Master Mind

My fellow Americans… and everyone else who reads this blog… hehe. I’m feeling better, can you tell? I went to the back cracker today and he told me that I am doing well and don’t need to come back. Fantastic! My back has gone from painful to uncomfortable in a matter of days, thanks to my resting. Starting my workouts again next week looks promising.

For those of you who read this blog fairly consistently, you know that I often times am at war within my own mind over health and fitness. I go through spurts of avidly counting calories, to the point where it becomes obsession. Other times, I say to myself, You know what? I’m just going to let it go, be healthy, and enjoy life. But alas, I always find myself falling back into the food guilt trap.

With the wedding coming up, I’ve been especially obsessive, spastic, and emotional over my food intake. I understand this is not beneficial behavior, but still have a hard time removing myself from it. Then I get here to SA, where good food is everywhere and nutrition facts are listed in kilojoules, making it nearly impossible to count calories. The fare is succulent, it’s beautiful, it’s savory, it’s sweet—everything a food lover could dream of. But it’s also very hard to resist.

A combination of knowing that I am losing a week’s worth of working out coupled with being around some of the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted, I immediately started to worry about fitting into my dress and started planning twice-a-day boot camp routines for myself once I got better.

Then today, as I mulled over my future calorie-burning workouts, I thought, I’m doing all of this for what? I’m going to fit into my dress, bottom line. I’m not going to gain 10 lbs. in 4 weeks, or even 5 for that matter. And why should I be harder on myself and make myself miserable (and everyone around me) just a few weeks before what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful days of my life. This process is about being happy and in love and celebration. Not deprivation, punishment, and irritability.

So I’m going to just keep doing what I’ve been doing: making sure I get exercise in 5 or 6 days a week and eating well.

Here are today’s attempts successes at doing so:

Grapefruit and cottage cheese with dried raisins, apples, and cherries.

Most gorgeous, blood-red grapefruit I've ever seen. Most juicy, sweet grapefruit I've ever eaten.

Smooth cottage cheese will forever be a substitute for cream cheese. New obsession.

This is so delish. And has 5 g of fiber, 5 g of protein. Yes please.

Rice cake with hummus and cukes, rice cake with cottage cheese and sliced tomatoes, celery with peanut butter, chopped carrot, and yumalicious figs.

Curried ground beef with brown rice and salad with avocado OTS.

My wedding day should be about joy and the pleasures of life, and I don’t want to be dreading the preparation. My worst fear is to spend all this time fretting over stupid stuff and not enjoy the actual day itself. I only get one shot at this.  I always say I want to enjoy life, live in the moment, and not sweat the small stuff. One can say they want to do those things all they want, but never actually do them. It’s all about training your thinking, which is something I need (and desperately want) to learn to do. But it’s a process, just like everything in this life. It has to become a habit, one that I am going to implement.

Something to think about:

“…You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you’re gonna to wear that day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on your mind.” –Eat, Pray, Love

One Size Does NOT Fit All

One might assume that the life of a college kid is never boring, and for most, this is probably the case. I, on the other hand, choose to live at home, keeping me far away from all of the shenanigans that take place nightly. My life is not “boring”, per say, but it can definitely get monotonous. Monotony is ok in certain things, but one thing that I cannot handle repeating is food. I rarely eat the same exact thing every day, unlike Mons who is happy eating toast with peanut butter for breakfast 94 days in a row.

For a while, I was doing the whole, “snack all day “ deal, but recently, I have started trying something a little different. Before, I was eating breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert. It’s kind of been my routine for forever. But I started to realize a little something. First of all, the usual “snack” size featured on many health blogs is just a tease—a nibble really. When I eat, I expect something substantial. Ten almonds just doesn’t cut it for me.

Secondly,  I was eating a snack in between breakfast and lunch even though I wasn’t hungry. I figured, I have to keep my metabolism up, so I have to eat then. By the time snack time rolled around at about 3 or 4, I felt as though I could eat a horse. By dinner time, I was in raging hunger mode. This led to quick, thoughtless dinners or very early dinners, which left me hungry again by 7.

Solution: Eat 4 normal-sized meals every day. Yep, you heard right- 4 meals a day. You can look at that as either two breakfasts, or two lunches, but either way, there are three meals pre-dinner. Fantastico.

Some of you might be thinking, “This girl is nuts.” Oh contraire. This seems to really work for me, and I always try to stick with what works.

