LOW LOW LOW LOW..

That is going to be the name of the game for the next four days. I am going to do my best to keep my workouts high intensity and my food intake to moderate to low. I am trying to go ahead and think about this up coming weekend and know that I am going to be indulging like crazy. Hopefully not but you can never tell when you are in a situation where you feel great and the drinks are flying. I am going to my best friends wedding and I want to have a great time without worrying too much about anything. How do you go about doing that? Well you need to have a plan and plan ahead. By keeping my self in check for the rest of the week that means that I am going to be able to indulge a little this weekend without the guilt. I am going to have a seamless breakfast, lunch, snack dinner this week and it is going to be easy because it is sitting my my fridge waiting for me. This is why I love to cook my food in advance. I don't have to think about it at all. When I get hungry I just to the fridge get it out and eat it. I don't mind eating it either because it is all my favorite foods and I know that I can change it up with spices and such. The key is to take simple ingredients and leave it bland. That way you can make it into what you want. See most of the time I do some sort of protein and carb and STEAM it with nothing. That way say I baked some chicken breasts and veggies and I want to have a spicy chicken stir fry then I add the sauce that I want and BAM I have the meal I want. Say I want a peanut basil chicken and veggie plate, I add the basil and some Thai peanut sauce and BAM I have the meal I want. It is that easy. This week is tofu and veggies. I am going to make a tofu veggie salad for lunch with a peanut dressing and for dinner it will be the same but I will more than likely go with a Mexican feel (salsa and avocado). I am glad that I am in the routine of doing this because it has made my busy life so much easier. I am going to implement this for sure when I have a family. So on to breakfast....It is oat bran yet again this morning but with MANGO! I am trying to eat as many of these as possible here of late, they about to go out of season.These oats don't look as good as they tasted for sure. I added at the last minute a spoon full of all natural peanut butter to make it extra good. This is my power breakfast and it fills me up and gets me through my morning.

For lunch today it is going to be Tofu and veggies over a bed of Romain. I am going to LOVE this lunch because it has been a while since I have had tofu. I have been trying to cut down on my soy consumption here lf late. I am going to be so ready to eat this baby after a good lunch break work out! This dish is loaded with bright wonderful veggies and the tofu is the protein that I need to get me through the rest of my afternoon. I added a peanut dressing to it and it compliments the textures and natural flavors of the tofu and veggies perfectly. I will be having a light snack today of Bell pepper and hummus about two hours after so that I can have a little fuel to get through the last part of my day.

Because the red bell peppers were on sale I went for it. Usually though this snack is with a green one. This is one of my favorite snacks ever (next to celery and PB). This is the perfect hot afternoon snack. I am trying to get as much cold raw food in my bod as possible. I know that as soon as it starts to cool off here I will be wanting HOT food and that means good bye to my summer light diet. I will miss the fruit this year for sure. It never tasted so good to me!

I will be going back to the gym later this evening for a yoga workout and before that though it will be dinnah!!!

This dinner is using the same ingredients as lunch but with a great twist...If there is one thing that I love above all sauces it is CURRY! I love curry but I do have to say that I try not to eat that much of the stuff because of the coconut milk (fating, goo fat though!). I found a WONDERFUL product and was able to try it over the weekend. You betta believe that it will be on my dinners this week. Now introducing....

Boy oh boy was I glad to get this in the mail!!! I was looking forward to get he yellow curry and didn't get that flavor but so happy to have gotten the banana and red curry. I have never tried a yellow one before. I am sure that it is because they are all sold out. This stuff is AWSOME!!!

Let me tell you guys a bit about the folks at Curry Love first!

mycurrylove.com

Go to their website and check them out! YOU wont be sorry you did...

FROM MIKE’S KITCHEN TO YOURS: "My fondest memories revolve around food and family." At a young age, I was attracted to fresh foods and rich flavors. I decided to follow my heart, and at the age of 15, I ventured into an affair with cooking. And I have been in kitchens all over the world, pleasing palates ever since. My first encounter with Thai curry left a lasting impression. One taste of the temptress and I was committed to creating this tantalizing treat for curry connoisseurs and curry virgins alike, crafting Curry Love™ with certified organic ingredients.
As a member of 1% For the Planet, Curry Love™ demonstrates its care for the planet and its inhabitants. That's why we've pledged 1% of all of our sales to causes benefiting our environment; why we use biodegradable and recyclable packaging and why we're organic.
Like a loving relationship and all of its wonderful qualities, Curry Love™ is a sweet pleasure to be savored. Whether you are looking to incite passion; enjoy a casual family moment or seeking to allure with adventure, make a date with Curry Love™. And fall in love with curry.

I shouldn't say this but I definitely don't mind eating a curry especially when it is being made by a gorgeous guy ; ) He's as hot as the Curry!

Ok enough! Sorry but I had to...

I have tried both curry's and I LOVE THEM beyond words. I am in fact having the banana curry tonight. Check it out!

