I. AM. SO. HAPPY.

This is how I went to bed... and woke up. It's a good feeling. O, why you ask? This from the Washington Post sums it up!

Sweet Revenge: Cavaliers take down LeBron James, Miami Heat 102-90

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By Associated Press, Tuesday, March 29, 10:14 PM

CLEVELAND — In an unbearable season of losses, Cleveland got the win it wanted most.

The Cavaliers took down LeBron James.

Clearly it's learn things about Caitlin week so here's another thing about me.. I LOVE sports. I am a die hard Cleveland sports fan, The Indians, The Browns and THE CAVS! Which means seeing this "person" Turns me into this x100000000

Thus I am happy! Too happy, I actually cried with happiness last night, that's how much I love my city and my teams and I am not ashamed.

Two other things making me happy things morning

Running my best 5 mile time EVER outside on a weekday morning

Followed by 25 minutes of lifting

And chocolate overnight chia pudding oats in almost empty nut butter jar!

Last night:Oats, skim milk, chia seeds, stevia and chocolate protein powder= A texture like mousse/pudding

This morning, simply an entire banana and cinnamon, tasted like a banana Resse's cup!

I'm predicting a good hump day!

Peace!

Caitlin

Do you watch professional sports? If you're a Heat fan... sorry I'm not sorry

Bad Blogger Update

I'm so sorry I've left you guys hanging for the past few posts! I had an emotional and tired day yesterday and just had to pick some things to not do. I do love you all very much and it won't happen again!

Here's what my life has looked like

A long power walk yesterday morning that ended at walgreens and sale on nuts and dried fruit= dream come true

I also got another bag of cherries

Salad with vegan burger, spinach and tomatoes topped with dijon. A brown rice wrap with avocado and chili-lime white bean dip for lunch yesterday.

Burt's Bees new tinted lip balm... great color and texture, love it!

Post yoga class breakfast for dinner. French toast made with torn up pita and coconut extract mixed with the eggs (so good!) Topped with almond butter and fruit spread, frozen peaches and strawberries on the side.

A few to many of these amazing new cookie find for dessert. Organic dark chocolate oreos, crack ... heaven

Throwing away an entire newly open chobani tub that said it expired April 7... clearly a lie, just rude.

a 3 mile run and 30 minutes of lifting followed by

Last night: oats, lemon tea, vanilla protein powder, chia seeds, two scoops yogurt ( I had another tub)

Topped with strawberries

In my almost gone MaraNatha almond butter jar =(.

These were amazing, I highly recommend making oats with tea for flavoring! For hot oats just put the tea bag in while cooking them, for overnight use the tea as your liquid or part of your liquid.

whew that was long! I will give you a project new nutrition update tonight!

Peace!

Caitlin

Tell me about your Sunday!

What's your favorite way to flavor oats?

How to Not Start Your Week

Realize you forgot to take your birth control all weekend because you are experiencing an unexpected visit from a certain aunt.

Experience a potential new running injury. 2.25 miles into my 3 mile run my left shin was screaming. I think it's the transition form sand to pavement, Don't worry, foam roll action had already ensued.

Fart out loud while lifting weights in front of the cute weight room attendant... it happened, I'm trying to let it go.

Come back to your room to this  

Forgot I put that in the freezer yesterday...

How TO start your week

Take Heather's advice and put chia seed in your overnight oats

Last night mixed oats, chias, cherry extract, stevia, chocolate protein powder and stevia

This morning topped with a banana, salty cashews, more milk and salt<-- key to deliciousness! Cinnamon was of course added too.

These may have been the greatest overnight oats ever, I might have a hard time going back to the yogurt variety.

Peace!

Caitlin

How were the first few hours of your week?

Store Brands Rule

Woo I had a great workout! Normally I run on Monday but because I did yesterday I cross trained on the bike on random for 6 miles (26 minutes) and lifted for 40 minutes. I did body weight work last week but after over a week off it felt awesome to hit the weights again!

I had a pita with PB2 before I left.

The best and worst part of grocery shopping? So many options! I had a heck of a time deciding what I wanted for breakfast. Plus my cravings are changing because the weather is finally starting to seem springy!

I settled on cottage cheese mixed with vanilla protein powder, vanilla almond granola , strawberries, raisins and butter toffee almonds. Plus "cheerios"

Save-A-Lot brand, $2 less...

99% same ingredient list

Taste identical

WIN

Pretty busy day ahead but I'm hoping something fun is waiting in the mail for me...

Have a great Monday!

Peace!

Caitlin

What store brands do you buy?

Packing Fail

I woke up this morning wanting to go to the gym but questioning whether I should because I still have some moving to do and I am sore from gym+moving yesterday. I decided to go and do light cardio but the world said no... a sports bra didn't make it to my new room =(.

