What I Ate Wednesday: Gluten Free

Today I ate a pretty okay-balanced-ish diet. I was pretty busy today with a doctor's appointment in the morning, meeting up with my friend for the first time in too long, and a job interview at night. I even managed to sneak in a quick gym session at the end of the day, though, so I'm proud of that! I did, however, forget to take pictures of what I ate. I'm also perfecting the art of making my food not just taste good, but look photo ready. I'll work on that.. onto the food!

Breakfast:
I knew I had an early morning doctor's appointment (keep in mind that early for me was a 10am appointment), so I made overnight oats the night before to have this morning. Here's the recipe of what I put in my overnight oats.

1/2 cup of oats

1/2 cup of unsweetened original almond milk

1/3 of a banana

1tsp of chia seeds

dash of cinnamon

2-3 chopped dried figs (which I added in the morning)

Overall, they were pretty good but I wish it was a bit sweeter. Adding the figs helped with sweetness, but I might get some honey or agave to use in the future.

Lunch:

After my doctor's appointment my dad took me out to lunch. Eating out is a huge red flag for me because I tend to overeat bad foods, and then spend the rest of the day feeling guilty and sad. Instead of moping this time I just vowed that the rest of the day would be healthy (which it was) and to try and get in a workout (which I did!). 

We went to a diner we found near the doctor's office and I got two eggs scrambled with american cheese. I also got a side of fries with it. It was a pretty good meal though, so I don't have much to complain about. I wish I remembered to take a picture because they had definitely perfected the art of photogenic food. 

Dinner:

I wanted something I could make quickly before my job interview (nothing exciting it's a babysitting position, but I did get the job so yay!!). I had the leftovers of the quinoa salad I had made the day before in a wrap. I used the gluten free brown rice wraps from Trader Joe's. I used some guac in the wrap too to act as a very flavorful "glue."

I use the Shayloss recipe for my quinoa salad. I make it all the time, it's super simple and tastes amazing! Here's the link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCcOubnEsxk I just use it as a rough base, though, and switch it up with whatever else I have around.

Snack: (post workout)

My mini workout got a not-so-mini snack. My gym closes pretty early and I didn't have much time after I got home from the interview, so I only managed to get in 25 minutes on the elliptical. But 25 minutes is better than nothing! 

I made a green smoothie, and also grabbed a string cheese because I needed some more cheese in my life today. Here's the recipe for the smoothie I made. I don't really use exact measurements, though, I kinda just wing it...

1/4 cup (I think?) of unsweetened original almond milk

a bit of kale

a little bit more of spinach

a small handful of frozen tropical fruit

two-ish spoonfuls of low fat vanilla yogurt

a little pinch of chia seeds

Sorry if that was VERY unhelpful, but I made it super quick today because it was just a snack. And I was proud that it actually came out a lovely green, as opposed to the other one I tried yesterday that turned a not-so appealing brownish-purple-red-bruised skin color.

Monday Check In: Week 1

I have been promising myself I will get fit for too long. I'm sick of making promises and not sticking to them. This time I will follow through.

I just finished my sophomore year of college, and within the two years I've been there I put on about 15-20 pounds. It was the "freshman fifteen" plus a little extra sophomore year fluff. I want to look good, feel good, and fit into my clothes again! Starting in early July I'll be returning to a day camp as a counselor, again. I want to be able to feel confident in the bathing suits and shorts I have to wear everyday.

My diet:
Since last summer I have gone gluten free. Now, before you close out of this page and think I'm some crazy freak who voluntarily gave up bread, I should let you know that I did this for health reasons. I had gotten really sick with rashes, stomach problems, lethargy, canker sores, and a whole list of symptoms that were congruent with celiac and gluten sensitivities. And trust me I had to feel reallyyyyyy sick for it to be worth giving up New York bagels. I got one blood test that told me I was not celiac, but never actually went to a GI doctor because I have a strong distrust in doctors (it's another whole long rant I have that I won't get into now). Lately, even with my lack of gluten, I have been feeling sick so I'm reluctantly going to the GI Wednesday to get some answers.

With that being said, I lost 0 pounds without gluten. Going gluten free DID NOT make me lose ANY weight. Bummer, I know. I do feel and look less bloated though, which is nice. It also made me feel so restricted in what I could eat that it led me to binge more on junk food and eat an excess of dairy products (cheese=my life).

I'm going to try and switch up my diet for a more plant based whole foods focus. Not "vegan" but with trying to implement some of that into my life, without going cold turkey (pun slightly intended). I'll be doing a "What I ate Wednesday" post once a week to document a regular day in the life of my meal plans.

My fitness:
I used to be pretty good about going to the gym, which was a lot harder to follow through with while I was at school. Now that I am back, with practically nothing to do before I start working, I am going to get back into the swing of things. I do not like running, I wish I could pretend like I did and maybe one day I will, but to try and force myself to run now will just get me discouraged from my goals. I prefer group fitness classes, and my gym offers some great ones! I'm going to try and go M-F to at least one class, giving myself a rest on the weekends (my gym closes at 2 on the weekends and let's be real I'll still be fast asleep).

That is my very loosely set plan for the next few months! And I'll be documenting it all here! I'll fill you in on how I'm feeling, if I actually made it to the gym, and of course how many pounds I dropped! Here's to a great summer 2015!