New Blog

Hey All!

So after blogging for a few days, I realized that I'm not too crazy about the title of this blog. I started out a new blog at http://thebalancedbean.blogspot.com/ and I hope you'll check it out!

xoxo,

Maryann

San Diego or Bust

Nick and I are leaving for San Diego in a bit to watch our alma mater the Washington Huskies play the Nebraska Huskers in the Holiday bowl! Were also staying an extra night and celebrating NYE down there with some of my former Washington swimming teammates.

I wanted to get to the gym this morning, so I woke up a little earlier than usual and completed the following:

20 min stairmaster

20 min elyptical

15 min arc trainer

5 min rowing machine

Followed by my usual breakfast, coffee and oatmeal.

1/4 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 banana, chia seeds, 1/2 apple chopped, scoop of pumpkin, scoop of cottage cheese and topped with Trader Joe's chunky peanut butter.

Even though the drive to San Diego is only about two hours, I packed a lunch and some snacks that I figure will be consumed at some point this weekend. 

Salad with romaine mix, broccoli slaw, tabbouli, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, and garlic hummus.

Apples & yogurt.

Lavash bread and a baggie of carrots, celery and cucumbers (left over from yesterday's packed snacks).

Tangerines, Trader Joe's O's, and walnuts/almonds.

Truvia to use in my coffee and some tea incase I or Nick need a pick-me-up.

It's no secret that Washington hasn't been the best football team in the past few years, and Nebraska already killed us once this year, so I'm hoping today's game isn't too ugly! I am hoping our guys will pull through and surprise us all.

Do you follow college football? If so, is your team going to a bowl game this year?

It's Marathon Time!

Nope, not the running kind. Did I trick you?! Please don't hate me forever. While I did run a half marathon in October and want to compete in another half (or maybe a full!) sometime soon, I don't have plans on doing one any time in the near future.

The marathon I am referring to is a True Blood marathon! Nick and I are both in love with the show and are currently watching season 3 on demand. Since it's a rainy day in LA today, we decided it would be the perfect day to watch a bunch of episodes. We have nine left in this season!

Car picture to show my rain gear!

This morning I was up early because I had to be in Santa Monica for my part time job. I started the day with a quick bowl of oatmeal and an unpictured cup of coffee.

1/4 cup of oat bran, 1/4 cup oatmeal, half an apple chopped, scoop of pumpkin, scoop of cottage cheese and some chia seeds. And topped with my current favorite peanut butter.

It has some added ingredients, which I guess are what make it "naturally more" but they seem pretty clean and the stuff tastes great so i'm not worrying about it :)

Since I planned to go to Nick's house straight after work, I packed some lunch and a bunch of snacks for the day.

Roasted brussels sprouts, mushrooms, tofu, and sweet potato on a bed of broccoli slaw with a side of salsa.

A large piece of lavash bread (love this stuff!) folded in half.

Kiwi

Apple

Cut up celery, carrots, and cucumbers. Sorry about the condensation, these were in the fridge all night!

And a cup of yogurt. Just wanted to mention that the reason why I eat these isn't because they are low carb! My mom got me hooked on them...they dont have a lot of sugar and are only 50 cents a cup so they're a winner in my book! Not sure how natural the ingredients are however...

I decided to take today as a rest day from exercise, but if the weather clears up Nick and I are going to take a break from True Blood for a little walk. Hope you have a great day!

Weird Eater

Even though I have only been blogging for a couple days now, I have already learned that I am a weird eater (I guess I already kind of knew that!). I rarely have a day where I eat your standard breakfast, lunch, and dinnner. I am usually hungry and need a snack every two hours, but some days my appetite is MIA. Take today for example, my breakfast number 2 (which I guess turned out to be lunch) held me over for so long that I didnt get hungry until about 4:45 for my next meal, which I guess i'll call an early dinner. In that case i'll be enjoying dinner number 2 in a couple hours :)

Workout

Backtracking a bit, I had a pretty satifsying workout at the gym today that consisted of:

30 min total body weights

~7 min abs

40 min elyptical

5 min walk

This ended up being a little bit longer than I usually spend at the gym, but I was feelin' good so I stayed on the elyptical for an extra ten minutes.

Dinner

When I came home from the gym I was craving vegetables, so I used up the extra brussels sprouts and zucchini from last nights dinner to make a salad that was almost identical to yesterdays.