So, for those of you who might be curious as to what a typical day of eating is like for me, here are some usual meals put into a spiffy schedule format. Enjoy!

8 AM 

• Protein pudding, 1 cup of strawberries, 1 cup of Rice Chex

The protein pudding was "meh" (8 oz water, 2 scoops vanilla protein, 2 tsp instant vanilla pudding). It didn't thicken quite like I'd hoped...

• 2 cups of veggies of choice scrambled in 3 eggs in 1 tsp butter
• 1 cup plain yogurt, handful of almonds, a baby handful of crasins, and a chopped apple

12 PM

• 1 cup brown rice, 2 tbsp salsa, ½ cucumber, 1 large carrot, 2 tbsp hummus

My day is not complete without a ridiculous amount of vegetables.

• Turkey and cheese melt, pickle, 2 cups cabbage sautéed in a tsp olive oil
• Salad beast (basically the biggest salad ever) with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and ½ cup cottage cheese either seasoned or sweetened with somethin’

3 PM

• Toast with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese and a sliced pear

I had to eat all of the pear "ends" to make this picture look pretty.

New obsession

• 2 cups roasted veggies and 4 slices of turkey breast
• 1 whole sweet potato topped with 1 whole onion sautéed in ½ tbsp butta

6:30 ish- 7 PM

• Taco salad with chicken breast and chips OTS

This was a beast and had to be eaten in two separate sittings. Also, chips never got plated. They just went from bag to mouth...

• 1 hamburger with mustard, 1 cup sauerkraut, 1 cup steamed broccoli, 1 small salad
• 1 cup quinoa sautéed with 1 cup spinach, ½ cup red peppers, ½ cup onion, and a little feta cheese in ½ tbsp butter

8:30-ish

• 1 apple with peanut butter
• 1 cup yogurt with ½ cup papaya and a dark chocolate square
• 2 dark chocolate squares 
•  ...or, if I'm full (like tonight) a cup of hot Cinnamon Apple Tea will suffice. 

Giving my tea some love.

So there you have it! Those are just some of my typical meal options. It might not be conventional, but it works for me. After all, when it comes to health and nutrition, one size does NOT fit all.

Practice What You Preach

As I sit here watching one of my fave shows, What Not to Wear, I find an over arching theme throughout the show is being happy with your body and knowing how to work it. Ok now brace yourself- we’re gonna get a little personal here. 

Over the past few days, it has come to my attention that I have lost my curves. Before I cut gluten out of my diet, I weighed 150 lbs. Now, after working out 5 days a week, closely monitoring my portions, and always eating healthy, I weigh 25 lbs less. I feel great, healthy, and fit. I have never wanted to be a stick figure and have always been one to appreciate curvey women. But quite honestly, I’m starting to miss my own.

For me, diet and exercise is an ever-changing process. I often find myself modifying and changing my routines and eating habits to tweak my figure here and there. My number one reason for working out and eating healthy is to BE HEALTHY. Duh. But my number two (and maybe even tied with number one?) is the desire to have a great body. For as long as I can remember, I have had my “figure” goals (i.e. I want have a body like so-and-so. I want to have a __ in waist). Obviously, being content with your body and being healthy are so important. However, I will admit that I often succumb to the images portrayed by the media. I constantly have to remind myself that celebrities have personal trainers, personal chefs, are airbrushed, and are wearing Spanx, but those perfect figures still bombard my consciousness. Come on, what girl doesn’t think about that?

My mind holds a hodgepodge of contradictions, placed there by culture, media, peers, etc. Clothes look better on a thinner frame. Having curves is sexier than being a bean pole. Flat stomachs look best in a bathing suit. A little pudginess on the tummy is soft and feminine. It’s like having an angel and a devil on my shoulders.

But what if I let my body take over and tell me what it wants to do? What if I ate and exercised purely for health and enjoyment? How would my body change? 

Well, I want to conduct a little experiment. I feel confident enough to let my genetics take over and see how it turns out. Over the past two days, I have sort of embraced this natural body beauty idea, and I am fairly certain my caloric intake has made a significant jump. I am going to just go with it.  It’s time to practice what I preach, right?

