And so we’re two weeks into the Healthiest You Challenge. I’m feeling great, and I’m down 4.6 lbs! Admittedly, that’s since my higher-than-normal weigh-in, but my team went from an initial gain to either maintaining or losing this week! It’s especially tough, as our weigh-ins are on Mondays, but it’s just a big reminder to not go crazy on the weekends.
After our successful weigh-in (any loss is a loss!), we met our assistant coach, Anne, for a big group workout. She took us outside for some running, skipping, walking lunges (OUCH!), and lots of squats.
Since I’d already warmed up on the treadmill, I tried to push myself as hard as possible during our time with Anne.
The always-popular butt kicks:
It looks like I have a tiny yellow nub for a right leg. Sexy.
Some slow and low shuffles (followed later by some speedy ones!)
LASER-LIKE FOCUS!
We even had our own mascot mascat! I’ll assume his loud, meowing was actually him cheeering us on. Then again, his speed running away from me as I tried to take a picture of him suggests otherwise.
DON'T RUN, LITTLE FRIEND!
Oh well, he just made me run faster.
We wrapped up the night with full-team squats! Looks like team “The Drop Off” knows how to drop it low…
Drop it drop it low, girls (and guys!)
It was strange, after a long, intense workout, I burned lots of calories… but I didn’t feel very hungry.
Check out those spikes!!
Luckily, thanks to an amazing coupon, I picked up one of the new Summer Berry Blend Quaker Real Medleys. I don’t go gaga over oatmeal most of the time, but this mix was delicious.
Quick, easy, and delicious.
Just what I needed, but I just wasn’t hungry enough for anything else tonight… I’m sure I’ll be ravenous tomorrow.
Tonight was a great night for my team, and for me, personally. I’m loving it.
If you weigh yourself, do you have particular days of the week or times of the day you like to do it?
I used to always have the weigh-in Wednesdays with Weight Watchers, but Monday nights have totally been a challenge! I must remember: No going overboard all weekend, every weekend!
Ugh. The beginning of the week was definitely an uphill battle. Early Monday morning flight leaving my loved ones, and Tuesday was just Dreadful with a capital D. The other capital D?
The Dentist.
Instruments of Torture?
Last year I had some pretty rough dental issues (which included a hilarious trip to get my wisdom teeth removed) and I’ve been procrastinating the last of my dental work for ALMOST a year. Well this year, I went in prepared.
I had my iPod ready for action, and my brain convinced that the blinding light above me was the sun, on a warm Ocean City beach.
(Hey, I was trying.)
It didn’t matter that much, my hands were shaking, and I was a little panicky by the time my second cavity was being filled (I get it, I HAVE bad teeth.)
Sheer terror? Maybe.
2 hours later, I had a sore mouth, but one with severely less tooth decay. And that’s important.
But let’s get into the real point of this post. Tonight is an epic night: One night only Crawfish EXTRAVAGANZA at Rockfish! And that is delicious, and reminds me of other important Crawfish experiences of my life. For a Yankee girl from Pennsylvania, I’ve had a few….
Two stand out in particular, mostly due to how incredibly different they were, and how different I was during each.
Put up yer dukes!
The first took place the summer immediately after I graduated from UNC in 2009. Bowling Green, Kentucky, with Ryan’s dad and his dad’s buddy. It was epic, it was in a neighborhood, and… I was on crutches.
Hungry hobbler.
Did I mention I was about 40 lbs heavier than I am today?
Basically, they parked me at a folding chair (near the keg) as Ryan brought me plates of crawfish. It may sound pleasant but, other than the tastiness of the little critters, it was kind of lonely.
My only friend.
I ended up getting a little drunker than I would’ve liked (for some reason, everyone likes to bring the girl with the crutches beer…) and mostly felt like a bum. Yes, part of it was the whole “broken foot” thing. But even if it hadn’t been broken, I was overweight, I was lazy, and mostly just sat around. I didn’t really try to get around, I just felt sorry for myself.
Fast forward to Spring 2011.
Still eating. That's so Jordan.
