Meal Prep Monday

One of the goals I have for 2014 is to be more consistent about prepping my meals for the week. I’ll talk more specifically about health/fitness/lifestyle goals in another post, but I wanted to share a little bit of my meal prep for the week with ya’ll. In the future, I will most likely prep on Sunday nights, but with the way our schedule is for the week, it worked out that I did my shopping on Monday night instead.

Here’s our dinner menu for the week:

Monday: Whole-wheat spaghetti with marinara. ( I like to add lots of veggies to the sauce!)

Tuesday: Lighter Loaded Baked Potatoes ( Loaded with veggies, a sprinkle of cheese, and salsa.)

Wednesday/Thursday:  Balsamic Crockpot pork loin, kale, and brown rice with gravy. (I’m Southern. Sometimes I have to have gravy.)

Friday/Saturday: Betty’s Bean Casserole , cornbread. (This is a recipe from my Mother-In-Law that I need to tweak a little bit before I share with everyone. It’s not really a casserole, more like a stew/soup thing and it is seriously so good.)

Breakfasts are usually oatmeal and fruit for me. The boys will often get a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit and fruit, or a waffle and fruit, something that they can munch on while we drive to school.  

Lunches will consist of either blackbean or chickpea burgers, cucumber salad, and other items such as yogurt, string cheese, carrots and hummus, or nuts. Also, I love to throw in a square of Ghiradelli Dark to help me keep cravings for sweets under control. My husband eats a little bit differently than me, but he has the luxury of being 6’3” and having a very physical job. So yeah, I’m jealous about that.

I’m excited to use my 6-pack bag again. This thing is a tank. Naturally I’ve lost most of the accompanying tupperware, so I’ve stuffed some stuff in baggies and shoved it into the little compartments. Cause that’s just how I roll, baby!

Do you pack lunch? Do you prep ahead of time or the day of? I’d love to hear any tips for staying consistent that work for ya’ll!

Holiday Indulgences

Hey ya’ll! I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I know I definitely did. The kids woke up early to open their gifts and then we all pretty much sat around in our pajamas and ate chocolate all day. I’m actually not kidding. Bri, my former stepmom, stuffed our stocking with some of my favorite chocolates: Dove and Ghiradelli, so basically it was over before it started for me. And you know what? I don’t feel guilty. I’m not looking up how many burpees I need to do or how long on the treadmill it will take me to burn all of that off, and I am certainly not weighing myself. I’m just moving forward. I saw something posted on Facebook by one of my favorite pages, Lean Bodies Consulting, that said

“Exercise should not be done as a punishment for what you have consumed. Doing extra cardio in an attempt to offset a dietary deviation represents a dysfunctional relationship with both food and exercise.” –Coach Mark

Wow. That is so powerful, true, and simple, and yet how many memes do we see on Facebook, Twitter, IG, etc, that are of the exact opposite nature? I for one have stopped following pages that promote that kind of thinking, because it is the type of thinking that I was enslaved by for so long, and am working hard every day to be free from. Also, that is why one day, should I ever be able to afford them, I will be going with either Lean Bodies Consulting or Curls and Whey, their “sister site” for diet and training plans.

Have you indulged this holiday season? I hope so. Do you feel guilty? I hope not. Let it go.

Life lately...

Lots has been going on in our household over the past month or so. We moved back into Roanoke, and finally into our apartment last week. We are in the final stages of unpacking, and the boxes of stuff to throw out/give to Goodwill are now outnumbering the boxes that need to be unpacked. Whew! I will tell you this, moving a week before Christmas with a 4 year old, 16 month old, and being 22 weeks pregnant is no small feat! We were lucky enough to have the boys go stay with their Grandma and Aunt for part of the weekend, and we were able to get a lot done in that time. We also had some help moving stuff in from some friends earlier in the week, and my dad came and helped move furniture on Saturday. Everyone has been earning their sleep!

Chad and I were able to go out to dinner without the kids this weekend, which is something that rarely ever happens. It was awesome. We had plans to go to a favorite restaurant of mine, Wildflour, because I had a gift card from my secret Santa at work (who turned out to be my officemate!), but by the time we were actually ready for dinner the restaurant was only open for another hour. We opted for a trusty standby: Mexican food. We had a go to Mexican place by our old apartment, and have lucked out this time as well; one of their sister restaurants is just right down the street. I have to say that I thought the food at this location was actually better than at any of their other locations! Chad had a margarita, while I looked on longingly.

