Healthier Lifestyle - Part 2

If you missed part 1 yesterday you can read it here! Thank y'all so much for all of your sweet comments yesterday. Y'all are so sweet!
I told you yesterday I would share some things that I am eating now that are healthier options. 1st I downloaded My Fitness Pal, I had it before but quit using it and deleted it for more space on my IPhone so I had to download it again. I'm watching four things mostly with this app. Calories, sugar, sodium, and protein. It has helped me to keep it all logged, sort of like a food journal. There are days where I don't log it because I simply forget, as in this whole past week. 
Breakfast For breakfast I have been mixing it up between hard boiled egg whites and yogurt with cinnamon pita chips. Usually 3 days a week I will eat 4 hard boiled egg whites for breakfast. Surprisingly this holds me over better than the yogurt and cinnamon pita chips! I work 7:00-3:30 with two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. If I am having my egg whites for breakfast I will eat them around 7:30 and then not eat again until my lunch at 11:00, with lots of water in between. If I bring yogurt and cinnamon pita chips then I usually eat my pita chips around 8 and my yogurt around 10. I tried eating them both around 7:30  but was absolutely starving when my lunch rolled around at 11:00. I occasionally have a rice cake with peanut butter, too.
Both of these are VERY simple and require hardly any work. I boil my 4 eggs at night or in the afternoon when I get home from work for about 20-25 mins and then I put them in a zip lock back and keep in my refrigerator for the next day. The yogurt I buy and the cinnamon pita chips I bag the night before as well. I count out 7 chips as that is 1 serving size.
I got my pita chips from Kroger. 

The yogurt...this is the ONLY kind and I mean ONLY kind of yogurt I can eat without gagging and almost throwing it back up. Weird I know, but I have tried (and wasted money) trying other brands, and I have tried almost every other kind. Even the kids yogurt packs. Haley let me try this flavor and I LOVED it. I went to the store the next night and bought some. I even got brave and tried the blueberry and banana cream one. I seriously want to lick the little bowl it comes in because it's SO good! The banana one tastes just like banana flavored pudding. AND only 80 calories AND 12 grams of PROTEIN. This is also a good snack for after you workout, too!

The rice cakes are good! Very good and a great choice for a small snack if you need something to hold you over until lunch or dinner. There are a lot of different flavors. My favorite is the caramel corn. 1 rice cake is only 50 calories! Add that with a 1tbsp of (Kroger brand) peanut butter at 90 calories or you can eat them plain!

So if you are doing the hard boiled eggs for breakfast 1 hard boiled egg white is 17 calories.  I eat 4 eggs, so 8 halves total: Calories: 68 Protein: 14 grams  Sugar: 0.9

If you go the yogurt and cinnamon pita chips route: 1 pack of yogurt is 80 calories and 7 cinnamon pita chips is 140 calories. Calories: 220,  Protein: 15 grams Sugar: 17 grams
If you go the rice cake and peanut butter route: 1 rice cake is 50 calories and 1 tbsp of peanut butter is 90 calories. So total: Calories: 140 Protein: 4.5 grams Sugar: 5 grams
Lunches I am still working on this. Trying to find new things that are healthy to give myself a variety. I get really burned out on stuff if I am continually eating it over and over again.
-A lot of days I have about 4 ounces of grilled chicken with brown rice and mixed vegetables. Some days I will do about 2-3 ounces of chicken and add 1 hard boiled egg white.
-Some days I got to Subway and get a 6 inch flat bread with black forest ham and turkey, American cheese, onions, green bell peppers, lettuce, and sometimes light mayo. If I get chips I get the Sun chips because they are actually better for you than baked chips. I usually don't get chips unless I am really hungry. I will usually bring a pack of yogurt to eat with this.
-About 2 times a week I go to Salads-N-More and have a fresh salad. I always add in green bell peppers, egg whites, and onions. I top it with their fat free Ranch, because I just can't eat a salad plain. 
-Some days I will bring homemade spaghetti. Mine is a little different and it is definitely a small portion. I fix mine without meat if it's only me, only because I don't want to take the time to cook the meat and I am only having a very small portion for lunch. I use wheat noodles and I find the lowest calorie and lowest sodium spaghetti sauce I can find. I measure 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top. And a huge thing for me...NO bread with this meal. This is really hard for me as I love love love garlic bread with spaghetti.
-Some days I will bring sandwich meat and some sea salt pita chips. (no bread) 
and that's about it for lunches so far. Still trying to find more options! If you have any send them my way!! :)
Dinner I am also still working on this. I eat A LOT of grilled chicken for dinner. As in 3-4 nights out of the week.
-I meet Matthew half way between here and home for dinner one night out of the week. We had Mexican this week so I got 1 grilled chicken and cheese quesadilla with lettuce on the side. I also didn't have as many chips and salsa as I used to (very hard to do!)

