Happy Birthday, Badass!

Wishing young Stacey the best 20th birthday up with all them angels <3

 

Enjoy all the bikes, volleyball, booze & women!

 

Miss you & Love you always, gangster! xx

Love Always,

Victoria

Preparing for the week

This is my short week at work so I only had to prepare for 4 days of meals (Hooray for my schedule!)

 

I went out on Saturday and slept my whole day away (ahh hello 4:00pm wake-up .. stop judging)..

Anyhow, I had big plans to make the most of day so I got out of bed and planned how I would go about completing my the June goals. (Last weeks post)  I then headed to the gym where I did a 4 mile 'walk' (seeing how I was still h-u-n-g-o-v-e-r) and 36 minutes of circuits (Done in 3 sets of 5 exercises). After the gym I headed for some groceries. I had a lot of produce and poultry left from last week so I didn't need to buy much, just a little fruit. After groceries I got some Starbucks for myself and Second Cup for mama-bear and headed to her house for some supper (pork roast with spiced vegetables - 'twas amazing) <-- Thanks, Trudy :) and as I ate and sipped, mom cut 2-lbs of strawberries for me. God love her! Shortly after, I headed home to do laundry, shower, wash dishes, clean the kitchen and begin with my food prep. It took me a few hours but now I'm good to go !!!

 

My healthy week begins...

 

Game Plan

I posted last week about my 25 'to dos' for June and  decided to make a game plan on how to attack for each. Giving everything a date was probably a little over-ambitious but it's worth a try! (Dates are subject to change)

 

 Groceries

Bought some produce for snacking on through the week. I also picked up some Sunbutter seeing how I am 100% obsessed with this and eat a tub a week. I think I'd choose Sunbutter over any piece of junk food.

 



Pre-Cut Fruit 

Fruit Salad - strawberries, blueberries, orange, kiwi,
 pineapple, peach

Prepared a giant fruit salad and portioned it into contatiners for lunches this week. I love love love having a fruit salad at my disposal! I find it the most refreshing snack to have on hand.

Salad Mixture
2-lbs of strawberries (2.99, Dominion)
2 pints of blueberries (1.66, Dominion)
1 orange (0.69, Irving)
2 peaches (1.38, Dominion)
1 kiwi (0.69, Dominion)
1/3 a pineapple (2.99/pineapple, Costco)

Perk: Cheapest fruit salad, everrrr! I'll get a good few days out of this and it was way cheaper than if I had bought a pre-cut fruit salad.

Snacks

Eggs & Vegetables

I boil eggs and cut up vegetables each Sunday before the start of my work week. I boiled 6 eggs so I have them on hand when I want a snack or with breakfast and I cut some peppers and broccoli to eat with my hummus.

 

 

Whey Protein Cakes

4 Ingredients, 3-minute prep - egg whites, whey protein
powder, baking powder, ground flax

 I love love love little protein cakes. I always container/baggy a few days worth of whey protein cake mix so I can have at my desk. With the powders combined, all I have to do is add the egg whites and throw it in the microwave. I find this good for breakfast or as a snack (If I've had a very small lunch). Some toppings are almond butter, honey, sunbutter, greek yogurt, fruit etc. 

 

 

Herb & Garlic Brussel Sprouts

 

I posted the recipe for herb & garlic brussel sprouts back in May because it is absolutely delicious! I shaved a LARGE bowl of brussel sprouts last night and cooked two servings. I could seriously eat this every day so I containered the sprouts to use later this week. Taking the time to shave the sprouts is the most time consuming. Now that I have a container full, it'll take me a good 5 minutes to whip up a batch before work.

Boiled Chicken Breast

Costco Chicken Breast

I boiled two chicken breasts that I plan to eat as-is or to top on a salad.

 

 

Vegetable Bean Mix

Vegetable Salad - brussels sprouts, green/red/yellow
peppers, green onion, broccoli, cucumber, navy beans,
black beans

 I kind of made this on the fly last night but it actually turned out awesome! I mixed a bunch of vegetables together, added some beans and voila! I plan to mush some avacado on top and get as a little salad! I made a cassarole dish full so I'll probably take a little every day and perhaps add olive oil one day or perhaps use this as a salad topper?! We'll see :)  

 

 

Very Unhealthy Banana Bread

banana bread with sliced almonds, pecans
& hersey chocolate swirl bits

 I decided to make the foreman and general foreman at work a couple of loaves of chocolate-pecan banana bread. As I was on my Martha baking kick and had a lot of things going at once, I realized how I had forgotten to add the oil (worst!) .. so I took the bread out of the oven (it had been in approx. 7-minutes) and I added it into the mix. I never tasted it so we shall see what the boys say :)

No Excuses

After I had cooked/packed some meals for the week, the laundry had just finished. I had washed EVERY running shirt/sports bra/pair of spanz/shorts that I use. I got a bundle of it together, folded it, put it all in the gym bag and lay my gym bag directly by my car keys! No excuses this week!

