Thursday, July 11, 2013

Happy Birthday EVE!

Hey There!

I hope you are all well rested and feeling awesome, because I am not (well, not completely). Doing overnight shifts is a great way to make some money by not having to do a whole heck of a lot, but it really f***s with my schedule and makes it hard for me to keep my head on straight. 

After leaving work at 8:40am yesterday, I headed up to Malibu to get in my run by the beach so that I didn't have to deal with the weather in the valley. (the joke was on me, it was overcast out here all day long... but it was pretty muggy). 

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I mean really, who wouldn't want to run here every single day?!?! I managed a little over a 5 mile run, did Day 3 of the 30 day ab challenge, and then came on home to what I was hoping would be a shower and a nap!

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Well, I came home and showered and eventually fell asleep for about an HOUR! it was a mess. I was wide awake and hungry. I made myself some lunch before my good friend Sederia came by for a visit. She brought me my birthday present, and made me feel like a schmuck the luckiest girl, ever, to have such an amazing friend. 

She bought me a book by Jessica Alba, The Honest Life


It has tips on food, beauty, style, products, home decor and even baby suggestions that are all about living naturally. This is the perfect reading companion for my current "Clean Eating" and living obsession right now :D. She also added a really cute green glittery "C" key chain that she picked me up from Vegas and a $25 dollar gift card to Trader Joe's!

How does she know me so well?!?!?!

We sat and bitched chatted for a bit about life, relationships and family until I had to leave to go to my OA meeting. I hadn't been to a meeting in about 2 weeks, and I really was looking for any reason not to have to go... but in the end I am SO glad I did. I got to see some people I really love, and hear exactly what I needed to hear. 

I ended my day with dinner (I was STARVING by the time I got home) and a little excursion to the grocery store. Remember when I decided I was going to give up dairy and eggs the other day?!?!?! Well, apparently NO ONE carries Soy Yogurt ANYWHERE! I went to two stores last night, and NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH! I almost went to a 3rd, but it was after 9 o clock and I was exhausted!I'm not sure if this is a sign to just keep doing what I'm doing, but I guess I'll tray again next time.

Thankfully, after doing some reading, writing and meditating, I was able to drift off to sleep. I woke up really early this morning, even though I'm still EXHAUSTED, but I may try to drift back off for a bit.

I'm planning on getting in some Yoga today. My lower back is killing me, which is a sign to me that I need to take it slow today... so I shall. Chat with you later!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Terrific Tuesday, Day 2 of the 30 Day Ab Challenge

Good Morning (yes, it is 4am where I am)

I am working an overnight shift for work, 12am-8:30am, and trying to get a bunch of ish done. So I figured I would blog about my Tuesday. Today was a really great day!

I started out the day with an exhausting 3.2mile hike with a 1,803 foot elevation gain and a Max Elevation of 2,947. In other words... that shit was straight up hill!! It was also extremely hot outside, and we did not bring nearly enough water, so I spent the remainder of the day feeling grossly dehydrated. After the hike we did Day 2 of the 30 Day Ab Challenge. 20 sit ups, 8 crunches, 8 leg raises, 8 push ups, and 12 sec plank. All and all, it was a good day for some physical time.

When I got home all I wanted to do was jump in my pool! During the hike I had mirage visuals of just floating in the cool breeze. Well, at 10am the pool wasn't quite what I wanted, so I dipped in, and then tanned for a little bit while reading.

The rest of the day, I spent relaxing and trying to nap (this was not hard considering how dehydrated I felt). I watched only a little TV, and spent most of my time just trying to drift off into la la la.

Later in the evening I had dinner plans with some friends I use to work with at a nice Italian restaurant called Guiseppe's in West Hills. It was a cute little Italian place that had lots of great options. However, because I wasn't sure how it was going to go down, I just planned on having the soup and salad. It was just my luck that their soup of the day was a tomato based Vegetarian soup that was TO DIE FOR! and the salad bar was pretty awesome too!

