WIAW #24: Smoothie, Gym, Soup

It’s Hump Day! And that goes hand in hand with What I Ate Wednesday.

Today I will be covering an entire day of my normal eats, which is in no way altered for the sake of this post. Everything I eat (usually on the Tuesday before) is listed with an end goal of inspiring you all to take a step back and look at what you are putting into your bodies. Is what you’re eating helping you grow stronger or holding you back?

To me, food is fuel. Just like all of you, I have my cheat days/weeks, but I always re-check myself and get back into an overall healthy eating style. My hopes of featuring these WIAW posts is for you to do the same! So let’s roll.

Breakfast was… meh. Nothing crazy, but certainly fueled my fire to get me through to lunch.

Next to a giant cup of coffee with a little bit of Stevia and skim milk, I made a large side of eggbeaters and heated up a couple MorningStar Original Sausage Patties.

I know I have publicly sworn off buying more of this brand (due to GMO concerns), and I have stuck to it. Anything MSF that ends up on the blog in the future has come from what is already purchased in my freezer. And friends, it’s a buttload. Slowly by surely, I am weening myself off and have finally come to terms with it.

In the mean time, I refuse to waste food… so here we are.

If you caught yesterday’s post, then you also saw a sneak peek of lunch and dinner. Here’s the full version.

After a hot three hour appearance outside, I couldn’t wait to get inside, change, and hydrate. O.N.E coconut water is one of my favorite drinks to grab when I feel dehydrated.

Those 11.2 ounces were gone in about ten seconds, and I continued my water rant with a huge tumbler full of regular H2O.

I was also craving a cold smoothie something serious and broke out the blender to create something refreshing and filling for lunch. Done and done!

You guys. I can’t go on until I let you in on a little secret…

Do yourself a favor and keep a lookout for a HUGE giveaway right here on the blog tomorrow. It may or may not involve the protein powder you see listed above, and I may or may not be insanely jealous that I have to offer it to someone else other than myself. Just sayin’.

About an hour later I got the urge to snack, but remembered I can’t go too crazy this week. I have been working really hard the past few weeks to be in my best shape for our team calendar shoot (in swimsuits) this weekend and I’m not about to blow it now.

Somehow I found the will power to reach past the candy that has somehow ended up in our pantry (Scott!) and grabbed a large handful of Emerald Dark Chocolate Cocoa Roasted Almonds instead.

The picture doesn’t do these little guys any type of justice because they look a bit terrifying. I promise they are instead incredibly satisfying!

Scott came home from work right before 6 p.m. with just enough time for me to convince him to go take Fitness Pilates with me.

Since my favorite instructor has officially become our team’s personal trainer (!!!), today’s practice will have me doing this style of workout three days in a row. While I don’t normally let myself get this comfortable with one type of workout, I am making an exception this week for the photo shoot.

I recently received a question of how I get my “flat belly” and my answer has two parts:

1) It’s not always “flat.” Just like any one else, I have to work hard to stay on a consistent healthy diet and exercise routine. This week has been loaded up with cardio, Fitness Pilates for toning (which is very similar to barre workouts), and protein and vegetables.

2) Running. Seriously, ya’ll. I like to mix it up and get on an elliptical or StairMaster every once in a while, but running long distances has always kept my waistline it’s trimmest.

I had about thirty minutes to kill after class before Scott was ready to head home, so I used my time wisely and created a killer incline treadmill sprints workout I will be sharing with you tomorrow. It’s a doozy!

When we walked in the door, I was more than ready to dig into the soup that had been simmering all afternoon. Dinner came from a pre-made Michigan Navy Bean soup mix we bought at a local festival and all I had to add to it was the water and meat of choice.

It was soooo good that I need to also include a closeup of the ingredients.

Yum.

I would have been completely fine without anything else, but instead let the snack monster take over a few minutes later and gave into a few small hand fulls of Reduced-fat Triscuits dipped in Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.

They were starring at me.

And side note: yes, that would be my husband wearing the fuzzy green mascot slippers next to me. He’s attached to them and isn’t afraid to show them off when people come over. He’s a special one!

Before I go, I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the importance of today. I shared this picture on my pages earlier but can’t help but to re-post it here. Extra thoughts and prayers are going out to all of those affected by the horrific tragedy we will always remember from 9.11.2001.

• If you liked this WIAW post, head on over to Peas & Crayons to check out plenty others, or even link your own!

• Also, you can always find my latest What I Ate Wednesday posts by exploring the “WIAW” tag on the right hand sidebar.