So ya, I may have slept for a lot of the day but I'm feeling ambitious about this week. I plan to have a heavy fitness week and try to eat clean. I wanna write another WIAW post because I found that really kept me in line that day. No bad treats! I'm working on marking off items on my list for June so that means I HAVE to stay focussed from now until the months end .. and hopefully it continues! O lifeee <3


By the way ... yesterday marks the 7-week countdown until the tely 10! Pressures on, boy!


How do you prepare for a good week? Any good recipes? Tips?

How I ensure that I follow through

HAPPY HAPPY WEEKEND, EVERYONE!

Hope everyone is enjoying this NL weather and getting out in the sun! Holy heat, eh? I am loving it! Minus the fact that I'm working today and we're calling for rain tomorrow .. blah ..but whooo caresss :)

So I've been picking at this post for a few days now and decided to write on how I commit to an after-work workout. I wrote a post similar to this a few days back but wanted to make it a little more specific. I find myself quite tired in the evenings and sometimes I just wanna go home and crash. This leaves me discouraged, unmotivated and starts my week off sh*t! I’d love some feedback on tricks that YOU guys have when it comes to planning and following through on a active healthy day


THINGS I DO TO MAKE SURE MY DAY STARTS OFF & ENDS HEALTHY AND HAPPY

Prepare my protein-filled breakfast before leaving the house – I don’t eat until I get to work in the morning but I always cook a cup of egg whites as I bop around the house doing my morning duties. If I don't prepare my breakfast, it is likely that I’m starved upon my arrival to work and will grab the first thing in site. Noooo !!

I drink a LARGE glass of water as soon as I wake – I wake up at 4:15am and generally feel famished . If I drink a glass of water and let it settle, I soon realize that it isn’t hunger but rather dehydration (tales of a caffeine junkie).

XL Tim Horton’s Coffee – This is probably  laughable for most but I actually feel naked if I don’t have my morning coffee *O haiii, A*. By stopping and getting carpool coffees, I casually sip on route to work and this supresses my appetite until I can sit at my desk and get settled for the morning.

 

Fill up 2 Water Bottles – I ALWAYS fill up my Lulu water bottle and whatever other water bottle is at my disposal. I make sure they sit right in front of my computer screen so that when I’m feeling hungry or a little ‘peckish’ (which is generally me looking for an excuse to eat) that I can grab the water with little effort and remind myself that you-don’t-always-have-to-be-eating-victoria!!!!

 

Check my 2 fav blogs - 125 - Liz (Canadian) started this blog to lose weight. She blogs about her fitess goals, struggles, nutrition and her travels. It is hands down my favourite blog and I check it out everyyyyy day! Also,  CNC - Tina is fit as a fiddle! She's a cross-fit finatic and is pretty much a health guru! I'm kinda-maybe-a-little obsessed with her life! (sad).  Her body drives me to push myself into working out! Note: I should probably get my own life..

Look at my 'Exercise Calender' - By reviewing this ol' calender that sits on my desk, I am reminded that one more post-work workout gets me one more X! :)

Sweet Treat – I’m your classic “O, I eat super clean”. HA! The things I convince myself.. Le sigh .. Anyhow, I go through these spells of eating super clean (minus weekend draft beers and energy drinks ßworking on limiting that one) and I frown upon  everyone else for eating sweets and treats. Then..7 days later.. a few pounds lighter..feeling chipper.. BAM! I eat everything in sight and soon get discouraged. Like I said before, I have a major sweet tooth so if I prepare something sweet as a snack for mid-shift or post-lunch, I’m generally more inclined to save myself! (Ex. Chopped up strawberries, protein bar, almond butter/sunbutter w. an apple, homemade protein balls or trail mix).

 

Drink a Sweet Tea – Drinking a sweet tea (blueberry, pomegranate, lemon) is ideal when you want ‘something sweet’ post-meal. I drink a little too much but who’s counting/caring, right?!

