Tag: how to lose weight

How (Not) To Do the Thing

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I learned something about myself recently. I’ve noticed that I spend the majority of my time searching for someone or something to tell me what to do. I listen to podcasts about writing and productivity and relationships and fitness. I read self-help books about everything else. I watch vloggers on YouTube and compare my schedule and work ethic to theirs even though I know nothing about their lives except what they’ve curated for me.

In other words, I seem to think that I’m clueless.

But here’s the thing: I already know the things that all of these sources are going to tell me. Now, I may not be clueless but I’m also not narcissistic; I know that these are all valuable resources with so much more knowledge than I have, but my point is I know more than enough, to the extent that now I’m trying to make an entire blog website around regurgitating it all back to the very place that it came from initially.

That sounds negative.

I don’t mean that I shouldn’t be sharing advice or that I shouldn’t continue to learn new things. On the contrary, I want to blog and listen to my informational podcasts. But this weekend, as I was scouring YouTube for random fitness routines because I was caught up on my subscribers list, I realized that it’s not knowledge that I’m seeking anymore, it’s distraction.

I’m looking for an excuse.

This whole post sounds like I’m gearing up for a pitch about “How-To Stop Procrastinating” or “How-To Do the Damn Thing” but it’s not, I’m sorry to disappoint. (I might title this post exactly that, so I’m doubly sorry if I click-baited you.) I have no idea why I’m looking for excuses or how to stop. Am I afraid of failure? Am I afraid of success? Am I just lazy? Or bored? Do I have such low self-confidence that I think I truly don’t know anything? Do I have a legitimate psychological issue?

I don’t know for sure, but I’m starting to suspect the fear option. I suspect that I’m trying to distract myself with the idea that I need more knowledge because of my paralyzing fear that if I start without all the information I won’t be good enough or smart enough to succeed.

Oof.

I don’t know how to remedy this fear, but I’m going to try. And lucky for no one, along with being an avid advice-taker I also happen to be a serial advice-giver. It’s a real problem. So I don’t know exactly where to start with this, but I’m going to document it on the blog. It isn’t like me to struggle with jumping in feet first. I mean, this whole site was started on a whim and essentially serves as a record of all the projects that I start on my many whims. But for some reason I’m stuck. This won’t be well-put-together, “How-To” style, advice blogs, it’s going to be my messy recounting of what I’m doing to become a better adult. I’m going to attempt to write through my struggles. Yikes.

So that was my existential crisis for the week; how are you? Is anyone else as lost as I am?

Oh! And I’m also a hypochondriac, apparently. I started watching Grey’s Anatomy for the first time ever this weekend and now I have a plethora of tumors, at least two brain abnormalities that went undiagnosed when I was a child, a heart condition that I have no reason to suspect I have, and my husband (who I’ve been with since we were both 17) has a secret, beautiful, successful, doctor wife who will definitely show up soon. It’s been great. I’m great.

My other distraction.
When a 6lb dog wants to sleep in your arms, you let the 6lb dog sleep in your arms.

A Full Day of Healthy Eating

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It’s 2020! To celebrate the new decade, I’ve been doing what any amateur adult would do and I’ve been eating all the bad food. And by bad food I obviously mean the most delicious food that is the worst for your body. I’m talking pizza. I’m talking taquitos. I’m talking all the chicken nuggets. Add all the soda pop and alcohol I’ve been consuming to replace all the water I haven’t been consuming and it’s safe to say I need to replenish some nutrients here.

So…

…this is my full day of eating when I’m being extra good to myself while also eating in a deficit.

(Actually it’s a combination of what I ate Monday and what I ate yesterday, but don’t tell the food police. I eat basically the same thing every day so it’s fine.)

 

Breakfast

My easiest meal. Mostly because it’s the same thing every day of my life.

