Fitness? Paleo? Whole30? Oh my …

Me at the Color Run 5K

Hi! I’m Kate 🙂

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you find something that encourages you to be the best you can be and to enjoy life more fully …

I’ve been working hard to get healthier than I’ve ever been before and so far it’s been a mixture of hard, fun, adventure and feelings of deep satisfaction. After sharing a lot of updates via Facebook and MyFitnessPal, I decided to use this blog to share my journey as I work to be the healthiest me I can be. My hope is that these posts, recipes and resources will encourage you to be a healthier you!

SO, here’s the skinny:

I’ve always liked veggies and fruits but ice cream and pizza definitely trumped the two. I haven’t really had healthy eating habits throughout my life and I wasn’t heavily involved in sports growing up, which means I didn’t have those healthy habits to fall back on. So, I decided to create a fitness regime that I would stick to and for the first time ever, really be disciplined (oh that statement sounds scary, doesn’t it??)

A couple reasons for this determination to change:

  • I got to the point where I weighed more than I had ever before – The scale wasn’t my friend as of late.
  • Wanting to learn how to cook and prepare foods that will be healthy for my husband, Daniel.
  • To challenge myself and see how hot I can get for myself and my man!

Here’s what I’m doing to get healthy and fit:

  • Pal-e-owhat?– My friend, Kara, started telling me about eating Paleo because she and her family decided to start eating void of things that her kids are allergic to (dairy, gluten, sugar, etc) and my husband, Daniel, started reading about eating real food. Like, not processed stuff. This got me looking at Paleo food blogs and eventually led me to the Whole30 … Read about paleo here: What is Paleo? There are seriously so many health benefits I just had to try this and *BIG gasp* I may just do it for life!
  • I’m on Day 12 of the Whole30 … Basically you eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and healthy oils. This means no sugar, dairy, gluten, legumes, corn, soy or alcohol. Yikes! I know it sounds scary and at first it is but this has been a really cool challenge so far. I seriously feel such a sense of satisfaction from choosing to control when and how I eat. No more giving into hormones and emotional highs and lows or feelings of guilt from what I eat. And, maybe best of all, no measuring, counting or weighing for 30 days! Talk about relief!!
  • I have committed to workout 5 times a week (at least.) This usually involves 30 minutes of Pilates and 30+ minutes of run/walking (Right now I’m at 11mph). I strongly encourage you to checkout the workouts at Blogilates.com because they are convenient, fun and FREE. I started running 5ks over the past year and so far I’ve run about half a dozen. My next goal is a 10k and then I hope to complete a half marathon (this goal totally scares me so I HAVE to do it!!)
  • Cooking at home (a LOT) … See below for a recent recipe I made
  • Check out my Resources page to find out what cookbooks I’m using, what I’m reading and what I’m doing to get fit.

I’ve had a couple hard days but I’ve kept my diet in check with the Whole30 and haven’t cheated! It’s been rough but I believe I’m through the worst of it (today at least anyway!) Yesterday, was definitely my hardest day as I was with family during a birthday party that involved chocolate, brownie cake (my FAV), pizza, chicken and jo-jo’s … I survived without cheating but definitely came close to crying :-/

OH I’ve also been making a lot of fun stuff in the kitchen ! That’s if for now … Stay tuned for the Chocolate Chili recipe I made! It’s sooo good that I have to share a picture and the recipe …

Yay!

~ Kate