Simplicity, chaos, but so much love!

Okay, I am about to do something I have not yet done! Post before and after pics from my first 90 day challenge! Yes, there are results photos everywhere! Here, here, and even here!  And yes, these are real people with real results. But I think it means more when it is someone you know! I was reluctant to post as I am in a sports bra and it is very humbling to see where I was! But, man...the road ahead looks great!
So here goes nothing....

Don't mind the mess behind me! I clearly didn't read the directions to be in front of a wall or door! :)

 Not perfect by any means but definitely progress! Cannot wait to take my #viresults photos in 74 more days! You can see the definition starting, hoping to have some lean muscles by the end of this 90 day challenge!

With my 12# loss I got my free "I LOST IT" tee from Project 10! And 30 because I uploaded my "I want it" and "I Lost It" videos, 30 shake meals were donated to a child in need! Maybe next time, I will win the $1000!

That's right! CHALLENGE is ON! My 2nd #BBVi challenge has officially started! This time, I am joined by my handsome husband! He has just this year joined me in my running obsession (though he doesn't have the love for it that I do!) and now we are going to CRUSH our challenge together!
We are completing this 90 day challenge to reduce body fat and build lean muscle mass. Me specifically to reduce mine by 5%! I am currently at 29% which is in the normal range, but ideal is 21%! View information about body fat here!
We are both replacing 1 meal a day with a Vi-Shape meal shake and consuming one Vi-Shape simple shake post workout! Clean eating otherwise! Changing to whole grains, low sugar intake, clean clean clean!
Clean eating is much easier than one would think! Here is a great simple 5-step guide!


Want to join the CHALLENGE with us? Go here for more information. Follow my CHALLENGE!

Yes I was! After my chronic costal cartilage injury took me out of it for several months and gaining almost 15#! I needed HELP! A dream was to run a FULL marathon! That's right 26.2 lovely miles of road! I had already registered for the Monumental Marathon in January and after all of this, I thought there was no chance I could run half of it, let alone finish! I was crushed and desperate! Then I heard about THE CHALLENGE! Have you heard of the challenge!? HE HE! :) Best decision EVER!
I started this challenge on July 29th which put me at finishing the 90 day challenge one week prior to the marathon! See my challenge timeline here!
My goal -10# by martahon time. Short and sweet! Didn't really have any other goals! Just that! 10#, GONE! And guess, what! I lost those in 60 days!
I joined the challenge with the Shape Kit to give me 2 shakes a day. Less than $2 per serving! Do you spend more than $2 for a meal? I did, so this has saved me $! With my job, I ate out for breakfast or lunch several times a week and spent a minimum of $5 per meal, not to mention the coffee breaks that cost $3-5 each!

 So, here is what we did! He loves the chompies and so we centered around the color green. There are 8 elements of: undead, water, air, fire, magic, earth, tech, and life. We created at least one game for each element.

For water we had a good ole water balloon toss!

For undead we had cut out sharks out of water! Guests had to use a straw to suck the shark to  and race to a finish line and back to water to restore life!

For earth they also were able to crack open homemade dirt rocks to reveal a crystal! (I found this recipe on Pinterest).

Also for air guest got a balloon raced to the chair to pop!

As a side game we had pin the tail on Spyro. My 13 year old son drew him on a poster free hand! :)

Fire was blowing out the candles!

Also for earth we had a scavenger hunt where we had guests find a stick, leaves, and a rock or pebble. Games without pictures: we allowed for guests to plant flowers in tiny pots for life. For tech we had 6 gold cans that we stack 3-2-1 and guests had a squirt gun to knock them down. For magic we  had a shark (Terrafin) pinata with candy and prizes in! (Remember Griffin is only 5!) For food we had a combination of things: not pictured are level up lemonade (which was gingerade punch) power up pizza and chompies truffles (oreo truffles) Griffins fav are my chocolate cupcakes and that's what he got We dipped pretzels in green candy melts sprinkled with green sugar for prism break pretzels.   We had watermelon slices for wrecking ball watermelon. Super tasty golden gear pineapple! No party is complete with out stomp smash fruits and veggies!   Lastly were the favors which guests had Skylander Giants coloring pages, the prizes from the pinata and these gumball favors with thank you notes.   Of course most of the presents were also Skylander as well so our Griffin had a GREAT day! On to planning the next party...a Fashion Swap wine tasting with all my fav gals! :)

