I've been using a fitbit tracker since 2013 & I am a huge fan of these bad boys. I have not been 100% consistent with usage (it tends to go in phases) but when I am utilizing this little piece of technology there are huge benefits. Back in the summer of 2013, I was in serious wedding preparation mode. I was on a strict diet (I followed Nu Skin's AC program- no longer available but they have an improved version here), I was doing 2-a-day workouts and a walk in the evenings- averaging about 20,000 steps per day. Those 20,000 steps is pretty dang close to 10 miles a day- nothing to be ashamed of. Since the wedding, my steppage has seriously declined. I could make all the excuses in the world but it doesn't make up for the lack of physical activity!
I'm working on changing my ways- here's how & the reasons why:
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I'm sorry that like all of my posts as of late are food related... but abs are made in the kitchen right?? I've really seen a difference in body since I've been focusing more on my foods (I'm still all about that sweaty exercise life though). I love sweets, so I've been trying recipes that have less sugar, less calories, less fat and still delicious. It's a never ending battle. #amiright? I have a lot to do and a lot to improve on, but each day is a step in the right direction. Right? How delicious does this look? It tastes just as good. It's rich and yummy with only 220 calories and 12 grams of fat. Remember to only eat one :) They're rich enough that one will be just enough! Recipe from Sweet and Skinny Ingredients:
Directions:
The other day as I was popping around the internet, I came across a website called, A Newtrition Life. It looks like a start up website, so there isn't much information on there quite yet; that being said, I ran across a "rule" that I thought was brilliant! I'm don't know enough about stages of fat burning in the body, but I loved the idea of timing your meals. Honestly, this is a pretty simple concept and I'm not sure why I didn't apply it before! This new 'schedule' has helped me to not snack as much (although I still struggle in the afternoon) and to avoid extra dessert calories. So here it is- 4 meals per day, 4 hours between each meal, and 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. I set an alarm on my fitbit- as soon as that thing went off I got to eat (yay food!) Seems simple enough, right? Breakfast: 8 am Lunch: 12 pm Hearty Snack: 4 pm Dinner: 8 pm My foods for this week: acai bowl & homemade granola, tilapia with brown rice & corn and tomato salad, oat bran muffin, light cheese stick & fresh peach, and 1 serving of dinner (varies daily- tonight I had cottage cheese, cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes). I decided on a hearty snack in between lunch and dinner- our schedule is a little wacky due to Sky's work and school schedule. Some nights we don't eat dinner until late. I definitely needed something to get me through from lunch to dinner. If I workout right after work, I can almost always use the extra fuel to get me through it so it was important that I had a filling snack.
The first few days were pretty difficult to be honest, but I can feel my body adjusting (even though it has only been about a week). I find that I'm not as hungry/don't reach for snacks as often and that is definitely a win in my book. One of the best things that I have noticed about this new schedule is the no-late-night snacking that I usually put myself through. I love desserts and hot popcorn- so the 'no eating past 8pm' rule has helped me so much! I'm not perfect (and I struggle a lot on the weekends) but I'm slowly strengthening my resistance muscle ;) Anytime I get the urge to snack after dinner, I try to remind myself that calories count double after 8pm (your metabolism naturally slows down in the evening as your body gets ready for rest so it takes long to get food through your system and you don't use it as efficiently). If you end up trying this little tip, please let me know! I want to hear about your experience! I wanted to try a little something different this week for breakfast. I am trying to wake up a little earlier (I pretty much always sleep later than I want to) and I really wanted to look forward to something in the am... ya know, to help get my booty out of bed! I thought this was worth a try. I super puffy heart love acai bowls and I have been looking forever for some powder on sale... I finally found some! It's still pretty pricey, but a 28-oz bag should last a long while... I hope haha. This breakfast is so dreamy- delicious, refreshing and just pretty. I felt like I had a gourmet breakfast today! Acai bowlRecipe from Pop Sugar
Homemade granolaRecipe from "Great Gatherings"
