How to meal prep for a weekend away...

Today I want to share a little bit about how we prep our food for weekends away. As many of you know, traveling and sticking to a clean eating diet can be next to impossible. Thankfully, if you prepare ahead of time you not only come home without the bloated "ate too much on vacation" feeling but you also save a ton of money! 

For this particular trip TJ, Riley & I were all going, so I saved a lot of space, time & stress planning to bring things that the three of us could all eat. 

Step One: Develop a Plan!

When developing a plan that involves a little one typically you would be fine just grabbing their baby food containers and throwing them in the bag. My child, however, refuses to eat baby food and will only eat fruit, meat and veggies whole. With that in mind, I chose to make veggies and meat that she likes and that are things we enjoy as well. Then I wrote down what all we needed: fish, chicken, lean ground beef, brown rice, peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bananas (Riley), and juice (Riley).

Step Two: Prepare Your Food!

This step is the most time consuming but once you get the hang of it it really goes quick. Always start with your chicken. Why? Chicken takes the longest to bake in the oven so if you get that going first you will have plenty of time to get most of the other things done before it finishes. Next, I put the rice in the rice cooker. ** Hint: Always add an extra 1/4 cup of water when cooking brown rice to eliminate the crunch! ** Then I like to get the veggies going. I am impatient so I typically will put one kind in a steamer and cook the others in various pots on the stove just to cut down on prep time and get it all done at once. Lean ground beef comes next...just brown it in a skillet. By this point your chicken should be close to cooked if not completely done. I then switch it out with the fish in the oven on broil...it will only take about ten minutes.

Step Three: Package Your Food!

Once your food has cooked you can begin packaging it. **Hint: Using a food saver to pack your food in its portions not only takes up WAY less space but also keeps the food from leaking, keeps it fresh longer & hides the smell of the veggies like broccoli and Brussels sprouts.** I tend to always put things in 1 cup serving sizes when it comes to the vegetables and the brown rice. It may take me two actual meals to finish the brown rice but TJ eats an entire cup at each meal so it just makes it easier to do it like that. Meat will range anywhere from 6-8oz a package. TJ eats 8oz, I eat 4oz and Riley plays with 2oz. 

Step Four: Pack the Extras!

You will need: utensils, at least one plate/bowl/Tupperware container (to heat or mix your food), additional seasonings (optional), and your water (gallon jug). 

And That's It!!  Prepped, packed, and ready for a weekend away to have fun, stay on track & enjoy! 

Finally a Fitness Post!

Ahhhh it feels so good to finally be sitting here & typing a fitness update. The last few months have been such an emotional & physical roller coaster. I have been up, I have been down & everywhere in between. Check out my Life Lately post for more of an explanation. I am so thankful to finally feel at home again in my lifestyle. I experimented with training with a coach and stepping outside of the box in regards to my diet and workout, however, it didnt exactly work out well for me. I love to eat clean but when it comes to being on a diet plan the repetition kills me. Could I do it? Absolutely. Will I enjoy it? Absolutely NOT. So from this point forward I am sticking to doing this because I love it & enjoy it and not trying to conform my training and eating habits into what the ideal norm is in the fitness world. As I have stated in a previous post, I LOVE to lift heavy weight. I enjoy knowing that this week I lifted more than I could last week. I HATE cardio. Doing an hour of fasted cardio & an hour of post weight training cardio is simply not for me. Who has that much time to be away from their kids??? Seriously....though. I got back up to 186lbs. I am not sure if it was the stress of watching TJ struggle or if it was the fact that my body hated what I was putting it through but something wasnt working. Since I have decided to go back to my roots and stay true to my passion for weights and clean eating but enjoying a variety of food I have seen a HUGE difference. 

The photo on the left was taken after I had dropped about 6lbs. (Took about two weeks) The picture on the right was 5 days after the other one. I have only been doing 15-20 min of cardio 3 or 4 days a week. Sometimes I do steady state cardio and sometimes I run sprints in my backyard. This is just a post to kind of give you an update on what my body is looking like and where I am re-starting from! TJ and I have decided to schedule a photo shoot together at the end of October so for the next 9 weeks ill be sharing my journey with you all! 

