Health & Fitness Update (4)

Well, these updates are few and far between.
I feel quite possibly, the best I have felt in a long time.
I still have quite a ways to go fitness wise but I've been working out about 5 days a week for roughly 20 minutes, doing mostly weight training and just natural body resistance exercises.

I skipped the last two days but I am not feeling guilty about it as I was tired from a long work week and Friday night I just wanted to have fun.
I am eventually going to do a what I eat in a day post but for now I'll give you a quick look into my daily routine.

First, I have a notebook that I keep track of my food and workouts in, I find it helps me plan and be accountable.  Plus I like to see when I had a good day and it makes me just feel good.
I usually write in this at the end of the day but I always write my breakfast and lunch in for the next day as I usually have those meals already planned.

Breakfast- 3 eggs and smoothie (if we don't have smoothie stuff I will have oatmeal)
Snack- A big bottle of my homemade green juice (recipe coming soon) and maybe some fruit if I am still hungry
Lunch- usually a salad, Kind or Cliff bar, fruit (strawberries, pineapple, banana)
Dinner- Usually protein with a vegetable and rice
Snack- Sometimes I snack but lately I haven't been except for a couple pieces of dark chocolate

I usually work out around six thirty, after my dinner has digested and then after that just get chores done or relax.  It's a routine that is working out really well for me lately, just hopefully I can keep it up as it starts to get hotter here.

Have a great week!

Health & Fitness Update (3)

Really? This is only my third update?
I'm not very committed am I?

I really thought I would do better with my husband to be gone away for work.
I have, what feels like, unlimited free time and I have worked out only a handful of times.

So we won't really get into a workout routine on the blog today.

Food wise, I'm doing pretty good.
I am drinking tons of water and feel less bloated then ever!  Bloating has always been a big problem with me (I kind of blame birth control pills for that one though) no matter how much water I drank it seemed to never go away.

People normally do a cleanse with cold pressed juices, but I like to have one as a snack or for lunch with some fruit/vegetables as I am not a big lunch person.

I'm trying to eat out way less which can be challenging some nights. 
Yesterday was Father's Day, so of course we took him out for lunch and then he wanted pizza for dinner.  So how I dealt with this was I ate lunch out and then at dinner one slice of pizza and then filled up on salad.

I love things like poutine, cheese, chocolate, pizza etc
But if I don't stock them in the house then there's no temptation to eat them.  Plus, if I really want them bad enough I have to challenge my anxiety to even leave the house, so you can tell I really am craving something if I go out to get it.

Lately my typical day looks like this:
Breakfast- Cereal with almond milk/oatmeal and a fruit smoothie
Break at work- 2 pieces of wasa bread with cheese, fruit
Snack when I get home from work- fruit/cold pressed juice
Dinner- Chicken salad or pasta or grilled cheese and veggies
Before bed snack- fruit covered in melted chocolate or popcorn

As you can see I don't eat a lot of meat, so when Nathan is home I eat quite a bit more as he's a better cook than I.

I hope to start adding more fitness into my life and keeping up with the healthy eating because I feel great lately.

Any motivation tips to get your body moving?

Health & Fitness Update (2)

I'm just going to tell my sob story first, okay?

Today sucked.
Last night I went to be just after nine, on a Saturday. I thought for sure I could make it until ten but I was beat.
Then this morning Nathan had his alarm set for five.  Five in the freaking morning.
Of course I heard it, but I rolled over and went back to sleep until six.
He started making all sorts of noise in the kitchen and then just before seven came and jumped on the bed.
BUT! I couldn't even be mad because I promised I would be better in the morning and not so grumpy all the time. Plus he made me waffles and coffee, who can be mad at that even if it's 630am.

The rest of the day I just felt bummed and off.
I ate really heavy foods on Thursday at a Birthday dinner and ever since then I've been in a pissy mood.

So I solved that.
Today I ate better, we went and bought a whole bunch of fresh fruit and veggies and I did some of my meal planning.  I also bought more protein powder as I'm almost done the one I have and I find it's not very filling.

