I like it HOT HOT HOT!

I am so glad some of you wanted the recipe for the chili :) Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground turkey
1 28 oz. can of canned tomato(Thanks to the future father in law)
2 15 oz. cans of kidney beans
1 medium onion
1/2 large green pepper
2T chili powder(Thanks again FFIL)
1T extra spicy chili powder(Thanks again FFIL)
A large pinch of salt
2 tsp of pepper
The extra little oomph was about 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar(I remember my mom always added sugar to hers)

I started by browning the ground turkey. I actually multi-tasked and cut the veggies at the same time. Added everything to the crockpot and cooked for about 8-9 hours.

Definitely not the most complicated recipe, but it is a step up from chicken and rice.

I brought it for lunch yesterday. I threw on a 1/4C of cheese and 2T of sour cream and OMG, it was the bomb diggity dig! It was spicy, but not too spicy. Love's dads chili powder really is awesome. I think that was what made it extra special. Love doesn't like chili....he told me it wreaked! Haha! It made so much. I am going to be eating it for 2-3 weeks. I froze half of it.

Food yesterday was rushed. Cereal and coffee for breakfast(not measured), chili and a side salad for lunch, dinner was a salad with peppers(red(my favorite!!), green, yellow, and orange), cucumber slices and 2T hummus! So perfect. Love also made kung pao noodles and I had an 1/8C of those with 9 pieces of shrimp. I was never super hungry yesterday. Which is strange because I always have AM and afternoon snacks, but yesterday....I didn't touch either.

So, yesterday was overall a good eating day.

I did my 35 minute tempo run today. It left me a sweaty mess. I really have pushed myself the last 2 or 3 workouts. I have to be ready for this half marathon and I will be ready. This Saturday is my longest run ever 7 miles. I am excited/anxious/worried all at the same time.

I have decided to start weighing on the wii fit and counting my weight on Sundays. I am going to Vegas in March and would love to be in the low 120's by then. I am going to work hard! I want to get a new pair of "size 4" jeans while I am there.

Today is the funeral. I called my childhood best friend last night to tell her about my grandpa and her grandpa(her dad's dad, just like mine) passed the same day, just 5 hours before my grandpa. How strange is that?

Anyways, I am feeling better and better, just trying to buckle down and focus. Getting up at 5AM has been hard the past 2 weeks, but I am giving it my all!


Thanks again everyone for all of the support, it means so much to me! You have all brightened my day :)

Protein!

When we were at Lowe's I spotted the Hungry Girl 200 under 200 cookbook and grabbed up the last copy :) I am so excited to get cookin'!

After Lowe's and a quick stop to get Love a new phone, we went to the local market last night(which is the closest thing I have to a Whole Foods(until next January!!!!)) here in my spot in the US! I picked up some Jay Robb Protein powder packets to try, a suggestion from a "Flat Belly" book of some sort, as I ran out of protein this weekend. The Verdict? Loved it. I added the pouch to my greek yogurt(which next time will be added to something different as the serving size is HUGE!) and it was tasty. My only problem with greek yogurt is the consistency, it's not creamy but rather more chunky and I do not like that. The protein made it so good though for some reason! The kicker was that my breakfast had 38 grams of protein and I read that the average person should have 45g of protein a day. I am excited to go pick up the bigger bottle of protein to have on hand!

I did my first official tempo run today and it was hard, but I killed it. I ran 10 minutes at a 11:19 pace and then 15 minutes at a 10:06 pace. Mentally, I am working on the continuous running. It's hard, because often times, my brain wants to stop when my body wants to continue. I will continuously work on that.

I realized last week and even last night that I have no idea what portion control is, so I pulled out my best buds....the measuring spoons, measuring cups, and my biggest loser scale :). I measured everything for my dinner.

I had 4 oz. chicken
2 cups salad
2 tbsp mango vinagarette dressing
1 cup of broccoli with a sprinkle of cheese

Desert consisted of 1/2 cup peppermint ice cream and vita top chocolate

Today's eats:
Breakfast-1 Chobani Pineapple Yogurt w/ 1/4 cup granola & protein pouch
Lunch-11 oz. shrimp, 2 rings of pineapple, 2 tbsp teriyaki pineapple sauce. All over 1/2 cup jasmine rice. Salad on the side!

I am counting calories starting today. It's time to find new solutions for me, as I know I haven't done the best that I know I can!