Tag Archives: sugar

Feb 29 2012
1 Comment
challenge yourself, food

Right on Schedule

If you didn’t already notice from my 21-Day Sugar Detox, I love making schedules.

I love calendars.
I love planning out my day.
I love making meal plans.
I love order.
I love structure.
I love lists.

As a matter of fact, I might be a perfect candidate for the military.  I could really thrive in a setting where my entire existence is planned out for me.  If only I had a better shot….

Anyways, as I normally do, I love to keep track of dates.  So for those of you who have been paying attention to every detail of my life, you would know that today is the 4th day since my little revelation.  The thing about “starting over” is that no matter how familiar the process may be, you still feel a bit out of your own skin.  I have been living and breathing healthy eating for over a year now, but returning back to it 100% after a small stint of sugar-laden-craziness has been a bit strange.

It’s like I forgot everything I know about eating healthy.  I mean, I didn’t.  The knowledge is there.  I am using it.  But it feels weird.

So as I normally do, planning out my meals has been especially helpful to get through these first few days of relieving my body from the toxins I loaded it with recently.  As always, you all will be updated with any progress or life-changing ideas (which I seem to have quite frequently)!

What are some ways you manage to get back on track after a slip-up (or two. or three. or ten.)?

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Feb 25 2012
Leave a comment
basics, food, living in madrid

Excuses and Cheating

For the purposes of this post, I will consider these words to be mutually exclusive.

Excuses

Hello.  Remember me?  Probably not.  My name is Sarah and I am the owner of this little blog.  If you scroll down a bit, you will see some (self-proclaimed) inspiring and down-right hilarious posts all about health and fitness.  That’s because it is my passion.  Makes sense right?

  Not knowing how to turn your passion into a career (yet) = make a blog

So here you are (thank you for coming) and you might be wondering, “Well, why haven’t you been posting regularly?  This is your passion, right? Don’t you have anything to say?”

‘No.’ would be the simple answer to that.

I have literally had the worst writer’s blog of all time during the month of February.  I would literally think about my cute little site everyday and go blank.

‘I have nothing to write about.’

I was completely uninspired and for that, I apologize.

(Notice I tried to make up for it by uploading a picture in my last post.  Poor form, Sarah.)

Cheating

So after my 21-Day Detox, I was feeling great!  I was feeling healthy, fit, and inspired.  I was also feeling slightly leaner and more focused in the gym.  You can read all about that here.

But…. (you knew that was coming)

But, the sights and smells and tastes of Europe got the better of me.  Passing by the pastry shop everyday on my way to work is no easy task, and I dare even the strictest of Paleo followers to not just consider stopping in.

Make that a double dare.

As you might expect, I did stop in once.  And then twice.  And then before I knew it, the “control” over my sweet tooth had sprinted out of my body, nowhere to be seen.

The past month I have found myself really struggling to battle the evil sweet tooth.  It sounds dumb but for those of you who love sweets, you know what I am talking about.  It’s like another person in your brain making excuses for why it’s acceptable to indulge ‘just this once’.  But it’s never just once, is it?

So maybe those two words are not mutually exclusive after all….

I think I was having trouble being inspired to write because I was feeling a bit out of control of my health.  It’s hard to write a health blog when you aren’t living a healthy lifestyle.  Anyways, this post is serving not only as an update for you as to where I have been, but as a reality check for myself.  An honest update about why I haven’t been writing.  There. I said it.  Moving forward.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 31 2012
Leave a comment
challenge yourself, paleo in madrid, workouts

Eat Clean, Train Mean

I saw this picture the other day.

I mean, that is a back if I’ve ever seen one….

< still staring >

ANYWAYS.

Since I had so much success with my note card calendar for the 21 Day Sugar Detox, I wanted to do another sort of challenge to myself.  In all honesty, it will essentially be a continuation of my detox this past month but I will be putting more focus on my training in the gym.  During the 21DSD, my training just naturally took a turn for the better, but it was never anything I really planned for.  This next month, I want to really put effort into strategically planning my workouts.  With that being said, more focus needs to be placed on macronutrient timing as well.  Basically, I am going to take everything up a notch!

This month has been inspired by that amazing picture posted above.  However, I love a good rhyme so I have renamed my challenge to The Eat Clean, Train Mean 4-Week Challenge.  This  challenge will focus on continuing my limitation of sugar as well as paying more attention to macronutrients in my meals.  Generally, I just throw some meat and veggies on a plate and go to town.  This month I want to put the extra effort into how I disperse macronutrients in my day according to my workouts.  Also, I will be planning my workouts more, most likely leaning toward a 2-day split schedule: lower body on one day, upper body on the other.  My cardio sessions will be short, but intense.  I will be doing about 20 minutes of interval cardio a day.