Two years later, I was a totally different person. Crawfish boils are social events, and I actually treated this one (a fraternity event for my beau’s chapter) as it should be treated. I ate and drank, but that’s not ALL I did. I met new people, I ran around, I enjoyed the music, I danced.
A lot.
I like to move it, move it.
I can’t help but feel a special connection to crawfish boils. They combine some of my favorite things in this world:
Southern tradition
Good food
A heavy hand with the Cayenne pepper
(Usually) tasty beers
An opportunity to get acceptably messy while eating
Socializing
And the first time I went to one, I missed out on all of that (except the food and beer.)
Now I know that, as with all my favorite food events (Brazilian steakhouses, barbecues, DIY taco nights, Fondue, hibachi) it’s very easy to overeat if all you focus on is the food. But if you appreciate the WHOLE experience, there’s so much more to it.
Crawfish: Bringing people together.
What’s your favorite interactive dining experience?
So I haven’t necessarily been the healthiest Holly lately. There have been pork parties, Beer Festivals and entire bottles of champagne, and a few too many Easter Peeps (when you’re at the Peeps mecca, it’s hard to resist). And I’ll let you in on a little inside scoop: It’s sort of been on purpose.
I know, I know, what kind of a reformed overeater am I?
The kind that’s been gearing up for something big.
I was notified, not too long ago, that I was selected to participate in a most EXCITING adventure! UNC Health Care and 1360 WCHL are putting on their second annual Healthiest You Challenge, during which 8 teams of 8 will compete against each other for 8 weeks to get fit, get healthy, and get down to business. We had our weigh-in on Sunday so, I’ll be honest, I might’ve crammed a few extra pork bites in the mouth before the big step on the scale!
All the stats!
My blood pressure was apparently a little higher than usual, I’m hoping that had more to do with the pork I crammed in my mouth earlier in the day, but hopefully a chat with my coach, an RD/LDN, could help me out. I’ll work on it.
My team, The Drop-Off, is sponsored by The UPS Store. Ha, get it, the drop-off? While this does mean that our shirts are a weird looking brown/tan/beige/skin color, it also means WE COULD GET SOME FREE COPIES!
The little things, eh?
Yesterday, we had our launch. This included meeting our teammates and our coach, as well as a little tour of the UNC Wellness Center, our headquarters for lots of the workouts and services offered.
Sweet cardio section!
I loved their vast machine area, lots of cardio AND weights, something for everyone.
Upstairs track
We also checked out the track on the second floor, which also housed the cycle room or the Zumba room (I think it’s a multi-purpose room, depending on what day of the week it is). On the left, you can sort of see the blue of the pool room. They also have a whirlpool and a sauna (!!!!! YES !!!!)
Another bonus?
We are REQUIRED to take advantage of a free massage from Massage Envy.
Fine, pull my leg.
I started off today strong, tracking my food intake and exercise on MyFitnessPal (I guess I’m the last human on the planet to try this out?) It told me that “If every day were like today… You’d weigh 164.2 lbs in 5 weeks.”
Little does it know that, in the next 5 weeks, all kinds of craziness will go down. I’ve got a trip home this weekend, a visit to Jersey in the middle of May, and that mysterious “Triangle Bucket List” that I’ve still yet to get all on paper. But, with vigilance, exercise, and moderation, I think I can do it. And I know I’ve said that whole “I can DO IT! I’m gonna stick with __ plan!” in the past, I think that those plans (30 Day Shred, Fitbook) were a little too unfamiliar. This plan feels more like Weight Watchers, which is what I had so much success with when I first lost 40 lbs.
Tracking.
Balancing.
Sweating.
I got this.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...
Let the 74th Annual Hunger Games 2nd Annual Healthiest You Challenge begin!
That title, that was the inspiration of my day yesterday. I wanted mac and cheese, I wanted buffalo chicken and I KNEW I needed some veggies in the mix. It was all I was thinking about all morning.
It was on my mind while I was eating breakfast.
Oh, it is love.
Welcome the newest addition to my breakfast lineup: Almond Breeze Almond Milk & Coconut Milk Blend. My local Harris Teeter featured this as a NEW ITEM and I can’t resist bold letters and coconut anything.
