oh Monday....

Monday. Probably on of the most hated words in the U.S. dictionary. Personally, I am not a fan. It always seems as though I'm getting "back on track" in terms of my health and fitness every.single.monday. ughhhh
But I've decided to embrace and love Mondays. Come on ya'll there's more than 50 Mondays a year. If we go all our lives hating this beginning to our week, then that's over 50 days each year that we choose not to be happy. Now, Mondays will still probably never be my favorite day of the week, but I've found a few ways to make it better.
1. Wake up a bit earlier. Mondays used to always be my days when I slept to the last possible second before jetting off to class, due to the fact that I was still tired from the weekend. But I find that if I wake up with enough time to fix a nice mug of coffee and a fantastic breakfast, my day is so much better!
2. Morning workout. I find that I tend to lack motivation come Monday afternoon so getting in a nice run (especially if I can go outside) starts my week off great.
3. Group exercise classes. Sometimes, particularly with my class schedule this semester, I would have to wake up at 6:00 to workout before class. Yeah, not happening. But when I wait till the afternoon, I want to skip my workout. Solution? I usually just do group exercise classes at the gym for a few hours or so instead. They keep me motivated and accountable. Plus it's a nice change of pace.
4. Have a (small) dessert. Mondays are hard enough as it is and depriving myself from a little something sweet only makes it that much worse. So, indulge a little! Have a half of a brownie/cookie/anything or a small piece of chocolate. Just a little something to remind you that this week is going to be okay!

I started my Monday with an 8:30 class. Boooooo. But then my roommate and I went to breakfast where I enjoyed half a grapefruit, sauteed vegetables, yogurt, and strawberries and granola. And of course a cup (or two) of coffee.

And I plan on going to a body pump class this afternoon before diving into studying, whooohoooo!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday!

Super Spring Saturday!

Alliteration at it's finest, my friends.

I let myself sleep in this morning after not sleeping enough the night before and also not feeling so great. And by "sleep in" I mean I woke up around 8:30 and laid in bed till 9...my body likes to just get up and at it in the morning I guess.
Of course the first thing I needed was a big mug of delicious coffee. I drank my coffee and worked on a little homework (aka Facebook....) for a few hours, ate breakfast, and then walked to the gym for an intense workout.

I started off with an interval run from one of my favorite fitness websites, toneitup.com. They have so many awesome workouts and recipes on there so go check it out! The routine got me to about 2.5 miles and I did a few sprint/jog intervals to complete 3 miles. I was sweating...and it had only been about 30 minutes!

I then headed up to the track, grabbed a medicine ball, and completed these circuit routines.
Routine #1:
2 laps around the track
3 minutes of various abs
2 laps around the track
2 minutes of medicine ball squats
2 laps around the track
30 lunges + 20 pulse lunges with medicine ball, each leg
20 glute lifts + 20 fire hydrants + 40 glute pulses, each leg
2 laps around the track

Routine #2:
lat pull down machine - 4x15, various weight
one sprinted lap around the track
4x20 chest presses
one sprinted lap around the track
1 minute of ab leg lifts
one lap walking around the track

Routine #3:
2x30 Russian twists
10 curtsy squats + 10 pulses, each leg
20 plie squats + 20 pulses
30 second forearm plank
30 second extended plank
30 second ab stretch
20 crunches
20 reverse crunches
10 tricep pushups, 10 tricpe dips, 10 tricep pushups
leg press machine, 4x15, various weight

WHOOOOO. I was dead after that. The whole workout took about an hour and a half, which I know is a little long, but I didn't have too much else to do and needed a hardcore workout to reset myself. Using my polar watch heart rate monitor, I burned 740 calories...WOWZA. Don't know about ya'll but workouts like that make me feel like I can do anything.
I went back to my dorm, showered, and snacked on some carrots/broccoli/tomatoes/crackers with hummus and made some green tea to drink with it.

After I finished getting dressed, I made my way over to my fav place ever.... Trader Joe's! It honestly concerns me how happy I get when I go there. I was in need of a few groceries and something to have for lunch as well.
As I was browsing the aisles, I stumbled across a container of dark chocolate edamame, umm WHAT?!
Of course I had to buy them and there were so worth it. Perfectly salty, crunchy, and sweet.
I returned to my dorm and enjoyed a late lunch of half a can of whole grain pasta + veggie + chicken soup and an amazing Trader Joe's salad. It had lettuce, arugala, grilled chicken, and a quinoa & couscous blend.
Now off to study my life away for the 5 tests I have next week....#nextweekisdeadweek #lolnotforme

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Saturday!

time to make some changes

So, as I made it pretty clear in my last post that this past week was not good, fitness and health wise.
So I decided that I would start "detoxing" this week and get back on track!