This curry over brown rice and tofu with veggies=amazing...I give Mike and his curry lovin team 4 stars! Yo guys rock and thank you so very much for letting me try them out. I am in love...

On the site as well there are many recipes to choose from and they all look amazing. I love a webite that gives you ideas for their products. It just makes it so much easier.

Whether dinner for two or a party of 12, Curry Love™serves up delectable dishes seasoned chefs can add to their repertoire or first-timers in the kitchen can use to impress their guests.
With Mike's personal recipes,you can make love and magic.Bon Appetite!

Thanks Mike!

After dinner it is off to yoga and then back home to crawl into bed and curl up with a good book. I am such a grandma these days! My weekends consist of exercise, lounging and wine. I swear I will never meet anyone new if I dont get out more! I dont care though this is just how I roll. I am hoping that it rains again tonight. Last night it rained all night and I opened all the windows in the house. My place filled with the smell of rain and listening to the pitter patter on my room made for a perfect nights sleep. I couldn't not have asked for a more relaxing Sunday evening.

Well folks! That is it for me and my Monday. I hope that yours goes quickly and I hope that you had a great weekend. Remember that I am going on vacation this weekend so no posts for me Friday-Tuesday. Read while you can!!! I will however have a ton of good photos of the wedding!

Ciao!

-HEATHER

Weekend Warriors!

In New York City in 2004, Noha Waibsnaider founded Peeled Snacks when she noticed something missing from the world of snack foods. Store shelves were full of processed potato chips, corn syrup-filled candy, and energy bars made with too many mysterious ingredients. But you couldn't get anything healthy and tasty that made you feel good about snacking. So she set about to fix that problem.
Her solution? Three tasty and nourishing varieties of fruit & nut mixes that became Peeled Snacks. Peeled Snacks are made with ingredients that you recognize. Large, easy-to-eat pieces of fruit and nuts provide a natural source of vitamins, minerals and fiber - with NO added sugar or fat. The nuts are dry roasted and lightly salted. And for the chocolate lovers, we use the finest rich dark chocolate with 61% cacao in our Shock-olate variety.
At Peeled Snacks we know that food starts out delicious and nutritious, and it doesn't need some machine to improve it, or engineering to perfect it. We bring you food that's as close to its natural state as possible. So make snacking a satisfying part of your lifestyle by eating food as it was meant to be: peeled.

When I got these snacks I tore all of them open and decided that I would try all of them to see if they were all that I thought that they would be. Oh yeah! I am glad that I did open all of them because I know myself and after trying the mango (my fave) I would have opened another pack anyway. Now, I didn't eat the entire pack of all of them I just tried them all out. I put them into a plastic baggy so that I could keep the rest for later. I already have some gooood ideas. Here is a picture of the pineapple! What I love about these is the flavor. I am a lover of dried fruits and I buy then quite often and one thing that I hate about dried fruit is if they have been artificially sweetened. I want a dried fruit to taste like, well fruit! These were amazing! I know that they would be will all the hoopla I have been hearing but truly I think that this product is awesome. Thanks so very much for sending me a few to try out. I am hooked now : )

Go check out their site...It is filled with great products!

http://www.peeledsnacks.com/

This morning I decided to incorporate peeled into my breakfast. I had oat bran with dried apples. Amazing...

This is not the best picture but it tasted a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

In the mix I had oat bran, wheat bran, egg whites, vanilla almond milk, salba and dried apples. To goo to be true. I am going to incorporate the dried fruits to my oats all next week so get ready to be seeing a lot of "peeled" fruit in my morning routine. Lunch and snacks today will more than likely be the same nothing fancy. It is Friday so I try and keep it as simple as possible. I usually treat myself on Saturday and Sunday for brunch. This is going to be a great weekend. I am going home to see my mom and my sister is going to do my hair! I will do my best to have a picture or two when I get back! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See you Monday!

-Heather

Just trying to make it to the weekend.

This is me and Shelly. This picture was taken of us yesterday right before we went out for our "walk". I love this women, she kicks my butt and we push each other almost every day when we work out. I am glad that this is a "before" picture because you wouldn't want to see a "after" photo. We get sweaty! I have been seeing a lot of bloggers report about their "daily routine" and thought "I should do that!" So today's post will be not only my morning routine but the whole day! If you think that this may not be of interest to you just go to the next blog. This is not going to be the most exciting post of the century but it will be a longer than usual one. I have a review as well but not until the end! So here we go peeps! My daily routine. Now this is Monday-Friday. The weekends are completely different.

I am a freak...Didnt you know? There is one thing that I can do REALLY well. I can do more than the average person at one time. I am a master at multi-tasking. With this being said you will be amazed. I wake up at 8:00 and I am sitting at my desk at work at 8:30. WOW! I know. This is what I do to get there in the morning. I wake up at 8:00 and when I say I wake up I mean when the alarm goes off I hop outta bed. I am one of those....Dont hate! I am also one of those people that shower at night and set out her clothes before going to bed. So this is the morning routine.