I wanted to go for a run yesterday and today...that didn't happen.
That first step out the door is the absolute hardest.
I have all the tools I need for running except the confidence.
That's always been the hardest part for me, overcoming my anxiety to get out the door and not care that people will see me running.
To get over that I'm considering just running up and down my street three times as it has quite the hill I think it would be a great start!

I might do a haul video or post soon.
I'm going to do a birthday shop for myself and I'm planning on going to town on that. . .
First I need to take care of my car insurance.....


My breakfasts and lunches have been okay lately.
My dinners have been rich and I don't like having rich food in the evening so that needs to stop.
It's hard when it's Birthday Season, so I might actually do a Birthday Breakfast instead of a Birthday Dinner for mine in a week.
Wow, I'm going to be 28 in a week.
Next weekend is declared Birthday Weekend!  Saturday we're going to the city, Sunday will probably be a relax/chore day, Monday will probably be a "Me" day seeing as it is my day.

Have a Lovely week and I will hopefully be back on Wednesday!

Health & Fitness Update (1)

Hey Guys!
Just a quick update on the health and fitness journey today.
In the past month I've started eating way better.
My breakfast is pretty much the same everyday as it is my favorite meal and this is also the meal I eat the most food.

Breakfast- 2 eggs (sometimes with a Babybel cheese)
1/2 grapefruit
1 cup of shredded hashbrowns (I get the dehydrated ones from Costco, they're probably not the best for you but I love them)

This lasts me about 3 hours before I get hungry and get my 15 minute break.

My break snack changes with what I have on hand but typically it is this:

Break- Cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit and granola
Cliff bar or granola bar
Apple

Then about 2 hours later I have lunch.  Come lunch I'm hungry but not starving, so this meal tends to be smaller.

Lunch- Salad (tomato, arugula, red or yellow pepper, avocado and Renee's Greek dressing) sometimes chicken if I have any leftover from dinner the night before.
Yogurt (if I didn't have it during snack time)
or a FitMiss Chocolate Shake with almond milk
Apple
Nuts

Dinner is kind of random. Usually we have a protein and a vegetable, I like to save most of my carbs for during the day when I need the energy.
Lately we have been trying out different meats like rabbit and goat.
I really enjoy having roasted brussels with dinner the most.

Then for a night time snack, around 7 o'clock, I will usually have popcorn with some white cheddar flavoring on it.

As for eating out.  We're not much of eating out people so it doesn't happen too often.
But I made a decision that at least once a week I will have a meal that I've been craving or eat out for a meal.
A few years ago when I was on a big health kick for 2 years, I didn't allow myself any "cheat" meals and I went nuts.

Usually for cheat day I will have pizza or sushi.  Those are my favorites.

A big thing I need to cut back on is wine.  I enjoy some red wine a few days a week and would like to limit that to Friday/Saturday.  I drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day and other than that it's just good ol' H2O.
If I'm feeling really off or nauseous like I'm dehydrated (I find this a lot on the weekend as I don't drink as much water as I do when I'm at work) I will pour a big glass of water with some lemon in it and I feel refreshed.

As for working out. . .yeah, I need to put more effort into that part.
I'll update again probably next month, hopefully with pictures next time!

Have a fantastic weekend :)

Rambles About Health & Fitness

This is kind of silly but it's real.
Lettuce, is nine dollars where I live.
No joke.

I've been trying to eat a lot healthier and not eating as much processed food lately.
I'm still getting over a cold but I've been making my lunches two days in advance because that's where I tend to fail.
My breakfasts are pretty much the same, either eggs and hashbrowns (I don't care how healthy I eat/should eat, I will never give up my hashbrowns) or oatmeal.
Dinner is usually a protein and a vegetable.
Lunch.
Can I be honest?
Of course I can, it's my blog.
I hate lunch.

I've always hated lunch.
I'm more of a snack person.

So I've been planning my lunches this week and hopefully will continue to do it.

I'm hoping to do a post at least once a week about health and fitness.  Maybe what I've been eating or how my work outs are going. . .you know, once I'm 100% over this damn cold.

