Weekend Fun in Galesburg

This weekend, a few notable things happened:

1. We had absolutely PERFECT weather! 70's and 80's and sunny.
2. We had two bonfires, and grilled out with family.
3. We saw a huge, bright meteor in the sky right in front of us - this one.
4. Trent and I walked with his family in the "Run for a Reason," a 5k walk/run in honor of his cousin who passed away three years ago.

It was a great weekend overall! It actually felt more like summer than spring, and given that I have been up since 5:00 this morning (we had the 5k earlier today), my day today has been long but relaxing. Though I am pretty exhausted, I've been getting some things done around the house while Trent is working this afternoon.

Yesterday we had some drinks and appetizers at Iron Spike Brewery in Galesburg. We went with Trent's cousin Amanda, her husband Steve and their son Eli, Trent's cousin Jessica, and her husband Dusty. Trent and I have been there a couple of times before - it's an old Firehouse that the owners turned into a brewpub.

It's a pretty cool atmosphere, and they have a large selection of craft brews, which Trent likes. Plus, we were able to watch the Cubs beat the Rockies on TV, which was also pretty awesome. We even tried moscow mules for the first time, which I wasn't too impressed with. They're kind of like ginger beer with a hint of lime. Wouldn't be my drink of choice, but I do love the copper mugs. :)

We were in Galesburg yesterday to pick up our packets for the race. This was Trent and I's first time doing the Run for a Reason for his cousin Tyson, who passed away in 2013.

Every time we are downtown Galesburg, I see so many cool old buildings that I've never really noticed before or paid much attention to. Like this big, old brick building with a giant fire escape/stairwell. I just thought it looked really cool.

Then there's the antique mall, which I wish we could have stopped at but didn't have much extra time. It's such a cool historic building and is a huge part of what makes this downtown so unique.

This morning was the 5k with Trent's family. We walked it, but we didn't do too bad time-wise. About 48 minutes. I think my legs might be sore tomorrow though, since I'm not used to that much walking. Today will be the first day since I got my Fitbit in December, that I will have logged over 10,000 steps. :)

Anyway, it's been a fun weekend, with perfect weather and sunshine all weekend long. Lots of fun, bonfires, food and grilled burgers, and Trent's uncle Mark made us breakfast this morning. (yum!).

Oh, and we picked up some new adirondack chairs for the back patio! Pretty excited to fix that area up a little this summer. More on that later!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Fitbit, Dave, and Other Random Stuff

I have been seriously slacking around here apparently! It's now February 10th and I have not posted yet this month. So here's a quick, random post just to pop in, until I can share another project that's in the making!

What have I been up to? Well, I'm in the process of experimenting with something that I hope to share about by the end of the week. It's been totally trial and error, and something I had been thinking about trying out for a while. So I am excited to finally share when it's done!

I've been focusing these past couple of weeks on not only healthy eating, but fitness as well. I may have mentioned that I finally got a FitBit for Christmas - well, the first month or so I wore it but wasn't really aware of it most of the time. The only thing that I became aware of with a little time was that I really need to be more active!

Working at a desk all day, it's hard to get those steps in, especially during the winter months. So I've developed a short little workout routine that helps me be a little bit more active throughout the week. I plan on upping my step goal as I go, especially by the summertime, when I know we'll do more things and I can be a little more active on a regular basis.

Something else that I'm super excited about is that our couch is on its way! Remember when we ordered it wayyyy back in November? Because of the customization involved, it had to be manufactured and then shipped to the store. They called us to tell us that it would be coming in soon, so we were able to set up a delivery date! It's supposed to be arriving on Tuesday. Trent is staying home to help the delivery men when they unload it. I couldn't be more excited to get it, and to do some redecorating around here.

We've also been making vacation plans for the summer. Normally our vacations revolve around the Dave Matthews Band tour, but this year, they are actually coming to our area! And of course, we've already bought our tickets!