This weekend was the first time that I have actually felt pregnant. Of course, I have realized that my body is growing and I have been feeling Baby Boy moving for quite some time now, but other than early stage morning sickness, I really have not feltpregnant. That all changed on Saturday in the shower. I had this moment where I was like, Oh my God, here we go. I am like, pregnant pregnant. Unless you have had a baby, you probably won’t be able to relate to this sentiment. I was kind of like, hmm, maybe I can just order in and put my pajamas on and we can go to bed. I was glad I forced myself to get dressed and go out though, and I know my husband appreciated it as well!

We were able to do some child free shopping this weekend as well. We picked up some things for the apartment, and I got a new water bottle. If you know me well, then you know that I have a problem when it comes to water bottles. I collect them. I have to. I say I have to, because I always end up breaking them. Who breaks a water bottle, you might ask? I do. I drop them and they break. I personally prefer to have a water bottle that has a straw, that way I can just drink water hands free at my desk while typing and talking on the phone; however, I have not been able to find an indestructible, pink, water bottle that has a sipper, so I went back to the only water that I know that even I cannot break: a Nalgene. I already feel more outdoorsy/preppy. But seriously, I love it. I love knowing that when it inevitably drops out my hand, I will have the last laugh. Because it can’t break.  No really, it is pretty much impossible to break. Look it up on YouTube. 

Am I the only one who has a specific water bottle or cup that they must use?

 

Eating Your Feelings...Or Starving Them.

Let’s talk a little bit about emotional eating. 

I remember when I was told that I am an emotional eater. It was during a counseling session, in the midst of an eating disorder in high school that got me sent home from a trip to live abroad in Spain. I will always be grateful that I was lucky enough to attend a high school progressive enough to let me spend half a trimester home to get better during my senior year. We really need to see more policies like this across the nation. Being able to focus on my health without having to deal with the additional pressures of senior year was truly a gift. 

I was telling my story to the counselor; telling her how I would not eat, or eat next to nothing for days, living off of water and caffeine, and would exercise for two hours. After a few days of this, I would binge. I would eat until I felt sick and then I would feel guilty and horrible and start the process all over again. I was never someone who ate loaves of bread or tubs of icing or sleeves of cookies. I would eat huge portions of “regular” foods. Plates and plates at dinner.  I told her how this had been my pattern for months, but that living in Spain with a Spanish family no longer afforded me the luxury of two hour trips to the gym. Instead, I resorted to sticking my finger down my throat. This worked, until my Spanish mother caught me. Explaining that in Spanish was challenging, to say the least. 

The counselor listened a little bit more and then pronounced “You are an emotional eater.” She taught me how to identify what hunger felt like, to ask myself, are you hungry or are you feeling something or are you trying not  to feel something? So I learned how to do that and I got better, and forgot all about that, thought I didn’t need it. On the other hand, I also have a history of emotionally not eating, though I think I was always more aware of the emotional connection in this regard.

Over the years though, I started to really get it, and I am proud to say that now, if a random craving hits I can ask “What’s going on? What is this about? Do you really want that or is there something else below the surface?” If it’s something that I really do want, and sometimes I really do just want some chocolate, or Mexican food, or whatever, then I have it and move on. I don’t need to mainline it till I feel sick. Other times I will say, well, it was a particularly shitty day at work, or I am feeling stressed out about x/y/z, and let the feelings come and go. It used to be hard, a struggle not to give in, but now it’s just freeing. 

I think that for a lot of people, dealing with unpleasant emotions is difficult and so sometimes they resort to other things, it might be eating too much, drinking too much, smoking, being hateful to others, not eating, etc.  

I was recently reflecting on my past pregnancies and my weight gain, and made some observations. With my first I think I gained so much weight because it was the first time in my life that I felt I didn’t need to worry about gaining weight, gaining weight was the point. So I went hog wild (pun intended). With my second pregnancy, things were different. I knew that “eating for two” was just a figure of speech, and knew that I didn’t want to gain as much as I had previously. With my second pregnancy  though, I dealt with some very stressful personal situations throughout the pregnancy. My friends would talk about how they would go home and have a glass of wine to unwind; I would go home and eat.

