Happy Sunday!

Wow - I've had a lazy blogging week, just realized I haven't posted since Tuesday...probably because up until yesterday, there wasn't much to post.

The final week of my 30 day challenge is coming to an end today and of course, I chose yesterday to have "lose ten points because you don't want your CrossFit coaches to actually know what you ate" kind of day (ya, it was THAT bad)...but I will get to that...

Rewind to Tuesday...another week with a huge lack of variety...

Monday - Friday

Post Wod: SFH Recovery
Breakfast: Breakfast Fritatta
Snack: SFH and an apple
Lunch: Salad with curry chicken
Snack: Strawberries and almonds

Dinner varied anywhere from curry chicken, spaghetti squash with meat sauce and "crack salad"

It was a crazy week full of 3 field hockey games, a lot of rain, and working like a crazy person!

On to the weekend...

I woke up WAY earlier than necessary on Saturday morning, must have been because I was SO excited to run Renegade Playground Challenge with team Don't act like you're not impressed...cool t-shirts, a hot pink tutu and MUD!?

NOT muddy enough!!

What more could a girl ask for...well, I could think of a few things:

• water stations with people working them and oh, I don't know...WATER
• Volunteers on the course incase someone got injured
• photographers along the course
• obstacles that were actually set up
• FREE water at the end of the race ($3 for water post race, really?!)
• free food (I mean, a banana, some yogurt, I don't know)
• If you're gonna make us pay, how about some more options other than hot dogs and fried chicken tenders?!

Let's just say I was hungry and not waiting to get back to Manchester to eat lunch...I'll just leave it at that. At least I started my morning right with some surprisingly yummy (although not pretty) paleo pancakes. I followed this recipe, but I didn't have the ingredients for the caramel sauce so I left that out...my pancakes didn't quite look like hers...

Off to the grocery store now to get the ingredients for Meatball Soup and Oriental Chicken Bowls. Hoping for these to be tasty so I can add a little more variety this week!

First Sunday of #SoberOctober....hmmm football without a glass of red, let's see how that goes!

#SoberOctober

So that's actually a real thing? I thought I made it up....according to Janine I am not original in my thought here!


NONE of this in October!!

With the 30 day Paleo Challenge coming to an end October 9th (I can't believe it has been THIRTY DAYS!!!), I wanted another challenge for myself for the month of October. I thought, hmmm what can I do to kick things up a notch?? Hmmmm....AHHH, yes, no wine, beer, tequila, ALCOHOL for a month! Ok - challenge accepted. The only problem I might have is on October 21st when I run the Hallo Wiener Hustle where my teammates literally can't run until I've eaten a hotdog and chugged a beer! Oh boy...what was I thinking when I signed up for this one!? So short of that one beer, that's my new personal challenge #soberoctober

Moving on...who else like coconut oil in their coffee? Let's be honest, the site of this freaked me out at first...

Don't be fooled by the oil slick, it is amazing

...but it was love at first sip! Not only does it taste good great, there are some health benefits to it as well. A friend today me that Giuliana Rancic put it in her coffee for weight loss, so that's where the thought started. More than just weight loss, coconut oil is a healthy fat, it keeps you fuller longer (I am literally making myself eat a snack between 10-11, just to keep my metabolism gong), it keeps your insides moving (if you know what I mean...), my lips are crazy soft, and it is an added energy boost. All around a win-win right there! Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was pretty wonderful...I ate well, I drank well, I shopped well, I made some extra cash, I spent time with (almost) all of my favorite people, the Pats won and the Jets lost!!

Friday was a little stressful, with a major deadline at work coming to a close - but I didn't let the stress get to me and cause me to make bad choices as far as eating and drinking went. In the past, I probably would have ordered a pizza and a polished off  a 6 pack of Pumpkin Head. This time, I stayed Paleo ALL day and cooked an amazing dinner with Dan! I need to use the phrase "cooked with" loosely, because Dan did most of the work - I just operated the Magic Bullet to puree up our avocado and spinach and stuck the spaghetti squash in the microwave (and it didn't EXPLODE!!)

Friday Menu:

Breakfast - 2 eggs with 1 apple chicken sausagbe
Snack - Strawberries and almonds
Lunch - Cinnamon Apple Chicken
Snack - Almond butter and baby carrots
Dinner - Creamy Avocado Spinach Chicken We have made this meal before and LOVED it so much that we just couldn't resist making it again. I could eat this every day if someone would make it for me!! YUMMY!! Of course we accompanied this with some delicious red wine.

Looks like baby poop, tastes AMAZING

Desset - Paleo cookies, courtesy of  Every Day Paleo I've got to say...for a cookie with no sugar or chocolate in it, these were pretty tastey!!

Cookies!!!

