Accountability is the key to success

Accountability.
[ack-count-ah-bill-it-eeeeee] (come on, you know how to say it).



I think that accountability is a huge thing in weight-loss... or at least it is for me.

I 'dreamed' of wanting to lose weight for years. I legitimately thought that one day I would wake up healthy, or wake up 'not fat' but never once did anything about it. There were numerous times that as I was sitting on the couch eating pizza on a Friday night, I would tell myself 'okay, on Monday I will start eating healthy'. Monday would come and go, and guess who was still stopping at McDonald's for a sausage McMuffin before work, and eating pizza on Friday nights 'just because'. No. If I could reach back in time and actually slap myself across the face, I totally would. My thought process was just SO DUMB.

When I finally admitted to myself, back in March, that I was "FAT" and needed to lose weight - I knew the ONLY way that I would actually commit and stick to this whole weight-loss thing was if I posted it publicly on my blog, on facebook, on twitter, on instagram, etc etc etc. I can't stand the thought of letting people down, or disappointing anyone - so I knew that if I put myself out there, I couldn't turn back. My blog, my friends, my family, my co-workers, random strangers - all of you people have held me accountable everyday.
Especially on days that I feel like quitting.


My alarm telling me to go run.

I love the idea of working out in the morning, but I've honestly only been able to do it a handful of times. I have terrible sleep patterns, and I suffer from insomnia - so most mornings when my alarm goes off at 4:30am to go for a run or work-out, I shut it off and just get up at 5:30/5:45 to get ready for work. One of my fabulous friends, Sami, was planning on getting up early for a work-out yesterday morning, and I mentioned to her that I really wanted to get up and work-out too. Sami made sure to text me and tell me to get my butt out of bed and get moving. Homegirl completely held me accountable, and because I didn't want to let her down - I did it. That extra little bit of added pressure from not wanting to let someone down really helps to motivate me to get going.


Let me just tell you, she totally laid on the guilt - and it worked. I got up after that last text.

If you find that you're wanting to lose weight - whether it be through: clean eating, exercise, or a combination of both; but you can't seem to commit... I suggest finding somebody who can hold you accountable. I promise you're less likely to stop at McDonald's for a Big Mac, large fries, and diet coke if you have somebody who is going to ask what you had for lunch. Unless you're really good at lying and hiding the truth, in which case - HI, THAT WAS ME FOR 5 YEARS!! I'm the master of lying about food, hiding food, and not letting you find out anything that I don't want you to know. But that will be a whole different blog post on it's own.

If you're struggling with this aspect of the weight-loss process and don't have anyone to hold you accountable, please feel free to reach out to me. I will do my best to hold you accountable on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Just remember, changes don't happen overnight. It's a battle, it's a fight, and I promise you that every calorie you burn, and every pizza that you give up is 100% worth it.


Left - July 2012 || Right - September 2013

Obviously those tight fighting work-out pants do WONDERFUL things for my legs and butt, and they make me look like 'OMG I HAVE A NICE BUTT'. Butt (ha, see what I did there?) you get the point.

How to get asked out by a random stranger

In Vancouver, people don't usually tend to talk to strangers. It's weird.
This city is full of 'cliques' and it's a really hard city to make friends in, and it's an even harder city to meet a potential "man friend" in. No lie. Amanda and I always talk about how no random guy will EVER approach a girl in this city and just ask her out. It just simply doesn't happen. Well I guess I can officially say that this statement is no longer true... because yesterday, I was asked out by a total stranger.

While I was waiting for the bus to head home after work yesterday, I stood next to a homeless man - who was digging through the garbage bin trying to find bottles and cans. For some reason, I honestly have no idea why - he yelled at me, and a few of the other people standing near me at the stop. He grumbled something under his breath and continued digging. Rude.
About 2 minutes later he smiles at me - then, while he continues to dig for bottles, asks me out. I politely decline and turn up my music on my iPhone so I can attempt to be done with this conversation. Awkwaaaard.


I couldn't get a picture of him, but here's his bag of bottles that I 'watched' while he ran across the street to check another garbage bin.

A bus comes by, and the gentleman attempts to get on for free - the bus driver closes the door and says no, and the man kicks the bus. Gosh, he's such a catch. At this point, I decided to text one of my friends to tell him about what was going on, and instead of the sympathy that I was hoping for - I got laughed at. Awesome.



Eventually, the man boarded a bus, and I tried to creep a picture (unsuccessfully), but here's the picture I did get:


#busselfie ?

That's all I've got to say about THAT. Still single. Forever.

Sometimes I Wear Flower Crowns

Happy Monday, lovelies.
I had a pretty chill weekend, but I'll show you a quick glimpse! My weekend was full of workouts, spending time with friends, shopping, food prep, and a bit of relaxing.

Linking up with my favorite Princess of Shenanigans as always.



