Work it out!

This week has been AWESOME! 

I've been keeping up with my race training plan for the U Can Finish 5-miler in October and I also have a 5k coming up on Sept 20th too so I want to have a good race time for that one too! :)

I also did a spin class on Wednesday too! I've been snacking a little more than I'd like to, but it's been much healthier snacks that in the past! :)

I took a page from Aubrey's book and got some rice cakes...now I'm addicted to topping them with Justin's brand hazelnut butter (WAY less suar then Nutella AND it has sustainably sourced palm oil!)

Tomorrow is an easy workout day and then Saturday is my long run! 

Gotta keep the momentum up, it's making me feel so much better about myself already! :) Getting back to the "me" I was last year!!!

You don't have to try so hard <3

Off to a great start this week! Ended my Saturday eating at Panera with mom :) I splurged a bit because I haven't eaten out in a while and Panera is my absolute FAVORITE!!! :)

Sunday night I made this lovely meal for myself after a looooong day of work: a ricotta, Canadian bacon, and spinach flatbread with a glass of Pinot Grigio :)

After dinner I tried out the sewing machine my mom gave me! I was able to fix my favorite bra because the strap broke, and I was so proud of myself for that! I think I found a new hobby :)

Turning one of my school t-shirts into a halter top! Work in progress, but it's almost finished :)

This morning I went on a short run and did some strength before work today!

Tomorrow's plan is a longer run with a more intense strength session :) that means an earlier morning!

Here's to a wonderful week ahead! :)

Summer is ALMOST over...FINALLY!!!

Work Hard, Play Hard!

What an awesome day off! Woke up to this for my weekly weigh-in:

Down 3 pounds from last week!

Then I went on a long, VERY hot 5 mile run! Followed by some strength exercises once I got back to the gym :)

After getting home I had a major Pinterest win: HOMEMADE CLIF BARS!!!

I did my dishes, vacuumed, all the things I slack in during the week haha and then Buddy and I headed to Happy Paws for dock jumping!!!

He had SOOO much fun! :-D

Then I ended the day at my favorite place with my favorite person (AKA: mom!) so we could catch up and talk about future business endeavors!!! :)

Went a little over my calorie goal for the day..but I deserved a little splurge for my day off! :)

Here's to making this next week as good as last week!

Also...ONE WEEK UNTIL KICKOFF!!! Then I can see this stud back on the field! ;)

Shake it off!

Well this has been a great week for me :)

I'm feeling amazing since recovering from last week, I've been eating a lot better than I have the last few months, I took baby steps to getting back into a workout routine...and work was great!!!

No complaints from this week and I'm proud of my accomplishments :)

I think I felt better about this week because a lot of the negativity was absent, from myself, from coworkers, from friends and family...I need to remember that even when negativity looms, always focus on the positive because it will overcome all other things.

I haven't been making huge lifestyle changes or noticing drastic changes in my body, but my attitude was definitely improved this week and I felt great about myself :) Feeling comfortable with myself is something I've been missing the past few months, and having a little bit of it shining through again gives me hope and encourages me to stay on track :)

Tonight I made it to the Y and hopped on the spin bike and managed to squeeze in 15 minutes of strength before the gym closed. Tomorrow I will be going to the Running club in the morning, and then Buddy and I get to have some fun at a Dock Diving seminar where he's going to get to play fetch AND go swimming at the same time! I think he's going to love it ;)

Anyway, let my mini-weekend begin! :)

Here are my stats from my workout!

The app I use is called Fitocracy in case anyone is interested in checking it out! :)

Aw, nah, Honey I'm Good!

Good foods today!

AND I went on a run for the first time in a while! It was super hot out but it felt SO good! I had some new music in my playlist, and I had my new running shoes to break in!

I was pressed for time because of the school crowds though and I needed to make it to work on time...I need to start getting to the gym before all the traffic begins! More motivation to get my butt up early out of bed!!! ;)

Anyway, had a good day of work, added 2.4 miles to my monthly run total, and ate some really good meals today!

This morning was a waffle topped with Canadian bacon, Swiss cheese, an egg, and avocado :)

Dinner consisted of quinoa with teriyaki veggies and imitation crab :) in my UCF cup is strawberry infused water!

Let's see how tomorrow goes! :)

Almost had it...!

Well, I had my alarm set for 0630, had gotten almost 8 hours of sleep last night, could have gotten out of bed to go for a run...and I DIDNT! :( I chose those extra few minutes of sleep...but that's not happening tomorrow! I'm so mad at myself for doing that now! I'm getting behind on my Nike challenge...now I have to run Thursday and Saturday to make up for it!

I've got a spin class to get to at 0700, then I plan on doing about 20 min of strength after that!

I really need to go in the morning before work, because by the time I get home in completely exhausted from being out in the sun all day running around :(

On the bright side, I ate really well today! Had a quick bowl of cereal this morning, then my lunch pack and dinner featured below :)

PB, Jelly, and Banana wrap, celery and cheese, and edamame!

Dinner was whole wheat pasta with crab meat and ricotta cheese with marinara sauce! Delicious :)

Treated myself to some ice cream after work today since it was such a long day though! 