8:00-Wake up

8:05-take four intestine cleanse tabs bu Colonix

8:06-pull hair back (I almost always wear my hair in a low pony tail or a bun for work, after all I do work at a bank!) Make-up applied

8:10-Weigh, stretch

8:12-get dressed

8:20-Mix up my fiber powder and drink it fast, take my vitamins

8:22-drive to work

8:30-Arrive at work, turn on computer and go straight to get coffee

Then it is sipping on coffee and getting e-mails and such started.

I usually have a bite of something whether it be nuts or a amazing grass bar when I take my fiber and vitamins.

9:30-Is breakfast! I almost always have wither oat bran or oatmeal. This is today's!

Oat bran, salba, stevia, mango, blueberries, almond milk (vanilla) and coconut oil. Yum! I usually try to take at least 30 minutes to eat this but it goes down quick while working.

11:30-I usually have a little snack like some more mango, watermelon or raw nuts to give me some energy right before going out with Shelly.

12:30-I do these intervals for 50 minutes, 3.5 miles on lunch.

walk 3 minutes

jog 2 minutes

When I get back I am sweaty and usually down a liter of water. Then it is a cool salad for lunch. I usually have either a can of light tuna on a bed of spinach with tomato or a chicken breast. Today it is chicken.

1:45: lunch

3:00-I usually have a half a cucumber and a whole raw bell pepper dipped in mustard for a snack to hold me over before going home.

Sometimes a onion in the mix.

Then it is hot green tea after that if I get hungry.

I get off work every day at 4:30 and then I head back to the gym.

5:00-I do 20 more minutes of intervals and then I lift weights for an hour. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays I do yoga for a hour and a half at 7:00 p.m. after dinner. I just look at it as a stretching session instead of exercise so I usually don't count it towards the actual exercise I need daily.

I try to eat dinner at 6:30 p.m. every day and more often than not it is a chicken or tofu salad.

This is tonight's!

I eat this and then I TRY my hardest to not have anything else but a glass of wine at 9:00 to keep my hunger pangs at bay and allow me to sleep well. I go to bed at around 11:30 now a days and I try to get on bed and relax (read, facebook and such) by 9:00 so that gives me some down time to myself. There you have it folks...A day in the life of ME!

Ok now a review!

I got a great product try and I wanted to let you all know what I thought. The product is called HINT! It is water with a hint of natural flavors. I was so happy to get two flavors.

I tried both and loved them! I got a raspberry and cucumber and a blackberry one. Let me tell you a bit about them!

HINT is a premium essence water with a hint of flavor. Their motto at HINT is simple, “Drink Water, Not Sugar” and to help you do that, HINT provides naturally flavored water with no calories, sweeteners or preservatives making this a great alternative to juices and soda.
You may have also seen it on some of your favorite television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal, CSI, The Early Show and more. It was also selected as the “Best Flavored Water” in 2007 by Health Magazine.

I LOVED this water. Please go to the website and see it for yourself. If you like flavored water and dont want chemicals and calories when you are trying to hydrate yourself this is the product for you. I give them two thumbs up!

www.drinkhint.com

See you soon!

-Heather

WINE WED!

I want to do a review this morning and I declare today wine Wednesday! I went home last night and opened a bottle of Fair Hills white wine and I must say...I was so blown away. First of all I am not a fan of white wine, unless it is a sparkling white wine. I can honestly say that I see white wine in a different light now. I just may be a fan now! I got three different bottles of wine from the nice folks at:

http://www.organicwinetradecompany.com


This one was my last one to try sadly. I have to say. I really wanted to try each wine when it would be enjoyed and paired with the right foods to really give me the true experience the lovely wine deserved. So far all three wines were just perfect. Last night I decided that I would open it up for myself only. No I didn't drink the whole bottle, you better believe that I am going to savor this wine and sip slowly! Let me tell you a bit about it first!
This is the back of the bottle!

Fairhills is the world’s most well-known fair trade brand being sourced from three fair trade wine countries of origin, Argentina, Chile, and South Africa. The Fairhills initiative benefits over 1300 beneficiaries in the three different countries and focuses on improving the living and social conditions of these producers.
Fairhills Chardonnay benefits the local farmers of Du Toitskloof in the Breede River Valley Region and Du Toitskloof Winery of South Africa. The Fair Trade initiative is dedicated to twenty-two farms and fourteen members to improve the quality of life for over 1,000 community members, including 210 children. The initiative has opened three daycare facilities, built a sports club and a community center with a library, as well as provided adult training and education, and plans on buying their own land that the community will manage.
The Fairhills initiative has created a very successful and financially sustainable brand that benefits the environment and the communities in the underdeveloped regions of South Africa, Argentina and Chile. “To my knowledge, the Fairhills project is one of the largest and most successful Fairtrade projects in the world. In my experience it certainly ranks as one of the largest and highest impact Fairtrade projects in Africa and Argentina and definitely the largest in wine. The project is a model example of what Fairtrade can achieve,” according to Flo-Cert.
Fairhills Chardonnay pairs well with shellfish, chicken or simply on its own.
Tasting Notes
Fairhills Chardonnay offers bright citrus tones on the nose and sophisticated hints of vanilla and subtle oak. Perfectly balanced, offering crisp acidity and lively stone fruit characters.
Vineyards
Fairhills Chardonnay is produced with handpicked Fair Trade Certified™ grapes sourced from the heart of South Africa on the Western Cape. The grapes are grown on vines 10+ years in age in a soil composed of Hutton and clay. The region has both coastal and mountain influences and soil in this area is a mix of sandstone and granite with marl, making for an ideal terroir. The climate is cold winters and very hot summers, but the altitude creates a moderate climate.

