victoria elizabeth

Accountability for the Day

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Just to keep myself accountable, here’s the summary of my food log and workout diary:

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I am working out with my girlfriend, so there is extra motivation to hit it hard and stick to my clean eating.

I was perfect today: protein shake for breakfast, pear for a morning snack, big salad with grilled chicken (no dressing) for lunch, carrots and hummus for an afternoon snack, and lean flank steak with veggies (sautéed in salsa) for dinner.

My planned cheats? A small glass of red wine (Malbec) and two mini pieces of chocolate (70 calories for both).

It was a good day!

Bon appetit, my friends!
– Tori

Resolutions and Reflections

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Our vacation in New York City was AMAZING!

We ate way more food than we should have, but I loved every minute of it. I am definitely feeling the weight gain, though, and I’m grateful to be in a new year and finally able to return to my routine.

Despite walking 10-20 miles per day (yes, miles!), I put on a few pounds, weighing in at 135.2 lbs this morning. Yikes! Granted, I recognize that some of it’s water weight (I ate a giant, salted pretzel almost daily), so I’m hoping my true weight is closer to 132-133. It’s hard to imagine that I truly gained 5 lbs in 5 days (I was 129.8 the morning we departed on December 30th), but I’ll go with what the scale said this morning just to err on the side of caution.

For 2015, I am not setting any hard resolutions. No crazy diets, no goal weights. Basically, nothing that can lead me to obsessive behavior. I had a rough time with my eating disorder in 2014, especially during the late Spring/Summer when I fell into a bit of a depression, and though it got me close to my goal weight (I was down to 123), it was not healthy and I looked sick. I want to avoid that as much as possible in 2015, so I’ve set achievable, healthy aspirations for the new year.

These are my goals:

  • Drink at least 6 glasses of water per day. (I’m really bad about water consumption during the work day.)
  • Add more variety to my workouts: the goal is 2-3x per week of strength training, plus 1 group class at the gym added into my cardio-heavy routine.
  • Eat a salad daily. Doesn’t matter what meal of the day it is, but I need to consume at least one green, leafy salad per day.
  • Limit myself to no more than 250 calories of “junk” per day. This includes candies, desserts, etc. I’m not going to fully restrict them, of course, but I do need to reduce them if I want to see this chub come back off.
  • Focus on COLORS: try to eat at least one fruit or veggie in the color spectrum each day.

Ideally, I’d like to hit my goal weight (118 lbs) by my birthday (7.11), but I’m not setting any deadlines and I’m not going to measure my success by weight. I’ll post my progress as often as I can (weight, measurements, pictures, etc), but I refuse to focus on any one tool for success other than how I feel.

Below are some pictures of the delicious (albeit, not healthy) foods I ate in New York City on vacation:

 

And then here’s what I’ve had today:

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Much better choices today! 🙂

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

New Year: The End to the Feasting!

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Whew. Holiday eating has been a BEAST!

Resisting temptation has been just about impossible, especially last week! Just check out this Christmas Eve spread:

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And there was actually more food, it just didn’t fit on this table. Cheese (my kryptonite) and seasonal desserts definitely did me in.

Amazingly, thanks to working out (Holiday Hottie Fitness Challenge!) and giving away most of the unhealthy leftovers, I made it through Christmas with minimal gain: I’m sitting at 130.8 lbs even.

Still way up from my summer-time low (of 123.8 lbs, *big sigh*), but not horrific considering the average American gains 12 lbs from Thanksgiving Day until New Year’s Day. I actually haven’t gained over the holidays – I put on my 8 pounds during the Fall (July 28th through October 31st, to be exact), when I tried to balance two full-time jobs!

I only have one more week of temptations to survive: I’m hitting NYC for the New Year! I absolutely CANNOT diet while in New York, of course, as this is really my only chance to try some of the delicacies of the city. Fortunately, I should counteract most of the bad food by the fact that I’ll be walking EVERYWHERE. My husband and I won’t use cab service (unless we have to travel completely across town), and we avoid the subways whenever possible, so we’ll be hiking around Midtown and the surrounding boroughs for a solid five days.