Saturday was a little crazy, but again, I managed to stay right on track with what I needed to. Due to something out of my control, I didn't make it to my 8am CrossFit class - but was fortunately able to sneak in a quick run before I had to move on with my day.

Before heading out to babysit (yes, I am almost 30 and I still babysit!!! But I love these kids, so I just can't say no when their mom asks!!)  I decided to make another recipe I found on Every Day Paleo. This was one of the best ideas I have had yet...this recipe was pretty amazing! There are a few slight changes I will make next time I make it (which will be very soon) but this is the perfect make-ahead meal for my crazy life!!

Breakfast of champions!

Babysitting went well - I wasn't tempted to eat the meal I prepared for the kiddos...

Pork, corn, and cheesy noodles for the kiddos....NOT paleo!!

...or any of the snacks they had in the house. Things got a little tough at bedtime when the boys didn't want to brush their teeth - thank goodness I have a friend with a deep, scary voice who called right at bedtime and in turn became the "Phone Monster" and made my life a lot easier! Thank goodness!!

Aiden listening to the "Phone Monster"

Southwestern Frittata - Next time, instead of grating the sweet potato, I am going to dice and I will probably double the salsa! Besides that, this was so good!!

Saturday Menu:

Breakfast - Southwest Frittata
Snack - apple
Lunch - Southwest Frittata (yes, it was THAT good!)
Snack - Strawberries
Dinner - Friday night leftovers, grape tomoatoes, Paleo Cookie

It's like a Lunchable for grownups, only BETTER

Sunday Funday!

I decided to take the money I earned babysitting Saturday night and do a little shopping with my girl Melissa! Oh boy - I wanted to buy a few pairs of flats for work and came home with 3 pairs of heels, pants, a shirt, leggings, earrings and rings! OYE! Well, I worked hard for that money, so I can't be too mad!

Sunday Menu:

Breakfast - Southwest Frittata
Lunch - Grilled Chicken Salad, glass of red wine
Snack - Paleo Cookie
Dinner - Lasagna soup

Overall, a pretty damn good weekend!!

All You Need is Love

I cannot believe that Week 3 of the challenge is coming to an end Sunday. This challenge seems to be FLYING by - the best part of that is that I have been loving every minute of it and I don't miss a thing...not cheese, not pasta, not bread...maybe ice cream, but it'll be too cold for that before ya know it!

The biggest challenge(s) I faced this week was going out to dinner. This is New Hampshire, I am lucky to meet someone outside of GSCF that has actually heard the word "paleo" before, never mind a restaurant that caters to the lifestyle - but for me, going out to dinner is a reality. My father is obsessed with Cactus Jacks and my god parents like to go out once a month or so to catch up.

I think I did pretty well considering I went out to dinner back to back nights...

 

Wednesday's Menu:                                  

Breakfast - 1 Apple chicken sausage with two scrambled eggs 

Snack - Strawberries and almonds 

Lunch - Chicken and apples 

Snack: almond butter and baby carrots 

Dinner - Seafood Gumbo, steamed broccoli, and a "Jamacian" margarita

Wednesday night was Cactus Jack's with Dad...I wasn't sure what to get, so I tried the Gumbo - little did I know, the Gumbo was in a thick, gravy like sauce. Fortunately, there was a TON of seafood in it and they were very accommodating and let me skip out on the rice and add a side of steamed broccoli instead. In an effort to stay as Paleo as possible, I literally ate all of the seafood out of the bowl, along with my side of broccoli and avoided whatever that "sauce" was that it was in. Of course, I had to have a "jamacian" - 1800 and lime juice! Yummy!

Moving on to night TWO of going out to eat...tonight's venue - Hooked, which happens to be one of my FAVORITE restaurants in Manchester. I get the exact same meal every time I go there because it is just so DAMN good! Their Seafood Cioppino is to die for! It's a giant bowl of seafood (scallops, shrimp, crawfish, muscles, clams, and tilapa) served with some garlic bread - I will get to that....

Thursday's Menu: 

Repeat Wednesday's breakfast, lunch, and snacks

Dinner - Seafood Cioppino and two glasses of red wine

I wish I had taken a picture of the garlic bread that comes with this meal - which in the past, I crushed. I contemplated eating the bread, like I really thought about it as it sat on my plate...then I remembered that I was in FIFTH place for points in the challenge and that bread was not worth the 5 points OR the crappy feeling that I am sure would follow from eating it!

This next picture has nothing to do with food, CrossFit, or Paleo - at all...but it has to do with life and is quite adorable, so I feel the need to share it with you all...

A friend sent me this the other day and it make me think...kind of like the Justin Bieber song says (yes, I am about to quote the Biebs) "As long as you love me, we could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke...as long as you love me, I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold" I suppose a better song choice for a quote would have been, "All you need is love" as the Beatles are (were) much cooler than Justin Bieber...but I digress...