I don't think we ever get tired of seeing Dave live. That picture is from the concert at Wrigley Field in 2010. Best concert ever.

I'll have a post up soon about where our vacation will probably be this summer. Hint: It's somewhere neither Trent nor I have ever really been before (I've only been to the airport - that doesn't really count, right?) :)

More posts coming soon.. I promise!

Getting Fit for the Wedding

I've shared a few tips in the past about how I try to eat healthy and stay fit - see here, here, and here. The truth is that I normally don't expend too much energy in keeping fit. I can't really explain it, but I think I just kind of do it intuitively. I don't own a scale. I'm kind of used to not pigging out on too much junk food, and I've consciously cut out a lot of things in my diet and don't really crave them anymore. I haven't eaten meat since I was a kid, I don't drink pop anymore...and I don't miss them. So it's kind of easy for me to eat fairly healthy.

With our wedding coming up in August though, I've began to make an effort this year to get in shape by having a nightly work out routine and sticking to it. One thing that is harder for me is to try to keep active and stay motivated to work out. Sitting at a desk in an office all day doesn't really help. I know a lot of people are like me in that respect.

I've found that in order to stay motivated to work out, it has to become a habit. Everyday, just working out a little bit - for 10 or 15 minutes, helps. Everyone can find that amount of time to work in a quick routine.

My nightly work out is really simple, and consists of: crunches, leg lifts, push-ups, lunges, squat thrusts, and light weights. I just do a little bit of each while watching TV, just enough to "feel the burn." Crunches have been a regular for me for a while so those have not been bad at all. I started the push-ups to get some definition in my upper body - gotta look good in my strapless dress for the wedding! I made it to 10 and am working my way up slowly from there. Lunges aren't too bad for me, but the squat thrusts made my leg muscles hurt for a couple of days at first! I just recently started working those in. I have just two little 5 lb weights that I'm using to keep my arms defined. So that's my simple wedding workout! Even though I'm already small, I'm hoping that by working out every night I'll gain a little more muscle tone and some strength that will at least make my body look toned for the wedding and honeymoon.

In terms of eating healthy, I still stick to my same diet. And I still track my food daily on Livestrong.com. This was my late lunch on Sunday:

I felt particularly healthy that day because I was able to stay home and get a lot of working out in, and I ate really healthy, too. I'm trying to get Trent to work out and eat healthier, but he's a hard egg to crack! Hoping he at least makes an effort for the wedding...we'll see. Lol.

Eating Healthy

So I've decided to write up another health-related post today. This time I'm sharing the foods I try to avoid, and the foods I eat on a regular basis. First of all, I have to mention that yesterday I saw an article posted by USA Today that listed the metro areas in the United States that are at the most risk for a heart attack. Our area, the Quad Cities, was ranked SECOND in the whole country for heart attack risk. (Read the full article here) Crazy! I know anyone can have a heart attack and a lot of it is genetics, but at the same time I really think poor diet and smoking is a big factor. Don't smoke, people! You're setting yourself up for health problems! :)

Anyway, diet is really important and I always try to stay conscious of it everyday. That's why today I am sharing the foods I eat most and what I stay away from. I have written a health-related post before - see it here - and I'll start out by saying I eat junk food from time to time like anyone else. I just try to make healthy choices whenever I can, and I'm a vegetarian, so avoiding red meats is probably a good thing, too. I do eat sweets (almost everyday), but the key is that I just eat them sparingly. I also avoid pop and fast food whenever I can. I can't stand the thought of putting a bunch of trash, or junk food, into my body.

1. Sorry for you McDonald's lovers out there, but fast food = bad. Enough said.

2. I love my potato chips like anyone else. I just try not to overeat them. As in eating a whole bag in one sitting, or eating them for every meal.

3. I haven't eaten meat in a very long time for my own personal reasons when I was a kid (the stuff was nasty to me, what can I say), but ruling out meat hasn't been too bad for me, since I feel pretty healthy. So I'd say it's a pretty good diet.