But I figure now I can get an earlier start on moving and get my strength in and then if I feel up to it this afternoon maybe do a little run! I want to get something in because tomorrow is a travel day!

I did as promised have a wonderful unpacking treat last night in the form of a semi-healthified "sundae"

Chobani with stevia, barney butter, a few M&M's and yes some faux marshmallow. Made it all week without any or a diet coke so I went for it =).

I woke up super duper hungry but already had breakfast partly made!

I'm figuring overnight oats in a jar is the best way to go in the mayhem! I do love that my new room has a great big window for natural light pictures!

In the mix

1/3 cup oats

1 scoop vanilla protein

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup yogurt

splash of water

Added this morning

Mountain Blueberry Flax Granola

1/2 banana

heaping tbsp ground flax

black cherry fruit spread

This was a really delicious combo! Love the subtle blueberry from the granola! Also had orange spice green tea

Alright...

it's raining...

I have to move all of my clothes and books ...

I'm going to try to do it in no more than two trips...

Wish me luck

Peace!

Caitlin

What's your favorite way to "workout" when you don't workout?

Humpday Treatmeal

I knew I'd been having odd stomach issues! No pain but something with my appetite just wasn't right, I started to feel a little more normal last night and then got starving!

This is an old pic but it was pretty much this, naturally more PB instead of dark chocolate dreams. I went back for a few more pretzels and another fork-full of naturally more .

Pre Workout

I had a great 4 mile run this morning in 38:47. I started slow but had absolutely no pain so I pushed my pace for a tempo run in the middle and towards the end. A few sets of compound weights and I was ready for my breakfast!

PERFECT mid-week pick me up

Overnight chocolate protein oats in almost empty peanut butter jar. It's sad when nut butter is gone but this makes it so worth it.

Topped with frozen strawberries and cinnamon. AMAZING.

Topped with frozen strawberries and cinnamon. AMAZING.

Treats at the bottom

You know the lid didn't get left out!

Halfway there, and it's bright and sunny out! Have a great day!

Peace!

Caitlin

What's your favorite bedtime snack?

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Babe: Pig in the Lab

Yes that is as sad as it sounds.

In my humyn bio class this week we are dissecting fetal pigs. My motivation toward vegetarianism started out as and is still mostly moral so needless to say I am having a rough time with this. Not to mention that my camera is now filled with not only delicious food photos but also that of an unborn pig being being examined to see where muscles and organs are located... unhappy.

With all of the technology available today it just seems to be to be inhumane and unnecessary to perform dissections in the classroom.

I luckily kept down my delicious lunch throughout this experience. I had a mexican like salad

In the mix

Black beans

corn

salsa

avocado

nutritional yeast

garlic salt

cumin to give it more of a mexican flair!

This was super delicious, I love corn and black beans together!

Once I regained my appetite after class I snacked up some use it up food

Baby carrots and hummus plus chocolate whey protein

I was going to get creative in using it up for dinner but in favor of time and what I wanted... I didn't =P

Super cheesy omelet with steamed veggies

Plus and english muffin 1/2 with barney butter and cinnamon, 1/2 with smart balance light and black cherry fruit spread (just opened it, I like!)

Totally one of my favorites... can't beat it!

Peace!

Caitlin

Share with me your views on dissection, animal rights, and general grossness.

We also have an eye dissection this year which I feel I'll be able to stomach better but I still find it cruel.

Whey of Life

I hated my dinner last night... don't try that recipe

This was the bowl before it got washed in the sink... =)

When I got back from work I had a delicious snickty snack of plain chobani, dried mixed berries and a nice smear of PB

I woke up feeling very good and wanting to work hard so as always I implemented the "listen to your body" rule and got a great workout! Before I left I had a pita with PB2. I killed 25 random minutes on the stationary bike and 45 minutes of isolated and compound full body weights. My legs will probably hate me tomorrow but for now we're all happy!

Cinnamon Lovin'

For breakfast I had eggy oats, it had been a while! In the mix

1/3 cup oats

1/4 cup egg whites

1/2 cup skim milk

1 big scoop vanilla whey protein

Splash of vanilla extract

1/2 banana

~2 tbsp raisins

A bunch of cinnamon

Cooked with a lemon tea bag... I'm going for light flavors to trick my body into thinking it's warm out. And a cup of Tazo Zen Green for those antioxidants! Speaking of antioxidants let's have a

Word About Whey

I use a protein supplement in some way almost daily because I lift at least 3 times a week and am a vegetarian. My protein of choice is whey as opposed to brown rice or soy. At first there was not a reason and I would still be open to trying other forms but in reading The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Doctor Johnny Bowden which I got for my birthday and flip through fairly often I came across some great info on whey!  

