Weekly Favorites

Happy Monday everyone! I love a good weekend that feels productive, but relaxing and lazy at the same time. It makes me that much ready for the week ahead. Here's what I'm loving this week/weekend:

Serial: I've heard a lot about this podcast series that takes old cases and re-investigates them, but never thought of myself as a "podcast type person." But, it's really good. Like really good. Yesterday, I took Laney on a two mile/almost 1 hour walk. That was plenty of time to get started on the first episode.


Meal Prepping: it's unbelievable, I know, but I have dinners planned out for the next week and a half! This means I also have lunches planned. Win-win.

• Tonight: Turkey Chili with (burnt) Cornbread
• Tuesday: Maple Dijon Chicken
• Wednesday: Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup
• Thursday: Burger Patties with Garlic Roasted New Potatoes
• Friday: Grilled Tilapia with Green Beans

I mean I'm pretty excited about cooking dinner now!

Clean(er) eating: I went through everything in my fridge and pantry and threw away items with ingredients I couldn't pronounce--or that I knew were bad. I have basically nothing left in the house to eat, but I don't get paid until Wednesday. The struggle is real.
 
 

Gym dates: I really don't like to go to the gym alone. Which is why I'm glad Josh is back into working out. It definitely makes it easier to lace up those tennis shoes.

Competition: Josh is a very VERY competitive person. Always has, always will be. So, he loves to challenge me to a healthy dose of friendly competition every once in awhile.

Our challenge: To reach our weight loss (or weight gain) goal.

Time frame: Whoever reaches their goal first wins.

Reward: The "loser" has to treat the "winner" to dinner of their choice.

 

Naturally, I have picked the most expensive restaurant as my prize WHEN I win. Game on.





Netflix Food Documentaries: I'm so obsessed with watching food documentaries. Finding out where our food is grown and even seeing extremes like Veganism is absolutely fascinating. Food Inc., Super Size Me, and Forks over Knives are a few of my (current) favorites.

What are you loving this week?
 

 

What To Do: When work makes you FAT

I know that "fat" is a touchy subject and that everyone is beautiful in their own way. I, however, am feeling the FAT effects not just physically. By having a horrible diet and not exercising, I've been depressed and unhappy and gaining weight. So I've decided to do what's right for my body and emotional health.

It's no secret that once you start working (or really anything new--they don't call it the Freshman 15 for nothing), your schedule is completely thrown out of whack. It can be hard to juggle work, working out, eating right, and not feeling completely exhausted (or hungry) at the end of the day. After a year, I'm STILL working on it!

I work for a catering and events company. At all times during the day, I am surrounded by food. There are tastings, the fact that my desk is literally right next to the kitchen, and menus of mouth watering food to be typed up and customized. It's so so so hard to not eat everything the kitchen says is up for grabs or taste every cake at the bridal show. So hard, that I don't actually EVER say no. Throw in the booze and goodbye skinny minny, hello cellulite.

It's amazing that I don't weigh 3,000 pounds. I have, however, put on a meaningful, unwanted 5-6 pounds since I graduated college. It's not cute. Maybe it's because I'm getting older (boo), but the weight is settling in all of the most horrible places.

The following tips are not relatively new ideas, but sometimes we (read I) need a refresher course on how to stay healthy.

1. Make a plan. I LOVE my Erin Condren planner. I use it to plan my workouts and meals. I'm addicted to stickers and colorful pens, so that helps!

2. Have someone hold you accountable. I'm lucky to have Joshua keep me on track and "be the mean guy" when I want a brownie 2 hours into my diet lifestyle change? It's helpful to have someone support your goals and encourage you to reach them.

3. Don't drink your calories. i.e. Drink water not soda. This is so hard for me. I LOVE juice. I could drink CranApple juice for every meal and snack and every minute in between. Water is so boring and when you have to FORCE yourself to gulp it down--it makes it even worse. So, jazz it up by adding fresh fruit or mint leaves. My favorite water add on is Lemon. It's so refreshing!

4. Mix it up. When it comes to meal planning AND exercise. I get so extremely bored when I do the SAME thing over and over and eat the same thing over and over (unless it was cake).

5. Exercise! My workout routine looks something like this: Jillian Michael's DVD one day, run the next day, take Laney for a nice long walk, REPEAT. After a week or two, I'll add something new like swim or go to the gym and take a class.

