Bringing Back Self-Care

Today's post is brought to the thoughts weighing heavily on my mind this week. I talked a little bit before about how 2017 is my hear of taking better care of myself. 

If I'm being honest with y'all last week had me feeling empty and unfulfilled. I kept telling my friends that I felt unfulfilled but I couldn't really grasp why. I was feeling uninspired with work and my social life and some of my food issues seemed to rear their ugly heads. 

I haven't mentioned this yet, but I experimented with Whole 30. I will dedicate a whole post to my thoughts on Whole 30, if y'all have any interest. But my point in bringing it up today is that I think it actually set me back in a lot of ways. It requires you to be super restrictive with your food choices. It also makes it impossible to eat out and/or drink. I felt like I couldn't join in with my friends on any social occasions. Charlotte is full of incredibly diverse and delicious restaurants, which I often frequent with my friends...but Whole 30 took that away from me. I was eating really clean, I was sleeping more than ever, and never eating out but I felt unhealthy socially. I am the poster child for an extrovert. I thrive off of meals with my friends full of laughing and trying new dishes. So I was unfulfilled in that regard. I hated turning down going to a bar with my friends to celebrate birthdays, football games, and long work days, solely because I didn't want to be around the temptation. Whole 30 just wasn't for me.

That was quite the tangent, but a necessary footnote to bringing back self-care. After my tough week, I knew I needed to craft a weekend to bring me back to life. The pieces fell into place. My Mom texted me during the week saying they had free tickets to the Biltmore. After a lot of back and forth we decided to go on Sunday and 2 of my friends could join us. Also,  my friends and I decided to try this new delicious brunch spot, Little Spoon, Saturday morning. I planned to preface our brunch with an Orange Theory class. Saturday afternoon, my roomie and I planned on seeing Fifty Shades Darker.   I was so excited to have a full weekend that still had some time for restful nights.

Saturday started with a 9:15 am Orange Theory class. Followed by a delicious brunch...the pictures don't even do the meal justice! Their menu is sectioned off to have "snacks" i.e. small bites of deliciousness followed by the appetizers. I have been dreaming about my coconut milk latte everyday since.

I was feeling so FULLfilled. Get it? Okay, that's annoying. But in all seriousness, I was incredibly full and it was a beautiful day. My roomie and I decided to take Gigi on a midday walk, one of my favorite types of self-care. I love getting outside while the sun is shining and I love spending time with my pup.

We then saw Fifty Shades Darker, which was a fantastic excuse to drink an electric blue slushie. Oops!

The next morning we were. up and 'em early to head to Asheville for the day.

My roomie came!

We did the auto tour...such nerds! haha

My girl, Maria, came too!

The wallpaper in this one was so beautiful.

I loved their "gym."

The house was so ornate in the best possible way. Every detail was incredibly intricate and unique from room to room. It is fascinating to think of all the blood, sweat, and tears went into building such a magnificent house. 

It was a relatively busy weekend but it was so rewarding. I felt myself come back to life. I am vowing to be intentional with my self-care. I carry around a small notebook that I picked up while in Belgium.

Pssst...if you ever want to hear about my Belgium trip click here and here.

I jot down what's on my mind, blog ideas, lists, etc. when they come to mind so I don't forget them. I'm hoping to jot down ideas for intentional self-care...some examples...

-Talking to my Grandma
-Buying a thoughtful gift for someone
-Reading a book
-Walking Gigi on a pretty day
-Reading my favorite blogs

How do you guys involve self-care into your everyday life? Thanks for listening to me babble.

xo

2017: The Year of Self-Care

Hi friends! First off, thank you SO much for everyone's kind words and encouragement about being back in the blogging world. I would be lying if I didn't mention how intimidating it has been to return. Everyone's kind words have really fueled me. I am so excited about working on this space moving forward! So that leads me to...it is currently February of 2017. Did you set New Year's Resolutions? If so, have you stuck with them? These aren't rhetorical...I want to hear what y'all have to say!

Don't get me wrong, I definitely believe that if you have goals you should set them right then and there. There's nothing magical about waiting till January 1st. But that being said, there is a feeling of a fresh start in the New Year...a new planner, a new batch of PTO ;), etc. I decided that in 2017 I really wanted to work on taking better care of myself.

If ya know me, you know that I like to talk out everythinggggg ad nauseum. So leading up to the start of the New Year I talked through it with friends, family, and coworkers to really pinpoint how I wanted to make self-care work with a few tangible items. 

I do want to add a side note here...I realize that in perspective to a whole lot of people, I take great care of myself. I have access to great medical care, I workout hard, I eat nutritious food, etc...I don't take that for granted. I also am single and don't have children right now. I realize this is the time in my life to set self-care habits. Ok, off my soapbox.

What really instigated this goal was that I was starting to feel the affects of not sleeping enough. Sleeping is incredibly crucial to our overall wellness. When I don't sleep enough I tend to eat more, eat worse, be less productive, and the list goes on and on. I knew that this was weighing on me so I knew that would be my first goal.

I also started to think more about taking better long-term care of my skin. I have been religious since middle school about taking my makeup off before bed and cleansing my face. I started incorporating moisturizer in there as I got older too. I would go through spurts of trying new products but I never made a habit out of it. So there came my second goal. A small aside here...doesn't my Mom have beautiful skin!? I hope it's genetic.

