Tiny Wins

Today was most people’s first day back to work after a most likely stupidly long break for the holidays and such. I still have a week until yoga teacher training starts though, so I slept stupidly late today (for me, which is 9:40am) because Playbill wouldn’t stop meowing around 7am. Anyways, I had a series of small wins today and I wanted to log them here and hope it inspires you guys to log your own tiny wins:

AM Pilates Session: Last week I used Perkville points to book a 30 minute private pilates session and today was the day. It was my first time using pilates equipment and it was pretty interesting. I still like yoga better but I think I need to incorporate pilates at least once a week into my regimen. 

Sushi Lunch: Is sushi healthy? I caught up with an old work friend that I hadn’t seen in a month or more. We’re not super close, but it was good to see her. We went to Sushi Yusaka on 72nd street and it was really good. You know it’s going to be good when they haven’t opened the doors yet and there are already 20 people outside waiting to get in. I didn’t get any tempura rolls, so that’s a win for healthy eating right there.

To Do Lists: I combined my two different to-do list apps into one. And added a bunch of additional things “to do.”

Dairy Free: Another day dairy free! Note: I was not meat-free. Just giving myself a week off from consuming dairy. Second note: I’ve been way less bloated since Sunday!

Meditated Twice: Morning meditations are easy. I get up, I pee, I meditate. It’s the afternoon ones that I’ve been struggling to remember to do (mostly because it was the holidays, but whatever), but today I managed to sit for a second time.

Cooked: I made some kind of risotto and I’m about to make a big bowl of tabouli. I’ll also spiralize a bunch of vegetables to have on hand.  

Cleaned Up: I went through a couple of boxes that’ve been hiding under my bed and filed or threw away a big pile of papers. #declutteringFTW

Emails: In a moment of What’s Next panic last night, I sent a bunch of emails to a few recruiters that I know and a few contacts in the entertainment industry about any possible jobs. I received responses from all of my entertainment industry peeps and that made me feel really good. I made a couple of appointments with two recruiters this week, just so I’m at a good place when training is over, should I decide to take on a FT role again (as opposed to working several different part-time gigs, etc.).

Reading: I finished Breaking Vegan after only 2 days. It’s super inspiring and I truly believe that Jordan Younger is an actually fantastic person (this is just an assumption as I’ve not met her in person!). I’m not vegan, and never plan on being vegan, but this was a great read regardless. Next up: Better Than Before, by Gretchen Rubin. I’ve read her other two books so I’m looking forward to reading this one, too.

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Food Stuffs

Let’s talk about all the things that I’ve been eating recently that have made me feel awful. 

For starters, I’ve realized that I snack too much at work. We have mini Snickers and Hershey’s nuggets and M&M’s just lying around. Initially, I was pretty addicted these. I’ve pretty much toned it down to 2 pieces per day. But I’m still reaching for the junk even though I’m not hungry. It’s just there, right? So, it’d be rude not to partake. I made the decision a few weeks ago to start ordering apples, so apples and peanut butter is a go-to snack of mine in an attempt to keep away from the shitty chocolate.

I think coffee may be making my head hurt, too. I only drink one or two cups a day, but I need to drink more water. (Which I have been, but I need to drink more because: hot weather.)

But let’s talk about the baguette I ate last week. 

I’d packed my lunch – super healthy grilled chicken and zucchini noodles with pesto sauce. But I was like, “it’s shark week and I’d like something heartier to go alone with all of that healthy shit,” so I went to Eataly, which is conveniently located across the street from my office, and walked around until I found a small counter that sold baguettes for two dollars. I immediately bought one and I ate about half of it with lunch and throughout the afternoon.

When I say I felt like trash for the rest of the afternoon, it is a complete understatement. I felt like steaming hot trash that had just been bathed in a tub of burnt olive oil.

I don’t have celiacs. I’m not glutarded. I’m not giving up all bread because bread is great. But based on the complete meltdown that my body had last week when I consumed a stupid amount of baguette, I think I should lay off the bread that’s void of any nutrition at all. 

I think I could’ve trained myself not to be OK with feeling like shit after eating bread and pasta. I used to consume a ton of pasta and I ate regular bread all the time. Usually when I buy bread, I’ll buy Ezekiel, which is gluten free, and the last time I made actual pasta (and the only time that I even have a faint memory of) was July 4th. After J bought the Inspiralizer for me, I haven’t made an ounce of pasta. 

But lesson learning is never easy so I had to eat bread once again on Saturday night. More specifically, garlic bread. These were small pieces and there were four of them. I only ate two because of The Baguette Incident. Luckily, showing some restraint paid off and these didn’t actually make me want to start clawing at my stomach. Still, I was incredibly sad to be leaving two gleaming pieces of garlic bread behind. This is a feeling that I will have to learn to deal with. I hate wasting food. 

