3 Days...

Day One.

Breakfast

After breakfast I did not feel hungry at all! The toast and peanut butter was filling, it was the grapefruit that made it difficult. It could be my fault with tried to eat half of the grapefruit with a spoon instead of pealing it (I never said I did my best thinking in the morning).

Lunch

I ate breakfast at 7:00am so I tried to wait until 1:00pm to eat lunch which wasn't hard because I was busy teaching and then knocking off things from my to do list. The bread and tuna also helped with the hunger because it was super dry and not appealing. I am not complaining though!

Dinner

Dinner was bland

Day Two... I gained half of a pound!

Breakfast

I felt good and even full after this! The hardest part was eating the slice of toast with nothing on it!

Lunch

Lunch was hard to eat because 1 cup of cottage cheese is A LOT! After I ate though is when things took a turn for the worst. I started to get an awful migraine and couldn't stand any noise, I feel bad for my students because it put me in the worst mood.

 

Dinner

When I got home my headache had just gotten worse. I quickly ate what was allowed and was in bed before 9:00pm.

Day Three... I lost 2 pounds!

Breakfast

I wasn't even hungry but forced myself to eat what I was supposed to.

Lunch

This is when my headache returned and again I was so unhappy.

Dinner

After work I decided to go to Orange theory and work out my anger that was cause by my headache. When I left I felt GREAT! The problem was when I got home I couldn't even begin to think about trying to eat a cup of tuna with nothing in it, so I ended up skipping dinner.

Would I ever do it again?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. This was the worst idea I ever had and it was not worth loosing 2 pounds for. Now if I had to success that my friend had who lost 5.6 pounds then I would consider doing it again. 

What helped me get through it was the accountability of doing this diet with someone else. We would send pictures of our meals and I am sure like any other diet it is nice to have someone to talk to who knows what you are going through.

If you want to continue loosing after the three days....

More recipes for after.

I will leave you this week with last weeks hip hop dance... we started to learn our recital dance!! Hope you enjoy! Also please rate my outfit this week.. I know I really need to purchase some joggers.

 

Fads.

Things I am going to change in my live... Progress in one week.
1. Blog weekly
    - Check
2. Work out more (I know I know this is not the first time you have heard me say this)
   -I worked out 4 times this week and 3 of them where orange theory!
3. Cook more (and eat the leftovers)
   - I did not cook this week but and you will find out why...
4. Build my confidence
5. Do things for me

This week I am going to leave you with with more pictures and videos than words. We started learning a new dance in class last week and I am super excited about it!! You can view my moves at the bottom on the post.

This past week was crazy with working out and working I didn't even have time to do anything around the house! That goal should probably be added to my list... I need to work on my house keeping skills. Any tips would be amazing!

My weekly challenge is going to be the military diet! It is a three day diet that is going to be intense. Look below at what I have committed myself to. I am going to keep a detailed journal  so that I can update you all next week. It says you can loose 10 lbs by doing this and I am going to be using this as a kick start to my weight loss because I have gotten out of control. I had tried many fads before weight watchers/ daily cleanses/ you name it... so let's see how this one goes.

Movie of the week: Deadpool

This movie was AMAZING!! All I have been hearing about is this movie and I had no idea what it was about, I had thought that it was just a scary movie and had no idea that it was a super hero movie. I ended up going to see it last night and not only was it so good, it made me worried that my 6th grade students where the ones talking to me about it! This movie was rated R and there were even times when I had to close my eyes because I couldn't handle the content. When I was in 6th grade I would have NEVER been allowed to go see this movie. It is just crazy to think that students so young are going to movies that are too mature for them... I guess it happens though.

How many key limes?

"New year new you Miss Shayna" said on of my 6th grade boys when we returned from winter break. That student couldn't be farther from the truth a month ago but today I made the decision to make that statement true.

Things I am going to change in my live...
1. Blog weekly
2. Work out more (I know I know this is not the first time you have heard me say this)
3. Cook more (and eat the leftovers)
4. Build my confidence
5. Do things for me

Let's start with #1, I miss blogging and am now making the commitment (yes I know that is a BIG word I feel as though a lot of us in the world are afraid of) to blog once a week. These blogs will be dedicated to update you on my progress and hold me accountable to some of the life changes I want to make.

2. I started to go to Orange Theory and I LOVE it there!! So here is my second commitment to myself I will make it to two work out a week. I have also started an adult hip hop class and it is my favorite part of the week. I am just trying to nail down the hip hop look. The studio I have been taking classes at is also having a recital that you guessed it I SIGNED UP to attend. That means all of you out there are more than welcome to come cheer me on, bring me flowers, and make me feel special! Blow is a first attempt to nail the look...



3. Cook more!! I enjoy cooking and love trying out new dishes but today I tried something new. Normally my recipe selection comes from pintrest, but this time I went old school and picked one out of a cook book.

Mama's Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of butter
2 (4-ounce) cans of chilies, drained
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (yup I cried)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups precooked chicken strips (I baked the chicken strips and then cut them up into smaller pieces)
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese

6 large flour tortillas
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 pint (or one cup) of half-and-half

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Chicken filling- melt butter in large skillet, add chilies, onion, and garlic. Saute until tender and then add salt and pepper (total 5 minutes).  Stir in chicken and cream cheese and cook until cheese is melted, then remove from the heat.

