Time to get crack-a-lackin' crock-a-lockin'

Hey Hey Hey!

Today is going to be a good day. Look what I got in the mail:

Yay! I love getting this kind of mail!

Ok, so I lied didn't post again yesterday like I said I would. OOPS! When my Italian Hunk got home from work yesterday, we immediately headed to the chiropractor to get adjustments before they closed. Good thing, too, because I had just come from the gym where I had an intense Back/Bicep workout yesterday. When I say intense, I mean that my trustworthy workout partner, Polar F7 HRM, read 730 calories burned in about 70 minutes. Holy geez, Batman! What's even more surprising is that I forgot my iPod and didn't even have my music with me to pump me up and give me that extra adrenaline boost! (Sad, but I can remember a time or two when I would not even go to the gym if I didn't have my tunes. Pfft, how lame! Not anymore!)

Anyway, like I said, yesterday's strength training was intense and I was sweating buckets in the first five minutes! BTW- maybe it's just me, but I feel stronger and sexier than ever when I'm lifting and am all hot and drenched dewy from my workout. I absolutely love the "high" I feel when I challenge myself and break plateaus. I even love it when big "muscleheads" roll their eyes because I've got a barbell they need and they have to wait for me to finish. (Granted,they may want the barbell to do pinky exercises while I'm working to failure on my biceps, but still!) I feel I belong in there, which is more than I can say only four months ago when I was intimidated to even go upstairs. I remember buying a few hand weights (5, 8 and 10 pounds) and thinking doing a few sets of those a week would get me the body I want. Boy, was I wrong! I think I lift more weight than that just picking up my purse HA! Now those hand weights are used in case I want to add weight to donkey kicks:

Source

or when doing ab exercises or even to do push-ups:

Source

Anyway, it's amazing how much has changed within the past four months since I started doing Body-for-Life.

Eating clean and lifting has not only changed my body, but also my attitude, and I feel much more confident and driven to achieve my goals. I wonder if I'll ever feel confident enough to post the dreaded "BEFORE" pictures, but you can trust me when I say, it wasn't pretty. You can bet, though, I'll be posting my "AFTER" pics from my first show! I'm looking forward to rewarding myself with a photo shoot to continue to motivate me to stay fit and active!

Today I'm off on a mission to find a new food scale. Currently, I am using this thorn in my side food scale and for some weird reason it no longer displays weight in ounces or pounds and only in grams. I.do.not.like.this. Not to mention, whenever the microwave is on, the thing starts going crazy and flashes numbers really quickly and in random order. I think it's possessed!

(Oh, how nice! It actually says "Hello" to me when I turn it on.)

Pfft, please. It's more like, "Hello, this is all you are getting for lunch".)

Before when I was doing Body-For-Life, I simply used the palms and fists of my hand to gauge correct portions of protein and carbohydrates. That worked wonders for me and I miss the simplicity of doing that. You better believe I'll be "retiring" my food scale once competition is over and I'll be going back to eating BFL-style. I never counted calories on BFL and simply ate healthy foods according to appropriate portion sizes. Easy peasy!

Oh, before I forget, I want to say thanks, Lisa, for teaching me that I can put frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot and by lunchtime I have the most tender, delicious, fall-apart-in-my-mouth chicken! Seriously, for someone who does NOT like to cook, this is just about the EASIEST thing I've ever made! Also, thanks whoever-gave-it-to-us-as -a-wedding-gift!

Crock pot in front of wine rack. Sigh. Oh vino rojo, how I've missed you the past few months! But, just you wait. Come November, we shall be reunited (and it will feel so good.)

For lunch today I had 4 oz. chicken that I cooked in the crock pot in 4 cups of low-sodium organic chicken broth and 1.5 tablespoons of Ranch dressing dip/seasoning mix. It was YUM-E! Good thing, too, since chicken makes a cameo at almost every single meal. How I haven't begun to grow feathers and a beak is beyond me!

After competition I may become a vegan for a few months just to take a break from chicken (and other lean animal proteins) HA!

Hasta luego!

Question:

1) Do you use a food scale? If so, what brand and would you recommend it?

2) Do you have any healthy suggestions to jazz up crock pot recipes?