Clound 9 Baby!

Hello Peeps!

I didn't update yesterday as I was just too swamped buuuut....  I have some amazing news to report!

I weighed myself yesterday (Tuesday) and I was down 5lbs in just 6 days!!! YEAH!! That feels so good. The scale is now going in the right direction. All my hard work is starting to pay off!

Aside from this amazing tidbit of news my day yesterday was good, I ate extremely well. I went on pinterest and was searching for things that I could make with my yams, pork chops and asparagus... I found lots of great recipes which I pinned but ultimately I decided to make this:

Glazed Sweet Potatoes:
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup orange juice (I literally fresh squeezed one)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp brown sugar

Then take your yams and peel and cut them however you like, pour the sauce overtop and bake in the oven at 425F cover and bake for 40 minutes or until cooked.

Next up... Roasted Asparagus:
I literally just drizzled oil (grapeseed) overtop
Seasoned with montreal steak spice and a pinch of salt and popped in the oven with the potatoes for 15-18 min

Last but not least....Caramel Apple Glazed Pork Chops (YUM!)
OK so these might not be the healthiest but honestly its not overly that bad anyway

Pan fry the pork chops in a bit of oil 2 minutes per side
Remove and put in a baking dish, in same pan take:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter
Cook into a sauce, add to it 2 cups of peeled and sliced apples (of your preference) and cook apples in sauce for 10 minutes. Spread mixture overtop of pork chops and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. (note: you can double the amount of brown sugar and butter to make more sauce if you want, I did and then my family put it on top of their meat and yams)

I didn't change the cook temperature since my yams were already cooking I just cooked everything all at the same temperature and it worked out great!

 That was a must make recipe again!

Ok so on for today's update, my nutrition was amazing today -- water intake -- ehhh could have been better but I'm still working on it! I went and bought groceries today and bought this tzatziki sauce from "opa" today and i'm excited to make this greek chicken I got to try at Joelene's last night. Not sure what I will have with it yet but there is no shortage of options with fresh produce!

Tonight I made home made vegetable turkey soup for supper, yum! It's kind of weird though. I feel like I'm not eating "right" in the sense that if I can enjoy what I am eating then I must be doing something wrong... like I have this stigma in my head that clean eating = yucky food. Of course that's not actually how it is but when I make a supper like the one pictured above I feel a bit guilty like I am cheating or something because how can something that tastes so good be good for you? (again not so much talking about the pork chops although there wasn't A LOT of caramel sauce on top anyway)  I know I am not alone in this way of thinking, I think that is the problem with our society is so many people think that they need to sacrifice all flavor in order to lose weight, that's so not true. Also people think they have to cut out all the "treats" altogether, again not true.

I had a good friend visit me tonight and I was enjoying a glass of wine. Which I consider to be a treat. I also allow myself a cheat meal. I still lost 5lbs in 6 days doing exactly this! Remember: Everything In Moderation!

 So all this being said, it is probably not the best idea to enjoy your said "treat" prior to working out. Talk about no gumption at all! Seriously, it was incredibly hard to snap out of that lazy mode but I did. I took a picture to prove it! (haha!)

Disclaimer: Okay so while I am a bit bashful to post a picture of myself (especially post work out), I worked damn hard for this sweat and I feel good. Normally my buddy Joelene motivates me but she was down and out tonight so it was up to me which really I was finding every excuse in the book to not work out, again the wine probably didn't help.
Even though she couldn't join in on the "fun" she was still right there by my side like the amazing supporter she is. Oh how I love that woman!
She gave me a small 5 minute work out (plus my ab challenge) to do *at least* ... well much to her surprise (i'm sure) and quite frankly ... mine, I went even above that! I feel great.

This is what a successful workout looks like:

So what did I do?

My workout:
I did burpee counts again: 1 squat, 1 burpee, 2 squats, 2 burpees, 3 squats, 3 burpees...etc all the way up to 5 of each, then did them backwards 5 of burpees, 5 squats, 4 burpees, 4 squats...etc.
That was my cardio warm up.
Then I did 10 box push ups, 10 butt kicks, 10 squats, 10 front/side arm raises, 10 butt kicks (again) and repeated this twice!

Finished with my abs which tonight I found really hard; 12 crunches, 12 leg raises and a 20 second plank. I was definitely struggling to get to the 20 second mark especially after all those burpees and box push ups but I did it! I was dripping sweat too!

Again please don't judge the ugly mug shot, it actually takes a lot of guts for me to post a picture of myself, at all... let alone for the world to see. It is obviously a post workout picture so its not meant to look "sexy" by any means.

Ok my brain is fried and I am beat after pushing myself like crazy! Thanks for all my followers and I hope you like my recipes I've been posting. Feel free to comment on my blog if you try them and let me know what you think about them!

Ciao for now!