59/58 days to go...

Ah, the end of a hectic week, thank God. Here I am now finally in Montreal with my man, relaxing after dinner to write a bit of my blog.

Yesterday was a gong show in every respect. Breakfast was a smoothie (to get rid of the bananas, yogurt and strawberries) and I skipped going out for lunch with my lab to eat my regular spinach salad, fruit + yogurt and veggies + hummus. It was a time when I felt ok not going out to lunch, since I knew dinner would be all over the place and that I couldn't really do two cheat meals in one day. I was pretty happy with the decision too since it allowed me to get some more work done and attend lecture for the class I TA.

I had a bus to catch at 5:40pm so obviously I had no time for the gym. While I was packing I had two pieces of toast with peanut butter to hold me over until I got into town last night. By the time I dropped my samples off at my boyfriend's lab and we got home, it was close to 11pm. He had been craving pizza all week and waited all night for me to get home before he ate dinner, so we went to Pizza Hut and had a stuffed crust pizza with cheesy breadsticks. I skipped the pop (that much sugar and caffeine before bed and I'd be a goner, and I felt the need to have water after a long day) and had a smaller portion of food than I normally would have. In the end, this day was a write-off (the last of this week I promise) but it reminded me once again, like all week, that life happens and you won't be able to fit a workout in every day and eat perfectly healthy every day. When cheat meals come along I think the best thing to do is just eat a smaller portion and drink lots of water to wash it down. All in moderation right?

Today was my first full day in Montreal with my boyfriend. As a bit of background, he is a very active guy who goes to the gym every day. He does the same rotation of arms, check/back and legs as I do, plus abs. I do a bit more cardio than him, but it evens out in the end since he tends to do a few more exercises than I do. For food, he has a very healthy appetite and eats quite a bit. He is an active guy so he doesn't really care so much about watching what he eats that much, but overall makes the effort to have protein, carb and veg at every meal. He eats fruit and oatmeal for breakfast and is very respectful of my eating choices as they usually differ quite a bit.

My biggest struggle with the bootcamp will be melding my habits with his as we co-habitate this week. We got groceries earlier tonight and I made sure to get my usual yogurt, fruit, etc. I brought the rest of the veggies from my places that I couldn't get through, like spinach, my huge bag of veggies, basil, and hummus. I think I'll be able to eat by my meal plan for breakfast and lunch (minus all my wonderful grains that I left at home), but dinner will have to be improvised on my part. Again, my plan is smaller portions of everything.

Today we got up around 10am and had to meet a friend downtown at 1pm, so I made us lunch instead of breakfast. He is a terrific cook so he made a tomato sauce to go with the homemade gnocchi I brought him, so we made up a bit of that. I also made a big spinach salad with carrots, red peppers and cucumbers.

At the mall I got an Acai Protein smoothie from Jugo Juice (acai, protein powder, low-fat yogurt, apple juice and strawberries - DELICIOUS) to hold me over since I knew we wouldn't get home and have dinner until much much later. He stopped for a snack (A&W), which I had a few bites of, but I'm glad I skipped the second snack/meal after our day of walking around downtown. We then went to the gym (20 minutes cardio + legs + abs + all the walking around we did all day = I'm exhausted), and went straight to the grocery store afterwards. For dinner I marinated some shrimp in the same marinade I used on the salmon pieces last week (orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro and sesame seeds), cooked some couscous, and finally some veggies. For dessert we had Chips Ahoy (his pick) and milk.

I plan to do a lot of cooking here this week, so more "girlfriend trying to be on a diet at boyfriend's house" recipes to come!

61/60 days to go...

Ahh, my first few days without posting. I knew this day would come.

The last week has been hectic. The course I TA has its midterm this week, and between frenzied study help sessions, proctoring the midterm, answering questions and being stuck at work late, I have missed Wednesday's and today's workouts. I've been doing about 50% of my morning/evening ab and arm work. I have noticed that I have much less energy, I tire more easily and I end up slacking on my diet more when I don't work out. I get jealous of my boyfriend who makes it every day, and irritable and grumpy about it. It's funny but you almost get addicted to working out. Endorphins are a real thing!

