Change Is A Good Thing

Really quickly...

We took Tripp to his first MLB game last night.  You can't see them (and the picture Patrick took with my phone isn't uploading to the blog...ugh) BUT can I just talk about the jeans I'm wearing for a second?  They're not maternity jeans, nor do they belong in my "in between" wardrobe.  Those are pre-pregnancy jeans my friends!  SO EXCITED!!!  Okay, I'm done.  Just had to get that out.

A lot of people have asked me how I lost 30ish pounds about 4 years ago.  Honestly?  I don't know.  It was a combination of things and I'm not really sure which one or ones worked, but something did.  I fell in love with Bikram Yoga and I became a pescatarian at the same time - probably a pretty magical combo.  That's not to say that everyone will lose weight doing that though.  Different strokes for different folks ya know? 

When I first toyed with the idea of giving up meat, a yoga instructor I was practicing with put up a big red flag and told me to be careful.  A lot of times, people that go vegetarian without doing their research go the carb route because they don't know how to prepare a full meal out of fruits/vegetables/grains.  I basically had to relearn how to cook.  I still ate fish, but that would get old if you had it every single night.  I also got very lucky because I was dating a handsome man that would pretty much eat whatever I put in front of him. :-)

circa Dec 2007



I've tried the vegan thing, the raw thing, the master cleanse....all that trendy crap.  I definitely have a different relationship with food than I did before I was pregnant.  Now, the most important thing to me is eating what my body needs to be healthy and provide nutrition for Tripp.  That being said, its a fine line to walk trying to get the right calories to breastfeed but still try to lose the baby weight.  I lost a lot of muscle tone when I was pregnant, so I wanted to focus my workouts in that direction instead of just doing a ton of cardio to burn the fat off.  I lift 4-5 days a week, but in order to build muscle, you need a LOT of protein in your diet.  I don't love dairy enough to load up on cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc (and that's a lot of the kind of calories I didn't want) and loading up on soy-fake-meat products isn't fantastic for you, so I had to figure something else out.  Enter the chicken.

Bodybuilders pretty much live on chicken and eggs, so I figured that was a good way to go to help my body build muscle.  Don't get me wrong, my diet looks nothing like a bodybuilders haha....but I've decided to have grilled chicken breast once or twice a week to add some protein in.  Other days, I'll have fish and I usually have eggs in one form or another for breakfast.  I probably won't eat meat when we go out, because I like the fact that when I buy it from the grocery store, I know I'm getting organic, free-range, hormone free meat. (Or so the packaging says....we won't get started on that debate.)

My first meal back on the meat wagon:

grilled chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and basil.  (Patrick and I were sharing a plate...I did NOT go for a whole chicken my first time back.)  Nothing crazy since I'm a little out of practice, but hopefully I'll have some tasty things to post for you carnivores in the near future. 

If I want meat, I'll eat it.  If I'm not in the mood, I won't.  I LOVE vegetarian dishes so most of my meals will probably still be that way.  There's actually a name for that.  I'm a flexitarian now. :-)