Moving!

Hey all, sorry about the delay this week. I've been busy starting up school and finding a new place! A place with a full sized AND functioning oven! Where I will have an actually bedroom, not a box. This will actually make blogging WAY easier for me, as I will have the space to cook. I will also be living across from a huge park I fully intend on taking advantage of, plus room to work out at home! I couldn't be more excited! I also had an interview today that I rocked! So cross your fingers!

Anyway, as I promised, I'm starting a weekly segment on Saturdays called Quick Bits.

This segment will offer a variety of quick ideas. I know many of us have crazy lives, and I want to help you! There are ways to make workouts fun at home if you can't afford a gym or have equipment. There are ways to create quick meals/snacks on the quick, for you and your family (if you have one!). As I said before, I eat like a kid many a time, so these quick bites will offer kid-friendly options, as well as exercises that can be kid friendly. I totally have Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) , a jump rope (from grade school!) and a hoola hoop at my disposal.

Every week I will include an exercise idea and a meal/snack option. I'm planning on starting out with breakfast, and if you have any ideas to contribute, please feel free to share!

Tomorrow I will give a more thorough update, with pictures of my new home that I can't wait to move into!

Dreams!

Hey all! So, I just had a dream about running. And vampires? Why not! Anyway, in this dream I was running after someone, and became breathless rather quickly (why can't I be in shape in my dreams?) and recognized that I needed to slow it down to a jog. I then ran into people I knew on the street, and we went to an Asian store, where I discovered microwavable cupcakes and hummus. And a shiny new wok. Clearly, you can tell what my priorities are : P Who cares about the person I was running after? They probably got turned into a vampire or something.

Away from the vampires!!!

Anyway, this dream resonated with me because I'm lazy! I wouldn't have made this blog if I wasn't. I've posted many personal stories and recipes so far, but here is a post dedicated to exercise!

I enjoy running at times. The freedom, the rush, the gasping for air shortly after. Mind you, I was a smoker. I'm still battling cravings from time to time and still dealing with my lungs repairing (it takes about 7 years for your lungs to fully recover from smoking). I also have bad knees/ankles (at 22?!?!?! grr!) and big boobs. This makes me reluctant to run. But there is relief!!! I love walking.

Walking is a great exercise option that's low impact. You can receive the same benefits of running (if you get your heart rate up! This ain't no stroll!) from walking, if you maintain a certain pace. It may take a little longer, but it allows you to keep strain off your joints, your boobies, and your lungs. Once more confident, you can always add a jog to your usual walking routine, to switch things up.

Now, as a larger boobied lady, it can be hard to find a good sports bra. I've been following an amazing Comic Blog called Busty Girl Comics, which discusses the every day woes of being busty. It's HILARIOUS. It resonates with me completely! She also gives good advice on buying undergarments for us ladies, which is fantastic! Now, I must say, it's a crime that sports bras for bustier ladies are so expensive! Most of the ones I've seen are in the $50-70 range. That's not something I can afford, and I'm sure many others can't/don't want to spend that kind of money either! Hell, I don't even spend that on normal bras (Soma Intimates has awesome sales on their bras). So this brings me to places like Target or Walmart. Target's "C9 by Champion" line is very affordable, cute, and amazingly priced,  with most bras ranging between $7-17. Walmart offers "Danskin Now", a lower end line from Danskin as well as some other sports bras. These are mostly between the $9-15 range. Not bad!!! My one main tip for busty ladies is not to get a sports bra that crosses in the back---they pull a lot on the shoulders and neck, which can make things very uncomfortable! The more structure, the better. Wide straps, a little padding (for modesty), and cute design can be awesome on the cheap!

My next issue is finding a gym. I'm the type of person that believes that if I pay to have a membership at a gym, I'll be more inclined to go because of that. Which is fairly true of me. But I am having the hardest time finding an affordable gym in my area! Being a college student, my funds are limited and I can't shell over the $100+ a month to work out. Even the YMCA isn't that cheap at $36 for a young adult. Plus you have to pay often for group classes on top of that. I've narrowed it down to two places right now, one of which I have no information on (price wise), all I know is that they offer discounts to students and don't have a yearly contract, and the Y, because they offer a sliding scale financial assistance program based on income. I think that is amazing, and the Y near me is lovely, and the perks of being a member are fantastic. Always look into your local programs, such as recreation centers, JCC's/other Community Centers, and then some. Plus, always take advantage of your one week free trials! Some don't have to be used all at once, and it'll allow you to have a more...ritzy experience at another gym to pamper yourself with (for free!!!). Anyone else turned off because of steep prices at gyms?

Finally, because I love food and I'm sure you love food, I want to introduce to you a new weekly segment called "Quick Eats"! Most of us have crazy schedules, children, significant others, school, work, etc, and I want to come up with some quick ideas for take along foods. And because I often eat like a child (Lunchables, anyone?), I'll have some ideas for kids too!

Just a little example:

"Deviled Eggs":  84 calories for 2 eggs with hummus.

Now, I get a little nauseated from the smell of traditional egg+mayo ANYTHING. Make them the night before, and you have an amazing high protein snack to get you through the day!

-Take two or three hard boiled eggs (can be done the night before), cut in half, and scoop out yoke.
-Take hummus, your pick on flavor! and spoon into eggs (about 2 tablespoons, I like roasted garlic!)
-Top with paprika, a Kalamata olive, green onion, whatever!
-Throw in a container with baby carrots and some other veggies for a quick snack!

Hope you all have an amazing Sunday! Tomorrow starts my Halloween countdown <3

-Whit

Fall!