I paired this wine with veggies with a cool cucumber dip and some sharp Cheddar with fancy crackers. A simple paring but I felt that it went perfectly!

I basically had wine, cheese, crackers and veggies for dinner. Not bad! I LOVED this wine and I LOVE this companies even more. They are the best! Thanks so very much for allowing me to experience three of your fantastic wines. Not one sip was unnoticed. You get two thumbs up from me and 100% love! Please go visit their site. They have so many wines that you are sure to find one that you will adore.

This morning started off right yet again and with my love....Oat bran!
Woah...This picture makes me want to just jump in there and swim around in the bran goodness! I am so proud of this. Blackberries, cinnamon, salba, almond milk, egg whites and stevia is in the mix this morning. You betta believe that I popped this baby in the microwave to make the berries explode, so that I could get more sweetness in the mix. Oh, so goooood!

Lunch is going to be a grilled chicken salad with fresh tomatoes that a wonderful co worker brought in. Thanks Shelly! I love the how pretty and bright this dish is! I mixed in the fresh tomatoes with the chicken and added spinach. A small piece of whole wheat bread accompanied this wonderful summer lunch. Yum! I am going to be snacking for sure on some raw veggies today as I have left overs and will be eating another chopped chicken breast as well for dinner. See you tomorrow !

Check ourt this give-a-way!

http://snackface.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/going-away-giveaway/#comment-4643
-Heather

Tuesdays are good for review days!

I am going to do my best to keep this week looking the same yesterday. I dont mind eating the same thing everyday when it is that goooood! The life of being a single women. I love the fact that if I want cereal for dinner I can. I also like the fact that if I want to cook a huge batch of something and have it for dinner every night Monday-Friday, I can. Now dont get me wrong there are SOME things that I would like differently about being single in the city. However, the pro's at the moment out weigh the con's. By far!

Movin on peeps! I have a review that I want to post this morning and what better day than today. The great people at OOBA sent me a coupon for their sparkling beverage and I couldn't wait to try it. Literally, I got the coupon yesterday and found myself running to the store to find it. It was kinda fun!

Ooba is 100% All Natural, Refreshing Beverage that infuses the pure extracts from the Incredible Hibiscus Flower. For thousands of years in Ancient Egypt, China, India, Mexico and South America, this Flower has been used for its healing properties. From the Egyptian Pharaohs to the Mayan Kings of South America, the Hibiscus Flower has been considered a source of health and well being. We created OOBA with the intention of bridging the gap between the refreshingly crisp feel of a sparkling soda and a 100% All Natural, truly good for you beverage. We use only the best natural raw materials to bring you the ultimate fusion of health and taste that helps maintain cardiovascular function. "Hibiscus with an Attitude!"
We currently make six flavors of OOBA:
OOBA Hibiscus

OOBA Hibiscus & Lime

OOBA Hibiscus & Orange

OOBA Hibiscus & Vanilla

OOBA Hibiscus & Pineapple

OOBA Hibiscus & Blackberry

I love the way the flowers are printed on the bottles. The packaging is perfect! It MAKES you want to drink this stuff. I took this photo (sorry Kathy!).

I thought that this drink was super refreshing, sweet but not too sweet. All in all a perfect way to cool off in this GA heat. I will be back to try out all the flavors for sure. I couldn't help but think....These would make good mixers... Sorry, you can see where my head is.

Here is the website so you can see them for yourself!

http://www.oobabeverage.com

I love the website too! I have to say, the folks at OOBA got right back to me...Great customer service, now that is what I am talkin about. Here is the back of the bottle. The nutritional info rocks! Look at the ingredient's! Only 5 baby!!! That is awesome, a drink you can feel good about.

OOBA’s rich hibiscus flavor with a splash of key lime essence is the one that I tried and it was amazing. I cant wait to see what the other flavors taste like. All in all I give you guys two thumbs up! Thanks so much for letting me try it out. I will be back for more!

Ok so you are not off the hook! You still have to see my breakie! This is a wonderful bowl of oat bran, salba, wheat bran, blackberries, almond milk, a tiny bit of apple sause, stevia and peter pan peanut butter. I took a tiny bit from the jar in the breakroom. Shhhh! It was heavenly. Filled me up and made my tummy happy. I am going have the energy now to work like a freak. I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday! Hump day is tomorrow!