I am trying to be extra mindful of my past history. Just the other day, after a frustrating conversation, I noticed some Milk Duds in the candy box on my supervisor’s desk. A part of me thought, oh, Milk Duds! But that part was quickly silenced by the alarms in my head reminding me that this was an emotional reaction, I didn’t really want the Milk Duds. 

One of my favorite ways to relieve stress over the past year has been getting red-faced and sweaty, pushing myself to the limit in the gym and overall, eating is not something I have to think twice about or analyze, but I am reminding myself to be more aware of my feelings, especially since I have had to temper my efforts in the gym.

I hope that this able to reach someone who needs it, so that they know that it’s hard but doable, and that they are not alone. 

Big Thangs Poppin!

What do you think of that blog post title? It's in reference to the fact that I have "popped" as they say in the pregnancy world, and now visibly look pregnant. I combined that with my love of T.I/southern rap and the fact that I probably will have another large baby, and BAM: blog title!

Moving on...

So the last two weeks I have gone to the gym 4x/week, and I am pretty satisfied with that amount. I have stuck to my running and weight lifting split, but this week I am going to make some changes.

Typically, I have done my workouts on a body part split. That means that each body part is assigned a day to be worked. Most recently, I was combining two muscle groups in order to be more efficient, because I am not in the gym 6 days a week like I was pre-pregnancy. This has worked well for me, but then I read some new information on one of my favorite sites, Lean Bodies Consulting, that encouraged an upper body/lower body split, in order to promote muscle activation and growth. This really spoke to me because sometimes I feel like I have to shove workouts together anyway, and also because I want to work certain muscles more frequently, specifically biceps, shoulders, and glutes.

I have come up with Kanye’s  my new workout plan and am posting my new split below. 

Day 1: Biceps/Back/Shoulders

Day 2: Calves/Quads/Glutes

Day 3: Chest/Triceps/Shoulders

Day 4: Glutes/Hams

One thing I want to mention is that I don’t plan to work shoulders twice a week all the time. Some weeks I will  work biceps twice, and will substitute other upper body muscles as I see fit. I love working shoulders and mine develop quickly. My biceps need some work though, and I hate doing bicep work, so I figured that was a good indication I should do more of it. I love working legs and glutes, and kind of feel like, hey, if I have to be in a caloric surplus for a portion of my pregnancy then I might as well try to build an onion butt with some extra calories*!

*NOTE: You cannot grow muscle without a caloric surplus. This is called bulking.

 I’m sort of looking at pregnancy as an extended bulk so when I lose the baby weight I will be mad shredded bro! Just kidding. I don’t expect to be shredded for quite some time, and that’s okay with me too. It’s all about the journey, and I love it.

How do you choose your workouts for the week or do you just do what the spirit moves you to do?

First Trimester Fitness!

I knew something was off when my pre-workout drinks and Quest bars started to taste extra artificial. Turned out, I’m pregnant! 

About a week after finding out that I’m pregnant I was wracked with nausea and food aversion, resulting in a lack of energy. Suddenly my favorite foods made me gag: tomatoes, Greek yogurt, any and all meat, protein shakes, salad greens. The only thing that I could stomach was a plain baked potato or a cheese quesadilla, and after a few bites I was full. I was MIA from the gym for about two weeks before I was finally able to figure out the foods that would not make nauseous but that would also give me enough energy to make it to the gym. 

Initially pregnancy fitness was a bit tricky. I am used to going heavy and hard, but have since had to lower the weight and intensity of my workouts. Instead of six days a week, I’m in the gym between three and five days a week. I have started doing more cardio, something I loathe, because some days I know that I do not have the energy to use proper form while lifting. On the plus side, I have started running again, and even though I am slower than I am used to, I am finding joy and peace in this activity again. 

My last pregnancy I did not work out at all, because I found it extremely difficult to keep my heart rate below 140 BPM, which is what my doctor had recommended. This time I did my own research, and what I found overwhelmingly indicated that the “below 140” rule was outdated. The new recommendations are to use the Perceived Rate of Exertion test. Basically, how hard are you working? Are you able to talk but not sing? Good, then you’re fine. I met with one of the doctors at my group today and she recommended not going over 180 bpm. I plan to continue to use my heart rate monitor and the PRE test to keep watch on things. 

