Carrots

I am not a huge carrot fan.  In fact, the only way I've liked them up until now is juiced and hidden by other fruits and veggies.  This week I discovered 2 ways I like carrots, shredded and roasted. 

I made another Oh She Glows awesome oatmeal recipe.  Her Carrot Cake oatmeal recipe is delicious and a great way to get in a few carrots in to start your day.  

It's really just quick cooking oats, shredded carrots, almond milk, ginger, allspice, & cinnamon with a little vanilla extract, maple syrup, walnuts, raisins and shredded coconut.  

The other way I made carrots this week that I liked, was roasting them.  I made this garlic infused olive oil  and drizzled it on the carrots before I roasted them with chicken.  

Closer to my goals than farther away...

It just dawned on me today that I'm closer to my lowest weight in High School than farther away from it 2 years ago.  In High School I got down to 145lbs.  The smallest I had ever been at that time.  I felt fantastic.  I'm going to have to dig a photo up to show you.

Like I said, during college and after, I gained a lot of weight.  240lbs was the highest.  That seems insane to me.

This week, I hit 189.5.  This means, I'm only 14.5lbs away from my 175 goal I set.

Like I said, it dawned on me that once I get to that goal, I would have 30 more lbs to get to High School me.

The odd thing is that High School me and 27yr old me have such different bodies.  The boot camp I do, has toned me in areas I never worked.

I thought 175 wasn't attainable 2 years ago, but now, I'm thinking of going all the way to 145! It's insane how motivation works.  I'm just happy I have it and I don't want to let it go.

-27yr old me

Sugar Strike

The Athletarian had a great post about approved sugars for the Eat Clean Diet sugar strike.  She made this little chart to give a quick explanation of what is allowed and what isn't.  So thanks Athletarian!

Read her post to get the entire scoop.  

Cutting sugars out is the biggest reason I've been succeeding in my diet.  I've invested in making sure that my pantry is stocked with these things.  I haven't tried rapadura or yacon yet, but all of the others I use.  My favorites are FRUIT, Honey, Maple Syrup and Sucanat.  

The only days I have felt run down and like shit on this diet are the days I cheat and eat something with sugar.  It really does have an effect on my energy levels because I crash HARD.  

Getting there!

I took Labor Day Weekend as a chance to rest when it comes to working out.  Therefore, I didn't workout on Friday, Saturday, Sunday OR Monday.  It was a good rest because from Friday-Sunday I was sore from Thursday's workout. While I say I didn't work out those days, I did go on walks and tried to have active days of rest.

I did take the weekend to clean out my pantry.  I organized everything, took it out of their packaging and put it into Tupperware.  The nerd in me really wanted to go to The Container Store and get really cute containers, but the budget didn't allow.  Instead, I went to Big Lots and bought a TON of containers.

To my surprise when I was at Big Lots, they had an entire shelf display of Bob's Red Mill. I stocked up on Steel Cut Oats, Ground Flaxseeds and pizza crust.  I have enough steel cut oats to last me until well into next year.  1 cup of the oats dry = 4 servings.  I make a batch at the beginning of the week and take it to work everyday.

I made the Berry Almond Bliss recipe from Oh She Glows.  I really love it.

Last week I made this recipe for Chipotle-Honey Glazed Pork Chops from Whole Foods website and served it with blanched green beans and quinoa/brown rice.  My husband actually liked it! Score 1 for me.

My husband is out of town from today (Wednesday) until next Tuesday. I set a goal for myself for weight loss while he's gone and this morning after I dropped him off at the airport, I weighed myself to see where I was and I WAS ALREADY THERE! Therefore, I am setting another goal for myself.  

Now, I have 14.5 lbs to go before I get to my goal.  I'm more confident than ever that I will get there.