Cut-My-Fruit – I can honestly say I always have some form of fruit with me at work. I generally make a large fruit salad on Sundays to prepare for my week but I always cave and eat it all within a short period of time..oops! Anyhow, by having chopped berries at hand the night before a long day, I mostly shy towards the sweetness of that treat rather than grabbing for the brownie brownies [sometimes J]

 

Pack my gym bag and ALWAYS have running sneakers in my car – I pack my bag each night and lay it next to my work book bag so that I don’t forget it in the morrning. Lately I’ve been tucking my leggings and Lulu shirt in my work bag so I can change before leaving in the evening. When I drive home in workout clothes, I’m more inclined to pass the turn-off to home and head straight to the gym or to a walking trail.

Tell Elaine I’m going to work out tonight  -  I tell Elaine (friend from the office) every morning what my plans are for the evening. I also tell her every morning what I was up to the night before. I’m sure she really does nottttt care but I look past this J *thanks Elaine*

Vary My Workouts – By switching up my workout plans, I find it easy to get excited for trying something different than the night before. When I visiualize my nightly workout, I mentally prepare allll day and actually get excited! When I follow the above (which I have been doing pretty damn good with lately), I always conclude my day with gym > bed. Signal Hill > bed. Octagon Pond > bed ... you get the drift!

*I apologize in advance for the horrendous photos below .. :)

So, what are your thoughts? Any tips to drive yourself to sweat at the days end?

Goals for Month 6/12

I assure you that a few some readers will be disinterested in this post as I've only written it so I can have it in writing (and we decided I'm more inclinded to do what I say I'm gonna do if I write it down, right? - chaaa).

So.. here are some goals I have for the month of June

1. complete a whole week of 100% Paleo [I completed 7 days a few months back (minus 1 Monster energy drink I snuck in there) and felt wonderful.. and dropped 6-lbs] .. guess it wasn't 100%, huh?
2. fast for 1 whole day ( I did this in March and it was a good kick-start for eating well )
3. try Hot Yoga at Moksha Yoga
4. go to Starbucks or Second Cup and just sit and read for an hour
5. re-arrange my room
6. attend Shakti Yoga 2-3 times
7. book a Power Engineering exam
8. follow myfitnesspal (perfectly) for one week [I'ts hard to keep up with but when I do, I'm so happy]
9. walk or jog Signal Hill 8 times
10. Walk or jog Quidi Vidi 7 times
11. jog Octagon Pond 6 times
12. go a whole 2 days with zero coffee/lattes/energy drinks (yes, go ahead and judge)
13. clean my fridge (spray down/wipe down/organize by food group) <- wanted to do this for quite some time now
14. bake something I've never baked before
15. publish atleast 9 more posts starting today (written June 6th, posted June 7th)
16. take my father for a 'father-daughter bonding' supper
17. compose my Tely 10 playlist
18. color code my closet
19. add 10 recipes to my recipe book
20. read a book from finish to start (uh-oh)
21. jog/Run 40-45 miles - 9, 10 & 11 can be correlated
22. walk 20 miles - 9, 10 & 11 can be correlated
23. try a new tea from David's Tea
24. clean out my clothes and give atleast 1 garbage bag to the Salavation Army (haven't done this in 8 months)
25.  host a small Sunday brunch

I'm sure there are a lot more things I'd like to accomplish in the month of June but this is a pretty good start. I live by my black book (that's where I stole this list from) so perhaps at the months end, I'll re-post my list with details and stats on what was and wasn't completed.

Do you have any fitness goals for June? Any goals in general?  Anything you'd like to cross off a list?
If so, please share :)

Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer

May in Review

Overall, May was a solid month. There were many ups and downs, smiles and tears, active days, lazy days, healthy days, treat yourself days, drink-until-you-can't-remember-anything days and  so much more. It was the month I turned 25. It was the month of my favourite weekend (May-24) and most importantly it was the month where a dear friend and co-worker lost his life. May seemed to be going all up hill until Saturday, May 25th. (A post completely dedicated to this individual is in the near future).

Anyway .. here goes May

Birthday Times

 

My 25th birthday was Friday, May 17th. This was my long weekend off of work so I decided to make it extra long and take the Thursday prior to that. I guess I kinda got to celebrate my birthday for two days. It was more than I could ask for. It was close to perfect :) The events went as follows:

 

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

I took Thursdayoff with a great friend from work and we decided it would be an East Coast Trail kinda day. Sadly, the weather was not permitting and it poured all day. Wahn wahn wahnnn..