Check out this give-a-way! While you wait.

http://fitnessnyc.wordpress.com/

Luv ya!

-Heather

Oh YEAH!

It's Monday which means new start of the week and whatever you like! I have always had a love hate relationship with Mondays...I love Mondays because if I had a bad weekend as far as food and exercise goes than that means a clean slate for me for the week. I love Mondays because it allows me to think about the future and plan for it. I love Mondays because so much is ahead! I hate Mondays on the other hand because that is usually when the poop hits the fan. When work takes on a new meaning and when that relaxing weekend just becomes a memory in the distance. Mondays mean 4 more long days of work before I can rest. Mondays means "the grind". However there is nothing better to me though than a Monday morning breakfast!

Blueberry oat bran! I love the color after the blueberries burst! So good. This morning in my oat bran I put, salba in it, blueberries, wheat bran, egg whites, stevia, lime apple sauce and some coconut oil. So goooood and I hope that this fills me up. I have a LOT of exercise that I will be doing today. I plan on doing intervals today with my co-worker and I have to train someone right after work and will be doing along side her as well so today is going to be a tough one. I will need lots of fuel and hopefully this bowl will get me through it.

After coming back to the office. I am going to be drinking water like crazy and then have this for lunch!

Chicken is this weeks meat...I got a pretty good deal in all natural organic chicken at the store so I am having basically chicken salads this week. I am in love with curry this time around so you will be seeing some curry love on my plate. Speaking of. I am getting some samples of curry for the actual company "Curry Love". Look out for that!

I am also going to load up on some cool veggies before leaving work to go train.

When I get home I am going to more than likely crawl to the fridge and will need something right away. This will be had... Celery and hummus. Simple, sweet!

Then dinner. Round two of the chicken. I doubt I will get tired of chicken this week when it tastes this gooooood! More Curry but on broccoli instead. Oh so good. This week I am going to try and not go with the dairy that I did last week. My stomach just doesn't like it at all. I am going to do my best anyway. There will be some watermelon after this. I don't have a picture of that sorry! I will more than likely have the white wine that I have been saving for ever and have one glass each night this week. It is weird allowing myself a drink every night. It does keep me from eating a ton though! Aren't you proud of me??? No nuts and not dairy! Wow I am on a roll (so far anyway). I would love to keep this plate up this week if at all possible. I hope you all had a great weekend. I did, it just went by way too fast (as usual). I am sorry for the short post but you know what today is....Monday.

-Heather

WHOO HOO! WE MADE IT PEEPS!

Friday is here again!!! This morning I woke up when I am usually at work...Ooooopppss! Not a good way to start off this wonderful Friday I tell you. I literally jumped out of bed and was scrambling around the house. I woke up at 8:30 and was at work by 8:45...Can you believe that? I cant! You know what was on my mind the entire time I was getting ready...The picture above.

This Friday is going to be a little different as far as food goes today so I am going to do a full post on eats! I am happy to say that I started this morning off right (once I actually woke up).

I had this for breakfast and it was oh so goood! This fills me up every time. I almost forgot to take a picture of it! A few bites in I grabbed the camera. Sorry! Rudis Bakery organic whole wheat bread with pb2, 1/2 a banana sliced and flax meal sprinkled on top. Oh so good. I still needed a pick me up so I went to the store since I had some errands to run and got me one of these! Needless to say I drank the whole thang. Happily...

I did intervals yet again today and it kicked my bootay! I did 50 minutes of walking 3 minutes running 2 minutes. It kicks me in the butt and I need it. When I got back to the office it was this that helped me cool off. Lime is my fave. I dont know if you know but I addicted these these babies. I buy a 12 pack once a week and by Friday I am all out. I ate least drink two or more a day. Fizzy water=my boyfriend!
After the walking/running these drinks are the best. Fizzy and cool, fills my tummy up with lime bubbles and I love em. I think that I am going to have a tuna salad for lunch but to be honest what I really want is a repeat of breakfast. Have you ever had a breakfast that you loved so much that you could eat for another meal? Granted this is just a slice of bread with some peanut butter and banana. Seriously though, it is my favorite thing! Anything that involves banana and PB is a winner in my book. I wonder what it will be....I just may have to give up the tuna and go for the carb tastic lunch...After all it is Friday. I will let you all know what happens when I get back. Ciao!

I decided and ate what I wanted when I got back from the most hellacious interval training today. I had this pairing! I went with a good choice today. Light tuna on spinach and a raw veggie plate dipped in mustard. I also had 1/2 cup of french vanilla stoney fields yogurt (unpictured, sorry!). This was my lunch. I think that I will be hungry in about an hour but we will see. After work today I am going back to the gym to either do shoulders or legs. I have yet to decide. All that I know is that I want another good workout. I am tired right now though. I wonder if I will have it in me. If I don't then I just will save my energy for tomorrow. My family is coming into town tomorrow!!! I can wait! This is exciting. I am going out to dinner with a friend tonight so I have no idea what I will be having for dinner. I know one thing though....Wine will be involved.