My husband and I did agree on a few rules in NYC to keep the weight gain at bay:

  1. If we can get it in Florida, we’re NOT eating it there.
  2. When dining out, we order one decadent meal and one healthy meal, then split them.
  3. If it’s not pouring rain or more than 2 miles, we’re walking it.
  4. We’ll drink at least 6-8 bottles of water per day. That’ll help with fatigue, cravings, and keep us hydrated in the colder weather.
  5. We’re not skipping breakfast. I actually found a few Groupons/Living Social deals for great breakfast eateries, so we’ll make sure we’re getting fuel into our bodies early in the day.

I plan to start 2015 with a lot of awesome memories and NOT worried about my weight, so I won’t start working on resolutions/ goals for my body and lifestyle until we get back on the 4th. 🙂

Bon appetit, my friends, and Happy New Year!

~ Tori

Ready for the Temptations to End!

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My goodness, the last few weeks have been difficult.

I’ve been working out less (keep skipping Friday-Sunday), and I’ve been eating a lot more.

Fortunately, my weight has leveled out between 130-131.4, so I’m not seeing the dreaded mid 130s like I was a few weeks ago.

I can’t wait for the holidays to be OVER, not because I am a Grinch, but because I can’t handle this much daily temptation. I’ve had so much happening on weekends (parties, work events, etc), that I’m not hitting the gym as consistently as I normally do, which is NOT like me.

We’re in the home stretch. It’s Christmas week. If I can survive this, I can survive anything!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Morning Cardio!

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So… I’m not much of a morning person when it comes to working out, but dinner plans with friends necessitated a morning trip to the gym. Skipping my workout was out of the question, as Monday sets the tone for my whole week – if I skip the gym once, I’ll find excuses to skip again. (Same goes for my diet, unfortunately!)

Much to my surprise, I felt awake and refreshed when the alarm went off at 5:45am. This is probably a residual effect from my long stint working two jobs, as I’d become pretty acclimated to waking up at 2am and having my brain functional for writing.

When I arrived at the gym at 6:15am, I was thrilled to see how EMPTY it was. Literally, almost every machine was available to me, something that rarely happens when I go after work. I decided to take advantage of this freedom by cardio-hopping, spending 5-15 minutes per machine and switching the moment I felt the boredom set in.

I did a little over 60 minutes of cardio, jumping from the elliptical to the stairmaster, stairmaster to the treadmill, treadmill to the bike, and bike to the rowing machine.

While I admit my flexibility and endurance is a bit less in the morning (still waking up slowly), I felt good. I burned a little over 625 calories and got home with plenty of time to shower, eat breakfast, and get ready for work.

The perks of working out in the morning are numerous, but is it enough to get me out of my warm, cozy bed tomorrow morning? Let’s see!

Bon appetit, my friends!
~ Tori

First Week: Getting Back on Track

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This Monday marks the beginning of my first week back on a normal schedule. I slept almost 8 hours last night, as I have for the entire weekend.

I feel recharged, re-motivated, and ready to get back to my old regimen.

My goals for November:

  1. Stay under 1,400 calories daily. Normally I aim for 1,200 or less, but I’ve been in the (bad) habit of eating upwards of 2,000 per day with the two-job schedule, so bringing my consumption down in increments seems the most achievable route to take.
  2. Workout at least 5 days per week. My goal is 6, but 5 is doable and should get me back in the habit.
  3. Vary my workouts. With the limited time I had the past few months, my gym trips were generally dedicated to cardio, as I felt it was giving me the most caloric bang for my buck. I know, I know – muscle burns more calories throughout the day, but I was on sleep-deprived logic. My goal now is to commit to 60 mins cardio, 45-60 mins strength/calisthenics/stretching with each workout.
  4. Keep protein/veggie consumption high, sugar low. I became a severe sugar addict the past few months, so I’m going to wean myself off of it over the next few weeks. I know I *should* go cold turkey, but I’m not good with extremes …so cutting it out of my diet 100% is a bit too much for me. I’m going to allow myself ONE piece of candy per day (today is a single Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup – yum!) and otherwise avoid refined sugars. I’m not going to limit my fruit, but I won’t have any fruit juices or anything that unnecessarily raises my sugar consumption.
  5. Avoid “empty” foods. I have a tendency to eat breakfast bars and other snack items with low nutritional value – even though they claim to be organic, all natural options – so my goal is to replace those snacks with raw almonds, 100-calorie oatmeal packets, and veggies with dip.

