A Smooth Commute {and diet pill for breakfast?!}

Good morning all!

Happy hump day!

I had a pleasant commute this morning to work. I have been staying at my parents house this week considering my sister is on vacation and I can sleep on her bed. The commute from my parent's to my job is soooooooo much smoother than the one from my apartment. To make a long story short, it cuts my traveling time by about 20-30 minutes which is the equivalent of like 3 days in NYC time (I kid, I kid.).

Anyway, sleeping over at my parents also meant bringing over some of my foods that I had prepped for the week. Packing was a little stressful (isnt it always) but I managed to bring over some of the stuff including my banana bread which I am having for breakfast this morning with almond butter and a cup of joe'.

 

Yesterday while wondering the streets of wall street with my co-worker we went to Lot Less and amazing store with amazing sales and which I am obsessed with. I found these little pockets of almond butter for $1.

I ran out of almond butter about 2 weeks ago and have made sporadic visits to whole foods where they continue to be out of stock. Not sure what may be going on but I may pass by today again and see. But anyway, the little pockets are perfect for now although the jar would be a better deal of course.

So on to this diet pill situation….this morning as I made my way towards the cafeteria at my job to grab some coffee I ran in to a co-worker. This girl is absolutely beautiful and has a nice full shape which many would qualify as "over-weight". As we walked together she commented on how "hungry" she was but that she didn't want to break her diet. I asked her what does she mean? She responded by saying that she cannot eat anything for breakfast aside from a cup of tea. Then I asked her, what about lunch? she proceeded by saying she can have lunch but it has to be "light". She is on some kind of plan which involves diet pills from a fairly popular company I don't want to mention here. I felt sorry for her.

I felt sorry for the situation and I felt sorry for the ignorance of some people whom still believe that starving themselves is the proper way to lose those extra pounds. I don’t blame her. I blame the manufacturers of those companies whom, for the sake of profit, could care less about deceiving people about their "miracle pills". I can assure you that the CEO and high level executives at these companies eat pretty well and aren't starving themselves having a pill and some lettuce each day. I don’t want to judge. Maybe I don’t know the whole story. All I know is that the description of this diet she is on didn’t sound good.

I have to admit that back during my teenage years and maybe even very early 20s I would borderline starve myself in order to achieve that "idolized" skinny shape. Thankfully, through the years I have realized that deprivation is a sure way to fail in this area. There will come a time when your body will pretty much "attack" you and make you crave everything under the sun in order to get back those calories it had been deprived from for so long. The cravings will become so incredibly intense that you will have no choice but to give in and start the cycle all over again. This is a miserable way to live and I can attest to that because I've lived that first hand.

 

With failure comes experience and today I know that starvation is not the answer. Calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc. It is all necessary for a well-functioning body and all works in unison to make you healthy and bring you to your healthy weight. It may be easier said than done but it is true. Our bodies are incredible machines and they will tell you what they need. If you starve it and deprive it you better believe that the first thing that will pop in to your head when you cant take it anymore wont be the healthiest food choices; and this is one of the reason for that yo-yo cycle.

 

Anyways, these are my two cents and some venting on the situation. What are your thoughts on this?

 

My morning + My weekend: happy Monday!

“Your body only has the ability to love what you let it get used to”.

So this morning I woke up with the intention of running but then I was going back and forth on whether I should do my Jillian Michaels DVD instead. Well, I looked out the window towards the track and in less than a second confirmed that my body was craving a run instead.
I found the quote above on instagram and it made a lot of sense to me. Lately, Ive been on a “running every other day” plan and I think Im getting used to it in a way that if I don’t run on a day when Im set to do so—it just doesn’t fit right. So, off I went on a wonderful jog this morning and felt amazing. What makes me feel really motivated as well is the fact that I am usually not the only one out there. Several people in my neighborhood are also out bright and early: jogging, running, biking and walking. Its just the right amount of people which allows me to feel “support” around me (even if they are complete strangers) and motivates me to keep going. What a great feeling.

Today’s Jog Summary:

 

For breakfast, I decided to give the almond-butter on ezequiel bread a break and opted for granola with Greek yogurt + blueberries. Had to sprinkle some wonderful cinnamon on top and it definitely hit the spot (plus my café w/ almond milk, of course).

So I had a wonderful weekend overall. On Saturday I took out my 13 year old cousin on a shopping date and we had a wonderful time. We went to Panera for lunch and it was delicious. The Panera is literally down the block from me. I don’t know why I don’t go there more often!

What I had (1/2 veggie sandwich and ½ Greek salad):

 

What she had: Grilled chicken salad (yes. This 13 year old said she wanted to get a salad because it was “sooo good” last time she had it. Not because she is trying to be on any kind of diet but because it actually tastes good to her. For some reason, that put a smile on my face!):

 

I then brought her back to my apartment for a bit and she watched something called “pretty little liars” while I finished laundry. I am not sure why everyone is obsessed with that show. I tried to watch an episode to get in to it but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Sorry to all the fans out there!

Sunday was also a great time. I went out to the lakes with friends. We ate veggie burgers, fruits, salads (apparently everyone was trying to eat healthy) and played everything from Frisbee (its been ages!) to volleyball. We also took a dip on the lake for a bit. We had a wonderful time and started to wonder why we don’t get together more often.

 

The weather did not disappoint!

And that my friends, was my weekend on a nutshell. Cheers to the summer!

Question: What are your thoughts on the quote above? How was your weekend?