One. Flower Crown. Heck yes. It was from a work event on Friday night.
Two. Jennie and I at the work event.
Three. I bought workout clothes. Like legit workout clothes. I'm kind of obsessed with them.
Four. Favourite breakfast, ever. Scrambled eggs, bell peppers, spinach, turkey - topped with avocado and salsa.
Five. Vegan protein shake. So delicious.
Six. I was laying in bed watching tv shows by 11:30pm Saturday night. Be jealous.
Seven. Breaking in the new workout clothes.
Eight. Sunday morning cardio (running) + leg day.
Nine. Sunday's outfit. Proof that I wear real clothes and not just workout gear.

Cheaters Never Win, and Winners Can't Lift Their Arms

I wasn't going to share either of these stories - really, I wasn't. But I also didn't have anything to blog about today, so this is what you're getting.

Last night was upper body strength training - aka - workout from hell that leaves your arms feeling more like jello, and less like useable appendages. This is problematic when you need to do things like wash your hair, brush your teeth, and apparently get your eyebrows threaded. This is the exact moment where I probably lost you, so let me explain...



For those of you who have never had your eyebrows threaded, or haven't seen anyone have their eyebrows threaded before, you probably don't know what the process is like. After the aesthetician pulls all of the hair out of the top of your eyebrow (and in between your eyebrows if you have a unibrow), she pulls the hair our of the bottom of your eyebrow. Pretty basic. When she's pulling the hair out of the bottom of your eyebrow, you have to hold your eyelid down and pull the top of your eyebrow up so that she won't yank on your skin - I'm pretty sure I just butchered this explanation, but I'm hoping you can somewhat follow along. If you can't - just humor me.

I have had my eyebrows threaded probably 100x. I know the drill, and I know it well. However, when I went to hold my eyebrow for her to yank out all of the hair, my arm started twitching a bit - because my arms still felt like jello from the work-out that I had just finished 30 minutes before that. I try and steady my arm and it's just not working, and it starts to get worse. The girl doesn't say anything but I know that she can see my arm trembling. She moves onto the next eye and I hold my arms down by my sides again. A minute later, she's ready for me to hold my second eye. This is when my arm basically has a seizure and starts shaking uncontrollably. I can't even call it trembling, because it was full on shaking back and forth to the point that she almost can't even do her job.


She was definitely judging me at this point.

She stops, and asks if I'm okay. I assure her I'm fine and she asks if I'm nervous and need a break. I explain to her that I'm not nervous, I've done this 100x and that my arms are shaking from an arm work-out that I had just finished doing. Meanwhile - Amanda is sitting in the chair behind me, laughing, while she watches me shake uncontrollably. Jerk.

After we left the eyebrow place, we headed to the grocery store to pick-up a few more veggies for the rest of the week. Now, there are 2 foods that I crave often, and can't eat because of this whole trying to lose weight. These 2 foods will always be my favorite things, EVER, and I don't see that changing any time soon. These two heavenly foods are my kryptonite and I find myself always wanting them: pizza and chocolate covered almonds. My favorite kind of chocolate covered almonds are the ones in the bulk section at the grocery store. I told Amanda that I was in the mood to cheat on the 90-Day Challenge and I headed to the bulk aisle to have ONE chocolate covered almond. Yes, I literally wanted ONE just to curb my craving, and yes I planned on eating it without paying - oops.



I get to the bulk aisle, look around to make sure that nobody is watching me, and head straight for the almonds. This is when I discovered that there are literally NO chocolate covered almonds. They're completely sold out. Amanda walks down the aisle behind me and basically laughs at me for not being able to cheat and have an almond.

This, my friends, is when I see something that I shouldn't have seen. This is when I SHOULD HAVE walked away, while I still had my dignity. This is when I threw any pride that I had, straight out the window.

I did exactly what you think I did. Amanda watched, in horror, as I grabbed one of those babies and popped it in my mouth. Karma was 100% against me eating this deliciousness, because it was a not so delicious chocolate covered jujube - which I hate. I gagged, and grabbed another one - thinking it would be a chocolate covered almond and I could wash away the taste. No. I don't know what chocolate covered thing #2 was, but it DEFINITELY was not an almond.



Amanda stood there watching me - basically crying from laughing so hard - as I gagged and tried to spit out whatever was in my mouth. That's what I get for cheating on my 90-day challenge, and not taking the 'sold out' sign literally. Always listen to signs.

No shame, guys. No shame. See you all tomorrow.

Queen of Food Prep

Happy Hump Day!

I've had a lot of requests through instagram, Facebook, and the blog, the past few days regarding food prep. Amanda and I are basically the Queens of Food Prep. I'm not trying to boost our egos, or sound like we're full of ourselves but food prep is something that we do really well. Every Sunday, we know that we need to go grocery shopping, in the morning and spend an hour or two: cutting, cooking, bbqing, baking, and prepping food.

I'm not going to lie, there are days where neither of us want to cook but we force each other to do it and crank it out as quickly as possible. We know our duties and we know what we each do well and we stick to it. We have a routine of sorts, and this helps us to move quickly and crank out meals for the entire week in the shortest amount of time as possible.


