Staying Accountable!

Love all the questions I?m getting! Keep ?em coming, I?m thinking I?ll do a series of posts answering them this week :)

My body clock got the hint today and let me sleep till 7am. Thank you!! I had spin class at 8:30, so I kept breakfast light.

Two Nature?s Path maple cinnamon waffles with peanut butter and strawberry jam on top. Not very photogenic is it? On the bright side, the days are going to start getting longer again after Dec 23. So it soon won?t be dark at 7am anymore!

After a couple days of lacklustre workouts, today?s RPM spin class was just what I needed!! My legs finally felt recovered after my day off work yesterday. One of the instructors showed up to take the class, but ended up hopping up front to help teach it. Can I just say that all the instructors at GoodLife Fitness in Fredericton are awesome? I always talk about my ?favourite? ones. But really, I love them all. They?re what make the classes so fun and motivate me to keep wanting to go back!

I was hungry when I came home, so I had a small snack to keep me going till my early lunch.

Three puny dates stuffed with PB and a PVL Peach Whey Cooler.

I worked 12-5pm today, so I ate lunch before I left.

I call this an ?egg torta? because it?s just like the ones I ordered when I was in Mexico. Really, it?s just fried eggs (1 whole + 2 whites), cheese, mayo, tomato, onion, sprouts and spinach on a toasted bun. Holy yum. On the side is a sliced braeburn with a healthy dose of cinnamon.

Work wasn?t so bad today. I stuck to the cash register and stayed relatively clean. I had one customer tell me I?m the only barista he?s seen smile profusely while taking an order. I told him it was the endorphins from spin class ;) In my experience, it?s a lot easier to be nice to people than mean or rude to them.

I haven?t been taking pics of my work eats lately, but Clif bars have become one of my new favourite snacks to eat on break. Especially the Carrot Cake flavour.

I like them because they?re a little larger than the other bars I usually eat, so they hold me over for longer. I usually go 3-4 hours between breaks at work with lots of activity in between. I need the extra energy! I also had a short skinny vanilla crème today. Basically, 8oz of steamed skim milk with a couple squirts of sugar-free vanilla syrup. For 70 calories, I feel like I?m having a decadent treat :)

For some odd reason, I reeeally wanted chicken stuffed with laughing cow cheese and spinach for dinner. I had to laugh at myself when I lifted the lid on the george foreman grill. I may have been a little too keen and overstuffed just a tad ;)

As always though, the messiest dishes are the tastiest!

I had my chicken with some broccoli + cauliflower in Bragg?s and kale chips. Awesome meal! I always combine the foods on my plate. There were a lot of mouthfuls containing all three foods :)

In other food news, I made my first jar of nut butter!!!

I knew I wanted my first batch to have maple syrup, which seemed to pair perfectly with the big bag of pecans I conveniently had in my cupboard. I didn?t have the patience to blend it until absolutely smooth. The food processor was starting to get hot and I was getting a headache! I also completely forgot to toast the pecans first. I was just too excited to get started on my first batch. It still turned out absolutely delicious though. My goodness. I licked the food processor clean! Can?t wait to top my oats with some maple pecan butter tomorrow :)

Checking in on those December goals?

Spend 30 minutes everyday cleaning something in my apartment.
I think I did this maybe 5 of 7 days? Not bad! Still not enough to keep my place clean though. I?m like the Tasmanian Devil. I leave a mess behind wherever I go :P

Stop procrastinating.
Again, I didn?t have much time to procrastinate! Any leisure time I took this week was decidedly so. I didn?t spend much time putting stuff off.

Read more.
I didn?t read anything besides articles this week. Not even Breaking Dawn!

Read at least one chapter a day from my personal training textbook.
I did really good at this one :) I?ve started bringing my textbook to work with me, and getting the chapter read on my breaks. Now I just need to start doing the online work and set up job shadowing?

Listen to my body.
I think I?m doing okay on this. I?ve definitely been eating a little more and not depriving myself. Still trying to figure out how not to exercise when I?m sore from work. I really like working out and get bummed when I can?t do it :(

Try more recipes.
I didn?t follow any recipes this week. I have tons of stuff planned for the holidays though, including making treats for gifts and dishes for Christmas dinner. I?ll get lots of new recipes in at some point!

Spend less on groceries.
I had to do a big grocery haul this week and feel really good about how much I spent. I have a bad habit of picking up everything that looks good to me. But this week I stopped and asked myself if I reeeeally needed 8 different kinds of fruit to get me through the week. I can actually survive on much less than I thought!

Get a grip.
I don?t quite know how to measure this one. But I can say, I am entering this week much more confident than I did last week, or the week before last. I feel like my mind is a lot more clear now that I?m not worrying and stressing about work so much. Going into Starbucks everyday requires no extra thought outside of my shifts. This alone has helped me become a lot more focused and get a sense of order back in my life.

Question of the Day: How are you doing on your goals this month? Anything you still want to achieve in these last couple weeks of 2009? Honestly, I?m just looking to get out of this month alive :P

Don?t forget you can still leave a question for me in the comments or e-mail them to thegreatbalancingact@gmail.com. It can be any sort of question, blog related or not. I?ll even get personal ;) First series of answers will go up on Monday. See ya then!