let's get physical...

it's not what you're thinking.

i actually do want to get physical.

like as in moving.

burning calories.

fit.

in shape.

(nothing else your dirty little mind is thinking, mmkay?)

and olivia newton john in her prime just stated it best.

let's. get. physical.

i've been on sort of a fitness kick lately.

i posted a little bit about it last week, but wanted to expand a little more on it.

as i mentioned before, i have been counting calories using the awesome website/app combo over at

myfitnesspal.com.

i also have committed to doing one dance class per week and two yoga classes.

might i add that these are at 6 o'clock in the morning.

i know.

but seriously, even though i am not a morning person,

(at all!)

i'm actually really excited about it!

last week was supposed to be my first week doing this new schedule, but my alarm clock and i kinda went retarded on tuesday and wednesday

(sorry again to stephanie and madeline who showed up to class and i didn't! whoops!)

 and i didn't make it to those two classes.

but i did go on monday morning and thursday morning and loved it.

it felt so good to start the day off right and feel sore again.

yoga is no joke though.

i took a yoga class years ago and didn't really "get it" so to speak, but man did it whoop my butt.

literally.

my butt still hurts from thursday! ha!

so i'm looking forward to progressing in that and getting to do all sorts of crazy yoga poses.

like this and this!

i don't know what it is, but feeling sore just makes me want to eat better.

it's a constant reminder.

whenever you start walking to the kitchen for a snack and you have to move slowly because your backside is killing you...let's just say it keeps me in check to choose snacks wisely.

i also have found it super encouraging to browse the fitness tab on pinterest.

there's just a lot of good motivation and inspiration going on over there.

i could sit there for half an hour everyday and feel like

i've just had an epiphany.

it's awesome.

i've used multiple quotes/tricks on a daily basis i learned from pinterest.

a few i can think of off the top of my head: 

 "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

 count down from your current weight to your goal weight whenever you want to binge.

 "you can't out exercise a bad diet."

i've also found a plethora of crazy good recipes.

which i will be sharing on a regular basis.

so keep checking back in on tasty tuesday's! :)

i've also really enjoyed reasonstobefit.tumblr.com.

it's pretty self explanatory...

  it's just a ton of good reasons to be fit.

i think the key word here is fit, by the way.

i'm not looking to be skinny, or tiny, or little.

i want to be a healthy, tone, beast.

i'd like some curves...with some muscle.

i'd like to look like a woman...while being strong.

but most of all i'd like to just feel good about myself again.

i had started beating myself up for not being able 

to make the slow carb diet work.

and then quitting the 30 day shred.

but what i learned is, it doesn't matter what you did yesterday.

what matters is today.

what matters is making good choices today.

because no matter what i look like in the mirror now,

i know that if i just keep making good choices on a daily basis

 the change will come.

and i shouldn't beat myself up over one day of mistakes.

start over the next day, just keep looking forward and make the best decisions for today.

i can honestly say, i have never been so motivated to be fit and healthy.

i turned down waffle house to stay home and eat oatmeal.

unheard-of.

i went three whole days without drinking a coke.

flabbergasting.

i am looking forward to waking up at 6 am tomorrow to go workout.

shenanigans.

but enough of my ranting and raving about weight loss and fitness. 

i think you get the point.

i guess i just wanted to share this to have some sense of 

accountability and encouragement. 

thanks for listening. :)

see you tuesday...i'm not giving away any details, but you won't be

fishing 

for a new salmon recipe any time soon!

...see what i did there...? huh?! huh?!

 ok, just check back on tuesday.

xoxo,

heather

http://reasonstobefit.tumblr.com/

halloween & tasty tuesday/hot mama update!

hello all!

i hope everyone had a great weekend and had fun 
trick or treating...

i know we did!

we went trick or treating in my parent's neighborhood this year and had a blast!

we walked a long way, but the kids loved it.

and their costumes were a hit!

quinn & lincoln
a.k.a. cookie monster & elmo

everyone kept asking if they were twins...

even more shocked to find they were 15 months apart and had a 6 month old sister...sigh...just don't ask if you can't handle the truth, people!

i'm just now realizing i didn't get any pics of cora fayne's whole outfit, my mom was taking pictures too and i must have been relying on that too much! oops!

but...

i do have pictures of cora fayne in her halloween shirt

(the hubs agrees that this is absolutely true!)

and

in her "bean" (for beaner) halloween costume sporting her bud porter's yoda hat! ha!

