And the winner is…

From past experience, I expected to only have a few entries and therefore would just write people’s names down and draw them out of a hat.

Well, the Happy Herbivore cookbook giveaway generated 60 (!) entries so I went with the site very popular in the blog world – Random.org – to pick the winner.

(drumroll….)

#14 – Rebecca!

Rebecca, I have sent you an email! Please respond with your info ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who entered, hopefully I can do another great giveaway in the near future

Related Articles

• 5 Features of Random.org That You Should Use (shoutmeloud.com)
• The Happy Herbivore cookbook giveaway! (seesaraheat.wordpress.com)

Day 27: Hooray for giveaways!

I have left my camera at home again today, so instead of boring you with talking about my food and no pictures, I wanted to take the chance to share some awesome giveaways with you!

First up, check out Dinner at Christina’s for a great dairy-free (“Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living by Alisa Fleming of GoDairyFree.org) and vegan cookbook (My Sweet Vegan: passionate about dessert by Hannah Kaminsky) giveaway!

Also, check out Cooking For a Vegan Lover, where you have a chance to win some awesome goods from Pacific Natural Foods, including Almond or Oat milk, an Ice Tea, and a coupon for 1 Free Pacific Natural Foods item!!

So what are you waiting for? Check out the blogs, re-post, Facebook it and Twitter away

Happy Tuesday!

Challenge #4…what’s next?

A few weeks ago I decided to give myself weekly “challenges” in the form of changes that I would eventually like to make permanent in my lifestyle. Here are the previous three in case you missed them:

1. No calorie counting

2. Meal planning (trying new recipes)

3. Caffeine awareness/reduction

Its amazing to me that I have not slipped up once in any of these things. Well, the caffeine has been challenging and is sort of still in the experimental phases. Right now I am drinking green tea instead of coffee at work!

And now…number 4, it’s going to be a tough one!

4. No weighing

JUST SAY NO!

Now obviously its not going to be hard for me to go an entire week without weighing myself, the real challenge is going to be extending it beyond that week. My weigh fluctuates in a 7 lb range (147-154) up and down and I’m always wearing the same clothes, so I don’t think going up and down a pound or two here and there is something to really monitor even on a weekly basis. If a problem arises, it will become obvious to me by how I’m feeling, my clothes getting tighter, etc.

We all know how discouraging the scale can be. So, when I get home today, the dumb thing is going in the closet!! I don’t even want the temptation to step on it right there in my face. Its true that I would like to eventually lose a few more pounds (tone up if you will) but I would rather judge that based on how I feel, how my clothes fit and just by observing myself. Not by that number.

So there you have it, I’m taking the fourth step toward my ideal life and it feels so great

Happy Tuesday!

p.s. Hangry Pants is having an Element Bar giveaway, go check it out!

Backtracking

Oops, forgot to tell you guys about last night (except The Biggest Loser part)!

The Chobani yogurt held me quite a long time considering I ate it at 2:00 and dinner was around 6! Usually that doesn’t happen unless I add something to the yogurt (cereal, granola, nuts) but I think I was so busy the rest of the afternoon that I didn’t notice.

For dinner, I made whole wheat spaghetti + rotini, I thought I didn’t have enough spaghetti so I added a half serving of rotini to the pot and of course it ended up being more than a serving. I portioned out 1 cup total of pasta and then put the rest in the fridge for another time. To my sauce (which was Ragu chunky garden combo), I added:

• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup chopped peppers + onions mix
• 2 chopped links of turkey sausage
• 2 tsp parmesan cheese (on top)

Holy veggie-protein-licious spaghetti!

This was a great meal and filled me up very nicely, plus it was good to get the veggies in there as always.

I ended up not going to volleyball because of my strange leg pain, but I did not veg on the couch. I did dishes, laundry, cleaning (countertops) and I packed my lunch and gym bag for the next day. It really feels good to get that all done the night before and saves lots of time in the a.m.!

During all those activities, I had two of these beauties for heart health:

I swear, I used to be a strictly milk chocolate only girl and now I don’t even bother with the stuff and I prefer dark chocolate, the darker the better! So see, you may think you don’t like something now, but that could change. Something being healthy for you always motivates me to give it a chance too. Plus, sometimes chocolate can be a giver of good advice…

During The Biggest Loser, I got up during every commercial break and did something constructive (teeth brushing, etc.) and even started on the husband’s Diet Analysis that I promised him I would do ages ago. He wrote down everything he ate for three days (2 during the week and 1 weekend) and I’m in the process of plugging it into my nutrition computer program from a class I took a year ago. He wants to know how “bad” he is doing and hopefully he’ll let me help him change!

