I lose control over my bike. But since this week I decided to start training with Coach Jeff and in the training schedule he included a 1:15 hr ride I decided to go pick up my bike from my friend Shannon's where I had been keeping it for over a year now. After talking to her that morning, we agreed we would go on a ride last night so I could try my bike again after a long period of abandonment and get used to riding on the lakefront. I packed my gym bag with what I needed and planned on going to her place right after work.

Well, right around around mid-morning I got a call from Shannon, and it wasn't good news. Someone had stolen my bike from her building's bike room! Now let me bring to your attention that this is a full amenity high rise building in downtown with a doorman, pool, gym, etc. Someone "with access to the bike room" (which you need a FOB to enter) had cut the lock and taken my Specialized Allez Sport bike. To make matters worse, the building IS NOT RESPONSIBLE for property stolen from the bike room even though they do not allow you to keep bikes in your apartment. 

To make this story even more interesting and this building more pathetic, when we asked to look at the security camera tape so we could find out when and at what time this had happened and and maybe see if it was someone they recognized, or someone who lived in the building... their answer? Oh, the security camera was not connected! 

How can these property management companies get away with this non-sense. They can care less about the services they should be providing to their tenant's, let alone about being accountable for their actions and their consequences.

I wish there was something that could be done to AT LEAST hold the property management company and their incompetence responsible of what happened, but the reality is that the system is pretty screwed up and that in situations like this "the big guys" are the ones protected.

During this process I discovered a good resource that might be of help if this happens to you. The Chicago Stolen Bike Registry, if you click on the link you will be able to see my bike's pic with my contact info in case you see my bike out there. How does it work? You can file a theft report through their website and your bike's pic and info will be posted on their home page for the bike community to check, they also have a Twitter feed that has no tweets but who knows, maybe people will start using it.

Anyway, here is a picture of my bike, maybe I get lucky and someone will see it out there!

Choices for a healthy body and healthy planet

Over and over again I find myself asking the same question... how can I make more ethical food choices? Even though I do not wish to become a vegetarian nor I would like to stop eating red meats, I do think that reducing the amount of meat we intake can help the planet in many ways. This is why a couple of times a week I will be posting savory vegetarian recipes that we will all love and will embrace meatless meals that will help reduce our carbon foot print.

Today I tried this hearty vegetarian meal an it quickly became a favorite. With simple ingredients and in just a few minutes this warm meal was in my table and ready to be devoured. I hope you like this delicious recipe taken from 100 great recipes - Meals in Minutes.

Tomato Rice With Red Kidney Beans

Ingredients for 2

1 tbsp olive oil
1 Small onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small green pepper chopped
2 tbsp paprika (replaced with red thai curry)
1 cup of brown rice
7 oz can of diced tomato
7 oz can of red kidney bean
1 tsp of turmeric
1/2 Jalapeno finely chopped
1 tbsp of fresh cilantro chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large, deep heavy-based pan (i used a wok and it worked great) for about 30 seconds. Add onion, garlic, green bell peppers and jalapeno and cook for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Add the paprika/thai curry stirring frequently for a few minutes with a wooden spoon. Then add rice and cook for a minute or 2 to coat the grains of rice.

Once everything looks evenly mixed pour the tomatoes into a measuring cup and add watter leveling up to 3 cups. Add to the rice in the pan and season with a little salt and pepper. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and keep in heat for about 35 min.

Drain and rinse the beans and add to pan, cover and cook for another 5 minutes or until the rice is tender and all liquid has been absorbed. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve!

Enjoy =)

Healthy lifestyle is not just running

Being on week 4 of marathon training feels as a major accomplishment as being consistent is one of my biggest challenges. I grew up in a house with no routines and where the TV was my daily entertainment, no exercise routine was followed so to keep this training going I have to change many of my bad habits. I think that so far I have the running down even though it still takes a lot of effort to get off the couch and into my running clothes to get out of the house and do it.

But running is not the one and only step to a healthy lifestyle, there is another major piece to this crazy puzzle and that is healthy eating which I consider another extreme challenge. Eating is a big part of my life, growing up in South America and with a Spanish background (Spain), eating is how we celebrate life, food fests and a recipe for every occasion, going out and eating with friends and living life though our palate.

This has come to hunt me, specially when trying to keep healthy eating habits in the household where two little ones are learning by example. In the past year and a half I broke my routine and as running, healthy eating/cooking is a hard one to get going again. So in my quest for a healthy lifestyle, weight loss and being a good role model for my 5 y.o. I am starting something new this week.

Every Sunday night a menu will be set for the following week and I am going to do my best to stick to it! My goal is the have 3 meals every day, breakfast at home, lunch to take to work and finally my favorite, a light family dinner where we can all sit down in the table and share the craziness of our day.

The challenges you may ask? Fitting this in the daily routine of a full time mom, part time step-mom, marathon runner wannabe, career woman, wedding planner and lover. It will be easy to start as my little one is on her yearly "daddy vacation" and won't be back home until mid August, hopefully I can get used to it and keep it going after she gets back.

This week starts a little off the wagon as we were off on Monday for 4th of July holiday but here we go. I am trying to create a balanced diet with fruits and vegetables, fun combinations that are easy and fast to create and can look attractive to picky 5 y.o. junk food lovers. How to make this happen? With the help of books and  Internet everything is possible.

Today's featured recipe - Cannellini-Bean & Artichoke Salad

Ingredients for 2

14 oz can cannellini beans drained

3 green onions, finely sliced

5 oz jar charbroiled artichokes in oil

2 tbsp fresh basil

5 oz baby vine tomatoes

Olive Oil (to taste)

1/2 tbsp white-wine vinegar

Salt & Pepper

A few leaves of spinach

1 3/4 tbsp of pine nuts

Place the beans with the onions in a bowl. Lift the artichokes from the jar reserving the oil and cut into quarters. Chop the basil into fine shreds and half the tomatoes.  Add to the bowl. Mix the oil from the jar with olive oil enough to make about 3 tbsp, add vinegar and season with salt and pepper to make a light dressing.

Toss the salad ingredients together with the dressing. Line 2 serving plates with the spinach leaves and spoon the salad on top. Sprinkle with pine nuts to serve and add your choice of cheese if you like, my personal favorite for this recipe is Feta.

I hope you enjoy my new blog addition and try this savory and healthy recipes with me!

Cheers to healthy living!