healthy girl

Animal Kingdom: The Healthiest Park?

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For those who do not know, I am a Disney-holic. My husband and I have annual passes, and we are at one of the four Orlando-based Disney theme parks every weekend. And, most times, we go more than one day.

Theme parks are not normally known as the mecca of healthy options, and everyone knows I am a sucker for sweets, but I’m thrilled to report that Animal Kingdom might be one of the healthiest options for any local or tourist looking to stick to their diet. My reasons?

ONE: You walk everywhere!

The park is mostly outdoor, and spans THOUSANDS of acres. You can easily log 6-7 miles of walking even during a short visit, and can go much longer than that if you take advantage of the HIKING TREK adventure offered in Africa’s Kilimanjaro Safari tours. It’s almost six hours of backpacking through their habitats!

TWO: healthy food options are everywhere!

Not only do they have stands dedicated to gluten-free menus, but even the regular food options are pretty healthy.

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We found hummus with veggies at one stand, and falafel balls (fried, yes, but mostly healthy) with fresh tzatziki sauce!

IMG_7823I wanted to eat all of these myself, but I begrudgingly shared with my husband.

The new Harambe Market features tons of new options, which are mostly grilled chicken, beef, and sausages! It took me a while to find an unhealthy option at the park, and I was happy to see very few patrons were dining there on a beautiful Florida day.

THREE: it’s HOT!

The weather in Florida is scorching in the summer, and most Disney parks have primarily indoor attractions to keep you cool, but not at Animal Kingdom! Most of the Animal Kingdom attractions are outside, so you’re sweating like a fiend. I’m not sure about you, but I absolutely lose my appetite when I’m hot. So I nearly forgot about eating lunch at the park, and it wasn’t until a quick summer shower forced us into the stores around 2pm that I remembered about sneaking in a meal!

While I’ll never stop loving Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom may have stolen my heart as the place to go when I don’t feel like splurging on my diet AND want to see some gorgeous animals.

On that note… bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

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Monday’s Accountability Report: Back on the Wagon

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OK, I got the pity party out of my system. If you read my earlier post, you probably realize that I had a rough weekend (over-indulgence that led to a dramatic spike on the scale), which nearly sent me into a spiraling depression this morning.

Thanks to the comforting words of some of my blogging friends (I’m looking at you, Want Need Will and you, Keen Peach), I’ve calmed down and climbed back into the saddle. Fitness and wellness is a journey and not a destination, right? I’ll continue to take this one day at a time.

I’ve been mostly good today, with just a little bit of chocolate (seriously, I can’t make it more than 12 hours without SOMETHING chocolatey) and under 1,400 calories consumed.

I had a substantial amount of homework to do in prep for class tomorrow, so I had a window of under 90 minutes to workout (including travel time to and from the gym). With that in mind, I decided to max out on the Stairmaster, doing 60 minutes all out, ranging from 104 to 128 steps per minute. If you’ve never been on the Stairmaster before, let me assure you: that’s a strenuous pace. I almost fell off when I was doing my 60 second sprints at 128 steps/min.

I’ve decided I’m going to be 100% honest with these accountability reports, so here’s the full summary of food log/ exercise log:

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As you can see …I get a lot of veggies in daily, but portions are my challenge. And I sneak sweets in a bit too often, but it’s really hard to resist in my office setting.

Here’s a glimpse at just some of the tasty food I had today:

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And, just in case you doubted the intensity of my workout, here’s my proof:

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Booyah.

Let’s hope the scale is better to me tomorrow.

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Tiny Breakthrough!

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OK, I know I promised myself I wouldn’t weigh-in daily (trying to do just Monday/Wednesday/Friday), but I woke up this morning and felt smaller. I’m not sure if it was the ridiculous cardio yesterday or the fact that I couldn’t stop going potty (seriously, I felt like I was going to dry up like a prune, but it never ended), but I just knew the scale would be good to me, so I did it.

Today’s weight?

131.2!

That’s down 4 lbs since Monday morning (135.2), and much closer to where I expected to be after my trip to New York.

I’ve set a “soft” goal (translation: won’t beat myself up if I miss it) of being back under 127 by January 31st, and back under 125 by February 28th. I think this is very moderate and achievable, especially given my rate of exercise.

My long term goal is under 118 (please keep in mind I’m only 5’2″, so this is a very healthy weight for my size), but I don’t anticipate hitting that until closer to the summer.

So …today’s off to a great start with a positive weigh-in! I’ve packed only healthy foods (homemade fruit salad, non-fat Greek yogurt, a big salad with salmon, and carrots with hummus for a snack), so temptations won’t be an issue. All in all, it’s under 800 calories for the whole day, and that means I get to have a fun dinner (and a glass of wine)!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori