Before I dive into the food, there was something I wanted to talk about today. Last week I talked a little bit how I want my blog to be a little more than just “this is what I did,” “this is what I ate,” and more of a resource for healthy living. I was watching some fitness youtube videos this morning, and both were inspirational and geared towards helping people and putting out content that can aid people in their health journeys.

Today I want to talk about my motivation for being healthy (full day of eating at the end!) and eating healthy. My view on health and fitness has changed a lot since I started this blog. I think I’ve been through a bit of a journey, and I want to share some of how I transformed.

Like I discussed in my #transformationtuesday blog series (link here), after struggling with college weight gain for my first 3 years of college, I finally managed to lose about 25 pounds.

For a while before then, I also struggled with a lot of food stress and a negative relationship with food. Which created toxicity in trying to be healthy. It created a desperation. A few things have changed how I look at food and eating. First of all, I think I’ve matured a lot since then. I’ve grown up. I’ve also realized that there are other things in life worth worrying about (ayyy vet school apps!). I’m realizing that with maturity also comes a sense of calm. I’m realizing I’m more of a low-key person than I realized (or than I was) and a lot of things don’t phase me that used to. (Most things really aren’t that serious. Panic almost never makes a situation better. It’s funny because pre-college when I was playing softball I considered myself emotionally tough and calm, then through most of college things got to me a lot more, and here we are, full circle, calmed down again.)

I think the number one thing that changed everything for me was getting so sick, and then working to get healthy from that. When I was first dealing with my “mystery stomach condition” and didn’t know what was going on, I felt powerless because I knew what I ate mattered but I couldn’t tell what would make me feel better. Once I started to get a handle on how to eat and what was going on, a switch flipped. I now had a different, much more important reason to eat healthily. To feel good, sometimes just to function.

(Carrot apple ginger juice and BFFs <3)

I had to eat a certain way to not feel sick. That way of eating happened to be pretty darn healthy. (Minus the instances where I had to survive on crackers because that was all I could handle.) I was eating to fuel my body. I was eating with a purpose. Even now that I’m SO much more recovered from my illness, eating to feel good has stuck around. That made all the difference.

When I make food choices, my main goal is to eat what I think will make me feel good. I KNOW vegetables make me feel like superwoman and high fat foods have me feeling yucky (not advocating for low-fat for everyone, this is just what works for me with my stomach issues).

Full disclosure: I do count calories but not with a specific caloric goal. Mostly because it helps me manage my stomach (if I eat large meals I sometimes have issues). I eat whatever amount will make me feel good.

(Kale salad= feel like a rockstar)

I stopped trying to cut out sugar. Instead I try to eat it in a way that won’t make me feel bad. I have dessert every night. But I choose Halo Top for ice cream because I know it won’t make me feel bad like full fat ice cream.

If you are eating healthy for purely aesthetic reasons or just to see that number drop, it is so much harder to stick with it. Because the moment you have a piece of chocolate when you feel you “weren’t supposed to,” suddenly your day of “good” eating is ruined so you eat the whole bar. If you eat to feel good, you eat the chocolate. And you realize, “ok, I still feel good. If I ate the entire bar, I might not feel good. So I won’t.” In feeling good, there is no black and white. It’s all a spectrum. You could always feel worse by throwing in the towel and eating tons of junk.

And if you’re eating to feel good, the scale doesn’t carry so much value. I’ll be honest, sometimes I crave ALL THE FOOD and overeat sweets. But I accept that that’s what my body wants at that time, know it will pass, and move on. If I wake up heavier the next day, I realize it’s because I have extra food in my stomach and it will pass. I don’t freak out. If you base your value and self worth entirely on the scale, you might wake up the next day and say “screw it,” feel defeated, and continue unhealthy habits. Trust me, I’ve been there. If you’re eating to feel good, the next day you might realize you don’t feel the greatest from all those cookies and choose more vegetables because they make you feel better.

And while I’ve been referencing food in terms of “feeling good,” it also applies to exercise. I am extremely fortunate in that I genuinely love exercise and have a lot of fun with it. But I also feel 1000x better when I start my mornings with a workout, which makes it easier to get up when that 5:30 alarm goes off.

