Currently: Food, Workouts, and Life

Hello hello, lovely people! This week is simultaneously going by super slowly and super fast. Does anyone else feel that way?

I thought I’d take the time to update you guys on how I’ve been doing and feeling after implementing the changes I talked about last week.

I’ve been sticking to most of them, and so far I’ve been loving it.

The one thing I definitely need to work on is sleep. I know I know, I really should prioritize that but it’s so hard when there’s so much to get done!

Sometimes when I have a particularly late night and come home and realize that I need to go to bed like NOW to get an acceptable amount of sleep, I kind of just lose all motivation to get ready for bed, and instead just lounge on my couch scrolling through my phone and before I know it, an hour has passed and now it’s REALLY late, and I’m even more tired and don’t want to do anything.

Anyone else experience this catch-22?

I think it’s because if I’m out and about all day, by the time I get home, I want to unwind. I don’t want to just end my day and go straight to bed. I want to journal, drink my tea, watch an episode of Friends…

But I’m also exhausted from the long day, so I can’t motivate myself to go and take a shower until I lie on the couch and do nothing for a while.

It’s actually such a problem, and if anyone has any tips on beating this bad cycle to get more sleep, please do share!

I’m planning on paying a bit more attention to my before-sleep habits to see if there are things I can change to promote better sleep. Maybe in the next update, I’ll share all kinds of tips for getting 8 hours of sleep a night. Who knows who knows? 😉

Nutrition

If you recall, I wanted to make a few changes on the food front. Mainly, I wanted to step away from all processed foods for a while, and try to lower my intake of sugar and grains.

If you recall, this was spurred on by my recent fiend-like consumption of Jessica’s Gluten Free Granola, which will forever be my favorite.

While I’m all about treating myself, especially with a healthier treat, it was actually becoming a problem. Like I may or may not have eaten several servings of it for dinner like once or five times. Oops.

So I’ve taken a step back from the crack granola, as well as excessive carbs and most grains, and this is probably what is making the biggest change for me right now, in terms of how I’m feeling.

I should mention that I do not think carbs or grains are bad or should be limited in all people’s diets. I just find that when I am in need of a little reset, cutting back on those always does the trick for me.

Though I ate out twice for dinner this week, I was able to choose options similar enough to what I would have made at home.

Tuesday night I went to Cornelia Street Café with a friend and got a mixed greens salad with a nice big scoop of warm goat cheese and delicious grilled chicken. So good.

 

This was actually a different salad, but I forgot to photograph that one. Fail.

I feel like making a salad this simple taste this good is really an art, and I appreciate that they know their sh*t.

Wednesday I had a Whole Foods dinner, which was basically a mish mash of a bunch of vegetables and chicken and tofu and random legumey things. Delish as always.

What seems to be working for me is choosing one of my meals, lunch or dinner, to be more carb heavy but ideally still grain-free. (Grains still do happen, though, and that’s perfectly fine). So for instance, last week, my lunch salads were pretty low on carbs, as they were just chicken, avocado, and different veggies. So then I made sure that my dinners were higher in carbs by eating sweet potato or squash or black bean pasta.

 

 

This week, I’ve been doing homemade veggie burgers (stay tuned for the recipe roundup on Sunday!) on mixed greens with a big scoop of hummus. The oat flour and beans in the veggie burgers, as well as the hummus, gives me a nice portion of carbs, so I’m keeping my dinners on the lighter side but still plenty calorically dense. Things like cauliflower rice stir frys, loaded salads, or omelets with avocado and veggies.

Note: I’m going to keep saying this, you guys. When I say eating less grains or less carbs or whatever, this is not about restriction. This is about fuelling your body properly in a way that works for you. Which is most likely different than what works for me.

For me personally, when I focus on fiber, proteins, and healthy fats in my meals, I notice a huge difference. Firstly, I am less bloated and just feel lighter and more energetic.