I am a big gainer while I am pregnant. I gained 60 pounds with Troy and 50 pounds with Archer. I never had gestational diabetes and my blood pressure was always excellent; I have big babies: 10 pounds and 11 pounds respectively. I just do not plan on gaining that much weight this time because I do not want to have to work as hard after the baby is born. I also want to maintain as much of my strength and stamina as possible. Working out makes me feel whole and relieves stress, both of which I believe are critical during pregnancy, so I plan to continue to do so to the best of my ability. Wish me luck and stick around for the journey!

Book Review: The Heavy

Hey Ya'll!

So, I previously mentioned that I was working on a book review, and I have finally finished it. Yay!

A while back I was meandering through Barnes and Noble trying to kill some time, when I saw a book that grabbed my attention.  I saw the price tag though, and figured I would just wait and order it from Amazon.Fun fact:  I cannot stand to spend more money than necessary on something.

The book came and I read it in about a week. I couldn't put it down. So, what is it about? The Heavy by Dara Lynn Weiss, is a mother's story about helping her young daughter lose weight. I realize that this is not a very palatable topic for many people, and the author does too, but this is not about aesthetics, it's about health.

The book is told from the author's perspective, and Weiss is touchingly, heartbreakingly honest. She unabashedly shares her journey, and the reader feels that they are fumbling along with her. She talks about her own personal challenges with body image and eating, but makes it clear that this is not what drives her feelings about her daughter's weight.

This book might make you uncomfortable; it made me uncomfortable. Talking about putting a child on a diet is something that seems wrong and difficult. As a society we tend to brush off childhood obesity as a phase or we judge the parents, assuming that they must be stuffing their child full of junk. I have to admit that I tended to feel both ways about childhood obesity before reading this book. If I saw an overweight child, I basically assumed that the child would grow out of it, or I assumed that the family must hit the drive-thru regularly, but this book changed that for me. The author and her family came from an upper-middle class New York family who tended to eat organic, natural foods and the author admits that she judged parents who took their children to fast food restaurants. What I found interesting was the author's shift in thinking about food and eating as her experience with her daughter progressed. As her thinking shifted, so did mine. 

I admire the author for tackling such an important and tender topic in a way that is loving but direct. I think that this is an extremely important issue facing this country, and I think that far too many people are not taking it seriously.According to the CDC, "childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the past 30 years" and "in 2010 more than one third of children and teens were considered overweight or obese." (Source) It is a complex issue and there is no blanket solution, but the bottom line is that something must be done, dialogue must begin. Again, it is not about aesthetics, it is about health and the consequences are very real.

If you are interested in sociological topics, true-stories, narratives,or have an interest in health, fitness, or nutrition, then I think you would enjoy this book, and would benefit from reading it. If any of ya'll are interested in reading it let me know; I would be more than happy to lend you the book. 

Fiercely, 

Amanda

Getting Started and a Fitness Reference

Hey ya'll!

I am working on a book review of the book The Heavy by Dara Lynn Weiss, but I wanted to post something before I am able to complete that. I wanted to share a little bit more about my journey and also provide you with a resource that I particularly love.

After my doctor cleared me medically to work out, following Archer’s birth in August ( OMG 9 MONTHS AGO! HOW?) I started going to the Y, where we were members, a few times a week. I focused mostly on cardio, always doing it first, and then followed up with a few reps of weights, usually focusing on arms. I was still nursing (and continued to do so until Archer was about 7 months old) so I couldn’t really go full throttle. While researching nursing-safe protein powders, I stumbled onto this website called Tone It Up ,and started doing the workouts that they posted.  

Tone It Up, frequently cited as TIU,  is run by two amazing women, Karena and Katrina who live in Southern California. One of the great things about TIU is that the workouts can pretty much all be done at home or adapted to do at home, requiring little more than dumbbells. Another amazing thing is the supportive community surrounding this site, which you can find in all aspects of social media.  The girls also frequently have really cool giveaways and competitions to win amazing prizes.  All of this is free! They do offer a meal plan that is available for purchase, as well as protein powder. The TIU protein is what my initial purchase was, because it is organic, gluten free, totally natural, and does not contain any fillers. Unfortunately, it also tastes like chalk, or what I would imagine chalk tastes like. I also found that it was extremely difficult to mix with a blender bottle. I even tried to use it in a smoothie that I blended together with my Magic Bullet, and this too was disgusting.  I did find that it makes great protein pancakes though, but at $50 a bag I think I can find cheaper gluten-free flour. Also, once my brother was over and knocked the bag off of the fridge and when the protein spilled on the floor it kind of looked like that scene in Meet the Parents when Greg knocks the urn onto the floor, so…yeah. 

