Makin? No Excuses + a Giveaway!

Hellooo beauties. TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How are your lives? Your loves? Your minds?

I wish I had exciting stories to tell you – prettyful pictures to post – realizations to share. Truth is…I don’t. My life’s been more of the same these few days. I had a really awkward work schedule for the past five days, resulting in two 5:30 AM starts in a row, followed by a 7:15 AM start, followed by two more 5:30 AM starts. No bueno. Luckily, the lovely people at CSN Stores have come to my rescue – they’re offering one reader a $50 giftcard to one of their stores! Sweet, right? CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from cookware to dinnerware to dining room sets and a multitude of other prettyful things – food related and otherwise.

Two easy ways to enter:

1. Leave me a comment on this post telling me what you’re eyeing at CSN Stores.

2. Optional bonus entry - link back this giveaway on your bloggie, and leave a comment telling me you did.

Unfortunately, this giveaway’s only open to US and Canadian addresses (don’t worry – I have another giveaway up my sleeve in honour of my 100th post soontimes). I’ll be announcing a winner on August 13 (Friday the 13th!! Hopefully it’ll be your lucky day ;D)

Hopefully that’ll makeup for this forthcoming lackluster post. Well, that and:

[[ Carrot Cake Oats, 2.0 ]]

[[ Quaker Old Fashioned Oats + Oatbran cooked in ginger tea and with coconut flakes, nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and shredded carrot. Added in later on were chunks of pineapple and some craisins. Topped off with a generous glaze of greek yoghurt, more craisins and more coconut. Bombe. So, so, so perfect. ]]

This morning was the first time I’ve been able to 1) leep innn! (I`ve been sleeping so, sooo much better) and 2) Eat a hot breakfast, as opposed to cold overnight oats or cereal mush. It was perfect. Lovelovelove.

.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.

Despite not posting, I’ve been doing well. Like, really well. To the point where I’m a bit surprised that my mind is moving away from the constant ED emotions that have plagued my mind for years. I don’t know if this is me ED underestimating my ability to move past this or simply me setting myself up for possible failure come September. I know I’m far from recovered but other than my physical, this is the best I’ve felt in a while. I know I’m not at a healthy weight yet, but I still feel more content with my body – moreso than I did 10 pounds ago.

Can I get a holllaa??!

.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.

Moving right along – usually, if I didn’t have much of anything profound to relay, I’d bombard you with food porn and call it a morning. Unfortunately, like I said, I’ve been indulging in a lot of the low-bulk-high-cal pre-breakfasts. Like I mentioned a few posts ago, I’d been really struggling with just what to eat when I’m in the kitchen at 5 AM. I tried the no breakfast till my first break at 9 AM, which did not go well with my stomach – or my mental state. I seriously do not get how people go to school, or work, on an empty stomach. Those four hours were painfullll, and defs not an option.

Having a full, oatmealicious breakfast wasn’t an option either. 1, because of time constraints, and 2, because of the severe pain my stomach would go through because it seriously was not ready for a big, fibrelicious breakfast like the one it was being fed. (Despite how yummy it truly was)

Enter: Prebreakfast. Basically, slightly smaller amount (calorically) than my usual breakfast, by super, super low bulk. I did the Clif Bar/Boost thing for a while, which got old pretty fast. (Anyone else think Vanilla Boost tastes kinda like half and half??)

[[ Keepin it simple - Vanilla half and half Boost, a slice of multigrain flaxseed bread with 1 1/2 servings of Sunbutter and the only leftover dates I had (!!) with a wee drizzle of Sunbutter. ]]

[[ I kind of love waking up to complete darkness, then once I'm in the kitchen making food, seeing the sun begin to rise. ]]

[[ A big ole nanner with a drizzlin' of Maranatha AB, cashews and more almond butter with a mug of hot chocolate. Doesn't everyone crave hot chocolate on summer mornings? ]]

Enough to keep me satiated during the wee hours. Prepackaged lunches and snacks also make frequent appearances, but as they’re not nearly as visually appealing as I would like, they’ll remain in their tupperware with the lid closed. Some of my fave on-the-go lunches/meals include stirfries (versatile; modifiable; easy to prepare in advance); grain-based dishes (quinoa and my new BFFL, couscous); wraps and pitas (stuffed to the brim with caloric goodness) and stews (not as much of a spill-risk as soup; easy to prepare in advance; can be eaten cold).

Why am I posting all this? Sometimes I think we make excuses as to why we don’t eat enough – I have no time; I can’t be expected to carry tupperware around all day; I’ll have nowhere to warm it up. I know I did. Truth is, whether you’re losing weight, maintaining it, or (esspecially) gaining weight for your health, those excuses just don’t cut it. I’ve tried to justify undereating using those very excuses and more. Bottom line: there’s always a way to fit in those extra calories in a tasty meal or snack that you can feel good about. Nothing should come before your health and wellbeing.

[/mini rant]

.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.

On the precious occation that I haven’t been eating my dinner/snack out of a plastic container or off of a paper towel, I’ve been severly savouring every savoury and sweet meal I’ve been able to eat in the comfort of home – and with the convenience of a stove and a real plate:

[[ Strawberry Bananer Oat lovin' ]]

[[ PC Steel Cut Oats cooked in soy milk with cinnamon and a whole, huge, ripe banana whipped in with strawberries and sunflower seeds, toasted in the cancer cube ]]

[[ Don't hate - those are noodles infiltrating my broccoli tofu bowl. Sauteed in EVOO, obvi. My loves, do not underestimate the power of EVOO - it brings out so many flavours your never knew existed. Love ]]

[[ Nature's Path Vanilla Almond Flax granola with Liberte Greek yoghurt and fresh strawberries. In case you were wondering - the bluebs from my last post are all long  gone. ]]

[[ I've been creeping stuffed baked tomaters on many a blog recently. Had to give em a shot. ]]

[[ Tomatoes stuffed with a TVP-bell pepper mix, topped with a generous amount of cheese; sauteed broc; baked sweet tater - later douced in cinnamon ]]

[[ With a glass of sparkling water. Because sometimes, we just need to pretend to be fancy ]]

[[ Katie's Fudge You Protein Cake, take 2! Lovelovelove (Topped with caramel, fo sho)]]

[[ This was supposed to be an omelette with crackers. Totally not by accident, it turned into a veggie-egg scramble. ]]

[[ Kashi TLC Sesame Honey crackers - about 3/4 of which were eaten during cooking ]]

[[ Egg + peppers + snap peas + nooch = yummy in any form ]]

I feel a little redundant with the veggies and ingredients I use. I think I need a foodie change – any food reccomendations for me?

Off for chill day in the hot hot heat!