Fitness Milestone, Paleo and a little Crossfit

I finally reached a great milestone in getting healthy and fit.

Down 10 pounds!  Here's a picture comparison...

I took the picture on the left at my absolute heaviest.  I was pretty sad from a deployed husband, ate comfort food and couldn't bring myself to work out.  Then I decided to stop making excuses and to get back to healthy.  It's definitely taking longer than I would have liked BUT I'm getting there slowly and surely.  The photo on the right is me yesterday after stepping on the scale and finally seeing 10 pounds less!

What have I been doing?

Crossfit and Paleo.

As for crossfit , I've been doing it for about 2 months now.  I did a month in December after my on-ramp in November, but then I went TDY for two months and it threw me off a bit.  I started back hard at the beginning on March when I got home and just after a month of getting back into my groove, the results are so encouraging.  I went from cleaning 55 pounds in December to 115 pounds in March.

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A couple that crossfits together, stays together. 

The best part is my husband joined the gym too so we're both working out and getting stronger.  I LOVE that we're a crossfit couple in every sense of the term.  Many times you'll find him at the end of a WOD coming over to me and cheering me on until I'm done or vice versa. That's exactly what teamwork is about.  I'm so blessed to have this man be involved in my life in so many different ways.  I'm doing things I've never thought I'd be capable of doing.  I no longer have a goal to squeeze into a size 4 or look skinny in my bathing suit.

I want to be strong.  I want to out-lift my husband one day.  I want to have muscle to show-off in my bathing suit, not ribs and tiny arms and legs. I want to be fit in every way one can be fit. Running, lifting, swimming, biking, climbing ropes and walls.  I know I'm definitely on my way.

As for the eating part, which in my opinion in 90% of a healthy battle, I'm doing pretty good at too. We just finished a 7-day paleo challenge with best friends of ours and as a result we've decided to stay on it.  We know we'll eat pizza, bread and cake every once and awhile but we've striving for an 80/20 lifestyle.  We mean by this is sticking to paleo 80% of the time while still leaving 20% of the time for indulging or special occasions.  We LOVE getting back to the basics with eating and our bodies are really taking a liking to our simplistic diet as well.  Below are some favorite new snacks we've started making!

Salt and vinegar kale chips

Fried plantain chips in coconut oil and fresh guacomole

Example of our lunch: Kale salad with homemade vinaigrette dressing/ground turkey, cilantro, salsa stuffed baked red pepper

Best part is it's ALL yummy and paleo!

We completely cut out soda (hardest part!!) and switched to tea, no artificial sweeteners, bread, crackers, chips, cakes, no preservatives (which has been so tricky, read ALL the labels), legumes, soy, dairy (so we switched to almond milk and organic cheeses), alcohol, pasta, and grains.  Those were the items that greatly affected our daily regime.  I feel healthy, have high energy and have regular bowel movements which rocks!  I'm a firm believer that food is the body's best preventative medicine.  Yes it's tough but our bodies are worth it.

I go in for a bodpod analysis in a couple weeks to see if I've made it out of the "overweight" BMI category, fingers crossed!  Last time I checked in August 2013, I was at a BMI of 30 which is classified as overweight.  I'm hoping with the strength training and weight loss that I'll be below 26 which would put me in the "normal" category for my height.

Starting to see some traps peak out! Good bye back rolls!

I'm going for healthy and strong finally.  I'm ten pounds down and on my way.  Cheers!

Little Ass Kickers

When you’re a military family you know you’ll be faced with separation.  It just comes as a package deal. Whether the service member is gone for a couple weeks for training, boot camp or 6-12 months overseas, it’s going to happen.

But you never guess in a million years that your spouse will have to do the leaving.  That wasn't in the contract.  The service member is the one that leaves, not your rock/spouse.  They are supposed to move where you move, wait for you to return and be that tether to home.

Well not this time.