I used to be in the best shape, I'd run about 4 times a week or work out on the elliptical machine, I'd lift weights and do yoga, but I've kind of slipped in the past 4 years.
I was not ripped, but I was toned and fit for me.  I need to get back to that.

Recently I've stopped taking birth control pills. 
I'm using other methods but I won't get into that.
Birth control pills made me crazy.
I think I went over this in a previous post, so I won't go into details.
But I had a break down, realized I needed to go off the pill again and I have never been happier than I am right now.

So mentally, I am happier.
Now I just need to get to that physical part.

I'm rambling, aren't I?
It's Friday.

Let's get back on track.
I'm trying really, really hard to eat healthier but cauliflower is over five dollars a head, lettuce is nine dollars and for two chicken breasts over ten dollars.
It's ridiculous!

Eating healthy is hard when you're having to fork out that much money for lettuce, which is basically water.

That's my whole rambling story about how I'm going to post some health and fitness things on the blog.

Having a glass of wine or two while blogging is fun, isn't it?
 

My Health & Fitness Journey

Once upon a time I used to be a health and fitness freak.
Once upon a time was almost 3 years ago now.

I would really like to get back to my old ways of being healthy and fit, just feeling comfortable in my own skin.
I used to restrict myself with what I ate.  I never restricted my calories, but I did aim for 1500-2000/day.  But there are things I wouldn't touch like ice-cream or milk (mostly because it causes me severe bloating due to the whole lactose thing), I only ate chocolate if it was dark and even that was rare.  It was also when I decided to take my coffee black (one of the best decisions I ever made)

First, a back story.
The Summer of 2006 I gained over 10lbs.  I knew I ate bad on vacation that year, I just didn't think I ate that much.
I became depressed, didn't have a job and slept past noon everyday.
2008 I had constant panic attacks and didn't know why.
A trip to the doctor and a blood test declared I had Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, a precursor to the Hypothyroidism I was diagnosed with in 2009.
Hypothyroidism explained the depression, the weight gain and the fatigue I was feeling.
I was given a medication that I now take for the rest of my life to balance my thyroid.

It took up to three months to notice the results of the medication and was I ever happy.  I had motivation, I lost the weight, I had energy!

December 2010- Stress was high in our household when my Dad broke his leg.  I was working 6 days a week and not taking care of myself.
I survived off of bananas, Coke Zero and Pixi Stix.
I became the most thin I had been in a long time.  I knew something was wrong with me.  I liked the feeling of thin but I didn't like how I had gotten there.

The new year began and I was ready to be healthy.  I quit eating fast food/eating out all together.  I gave up soda.  I ate tons of fish and chicken, vegetables, fruit.  Breakfast was my biggest meals and all my meals were planned out.  I ate 6 times a day and was drinking lots of water.  I worked my way up to working out 5 days a week.  I also used the MyFitnessPal app to keep track of everything, and that was definitely one of the biggest things in keeping my routine.
This went on for a full year.
I felt so amazing and was so happy in my body.  I want that feeling again.

After a good run in 2012.

January 2012- I went off birth control as it was driving my hormones crazy.  By June I was feeling fantastic! I was healthy, fit, off those dumb (so I thought) pills.  I had never been so confident.  I started teaching myself yoga and was just on top of the world.

Feeling so good in a dress to go out dancing!

Fun fact: this is the night I ran into my current boyfriend.

I guess around September 2012 is when I started slacking more and more on my routine.
November, it was gone completely.

May 2014- I had a wrist injury and really couldn't work out.
It wasn't until August that I could do anything.  I entered into a physio program where I went for 4 hours a day to gym. I was fit again!  But after that ended in October I went back to my old ways.

The only routine thing about my diet now is breakfast, and even then I slack on weekends.
I don't even work out now.
I'm tired all the time, but I blame that on working a sporadic schedule.

It's a new year and everyone wants to start out on a diet, going to the gym or trying some kind of fad thing.

I just want healthy and happy me back.


First off, no more junk food.
Secondly I will start with the yoga again and slowly work my way back to the weights.

This is going to be a tough journey, but I know I can do it as I've done it before.

Do you have any health and fitness goals?