The margaritas I had later that night had zero effect on me. Nor did the tortilla chips (thank goodness these are GF) and queso. 

I have a love/hate relationship with my consciousness around food now. I notice when things make me feel like dying and I make a conscious decision not to fuck around with those foods anymore. This is for the best, but it also sucks. Who doesn’t love a good bread basket?

Aside from cheap chocolate and bread, what isn’t making me feel shitty? Fruits, vegetables, and smoothies. Pretzels are toeing the line right now. I would really, really, really like to eat a burger or pizza right now but I don’t want a food hangover. 

I made this dish last night, complete with spiralized sweet potatoes, red pepper, green pepper, yellow squash, a little bit of cheese and spicy black beans. It was delicious and I didn’t want to die after. I have to start making more dishes like this again. 

Inspiralized @ Whole Foods

J bought the Inspiralizer for me a few months ago and I use it in over 50% of my cooking now. I haven’t made actual pasta in months. And aside from when I had penne vodka over the weekend at a restaurant, I haven’t eaten it. When I did, it made me feel gross. Anyways, when it was announced that Ali Malfucci, founder of Inspiralized, was doing a demo at the Upper West Side Whole Foods, I was super stoked.

She demo’ed how to to inspiralize a plethora of vegetables, showed how to clean the Inspiralizer, talked about how she got started, answered questions, and then made a pesto dish with zucchini noodles. It was so good.

I bought her first cook book and she was super sweet – exactly the same as how she comes across in her videos. She clarified how to stabilize my Inspiralizer to my granite countertop; which was something that I’d had a load of trouble with.

I can’t recommend this kitchen tool enough! It’s changed my life and my palette. 

Staying Clean

I think my stomach is still trying to work through the crap that I put in my body on Sunday (1 liter of beer + pizza) and Monday (I was forced [not really] to try a Chik-fil-A sandwich). 

I feel bloated and gross, and even though I went to an ass kicking yoga class tonight I’m not really all that hungry. 

I tried to clean it up today: I had Trader Joe’s pumpkin O’s with skim milk for breakfast today, kale salad + chicken + about 4 tortilla chips + ½ cup guacamole + charred cauliflower for lunch, and an apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter for a snack. I’m deciding to have Ezekiel toast with ¼ avocado + lemon juice + pepper flakes for dinner.

Fuck it. I’m just doing the elliptical tomorrow morning.

My steps while I’ve been in Scandinavia. I guess this is why I’ve been living off carbs while I’ve been here. Mostly croissants and cinnamon rolls. Also lots of meat, potatoes, and lingonberries.

Can anyone suggest a meal plan for detoxing after all this? No cleanses because cleanses are bullshit. I’m just looking for a meal plan.

Food Stuffs

I lost about 40 pounds around 4 years ago. I started limiting my calorie intake and being much more active. I also started using MyFitnessPal, which is a rockstar app that you should definitely downtown if you’re trying to be healthy. You can insert your height, weight, weight loss goal per week, and what kind of lifestyle you lead.

I’ve apparently had mine set on a “nonactive” lifestyle and wanting to lose 2 pounds per week for a while now which was telling me to eat about 1,240 calories.  

As a result, I’ve been starving all winter. Like, legit starving. I spoke to one of my best friends the other day who works in the medical field and when I asked her if I was eating enough she gasped and said absolutely now.

I changed my settings on MyFitnessPal to an active lifestyle and I only set it to 1 pound a week. My new calorie goal? 1,840. I’ve been much less hungry over the last few days. 

There was no point to this. I just wanted to put it out there incase anyone else finds themselves hungry this winter. Check your app settings 😉

Off the Wagon

No, not that wagon. The Healthy Eating and Exercise Wagon.

Between ending one job, starting a new one, and moving, I only went to yoga about once a week and I’ve been eating lots of peanut butter, pizza, Greek yogurt, and falafel. Hence not eating well, or very healthfully. 

But that all changes this weekend. I’m going to make a bunch of quinoa with vegetables and curried chicken with basmati rice and have it for meals so the pizza-and-falafel binge can stop. 

I also expanded my YogaWorks membership to include the SoHo studio which is just four blocks from my office. I went to a 1pm class yesterday on my lunch break which was probably the greatest thing ever. I went to a class in my neighborhood tonight and I’ll go to another tomorrow on my lunch break again.

I also started recording my food on MyFitnessPal again today. Maybe seeing the calories add up in front of my face will also make me clean up my act a bit.

My clothes don’t fit any differently, I don’t think, but I just feel like shit. So, here goes, yoga and MFP: don’t fail me now!