Diet shmiet...eat clean!

As Steve and I sat on the couch together last night, flipping through the channels on tv he said to me, "If we're going to watch a movie or something lets go watch tv in bed." This instantly made me start cracking up because it was only 8pm. "We are so old!" I said back. We laughed about our oldness/lameness for a minute and then he said to me, "We're not old, we just have a different lifestyle than most people." It made me feel kinda proud inside when he said that, because he's totally right. So what if we climb in bed at 8pm, it's because we're dedicated to getting up at 5am and hitting it hard in the gym before we head to work. So yay for us!

I've been cooking up some new stuff lately and I've got a couple recipes I must share. I'm currently obsessed with turkey meatloaf muffins. They are super easy to make and they are super delish! Steve and I have been eating them pretty much every day for lunch and until he complains I plan to keep on makin 'em. I got the recipe from Little b who has some really good ideas/recipes on her blog, here's the link to the meatloaf recipe...turkey meatloaf muffins.

Turkey meat loaf muffins, sweet potatoes, and chicken/broccoli/brown rice stir fry

Another thing I attempted this week were paleo pumpkin muffins, the consitancy wasn't totally the same as a white flour muffin but they were pretty damn tasty and I plan on making more this weekend and trying some new flavors also. The recipe calls for almond butter, but I left it out since I didn't have any on hand. Paleo pumpkin muffins. If you're curious about paleo or doing a paleo challenge http://www.fastpaleo.com/ is a great website with great recipes.

Eating clean doesn't have to be boring or mean eating celery sticks all day long. If you're willing to try new things and experiment in the kitchen you'll be surprised. There are so many great blogs and websites out there with amazing recipes that are not only tasty but easy.

Since it's a new year I hear a lot of people talk about the "diets" they're on. Most of them are absolutley ridiculous. Pretty much just a bunch of starving oneself and cutting out everything good our bodies need. I'll never understand why people would rather put themselves through a crash diet that will wreck their body instead of nourishing it by eating clean. It all seems so clear to me now, and I'm determined to spread what "clean eating" means to others.

Because life is too short...

You know how sometimes things just sort of click for you? Like out of no where you just have this sense of peace in knowing that you just accepted something you probably should have a long time ago. Example: this whole passion for fitness started with a click. One day it just sort of hit me, "I'm ready, let's do this for real!" My mind, and my heart were on the same page and I had this fire lit inside of me that sent me on an amazing journey and brought me to some great realizations.
Well, I've had another "Aha" moment, well sort of an "Aha" week, coming to really see the next piece of myself that needs some work. It started last week when I saw this:

While this lovely little quote is about love, it really can be applied just to life in general. What really got me thinking was, "There are too many mediocre things in life." When you think about it, it's true. And love should definitely not be mediocre, but neither should our lives. Who is truly satisfied with just making it through the day, or just going through the motions? Now I know not all of our lives are these great adventures, not all of us have amazing professions we love, or the money to do whatever we want. We have what we have, but what we have is enough to be grateful for. 

Now anything is truly attainable with the right amount of effort and work but I'm not talking about setting your sights on changing your life in some drastic way. I'm talking about the here and now. Why is it that we think our lives don't really start until we get to a certain "place." Like life doesn't start until we have a certain career or buy a house, get married, make money. News flash, life has started and our time is up on this earth in the blink of an eye. Just because you have a goal set for your life, does not mean the present has to be mediocre. We choose how each day is going to pan out. Now clearly we can't see the future so we have to take life as it's thrown at us, but our actions and reactions are what help make each day good or bad. I could be mad all day long if I wanted to. I could be pissed about that fact that I have to get up at 4am to get in a workout, be mad about going to work at a job I don't love, have attitudes with everyone I work with, let my attitude come home with me at the end of the day, etc. you get the point.

I'm 25 years old, I'm aware of my flaws...I know I'm not perfect, I've even been told I'm hard to get along with. Changing who we are is a tough thing to do, I like me, but I know that there are qualities I poses that just aren't pretty and I let them effect the quality of my life. There have been too many times that I've let a bad attitude ruin everything, I've let the smallest things turn my day to shit, and I've complained too much when I should have been grateful. But this week this light bulb went off. This overwhelming feeling came over me that I need to take charge of how I am living my life. My life, just the way it is, is fabulous. I need to start remembering that. How I treat others, how I chose to start my day, what I dwell on and put my time into are all things that can make each day great. 

