For the past few months my interest in healthy eating has grown although my eating habits have not adapted to that of a “healthy” person. I’ve been following blogs that focus on vegan and vegetarian eating, running and yoga, each blog very different but also with one main theme running through all of them – these women and men were happy. Living healthy and excercise has its benefits and these bloggers were definitely to be admired for their efforts.

On a recent post I showcased my 7 Goals to complete before 27, one of them being Green Monsters. The other day I picked up the cheapest blender I could find at my local London Drugs, a white $29 plastic blender. I originally had my sights on a $189 Breville blender, stainless steel, glass, and so sexy! But after a moment of thought I realised that perhaps I should try my efforts out on a cheaper blender to see if I’ll even use it!

I’m not sure where Green Monsters originated, everyone seems to be doing them and now I’m one of them too. Okay I did it once – but hopefully this will be the first of many, many monsters!

The Original Green Monster Angela’s Green Monster Movement

In a blender put the ingredients in this order:

1. 1 – 2 cups of spinach
2. 1 tablespoon flax (optional; can also use protein powders)
3. 1 – 1.5 cups of milk (cow, soy, almond, etc)
4. 1 banana

Blend! Then add some ice and blend everything for about 1 minute or so. Enjoy!

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What comes out of your blender looks pretty gross, I’m not going to lie. I also started out with only 1 cup of spinach because I’m a chicken like that. I poured this into my ‘fanciest’ glass, as recommended per Angela’s site. My largest fancy glass is a Stella Artois beer glass, the irony is not lost on me.

Drinking.

I was actually on the phone with J when he demanded I drink it and tell him how it tasted. The verdict? Banana-y. Seriously. With some hint of green but not an overpowering spinach-y flavour. Overall: NOT gross. Even Princess had some, declaring that I make the best drinks in the world. So there.

Honestly, I felt healthy drinking this. I will definitely be making it again, but tomorrow I might add a different fruit along with the banana, just to mix things up!

Do you like smoothies? Do you make them at home or buy them when you’re out? Have you ever had a green monster? What’s your favourite??

xoxo

Fab Brunette

ps. My pix of my green monster were terrible! I used my Blackberry cus my camera refused to turn on!

1 Year Ago: Open For Business!

A few weeks ago I purchased a new fitness DVD, Gaiam’s 5 Day Fit Weightloss Yoga, and yesterday I finally put it in my dvd player and did it! I honestly forgot I purchased it! I love everything Gaiam, my yoga mat is a pretty purple with a lotus flower design from the same company. My water bottle is from Gaiam. I’m a sucker for anything Gaiam just like I am for anything Starbucks!

After doing Jillian Micheals’ Yoga Meltdown (which I actually really enjoy!) I really didn’t expect the new dvd to be challenging – famous last words.

The Gaiam dvd actually has 5 workouts on it, one for each day, which is why I bought it – I get super super bored of workouts, unfortunately, so this actually works perfectly for people who likely have ADD like myself. Regardless, I couldn’t finish the first workout. Serious. It’s just standard yoga, but it’s a lot of paying attention to the moves and really pushing yourself. I think I did 10 minutes.

Honest. And those ten minutes? They made me sore. I am totally feeling the pain today, especially in my legs where I’m not very flexible and probably stretched my muscles out too far and now they are achy!

My favourite part about working out is the ache.

I’m not kidding about that either. If I’m working out, I want to feel that something is happening, I like the feeling of a new muscle in my thigh that I didn’t even know existed. Not pain though, please remember if you’re feeling pain, that’s not right. But a satisfying ache? Perfect.

Do I sound sick? Maybe a little.

xoxo

Fab Brunette

ps.  What’s your favourite workout to do? Yoga, running, zumba?

pps. Do you like dvds at home, fitness classes, or gym workouts best?

I just came back from the gym, and although I wouldn’t say it was my greatest workout ever, the fact that I even went up to the gym has to count for something, right? I’ve realised that the less I think about something while I do it, the more motivated I am to finish. In work, life, workouts(!) as soon as I start thinking about what I’m doing, if I’m doing it right, these thoughts start slowing me down and I either give up or just don’t finish what I started.

I suppose these thoughts are ‘negative’ thoughts, although they are not negative in nature, the outcome becomes the opposite of what I’m hoping for. It will go like this:

I’ll start my workout, hop on my cardio machine of choice, and I start feeling good….