 

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Jimmy Dean Delights: Turkey Sausage, Egg White, & Cheese English Muffin with Coffee (elixir of life) and my First Liter of Water

They’re easy, they’re healthy, and they’re delicious. I eat the same thing for breakfast every day. Listen, breakfast was always hard for me because as much as I try to make myself be a morning person, I am not a morning person. So I found something that works for me and that’s what I’ve stuck to for the past couple years. And of course I add Tapatios hot sauce. Only Tapatios.

 

Lunch

Lunch is the hardest meal of the day, in my opinion. I work at my husband’s business and if you know anything about owning a business you understand me when I say sometimes we don’t get to take lunch. If the phones are ringing off the hook or we’re short-staffed in the warehouse, we all jump in and help keep everything running smoothly at the expense of our “break-time.”

So here are my typical lunch options for busy days vs normal days:

 

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Busy Days (Monday): Subway Steak & Cheese Salad with their Chipotle Southwest Sauce and Sweet Onion Sauce for dressing

According to my metabolic type and personal research, my body functions best on higher protein, lower carb foods. (I am not one of those people who can have a cup of white rice for every meal and lose weight. I will bloat until I look like Violet Beauregarde.) So when I can, I opt for no bread. Our subway also has a drive-thru so on busy days I swing by there and eat at my desk. This is what I had on Monday.

 

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Normal Days (Thursday): Bird’s Eye Veggie Made Rotini Alfredo with Broccoli

This is still a very easy meal… but hey, I do have to stick this one in the microwave. Honestly, I don’t have time to cook at lunch and I even if I did, I don’t want to. This pasta is great and I usually throw in some leftover veggies from the night before; today was broccoli.

 

Dinner

As a rule of thumb for my dinners I try to make them:

  • Little to no carbs
  • A good source of protein
  • A full serving of vegetables
  • As little processed ingredients as possible

I already showed you my turkey scramble recipe, but I also love to make fish:

 

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Marinated Salmon with Steamed Broccoli

That sounds very fancy, but it is not at all. I get individually frozen salmon filets and a 30 minute marinade. When I get home from work, I thaw my salmon in cold water, then stick it in the fridge with my marinade for half an hour, then saute it in a skillet. Literally that easy. Oh, and I get steam-in-the-bag frozen broccoli so that gets popped in the microwave while I cook the salmon. Ta-da! A well balanced dinner.

And that’s basically it. A couple things to note:

  1. I try not to snack on a daily basis because I can’t control myself around a good snack. I mean honestly, who can though?
  2. I don’t count calories or macros anymore simply because I know the nutrient breakdown of the foods I eat regularly because I have counted calories and macros for so long. It’s redundant and doesn’t give me anything by writing it down anymore. I highly recommend it, though, if you don’t already have a good idea of what you’re consuming calorie and nutrient wise.
  3. I drink 3 liters of water every day throughout my day, and a cup of decaf green tea before bed

 

Voila! A full day of eating. I’m slowly but surely putting together a blog about how I figured out how to eat healthy and how I make my “meal plans” so if all of this sounds like something you could get on board with but don’t know where to start, keep an eye out for that blog. It took me about six years to figure out how to eat healthy on my own so if you’re struggling, I feel you. The best advice I have is that the slower you start off the easier it will be to maintain changes. Give it time.

But okay, that all sounds very bloggy. I’m going to go now.

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Did anyone else celebrate going into the ’20s by partying like Gatsby? First I took a drink, then my drink took a drink, then the drink took me. 

A Very Merry Leg Day

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Good morning, interwebs.

This isn’t a cutesy blog like a couple days ago, this blog will mostly be my own brainstorming; you’ve been warned.

It’s currently 6:43am, I’m barely conscious, but today I’m going to do a lower body day at the gym. I’ll be taking off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (mostly because I have so many places to be… I love the gym on holidays because no one is there), so I’m going to make this workout a killer.

The title says “leg day” but that was for brevity and word cadence, this will actually be my complete lower body workout for the day.

Stretch

I’ve heard controversial things about the benefits of static stretching lately, but my hamstrings are extremely tight and a nice toe-touch feels good, sue me.