Blog Block (A.K.A. SnackFace Rip Off Post)

I am always, ALWAYS reading health, fitness, and beauty articles and blogs. Tuesday, I was thinking about what they Hades I would post on. Suddenly, I remembered SnackFace’s post entitled, “This is What My Balance Looks Like.” Since she invited her fellow blogginistas to jump on the Balance Bandwagon, I am doing it. Blame the blog block. But I am DOIN’. IT.

MY Balance is… (drum roll please).

Talking to my honey at least twice a day

Me and my hubby-to-be.

Living in a house overrun by dogs

From left: Gizmo, Pixie, Oscar, Lucy, Max, and Kiwi. Yes we have 6.

Eating 3 square meals a day

Toast with apple.

Chicken Soup

Quinoa, barbeque chicken, and broccoli.

Plus snacks…

Fruit of grapes.

Ener-G Corn Loaf. So delish. AND only 40 cals/slice. But who's counting?

…Plus dessert

Pumpkin yog with gingy cookie

COFFEE. Need I say more?

Red lipstick stain on the side. Hot.

Eating some form of chocolate at least once a day

Working out 5 days a week...

Walking dogs 3 separate times in a day (and counting it as my workout).

Spending quality time with La Familia

We were painting my sleeping uncle's face on New Year's

Obsessing over health and beauty info

• Shine.com
• Glamour.com
• Cosmopolitan.com
• Allure.com

Being productive. That means cleaning, blogging, working out, cooking something, or working on school 

work of some sort.

And looking cute while doing it…

NEVER taking myself too seriously

Throwback picture. Me with bangs. Mons with red hair.

Basically, my balance is about enjoying myself, staying healthy, and having fun. Life’s too short of have it any other way.

Trouble Spot Toning

Hiya Pals! I had a great weekend, but for some reason, my picture-taking went out the window. There wasn’t really much to take pictures of. I also blame it on my rejection of technology. I just wasn’t feelin’ it. Life is about enjoyment and rollin’ with it, right? So, I’m rollin’ with it.

Saturday, Moms and I planned on hitting up the movies to go see Burlesque, but alas, we never made it. Instead we spent the ENTIRE day shopping around America’s Friendliest Hometown and hanging out together (which I preferred over sitting in front of the boob tube). AAaaannnd we bought my wedding invitations! Hurray! They are so beautiful and classy. Love ‘em. I would post a pic, but then surprise=ruined. Sorry folks! You’ll have to wait just like everyone else (you know I love you all)! 

Sunday was lazy and relaxed, although I did go walking twice (I feel awesome when I walk multiple times a day). Then, at 4:30 we watched the first Packers game of the playoffs! Fist pump for Packers win! 21-16, baby. Take that, you dog murdering quarterback!  

Monday morning I woke up craving banana pancakes. So I channeled my inner Jack Johnson and whipped them up. Unfortunately, Xylitol makes pancakes turn dark brown, making for some toasty-looking things. In this case, taste is what matters, and they were superb. 

The Florida weather failed me, but I had stuff to do. So I bundled up and went out for some errands, all of which were unsuccessful (long, boring story). I think I looked pretty cute though (if I do say so myself)!

Moms has been wanting to start working out with me (I think it’s her New Year’s resolution). So, Monday was our first “weights day”. Since my legs are fairly muscular already, I don’t work them out other than Zumba, walking, or running. My strength training focuses on my upper body, abs, and bootay, A.K.A Trouble Areas.  I do it 2-3 times a week.

Here’s the run-down (Before you venture any further, have a look at my Don’t Sue Me page…):

Some of these moves are from Tummy Tuck. Check out my creep-o faces in the others... ha.

My equipment:

1. 5 lb. weights
2. Bench
3. Water bottle
4. Yoga mat

Curl-throughs- Biceps/Shoulders (15 reps) Start with arms extended down by sides, palms facing outward. Then flexing biceps, bring the weights to shoulder height. Turn weights so palms face out again and push out and up. Reverse the movements back to start position. 

Lady Bench Press- Chest (15 reps) Lying flat on bench, start with weights resting on chest. Push up like a bench press so that arms form a V. Bring back to start position.

Dips- Triceps (10-15 reps) Position your hands shoulder width apart on a secured bench or stable chair. Move your booty in front of the bench with your legs bent and feet placed about hip width apart on the floor. Straighten out your arms and keep a little bend in your elbows in order to always keep tension on your triceps and off your elbow joints. Now slowly bend at your elbows and lower your upper body down towards the floor until your arms are at about a 90 degree angle. Be sure to keep your back close to the bench. Once you reach the bottom of the movement, slowly press off with your hands, and push yourself straight back up to the starting position.

