January 5th Already?

Hard to believe we are already 5 days into January. And it's Thursday.

January 5th!?!?

I have had a pretty good first few days of the year.

I have exercised between 50 and 80 minutes three of the last four days, and will exercise today, too.

After the New Years Day hill-hike, I went on Tuesday for an almost 4 mile walk. My race training officially started!

Yesterday I used my new body ball (Thank you Christopher!) and did a workout that I am feeling today! My back and the back of my thighs are sore!

I have done a pretty good job with my eating. The first couple days of the month were less good, but I have been tracking my calories and am reminded (again) how quickly those extra calories add up! It is good for me to see it in black and white and to keep that in mind.

Knowing how many calories I had eaten yesterday by the end of lunch time made it easier for me to skip my afternoon snack, drink water instead, and eat a healthy dinner with no after dinner dessert/snack. I stayed within my calorie range yesterday which made me happy.

Brown rice, black beans and seasonings heated, topped with grape tomatoes, 1/3 avocado and greens. Eaten with a spoon to slow me down. Side of my brothers homemade bread and butter pickles and an ounce of home-mixed (not store bought) nuts.

Yesterday I also worked on food prep. I have mentioned many times before, and will again, how critical food prep is for my success.

There are times when I love to get into the kitchen and cook, prep, prepare and create, but most of the time I just want to have something to eat and I don't want to take all dang day to make it. Having healthy food options ready to go is a life saver for me, and it makes lunch making in the morning that much simpler.

Yesterday I chopped carrots, celery, onion, red and yellow bell peppers, and jicama and put them in containers in the fridge. I also made a big batch of quinoa and stuck that in the fridge. I opened a can of black beans and rinsed them off and put them in the fridge, too.

I also used my new triple crock (LOVE IT!) to make my version of Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Stew from Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Roberston, and a leftover turkey and wild rice stoup/casserole.

2.5 quarts each, with individual temp settings.

The White Bean soup has diced frozen tomatoes from my garden, some fresh grape tomatoes, some dried tomatoes and some smoked tomatoes (all from my garden) in the slow cooker with white beans, onion, garlic, broth, fennel seeds, oregano, pepper and a chopped red bell pepper. I let that cook on high for about 5 or 6 hours and then tossed in four or five frozen ice cubes of homemade pesto. That all went into the fridge to cool and I will eat some of it this week/end and some of it will go into the freezer for future lunches.

The leftover turkey stoup/casserole was about 2 cups of cubed leftover turkey that we fried on New Years day, chopped fresh mushrooms, a cup of uncooked wild rice, onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, pepper, frozen green beans from my garden, chopped carrots, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and broth. All that went into the crock pot for about 5 or 6 hours and then it, too, got parceled out into containers. Those will also be available for a meal this week/end and will go into the freezer for future meals.

I used the third crock to heat the last of my homemade canned tomato sauce. I cooked the last spaghetti squash from our garden in the oven and for dinner we had spaghetti squash topped with the heated tomato sauce and a bit of leftover turkey for protein. Very tasty. (I was going to serve a side salad but I didn't like the looks of my lettuce).

In the midst of all that, of course, we had to have some play time.

And play makes us sleepy.

Today is off to a good start as well, with a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, topped with frozen fresh blueberries (bought locally at my farm stand last summer), and some dried cranberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon. YUM.

Yesterday on Facebook Jillian Michaels posted a challenge to remove one unhealthy thing from your life for a week, as a way to get started with decreasing or removing that habit from your life for longer.

I made the following goals for a week, starting yesterday, through 1/11/12.

1: no bread products
2: include fruit or veggie with every meal
3: plan for healthy and calorie appropriate snacks
4: log food & exercise daily
5: Exercise at least 5 times for at least 20 minutes

Having both short and long term goals is helpful for me in building a feeling of success and achievement.

Do you food prep? How are your goals holding up so far?