Hope your weekend goes perfect. I will see you all on Monday!

See ya!

-Heather

Portion control and intuitive eating is the name of the game.

This morning I would like to talk a little bit about intuition. Don't get me wrong I am not a master of intuitive actions or anything but it is something I have decided to really focus on lately. How intuitive do you feel you are? Do you listen to your intuitions? I sometimes do and often push a feeling aside because I allow my brain to take over and not my heart. This slowly has stopped and now I am relying on my feelings rather than my thinking or analyzing what I should be doing instead of what I WANT to do. Because this is a food and exercise blog I would like to steer this in the food and active part of being intuitive.

If there is one thing that I have spent a HUGE amount of time on it's counting calories. I can easily rattle off how many calories almost anything has. I am constantly calculating how many calories a meal has in it and I even catch myself counting other peoples calories. I am known to be in a restaurant and look over at the next table and say to myself "Oh my gawd...she is eating about 1200 calories in nachos and about half of it is coming from fat." I am working on this! It is the trainer side of me. I never say it out loud and you would never know that I am calculating your calories but I am...Almost always. I worked at a health food store for a few years and when I would see some gorgeous man or women I would run over and peer into their cart..."What are they eating" I thought. Back then I was about 25 pounds over my comfort zone (weight) and I needed to do something. You see I am about to tell you my complete weight loss story and tell you exactly how I got to where I am today. If you are not looking for a HUGE post please just stop reading now. This could take a while.

Ok, so I am not going to go back as far as my child hood and eating habits there. I will say that I ate HORRIBLY and I ate what I wanted, when I wanted. I will also so say that I weighed about 160 pounds at one time and I had no idea what a nutritional label was or a calorie until I was almost 21 years of age. Can you believe that??? I was almost 22 when I first looked at the back of a candy bar. I remember it clearly. It was a snickers bar...I was working as a make-up artist at Macy's and people watched all day. I would see thin girls walking by and think "If I could look like that I would have no problems." Silly me! I would think..."They must have a HIGH metabolism, good genes." Little did I know that more than likely they were on a diet and exercised. I got the candy bar and opened it. I have no idea why I decided that day to actually look at the back but I did. I can say a few things about that day. One, I say that it had a bunch of calories but I didn't know if it was a bad thing or a good thing. I didn't know what a snack should have in it and how many cals it should have. I did know one thing though. The serving size. I remember looking on the back and after seeing the fat, carbs and calories I noticed the servings. It said two...I thought, "how sneaky..." There is two servings in this thing which mean double the amount of everything on the package and that means that I am really eating twice as much. Then the light bulb went off... "If there is TWO servings in here, does that mean that I should only be eating half???" I couldn't believe it. I never would have thought in a million years of not eating the whole candy bar. Right then and there I said "I have got to figure this stuff out." Yes, I only ate half that day ;)