-I also have found A LOT of recipes from Julie over at her blog! 

-I usually have brown rice with mixed vegetables with my grilled chicken.

-Tuna is also something I like!


Dessert Brookside Chocolates. These are seriously the best! I usually eat 5 of these after lunch or dinner...or both :) I count out 5 and put in a zip lock back to take to work with me so I won't be tempted to snack on them all day, because they are THAT good! 

-Sometimes I have a yogurt for dessert after dinner 

-Smoothies. I haven't started making these but I plan on trying a few out over the next couple of weeks. Haley gave me her old blender so that I can make my own and I'm really excited! She has one that she likes to make in place of a strawberry milkshake. She uses vanilla almond milk, strawberries, and the strawberry cheesecake yogurt (the one I talked about at the beginning of this post) and blends them together. She usually adds some of her vanilla or strawberry protein powder in to it. She says it tastes just like a strawberry milkshake from sonic!

-Cinnamon Pita chips, those are so good and so addicting. I eat 1 serving size (7 chips) for dessert sometimes. I really like crunching these up and putting them in my yogurt.


Snacks -If I plan ahead I will bring an extra hard boiled egg white or two and snack on during my morning break of afternoon break. 

-Apple slices and peanut butter (A good snack to eat about an hour before I work out)

-Bananas and peanut butter (A good snack to eat about an hour before I work out)



I lied, I am going to have to break this up into three posts. Monday I will share with you some of our workouts so far and the workout plan she made for me for the next three months. Like I said, I am not an health expert by any means, and I still am learning. I still have the urge to drink a Mountain Dew when I walk by the drink machine in the break room or really want to stop when I drive by Chick-fil-A but I haven't (30 DAYS Y'ALL!!!!) 

Thank you again for all the encouragement! This weekend we are going FURNITURE shopping!! We picked a lot out online already but we are going to see it in person this weekend. And we bought our bedding set! We found a really good deal on a 12 piece set online at Bed Bath & Beyond and I am in love with it. Can't wait to show y'all next week! Happy Friday :)

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Healthier Lifestyle - Part 2

Healthier lifestyle - Part 1

Let me first say that,  1.) I am obviously not a health expert. 2.) I still fall a little short and have more than 1 cheat meal a week (y'all, this is HARD) 3.) I am still learning. Matthew and I talked last year some about when we would get engaged, married, our future, etc. Normal conversation for a couple who has been dating for awhile. While Matthew completely had me 100% convinced it would be sometime in the spring/summer of this year and then get married in late fall. I thought I had plenty of time to loose some of the extra weight I had gained when I moved out. I kept telling myself I would start once the new year got here some and then really hit it hard once early spring got here. LOL then December 22nd happened and we got ENGAGED! :) Literally one of the best nights and I literally started thinking about how I was going to have to start my better eating habits a lot sooner than I had planned. Seriously it's so funny trying to plan everything out when God has it all planned out already. My eating habits were awful. I never really cared what I was eating as long as it was good. We were eating out dinner anywhere between 3-4 nights a week. That is so embarrassing to put on here, but it's true. My breakfast usually consisted of a coke and a pop tart. Lunch was sometimes a hot pocket, sandwich or I would grab fast food. My snacks during the day would be pop corn or another coke from the vending machine. My biggest downfall was Chick-Fil-A and cokes. I would sometimes drink anywhere from 1-3 cokes a day. I was unhappy with the way I looked and wanted to workout and eat healthier but didn't really have any motivation. I did attempted the workout challenges on Pinterest but usually only kept it up for a week, if that long.

