Overcoming Coworkers Negativity Towards Healthy Eating Habits

The fact that I’m blogging while laying on my foam roller should be a good indication of how my legs are feeling after yesterday and today’s workout. Today I had my legs and arm workout, and originally I was worried how I’d do with my squats and step-ups since my legs were so tight, but once I warmed up on the elliptical for 10 minutes and got into my workout, the pain actually was unnoticeable.

I was able to get through the entire workout, minus 15 of my 35 minutes of cardio and 1 set of step-ups. I figure since tomorrow is an all cardio day that I can make it up then, along with those awful step-ups.

After my workout I enjoyed a homemade deluxe turkey sandwich.

The sandwich looks pretty monstrous but don’t be fooled, the lettuce was larger than life and bursting with volume.

Roughly 20 minutes after eating my lunch, my coworker Nichole, who is also an amazing baker, invited everyone to our department to celebrate Travis’ birthday with a peanut butter pie. It looked so delicious, but since I wasn’t hungry and treated myself last night with cheesecake, a piece of pie was the last thing I wanted to put into my body.

Every single time there is cake or cupcakes in the office I am given such a hard time because I don’t want to eat it because I’m either not hungry or I don’t want to wreak havoc on my healthy choices. Once again I was harassed today for not eating a slice of pie. While I know my coworkers, especially Nichole aren’t doing it to be mean, part of me believes that there is an underlying issue or unhappiness in their life where they try to make me feel bad for putting good food in my body.

I believe that we do need to treat ourselves every now and then so that we don’t feel deprived and go psycho when we come face-to-face with a box of Oreos. For me, treating myself includes several pieces of chocolate or an extra scoop of peanut butter, but ONLY when I crave it or feel like it’s been earned.

Some times the badgering gets so bad that I just grab a slice or cupcake to shut everyone up. Today I stood my ground and was involved in the celebration, just not eating the cake, and you know what, I was proud and happy that I stood my ground because I felt pretty amazing after and didn’t feel weighed down.

Have you guys ever been guilted in to eating or doing something you truly didn’t want to do or eat? If so, how do you overcome that negative attitude that’s directed at you?

It’s difficult to have coworkers who harp on me for eating healthy foods, but the only thing I can do is know that eating that way makes me feel good about myself, and at the end of the day that’s the only thing that matters.

Once I was able to escape the pie lovers, I buzzed into the gym quickly because it’s Member Appreciation Day and Muscle Milk was there giving out free drinks.

Sometimes it pays to be indecisive because the 2 girls working for Muscle Milk let me take 2 drinks for free since I couldn’t decide.

I went with Muscle Milk Light in Vanilla Latte, which has caffeine and thought this would make for a delicious breakfast, and I also chose Strawberries and Cream, thinking this would be a great afternoon protein pick me up. The girls recommended the Light chocolate, but because I’ve had it already and have chocolate protein shakes all the time, I wanted to try something new. 🙂

Since getting home from work I’ve literally done nothing except eat yogurt and peanut butter. Oh and foam roll these sore legs. I’m anxiously awaiting the finale of Dancing with the Stars, but I really am not sure how I’ll make it up until 11 pm. Why do they make these things so late?!

All I want to do is see Kelly & Val win the Mirror Ball trophy and declare their love for one another!

Until then, it’s Lifetime Christmas movie time. 🙂

 

Achy Breaky Body

This morning I woke up with THE achiest body known to man-kind. Apparently my TRX workout from yesterday decided to make an appearance during the middle of the night, because when I woke up around 4 am, I could barely move my legs or arms.

A sore body, coupled with waking up every hour on the hour to blow my nose, left me with a burning headache and a tired body when I woke around quarter of 9.

I headed downstairs, grabbed half of a grapefruit, and enjoyed a Chobani powerbowl while I watched last weeks’ episode of Parks & Rec.

Into my powerbowl went a bowl of Chobani strawberry, old-fashioned oats, PB2, chia seeds and finely diced walnuts. The peanut butter added a nice twist to the bowl, and seriously reminded me of pb & j. This hit the spot and fueled me through my 4 mile run at Gold’s Gym this morning.