Secondly, I’m much more satisfied by each meal. When my meals are carb-heavy, and my snacks all involve sugar, I’m constantly snacky. And I’m a girl who listens to her body, so when I’m hungry, I eat.

But it never even occurred to me that this could have been deceptive hunger. As in, my body wasn’t actually hungry, but my blood sugar just kept spiking all over the place, which was throwing my hormones and cravings all out of whack.

And out of whack is not a place I like to be.

I don’t think I’ll ever be a three meal a day girl though, so I am still snacking. What’s been working for me are small servings of fruit paired with a source of protein like dry roasted edamame or some nut butter, and I’ve also been loving on Quest bars.

Not the most healthy option, but they get the job done in a pinch.

For breakfasts I’ve been having my customary yogurt bowls, brownie pudding oats, overnight oats in an almost empty almond butter jar, and smoothie bowls.

So pretty much same as always. Breakfast is sacred, and I am unwilling to modify anything about it. #priorities

Plus, my breakfasts have always been totally unprocessed, low in sugar, and if they contain grains, it’s oats. That’s the way I’ve just always liked to eat, so it’s what I’ll keep doing.

FITNESS

I am super excited about this one! Fitness has been different this week. I mentioned that I want to change something about my workouts and move away from all the same videos I always do.

I still adore Fitness Blender and Blogilates, but I was beginning to get weary of the rigidity of always having a fixed workout schedule, if that makes sense.

I’m kind of all-or-nothing with my personality, so for me if I’m working out at home, I’m going to do a full 45 minute session and not just a quick 10 minute video. If I’m doing legs, I’m going all out with weights and plyo. Arms, a weight session along with an arm-focused Pilates.

This was beginning to get draining. Sometimes I didn’t really have time for a full 45 minute session, and sometimes I just wanted something more low-key.

I’m also the kind of person who likes having my workout mapped out for me, so that I’m not just flailing around doing random motions for random amounts of time.

For this reason, I decided to try out different workout classes in the city to supplement my own workout routine.

If you live in the city, especially NYC, you’ll know that workout classes here cost an arm and a leg. SO what’s a broke college gal to do?

I basically found this gem of a website, and through that I discovered several studios that do free classes every single day.

Monday I attended a class at Athleta, which was super fun, though it ended up being basically a Blogilates class, which was kind of funny.

Wednesday I went to Pop Physique, which was AWESOME! Again if it wasn’t for the broke college thing, I would have definitely gotten myself a package. It’s marketed as kind of a more upbeat and pop version of barre, but since I’d never tried barre before this, the entire thing was a totally new experience for me.

I vibed so hard with it. How dance-like it is (I danced for 10 years before college), how easy on your joints it is, while still being a hella INTENSE workout, how FUN it is. The instructor was awesome, super motivating but also fun to listen to. Guys, I was dripping sweat. It was real.

Today I’m actually going to a Pure Barre class, which will probably be a bit slower but probably no less difficult.

I’m really excited about all these dance-like workouts. I feel like my bod is kind of tired of all the high intensity weight training stuff, and while I’m still probably going to stick those in once in a while, I don’t want them to be the focus point of my weekly workouts.

I’m probably going to keep finding free Barre workouts, or the equivalent, and trying to do those about 2-3 times a week and then figure out how to supplement those on the other days that I choose to work out.

It’s a work in progress, guys, but that’s what fitness and health should be. It’s not one plan that you follow forever. It evolves constantly with you, with your goals, and with what your body is craving at the moment.

So quiet down your mind that’s telling you to do this, this, and this workout every week and truly listen to what your body wants.

And don’t be scared to oblige.

Really, awesome things happen when we hand the reins over to our bodies, and I promise it’s worlds more liberating than being a slave to an unchanging routine.

 

Hope you have a wonderful Friday, all!

 

Xoxo,

Nicole

 

What’s your current exercise routine? Any thoughts on carbs and grains?