Friday Five

Another Friday has come and y'all aready know what that means. Here are a few things I am loving this week...

1. Intuitive Eating. I shared earlier this week about changing my mentality toward food and shedding the diet mentality. While I do want to lose weight, I care about fixing my relationship with food more. Well, apparently by body knows what it wants as I have already lost 2 lbs this week! I have been enjoying all the food I crave just watching the serving size.

{Read About It Here} 

2. Currently Craving. Insalata Caprese. I picked up fresh mozzarella this week and have been making quick salads to go with dinner. Sometimes I will serve it on a bed of lettuce for a bit more vegetables. I love how simple the recipe is with just two main ingredients and how it dresses up any meal. 

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3. Pineapple Love. Since my first trip to Charleston years ago I have been obsessed with pineapples. Pineapples are a sign of hospitality and welcome which are used everywhere in Charleston. I am thrilled that pineapples are currently trendy so I can find them everywhere! How cute are these earrings?

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4. Gel Nails at Home. Yesterday at Target, Essie's new gel topcoat just happened to jump into my cart. Does that happen to anyone else? Honestly, Target is where paychecks go to die. Anyways, I ended up putting a coat on last night and was very surprised with how professional it looked! I will report back last week with how long it lasts.

 

5. Happy Friday! Today marks less than two weeks left of school + payday! = Dance Party.

Linking up with Tiff, Clare, Karli, Amanda & April .

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Ditching the Diet Mentality: Intuitive Eating

I have always strived for my blog to be a journal of sorts. Chronicling everyday life while highlighting my passions. One of my passions is for healthy living. Lately, I feel like I am not practicing what I know and love.  I have set forth on numerous diets and lifestyle changes this year only to bail half way through leaving me feeling like a complete failure. This past month was the last straw and I knew something had to change. So, I did the complete opposite of the norm and ditched the diet completely!

Looking back over the years I noticed a pattern. When I place myself on a diet I develop a tendency to binge, both before my diet begins and during due to feeling restricted.  How am I hoping to solve this? Intuitive eating.

Intuitive eating: Eat only when hungry, don't feel guilty about food, and eat whatever your body is craving. 

Let me share my inner psychology nerd for a second. Intuitive eating is based off habituation strategy. Habituation is the diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus. When applied to eating it means that allowing yourself to eat what you are craving, but typically don’t indulge in, will decrease the temptation or “sparkle” of the food.

This past month, I tried this with Peanut Butter M&M’s. I have always had the mindset that I can’t indulge in candy or keep it in the house. I was sure I had an insatiable appetite for anything peanut butter. But the first time I gave myself permission to eat as many as I wanted, I was surprised that I was satisfied after just a few handfuls. By day three, the candy was already less tempting. Now they don't seem as scary as they did before when I walk by the candy isle. Removing the danger sign helped me realize that they are just a treat and don't have special power over me.

There are three main guidelines that I am following on this journey.

ID hunger signs.- Know your hunger signs and aim to eat only when you're hungry. 

Slow down.- Instead of inhaling dinner, sit at the table while you eat and make the meal last at least 20 minutes. When you go slow, it's easier to read your body's hunger and fullness signals.

Portion Control - Be conscious of how much you’re eating. Eat whatever your body is craving just be aware of serving size. Portion out one serving at a time. If you’re not satisfied with one serving then you can enjoy more.

I realize that I can't change how I view food overnight. I have had a distorted relationship with food for a long time; dieting disconnected me from how food makes my body feel.  But with time, I hope to get to a better place.  The goal is to repair my relationship with food and my body and have weight loss as a side effect of that.

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Friday Five

Who else is ready for a three day weekend? I am looking forward to hearing the school bell ring this afternoon and heading out the door to celebrate this long weekend!

1. Perfect Poolside Drink. I have mentioned before that margaritas are going to be my go to drink this summer. I am loving this recipe that calls for just three ingredients which makes preparing and packing a breeze.

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2. Currently Craving. Everything watermelon. I could eat watermelon for breakfast and lunch every day. This recipe featuring watermelon, mint and feta cheese is a great way to add a little variety to my watermelon snacks.

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3. Backyard Dreams. We are well underway with the search for our forever home. I have high hopes of living in this next house until we retire. One must is a large backyard for the pup and any future kiddos. We would love a space to build our own fire pit to hang out by in the evenings.