Anyhow, that didn't stop us from making the most of this happy Thursday and from there we went. The days activities went as follows:

• 8:00am wake-up (He slept in til 9) tisk tisk
• Starbucks for me
• Tim Hortons for him
• Driving, chatting and sipping
• Parking on Signal Hill and contemplating what could be done with the weather being so ugly
• Strolling around downtown with no destination. We ended up having the Rocket for lunch (Upper right hand corner) - An absolute new favourite :)
• Venturing to some downtown shops for a gawk - We both bought running shirts (The Outfitters), a Burton rain jacket for myself (Ballistic)
• Parking on Southside Road and relaxing while overlooking the harbour
• Venturing to Red Cliff to do some hiking as the sun started to shine
• Venturing home for a nap (me, anyways)
• Being surprised by a lovely birthday cake and sparklers and gifts  
• Dressing up to go out for supper and drinks
• Deciding we're too lazy to go out for supper and drinks
• Turning the truck around and making it a couch/beer/joggers/lazy kinda night :)
• Happy F*cking Thursday!!

Friday, May 17th, 2013

• Happy Birthday to me day
• Early wake - bank appointment
• Signal Hill 'walk'
• Visit to my mom
• Lunch at Montana's with Shaneen :) (Bottom left hand corner)
• Gym - running kinda day
• Octagon Pond - light jog kinda day
• Home to nap kinda day
• Supper with the fam and Allan! It was absolutely delish! (Bottom right hand corner)
• Down to Jonathan's house for a beer-pong-drink-too-much-kinda-drunk!
• <3

 

May 24th Weekend

 

Night 1 - Drinking a ton at Jonathan's shed, playing beer pong undefeatedly, eating so many onion rings that I threw my life up and waking up and scarfing down a McDonald's smoothie because my body was a wreck.

 

Night 2 - Post-nap, booting it to Jonathan's house to do it all again. Add washers in the shed and subtract onion rings from the mix (never-again-in-my-life)

 

Night 3 - Allan had the crowd over for Indian food. We ate, drank and a few of us ventured to what seemed like a high school party up Indian Meal Line. We were pretty much grandparents there ... But .. Shaneen and I stayed until after 3 (cause we're cool), jogged home in rubbers, cracked a few beer and went in the hot tub

 

*Note: While at this 'young persons gathering', I heard a young girl say "I feel so fucking old"......... she was wearing a 'Class of 2012' hoodie

 

**Note: I graduated in co2006ugh

 

May 24th weekend was a success! :)

  

May Exercising  

 

I felt that with regards to exercising,  I worked my ass off during May. We had great weather for Signal Hill, outdoor jogging and random hiking.

 

My exercising was as follows:

• Topsail Beach Trail - 1 time
• Octagon Pond - 9 times
• Quidi Vidi - 6 times
• Signal Hill - 5 times
• Gym - 8 times
• Pouch Cove Running - 3 times
• Shakti Yoga - 2 times

It might not seem like a lot to some, but I'm sooo ok with what I did!

 

 

Last week of May

 

The last week of May was a rough one. I arrived to work on the 25th to find out a friend had passed away in a tragic car accident the night before. It was absolutely devastating. His name was Damian. A 19-year old free-spirited limitless kinda guy! After that day, work seemed to go downhill for everyone. Everything kinda seemed to go down hill for everyone. It was surreal. It still is. I don't even know where to start with the post that will soon be written for that boy <3  

 

All in all, aside from the ending, May was a great good month. It was. I'm now hoping that June will be a month of accomplishments and hope to hit some pre-summer goals!

 

 

What was the highlight of your month?

 

Do you have any goals for June? For summer?

WIAW

Happy happy Wednesday, friends! Hope everyone is having the best of best day :) It's suchhh a nice day in St.John's. The sun is a' blazin' and the wind is a' lackin' (thank-god!) I decided to post another WIAW (What I ate Wednesday) Thinking that this might help me stay focussed on my eating today (ya' know.. seeing how I'll have to post it)

I'm not pleased with my dailies yesterday! I overate by quite a bit and didn't exercise. I had a 4-mile jog planned and 15-minutes of weights but my car got backed into and then I was dealing with that. I'm truly not trying to make excuses .. it was just a bad night.