In summary: why should you want to be healthy? Because it feels amazing! We don’t always need to complicate things with numbers and measurements. How would that food make you feel? Amazing? Then eat it! If it would make you feel less than stellar, but you decide it’s worth it, then I would advocate for going for that too. Healthy isn’t perfect. And there really is no “perfect” when it comes to being healthy.

PHEW. After that long winded intro, let’s get to the good stuff!

Breakfast:

Flapjacked double chocolate mighty muffin. For some reason I’ve made these a Tuesday breakfast thing. Plus some amazing jumbo blueberries. (The key to these microwave muffins is to get them gooey in the center. Also: I often add extra water to the mix until I feel like it’s a batter consistency. I feel like some of the muffins have a little more or less dry mix than others so I adapt accordingly.)

Coffee:

I’m back on coffeeshop Tuesdays. This was a decaf cappuccino, as per usual. I was back at Foundation Grounds this week for it’s coziness factor and closeness.

Snack:

I headed to Crossfit from the coffeeshop, but since it was lunchtime Crossfit I grabbed a few of these crackers as a snack beforehand.

Lunch:

Post-workout I was more than ready! I headed to Panera for some of their Autumn Harvest soup. It was my first time trying it and I liked it a lot! So silky and smooth. I also had an apple and crackers on the side.

Afternoon snack:

I didn’t love these bars at first but they’re growing on me.

Dinner:

I found these at the grocery so naturally I had to dig into a few of them.

I really love this simple and easy salad. It’s vaguely Greek I suppose. I used to pack this with a hard boiled egg for lunch between classes. Salad with champagne vinaigrette, goat cheese, roasted red pepper hummus, and an over easy egg. Plus some GF toast with Earth Balance.

Dessert:

A little while ago I bought a can of pumpkin pie filling. I pulled the other half out of the freezer today and made a little microwave pie/custard thing. It was delicious. 1/3c pumpkin pie filling+1 T egg whites+1 T semisweet chocolate chips. Microwave until cooked.

Post-Dinner:

It’s the World Series. I decided it was as good time as any to try a local beer I’ve been wanting to try.

This was pretty good but a little bitter for me. I normally like dark beers but this wasn’t quite for me.

Since it was so bitter, I need a bite of something sweet after drinking it so I ate a Dove milk chocolate ghost.

What is your motivation to be healthy?

Despite the late start, we had quite the delicious dinner, trying 2 new recipes of Cooking Light.

The first were cheesy cauliflower biscuits, which were filled with garlic and cheddar flavor. They almost reminded me of soufflés, because they were light and fluffy. The second recipe was the Roasted Carrot, Quinoa, and Grape bowl. I really liked this one-we cooked quinoa in chicken broth, and that was mixed with chicken, sliced grapes, and roasted carrots, all topped with a greek yogurt based dressing and served over a field of greens.

The dressing had an interesting and delicious cumin flavor. The only thing is that I think we used more quinoa than the recipe called for, so there wasn’t much dressing for the greens.

This morning, I had a dentist appointment so I made sure to not have something that would stick in my teeth for breakfast! I had a Siggi’s pomegranate passionfruit yogurt, topped with sunflower seed butter, and a side of nectarine from the Farmer’s Market. I love that Siggi’s flavored yogurts are not very sweet!

After the dentist, I went straight out to do my medium length run of the week-5 miles. My legs were dragged a tiny bit from running the night before, and my foot was a little stiff, but I knew I’d feel better if I just knocked it out early in the week because it works better with scheduling.

After my run, I headed home to get to work on some baking projects. I’m trying to avoid eating too many bars because they tend to be higher in sugar, and because I’m trying to eat fewer foods that may contain traces of nuts because my skin has been awful lately due to allergic reactions.

In the process, I threw together a quick lunch of leftovers, this time skipping the bed of lettuce.

Project 1 was just basic pumpkin banana bread.

Project 2 was sort of spur of the moment. I wanted to try something different. I’ve made cherry bread before on accident (when I realized halfway through assembling ingredients that we were out of pumpkin-whoops), so I thought making cherry vanilla bread might be fun to do for something different. It turned out great!