But then:

Oh I hate this song (flips thru ipod slowing pace down a bit) okay, good song. Okay, doing good. But I had that cookie today. So what’s the point of even working out. It was a good cookie, but still, I just want another cookie. NO NO Focus!! Focus on working out. What time is it? Another shit song. OMG so thirsty, okay, would it matter if I cut my time down by 5 minutes, I mean, it’s not going to make a difference anyway?

As you can imagine, I don’t come out of these types of workouts satisfied.

Today was a bit different. I worked out for 30 minutes, didn’t play with my ipod, watched some tv while I did it and 30 minutes flew by. I even wanted to go some more but I knew I had tons of other stuff to do that day. Again, not overly satisfied but you know what I did?

I just threw all my negative thoughts out of my head, showered and went on with my day.

xoxo

Fab Brunette

ps. Do you have negative thoughts? We all do – what do yours stop you from doing?

Yes, this post is about plastic surgery. If you have a problem you can click off.

I’ve never been against plastic or cosmetic surgery, never. I love seeing people get it with great results. I love seeing people get it with horrifying results. I don’t agree with plastic surgery abuse, I hate seeing pretty girls like Heidi-whats-her-face destroy themselves trying to look like Barbie dolls but ending up looking like wax figures and aliens. But I see nothing wrong with little fix-ups here and there. Call me vain, I just don’t see anything wrong with it.

For years and years I’ve wanted to get my breasts done. I love my boobs. I ‘blossomed’ early and by 9th grade had D-cups. Yay me. I had unwanted attention from older boys, couldn’t jog for the life of me, and could never find a bra that fit right. The cutest bras seemed to come in A or B cups, and I hated the look of those huge ugly Playtex bras that came in boxes, so I wore ill-fitting and ‘cute’ bras that my boobs popped out of. Again, yay.

Anyway, after having a baby, breastfeeding, and being overweight, my boobs are not as hot as they used to be. Still pretty huge. (They’re between DD and F.) But they are a teensy bit lower than I’d appreciate. Well, a lot lower. And, letmeclearmythroathere:saggy. Did you catch that. Ugh. I’m 26 for chrissakes. I want nice boobs.

Let me tell you one thing about getting plastic surgery enhancements, you need to be at a proper weight for them to look good. Seriously. I went for a consult and they asked me if I was at my ideal weight, I told them nope, I wanted to be at least 20 – 30 pounds lighter – they told me to come back when I was at my ideal weight.

You see, if you are overweight, get your boobs in, and then lose weight after, your boobs will lose some fat and won’t look right: they might sag, they might shrink, all bodies are different so there’s no telling what will happen. But if you’re at your ideal weight and aren’t planning to lose more than 15 pounds, put those suckers in, live long and prosper. Last year I was going to get them, I started dieting but then things didn’t go as planned and I gave up.

And before you start lecturing to me about breastfeeding: I’m not having any more children. My boobies are mine now. And my boyfriend’s. Although, to tell you the truth, getting a breast enhancement has nothing to do with him whatsoever. He says he loves me the way I am, that I’m beautiful and he’ll love me regardless of what I plan to do with my body. I’m doing it for me.

I can’t wear strapless tops without a strapless bra, and even then it looks bad. I need to wear halter tops with the proper supporting bra, and then the strap digs into my neck trying to hold my boobies up. I love deep-v dresses, I love backless dresses – and I can’t wear them. I can’t wear bandeau tops. Most bikini tops don’t do anything for me. It just sucks.

On the other hand, I don’t want my boobs to come out looking obnoxiously fake. I am a tall girl who’s always had large breasts – I want a lift and fullness, I want to come out of there with my breasts held high (literally) – and not embarrassed of them when I’m nude. Because I like to be nekkid all the time. Almost. Anyway, my boyfriend and I have had the talk again (the booby talk); and I am going to do it.

A plus side to all this? It gives me another motivation to diet.

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Would you ever have plastic/cosmetic surgery? What would you have done? Breasts, nose, or something like botox?

How do you feel about plastic surgery? Against it? Or all for it?

Bonus Points: Do you know who said “bubbies”? Hint: it was a reality show housewife.