The verdict? It’s amazing. It’s like a little pina colada in my morning cereal!! Adding in some pineapples, I basically feel like, even though I’m eating twigs (errr… I mean Fiber Fruit & Nut cereal), breakfast time has become a mini-vacation. I mean, I’m not off in the tropics (yet) but it’s delicious.
The mac and cheese was still on my mind when I stopped by the grocery store (to pick up the ingredients). Luckily, I also picked up a little amuse-bouche from the in-store Starbucks.
Hand shown for perspective
I present the tiniest, tastiest Starbucks shot. I wanna tell you it was a strawberry smoothie, but I honestly don’t know. It was pink, covered in whipped cream, and even had it’s own tiny straw. Irresistible.
And, of course, it was on my mind when I got home. So I did some searching on the internet, scouring Pinterest to see if this had been done before. And maybe it had, but I got lazy and decided to do it on my own.
The results were cheesy, healthy(ish), and delicious.
I just love the heck out of some Zumba. Apparently, this is abundantly clear to anyone who participates in class with me as, today, as I was leaving the gym, one woman came over, having just sweat next to me for an hour, and said,
I just love your enthusiasm and energy in the class! It really just makes me wanna work even harder!
I said thanks, letting her know that it meant a lot to me knowing I could contribute to the workout. And I’ll admit, more often than not, I like to take zumba class seriously. When instructors say, “Oh, it’s just about having fun! Don’t worry if you don’t get the steps,” I say, “NAY! If it were PURELY about having fun, I’d be off at some discotheque with some cute skinny jeans and a bandeau under a tank top. Instead, it’s about getting my sweat on to some of my favorite jams, and incorporating pure joy into fitness.”
Ok, I don’t really say that, as I’m likely winded already and toweling sweat off my face and that’s a lot of words to say between water breaks. But I do take it as seriously as I take any workout.
That is to say very seriously.
That’s why, today, I decided to look at three different Zumba experiences I’ve had in the month of March, with three different instructors, and investigate the differences.
Up first: Zumba Red
Colors = Different Instructors
This class, taught in the beginning of March, was by a instructor that I’ve come to dread. If I’d never taken a class before, and she was my instructor, I might not know any better. But I’ve taken dozens, from MANY different instructors, and I’ve become a bit of a snob. Instructor Red takes things easy. While she occasionally mentions the higher level options, she rarely never demonstrates those options. She also sticks with the most traditional of the traditional Zumba songs. I’m talking almost entirely samba, salsa, and merengue. Sure, there’s the occasional hip hop or contemporary song, but it’s often the slowest of slow, and the moves are repetitive and uninspired.
I find myself having to invent my own “higher level options”, jumping when she steps, lunging when she leans. It’s a challenge to me, not to keep up with the instructor, but to keep making up ways to keep the workout exciting. It’s a shame, I’m sure she has the best intentions, but she’s the kind of instructor that would be better suited for Zumba Gold. Also, I tend to like it when I can sing along with the music. When every song is in Spanish, I can’t. And that’s the worst.
If you look at the image, too, you can see the deep drops in heart rate. I love a little breather now and then but, when my heart rate dips to 120 and I’m not cooling down… that’s a little bit of a bummer for me. When I only have about an hour to work out, I like to get the most bang for my buck.
Zumba Blue
I’m pretty sure the initial spike up to 201 was a fluke, but I will say that the blue instructor always starts the class off with a bang. He (yup, it’s a dude!) teaches the most athletic Zumba class I’ve ever attended. There’s jumping, shaking, quick feet, and core work. But despite the variety of exercises, I am sweating the entire time. He probably plays the most “contemporary” music, with a lot less focus on the traditional Latin tunes. I know that’s not maybe the most kosher, but it helps me when I’m drenched and gasping for breath to at least be able to say the words of the songs in my head. Also, one of his favorite songs to play?
That’s right, the hit song from the Madagascar 2 soundtrack. Listen to it, and you’ll be able to imagine the booty shaking and thrusting that goes on in this song. I LOVE it.
It doesn’t hurt that he’s nice to look at, but that’s neither here nor there.