We have recently come into some great news, that my husband got accepted into law school!  It’s not a small feat, and I’m so incredibly proud of him.  We waited to really announce to everyone until after he accepted their offer (didn't know you had to do that).   After the excitement came the logistics planning. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details, but here are some things we had to consider:

- I'm PCS'ing soon (moving) to anywhere

- Law school is 3 years long

- Money

After careful deliberation, we had to make a hard decision.  We decided we’d have the most support for him in Oklahoma where our friends and family are.  This decision didn't come lightly and it was a tough one to make.  This means he’ll be in Oklahoma for the semester and I’ll get him over the summer, some holidays and breaks.  Wow this sounds like joint custody with the state of Oklahoma!

When my husband returned from his yearlong deployment, we released this huge sigh of relief.  We thought the worst was over, patted ourselves on the backs, and said to ourselves that we’d never be apart like that again!  Even when I deploy it won't be for a year long tour.  Oh how wrong we were. 

 Already as I sit here, I’m mentally counting down the months until his first semester, feeling those anxious “there’s not enough time” feelings, and sadness.  I love my life so much more with my husband in it, and it’s hard to imagine being by myself again.

But….

It’s worth it.

Every feeling, tear, nights with an empty bed, Face Time dates, walking the dog alone…worth it. 

It’s worth it because for once, my husband gets to decide his future.  He gets to pursue a huge dream.  I can’t imagine how that feels to be working towards a passion, not just a job, but a fresh, inspirational calling.  My career in the military has definitely been calling our family’s shots for a couple years, but we have the power now to not let it hold back my husband anymore.  He’s struggled finding some way to contribute financially to our family when we move every 1-3 years.  No more.  His happiness is worth 24 out of the next 36 months apart. 

I've supported him always and it won’t change.  Is this a risk?  Absolutely.  But we've always taken risks, from day one.

* It was risky going on a blind date with a complete stranger.

* It was risky getting married while in college.

* It was risky volunteering for a yearlong deployment while your other half moves away from family/friends and starts a new job.

Yet again it is risky to do what we’re about to do, but I've come to the conclusion we’re little ass kickers.  (If you watch AMC's Walking Dead then you’re familiar with the term.)  We’re presented with risks, hard tasks that I believe would tear some people apart, but we continue to kick ass.  We have an incredibly strong marriage and such a strong partnership because of all these mountains we've climbed together.  We both will hopefully have support again from family and friends, because yet again, we'll need it. 

And together we will get through this period in our story, look back on this small chapter and smile.

Because we’re little Ass Kickers.

Paleo Kale Chips

We've been craving some salt & vinegar chips big time in our household, so we decided to try something new to help the craving. Kale Chips!

Ingredients:
1 x bunch of kale
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
White vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray baking pan with non-stick spray
3. Tear kale leaves into about 2 inch pieces (they do shrink a bit when they bake). Toss kale pieces in a bowl with olive oil/vinegar. I didn't measure out the amount, sorry! I just ensured the leaves were coated on each side with oil/vinegar. Make sure the oil has coated the leaf or it won't crisp up, it will just steam.
4. Lay the leaves out of the pan in a single layer, sprinkle salt on each leaf and bake for 6 minutes, then turn the leaves over, sprinkle  more salt and bake again for 6 minutes!

They're delicious! For storage we're trying them in a Tupperware box in our cabinet. Not sure if they'll stay crispy or not.

Best things about these little guys is that they beat chips by a long shot!

Paleo Breakfast Muffins

My husband, myself and best friends of ours are finally giving this paleo thing a shot. If you're not familiar with it don't worry, I'm not an expert either. My husband has done some research and it's really about getting back to the basics. You get rid of all the processed foods, additives and basically "eat like a caveman". What does that mean?

Vegetables, fruits, almond milk, meat, nuts, no legumes, no breads, no sugars, no soda and the list goes on...

We're doing some meal prepping for the week and tried these delicious puppies out for breakfast!

