Five Friday Favorites

It is finally Friday! WOOHOO! This week and next week are so insanely busy for me, so I am thanking the Lord I made it to the weekend.

I have some new favs this week:

Artic Zero strawberry ice cream. I tried Artic Zero products last year and was not a fan; however, I saw the strawberry flavor and decided to try it. This WHOLE pint was only 135 calories  (0f, 24c, 13.6p).

Angie’s sweet cupcake popcorn! Delicious!! It was heaven, but I foresee this as being dangerous. The serving size is not spectacular but if you have the extra room in your diet for a treat it is worth it! For 28g it is 140 calories (8f, 19c, 1p).

My new FitBit Charge! Last week I dropped my FitBit outside then continued to drive over it…. When I found it, it was frozen and was not holding a charge. My boyfriend has the charge and LOVES it do I decided to upgrade. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.

Brownies from the Brownie Guy! If you have a little money to spare right now order these. I promise you they will be the best healthy brownie you have ever put in your mouth!!!! The wait list is 3-4 weeks because he has so many orders coming in. Last week he had 90,000 DOZEN orders. He is a one man show working with one oven out of his kitchen. He is a personal trainer, so he uses high-quality ingredients that come out tasting like heaven. One brownie is 156 calories (2.8f, 11.1c, 20p). Each bite is moist and there are chocolate chunks. Oh my! Part of me wants to share these with people but the other part of me wants to hide them ;) They are about $1.45/brownie. So a little spend but so worth it!

I love this shirt that says, ‘MODERN.' (It is on sale at Jcrew right now!) I am living a very modern life and one of my favorite things this week was realizing the amazing friends I have! I was able to go out for my good friend, Lauren’s 21st. My bestie from college, Allie and I were able to FaceTime about her signing up for her FIRST half marathon with me in August. My lovely BFF Katie, who is in London and I were able to talk a little. Catherine and I hardly get to talk, but when we do it means so much – even if our texts are ‘how is your week going? Where are you struggling?’, they mean so much. Then there are friends that I have reconnected with over the past few months, and I do not talk to them much but just FB messaging them makes my heart dance; I am talking to you Megan! Ah! This world is a lovely place to live in, and I am feeling blessed.

Workout Wednesday

It has been a hot minute since I have done a W.O.W. post! It is tricky to take pictures and videos of myself because I know longer live with someone who will take videos or pictures of me.

BUTTT… I started using the self – timer and it is working pretty well.

Here is a little TOTAL BODY workout –

Squats – 15

Side dips – 15 each side

Tricep extension – 15

Front raises – 15

Side raises – 15

Push ups – 15

Hip thrusts - 15

Weighted bridges – 15

Cherry pickers with weight – 15

Plank – 1 minute

REPEAT TWICE! Regarding which weight to use for each exercise: I recommend 10 - 15 lbs. for most exercises. At my apartment I only have 12 and 20 pound weights, I used 12 lbs. and it still was a fabulous workout!

Life

So this past week I have NOT stuck to my macros. I was crazy busy and more than once there was no way to be prepared. I tried, I really did!

So I am sitting at $0 in my fun jar. And I am struggling eating within my calorie range. Part of me thinks I need to up my macros and go from ‘cutting’ to ‘maintaining’. You are only supposed to ‘cut’ (lose weight) for up to 3-5 months. Well my body has technically been in a cut since August. Yikes.

I am going to talk with the gal who did my macros the past two times and figure something out.

In the mean time I have TWO goals to hit this week! HIT MY MACROS and WOKROUT 6 DAYS. I know the chart says 7, but I only believe in 6 days without a break in there!

When I make my double goal I will be putting in $20!

Five Friday Favorites

I thought it would be fun to share five of my favorite things I have been obsessed with lately! Some of these are double posted from my IG account.

Fairlife Milk – I got the chocolate flavor from Super Target, and it was incredible. It is so rich and creamy, but has half the sugar regular chocolate milk does and DOUBLE the protein! Fairlife products are all about treating the cows right; they have zero added hormones.

Cauliflower Crisps – I posted about this last week, and they are amazing. I have made them four out of the last seven days.. So heavenly amazing and they taste like fries.

Flatout Pizza – I love Flatout products. I find them at Costco or Super Target. They have amazing wraps, sandwiches and now pizza! For one of those whole pizzas, it is only 120 calories, winning!

Starburst Juicy Fruit Gum – Alright, gum gets some bad rep. People complain there is a lot of added junk to gum. I get it. But to me eating a piece (or even better only a half) is a lot better than eating a candy bar! This gum is amazing, you can blow bubbles, and the flavor lasts longer than two minutes.

Birthday Lean Bar – I found mine at GNC, and it is comparable to a Rice Krispy bar. It is SO flipping good. I had a friend buy them, and she and her boyfriend love them too. They do not taste healthy or protein-y.

If you try any of this stuff, let me know your thoughts :)

High School Days

Some people praise the Lord the minute they graduate high school. There are no more teachers chasing you around asking you to complete an assignment, no more lunch room food and dear heavens no more dress code telling me I cannot wear a baseball cap to cover up my 3 day old hair.

 

Halloween 2009 'workout barbie'
(It did not really suit me well back then, but
maybe I will be this Halloween 2015 ;))

Spring Break 2012 of my senior year!
With my high school best friend, Courtney.

All rules aside I loved high school. I was getting by without putting hours of effort into my homework. I played hockey with some super great people. I had sleepovers on school nights with my friends. I was able to go to the McDonalds drive thru for breakfast and get a substantial, greasy, fattening meal that held me over until lunch.... (Yeah, I know, looking back I am embarrassed)

Hockey pictures fall of my senior year (2011). I was never the best at
hockey, but I always had fun playing.

Dropping my sister off at college August 2010.

Even though I was overweight, I never suffered from any bullying. And if I was bullied, they did a heck of a good job doing it behind my back. I like to think I was nice to everyone around me and because of that no one was mean to me. I was friends with a lot of unique people that all hung out in different social crowds.  Of course, I had my primary friend group but I had tons of other friends too. It was a fun time!

Halloween with Catherine and Katie - 2011 I believe. 

A miserably hot, July trip to Florida with my mom, sister, my sisters
friend and my foreign exchange student. I do not remember a ton from this trip
except that I sweat like PIG.

I had a lot of smiles in high school and I made many memories. If I had to change one thing about high school it would be to not give a shit what Bobby, Suzzy or Sammy thought of me. I cared too much about what others thought, and I believe it held me back from a lot of things.

Finally! We did it. These were four of my best friends throughout
high school… Graduation day, June 2012, I felt so proud!

Katie and I celebrating miss Catherine
at her graduation party. It was the middle of June and
HOT. But I wore pants because I did not feel comfortable
in shorts. Sigh. These are the things I never want to struggle with again. 

Baked Cauliflower

Awhile back I saw baked cauliflower and I wanted to try it. Then I had a dream and I knew that was a sign that I needed to go to the store to get some cauliflower (lately I have been dreaming of cauliflower in my sleep, totally normal, right?).

All of the recipes I looked up online called for some oil. I did not have oil and to save some calories I decided not to use any. It was still delicious!

Super easy: set oven to 450*, clean and cut cauliflower, put on greased pan, place cauliflower on pan, season with your choice of spices (I did pepper, chili powder and sea salt), bake for 18 minutes!!

I of course added a little ketchup. It was very tasty and you might even get away with it tasting like fries for your kids ;)