5 minute Aerobic Warm-Up

I walk the track at my gym for 5 minutes usually for my warm-up because it’s easy and machines make my legs feel like they’re walking themselves afterwards and I really don’t need that confusion first thing in the morning.

3 x 10 Banded Side Leg Raise / Banded Leg Kick-Backs Superset

These exercises really warm up the glutes and stretch out the hammies. I typically start with a smaller set of both of these un-banded to correct any issues with my form and address any pains, then I go straight into this superset. I do 10 leg raises and immediately to 10 kick-backs on the same leg before switching sides.

3 x 10 Weighted Back Extensions

I prefer to use the free-weight machine not the one with the plates, but sometimes a girl is lazy. Today I will put this at the beginning of my workout to make sure I have the strength and will-power to use the free-weight one. With this exercise I always have to remind myself not to over-extend at the top; you should be dipping forward as far as you can but then pulling up only until your spine is straight and your torso and shoulders are aligned with your hips.

3 x 10 Kettlebell RDLs / Standing Side Crunches

RDLs or Romanian Deadlifts are probably my favorite lower body exercise at the moment. “But Emily, why not do regular deadlifts, they’re a more composite exercise, you preached about composite exercises…” True, however I have a very weak lower back and very strong quads. Deadlifts are a quad dominant movement that incorporates the entire body; whereas RDLs are more localized in targeting the glutes and lower back while still being a similar move. Ya girl wants to have a strong lower back without her thick thighs getting too much thicker, alright.

And as if that wasn’t a workout enough, while I’m resting my back and booty I immediately do 10 standing side crunches on each side with the same kettlebell. These are the adult version of “I’m a little teapot.”

3 x 10 Leg Press Machine

Again with the controversy, I have no idea if stance matter when it comes to the leg press machine, but I’ve always heard that it does. I use a wide, high, pointed-toe stance. From what I’ve read and felt, this stance helps target the hamstrings, glutes, and inner thighs, and let’s the quads chill a little bit.

3 x 10 Hip Abductor Machine

The awkward one.

3 x 10 Hip Adductor Machine

The one that makes you feel like you’re at the gynecologist.

5 minute Cool-Down

Depending on how I feel when I get done I either stretch more or walk the track or hop on a bike with no resistance. Today (and usually, tbh) I walked the track.

Ta-Da! That was my lower body day. Time wise, I aim to be at the gym from 7-8am every day, so for me this took about an hour from the time I put my jacket in a locker to the time I walk out the door. It may take longer if these are new moves to you or if you take it a little easier than I do when I’m jacked up on pre-workout.

I’m sure there are better workouts out there, but I know there are much worse (and I’ve probably done them). If you try this routine or take inspiration from it to create your own, I’d love to know about it! The contact form goes straight to my email so drop a line!

Alrighty, that’s all. And if I get too occupied or lazy to blog for the next couple days:

Merry Christmas, internet!

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Yes, my earrings do jingle. Thank you for asking.

Day 28/90: How to Re-Set

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Hey, hi, hello, internet.

Being an adult is weird… One moment you’re achieving your goals, blogging every day, hitting the gym, then the next moment your grandmother dies…

My grandmother passed away last Friday so I’ve been on a life-hiatus for the last week. When we lived in Wisconsin, we would drive to Kentucky to visit my Mamaw and Papaw every Thanksgiving. I fully credit Mamaw with my love of nature. Me being the true born city girl that I am, I never really did anything outside… until Thanksgiving. Mamaw would take me four-wheeling into the mountains; we walked waded in the creek for miles collecting rocks (I still collect rocks and minerals btw); we would play in the barn with the newest animals she had or walking across the plank between the two lofts; and she would sing while I played my violin on the porch (very badly as a 5th grader, but she didn’t care). She was 84 but truly acted like she was 14, in the best way. I’ll never look at Kentucky mountain or valley again without seeing her there.

Pardon the crass transition

Without surprise, I’ve fallen off the wagon as far as fitness and health goes for the past week, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about how I re-set and kick my butt back into gear.