Hey everyone, it's cold out! In Wisconsin, we joke that we have two seasons: Construction, and Winter. The weather got cold very suddenly (went from mid 70's to upper 50's in only a few days!) and I'm officially in fall mode! I love fall fashion, I love snuggling up under my covers with hot chocolate or a Chai latte, and watching a good movie.

However, many of us have a hard time eating cold weather favorites because they tend to be hearty dishes and therefore fairly caloric. But it doesn't have to be like that. With my newly cleaned out fridge, I'm ready to cook! I'm breaking out my crock pot this week and I can't wait.  One of the things I always looked forward to for dinner when younger was my mom's beef stew. It's just...awesome! It's so simple too. I want to share this with everyone, because it will definitely become a staple in your home!

My Mom's Beef Stew: ( 4 servings, 392 calories!)

12 oz Beef chuck, cut into cubes
1/2 packet onion soup mix, or 1 cup onions (cuts down on sodium!)
4 red potatoes, cut into small chunks
1/2 lb baby carrots
10 oz frozen peas
1 cup of water

-Mix soup mix with water
-Add everything to crock pot, except frozen peas. Add water/onion soup mix mixture
-Cook on medium heat for the day, and let it do it's thing! Add a little more water if looking dry
-30 minutes before you're ready to eat, add the frozen peas
-Eat!

                                                  

We usually would serve this with a dinner roll or a salad, but this is very filling on its own!

Here is my grocery list for the week (the man doesn't usually help me with this---shame on him!), and just a side note. While many people don't support Walmart, the grocery section really does have lower prices than most stores. While on a budget, I can't complain, and I'm always wowed by the low prices. They actually even have an online store where you can get your groceries delivered, and the prices are the same as my local store. So I've been utilizing it to calculate the cost of my groceries, which is really awesome!

-Tortillas (cheaper than Wraps which are not worth the cost!)
-Salad mix
-Tomatoes
-Light tuna in water
-Celery
-Bag of apple slices
-Mini veggie trays ( I love these! They're cheap and perfect for a snack or as a side!)
-Spaghettios (1 serving can, girl needs her comfort food)
-Shredded cheese
-Bagels (Walmart carries Western Alternative Bagels, which are lower in calorie and awesome!)
-Whipped cream cheese
-Rotisserie chicken (loads of ideas for this!)
-Corn
-Light Caesar dressing
-Salsa
-Greek yogurt

I have some staples at home already I want to use up, so I planned my meals around what I have, and what I want to have over the week. I'm also about to start a "Walking Bootcamp" due to the fact my knees aren't great (at 22?! Not fair!) and I don't have room to exercise at home. I'm going to ease into this, and hopefully this will be my motivation to exercise more. I'm really bad at it.



I'm about to do the Open Doors Milwaukee tour of the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear! There are free historical tours all over Milwaukee today (and yesterday), and I love seeing what my city used to look like <3

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

-Whit

Shopping List Time!

So the  beau and I wanted to have a nice dinner last night. The grocery store was having a steak sale, so we decided to treat ourselves to some inexpensive steak : ) Then we made a trip to Trader Joe's, my one true love. Unfortunately I didn't get to meal plan before hand so I didn't really get anything other than what we went there for, but I did pick up some Applegate Farms Roast Beef. It's amazing how high in sodium so many deli meats are, but this one is relatively low!

                                                       
We had the steak with zucchini, mushrooms (which I picked out and gave to him---never liked them!), asparagus, and onion, with a small portion of garlic parm red potatoes. It was delicious!

So, I fell in love with Trader Joe's dark chocolate pretzel thins, but this time I was in the mood for milk chocolate, so I got these pretzels. I haven't tried them yet, but you get 8 of them for 190, which isn't too bad for a sweet and salty snack!

                                    

This morning I stopped at the grocery store to pick up something quick to eat. Wasn't in a Greek yogurt mood at all. So I bought the Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Quesadilla. 1 is 250 calories, with 510 mg of sodium, which isn't terrible for a frozen breakfast. It also has 15 g of protein which is pretty nice! Unfortunately, I found it to be lacking in some flavor. I think if I had thrown some hot sauce on it, it would be AWESOME, but alas, it was too late! Tomorrow then.

 I also got my favorite powdered Chai latte mix. Pacific Chai is something I've loved for years now, but it is hard to find! Even opening the container is awesome, because the smell just infiltrates your nose with spices. It's 90 calories for 2 tbsp, which is plenty. It's creamy, spicy, and decadent if you don't want to pay for one with your budget and calories! It's been really cold out lately so I'm looking forward to having a mug of this later!

One thing I got that isn't pictured is a Horizon Organic chocolate milk box. I love chocolate milk. Seriously. I hear it's amazing though, so I'm excited to try it!

Here's what I've got planned for my grocery list:

-Bacon (for herb cheese BLTs! Sorry that rhymed)
-Greek yogurt
-Granola (if on sale)
-Carrots
-Potatoes
-Stew meat
-Peas
-Apple Cider
-Pesto
-Turkey or chicken slices
-Stir fry veggies
-Apples (Macintosh, honey crisp, and pink ladies are my favorite!)
-Chicken boobies!

And I can't really think of anything else. I'm a "sale" shopper. I use the grocery fliers they send out for my shopping, but since football is back, most of the sale stuff is crap food. I want to make chicken stir fry this week, as well as my mom's beef stew. I want to attempt to make some new breakfast recipes so I can share them with you, as well! I'm way better at coming up with things for lunch and dinner than for breakfast. I just try to go by the high protein, low carb rule for breakfast, so I have loads of energy for the day!

Enjoy the weekend!

-Whit