Chest fly- Chest (15 reps) Lie on the floor, bench or step. Hold weights over the chest with the palms facing each other. Keeping the elbows slightly bent, lower the arms out to the sides and down until they're level with the chest. Keep the elbows in a fixed position and avoid lowering the weights too low. Squeeze chest to bring the arms back up as though you're hugging a tree.

Lunging Row- Back (15 reps on each side) Hold dumbbells and stand with your feet together, arms at your sides. Lunge forward with your left leg until your left knee is bent 90 degrees. Lower your torso as close as possible to your left knee. Allow the dumbbells to hang naturally. Row the dumbbells straight up until your elbows pass your torso. That’s one rep.

Cross-Bow- Gluteus medius/Outer gluteal  muscle (10 on each side) Start on all fours. Keeping right leg bent at a 90 degree angle, raise it straight out to the right side. Flex right foot and extend leg straight out. Bring back to 90 degrees and then back to start position.

Oblique Crunch- Obliques/ Lower abs (10-15 on each side) Start laying on your right side with your right arm stretched out flat on the floor ad your left arm on your head. Your legs should be out at a 45 degree angle in front of your body. Your weight should be on your butt muscle, not your hip bone. Lift your upper body and legs crunching your obliques. Bring arms and legs together touching your elbow to your knee. Lower back down to starting position.

 Donkey Kicks- Gluteus maximus  and minimus/ Top and bottom gluteal muscles.  (15 reps on each side) Start on all fours. Keeping right leg bent, lift it as high as you can behind you. Lower back down to start.

Reverse 6-inches- Lower abs (10-15 reps) This is a twist to the classic six inches. But instead of lifting from the floor, you start at the top and lower your legs to a 45 degree angle.

I do 3 of these circuts. It takes roughly 12 minutes per circuit and 36-40 min total. 

 I really love this workout because it’s quick and it works all the muscle groups that need tightening! Girl’s gotta stay in shape!

Why I Quit

     Hi guys. It’s time for some honesty. First of all, I want everyone to know that everything I post on this blog is true and tested by yours truly. I am not one of those bloggers who posts a “You should, do this” and doesn’t follow through with it for myself.

   This is the end of my second day of the Yoplait Light Two Week Tune-Up. My regular day-to-day eating is very healthy (with the occasional naughty, of course). When I heard about the Tune-Up, I was super excited to try something BRAND NEW that would be of interest in the health blogging community. On the first day, I was like one of Pavlov’s dogs salivating over Yoplait’s great flavors. But I quickly began to notice a very sluggish feeling that I attributed to me being attacked by gluten. Then on the following day, the sluggish feeling was accompanied by a headache. My mama was feeling the same way, so I knew it wasn’t just me.

In reading the nutritional facts of Yoplait Light, I realized that there are not only artificial sweeteners, but also quite a bit of real sugar. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that (almost) everything is fine in moderation. BUT, why would I put myself on a Tune-Up that would require me to eat WAY more sugar than I normally consume?

I think the Yoplait Light yogurts are great for a guilt-free afternoon treat when you are craving something sweet. I know I will keep eating them every-so-often! But, for me, having 2 per day as part of breakfast AND lunch is a little much.

Here’s the bottom line folks: I am not going to promote something that I don’t believe in or that I am not doing myself. I am not saying that Yoplait steered my wrong- that is FAR from the truth. Just because it is not right for me, doesn’t mean it’s not right for you! The studies about the Tune-Up showed several very happy participants who lost weight and felt much healthier. But it is never good to assume one diet does not fit all. This just goes to show how important it is to listen to your body. You might be asking, "Why didn't you keep it up for just a little longer?" Basically, if what I’m eating doesn’t make me feel great and healthy, I am going to stop eating it. 

 I do want to give a big thanks to Yoplait for giving me the opportunity to try out the Yoplait Light Two Week Tune-Up.

Starting Fresh in the New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!! I hope you’ve all made some doable resolutions to make you healthier and happier! I have made 3 of them:

They are:

• Dress nicely almost every day- I have all these cute clothes, but end up wearing a boring t-shirt and jeans or workout gear all the time.
• Drink more water- I’ll admit, sometimes I don’t drink quite as much as I should.
• Keep up my fitness- I have never made it through an entire year without some sort of hitch in the workout plan. This year, I want to keep fit and motivated the whole way through.

