What does 1500 calories look like?

Hi lovely blog readers! My hair and I are doing well, that post is actually one of my most popular in the four years I've been blogging! I'm not even going to think that it was because people want to see my mug with an ol' lady coif. We've become friends :)

 

So lately, I've been feeling not myself. Which is why I am so excited for the warmer weather, it makes me want to go outside, go running, get in shape! I usually gain some weight back in the winter, this season was no exception. With this being said, I'm back to my calorie counting. This might sound sad but it's actually not a bad thing, I feel more in control then ever. So my calorie range is about 1200 with the option of earning additional calories by working out. * This is totally personal and what works for me might not work for you, check out a calorie counting website, or even better an RD to really personalize your plan, just as a side note. *

 

I feel longwinded today, are you still there? Anyway, I wanted to show you what 1500 calories look like. Marc and I went out for 3.5 mile jog today so I earned 300 calories on top of my baseline, YAY!

 

Breakfast was an smoothie after our run, it's thin mint inspired! (spinach, milk, vanilla protein powder, oats, honey, cocoa powder, and mint extract)

 

Whip on top!

Delicious breakfast!

 

Lunch was leftovers! My favorite! This is called Otsu, a Japanese noodle dish that has a citrus-y taste. It has tofu, cucumber, and pea shoots on top. Yum. A big tip about reducing calories that I could give is to always make your food beautiful! That way you aren't as apt to be sad about the portion.

Snacks are important! It's a great way to stave off hunger and increase nutrition! I love almonds, great source of protein.

Wow this dinner! I impressed myself, I can't deny it. We had kale salad and leek quiche. The quiche was so buttery and actually had half and half in it so it felt luxurious. That's another tip for you, try to get as much flavor in your food as possible, who wants boring crudité and boiled chicken everyday? Not this chick! Haha get it? Chicken... hehehe! Now I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow too! Woop!

 

Dessert is still in the freezer, it is grapes covered in plain Greek yogurt. I had a lot of yogurt left over which was a delicious (and unexpected) after dinner treat.

 

So counting calories isn't bad! Here's the breakdown from my fitness pal calories in kcal, the rest are in grams:

Calories 1482.     Goal 1523

Carbs 144           Goal 190

           Fat 70.                Goal  51         

Protein 87          Goal 76

Sodium 2090.      Goal 2300

Sugar 53             Goal 57

I went slightly over on protein and fat <-- gasp, vegetarians can get more than sufficient protein, whaatt? I went slightly under in everything else, so it's all good.

I hope you enjoyed visualizing what a 1500 calorie diet can look like and I can vouch for it's deliciousness.

What To Do If You Got a Bad Haircut

 

I came home from getting my hair cut a couple hours ago. I was not happy. I felt like an ugly peter pan who had a love child with Blanche from Golden Girls. It's amazing to me how much a hair cut can GREATLY affect your mood, spirit, self worth. Trying not to panic I decided that I was going to make this better. I showed this picture...

 

I got this... there were worse pictures  but I deleted them. No use feeling bad. *This is seriously how she styled it, she is a girl my age and has been a hairdresser for five years. No offense, but really!?*

So, the whole idea of this post is to help you when you get a haircut that might be not to your liking, like this one. First, refuse to call yourself bad names, or take the blame out on someone else... INCLUDING the hairdresser. This isn't the time to create anything other than peace, being mean isn't going to make it better, you will just feel worse. Plus, what are they going to do, cut it shorter?

So first step, take a shower. We need to assess the damage, discover what's salvageable, and relax a little under hot water.   Think about how this can be made into a lesson of humility, but don't downgrade your feelings. It is not silly for you to be feeling this way. Hair is a large part of our self image. You might even want to make a joke like I did, calling myself Peter Pan. Just say it as a joke, and not as your truth.

 

After taking a shower, try manipulating your hair into something you can work with. Imagine hair cuts that you like and what kind of hair you've got to work with. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't cry. There is nothing wrong with letting loose your emotions. Mourning your hair and what it was is not stupid, but don't wallow in your sorrow. Cry, let go, and make it better.

After manipulating your hair, using texturizers if necessary, see if it's working  out. This is the point where if it isn't working, that I would suggest calling a different hairdresser, maybe someone a friend trusts. Thankfully I was able to bypass this step.