But before my discomfort about missing workouts spirals into self-hate and destructive guilty eating patterns, let's point out one simple thing: this is life. There are days when you're stuck at work until 9pm and by the time you get home and eat something, it's 10pm and you don't want to drag yourself to the gym. There will be weeks where these days happen more than once and often back to back. Life gets in the way of diet and exercise. I know of many schools of thought that would call being ok with this fact "slacking" or "making excuses." But let's get something straight - I'm a real human. I wish I could be a machine and feel no exhaustion, no hunger, and soullessly drag myself to the gym every single day. But that's an extreme behaviour and isn't sustainable, nor would it get me anywhere.

Yes, I do feel bad. I think of that bikini and it's motivation to do better in the upcoming days. I know that I'm missing tomorrow's workout too, since I'm leaving right after work to catch my bus to Montreal. My boyfriend has offered to help get me a week-long gym pass at his university facility so we can go together every day next week while I'm there. We'll start Saturday and have a nice sweaty workout to make up for this week.

In terms of food, I have been keeping up 95% of my diet! Go me! I really enjoy the creative freedom that comes with a basic recipe like "1 serving protein + 2 servings veg." It's almost a challenge.

Breakfast has been my toast/avocado/salsa poached egg yesterday and today. I've also added a banana + peanut butter + unsweetened almond milk smoothie. Yes it's too much for breakfast but I'm dying to eat all these bananas before they go bad.

Lunch has been spinach salad with salmon and berries with yogurt/kasha/kamut/chia.

Because of the smoothie I've been pretty full all day, so I haven't felt hungry for my afternoon snacks. Plus there have been treats at work both today (lemon tarts) and yesterday (macaroons), and I indulged in one or two.

I had a wonderful dinner both nights:
- zucchini sticks "breaded" with crushed Rice Krispies, dill, pepper and a bit of parmesan and cooked in olive oil
- 1/2 chicken breast (the ones I bought at WalMart were HUGE) marinated in sesame oil, fish sauce, cilantro and garlic. SO GOOD.

Tonight I had this dinner at 4pm because of this proctoring thing, so when I got home I had a double helping of my breakfast salsa toast invention. Thankfully this was a few hours ago so I'm also adhering to the "no eating 2 hours before you sleep" rule.

Overall I think despite missing my workouts I've kept to my diet fairly well. I've struck a balance. Although, I admit I can't wait to sweat all this avocado out at the gym on Saturday with my man!

62 days to go...

Today was definitely a slack day. I think we need to allow ourselves one or two of those every so often. I forgot my crunches, plank and pushups in the morning. So be it.

Breakfast and lunch were identical to yesterday. I went ahead with the salmon on top of my spinach salad as I had mentioned I would.

It was a rush day at work and I had to leave early (ie. skip the gym/yoga) in order to make it home on time to shower and get ready to celebrate my dear friend Sarah's birthday. She and her husband are so generous, loving, kind and giving; they always go all out to help make anything you are celebrating exciting and special. Of course, how could I say no when she invited me to dinner with her and a few friends. Her choice? Woodenheads, undeniably one of the best gourmet pizza places around. My salivary glands were so happy!

We had champagne at her place, wine at dinner, spring rolls as appetizers and the most delicious pizza ever conceived. The waitress sent complimentary chocolate lasagna as a surprise dessert for Sarah, and we had spiked espressos on the house to finish. What a meal!

I had the Sicilia pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami and basil). Definitely not diet. Definitely amazing. I'll definitely be doing veggies all the way tomorrow to make up for it, but let me share some heartwarming and touching words from the birthday girl tonight: 

"In my skinniest days I weighed 95lbs. I was tight, skinny, I had a flat tummy, big boobs and I was happy with my body. Then I gained some weight, and then for the wedding I got down to 105lbs. I had  a trainer and I was crazy with my food - no salad dressing, salad, nothing. I felt skinny and beautiful. Within seven days after the wedding, eating pretty normally and going swimming and on walks with my husband, I gained it all back. Now I'm the heaviest I've ever been. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week, where I do high intensity interval training, weights, and I'm in there for a solid hour. I watch what I eat, I make sure I have a leafy green every day, I'm careful not to put mayonnaise on everything, you know? But I CANNOT get down past 120lbs. I just can't. I've come to accept that now at my age maybe this is the body I'm meant to have. Maybe this is the way I'm supposed to look. At 20, I was a twig, then I had curves, and now I'm fuller. Yes I looked amazing and felt amazing at my wedding, and I'm happy I did my diet, but that's not how I want to live. And if I well, taking care of myself with cardio, weights and a healthy diet and this is the way I look, then that's the way I look."

Amen. 

63 days to go...

