ready, set, go!

phew! what a hectic week and a half! we moved over the weekend so all last week was spent packing, and this week has been unpacking and organizing the new farmhouse! buh bye old school apartment, hello home :)

ahh a yard! and the hammock mike got for us! LOVING the new place! but i kind of forgot how much work it is to move. and how much it messes with my schedule! it led to a lot of unplanned, and repetitive meals. i think i made this salad for lunch three days in a row. but it was SO good!

romaine. chicken breast. strawberries. sunflower seeds. raspberry vinaigarette. yum!

i think one of the hardest things for me trying to live a healthier lifestyle is my weekend habits. i just seem to lose all self control and pig out. like last weekend for instance, while moving saturday and sunday, it was go, go, go. my meals pretty much consisted of pizza hut pizza and taco dip. and brownies. yea. thanks mom! im not gonna lie, it was delicious, but let me tell you how sluggish and bloated i felt come monday. ew! i had monday off of work to do some more unpacking and organizing and ate much better then. got a good work out in that evening, and tuesday morning i was all refreshed and ready to get back on track with my eating!

i had an extremely boring lunch after a thirty minute walk, but couldnt believe the energy i had afterwards. amazing what some greens and protein and a nice walk outside of the office can do!

i seem to get so lost when my routine is broken. i am a planner. when things dont go as planned, i get flustered! but something i am terrible at planning is my meals. this is a goal of mine in the next month of this paleo challenge. i am starting to get bored with my meals because they are getting  pretty repetitive.

eggs for breakfast.

fruit for a snack.

salad for lunch.

spinach. chicken. quac.

meat and veggies for dinner.

that's beer butt chicken my friends! thanks dad!

i need to take the time and do more research on the paleo lifestyle and start making some recipes. the first thirty days i basically followed, with some exceptions, a list of paleo foods, and combined them to make a meal. i didnt actually cook or bake with them. and in order to make this happen i am going to try and switch up my workout routine a bit also. starting at about 5:15am! eek!! but i am hoping that by waking up earlier a couple days a week to workout will leave me with my evenings open-so that i can come home after work, prepare a meal, ENJOY it, and still have time to relax before hitting my pillow. right now, its wake up, work, workout, eat, dishes, bed.

best of luck to the rest of the crossfitters on the sixty day paleo challenge! please share any good recipes you have tried--i think i have the motivation i need to get through the next thirty and then some! of course i will have slip ups because sorry to say, but i am not going to NOT eat another piece of bread in my life, or cake, or chocolate milk, or taco dip. its just not going to happen. but i will say that i am learning what i need to eat more of and what i need to cut back on and am definately noticing changes in the way i am feeling.

hope everyone has a great fourth of july weekend. i am headed down to lake geneva with some friends for a fun filled weekend on the water! gonna be a hot one :) see ya next week. hopefully i will start to have some more exciting posts if i get this cooking thing down! oh, and we can have a grill at our new place now. YES!

finding motivation.

believe it or not, i have had a few friends asking me where i am finding my motivation. good question. me? advice? what? i honestly find that its a struggle for me to stay motivated. i can finally say i have gotten to a turning point in my life where i want health and fitness to be a part of my life. now, im not saying that this will happen to everyone, but its like i hit a wall and kind of got over the "partying" stage. dont get me wrong, i still like to have a good time, but just dont see the need to go out and drink and get wild five nights out of the week. maybe i'm just getting old. my hangovers last an entire day. i eat everything i shouldnt. and just plain old feel like crap. for some reason i just dont find that fun anymore? weird, i know. call me lame.

