"Every year on your birthday you get a chance to be a new you." Wise words by Sammy Hagar.
Today's my 33rd birthday. I was planning on taking the day off from work, but after last week's "Sneux-cation" here in the South, I decided not to. I'm glad I didn't though. Work has proven to be a little better than expected! Having students freak out over your birthday and bring you cards and candy is a sure fire way to cheer you up! It's nice to feel so loved from a group of people who are generally only concerned with themselves! I even got a note from one of my students that reminded me why I became a teacher; to help show these kids they are better than they think and can be more than what people have told them they can be. Having a birthday in January has its pros and cons. Con- FREEZING weather! No fun outdoor birthday parties. It's less than a month from Christmas, so you don't get as many presents. Pros- It's King Cake season in Nola, so my cake is usually my favorite one. Usually people take the day to bum around and not do much. I'm definitely going to eat a ridiculous dinner and dessert, but if I had my way, I'd work out all day long to negate those! The one workout I plan on doing for my birthday is running 3.3 miles. Since joining all sorts of running groups on Facebook, I've noticed runners doing these type of runs for their birthdays. (If you're turning 20 = 2.0 miles, 21 = 2.1 miles, etc.) I think it's a fun way to get in some miles and stay on track since the New Year is only 3 weeks in! The last few years I have really learned that people generally do get better with age. We've learned from our younger selves and grow into better people. Like most women, I dreaded being anywhere near 30, but I think (so far) my 30's have been my best yet! I've learned a lot about myself and what I want to do and who I want to be. While I don't necessarily want to be a new me, I want to be a better me. I want to be a better runner, a better athlete, a better friend, and a better person. I want to use 33 to grow a little more and discover myself a little more along the way.
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Ah Nutrition. Everyone's favorite love-hate relationship. Well, it's my favorite love-hate relationship! The New Year brings about most people's desire to change their nutritional habits, but some choose to take extreme measures. As a nutritionist I follow trends and research in nutrition pretty closely. (I should note that I am NOT a Dietitian. I studied Nutritional Sciences in college but did not do my dietetic internship. I hope to soon, but for now, just a nutritionist!) I try to follow as much as I can myself, but sometimes it's hard. This is good, this is bad, never mind this is good again! I get it. It's important to remember though that there are no quick fixes in life. It takes time and commitment to get into a healthy routine.
Fad diets are rampant this time of year, Paleo, Atkins, Keto, etc. I HATE these. Yes, you can lose a ton of weight on these diets, but how long are you going to stick to them? The rest of your life? No. You lose the weight you want and go back to your old habits and gain it all back. You can't be restrictive forever. You need carbs, fat, and protein to function properly. 45-65% of calories should be from carbs, 25-35% from fat, and 10-30% of calories from protein. You can usually find an app or website to figure this out for you if you don't math! lol It also helps to figure out how many calories you actually need a day because everyone's needs are going to be different. Certain apps will have a calculation to figure it out for you or you can Google it. I'd be lying if I said I've never tried any of these. I did 21 Day Diet for a bit and a few juice cleanses, but nothing works quite like portion control and exercise. Yes it takes longer, but I promise it will all be worth it when you have healthier habits that will (hopefully) last you the rest of your life. Breakfast to me is the easiest meal to manage. Coffee, green tea, and I usually grab a piece of fruit and either some toast or eggs or even an oatmeal with berries. I can throw this in my bag at night or grab and go from the fridge in the morning. The only thing I don't pre-make are my drinks. My schedule right now only allows running and working out in the afternoon, so I'm usually going from work to workout to home to cook. It gets old and I get tired, but I recognize that it has to be done. The biggest thing that helped me was meal prepping lunches. Usually Sunday night I cook some type of whole grain (brown rice, quinoa, etc), a vegetable, and lean protein. My default is chicken breast or thin cut pork chops. I measure everything out (usually 1/2 c of vegetable and grain and 4 oz of protein) and put them in these awesome containers (https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-cm-freshware-meal-prep-bento-lunch-box-food-storage-containers-30-piece-set). This way I don't have to worry about lunch at night and can grab and go in the morning. Dinner is another beast! This one sucks my energy sometimes lol. I started taking one day a month to plan an entire month of dinners. Pinterest and MyHappyPlates.com have been huge helps with this! I can pop on and search for almost anything. I plan all nights I know I'll be home and make my list each week based off of that. Sometimes it's a slow-cooker meal, sometimes it's a 30 minute