Anyhow, today shall be a better day and tonight shall be a better night! Here goes..


Breakfast

Venti Black Iced Americano (0-cal)
Pure Protein Bar - Chocolate Peanut Butter (200-cal)

Lunch 



On-the-spot-salad - iceberg lettuce, 1/3 avacado,
1.5tbsp of goat cheese, small handful of blueberries/blackberries
/strawberries,2 big mushrooms, 1/3 red pepper, 1/3 yellow pepper,
 tiny sprinkle of red onion
 (no liquid dressing used - avacado does the trick)
(Cal - who cares)



Snacks

Sprinkle of fresh blueberries & an apple (approx. 100-cal)
1/4 cup of Nature Valley Trailmix (145-cal)
3 small pieces of dried mango (80-cal)
Another Protein Bar (200-cal)

Unlisted food eaten on Wednesday:

- hard-boiled egg (70-cal)

- banana (110-cal)

- fork full of vegetable stir-fry (moms leftover supper) (?)

-1/2 a chocolate chip cookie (2-3" diameter) (?)

 

I never ate a 'real meal' for supper tonight. I kinda pulled a 'grab n' go' because I arrived home after 7pm, had an appointment to attend, walked Signal Hill with mama-bear and then headed to the gym. By the time I got home, it was after 10pm. Blah. I'm aware that I'm not helping myself any.

 

Le sigh .. anywho .. on to the next day!

 

 

How did you guys eat?





How to Limit the Bad Eating & Increase the Exercise

Just thought I'd write a fun little post on 9 ways that help limit poor eating from my diet & keep exercise a priority


1. Start the morning with protein -  usually eggs (so filling) and a piece of fruit

2. Drink lots of water and make a note of just how much - I'm up to 2.5-3-L / day in the work week. I mark the number of Lulu bottles consumed on my whiteboard at work

3. Drink tea  - probably not the healthiest but I find drinking tea fills me up. I also find flavored tea quite satisfying

4. myfitnesspal - I've been using myfitnesspal on and off for many months now but in the past month, I've attempted at being a little more strict with it. It has sooo many foods on it and it truly gives you an idea of what you're putting into your body

5. Marking fitness on the calender - I put an X on my calender for the days I jog, the initials as to where I've jogged or a 'gym' on the days I've gone to the gym. I kid you not, seeing a row of 'X's will keep your head on straight with regards to staying active. The more I plan to do....the better I wanna feel....the better I have to eat.... win win win

6. Planning your workouts - I usually make a set goal on Sunday (X amt of miles jogged, walked, time on the elliptical, cross-trainer etc) but I know the more sugar and garbage I consume in the run of a  week, the less motivated I become to get my butt in gear. Make the list, track the record and stay focussed on your Sunday goal(s).. I assure you, it will have such an impact on when and what foods you consume

7. Take photos - yes, I'm the girl at the gym that takes pictures of her stats on the machines. I hate how very wrong the calories are (obv!) but taking pictures reminds me to write it down, look at my track record and push a little further come my next workout! It's actually nice to skim through your phone and see multiple pictures of lengthy workout times. :)

8. Stop weighing - those of you who know me know that I was once a huge addict for the scale. Not kidding, I would wake up 1-2 3-4 times a night and run to the bathroom to check my weight. Looking back now, it was actually sick. When I was up in weight, I'd binge. When I was down, I'd starve and de-hydrate. I was never happy with the number. If I was a pound heavier than I had anticipated, I'd get super depressed and either run until I made myself sick, or eat until I needed to vomit (this happened. O boy, did this happen). Last October I brought my scale to work for a 'Biggest Loser' competition. The competition was cancelled as my opponant developed a terrible illness. After that month, I decided to leave my scale at work. I go to my mother's house - I avoid the scale. I go to my father's house - I avoid the scale. Weighing makes me crazy. Crazy makes me fat!

Don't get my wrong, I think about my weight a lot. A-L-O-T! But the thoughts of feeling how I felt back in those days is soooo not worth it to me. So there. Lose the scale and judge by the pant size.

9. Read Fitness Blogs - This my #1! I rave about fitness blogs! Reading about other people who have the same struggles, obstacles and goals as yourself is a definite motivation to keep on truckin' and make all the right decisions with leading a healthy lifestyle!

*Does anyone else have any tips? What helps you make better choices? What encourages you to keep your hand out of the cookie jar? Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)