 

Put on your favorite outfit, makeup (if you wear it), and a smile. Remember that hair grows and with confidence you can rock ANYTHING.

Social support helps a lot, Marc loved how I fixed my hair, this helped me a lot.

Cute headbands help.

 

Have you ever had a bad haircut? What did you do to "fix" it before it grew out?

Easter Crafts, Falafel, and a Question

Recently I saw a Pinterest craft on making blown out Easter egg presents! We are going to see our Niece and Nephews on Easter so we decided to recreate it!

 The messages say: What day is an egg's least favorite day of the week? Fry-day! (Look under Dziadek's pillow) What do you call an Easter egg from outer space? As egg-stratesstrial (look under Dziadek's dining chair) and Happy Easter for the young one, he will be handed his present. We got them each one of those cute carrot shaped things of candy.

 

Here is Marc putting one of the messages into the egg. He did this for each one, since it proved to be much more difficult than it looked!

This is the different paper we used, just to add a lil' somethin somethin

We glued strips of paper to the egg holes that we made to blow the egg out. Marc first tried to use his finger, hence the purple glove.

Progress picture! Marc wanted to make a robot one and I had a pretty decent idea of what I wanted to do for the youngest boy and the oldest girl, so I took those two on.

Here they are completed! Marc did the robot one in the middle cute right?

 

Here's a picture of the side of the robot one, it's a spaceship!

 

After craft time we went and bought some groceries to make dinner. We decided on Falafel! We have this very cool Indian store by our house where we picked the mix up. All you add is water, and it is what I would call "real" food (ground chickpea, ground fava bean, sesame seeds, and spice!) I also made the yogurt sauce Tzatziki, which I LOVE!

 

Roasted broccoli on the side, seasoned with turmeric, smoked paprika, curry powder, and smoked sesame seeds.

If you come over to my house for dinner, you should probably ask for this meal!! So yum!

 

 

Chomp Chomp!!

 

So guys, I have a question. Marc read my post last night and told me he misses my short hair! Click here if you missed it. What do you think should I cut it? I'm not sure I could go either way! I do like having unique short hair.  I got some thinkin' to do! Here is a picture of how short I might go. 

 

 

I'm off to go watch 12 years a slave with my boo, toodles!

 

P.S. Marc wants funky pixie, maybe like this?

 

Sunday Shoes

Hi beautiful!

I thought it would be fun to do a "Sunday walk in my shoes" post. I attempted to take at least one picture every hour, so here it goes... (prepare for picture heavy post! Fun right?!)

Mornings always start out with water and coffee. My coffee has cinnamon creamer in it...mmm.

 

Breakfast was Marc's choice, he picked cinnamon raisin oatmeal. I forget how much I enjoy oats! I put vanilla protein powder in it to add some balance. The powder upped the protein 12.5 grams per serving! I didn't count how much protein all together but that's decent in and of itself!

 

After breakfast, I went on a Pinterest spree and started looking up positive quotes and found this one...

 

It happens to be from a book called The Four Agreements and I found a copy at the Barnes and Noble right down the street! So, I walked over and picked up a copy as well as a new book for Marc since he's on his way to finishing his current read in the next couple days.

After my walk, I did my strength training (yes in pajamas, they were ready for the wash, so I put them on to exercise in haha) If you'd like to check out the workout click here. It's a fitness blender video, I LOVE THIS WEBSITE!

Here I am doing 40 second wall sits, OW!

Marc and I did some spring cleaning on Friday so now I can't find my weights!! I improvised by putting this vase in my purse! The vase is filled with coins and it is HEAVY! I was laughing at myself, but it really worked! I could do kettle bell workouts with this!

 

My makeshift weight in action...

 

My strength training was actually for Friday but I didn't get to it that day, I was so happy to cross off that lingering day as accomplished! We are two and a half weeks into our training!

 

Lunch time! I have leftovers from a restaurant we went to Friday night with friends called Maxies. This is Tofu jambalaya that I put over spinach greens. So delicious! I think the tofu is smoked, which gave it a sausage-y taste. The best thing is I still have more leftovers for tomorrow! Wahoo!

 

Reading time! This book is so powerful I love it.