My last goal stemmed from my time pouring into what QUALITY of food I'm eating and how active I'm being. I really started developing food habits. I read every label. I hardly ever eat processed food. I am more mindful of the quality food I'm eating. More on that at a later date! I wanted to see how those changes manifested! So my last goal is getting a physical. I haven't had a physical since my senior year of high school!!!! EEK! I know that it's time for me to check in on my health.

So to wrap up...my overarching goal for 2017 is Self-Care. I plan on carrying this out by...

1. Getting more sleep

2. Taking care of my skin

3. Getting a physical

I plan on doing a post on goal 1 and 2 (Goal 3 is scheduled and that's all there is to say about that), which details what I'm doing to carry forward with those goals. But it's only February! I would love to hear your opinions on my goals. Anything that I should be keeping in mind? Anything I should add to my list?

I will keep checking back in on these goals as 2017 progresses. I am fully committed to these goals. I'm ready to hear what y'all are doing!

Workout Wednesday

Workout Wednesday is back! What better way to get over the hump of hump day other than a tough workout??? Working out is a great way to kickstart your day so get in the gym, peeps!

A quick disclaimer though, I am by no means a personal trainer, nutritionist, workout instructor, etc. These are workouts and tips I've cultivated from years of working out and striving to be healthy.

If you missed it here are my past 2 Workout Wednesdays...

2/3 Workout Wednesday

2/10 Workout Wednesday 

And for this week...

I mixed up the structure this week. How it works is that you do the first exercise, then the first and second, then the first, second, and third, etc. So basically you start from the top and start all over and add on another exercise. 

So to break it down for you...I usually start any workout with 2 minutes on the treadmill. I usually do 6.5-7 but chose the speed that's most comfortable to you. For exercise 5, I do what I call 20/10, which is a 20 second sprint followed by 10 seconds of rest for about 2 minutes. So usually what I do is about 8.0 for 20 seconds then jump on to the sideboards for the 10 second rest. It's a great cardio bursts in the middle of your workout. If you have particular questions about certain exercises please comment below and I'd be happy to explain it!

For exercise 7, I'm not sure if that's the technical term for this exercise. Essentially, you lay down with your body flat and an exercise ball in your hands stretched above your head. You then raise the ball up and put it between your feet and lower your legs. Does that make sense? It's a great workout! I actually did it again on Sunday before I posted this and phew, it's a tough one if you move quickly.

For my Wellness tip for this week I'm talking walking. Seems simple, right? I dusted off my old Fitbit and it's been a great tool to keep me accountable. I read an article about how working at a desk job is equivalent to being a smoker. Wow, how scary is that? So that was just the motivation I needed to get up and move more. Since I've committed to moving more, I've walked 10,000 steps at least every single day. Here are some tips to get those steps in...

1. I park far away. My apartment has a parking garage for residents and I live on the 3rd floor. So I park my car on the first floor and walk to my apartment everyday. It's a small change that adds up to some steps. 

2. I do what I can to get the steps in regardless of the weather. It was cold and rainy for awhile in Charlotte so I couldn't get outside to get some steps at night. So what did I do? I walked up and down the stairs of my building and around each floor. Also, a unique thing I did was went to Publix and walked around just to get some steps in haha! I'm addicted.

3. Take the stairs and the longest route of work. When I'm at work if I'm going to the restroom, visiting a coworker, to the copier, etc I take the longer route to get there. My job is also a phone job and so I got a wireless headset so that I can pace while speaking with clients. I'm sure there are some unique things for you to try at work to get some steps in.

4. I make walking a social event. I use it as a chance to catch up with friends who want to walk with me. I also use it as an opportunity to explore Charlotte and see lots of pretty houses. If none of my friends are available to come, I'll go by myself and listen to music or call friends/family and catch-up.   On Saturday, I walked to lunch and jammed to some music. It was a beautiful day to look at all the pretty houses in Charlotte. 

For all my fellow Fitbitters, what works for you? Share below so we can all follow suit! Thanks for reading and see y'all back here Friday when I share my favorites! xo

Workout Wednesday

HUMP DAYYYYYY! Congratulations people, you made it through half of the week! #Amen. I'm trying something new this week...Workout Wednesday. I picture this being a way for me to a) share some workouts that I've been doing, b) give you a wellness tip that I've been trying and c) keep me accountable to my readers :).

A quick disclaimer though, I am by no means a personal trainer, nutritionist, workout instructor, etc. These are workouts and tips I've cultivated from years of working out and striving to be healthy.

So here's my workout for you this week:

So to break it down for you...I usually start any workout with 2 minutes on the treadmill. I usually do 6.5-7 but chose the speed that's most comfortable to you. Then I have 3 circuits, which you repeat 3 times before moving on to the next one. In between the circuits I do what I call 20/10, which is a 20 second sprint followed by 10 seconds of rest for about 2 minutes. So usually what I do is about 8 for 20 seconds then jump on to the sideboards for the 10 second rest. It's a great cardio bursts between sets. If you have particular questions about certain exercises please comment below and I'd be happy to explain it!

My wellness tip for this week is going to be a recipe that I made recently. I made Monique's Healthy Turkey Chili on Sunday and it was delicious! I made some modifications so that I could cook it in the crockpot. I browned the turkey and threw everything in on low for 7 hours. I also threw in some jalapenos because I'm obsessed with them! It is such a satisfying meal for only 336 calories!

Well there ya have it, my first Workout Wednesday! What do y'all think? Any comments, questions, concerns, feedback? I'd love to hear what y'all think. I hope you have a great day and see you back here Friday!