I sat down one night before the new year started and made out my goals. I contacted one of my really good friends who is a senior exercise science major. She loves working out and lives a very healthy lifestyle. She is going to be testing soon to become a personal trainer. So we'll call her my personal trainer. I knew I wanted her to help me and give me some tips. We got together one night a couple of weeks ago and went over everything. From the foods I like and need to be eating to the foods I don't like but should be eating. Also, the kinds of workouts I need to be doing to target the areas I want to work on. She showed me what she eats for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. She even let me try some of the things I didn't think I was going to like so I wouldn't go buy it and waste money if I didn't like it. She made me out a workout plan and is letting me workout with her.  We started working out this past Monday, but I have been eating better since the beginning of the year. I have completely given up cokes. I haven't had any in 29 days. 29 DAYS y'all! I rarely eat out anymore and when I do it's either a salad or Subway. I occasionally eat other places, too, but I watch what I eat there...unless it's my cheat meal. I get one cheat meal per week, and yes I love it. Another shocker...I haven't had Chick-Fil-A in 29 days either.  I measure out everything I fix instead of pouring 2 pounds of cheese on my taco (exaggerating a little there, but you get it). I pick the healthier option when I have the choice. I have turned down dinner with friends when they are going to get fast food, or bring my healthier option. I drink a ton of water. My goal is to drink 64oz of water a day, but for me that is HARD. I have gotten better though. I have an 8oz cup that I keep with me and I refill it all day long. Which also makes me have to make multiple bathroom trips(tmi?), annoying but I keep telling myself it's good for me LOL. Right now I'm drinking about 56oz a day every now and then I can get my full 64oz and I'm hoping to meet my goal of that everyday.

My biggest thing is planning and prepping. For me this is crucial. Planning what I'm going to eat the next day so I don't have to run to grab fast food or Subway everyday, because even that does have more calories than I would like for lunches. And prepping so I'm ready in the mornings and can just grab my lunchbox and go.  Since January 1st I have lost 5lbs and have about 30 more that I would LOVE to loose by our wedding (170 days!!). I lost the 5lbs from just eating better and smaller portions, as we just now have been able to start working out this past Monday and I haven't weighed myself yet. From losing that 5lbs I feel great and very positive about this healthier lifestyle.  I am being 100% honest/real when I say giving up cokes was the best decision I could have made for this lil healthy journey of mine.  1.) My face has cleared UP. I struggle with acne like I was 15 again and I've been seeing the dermatologist and on prescribed medication for it for the past 3 years. It would have been GREAT if he would have told me to change my diet. I'm sure even if he did I wouldn't have listened. I read a ton of articles about how one of the leading causes for acne is sugary drinks. I still didn't think it was true. Turns out IT IS! For me at least.  2.) I feel A LOT better. I read articles on this topic, too. How you will feel better and have more energy. I tried giving up cokes before but it only lasted a week or two and during those weeks I would have the worlds worst headache and give in and have a Mountain Dew. 3.) I honestly think some of that 5lbs I've lost so far came from giving up cokes. I think I've had 1 light lemonade so far and the rest has been water. My sister gave up cokes last year and went over a year without coke and she dropped 8lbs immediately from it. It is hard, very hard to change your eating habits from what you were used to for so long, but the results are so completely worth it. Even the small 5lbs I've lost made me dance around like a crazy person. Haley, my personal trainer, has been SO helpful and patient with me. Encouraging me each step of the way. From encouraging me to push it a little harder at the gym to going grocery shopping with me to help me pick out only healthy things. She has helped me set goals and is determined to help me get my butt in shape. I told her I will more than likely whine, want to give in, want to quit but to keep pushing me and tell me to suck it up. And she has done just that. I can't say how helpful she has been so far and we are only in the beginning.  I know this was a long post and I still have more to share so I am breaking it up into two posts. Tomorrow I will share with y'all some tips she has given me. What I am eating. Healthier options for snacks, breakfast and even desserts. I will also share with you my workout plan she has for me over the next three months.  Some of my goals:  -Lose 1-2lbs a week. The healthy way, working out and eating healthier and smaller portions. -Drink more water -Start adding more weights. -Run a little bit longer. -Only ONE cheat meal per week -Workout 4-5 days a week. With 1 day of complete rest and 1-2 days of active rest.

As cliche as this sounds, I am doing this for our wedding, for me, and for Matthew. I want to look and feel my very best on our wedding day. I want to be confident on our honeymoon and in shape. I know without any doubt at all that Matthew will continue to love me just as much no matter what size I am, but I want to look good for him, as I am sure a lot of newlyweds do. Matthew has never said anything negative about my weight or unhealthy eating habits, it's nothing like that at all. I just want to be in shape, because right now I am completely out of shape. I get super embarrassed at the gym when I can't do something or can only do one set of something, but like Haley tells me every single time, Everyone has to start somewhere and I will work up to it...the results will come eventually, it's not going to happen over night.

Goodness, this is a long post, if you made it through all of that I'm proud of you! I would love for you to come back tomorrow to read part 2 :) Happy Thursday...tomorrow is FRIDAY! 

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Healthier lifestyle - Part 1

Wedding Wednesday: Venue

Wednesday's are becoming my favorite day in blog world ;)  When it came to deciding where we wanted to get married we both agreed that since it is going to be in the middle of July it MUST be an inside venue with air conditioning. We tossed a couple of options around but both kept coming back to the one we finally decided on.