I’m starting the week at 131.2 lbs, which I attribute to a weekend of delicious (fattening) food and craft beer as we celebrated my husband’s 31st birthday. I’m a bit upset to be in the 130s again, but I know that I will finally have the power to control my appetite (it’s amazing what a good night’s sleep does for will power and self-control) and stick to a workout plan.

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I will post my weight weekly on Wednesdays (accountability!) and will do my best to get measurements/pictures up to show my progress.

Here’s hoping to ending 2014 at a healthy – and strong – weight!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Life Returns to Normal

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The time has come. My internship has ended, and my life is about to return to normal. Well, as close to normal as my life can be, that is.

Today was my last “official” day as an intern at The Daily Buzz, and moving forward I’ll be freelance writing for them from home. I no longer will have to wake up at 2am (to report to the studio by 3am) and exist on 2-3 hours of sleep per night.

It was a wild ride – and I LOVED the experience – but man, it took a toll on my body. I started the internship on 7/28 at 123 pounds, jumped up to almost 135 (when you don’t sleep, you eat), and have slowly been working to trim it back off ever since.

My hope is that I’ll resume my OLD regimen – clean eating Sunday-Friday (cheat days are Saturday!), gym 5-6 days per week, and outdoor running – and get back on track with my overall wellness.

My husband’s 31st birthday is this weekend, though, so I do plan to enjoy myself before recommitting 100%. A girl’s gotta live, right? 🙂

On that note… bon appetit, my friends and WELCOME BACK TO NORMALCY!

~ Tori

Savage Race on Saturday!

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I’ve been silent about this for the most part, but on Saturday I am competing in the Savage Race in Dade City, Florida.

In case you’ve never heard of the Savage Race, this is what it looks like:

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Fires. Electrified barbed wire. Mud. Ice-filled dumpster swim.

I’ve done this once before (back in 2012) when I was not in as good of shape as I am now (I was about 15 lbs heavier) and there were several obstacles I physically couldn’t do. This year, I’m hoping my lighter weight and stronger upper body will allow me to complete the whole course without skipping any of the stops.

The only obstacle I REFUSE to do? The 2-foot wide tunnel INTO THE GROUND that is 100% pitch black.

Nope… just, nope. I’m severely claustrophobic and panic in an elevator (or a car after too long), so the thought of being in a hot, dark, cramped tube with people jammed in front of and behind me is HORRIFYING. Besides, it’s not even a test of strength so much as it is a test of fear. And I don’t need to test that today.

I’m running in the 11:20am heat on Saturday and my husband is coming along to cheer me from the sidelines. Wish me luck!

Bon appetit, my friends!

Last Two Weeks

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I’ve officially begun the last two weeks of my internship, which means this is the last two weeks of surviving on less than 3 hours of sleep per day.

While I will certainly miss the excitement of the TV studio, I won’t miss the exhaustion and incessant hunger that accompanied my crazy schedule.

Since starting the internship on 7/28, I went from 123 lbs up to 135, but have managed (through a LOT of self control and cardio) to come back down to the 127-128 range in the last two weeks. My hope is that once my schedule returns to normal (last day is 10/31), I should get back to my pre-internship weight by November 15th, and down to my goal (119) by December 24th.

Yes, it’s weird to set weight loss goals around the winter holidays, but I figure if I can stick strong through Thanksgiving and Christmas, I can survive anything!

So, here’s to my final 10 days of exhaustion, and the coming weeks of intense cardio, dieting, and energy needed to just get back to where I started.

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori