Setting Intentions For The Day & Low Sugar Morning Challenge

November 6, 2017 by Lindsay Ingalls Leave a Comment

Life has been hit with a state of chaos. The change of the seasons, new rhythms for the day and of course the weekly changes that come with a new baby. This month I am focusing on setting mindful and healthy intentions each and everyday to help calm the chaos. Setting small intentions each morning can translate into a calmer, more positive day.

This week instead of heading to the kitchen and opening the fridge and cupboards 10x trying to figure out what I’ll have for breakfast and end up gulping two mugs of coffee and eating the crusts of my kids toast I am making my life easier and starting my day with a Splendid Spoon smoothie.

For the next five days I will be enjoying a Splendid Spoon smoothie that I can easily grab from the fridge and sip without having to do any of the work. Instead of chaos I am being intentional with my choice to have a breakfast that is low in sugar, filled with fiber and rich in protein and healthy fats.

What do I hope to get out of this challenge?

Steadier Blood Sugar Levels. Have you ever been around me when my blood sugar plummets? You have a cranky mama on your hands.
More Energy! Being a mama to two small children and a baby is exhausting (especially when the baby doesn’t want to sleep) so I can use all the energy these days.
A More Intentional Day. Did you know just by starting your day off with positive intentions you are setting the stage for your entire day. So positive, intentional morning means that you are more likely to make healthy, positive decisions throughout your day.

If you’d like to join me in 5 Low Sugar Mornings leave me a comment below! I’d love to hear about your experience and why you want to challenge yourself!

You can follow my entire journey over on my Insta-Stories and I’ll be sharing my full challenge experience on the blog next week.

Save $20 off your first Splendid Spoon Plan.

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12-Weeks to a Happier and Healthier Life | Weeks 1 & 2

September 14, 2015 by Lindsay Ingalls 12 Comments

I really don’t want to start this post with a bunch of excuses so I’ll just say the first two weeks were not as successful as I had hoped. I am the only one that can be held responsible for this and while I’d like to add a but into this intro I’m going to leave it at that.

Goals in Review:

(Dietary Goal) Drink half my weight in water everyday. Well I can’t say I did this everyday but I did a good 9 out of 14 days.
(Physical Goal) Go for a walk everyday – rain or shine. I didn’t go for a walk everyday but I did 10 out of 14 days and I also have reincorporated barre3 online workouts into my routine (I completed 3 last week).
(Mental Goal) Spend 15 minutes per day reading a book. This one was a big fail. I didn’t read anything except blogs and children’s books.

Goals for Weeks 3 & 4:

(Dietary Goal) Diligently follow my 28 week transformation program. I signed up for a 28 day program with fellow health coach Brittany Mullins and there is a meal plan that I haven’t been following so closely. After talking with my husband he reminded me that when I decided to sign up for the program I told him and myself that I was going to trust the program and take it on 100%. Well I have only followed the plan about 50% so I am re-committing myself to the program and following it completely.
(Physical Goal) Do 10+ minutes of barre3 online each day. I love barre3 and I really need to focus back on myself and my body. I love the energy barre3 gives me and how strong and sweaty I feel after a workout.
(Mental Goal) Spend 15 minutes per day reading a book. Since I didn’t complete this goal I am putting it back on the list because sometimes we just need a do-over.

Review of the past two weeks:

While I was way more active the past two weeks than I have been in months my diet was not on point. I ended up eating a lot of salads and veggie packed meals but I also had beers, fries, veggie burger, movie theater popcorn, onion rings, a pastry (or 2) and coconut ice cream. While I am not abstaining from having any of those items my goal is to focus on eating healthier options and leaving those for more of an occasional treat/meal. What it comes down to is that I chose the food over my health goals and didn’t practice self-control or really think about what I was eating. When I looked at the progress photos of myself and didn’t see any but rather found myself looking more bloated it was a real wake-up call that if I don’t make good food choices that I am not going to see any real changes. So here is to a new week, new goals and to coming back here in two weeks with a more successful check-in.

How are you doing with your goals?

Let’s Get Started | 12-Weeks to a Happier and Healthier Life

August 31, 2015 by Lindsay Ingalls 1 Comment

Hello! This post is getting up a lot later than I had planned but we moved last Thursday and life has been a bit chaotic. Today marks the start of my 12 week journey to a healthier and happier life. I’m happy to report that day one was a great start and I am looking forward to the next 12 weeks. Before we get into the goals and some news I have to share I will first show you my day 1 photos.