(i like to call this picture "Yoda Bean")

it was just too adorable to pass up the photo opp :)

all in all it was a fun evening though...

lincoln was totally into it.

he walked from house to house and would say,

"can i have some trick or treats, please?"

we kept trying to tell him that he only had to say,

"trick or treat",

but he just kept repeating the same thing over and over again...

and as he received his candy he then would proceed to tell them..."ok i'm going to go and get some more trick or treats." haha!

love that kid.

quinny was a little unsure.

he liked getting the candy and seeing new people.

but he walked slow and about every 20 feet would stop and try to start eating candy right there on the sidewalk.

he's not really a "big picture" kinda guy, that quinn. ;)

and cora was just taking it all in.

we had her bundled in her stroller with a blanket and she liked watching the people and seeing all the lights.

so i deem this halloween a great success!

---

tasty tuesday's & hot mama

double whammy.

it's been a while since i posted a recipe so i thought i'd share not only a new "recipe" (it's really just a delicious sandwich),

but also give an update on my hot mama status.

last i checked in i was going to attempt the 30 day shred.

well...that was a bust.

i got through a week of it, and then just lost all my motivation.

i think i just didn't enjoy the workouts much.

and i didn't have all the right equipment to begin with, so plain and simple i just gave up.

however, i am feeling much more motivated these days and feel like i am on a much better track.

i am no longer doing slow carb for right now, because i found that i had fallen into some pretty bad habits.

one of these bad habits was if i found myself in a bind at dinner time or out and about, i would immediately just break the rules.

and if i broke the rules i somehow felt like i was confined to only starting over on a monday and would proceed to eat like crap until that next monday came.

so i'm sure you catch my drift, but if i found myself eating chick fil a on a tuesday,

i would eat HORRIBLY the whole week until next monday.

not good.

so i'm switching things up (yet, again) and have been counting calories.

the plain, old fashioned way of losing weight. :)

my friend, brandi, gave me a tip on a great tool i've been using and would love to share with y'all.

it's called myfitnesspal.com

PLUS they have a free app for smartphones!

you can set your calorie limits, challenge weight, and all sorts of things and then simply record what you eat all day via the web or your phone.

add in any exercise as well and it will recalculate your numbers for you.

on the app it has a function where you can scan a bar code of any food and it will automatically bring that food up for you to put into your daily journal.

it also has a HUGE database of foods, so if you find yourself in one of those aforementioned "binds", you can search anything...a restaurant, brand, type of food, and most times it will have all the nutritional facts there for you. 

pretty awesome stuff.

plus you can add people as friend's if you'd like and see what they post throughout the day and how they do on their weigh -ins. you also have the ability to send and receive messages and comments so you don't feel like you're doing this whole weight-loss thing alone. it gives you a great support system! 

so if you're looking to lose weight (the old fashioned way!) 

i highly recommend this website/app!

and just so you know i am definitely NOT getting paid to talk about this website, it really is that awesome!

i also want to side note that i am starting to inch myself more towards clean eating as well.

while 100 calorie fudge shoppe cookies are delicious and low in calories, they are still a processed food that just isn't good for your body. so i am slowly switching my pantry over to fresh, whole, healthy, clean foods.

little steps make it budget friendly. :)

so....all that to introduce this week's tasty tuesday recipe!

graham and i have been calling these delicious sandwiches,

"that good sandwich".

original i know.

but seriously y'all. this was SUPER tasty.

and filling.

and not expensive or hard to make.

and above all...it was fresh.

it just tastes like good ingredients should.

and makes you feel refueled.

not just full.

awesome.

so until i can think of a better name for these...

That Good Sandwich

what you need:

1 sandwich thin 

(i used the Arnold's brand, whole wheat, 100 cals)

fresh spinach

baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

carrot chips

(the presliced carrots that are thin and long)

low-fat block of part skim mozarella cheese

hummus

(i chose the gluten free Sabra roasted red pepper because it was low on cals and big on flavor)

what you do:

1) so basically you use your hummus as your condiment.

no mayo. no mustard.

2 tablespoons generously covers both pieces of bread.

2) pile on the spinach. as much as you'd like! i usually use about a cup.

3) next i use 2-3 sliced mushrooms

4) 2-3 carrot chips

5) then i cut a couple of pieces of cheese, usually around an ounce worth, and layer it on top.

6) put it altogether and enjoy!

it's so. freaking. good.

trust me! you do NOT need a bunch of meat and mayonaise to make a sandwich good! this will fill you up and be tasty i promise!

the best part is...this sandwich is only 221 calories.

total. 

that's pretty awesome in case you didn't know!

i'm sure in the future i'll switch it up a little, maybe add or swap out for different ingredients.

but for now i will bask in the deliciousness of 

this good sandwich. :)

hope y'all have a good week and

happy november!

xoxo, 

heather

lately... {an update for madeline}

well this has been one, crazy month so far.

to say the least.

just a quick run down of some things we've done so far and have yet to do:

- four family member's birthday's/party's

- a birth of a cousin

- a trip to the lake

- a family friend's wedding

- we've moved from an apartment to a house

- halloween

- doctor's visits

....and the list goes on and on...

i'm pretty sure i'm forgetting a bunch of stuff, too, but i seem to be blocking things out these days.

so i posted every day in september and here it is the 25th of october and you have yet to hear from me.

well, my dear sister-in-law totally called me out on it, so here is an update.

you can thank madeline.

