Tuesday Whiteout.

Hey Kids. Yea it's still snowing. I had no idea how late it was- it's like 7:30pm and here I am knee deep in some WORK. Sometimes, when you are in the zone you just keep at it, ya know? ;-) But now, I need a bubble bath. I'm beat. And Aunt Flo just arrived and she's on my last nerve. She brought chocolate too. BIOTCH!!! ;-0

I'm gonna tell you kids- the gluten free thing, and getting rid of as much dairy...I'm very encouraged. It's odd, or at least I think it's odd because I didn't expect this. But with each day, I find it much easier to not be tempted at all by the foods I'm eliminating from my 'way of eating'. It's as if you become more powerful in the mindset and when the thought comes of "Wow. A Piece of Pizza sure sounds good...." enters in, I find it much easier to respond mentally with "I'm not eating that anymore. I've come this far already...." 

One thing is- when you go gluten free or dairy free- and a good portion of your diet included those foods it is very important to stock up your house with options. Thank heavens for Peapod delivering groceries today because as of yesterday I didn't have much here. And I was SO not going to shove some gluten down my throat LOL. So, today I now have a ton of fruit, a ton of vegetables, some chicken breasts (going to cook some chicken with rice/vegies), some shrimp, some salad mixings, and lots of heroin. 

Just seeing if you are paying attention!! Gotcha!

Bubble Bath Time. Then.....a few gallons of chocolate. hehehe

Monday Manjoyment.

DAYUM. 

*Ahem*

Hey kids!! Are you starting off this Monday with a POP?? Whatcha waiting fo? CRUSH IT!! ;-)

This morning's workout was Cathe's Butts N Guts followed by Cathe MMA Boxing, about 25 minutes. I was originally going to do some Insanity or Plyo but seriously- I smoked my lower body so hard that I knew the legs were toast. I needed some cardio that was upper body focused. So- the MMA boxing was perfect!! A hot sweaty mess of caloric burn. 

We are getting a "snowstorm" starting tonight through tomorrow all day- 12 inches or so. I feel like our snowstorms are lame now compared to DC. Isn't that funny? So many of my friends and colleagues are without power! Pray for them, they all seem to be hanging in there but my gosh. BRRRR!!

Gluten free, week #1 and I'm in it. I had 1 day last week where I had a tummy ache and that was after having sushi at the airport. That could have been multiple things- maybe the soy sauce or just something "funny" in the sushi. Yuk. And then yesterday/today for some queer reason I feel really nauseous. WTH? I don't have time for sickness anymore! Be GONE! I've got WORK TO DO! (I love that song....Vanessa Williams, have you heard it? Oldie.)

Gotta run kids. You all have a kick butt Monday. My goal for this week is 9 workouts; 3 days of weights + cardio (=2 workouts) and 3 days of cardio only + abs. And all I have to say is Thank God Krispy Kreme doesn't make gluten free donuts. I'm just sayin.

Here is some-more Shemar for ya:

And here is some incoherent babbling for you. I'm warning you, I didn't have nearly enough caffeine going on here:

And here's the sassy Vanessa Williams song I mention above. I'VE GOT WORK TO DO PEEPS. 

Ending the week with a POP!!

I'm starting to feel the ab love. I'm starting to actually feel that by summer, with my diet efforts and training efforts, I will be sporting some lovely abs. Seriously. It has been a while since I've been able to say that. It rocks. 

Just had a killer workout: P90X Shoulders/Arms followed by Cathe's Cardio Core Circuit; Sweet Mother of God that's a hard cardio workout. SERIOUS STUFF. Lots of swearing and gasping! ;-)

Here is a peek. I must run, haircut today! Finally! And I believe I see some sushi and massage in my future.....and a movie? YUM.

Speaking of the abs/core focus, I just ordered this box of toys:

WHAT IS YOUR WORKOUT TODAY? 

TGIF. Dang! ;-) In a good way.

Holy Cow, lots of talking today! Have a great Friday peeps! Love ya!

Eating Healthy On the Road. It's DOABLE people.

I've been wanting to do this post for a while on the idea of eating healthy when traveling, or for those of you that find yourself eating out more often than not. After the Taco Bell ads came out referring to a "Taco Bell Diet" - everyone on FB and Twitter was all aghast, freaking out about it. Let me tell you- yes, Taco Bell has some "junk food" for sure, so does every restaurant, but you don't have to make those choices! Many restaurants have plenty of healthy options AND you can ASK THEM TO MAKE IT HOW YOU WANT IT. 