Okay so most of these are pretty cringe worthy to me but this is me showing you reality. A reality that I am not happy with but I am striving to make healthy changes to get myself back on track. To help me get back on track I am working with health coach and blogger Brittany Mullins aka Eating Bird Food. Fun fact she is also an IIN grad.

But wait aren’t you a health coach? Yes I am a health coach who after two children finding myself in need of a little help and guidance. Yes, health coaches sometimes need a coach of their own. I mean practice what you preach, am I right?

Anyways I signed up for Brittany’s 28 Day Challenge program and I am so excited to see what sort of transformation takes place over the next 28 days. Side note (disclaimer) I am not sponsored to talk about Brittany’s program and I paid for it myself. The program has a meal guide and sample plan, a workout plan, lots of information and tips on how to live a healthy life, a Facebook support group and weekly e-mail support from Brittany.

In addition to the 28 Day Challenge and the guide/goals it sets out I also have three of my own goals for the next two weeks.

(Dietary Goal) Drink half my weight in water everyday. I used to be so good at drinking water and then I don’t know what happened but my goal is to get back at it. Drinking water makes me feel more awake, more alive, more energetic and just happier.
(Physical Goal) Go for a walk everyday – rain or shine. We just moved back into our favorite Portland neighborhood and it is the perfect spot to get out and go for a walk. I want to move my body more everyday and I also want to take the time to go for a walk with my littles so that we can talk, explore and spend quality time together.
(Mental Goal) Spend 15 minutes per day reading a book. I read lots of books to my littles and blogs but I really don’t spend a lot of time reading for pleasure. I have a ‘to read’ list a mile long so now is the time to take a break from TV, the computer, social media and just take a few minutes for myself with a good book.

So that’s it for this week’s post. I’ll be back with progress photos and to tell you how things are going in two weeks. Until then you can follow me on social media where I’ll be giving lots of updates!

What are your three goals for the next two weeks?

Recap: October Grocery Challenge

November 5, 2013 by Lindsay Ingalls 2 Comments

I don’t know why but this year the time change has really thrown me right off schedule. Absolutely nothing, except my run, got done yesterday and Edith’s naps and our meals and everything were just way off. Anyways it has also thrown my mornings off when I normally work so I have been lagging on getting this (and many other) posts out. So anyways lets get down to it.

So last month I wrote about a food spending challenge that I had set out for our family. We challenged ourselves to spend no more than $825 and it was broken down like this:

Groceries: 84 meals at $5 per meal +Coffee/Alcohol/Chocolate/Snacks + Oil/Spices = $550

9 meals out + Coffee Out = $275 (mini goal $200)

Now for some of you $825 may still have seemed like a lot but since we had been spending closer to $1000+ on everything. I know crazy. So now the question is did we succeed?

YES!

It feels so good to actually tell you that yes I actually successfully completed one of my challenges.

We even had a date night in which is why we didn’t meet our mini dining out goal but overall we did really well.

So how did we do it:

Menu Planning. I tried my best to create a menu for the week and a shopping list and buy only what was on my list and to stick to the plan as close as possible.
Shop Deals. I really shopped the sales and swapped out ingredients when I was able to for less expensive ones.
Dine out at Happy Hour. This nice thing about Portland is that most places have happy hour from 4-6 and sometimes later and since having a toddler means we turn into old people eating dinner at 5/5:30pm works for us. This means less expensive drinks and eats for the whole family!
Chinook Book (or any local discount book). In Vermont we used to buy deals on Localvore Today and yearly we bought a Buy Local Coupon book. Out here in Portland we buy the Chinook Book app that we can use right from our phone. Both have local deals at restaurants, coffee shops, stores and other local businesses. We are able to support local businesses while also saving money!

Reflections:

Dining out actually feels like a treat and more FUN! We have really cut back on meals out that are just out of laziness and are focusing on going out for a treat. Now when we do go out to eat we really enjoy the family time and get more out of the experience.

