Date Night

So is it just me or does getting up and out the door in the morning take longer than it used to? And does it seem to take a lot more fuel to feed that fire in your belly? I don't know what was going on with me this morning but even though I got out of bed and showered at a reasonable time it still took FOREVER to get out the door. I can't keep being late for work as being lazy is not a good excuse. I've tried setting my alarm early to give me time to snooze, I've tried setting my alarm for when I need to get up maximizing my sleep time, I've tried getting up early to workout to boost my energy, I've tried different breakfasts and always eat breakfast but nothing seems to get me going.

I think I'm going to try getting out of bed 15 minutes earlier than normal this week and see if that little extra time works for me. I also have to keep my alarm away from the bed and STAY out of bed once it goes off. Also, breakfast after I'm dressed and ready, that will be my motivation to get in gear!

Do you have any tips? What is your morning routine like and how do you get out the door?

Now again, not sure if it's the weather or my increased activity that just leaves me famished some days! I am finding that eating smaller portions more often during the day helps to get the hunger under control and doesn't leave me as tired and sluggish as three big meals does. Especially when going to the gym after work it helps to have a second lunch (or early dinner depending on how you look at it) around 4:30 or 5 to fuel up. Today it's left over mac 'n' cheese from Sunday (don't worry, I had plenty of veggies and fruit today to allow for a little extra cheese).

One of my favourite new snacks are dates. It's natural sugary goodness! I found a recipe for date balls and decided to try it. This mix of dates, nuts and coconut satisfies your sweet tooth without feeling guilty. The perfect 3 o'clock snack! I adapted my recipe from K.Miller if you want to check out a photo.

20 pitted dates
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
shredded coconut to coat

Throw the dates and nuts in the blender and mix until it forms a think paste. This will work a lot better if you have a food processor, alas I do not. Once its mixed roll the paste into balls and coat with the shredded coconut.

I found that the coconut wasn't really sticking to the date/nut paste so I ended up combining the coconut with the rest of the ingredients before forming the balls. I think if the coconut were more finely shredded it would have worked much better.

I'm headed to BodyCombat tonight at Goodlife. I'm looking forward to punching out some imaginary bad guys and feeling like a super hero!