Roasted brussels sprouts, zucchini, romaine, broccoli slaw, mushrooms, salsa, Fage, and garlic hummus. After this the veggie craving was satisfied! And for added protein and complex carbs:

A sweet potato with cottage cheese and cinnamon.

This was a great dinner but since I had it at 5pm i'll definitely be having a snack or dinner number two at some point this evening!

Do you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day or do you eat on your own schedule like me?

I guess if I had a nine to five job, I would have to learn to eat on a schedule, but for now since im a student and only work part time, I generally get the freedom of eating whenever I please. I like that :)

NYE Plans and Breakfast #2

So getting the cavity filled wasnt all that bad..although my dentist convinced me I didn't need any novocaine so it did hurt a bit when he was drilling! On the way home I stopped to run some errands, including a trip to Nordstrom Rack to look for a potential new years eve dress. I didn't find anything too amazing so I may just use an outfit that I already have.

On Thursday morning Nick and I are driving down to San Diego to watch our alma mater (WASHINGTON huskies!!) play Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. Random fact: I was a swimmer at Washington!

Me with the other girls in my class about 3 years ago (wow I feel old!)

Please dont judge me based off of my not-so-stylish sandals in this pic!

 Some of us girlies in the car after a swim meet.

A couple of these girls are going to be in San Diego this weekend, and needless to say I am SO excited! I have seen any of them in over a year. Knowing they would be in town, Nick and I extended our San Diego trip an extra day and will be spending new years eve there! It should be a good time. I'm excited :)

My dinky breakfast didn't hold me over too long this morning, so when I got home I made breakfast number two consisting of a chopped apple, cottage cheese, cinnamon, sunflower seeds and some chopped walnuts.

The protein from the cottage cheese, fat from the seeds/nuts, and fiber from the apple make it a pretty filling snack! I also wanted to try some of this new lavash bread.

So I used it to make a "peanut butter" (using peanut flower) and banana lavash sandwich.

All folded up!

Finally, I enjoyed a nice hot mug of Gingerbread Spice tea.

I have to admit, this isn't my favorite flavor! I wouldn't buy it again, but i'm still drinking it to use it up!

I'm waiting for a bit to digest before I hit up the gym for a weights and light cardio sesh.

What are your plans for new years eve??

Early Breakfast

I have an 8:30am dentist appointment today to take care of my first ever cavity (so sad about that!) so I had to be up earlier than I am used to lately since I have been on winter break. I woke up very sleepy and had a huge cup of coffee.

I wasn't very hungry, but I know from past experience that skipping breakfast does bad things to me, and plus I have no clue how long it takes to make a cavity so I made a simple breakfast sandwich.

Two egg whites on a sandwich thin. I also had a tangerine for vitamin C.

Pretty sure ill be having a second breakfast later! I better run, LA traffic is never good. Ill be back later with a longer post!

Rookie Bloggie

Today I made the mistake of forgetting my camera on our hike...such a rookie mistake right?! It's too bad because it was a beautiful day with some great views. We packed some snacks for the trip, which turned out to be a good thing because we decided to go all the way to the top, totalling 9.5 miles in over 3 hours. Throughout the hike I snacked on a banana and had a peanut butter sandwich at the top.

When we got home, I was pretty hungry and munched on lots of random stuff, including this yogurt bowl.

Kefir, vanilla yogurt, raw oats, chia seeds, and "peanut butter" made from TJs peanut flower. I know this looks so random, but its honestly delicious. I have one every day as a snack! I often throw in some chopped apples as well. And note: Kefir is amazing for helping with digestion and it is generally okay to eat for those who are lactose intolerant because the (good) bacteria in it break the lactose down. Trader Joes sells it for the most reasonable price that I have found. I usually buy this one:

I prefer it over the flavored varieties, which have a lot more sugar.

Another snack that I had, and have at least once or twice every day is a small cup of hot milk with a packet of Truvia. It is seriously so good, fills me up, and satisfies my sweet tooth! Just be careful because if the milk is too hot, when you add the Truvia it will cause the milk to overflow (which I have definitely done a few times).

For dinner, I was craving some veggies and roasted some brussels sprouts and zucchini.

 After they cooled, I used them to make a salad.

Brussels sprouts, zucchini, broccoli slaw, romaine, mushrooms, salsa, black beans, and Fage greek yogurt on top. This salad was huge! I also had a mug of my favorite tea ever.

I loooove tea and am always looking for a new kind to try! What's your favorite kind of tea?