Why I Lift & How to Get Started

It is no secret that I love to lift weights. I think weight training is essential to your all around health and fitness. Everyone knows what articles in health and fitness magazines say about the benefits of lifting weights:

-improves bone density

-improves joint mobility

-relieves depression and anxiety

-decreases your chance of type 2 diabetes 

-helps lower blood pressure

The list of health benefits goes on from there, however, I am more interested in sharing with you why I choose to lift weights and why it has become so vital to my success. I had lost 50lbs before I met TJ and really got interested in weight training. I looked a lot better than I had at 230lbs, however, I was far from feeling fit and my skin was so loose and saggy. I felt as if I had worked so hard and I still could not wear shorts, sleeveless shirts or a bathing suit and feel even remotely comfortable. When I started weight training, I fell in love with seeing my strength. It was weekly progress I could see even if the scale didnt reflect a change. I loved being able to lift more weight or go for more reps than I could previously. After a while, I started to see changes in my body. The skin that I had hated so much before started to get tighter and I started to see some definition in my legs and arms. I was hooked. Previously, I had believed that weight training would make me look bulky or manly; this could not be further from the truth & those who think that just need to educate themselves a little more on the female body. We do not produce the hormones needed to create large bulky muscles. The women you see in magazines or online who do have those large physiques have had some help along the way from some extensive supplementation or steroid use. (Not to downplay their hard work---steroids and supplements will not do it for you) Do not let the fear of looking manly deter you from starting in the weight room. Another aspect of weight lifting I have recently grown to love is the difference in the way my body looks regardless of what number is on the scale. 

Those who have been following me from the beginning probably recognize the picture on the left. This was when I was at my fittest & lowest body weight before I got pregnant with Riley. The right was about two weeks ago. There is a 45lb difference between these two photos. I continued to weight train throughout my pregnancy & have done so since adding a substantial amount of muscle mass to my body. I love looking at these photos and barely seeing a difference in the body but a huge difference in the weight! I have a bad habit of being a scale freak but thank God for progress pictures. I have had several people ask me how to get started lifting weights and where to find the right workouts to do ect. Bodybuilding.com has thousands of workouts, organized by body part, complete with photos and some even have video demos! You can literally find anything you could ever need to get started on there. The link above has the exact page you need with the diagram at the bottom to select the body part you're interested in training. I hope this will help some of you get a better idea of why I like to lift & how to get started!

Life Lately.....

It has definitely been a hot minute since my last "real" post. The past couple of months have definitely been tough! After TJ's competition, he, like most competitors do after their first show, rebounded....bad. For those of you who do not know what that is...he started eating all of the things he had been craving during his prep which caused him to retain tons of water. It was almost like the domino effect from that point forward. Like many people who have struggled with their weight, if you do not really watch yourself you can become obsessed with it. Gaining weight & having his body not look the way he knew it should brought TJ down into a depression. This depression literally affected every aspect of our lives. Our relationship, my progress, his schooling, friendships, ect. all suffered as a result of his rebound. I decided I would step away from blogging to fully focus on helping him get back into the right frame of mind. Alot of people do not realize how hard making a lifestyle change can be mentally, some assume that once you have this smoking hot body and are in a diet and exercise routine that it becomes easy. That is not the case at all. When you were morbidly obese for the majority of your life like TJ and I were, typically, food is your drug of choice...an addiction if you will. It is something you think about almost all of the time. It took 5 months for TJ to get over his depression and I can finally say...we are in the clear. As most of you know from past posts, TJ had been working with a coach during his contest prep and continued to work with him post show. His coach was awesome and really tried to help TJ the best way he knew how while TJ was struggling, however, the added pressure of sending stats, progress pics, and having some lines blurred between coach and friend took their toll on the relationship and TJ and his coach decided to part ways a couple of weeks ago. I was initially devastated since I had also started using him to try and get over my plateau & because I had grown to love him and his family. The day after they parted ways, however, TJ took on a whole different look. The water he had been holding started to drain off, the bags under his eyes disappeared, and all of the swelling in his legs and arms (happens when he stresses) went away. It was literally like falling asleep next to a stranger and waking up next to the man I married. As I watched his body change over the next week, I really started to feel that though I hate the loss of that friendship it may have been God answering my prayers and giving TJ exactly what he needed to find himself again. I debated over sharing any of this story, however, I think it is a true testament to how sometimes our lives blessings are disguised as trials. So...with all of that out of the way, let me get down to business. I had gained 10lbs during the course of the last few months & in the past 2 weeks have lost 8lbs of the 10lbs. I am going to start updating my blog with my fitness journey weekly again; along with recipes, workouts, and the general day to day life stuff. I have been dying to blog and am so excited to finally be at a point in life where I can.  