Interestingly, the bread doesn’t have a strong fruity flavor, but the cherry masks the banana flavor. If you want a warm, homey bread that is still wholesome, I would recommend giving this a try! It has a pretty basic flavor, and I think it could be the base for a lot of different things-I have big plans for this come winter! Feel free to jazz it up by added dried cherries or chocolate chips.

Cherry Vanilla Bread

Ingredients:

2 well ripened bananas

1.5 cups of frozen cherries, thawed and ground in a blender or food processor

1 large egg or 2 egg whites

2 tablespoons oil (I used avocado)

1/3 c milk

1/8 c honey (or more to taste, recipe actually calls for 1/3 to 1/2 c sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon (can omit-this gives it a warm flavor)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350

Mash bananas.

Add all ingredients except flour and mix well

Blend in flour, stir until moistened

Pour into 4×8 loaf pan, I recommend lining it in tinfoil

Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center is clean.

Enjoy!

And because I have to share this picture:

Also-I’m feeling better! WAY better. I’m probably 90%-there are still a few times I feel a little off, but seriously, so much better. I think it was a combination of medicine and time-I started feeling better the day after the doctor. That being said, why don’t we dive into the past half week that I’ve neglected you guys?

Friday night I had retreat for my sorority. Good times, good food. I don’t think I’ve had a burrito from Chipotle before? (Yeah, coming off stomach issues that was risky but it was fine.)

Plus, we stayed at a house with a cat.

I didn’t spend the night because I had work early. I freaking love my job. I’m working at a vet on Saturdays and I love love love it. I’m learning so much!

After work, I grabbed lunch from Le Boulanger across the street. Turkey and avocado with a salad.

I talked about DC nostalgia last post, and I felt the best way to fill that void was to try a new cupcake place (my goal of that summer was to find the best cupcakes in DC). It was pretty good-a little stale.

Compare that to a DC cupcake-totally not trying to fill my void with something identical….

Sunday morning began with a run. I’m officially in half training mode, and while the “long runs” are still not up to a distance that I don’t normally run every week, I’m trying to take my schedule seriously because I think I’m a little bit lacking on the volume, especially since I was sick for a few weeks. On the schedule was a 5 miler, so I set out to run a hilly trail nearby. Unfortunately, I realized as I got there, there was a race going on so it was closed. The only good route in that direction was 7 miles, so I decided to just go for it. It felt really good! I ran that route last fall and didn’t feel great so that was nice to see! Also-post run brunch? Funfetti pancakes. Basically just pancakes with sprinkles, but it makes them so much more fun! Perfect for refueling.

Sunday was spent studying….shocker. Dinner was Mexican food which I fashioned into a salad.

Monday morning, I started with a Crossfit workout. We did a lot of deadlifts, and my legs were a little shot by the time the workout even started! The workout was a 400m run followed by 21-15-9 kettle bell swings and push ups, and then another 400m run. Not heavy, but a gasser!

Breakfast was eggs, veggies, peaches, and some steel cut oats.

Also, um, check out the weather. This is February.

Tuesday morning started out with a 4 mile run. Gotta keep to that schedule. Post run was eggs with an apple and sun butter.

Post midterm 2/3 of the week was lunch from the delicious cafe by the library, to bribe myself into spending all day there. I added an egg to this corn and black bean salad.

I spent all afternoon in the library studying animal parts, and decided to break for a little Crossfit workout. There was no way I was going to the 6am that morning before a 9am midterm! This workout felt so, so great. It was the first time I really felt 100% since being sick. I had been feeling great on runs, but I was still getting pretty light headed on Crossfit workouts. Not yesterday-I felt good and strong. And now I’m sore. For strength, we did pull ups and power jerks, and the WOD was:

3 rounds:

500m row

12 thrusters (I used 63#)

15 toes to bar (I did knees to elbow)

Now, post Crossfit dinner was delicious. It may not look like much, but never underestimate the power of cheesy grits.

Plus candied yams, chicken, and dijon brussels spouts-which are also fantastic!

I then proceeded to spend all night studying. Ohh the life of a college student.

