Healthy eating and a little bragging

So this has NOTHING to do with running, working out, or getting in shape but I have to do a little bragging! I had pretty much the world's greatest friends when I was in college. They were awesome and always there for me and I love them from the bottom of my heart. And now some of them are going on to do some super awesome things!!! My friend Joshie just got picked up by the Oakland Raiders!!!! He couldn't deserve it more he has worked his booty off and is going to do awesome I just know it! Good things do come to good people!

fist bumps and wiggles I'm so excited for him!

There are very few sober pictures of me from college (sorry mom) so this is one of the most appropriate of the two of us

Joshie Poo with my Niece and Nephew

 

So proud of him! It couldn't of happened to a better guy and I had to do some bragging :-) Oh and he's single ladies ;-) Our other good friend Mags also got picked up by the Raiders so they will be headed to Oakland together in 2 weeks (there are no appropriate photos of me and Mags to post)! And Josh's roommate got picked up my Tampa Bay so it was an all around awesome day yesterday for the former Wyo O-line!!

 

hopefully Nick can find a bath tub his size in Tampa ;-)

I just stole this picture from fb here's the 3 of them together on pro day they are beasts!! My mom always felt that I was very safe at college since I had such large friends :-)

 

Ok now time to get back on track with things that are relative. I haven't talked much about what I eat on here, but it really is a big part of my life and getting healthy! I am in no way shape or form an expert, but I just try and fill my belly with healthy things. I use My Fitness Pal to track what I eat, and it has really helped a lot! I always thought I could never track my food it would take too much work, but MFP really makes it a lot easier. They have SO MANY foods on there! I have yet to find something they don't have. And I love that it breaks down everything it doesn't just count calories. It also makes me hold myself accountable. If I have to log in that I just ate a cookie, a piece of cake, or a whole handful of candy I am much more likely to turn it down. It takes take a little bit of time and effort, but for me it has been a big help! (I'm really excited/happy this morning can you tell by all the exclamation points I have already used? )

 

One of the biggest things for me is that I try and eat fruit and veggies at every meal. I have heard that some people believe that you shouldn't eat any fruit after noon because of all the natural sugars in it, but my mindset is that its better to fill up on fruit than junk. On MFP I am almost always over on my sugars for the day because of how much fruit I eat, but I figure natural sugar is better for you than the processed refined stuff, so I don't worry about it too much. My morning smoothie alone uses up pretty much all of my sugar allowance for the day. Speaking of smoothies, that's how I get my veggies in at breakfast :-) I'm always late leaving for work so I tend to eat things that I can grab and go. Smoothies are great for this reason, but also because I can pack em with things I don't like and hide it with the fruit, such as spinach. Yuck hate spinach, the only way it's getting in this body is through a smoothie! These last 2 weeks I have also been trying to add a serving of Naked's Green machine serving to my afternoon snack to get in some extra green goodness. I never thought I would be able to drink a green smoothie, but it for real just tastes like apples!

 

One of my morning smoothies. I almost always have banana in them and from there it is just whatever else I have. The white stuff in the middle is coconut oil, smoothies are also how I get my daily dose of that :-)

 

I'm a carb freak. There I admitted it. It's weird though because I am not big on bread. I prefer hamburgers and hot dogs without a bun, I don't like toast, and I prefer my sandwiches as wraps, but show me pasta or rice and I'm all over that! I have been trying to work on weaning myself away from it, but it's hard! Every meal I'm like oh rice would be good with that, step away from the rice Shannon! So now I *try* to replace rice with a second veggie, but sometimes I just really feel like I need some starch in my life to feel full!

 

My other weakness is sweets. I seriously have a sugar issue. I.CAN.NOT.SAY.NO.TO.CAKE. End of story. I love it way too much. I am working on saying no to all the other sweets and trying to eat far less of them, but it's definitely a bit of a losing battle. The biggest thing is I try and keep it out of the house. This is DEFINITELY easier when the bf isn't here. The bf loves sweets more than me, and he eats them one box of twinkies at a time. He has no interest in healthy eating. There is a grocery store not far from my house, and I have been known on prior occasions to drive to the store, buy the individual pieces of cake, and eat it for dinner. So to avoid these incidents I try and keep a few healthier sweet options on hand. I love Jello's sugar free pudding! They are also fat free and only have 60-70 calories in it depending on which ones you get. They sell a cheesecake flavor if you buy the box and make it yourself, and it helps tide me over from cheesecake cravings :-) Anything low fat/low sugar/altered to appear more healthy = chemicals though. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles though! Fruit and low fat cool whip is also another go to treat for me when I am feeling the need for something sweet.

 

The biggest thing to keep my eating on track for me is planning. If I don't have what I'm going to eat planned out for the week there is a good chance I'll sub in crap meals. I like to bring my lunch to work because it cuts out the option to eat crap. I don't have to make any decisions and I don't have to deal with temptation (except cake in the break room). If I bring a healthy lunch, I'll eat a healthy lunch. My lunch is pretty standard I always have either a side salad or carrots/celery, some sort of fruit, and then left overs. Having left overs to eat for lunch makes my life SO much easier. I also ALWAYS pack snacks for myself. I know that I can't go much more than 2ish hours without needing a snack. These past few weeks I have been munching on healthy banana bread I made with a clementine for my morning snack, and for my afternoon snack I eat one of  my banana pb and oatmeal bites with 8oz of green smoothie. Planning saves my booty, literally.

 

banana, pb, and oatmeal bites

My healthyish banana bread

 

This post has gotten ridunkulously long so I am going to continue it tomorrow because I have to get ready to celebrate with Joshie woo! Happy Sunday all!