I didn’t have an appetite at all after my run but I knew I needed to properly fuel my body so I went for dippy eggs!

Dippy eggs with a clementine. Sweet sweet breakfast!

After showering up, I cleaned the house and then had a movie date with my momma to see the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Part 2. I’m not going to give anything away, but the surprise ending was AMAZING. Yes, shouty capitals are tremendously necessary. During the credits 2 groups of ladies almost got into a brawl right next to me. There was a, “did you just kick me, bitch?” thrown, followed by a, “the lady who smells of beer.” Ohhhh gotta love older woman causing drama. These ladies were honestly in their 30’s and also late 60’s.

I was just thankful that there wasn’t a cat fight on top of me!

The rest of my evening consisted of grocery shopping (joy!) and doing today’s P90X strength workout, Chest/Shoulder/Tri, followed by core work while I watched The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, another one of my top Christmas movies.

Core Work

• 2 sets of 50 regular crunches
• 50 side crunches, each side
• 50 heel touchers
• 50 scissors
• 2 sets of 13 dead-lifts
• 2 sets of 13 standing dumbbell side crunches

The movie started at 6 on Hallmark and I couldn’t NOT watch it, so what better way to triple-task while I blog, work my core and watch Christmas movies.

Now it’s time to watch Christmas movies the rest of the night and brainstorm meals for tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday! 🙂

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• Personal Training & Christmas Shopping! (runningonpb.com)

Personal Training & Christmas Shopping!

Friday

Last night I had the privilege of watching my 3 favorite kiddos. We had fun playing games, cooking dinner and my favorite part of the night, convincing them to watch one of my favorite childhood movies, Harriet the Spy.

I’m not sure if the kids enjoyed the movie or not, I was too afraid to ask them because I knew if they said they didn’t enjoy it, I would have freaked out and kept asking why they hated it. Realistically I just didn’t want to hear them say it sucked. I heard no complaints though! 😉

Saturday

This morning I woke up at 9 and immediately went for a quick 2.5 mile run. I showered as quickly as possible and scoffed down a new breakfast. That’s right, no overnight oats! It was nice to be able to enjoy something different but still just as delicious for breakfast.

I literally made out with the grapefruits after I ate all of the slices just to get EVERY LAST DROP of juice. The juice is so sweet and so addicting.

Do you guys enjoying squeezing the remains into a jar to drink?

After finishing up my breakfast I headed over to my gym since I had a meeting with Jeremy, who is Gold’s Gym‘s  nutritionist. I should also mention that he should have made People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive edition. What a babe!

We discussed my goals and my fear of needing to consume more calories than I already do in order to lose weight. He drew diagrams and pictures in order to explain to me how my calorie intake and daily calories burned work together, and how I gain weight when the proper porportions are out of whack.

(We got distracted when we both realized we were peanut butter addicts and overnight oats lovers. Seriously my soulmate, especially since I’m the only other person he knows who loves overnight oats.)

We then discussed calorie intake, Jeremy measured my body fat, punched in several numbers into equations and came up with a game plan for me to reach a realistic and healthy weight. Jeremy wants me to lose 15 pounds of body fat and gain 10 pounds of lean mass.

Jeremy then brought me into the gym and put me through about 8 exercises involving TRX cables and kettleballs. I went through a series of squats, pull-ups, and was also showed where my heart rate had to be at in order to be at the best fat burning rate.

After my workout with Jeremy, I was dripping in sweat and when he asked how it was, I told him he made me sweat more than I do when I run.

What was supposed to be 45 minutes to an hour meeting turned into 2 hours. After my workout we discussed personal training, and he signed me up for 12 visits, which I will use once a week for 3 months. Unfortunately Jeremy can’t take on clients, so he chose a former college soccer athlete to train me. Heather, who will be my personal trainer, is in impecabble shape. Her body is rockin’ and she seems extremely nice but also very kickass. Jeremy told me that Heather incorporates a lot of kettleballs and TRX cable work, and has the same certifications as him. Basically it’s the female Jeremy.

I’ve used SparkPeople to track every bite of food that has entered my mouth today. Jeremy encouraged me to keep a list of all of my meals and to bring it to my first training session on Monday, and they will create meal plans that include the foods I enjoy and will also recommend other foods and meals. This is what I’m looking forward to the most, as I will have a certified nutritionist and trainer recommend my specific targeted calorie intake and help me choose the correct foods and meals to reach my limit.