But time to make that first step tomorrow and et back into my workout regimen! No more excuses and I'm fully recovers from my sicknesses...so time to get to it! :)

All About That Bass!

So far so good for this week! Still recovering from being sick, so I didn't push a workout today...but im feeling good about tomorrow!

Made some healthy eating choices today :) loved my dinner from tonight: teriyaki veggies with chicken flavored quinoa!

Deeelicious! :)

Anyway, starting my Nike+ challenge tomorrow!!!

"Marathon in a month"...30 days to wrack up 26.2 miles...let's do it!

In Sickness and in Health...

Well, this last week was pretty rough because I had a fever on Monday and Tuesday, then caught a tinge of food poisoning yesterday :-/ kind of out a damper on working out for the week! 

I'm feeling better today though, so hopefully I'll be fully recovered tomorrow and can get back into the swing of things! :)

This has been a pretty good week for me though, as far as feeling good about myself. I was eating much better than I have been over the past few weeks, I took some time to have fun by going to UCF FanFest and the Little Black Dress pub crawl.

I started a Coaching program and Challenge on my Nike+ app too! I'll be training for a 5-mile race at UCF called the U Can Finish :) It's great motivation for me and a great start towards training to race in a 10K!

So instead of sharing my food pictures from this week, I'm going to share these instead:

Weekly weigh-in...I've lost 3.5 lbs so far :)

UCF FanFest! I got to meet JJ Worton :) Wide receiver for the Knights!

Little Black Dress Pub Crawl in downtown Orlando! :)

So a new week is beginning, and hopefully I'll be feeling 100% to get back to working out and training for some races! :)

Little victories..

Well, I didn't make it to the gym today, but I ate really well and took care of myself! :)

Doing a quick post today because I've gotta get some sleep!!!

Breakfast: quinoa, egg, spinach, mushroom, cheese scramble

Lunch: pasta salad with rotini pasta, olives, tomatoes, feta cheese, and Greek dressing

Snacks: two clementines and a mozzarella stick, "ants on a log" (peanut butter and celery with raisins on top), white cheddar Cheetos puffs

Dinner: one pot BBQ chicken pasta! 

Dessert: cookie butter and pretzels!

Magazines or Novels!

Well the day has finally come! Andy Grammer's new album, Magazines or Novels, will be released tomorrow and I'm so stoked!!! :) His music is so motivating and catchy and moving...I can't wait for all of these new songs! I've been listening to the album all week on Pandora Premieres!

Anyway, last week I did pretty well keeping up with my goals...but this week is off to a rough start :(
There's always time to turn it around and I think tomorrow will be the perfect day for that!
For starters, I did some meal prepping on Saturday morning that turned out to be fantastic! Definitely enjoying my meals and all of the Pinterest ideas I had the chance to try :) Some turned out perfectly, some turn out...well, they turned out all right I suppose haha but next time I'll have to try some different ideas too!

So I am going to be keeping up on my fitness journey with a group started by one of my childhood best friends who has been such an inspiration to me (Thanks Aubrey)! We've both had our ups and downs on our weight loss journey, and right now we're both going to whip each other back in shape!!! Starting with holding ourselves accountable on the Facebook group Aubrey created almost two years ago :)
Then, I'll be tracking food on MyFitnessPal; it's kinda hard keeping up with it sometimes when you end up doing all of your own meal prep, I've noticed it gets annoying entering all of the items separately, so I'm going to do my best to make some "meals/recipes" for things I commonly make so I don't have to keep inputting every single item every time.
Next, the group exercise classes at the Y...gotta focus more on strength AND cardio instead of one or the other. The plan for this week:
Tuesday: Run @ 0630 (25 min) and Strength-Back, Arms (35 min)
Wednesday: Cardio Cycle @ 0700 (50 min) and Strength-Shoulders, Core (25 min)
Thursday:Yoga @ 0600 (50 min)
Friday: Rest day (Jags vs. Bucs game in Jax!)
Saturday: Jax Tri #3 (GOAL: Under 1:30:00)

Finally, I've been Pinteresting away again for good recipes...and I made some strawberry/lime infused water that has been delicious! Also, put some chocolate syrup in an ice cube tray with strawberries, raspberries, and bananas in it for an easy and healthy way to satisfy my sweet tooth ;)

So I'll take these little victories, and focus on the positive instead of the negative since I haven't been the greatest with that lately...I've been so concerned with not feeling happy with the way that I look, but haven't done anything to try and change it. But I keep SAYING that I'm going to instead of actually DOING something about it...so all that changes now :)

Here's to reminding myself what I looked like when I felt comfortable and confident with my body, and something to get my ass in gear to get feeling that way again ASAP!!!

PS: I also decided to join a Book Club :) I've been pretty good at keeping up with my new year's resolution to read 12 new books this year, but I'm running out of ideas! So I figured a book club is a great way to meet new people while having new books to entertain me too.
Here's the list of what I've read so far this year:
1-Sergeant Rex
2-The Choice
3-The Best of Me
4-A Bend in the Road

I'm only four novels behind for reading one per month of the year, and I have a few on my "to-read" list before I see the movie versions.