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4. Sweet Treats. Stumbled across these sweet treats on Pinterest. These Key Lime Pie Macaroons would be perfect treat to bring  to a cookout this weekend.

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5. Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I am looking forward to slipping into a new bikini and spending the next three days poolside!

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Well, Hello There!

Alright, so I accidentally took a little blogging break for a few weeks.  I am not going to bore you with a ton of excuses which believe me there are a plenty. Instead let me fill you in on a bit of what I have been up to these past few weeks.

I completed my first indoor triathlon. Lifetime fitness hosted an indoor triathlon series at one of their locations in Raleigh. I have always been interested in triathlon races so its was a great way to dip my toes in the water (literally and figuratively). The race was divided into a 30 minute swim, 30 minute bike and 20 minute run. I really loved the spin and the run portion of the race. The swimming portion was by far the hardest. Those 30 minutes in the pool were excruciating and went by extremely slow. Honestly, I don't think I swam laps since college when I was a lifeguard so I was extremely rusty. I did love the feeling of getting back in the water and would love to start swimming laps again. Overall, the race was a blast and it let me know that I would enjoy doing more triathlons. Just with a bit more training first!

Over Mothers Day weekend, my mom and I drove down to Georgia to see my Grandmother. She moved there back in February due to a significant decline in her health and being unable to live alone anymore.  Describing the facility she is staying as an assisted living facility does it a complete disservice. There are activities all through out the day for residents to enjoy. The town it is located in is a golf cart friendly community so many residents have golf cards they can drive to putt around town. It was great to see Grandma since I had not seen her since Christmas. It was also nice to spend quality time with my mom on the long drive down.

A few friends mentioned that they were running the Running with the Bulls 8k in Durham which of course I jumped on the chance to join! I happily signed up for another race. It is always nice to have something to train for because the added pressure encourages me to push the pace a bit on my runs. The race is at the end of May so I have been completing 3-4 training runs each week. I'll share my training plan with y'all soon.

What have you guys been up to lately? We spent the weekend relaxing and looking at houses. The house hunt if 100% underway. So excited for this new chapter of our life.

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Weekend Insight

One way that is guaranteed to make you feel old? Going to your 10 year high school reunion. No really, it has been 10 years since I graduated high school. Let's take a walk down memory lane... 10 years ago Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother and The Office debuted. Now all those shows are considered classics in my mind. I had just upgraded to the popular phone of the time, the Razr. My goal in life 10 years ago was to look like Hilarie Burton from One Tree Hill (What is she up to these days?). I also had a goal to be as dark as possible through a orange glow from the tanning bed. Thankfully I have grown a lot over these past 10 years and still occasionally get carded :) 

Saturday night we headed out to dinner at the beach with a small group from our graduating class to celebrate our 10 years post high school. I went to a small high school with a graduating class under 30 so we were all pretty close. I am happy to be able to call these girls my friends and love that we still keep in touch!

{Class of 2005}

We had a great time Saturday night down by the beach catching up over drinks and good food. The rest of the weekend was spent visiting my family and enjoying the beautiful weather. I appreciate that both our families are less than a two hour drive away. It is always nice to spend a weekend at home catching up. 

How was everyone's weekend? Is your 10 year reunion around the corner or did you go to your class reunion?

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Got Migraines?

{Even Boo had bad days}

Today I am taking a break from my usual Friday Five to seek a little help from all of you in blogland. Last night I developed an awful migraine as I sat down last night to start work on the post for today. I have researched a ton on migraine prevention, triggers and treatment. However, a lot it hearsay or "works for some". Many people swear by a gluten free diet while others promise that essential oils cures all headaches. I have also read that food triggers or magnesium for migrants is not supported by research. It is such a broad range of symptoms and treatment! What works for some may not work for others. I currently take a B2 vitamin daily and limit my caffeine which helps some but does not prevent them from occurring. I would love to give Botox or Cefaly a try but until it is fully covered by insurance it is out of reach.

 I would love to hear your advice if anyone has been successful with their migraine treatment.  I would love to hear your tips and tricks! I am tired of fighting migraines week by week.  Hoping to try a few different trick and report back my experience.

Thanks so much for hanging with me through this post. I'll be back to regular posting Monday :) 

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