Favorite Foods Pre vs. Post

At my sisters house after celebrating my birthday we sat and had a very interesting conversation. Her husband, Rich asked me what is my all time favorite food in the world. I sat on the couch and had to ponder for what thought like forever.

But then Rich posed two more questions to break things down for me.

What was your favorite food PRE weight loss?
What is your favorite food POST weight loss?

Those helped to clarify things and honestly, the first question was 100% easier to answer. Simply, chicken cordon bleu from the local diner. It is one of those dishes that are to die for! With all the chicken and cheese, ham and top it off with chicken gravy. Ugh I want to eat it just because I am writing about it. But, that was the easy question to answer.

Yet again I had to stop and ponder the 2nd question because Rich was still looking for an answer. To be honest, I do not have a sufficient answer for myself to give anyone. I have plenty of foods that I would cook over again and could live off of but I would not declare them as my "favorite" food. 

I am still pondering it today and do not have a good enough answer. It amazes me though how things that were once my favorite are no longer because I have cut them out of my life. It may be also that I have completely up and changed my lifestyle without thinking about it and do not savor the food as much to think to myself, "this is my new favorite food!" I guess I could give the answer that I LOVE PB2 mixed with greek yogurt and almonds. That is a pretty delicious treat. However, I think Rich was thinking along the lines of like actual food. 

Is your favorite food still the same regardless of creating a healthier eating lifestyle? Weight in, I would love to know. In the meantime I will continue to ponder my favorite food.

Birthday Weekend Recap

You read it right, this past weekend I celebrated my birthday! It was actually yesterday (February 16th) but decided to do some awesome stuff ALL WEEKEND long! Had to bring in my 24th birthday the right way. 

To start it off, we had a major Nor'Easter hit the area. This meant that we had off from school Thursday AND Friday. Made sure to get out and enjoy the snow though, all 24 inches. Spent most of Friday outside shoveling and chopping ice since it was a layered NIGHTMARE!

Finished off the night with a 7 mile run! That is right, this girl was able to complete 7 miles which means I am 1/2 way done with my 1/2 marathon training. It will be here soon!!

Saturday started with my driving to my sisters in south Jersey. Helped set up for a birthday party and then took my nephew to his basketball practice. This guy makes me so happy and I absolutely love him to pieces!

Then I drove to Philadelphia to my friends house to sleep over. After she found out that it was my birthday weekend, we took to seeing what friends we could get to come out and have a spontaneous road trip to get ice cream. I ended up with carrot cake and the ladies came out singing. BEST CARROT CAKE EVER!! I would certainly go back to that diner, such yummy food.

Sunday morning I went to church and was blessed to see 2 babies get baptized. It was one of the coolest things ever, especially since I was able to share such a special day. Afterwards, friends invited me out to breakfast. I should have said no because a CLOWN comes out and embarrasses the crap out of you at the diner. No joke, the clown came up behind me and made me this hat that I had to wear the ENTIRE breakfast. It was such a long breakfast with the balloon hat. But I did survive.

Then it was party time at my sisters house! There were 10 of us and I loved how intimate it was. We had awesome food and I baked my own birthday cake. You read that right, I baked it and am proud to have done so. I also decorated the cake myself. I tried a new recipe and it has no flour in it, quinoa takes the place of the flour.

The best part of the day was spending time with my friends who have become my family. The boys wanted to go out and play so we ended up having this awesome snowball ice chunk fight. At one point it was the 3 guys against myself. I do not think I had that much fun in a while and wish I had my gloves on so I could have done more.

I got the best birthday gifts too! I was pleasantly surprised. My one friend was so excited because she had such a great idea. I thought it was brilliant too! For anyone who knows me in life, they know that I am addicted to hot chocolate. So what better gift than a coffee mug, hot chocolate AND marshmallows! This girl is happy, plus I was given popcorn, and 2 gift cards. I am puttering around trying to figure out what I want from Bed, Bath and Beyond to help assist me in the kitchen.

I am feeling incredibly blessed after the wonderful weekend that I have had. This year has already been so good to me and I cannot wait to see how amazing my 24th year is going to be.

Exercise Routine

Now that I have started working, there are certainly not enough hours in the day. By the time I get out of work, it is after 4pm and I am tired, but still have plenty of paper work to complete before the next day. A teacher's job is never done.

So the biggest thing I have been dealing with has been scheduling in time for my training. I used to be able to exercise at night and enjoyed it but now I only had two options; before work at 5am or after work at 6pm. 

I tried both ways and found that I am better at exercising BEFORE work at 5am. It is hard getting up but it is when I am most energized and am not thinking about what I am about to do. It is easier to make excuses after work as to why I should not be running or training. I happened to do that last night and missed out on a workout. I felt like crap later but it still did not matter.

Yet, why is it that we fail to exercise? We continue that cycle of missing a workout, feeling like crap, promising to do better, yet many times we cannot come to grips with it. There is such an amazing feeling that comes after working out hard, with lots of sweat. It sets you up to have an awesome day, even if you were not actually awake while working out. I wish there was a way to bottle up those 'after exercise' endorphin's and release them when we are feeling unmotivated or reluctant to go exercise. I know it would motivate me to continue my exercise routine. 

It stinks to wake up early, but I have to do it. That is when I function best for exercising. The only benefit is that I have the opportunity to exercise in the comforts of my own home, on the treadmill. My routine involves watching episodes of 'Live Big with Ali Vincent'. There is something so motivating and rewarding to watch all the things she has done, all the help she has given others and know that I can do whatever I put my mind to.

So what excuses are you making for yourself? Have you found a time that works best for you during the day? If you do not get your workout in at that time, do you try to get it in at some point or do you blow it off all together?