4. I used to drink energy drinks in college but have since stopped, because Lord knows what bad stuff is in these things...

5. I don't drink pop, like ever, anymore. It has no nutritional value, so why not drink water or tea instead?

So those are the foods I try to avoid. Basically, I'm not going to eat chips and cookies and pop all day. If I do, I am probably destined to be obese and have health problems. My goal everyday is just to get a good balance of nutrients and protein, instead of a bunch of junk and fat. I don't starve myself, either. If I am hungry, I eat!!

So, I'm going to say again, like I did in my last health post, that I really recommend tracking your food on a website like Livestrong.com.

I use it everyday and I like to see what foods I eat all the time and what my calorie count is everyday. I always keep it between 1000 and 1500. Usually around 1500 calories is my daily goal. Anything less than that and I am hungry! Anything more, and I usually feel like I've eaten a cow. Of course, I am not very active either, so when I do work out, I have to take in more calories than usual.

Like I said, one of my favorite things about this website is seeing what foods I eat the most of out of any others. The following are some my most eaten foods and drinks:

1. Water - This is my most tracked item on Livestrong.com. I drink water daily, throughout the day.
2. Cheerios - My breakfast cereal of choice. I never get tired of them.
3. Organic Valley 1% Milk. I switched to organic milk a little while back and haven't drank generic milk since. It tastes so much better.
4. Bananas - It's my go-to lunch food. I grab them to take in my lunch almost daily.
5. Almonds - I like Emerald Dry Roasted almonds, and Blue Diamond Honey Roasted.
6. Granola bars - I have a granola bar for breakfast almost every day and prefer Nature Valley, although many of them have a lot of sugar and aren't organic. A sacrifice you have to make for yumminess!

In addition to those foods above, I also like orange juice, green tea, and iced tea to drink, and I eat a lot of Greek yogurt for lunch as well. Usually my lunch is lighter in calories (about 300-350), and I have a larger dinner, with small snacks throughout the day.

So that's my typical diet! Thought I would share in case anyone is struggling to eat healthy out there. I don't do the best at working out, but I definitely try to stay healthy when it comes to my diet. Hope you all have a great weekend!

How I Eat Healthy and Stay Fit

I thought I'd do something a little bit different on the blog today and write a health-related post. Most of my life people have asked me, "How are you so skinny?," to which I would reply, "Um...I have no idea!" It's not something I think about a lot. I've always been thin, and the only explanation I can think of, besides a healthy diet, is that either it's genetic, or it's just my natural build. I have a really tiny frame. I'm 5'4" and about 100 pounds. I'm not super athletic, I hardly make an effort to work out. I do think my diet plays a part in staying thin, though. And I will try to pinpoint some of the factors that I think may be the reason I stay fit.

1. I'm a vegetarian.  I've been a vegetarian since I was around 11 years old, which is another topic people seem to find interesting. And another topic I don't have a lot of explanation for. I'm not a vegan - I eat milk, cheese, eggs, etc. - I just don't eat sea food (fish) or meat. Why? Well, basically I was a picky eater as a kid, and it just got to a point where eating anything "weird" grossed me out. Like..what are those random hard pieces you find in hot dogs or chicken nuggets, or taco meat? I haven't eaten any kind of meat at all since age 11 or so, and I honestly haven't regretted it since.

I have learned along the way that being a vegetarian is not just about not including meat in your diet. It's also about getting the right nutrition you need to balance that lack of animal protein, and getting those minerals and vitamins that are the most essential to a vegetarian diet. I am not fussy about nutrition at all and don't apply pressure to myself to get every vitamin and mineral and protein amount that I need every day. But I have learned to make an effort to eat foods that are nutritious as opposed to foods that aren't, or what I like to call - junk. Which leads me to my next factor:

2. I avoid Junk food.  I used to love my chili cheese fritos, my cheddar-blasted goldfish crackers, and my cheddar cheese Combos. Now, I still love them of course, but I only eat them VERY sparingly. My philosophy is this: Why put junk into your body, when you can feed it with nutrients it needs to thrive and stay healthy? Of course like any other human being, I love candy (ahem, chocolate..) and have a major sweet tooth. But sugary sweets and potato chips and french fries do not make for a healthy diet. In fact, they have no nutritional value and no real benefit - they can only harm your body, not help it. The key is just to eat them every once in a while as a treat, not all the time.