Location: Cookeville

Venue: College Side church of Christ

It was really a no-brainer for us. We went to a wedding there a couple of years ago for some of our friends and I literally just fell in love with the inside. All white walls and old church pews. I distinctly remember telling Matthew that I wouldn't mind getting married there someday. We went and looked at it again a couple of weeks ago and made pictures, talked with their church secretary about everything, and got the church's contract. We left feeling like that was the one. We were a little surprised by the cost of it, but ultimately it is A LOT cheaper than any other venue we looked at. Seriously we can't even complain about the price here because we are coming out a lot better than we were expecting. 

Here are some pictures we snapped on our phones.

Both of these were taken from inside my car lol. Love those black double doors and that sky!

The double doors I will walk through. We LOVE these doors and the center aisle. A lot of churches don't have this option anymore. So we are thankful for this. 

  The blinds are closed, but we will definitely have them raised so all the natural light will come through. Seriously I am in LOVE with all the white and natural light. That was my #1 concern with getting married inside. I wanted most all of our pictures to have natural light and this auditorium is the perfect place for that. 

They have an upstairs balcony that guests can sit at also, This auditorium holds up to 350 people. We won't have that many but it's nice to know we don't have a small number limit. 

The view from the balcony looking down. 

  Our receptions will be in their gym. Nothing too exciting, just your basic church gym, but it has air conditioning and we have PLENTY of room to decorate!

The only downfall of this venue is that we have to be completely finished by 6PM. Ceremony, reception. pictures, and clean up all finished by 6PM. When I first found that out I was pretty upset and immediately started looking at other venues. After many pro and con lists we kept coming back to this venue. Honestly I am completely okay and at peace with our decision. Being out of there by 6PM now means we won't have a meal, but we will still definitely be using all my vintage plates. We are going to have a pie bar with ice cream and our wedding cake as well. I was completely bummed at first about not having a meal but after I realized 1.) How much money we would save 2.) We could still use my plates and 3.) All of our family and friends that travel up to Cookeville (for some it would be almost a 2 hour drive) will be able to more than likely be back home before midnight assured me that this was the best choice. Meal or not Matthew and I will still be husband and wife, and that's all that matters.

Why we decided on Cookeville? 

A lot of people have asked us that and really Cookeville is our place and means so much to us. It's where Matthew has lived the past 4 and a half years, and where I have lived the past year and a half, where we both have been able to grow into our own person and become independent, where he has worked his tail off spending many nights up late studying, where he built relationships with his professors, where we have met and made life long friends, where we have became apart of an amazing campus ministry that has not only shaped us into the people we are today but it has taken us multiple places (retreats, work retreats, and mission trips.) It made our relationship with the Lord even stronger, from the singing nights, weekly devos, to just having a place to hangout with other Christians. It's where our relationship with each other was really able to grow, it's where Matthew baptized me, and it's where Matthew got down on one knee and asked me to become his wife. Cookeville holds a very large chunk of our heart, and we could not be any happier with our decision. I went last Friday and put the deposit down and signed the contract.

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Wedding Wednesday: Venue

Salads-N-More

There is this new place here in town called Salads-N-More. 

I'll admit when I first pulled up the first time I went I was a little skeptical. I decided to try it anyways and was completely amazed. Three older ladies run it (think: Golden Girls) and it is incredible.

They have a FULL salad bar with anything you can think of to go on or with your salad.

Everything is completely cleaned and they keep it well stocked. They are open from 11:00-2:00 everyday and make PLENTY of business. I have to leave a couple of minutes early to get there right at 11:00 when they open or I will be waiting in line. SO many people are finding out about this incredible place. Not only do they have salads they have homemade chili, sandwiches and BBQ. These ladies are so sweet and always start conversations with everyone. They have pictures of their families all over inside, on top of the salad bars and on walls. It's so sweet and they are so proud of their families. 
The best part? It's CHEAP.

They have three different size to go boxes to choose from. I get the biggest one so that I can mix it all around without any falling off. That up there only cost me $2.41. 
DID Y'ALL READ THAT?! $2.41??!?
That is cheaper than buying the stuff to make my own salad at home! The bag of mixed salad at the store alone is more than what I pay for there. I also don't like eating salads every single day for lunch, so when I do buy that bag of already mixed salad at the store I end up usually throwing half of it away. So this is just a much better option for me! It also helps that it's about 4 minutes from my work!
Happy Tuesday!! 

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Salads-N-More