Ho-Ho-Holidays

Those of you who know me in real life know that I have little regard for portion sizes. I can down half a large pizza with the best of them. Then manage room for dessert. A beer or two. Etc.

To compare me to Adam Richman may be a stretch, but only a gentle one.

I work hard.
I play hard.
I eat . . . a lot!

But during the holidays, there's so much food around. And it's not exactly nutritious. Yeah, all that flour, butter, and sugar even gets to be too much for ME! Which is why this season, I'm vowing to think before I NOM my face off at the dinner table.


The One Drink Rule.

Booze is what gets me -- always. I don't drink a ton, but if I get into the 3 glasses of wine/beer range over the course of an afternoon/evening, I notice something about myself. Yes, I sound way more clever and look way better to my alcohol-steeped self than I do in real life. But I also eat mindlessly. For hours, if it comes to it.

So, I'm planning to stick to one adult drink per evening -- max (with a couple exceptions) -- throughout this next week-long period. And, really, in life. All the more excuse to chug our good friend H2O.


Avoiding Creeps.

Just because I'm attending a holiday party at night doesn't mean I can't eat well the rest of the day. But I've been eating cookies for breakfast like they're bran flakes. From this day forward, I plan to avoid the sugar-creep by eating a well-balanced breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Even if it means passing on some stuff (though, we'll get to this in the next tip), I'd rather feel good at the end of the night than like a bloated, dazed version of myself with a headache (can you tell I speak from recent personal experience?).


Being Selective.

How many times have you tried something just because your grandma wanted you to? Or stuffed an extra cookie down your gullet because it was, well, there? I want to be more selective. Choose a couple meal and dessert items that really sing to my taste buds. If all of it looks amazing, I'll take it all -- but in small portions. Eat it slowly. Listen to my brain alert me that I'm full.

Because stuffed shells can always be frozen. Soups and other side items as well. And if grandma keeps pestering me about that lonely piece of pecan pie (I'm not a fan), I will politely say "No, thank you. I'm full."


Remembering Good-For-You Friends.

Like whole fruits and veggies. They, too, can have a place on the holiday dinner table. Even as dessert! Last I checked, I'm not a kid. Far from it, in fact. So, that plate of carrot sticks and broccoli? Pass 'em over. Even if I eat an entire gingerbread house afterward, I've gotten my good stuff in for the day.

So, if you really can't abstain from all the goodies . . . be sure to keep a steady flow of whole (living) foods in your body. The vitamins and minerals will help keep you healthy. You may even fill up on the green stuff first! Crazier things have happened.


Saving Room for Dessert Exercise.

OK. You can also save room for chocolate. But consider starting your Christmas morning with a short, brisk jog around the neighborhood. "Uhm, Ashley -- there's no time," you say. "It's the HOLIDAYS. Plus, my gym is closed!" Think about it: A 15 to 30 minute jaunt in the cold will only invigorate you. It's all good. Because as much as moving your body will help burn calories -- you'll also release some pent-up stress.

If you're with family, get them involved, too. Maybe some yoga with your mother-in-law. Push-ups with your brother. A quick basketball game with your cousins. Even a plain old walk is better than nothing.


What do you do to keep yourself in check over the holidays? Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Day 5 in the Life of My Stomach

Now, if that isn't the picture of health . . . I don't know what is! But it's Friday, and I always, always go easy on my dinner Friday nights. Especially after a long week at work -- and a nice sweat session on our spinning bike. I'm incredibly happy it's the weekend. I can't even express it in words right now. All I want to do is relax. And show you what I ate today, of course!

Here's the day in pictures . . . (and, no, I didn't eat an entire jar of Nutella!).


And here's the breakdown . . .

• BREAKFAST: Worst smoothie ever. Tried to make the mint chocolate one again, but forgot the recipe. Yuck. 140-ish calories.
• SNACK: Double chocolate granola-ish bar. 270-ish calories.
• LUNCH: Microwaved sweet potato with pepper-jack cheese and strawberries. 400-ish calories.
• DINNER: Three slices of cheese pizza and a beer. 865-ish calories.
• DESSERT: 2 (heaping) tablespoons Nutella. Straight from the spoon. 250-ish calories.

