Weighing in with Elizabeth: A Day in the Life

Hello friends! Last week I got a request (I love requests! Leave me more!) to describe how I navigate the dining hall.  So, without further ado, my food journal from today:
 
BREAKFAST
Okay, what a terrible day to be posting my food because I virtually ALWAYS eat breakfast, but today I ran out of time. I was too slow when I got back from the gym and all of a sudden it was time to go to class and I had wet hair and only one sock on. I would’ve eaten (and had even taken out of the fridge) a Yoplait light strawberry yogurt. Sigh. I had to put it back as I was running out the door. 2 points for honesty, though, right?
 
LUNCH (Sargent)
This was tough because there was some kind of delicious-looking taco situation happening in Sargent but I a) didn’t think I’d be able to portion-control very well and b) didn’t want to wait in line, so I hopped over to the grill.
-1 grilled chicken breast
-2 pieces bruschetta flatbread
-3 small orange halves
-Chocolate cookie
-Coffee
 
Now, do you see how I had lunch dessert? Yeah, that’s never going to change. I’m sure that’s not the best way to live life—I know all the reasons and I understand that I shouldn’t eat so much sugar—but I have a SEVERE sweet tooth. I can tell you that I would have given up if I’d tried to cut out sweets. Wrong? Possibly. Do I want to be right? Not always…
 
AFTERNOON
-1 box of raisins (90 cal, no fat!)
-2 Hershey Kisses
 
DINNER (Willard)
I met my friends a little late for dinner and two of them were eating personal pizzas and I thought I kind of wanted that. But then I remembered the flatbread from lunch and was like, how much cheese-covered bread do I need today? (What a silly question. There can never be enough of that. Ah well…) So I went with an old favorite.
-Veggie burger with American cheese, sautéed onions, lettuce, tomato
Sidenote: At this point, I was trying to pick a side to order. I thought about getting a baked potato but I’m pretty sure I ate like four of those last week in a three day span. Must be having a phase. Potatoes aren’t fattening, but they’re not going to give you much of anything, nutrition-wise. I decided to go salad.
-Small spinach salad: Green peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, corn, and (guestimated) 1 tsp. light olive oil dressing
-1 slice whole wheat bread with 1tbsp. Nutella. Couldn’t resist, so went with this for dessert (told you. Almost every meal. It’s a problem that I know I’ll eventually have to confront but I don’t wannaaaa).
 
Yum.
 
WORKOUT
Cardio circuit:
-15 minutes elliptical (resistance 6, incline 14)
-10 minutes recumbent bike (level 5)
-20 minutes treadmill. I like to do this incline thing-y sometimes. Walking somewhere between 3.5 and 4mph, depending on level of laziness that day, I up the incline from 3 to 12 at three- or four-minute intervals and then slowly come back down. It kills my calves and my butt so it must be good, yeah?
 
I’m going to do a more complete workout rundown next week, so stay tuned!
 
And that was my life today! I hope this helps show you how I think when I walk into a dining hall. My last word is this: keep a little bank of calories in the back of your mind for last-minute buffet grabs. It’s really hard to walk through the dining hall and avoid every single temptation that’s sitting there in huge quantities waiting for you! If you’re the kind of person who might be swayed by seconds during a drawn-out, procrastination-before-working dinner, admit that to yourself going in and prepare for it.
 

“My food tracker app. So-o-o techy. But really, having it on my phone makes all the difference!”

Feel-Good Tip of the Week
Listen to your heart. Okay the majority of that song doesn’t relate but I had a friend ask me this week what my policy was vis-à-vis going to the gym when I’m sick. I thought about it and I think the best way I can put it is that you have to know your body really really well. The more in-tune you are, the more at peace you’ll be with food and exercise decisions. If your body’s craving movement you should be able to feel that; if you need to rest, the signals are probably screamingly loud, so listen to them.
 
I remember this corny breathing-awareness exercise I had to do a retreat once… it was like, take a deep breath in. Tense the muscles in your feet, and release your breath when you relax them. Then do your legs, then stomach, and on up. It was awkward and weird to do at this retreat but I’ve remembered it all this time and it can be super effective! Reconnect with your bod and get the answers you need.
 
 
If this wasn’t enough Elizabeth Time, follow WIWElizabethon Twitter! Tips, tricks, day-to-day trials and tribulations (and just a little bit of whining)!