New Look!

Woooooohoooooo!! Finally a look for the blog I am happy with. I wanted something a little more simple, yet, not so simple that my slightly over-the-top personality was not represented on the page.

 A few new additions:

A) Beauty Tab! Yep, I am going to start sharing some of my tips, tricks, and products I love and think are absolutely worth trying.

B) Follow by Email! On the side you will see the new "Follow Me by Email" box. PLEASE take some time to enter your email address so you will be notified when I upload a new blog. You wont want to miss out on some of the new and exciting posts coming up.

C) Follow Me Buttons! You have no idea how long I have been planning on adding these. If youre interested in seeing more about my day to day life PLEASE follow me on my social media accounts. 

D) Share Buttons! Down below each post there are now "share" buttons. If you like what youre reading PLEASE take some time to share it with your friends. 

Riley is 10 months!

Our sweet little girl is 10 Months old now. She is changing so much every day. She looks more and more like her daddy & acts more and more like me....not sure if that is a good or bad thing. We have officially started preparations for her first birthday party..super exciting & so surreal. I cannot believe how fast time has passed. 

TJs Graduation

This is a little bit of a delayed post, however, better late than never I suppose. Words cannot describe how it felt to watch TJ walk across that stage and accept his certificate of completion for the Fire Academy. He and the five other men who graduated with him worked their butts off and made it through the program when so many others failed. It was so amazing to be able to share that experience with him & our friends and family. I wish I had gotten better quality pictures but here are just a few. 

TJ's cousin Justin, his sweet wife Mandy & their future baby boy (still in her tummy and not pictured haha) came to support TJ. They have been so loving and encouraging of him this year while he has been in school. I hope we can show them the same as they become parents to their second child!

My cousin Louann & her baby boy "little" Justin. I wish his eyes had been open but keeping a one year olds attention for a picture was not happening. 

TJ walking across the stage!

So thankful that TJs MawMaw was able to make it to the ceremony and celebrate with him. 

Rileys face when she saw her daddy walk across the stage...so sweet. I am sorry to have to watermark the pictures of Riley, however, someone keeps stealing them for their own personal use. 

So proud of him and all he is doing! 

Riley is 8 Months!!

I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Our little girl is EIGHT months old! 

In the past month she has gotten so curious and is starting to get into everything. She is beginning to try and crawl  and is finally sleeping through the night. We usually get her down between 9pm and 10pm and she has been sleeping till around 4:30am which is definitely a success in my book since TJ and I get up for fasted cardio at that time. I give her a bottle and she goes right back to sleep till I wake her up at 7am to get ready for work. She has such a cute little personality. We are really enjoying watching her interact with everyone around her.  She still does not want much to do with "people food" I have found a few more things she likes but peanut butter is still the only thing she will eat on a consistent basis (however we do not feed it to her much). She is drinking out of a sippy cup now, she loves to watch animals, and she LOVES jewelry. She finally got her first tooth to break through the skin and is finally saying DADA on a consistent basis. She turned 8 months on Cinco De Mayo and it is kind of an inside joke in my family that even though we are not Hispanic we celebrate Cinco De Mayo because it is my dads birthday. I dressed Riley in what we call her "Mexican Fiesta Dress" that my aunt and uncle brought back from one of their vacations to Mexico. It really ended up looking so cute.

Family & Friend Night at The Fire Academy

I have talked a little bit about TJ being in school to be a fireman. Well, the semester is almost over and tonight was family and friend night. The students were allowed to invite their loved ones to see them in action! Unfortunately, my family was unable to make it due to my brother's baseball playoff game but there was an amazing turnout and the guys really seemed to enjoy showing off their skills and having all of us there.

