victoria elizabeth

Homemade Guacamole

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Easy, fast recipe that can be whipped up in less than a minute!

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Homemade guac!

Ingredients:
2 whole haas avocados
1/2 jalapeño, finely diced
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tbsp spicy salsa

Mash all together, leaving one pit in the bowl to keep it from browning! Serve with fresh, crunchy veggies or baked tortilla chips!

I made this about five minutes before having friends over Saturday night and they LOVED it! Thought it was store bought!

Bon appetit, my friends!

– Tori

Ode to the Elliptical

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I know I should do more strength training, but I am hopelessly and madly in love with the elliptical training.

Whenever I can squeeze a workout into my already hectic schedule, I find myself irrepressibly drawn to the beautiful, shiny black elliptical at the end of the row. You know the one: perfect view of the front door, a machine to the right (but clear and open on the left), and one of only three machines that has closed captioning, which will let me groove to my music AND watch the movie streaming on the private TV simultaneously.

My favorite.

I know strength training would give me more caloric burn (over the course of the day) and the added muscle mass would tighten, firm, and improve my overall look.

I know that mixing up my routine will likely help me break through my plateau and start to advance my weight loss goals.

I know that I shouldn’t have a romantic love affair with a single piece of cardio equipment, but I can’t help it.

I love my elliptical machine.

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That is all.

~ Tori

Life Update

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OK, I have been terrible about posting on here recently, but I did want to give some updates.

For one, I’m still having a hard time keeping my diet in check. I eat upward of 2,000 calories every day, though – except for candy – the majority of it comes from healthy food. With my 20-21 hour working days, I just can’t seem to control my appetite. I eat, and eat, and eat – and still want more food.

My weight hovers between 127-130, which really upsets me — considering I got down to 123.8 back in June — but at least it’s not spiraling out of control, which is how I FEEL about it.

I’ve definitely not being sticking with the Paleo diet as much as I’d like, though I’m pretty good about avoiding wheat (bread, pasta, etc), as I’ve never been a big fan of those carbs anyhow. I’ve cheated a bit here and there with rice and quinoa (Van’s Gluten-Free Mighty BBQ chips are an addiction), but otherwise my real weakness has been chocolate and overall quantity of food.

Chocolate. Jesus. So much chocolate.

I’ve also taken to drinking more… which is not good, but so good at the same time:

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My hope is to continue to seek balance and to get back on board with some sort of regimen before I really do lose control of my size/weight (more than I have already). I can feel/see that my tummy is a bit pudgier and my thighs jiggle-wiggle more than they did a few weeks ago, so it’s definitely causing panic.

Yikes.

On that note, bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Throwback Thursday 8/28 #tbt

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Yet another photo from the high school days…

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There is so much wrong about this picture, I’m not sure where to start:

Burgundy hair.
Wet, unbrushed burgundy hair in a ponytail.
Denim shirt.
BURGUNDY HAIR!!
At least 60 lbs overweight.

This picture was taken dead-smack in the middle of IB exams, so I wasn’t sleeping, was highly stressed out, and was fueling myself on Mountain Dew and bags of candy from the school fundraiser sales.

I’ve exchanged my stressors with age, of course, but food is definitely still my go-to coping mechanism. I constantly have to watch myself to avoid falling back into old habits. What about you? What makes you eat? Joy? Sadness? Stress, like me?

Whatever it is, just remember: you are stronger than it. I know you are.

Bon appetit, my friends!

-Tori

Day One

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OK, I was quasi-successful yesterday.

I managed to stay under 1,750 calories for the day – which sounds high, but I’m awake/functioning 20-21 hours per day with my two jobs, so it’s actually a decent caloric goal – but at least 300 of those calories came from Reese’s Peanut Butter cups before bed. I was only going to have one… but one turned into a handful.

Still… it was a mostly good day. I hit the gym (75 minutes elliptical = 800 calories burned!), got a few walks in (about 45 minutes in total), and I ate a high-protein diet for the majority of the day.

For those of you that use MyFitnessPal, you can see my full diary under the username: toricatjr. Look me up!

Hope everyone’s having a great Tuesday so far — let’s make it great!

Bon appetite, my friends!

~ Tori

Trying to Get Back on the Wagon

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Man… it has been a rough few weeks when it comes to my health/fitness.

My weight has continued to go up, week over week, and my sweets-cravings are through the roof. I am a STRESS eater and I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. Candy has become my best friend …and the worst enemy of my waistline.

I’ve promised myself I won’t weigh-in until Friday, but I can tell you the scale and I did NOT have a pleasant interaction this morning. I worked out 5x last week, but I also indulged in tons of cookies and salty snacks – more than I could cancel out with even the most intense workout.

I’m hoping that one week of rigid discipline will get me back on track, so I’m going to post my calories/meal plan on here for accountability and to try to keep myself on track.