This is seriously what I need. Someone to tell me what to eat and when. Finally!

After leaving the gym, I finished up with a mile and a half run since I was already sweating. I whipped up a quick Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana protein shake, packed up a powerbowl snack for the afternoon, and headed to the Merrimack Premium Outlets to get a head start on Christmas shopping.

While I can’t discuss what I bought, I can say that I bought something for my Mom, Dad and Ryan. I also enjoyed browsing around Reebok, Puma, Nike and Under Armour for ideas to add to my Christmas list. 😉

I DID treat myself at Yankee Candle with the cutest Christmas votive holder and a Christmas scented candle. That combo only set me back $5.50. Not bad! 😉

When you guys shop, what types of items do you lean towards?

I ALWAYS get extremely excited for new workout clothes. I’d much rather receive new workout clothes than regular clothes. I’m so weird!

After shopping, I enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner with both of my parents.

I enjoyed half a cup of green beans, 2.5 ounces of grilled chicken and a salad, which I put the chicken into.

I topped my salad with half of an avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and a cheesy Italian dressing. This dinner HIT the spot and satisfied the hunger I worked up from all of that Christmas shopping.

Now I’m cuddled up on the couch finishing a Lifetime Christmas movie and just about to pop in The Family Stone. Ugh I just LOVE Dermot Mulroney. GIMME!

It’s Always the Girl Storms That Are a Problem

Hurricane Sandy has made her presence known and I’m hoping she leaves soon! She’s causing a little bit of drama and I want her out.

The head of Marketing released our department around 3:30, and when we made it across the street, the parking lot was deserted. Clearly everyone left earlier in the day. Gold’s Gym also closed early, making the parking lot appear even more of a ghost town.

Jen (in purple) and I were smart in taking an early lunch and going to Gold’s around 12:30 before they closed. I got in a cardio session that included a 1.5 mile run and 20 minutes on the elliptical. Never enough time!

I was able to catch up on Hurricane Sandy while ellipticizing. This bitch is a nasty one!

After leaving work, I literally threw myself in my car to get cover, and upon starting my engine, I was welcomed with the red gas light. Cool. Almost out of gas in the middle of a hurricane. No big deal at all.

I made it home and was lucky enough to be able to turn onto my street before the road was closed. It’s hard to tell, but under the 3rd dot on the lines on the left hand side of the road, there’s a tree down. Trees are always falling left and right on that street, it’s scary.

I was told prior to coming home not to park in the garage in case we lose power in the middle of the night, so instead, I parked in front of the door. Well, apparently the wind didn’t want to play basketball and knocked our hoop down.

With 3 feet to spare, my sweet Jax was spared from injury. Talk about a heart attack car!

It’s been a good night and so far we still have power. Knock on wood. I completed Chest & Back of P90X, prepared spaghetti squash for the week and am now about to cozy up with Gone Girl and my favorite Yankee Candle, Meadow Showers.

Hope everyone on the East Coast is staying safe. If you’re out of Sandy’s path, be thankful! The winds are picking up pretty heavily. If you see a post tomorrow you’ll know Sandy didn’t blow me away. 🙂

 

Peanut Buttery Pumpkin Muffin Goodness

The lovely way my body works is that it doesn’t need a lot of food throughout the day, or it needs a shit ton. Yesterday, I made it until 6 with only my overnight oats and veggie burger scramble. Today, I ate all of my meals and also snacked on my coworkers. Jen’s fingers tasted the best, especially when dipped in salsa.

Ok, I’m kidding. Well, not about the never-ending appetite. By the time work was over, I was light-headed from hunger, even though I literally just ate everything in sight. I sucked it up and hit the gym with Jen, where she went to do Zumba and I hit the cardio. It felt amazing to run, and I think the fact that I let me legs rest all day factored in on that. I went for 2.2 miles, bringing my total mileage of the day to 5.5. I could have kept going but I wanted to get a little different cardio in, in the form of the elliptical.

