Well, first off I want to give a shout out to my girls Krys, Mandy, and Stacia!! These are three close girlfriends of mine from my old online home (a fitness site) and I am so happy that they have found their way to my blog. Don't worry - none of them are the watermelon dress friend 😉 And I honestly don't diss on her color choice and do think it can be pretty with her wedding plan...I just don't think it will be a friendly color to a watermelon belly. But, then again, NO bridesmaid dress is going to be! 😉

But moving on. Today I am actually going to post about FOOD! Now, you may notice that I do not post my meals every day and sometimes not even a single mention of a meal for a week. The reason why I don't do this is because feeling the need to document everything I eat with a photo is unnecessary and detrimental to me. Some people enjoy it, but I can get way too caught up in it too fast. I prefer to eat what I enjoy as long as it is all part of a healthy, balanced, moderate diet. I have spent way too much time analyzing everything I eat and allowing it to put me back into a bad relationship with food, so documenting it all is not good for me. I'm at a good place with my lifestyle and plan to stay that way. Plus, I prefer my blog to reflect the many aspects of who I am, not simply what I do in the kitchen. And I only get about 10 minutes to eat at any given time with a one year old at my feet, checking me out like this:

peekaboo!

I will, however, post reviews of things I tried and enjoyed and recipes I experiment with. Today I decided to go for a yummy sounding recipe that the awesome Danica posted on her blog last week. Kung Pao Chicken. It sounded and looked oh so good. And it uses the appliance for people who don't cook crock pot! Perfecto! Or however you would say that in Chinese. Anyhoo...it went like this...

Cut up 1 lb chicken breasts into chunks and place in slow cooker.

cubed chicken breast

Mix together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cooking sherry, ketchup, ginger, red pepper flakes, hot sauce.

sauce

Pour over and coat chicken in slow cooker. Cook on low 6 hours. Gotta love being able to go shopping for a few new workout clothes, play, read a book, and go to the gym while dinner is cooking 😉 I hit up TJMaxx and picked up a few workout tops and two sets of capris, all for $60!

new gear

So, I got to look cute while doing the following workout:

• 10 min elliptical warmup = 1.14 miles
• walking lunge + db pullover
• wide stance bb squat + incline bb bench press
• upright bb row + bb bicep curl
• 20 min treadmill = 4.0 speed, 5.0-7.5 incline

Back to the recipe. About 45 mins before serving, chop up your choice veggies.

celery, onion, green pepper, yellow pepper, broccoli

Mix water and cornstarch. Throw in the water/cornstarch mixture and veggies for the final 30 minutes of cook time. Let simmer and get thick and yummy.

served up

The TASTE of this was really good....but I was even able to screw this one up. I cooked it too long and the chicken was too dry. So, if you keep an eye on your cooking times I know it would be awesome! You can find the full recipe HERE.

To make up for the lackluster meal, my sister and I have been getting in some quality goofy time.

me and the baby sis

We decided to sort through some boxes of old books my parents brought over to salvage any that might suit Makenzie. It was very nostalgic. Can you tell I was an 80's baby by my elementary school reading?

Rainbow Brite, Glow Worm, My Little Pony, Bernstein Bears, Dr Suess

And we found this old joke book for children. Holy cow!!! There must have been a lot less of filtering what kids say and protecting kids back in our time. Here are some of the jokes we found while reading and laughing hysterically...

Ouch, Why did you drop that hot towel on my face? -- What? Did you want me to burn my fingers?

What do you get if you cross a pig and a hobo?? -- A filthy beggar!

Your name should be Lawn? -- Why? -- Because I would like to mow you down!

Nice, huh? Quality stuff for us kiddos! Another good one was "You're just like scrambled eggs! -- Why? -- Because you get beaten often!" WOW! At least it provided some good laughs to think that we used to be entertained by this when we were under the age of 10. 🙂

Okay, time to watch The Biggest Loser! Have a great night!

• Anyone else still watching The Biggest Loser out there? I still enjoy the show, but I really wish that the producers would stop trying to get the oldest and biggest contestants. I much preferred when the contestants needed to improve their health and lose weight, but I could SEE the results throughout the show by visible increased fitness and health and better body composition through the show. I understand the larger contestants are in need of the help, but I don't think how strenuous the expectations of the show are is suitable to them. It's not as enjoyable to see contestants who aren't really able to do anything and at the end of the season still have such a long way to go. They either need to extend the length of time contestants are at the ranch, or not have it be the biggest people they can find.
• Do you blog ALL of your meals? Just some of your meals? Or very rarely focus on your meals like I do? If you do blog your meals most of the time, does it ever wear you out or cause any negative thoughts/feelings/stress on your approach to food or what you're eating? Do you ever feel guilty for eating something or not eating something?
• What's a childhood joke you remember? Or what things were you into as a child?

First off, yesterday's comments were interesting. It seems like most of us like to plan. I wonder if there is something in the personalities of people who blog that leans toward the organization and planning side? Or maybe we are just all super cool and like to stay on top of things. I like option dos! 😀 And speaking of blogging - check out this awesome giveaway at Be Fit. Be Full.

