Feel Good Friday: PIZZA.

Hey! I'm feeling good this Friday. How about you?

My exercise for the day was my classic Bob Harper cardio + then I tried the P90X ab ripper X. Geez. I'm definitely gonna be feeling that tomorrow.

Diet was okay...I "saved up" my calories for dinner because for days now I have been craving pizza. Here comes the "Feel Good Friday" part:
....I went out to dinner and ordered a thin/wheat crust margherita pizza.

It was pretty yummy! But the bad part is, I felt so guilty while I was eating it that I didn't really enjoy it very much :( I just kept thinking about how good it felt to see lower numbers each day on the scale and how this pizza might ruin everything!! But, realistically, even after eating it, there's no way I took in more calories than I burned today. This pizza was literally the healthiest possible pizza I could've ordered, too. I mean...thin crust. Wheat crust. No sauce. Tomatoes and basil. Like, calm down, Ellen. Yeesh. Live a little. ;)

I think that's one of the things I'm going to need to work on if I really want to make this my lifestyle. For me, it takes a lot of commitment and energy to fully devote myself to making healthy decisions every single day. My brain goes into panic mode when I start to actually enjoy a food I'm eating. (Weird.)

Yes, it's important to make healthy decisions every day. Yes, it's vital to watch how much you eat and the quality of the foods you're putting into your body. BUT. Life is freakin' short. I wanna be thin as much as the next girl, but I'm not willing to give up Mother Bear's and Benihana and Dairy Queen and Kraft mac'n'cheese for the rest of my life! I guess this goes back to my earlier point about cheat meals. Plan 'em out. Say, hell yes I'm getting a dilly bar tonight, but maybe that means I'm eating a grilled chicken salad for dinner first instead of that 800 calorie chicken tender basket. Y'know? I, ELLEN, THOROUGHLY ENJOY PIZZA. That's my confession. And you can bet your sweet behind that I am going to eat pizza this summer. And also ice cream. And some other stuff that's bad for me. And I'm still going to lose weight because I can control myself and not go overboard!

The hardest part for me is the guilt. So today, I'm reminding myself that every day can't be all protein shakes and celery. Moderation. Planning. Indulging. All of those can be a part of my healthy lifestyle :)

-Ellen

P.S. If you notice, my live weight loss update in the right sidebar says that I'm down 4 pounds! Apparently yesterday morning I was full of water and sodium 'cause it said I was only down 3, but I measured again today and my new update is more accurate. Yay!

Tasty Tuesday: Healthy Choices at Restaurants

Hi! Gotta make this post quick because I have a 4 page paper to write about The Odyssey...Sigh.

Tonight I just wanted to talk about making healthy choices at restaurants! I have so many favorite restaurants and I love to go out to eat, so I didn't want to completely remove that from my lifestyle. Luckily, most menus contain at least one item that is good for your health! Key words: Grilled, whole wheat, lean portion, leafy greens, etc. If nothing really looks healthy, try to customize. For example, Macaroni Grill has a build-your-own pasta option. Perfect. You can have a bowl of pasta while making sure not to go overboard with crazy sauces and cheese. Or just ask for your food to be prepared with less butter/grease and salad dressing can always be ordered on the side!

Josh and I went to a local grill for a lovely dinner tonight. They have a super huge menu, so I had a ton of options! I went with an 8 oz. grilled chicken breast, asparagus, and a small serving of smashed potatoes. Delish.

I succeeded in my goal to add some more protein to my diet today!

Yeah, I know. Not too impressive. BUT at least it's better than the 15-20% protein I've been getting up until today.

That's about all the time I have!! Gotta get crackin. Love summer school....so....much....

Have a great evening!
-Ellen

Feel Good Friday: Dinner Date

Today I'm going on a dinner date with my dad! We're going to an awesome steakhouse that I haven't tried before, so I'm really excited! I know that Feel Good Friday is supposed to be about indulging in things other than food, but can't food be involved juuuust a little bit? ;) Plus, it's more about spending some quality time with my dad anyway.

