Some days...

Confession... some days I just don't want to be a working mom anymore. I am tired of getting up early. I am tired of running a million miles an hour and only seeing my kids for a couple hours. I'm tired today. I just want to play at the park and swim in the pool and run around with my kids all day every day.

We can all dream, right???

This week I have turned over a new leaf. While I love getting up early every day, I realize I am getting kind of tired. I could use a little more sleep. Also, I have been working out every morning but that doesn't give my hubs any time to workout and he is back on the bandwagon so we need to find a balance. I have always wondered if I could be one of those people who works out on her lunch break. I'm not a big sweater, my hair is often in a ponytail and the gym is only 10 minutes from my office so the logistics seem like they just might just work. Yesterday I tried it out and SUCCESS, I could get used to this! Such a nice break in the day, felt like a restart button was pushed at lunch time. Going to try to work in this little routine 2x a week and see how it goes.

30 minutes, found a good read and did some good intervals. Here's a routine that burns calories fast and also makes the time fly by!

10 min on the elliptical

10 min on the treadmill

10 min on the stairclimber

Now let's see if I can stick to it.

Workouts:

Yesterday - lunchtime cardio

Today - early a.m. barre class + a plan to walk the kids home from school

Clean it up.

Fall is coming. It's time for change, time to clean it up. Summer has been fun and so has allowing myself to eat anything in sight! So many posts about exercise and great recipes, but maybe I should start posting more about my bad habits... like this one :)

I am vowing to clean it up. My favorite trainer (Jillian of course) talked so much in her show about monitoring what goes in as much as what you burn. So probably waking up at 4:30 am to workout like a crazy person is not worth it when you eat half a pizza for dinner...easier said than done. Everyone deserves to cheat here and there, but I am starting this fall with more veggies, more protein and less of my favorite food group, sugar!!! Monday is almost over, so far so good. Let's see what happens after dinner. I may need some suggestions on low cal, lower sugar desserts. Because let's get serious, I am not giving up dessert.

Workouts:

Weekend - family jog to the park + Sunday afternoon fire class

Today - early a.m. fusion class

High-School Skinny

I heard the funniest radio commercial on the way to work today. Take a pill... get high-school skinny. HA! High school skinny? Who wants to look like that? I sure don't remember having a super fly body in high school! Hey radio person, how about get up and go to the gym and eat healthy and get strong... it reminded me that there is no easy way to do this, and it's worth it to put in all the hard work every day. Getting up this week has been especially painful after a fun weekend celebrating my sister's wedding, but it's worth it. Once I'm working out and in the groove, I never regret it and it frees up my evening to do all sorts of fun things!

So after 2 days in a row of leg workouts that having me limping around the office, I will consider today "high school skinny" day and maybe pass on that afternoon cookie :)

Workouts:

Monday - early a.m. fusion mix + evening walk with a friend

Tuesday - early a.m. fusion mix class

Summer Weather

Sometimes I get caught up in workout classes and fitness machines and forget how amazing an outdoor workout can be. Somehow the summer has flown by and the winter will be here before we know it so I am reminding myself I need to get outside as much as I can. I used to be so good about walking and bike rides and lately, well... we have been lazy. So this week we are back at it. Walking home when we can, running around in the yard, riding bikes, even if it is just to the park and back. The benefits of exercise plus breathing in the fresh air while spending time with my kids is priceless.

Plus, there are so many amazing workouts you can do outside, especially when pushing a stroller full of 40 lbs of boy :)

Workouts:

Yesterday - early a.m. fusion class + walk home from school

Today - rest day + walk home from school

Planning Ahead

Why does Monday always come so fast?? Our weekend was jam packed with festivals, ball games, our big race, pool time and major house cleaning. Somehow I did manage to sneak in one quick trip to the gym (negotiated during nap time of course) for an afternoon fire class where I think I sweat out every ounce of water in my entire body. I think I will save that again for winter.

Anyway, we had a blast running Race for the Cure with 15,000 other KC friends. I ran with my 4 year old and we managed to run almost the entire race. I love watching my kids get into running and fitness and helping them learn to lead a healthy lifestyle!

Here is our family, we were part of a big team of friends, family and co-workers all there to support my sister-in-law wearing KC Royals blue.

So as usual, we have a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend which leaves all of us completely exhausted on Monday morning :) And this is wedding week for my little sister which means it's not getting any easier anytime soon. All the more reason to do some planning ahead. This summer has been wild and I have strayed from my meal planning and I can tell the difference in how often I am eating on the go. So back to pre-planning my meals, starting with breakfast! I always struggle with new breakfast ideas and default to eggs, day after day, BORING. So I got online, searched crockpot+breakfast and found an amazing recipe for apple cinnamon steel cut oatmeal, cooks in the crockpot and serves 8! That's enough breakfast (if you double the recipe) for the whole family for the week.

Check out the Let's Eat tab for details on ingredients and cals.

 
Workouts:

Saturday - 30 minute walk

Sunday - Race for the Cure 5k + fusion fire class

Monday - early a.m. fusion class

Getting Healthy for a Cause

TGIF! The weekend ahead is going to be a fun one for me, a baseball game, a birthday party and on of my favorite KC events, Race for the Cure! I love the opportunity to run for a good cause :) My hubs and I are good for at least 10 or more charity races a year. I'm an addict, what a great thing to be addicted to though! So Sunday we will Race for a Cure with Susan G. Komen and 15,000 of our KC friends. It's a bittersweet race, we have been running this race almost every year since we have been married and in KC and it is one of our favs. Every year I love the energy, I push myself so hard because I watch people around me who have been through hell and I always tear up when I see the amazing survivors in pink shirts, but never did I think I would be running to find a cure for someone in my family... This year, we have a 50+ person team running for my sister in law (who just finished her last chemo treatment) and we are so happy to be able to support her and such an amazing cause.

So here's to getting in shape while supporting a cause close to my heart :)

Workouts

Thursday - rest day

Friday - early a.m. tabata class

Hiking, Travel and Back to real life.

Ahhhh, coming back to real life never felt so good. But what an amazing vacation we had! We walked, we hiked, drank local beer, hiked some more and watched our friends get married with a view of the mountains and winery behind them. Amazing. And now I am SO happy to be home. Back to my life as a working mom, where I belong!

Luckily, there is no need for the hotel gym when you have this just down the road

We did a shorter, slightly more challenging hike the first day then a 6 mile hike the second day filled with waterfalls and amazing forests. The beauty of nature never disappoints!

So back to that real life thing... home again with my hands full, no time, traveling husband, the usual. So I decided to add these gems to my collection. Pretty cheap on amazon, FYI. Haven't tried them out yet, but they are on my list for the week and will give you a recap soon!

Note: Check out the Let's Eat page for a fun new recipe, plans beginning soon to update this page WAY more frequently!

Workouts:

Monday - early a.m. fusion class

Tuesday - evening barre class