 

I'm a list maker, which is necessary since I usually have a lot to do! This coming week, however,  I have two lectures to attend and that's it! I'm hoping to get through this list by April 21st. I also stuck up my new daily mantra that I got from the book. I hope to say it, and practice it everyday.

 

Anybody been to Thailand, or know someone who has, that will let me use some traveling photos royalty free? I have to do a world health assessment/presentation on Thailand!

 

This rain isn't letting up, it is April though! April showers bring May flowers and all that jazz!

 

Last and not least today is my Dad's 68th birthday! I got to talk to him for a while today and he told me he is going to a barbecue tonight in his honor and is enjoying the day. Good for him! Happy Birthday!

 

Here's a picture of us from a couple of years ago.

 

Alright y'all I'm off to see what else I can get my hands into. I'll probably watch a movie, or continue reading, or who knows?! This is such a rare occurrence to have time that isn't necessarily dedicated to studying/ homework! I love it!

Old School Eats

Marc and I got the rare chance of eating all of our meals together today! What a beautiful day it was too, sunny and warm-wish (can't complain, it's Wisconsin after all). After school we did our run and strength training, and I got a lot of school work done.

A couple of days ago I was looking at some old posts where I just blogged everything I ate that day so I thought, let's go old school today! Since Marc is sitting right next to me, I thought it would be fun to see what he thought about our meals today! So here's our eats:


Breakfast was a Mocha Protein shake and strawberry peanut butter toast

 

Marc said: "The shake was good. The toast was exactly what it is... toast with peanut butter and strawberries on it. What do you want from me?"

 

Lunch was Strawberry mango salad with cinnamon vinaigrette, pepper jack, chipotle, and sundried tomato grilled cheese, and leftover red lentil soup.

Marc said: "This lunch was awesome, the soup tastes even better the second day, and the grilled cheese was like orgasmic."

 

Dinner was broiled tofu with a honey mustard, maple marinade, kale salad (want the recipe, see the last post) and baked apples

 

Marc said (read this like an old gentlemen from the thirties haha): "The tofu reminded me of the texture of eggs"

sorry for the interruption, Czesia here, I forgot to press the tofu so it was softer than normal... anyway back to marc...

 "the marinade topped it off fantastically, the salad was very kale-y I like the almonds in it and the sweetness of the sundried tomatoes, I didn't like the apples.

 

3 ingredient cookies: Banana oat chocolate chip

Marc said: "NOT ENOUGH COOKIES WERE MADE, A COMMON OCCURRENCE IN THIS HOUSE!"

Wow. thanks Marc.

The "I Hate Salad" Kale Salad

If you know one thing about me, you should know I have never liked salads. Well, that's a pretty strong statement. Maybe there is this one Asian salad with a spicy peanut dressing and edamame that's so delicious, it single-handedly solidified my friendship with a beautiful blonde. I really can't deny that peanut-y creation as being anything short of delectable and magical.

Anyway I digress, where were we? Oh yes, lettuce is stupid. It's boring, there I said it. That's why we transform that crunchy bland leaf into something more desirable, a Ranch dressing transport device more than likely.

So why fight it! Why call lettuce something other than a dressing transportation device and dress it up like a pig on the fourth of July...

What does that even mean?

Ladies and gentlemen, lettuce haters of all ages, I give you Kale.

 

A nutrient power house who has seen it's fifteen minutes of fame and then some, but whoa Nelly Furtado let's not let this guy leave the limelight! When mixed with the right foundation, accessories, and maybe a great pair of stilettos we can make this Kale not only sneak into our mouths, but in our hearts as well.

 

 

 

"I Hate Salad" Kale Salad

 

Serves one 6'9 gentleman and one pint sized red head.

 

3 tablespoons or so, balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon sunflower oil (or whatever oil you like really)

1 teaspoon or so, oil from sundried tomatoes jar

3 sundried tomatoes, chopped

3 carrots, diced

4 cups finely chopped Kale (the finer the chop, the less tough it is)

1/4 cup almonds, chopped

1/3 cup shaved Parmesan (I like Trader Joes Shaved Cheese Blend)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Mix it on up and enjoy some serious nutrition while your taste buds are like "Whoa, I don't think I really hate salad. I'm feeling very confused right now, what kind of vegetable sorcery is this?"

 

Delicious sorcery my dear, delicious.