Fill each tortilla with filling and place seam down in the pan. Cover with cheese and drizzle half and half over the cheese. Bake for 45 minutes and ENJOY!

4. Building my confidence... how does one do that?? Well for me it needs to start by speaking my mind and not letting people walk all over me. I need to not let people get in my head and do my own thing. Still as I am sitting here typing I am shaking my head because it's so much easier to say than but actions speak louder than words and over the next week as I figure out what I need to do I will update you.

5. Do things for me... Well I am turning 27 this summer and couldn't tell you where I want to be in 5 years or even worse my 10 year high school reunion is coming up and I want to be able to go to that with AWESOME stories that people can't believe are true. That is one thought....

Another is travel more! With all the weddings I have been invited to lately that will help over the next two months I will be going to Dallas and New Orleans.... I want more than that though. I want to go places I have never been. That is why I teach though right? I have summers off... so why not.

I also started this thing called Plexus or the Pink Drink everyone is talking about... I have started to take it religiously and will be updating everyone on my progress with that as well to let you know how I feel about it.

This has been a short introduction to what my blog will hopefully expand to!! So tune in next week to see what happens with my new commitments I have just made.

Oh yea how could I forget!!! Took me 25 key limes to get a cup!

Back on the horse.

Fall break put my life in perspective. I started by taking a beautiful and relaxing trip to Hawaii, laying on the beach really helped me clear my head and figure out what direction I want to turn my life into.



Last Monday I thought it would be a great idea to get out the scale and you know just see what happened when I stepped on it. Well I new it wasn't going to be great news but I did not think it would be as bad as it was. Let's just say that since then I have become focused on two things my food intake and my exercise over the past week and I have already seen changes.

Over the years I have tried many different "programs", classes, and apps and they all seem to work as long as I am motivated and interested in getting fit and staying active but I think I have finally found something that I can do without getting bored or burnt out.

**Previously wrote but never posted**
This magical program is Orange Theory Fitness! It is a circuit work that combines the weight room and treadmill.  So far every class has been different and challenging in its own way and I look forward to each and every class that I attend. Yes, I might have my favorite instructors but I have not found a person that works there that I am not a fan of. I guess you could call me a little competitive (I mean who isn't) so the fact that you earn points during the workout makes me work harder and strive to beat everyone else in the class.

Since then... I have stopped going. Being back in the classroom and keeping my life organized has taken over. This has put me back in the mood of wanting to get straight home after work. That brings me to my new venture in life... the 21 Day Fix. I can't wait to update my progress with it as today will be day one :)

Along with this my fitness companion is my FitBit. I wear it everyday and feel naked when I don't have it on. It is to the point that I hate having to charge it because I am missing out on steps. This little gadget is amazing and I am continuing to find out more things that it can do.

1. Sleep Tracker - When I first bought this I never thought I would be interested in this feature AT ALL. I guess there is a reason you should never say never because I am infatuated with that I have learned from this. You get to see how many total hours/minutes that you slept the night before and it even shows you how many times during the night you woke up or were even restless. IT'S AWESOME!

2. Calorie Tracker - I knew I would enjoy using this feature and that it would be helpful on my journey back to a healthy lifestyle, I just didn't know by how much. In the past I used the app MyFitnessPal and found it helpful but the FitBit does MORE! It shows how many calories you have burned on graph next to how many calories you have eaten, the cool thing is it shows you if your calorie intake is on track for the day by changing the color of the graph from yellow- not enough calories, green - right on track, and red- too many calories.

I will leave you with the song of the week, a catchy tune that I have been playing on repeat.
Stitches by Shawn Mendes

Still here.

$75 + 2 hours = 10 meals

Welcome to the life of a charter school director... Over the past year my life have been turned upside down but not in a bad way. As we get older we mature and "grow up" as much as we don't want it to happen it does. Along with growing up my career has skyrocketed and at the age of 25 I am running the operations of a charter school with 370 students and 30+ staff members and 5 grade levels. I have accomplished so much in the past 11 months that I never thought could be possible. All of this new responsibility has been amazing but is also teaching me the lesson of finding balance. Things I used to love doing with my free time:
-Cooking
-Running
-Shopping
-Painting
-Blogging

Things I now do because I have no free time:
-Cooking - frozen meals or reheating left overs
-Running - to and from classrooms 
-Shopping - on amazon for classroom supplies
-Painting - Does highlighting to do list count?
-Blogging - Responding to e-mails

I guess in someway or another I still do what I like to but it has been tied to my job. These have not been as satisfying as they might sound so as my first year as a director comes to a close I have decided to take the time to go back to the things I love and find "balance" in my life.

Let's start with something that has always sounded like a good idea and time saver... meal planning.

Tuesday night I arrived home with the idea of planning out the rest of the weeks meals. On my 60 minute drive home I was brainstorming the easy meals I could create to make my week a little easier.

