My Diet Woes

Everyone in my life thinks that I eat perfectly all the time. The truth is, I know how to eat healthy. I understand what it takes to eat clean, have a calorie deficit for the day without starving myself, and maximize the nutritional value of the recipes I make. Lately, though, I have been in a bit of a rut. I haven’t been as creative when it comes to my recipes. I feel bored with food, and like I have been falling back on the same things I have made in the past. It’s getting old, fast! I also feel like I have an insatiable hunger that takes control of my inhibitions on the regular! I bought two bags of dark chocolate chips for baking over the Holidays. Well, I didn’t bake a damn thing, and I finished off the second bag last night! I had a CRONUT at the airport in Burbank! 

I mean, I’ll be perfectly honest with you guys right now and say that I don’t think I’ve ever had a donut, croissant, or anything of the sort that was as amazingly yummy as this cronut. No lie, I would probably eat another one right now with no shame whatsoever, because it was THAT good! The problem is, I still can’t exercise, and I feel like shit now. I feel gross like I have been putting excessive empty calories into my body, and it’s accumulating on my stomach.

This blog is about my experiences. I always hope that my experiences can help people, so I keep it real on here. This is real. This is me right now. I need a diet overhaul! I don’t know what to do about my crazy chocolate craving that seems to keep lingering and lingering weeks after Christmas has passed. It’s more of a quantity and portion control issue I think I'm having. Instead of one LaraBar a day, I’ll end up having three. I start great in the morning, and gradually toward the end of the day, I want to eat everything but the kitchen sink! I don’t think I have changed anything that could be contributing to this, either. (All of you inquiring minds out there that are in the gutter-NO I am not pregnant. No way, no how. I wish I had a legit excuse, just not that one, lol!) I’m not sure how I am going to get out of this rut I’m having, but once I do, I’ll let you guys know :-). 

In the mean time, I am trying to continue to make smarter choices like I was before. In fact, I saw these at Safeway today and had to try them! They are really good! Each bag has 2.5 servings in it, so I just had a few pieces. 

Another healthy snack I’ve been loving lately is gluten free chips and this salsa from Sprouts:

The chips I like are Late July and the brand called “Your Food Should Taste Good” or something along those lines. Their multigrain ones come in a ginormous Costco-sized bag, and are impressively healthy for how good they are! They’re kind of a cross between a tortilla chip and a multigrain cracker. The ones by Late July that I like are the two different lime ones. The salsa above is my absolute favorite salsa I’ve ever gotten at a grocery store. My favorite salsa from a Mexican restaurant is from The Original Burrito Company in Ahwatukee. IT. IS. AMAZING. This Chico’s Pico salsa is no joke, though! It’s actually hot! It’s not wimpy hot. It has just the right amount of burn for someone that likes a hot salsa, but doesn’t want their mouth to burn for two hours after eating it. (It’ll only burn for a few minutes, I promise!)

For dinner tonight, I decided to try out a gluten free flatbread pizza crust that I got at Sprouts. I just made a veggie pizza with a little bit of part-skim mozzarella cheese on top:

I had a tangelo for dessert. Then a Clif Mojo bar. Then a Chocolate chip cookie dough Larabar with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. See the trend? Ugh! 

Something I’ve been wanting to start doing again is my upper body and core strength training. I have been in such a “blah” kind of mood lately. I am having trouble getting motivated. Does anyone have any motivating words for me? I know what kind of stuff I need to do! I just need to come up with a plan and execute it. I think strength training can help me a lot with my inability to do cardio. In case you guys aren’t aware, the more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your RMR (resting metabolic rate) is. It’s so weird, but when I exercise, I tend to eat better. When I’m not, I end up making poorer choices. You would think just the opposite, right? Or at least you’d think that I’d make better choices when I know I can’t workout! I think I did so well for so long on the nutritional front that I’ve run out of steam. 

We all go through our ups and downs. I find that I have a tendency to lay around and do nothing but watch Netflix and YouTube videos when I want to avoid life. (When I am in a down part of my life.) I know things will look up, and they will very soon! I am having my last surgery in March, and from there, I will be working my ass off in PT to get my life back! I just keep reminding myself that my life is being put on pause for the greater good! I am sacrificing normalcy, pay, and cardio to get a fully functioning body back, and I don’t regret a second of it! If I can just keep my eye on the prize and keep a positive attitude throughout the rest of this, it will only continue to get better and better :-).

Thanks a million for letting me vent on here! I just want you guys to know that you’re definitely not alone if you’ve gone through times like this! Are you going through one right now? You can always email me if you need to vent yourself, and you don’t want to leave it in a comment below. Just remember, you never know who you might be helping (including me) by sharing your stories. Have an awesome weekend, and I’ll be back soon with more good stuff and an awesome Eyeshadow tutorial I’ve been putting a lot of work into! 

Happy Trails!

Stacey