Tag: healthy living

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The Five Tools I Implemented to Lose 20 Pounds

Hi everyone! If you’ve been following along on my journey, you know that in the recent months I have lost around 20 pounds. Now I am not trying to promote anybody feeling like they need to lose weight or need to change the way that they look. You are beautiful just the way you are! But, I have always been an active person and I was beginning to feel constantly fatigued, uncomfortable in my own skin, and just not like myself. Losing weight is definitely not the most important step in being comfortable in your own skin… I also learned to love myself at every stage instead of only consuming myself with losing weight. Getting healthy + fit again was the goal… losing weight can come with implementing more healthy decisions (usually). These are the top 5 habits & apps I implemented into my life to get my results– I am not a doctor or have any kind of degree in nutrition & fitness– this is just what worked for me and maybe you can find an app or habit that you can add into your own lifestyle!

Tracking
Some people track macros or calories and some people just intuitively eat. I kind of do a mixture of all three! I use the app My Fitness Pal. I find that the calories they suggest for you are far too little, so I did my own research based on my lifestyle to see what calories/ macros fit for me. I like that you can create your own calorie amount and are not stuck with what they suggest. At the start of my health journey, I was tracking every meal to be sure that the calories I was taking in was less than the calories I was burning off. Present day, I don’t track as strictly because I have learned what calories and macros I eat regularly.

Exercise
You hear it all the time… nutrition + exercise are the key components to losing weight and getting healthy and that is for a reason! With my ever-changing, demanding work schedule I decided that 3-5 days a week would be sufficient for the goals I was trying to achieve. On days when I can’t make it to the gym or fit in a workout, I make it a priority to still be moving throughout the day. I try to get at least 10,000 steps on those off-days. If I have any advice when it comes to exercise… it is to find a type of exercise that you ENJOY! Whether it’s weight lifting, running, Orange Theory, Yoga, Boxing, Biking… as long as you enjoy it, it’s going to be something you are going to WANT to do and not something you feel forced to do.

Sleep Cycle
Sleep is very vital to living a healthy life. Adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep a night (I thrive when I get a full 10 hours of sleep and am a monster if I don’t– LOL) and I can guarantee most adults do not get that. When you are exercising consistently, your body needs rest to repair your muscles. Not only is it vital to your exercise routine, getting enough sleep helps with brain health, is linked to a decrease in heart disease, and reduces stress. I am someone who likes looking at patterns and what I can do to improve any situation so I have been utilizing the app Sleep Cycle. It tracks your night’s sleep and determines how long you were in REM sleep. It also allows you to set an alarm with a 20 minute increment so it can wake you up gradually and not abruptly which can often leave you feeling super groggy at the start of your day.

Waterlogged
It’s shocking to me how many adults hardly drink water throughout the day… HOW?! At the start of my health journey I made the goal to drink a gallon of water a day. Drinking water helps with so many aspects of health and fitness, but I find I crave a lot less when I am constantly replenishing my body with water, my skin is clearer, and I don’t bloat as much. As I’ve said before I am super visual and like to track patterns, so I use the app Waterlogged to track my water intake throughout the day. It has a cute water bottle you fill throughout the day 🙂

Notes
I am super organized and need to have a plan in order to do anything 100%, so I utilize my notes app A LOT when it comes to creating and following a workout. Throughout my workout I check off the exercise once it’s done and it helps me to stay focused and on track during my workouts. Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Again, these are all just tools and habits that have helped me in my health journey and this is in no way saying these are the only ways to do it! In all, I think being mindful and recognizing bad habits and patterns can really help you on your journey of health!

