Whole30...the beginning...

Today Tyler and I started the Whole30 challenge.  Crossfit870.com is doing one final challenge and this is it! I am doing it along with some people from the gym and if I fail I have to pay $30 to the gym.  Since Tyler isn't a member of CrossFit, I had to come up with something he really liked to put on the line if he broke it! Needless to say: If Tyler Conn breaks the Whole30 then he loses his VIDEO GAMES for a MONTH!!!!!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, you can check it out at whole9life.com.  This "way of eating" is based on eliminating sugar, grains, dairy, and any processed food from your diet for 30 days to help restart your metabolism and kick your body back into gear.  After the 30 days you slowly work these foods back into your diet to see if you have any food sensitivities.  These sensitivities can be the reason you have low energy, restless sleep, weight gain, etc.  Anyways I've already prepared all our meals for today so here is what we are going to eat:
Tyler:
 Breakfast: Eggs and Bacon
 Snack: Banana and almonds
 Lunch: Steak and carrots
 Supper: Grilled Chicken Salad
Me:
 Breakfast: Bacon and Banana
 Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad
 Supper: Grilled Chicken Salad
Technically they want you to eat exactly 3 meals a day, but Tyler has a tendency to get the munchies at work so I packed healthy snacks last night for him to throw into his work bag this morning! I am really excited to do this challenge! Hopefully I'll be able to keep everybody posted on our progress!!!

Here we go again on our own...

Well people believe it or not, I am finished with text book work for graduate school.  I completed my last class this past week and today I began my fourth and FINAL clinical at The Learning Center here in Jonesboro! I am slightly overwhelmed when I begin to ponder on everything that has happened over the past 15 months and I can't believe it is coming to an end.  I moved to this town without any friends and NOT excited about attending Arkansas State University, and I now understand God was completely in control.  This change in my life brought about maturity and growth like never before.  It also brought into my life AMAZING new friends both male ;-) and female!  I could never have asked for a better group of ladies to go through this journey with and I appreciate so much how each of them has helped to make me into the clinician I am today.  Each of these ladies touched my life in a special way and they will never be forgotten.  I'll be the first to admit I was not excited about attending ASU, but after the past 15 months I can honestly say it was great! I feel prepared to tackle whatever the world throws at me! Along with how great school has been, I must confess that my life away from school has been AWESOME as well! I am active in my church (Valley View church of Christ) and I am dating the man of my dreams.  God is always in control of our lives and that is something I tend to forget.  He placed me in this town for a reason and I am so thankful He did.  To anyone who is frustrated with where life has put them, just remember God has a plan and there are amazing things waiting for you just around the corner.  My only advice is: keep an open mind to change because you never know what incredible thing awaits you!

CrossFit870

So... approximately 3 months ago I started CrossFit at CrossFit870 here in Jonesboro! The goal of starting some form of a workout routine was because I had gained so much weight since starting grad school! Well now I am going to Crossfit 5-6 days a week and I LOVE IT! It is official that I am 100% addicted! So you may be wondering if I've lost the 15 pounds I had gained, but the answer is NO! I'm not really mad about it though because I am so much stronger than I was when I started a few months ago.  This week alone I accomplished 2 personal records!!! I deadlifted 200# and I did high bar back squats of 160#.  When I started just a few short months ago the 30# bar almost killed me! Needless so say I love getting stronger and feeling better every day! If you are in the Jonesboro area and want to workout at a place that will challenge you daily and help you become a better YOU...I strongly recommend CrossFit870!!!

Gettin' Healthy

So I've spent the past month going to Crossfit at Crossfit870 here in Jonesboro.  Well they started a paleo challenge diet the week I started going there to work out.  For those of you who don't know the paleo diet is basically eating like a hunter/gatherer avoiding carbohydrates and refined sugar.  I sometimes break this diet plan because I LOVE CARBS, but lately I've been trying really hard.  Needless to say I came across an awesome recipe on pinterest for low-carb pizza!!! I am a HUGE fan of pizza so I knew I needed to try this recipe. Basically instead of using flour as the crust you use cauliflower!!! Yummy!!! I decided to try this recipe today since I had a few extra hours to waste...

I started here with this entire head of cauliflower! I then cut off the stems and leaves and used my magic bullet to make it more like actual flour.

After you get everything mixed together you bake the crust by itself....

Then you add your toppings!!!! I used tomato paste, ground turkey, cheddar cheese, onions, and tomatos.

Here is the final product!!! I accident turned my phone sideways this time so it needs to be rotated, but you get the point!

--The end result was a very delicious close to pizza tasting cauliflower pizza. It does NOT taste exactly like pizza crust, but it really is yummy.  I allowed myself to eat one piece before Tyler got off work! Whoops! Now I'm waiting for him to get here so I can devour the rest! Anyways here is the website that gave me the exact recipe... http://stickafork.net/2012/04/16/cauliflower-crust-pizza/ Enjoy eating this low-carb pizza!!! I wish I knew the total calorie count, but oh well it's still yummy!

Turning things around...

So when I moved to Jonesboro I was in the process of losing lots of weight! I lost about 15 pounds that I have now gained back plus some! I blame stress from GRAD SCHOOL and having an AWESOME BOYFRIEND, but never the less these factors have increased my waist size.  So I have contemplated the past several weeks/months what I could do to fix this weight increase.  After talking to several friends I have decided to try Crossfit.  This new activity will begin on Tuesday at 5:30 and I am unbelievably terrified.  I mean the people on the Reebok Crossfit games on TV are super fit.  I am super out of shape so this may be a challenge.  Anyways hopefully I won't wait this long before I blog again.  Maybe if I blog about my Crossfit experience I'll stick to it longer.  Tyler and I are doing it together so hopefully he'll bring extra motivation.  Here goes nothing...