TJ's class originally started with over twenty students and these are the six men who have made it through and will be graduating! TJ has really had such a wonderful experience with these guys. He comes home telling me stories and cracking up laughing. It sounds bad to say but I am thankful that the class ended up so small because I feel like these guys really got to experience brotherhood and they developed real friendships which doesn't always happen in larger groups.

Here are some misc. pics of the evening.

 TJ is leading controlling the hose with his friend and classmate Tompkins backing him up.

 I wish I had gotten a quality picture of when TJ went up onto the latter to extinguish the fire but Riley was getting sleepy so I didn't have enough hands but it was definitely an awesome thing to watch.

 The last fire they tackled was the largest and I snapped this picture as soon as the blaze got going. Though this is not TJ in the picture it made for an awesome picture and we will be giving the man in the picture a copy.

 Tonight was such an amazing experience. I got to get to know the other students and their family and friends. I was able to meet a lot of the local firefighters who came in to assist the class since they were so small in number and didn't have enough men to do it alone. It helped me gain a greater respect for the bond that the firemen share. It really was like on giant family. So amazing.

 

One of the fireman's wives was gracious enough to snap a picture of the three of us. I have had that "mommy syndrome" lately where all of the pictures are of everyone but me because I am always behind the camera. I am so thankful that we were able to get one AND that Riley is actually looking at the camera! I swear I have no idea how TJ still looks so amazing after fighting fires since one o'clock this afternoon (this photo was taken around 8:30pm) but he does. I am so proud of his hard work and dedication to the program. He has absolutely just excelled and it truly blows me away what an amazing husband, father, and provider he has become.  



Series of Unfortunate Events

Well...I haven't updated my blog in a while. Reason being---life has been CRAZY!!! So much has been going on. You name it, it has happened. From Riley being sick, unnecessary drama from petty people, TJ putting 110% into finishing his semester in the Fire Academy strong, working two jobs & having to move out of our house last minute....things have been hectic. I am not going to elaborate on anything but the whole moving situation. Basically, due to some circumstances outside of our control this past week TJ had to make the decision for us to move to separate ourselves from a bad situation. I could not be more proud of the husband and father he has become. My parents have graciously allowed us to stay with them until TJ finishes school so we can save some money and, since I am working so much, help TJ with the baby while I am busy. Though it is not ideal, I am so excited for Riley to see them every day. My parents lived with my grandpa for six months after I was born and he and I are so close as a result of that. I am hoping she will share that same experience with them. We will be finished moving by next weekend and things are settling finally settling down. Riley is in good health, the attention seeking overly dramatic people have been removed from our lives, and TJ is going to graduate soon. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to extend a special thank you to our friends and family for being SO incredibly supportive of us during this time we could not have made it without you all. 

Easter Weekend 2014

We spent Easter weekend at my family's beach cabin this year. Riley was not feeling well the week before Easter but thankfully woke up Sunday morning feeling much better and was able to enjoy some of her Easter toys.

The Easter bunny was GOOD to Miss  Riley this year. I know it definitely seems overboard, however, we have been picking things up here and there for a couple of months that she either needed or would need in the near future & saving them for Easter.

 We have had her Easter outfit since before she was born. I absolutely LOVE the ruffles!!

Slightly obsessed with Riley's swimming outfit lol. The hat was a gift from TJs parents. She wears it every weekend and the sunglasses and swimsuit were from the "Easter Bunny".

Riley has recently developed a love of the water. She loves baths & since the water at the beach is so gross we decided to get her a baby pool for the porch at the cabin. She LOVED it.

He Uncle Layne & Aunt Cynthia got her a swing for the porch. If I would have let her she would have stayed in it all day! I feel so blessed to have such loving and supportive people around Riley. Her life is full of excellent role models and I could not be more thankful for that.

Spaghetti Squash Italian Casserole

As much as I wish I could take credit for this recipe, sadly, my cousin Jessica is the mastermind behind this delicious recipe. In fact, I ate my bowl so fast I didn't take a picture of it so I had to have her send me the one above via cell phone. The picture doesn't do it justice (seriously) it is delicious!

