Let's Talk Food!

This is probably the question I get asked the most--"What do you eat??"

So let's look at what a typical day of food looks like for me.

7/7:30am - Breakfast

I love oatmeal!  So I eat it for breakfast every day.  I change it up so I don't get bored with it.  Pictured below is a Banana Nut Oatmeal.  1/2 C of oatmeal (I use quick oats), 1 C boiling water, spoonful of local, raw honey, ground flax (I don't measure this, just sprinkle it on), cinnamon (again, no measuring), one banana and a handful of sunflower seeds. Delish!

Other combos I have come up with are:

1/2 C oatmeal, 1 C boiling water, spoonful of local, raw honey, flax and cinnamon.  Sometimes I'd throw in a handful of nuts, but I'd mostly enjoy it plain.

1/2 C oatmeal, 1 C boiling water, spoonful of local, raw honey, cinnamon, flax, 5-6 strawberries cut up, 1/2 a banana.

The options are really endless when it comes to oatmeal!

10/10:30am - Snack

My morning snack is typically an apple and a handful of almonds.  Sometimes I'll swap out string cheese for one of them, just for variety.

12:30/1pm - Lunch

I have become a bit of a salad wizard!  I eat salads for lunch every day.  And I LOVE them!  I am constantly creating new varieties and they are so versatile, it's hard to feel bored with them.

This is a citrusy salad that tastes like summer!  50/50 organic spring mix/spinach, chicken cooked up in olive oil in the skillet, 2 cuties, blueberries and my homemade Lemon Oregano Viniagrette.

This is one of my favorites.  Spinach, chicken, peas, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and my Lemon Oregano Viniagrette.  Sometimes I'd also just use balsamic vinegar splashed on top followed by a drizzle of olive oil.  Yum!

This is the same salad as above, only with the 50/50 spring mix/baby spinach mix.

Spinach, chicken, blueberries, cottage cheese.  So simple.  So good!

Spinach, 1/2 an apple, blueberries, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds.

3/3:30pm - Snack

Snacks are simple.  I typically mix up my morning and afternoon snacks just to feel a little variety.  So in the afternoon I typically have either a handful of almonds and piece of fruit, or string cheese and almonds, or fruit and cheese, you get the idea.  I also like having plain greek yogurt with some raw, local honey with a squeeze of lemon and some nuts.

5/5:30 - Dinner

Dinner is always my biggest challenge.  I found this frozen Birds Eye pack that is with brown rice, and has no preservatives or anything I can't have in it.  Score!  Stir fry is an easy way to get in more veggies and also feels non-diety, which is nice.  Chicken, the Birds Eye pack, more veggies, and Bragg's Liquid Aminos gets you a very healthy and delicious dinner.  Not to mention quick and easy!

If I'm not feeling too tired after work, I will just cook up some chicken in the skillet, make some whole wheat pasta and a salad.  Not only is this all on the Healthy Food List, again, it doesn't feel diety.  It feels like a normal dinner.

One of my favorites to make is burgers and fries.  I'd mix up burgers like normal, except I would eat it without the bun.  I would use ketchup for dipping.  Ketchup is on the Neutral Foods List, which means I can have it, just in small amounts.  Sweet potato fries are something I never knew were so easy and delicious to make.  I'd just cut up the sweet potato, spread it out in one layer on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary.  Then back at 450 for 15 minutes.  So good!  Add a small salad and you're sitting pretty.

I could eat steak every day.  But I save it for myself for special occasions, or just to have something to look forward to (haha).  Obviously you'll want it with onions and mushrooms.  And I also paired this with the sweet potato fries and a small salad.

Many times I would just make scrambled eggs or omlets.  It's an easy way to get protien and veggies.  It's also a nice option if you had a heavier lunch, since it's such a light meal.  My favorite combo is 2 eggs, spinach (sometimes kale), tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper.