Zumba Yellow
Instructor Yellow is a firecracker. She’s a ray of light every day that I get to work out with her, and she fills the group fitness room with light (that’s why I chose yellow for her.) Mixing traditional Latin music and current songs, she is never afraid to challenge us with a song that doesn’t seem like a “Zumba” song. (Country Girl, anyone?) While there is never truly a “slow” song, she tends to feel the crowd out and throws in a slightly slower paced one every now and then if we’re huffing and puffing.
The thing I like the most about her, though, is she makes the class interactive. She invites the boys to the front of the class every now and then for a particularly booty-shaking-focused jam, she calls people out when they’re really rocking, and she always knows what to say to pump us up for a song. Also, unlike Instructor Blue who has a more athletic, though slightly jerky pace, she has a nicer flow than all the other instructors I’ve worked with in the past. She doesn’t restart songs if we aren’t dancing immediately when it starts (which I think can mess with the flow of the class) and, if she messes up, she always recovers with grace and a chuckle. She just seems at ease all of the time, while simultaneously making the class feel comfortable AND kicking our asses. It takes a powerful character to accomplish all that at once but, despite being tiny, she packs a wollop! You can tell if you look at the heart rate chart. Woo, nelly, no joke!
It doesn’t hurt that her outfits are bright and exciting, making her a flash of color across the stage at the gym. She’s just the best. And when you find a Zumba instructor you click with, you just know.
What makes a group instructor particularly great in your opinion?
We’re all lucky that my keyboard allows my wrists to rest on it because, after today’s workout, my arms weren’t feeling up to much action. In fact, I think my brain was also a little wonky post-workout… Hence my ridiculous tweet upon my return to the house.
I promise, that made sense in my head. Translation: Sore arms are about to become jelly. Then, I’ll just have to be a jellyfish.
Right?
I don’t know.
The point is, it was a SOLID day at the gym! I was having major workout ADD, and couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. Solution? DO IT ALL!
A Hodge Podge of working it!
I hit up the group fitness room at the gym for a 5pm CX Worx class. CX Worx is a “revolutionary core workout” by Les Mills that is choreographed to some cool jams and lasts about 25-30 minutes. I’ll do a more serious post about this one day, but, to sum it up, it tears your core a new one.
At 5:30, the always-crowded Body Combat class was scheduled. I fended off the dozens of newcomers in the room to secure myself a spot and, as always, after only a few minutes, I was drenched in sweat. It’s such a killer cardio workout but, I’ll be honest, sometimes I get a little bored just punching and kicking for a full hour. Time to switch it up!
CIRCUIT TRAINING! The last 30 minutes of my 1.5 hour workout were spent with a new trainer, Jessica, doing circuit training with medicine balls, steps, mats, and ViPR tubes!
ViPR Tubes, racks on racks! (click image for source)
These hollow tubes of various weights and sizes do some SERIOUS damages on your shoulders as you’re flinging them around, lifting them, throwing them, rolling them, or jumping around them. Though I’ve only just tried ViPR training for the first time, I know that this is definitely a hardcore workout and, if there are any other free classes offering them (they’re normally $15 a session), I’ll definitely sign up.
With all the punching, planking, ViPR-ing, and pushups, my body was furious with me. I decided to suck up to it with a special meatless treat.
Taco Pizza with Soy Chorizo!
(Hilarious bonus: Russ realized that the name of the product, Soy Chorizo, translates to “I am sausage.” His response?
No, you’re beans, not delectably ground up little piggies.
Bahaha.)
All the good stuff
With a base of (what else?) Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza crust, I layered on lots of salsa as the “sauce” and decided it was time to try this Soy-rizo out. After reading the directions (which explicitly state to REMOVE the casing before cooking it) I removed the heck out of that casing. The faux-meat bits crumbled out of the plastic(?) casing and into my frying pan. It smelled so good as it was cooking and I knew I was in for a treat (despite my initial fears that soy-whatever would be lame and nasty).
I also fried up some red onion, sauteed some spinach, and added some avocado bits (which should be a topping on anything/everything) and a lowfat mexican cheese blend. Pre-heated?
Don't worry cheese, I'll melt you soon.
And then, about 14-18 minutes later (I just kept checking for a golden, crisp crust), I pulled out a molten pie of cheese and fake meat.
