Monday, April 30, 2012

Progress Pic!

Hello! 20 days left and I am feeling good! Down to 130.2! I can't tell you how amazing it feels to see that number on the scale.
In the past 10 years, I have resolved to get to my goal weight so many times and in training for this competition I have finally reached it. It feels so great to accomplish my goal! I was feeling great this morning after my cardio so I decided to snap a quick "bathroom" pic to show you guys where I'm at. Not bikini, of course, you'll have to wait till May 19th for that! :-)

Saturday, April 28, 2012

How I'm Doing

I haven't updated this blog in awhile, I'm sorry. It's for 2 reasons:
1. I have no time. Between training and work and food prep, there's no time left to blog!
2. I am tired.

These 2 reasons pretty much sum up my life right now. Is it easy? No. Is it fun? Not anymore. 3 weeks out and things are getting pretty serious! I have to keep my mental state in a good place. All I'm trying to do is stay on path, take care of myself and get through my day. My favourite part of the day right now is getting to eat my sweet potatoes.

Today has been a hard day. When it feels that way I try to think of all the things I'm grateful for. A body that can handle this. The food that I need to get my body into "bikini competitor" mode. An amazing supportive husband. A kick ass trainer, amazing friends, great family, understanding boss, and people who just randomly tell me I look great when I feel like I want to take a nap on the treadmill. All these amazing people are what's keeping me going.
That, and the sweet potatoes.

xoxo,
Taren

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Milestone!

This morning I woke up and weighed in at 131.8. I stood there with my mouth open staring at the scale. This means since January, in 3.5 months, I've lost 20lbs total.
Totally a milestone worth celebrating.
But not with cake.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A Weekend in iPhone Pics

My Easter Outfit!
Flowers my MIL received from our sweet Rosie!
sneak peek of the new place!
the easter bunny brought me a chapters card, this is the book I got! (I kept the card hehe)
Delicious looking shakes from my work (that I can't drink lol)
Beautiful newer area of Pitt Meadows (my hometown!)

New venue in Pitt Meadows, my friends are getting married there in November!
So cute!! Buttons are a childhood favourite of Leigh's in England!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Defining Moments and Donut Meltdowns

Yesterday was a physically hard day. I did my morning cardio at the gym and had my food in the fridge there. Of course I totally spaced and forgot it there and went off to work. So my day was a little off. I still stuck to the plan, I had protein powder in my bag and grabbed some grilled chicken and salad from a nearby restaurant.
Because I didn't have my food and supplements with me, I felt quite off.
So later on, I went to meet up with my girlfriends for an Ikea trip, I decided I needed a coffee. I decided to go inside and order because the drive thru at this location of Tim Hortons was a weird angle and I'm always worried I'm going to wipe out a mirror or something with my luck.

This is where I had my mini-meltdown. Don't worry, it was only on the inside. I was so sleepy and for some reason the person in front of me's order was taking sooo long. So I had plenty of time to look at all the carb-ey stuff in the display case. Keep in mind my diet is QUITE low carb at the moment.

So I'm waiting in the line, and I notice they have my absolute favourite donuts, (Strawberry Vanilla, with sprinkles) the best bagels ever (asiago and sundried tomato) AND my favourite potato bacon soup. STILL waiting to order my coffee. It was TORTURE. I wanted to scream "I just want my freaking coffee with Splenda, let me outta here!!"

Finally I got my coffee, and got the hell out of there. Don't get me wrong, I thought about cheating. I thought about how I'd just worked out and what harm would a little donut do. I was thinking about it and this is what defines how we diet these days. We are faced with temptation when we don't expect it and we either stay strong or give in. Don't get me wrong, I think if you love donuts, you should have them once in awhile for a treat. A few of my cheat meals have ended in driving to the one and only Krispy Kreme in the lower mainland with my hubby. Like I've said before, having them planned out makes me not feel guilty for indulging. If I were to give in on my non-planned cheat day and scarf down a donut in the car, I would feel guilty and crappy no matter what way I played it in my head.

So I guess the moral of the story is, try to avoid temptation if you want to stay on track. I know I'll be using the drive thru for my coffee from now on. If I can't see the donuts and bagels, I won't even think about them. Why make life harder on myself? I'm learning what triggers me and it helps a lot. You can read all the books you want but you need to find out how your body works and what works best for you. What triggers your cheating?

Make it worth it!!

xoxo,
Taren

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Apple Pie Protein Shake

Technically, apples are not on my meal plan. I usually have berries with my shake. My breakfast at the moment is basically a protein shake with my oats thrown in. I am LOVING this right now. It's so easy to throw together at home or at the gym (since I work there, no one cares if I use the blender) after my morning cardio.

So normally my shake is frozen strawberries, oats, and chocolate protein powder. This is a great time to get your flaxseed/omega oils in too. This shake is really filling and really a complete breakfast with the oil. Fats, carbs, protein, nutrition.

