Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today! That means Spring is on its way! Hard to imagine as I walked out the door this morning in freezing weather, the high is only 34 degrees and their calling for some snow flurries. But I'm definitely thrilled that spring is on its way. Though I would like a few more days of snow, just enough for a delay, but not too much that school is cancelled and we'll be going to the end of June!
Anyways, I have a lot to catch up on and I keep meaning to become more regular at posting, but I'm still figuring out my schedule and know I will hopefully eventually get into a routine with posting soon enough. I have to take care of myself before online posting.
So since it is the beginning of the month, I figured today's post would be a good day to review my goals I set for myself in January and see how I did with those goals.
My first goal in January was to eat more clean at home.
I think I have a ton a fantastic job at this. Instead of grabbing an easy packaged snack bar, I have been eating the ones I have already made myself. I try to save the packaged snack bars for when I'm out of the house since that is the time they are more convenient. Snack bars are the only processed food I eat so this was quite an easy goal for me. I guess my Almond Yogurt is the only other thing I can eat less of at home. They are packaged yogurts that are easy to take with me for lunches on school days. The only thing about them is I like to add hemp seeds so I would have to pack those as well which makes eating the yogurt at home actually easier. At home I try to eat the bulk yogurt that I can add whatever mix-ins I like. Plus, almond yogurt is too expensive to eat daily at home whereas bulk yogurt from Amande or Wholesoy is much more budget friendly. However, if yogurt is the "worse" I'm eating at home, I don't really think I need to worry too much about it for the health reasons and easiness of eating it at home rather than at school, just the cost reasons.
My second goal was to gain more muscle mass.
This is actually hard for me to judge since I didn't take exact measurements of myself. My trainer took some and I took before pictures, and even though I see a different, I don't have anything to compare it with. I have been keeping track of my weight and that has remained pretty much the same so I would like to improve that, which makes me think I need to improve on gaining more muscle mass. I'll keep working on this goal.
My third goal was to drink a smoothie a day.
My Banana Berry Yogurt Smoothie!
I love smoothies and even though this doesn't sound like a hard goal, this was kind of tricky this month. With work, it is much harder to take the time to make a smoothie and I'm more of an afternoon smoothie drinker. In the morning I like oats or something that I can actually chew. At night I'm usually too cold or get home so late that it is more important I eat a dinner rather than a smoothie for my goals. Plus, this cold weather does not help. I would much more prefer a hot cocoa than a cold smoothie. I also tried to drink more smoothies on weekends since that is when I am home and have the time to make them, but lately being at home and having the luxury of a kitchen makes me enjoy being more creative and making different dishes and treats rather than smoothies. Anyways, including protein shakes and green juices, I had 15 smoothies this month. That's actually better than I thought, it's about half the month! I would like to continue this goal in February as well and maybe try to drink about the same amount (since it is a shorter month).
My fourth goal was to cook 3 entrees and 5 treats. I did really good with this goal. This month I made:
Entrees:
- Vegetable Lentil Stew
- Tofu Jambalaya
- 4 Bean Chili
- Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili (can't find the picture)
- Black Bean Nuggets (no picture)
- Pumpkin Black Bean Patties (no picture)
- Chickpea Vegetable Avocado Bowl
These Entrees were all new to me except the Vegetable Lentil Stew and the black bean nuggets. But the nuggets I usually make in the form of patties so it was like a new twist. The Chickpea Vegetable Avocado bowl was really just food I threw together for dinner one night, but I definitely consider it an entree considering I would make it again. I have also had other bowls like this with random things, read whatever needs to be used in the fridge, like parsnips mixed with quinoa, zucchini, and chickpeas or other veggie/grain/bean bowls.
Treats:
- Cashew Yogurt (no picture)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding (no picture)
- Cashew Cookie Bars (no picture)
In addition to all these meals, I also made several different varieties of oatmeals, smoothies, waffles, and other breakfast porridges/bakes like this PBJ Apple Oats!
So even though I wanted to make more treats than entrees and did the opposite, that is fine, I still did lots of cooking/baking. I just figured at the beginning of the month that treats would be much easier to make than entrees. But with the cold weather I had lots of cravings for soups/stews/chilis as you can see. And even though it is still cold, I have totally been getting tired of these heartier meals. Lately, my lunches have been very snacky and my dinners have been simple grain/veggie/bean bowls.
My fifth goal was to be more social. I still haven't been as social as I had intended, it is just so hard for me to want to leave the comforts of my warm house on cold nights, but I have made plans with a friend a few times this month and have been texting other friends more often to hang out later this week. So I am definitely making improvements there.
Since this was such a long post, I will save my new goals for the month of February tomorrow.
Happy Saturday!
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