November 2013 -
To be honest after posting my 30 For 30 goals, I didn't change anything. I kept cooking, eating, and living the exact same way. With being in the throws of the glutinous holiday season, I honestly didn't know how to start the process of change.
December 2013 -
Once or twice I was able to jog around my neighborhood just to get something going, but that was before the Polar Vortex descended on to Chicago (I'm so over winter).
Bring on Christmas! There's a lot of added stress that comes with preparing for Christmas. And with two seasonal jobs at the mall, my lunch routine became a choice between either cheese pizza or a turkey burger...everyday (smh). After work I would come home to this beauty...
I ABSOLUTELY love my mother-in-law's peach cobbler! It's sooo good! And until the day when she trusts me with the family recipe, I will continue to enjoy each and every crumb of what she bakes for us a couple times a year. Look at it! Who could say no to this? I didn't even try.
January 2014 -
New year, new you right? Well that's not how I was feeling at all. I wrote about this in the piece "New Year, Same You." Rather than being excited about the fresh start, I was weighted down by the idea of how much of myself I thought I needed to change in order to meet my lofty goals. We tend to think of ourselves in terms of have-nots, mistakes, and deficits, instead of embracing all of who we are and what we've done. So after listing all of the great things I accomplished within the last year, as well as the mistakes, and was able to use that as motivation for this year's goals and attitude.
I also signed up for a 21 day social media fitness challenge that required working out everyday and sticking to a strict clean eating diet. It may sound a little extreme, but I actually really enjoyed it. I needed a starting point to create new and better habits for myself, as well as the support and motivation to keep going even when I didn't want to. Here's a little look at what I was eating:
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| Low fat vanilla yogurt, strawberries, granola, and apricot slices |
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| Romaine lettuce, strawberries, grapes and light balsamic dressing with two turkey meatballs |
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| Morning smoothie of mixed berries, yogurt, and almonds. |
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| Long grain rice and a romaine lettuce salad with green peppers and carrots |
By week three I had lost four pounds, but had definitely reintroduced pizza back into my diet (what? I'm human!). Like I said, the point of this exercise wasn't to crash diet, but to create better habits for myself, and as a result I discovered will power that I didn't know I had...
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| Went out to dinner and didn't touch this tempting, warm, buttery bread |
It was also super awesome having my husband make dates with me to the gym and following it up with a healthy dinner options. Doing this thing can be so difficult, but having support makes it a lot easier.
And that's pretty much it for now. I'm hoping the weather breaks soon so that I can jog outside just to mix it up a bit.
Stay warm! Stay well!
Chi Chick <3