Talk about not my best day. I came in -- even with all that pizza -- at right around 2,000 calories yet again. UGH. Have I expressed how much I HATE counting calories? And it becomes this awful habit where I am now thinking about it before every meal. The good news is that my counting stint is over! Yes. No more counting for me. The next time you see one of these recaps (Monday), it'll be sans numbers. Also: There will be a summary of my weekend eats as well. But from now on, I'll monitor my consumption with my gut and not with a calculator in hand.

Reflections about today's dietary choices. Not my best work. Definitely bottom-loaded the day. I felt full all day, though. I just think I could have topped my pizza with some veggies (Stephen piled basically a large salad on his). I went with the most classic, I'm-a-5-year-old approach. Maybe had another serving of vegetables at work (forgot my carrots at home!). I think I just got lazy. I woke up sort of late and didn't leave enough time to eat a good breakfast (1st huge mistake) and pack a good lunch (2nd mistake). Noted.

That's all from me for tonight. Except this: Do you want to win a fantastic $50 shopping spree at iHerb.com? YES, YOU DO is the answer. Why? Well, you can buy all this cool stuff . . . or whatever your might like to snag yourself!


So, visit us on Tuesday for all the details about how you -- YES YOU! -- can win. And if you need to catch up on my week of healthy eating, check out day 1, day 2, and day 3, and day 4.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!!

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Day 4 in the Life of My Stomach

Day four. And I'm so right about staying at home being the optimal choice for healthy eating. It isn't that I didn't eat well today. I did. But, it's just so much more difficult without all my supplies and tools! My energy felt pretty stable today. I ran 4 miles in the AM, so my breakfast had to work extra hard to sustain me throughout the morning. It did a great job. In all, I consumed around 2,000 calories today. I'm surprised that number isn't more, though. I think it's all the veggies I'm eating. They're so filling, it's difficult to stuff more into my stomach!

You'll also notice that I didn't eat quite as much variety today. In fact, a large chunk of my intake was made up of those incredibly amazing double chocolate granola-ish bars. Not the healthiest way to spend my calories, but certainly not the worst way either.

Here's the day in pictures . . . (Yeah, I know I said I didn't like the collage thing, but it's easy!)


And here's the breakdown . . .

• BREAKFAST: Fabulous and creamy banana-peanut butter green smoothie that I found on Ashley's blog (Edible Perspective) this morning. Approximately 420 calories. I could hardly tell there were greens in it from the taste -- but it felt like a booster shot of health!
• SNACK: Double chocolate granola-ish bar. Approximately 270 calories.
• LUNCH: 1/2 Mediterranean veggie sandwich with 1 cup veggie black bean soup. Approximately 410 calories. Also, I got the photo above from MSN. Didn't want to pull out the DSLR at lunch.
• SNACK: Apple. Approximately 80 calories.
• DINNER: Sweet and sour stir fry with noodles (recipe soon!). Approximately 500 calories.
• DESSERT: Another double chocolate granola-ish bar. Approximately 270 calories.

Today's eating was especially challenged because I headed out to eat with a coworker for lunch. We went to Panera Bread because it's fast, but I have a problem not eating all the baked goods when I go. So, I planned ahead and checked out their menu online. They have fantastic nutrition information (check it out!) -- and I was able to craft a meal for under 500 calories that was both satisfying/filling and incredibly delicious.

I honestly don't have much else to say right now. One thing that I feel particularly proud of is that -- with the exception of going to Panera -- I haven't had any packaged foods lately. Well, some of them may have come in packages, but I think the majority of what I've been eating is made up of whole foods. It feels so good to look at these photos and know what each of the ingredients that went into them looks like. The calorie counting is still driving me mad, but it's helping my portion control. I think before I started this experiment, I was eating like double portions all the time.


Someone pointed out that, yeah, I'm an athlete. And I so agree. I need more fuel than non-athletes to get myself through the day. However, I know I've gained a solid five pounds since the marathon in November. It's because I got too used to stuffing myself silly after 20-mile long runs. I'm not doing that intensity now, so my diet needs to reflect that change in my energy expenditure. I'm getting there. Finally! And at no point have I been feeling hungry. When I "feel" like I want to eat more, it's usually some weird emptiness that really isn't hunger related. It's mostly boredom. And just love of my own kitchen creations.

Need to catch up? Check out the life of my stomach day 1, day 2, and day 3.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!!

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