meal, sometimes it's a soup and sandwich combo! I just try to stick to a well-balanced meal; more veggies, less grain, lean protein. It helps keep me from repeating meals so I don't get bored, and helps me manage time. If you can't commit to a whole month, try planning one week at a time. Even meal prep companies can be worth the money in some cases, but I'll talk more about that later! If you snack, which I encourage, keep the snacks simple. I do an apple and 10 almonds for my 1st snack and usually a Greek yogurt with chia seeds or granola for a pre-workout or afternoon snack. String cheese is always a good choice as is plain popcorn because it's a whole grain! I try to eat every 3 hours to keep from getting super hungry and keep energy up. My biggest struggle is sugar. I LOVE it! Dessert after dinner is my favorite. I know I have to break it, but I try and manage it as best as I can. I've cut out sodas almost completely (I'll admit it though, I have a Diet Coke once a month or so, or a sip of Dr Pepper); I try not to buy candy or sweets to keep in the house because I will be the only one eating them; King Cake is my cheat during Mardi Gras and I try not to eat too much. I am a sucker for it! I've learned that you can have your cake and eat it too, you just have to balance it. If I want a "bad" dessert, I make sure it's on a day where I've had a hard workout or haven't eaten enough calories for the day. I'm not going to replace dinner with cake, but if I've had 2 salads all day long, cake is my treat. I try to replace this with hot tea, Halo Top or Arctic Zero ice creams, or some fruit after dinner. I am totally open to more healthy dessert suggestions though if y'all have any! Fitness apps are a huge help in all this too. I use MyFitnessPal and a friend's app Eat2Win to log my meals. MyFitnessPal let's you log calories and nutritional information from almost every food imaginable. You can input recipes of your own and get the nutritional values for them. It's very easy to use too. Eat2Win though keeps me a little more on track. To log food you take a picture of your meal and dietitians look at it an evaluate. Take about nerve racking! I can log anything and any amount I want in MyFitnessPal, but it's harder to fake a picture in my opinion. This app is still in it's beginning phases, so I'm excited to see what it's full potential will be. I encourage you to check it out. Nutrition is a constant battle. You don't want to be that person who is at a party sighing in a corner because you can't eat anything. You've got to find your balance; find what works for you. I know everyone is different and has different needs or diets, but I encourage you to seek out an ACTUAL Registered Dietitian and talk with them if you are struggling. Trust me, they know what they are talking about! 2018. A new day, a new year. A new opportunity to better ourselves. But why should we have to wait until this day to make a promise to ourselves that we will be better? Shouldn't we be making that promise when it originally comes to us? Michelob Ultra recently did a campaign of Anti-Resolutions and Living Ultra about this same idea( www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lcs6QJn9HE ) and it's what I was doing for 2017 without realizing it. I was living for the day and not waiting to put it off until the New Year.
After my marathon in Jan 2017, I thought, "Okay, I can do this again. I can mentally handle this." I kept up with running to keep improving and keep up my health. Then when I got chosen to run NYC, I made a commitment to push myself through the training despite the 90+ degree heat and 100% humidity that comes with South Louisiana summers. At time I told myself "I can run, why push yourself training so much?" but then would remind myself that you can't improve if you don't work at it. So I worked at it. I missed football games with friends to run for 13 miles alone. I missed family pumpkin carvings to run 20 miles alone. Just me, my music, and my thoughts. No one was going to make me better except me. Why should a date on the calendar matter so much to starting something? Since I started "Living Ultra" in 2017, I decided not to make resolutions for 2018, but promises. I promised myself that I'm going to continue working hard (or harder) to improve my running. I promise that I will work on getting another World Marathon race entry. I promise that I will live my life to the fullest and not let others change my mind. (If I want to skydive, then I'm going to skydive; if I want to try something new, I'm going to try it!) I promise to make time for friends. I also promise to be more disciplined. I want to stick with my routines and good habits. I hope 2018 brings about great things though. I am hopeful that this year will be my best one yet. I'm running Chicago, Disney Princess, Best Damn Race, and hopefully a few more. Maybe we'll start a family this year. I'm hopeful new opportunities will arise as well. Whether you have resolutions or not, the year is what you make it. If you start 2018 off positively, I believe that can help carry you through the year more optimistic. Make this year YOUR year. Be the best version of yourself that YOU can be, don't try to be someone else. And remember to Live Ultra. Have a Happy 2018 y'all! |
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October 2018
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