Somewhere before 9:00, I had some See Sarah Eat granola and a cup of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea. In April? Yep.

Have an awesome day!

ANOTHER GIVEAWAY – Be sure to get in on Meghann’s Honest Foods Granola planks giveaway! I have been searching for these bad boys forever so I hope I win I want to use them in my morning oatmeal a la Kath

p.s. Suzie says “HI!”

Splitting breakfast

First things first…Kelly @ Every Gym’s Nightmare is having an Oikos giveaway! Make sure you get over to her site and get yourself entered. Greek yogurt is the best

I’ve seen it on the blogosphere that a lot of you who workout in the morning sort of “split” breakfast into two parts, adequately fueling your workout and then refueling after. I decided to try a similar plan today and so far, it has worked out great.

This morning, I had two mini bagels (220 calories, less than 1 big one!) with fat free strawberry cream cheese (which I fell in love with in New York) and an orange = 320 calories.

This is a smaller breakfast than I am used to eating and as you can see, not a lot of protein. I saved that for after!

My workout was simple and short. I started off with strength training first because I did not want to neglect it any farther. I did each exercise below for 1 minute on my abs:

• Crunches
• Side crunches (1 min on each side)
• Straight leg toe reach crunches
• Bicycle crunches

Then I did a round of upper body weight machines: lateral pulldown, chest press, chest flye, bicep curl, tricep extension, and sitting row. My arms were jello by the end. I did 15 reps of each exercise.

Then I hopped on the treadmill for 18 minutes (all the time I had left) and warmed up for 1.5, ran for 15 (at 5.1-6.0 mph) and then cooled down for 1.5.

Time: 18:10

Distance: 1.54 miles

Calories: 154

It was a good workout and I’m definitely feeling refreshed and more focused this morning because of it…and my awesome 2nd breakfast / morning snack.

 

Oikos vanilla yogurt + Kashi Cocoa Beach granola = awesome workout recovery snack!

I’m really enjoying my “tour” of Oikos, thanks again to the company for the awesome coupons! I know its expensive, but when you prefer the texture, consistency and taste of Greek yogurt, its hard to go back to anything else. I plan on purchasing more Oikos after my little stash runs out.

I still have blueberry and honey left, so stay tuned! Though, I’ve already declared my undying love for blueberry…

Lunch Preview

For lunch today, I brought a Kashi meal that I purchased over the weekend with a coupon I got from the company (it was free)! I’m excited to try it as Sweet & Sour Chicken used to be one of my favorite chinese food meals, but I’ve abstained since its one of the least healthy for you thanks to loads of sodium and sugar. This entire meal has 320 calories, so I’ve also brought a banana and a whole wheat pita pocket (not pictured) to round out my meal and give it some more staying power.

Included in the picture are my morning snack and afternoon (cheese stick) snack. The banana and pita may move around depending on my fullness from the Kashi meal.

Have a great Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by…

Back to mornings

I’ve so gotta get back to morning workouts. They just feel so much better, I do them so much better…in the afternoons, I am usually so tired and worn out that a work out is really strenuous when it normally wouldn’t be. So there you have it!

This morning, I was running a little behind, as usual, so I just did a quickie run on the treadmill with a few minutes to cool down at the end.

Time: 32:00

Distance: 2.66 miles

Calories: 266 (I’m using 100 cal/mile now after doing lots of research)

I have an anatomy test in an hour that I can’t wait to get out of the way. I don’t know how well I’ll do on the details but I feel like I have the basic concepts down. So we’ll see. Around 10:30 though, I should be breathing a sigh of relief, at least it will be out of the way and I can focus on packing for New York!

When you were in school or if you are now, do/did you devote a certain amount of time per day to study or do/did you procrastinate and try to review it all at the last minute?

I’m definitely a combination of both; it really depends on the circumstances that particular week, haha…

p.s. More Giveaways!

- Danica at Danica’s Daily is giving away some Annie’s care packages that you must see and enter to win! I love Annie’s, they are fun products that you can enjoy knowing that they are all-natural and not made with any weird chemicals. I highly recommend the Bunny Grahams and Cheddar Bunnies

- The Hungry Yogini is giving away the blog-famous Barney Butter!

- Kath is giving away Nature’s Path products

- Julie from Julie Go Lean is giving away a few of her favorite things, such a neat idea!

- Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas is giving away a…VITA-MIX 5200! WOW! If I don’t win I may have to start a small savings account for one of these.

I’m sure there will be more, keep checking back!