Regardless of your age, race, what you eat, where you workout, how old you are, your sexual preferences, what coast you live on...if you can find that one person who make you happy forever and always, you will be forever happy, like this amazing couple I totally creeped on at dinner Thursday night...

This picture does not show the love I saw between these two on Thursday night, but they truly seemed SO happy together. I don't know how old they are, how long they've been together, or anything else about their life....but I know one thing, this is what I want some day.

Whoops...looks like I've gone totally odd topic and have now run out of time....weekend update will come soon!

Pork Chops and Apple Sauce

In my last post, I mentioned that I had pork and spaghetti squash for dinner Sunday night...what I didn't mention was what happened when I attempted to cook the squash in the microwave...

OOPS looks like I didn't poke it with the fork quite enough...or maybe I just cooked it for too long?! Either way, it was quite the mess to clean up! I was able to salvage enough of it to get three meals from it, so all was not lost!

I wanted something easy to make, that I could throw in the crock pot before leaving to sky dive, that would essentially be ready when I got home - so I googled "paleo crockpot" and this is what I came up with...

I wish I knew how to rotate pics on here!

"Pork Chops and Apple Sauce"

1 Pork Loin
3-4 Apples (more or less if you like)
Cinnamon
Honey
Onion
Garlic
EVOO

(I chose to marinate the pork in garlic, onion, and EVOO the night before, but this was not part of the original recipe)
Dice up an apple, put it in the crock pot - drizzle some honey and sprinkle some cinnamon over it
Add the pork
Cut 4-6 slits in the pork, drizzle some honey in each slit and add a slice of apple to each slit
Slice up the rest of the apples, put them in the crock pot, drizzle some honey, sprinkle some cinnamon
Cook on high 6-8 hours - VOILA!

This meal was certainly a lifesaver, due to my lack of time and planning this weekend, for the upcoming week!

So what do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news? 

Whenever someone asks me that question, I usually choose to hear the bad news first, in hopes that the good news outweighs the bad and just erases it from my mind!

So here it goes...I had a major cheat day on Monday!!! Let me introduce you to my friend...

Being the WONDERFUL teacher that I am, I decided to bring some candy in for the kids - well, clearly I was buying it just as much for myself as I was for them, because I ate THREE of these bad boys for lunch - yes, I said it - for LUNCH!

This is what happens when you don't plan ahead and have no groceries on hand and no microwave at work for leftovers! 

Monday's Menu:

Breakfast: Leftover pork

Lunch: KitKats

Dinner: Leftove pork

WOW - what a great eating day!!

I suppose you want the good news now?

I paid a visit to the nutritionist on Tuesday and was weighed for the first time since I have started this challenge...I am DOWN 4 lbs and 3% body fat! I've got to say, for only being at CrossFit for 3 weeks and doing Paleo for 2, I'd say this is quite the accomplishment! Would I have loved for her to say - WOW, you've lost 8lbs in the last 2 weeks?! Well, of course - but I keep up a steady 2lbs a week, I will be at my goal in NO TIME!

Big thanks to one of my favorite people in the world, Dan Beaulieu for getting my lazy butt back in gear and over to Granite State CrossFit and encouraging me to become "Fierce Sara" - without his constant nagging to "just come check out the box - you'll love it there, everyone is so awesome" and getting me out for drinks to meet Mat, where I was again encouraged to come join the GSCF family, I would not be where I'm at right now....and you wouldn't have the joy of reading this LOVELY little blog of mine :)

Tuesday's Menu:

Breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs

Snack - beef jerky and cucumbers

Lunch - leftover pork and spaghetti squash

Dinner - Cinnamon Chicken and Apples

Off to meet my Dad for dinner...wonder what I can find that's "Paleo" over at Cactus Jacks!!

Oh - I almost forget...our team picture was available for download today, check  us out! Gotta love my perfect T-Rex pose 

Week 2 COMPLETE!

WOAH - what a busy end to the week/weekend...a field trip, a wedding, and SKYDIVING!!!

Thursday and Friday were standard days with nothing exciting to report on.

Thursday Menu
Breakfast - 2 eggs cooked with coconut oil
Snack - Strawberries and almonds
Lunch - Salad with "taco chicken"
Snack - Celery with almond butter
Dinner - Spaghetti squash with turkey tenderloins and veggies

 Thursday dinner

I thought taking my kiddos on a field trip Friday would be hard - my boss brought donuts for everyone ...

...a weakness of mine in the past, I managed to avoid them, and very easily I must say. On top of that, the only food served at the field trip was PIZZA. Fortunately, I knew this ahead of time and brought snacks of turkey and veggies, as well as an apple and almonds with me, so I wasn't tempted at all!