I’m doing a 5k this weekend, so I wanted to get my “long” run out of the way early. This morning, I did my usual 6 mile loop. My foot was a little grumpy-I’ve had a few higher mileage days recently, I hadn’t had time to ice, and I can’t take Advil for fear of hurting my stomach. I was able to make that pain go away though my rolling my ankle. Ouch. It was fine to run on because straight motion is fine, but it’s irritating! I do that semi-regularly. When I was training for my first half while recovering from mono, I rolled my ankles SO much because they had gotten so weak! I’m also currently wearing compression socks to maybe help with my foot and/or ankle.

Breakfast-eggs, pear with sun butter, mandarin oranges.

Dinner tonight was caesar salad with chicken, roasted carrots, and broccoli.

Plus a giant bowl of ice cream with hot fudge and pound cake that was so, so necessary after this past week. Man.

I’m so glad the crazy is over! I’m going to celebrate by doing laundry-life was kind of put on hold!

What have you been up to?

I’m going to get serious about losing the college weight, and I’m going to document it all on the blog.

I hate to use the blog as accountability, but aside from the fact content has been lacking lately, I think this is something a lot of people can relate to. Pretty much everyone gains weight in college.

So what does that mean for the blog? Honestly, it won’t change that much, and it won’t be something I’m always discussing. But it’ll be there.

(Please note that these pictures don’t really match the content. I just have pictures without words, and words without pictures.)

(Greek salad)

So what am I going to do?

Well, for starters, nothing crazy. No specific diet-no paleo, no Whole-30, no vegan (not that there is anything wrong with those, but I’ve found they don’t work for me).

Just portion control. Moderation. And yes, I’m going to do the dreaded “calorie counting.” Or at least “estimating.” Here are a few areas I think I can improve and focus on:

-portion control (it’s easy to just glop stuff on a plate)

-fewer sweets (this does not mean NO sweets though!)

(-increased activity) <-I’m pretty active so we’ll see about this.

Given I am pretty active, I don’t trust generic calorie calculators that tell me how much I should eat. Instead, I’m going to track calories in and calories burned in exercise for a little while to calculate where I should be for moderate weight loss. <-But also because I’m a nerd and like and trust math. So it will be a learning process that will take some adjustment.

(Pumpkin bread pudding from TJ’s with homemade rum sauce)

While I have a specific weight goal in mind, I will not be posting it for several reasons. Besides that fact that I don’t want that on the Internet, I don’t want comparison. I also don’t know if that goal will change-it may not be reasonable if I’ve put on a lot of muscle weight, so it is not a hard and fast goal at all.

(Why are dining hall sweet potato fries so good?)

And I’m not in any hurry. If it takes 3 months, great. If it takes a year, great. It is what it is.

I know this may not be the post anyone was expecting after my last one, but this feels right. And exciting. I’m ready, and I hope you all will follow me on this journey!

Friday morning before I left for the airport, I completed my 10 mile training run. It was uneventful-I ran past the airport though! Decent pace, fine weather, nothing exciting. The morning was kind of crazy-I had lots of stuff to lug around and had to stop by the new place before leaving. As for transportation, I did it all-I ran, walked, flew, took the bus, took the metro, took a taxi, and rode in a car.

Pre-airport treat was a little stop for ice cream. I’m boring and got the one I’ve had before-Chocolate Therapy.

Then, I was off! I went to up-state New York to visit family. I haven’t seen my cousins in 5 years! How crazy is that? I’m the long lost CA cousin-they all live on the East Coast!

I was immediately put to work. My cousin had a graduation party on Saturday, so we were busy preparing for it. I was on cooking duty.

Between Friday and Saturday, I made a cheese, spinach, and artichoke dip:

Cheesecake brownies:

And peach cobbler 100% from scratch. A triple batch. I don’t think the pictures capture the size!

I also helped with macaroni and cheese.

On the day of, there was plenty of food!

I ate my weight in appetizers, so I had no room for a burger. I just went with macaroni and taco salad, plus dessert.