And then there are the times I would just have another salad for dinner!  Dinner salads are a little bulkier.  Pictured below is one of my faves.  Lettuce mix, taco meat, tomatoes, cheddar, plain greek yogurt (you'll never know it's not sour cream), guacamole, tapatio.  Talk about a party in your mouth!  I've also done regular tacos, only in a leaf of romaine lettuce instead of a tortilla.  Surprisingly good!

7/7:30 - Snack

Many times I want something sweet in the evening.  So I'll have a protien bar.  Pictured is my favorite.

I've also had smoothies for an evening snack and to satisfy a sweet tooth.  The one pictured is 1 scoop Vanilla Trim Shake, pineapple, mango, spinach, Vitamin D, and a scoop of plain greek yogurt.  I have a weakness for ice cream.  I've found that making delicious fruity smoothies and putting them in popsicle molds satisfies this.

Another great evening snack is popcorn.  I like it with salt and Bragg's Nutritional Yeast. Sounds weird, tastes like cheese popcorn!  Only instead of cheese you're consuming B Vitamins.  Amazing!

Extras:

I've mentioned above my Lemon Oregano Viniagrette.  Here's the recipe for that.  1 1/4 C Olive Oil, 1/2 C & 2 Tbsp Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard, 15 drops doTERRA Lemon oil, 5 Drops doTERRA Oregano oil.

I find that cooking up a bunch of chicken for salads all at once makes it really easy to make my salad on the go in the mornings before work.  I fry mine up in a cast iron skillet with olive oil.  I sprinkle them with sea salt, pepper, and Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb.  Once cooked up, just cut up into small pieces and put in the fridge.  Then in the morning simply throw your salad together and away you go!

And there you have it.  Obviously there are countless variations, and this isn't a complete list at all.  I've had so many varieties and variations in my meals!  Hopefully this will help those of you who are about to join with me on this journey in your meal planning.

I DID IT!!!

I am not a finisher.  I start countless things, have loads of great ideas, and most of them are “in process”.  Yet here I am, 12 weeks later, AND I FINISHED A FITNESS CHALLENGE!!! Not only did I finish it, I rocked it out, if I do say so myself!  I don’t even recognize myself from who I was back in January.  I’ve become one of those cliché people who goes around saying things like “it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change” and “please pass the spinach and baby kale”.  And most shocking of all, “No thanks, I’ll pass on the bread”.

I knew things were getting serious when I woke up one morning about a month in and had the biggest craving for raw spinach.  Without a second though, I got up and went to the kitchen where I proceeded to shove a fistful of spinach into my mouth.  Only when I was cramming in the second handful did I think “This isn’t normal.  This is weird.”

That was the moment I decided to just go for it.  Clearly my body wanted it, so all I had to do was tell my head to shut up and follow my heart (err…stomach?).  Shockingly, I’ve not had any cravings.  I take that back…about a week in I wanted chocolate like nobody’s business, but I persevered and haven’t had any cravings since.  Unless you count how much I crave leafy greens, which I don’t count because who craves that anyway?!

I will say that having one cheat meal a week is very helpful.  I’d plan it around whatever was going on that week.  However, I learned that cheat meals, while great for the mouth and that pesky mind, are ROUGH on the body!  Towards the end I wasn’t even partaking in cheat meals because I felt so horrible for a day or two after having them.  Or I’d have “healthy” cheat meals, such as things that aren’t necessarily bad for you but you can’t have in this particular challenge, such as rice and corn toritllas. And let’s face it, pretty much all of my cheat meals were on Mexican food.

I do have one confession to make in this whole thing, and that is that I did not do very well in the exercise portion of the challenge.  And by that I mean that I didn’t do it at all.  I have had a lot of foot and knee pain, but that has been going away, so I feel I’m ready for some low intensity workouts (I bought a yoga mat and plan to start that up soon). 

The stats: 12 weeks, 25lbs, 3 pant sizes.  I don’t have measurements because I didn’t think I’d last 2 weeks let alone 12, so I didn’t do much in the beginning to document my body.  But let me tell you, if clothing tells you anything, it’s when your body changes!