We have been going to the grocery store less. Before when we were going out to eat so often we were also going to the market all the time. I mean like almost every day. CRAZY. Now we go on one big grocery trip and then mid/end of the week we might pick up a few things because I seem to always forget my list or forget to get everything on my list even when i do bring it.

I want to keep with it. Now I want to keep with eating the majority of our meals at home however the one change I will be making is I might spend a little more here and there on ingredients that are a little fresher. I found we ate a lot more frozen veggies, beans and grains and I would rather be eating more fresh vegetables.

How do you save money while still eating well?

October Grocery Challenge

September 20, 2013 by Lindsay Ingalls 2 Comments

As you all know we are in the middle of another move. Although this time we are just moving across town it seems that it’s just as hard as our cross country move. On top of moving there is the expense of moving which for us includes paying double rent* and moving expenses so this coming month we are reigning in the budget. That’s where the challenge comes in to play.

This month we are challenging ourselves to eat at least 84 meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) and all snacks at home/packed for work. We will be allowed to have a max of 9 meals out however they must on average be $25 or less for the three of us and we are allowed max of 2 coffees each out per week.

Challenge:

Groceries: 84 meals at $5 per meal +Coffee/Alcohol/Chocolate/Snacks + Oil/Spices = $550**
9 meals out + Coffee Out = MAX –> $275 Goal –> $200

Currently we are spending nearly $1000/month on going out, coffee and groceries – yeah I know it sounds like a lot. So this is really going to be a challenge but with moving, a Seattle trip and the holidays I have a lot of motivation to stick with this challenge. I plan on posting $5 meal recipes and would love to have others participate and share theirs as well.

If you are interested in participating in this challenge leave a comment below and then head over to your own blog and write your own post and goals and link back to this page by October 1st.

Who’s in?

*Portland has a crazy rental market and when you find an amazing place like we did you have to jump on it or take the chance that you may or may not find an equally wonderful place.

**Update: um so I can’t add.

May Healthy Challenge: Plank-A-Day

April 24, 2013 by Lindsay Ingalls 1 Comment

Can you believe that it is almost May? Did this month fly or what? First just a shout out to all of the April 100 Mile Challenge participants you rock! Now on to May!

This months challenge is slightly, okay totally, more attainable than last months challenge (more on that in a future post). This month I want you to complete a plank-a-day. That’s it. Can you do it?

So what you need:

A stop watch- if you have a smart phone there should be one on it
A space for you to preform your plank and that’s it!

Challenge yourself to increase your time everyday even if it is just by a few seconds.

How the challenge works:

After you do you plank record your time on the Google Drive spreadsheet that I will send you. At the end of the challenge participants who have completed the full 31 days will be entered to win a prize (TBD). Bonus: You can Instagram or Tweet a screenshot of your stop watch time for a bonus giveaway entry (up to one tweet per day) but make sure to include @runwithtongs and #RWTPlankADay to your IG/Tweet AND you must submit the URL on your spreadsheet for it to count.

If you have little to no experience with the plank here is a quick tutorial:

SIGN UP HERE:

#RWT100Miles: Update

April 19, 2013 by Lindsay Ingalls 2 Comments

I had the best intentions to write this post back on the 15th (the half way point) but with everything that happened this week I have taken a little break from posting. I have had a few post go live that I had previously worked on but other than that I haven’t been feeling ready to get back to blogging I have been to consumed with everything that has been happening this week.

Anyways I thought that it was important to an update before this challenge is over and I hope to do at least one more next week along with a post on my favorite running gear.

I honestly am not sure that I myself will be able to complete the challenge but I am trying my hardest to do so. I think I was a little naive to think that I could easily get in 100 miles this month while taking car of a baby and my home responsibilities. I am not giving up but just being realistic.

So far I have completed 50.3 miles walking and running. So with 49.7 to go that means I need to average 4.14 miles per day between now and the 30th. I know based on my running plan I have to run about 20-25 miles between now and the end of the month so it’s just the other 25 or so miles I need to complete as well. Hmmm…maybe I can?

I would love to hear how other participants are doing and what your thoughts are. It really has put things in perspective for me and makes me WANT to move more. I sit far too much during the day and need to get these legs outside and moving around more often.

P.S. I will be posting early next week with more details but get ready for May’s challenge it’s going to be planking awesome. hint. hint.

Naturally Lindsay

Healthy Challenge