Here’s the crew:

After everyone left, we went through and divided up a whole bunch of old photos. I found some from when I was really young, plus a few gems from my dad’s family’s Christmas cards. The ’70s were a difficult time, my friends. Those clothes…

Here’s me and my sister! I’m on the left.

On Sunday, I had planned on running my 5 miler, but after a heavy breakfast that wasn’t happening. I’m glad I was ahead on my running for the week anyways! We did take a nice long walk though. It was so pretty with all the wildflowers!

That afternoon, we went to an adorable tea place, and got the full spread. Buttermilk scones, clotted cream, and smoked salmon, egg salad, and cucumber marscapone sandwiches!

Despite the fact that I currently feel like I’m going to pop, this weekend did make me think about my food philosophy. I haven’t seen these people in 5 years, and they knew I was really into sugar metabolism, nutrition, and how sugar is not good for you, and they were worried I wouldn’t eat sweets or anything.

I was thinking about this when they mentioned it to me (while I was chowing down on a brownie). I realized that what I really believe in is habits and overall trends. Sure, sugar is not good for you, but if you avoid it for the most part, especially in everyday foods, there’s plenty of space to be healthy and still eat dessert. If you limit added sugars throughout the day, there’s still room in a healthy diet for sweets. I definitely have perfectionist tendencies-not that I ever eat perfectly, but I tend to strive for this (and end up obviously not-you’ve seen what I post here!), but health really isn’t perfect. Our bodies are adaptable, and as long as we eat mostly healthy, I think we function just fine!

Overall, it was a really fun weekend, and I’m glad I was able to come up here to visit my family and their cats. I just hope I make it back tonight! I’m a bit worried because my flight keeps getting pushed back in a tiny airport! Fingers crossed!

When was the last time you visited extended family?

3 recipes

2 workouts

and 1 amazing family

Calling this a recipe is kind of a crime, given how simple it is! As some of my longer time readers may know, last year I would often eat a warm banana mashed with cocoa powder for dessert. I thought-why stop at cocoa? These could be so much more! These little holiday bites come in chocolate peppermint, gingerbread, original cocoa, and pumpkin spice. Why starters? While delicious on their own, these would be amazing in so many things-stirred into oatmeal or yogurt, in smoothies, as a dip for graham crackers or cookies, on toast, made into a pie-when chilled, the peppermint cocoa and cocoa thicken into an almost fudgey texture-the possibilities are endless! The best thing is, with so little sugar (the gingerbread has molasses, but otherwise there is no sugar), these sweet treats could be enjoyed any time of day. 

To make them, microwave a banana for about 30 seconds, or until hot and soft. Then, mash up with the additional ingredients. For a smoother texture, throw them in the blender! Since these have no eggs, the spices can be added to your taste. 

Original

1-1.5 T cocoa powder (or dark chocolate cocoa powder, which is what I used)

That’s it!

Gingerbread

This is a bit spicy, so add a little less of the spice if you prefer a milder flavor. 

1 t molasses

1/4 t ground ginger

1/4 t cloves

pinch of all spice (or nutmeg+cinnamon)

Peppermint Chocolate

Although this is banana based, I promise all the only flavors that come across are cocoa and mint! This would also be delicious made with fresh mint blended in, instead of extract.

1.5 T cocoa powder-or more to taste

1/4 t peppermint extract, or to taste

Pumpkin Spice

3 T pumpkin

1/4 t vanilla

1/2 pumpkin pie spice

1/2 t cinnamon

Enjoy!

2 workouts

and 1 amazing family.

I don’t post a ton of recipes, but since we’re approaching my blogiversary, it was time to get to work in the kitchen! I love low sugar recipes, and these lack the sugar without the flavor. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas

1 egg (or 2 whites)

2 T oil (I used canola)

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 c cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate, hence the color)

1 c flour-I used whole wheat pastry

1 T honey

1/2 c bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas and mix all ingredients besides the chips.

3. Stir in chips

4. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 until done.

Cranberry Banana Bread

Ingredients

4 ripe bananas

1 egg (or 2 whites)

2 T oil

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1.5 c flour (I used whole wheat pastry)

2 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c dried cranberries

1/2 c chopped fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas and mix in all but cranberries.