---

six months old!

the baby girl one is six months old today...

geeze does the time fly!

i still feel like i just had her, and here it's already been half of a year.

i took this picture today after getting her dressed in her "big girl outfit":

jeggings and a cute tee ;)

and here she is in her jump hang...

i've been calling her cockatoo cora as of late.

for obvious reasons.

her hair, when not pulled up in a bow, resembles that of a cockatoo.

that is all.

---

celiac, or no celiac. 

that...is the question.

so i took quinn in for his two year old well visit at the doctor this month and the doctor and i discussed getting blood work done for the celiac panel.

i asked him if there were any stipulations to the test 

and he said,  "no".

when prior to seeing the doctor i specifically told the nurse that he hasn't been eating gluten.

he hasn't had any gluten, 

except for accidentally, for ten months.

so it's my surprise when i get a phone call saying this,

"hi mrs. lutz, we got quinn's lab tests back and it says he's negative for celiac! however, i do see some interesting notes here in the comments section. it says there wasn't an adequate amount of gluten in the bloodstream, so test results may vary. huh."

literally. that's what she said.

this nurse has been a thorn in my side for quite some time and i have actually saved this voicemail on my phone so that if anyone questions me in the future, i can show them just how slow she can be sometimes...

anyway. clearly i'm not testing him again right now because,

a) as you can tell from the picture, she had to stick him not once, but TWO times, because she couldn't get any blood in the first arm. stupid, lady.

and b) how much is an "adequate amount of gluten"...?

i don't want to make my child sick just to prove what i already know. the only reason i did this test was because i thought for some reason (my doctor didn't imply he needed to be eating gluten) this test was different from previous tests i had read about.

sigh....

quinn was a trooper though. he barely cried at all, and asked only for a kiss when he was done. 

we sang him the abc's and that seemed to 

make everything all better. :)

---

"i want to pick it."

so apparently, my 3 year old is growing up.

he insists on dressing himself these days.

which is actually ok,

 because most of the time he enjoys matching. 

and looking generally awesome.

here's a picture of him all ready to go spend the weekend at mema and papa's house.

we packed his thomas 'pack pack'.

'lightnin' qeen cup',

and with puppy in hand he was ready to go.

no joke he picked that outfit himself...

you can't see it, but he's got on dark jeans and chucks...whatev.

---

happy birthday to, me!

my parent's took lincoln for the weekend,

while graham's parents took quinn.

(thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!)

so graham, cora and i had a nice relaxing weekend with some close friends up at my parent's lake house for my birthday.

it was awesome.

just to sit there and do nothing, was the best gift ever.

i don't think i've done that for quite some time.

cora is a super easy baby, she mostly just sleeps, eats, and smiles at you, so taking her still felt like a vacation. :)

on saturday, just the girls took a short day trip to the next town over for some eating and shopping.

she got a little tired on the way home, but nothing too bad.

and that night...we dined! we had poor man's lasagna,

real italian wine,

salad, bread, and of course...birthday cake.

but not just any birthday cake, no no no!

we had the most delicious birthday cake any person has

ever consumed.

seriously, i can't even explain how fantastic it was!

courtesy of my friend torie of course.

(candles courtesy, madeline!

two mentions in one post?! inconceivable!!)

and then, not only did she give us yummy cake...

she woke up the next morning at 5:30 a.m. 

to start making us cinnamon rolls...!!!

(friend of the year award, anyone?!)

i think she must have flown to heaven and back because that's exactly what they were...heavenly.

i came home relaxed, and ready to 

conquer the disaster that is my house right now.

we've moved again, to a 3 bedroom house in the 

north druid hills area of atlanta, and so far we love it!

much bigger than our old place with the added bonus of a back yard. which is highly recommended for two toddler boys and an 85 pound dog. 

i hope to upload more pictures of the house as i get to decorating it.

right now my house is what i like to call, jumbly up.

it speaks for itself.

so that's all i got right now.

there's some stuff i didn't touch on, but i think those are the basic tidbits. 

i look forward to posting some halloween pictures, too!

even though i went the easy route again this year and just bought costumes instead of making them...i think they're going to be a hit! i'm excited! :)

take care, y'all.

oh! p.s. this is the newest lutz addition...

the youngest cousin yet...

William Ransom Lutz

a.k.a. will, bill, billy, billy rubin

he had a slight case of jaundice (hence the funny nicknames), but is doing much better now!

so. freaking. cute!

welcome to the lutz clan!

we hope you survive!

;)

whoa! p.p.s i just realized that i started this blog 

one year ago!

happy anniversary to me! 

thanks for reading, y'all! :)