I was nervous for Friday's dinner, as I was going out in Boston - but I must say, I kicked some Paleo ASS! Oysters, grilled shrimp and salmon, ONE glass of red wine and ONE tequila and soda water! Sheer exhaustion from the crazy, early morning WOD and my general lack of sleep probably helped out, because I was in no mood to stay out late drinking!

I think Friday's crazy hard WOD helped me stay focused with my eating...who wants to work THIS HARD and then throw it all away on donuts and pizza??

Friday Menu

Breakfast - Banana with almond butter, strawberries

Snack - Turkey, grape tomatoes

Lunch - Grilled chicken salad

Snack - Apple, almonds

Dinner - Oysters, grilled shrimp and salmon, green beans, 1 glass of red wine, 1 glass of tequila and soda water

I showed up for my first every Saturday WOD this weekend and, not gonna lie, I was nervous. 5am WODs are like my comfort zone...it's usually just me, maybe 1 or 2 other people that are newer to CF than I am, and Mat. I've never worked out with the other Matt or with a bigger group of people, so I had NO clue what to expect. Damn, there was NOTHING to be scared of - Matt was just as helpful and encouraging as Mat is, plus Dan was there - the other 3 people WOD'ing were super nice and I am glad I sucked it up and showed up! 

I'm so glad I went! Going to do my best to make Saturday WODs a regular thing for me!

Wedding time...I was running around like a crazy person all day but managed to get a decent breakfast and lunch in - I wasn't sure what dinner was going to be like, so I didn't want to take my chances! Fortunately, along with the Chicken Cordon Bleu, two types of rolls, potatoes and rice - there was was also pot roast and salad...guess what I had??

HOLY hunk of beef!!

I must admit, I took a cupcake to go...but after ONE bite, I threw it out. If you know me, cupcakes are my FAVORITE thing...I used to feel that if I never saw another cookie, pie, or bag of chips again, but had cupcakes, I'd be happy...I didn't want it, had no desire to eat it and wasn't mad about throwing it out! 

That felt GOOD 

Saturday Menu:

Breakfast - 2 eggs + 1 white scrambled with pepper and onion - two cups of black coffee

Lunch - Leftover spaghetti squash/turkey/veggies

Dinner: Salad, pot roast, 1 bite of a cupcake, red wine (4 glass - TWO too many)

Up bright and early Sunday morning to jump out of a plane...yes, that's right, jump out of a perfectly good plane for fun! It almost didn't happen - when we got there at 8am and it was WINDY!! At 10:30 they announced that no one would be jumping anytime soon and said we could hang out and wait or reschedule. We decided to take a chance and hope for the best. Back to Manchester for breakfast (brunch) and before we knew it, the call was made and we were back and jumping by 1:30! 

It was the most amazing experience of my life and I literally can't wait to do it again! If I was rich, I would be back at it next week!

Sunday Menu:

Breakfast - Banana with almond butter, coffee

Brunch - Western omelet and coffee

Dinner - pork loin and spaghetti squash

Game time...Let's Go Pats!!!

The Paleo gods are watching down on me!

Wednesday is officially my new rest day for the next 10 weeks - class keeps me up way past my bedtime and 4-5 hours of sleep just isn't enough for a decent WOD at 5am. Not to worry, I'll be back at it tomorrow - pulling a double, possibly triple workout day (5am WOD, 6pm MRSC run, 7:30pm yoga and mobility at the box). I always make sure to stretch and foam roll on my days off, well everyday for that matter, but extra time on my off days.

Grand Slam Pizza has what I refer to as the "Crack" salad...which is essentially a grilled chicken salad with feta, house dressing, and pita bread - a weekly occurrence for me prior to this challenge. Tonight I was craving something "bad" so I figured I'd order the salad without the cheese, use my own dressing and take the 5 point loss on the pita bread...well, those Paleo gods have some major powers, because guess what DIDN'T come with my salad?!

THE PITA BREAD!!!!

It wasn't quite the "crack" salad that I know and love, but in the end, I am glad that I didn't get the bread - because really, it isn't worth the 5 points and I'm in a close second (points wise) after week 1!

As I mentioned yesterday, there has been ZERO variety in my week! I need to do better planning next week because I am starting to get bored. Lucky for me Janine and my good friend Dan both posted new Paleo recipes on Twitter and Facebook, so next weeks shopping list will include the ingredients to make something yummy for breakfast other than eggs! Still looking for more ideas for snacks too...I need to do some serious research if I want to last these 30 days and more importantly take this past the 30 day challenge and make it a life style.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs

Snack - strawberries and almonds

Lunch - Gazpacho and lettuce wraps

Snack - celery and almond butter

Dinner - "Not so crack" salad

Off to bed - looking forward to getting back to the box in the morning. It is crazy how quickly you get addicted to it and actually miss going on your days off. 

Have you ever said that about the place you workout??