I've had the Taco Bell Fresco Style soft tacos for years as a standby. I find them yummy, I love that they are only 170 calories each and like 4 ingredients! (And cheap! Hello!) Nutritional information is easily found for most items at most restaurants on their websites, which allows us to plan ahead.....!!! 

Just last week I saw that a favorite old restaurant of mine, Bob Evans (midwest area) is now offering "Fit From The Farm" options on their menu: Click Here To Read More.

I used to visit Bob Evans a LOT when I went to Ohio State and lived in Columbus. Here in Chicago we don't have them, but I may be visiting a colleague in Peoria this month, and we plan to test out the menu and report back. If any of you live near a Bob Evans, try it out and let me know.

Panera Bread- yes, it's carb heaven there. BUT tons of healthy options- great soups, salads and - all the caloric information is on their site! PLAN AHEAD. It is easy to eat delicious food while out and about- and still stay in a good "diet" plan. 

Even McDonalds has fantastic options, they are offering more than ever before. I've tried their coffees and was pleasantly surprised at the yum factor. Yes, you can order it skim. Their Egg McMuffin is a good breakfast on the run at only 300 calories, carb + protein! I personally have not tried the salads but I will tell you, I hear raves from other bloggers about the salads. 

Updated: READ THIS ARTICLE ON MORE RESTAURANTS OFFERING HEALTHIER OPTIONS. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What healthy choices are your favorites, and at what restaurants? Do you have travel tips for healthy eating in airports, at hotels, etc

Geez. Vlog from two days ago.

Sorry kids. Shot this one two days ago- finally got into a good high speed connection to upload it. Yikes.

Happy Hump Day!

Hey Kids!! How is your week going? Mine is FLYING by- we have been so busy, lots of fun work projects and a sales seminar also. Yea, I know that sounds dull but it was so so fantastic. But, this week has been jam packed with travel, work, travel, training, working out, and all that jazz. Sadly I have really had issues uploading my vlog- I am using Verizon Broadband when I'm on the road and the speed is nowhere near what I have with a regular cable connection at home. (Counting down to 4G availability!HELLO!) So- I got lucky the other day when that video uploading, I've tried for  2 days to upload my last one and it takes like 2 hours and then gives me an error message. I'll have to figure out some kind of alternative solution because I have to be able to vlog on the road! DANG!

Day 4 of gluten free was great. I had the same breakfast (I will need to consider other options for breakfast on the road, this will get boring!) of omelette and coffee. Yum. Then for lunch I had a scoop of chicken salad with a banana. Later that afternoon I had a Luna bar. No afternoon Starbucks! Then for dinner I had some sushi with a salad and ginger dressing; green tea. That reminded me of how much I like green tea. I'm going to pack my green tea and peppermint tea bags for the road. Lara Bars rock. Really fills that desire for a sweet carby snack.

NO tummy ache at all. I also don't find myself "craving" as much as before. I also feel that I see a difference in the mirror already. Whoa. 

So, I worked out Sunday and Monday. Yesterday- tummy ache. Tonight I'm doing hotel workout. Tomorrow morning I hope to as well, because my day is packed and I'm flying home tomorrow night. Then Friday and Saturday I will do double workouts. So hopefully I will end this week with 6-8 workouts total. 

How is your week?

Question of the day: Do you drink tea? Are you good about drinking water? Do you drink Crystal Light? What is your non-alcoholic drink of choice?

Gluten Free is Loving Me.

Wow you guys, I am learning so much on this gluten-free path. And tonight, thanks to my lovely Tammy - I am going to be reading Elizabeth Hassleback's book on going "G-Free". So interesting how much more prevalent gluten-intolerance and Celiac disease is. And bottom line- overall, I think most of us agree that the things made from wheat/flour  blahblahblah are not ideal for our diet. **Please note I am NOT trying to sell you on going gluten-free, just sharing my experience. My reason for doing this first and foremost is to hopefully eliminate the tummy issues that have plagued me in my early twenties and thirties....then I got rid of most of them for a while (as my diet improved) but recently, the stomach aches came back. Pain, bloating, and discomfort. I don't want to just "live with it".So that, in addition to the additional great possibility that going gluten free will also aid in my fat loss goals~ that's where I'm coming from. Understand?