You're so money, and you don't even know it.
This “meat” MADE the pizza! It had a great amount of spice, the texture wasn’t off-putting at all, and while I didn’t bite into it and think MEAT I did bite into it and think “Man, I wanna take another bite.”
Soy chorizo, I wanna put you inside of all my dishes. Salad, maybe an omelet, enchiladas? Why not? And, for $1.99 a tube, that’s a bargain if I’ve ever seen one (and I have. They’re all I seek out.)
Have you ever tried a vegetarian/vegan replacement for something and found yourself pleasantly surprised?
I love this and I’m a huge fan of the Morningstar Hot & Spicy breakfast “sausage”. Mmm.
February 29th, to me, doesn’t really seem all that exciting. Yes, it’s an “extra” day, but I don’t get off work. There were a few sales but, realistically, there wasn’t too much going on in the world outside of the usual. So I decided to make it a special one.
I did something I’ve never done before (well, maybe never. I think once I tried in high school, but it wasn’t for me.)
Whoah, get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking about a treadmill run!
My new frenemy?
My silly towel is blocking out the one most crucial number on this treadmill: I ran that mile (just barely) under 10 minutes! I think the last time I ran a mile was sometime in 2005 (MAYBE 2006, but even that could be a stretch.) I was out of practice, I wasn’t sure what to do with my arms, and I made sure that I didn’t stop the whole time!
You can see in my GarminConnect summary that my HR peaked during my run (the first 10 minutes of my workout):
Yeah, buddy!
The rest of the workout was a smattering of cardio, exercises featuring use of my body weight (lunges, jump squats, jackknife situps, etc), and a final bout on the treadmill (just to try out the other machine) followed by the last 5 minutes on the stairmaster! It was kind of nice to mix up the workout, the BodyPump class just looked too packed to deal with and, honestly, after that venture on the treadmill, I just wanted to keep moving, not lifting.
HUGE thanks to my running cheerleader, Sierra, who may have run to NC from South Africa… Either way, she ran into the gym to cheer me on JUST when I was hitting a little wall around 7 minutes. As I gestured shooting myself in the head when she walked in, she grinned her happy lunchbox grin and I refused to stop, knowing I had a bit of an audience (albeit an audience of one).
Though we normally live across the globe from each other, Sierra’s actually one of my oldest friends from UNC, and my new running guru (one of a few who’s offered to guide me in ‘the ways of the runners’) as she has already steered me in the right direction of the “good treadmill” at the gym.
My first year at UNC was obvious the classiest of all.
I still have a few questions for all you runners out there…
What kind of bottoms do you wear? I think that shorts were not the wisest idea…
What do you do with your arms?
I considered this pose:
MK is NOT my fitspiration! (click if you think mocking Mary Kate Olsen is quality online humor)
But my elbows got too sweaty.
My last question:
HOW do you folks do this every day?!
I’m tempted to take an ice bath…. Luckily, I never turn the heat on in my apartment, so…. problem solved.
I’m a fairly confident lady. I have confidence in sunshine. I have confidence that my adult acne will keep me getting carded well into my late 20s. But I also have confidence that, with the right attitude, you can look any which way and still turn heads whenever you walk into any room. Even at my lowest of lows, I still walked with my head held high, chest out, and rocking the good posture my mother taught me that us tall girls tend to forget when they’re in a crowd of tiny princesses, at least out in public.
We all have our private moments, the times when we don’t feel 100% about ourselves. We can get down on our looks, and that’s never a good feeling. Those moments can seem way bigger than the confident ones. I remember the first time I spotted stretch marks on my stomach, and Ryan consoling me as I cried my eyes out, hating the mirror that revealed my flaws. I remember the time that my best friend told one of our mutual buddies that I had big eyebrows, not knowing I was within hearing distance. I still accidentally over-pluck with that memory in mind.
But I also remember the glorious moments that can always block out the bad ones. I remember the time a fellow called me a blonde paradigm (WHAT a compliment!!) I remember the way Ryan looked at me when I walked out wearing the dress I wore tomy cousin’s wedding. I remember prancing around at the shore, tan and beach blonde, without a care in the world. And now, as vain as it sounds, I have a new memory to add to the list.