Happy healthy-ing!
XO

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Baked Salmon with Mango Salsa Dinner For Two

Hi, me again!
I know that during this time of the world being upside down, a lot of people are turning to new recipes and spending way more time in their kitchens. I have (somehow) done the opposite. I have been rotating a lot of the same recipes that we have always done because in this time of complete uncertainty, I can rely on my go-to recipes to create some kind of normalcy…? I know, it’s weird. This recipe is one that I have been making for Kevin and myself since we’ve been living together- 4 years?!- and it is definitely a favorite. We don’t make this meal as often as we’d like because our number one priority for meal planning is sticking to a budget and salmon filets can become more expensive than the typical proteins we build our meals around. BUT… we have recently begun shopping at Sam’s and we got a killlllller deal on a skinless salmon filet that we cut into 8 individual filets, making each filet only $3.25!!! I think this recipe may be revisited more often because of this (which is awesome!).

Servings
4
Like I said above, the salmon that we purchased created 8 individual filets. For this recipe, we only used 4 🙂

Cost
Total: $26.89
Per Serving: $6.72

Time
Prep: 15- 20 minutes
Cook: 15- 20 minutes
Total: 30- 40 minutes

Ingredients
4 Salmon Filets
1/2 of a Red Onion
2 Red Peppers
3 Mangos
2 Avocados

Seasonings
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup of Cilantro
1.5 Lime
Olive Oil

Step 1: To start, you’ll dice all of the vegetables– red peppers and red onion. Because this is a salsa, you’ll want the ingredients to all be diced smaller. For this dish, I love to add 1/4-1/2 an avocado to the plate for a little extra color, flavor, and fat. I don’t necessarily add it to the salsa and usually dice the half length-wise.

Step 2: Dice the fruit. The mango may be the one ingredient that needs more instruction when dicing. When I first started using fresh mango in my recipes I definitely had to look up how to cut a mango on YouTube (lol)… and I recommend doing that if you need more of a visual than I can provide! Still a mango newbie here! You’ll want to start by making vertical slices around the seed. Line up the stem so you know where to avoid. Next, you’ll slice a grid pattern into each slice. If this is how you cut avocados, you’re in luck because it’s pretty similar. Be sure not to cut into the skin while you’re making your horizontal and vertical slices. Once you have made the grids into each piece, you can cut the chunks off by guiding the knife closely to the skin. I told you I am a newbie… so hopefully the pictures help clear up my amateur mango dicing skills! 😉

Step 3: Once all of your veggies are cut, you can dice up your cilantro and slice open your limes into 3 halves.

Step 4: Combine your red peppers, red onion, mango, cilantro, and limes into a bowl and mix.

Step 5: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Step 6: Season the salmon. Unless I am making a very specific-themed salmon dish (Asian, Italian, etc.) I usually only season my salmon with salt and pepper. At this point I will also add 2 tablespoons in an oven-safe pan and turn the burner to medium-high heat to get the oil warmed up.

Step 7: Start cooking the rice. You all know (or maybe you don’t HA) I usually use par-boiled or pre-cooked rice. This just reduces time and allows me to not be stuck in the kitchen forever! If this is not your first choice, by all means prepare your preferred rice. At this time, I will usually get the water and rice measured out into the pot and start cooking it.

Step 8: Once your oiled pan is heated, you can add the salmon. Cook the salmon on the stove for 4 minutes. This will make it nice and crispy before going into the oven.

Step 9: Place the oven safe pan with the salmon and olive oil into the oven for 7-10 minutes. You want your salmon to cook between 110-140 degrees F. If the temperature reaches above 140 degrees F, your salmon is likely over cooked (which is honestly so easy to do).

Step 10: Once your salmon reaches the desired internal temperature, remove from the pan and let rest for a few minutes. I always plate this meal with the rice on the bottom, then salmon, with the mango salsa resting on top. If you decided to have avocado with this meal, you can either set on top of the salmon with the salsa or to the side– or honestly whatever you want to do (there are no rules!).

Step 11: I LOVE cilantro… so at this point I add more of that to the plate.

Step 12: Eat it up!!!

I love hearing if you’ve had this meal before, are planning to try it, or have made it and loved it! As I always say, I myself am the worst recipe follower… I just add seasonings and cook on intuition, writing these out is getting easier for me, but I am absolutely no expert! Thanks for following along for the recipes I can actually organize. 🙂 I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this crazy time!