At the beginning of April I started a weight-loss program which I mainly blogged about on In It To Gym It, a communal blog of mainly 20-somethings who are looking to get healthy! I lost 17 pounds in 5 weeks and then stopped. The last two weeks have been continually defined as ‘cheat’ days that turn into a whole cheat week and it just goes nuts from there – time to get back on track! I would eventually like to lose another 15 pounds and will continue to do this by integrating more exercise into my daily routine.

I have a devil on my back to help me out with that too. I call her a bitch, but you may know her by her proper name, Jillian Michaels – and NO this is NOT about the 3o Day Shred (which I’ve attempted a million times and then give up)… this is about Yoga Meltdown. I know what you’re thinking… yoga? How brutal can it be?

I love yoga. Bikram yoga classes are my absolute favourite form of exercise – even if I don’t know all about yoga (other than namaste) I enjoy it so much. So I saw this Yoga Meltdown by Jillian Michaels and I thought – Hey! Why not? It looked innocent enough, and she’s even smiling on the cover!

But you know what? I can’t even do ten minutes of her workout without swearing at her and subsequently turning off the dvd after falling down on top of myself for the third time. Forget it. But then I thought – I need to do something. I really do.

Yoga Meltdown consists of 2 workouts – Level 1 & 2 – and I can barely get through Level 1. I am going to attempt to get through the end of Level 2 by the end of July, which gives me over two months to kick Jillian Michaels ass and call her a bitch. Okay, I won’t, because I figured she would probably kick my ass (that whole tiny and mighty thing… but my Mister insisted that if I just sit on her she wouldn’t be able to fight back…).

Regardless, this is my current fitness goal:

Beat Yoga Meltdown Level 2 by July 31st. Fully completed with no breaks or anything. I’ll be documenting my workouts here about once a week so you can get an idea of how hard it really is.

And who knows? Maybe after I kick this dvd’s ass I could actually attempt the 30 Day Shred!

Do you have a workout goal? What are you doing to reach it?

xoxo

Fab Brunette

This week my boyfriend and I started a diet. That’s right, a diet. 3 meals a day. Healthy food. Water. Bleh. It’s so boring to talk about dieting isn’t it? But it’s what’s happening in the house of Fab right now, because the two of us are not looking too fab. Seriously. We’re turning into lazy fatsos.

Along with the dieting goes the drinking. That’s no beer, no wine, no cocktails, no shooters. No nada. Not even margaritas. No, no, no. So basically we can’t go out for dinner and we can’t go out drinking. What the hell are we gonna do?

We’re going to be boring.

BUT! There is a silver lining to all of this:

Cooking is proving to be very interesting. Seriously! Trying to find healthy versions of things we love, cooking fish, grilling veggies – it’s like, when you don’t have a goal of how to eat, you just let it slide. Well, I did. I just made tons of caesar salads and buffalo chicken sandwiches and delicious burgers – and you DO get bored of all this stuff.

So it’s exciting tonight that I’m making halibut fillets. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll be making them, but my pineapple salsa will be going along with it, and sautéed mushrooms and cauliflower. It should be pretty tasty.

I'm gonna cut this girl. {via weheartit}

I’m also one of those worrywarts that stresses about not eating meat. It’s like, after growing up with meat my whole life, I feel like it isn’t a real meal without meat. But my lunches lately fill me up and all I’ve been eating are veggie wraps or veggies on naan bread. I seriously get bored of salads – my favourite salad is an arugula, strawberry, goat cheese and pine nuts concoction with a sweet dressing. I suppose I can eat it without the dressing or the cheese, but would it taste as good? Nope.

I know, you guys might think I’m being a bit too strict. But if you had 50 pounds to lose, what would you do? Okay, I may be exaggerating by a  bit, really, I think it’s like 40 pounds I need to lose but I threw out my scale a while back so I have no clue. I just know my clothes don’t fit and I hate my life. So if I have to suffer for a month or two and really lose weight and re-teach myself how to eat healthy, so be it.

Here’s to dieting! (please, drink some champagne for me.  )

xoxo

Fab Brunette

 I started this blog about six months ago, and for six whole months, I’ve bemoaned my lack of weightloss to a point that could become annoying. I weighed myself weekly, congratulated myself on a pound of weightloss and then became depressed when two weeks later I gained back 3 pounds. The ups and downs would get to me, I would get no where – I started limiting my food, but then at night would binge on cookies or cupcakes or pizza – the emotional eater in me excitedly came out at night. I would congratulate ‘good’ behaviour with shopping, food, shoes, and then allow myself to indulge in sugary foods and suddenly would gain another 5 pounsd and I’d freak out. Completely lose it on myself.

