Blog Revival

Well hello there....umm...no one. It has been a hot minute, I must say. September, right? Well, here I am. Alive and well(ish). I made it through my first semester of PT school...barely. My waist line on the other hand is hanging on for dear life. Remember back when I hit 179?!?!? Yea...those days are looooong gone. Ready?...

191.8lbs. That's what I saw when I stepped on my scale this morning. I gained back basically half of what I worked so hard to lose this past summer and I am really disappointed about it. PT school seriously did suck the life out of me and made me lose focus of everything else in my life not related to PT school. My family life suffered, all those healthy eating/fitness habits I had come to know and love suffered, and most importantly, my sanity suffered. I can't go back to that. I just...can't.

So. In honor of the impending New Year and the beginning of my second semester of PT school, I am getting back into the swing of things. Counting calories, eating healthy, working out...you know, the usual. I actually just  got back from the grocery store and am stocked up on wonderfully yummy and HEALTHY goodness for the next week. In addition, I am going to start my blog back up. I felt like it really helped to keep me grounded and focused on my weight loss goals and I need it back.

As far as my semester was concerned, I passed all of my classes, however I did end up failing my first anatomy exam so I had to retake it. It took me a while to get in to the swing of things, but once I did, I did pretty well. I don't think I was very efficient with my study habits as far as getting all of the reading done in a timely manner and whatnot. But those are things I really want to change, so that is another goal of mine for the New Year.

In total, I have a amassed a small but lofty list of things I would like to accomplish in 2013...some resolutions, if you will:

1. Lose 40lbs through clean eating and exercise
2. Pass all of my classes in my second semester of PT school
3. Be more organized and on top of my schoolwork going forward

Nothing too crazy, right? I can do all of this with just a little bit of discipline.

So let's talk about my meal plan for the week! I'm so excited to get back on this. I think that if I prepare my meals for the entire week on Sundays that it will be that much easier to maintain throughout the semester. I just need to take the few hours out of my weekend to cook everything and it will be fine!

This week is a short week because of New Years. I start school again on Wednesday, but I'm still going to get everything done for the week today and tomorrow just to practice doing it.

So here it is:

B: Protein pancakes (my favorite) with strawberries/blackberries and real maple syrup
M.Sn: Banana with raw honey and cinnamon
L: Mushroom/Onion Turkey burgers topped with spinach and arugula, red onion, tomato and mustard with a side of baby carrots
A.Sn: Hardboiled egg
D: Halibut or Salmon fillet with avocado salsa and broccoli OR with puttanesca and spaghetti squash

That's my week! Not too shabby, right? I'm working on staying below 1250 calories for the first month just to detox and get back into it. I'm not going to crazy with the workouts in the beginning either, but I'm setting a goal of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, 5 days per week and 2-3 days of light weights.

Also...notice anything different about my meal plan this time? Maybe not, but I'll tell you! :) I've decided to do a clean eating/Paleo mashup of sorts. No processed foods whatsoever. Only whole foods and not a lot of grains. I know that if I go completely carb free I will probably last until Thursday before I binge on pasta, so I'm trying to eat some complex carbs early in the day and finish off with just meat and veggies at night. No alocohol. Very little dairy--I'm limiting myself to just greek yogurt and kefir pretty much. Just water...2L per day.

B: oats and fruit
M.Sn: fruit
L: meat and veggies/fruit
A.Sn: meat/veggie
D: meat and veggies

So...here I am. Ready to get this ish started again and work my way down to that 150-160lb range that I've coveted for so long. I made it (barely) to the 170s from 206, so I know I can do it. Please join me (again) as I struggle and (hopefully) triumph.

Much love xoxoxox