Lindsay's Ramblings

Happy Monday! It's time for my July "currently" post!  I'm currently... Loving: Cold Stone Creamery's new peanut butter cookie batter ice cream. It is SO freaking good. Yes, I ate every single bite of this. Eating: I just recently discovered that I actually kind of *like* roasted cauliflower! I have tried roasted broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, squash-hate them ALL. So trying cauliflower this was my last attempt, and I'm glad I tried it! And I have a new favorite cereal-Froot Loops with marshmallows! They are soooo delicious with MuscleTech's vanilla ice cream protein as the "milk".  Reading: I've always been a fan of Chip Ingram, so I picked up this one at the library the other day, and so far I'm really liking it. I also just finished this book, and it was really good! So far I've read 22 books this year. :) Excited About: Going to New York this week and seeing these two little cuties! :) It's go...

Yesterday we went to Mom's to celebrate Celeste's third birthday.  I can't believe she is three years old today! Her party theme was strawberry shortcake, so I thought I'd make a strawberry dessert. These cheesecake stuffed strawberries were so pretty that I just had to take some pics! I have so much fun spending time with Celeste and my sister. She was so excited to blow out her candles and have cake! Then all she did was eat the icing off the cake with her fingers. But hey, it's her birthday, so she can do that, right?  Yummy! My sister made this cute strawberry pinata. Loaded with candy! The time really has flown by so fast. I wish we could keep her this age forever! I don't want her to grow up. :(  She has the funniest little personality and a little attitude sometimes, but she is also the sweetest thing. I just love her to death. Happy birthday Celeste!

A few years back, there was a time when food controlled my thoughts. All I would think about was what I could or couldn't eat and when. There were certain "rules" that I thought I had to follow when it came to nutrition. Things like no eating carbs at night. Only 30 grams of carbs at each meal. Cut out carbs the day after a treat meal. Keep carbs very minimal on rest days. And I'm sure there are others that I can't even think of right now. It got to the point where I was just not happy. I was moody and irritable because I was was constantly stressing about what foods I should or shouldn't eat, or what I could or couldn't eat at certain times or on certain days. Thankfully in the last few years, I have gotten away from that craziness and now eat in a much more balanced, sustainable way. There are still a few guidelines I follow, like trying to get protein with every meal and eating adequate carbs around training, but those things are pretty easy for me ...

I've said it before, and I will say it again: fitness and nutrition should not make you miserable. I am NOT against clean eating. I'm NOT against tracking macros. I'm NOT against losing fat or wanting to improve your physique. I'm NOT against competing in fitness competitions. What I AM against is when any of these things begin to take over your life and CONSUME you. What I'm against is when it gets to the point where your eating and training adds MORE stress to your life, rather than enhancing your life. What I'm against is being a slave to food and workouts. What I'm against is punishing yourself for eating "bad", or feeling guilt over having a piece of cake at a birthday party. What I'm against is when your abs, or your muscles, or your weight, or your body fat percentage, or the way you eat, or how much you can lift becomes where your find your identity and fulfillment. It's because I've been there myself that I feel so pa...

I've completed the first month of my new program! It is mostly a strength focused program with hypertrophy as the secondary goal, and so far I'm really liking it! There are some exercises I've never done before, which is always fun when you've been training for so long. There are also some things that I would never program in for myself, which is why sometimes it's good to have someone else write your workouts! Plus, it's just really awesome not to have to worry about coming up with my own programming. The workouts are set up as a lower/upper/lower/upper, the opposite of what I've been doing. I normally do upper body first, but now it's lower body on Monday, which has taken some getting used to. But I like the change! It's good to try something new every now and then. So this is what my week looks like: Monday: Lower body, squat focus Wednesday: Upper body, bench focus + sled drags Friday: Lower body, deadlift focus Saturday: Upper body...