 

How to Re-Set Your Goals

 

#1   Re-evaluate your goals

People “mess up” on their goals for a multitude of different reasons, most of them not nearly as dramatic as death, but regardless of the reason you need to first determine if it is a you-problem or a goal-problem.

A lot of the time it’s a you-problem (that sounds harsh but stay with me) where you’ve either lost motivation, or been a little too lax on yourself, or maybe it’s the holiday’s and you let yourself indulge, or maybe heavy, adult things smacked you in the face like they did me. All of those scenarios can be summed up by saying:

life happens. And that’s okay!

However, sometimes it’s a goal-problem. Maybe you got injured because your workouts were too intense, or maybe you’re exhausted from too few calories, or maybe you’re truly burnt out from being TOO strict on yourself. You have to be honest with yourself and adjust if your goals are too much to handle all at once.

#2   Let yourself change your mind!

If you need to adjust your goals, allow yourself to do so. This was going to be lumped in with the “re-evaluate” part, but I thought it was worth it’s own bullet point!

People (me, I’m people) get so stuck in their ways sometimes and don’t allow themselves to change their mind. Don’t set yourself up for failure! Adjust your goals so that they are still challenging but attainable.

#3   Be very strict for the first few days, but don’t overcompensate.

Again with the setting yourself up for failure; don’t overcompensate! Do what you would normally do to chug along towards your goals.

Think about it this way, if you push yourself too hard during your re-set you’re more likely to fail again, and then you’ll have to re-set again, and if you overcompensate again then you’ll be more likely to fail again, and then you’ll have to re-set again… You see what I mean? So start fresh. Move on. You can’t change anything you’ve already done, so do better this time around.

#4   Stay positive.

This is probably the most important part of a re-set for any goals. Your mindset can make all the difference when it comes to starting over.

Keep in mind:

  • You’ll bounce back quicker than before
  • You’ve already done this part successfully once, you can do it again
  • Take it day by day.
  • Actually, take it decision by decision.
    • If someone offers you a Christmas cookie and you only get those cookies at Christmas and you really want that cookie… Eat the cookie. But then the very next decision make sure it’s a good decision. That will set you back on track.

 

No matter what your goals may be or why you need a goal re-set right now, I hope this blog hits the right notes for you.

Does anyone have any other tips and tricks? Motivation? I’ll take it all: Questions, suggestions, criticism, concerns, send them my way please and thank you. I will be starting my re-set tomorrow. The day before Christmas Eve. Because I am a masochistic idiot.

Wish me luck.

Okkkkaaayyyyy bye!

Mamaw

Winter Goals

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Good morning, happy winter!

I’ve never been good at new year’s resolutions, mainly because by July of whatever year I’ve made the goals I’ve already forgotten what they were. So I decided a while back that I was going to do seasonal goals. So here we go!

Winter Goals

Lose 15lbs and 7% body fat

No explanation required, we’re still doing a fitness thing here even if I have fallen behind. 175lbs & 29% are the numbers I’m aiming for.

 

Write the first draft of my novel

It’s been in the works for a very very long time and I think I have everything I need to write a complete draft, everything except the will power that is.

 

Stop biting my nails

Surely 3 months is long enough to kick that habit, right?

 

Read at least three books

I don’t do this enough.

 

Do at least two charcoal drawings

I have an art degree, but you’d never know by the amount of art I make.

 

I think seasonal goals will be great not only for mindset but also for practicality! These are all things that I want to do, of course, but I tailored these goals to be winter specific. I also want to walk our husky more often and kayak and hike, but if I decide on those goals in January when it’s 16 degrees and we’re buried in Kentucky ice, how will I get excited about those goals again in May?

I need to do things immediately or I lose interest.

The fact that I won’t be writing on my novel as soon as I close this blog will undoubtedly make me think twice about that goal when I do sit down to write. But no matter, they’re written in the blog and so they shall be.

Alrighty, that’s all!

If you have any goals that you don’t want to put off until the ball drops, tell me about them! Let’s make seasonal goals a thing. Can we do that? Is that legal?

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I really do.