That one time that I felt like a fitness GODDESS in my new pants.
Fierce, yeah?
I want to save this on my computer forever. Who’d ever think that I’d be my OWN fitspiration? Maybe it was just because it was a perfect Saturday morning, without a care in the world, and I was headed to BodyJam for a killer workout. Maybe it was the delicious pescatarian week I’d had. Probably, it was the new Lululemon “Astro Wunder Under Crops” that my mom picked up for me when we were in DC this weekend. But I just felt like a million bucks.
The workout class was fantastic, a solid BodyJam with lots of fun tracks and moves not unlike Jagger.
Brought to you by the letter A for AWESOME!
I decided to keep the party going in Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods… My haul was epic.
Boxes and Barramundi!
Walking out of Trader Joe’s with a box kind of makes me feel like a badass.
So many frozen fishies!
Indian Goodies!
I kept my headphones on through all the stores, dancing my way through the aisles, and though my lunch was a basic egg-salad salad with spinach, eggs, carrots, green peppers, I predict my next few meals are going to bright, festive, and fishy. Just the way I like it.
Ok, I guess if I want to shower, I have to take these crops off… drats.
Chime in! Let’s get vain… What’s making you feel gorgeous today?
The past week has been filled to the brim. Beer events, flights, Portlandia, work, Fat Tuesday, and that pesky sleep thing. You know, one of those weeks where you sometimes forget to breathe. The dust is starting to settle, though, and I figure it’s time for a post about something that’s been flitting about in my brain for a while.
It’s been almost 2 years since I made the biggest lifestyle change of my 24 (and a half! I’m officially 6 months from my birthday!) years of my life. I decided I was going to lose the excess weight from my body, resume the exercise that used to be a central focus of my life, and stop eating crap. My family couldn’t have been more supportive. In fact, my mother’s Weight Watchers account was probably my most frequently visited website on a daily basis. My brothers were huge inspirations to me, as they’d both sculpted their bodies through P90X, regular visits to the weights rooms, and diet changes. Every time I came home, I was greeted with hugs and compliments. Of COURSE it felt great. And it fueled my fire, and it made me hungry for more progress. I don’t believe I ever visited the land of Eating Disorders, but I definitely regulated my food intake more than most people I know. It just worked for me that way, so I stuck with it.
I’m not sure when it happened, but despite the fact that I’ve maintained my 40-45lb weight loss for the past year and a half, the people closest to me started to have different thoughts. No longer were the comments your basic “Wow, you look great!” or “You’ve gotten so fit!” but sounded a little more like, “Oh, come on, just eat the pizza!” or “You don’t HAVE to go to the gym every day do you?” “Do you really write EVERYTHING you eat in that little book of yours?”
It may have stemmed from the weekly weigh-ins.
Maybe it was the decision to give up drinking soda this year.
But they started to worry about me. Now, I’ll admit, my family is pretty basic when it comes to eating. I don’t think I even have a vegetarian cousin or uncle. The idea of pescatarianism strikes them as outrageous, as a huge difference from the norm. After researching the lifestyle for a while, and looking back on my own regular eats, it isn’t that much of a stretch for me to attempt pescatarian eating for 40 days. And I don’t want anyone to worry about me. I’m still going to work out, but I take rest days. I’m still going to blog about my food and exercise, but I’ll never post about everything I eat. And yes, sometimes my methods may seem a little “out there” to the average Joe (or Josephine), but I know how my body works. I know how my habits work.
My brother brought up a good point when we were talking about all of this, and that point is that you should be able to enjoy something if you really want it.
For me to make a serious life change, I need to go drastic first, and then temper it. When I first started Weight Watchers, I tracked every bite of food and drink that went into my body. And now, I know a more general idea of what eating healthy is about, so I don’t have to know the points value of those Cheez Its I just wolfed. I won’t drink soda for the next year but, after that, if I want a soda, I’ll have one. And if I don’t, I’ll know it’s because I lost the taste. I won’t eat beef, poultry, or pork for the next 37 days, but I’ll be with you if you want a steak dinner on Easter. I like to challenge myself, it helps me learn what I can or cannot do, and what I need or do not need. Two years ago I learned that I don’t need an entire frozen pepperoni pizza for dinner. Now, it’s time to learn something else.
