Tag Archives: food

Small Tweaks for a Big Difference

I lost a good portion of my weight by making dead-easy (but also boring) meals like chicken patties with plain brown rice and plain broccoli. Healthy but incredibly boring. I used to look at recipes and think there were too many unhealthy ingredients–too much milk, sugar, cheese, whatever it was.

The more I read health blogs, the more I realize that there are plenty of ways to make healthy food that’s not boring (and that even an “unhealthy” meal I make myself is still probably healthier than its restaurant/takeout equivalent), and I’ve been trying to cook and entertain more lately. Slowly, I’m turning grabbing takeout for at least half of my meals into trying to cook as much as possible so I can save money. I mean, what good is losing all this weight if I can’t buy fun clothes????

I’m also REALLY trying to become a morning exerciser/more organized person. (Um, maybe these are actually BIG TWEAKS.) While I usually don’t make it to the gym in the morning, even I can roll out of bed and into my living room to do a workout DVD and a few minutes of yoga. And if I have a few more minutes, instead of reading blogs (which, although I love, is honestly a HUGE time suck for me), I can do something productive like cook. Which I did for the second day in a row BEFORE WORK. I sauteed some spinach, onions and chicken sausage to add into my risotto.

But to be honest? The one habit I’ll never give up? Hopping on my scale every morning. After losing 50 pounds, I need to know that I’m keeping it off. And if I didn’t hop on every day, I wouldn’t have realized that I freaked out on Monday and was just retaining a little water–just from pumping my body with lots of water, the scale already says 4 pounds less than it did on Monday.

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Oops, that’s not a change 🙂

Also, I’m really honored that Tina named me one of her “health heroes” in her latest Health.com post. Tina is definitely one of my favorite bloggers, and I’m lucky now to also call her a real-life friend, so it really means a lot to me! Also, I’m in good company over there.

Why Today is Awesome

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Yes, I am that girl that just cut-and-pasted the weather report. But after a frigid winter, this is pretty amazing. Sunshine outside = sunshine in my mood, too.

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  • I broke these out today. I also broke out the birthday dress and trench coat. (Dear everyone I walked past on the way to work: I was not naked under my trench coat. It’s just longer than my dress.)
  • I’ve been rocking out to some awesomely cheesy music. I nearly danced my way to work listening to the music we listened to last weekend and now I’m trying not to dance at my desk.
  • I’m going to party like it’s my birthday tonight. Rest assured, healthy decisions will not be made.
  • Tamsin’s coming to visit!

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  • Breakfast was a banana and almond butter sandwich.
  • I actually ran before work!!! The nice weather and knowing that there was happy hour at the end of the tunnel certainly helped, although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t snooze for an hour and I wasn’t rubbing the sleepies out of my eyes the entire time. But I did it. IN SHORTS. And I guess that might also be why I’m in an awesome mood. Maybe all you morning exercisers are on to something…photo(18).JPG
  • I passed a whole bunch of people wearing cheeseheads on my way to work. I think, technically, they were protesting, but I prefer to think that they just like cheese a lot.
  • Three-day weekend. Enough said.

Is today awesome for you, too?

(P.S. If you think I’m awesome, nominate me for the Women’s Health blogroll. It’d be cool. Or don’t. Thanks :))