Fast forward on....After that day I did look into how to go about counting calories but honestly I didn't do that great. I was a college student and my meals consisted of beer and the Wendy's dollar menu. A typical day for me back then was. No breakfast, coffee, at about 2:00 I would get a jr.bacon cheese burger, biggie fry and a Dr. Pepper. I would eat a candy bar at around 5:00 and then for dinner it was normally margaritas, a burrito and chips with cheese dip. I look back now and think two things...There is no way that I can get away with that now and I am really surprised that I wasn't fatter! I now think that my body would just shut down if I ate like that for a week. It grosses me out! I haven't eaten at a fast food restaurant in 8 years! Proudly I say so. So, back to my story. I eventually quite the mall. I got a job at the health food store and this is when the journey for me started. I was working there for almost a year and I loved it. I grew so close to some of my co workers. One of my friends was a super nice guy that worked in the bulk section...His name was Aaron and he had a great girl friend. While working at the health food store I learned a lot. I learned how to cook! I had no idea how to cook at all and when I worked at a grocery store it was so easy for me to grocery shop! I would go to the book section, to to the copy room. Find a recipe that looked good, photo copy it. Then just get the groceries needed go home and cook it. I learned so much. I was in love, had the best boyfriend and of course he didn't mind being my Ginny pig. Here is where the problem lied....I at that time decided to become a vegetarian. My boyfriend was raised one and I just thought it would be easier if I was too. That paired with working in a vegetarian health food store and the fact that I had always wanted to try a vegetarian life style out. The problem was that I thought "Because it is all health food and vegetarian, it must bee good for me." I ate as much as I wanted. Later, I stepped on the scale and realized that I was at my highest weight...165. I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. I thought to myself "How can eating health food make me so fat?" I wasn't eating off the dollar menu, I wasn't having Mexican every night, I wasn't drinking nearly as much...Why then? That is when I realized that moderation, even with healthy stuff was needed. I remember being at the store working one day and my good friend Aaron said to me. You should take my girlfriend's aerobic class. You would love it. I never in my life worked out. I never took a dance or aerobic class and I was willing. I told him that I would! HE called her and she said that she would have me as a guest. I went home. Changed into my workout clothes and she picked me up. When we were in the car she was almost pumping me up..."Ok, so if you need to take a break, remember to breathe and you can get through anything." I thought. "Jeeze this is just a workout class, it is not going to kill me, no big deal." Boy was I wrong. It KILLED me. My heart was pounding, I was sweating and there were times I though "If it wasn't the fact that I got a ride from the instructor her self and I didn't want to be completely embarrassed I would have walked out." I would have. There is no way that I would have EVER gone to a aerobic class if I literally didn't have someone hold my hand and take me there. I finished the class and I was proud. I was also something else.....HOOKED. I remember how great I felt. The adrenaline and the way my face glowed. I remember thinking. "Gosh, I have a long way to go". I got a YMCA membership and that was the start. I use to work out and say to myself "I work out so that I can eat whatever I want." It kinda worked". I lost 20 pounds and was able to eat the meals that I made and still have a great time with friends. Later that year I got engaged... That is when my thoughts changed. I thought "If I am going to be in pictures and have to look at them for the rest of my life...I am going to look great." I then started to not only work my butt off in the gym...I started cutting back on food. I didn't start to count calories just yet but I was very mindful of what and when I ate. I got down to 135 pounds and felt great on my wedding day. I looked great and I worked for it. After the wedding day I didn't have a goal to work for anymore. My weight creeped up to about 145 and I slacked off...Fast forward...That is when it happened. Sadly, and I say this with still a heavy heart. The divorce happened. I was married less than a year and I had failed. We got divorced and I got depressed...I ballooned up to 160 again and I was really in a bad place. With my husband already moved on and with me getting fatter by the day I knew that something had to change. I wanted revenge. I know that is the worst way to get healthy but at that point I didn't care. I wasn't about to have him end up with someone that looked better than me and I just needed some fuel to get me back to a thinner version of myself. This is when the REAL issues started. I knew a few things...I knew that cutting back on food and exercising worked. I knew that setting goals and visualizing worked. I knew that all these things put together....worked. I then sat down and made a promise. That I would get to 125 (never been that small before) no matter what and I was going to get there in two months. Wow, I know. Looking back I was setting unrealistic goals and they were really unhealthy. I slashed my calories in half and found the site the daily plate. I started back with the dance classes and started to lift weights. This is when I realized how to count cals and what my daily needs were. I started to chat with other people on there. I started searching for people on there who looked the way that I wanted to look. I found a girl. A girl that I asked question after question and did exactly what she did. She in my mind was perfect and I wanted it. BAD. Little did I know but she had a eating disorder, a really bad one at that. I was on a 500 calorie diet and was burning about 400 cals a day. I was eating only low or no calorie foods, every two hours but it wasn't enough. I was loosing weight and I was loosing it FAST. I got down to 115 pounds and everyone around me was worried. Going from 160 to 115 people didn't know what to think. They were astounded. No one said anything to me they just talked behind my back. One morning I went into work and my boss said to me. "If you loose one more pound I will tell your parents we have a problem." At first I was pissed, then I was scared. I was about to see my parents for the first time in months and I wanted to tell them that I had lost weight, not for someone else to and not in a bad way. I remember meeting my sister, grandmother and mom in the airport that weekend and seeing their jaws literally drop when they saw me. My mom cried....Here I thought I looked great and they thought I looked sick. Needless to say I was never happy with my body. I was thin yes but flabby. I came back from my trip and had a new idea...I wanted muscles! I wanted to look like this: NOT THIS

Looking back now I cant believe that I even thought that skinny girl looked good. Thanks to T.V., magazines and bill boards. I was brainwashed. I said goodbye to the girl (well actually she had to say good by to me because her family put her in a treatment facility) and I started trying to search for someone on the daily plate with the muscular build that I wanted. I found her! I e-mailed her and begged for her to help me. She at first told me that it took a lot of discipline that she just didn't think that I had what it took to get me there. I told her that I would prove her wrong if she would just take the time to tell me about weight lifting, cardio and diet. She e-mailed me and e-mailed me. Answered every question that I had and I started to do research on my own. I became OBSESSED, but this time with doing everything the RIGHT way. She flat out told me "There is no way that you will gain any muscle on your diet, you have to feed yourself the right fuel to gain the muscle that you want and it will then burn the fat that you have." "DONT be afraid to lift HEAVY and go to you MAX." I was ready. I was more than ready. I started out with a diet of 6 meals a day. HIGH protein (130-150 grams) low carbs (120-135 grams) and good fats (about 40 grams). I was on a 1500 calorie diet which was HUGE compared to what I was use to and honestly there were times where I wasn't hungry in the least and just made myself eat anyway. I started taking vitamin's, BCAA's and Glutamine to help with recovery. I worked out and I mean I WORKED OUT HARD. When I was in the gym I was focused and I was determined. I was on a mission and I knew it would take a long time to get there. Instead of a two month goal I gave myself a whole year to tackle this. I was allowing time for me to not only build muscle but learn the In's and outs of body building. I found my passion. I loved lifting, it made me feel strong and in control. I was so happy to be at the gym everyday and just have that time to focus on myself no one else. I was learning about food combinations and really sticking to a brutal diet of CLEAN foods only. No alcohol and little room to cheat. I decided that I want to compete in a body building contest, I had a goal. I went from this:

