Weekend Getaway..Sort Of

 

Today I went to Barnes & Noble. It's my Sunday routine. I always look forward to the weekend, partially for this reason. First, I start out usually by going to the Loft. Love love love the Loft. Then, I usually head over (across the street) to Bath & Body Works. I tend to head straight over to the 3 wick candles (when they are on sale 2 for $20). Then, I head on over to Corner Bakery, where I pick up a super scrumptious lunch-Asian Wanton Salad (Cafe size). I usually swap or add an order of fruit on the side, to take the place of the breadstick that it comes with. Deeeelish! Then I walk over to my spot. First things first, set my things down, and hop in line at the Starbucks counter inside-Grande Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea coming right up! Ooooh, so good! Especially on those chilly days! I round up a bunch of feel good easy-read magazines to flip through, and slowly indulge! I love the weekends.

 

XoXo,

Brittany

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

 





The one place you'd expect to be free from the temptation of deliciously unhealthy food, is the gym, right? Well, wrong...tonight. I was going about my workout as usual: 35 minutes of cardio on the elliptical followed by 20-25 minutes of lifting/core. Tonight was abs. I trudged up the stairs to where the mats were, determined to finish early tonight. My tummy was very rumbly, all the while. Hence the push to finish early. Done. Walked downstairs to leave and I smelled something delicious. Hm. Thought I was hallucinating at first-(am I really that hungry?) Turned the corner and lo and behold I wasn't delusional-the French bakery and deli across the street had set up shop in the lobby. I stopped dead in my tracks. Woohoo free food! 1 year ago, I would've loaded up my plate-there were chocolate muffins, pastries, chocolate covered strawberries, danish, sandwiches, and fruit. 1 year ago, I would've piled on the chocolate muffin, pastry, and multiple chocolate covered strawberries. Oh, and a sandwich too. Maybe 2-they're fairly small, I'd tell myself. But tonight, this is what I walked away from that delicious display with...

 

 

I love fruit! It's a win-win :)

 

XoXo,

Brittany

Question of the Day

 

"How do you resist eating this?", is a question I hear often. No, not this lovely Buffalo Chicken Salad pictured above-I mean the terribly tempting food that is provided at staff meetings, etc. Food such as ice cream sundaes (yep, that was at our last staff meeting) cookies, pies, cakes, candy-you name it, we've had it. It's hard, for sure, but my trick is: if I know that there's going to be food that will tempt me, I'll make sure to pack something that I can enjoy at the same time, that equally satisfy (or somewhat equally).

 

At our Special Education staff meeting yesterday, I figured we'd probably order pizza for dinner. I can't tell you the last time I had a slice of pizza. Pizza is my kryptonite. I know that once I bite into a slice, I won't be able to stop. So, I just don't start. Instead of ordering pizza (and in an attempt to save some money) I decided to bring something for dinner that I could enjoy while the rest of the team enjoyed their pizza: enter, Buffalo Chicken Salad. That did the trick! Mmm, good!

 

Ingredients:

Grilled Chicken (1 breast)

3 cups lettuce (spring mix)

1/3 cup (or less) fat free feta cheese

4 cucumber slices

2 tbsp Frank's Red Hot (for dressing)

 

Enjoy!

 

XOXO,

Brittany

Eat This, Not That

 

I love me some Washingtonian Center (commonly referred to as "Rio"-although I'm not quite sure why). It's the first place my roommate, Erin, brought me to when I first moved to Maryland. We decided to eat dinner there Friday night, at Cafe Deluxe. I had a delicious Greek Salad, and Erin enjoyed the Chicken Pot Pie. Mmm! After we finished, Erin said she was craving a cupcake: cue huge happy wide-eyed grin-"Lily Magilly's!" We l.o.v.e Lily Magilly's. Not only are their cupcakes delicious, but the decor inside is absolutely adorable. Did I mention I love it? Yes. So, we walked over, and Erin chose my favorite cupcake, Chocolate Peanut Butter-her regular go-to is Red Velvet. I'd been craving frozen yogurt for the past week, and lo and behold, frozen yogurt was right across the way. Double the good stuff, it's my favorite yogurt place-16 handles. I enjoyed the Peanut Butter Confession-mmm! Curious about the calories? I was too...

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake: 290 calories (based on Georgetown Cupcake nutritional information)

Peanut Butter Confession: 160 calories (based on 16 handles nutritional information)

 

So, as you can see, a bit of a difference-not much, but enough for me.

 

More to come soon!

 

XoXo,

Brittany

Planning your meals

I'll be the first person to tell you that eating healthy is expensive. It certainly is, but it's worth it, and there are ways to making the most out of what you buy. I'm only one person, obviously, and therefore only have to cook for myself which is less costly. But last week, I spent about $175 on groceries, and $60 this week. Granted, a lot of what I buy is produce-I love love love fruit and most of my meals contain various vegetables. When I go to the grocery store, I make sure to plan accordingly. I plan out my meals for the week, and have a general idea what I'll eating each day, to ensure I'm hitting all of the food groups accordingly. I workout a lot, so my diet is important. I'm not one of those people that can workout and just eat whatever I want. I can look at a candy bar and gain one pound! Here's what my meals for this week looked like:

Chicken Quesadillas
White Bean Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Chinese Chicken Stirfry
Stuffed Peppers
Buffalo chicken Salad
Black Bean Burger w/ side of carrots and homemade tomato basil hummus

Each of these meals are my staples. I alternate them throughout the week so that I don't get bored. I look forward to eating, so I make sure my meals aren't only healthy, but ones I'll look forward to enjoying.