So what’s next?  Well, I’ve become a TERRAfit coach!  And I’m starting the next 12 week challenge on April 18^th.  If you are interested in joining me, please do!  Get in touch with me with any questions and I would love to talk about it with you!  What have you got to lose?  Nothing but some pounds and inches, and even if you think you’d never last, give it a go anyway.  A little bit is better than none!

I apologize for the dark before pics, but as I said, I didn’t think I would reach this point and therefore didn’t care about getting a clear shot!

You Win Some, You Lose Some, You Get Back In The Game

Thank goodness for Mondays.  

I know, I know.  Only crazy people say things like that.  Hear me out...

I screwed up this past weekend.  Friday night I had my cheat meal.  I went with the family to The Olive Garden.  I ate way past the point of feeling a "healthy" full.  I ate a lot.  I ate so much that on the way home I thought I was going to lose my meal all over my steering wheel.  Thankfully I made it home, where I promptly rolled into bed, moaned about how stupid I was to eat that much, until I fell asleep.

The next morning I was still not feeling that great.  I blame the cream soup, white flour pasta and massive amount of breadsticks I ate.  Even on previous cheat meals, I've stayed somewhat healthy.  The healthiest thing about this meal was the creamy italian drenched salad I had.  I decided that Saturday morning, that I don't care how good of an idea it seems a the time, I was not having any more cheat meals like that.

I ate well the rest of the day, but I had horrible cravings for horrible food.  I haven't had any cravings for bad food before this point in the challenge.  And then at about 4pm while I was preparing to leave my aunt and uncles house, I decided to give in to the craving.  I decided I was going to go to Taco Bell for dinner.  I've been doing so well, I deserved it right? 

Somehow between putting on my scarf and coat, my aunt invited me to stay for dinner. She'd even make a meal I could eat, stir fry with brown rice and lots of fresh veggies.  The angel on my shoulder rejoiced that I was being presented a pretty great "out" from eating Taco Bell.  The devil on my other shoulder, he was kind of annoyed.  I stayed though, and I was thankful for the save.  However, as I ate my (delicious) stir fry, I formed a plan in my mind that I would still go to Taco Bell after this, only instead of a whole meal, I would just get nachos.

I am ashamed to admit that I followed through with that plan.  Except once in the drive thru I actually ordered 2 orders of nachos.  And I ate them all.  I instantly felt that sick feeling you get when you've been eating so well and then stuff a bunch of processed crap in your gullet.  Again, I went to bed and moaned at my idiocy until I fell to sleep.

I woke up on Super Bowl Sunday determined to do better.  I was back at my aunt and uncles that evening for the game.  My aunt was so great, she had trays of veggies and fresh fruit as great options for me, along with the other foods.  And I did pretty well.  Until it came time for my last snack of the day.  I went into the kitchen ready to pile on the veggies and fruit, when what did my wandering eye see?  A massive pile of taquitos.  And buffalo chicken dip.  And crackers!  Chips and guac!  I hesitantly made my way to the fresh fruit.  I ate a couple strawberries and grapes.  That guac sure looked good.  And it was just onions and avocados and salt, I had watched my uncle make it.  So I grabbed a chip (instead of just eating it with veggies as I should have done) and tried it.  

Countless chips and guac, triscuits and chicken dip and taquitos later, I was definitely in a state of loathing myself.  I was thinking things like "obviously I can't do this challenge.  I'm such a failure" and "who are you trying to kid eating like you've been eating?  just give it up and eat what you want".

I drove home after the game completely disgusted with myself.  I had been doing so great up until this point.  I thought about contacting a couple of my team members, but I was just too embarrassed to reach out.  *DANGER! DON'T ISOLATE YOURSELF!* kept flashing through my mind, but the shame was just too strong.  I went home and went to bed, completely defeated.

I woke up this morning and the first thought I had was of a quote I pinned on Pinterest (see below).  I instantly felt encouraged and strengthened to keep going.  So I messed up.  Big deal.  I'm human and we tend to do that from time to time.  There is no shame in it, so long as you don't stay in that place.

I am happy to report that I am 100% back in the game today.  And boy does it feel great! So yes, I am happy for Mondays, for new beginnings, for fresh starts and second chances.  Bring it on life, I'm ready!

