Clean eating and healthy exercising.

A while back I promised a friend that I would post some of my meals. Honestly, I'm a very lazy eater. I do my meal preps every week but everything I make is so simple, here's why:

1.) I don't own a dish washer. I am the dish washer. 

2.) I don't have much time for meal prep so I prep what I can. 

3.) If it has more than 5 ingredients, my attention span is gone. 

Everything I make is super easy, I think the hardest part is cutting fruits and veggies for the week. I always pack a lunch, again because I'm too lazy to leave and I'm also cheap. Some of my meals include:

Breakfast:

•1 egg(hard boiled or made in a pan) Brusselsprouts, turkey bacon all loaded with sriracha sauce 

•A homemade organic multigrain waffle with peanut butter on it

•A bowel a Cheerios and Silk

•Fresh fruit 

•Whole wheat or multi-grain toast with chia seeds

•Greek yogurt

•Banana 

Lunch/ Dinner combos

•Grilled chicken and Vegetables

•Quinoa salad (recipe on last blog)

•Salmon 

•Quinoa

•Brown rice 

•Tuna

•Kale or spinach salads(big salads!)

•Turkey meatloaf (Fitfluential recipe) 

•Turkey burgers (I always use 93%lean)

•Sweet potatoes 

Snacks

•Greek yogurt (fave: plain with Nutella)

•Mixed nuts

•Almond

*I love chia and flax seeds!

That's just a basic idea. I could eat peanut butter on everything. I go through almost 1 really large jar a week. I mix and match meals to change things up, but none of it is really exciting. I also eat at least one banana a day for breakfast. I've stopped taking protein powder or pre-workouts and I don't see a difference either way. I'll probably not go back to the pre-workouts or protein because they're expensive and why bother if I'm getting the same results from actual food? I'm not against it, I'm just taking a break from it. My diet does change as far as carbs and proteins go when I'm training for a half marathon. Obviously my calorie count goes up but I've stopped counting calories.

I have finally become happy with myself and my body. I've noticed so many wonderful changes from changing my diet. I'm more energized, my stress levels are going down, the headaches that I used to get are decreasing, and my over-all feel is better. I was a very large child but once I lost the weight I was still feeling awful. My body has finally found it's happy point. 

Here's an idea of my workout: 

•CrossFit (Wednesday and Saturday) 

•Kickboxing(Tuesday or Thursday)

•Running(Depending on the training season 3-6 days with one long run it there)

•Weightlifting(3-4 days)

•Biking(1 day with a few friends)

That's my usual schedule. Right now I am less than two months away from my wedding so things do change when something comes up. I'm human. My next race isn't until the end of September so I have a lot of time to train before then. 

That's my usual life. It's pretty exciting, I know. If you have any questions please feel free to comment,tweet, Facebook, or email!

*This is an example of what I do. I am not a licensed nutrition or dietitian.  Please consult a doctor before trying something new. 

My favorite workout food is peanut butter! I eat it out of the jar (using different spoons of course) What's your favorite food that you always eat?

Quinoa Salad.

I never thought summer working only one job would get so busy! I used to work two jobs, seven days a week. I would honestly be lucky to have 1 day off on the weekend for myself. It was extremely stressful and hectic. Now that I'm able to work my solid full time job, I've started more activities. I recently took up CrossFit (which I love!) I'm also planning my wedding. We're almost done so I should have more time soon. 

Anyways, I recently tried out my own recipe. It turned out really well so I'll share it with you! 

Quinoa salad 

3/4 cup quinoa 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

1/4 cup maple syrup 

1/2 cup dried cranberries(natural) 

1/2 cup sunflower seeds 

1/2 cup sliced almonds

•Cook quinoa according to the directions. •Let it cool.

•Make dressing: In a bowl, whisk oil, vinegar, and maple syrup. 

•Add dressing and stir in cranberries, sliced almonds, and sunflower seeds. 

•Let refrigerate over night. 

•Serve 

Try it and let me know how you like it! 

Race weekend and Sweat Pink

It has  definitely  been a while since I've posted on here.  I've been really busy at work and wedding planning but I did make time for a race yesterday.  Yesterday was Pittsburgh's color me rad 5k.  My sister isn't a big race guru, so it took a lot to get her to go with me.  We took our childhood best friend with us as well.  These are the two people that I could spend all of my time with every day.  They really are my best friends.  My sister got me into running, but she refuses to enter races.  She had way too much fun though.  This made up for the mud run that I made her do in Pennsylvania in November with 3 feet of snow.  I still haven't lived that down.  So, yesterday we got up and had breakfast at my sister's house.  She drove us the hour it took to get to our destination.  We met our friend's friends (who were so awesome) My dad rode along with us because he loves to go to races.  

This race was totally worth the money.  A portion of the proceeds went to the Ronald McDonald House Charity.  There were two problems we had with the race, 1.) we ran their parking lot so it was covered in rocks and gravel.  2.) There were more runners than walkers.  My group of friends and I are runners, we walked a little but we spent a portion of our time tripping over people that were walking.  

I think for the next race they should look into two lanes for people.  This race was still so much fun! 

I found out today that I became a Sweat Pink ambassador!  I applied a few months ago and have been checking my email religiously to see if I was accepted.   Sweat Pink is a group forum to learn, teach, and cheer on current athletes.  I can't wait to connect in my community! 

Your turn!

What fun races have you done this summer or planning to do?