Today was a day of 'full'. I'm sitting here with a happy and full tummy after some deliciousness such as this...

shredded pork on sandwich thin & peas

I cooked 1/2 a pork tenderloin in the crockpot for 8 hours on low. 2/3 c low sodium beef broth, 1/3 c cider vinegar, 3T brown sugar, 1/3c ketchup, and 1/2 of a bbq pork seasoning packet chilled with the loin in the pot. Made some flavorful yumminess. And of course, you have to top it off with some extra BBQ sauce. 1 Tablespoon is plenty of flavor when you use the good stuff (aka Jack Daniels sauce). And as if that wasn't enough goodness, Peter brought this baby home from work for us to share for dessert.

oh white chocolate macadamia how I love thee

look how big!

My mind was also "full" today. My morning Bible reading really got me thinking. I've been asked previously what I am currently reading in my daily Bible time. Well, I am signed up for two plans that get emailed to me through the BiblePlan website. Seriously, how easy to get updates through email? Keeps me on top of things since I spend too much time on enjoy the computer. Recently, my plan has me reading a few chapters each day from the books Acts and Exodus. Today I really started pondering (picture me with my hand on my chin thinking hard - ha!). In Acts, Paul is constantly traveling to surrounding areas to proclaim the love of Christ to as many people as he can. Even though he knows he will be persecuted, stoned, imprisoned, and almost killed over and over and over again. Yikes! I couldn't handle that! But he endures. Hmm? Perhaps I shouldn't complain about oh, the doctor office taking flipping FOREVER today (M had her 15 month checkup and all is well :)). Perspective. Gotta have perspective. Because I don't want to end up like the Egyptians in Exodus who refused to trust and believe in God and ended up with rivers of blood, dead animals & family members, and tons and tons of bugs surrounding me. Eww. Faith = good. Trying to do things my own way & ignore God = not gonna work for me in the long run. Got it God! You spoke loud and clear to me today. Moving on now...

Lastly, I was "full" today with another awesome full body workout! I love love love full body workouts. They have so many benefits. What is a full body training split? It's where you work all of the large muscle groups in one workout. So instead of doing biceps & triceps one day, legs one day, and chest & back one day, you are able to get almost every muscle in one workout. Here are some benefits I have found with full body training:

• Ability to work each muscle more than once per week without over-training. With a well set-up program you can work out legs, chest, back, etc 2-3 times per week. This can help you make progress quicker.
• Greater calorie burn per workout. Think about it? When do you feel more beat? After some squats  or after doing some bicep curls? Full body workouts have you working out the larger muscle groups (legs, back, chest) throughout the workout, which will keep the calorie burn high. Also, with full body workouts it is easier to set up supersets and giant sets (exercises done back to back) which keeps you moving. Which = more burn than sitting around for a couple minutes between sets.
• Never ending options for routines. When you are doing only 1-2 moves per body part in each workout, there are endless options and ways to mix and match routines. For example: You might still do the same 4 or 5 back moves throughout the week, but it can be split up differently each week with a full body plan instead of being the same moves every week on your back day.  Added bonus - when you mix things up in your routine regularly, your body doesn't adapt as much so you continue to see progress.
• Less time in the gym. Full body workouts usually focus on larger, compound movements. Like bench presses and pull-ups versus overhead extensions and curls. When you do the big moves, there isn't a need to do as many of the smaller moves because those muscles are already worked in the big stuff. Like, you will work your triceps during a bench press and your biceps during a pull-up or row. And like the supersets I mentioned above. Those help cut down on time too, because you can hop from one exercise to the next. AND you only have to do weights 2-3 times per week.

Some things I keep in mind for a full body workout - don't overload and do too many exercises. Usually one exercise per body part is sufficient. Try to vary the exercises from workout to workout. Incorporate more compound moves and large muscle group exercises (back, legs, chest) and less accessory or isolation work (bis, tris, some machines).

These are some setups I have used for fullbody with each line being a superset and subbing in different moves:

Setup One

Legs/Chest

Legs/Back

Shoulders/Bicep/Tricep

Setup Two

Legs/Back

Legs/Chest

Isolation Legs (hamstring curls or leg extensions usually) / Chest OR Back (switch off each workout)

Shoulders/Bicep OR Tricep (switch off each workout)

Disclaimer: Even though I hope to one day be one, I am not a certified trainer. These are simply ideas and things I enjoy in my workout plans. Always do what works for you and consult a trainer or doctor to see if something is right for you and your goals. I simply enjoy sharing what works for me. With that being said, here was my specific workout I did today.

• Warmup on Elliptical 10 min
• Squat 4 sets & Machine Low Row Back 4 sets
• Incline BB Bench 4 sets & DB Bicep Concentration Curl 2 sets & DB Rear Delt Raise 2 sets
• Walking Lunges 3 sets & Side Cable Shoulder Raise 3 sets
• Straightarm Pulldowns 2 sets & Back Extensions 2 sets
• Incline Walk on Treadmill 20 min
• Stretch

In this workout I incorporated a larger muscle group in each superset in order to keep my workout challenging. The exercises being grouped together helped my workout go quickly. I had an extra back move and a bicep exercise in this workout. In the next one it will be a chest and tricep to keep the balance. Once again, I am not a trainer and this is just a setup that works well for me.

So there was my full day. 🙂

• Do you lift weights? What workout splits do you enjoy? Or do you prefer to just use gym classes for your weights?