but whatever. i have found something that makes me happy. and thats how i stay motivated. i have struggled with confidence issues my entire life. and to this day, i still do. its a work in progress, but i have finally found a passion for exercise, living a health(ier) lifestyle and i actually look forward to a good workout! it clears my mind. i can let out any anger or frustrations. and it gets my a$$ moving after an eight hour day in front of a computer. (yuck!)  it just makes me feel good! :)

some days i am more moitivated that others. i find that my eating and exercise habits go hand in hand. some people can exercise and eat pizza every day, some can eat healthy every day and not exercise a day in their life, but for me its all or nothing. the more thought i put into my meals to make them healthy and balanced, the more motivated i am to hit the gym. or vise versa. once i get in a good workout, i am much more likely to make myself a healthy meal or snack. why would you want to ruin a good thing? i have a hard time busting my butt at the gym and then diving into a mcdonalds big mac and large order of fries. its a guilty feeling. like all that hard work just went down the drain.

you have to have the right mindset. either you're ready to make a change in your life or not.

the best advice i have gotten, and will give right back, is DONT GIVE UP!

set a goal and stick to it. its up to you, and only you, to achieve it!

check out a fellow CrossFitter, Sara's blog for some motivation as well!

here are some of my eats from yesterday and today:

hard boiled eggs. make 'em black. white. and black again :)

fresh fruit.

green stuff. orange stuff. more green stuff. sunflower seeds.

chicken breast. onions. mushrooms. guac.

i have an obsession with guac right now. i even made it myself. first time ever!

its awesome.

im starting to miss cheese. and pasta. and oatmeal. and yogurt. and chocolate milk. and ice cream. and, did i mention cheese? tear.

but. so far i am staying strong. i had my slip ups last weekend. and am pretty sure there are more to come this weekend. c'mon...its summer! i am trying really hard to nail the paleo lifestyle during the week but am finding that in MY real life, committing 100% to this lifestyle is nearly impossible. sure, it could be done and i am understanding why certain foods are cut out on this "diet" but in reality, i would have to eat a modified paleo diet. not that thats a bad thing either! i really am feeling good eating these paleo foods and am learning that it really isnt necessary to eat a half loaf of bread with your hamburger. 

live and learn. 

playing catch up!

sorry for the delay in posting-i am so unorganized after a busy weekend! and busy weekends=not so healthy food choices. yep, i had a few slip-ups over the weekend but got right back on track come monday morning!

saturday was mike's birthday, and i bought him concerts tickets to kenny chesney and zac brown band up at lambeau field. we went with our friends lauryn and reed and had a great time!

me, mike and lauryn in front of lambeau field!

here was our fruit for the day: vodka infused strawberry.

this counts, right!?

i may or may not have had a few cocktails throughout the day.

needless to say-it definately was a day of indulgences. gotta have those every once in awhile!

on to monday-ugh! how i hate mondays! it was my coworkers birthday today so my supervisor bought us lunch from panera!

i got the strawberry poppyseed chicken salad and it was fantastic!

 i didnt have much for groceries after a weekend away so i just rounded up what i could for paleo meals for the day then hit up the grocery store after my CrossFit workout last night. the workout last nite was thrusters-after a one mile run.

i learned quickly that this workout needed some focus. after my first attempt to lift 80 pounds over my head, i dropped it.

feeling discouraged. and extremely intimidated, i was having a hard time walking back up to that iron.

gave it a rest. shook it off. and walked back up there, and successfully lifted that weight over my head, maxing out at 95 pounds.

i have never done anything like this in my life, so for my first time, i'll take that! the support of the coaches and all of the crossfitter's is simply amazing! they are so encouraging and positive and make you believe you really can do anything if you put your mind to it!

today i woke up with enough time to make breakfast. looks pretty similar to other days!

unsweetened chocolate almond milk. a plum. and egg whites with onion, pepper, and spinach.

i used to eat a lot of oatmeal with peanut butter and banana for breakfast, but since grains are off limits, oatmeal is a no go! im trying to come up with new breakfast ideas...perhaps a steak would do?

morning snack was celery sticks with almond butter. yummm.

we get an hour for lunch, so when the weather is nice, i like to get outside and go for a half hour walk. its nice to clear my mind and get out of my CUBE! ahhh!