Today, I got a little creative.



Apple Pie Protein Shake

  • 1 small apple or 1/2 large apple (cut in smaller chunks to make it easier on your blender)
  • 1/2 cup rolled or instant oats
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder

And that's it!

What's your favourite protein shake recipe?

xoxo,
Taren

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Kale Chips

Kale chips.

Where have you been all my life?

I'm a chip girl. Always have been. I love chips and salsa, ketchup chips...pretty much any kind of chips. I've come to prefer the baked kind of but even those aren't health enough to have on a daily basis.
These kale chips are.
Take a bunch of dry kale, rip it up into small peices (it shrinks a lot though)
Spray pan (or 2. Make 2 pans, this stuff goes fast) with cooking spray or olive oil spray.
Side note: This tool is awesome.
Back to the kale chips.
Arrange the kale peices aka future delicious chips on the tray. Spray lightly with olive oil.

Now come your seasonings. Do you realise how UNLIMITED your options are?!

Sea Salt: sprinkle with sea salt.
Sea Salt and Pepper:  sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
Parmesan Chips: sprinkle with sea salt.
Ranch:  sprinkle with 1/4  of a packet of ranch seasoning (the dry kind)
Sea Salt and Lemon Juice: Sprinkle with sea salt and squeeze lemon juice and/or lemon zest.
Taco: Sprinkle with homemade or from a packet (preferable low sodium) taco seasoning.

These little green guys are SO addicting. Make two trays. Trust me.

xoxo,
Taren

Sunday, April 1, 2012

7 Weeks


As of Saturday, I am officially 7 weeks out. I'm thinking a lot of things right now. The first is, how the hell am I going to pull this off? The 2nd is, how the hell have I pulled this off so far?

Starting Weight was 151.5 (approx) December 31, 2011
Current Weight is 134.4

In 3 full months, I have lost 17 lbs. How have I actually come this far, and how will I keep going? I have no idea how I've managed this far. Let me give you a little bit of background on my life.

I have a husband.
I work at a gym part time, in a nutrition store part time (closer to full time, 30 hours a week), I am building up a personal training business, helping my husband build a DJ business while he works full time, and prepping for a fitness competition which means 1-2.5 hours a day in the gym 6 days a week and a VERY strict diet.

All while living in a bedroom in my in-laws home with all my stuff in laundry baskets. We've been here for about 5 weeks, we are waiting for our apartment to be ready to move into. I have not seen my blender in 5 or 6 weeks. I forget half the clothes I own.

If you would have told me that I have come this far with this much stuff going on in my life, I would have laughed. No, I'm the type of person that shuts everything else down to concentrate on this one thing. Except this time, I can't afford to do that. Everything that's going on is too important to be put aside. Yet I'm still going. I am actually shocking myself.

wake up in the morning and tell myself I can do this, just get dressed and get in the car. Just drive to the gym. Just go home and get ready. Just make your food for the day. Just go to work. Just go to the gym. Just go home and have a nice bath. Just go home and snuggle with my hubby. Just fall asleep and do it all again tomorrow.

This is how I've pulled it off.

By putting ONE foot in front of the other.

Hmm. How about that.

xoxo,
Taren

Keds, Hunger Games and Other Randomness

Random mini updates on what's going on in my little world:


I got new shoes.




I was concerned I could not pull these off, so I got an extremely cheap knock off version. Did you know Keds are like $50 now? I haven't decided if I'm pulling them off yet. But they are quite comfy and they work for my current crazy lifestyle.


Leigh and I are also moving into a new place. After a few awesome apartments that felt out of our hands, I am hesitant to even talk about it until I hold the key in my hand. More about that soon. But I am very excited and I will say it's like a dream apartment for me.


Hunger Games.


Oh how I tried to resist this bandwagon. First of all, I had heard the basis for the book series and it did not sound like my thing at all. Yet I kept hearing how amazing they were. How is it possible that something that sounded like an awful world could be so popular? One of my favorite authors, Jennifer Lancaster, described how she had the book in her bag out for dinner at a restaurant and actually was hiding the book under the table because she was dying to know what happened. Then the movie came out and everyone loved it. I had nothing good to read. So I gave in.
It's been 24 hours, I've started and finished the 1st book, I'm halfway through the 2nd and I'm guessing I'll be done the whole serious and begging someone to see the movie with me by Monday night. What a sell out. :-P


In the fitness aspect of my life:


Hmm lets see. A lot of chicken. A lot of water. A LOT of cardio. And quite a bit of getting my butt kicked by my trainer. So there's that.


It has occurred to me that while I've always talked about "healthy" things and "fitness" things, it might get annoying to people to read about my competition prep. So I've created a second blog to document that. If you'd like to to read that, go here.




That's all for now, but I promise I won't wait two weeks to blog again! :-)


xoxo,
Taren