Clearly, I haven’t put too much thought into this.  But I love a plan.  And I apparently love little note card calendars.  So here we are, starting a new challenge.  This challenge will become more structured in the next few days, but I wanted to hold myself accountable and post about it.  I also wanted you to see that gorgeous back side. You’re welcome ;)

The Eat Clean, Train Mean challenge can be altered however you want!  It’s all about taking yourself to the next level, whatever level you are at.  We are already approaching February, my friends.  Move it or lose it on those resolutions!!  I would love to know how you are going to take on this challenge!

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Jan 26 2012
6 Comments
blogs i'm loving, challenge yourself, food

21 Days Later

As of today, my 21 Day Sugar Detox is complete. 

I decided to jump on the bandwagon earlier this month with the official Balanced Bites 21DSD because it felt like a good time to get myself in check.  I will admit, while I’m sure it’s totally worth the money and extremely helpful, I did not buy the guide to go along with the program.  In my defense however, I have purchased Diane’s Paleo guide and attended one of her seminars in Atlanta so I don’t think I need to justify my respect for this amazing woman.

Anyways, she’s amazing.  Her blog is awesome.  But I’m getting off topic.

During the 21 Days:

The first few days were a bit difficult.  Not because my cravings were out of control or anything, but it was a bit daunting to see how many days I had left.  I generally don’t do well with the whole “you-can’t-eat-this” mentality.  It usually just increases my desire for whatever it is I can’t have.

But I kept on going.  After about 4 days of making little X’s on my note card calendar, my OCD kicked in and honestly I became a bit crazy over the simple act of crossing off the days.  If I am completely honest here (which I always am), I didn’t eat sugar for 21 days purely due to the fact that I would be so annoyed if one day didn’t get crossed off.  Oh yeah, and I was feeling better also!

Also, during the 21 days, I kicked up my weight training a notch.  I started feeling better and it was really showing in my progress at the gym.  I was lifting heavier, feeling leaner, and experiencing much more energy throughout the day.  In fact, coming from someone who has never (ever) been a morning person, I was waking up everyday around 8am without an alarm.  This is unheard of for me.

The second week was much easier.  It was becoming easy and mindless.  I would walk by the pastry shop on my way to work (there seems to be one on every corner here in Madrid) and it wouldn’t phase me one bit.  Still crossing off the little boxes on my calendar, there was no turning back at this point and I moved on to week three.

With that said, the last few days were very tough for me as I was experiencing hormonal cravings.  How did I battle this?  I went to the gym.  I went for a walk.  I did anything I could think of to get away from them and make myself feel healthy.  I might have spent the whole time at the gym thinking about chocolate, but when I finished my workout, I knew I had conquered my craving.  This, my friends, is a big milestone in my book.

Day 22:

Today I feel great.  I woke up at 8:15am and have managed to be quite productive in these morning hours preparing for my classes and just taking care of general errands around the house.  I am excited about my workout this afternoon because I took the day off from weight training yesterday.  I am loving the way my leaner body looks.  I love seeing my abs.  It might be a bit conceited, but I can’t stop staring at them.  I might not be marking off the days anymore on a little calendar, but it just feels like another normal day.  Another normal day of making better choices and prioritizing my health over a simple indulgence.  I think this is why the 21DSD is successful.  It becomes a part of normal life. 

I encourage you to take ownership of the sugar cravings that we all experience.  Sugar is the one thing that can really break your healthy lifestyle and can inhibit you from reaching your goals.  It’s addictive qualities are exactly like a drug.  I would never tell you it’s okay to smoke crack so why would I tell you it’s okay to inhale a whole chocolate bar in one sitting (been there. done that.)?  This isn’t for life.  It’s only 21 days.  But 21 days can completely change your ability to take control of your health.  You can do it!!

just tell me it wouldn't have been annoying to have a single box uncrossed.

just tell me it wouldn't have been annoying to have a single box uncrossed.

Check out my previous posts about my 21 Day Sugar Detox:

#21DSD is a trending topic

Day 7(ish) of my sugar detox

Note: I don’t weigh myself.  I just think scales are dumb.  Numbers tend to make people crazy and I would prefer to stay sane.  But if I were the type of person to weigh myself, I can guarantee that during the 21DSD, I gained weight.  I lost fat and gained muscle.  I leaned out.  My body fat percentage is definitely lower than when I started.  But if I were the type of person to weigh myself, the higher number might discourage me from feeling as good as I do.  So I don’t weigh myself.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,419 other followers

%d bloggers like this: