Tag Archives | work

Work Week Preparations

By on April 15, 2013 in Broccoli, food, food preparation, grocery shopping, Pittsburgh, productivity, snacks, veggies, Wegmans, work

After a quick weekend trip to Pittsburgh, PA to visit my sister another work week has begun.

Our trip was great. I do so love doing the family bonding and I even managed to sneak in a spin class, pancakes, and sushi!

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These are a few of my favorite things.

Sunday morning we hit the road bright and early. There was much to do in the way of weekly preparations before Monday morning rolled around so I was antsy to get going.

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We stopped at the glorious Wegman’s in Columbia, MD for groceries before picking up my favorite furry friend from his weekend away from the parents.

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This is Gatsby not amused by my snuggling.

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This is Gatsby not amused by traffic.

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And this is Gatsby not amused that I showed back up at his house because I forgot something only to start taking pictures of him again. Let’s zoom in on that face…

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What a love muffin.

Sunday evening I did a bunch of meal and snack planning for the short work week ahead. I am headed to a wedding on Friday so I only needed four of everything this week.

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My version of fruit snacks.

I bought a rotisserie chicken that is going to serve as protein for the week which made meal prep a breeze.

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Salads on salads on salads. I love it!

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Additionally, I made my own trail mix to keep in my desk for when the munchies inevitably strike.

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I do so love having all my meals ready to go at the beginning of the week. It makes for a healthier, cheaper workweek.

Question: What is your favorite work lunch?

Comments { 4 }

How to pack lunch in 10 minutes or less

By on March 21, 2013 in D.C., food, food preparation, work

I am a lazy girl when it comes to packing lunches when leftovers are not involved.

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I know I probably could put in a bit more effort but why o why bother when it is possible to pack food for the whole day in less then 10 minutes? The key is making sure you have all the right ingredients at hand to effortlessly pull together a meal and snacks. I try to think ahead at the grocery store over the weekend and buy things that are healthy and quick.

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Let’s start with the mid-morning snack. I tend to crave carbohydrates later in the day so I make a point to always buy a carton of greek yogurt that I can portion out into tupperware. I find it is more cost effective than the individual containers and way less added sugar is involved. :)

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The most nutritious and easy to throw together lunches are salads. One part leafy veg, one part healthy fat, and one part protein and you have a meal! I always bring some sort of carbohydrate to pair with my salad and often times extra veggies since I am a volume eater.

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For the afternoon hours I normally raid my snack stash which includes plenty of clementines and other assortments of fresh fruit, rice cakes with almond butter, or a Clif Kids bar. Having healthy options on hand is a must for avoiding the constant stream of candy and carbs that seems to fill our office.

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That’s it! A full day of food packed and ready to go in under ten minutes. I actually times myself last night after I got home from work and this took me 9 minutes to throw together! Budget friendly and quick is the name of the game!

Question: What is your favorite quick lunch?

Comments { 9 }

The One Where I Try Not to Overeat

By on March 20, 2013 in binge eating, food, hunger, overeating, snacks, work, workout
I was going to write a What I Ate Wednesday post but sometimes I feel like a bunch of pictures of food doesn’t tell the whole story. It can be much more interesting to understand the thought process behind the choices of a professed overeater. It’s a vulnerable thing to openly share these types of things on the Internet but if you’ve been reading for a while you know that blunt and honest is the way things go.
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Upon waking I asses the damage from the night before. I’ve been pretty good about tracking on MyFitnessPal this week so I am a happy girl knowing I stuck to normal portions and didn’t eat for comfort.
I make a light breakfast to hold me on until mid-morning. It’s always smart to eat something before heading into work as I am never sure how long my commute will take.
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(Everything bagel thin with a schmear of almond butter and a banana)
Before I know it the morning is half over and I am famished! I inhale the second part of my breakfast and am glad I waited until I was actually hungry to eat it.
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(Greek yogurt, peanut flour, honey, and 1 cup of Cheerios)
I have a small window for lunch on this particular day so I eat when time allows.
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(I made a salad that turned out better than expected and snagged the small half of a blueberry Panera bagel from the kitchen)
During my meeting I had lunch dessert and still felt decent about my choices.
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I got back to my desk around 3pm which is approximately the time each day that my resolve to eat healthy and mindfully goes out the window.
I ate my afternoon snack (a kids clif bar and 2 clementines) even though I wasn’t hungry and immediately wanted more food. Funny how the mind works I drank water and tea in attempts to thwart the cravings but I was not successful.
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Snack number two was a hard pretzel with almond butter, 1/2 diet coke, and 3 peanut M&Ms. At this point it all became mind games. I got more water and told myself that my evening run would suck if I did any more damage.
So it was head down and mouth shut for the rest of the day.
After a commute home and a quick change of clothes I inhaled a banana in hopes it holds me over long enough to run.
Spoiler: it did the trick.
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I did a 5k run and a bit of walking afterward to cool down and promptly headed home to shower and fix dinner. I was really hungry and didn’t want to cook (what else is new during the work week) so I came up with a random, yet delicious quick dinner.
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(Cup of Trader Joe’s vegetarian chili, tortilla chips, and green beans)
I packed the exact same thing for lunch so I should be in good shape for today.
So there you have it. The good, bad, and ugly of a professed overeater. Sure, this is mildly embarrassing to post my deep dark emotional eating issues but I find these types the most interesting to read so I figure it never hurts to put yourself out there! My overall calories were a bit higher than I would have liked but I did the best I could. Here’s to fighting those mid-day munchies!
 