According to Bowden whey protein no t only helps to build muscles like all protein but it also gives your body the tools to more efficiently build the antioxidant glutathione. This antioxidant is crucial to the immune system and helps to destroy free radicals and carcinogens that may lead to cancer. White blood cells in the liver also use glutathione to detoxify poisons in the body. And to top it all off it had been shown to reduce hypertension in patients.

So if you are considering adding a protein supplement to your diet, consider the cancer fighting effects of whey!

*Note- Whey is a milk derived protein so it is not vegan

Half way through the week, 10 days until FLA!!

Peace!

Caitlin

If you use a protein supplement, which do you prefer?

Opinions on protein intake in general?

Go Green

Guten morgen alles! Did you know I took German in high school? I also took French for three years and Hungarian for a semester! Alright random facts aside when I walked out of the door to go to the gym this morning I almost totally wiped out! Luckily I caught my balance but over night the entire ground of my campus has become a sheet of ice... ugh Florida now please!

I've decided to not try to run until Saturday for a long run, I miss it very much but I know this is for the best =(. I did a 17 minute interval bike workout follow by 5 minutes on the ET and then 45 minutes of full body weights and core. It felt good but I was sad to not be running! I then came back to my room for some quick foam rolling that felt awesome. Before I left

1/2 banana with a good scoop of naturally more PB

I had time to do a little foam rolling when I got back because yesterday afternoon I got breakfast 100% ready to go!

Overnight chocolate pumpkin oats! In the mix

What was left of the greek yogurt container (Maybe 1/4 cup?)

1/3 cup Ambrosial Muesli

1/2 cup pumpkin

1/4 cup skim milk

1 scoop chocolate whey protein

pumpkin pie spice

vanilla extract

stevia packet

Insane gooeyness=happy Caitlin

Peppermint and green tea combo for comfort and coffee will be coming to class with me! I like and don't like using the muesli for the same reason. It already has all the fun amazing mix-in's (seeds, dried fruit, etc) so it's super convenient but not quite as much fun! Though is is delicious!

I've decided to make some Monday-mini week goals! Mine are

Drink at least one cup of green tea per day (my roommate is sick... blah)

Continue with my balance challenge

Try to eat more nuts in place of some nut butter

Run at least one day

Foam roll/stretch/ yoga (Three weeks in a row hopefully!)

Peace!

Caitlin

What are your small goals for the week?

Do you speak another language?

Balance or Bust

Morning all! A quick recap of my morning and a recipe and then it's discussion time! Before my workout I had a pita with some PB2 sauce (too much water).

It must have do the job because I got in an intense interval workout on the bike! I'll start sharing in detail some of my planned bike workouts soon!

For breakfast I created a new MPPIAB!

Apple Pie MPPIAB

Follow MPPIAB recipe (found here)

Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract to recipe

Toppings.

1/2 granny smith apple chopped, sprinkled with cinnamon and warmed in the microwave

1 tbsp ground flax

1/3 cup greek yogurt

~1 tbsp craisins

Really Good, like apple pie!

Alright, time for some real talk friends. Last night I found a blank journal that I've had for a while so I decided to write down some thoughts. One thing that ended up on the paper was to be more open and honest on the blog. The reason I started it was to share healthy tips with you while trying to apply them to my own life. I'll be truthful that I have a disconnect, I am well aware of what a healthy lifestyle is but I do not always apply it especially in terms of mental health. Wanting to live a healthy life is an amazing thing but it is important to recognize the line where a healthy habit can morph into disordered thinking.

Lately my largest problem has been worrying too much about balance. Having a balanced diet with variety is extremely important in terms of health to get enough nutrients and to me in terms of satisfaction! I have a tendency to over think this however. I "save" nut butter for an afternoon snack so I don't over do it, I'll omit fruit from my lunch because I might want it for dessert etc. This is disordered thinking.

My goal is to start having what I want at the time I am hungry. This doesn't mean that I can't plan in advance by packing lunch the night before but then I should not fall asleep thinking about what else I should have in order to balance lunch. I make healthy choices because I want healthy food. I would like to start realizing if I choose something healthy that is what I desire almost every time I choose what to eat, I like enough food that things will naturally balance.

In the book Operation Beautiful Caitlin talks about how your body does not reset at midnight. If I have peanut butter three times in one day I can balance it the NEXT day. The other person I look to is Bethenny Frankel who describes her body as "a bank account to be invested in differently each day".

I'm going to start today, wish me luck!

Peace!

Caitlin

Have you had any struggles similar to this?

What do you consider and how do you find balance in any aspect of your life?