Meal 1: Turkey burgers, broccoli, and potatoes
Meal 2: BBQ chicken, asparagus, and rice
Meal 3 (and the boyfriends least favorite): Egg salad

Like I said it took me 2 hours and I now have 10 meals in my refrigerator waiting for lunch. Normal I am very anal about following recipes and making sure that everything is percisely measured and accurate, but with these meals I went with my gut and I would say I am very proud with the turn out.

So that is one thing on my favorite hobbies list that I brought back this week. Last week it was painting and I got to go to my FAVORITE zumba class. Next I plan to schedule some must needed running on my calendar. I am nowhere in the league of running a half a month like last year but I am signed up for Pat's Run in less than a week and a half and I haven't laced up my sneakers since January. Stay tuned to see how I can fit running back into my life.

In the past I blogged about relationships and the journey of finding that special someone. I am 101% positive that someone in your life has said "you will find someone when you are not looking" I am going to leave this section as I agree with that statement 102%.

I will leave you with something I created last week.

Something New

Medals 2013 (10 half marathons)

Everyone sees accomplishment differently in there life. Depending on where you are, who you are, and how you were raised set up your personal expectations of "happiness" or should I say feelings of accomplishment.

After recently talking to a good friend of mine I was reminded of just a few topics one should feel accomplished about. Even when you feel as though you have failed or messed up there is so much more on the plate of life that you need to look at before giving up on yourself.

Career
I have embarked on my 3rd year of teaching elementary school and am loving my job. Do not get me wrong the job is full of non-stop hard work and dedication but the ability to make a difference wakes me up in the morning. Working with some of the best and most caring teachers I have ever met helps as well. I am completely honored and grateful for where I am at in my career. Recently accepting the position of Director of Operations at my school is also a huge accomplishment that I have been given. Nothing could make me happier than where I am right now in my career.

Friends
Let's start my talking about my roommates, they are amazing. We all have our unique personalities but mesh really well (and I am not only talking about being able to eat their food without them getting mad). Along with that I feel as though I have a good friend group that ranges from L.A. to Long Island. On a whim I could go visit my best friend back in Kansas or join my friend in NYC to catch up. Where I am right now is amazing to have the flexibility to visit who I want when I want without having to worry who will cuddle with my dog at night (thanks Em).

Social Life
On any given day I have the opporunity to join in on social activities with friends. I am at a place in my life where I have the ability to join a nightly trivia game, a weekend spring training game, or a pick up game of volleyball. What I will be working on though is saying "yes" to those activities more often. This means no matter how tired or how much I have on my plate I will make the effort to try something new or hang out with a friend I haven't seen in a while.

That being said I will never say "I feel like I lost everything..." because in retrospect I have everything going for me. Whether it is my family to my friends to being able enjoy life I have everything and more going for me and for that I thank everyone in my life.

This gets me to my next focus on the blog. After spending so much time lacing up my running shoes I have come to a turning point in the road. I am going to be focusing on myself more and where I want to be in 5 years. My next adventure will be trying to change life habits and over the next month I am going to focus my energy on becoming a vegetarian.

Get ready for the updates and new recipes! I have already made it one week so this should be a piece of cake.

Friendsgiving....

It has been a while since I have blogged but there comes a time when you just need to get what is in your head out.

Let's start with Friendsgiving, this past week was Thanksgiving a time when I normally travel home to spend time with the family. The first time I didn't make the trip was my first year of undergrad. I was freshman who was OBSESSED with being at ASU and proud to call myself a Sundevil. I can remember like it was yesterday when I was boasting about being able to be away from home, friends, and family until Christmas. Going home for Thanksgiving was not a priority for me what so ever. So again this year I made the decision to not travel home and instead stay in the beautiful weather Arizona has to offer me. What happened was a ton of friends chipped in with sides and we made a turkey. The roommates and I had a blast cleaning, organizing, and decorating the house for the festivities. Green bean casserole, a cranberry pastry, and pumpkin pie where my contributions.

PUMPKIN PIE (Moms Crust)

Above is all you need along with 15 minutes of prep time

2 cups of flour

1 crisco  baking stick

1 tsp of salt

Cup of ice

 All you need to do is add all dry ingredient and scissor them into a pea size. This can be done with two knifes pretending they are sword (this makes two crust).

Now for the filling, just follow the directions on the back package and you will end up with a beautiful pumpkin pie:)

 

From here on out though whether I go home or stay home for the holidays I have found a new tradition to take the place of seeing family and my brothers green bean casserole. Every year I have decided to partake in a Turkey Trot. Not any 5k though one that has the balls to call itself a Turkey Trot :)

Now for the running update....

My last race was the Rock N Roll half in Las Vegas before that I traveled with a friend to Canada for the half there :) This was my second time running this but last year I was supposed to run with my sister in law. When family problems happen she was unavailable to make it and so to make up for the missed race we planned this race again. This was her first race and she did amazing!! For me though I have had better. Lately I have lost focus and motivation with my training which needs to find its way back on course before I complete my second full marathon in January.

                   

Keep the look out for the new posts coming.... more recipes and exciting news about my running travels.