Meanwhile my waist size has grown bigger, my body is so out of shape I can barely do sit ups, and I’ve become more and more down on myself because of it. I look around and see all these thin women, ladies who are in shape, who excercise, eat well, and look great. I, on the other hand, would jump on the scale, see the numbers rising, tell myself I was having a ‘bloated’ day and reach for another cookie.

I would get in such an emotional upheaval, my body image suffering constantly, never feeling good enough to do anything, go anywhere, and it became too much for me.

I’ve decided I can no longer do this to myself.

I can’t keep going on the scale and posting numbers for all to see. It doesn’t keep me in check anyway, so what’s the point. And these numbers don’t really  mean anything – I know that when I previously lost weight with a personal trainser, I had a considerable amount of muscle on me. I know that when you work out you will never be as light as a scrawny girl – weight is just a number, it doesn’t factor into what you look like or what body type you have.

In highschool I weighed between 120 to 130 pounds, I was never truly fit because I never actually worked out. But I was a slim girl, yet all though high school I complained about how fat I was. Seriously. Through college I was about the same. I wasn’t toned and taut, but I was 125 and I still felt fat.

I met J my second year of college, and after wining, dining, and going out with him for about 3 months, I had gained 15 – 20 pounds, just as he did. I was wavering between 140 and 145 and my skinny pants no longer fit. Slowly but surely I my weight went up to about 150 pounds, which for a girl standing 5’8″ isn’t bad, but I had no muscle on me, just flab, and I was upset about it, not enough to do anything about it though.

I was 155 pounds when I found out I was pregnant. And then gained 50 pounds.

That’s right, 5 0.

My doctor was awesome though, because she said it was healthy, she said I was tall, this is what the baby wanted – unlike my girlfriends’ doctors who put them on ‘strict’ diets while pregnant so they wouldn’t gain too much weight. I would burst into tears if my doctor ever did that. And then I’d change doctors. Anyway -

After pregnancy I lost about 30 pounds in one month, I was about 170 pounds after that. And then kinda stayed between 165 – 170 for a long time. Until I got a personal trainer. And dieted. And within 2 months I was down to 150 pounds, fit, my hips no longer exploding, my thighs were slim – I loved it!

J & I went on vacation, and after we came back, we no longer felt the need to workout, we felt we looked good, what was the point of sweating at the gym when we were perfect? We slowly started eating more and more fattening food, always late at night – pizza, chicken wings, beer. This is where I also went through a purging stage where I would throw up maybe once or twice a week after a big meal. Healthy right?

I eventually stopped purging, started getting over the fact that we were getting fat again, and pushed all that to the back of my mind. Instead, I just continued eating. I was bored, upset, and stupid.

Now I sit here, at 170 pounds again, depressed, fat, and annoyingly self-involved about it. So I decided to free my mind of this poison, this crazy thing in my head that says I “need” to be thin, that I need to look hot, FUCK YOU weight loss. That’s what I’m saying.

I’ve had enough. I’m fed up with counting calories. Trying to find the soup with the least amount of fat in it. Only to eat 3 slices of pizza after. I’ve become bitter. I just can’t keep doing this.

I need to start fresh.

I am going to look at food differently. I am not going to weight myself. Or measure myself. I just don’t care anymore.

I will eat food that’s fresh, healthy, eat as much or as little as I feel I need. I will listen to my body and see what I need. If I’m truly not hungry, if I’m just bored, then I won’t eat. I won’t stop by Starbucks for that extra non-fat green tea latte before bed. It hurts my tummy anyway.

I have to go back to basics on this one.

Try to excercise 3 times a week.

Add veggies to my meals.

Listen to my body.

Do yoga.

Meditate.

Think before I eat.

Chew every morsel thoughtfully.

Strive to live like this everyday.

No more grab and go. No more eating from feeling gulty, pressured, bored, emotional, or vengeful. No more laziness. No weighing, measuring, and stressing about how my pants fit.

I just need to stop it all.

And start anew.

Wish me luck.

xoxo

Fab Brunette

ps. You can reach me at my new email: hi@fabbrunette.com.

pps. Weigh-In Wednesdays is crap blogging material anyway. You won’t miss much