What are you doing exactly?

This is the question I keep getting, "What are you doing exactly?".  Let me unpack this for you.

I am doing a 90 Day Fitness Challenge called Terrafit.  This is a program that was designed by some people who use doTERRA, not by the company itself. You do not need to use doTERRA products to do this challenge, literally anyone can do it.  

The Basics:

As simple as it sounds, the program is all about eating right and exercising. You know, the things we all know we need to do to get a healthy body!  What is really helpful to me, is that it teaches you about healthy foods and healthy portions.  Example: I had no idea you shouldn't really be eating soy products.  Go figure.  They provide a Healthy Food List and you can eat anything on that list.  What is also helpful to me, is that you CAN eat anything on the Unhealthy Food List as well, but it will be detrimental to your goals and health.  

You can take a look at the Healthy Food List here-- www.terrafit.com/healthy-food-list.pdf

As I already said, you will also be exercising.  Now, this was the part that was hardest for me. You workout 5 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes.   For $11.99 a month you can get access to their daily workouts over the 3 months of the challenge, or you can be like me and not pay and just do whatever you want.  I've been doing a lot of walking, and some workout videos here and there.  What's nice about this for me personally, is I am not in the best shape (thus the challenge!) so I can take it at my own pace and work myself up to higher intensity workouts.  And the best part??  There is ZERO judgement!  You put in your 30 minutes?  Great job!  You're amazing!

The challenge is also a team effort.  I was pretty leery about being a part of a team.  I am the biggest person on my team and am pretty self conscious about the fact that I've let myself get so far gone in the body department.  For many years I wanted to just do it on my own, my rules, my way, my body.  I am beginning to realize how prideful that thinking was.  We need people.  We are born into families, we belong to one another whether through blood or friendship or marriage or what-have-you.  Why would I think this would be any different?  I am all about this kind of thinking in every area of my life, except my health.  Why?  Because it is something that can feel so personal and is so attached to insecurities and our sense of self.  Opening those areas up can feel threatening to the very core of who we are.

But we are not our bodies.

My team has been crucial to me in this journey.  Daily encouragement via texts and private facebook groups has been more helpful than I would have ever imagined possible.  We are all doing it.  We are all changing our lives.  We are all taking control of our bodies.  And while yes, I have the furthest to go than anyone on my team, I have just as much encouragement and love to offer as the rest of them.  This has been a very powerful part of this challenge for me.  It has built my confidence, it has built my self esteem, even my sense of worth.  I did not see this coming.  And I never want to do anything like this without a team!

Let me break down the food for you a little bit more.

Week 1 was pretty bad in the food department for me.  Yes, I had the list, but for whatever reason it took me about a week to realize what I needed was recipes.  I spent a lot of the first week eating a serving of brown rice.  Then a couple hours later a serving of carrots.  Then an apple.  Then some beans.  Then broccoli.  Basically I was eating off the food list, but I wasn't making any sense in what I was eating.  

Then I had a brainwave, DUH SARAH!  What would you normally eat?  Let's try and find a healthier version of that!  And it's been pretty great since then.  I've gotten into a food groove.

A typical day looks like this:

Breakfast--Oatmeal with local, raw honey and allspice.  A cup of tea with local, raw honey and almond milk.

Snack--Handful of raw almonds and an apple or string cheese.

Lunch--An omelet with spinach or kale, multi-colored tomatoes, garlic with Ezekiel bread toast with local, raw honey or natural peanut butter.  I vary between this and a large salad with either chicken, berries, seeds and red wine vinegar or a large salad with chicken, tomatoes, carrots, seeds and balsamic vinegar.

Snack--Veggies with a homemade dill dip using plain Greek Yogurt, plain Greek Yogurt with fruit/nuts/honey.

Dinner--This is where I've had the most fun.  I've done everything from tacos (lettuce wrapped!), stir fry, big salads, burgers and "fries", steak and potatoes, chicken and rice, all with a bunch of veggies.