What You Need:

1 Small Spaghetti Squash
1 Container Sliced Fresh Mushrooms

1 Tomato (Diced)

1 Onion (Diced)

1 Bell Pepper (Diced)

1 lb. Ground Turkey Meat

1 Jar Prego Chunky Garden Sauce

Italian Blend Shredded Cheese

Italian Seasoning (Any Brand)

Instructions:
1. Cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out seeds and spray with olive oil. Lay it on baking pan with the inside (cut side) facing down and bake for one hour on 350 degrees. 

2. In sauce pan sauté mushrooms, tomato, onion and bell pepper until tender.

 3. Brown ground turkey in separate skillet. Season generously with Italian seasoning.

4. Combine ground turkey, spaghetti squash ,sautéed vegetables and add Prego sauce.

5. Pour into small baking dish and cover with Italian Blend Shredded Cheese.

6. Bake on 350 degrees until cheese is melted.

Though this recipe is not entirely clean it is low carb and tasted delicious. Something the whole family will love!

Contact Me

If you are interested in contacting me for any reason please use my email. 

thewilliamsfamilyblog@yahoo.com

Clean Stir Fry

What You Need:

1 Bag- Birds Eye: Teriyaki Stir-Fry Vegetables

1 Bottle- Mrs. Dash Sweet Teriyaki Marinade

1 Bag- Frozen Shrimp 

3 Cups- Brown Rice or Quinoa 

Instructions:

1. Thaw frozen shrimp and cook in skillet. (set aside)

2. Pour half bottle of Teriyaki Marinade over shrimp.

3. Cook brown rice or quinoa according to the instructions. 

4. Pour frozen vegetables in pot with small amount of water, cook covered until tender, and drain.

5. Mix all ingredients and add additional marinade to taste. 

**You can substitute chicken for shrimp or use both. I have not been able to find the Teriyaki Marinade in stores so mine was purchased off line. I added a hint of pepper to mine to give it some spice at the end but its totally up to your personal preference.**

Phil Heath Classic 2014-TJs First NPC Show

TJ competed in his firs NPC show this weekend. When we picked which show he was going to compete in we picked the Phil Heath Classic because it was the closest show and fit in with his timeline to prepare. Little did we know, that the show would have over 700 competitors & would be the largest national qualifying show in the NPC. There were so many talented competitors there and you could really tell how hard many of them worked preparing for the show. The week before the show was filled with lots of anticipation and so many questions about the how, what, where, when & why's of competing. Thankfully TJ had an AWESOME coach Erik Delarosa who was there to answer any question we had and provided TJ with so much support it was unbelievable. Erik and his wife, Jamie, who you will see in my first fitness feature next Moday; have been such amazing friends & supporters, we could never repay them for everything they have done for us. Seeing TJ on stage being recognized for all of his hard work & dedication was so surreal to me. About a year ago, TJ told me his dream would be to compete and do fitness modeling...as of Saturday half of that dream came true for him. Watching him on stage made me so proud. Here are some pictures from the competition. 

Sorry for the red glare the lighting on stage made it hard to get quality pictures. 

We are so thankful to everyone who came out to support TJ during the competition. I wish he could have gotten a picture with everyone who was there but hopefully we will at the next competition. 

TJ ended up placing 7th in his class which, in our opinion, is awesome for his first show. He achieved his goal of getting first call outs so next time we will set our sights a little higher but we are VERY pleased with how this show turned out. 

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TJ's Photo Shoot

Before TJ's competition we decided we would have a photo shoot done. We had the opportunity to work with Thomas Coffman, an AMAZING photographer who really made the photo shoot an enjoyable experience for us. I highly recommend anyone looking for an awesome fitness/misc. photographer use him. Check out his Facebook Page to see more of his images and for his contact info. 

I mean.....YALL.....isnt he just the most?! Hahahaha. I am so proud of all of his hard work & I cannot brag on these pictures enough. Thomas did an AMAZING job & really made us feel comfortable. We shot the first pictures at the MetroFlex Gym in Houston and the second pictures in a water fall sculpture also in Houston. When we were at the waterfall cars of women were stopping and taking pictures of TJ with their phones!!! SO FUNNY. You could definitely say I am a proud wife.