Here’s my food plan for the day:

2am: Quest Cookies and Cream Protein Bar (180 calories)

5:30am: Two OIKOS Plain, Fat Free Greek Yogurt Cups (160 calories)

9am: 100 Calorie BetterOats Oatmeal and 1 cup Blueberries (170 calories)

12pm: 2 cups raw spinach, 3 oz Oscar Mayer Rotisserie Chicken, 1 cup sliced carrot chips, Spicy Guacamole (224 calories)

3pm: Sugar Free Chocolate Muscle Milk (100 calories)

5:30pm: Natural Almonds Snack Pack (100 calories)

8pm: Grilled Chicken Breast and Stir-Fried Veggies (approx 280 calories)

By eating every few hours, I anticipate never feeling “out of control” with my hunger and I’m hoping to quell sweets cravings by snacking on fruit (blueberries) and chocolate protein shakes.

If I can stick to this diet all day (I’m good so far — as of my 9am meal), I will allow myself a 90-calorie Chocolate Pear Squeeze Treat (sooooo good). If I hit the gym (as planned) and do at least 30 minutes of cardio, I’ll swap out the Chocolate Pear Squeeze Treat for one of the 150-calorie Paleo Brownies I made last week. 🙂

It’s all about compromise, preparation, and holding myself accountable this week. Wish me luck!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

 

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Throwback Thursday 8/21 #tbt

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Another Thursday means it’s time for another throwback!

And this time we are throwing it all the way back to the wee days… Baby Tori!

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OK, not quite baby, but close enough. I’d have to confirm with my mom, but my guess is that I’m between 5-6 here. I hit a growth spurt at 7, so I definitely think this was before then, but I had already started to chub up a bit by now.

Look how happy I am! So, perhaps not all fat is bad… I was adorable with the baby chunk. Ha!

Bon appetit, my friends!

– Tori

Healthy Baking

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After a discouraging weigh-in this morning, I decided I needed to wage war against my constant, nagging, inescapable desire for sweets …by baking my own healthy alternative!

I use a Paleo Recipe app called FAST PALEO, which has an amazing collection of dairy and non-dairy Paleo recipes that are quick and easy to make. The best part? You can actually search for recipes based on what you have at home to work with for ingredients!

After an exhaustive 13 hour day between two jobs (mind you, that was with leaving the second job three hours early), I didn’t feel like stopping at the grocery store. I knew I had eggs, coconut flour, cocoa powder, and avocado at home – and I’ve heard avocado is GREAT in Paleo baking – so I tested my luck and did an ingredients search.

Voila: 23 different dessert recipes popped up, most using just those ingredients or one or two more. I settled for this one:

DARK FUDGEY PALEO BROWNIES

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I’m normally bad about adhering to recipes, but I stuck to this one pretty closely: only difference was that I had cocoa powder instead of baking chocolate.

I doubled the ingredients list because I wanted to make sure I had extras to freeze:

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I used two 12-count cupcake pans, which needed only 16-18 minutes to cook at 350 degrees.

Because I used cocoa powder and not baker’s chocolate, I’ll admit that my finished product was more cake-like than FUDGEY, but it was overall delicious and the perfect portion size. If I were to make this exact same recipe again, I would ADD A CUP OF UNSWEETENED APPLESAUCE (or mashed ripe banana) to make it a tiny bit sweeter and more moist.

Here’s my finished product:

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I plan to eat them slightly warmed with a little spoonful of coconut ice cream or some mashed raspberries. To the tune of 150 calories, they pack more then I wanted for a snack, but they’re so full of protein (eggs and sunbutter) plus healthy fats (coconut oil and avocado) that the pros outweigh the cons.

The app is totally free, so if you’re a Paleo dieter like me or just looking for some grain-free/gluten-free alternatives, I definitely suggest checking it out!

Bon appetit, my friends!!

– Tori

All Over the Place

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Man, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind.

Working 18-20 hour days is draining, not to mention a lot of personal stress going on. Lots and lots of personal stress.

My weight is off-the-charts, back up to 129 (up six pounds!) from stress-eating, minimal gym visits, and candy-munching.

I’m really trying to take back control this week, and I’ve upped my commitments on the GymPact app for more veggies and workouts to help me stay on track.

Hoping things calm down and de-stress a bit before I wake up and I’m back in a size 22. 😦

Hopeful, but tired —

– Tori

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Throwback Thursday 8/14 #tbt

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Whew!

I haven’t been posting on here as regularly as I’d like, but I was able to go through some old photos while cleaning this weekend and wanted to share a TBT picture.

Check this doozy out:

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Yikes! This was the summer before senior year, probably May 2001.

Look how baggy I wore my jeans in an effort to hide my weight! My face is so full, it’s hard for me to recognize myself in this picture.

I’ve worked for over a decade to put this version of myself behind me, but it’s nice to look now and then to see how far I’ve come!

Bon appetit, my friends!

– Tori