The website has tons of recipes for cooking/baking ideas for the protein, and I would expect them to taste as good as the pancakes do. Protein issues aside, I think these two have done an amazing thing and I pretty much adore them. If you are looking for some inspiration or just want to mix up your routine, I definitely think they are worth checking out. Let me know what you think!

Be fierce!

 xx,

Amanda   

New Blog!

Hey Ya'll! Welcome to my new blog! 

So, what is the point of this blog?  This will be a lifestyle blog with a primary focus on health and fitness. I am hoping to continue to learn and grow, and share my journey with those who read it. If I can reach even one person and inspire, motivate, or empower them, then I will consider this a success, but first, a little background information...

I remember the first time I felt ashamed of my body. I was in fifth grade, in public school for the first time. I had transferred late in the year, a casualty of the messy divorce between my parents, and the class was preparing for a beach trip, this was Hawaii, afterall. I remember feeling fat, embarrassed, panicked, dreading wearing the neon, color-blocked one-piece my mother had picked out for me. I look at pictures of myself from then and I see that I was not fat, not even chubby really, just soft and pre-pubescent. 

I remember in seventh grade skipping meals and measuring my waist after a boy had teased me, calling out “1-800-99 Jenny!”, a popular ditty from a Jenny Craig ad in 1999. Again, I look at pictures and see that I was not fat, not chubby, but thin. The stories go on and on, year after year my weight would swing one way and then another. Junior year of high school I went abroad to Spain and was sent home on Medical Leave, my life totally consumed by a full fledged eating disorder. Recovery. Then back to patterns of disordered eating after my mom died. 

What does it feel like? It feels like panic, like drowning, like you are desperately reaching for the side of the pool but it is always just out of reach. There is never perfection, always another trouble spot to tone or work out, or another person thinner than you to compare yourself to. There is guilt, shame, and lots of pretending: Oh, I’m  a vegetarian. Oh, dairy upsets my stomach. ( I don't eat gluten now but this is truly a medical issue.) Oh, I ate a big meal earlier. There is avoiding photographs and touch at heavier times, ashamed of what the camera will reflect back and the softness hands will discover. 

All of that changed when I met my husband. When we met I was at an in-between phase, average, normal. When I checked in to the hospital to deliver my first child, I weighed an astounding 248 pounds. At 5’3 I weighed more than my 6’3 husband. And yet he loved me just as much. It seemed that it was possible to be loved and fat afterall. This realization, coupled with the birth of my son, lit a fire in me, a desire for health and homeostasis. 

I lost 108 pounds over two years. I fought hard for every pound, every inch. I was proud of the body I had earned, determined that I would be healthy and strong so that I could be around for my family. Reflecting back though, I can honestly say that I still had an unhealthy relationship with food and body image. I was so hard on myself.

My body changed again with the pregnancy of my son Archer. He clocked in at nearly eleven pounds when he was born, and I was left with wider hips, a soft stomach, and another c-section incision. But this time things were different. 

While I was pregnant with Archer, a woman I deeply respect (KT Carroll) shared her journey to the stage as a bikini competitor. She also liked the page of IFBB Bikini Pro Shelsea Sanchez on Facebook. These women were so positive, supportive of others, and energetic. I was hooked. I was intrigued. I had to know more. 

Since Archer’s birth in August, I have committed to health and fitness. What this has boiled down to, for me, is self-love.  For me, self love means nourishment and self-care, realistic expectations, not judging the bodies of myself and/or others, and trusting the process. Now, that’s not to say that some days I don’t get frustrated, or that some days I don’t eat three chocolate chip cookies in a row, because I definitely have days like that. But now, instead of thinking that I have to “punish” myself with exercise and extreme calorie restricting, I just get back on track and keep going forward. Some days it is easier than others, but I have been amazed at how welcoming and supportive the fitness community at large is, and I have also had the unwavering support of my husband, who has committed to this lifestyle as well.  In fact, I have recently enrolled in the NASM Certified Personal Trainer course, and plan to make this way of life my way of making a living. 

I would love for you to join me on this adventure.

Be fierce,ya'll!

xx, 

Amanda