I store my granola in the fridge so that it lasts longer- this makes a pretty big batch! P.S. You won't even be a little bit mad that you made this granola. Its easy to make and husband approved. My cute husband and I have been officially married for two years now! It may not seem like a long time to some of you veterans, but I sure am happy. These 2 years have flown by- it feels like yesterday that we were here... (we have only known each other for 3 years but dang, I can't imagine life without this guy). This guy will bring me flowers when I've had a bad day, tickle me until I laugh when I'm in a bad mood & plays with my hair every night. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am the luckiest girl in the world to call him mine. I was able to take both Friday and Monday off, so we had a nice 4 day weekend. It was heavenly. We were able to visit the temple, see a couple of movies, hike a mountain (I had like 120 floors on my fitbit that day haha) and spend a night up at the Homestead Resort in Midway. Also- I made my guy a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting... the same cake we had at our wedding (the one we froze and ate on our 1 year anniversary)- my cake topper... haha. So ghetto. Anyways. It was nice to getaway and just be with my guy. He's my other half and I feel the happiest when we are together. This post is a little late... but I just love him so much! I couldn't let the time pass without talking about how much I love this man.
The idea of meal prep sounds pretty dang good during the week. Busy mornings turn into "whatever" kind of food days and that's definitely not helping me towards my food goals. I get a little overwhelmed at the whole "prep" part though, don't you? I know that this trend has been around forever now, but I wanted to figure out a way for un-motivated people (like moi) to get some prep done and be happy about it during the week. I decided to start with 3 meals each day- breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. I like to cook dinner each night for my hubby and I, so that didn't seem like a super relevant meal for prepping in advance. I usually plan out each dinner for the entire week and do my grocery shopping on Saturdays; Skylor likes to eat the leftovers for lunch throughout the week, and that usually works out great for us. Here are my go-to healthy cookbooks for dinners: Betty Crocker 300 calories, Cooking Light & Betty Crocker Heart Healthy. Here's the simplest meal prep schedule I could come up with that was still balanced and would keep me full. By simple, I kept it to the same meal each day. If you get bored with food easily, you may want to swap some things out each day. I'm generally okay with the same foods for a few days, but I might alter this week over week. I made all of my breakfasts, lunches and snacks on Sunday and stacked them all in the fridge (cooking in one large batch honestly made it feel so much easier than having to do a little bit each day). It took about an hour and half but it was my first time, so I am assuming that my prep time will go down in the future once I get the hang of things. Right now I am more focused on building good eating habits so I am not counting calories. I find that when I try to do too much at one time, I get super overwhelmed. Once I get the hang of this (and my 4-12 rule... I'll post about that soon!) then I might start keeping better track of the exact calories. For now, I am working to avoid junk food and cut out snacking/grazing throughout the day. Here's a little grocery list in case anyone else wants to try it out this week: For breakfast I made cake batter overnight oats- I found the recipe here and I altered it just a little bit. I didn't use the protein power but added more oats instead. Note that the recipe makes 2 servings- so split it in half to make one mason jar worth. I would also suggest to add the ingredients in the order listed and not to mix it until you are ready to eat (it will keep it from getting soggy). For lunch, I just sauteed the zucchini in a little bit of olive oil, browned the ground turkey and put some seasoning on it & broiled the tomatoes. To make the broiled tomatoes just mix bread crumbs (I used 1/4 cup for all 10 halves), about 1 tablespoon of garlic, salt & pepper and drizzled with olive oil. Put under the broiler for a few minutes (keep an eye on them, you don't want them to burn!) I'd love to get some meal ideas from any of you meal-prep-pros! I need to switch it up a little bit and would love some advice.
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HollieI'm a college-grad, certified group fitness instructor and certified personal trainer looking to get my healthy to the next level. I hope you can find a little something here that will help you on your journey too. Archives
December 2015
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