We are both firm believers that if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.

If I don't spend an hour of two getting everything ready on Sunday, I will eat like crap all week and my weight-loss and my bank account will suffer because of it. I know myself, and I know that if I don't have my lunches ready for the week, then I won't eat healthy. I'll buy lunch everyday and it won't be good.
Obviously everyone is different, and if you're able to make your lunch fresh every morning, I admire you. I simply cannot.

I never get sick of omelet's. They are hands-down my GO-TO meal.

We switch up our meals every week - but we have a few 'staple' items that we always have prepped and ready to go in the fridge:

• Lean ground turkey
This is a must have in our fridge. We go through about 2lbs of turkey per week in our house. Seriously. I can't get enough of this stuff.
Amanda and I use it for omelets, salads, stir-fry, or just eating it on it's own as delicious lean protein.
For prepping it, I keep it pretty basic. I cook it on the stove top, in a frying pan, with coconut oil. After the turkey is almost cooked all the way through - still a bit pink - I drain it in the sink (with a cullender), and get rid of any excess fat and liquid that's cooking with the turkey. I throw it back in the frying pan and finish cooking it. This is when I add all of my favorite spices. Add whatever you like and then store it in a sealed container. Should be good for up to 5 days - if it lasts that long in your house.


• Turkey Bacon
I think we buy Lilydale - I don't remember. It's low in sodium, and low in calories. Read the label before you buy turkey bacon - they're not all healthy. Always be aware of how many calories, grams of fat, and mg of sodium you're consuming in 1 or 2 pieces of turkey bacon.


• Sliced Bell Peppers
I could eat bell peppers everyday (literally) and never get sick of them. I always have a container or two of sliced bell peppers washed and ready to go at all times.

Apart from the 'regulars' listed above, we prep quite a bit of other foods. We wash, cut, and package fruits. Wash, cut, and prep any other raw veggies we're having that week. Amanda usually bakes squash, and we prepare salads for the first day or two of the week.

Most weeks we BBQ chicken breasts to have available in the fridge (for the same purpose as the ground turkey). We will use it in a stir-fry, eat it on it's own, put it in a salad, or eat it with veggies. This week I'm eating my chicken with spaghetti squash. Speaking of spaghetti squash, I'm pretty sure that deserves an entire post of it's own.. but I'll leave that for another day.

Here is a list of what we cooked/prepped this past Sunday and what is currently in our fridge for lunches and dinners this week:

Spaghetti Squash
Veggie Spaghetti Sauce
Lean Ground Beef Meatballs (baked with cilantro, green onion, and spices)
BBQ Chicken Breasts
Spicy Baked Cauliflower & Sweet Potato
Turkey Bacon
Sliced Peppers
Lean Ground Turkey
Kale, Broccoli, Walnut, and Apple Salad
Hard Boiled Eggs

As you can tell, we're big on protein...
Some other meat that we eat often: fish (tilapia, salmon), pork, and lamb.




Fish tacos from last week: tilapia, salsa, avocado, hummus, peppers, lettuce (instead of tortilla).

In addition to the food that requires food prep, here are the other foods in our fridge that don't require any prep work:

Eggs
Spinach
Goat Cheese
Almond Milk
Hummus
Salsa
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Watermelon
Avocados
Bananas

This is basically all that I can think of. I will try and do some recipe posts for some of our favorite Go-To healthy meals.

Top (Left - Right)
one. typical breakfast - Ryvita crackers with natural peanut butter and some kind of fruit - blueberries, bananas, raspberries, or strawberries.
two. a huge bowl of spaghetti squash, chicken, sauce, and avocado on top - with a ryvita cracker on the side to dip in the sauce.
three. a whole bell pepper, ryvita crackers with goat chesse, and BBQ'd tilapia on top.

Bottom (Left - Right)
four. whole bell pepper, grilled lean pork, hummus, and banana for dessert.
five. bell pepper, onion, zucchini, spinach, and green onion stir fry - topped with avocado and a piece of BBQ'd tilapia.
six. omelet (spinach, goat cheese, turkey, and turkey bacon), topped with avocado, bell peppers, hummus, cracked pepper, and sriracha.

FYI - Everything that we cook is completely made up by us. We do not follow recipes, and we are often creating new dishes. I will do my best to answer questions about cooking or food prep but I am not a chef. With that being said, please feel free to ask me anything that you want to know about the types of food I'm eating every week, what my lunches look like, what my dinners look like, etc.



Finally...
A HUUUUGE Happy Birthday to the Princess of Shenanigans.
Sami, I'm so happy to be able to call you a friend! If i wasn't on this whole 'clean eating' kick, I'd have a drink (or five) and a big piece of cake for you... but since I can't have it for you, I really really hope that you will allow yourself to indulge today. I hope you have the most amazing birthday, and I hope that 24 is amazing to you - you deserve every bit of it. Love you!