So, in going through the end of the stack or recipes in my menu board, I was ready to add some new recipes and I decided on baked meatball hoagies, and this is what I did....
To make the Italian meatballs, I chose ground turkey. For us, we have really been substituting turkey for almost all red meat and pork. It is so much more lean and higher in protein plus has much less fat content. And truly doesn't really change the flavor. So here's what I did for meatballs:

2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs (mine were Italian blend)
1/3 cup fresh parsley (or 2-3 T dried)
3-4 T fresh oregano (1 T dried)
2 teaspoon fresh rosemary (same dried)
1teaspoon dry mustard(1 T prepared mustard can substitute)
1/3 cup pizza sauce (you can substitute tomato sauce, ketchup or marinara)
Healthy pinch of salt
4 garlic cloves (3-4 t of minced garlic can be used)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and form tablespoon size meatballs. I used my Pampered Chef medium scoop to make them so they are all roughly the same size and cook equally. This recipe makes about 40 meatballs. I put a cookie sheet on my baking sheet to keep the meatballs off of the excess fluid. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until interior is no longer pink.
Then I took a package of 6 hoagies (sad because we prefer whole grain but we couldn't find any whole grain), put 4 ,eat balls in each hoagie, then I took half a jar of traditional spaghetti sauce and half a jar or pizza sauce and mixed them together. I topped the meatballs on the hoagies with the blended sauce and then took a block of mozzarella cheese and shredded atop of each hoagie. Lastly I sprinkled with Parmesan. Bake at 400 until the cheese is bubbly.
We serve with a side salad and as long as you don't put too much sauce, you can eat like sandwich. Everyone loved them, very kid friendly. Aside from the white hoagies, it's a very healthy meal as well.

After two days with sick kids at home, two sleepless nights because of my daughter being up all throughout the night, then having a terrible storm here in Indiana last night that made us lose power 6 times (yes, I said 6, and each time I reset my alarm clock for fear of over sleeping) Wednesday was not looking like a great HUMP DAY! However, starting my day with my devotional, it got brighter! From my Busy Mom's Bible from Zondervan, my devotion reminded me that "caring for our outward appearance is not wrong as long as we remeber to focus on our inner thoughts and attitudes too". It reminded me that I need to take time preparing my heart, just like I take time preparing my physical body (showering, exercising, etc.).
 

 In working for a large non-profit and being the only paid staff member, my time is so constrained, but I love what I do. I had so much to do today and was pleasantly surprised by a few new contributions today, which of course brightened my day again! Nevertheless, I was happy to break from work for my weekly Rotary International meeting. If you are not familiar with Rotary, it is a service club that brings together professionals in local "clubs" for humanitarian projects and to bring
about a sense of goodwill and peace. Rotarians try to live life by the 4-way test..which is:

Of the things we think, say or do

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? (http://www.rotary.org/en/AboutUs/RotaryInternational/GuidingPrinciples/Pages/ridefault.aspx)

At today's meeting we had the priviledge of having Indiana Supreme Court Justice Steve David as our guest speaker. Wow, what a delight! After hearing him today, I can confirm, he is simply a "normal guy". He said a few things that really resonated with me that I not only wanted to share, but thought this would be a great charge for individuals. First he said "don't focus on your 'to do' list, focus your energy on your 'to be' list!"  What a great thought provoking statement. We, and by we I mean me, are so focused on all of the things we have to do each day. I don't just metaphorically either, I literally make a "to do" list every day! I also find it very hard to sleep at night if I do not get everything checked off of that list. In considering this, I really do want to focus on what I AM rather than what I have TO DO!