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I even got this fun little tomato monster in my salad :D. The food was good, and the company was even better. I then went home to try and drift right off to sleep! It didn't quite work out the way I wanted to, but I'm making it work with tons of coffee now!  
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Behold my current reading list :)!!!! Super Foods was LITERALLY just give to me by a coworker, but Skinny Bitch is what I am currently in the middle of reading. 
 OK, so I've mentioned Skinny Bitch a couples times lately, and now is the time to talk about it. I find the book very fun, poignant and sarcastically motivating. It takes a tough love approach to educating you on the horrible things that are done to our food and explains why going vegetarian is so important. Although I wish the book title was "Healthy Bitch" instead of "Skinny Bitch"... I just have to reaffirm that difference in my head on my own. My own path to being a vegetarian started for health  (and figure conscious) reasons, and not necessarily from a "Animals Rights" perspective, but now having read the first half of this book, I am taking it a little more seriously. You'll have to read it on your own to discover all the horrible things that are done to animals, and I HIGHLY recommend that you do! To be honest, this book has convinced me that I need to go completely vegetarian (aka eliminate dairy and eggs from my meal plan). However, since both of these things are main staples in my day, and I still have a ton of dairy products in my home, I have decided that I am going to ween myself off of dairy, and eventually work my way to eliminating eggs to. I consider this completely doable, since I really only consume Greek Yogurt and Feta Cheese on the regular.  For now, I have configured a 3 point plan to help catapult Operation "Clean Up My Food". 1. Continue to stay away from refined and Processed sugars (IE, cookies, ice cream, cakes, and any other delicious looking goodies). Tyler and I made a pact to stay away from recreational sugar for 30 days... and I am now in Day 5 of the plan :) 2.  I am going to finish up the containers of Greek yogurt that I have in the fridge and then make the switch cover to a soy based yogurt. I will also then begin to use soy cheese products when necessary. 3. I will begin to only eat eggs every other day until I feel comfortable enough to eliminate that from my meal plan as well.  Enough blogging, I think its time to get back to my readings :).Since the beach is on my way home I was planning on getting in a run near the waves before going home in the morning. Hopefully it works out as planned.
 
 
Sweet Dreams!

 
 

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Motivational Monday

Hello Beautiful People!!!


Today is Monday, and I am feeling super Motivated and inspired. I realize that I have been REALLY off with my blogging lately, and I promise that I am going to TRY and make it better :) Life has just been somewhat crazy lately, and I haven't been taking the time to sit down and handle my shit!

Things are going really good for me right now, I have about 93 days of abstinence from purging (Yay!!!), and for Today, I have the binging under control and I am eating clean. My clothes are still very snug and I have to be somewhat selective with what I choose to wear, but it has finally become the motivator I need to get my ass in gear!

Sooo... I when I went to group therapy on Friday afternoon, our therapist introduced us to The Healthy Mind Platter... (please read more about it here).

 
 
Balance is a crucial key in Recovery, and life in general. When we eat, we should have a balanced meal of Carbohydrates, Healthy Fats and Proteins. When we work out, it is important to balance fun with function (aka ZUMBA!!!) as well as balancing the muscle groups we work (circuit training). For the past few years I have balance a work life, school life, family life, intimate life, and social life (what little I had).
 
The Healthy Mind Platter Helps us balance (and carve) out time for things that are important to us and our functioning. Like all great things, balance of these 7 essential times (Sleep, Physical, Focus, In, Play, Down and Connecting) is essential for optimal brain functioning. Lately I have been COMPLETELY off balance (with food, life, and exercise)... So I become motivated to start working on balancing my plate.
 