The turkey chili is a dish that I make and freeze. It serves 9-so, I have it for 9 meals. It's a great quick go-to if I'm running late in the morning, or even of I'm getting home late at night and don't feel like cooking. The rest serve 3-4, and keep fresh in airtight containers for up to 5 days. Works perfectly! Easy peasy! Tonight, I'm serving up my buffalo chicken salad-my own concoction-grilled chicken on top of spring mix lettuce, with fat free feta cheese, cucumbers, and Fran's Red Hot as my dressing. I had Chinese Chicken Stirfry for lunch and a protein bar for a late afternoon snack, so the salad will be a perfect way to balance my carb intake.

As you can see, I plan balanced meals that are healthy, filling, and contain protein. Must haves.

Here's my delicious lunch-recipe courtesy of Skinny Confidential, via Eat Yourself Skinny.

Xoxo,
Brittany

Satisfyingly Skinny Chicken Quesadillas

Tonight, I made homemade quesadillas for dinner. This is a weekly staple-something I look forward to. I found these delicious wraps at Wegmans in the Nature's Market section, and they are only 80 calories for a 10" shell, and 19 carbs! Doesn't get much better than that! (Most are around 210 calories, 25 carbs). They taste pretty gosh darn good, too! I'll post my recipe card for this in a bit. Here are some photos to tide you over till then!

XoXo,
Brittany

Streets of Georgetown

Hi there! Today I come to you from lovely Starbucks in Georgetown. Why, you ask? I'll tell you why. Twice, actually let's say 3 times, in the past few months (and more recently days) I've been advised to "hang out" in Georgetown. Now, it doesn't take much to get me to go to Georgetown. Honestly, I love it here. It's gorgeous. The people are gorgeous. The shops are gorgeous. The streets are gorgeous. It's just..gorgeous. I enjoy walking the streets and looking around (mostly window shopping because everything is ridiculously expensive). The only thing that keeps me from frequenting Georgetown more often is the parking/driving situation. I am not good at driving in DC. Not good at all. Even with my GPS, I still get lost. It's quite unfortunate. Anyways, I thought this weekend would be a perfect one to head on down. It's actually quite nice outside today-sunny, and not too cold. My first stop, because I was absolutely starving, was Sweet Green. Unfortunately, I scarfed my salad down before I remembered to take a picture.

What I ordered: Create your own: spring mix, grilled chicken, feta Cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers,

and onions. As for dressing, Balsamic vinegar on the side. *Fit Hint* Always order your dressing on the side. That way, you can monitor how much you actually put on. You probably don't need all that they douse it with. I choose Balsamic vinegar as opposed to any other dressing, because it's the lowest in calories and fat, and I genuinely enjoy the taste. If Balsamic vinegar doesn't cut it for your taste buds, I suggest oil & vinegar (obviously more vinegar than oil), or balsamic/raspberry vinaigrette. Unfortunately, with these options, you still need to beware, as most of them are made in house and contain not so healthy ingredients which ups the calorie and fat content.

At Starbucks (after I ventured into Lulu Lemon, JCrew, and Banana Republic-but didn't purchase anything), I hunkered down at the additional seating available upstairs, with my new purchased mug (I've been eying it since before Christmas, and now it's on sale!) and a cup of coffee (Grande Pike Place Roast with Skim milk and 3 Splenda). This is my go-to order. Just for kicks, let's compare what I *used* to order at Starbucks, to what I order now:

Old Starbucks order: 

Grande Raspberry White Chocolate Mocha (with skim milk and no whip)-400 calories

Current Starbucks order:

Grande Pike Place Roast with Skim milk and 3 Splenda- 20 calories (give or take)

Big change. Big taste change, too, but the drink might as well have been a dessert, and I'd rather eat my dessert than drink it. Oh, did I mention, I'd also add on a raspberry scone to that order-480 calories (snack total-880 calories). Now, I order the fruit cup-90 calories (snack total-120 calories). Mm, yep.

 

Cheers, Starbucks!

XoXo,

Brittany

New Year, New You!

As many of you know, I've been on a roller-coaster fitness ride. About this time last year, I decided so was going to lose weight. I didn't have a limit in mind, I just sort of went with it. There were things that I desperately wanted to be in shape for: 1.) Dance team performances, 2.) My cousin's wedding, 3.) My good friend Liz's wedding, 4.) The dating realm. Yep, the weight needed to go. So, I did the most I thought I could handle. Changes to my eating habits-courtesy of Skinnytaste, and started incorporating physical activity into my daily schedule (dance twice a week for 1 hr). It worked, slowly but surely. I know I could do more, give more, lose more. I became more strict with my diet, No, self, you don't need to eat an appetizer, entree, and have dessert with every dinner. Yes, self, you could workout more. So, I did. See this post for more detail. So as not to completely lose your interest, I'll cut to the results.

Out with the old..in with the new.. (top left-Winter '10, top right-winter '12;bottom left- New Year's '12, bottom right-New Year's '13)