So, day 3 of gluten free. I had an omelette with spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella for breakfast with coffee. For lunch I had a salad from Baja Fresh with lettuce/black beans/salsa/steak/tomatoes/guac/sour cream. <<---later this afternoon I had a slight tummy ache. I think it is either the guac or the sour cream. In the Eat Right For Your Type book, he says Type O's should avoid avocado and dairy....on one hand, he says that mozzarella, goat cheese and feta cheese are ok in moderation, he definitely says cut out the dairy as much as possible. My dairy challenges right now would be the cream in my coffee.....on a normal day I'm not going to encounter as much of an opportunity for cheese- and the cheese in breakfast didn't upset my tummy. But I do really want to focus on cutting down the dairy too. I KNOW cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, anything with a TON of cheese or like melted Brie- major tummy ache for me. 

Life is too short to walk around with a dang stomach ache all the time. And guess what? Because of my tummy ache this evening, I got all dressed for my evening workout and couldn't do it.....too cramped up.  Sucktastic.

Anyway, I think the next few weeks will be really interesting to see what happens with my body. I am interested to see if my tummy aches disappear as I go more dairy free and more gluten free. I'm also interested to see if my fat loss accelerates at all. 

Tell me about any of your experiences with gluten free/dairy free. I've gotten a ton of emails from you and lots of comments, I'm dying to hear more.

Tomorrow's post is going to be about; eating healthy on the road; RESTAURANTS that are offering great options for healthy eating that taste dang good too! Stay tuned.

VLOG to follow- either my Verizon Broadband ISN'T high speed or YouTube is having issues because uploading my video is taking 2.5 HOURS. What is up w/that? At home it is 20 minutes! GRRRR

Question of the day: Do you have tummy issues that plague you? have you considered going gluten-free or dairy free or both? or did any of you try another "way of eating" like vegetarian/vegan, and how did that change your health and your weight?

Monday Manjoyment. Updated.

Yummy.

Enough said. Gotta run kids, I have an event to attend. But- to answer your question~ yes I worked out this morning. I did Ilaria's Kickboxing followed by some shoulder work with the bands. It was lovely. If I wasn't heading out tonight I would do a bit more cardio but oh well. 

Update: I am giving myself 2 snaps. I attended an event tonight where they had: 9-Layer Mexican dip (with chips), hummus and pita, lots of other carby goodness AND CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH WHITE ICING. OMG. That is my favorite sugary carby snack. I had NONE. Water. only. Gold star for Kelly.

Also- day two of gluten free madness and I am tummy-ache-FREE!! I love it!! ;-) I am a bit full this evening, as I had a rushed conference call in my hotel so I ordered a steak again. I'm really FULL because I ate the whole thing, it was delicious but I was not that hungry! Not uncomfortably full, just enough that I noticed it.

Also- Lara Bars are gluten free!! WOOT!! 

Ok- gotta run. Vlog tomorrow I promise!

Sunday.

Yea. Bring it.

I'm traveling most of the week y'all. And today marks yet another new beginning for me. Remember I've been blathering on about recent tummy-aches haunting me again? How I wanted to get rid of any bad stuff I may have been incorporating again that was  causing the bloat etc.? Well I went back and read a book that originally opened my eyes a couple years ago; Eat Right For Your Type. I am O-Positive and this book was what first made me realize how sensitive I am to dairy. I re-read it and it talks a LOT about how gluten can be really a bad fit for my blood type and how it can also cause weight gain and/or the inability to lose fat. I'm all about two big things here- FEELING BETTER (i.e. no more perpetual stomach pains)and anything to aid in my fat loss objective. I thought about it, and I was very much hesitant to say, "Kelly no more bagels. No more muffins....this is gluten free"....BUT then I was like, my gosh, how much of my life is affected by 1) being so uncomfortable when I have stomach aches and 2) having to work 5x harder for fat loss? Life is too short. I plan to try this and do it as close to 100% as I can, and see what happens to me over the next month. I anticipate that I may be very happy with what I see and how I feel. 

Stay tuned.

Today- even while traveling, I was gluten free- I had a steak salad for lunch. I had a soy latte and then a steak and asparagus for dinner with a tomato/mozzarella salad (you can have goat cheese and mozzarella in limited amounts). NO TUMMY ACHES AT ALL. NONE. No bloating. 

Awesome. Also - checked into my hotel and - worked out first thing! I did Cathe's Travel Fit- very good workout although I BROKE THE BAND!! Bollocks!!!! (@#(&^$%#  But it IS indeed a very nice workout! I give it 4 stars. Not INSANELY kick butt, but very very good.

Vlog is uploading. Stay tuned!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you know what blood type you are? Do you have food sensitivities? Have you cut out dairy or gluten?