TO THIS: I worked out hard and I ate even harder. I was so happy to get to this and if you can believe it in this picture I weighed 120 pounds. All muscle and I can honestly say that I did it the healthy way. I was getting ready for this show (since I knew I had to wear this) for about three months and focused every single day. It has been a year and I have managed to pretty much maintain. I am currently getting over a back and knee injury but I have continued to eat healthy and work out as much as I can. I have gone up and down on the scale this past year but no more than 5 pounds.

There is a reason for all this rambling though!!! I wanted to talk about intuitive eating and portion control. You see, I am continuing on with this journey of optimum health. I want to be the best that I can be. For the last year I have been counting ever calorie, every fat and every carb. I know how many calories is in anything. I eat every two to three hours like my life depends on it. I am ready for a change. I am ready to try something new! This is exciting. Before it would be scary but I want to try intuitive eating and portion control. See, I eat about 1500 cals but some days I am just not that hungry and only eat about 1300 then I MAKE myself make up those two hundred cals whether I want to or not. It is because I was wanting to be perfect food wise and make sure I was getting what I needed. No more! I am going to eat what I want, when I want and just take two weeks to see what happens. Some days I will be over my allotted cals and some days not. I just want to see if this makes a difference. I weigh 115 today and I think that even if I put on 5 pounds that is easily fixable. I am at my feel good weight and I know what to do to get there. I eat about 6 small meals and I intend to keep that the same but instead of counting every two hours and then eat. I am going to just eat when I FEEL like it. I can eye my portions and know what would be acceptable. I think that this is going to be the key. I am going to listen to my body and I feel like it is always going to be a experiment. Life changes and so should your diet. With all this being said I am posting this because I want you to know my story. Everyone has one and I am no exception. Lessons have to be learned and you wouldn't enjoy getting to a goal unless you worked for it. It is something that everyone must go through. I hope that maybe my story helps someone out there. Someone who wants to look the way that I did but just don't know how. If you have any questions or need any help PLEASE contact me. I love my blog and I love you guys. I am glad that you made it to the end of this post! I have some GREAT new products coming my way and I hope that you will enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed trying them!

Have a great day my friends!

-Heather

This week is FLYING.

The one with the curly hair, that's me... This week is almost over!!! I am so pleased that so far so good as far as workouts go and in the office. I am so excited because I know that I am going to have a fast work week. It has been already. I looked at the date this morning and just cant believe that it is almost September. Where has this summer gone? I feel like a old person when I talk like that but it is so true. I have a feeling that this fall is going to be amazing! Woah, no need to jump that far ahead right? Today is a "rest" day for me. I am going to go to a hour and a half of yoga and call it quits for today. I am tired and feel the need too rest so I am going to do just that. Tomorrow is work, working out and then I have to do the trail run for my friends wedding as far as hair and make-up goes. Then Friday it is all me and Saturday my Mom and sister are coming to see me!!! My mom hasn't made the trip in like 3 years and my sister hasn't been here in forever! They are only coming up for the day but it is going to be so very nice! Breakfast this morning is cool light and perfect in my mind.

Every fruit that I had and some cottage cheese. I mixed salba with the cottage cheese (added a little water) and let it sit for a while it thickened. It was awesome! I loved my "lighter" breakfast. I have to say though. Adding salba to anything turns a light food into something that is totally hardy. This is great! I will more than likely go back to the oats this coming week but right now I am lovin my cool treat. I am having a totally different lunch today. Why?

Because I want.
I am having a tomato, egg, lettuce and cucumber spread sandwich today. I will also have chopped bell pepper and cucumber slices to dip in mustard as a side. This sandwich is going to hold me over for a long time I feel. Last week I had sandwiches and it worked out great. Today should be the same.
A few hand full of these will be consumed through out the day as well. I am not going to lie...I love me some nuts, raw of course. I cant stand the thought of salted, roasted nuts. I like my food plain and simple!

For dinner I found a spice that I think I am going to be using until I just cant anymore....CURRY! I am having Curry chicken tonight. Oh yeah! Curry Chicken is what is for dinner and I am adding fresh basil to the mix as well. I LOVE curry and have no idea why I completely forgot about this spice. I have reunited and not going to give this up again.

I also found a wonderful Wine that I am lovin. I love red wine and you guys know about my one drink a night. This is the perfect wine, to me. This wine is great. It is 10 dollars and organic, sulfate free. You cant get better than this. I have had one glass each night this week and I love the bold taste. I really love a good organic wine! Well, it is crunch time for me. Gotta get to work. Luv ya!

-Heather