My favorite part of the Healthy Mind Platter is that nowhere does it involve FOOD!!! Granted, I know that eating well is essential for functioning, I can appreciate that it is not an integral part of this model. So much of my life has been wasted on food, and avoiding these other parts of my life. This reminds me that it is crucial, but not the sole purpose of living :)
 
Right now, I'm focusing on my Physical Time:

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Me and my beautiful friend Leah after a short 3.5 mile run, and some ab work :)
This area of my life has been severely unbalanced for the last few weeks. It was not uncommon for me to avoid a run, or ditch out on a zumba session because I just didn't want to. So VERY unlike me. So, for this week, I am focusing on getting in physical activity 6 days this week with a balance of running, hiking, swimming, strength training and taking a class or two.
 
Today I started out with a short, and brisk 3.5 mile run with my friend Leah (pictured above). It was hot, so we were sweating BUCKETS! But she gave me a good run for my money. Then we followed it up with Day 1 of the 30 Day Ab Challenge!!!!
 
 
However, we didn't exactly stick to the challenge (what fun is that?!?!)
 
Today we completed:
15 sit ups
10 crunches
10 leg lifts
10 squats
10 lunges
10 push ups
10 sec plank
 
Boy, did it feel good. So, I guess that is my base, and I will work up from there.
 
Now, don't let me fool you, I am still working on the other areas of my Platter, but I am going to talk about those in another post. Also, I have been reading the book, "Skinny Bitch" and I am now considering ditching dairy in my life!!! More on that to come. I'm not done with the book, but will write a review when I am. However, so far I find it Fun and Informational :)
 
OK, time to get ready to leave work. I'll chat with you guys later. Stay Motivated, beautiful People!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, July 1, 2013

The Most Wonderful Month of the Year!!!

HAPPY JULY 1st, everyone!!!

This is my favorite time of year. It's summertime, I don't have any school obligations, my 21st, 25th, 27th birthday is less than two weeks away, I get to catch up on all the wonderful things I DIDN'T do during the school year, and everyone just seems to be in a much better place. I am looking at this month as a rebirth for myself. Not a do over, but a rebirth.

The last few months have been very challenging for me to stick to a regiment and on plan. I have gained a substantial amount of weight (I haven't actually weight myself so I don't know exactly how much) and I am having some trouble fitting into most of my clothes and the rest I am just insanely uncomfortable in. You would think this would have been enough to keep me out of the food and in the exercise groove... but it was not. Instead it kept me right where The Disease wanted me... feeling pathetic, pitiful, hating myself and just wanting to never get out of bed or the food.

But something clicked with me on Saturday and I started to come out of the swamp that I had created. However, instead of doing it "full steam ahead" as I have usually done. I am making small changes a little at a time, and accepting that I am not the same person that I was at my peak in April. That does not mean that i can not ever return to the state of living... it just means that I can not be there now and that is ok.

Anyways, I am trying to focus on eating "healthy" foods (lots of fruits and veggies, lean proteins, healthy fats and carbs) and keeping my meals balanced. I'm also trying to focusing on my OA program. I started checking in with my Sponsor every morning at 8:45 to red two pages of the big book and just discuss it. I really stopped sending her my foods and my AEIOU's, but I think slowly I will start getting back to doing that.

Sometimes I feel like program and recovery just becomes very overwhelming. So I am going to do what I can, and not beat myself up if I cant do it. I am also trying to work on not "planning" out everything as much. I've found that I do better when I have structure, but I do not need to be worrying about Wednesdays structure when it is only Sunday.

I have some goals for This week and for July as a whole

This week:
1) Eat 3 balanced meals and two optional snacks (carbs, fat and protein) with no snacking in between.
2) Log all of my foods everyday
3) Complete question 2 from my OA workbook
5) Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day every day
6) No binging on TV (more than 3 hours in a set)

Month of July
1) Enjoy my Birthday by not celebrating with food
2) Find a good balance of recovery and relaxation
3) Attain 30 days of eating cleaning without bingeing

I will do my best to update you guys on my progress. Have a great First day of July!