Question: How do you best avoid eating for comfort?  

Comments { 5 }

The Snowquester That Wasn’t

By on March 7, 2013 in apartment, D.C., food, rest day, work

What a letdown.

I bounded out of bed yesterday morning to look out the window and was met with this scene:

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SNOW errr rain.

Then I proceeded to turn on any and every news source so they could tell me the metro shut down for the day and I would be able to bake and nap to my hearts content. It didn’t. But everyone threatened that the storm was just beginning and that it would certainly become disastrous by the early afternoon hours. So I was able to work from home, which is a good thing because you could not pay me to go across the Potomac river on the metro when it is snowing. They can’t get it right on a good day and I have a serious fear on dying on a train. (shudder)

I digress…so since I was up at my normal hour and got to skip my commute I had time to make a leisurely breakfast.

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Blueberry Protein Pancakes.

They were dense and not all that good. But that’s not the point. The point is that I had time to make pancakes on a Wednesday…in my pajamas…with no makeup on. Oh, it was like the good ol’ days of unemployment! :)

With a full belly and multiple cups of coffee I got down to work. And saw a sloth on the Today Show.

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Random, but a highlight of my day. That little guy was funny.

The work portion of today was a doozy. Campaign management is a great but sometimes it can be really stressful. Everything ended well and the morning hours passed by really quickly.

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I broke for leftover casserole before hunkering down for several more hours.

During that time I got a little Tweet that alerted me that a post I wrote for the Washingtonian’s Well + Being Blog was live on their site.

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And I thought the sloth was exciting!

Today I am back at work feeling refreshed. It’s funny how I feel ready to get back to the office after just one day working from home. It was so nice to relax on the couch and I appreciate all the newsmen and women that made that possible for me yesterday. I appreciate the team effort to saturate the media with unwarranted fears. It bought me a day in my PJs.

Until next time, Snowquester.

Questions: For local readers, did you get to stay home yesterday? How often do you work from home?

Comments { 5 }

Tuesday Things (3/5/2013)

By on March 5, 2013 in giveaway, long run, running, work

1. I am so glad you guys like the giveaway! I was a bit nervous that my Smutha Mutha was going to be the only entry (love ya ma), so all the positive feedback is very encouraging.

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Don’t forget that there is still time to enter! You can submit multiple entries using each option until Friday, March 8th!

2. My pizza creations are becoming more and more strange each time. I try to make balance protein, fat, and carbohydrates no matter what so when the pantry supplies get low weird things happen.

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Last night’s creation was a real doozy. I used vodka sauce, nutritional yeast, shelled edamame, and italian seasoning. It hit the spot and I am excited for leftovers tonight! If campaign management ever fails me, perhaps I will become a professional pizza connoisseur.

3. I ran 11 miles on Saturday and have been a bottomless pit ever since. Funny how running can be such a double-edged sword. You burn all those calories and think you are on the road to weight loss only to find yourself perpetually hungry for days afterward.

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(Lunch: Carrots with hummus + salsa mixed together and homemade turkey pasta casserole!)

I’m not mad about it. I’m being mindful of portions and packing extra snacks for work to account for the hunger but it just seems odd, ya know?

4. Yesterday was a real doozy at work. I tried to motivate myself to go to the gym the whole commute home (which was over an hour because DC Metro does not know how to handle public transportation) but by the time I got home all I could think about was yoga. So that’s what I did. It hurt in all the best ways after a day spent in a chair and now I feel gummy and calm. Namaste indeed.

Questions: What was the best part of your Monday? How do you manage increased hunger due to exercise?

Comments { 9 }

A Tough Workout + The Best Weeknight Tip Ever

By on March 1, 2013 in food, food preparation, multitasking, personal training, running, treadmill, work, workout

Thanks for hanging in there while I moped all over the blog yesterday. Writing that post + lights out at 9:30 pm left me feeling like a new woman Thursday morning.

I’m back today to share about two of my favorite things, exercise and food. Inspiration for this workout struck me in the middle of the day yesterday. I jotted it down on a post-it and tested it out last night. It’s a real doozy! I recommend doing the circuit 3 times through and if you only have a limited amount of time modifying as needed.

Workout:

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I’m going to be walking funny today thanks to the running/lunging combo. Let me know if you try it out!

The Best Weeknight Tip Ever:

By this time of the week (Thursday nights, that is) my grocery supply has dwindled and I start justifying the cost of going out to lunch on Friday. But deep down I know there is enough left to scavenge up something a lot more nutritious and healthy if I just put in the tiniest amount of effort. Enter, the one pot wonder meal!

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So here’s the tip: whatever you make for dinner, double it and you’ve got lunch! Genius, right?

Last night I thawed a bag of Trader Joe’s kale, sweet potato, and quinoa pilaf while simultaneously nuking a potato in the microwave. Once the TJ’s mixture was heated through I cooked two eggs in the same pan and served them up to their respective plates. 15 minutes later I had a hot meal for dinner and the perfect lunch for today.

Question: How often do you buy versus bring your lunch to work?

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