I don't drink pop much anymore either. Water, organic milk, tea, and wine are the only beverages I drink regularly these days. Water is my daily beverage of choice - I always have a glass or bottle of water next to me. I will also drink milk with meals or in my cereal, and I drink Organic Valley 1%. I have drank soy and almond milk and like both, but I prefer dairy, just to get that dairy protein in my diet. I drink Gold Peak unsweetened tea, which has 0 calories and tastes good with pretty much everything. I also like Honest green tea on occasion. I'll have a glass of wine every now and then, and red wine is my favorite, but I drink white, too. 'Hafta be fair. ;)

Fast food is pretty much the worst food to eat on a daily basis, and I hate eating McDonald's fries, because they're so greasy and salty. Not good for you at all. But I think everyone already knows that! It's just getting into that frame of mind where you would just rather eat carrots over fries and a salad over a burrito.

3. I stay conscious about what I eat. This last factor is something I've come to realize over time, and I feel like it is one of the most important factors in eating and staying healthy. Have you ever heard of mindless eating? Like, when you're sitting in front of the TV watching The Bachelor while chowing down on a quart of chocolate ice cream, and next thing you know you're looking at the bottom of the carton? Ok, just me then? Thought so. Kidding...Mindless eating is bad! I've learned to consciously tell myself when I'm hungry and when I'm full, and purposely choose food throughout the day that I feel like my body needs. Example: If I've had string cheese in my lunch, and milk for dinner, I'm probably not going to eat another dairy product for a late night snack - instead I might choose a fruit or a vegetable. Really, it's all about conscious choices and balance.

One technique that has really helped me consciously see what I'm eating and balance my meals proportionately is tracking my meals online. I use the website Livestrong.com, which I discovered in 2007 and have been using it off and on ever since. The website has a feature which allows you to track everything you've eaten each day, as well as any exercise you've done. You can set a calorie goal to either gain weight, lose weight, or maintain weight, and it will chart how you are doing as far as the calories you've consumed, or the fat, protein, sodium intake, etc. you consume each day.

Here is an example of the food I tracked on one particular day:

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You can see that it shows you the percentage of daily intake you've consumed for calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, fiber, protein, and sugar.

To track a food item, you simply type in what you ate, and it will give you a list of matching foods in the database. You click on that food, enter the number of servings and when you consumed it. Then click "I Ate This", and it adds the food to Your Plate.

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There's even a "Food, Diet, and Fitness" Diary that shows you the foods and workouts you did everyday, and allows you to write your mood and a description that day. Here's mine for January 27th:

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I've been trying to utilize this feature everyday since about October of last year. I used to get in the habit and then stop for a while, but I've tracked my food everyday for the last several months now. Tracking what I eat has really allowed me to see both the bad and good foods I put into my body and gives me that motivation to keep tracking the good ones! I love it when I have a really healthy day with a balanced diet all the way through, and I hate tracking junk food. So I tend to stay away from it more. Because once I eat it, it's set in stone in my Food Diary. And it's probably already done the damage to my body, too.

So those are just a few of the factors I feel keep me healthy and allow me to stay as thin as I am. As for physical exercise, I do force myself to do crunches once or twice a week, and maybe some lunges or light weights. I used to love doing pilates and would love to take another class - I just don't have the time or motivation to do it on my own! If I feel the need to, I will, but right now I'm content with just staying light on the physical activity. Especially in the winter time in Illinois! Ugh, it's so much easier  to go on a walk or be active when the weather's nice. During the winter I tend to be a little more lazy. :)