I dred the elliptical, especially when I get stuck on one that’s not in front of a TV. I can only pass time on that without poking my eyeballs out if I’m watching a show I some-what enjoy. Tonight, I was screwed, and only stayed on it for 15 minutes. Plus, I saw a guy I’m supposed to go on a date with tomorrow night while I was on it and I really didn’t want him to notice me, especially since I took a nice chunk out of my forehead right above my eyebrow.

I hit the ladies’ gym after for 3 sets of 13 deadlifts before deeming myself too sweaty and stanky and leaving. Did I mention how ravenous I was all day? My stomach was speaking to me and saying awful things. When I got home there was nothing to eat, so I warmed up a 2-ingredient pumpkin muffin, squeezed a single serving of Barney’s Almond Butter on top, and devoured that sucker. WOW. WOOOOOOOOW! Go do that right now.

After the gym and a quick protein snack, I went to the library to return a book I couldn’t get into and to pick up the one that was just delivered, The Secret Holocaust Diaries.”

The Holocaust, as awful as it was, it’s one of my favorite events to read about and continually learn about. Whenever there is a history show on TV about it,  you can bet I’ll have it on my DVR. I took a Holocaust class in high school and it was hands down the best class I’ve ever taken. I’m excited to read this and am just about to go snuggle in bed and begin my new book!

Orange Marmalade Obsession

What’s up with me continually getting the “case of the Mondays” on Tuesdays? From here on out I’m going to plan on having fantastic Mondays and craptastic Tuesdays.

Monica, Rachel & Phoebe must be having a craptastic Tuesday too 😉

If today wasn’t the perfect day to start fresh and finally put in the hard effort to see results and get toned, then I simply don’t know what to tell you. This whole “don’t have a midnight snack” thingamabob is working, and for the first time in months I slept through the entire night! The only bad thing is that the 20 spoonfuls of peanut butter I inhaled last night latched on to my ass this morning. I felt sluggish all day, even after getting in my morning workout. WOOF!

Morning Workout

• 3.5 mile run
• 1 minute plank
• 2 sets of 15 stair push-ups
• 2 sets of 20 rock climbers… yeahhhhh this chunk-a-monk has been referring to the wrong exercise throughout my entire blog 😦
• 2 sets of 20 skiing dumbbell squats
• 2 sets of 13 standing side dumbbell crunches, each side
• Stretching

Every morning I drive past Farm & Flower, the biggest farmer’s market that is open year round in Manchester, and after sitting at the light for what seemed like hours, I had the biggest urge to put my car in park and run and grab an orange and a banana.

So close yet sooooooo far away! 😦

Since I was having an off day, I decided to skip my lunch and tap into my sick time and left at 3 instead of 5 so that I could tackle my errands that I slacked on NEEDED to get done.

I picked up my brother a Nike Dri-Fit shirt for the last part of his birthday, grabbed a few different types of boxes/envelopes to mail his gift in, and then nervously went to Supercuts for a trim. I’ve heard horror stories about Supercuts and I was ready to rock the Miley Cyrus mohawk if they left bald spots. I wanted a cheap trim to hold me off until I visit my normal hairdresser. You see, I really didn’t want to pay $40 for a trim when I could get one for $15.99. Makes sense to me! I could buy a cute new workout top for the difference I saved!

After my haircut, I made a pit stop at my house, fueled up on a handful of grapes, raspberries and polished off the last few bites of tuna before heading to Gold’s for the R.I.P.P.E.D class. I had about 20 minutes to kill so I ran 1.5 miles with HIIT training, and boy did it feel amazing! I typically run at 5.8-6 miles, depending on how my body feels, but I was running at 6.4 and sprinting at 6.8 and I could have gone faster and longer had I had more time.

The R.I.P.P.E.D class left me feeling energized and pumped. I took a boot camp class with Kris, the instructor about a month ago and I instantly connected with her energy level and teaching style. She’s a lovable yet fierce Latina who always has a smile on her face.

Since Sunday’s brunch with Mike, I’ve had one meal on my mind, and since the only missing ingredient was picked up today, I knew EXACTLY what was going down when I got home.

Scrambled eggs and ORANGE MARMALADE TOAST. Can you tell what part I was most excited for? I might have to rename my blog, “Running on Orange Marmalade.”