6. Stick with it. Progress doesn't happen over night. I'm the worst at this--I have no patience. If I haven't lost 5 pounds in the first 2 hours, I'm NEVER going to lose it and think I should just quit. So dramatic, I know. But it took more than a day or even a week to put on the weight, so it's going to take awhile for it to come off. Keep at it!

7. Eat your fruits and veggies. Or, if you are picky like me, take a multivitamin at the very least. You have to make a deliberate effort to get the fruits and veggies in. Most likely you aren't going to want to chow down on some cauliflower when you get home from a stressful day at work (if you do, can I be you?). Meal planning along will help you get those fruits and veggies in and again, stick with it!

8. Track it! There are so many apps that you can use to track your goals and success! MyFitnessPal is great for tracking calories and showing you the breakdown of carbs vs. protein vs. fat you've had in a day. RunKeeper can help keep you motivated when you run and even map where you've been!



Don't let your work schedule dictate the rest of your life. Some things you can't control, but control the things that you can. You can do it--because I said so!

30 Day Challenge

I'm all about challenges to better myself. Whether it's the challenge to drink more water, or be kinder, or wake up 30 mins earlier every day for a month (that's what the challenge is this month), I'm there. I usually have more than one that I'm working on simultaneously! I follow theeverygirl.com religiously and LOVE all of the posts/ideas. This month they have a thirty day challenge to wake up 30 minutes earlier than you usually do, to do well...whatever it is you want to do. Some people use the thirty minutes to play with their pups, make amazing breakfasts, or workout. It's fun to search the hashtag #teg30daychallenge on Instagram to see what everyone is up to!

I didn't actually work out if there's not a picture to prove it right?

After missing the first two days of the challenge (oops) I decided to tackle it today. I almost didn't make it. It is so hard to get up even earlier than usual when I know I still have to put in eight hours at work. And it's not like I was just relaxing. No. I was sweating my butt off trying to run a mile. But, I made it. 
Currently, I'm very proud of myself for dragging my lazy butt out of bed and accomplishing a mile before work AND before it rained. Talk about perfect timing. However, that pride is mixed with the feeling of ohmygoshimsotired. 
Keeping my eyes open at work is going to be the next 30 day challenge!

But I don't like Vegetables

Is a challenge.

Last night, when I got home from work, all I did was watch food documentaries. You know the ones that make you never want to eat again. 

So I know eating processed foods is bad. That's obvi. But according to Hungry for Change, the reason it's so hard to stop eating those foods is because sugar is strategically places in every single thing (except organic meats and vegetables) so you'll buy more and GET ADDICTED. The only way to get away from that is to eat whole organic foods. (Basically shop the perimeter of the grocery story--not the aisles) I'm all for that. In theory.

Food Inc, provides a look into the corporations that run the food industry--which is so confusing and I just feel bad for all the farmers and cows. Again it makes me want to just eat organic food from local farmer's markets. 

In Knives over Forks, the message is basically don't eat meat. A plant based diet is where it's at. Turns out, cancer and all other diseases are linked to meat and dairy. Cool. 

So that's my night in a summary. So depressing and confusing. Like, what am I supposed to eat now??

Here's where it gets tricky. I don't like vegetables. Ok I take it back, I only like about three vegetables. I don't like many. I'd die if I didn't eat animal protein as well--at least I'd be very hungry. So what's a girl to do? Apparently, your taste buds change around every seven years (here's to hoping this is the seventh year) and you have to try something at least three times in order to figure out if you like it or not. But how am I supposed to eat super clean and healthy when I don't like most things that are healthy? (the million dollar question)

I was basically raised on hormone induced chicken nuggets and carb and chemical laced macaroni and cheese. Of course, I didn't know all of this until last night--my childhood was based on a lie. Sure everyone knows to eat healthy, but it's killing you not to. It's pretty serious stuff.

Today after work, I'm going to Whole Foods and shopping the entire perimeter. I'll also be tossing a lot of the stuff in my pantry.  My health is important to me and not just because swimsuit season is basically here--although that is one reason. I highly Highly HIGHLY recommend these three documentaries (you can find them on Netflix) and would love suggestions on more to watch. In a way, it's kind of addictive to watch these even if they are so horrific.

What are you doing today to benefit your long term health?