Since I bought a HUGE pile of fruit and veg and I need to eat it fast this week, because I'm spending essentially the first half of March in Montreal for work (and staying with my man, conveniently enough!), I've had to up the fruit/veg servings in my meals. This also means increasing creativity.

To go through the 5 avocados I have to eat this week, I incorporated half of one into my breakfast. This is amazing, definitely worth a try (and even better with shredded cheddar but not for me):

Top a piece of whole grain toast with mushed avocado and salsa. Then add a poached egg on top and sprinkle with cilantro. I LOVE this flavour combination. Seriously, I could eat it for every meal. Cilantro just makes everything so much better. Ahhh, this breakfast is so delicious. Slice open the poached egg and mix the soft runny yolk with the avocado salsa toast. Delicious and a good source of healthy fat, protein, and carbs.

Lunch was my spinach salad topped with a hard-boiled egg (yes, heavy on the eggs today) with homemade vinaigrette, and then mixed berries with yogurt with kamut, kasha, chia seeds and a bit of that chocolate protein granola.

Snack was veg with hummus, naturally, and dinner was an exact copy of last night. I have a bit of the salmon left so that's going to go on my salad tomorrow as protein. Yum!

Workout : 30 minutes of cardio + short arm workout + abs. I shortened this workout because the gym was absolutely PACKED and I honestly couldn't stand to be in there one more minute. Plus I had to get some change for laundry before the stores closed, and I was starving. I've been keeping up with my twice daily pushups so I didn't feel bad.

As I said, I did some laundry tonight and they had the air conditioning cranked. In my rain boots and thin socks, I was ready to get home and have a warm pre-bedtime smoothie. The rule about no eating 2 hours before bedtime is a good one, and yes, 95% of the time I will follow it. However, as I've said before I'm not one for wasting food and you should see the pile of bananas and fruit sitting on my shelves that need to get eaten this week.

Bedtime Smoothie

1/2 cup warm milk
warm banana
blueberries, generous handful
1 tbsp honey
sprinkle of cinnamon

Thank god for my Magic Bullet blender! I am enjoying this warm soothing calming smoothing as I type and I'm ready to snuggle into bed and watch The Office over Skype with my boyfriend.


On another note, I am currently reading this book:

It is written by an older, very well-known and well-liked yoga instructor named Cyndi Lee, who owns a successful yoga studio in New York. Here she writes about women and their bodies, and her personal journey to acceptance and love towards her body through yoga. I'm about half-way through it and it's really inspiring. The section I just read talked about finding a fine balance, like in yoga, between pushing yourself and being in a state of ease. This of course translates to taking good care of yourself and realizing that our bodies are in a constant state of fluctuation, of change. She writes about innate confidence and how to cultivate it. Very moving, inspiring and beautiful. 

64 days to go...

Today was an exploration.

Breakfast was the usual toast with peanut butter, but this time with a banana. Green tea. I had a cup of chocolate tea with some unsweetened chocolate almond milk to cool it down a bit. Delicious!

For lunch I tried that Vega One Nutritional Shake (Berry flavour) that I bought yesterday. It smelled ah-mazing! Definitely the first thing you get is the berries. The texture reminds me of the bottom of a mixed hot chocolate gone cold - that sort of grainy smoothness of the gunk that has sunk to the bottom of the mug. The shake is completely plant-based, is a source of protein, probiotics and 50% of your daily intake of a huge number of vitamins and minerals. It wasn't as thick as I anticipated, but it was definitely filling and kept me going all afternoon. I'd recommend it and it would probably help me out in a bind so I may go back for more of this.

In the afternoon I went to Baptiste Power at my studio and it was a fierce, sweaty hot class. I am definitely starting to feel the effects of my gym workouts in my yoga. I am definitely much stronger now, I can hold poses for longer and things like balances that used to give me ridiculous calf cramps don't do so as much now. Bottom line: yogis, go to the gym! (the reverse of that, of course, is to complement your gym workouts with yoga to stretch and reconnect). 

For a post-workout snack, I ate some crunchy veggies with homemade hummus. This recipe is from The Joy of Cooking and aside from being a bit heavy on the lemon, is pretty good. This made a huge batch so I'll have enough for the week for sure.

Dinner was FUN! I had a blast with this dinner. I made what was left of this rice blend that normally I find at Loblaws. They were out yesterday, hence the purchase of a similar blend at Bulk Barn. Here it is:

I make it with vegetable broth and a touch of margarine, which in addition to the rice itself adds a wonderful luscious creaminess to the rice. To die for.

