#wellness project

[ambitiouslyeducatedundrrespected]

Smoothies for Health

Hola,

So, I am on a weight gain (healthy life) journey, mainly focusing on putting on pounds following my doctor’s orders... Three boring Boost/Ensure meal replacements a day in addition to any food I could hold down.

At first the shakes were too much and I laid balled up on my bed in sheer pain because my stomach wasn't used to the volume. 

Note: I think I need to be clear- I was never anorexic. There were a lot of situations going on back in 2012 that triggered a “survival” mechanism in my body- thats a fun way of saying that my body trained itself to get used to the bare minimum calories it needed to function. I literally did not feel hungry until I went 24 hours without eating. I lost approx 40 pounds in 3 years, which went unnoticed until November 2014. Ya girl was thicker than a frozen snicker!

This is why wellness is important folks!

Anyway, it has been about 8 months of food intake planning that has gotten me to be in a place where I can feel hungry. The meal replacement shakes got me to a 10 pound weight gain, except my biggest worry is that the shakes are high in sugar- 23 grams per 8oz to be exact- and hell I don't want to go from emaciated to diabetic. So I’ve graduated myself from the 3 meal replacement shakes a day to something more identifiable as a diet (not “diet”). So, brilliant idea, fruit smoothies! Natural fiber, vitamins, minerals, fats, etc. Problem? I hate food textures. I like the taste of a strawberry or watermelon, HATE how it feels in my mouth. Suffice it to say I’ve never been a big fruit/veggie person.

The plan- started 10 days ago- make smoothies. Bottle them up in saved meal replacement shake bottles, freeze, and swap one for the other each morning. 

Last week it was a mess. My kitchen was a disaster area. My floor tile is stained pink right now. I had to strain the smoothie twice to reduce the pulp and fibers to a minimum.

This week, everything went so smoothly I did a little shuffle. And I only strained once. 

Ingredients Week 1:

3 c frozen mixed berries (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry)

3 bananas 

1 peach

1 c water

Yield, about 40oz (or five 8oz bottles).

Ingredients Week #2:

4 c frozen mixed berries (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry) 

4 bananas

1 mango

1 peach

15 oz pineapple juice (not from concentrate)

Yield, about 70oz (or seven 10oz bottles)

-Lonne

[ambitiouslyeducatedundrrespected]

Write down what makes you happy, things you can control.

Then write down the things you do everyday. Is there any overlap?

[emilyswellnessproject-blog]

Final Post

The last day of the challenge has finally arrived, and although I didn't meet my goal, I'm still proud of all the progress I have made towards getting my license! 🚙🚕🚗

[emilyswellnessproject-blog]

Drove my dad and sister to Whit's today for some ice cream 🍦

[ambitiouslyeducatedundrrespected]

Cheat Day

Can wellness and spiritual growth take a cheat day? Like when people go on diets, they give themselves cheat days, Im not certain the reasoning there, except maybe a craving, but with wellness it is so much active work- mentally and physically exhausting.

Can I improve my wellness during the week and take a sabbath?

[ambitiouslyeducatedundrrespected]

Its nearly 4pm on a Saturday as I start writing this post. You see, I feel conflicted. After 7 days of studying, four of which were back-to-back-to-back 8hr days, I passed my finals and as of yesterday learned that I earned an A in my last class of the quarter. Yay! But that goes without saying that I am tired. I earned this tired, however, this was the weekend I was going to get a jumpstart on the wellness project, which is set to start Monday. 

My tasklist included: 

A single load of laundry

Donate 3 bags of clothes to the nearest charity or goodwill (or at least gather and put them in my car)

Go to Target and get my essentials that Im running low on- including a new litter box (and litter- FYI, natural walnut litter is noble and earth friendly, but dude, Im going to go on the limb and make a sacrifice and buy traditional litter- I don’t do “smelly”, these air wick fresheners are giving me a headache, and I am not a hippie) for this growing kitten, and maybe a sun dress.

It is however, the day before mother’s day, and on the west side of Chicago, the stores are likely packed with last minute shoppers trying to out-do everyone for their mother- with full on attitudes in tow. Don’t get me wrong, mother’s day is a beautiful sentiment, however maybe it is being lost on me because I am not a mother, and I appreciate my mom everyday, but spending $100 on flowers instead of bills seems frivolous right now. We have bigger fish to fry people. 

It also doesn’t help that I haven’t even gotten cards for my mom, grandmothers, or sister, but they know I love them and Ive been going nuts at school, I think they’ll understand a belated gift.... And Lord brace yourselves for the “Look what my baby did/bought for me” Facebook posts. Yeah, I’ll be logged off for that. 

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I found my self on the other half of Saturday with nothing accomplished but moving from the bedroom to the living room, fighting a nap, and realizing that in 24 hrs, I’ll be preparing myself for a whole new fresh week. Before I count to ten, the weekend is over. So my list of tasks will soon evolve from laundry, and maintenance to:

Do my hair, probably a rod-set since it is still nicely blown out from Monday, even though I have yet to have a successful Instagram-worthy result.

Pick out my clothes (or at least check that I have at least 5 tops and bottoms that I can finagle into outfits) for the week.

Prep for 7am spin class- which includes packing my gym and Monday necessities as if I was heading to a sleepover the next day. 

So, second half of Saturday, would you allow me to say I feel a mixture of exhaustion, lazy, anxiety, and defeat? Can I go easy on myself once again? Where do the lines intersect? Because I need to find the apex so I don’t feel like a complete loser here.

Oh, remind me to tell you about my past week, its a doozy, ha!

-Two

[emilyswellnessproject-blog]

2 in-cars down and 2 to go!(maneuverability is not fun)