Well it is official....

Well it is official. I am registered for the CHaFe 150 on June 12, 2010.  I think I will add a countdown to the 75 mile bike ride. This is going to be an adventure.... This is a ride for a charity so if anyone is interested in pledging money for a good cause. You can do so on my fundraising page at www.active.com/donate/chafe150/rickimartin

Registration is tonight for the big bike ride!!!

My friends and I have to register tonight at midnight for our crazy bike ride in June. It is called the ChaFe 150. We will bike from Troy Montana to Sandpoint ID (75 miles total). I am super scared, but excited at the same time. I can't believe I am going to even attempt something so huge. Thank goodness I am doing it with friends that I love. It should be an adventure to say the least!!

Honey Ginger Mahi Mahi

This is one of the first fish recipes that I found that I loved! It is easy and delicious. I buy my Mahi Mahi at Costco. It comes in individually frozen fillets. This fish is extremely mild. I also used the same marinade for some chicken tenderloins- for those kids who don't want to even try the fish. It worked just as well.

We had this last night with Quinoa.(pronounced KEEN-WA) A very yummy grain that you might not have tried before. It is faster and easier to cook than rice. It has tons of protein and other great things in it.!! Try it out!! My kids LOVE it!

Honey Ginger Mahi Mahi-  (From Allrecipes.com)


Ingredients
3 tbsp Honey
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Fresh Ginger Root
1 cloves Garlic Clove
2 tsp Olive Oil
4 fillet Mahi Mahi Fillets
1 tbsp Oil, Canola

Directions
In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

Best Food Finds of the Month!

You can not even imagine my excitement when I found unsweetened ketchup at our local food co-op. I literally squealed... I am sure the employee stocking shelves thought I was crazy. But not having ketchup has been hard. Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Unsweetened Ketchup is what I found and I love it!

The other find was Coconut Bliss Ice- Cream now this is not a low calorie food and is pricey. But one night the family wanted ice-cream and I started feeling a little left out. So I found this in the health food section of my local grocery store and I was in heaven. It is made with coconut milk and agave syrup.
I had to have some self control and have just a serving but it was so delicious. It comes in lots of flavors.
I had the Dark Chocolate. It will definitely be on my list of treats for those special occasions! YUM!

I also was impressed with a protein drink that my gym sells called  Syntha-6 . I am not positive about the sugar content but at first glance it looked safe, what I am impressed with is the protein content and other benefits they were amazing and it takes great! I plan on buying some and using it on those days that I do extra hard workouts and need to replenish.

Goals for February

It's a new month so it is time to shake things up a bit. I have decided to add at least two days of strength training a week to my 6 days of cardio routine. I am really focusing on my biking to get ready for the 82 mile bike ride in June. So I am taking at least 4 spin classes a week. One day of the week I try to get in a double spin or at least a long class if I can. I am cross training on the other two days. I had started my walk/run program but my knee is really complaining about that so I am just walking fast or doing the elliptical. My hope is that as I get in better shape and drop weight my knees will stop wining and cooperate! We shall see.... I am trying to get a strength workout for my legs figured out. Apparently my right knee doesn't like to do squats of any kind- so I am in the process of figuring out what I can do.

I am also tracking my food daily using the livestrong.com  site. I can't believe how fast and easy it is to use. I have also found that as I insert my recipes in for nutritional information, they are then available for everyone to use. I highly recommend it for whatever your health and fitness goals are. It is by far the best site I have used and it is free!  I spent way too many days this week trying to figure out what I should be eating and when... I think I had some information overload. In fact one of my best friends and I  spent a good portion of a day trying to decide what we would eat for lunch! We of course laughed about it the next day and decided that we were making WAY to big of a deal about it. I am continuing to eat very healthy, no refined sugars of any kind, and really limiting any added sugars ( honey, fruit concentrates, etc..) I have also stuck to my no white flour, pasta, or rice. It is easy for me at home. It gets a little tricky when I am not, so I have to plan ahead and make the best choices that I can. The  livestrong.com site really helps me to make sure I am getting a good daily balance of nutrition and enough calories. Another thing I learned about this week- too little calories will make your body hold onto everything- so I have found that something between 1700 and 1800 calories work. I don't feel hungry but not over-full, and have enough energy to get me through the day. I have to adjust it a bit when I have a big workout and burn lots of calories vs a day when I don't.  I have found that my tastes are really changing and when I do eat something that I think is sweet, my family looks at me like I have lost my taste buds completely! But again I can't deny that I feel better than I have in such a long time, and that has made these changes easy for me.

The Sunday Weigh in..

I am actually happy to report that today's weigh in was a 5 pound loss! I was so happy, especially since last week had me at a gain.. So all together I have lost 12 pounds. But more importantly I feel so good. I was very disappointed 2 weeks ago when the scale showed another gain when I have been working so hard that week- the calories in vs. the calories burned just didn't add up! Thank goodness I have such awesome and supportive family and friends.  I have been reading a lot this week, and have learned a little more about the science of weight loss. Our bodies fluctuate all the time and sometimes it takes a while for things to start working together. I also think that you have to look at the overall month to really get a gage for how your weight loss is working. I have been reading Bob Greene's book  The Best Life Diet  all this week and have learned a lot about how my body is handling all of these changes I am making. It is going to take time and I have to remind myself often that I AM NOT looking for a quick fix, but a change for life. But I also would be lying if I didn't say a 5 pound weight loss made me down right giddy!

Back from the long blogging break!

Well as you know our family took a week off to 'unplug' ourselves from all electronics. It was a nice break in some aspects but I really missed blogging. Then last week life for some reason was just really crazy for me. I really didn't feel like I could justify blogging when I couldn't put all my groceries away for 3 days! Part of the reason life was so hectic is that I added some new goals for myself, and that took some adjusting with my schedule. But I am feeling more on top of things now so I am excited to share some great things I learned and discovered over the past two weeks!  Read on.....