check in time.

today i am going to check in on my spring cleaning goals.. even though spring still hasn’t decided to make it’s debut here in utah.

i will keep thinking warm thoughts and count down my days until palm springs. (ten days, by the way.)

where was i? oh yeah. goal checking in.  making a list of goals is only half the battle (and a hefty half, at that).  the other half is actually achieving those goals.  checking in on goals is a good way to make sure to achieve them.

here are my goals (from this post), in all their spring cleaning glory:

1. drink a gallon of water daily
2. eat at least 125 grams of protein daily—spacing it out at each meal
3. take all my vitamins & supplements regularly
4. stick to a workout schedule
5. stop grabbing handful after handful of random stuff when i am at home just because it is there and i am bored (peanut butter filled pretzels, cereal, mary’s crackers, dark chocolate)
6. don’t eat while driving (i swear this is my downfall—when i eat my snack in the car i feel like i didn’t eat a snack at all)

let’s talk about it!

#1: drink a gallon of water daily.

this gets a big HUGE check mark! sometimes (on bikram days) i get more than a gallon. my contigo water bottles are my saving grace and the only reason i am actually able to consume enough water each day. love them.

#2: eat at least 125 grams of protein daily.

i haven’t been counting my grams, but i have been making sure to eat body for life style.. which balances carbs with protein.. so i know i have been hitting my protein goals each day. plus, i can feel it and see it.  my body likes protein and when i get enough of it, it shows.

#3: take vitamins + supplements regularly.

i have been doing really good with this! today i forgot to take them, but marshall was still at home, so i called him and he brought them to me. what a guy.  you may recall my vitamins and supplements post where i talked about what i take.  i have been religiously taking CLA, a multivitamin, glutamine and a probiotic.  i have laxed off on the fish oil.. partially because i am lazy and partially because i have been eating fish 2-3 times a week.  i stopped taking my vitamin B because i heard/learned from you guys that if you take too much of a vitamin, your body just pees it out and it is wasted.  because i get plenty of vitamin B already, i just picture money going down the toilet any time i do take it without needing to.. so i stopped that one.  i haven’t been taking my calcium or fiber supplements for the past week because they go against my no sugar/sweetener added challenge.. so i have had to make sure i get these nutrients through food. not a hard task.

i did skip my CLA for almost a whole week because i am flighty.. and my abdomen could totally tell. i really think CLA works wonders for keeping a flat belly!

#4: stick to a workout schedule.

YEP! started insanity on april 3rd and haven’t missed a single day! and i have done all but 3 of the workouts in the morning, which is unheard of for me. i also started going to bikram yoga 3x a week.  my month pass expired today, so i have to start new one and get going again.. i will probably wait until after my trip to palm springs to do this.. so i can get the most for my money.  i have also started lifting weights with marshall. i haven’t mentioned this yet, because i have actually only gone twice.  last saturday we did biceps + triceps and yesterday we did shoulders.  i am so sore! he is a great motivator and shows me the ropes, so i am going to continue to lift with him at the gym when i am not too busy.  not only is it awesome for my muscles.. it’s great quality time.

#5: no more handfuls of random food.

this has been ten MILLION times better! upon setting my goals, i immediately made the shift of not grabbing things like peanut butter pretzels and chocolate covered almonds, but i was still grabbing cereal and granola handfuls. i slowly stopped doing that, but still would be caught every now and again with my hand in the love crunch granola box.  when i started my no sugar added challenge, the handfuls totally stopped. completely. why? because none of the handfuls of things i was eating were allowed during my challenge! this challenge was wonderful for breaking my grabby hands habit.

#6: don’t eat while driving.

i don’t. plain and simple. i stopped and i am so happy about it.  OH.. except this morning, i was running late for work. sooo.. i ate half my breakfast at home and the rest on the road. but this isn’t the type of eating while driving i am talking about.  i used to keep bars in my car and i would eat them while i drove (for my snack) and it always felt like i never had a proper snack because it was always inhaled on the go.  now when it is time for a snack, i sit down and eat it and acknowledge it.  this morning’s oats on the go were simply out of necessity.. i had to be on time and i wasn’t throwing them out!

speaking of those oats on the go.. how about i show them to you?

breakfast: 1/2 cup european hot cereal + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder.

“european hot cereal” is sunflower market’s fancy way of saying rolled oats, raisins, rolled dates and slivered almonds. but mostly oats. it is found in their bulk bins and it’s delicious. i love it cold or hot.. but today i went with hot because i was fuh-reezing. come on, summertime!

i cooked the fancy oats in a cup of water and added cinnamon and protein powder at the end.  i sprinkled a bit of uncooked cereal on top just so you could see what it was all about.. since the bits and pieces i had cooked were all hiding on the inside.

i did cool these off after the photo.  i used a small splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. i love that stuff.

lunch: leftover guilt free creamy pasta + spaghetti squash.

not the most glamorous photo, as i ate lunch at my desk. what else is new?

i didn’t have much pasta leftover (marshall is a big eater!).. so i amped it up with spaghetti squash. i do this all the time and i LOVE the technique. spaghetti squash adds volume, flavor and nutrition to any meal.  okay, maybe not any meal, as i wouldn’t put it on my pancakes.. but you get my drift.

[insert bikram yoga class here.]

bikram was lovely. i missed my class over the weekend and my body needed the hot room and relaxing postures. who the hell am i? i used to swear i would never do yoga, now i am addicted.

made it home and immediately snacked. well.. post-shower.

snack: plain chobani + fresh strawberries.

keeping in line with my no added sugar challenge when and where possible, i had this delicious sweet treat for my afternoon snack. chobani and i have a love affair going on.. but that’s OK, because marshall has more rendezvous with chobani than i do.. so he can’t get mad at me for loving it so much.

is anyone else super stoked about how good strawberries are right now?! i can’t get enough. i REALLY can’t wait for peach season. my fave.

well.. now i am going to perform my wifely duties. you know, do some laundry, pay the bills, do the dishes.  oh, and make dinner.  luckily this is one duty i LOVE.. making dinner is one of my favorite things to do.

well, that’s all she wrote. tune in next time for more random rambles and possibly a giveaway for your furry friend. wink wink.

Qs~

1. do you have any goals you are currently working toward? what are they and how are they coming along?

2. what food can you not get enough of right now?

xo. janetha g.