With this, I quickly sauteed some red peppers and snap peas in garlic and a touch of coconut oil, just to warm them through. I added a thai fish cake, which I need to get through before they go bad, and topped it with a few pieces of the salmon pieces I bought yesterday and marinated overnight in a very small volume of soy sauce, orange juice, garlic, ginger,  2 drops of sesame oil, sesame seeds and cilantro. I quickly cooked these medium-rare in a bit of vegetable oil and voila! As you can tell I'm a sucker for plating...

It's Oscar night, so I decided to make a little treat for myself to indulge in while watching the red carpet arrivals (Jennifer Lawrence looks KILLER in her Dior haute couture!!). I adored this recipe and made the version here with yogurt and honey:

http://www.homemadetoast.com/2012/04/skinny-mug-brownie.html

Time for the awards ceremony!

65 days to go...

Unfortunately, I am gifted with my father's "prone to migraines" gene. As such, sometimes I get 2-3 day migraines that dramatically affect my daily function.

As you can maybe guess, this happened to me yesterday. I went to bed Friday night with a naggy headache on one side of my head and it persisted all day yesterday. This affected my workout significantly, but I was able to mostly stick to my meal plan.

I didn't start my day with my crunch/plank/pushup routine. To get the blood flowing and not sit around all day, I chose a very mild room temperature yoga class called Yinyasa. This is a blend of yin yoga, which targets connective tissue by holding stretching poses for 5-10 minutes at a time, and vinyasa, a simple flow for movement. The music is soft, the lights are dimmed and our instructor was magnificent.  I really enjoyed this class and it took some of the pain away. I had been craving a soothing cool class like this, so it worked out in the end. I did my plank before bed but not the pushups and crunches - I was on Skype with my boyfriend and his brother joined in and we all chatted for a while until it was way too late to get anything other than sleeping done.

I had my regular breakfast of toast with peanut butter and an apple, with orange juice and tea. For lunch I had a salad of spinach with a hard-boiled egg and a piece of that cheese (it's almost gone!). Dinner was a bit difference since I had a date with one of my girlfriends. She got to pick the restaurant so we went to Curry Original. It's pretty hard to keep a diet up in a place that specializes in meat stewed in cream, butter and yogurt and served with rice and bread. We got tandoori chicken, served on rice with salad (yay green things!) and saag paneer (more green!) with some rice. We skipped the naan and didn't get anything battered or fried, so I think overall we did ok. My friend is also pretty conscious of what she eats so I didn't feel bad asking to skip the naan (although I love naan and it was a sad thing not to have some to sop up the paneer). I also didn't eat until I needed to be rolled out of the restaurant, so it helped to order less, eat slowly and stop when I was full.

I mentioned on Friday that yesterday was my first grocery since starting this thing. I loooove grocery shopping. I feel like a chef carefully choosing her ingredients to create with and savour. That sounded super corny, but I shamelessly love food, so whatever. Here is a summary of what I got:

- low-fat plain yogurt, 2 tubs
- eggs
- whole grain bread, 2 loaves
- loads of bananas
- basil and cilantro
- massive tub of baby spinach
- baby carrots, cucumbers, red peppers and snap peas (for snacks)
- zucchini
- almond milk (2 containers of plain, 2 of vanilla and 2 of chocolate, all unsweetened) (they were on sale)
- 1% milk
- strawberries, 2 pints
- blueberries, 1 pint
- clubpack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- bits of fresh salmon (the bits that they can't sell as whole fillets or pieces)
- avocados, 5
- PC Blue Menu Granola Boost with Protein (OH. MY. GOD. This stuff tastes so good, and is meant as  a supplement to yogurt or milk. It's addictive straight out of the bag so I'll have to be careful but my dear god this stuff is delicious)

I then made a trip to one of my favourites places, Bulk Barn. I wanted to stock up on smoothie ingredients, bulk whole grains and other organic/whole ingredients for cooking. My haul:

- organic coconut oil
- tahini
- kamut flakes
- kasha
- chia seeds
- flaxseed oil
- wild rice blend
- dry chickpeas
- quinoa
- steel-cut oats
- large oats
- whey protein powder
- Vega One Berries Nutritional Shake trial size

To me the above ingredients scream healthy and I can't wait to use them. I'll keep you posted!