It’s important to have family, friends, romantic partners, etc. to be there and act as the occasional check and balance when you’re starting something new in your life. But it’s also important that you stick to your goals (your well-researched goals that will not endanger your life). And if I ever make a decision where I can’t eat pizza, please, someone, slap me.
Totally pescatarian friendly 3-cheese pizza!
Asiago flatbread topped with herbed goat cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, sugar-free sauce, spinach, onions, and Morningstar spicy “sausage”. Hell to the yeah.
Has your family or friends ever been worried about your health following decisions you’ve made? How did you get past it?
(SIDENOTE: My family and I have spoken about this at length and they’re not worried anymore, as I explained myself, my decisions, etc to them and let them know I wasn’t just jumping into some trendy fish-eating fad diet! All is well, don’t want anyone to worry about THAT!)
Ah, that old adage… A failure to plan (for breakfast) is a plan for (breakfast) failure.
While my standard fitbook breakfast entry says “Cereal + Almond Milk” with a smiley face next to it, I came to a crossroads in the middle of the week. I tilted my cereal box as far as it would go, then, panic on my face, yanked the plastic bag out of the box.
It was as empty as my heart was the moment I realized I was cereal-less in Seattle Durham.
Silly me, I’d forgotten to pick up my usual box of cereal on my last Trader Joe’s trip so, while my almond milk flowed like water, a girl can’t live on milk, alone. Thus was born my Open Faced Egg Sammy.
I knew I had a few eggs at home, but I like to eat my breakfast at 8:30 am, despite my arrival at work around 8 am (something about a pre-8:30 breakfast doesn’t work in my tummy). And since we don’t have a stove-top in my tiny office, I had to improvise.
Doggie Bag? No, Eggy Bag.
Since all of my tupperware was in use holding goodies like beans, carnitas pork, avocado, etc, this Fresh Market bag was the mode of transportation for a single fried egg.
That’s right, the only thing in that bag is an egg.
My coworkers sort of rolled their eyes, and were probably just glad that I wasn’t wearing a feather boa.
Luckily, my office DOES have a toaster. And I also brought some spinach, and VOILA!
Topless breakfast!
I used a toasted everything Bagel Thin, some Laughing Cow spread, and spinach, topped the party with my totable egg, and didn’t miss the cereal a single bit. In fact, it felt a little bit like a special treat on a weekday. I gotta find more ways to enjoy eggs at work.
Can you microwave cook an egg without any special holder?
Bueller?
In other news, BodyAttack #75 was even MORE intense than last week (I think because I now have an understanding of the moves).
Boom, baby.
56 minutes, 843 calories, and an average HR of 165!! As you can tell, the end is the ab track and the cooldown track, I don’t just get super lazy around 53 minutes. I do, however, start to get insanely sweaty at about 16 minutes.
It’s for this reason that I always bring my own, full-sized towel to the gym. Whether or not I shower at the gym, I normally leave looking like someone just poured the post-game Gatorade all over me. This translates to my signature post-gym outfit.
Always fierce, Always wins spring fling queen
You might be wondering “Is that a fashionable scarf?”
The answer is “No, friend, you need to have your eyes checked out.” Because I rock the towel scarf every.single.day.
Despite the fact that it’s not a pashmina, I still get noticed by all the major fashionistas in the Triangle area. Especially the little girl in the grocery store who (not-so-quietly) asks her mom “Why’s that lady wearing a towel in the store?” and points her bony finger at me.
Don’t worry, I didn’t get mad, point back and say “HEY, lady, who’s the tiny curious critter clinging to your pant-legs? WHY’S SHE SO SMALL?” though I may have wanted to… I simply smiled and said “Well, it gets pretty cold in grocery stores, and I didn’t have a blanket.” She giggled, and walked away with mommy dearest.
I just hope that, due to my powerful influence on her life, someday she’s toting fried eggs to work and towel-scarves to the store.
I’m basically a role model.
Any sweet in-office egg cooking methods for me to try?
Food, Sweat, and Beers 