It’s time for change.

I love kicking off the New Year with something that signifies “turning over a new leaf” (pardon the cliché). My plan for having a clean sheet in 2011 is to do Yoplait Light’s Two Week Tune-Up. Sunday was my first day on the challenge. Ok, it wasn’t much of a challenge, but nonetheless, it is a DIET of sorts. I am not a huge fan of dieting, but I thought, What the hay, I could use the clean out after all of that holiday junk.

I was a little leery when I first heard about the Tune-Up, because as you are well aware, I LOVE food. Love might actually be an understatement. Adore, obsess over, worship, glorify, idolize- those are just some of the words I might use interchangeably…

On Day 1 of the Tune-Up, my breakfast consisted of

• ¾ cup papaya
• 1 slice gluten-free bread (with a super thin layer of cream cheese)
• Yoplait Light Cinnamon Roll yogurt

Can I just tell you how amazing the flavors are? 33 heavenly flavors, to be exact. GLUTEN-FREE cinnamon roll? Yes please! I really tried not to inhale the yogurt. It was delicious. I have no idea how they make the flavors so true to the actual food. It totally filled me up.

After breakfast and a fair amount of nagging, I managed to convince my mom and stepdad to go on the required 30-40 min walk with me. We took all the poopers and enjoyed the perfect Florida winter weather.

After the walk, I was hungry again, of course. The Tune-Up calls for a snack consisting of 2 servings of veggies between lunch and dinner. That’s 2 cups. Why the Hades would I eat 2 cups of vegetables in one sitting? Bearing in mind the complete ridiculousness of this idea, I resolved to “split” the snack into one serving between breakfast and lunch, and one between lunch and dinner. What a smarty pants I am. ;)

Love me some rabbit food.

My mama, Mons, and I made our way to the grocery store to stock up for our joint venture into Yoplait land. We weighed ourselves, just to see if there would be weight loss along the way (I am not planning on losing any weight). Mama and Mons were supposed to start the Tune-Up with me, but alas, these greasy, scrumptious-looking eats led them astray.

Burger and fries. Greasy. Fatty. Terrible. Classic.

 I managed to stay strong and steer clear of this all-American lunch. I settled for my Yoplait meal.

Corn flakes, banana, and yogurt just don't measure up to the aforementioned  foods.

 The Black Forest flavor was incredibly tasty, so I ate up. Little did I know that there was gluten lurking in my food… I checked several of the other containers and assumed that all of the flavors were gluten-free. Obviously I was SORELY mistaken (no pun intended). I began to feel a twinge in my tummy. I was so upset; when I consume gluten, I feel polluted. I quickly gulped down some Gluten-zyme and Pancreatin and drank a ton of water. Luckily, within about an hour, I was back to normal. I did, however, feel sluggish for the rest of the day. Boo.

Later, while looking over the Tune-Up for the millionth time, I discovered that you are supposed to fit in 3 ADDITIONAL servings of dairy on top of the Yoplaits that you are consuming at breakfast and lunch. When I realized I was allowed to eat even more food, I rejoiced. Food makes me excited. I had a serving of dairy with my afternoon snackie.

1 cup chopped broccoli. Cottage cheese with cumin, chili powder, and Louisiana Hot Sauce.

 The cottage cheese mixture soundss gross, but it’s not. I come up with crazy concoctions sometimes, but this one was a definite winner. If you’re not a fan of cottage cheese, just blend it up and you have buffalo ranch dressing. Perfect for veggie dip or atop a salad.

I realized I am in desperate need of going back to school, because all I do these days is work out, think about food, blog, eat, and think about food. The other 5% of my time is spent meandering around the house and otherwise wasting time.

I chose to spend my afternoon doing just that. Time seemed to fly by and dinner time came. I had my 2 servings of veggies and 6 oz of lean protein. Great success (said in Borat voice).

Tuna salad. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrots, banana peppers, tuna, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, and a squeeze of lemon.

 I think this Tune-Up is totally doable. I'm currently drinking another serving of dairy... This is a perfect way to start the New Year!

What are your New Year’s resolutions? How do you plan on staying healthy this year?

Don’t forget to enter the Tune-Up Giveaway! Only 5 days left!