Snack--This one varies.  Sometimes I'll do some more almonds, sometimes popcorn with nutritional yeast (you'd swear you're eating cheese popcorn), sometimes a protein bar, sometimes fruit, or more veggies if I didn't hit my daily quota of 4 servings.

And there you have it!  You're also required to drink 64oz of water a day, which is a breeze for me because I'm a big (water) drinker anyway.  

If you'd like to utilize doTERRA products in your day, you can use their TrimShakes, TerraGreens (whole food you can put in smoothies, etc), Lemon oil in your water, Breathe oil, Peppermint oil, Deep Blue oil during your workouts, you can take their supplement packs for energy and overall health, you can also use their Slim & Sassy oil to help manage hunger/cravings and help metabolism.

Everything is on a point system.  The goal is that at the end of the day you have 100 points. You can read about the point system here.  

Let's wrap this up with some pictures of meals I've made!  Yum!  Portion control is a huge deal, I'll post a pic that's helpful for that too. :)

Oh!  I almost forgot!  The reason you log points, is because on top of getting healthier, you can also win cash prizes!

It's *actually* happening!

Something amazing is happening!  My weigh in days are Monday mornings.  But I've noticed this week that my pants are very loose.  So this morning I decided to weigh myself.  I stepped on that scale, counted to 3 and looked down.  *blink blink*  That can't be right.  I stepped back off the scale, waited for it to clear and stepped back on.  You guys, I cried on the scale this morning.  But this was a new experience.  I cried tears of JOY!  I have lost 13lbs!  Today is Day 20, and I'm down 13lbs!!!  

The reason this was so shocking is because I've only had 2 weigh in's so far and at my first weigh in I lost 4.5lbs.  The beginning of this week (the second weigh in) I didn't lose any weight, which was incredibly discouraging.  Granted, there were some things going on that had me incredibly bloated earlier this week, but to drop 8.5lbs in a week?!  That's insane!!!

I called every member of my family.  I couldn't believe it.  I still kind of can't.  I've been grinning like an idiot all day long.  And it's all because I'm doing it.  I'm actually doing it!  I'm not just eating better and exercising, but I'm losing weight!  I realize that's the point of it all, but I honestly didn't have that high of expectations.  If I'm going to be 100% honest, I definitely didn't think I'd still be here at the end of Week 3.  But here I am.  Or should I say, part of me is still back there but here's most of me including the part that makes me "me".

I'll leave you with this picture.  I find it incredibly motivating.  If I keep this up, I'll hit my goal of losing 50lbs in the 90 days.  But heck, even if I "only" lose 40 or 35, I'll still be incredibly happy!

I Almost Died Today

Okay so it wasn't a carrot, it was almonds.  But as I staggered up the walkway to my apartment with tears running down my face, a paste of chewed almonds in my windpipe, making the most horrendous choking/gasping for air/coughing noises, all I could think of was this meme.

And that I'd really like a donut.

Yes.  You read that right.  I was thinking about how I wanted food while I was choking on food.  What can I say, it was a low point!

Today is Day 15.  So far I can honestly say I have been doing pretty good!  I've found it not that difficult to eat 6 meals a day (although it does get in the way of my Sunday naps...I now have to set an alarm to get up and snack), it's also been pretty easy to follow the food guidelines.  What hasn't been easy is the exercise.  I have never been a physical person.  I can remember countless times when I was a kid and after dinner we'd go for a Family Walk.  This wasn't your typical stroll around the block, or even the neighborhood.  We'd go all over the place.  I was constantly trailing behind, sometimes up to half a block, and my family had to regularly stop and wait for me.  So for me to be able to say that I've worked out 6 of the last 8 days is HUGE.  

That said, I don't think I've been pushing myself enough.  The goal is to work out hard enough that you can't carry on a conversation.  I've pretty much been doing the leisurely stroll thing.  I realized at my weigh in today that maybe I need to step it up.  I didn't lose any weight this week.  While I'd like to say "that's cause muscle weighs more than fat", I'm pretty sure it's actually just that I'm not doing enough.  Without testing this theory by taking a stroll and talking to myself to see how out of breath I am, I decided to pump it up a bit today.