I think one of the keys to maintaining a healthy diet is to plan your cheat meals. Nobody is perfect. Everyone likes to eat yummy food every once in a while. So, if I want to go out to dinner with my dad and order a filet mignon, it's totally fine, as long as I don't go overboard and add on mashed potatoes, broccoli au gratin, Bearnaise sauce, and chocolate lava cake. (May or may not have just started drooling while typing that.) Just a little prep work is all that's required to make sure my treat doesn't ruin my progress.

To prepare for my 333 calorie, 40g protein, fatty, delicious steak, I did a little extra cardio this morning (Just 10 extra minutes) and did the full arms+abs workouts from the "Summer Health Plan'' I posted about earlier. (This one!) Until today I've only been doing half of each workout, and even that was kinda tough. But today I pushed myself and completed the whole thing. (Over 50 pushups...?? Yikes.) Hopefully I'll be feeling that tomorrow! In other news:

 Image from the Chiquita Banana website...Mine wasn't that pretty ;)

I also made this awesome protein shake for breakfast and thought I'd share the recipe! I know it's not Tasty Tuesday, but why not make every day a little tastier? :) I adapted the original recipe by only using half of the ingredients so it would all fit in my Magic Bullet blender. Still really filling and only about 200 calories! Enjoy:

• 1   whole Banana
• 1   cup Ice
• 1/6   cup Yogurt - I used Chobani Greek, apple cinnamon flavor
• 1/4   cup Cooked oatmeal - I used Quaker instant oats, maple & brown sugar Heart Healthy flavor 
• 1/6   cup Almonds

 Blend together and enjoy! (Click here for link to original recipe)

Have a fabulous Friday and do something that makes you feel good!!
-Ellen :)

Workout Wednesday: Bob & Jillian

Yeah. That's what I looked like after starting my new cardio program yesterday. (Attractive.)

Josh got me this DVD and some other awesome workout stuff, so I decided to try it out! I would definitely recommend this program to anyone looking to mix up their cardio workouts! It comes with three different levels to try. The first is 20 minutes and the other two are 10 minutes each. I did the first two (30 minutes total) and was totally wiped! Both were a full body cardio workout and included jumproping, lunges, weights, high-knees, and all kinds of other crazy stuff. Plus, it's kind of fun (at least for dorks like me) to pretend like the real Bob Harper & Jillian Michaels are training you. In my opinion, ANYTHING is better than running on the treadmill. So it was fun to try a new cardio program that gave me a great, calorie-crushing workout, yet didn't make me hate my life. And some of the past Biggest Loser contestants are  in the video, which, to me, is very motivational. If they can do it, so can I!

In other news, I tried quinoa today. Weird stuff. It doesn't taste like anything. I added some sauteed asparagus and mushrooms, plus a dash of soy sauce, and it wasn't half bad. Will I ever truly enjoy health food...? We'll see.

Have a wonderful Wednesday :)
-Ellen

Tasty Tuesday: Oatmeal-Banana Pancake

Today I attempted to make a single serving oatmeal-banana pancake for breakfast. Key word: Attempted.

 

Beautiful, right?

I made it according to the directions, but accidentally forgot the baking powder. That being said, I don't really think even baking powder could have saved my little monstrosity of a pancake...

 The egg whites didn't really combine into the batter, as you can see in the photo. Also, one side was fairly dark (almost burnt) and the other side was kinda mushy. BUT all-in-all, it was atleast edible. I finished the whole thing, and it really wasn't that bad! Definitely a healthy and diet-friendly breakfast. Measures in at around 200 calories. Great before a workout.

The banana slices on top really helped. Next time I try this recipe I will make sure to follow the instructions. Also, I will cook it at a lower heat, making sure to check on it more often to prevent burning/under-cooking!

The original recipe can be found here: Click here!

1/4 cup instant oatmeal
1/4 cup egg substitute (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 of a really really ripe banana, mashed
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 packet of sweetener
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water, milk, or juice

Instructions: Mix everything together and pour into a non-stick skillet. Cook on medium-low heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side. I sliced up the other half of the banana and added the banana slices on top of the pancake!

Good luck and happy eating :)
-Ellen