Hey y’all! What a day! How was your Saturday?
I woke up this morning without an alarm at 6:30 after going to bed at 12:30 a.m. My intention was to sleep in today and then go to an hour RPM (a Les Mills cycling class) at 8 a.m. After doing my quiet time, I battled back and forth with going as I was exhausted from the Dance Party last night and 5 hours of sleep (not rest) the past 2 nights because of early classes. My options were to take a day off or go to yoga at 10 a.m. I wasn’t starving as I usually am when I wake up and was running out of time as I was trying to decide what to do. I struggle with how many calories I’d burn today (this is SO vulnerable and scary to put out there…whew!) since I knew my family was going to Carraba’s for dinner.
In the end, I laid back down on the couch for a little less than an hour, then got up, made some yummy breakfast and went to 10 a.m. yoga. I want to encourage y’all and ask your advice on your mental battles. Do you ever have mental conversations with yourself on body/nutrition/exercise issues?
I’m trying to stick with my goal listening to my body this year. I know it’s important to take time for your body to repair and get rested for your next workouts, but I have a difficult time with full days off and am praying for God to teach me how to prioritize and take care of the one and only temple I’ll ever have. I’d love to hear anything y’all have to offer on this issue of rest days. What do your rest days look like…doing nothing, a little stretching, etc.?
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My yummy breakfast was a bowl of oats with a muffin crumbled on top! Oh, how I have missed this goodness in my life. ANNND these muffins were even better than the last batch! You can really taste the apple pie spice since there’s not a lot of other competing flavors. Observe Exhibit A…
In the mix:
- 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, almond milk, water, Kiefer (NEW INGREDIENT of the day!!!)
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- 1 Tbsp peanut flour
- 1/2 smashed banana
- sprinkles of salt and sexy spice
- toppings: crumbled Rise and Shine Muffin, blackberries, 1 Tbsp Trader Joe’s cranberry orange spread (another new AMAZING ingredient!), a little Naturally More (for digestive help!)
Today’s new ingredients as you can see were keifer and the cranberry orange spread. I tried keifer because when I use greek yogurt, I like to liquid stuff on top in the morning mix because of the little liquid consistency, so i figured I’d just try keifer, and it turned out great! I was afraid that it would be too liquidy…nope! Perfect consistency! The peanut flour in the mix really balanced it out well. My other new ingredient was the cranberry orange spread from Trader Joe’s. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!! It’s the perfect flavor combo at breakfast. I tried it since I like their pumpkin butter so much, and it did not disappoint.
Is it bad that I’m already excited about a repeat in this polka dot beauty tomorrow morning?!
Oh, follow-up from yoga. It was great! I loved Mira’s flow today. I was really challenged, and it felt great to stretch out my muscles from yesterday. It didn’t matter that I didn’t burn all those calories from RPM. I challenged myself in a different way, and I discovered that I love binding poses. We did a bound tree fold today that felt great! And we did a flower pose…so pretty!
I went to the store with Mom then came home for lunch. I cooked a massive bunch of kale on the stove top with a little EVOO and garlic and 1/4 cup of water. The bunch was taking up so much room in our frige that I just decided to cook it. It’s amazing how much smaller it is cooked down hehe. Plus, I had enough for leftovers for later this week.
For lunch, I just put some on a plate as a bed for a Morning Star veggie burger (love these!) topped with roasted red pepper hummus…
…and a small organic cameo apple with peanut flour sauce and a Rise and Shine muffin. The muffins are SO good!
Plus some Starbucks Caramel coffee. Perfect lunch! This coffee is really good. I don’t use coffee cream, so having flavored coffee is a great treat!
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Summit was incredible tonight, especially worship! Our sermon was on Isaiah 11:19-30, and we were challenged on how respond to how God is working and not becoming too complacent or enjoying glory that belongs to him. I was challenged to examine where I can more sacrifically live and give.
As I mentioned, we had dinner plans for Carraba’s…
I started with a glass of red wine (the Sangiovese-Merlot blend). Yummy!
An Italian side salad (thank-you, Carraba’s, for not drowning the salad with dressing!)
And Chicken Bryan (with no butter) and green beans.
I didn’t want dessert tonight (gasp! I know!). I guess I’m just looking forward to breakfast!
Saints lost 😦 Watching the Jets and Colts play now…
Thanks for reading, y’all, seriously! I look forward to your comments on rest .
ansauls
ashley avenue 
Hey Girl! Awesome that you were able to put yourself out there like that. I used to battle with rest days and get nervous about future meals too. But now (from distance running) I know that my body NEEDS rest. I could tell on Friday that my body needed a break, as I hadn’t taken one that week. I also knew I would run much better on Sunday after a day off.
I’ve eaten like a pig today too, since I’m sick and have been sitting around. Normal meals + almost an entire family size box of wheat things + half pint of ice cream + bread pudding…but you know what. I’ll be FINE. It seriously won’t matter, and it won’t for you either!
I’ve found that if I get stressed about a future meal, I end up psyching myself out, trying to eat less, never feeling satisfied and then binging. It’s better just to go in and accept that you’ll eat a few extra calories, but know that those few extra calories are NOTHING in the bigger picture:)
Glad you had fun!
thanks, babe! YOU are my good thing that happened today. thanks for taking this journey with me. i love having you along 😉 i hope that you feel better sooooooon! love love love you! you are so incredibly encouraging!
Hey Ashley 🙂
Absolutely – I have this mental struggle everyday. In fact, my husband is pretty “tired” of hearing me voice my struggle out loud. I’ve lost 104 pounds and want to lose a little more, but I’m pretty content where I’m at right now so I try to let myself “live” a little. When I go out to eat, I order what I want (without ordering anything fried) and I don’t worry too much about portion size. But then I feel bad about it – as though what I just ate is going to cling to my body and add 5 pounds to the scale. While the scale does go up a bit, I’ve learned that it really is just water weight from sodium and will go away after a few good workouts. But it is a constant struggle. So I completely understand. I take two days off a week from the gym (most weeks – sometimes one day off). I do think it is so important to give your body a rest from workouts. I still try to do some type of enjoyable exercise – a leisurely walk with my dog and son, parking farther away from the mall entrance so I have to walk a little more (this is enjoyable because the mall is one of my favorite places) haha 🙂 But you get the point 🙂 So yes, you are not alone. You work really really hard at the gym and ,from what I see on your blog, on your eating. Allow yourself to rest and indulge every once in a while. Eat well 90% of the time and workout to your fullest potential at least 5 days a week and everything else will fall into place!
Lindsay,
Thanks for your response! It means more than you know! My family is “tired” of it too, but I think it’s still important to be vulnerable. I am SO proud of you and all you’ve accomplished! Look at where you are from where you were. Love yourself and your body. You have to put “splurges” in perspective. Honestly, the words “indulge” and “splurge” scare me. You work out so much that 1 meal won’t make or break you. You have to look at your lifestyle overall. Just drink more water, and that water weight from sodium will be gone before you know it! For me, it’s just like that 1 meal will put me over back to where I was. Thanks for understanding. Good for you for finding a healthy balance and giving your body what it needs! Again, I am SO proud of you and thanks for stopping by and leaving me a little comment 🙂