i was starving by the time i got back today:

i had a salad with peppers, onions, cucumbers, carrots, deli turkey, sunflower seeds and a vinagarette dressing. this sucker held me over all afternoon but my tummy was grumbling by the time i got home from work.

go ahead. laugh!

i did.

i got home, made guacamole, and started defrosting hamburger to make hamburger patties. i defrosted the burger too long and basically started cooking it in the microwave! so much for those patties :)

i just threw the burger in a pan with peppers, onion, mushrooms and some garlic.

still tasted pretty darn good! i had some romaine lettuce hiding under there too!

alright-i've got more catching up to do around the apartment and laundry to get done yet.

i best get to it and rested up for my long work day tomorrow!

bacon!? i'm in!

after running some errands last night i had a hard time deciding what i wanted for dinner. but i was starving, so it needed to be something quick! bacon and veggies it was. protein. fat. veggies. fruit. CHECK!

that's a paleo, GO!

it was good! but i was hungry about an hour later....hmmm...so what did i do? i went to bed :) had to get my in my 8 hours of sleep as part of this 60 challenge also. then i woke up early this morning to catch the 6am CrossFit class.

handstands and cartwheels today...hah! sometimes i think they incorporate these things just for a good laugh. just like the day they told me i had to do a somersault.....

needless to say, breakfast was eaten on the fly, and in shifts this morning since i had about 30 minutes to get myself ready before having to leave for work.

unsweetened chocolate almond milk. leftover bacon. a hard boiled egg. and a peach.

quite the combination, i know. but hey, it did the trick!

look what i was tempted by as i walked through the kitchen at work today.

too many birthdays in this place this week!! ah!

dirt cups! i love these things!

but you all should know, i did NOT eat one. dang it.

that's will power my friends :)

i had to run a few more errands during my lunch today for a special someone's birthday tomorrow. which left me having to inhale my lunch when i got back.

cleaning up leftovers from the week!

steak. bacon. asparagus. mushrooms. onions. carrots. cauliflower. yep!

that doesnt look very appetizing does it? whatever. i thought it tasted good.

we're going to to dinner tonight at a restaurant on lake wisconsin for my boyfriend and his twin sister's birthdays! first time eating out on the paleo challenge-let's see how i do :)

can i pleaseeeee have a cocktail!?

or maybe i should hold off until tomorrow? i bought mike tickets to the kenny chesney & zac brown band concert at lambeau field tomorrow. i am not a huge country music fan, but i love any music thats live so i am super excited! and we are going with some really good friends, so there is no doubt in my mind that were going to have a blast!

hope everyone has a great weekend!

missing chocolate milk.

so, if you're wondering-i DID resist the temptation to dig into those treats at work yesterday. go me! yesterdays lunch was brought in by the great dane, a local bar & grill in the madison area. a coworker of mine was collecting donations for united cerebral palsy and if you donated you got lunch! i chose the webster street chicken salad and it was delicious!

seriously my photos dont do this salad justice. i am currently using my phone to snap my food photos-ill work my way up to the fancy stuff later! but this salad consisted of mixed greens, roasted chicken, granny smith apples, sun-dried cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and a side of honey citrus dressing.

i picked off the chesse (tear) and tomatoes (ick!) and dipped my fork in the dressing rather than poring it all over the salad.

paleo experts: can you tell me if this dressing is ok? since it was from a restaurant i dont know exactly what was in it. im thinking i may need to take a point away for that one!

after work i hit up my crossfit gym for an intense workout, rushed home to shower, and then off to job #2 for the day. bartending. now, its times like this when i really start missing my chocolate milk and protein shakes! that was how i recovered after a workout....it was quick and tasty! but thats a no-go for paleo.

i have a feeling we're going to be good friends through this challenge:

beef jerky!

any suggestions on quick, paleo, go-to recovery foods would be great!