Breakfast for Dinner

• 2 eggs & 1 egg white scrambled with pepper and a little water
• 2 pieces of whole wheat Arnold’s toast with orange marmalade (OMG NOM NOM NOM)
• Ketchup to dip my eggies in
• Side of pure happiness

I forgot how amazing breakfast meals are, and I honestly wish I could incorporate more healthy and lasting meals for my breakfast, but it’s difficult when you’re in the office from 8-5 and don’t have a stove at work! My idea is to make eggs the morning of, and bring the bread and marmalade in a to-go container.

Time to go wrap Ryan’s gift and get it ready for shipment tomorrow before posting several of my current pictures that will be used as my “before” pictures for when I get the results that will allow me to have my very own success story! 🙂

20 Months Later, We Finally Tried R.I.P.P.E.D!

I apologize for not posting earlier but I had issues with my Internet, and while they still aren’t fixed, I was too antsy about waiting until tonight to blog that I sucked it up and am writing this via my phone. Anyone that knows me knows how much I detest writing lengthy emails on my phone, so this is true love to all my readers.

This morning I got off to a late start, which resulted in a 3.4 mile run. It killed me not to top it off at 3.5, but I wanted to get in core work and stretching and still make it to work on time.

This morning I made a fruity protein shake, which is surprising it came out fruity since I used 1 scoop each of Cookies & Cream and Dutch Chocolate. My strawberries and blueberries must have been overpowering!

Instead of my routine lunchtime workout, Jen and I decided to try the R.I.P.P.E.D (holy shit that was so frustrating to type out on a phone!) class that we’ve been talking about trying for the past month. Takes us awhile to get the ball rolling huh?!

The class wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined, but I got an amazing burn during the strength exercises and loved the different cardio routines that were thrown in. Eve, our instructor had us working out to release 3, instead of release 10 which I believe is the current one.

I will touch upon the class in my post tonight when I can get to a computer. I love you all, but not enough to break my fingers writing this post.

Oh, and another reason to check in later tonight…. I’m going to a psychic!! I have a 30 minute session, that I booked back in June. Lauren Rainbow is so good that I could get an appointment for almost 3 months. Lindsay and her Aunt went in the Spring and everything she said happened. I’m so excited and nervous at the same time. Hopefully I don’t throw up on her!

A Slow Friday

Today has DRAGGED. I cannot stop watching the clock, but that’s because I have 2 special guests that will be at my house when I get home from work. Ryan and Chelsey (my brother and his gf of 6 years)! I’m so excited to see them, even though I just saw them at Viss & Kate’s wedding on the 10th. They’ll be here only for the night as they are attending Chelsey’s childhood best friend’s wedding in Burlington, VT.

Vacationing in Napa Valley

Since today has dragged, again, I had no appetite but wanted to eat something. Again, I had a small handful of raisins and a few sunflower seeds before having my protein packed yogurt.

This just might be my new favorite yogurt concoction. Before, I have been insanely obsessed with Chobani, but after trying to grow accustomed to plain greek yogurt, I finally found the winning combo.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Yogurt ❤

Fage 2% plain greek yogurt, with a spoonful of my chocolate peanut butter protein powder, and a little trail mix. This is SO SO good.

Since my pants were feeling a little snug today, I knew I wanted a cardio focused workout this afternoon. Before heading out the door, I created my game plan.

Afternoon Workout

• 1.5 mile run
• 10 minutes stair climber, 36 flights
• 10 minutes nordic trainer
• 2 sets of 13 lat pull-down, 55 lbs.
• Stretching
• 2 sets of 25 medicine ball sit-ups

Feeling gooooood! Post gym I wasn’t extremely hungry when I got back to work, but decided to nosh on a banana that was soon to go bad per my standards, a Starkist 100 calorie tuna packet and about 1/3 of a sweet potato.