3. Stir in both types of cranberries.

4. Bake for about 50 minutes or until cooked through.

Healthy Polka Dot Cookies (Mint chocolate)

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

4 soaked dates (unsoaked should would but may not blend as well)

1 full square Baker’s chocolate (unsweetened)

1 T butter (or coconut oil)

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

3/4 c cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3/4 c flour (whole wheat pastry or any type)

3/4 c mint chips

Makes 24

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Warm bananas in microwave, and then blend with dates until smooth.

3. Melt Baker’s chocolate into banana mix.

4. Using a mixer, blend in all but flour.

5. Mix in flour with mixer.

6. Stir in mint chips

7. Drop onto cookie sheet-about 2 teaspoons per cookie.

8. Bake for about 9 minutes, depending on oven and cookie sheets, or until cooked through.

Enjoy!

Afterwards, I worked on some reading, and went to bed when I wanted to, not because I had to (around 11). 

Workout bright and early this morning though!

Since spin doesn’t start until next week, I decided to work on some weight lifting. And what I mean by that is work on getting my lifts to where they were before I got sick. I really want to do some Crossfit type workouts on my own, but my lifts simply aren’t there yet. I did a squat series where I do 2 squats every 30 seconds, at a heavy weight. Normally I do 8 minutes, but today I did 6 since I haven’t squatted for over a month and I would like to be able to walk tomorrow. I also worked on cleans and snatches, as well as some upper body strength work. I finished with a 5 minute sequence on the stepper. I have never tried one before, so I chose a premade workout. I was surprised that it was actually a good workout! I worked up a nice little sweat in 5 minutes. I’ve decided that 7 am is the best time to go to the gym here. And by best, I mean least busy. I had a 9 am class today, which is the earliest class you can have here. Few people have them, and they are dreaded (not really for me though), so nobody was awake yet. There were empty bars the whole time I was there, so I didn’t feel bad spending a long time on my workout.

Post workout I broke out the yogurt!Topped with leftover banana and sunflower butter. Yummm. On an unrelated topic, I think our fridge here is less cold than my fridge at home…so I’m guessing things won’t stay fresh quite as long. Class ended at 10:15, and campus was still mostly asleep. Since I’m going to be super on top of things this quarter, I headed to the library to get going on some work, since I didn’t have class until 1. 

The best part about studying in the library is what is right outside the library. Coupa Cafe! It  is probably my favorite place to eat on campus, which is lucky since there are like 5 of them here. For some reason, I’ve only been like twice this year. I guess I’ll have to go to the library more!

I was drawn in by the description of the hot chocolate. Although it was a beautiful day out and I was wearing shorts, it was a little windy so a bit cold (relatively speaking, sorry East Coasters). Here’s the description: 

“abuela

a delicious silky rich hot chocolate drink made from 

grandma’s strict recipe blending aromatic and deep 

flavors of venezuelanbittersweet chocolate”

How could I pass that up?It was good! And not too sweet either. I decided to balance out the splurge by ordering a big ol’ green salad, with mustard vinaigrette. The salad was simple, but delicious.Coupa also has really awesome buckwheat crepes, but those are for another day. 

After lunch I stayed outside with my reading. What a nice day!Gahh I love my new schedule. 

When I got back to my dorm after class, I settled down for a quick snack. A mango plus a ThinkThin bar.Like this but German Chocolate.

Eating today didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s a little awkward because I have yoga at 5:55, smack in the middle of dinnertime. I ended up eating another snack after I awoke from a nap (another bad habit of mine…needing to eat whenever I wake up from a nap).

I sampled a few new granola bars. As in a broke off a small piece and shoved the rest in a ziplock bag (now I have a bunch of open granola bars…yippee). I always want to try new things RIGHT AWAY. I also enjoyed an apple with sunflower butter and yogurt (current count: 2).The apple overly dominated the sunflower seed butter, so I searched for an alternative.How cool is this? Trader Joe’s sells whole bags of these little guys, and I brought one with me and tried it on the apple. Delish!

I have yoga in about an hour. I had plans to run today but yet again, I’ve having trouble getting my butt running for some reason. My lack of motivation is specific to running though, interesting.