I have goals set for my life, but just because the future is a few miles up the road does not mean I shouldn't strive every day to make the right now count. This place I'm at right now, family, boyfriend, kids, work, friends, house, dog...this is my life, and I love it, and I will be damned if it is just mediocre. 

No Resolutions Here...

I will be honest with you and let you in on a little secret, I was not a very good girl this holiday season. For about 2 weeks I let "the holidays" be my excuse for every sweet yummy thing I put in my mouth. I didn't slack in the gym, but my eating habits were far from clean. This past Sunday I finally cleaned out the cupboards and tossed all the junk and hit up Trader Joe's to restock. I've been really good about prepping all my meals and have been eating clean all week. It feels great to be back to my norm. I honestly wish I would have had more self  control during Christmas because I can tell that junk had a negative effect but it's in the past and I'm focused. Taking the time to prep food whether it be before bed or further ahead can benefit you greatly. When we're on the run and unprepared is when we fall into fast food. So having meals pre made and in tupperware ready to go is the best thing to do for yourself during the week. 

My weight is always going to be something that I will have to focus on in life. I'm never going to be able to stop working out or stop eating clean, to not only maintain but to also continue to see results, it's always going to be something I have to work at. And I'm ok with that, it's not a terrible hobby to have. But I think realizing that about myself is really important. I think the trouble for a lot of people who fluctuate in weight is that they have a goal, reach that goal and then say, now what? Instead of making fitness part of their every day life and choosing to eat clean for life, they stop cold turkey and fall back into life before loss. And so the cycle of losing weight and gaining it all back again continues. Then when the next reunion rolls around its another crash diet to look good in a stupid dress you'll only wear once cuz two months from then it won't fit! How much fun is that?
When I finished P90X I didn't stop. I joined 24 and became bodybuilding.com's biggest fan. Too many people say they don't go to the gym because they don't know what to do. That's where bodybuilding.com come into play, there are TONS of workout plans and if you see an exercise you've never done before and don't know how to do it, there is a video a to watch to show you proper technique. For about 8 months now I've been using the site to make my workouts, I incorporate things from the blogs I follow, magazines I read, and even Steve teaches me a thing or two every now and then. The key is to keep learning, keep pushing, keep getting better, and DON'T STOP.

So, I don't normally make new years resolutions because well I don't think you should just make changes at the first of the year. So this is my new years "realization."
People are always saying, "We should hang out", "Let's get together soon", "I miss you" Listen up people, don't say these things to me unless you mean it. Don't feel obligated to blurt out these phrases. If you wanna hang out with me, give me a call, lets make some plans. I feel like people are always saying this and then just sit back and wait for me to make the first move. Wait for me to make plans, or come up with something to go do. I'm always driving here or there to go meet up with someone or see someone who wants to hang out but waited for me to draw up an agenda. How about from now on you call me, you think of something to do, and you come take a trip to my neck of the woods? I'm not trying to sound like a bitch, but I'm aware that this could totally come off that way. I'm just sayin I'm sort of tired of being the one who has to make the plans in my relationships. I'm busy, you're busy, we're all living busy lives. Some of us have kids, some of us don't. The weeks/weekends Steve and I have his I like to devote to them, but I'm free two weeks and weekends out of the month. I'm not against calling up a friend and saying we should go out to eat or go see a movie, but I wish more people initiated hanging out too, and not just saying "we should hang out." I dunno, maybe I smell.

A new direction

I've been blogging about my road to a smaller version of me for a year now. And while I've enjoyed sharing the ugliest pictures of me possible and the crazy workouts I've put myself through with you, I want to try taking this thing in a new direction. There are so many other aspects of my life that I want to share and so often when I'm blogging about something new I made for dinner, I wish I could share some other random tid bit about my day with you. So that's what I'm going to do. I still want this blog to be about living life while trying to stay fit but I also want it to be about life in general. There are some big parts of my life that are somewhat unique, and I feel like there are some things that I really want to shed some light on, to not only share my struggles but to hopefully find others to relate to. Just like in the past I want to be as honest with you as possible so be prepared for what I write to not always be rainbows and butterflies, but thats life right?
Stay tuned...