Paleo Protein Muffins

Ingredients:
12 eggs
7 strips turkey bacon
1/8 cup green onion
1 cup chopped kale leaves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk 12 eggs together and distribute into greased muffin pan. Add kales, onions and bacon then stir it up a bit. Pop into oven for 20-25 minutes. Done!

Each muffin for us yielded: 175 calories, 25g fat, 30g protein.

We'll pair this with a piece of fruit and a glass of almond milk! So far paleo isn't looking too bad!

Perfect Day on 30A

This weekend we wanted to spend a day on 30A. 30A is a scenic detour off the main highway 98 with little perfect beach communities every 5 miles or so. These communities have the perfectly designed/painted beach houses, cute shops and restaurants. We started at Rosemary Beach and rented bikes, then rode 8 miles down to Seaside.

Seaside

I snuck us into a private beach access gate! 

I never really rode bikes a lot before I moved to Florida, but since we've been here this is quickly becoming a new favorite past-time of ours. The ride was gorgeous and took about 45 minutes. After that we parked our bikes in Seaside and grabbed lunch, shopped, explored and soaked in some sunshine on the beach.

We found a fresh water pond nearby

Old-fashioned coke break

The colors of the water are amazing here.

The husband has skills!

Water not quite warm enough for bathing suites yet, but we still took advantage and laid out.

Perfect Day.

I know when I'm taking enough pictures because I get this face, "Really Andie!?" 

We ended the day with a happy hour find of local beer and fresh oysters, and then on our 8 mile ride back we caught the sunset.

Our days together on the beach are numbered, so we're blowing off the chores and bumming on the beach as much as we can until then!

DIY Raised Garden Bed

I've never been amazing with plants. In fact, the one plant I have that has survived over 5 moves is a plastic ficus I bought at Hobby Lobby. I'm not letting that stop me. Within the 2-3 years, my husband and I have really changed our lifestyle and introduced many more vegetables, fruits and less processed foods into our daily regime. We've always talked about doing our own garden, but just never have been in one place long enough to start one. My mother always tended a small vegetable garden when I was growing up, and I miss the feeling of eating what you've grown. Well with the help of Pinterest, Lowe's and Google we decided to start our own.

Supplies:

(3) 6ft x 1ft boards (cut one in half)
22 cubic feet of gardening soil (about 10 big bags)
cardboard
various seeds/seedlings

My husband nailed the boards together to form the box first.

Then we laid it where we wanted in the backyard and placed a layer of cardboard on the bottom first. The cardboard is biodegradable and keeps the weeds/grass out.

Then the filling and compacting starts.

Next comes the sowing! We had a huge thunderstorm roll in the afternoon we set this up, so we had to plant the seeds/seedlings the following day. This is what we're planting:

When it came to the planting part, we just followed the directions on the back of the seed packets on how deep/far apart to bury them. Green thumbs unite and we have a vegetable garden!


What we really loved about the idea of a raised garden bed is that it isn't dependent on the soil you have where you live. The start-up cost for us was a little over $100. Next year we'll only have to buy the seeds and maybe a little soil so the cost will be minimal. Now let's see if we can grow our own food! Can't get much greener than that.

Florida Caverns State Park

We decided for a day trip north to Florida Caverns State Park. If you're ever in the area, we recommend making a half day of it at least. The main attraction that drew us there were the caverns. This is the only park in Florida that offers cave tours to the public. The whole tour took about a hour, and it cost $5/adult. The guide was so knowledgeable about the history and geology of the site.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/floridacaverns/

Opening to the cave

Here we go!

The ceiling full of stalactites 

Afterwards, we hit some of the trails the park had to offer, and even found a little cave of our own. We also stumbled upon a very cool marsh, different then anything we've seen before. This park had an equestrian campsite, a natural swimming hole, and a river that you could rent canoes/kayaks to use. We may do a lot of outside exploring, but nature never ceases to amaze us or bore us. We always find something new.

The trails were gorgeous

Caught this sweet moment between my boys

Zeus's turn for spelunking 

Family selfie