As I said before, today’s meals didn’t exactly go as planned. I was majorly lacking greens today, but I don’t have any. I really need to grab some spinach from the dining hall to have on hand. I had originally wanted to do some kind of scramble in the microwave for an early dinner, but no spinach kind of killed that idea. I actually am running tomorrow though, as my morning workout. I think in general I am more likely to complete a morning workout. 

Wondering about the title of this post? Miranda is hosting a link up called “Operation: Prom Dress,” where she uses her upcoming prom as motivation to get back into healthy habits. Although I don’t have any specific events coming up, I thought I’d join in on the fun. Over the holidays (yes I mean Christmas holidays), I lost sight of my healthy habits. Add to the last quarter, which was a very difficult one, and I need a revamp. 

I know I don’t usually talk about weight on this blog, and it’s not a topic I’m in love with and want to spend a lot of attention on here, I’m not where I need to be to be healthy for me. 

My weight has been kind of crazy this past month. When I was sick, I could hardly eat anything for 2 weeks, and I could see myself losing muscle and flab, but I was still really heavy due to all the swelling of my organs (yayy mono). After taking an anti-inflammatory, I lost 10 lbs overnight in fluids. Then when I could finally eat again, I went kind of crazy eating all the foods I missed out on while I was sick, and foods I could only eat at home. Add to that Easter…and I’m not where I should be, especially given all the muscle loss. Plus this cycle did not exactly include healthy eating habits…

So given my recent illness which I am still sort of recovering from and my stray away from healthy habits, I am starting “Operation: Get Healthy.”

Goals:

1. Get into healthy habits again. This week is especially important because my new quarter schedule is the perfect opportunity to totally change around my routine and habits.

2. Clear up my skin. Yes, I love my peanut butter. But after being unable to eat it while I was sick, I am even more sensitive to it. A few peanut butter eggs set me off (and how much peanut butter is ACTUALLY in those??).

3. Get back in shape. My endurance flat out stinks. I swear, I only took 3 weeks off! Sheesh! I want to play soccer this quarter, and let’s be honest, that’s a lot of running. I’m definitely not there yet. I also want to do some Crossfit type workouts, so I need to get my lifting to where it needs to be. I want to be able to run 3 miles in 24 minutes again.

4. Get to a healthy place with my body. No numbers, but when I get there I have plans to get a new pair of shoes.

5. FInd my zen. I talked about this some last week, but I really want to be calmer and view the world differently. I want to experience everything! I also surround food with a lot of stress, and I really want to get rid of that. I think that is key to a healthier me. I know I’ll have less stress this quarter with more time, and I want to take advantage of everything. I want to really enjoy my classes (I basically have 4 science classes. SCORE).

Nutrition Plan:

1. Avoid sugar and grains. Everyone has their own nutrition philosophy. I personally don’t believe in eliminating grains. HOWEVER: whenever I eat grains I seriously crash my blood sugar, causing me to basically fall asleep. And sugar. Well we’ve talked about this before. It kills. I am a sugar addict. And I have terrible reactions to it.

2. Avoid snacking/late night snacking. I know having lots of small meals works for some people, but I always feel better when I stick to square meals, plus maybe some fruit. I certainly don’t recommend this to everyone, but it’s what works for me. 

3. Avoid nuts. For my face’s sake. 

4. Try not to be influenced by what everyone else is eating. This is a huge problem for me. When I see someone else eating something, I want it!

5. Listen to my body about what it wants. This is pretty self explanatory. 

Exercise Plan:

1. As many yoga classes as humanly possible. Gotta find my zen!

2. Lift about 3 times a week. Hopefully soon I can start doing Crossfit type workouts. 

3. Spin as much as is fun for me. Spin is so fun for me, so I’ll go when my schedule allows it. I want to be a spin teacher!

4. Run 3x a week, including long runs, speed  work, and agility (for soccer).

5. Try new fitness classes. The yoga pass I bought includes random other classes like Pilates and Zumba.

6. Incorporate high cardio circuit type training.

Well, there’s the plan! Hold me to it! I’ll let you know how it all is going!