Okay.  That's not exactly true.  Today I woke up with a cold of some sort as well as some other things going on that pretty much made me decide I just wasn't going to work out today, I was going to lay around as much as possible.  For reasons I am unsure of (maybe my subconscious is out to get me?), I text my sister-in-law, who also happens to be my coach, that I was failing today.  It was 3pm and I'd only eaten breakfast and half of lunch and I'd not had any of my water yet.  By 3pm I should have already had breakfast, a snack, lunch and another snack, as well as over half of my water for the day.  Her response was simple and frustrating.  "Don't text me again until after you've worked out."

I text this woman multiple times a day.  I am alone the majority of the day and I like to tell people what's going on in my life.  So I tell her.  All the live long day do I tell her!

Luckily for me, I was not at home when this conversation happened.  But I didn't text her again.  And when I got home I decided "to heck with it!", put on my workout clothes (read: pajamas and tennis shoes) and put in Turbo Jams.  

Now...I'd not done this workout before.  I haven't done any real work out in, ohh...maybe 3 years??  But my roommate said I could borrow it and it was "real fun, basically just dancing". My first indication that this was not going to be "real fun, basically just dancing" was that when I put the disc in, a huge warning flashed across the screen--DO NOT DO ANY WORKOUTS WITHOUT DOCTOR CONSENT.  IF YOU FEEL ANY PAIN AT ANY TIME, STOP THE WORKOUT IMMEDIATELY.  DO NOT DO ANYTHING YOU FEEL IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU."  I pretty much just wanted to say "okay" and turn it off.

But I didn't.  I let some lady in a sports bra and painted on pants yell at me about how much "fun" we were having.  And let me tell you...I have NEVER seen anyone dance doing the moves she was doing.  I made it 20 minutes before I found myself just standing there sweating and panting and wanting to lay down and not die.  So I turned it off and did just that.  Layed down, not died!  I'm supposed to workout for 30 minutes a day.  I'm counting it though.  That was the most intense thing I've done in years!  Also--I think I pulled something in my back...

All that to say, what started out as my worst day so far, turned out not so bad.

The Beginning

On an unsuspecting Tuesday morning, I received a text message from my sister-in-law asking if she paid the $25 entrance fee, would I do TerraFit with her.  Without giving it a second thought, I replied, "Sure".  Not even 10 minutes later she text me back that I was all signed up and ready to go.  When I asked what it was exactly, she said to come to this class on Thursday night to learn about it and meet the others on my team.  I started hearing minor alarms going off in my head.  Generally, I think team workout groups are kinda lame and just a way for me to disappoint people.  It was bad enough I already felt obliged to not screw this up because she paid for my entrance fee, but a whole team of people??  Yikes.

Thursday I found myself ridiculously out of breath after climbing all the stairs to where the class was.  I walked in feeling pretty embarrassed at how winded I was.  I sat down and learned about what I'd gotten myself into.  It was kind of confusing at first, points, do this, don't do that, eat "x" amount of this a day and so on.  I left feeling excited, but nervous.  The others on my team were already in far better shape than me.  I was worried I'd disappoint.

The challenge is 90 days, and began on Monday, January 11th.  Last week was the first week, and it was a little rough.  There's a food list you have to go by, and it took me about a week to realize I could actually make meals with the food, not just eat a serving of brown rice and then a serving of carrots.  I had some interesting "meals" the first week.  But now that I'm in the second week (on Day 11!), I find that meals are coming easier.  I'm learning to read labels (sugar is in literally EVERYTHING!  are you kidding me?!), figuring out a good routine for eating 6 meals a day (I still feel like I'm constantly eating), and learning how to actually make meals vs just eating random foods on the list.

My first weigh in found me 4.5lbs lighter.  And I didn't even work out that first week due to the flu (I mean, if I can't take a shower without napping 3 hours afterwards, how the heck am I supposed to workout for 30 minutes?).

So even though I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I am enjoying it.  Which is saying a lot for a Taco Bell frequent flyer!