90 more minutes than it’s the weekend and I’m a free girl! Hope you all have a great Friday evening! 🙂

Popping Raisins Like They’re Candy

Today has been an extremely slow day. I mean it dragggggged. On days that are slow, I always have the tendency to want to snack, even when I’m not hungry. It’s that comfort feeling that a lot of us fall victim to which can thwart our efforts to get toned, lose weight or just be healthy. I wasn’t hungry all morning since my protein shake kept me satisfied, but I did want to snack on something, so I grabbed a few almonds and raisins from the container of trail mix I bought last night. I don’t understand why people always pick the raisins out. GIVE THEM TO ME! I love love love raisins. I can pop them like candy. 🙂

1:00 pm rolled around and I still wasn’t hungry, but I knew I’d need fuel for my lunch time workout. I went for my strawberry banana Chobani yogurt and threw a little bit of the trail mix on top for a nice crunch and chew (hellllo raisins :))

Give Me ALL of the Raisins and No One Gets Hurt

I had another great workout at the gym, but sadly gym crush wasn’t there. It was actually pretty dead at the gym, which I won’t complain about. I still managed to enjoy a few pieces of eye candy lifting weights. Hey fellas, thanks for the entertainment and making my workout fly by.

Afternoon Workout

• 1.5 mile run
• 2 sets of 25 medicine ball sit-ups
• 20 medicine ball side-to-side sit-ups
• 2 sets of 13 lumberjack squats and lumberjack chops
• 10 minutes nordic trainer
• Stretching

Again, my appetite hasn’t been present today, so after the gym I snacked on a Fuji apple and tried my protein shot I received from my Bulu Box, but after one sip, I wanted to spit it out. It was thick and syrupy and it just didn’t taste healthy. I wanted to drink it so I could get protein since I wasn’t hungry for a meal, but I just couldn’t hang with the big boys today.

Ignore My Sexy Post-Gym Gag Face. Seriously, Ignore It

Since I’m possibly taking a spinning class tonight at 6, I just polished off my turkey, ham and spinach sandwich as a very late lunch/early dinner to get me through the gym.

Lunch/Dinner… Lunner?.. Dinch?.. I like Dinch the best

I’m tired right now so we’ll see if I decide to take spinning. I haven’t been since last Tuesday, and couldn’t the other day since I was in Boston, but I really don’t want to kill time between 5 and 6. I park in the gym parking lot for work so the late class really screws me over.

There’s a cute guy who I met online that goes there and wanted me to go last night, but he works out at 8 pm. That’s too late for me! It’s practically grandma’s bedtime. There’s a chance we’ll meet tonight. I’ll be curious how tonight pans out!

Oh Hello Gym Crush

Around noon I started feeling better and FINALLY had a miniscule appetite, so instead of finishing my shake that nearly killed me this morning, I opted for a bowl of oatmeal with a dash of diced walnuts on top. While I finally got my energy back, I walked over to the gym about an hour and a half later for my workout, which was desperately needed.

Pre-Gym.. What a Mess

I ran for 2 miles and had started to head to the women’s gym to do abs and hit the Nordic trainer, when I saw my crush walk in and instantly switched up my plan. I know gym crush from my previous gym and the other day he told me he saw me at Gold’s so I’ve been on the lookout since then. I finished my route to the women’s gym where I did a few core moves QUICKLY (oops, bad I know), and booked it to the main gym where I positioned myself on a stair master. Of course I wanted to be high up so everyone gym crush could see me!

Oh and did it work! He came over, waved and smiled as he walked by me and planted himself on the elliptical right behind me. Talk about pressure not to eat shit on the stair master! I came close, but managed to save myself mid digger. Good thing I have great calves and a nice butt. I’m pretty sure I put on a good show for him. After my 10 minutes on the elliptical of not trying to eat shit, I cleaned up and chatted gym crush up for a minute. We caught up on what we were up to workwise and then I told him I had to head back to work. I had the nervous shakes and didn’t want to mess up so I’m glad I had the “I have to go back to work” excuse. That’s the only time I’ll like using that one!

Okay, trying to come back to earth.

Afternoon Workout

• 2 mile run
• 2 sets of 25 medicine ball sit-ups
• 10 minutes stair master, 43 floors
• Drooling over gym crush.. haha kidding kidding. Actually, not kidding

 

My appetite is back full force and I quickly devoured this amazing ham, turkey and spinach flat.

I LOVE the doughy ends the most

Yum in the tum.