By detox, I mean drink lots of water and eat strictly healthy for the week.
Today was my re-entry into it because I know if I dive head-in then I'd get overwhelmed and binge eat or give up altogether.
So tomorrow, I start getting 100% on track, much needed!

happy Tuesday everyone!

SPRAAAANG BREAK (#fakepassout)

due to everything piling up before leaving for a beach trip for spring break, my blog has been very neglected and also been lacking anything nutrition or fitness related - so this is (hopefully) my LAST post for a while that has nothing to do with being healthy. and i mean nothing. Spring Break was probably one of the unhealthiest weeks of my life (as is most beach trips I take) and I really have no regrets!

honestly, the old me would not have enjoyed Spring Break because I would've been too occupied with trying to eat only foods that would make me skinny and making sure I worked out at least an hour every day. and I probably would not have drank at all. BORING! I'm so happy to say that I'm at a point in my life where I can let go, drink and party, eat junk food, and skip a few workouts every now and then and be content. No, my body isn't how I'd like it yet but I'll get there eventually. The whole Spring Break was worth gaining a couple pounds because in the end, I gained much more in memories and friendships. Yeah, that's pretty cheesy but it literally was one of the best weeks of my life.

I was blessed with the opportunity to spend 5 days in a beach house of 22 of my sorority sisters. Though this sounds overwhelming, it was just the opposite! I was so relaxed and at peace and never stopped laughing. these girls are amazing, hilarious, beautiful, and confident women who I feel honored to be in the presence of.

chiO~till~I~dieO

I returned from the beach on a Wednesday and took Thursday and Friday to recuperate and rest, which was very much needed. 

Saturday, I celebrated Easter with my dad's family (all 45 of them) and ate so much food I thought I'd pop....whoops. 

We had a "cochon de lait", which is a Cajun tradition of hanging a whole pig and cooking it rotisserie-style. It is amazing and perfectly complimented the homemade rice dressing, smothered green beans, roasted garlic bread, and candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows. My mouth is watering just remembering this feast!

And to top it all off, dessert consisted of coconut cake, chocolate cake, and banana pudding (hey, there's fruit in there!)

It was a beautiful spring day filled with food, family, and lots of fun!

soon to come: detoxing from my week of junk food and getting back on the workout grind.... only 2 more full weeks of school + few days of finals + summaahhhh!

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TGIFF! (thank God it's finally Friday)

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

Friday has got to be one the better things in life, and after a week filled with 2 tests and a few papers, this class-free Friday seemed like more of a blessing than usual. 

I also decided to make a trip home after class yesterday to pack some stuff for spring break next weekend - ONE MORE WEEK!

So, needless to say, since I was home, my Friday morning consisted of drinking fresh-pressed coffee and snuggling with my two dogs while watching the Today show - sweet bliss. 

Speaking of fresh-pressed coffee, my parents got me a French hand coffee press for Christmas last year and it is probably one of the best gifts I've ever received. It makes about 2 cups of richly brewed, fresh coffee. I highly recommend one to all coffee fanatics, like myself - they're not expensive at all!

After being up for a little while, it was time for some breakfast. One of my favorite things about being home and not in my dorm is being able to cook. I literally cook every meal when I'm home and even experiment with new recipes. 

This morning, I  decided to make one of my favorite breakfasts - a chocolate protein pancake. YA'LL. It was literally the BEST. PANCAKE. EVER. It came out absolutely perfect!

The recipe I used:

* 1 egg white

* 1/2 scoop of protein powder (I used chocolate but anything works!)

* 1/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

* 1 Teaspoon of cocoa powder

* 1 Tablespoon of coconut or almond flour

* 1/2 Tablespoon of ground chia or flax seeds

* 1 Tablespoon of wheat flour or dry, wheat pancake mix

* pinch of baking powder

Mix completely and then cook like a normal pancake! Or put it in a waffle maker!

Nutrition:

- Calories: 200

- Fat: 5 g

- Carbs: 16 g

- Fiber: 6 g

- Protein: 22 g

I also topped the pancake with warm strawberries, which made it even better!

I ate half of a grapefruit on the side and my coffee, of course :]