Okay, daylight savings time totally kicked my butt this week. I am resolving to get back on track tomorrow! Despite the hairy time change and the grumbling it brought, I am still incredibly blessed. These are a few of my favorite things this week!
#5: Fitness Trackers - My Fitness Pal
This is the 12th week of my weight lifting journey, and I really enjoy my workouts. HOWEVER, I fell prey to the mentality that I can eat anything because I exercise. It’s so easy to use this excuse to talk myself into pie, brownies, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese!
I hop on the scale every Wednesday and was shocked to see the number this week. It was 8 more pounds than what I had started at in January. Granted, weight can fluctuate 5-6 lbs in a single day depending on water and salt you might be retaining.
Moreover, weight lifting is not a weight loss oriented exercise; in fact, the opposite typically happens. Muscle weighs more than fat. So even though my pants fit better and my arms are more toned, I’m more dense! Like a burrito :-p
With this in mind, I cracked down on my eating habits. That sounds harsher than it actually was, but I became vastly more aware of my caloric intake. I use the app MyFitnessPal which is developed by Under Armour and works with MapMyRun to synchronize workouts. Both are free and extremely helpful for calorie and fitness tracking.
It turns out my leg day and upper body workouts burn over 500 calories each AND are only 40 minutes long! I was able to calculate this in MyFitnessPal! Another one of the fantastic features of MyFitnessPal is that you can import recipes into it or manually enter them. I am obsessed with this.
This past week I have tried to stay around 1800 calories consumed per day and 2300 calories burned per day. My macro breakdown prior to this realization was heavy on calories from fat. Now I am making a very conscious effort to stick to 50% calories from carbs, 30% from fat, and 20% from protein, so you’ll probably see a lot more health-conscious recipes on the blog!
#4: Trader Joe's Chocolate Mousse Eggs
Photo Credit: Audrey Michels / MASHED
My husband, Jim, has always been a little wary of Trader Joe’s. I think he thinks it’s too hippie and rustic. Wait–I just asked him what he dislikes about it and he said, “It seems so…hipster.” There ya go.
Thus I have to be sneaky. I have been slipping in little bits of my beloved grocery store to him since we started dating, and I’m pretty sure he actually loves it, just as long as he doesn’t know it’s Trader Joe’s.
His (and my! and Joe’s!) most newfound gem at Trader Joe’s are the chocolate mousse eggs. They’re like gourmet snack cakes and they are heavenly!!!!
I think I might play around in the kitchen today and attempt to make these beautiful mousse cakes and homemade Peeps. I just love Sundays.
#3: BROOKS BROTHERS ANCHOR SWEATER
Jim and I try to have a date night once a month, and yesterday, I desperately wanted to get out in the nice weather. So, we traipsed off to the outlet mall and I got to stop in all of my favorite shops. Jim is a very good husband and patiently waited for me as I tried on dozens of clothes, and then gave me feedback on each outfit.
I scored this awesome nautical sweater from Brooks Brothers on super sale! I love Brooks Brothers. They’re so timeless and classic.
I am seriously digging on the coastal style and really trying to hone in on my specific style this year. Jim has a heavy influence on my fashion sense, actually. I have 17 turtlenecks in every color imaginable because he insists I look nice in them! But now that it’s getting warmer, I’m happily shifting into more New England-y stripes and pastels.
Our date night continued to a local burger spot where we enjoyed sodas, shakes, and burgers–very 1950’s and very us. Then we came home, snuggled up on the couch, and dozed off watched Bringing Up Baby. A perfect date night with my wonderful husband!
#2: Disconnecting from Social Media
I took a much needed break from social media this week. I think we get bombarded with so much information that it is both overwhelming and detrimental to our sense of self worth. Especially for myself, following other food bloggers, it’s difficult to avoid comparing my blog to theirs.
So I took a step back, removed the apps from my phones, and didn’t log in for a few days. Not only did I feel better emotionally, but also my attention span increased significantly. To be honest, social media doesn’t really add value to my life. It’s great for promoting my recipes, but I don’t gain very much scrolling through the perfectly edited images of other people’s lives.
Jim actually reminded me of an essay I wrote a few years ago about this specific topic, and it was just the right reminder I needed about being true to myself. In fact, I posted it in an old blog I started in 2014. Maybe I’ll revamp and revitalize it.
Along those same lines, I’ve been toying with the idea of either expanding my current blog to be more about my lifestyle or starting a new one where I’d cover other things I’m interested in besides food! I’d cover health and nutrition, books, social commentary, and fashion. I’ll keep you posted on where this goes!
#1: My husband, Jim
I won the husband lottery when I married Jim. Seriously, I am the luckiest girl in the world. Jim is a pillar of love, stability, and support. He takes care of every house-related issue and then makes time to be an attentive and loving spouse. He empties the dishwasher, gives me daily back rubs, and knows everything about movie producers and baseball players. He’s the emblem of coolness.
Recently, we had a plumbing issue with our powder room and my dear husband worked tirelessly to fix it. Quite the handyman. He also replaced my headlamp in my car, and when I wrote a new exercise program, he did it with me. He’s always up to date on my blog and will let me take dozens of photos of him until I get just the right lighting.
He also has very cool interests and hobbies, and he has the best memory of anyone I’ve ever met. He’s written several short stories, and now he’s working on his second screenplay. He’s a master at Romantic music like Chopin and Beethoven, though Schubert is his favorite. Play any song from the 1970’s and he can tell you who wrote it and sang it. He can identify classical music by composer, title, key, and catalogue number. Biblical references? He could tell you any of them. Snowy owls, Walt Disney, Martin Scorsese? He’s the world renowned scholar.
Jim simply amazes me. He is kind, thoughtful, and hilarious. I am beyond blessed to get to spend my life with this incredible man. I love him to pieces!
And to all the ladies out there, I would like to add that my incredibly handsome and kind husband has an identical twin! 🙂 Joe and Jim are very similar in appearance and personality, and Joe is seriously one of the best people I know. I am extremely fortunate to have him in my life!
Oh this is so beautiful! Such a nice tribute.