once i got to the bar, it was packed. typically there are horseshoe leagues on wednesday nights, but with this wild weather horseshoes was cancelled and everyone thought it would be a good idea to come to the bar for food and drinks! i was slammed. losing energy fast after that intense workout and hardly any food. i had intended on throwing something on the grill as soon as i got there because, well, i can! not the case last night.

eventually i caught up, for about 5 minutes, threw a nice big burger on the grill with some mushrooms for myself. it only took me about an hour to eat it because i of course, got busy again. so, sorry to say, no pictures of that meal!

breakfast this morning was more scrambled egg whites with peppers, onions and mushrooms. some raspberries and unsweetened chocolate almond milk. doesnt quite compare to chocolate milk...but i guess it will do.

have a great day and i will be back hopefully this evening with more!

i have a fun weekend ahead of me that i should start preparing for!

treats already? come on!

wednesday mornings i have to be to work at 7am. i'm not complaining, because i love being done by 4. but lets be honest, i need my sleep! so i typically dont roll out of bed until the last minute. this leaves me time to shower and get myself ready. grab a lunch to take to work with me, and out the door i go. i havent taught myself to actually get out of bed at 5:30am when my alarm goes off, so that leaves no extra time for breakfast on mornings like these. i usually throw something together once i get to work. sorry, no scrambled eggs today!

a banana with almond butter. i'm gonna try this with a frozen banana next time!

sorry about my fantasic photography.

check out my sister's blog if you're looking for good photos!

this didn't hold me over as well as the eggs did yesterday, so i went to grab a morning snack and look what i found, TALKING to me in the kitchen here at work:

treats!? come on!!

I sadly walked away, and grabbed this:

pink grapefruit! it did the trick!

i just hope i have the willpower to stay away from that strawberry dessert :)

paleo challenge.

as i stated in my last post, i've been wanting to create my own blog for some time now. i am obsessed with reading others blogs, but always asked myself what the heck i would write about that would be of possible interest to others? finally, i just decided i am going to do this for me. this is my journal. read it if you want.

i recently completed a build-up program at CrossFit Farmland. starting yesterday, the coaches started a 60 day "live, eat, and train better" partner challenge. without going into too much detail, the challenge consits of eating a strict paleo diet and attending at least 3 workouts at your local crossfit gym. body measurements are being taken at the beginning and at the end of the challenge, along with your performance on a particular "wod." let me tell ya, it was a hot one yesterday! oofta!

this is what finally motivated me to create this blog. i am going to share with you what i eat daily on the paleo diet, which in short, is a diet based on meat, vegetables, fruits, and some nuts and seeds. high protein, low carb, high (good) fat. i am also taking before and after photos of myself to share my progress!

yesterday the challenge began. i ate paleo all day, but ill be honest and say i hadnt had a chance to make it to the grocery store, so my meals were rather boring! ill save those photos for a rainy day.

however, here are my eats for today:

hello veggies!

cooked up some green and red bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and spinach.

scrambled in some egg whites. ta da!

raspberries for my morning snack.

and i totally forgot to snap a photo of my lunch. beginner here! but it consisted of a spinach salad, with some leftover rotisserie chicken that i threw on top. sunflower seeds and balsamic vinagrette. carrots and sugar snap peas on the side!

my afternoon snack was an apple with almond butter. yum-o!

and last but not least, dinner! i grilled up some venison steaks with asparagus, mushrooms, and onion. delish!

off to watch the rest of the brewer game, then to bed i go!

here goes nothing!

well, here i am. i finally created my own blog! i have had this thought in the back of my mind for months now as i absolutely love reading others blogs. i have been inspired by many other bloggers out there and felt like it was time to join in on the fun! body image has always been a lifelong struggle for me and i am finally finding that i have a passion for exercise and healthly living. this is going to serve as a tool to hold myself accountable and stay on track by blogging about my daily eats and exercise routines and any other tidbits of information i find helpful!

enjoy!