Day 1 Check In

Alright! Well, I guess today was the official first day of me trying to live a healthier life style. Even though I am doing all those things I said I wanted to do, I can't help but feel lazy because I am unemployed and even though I did go to the gym and work out for an hour, and ate healthy all day and drank tonnes of water...the rest of the time I was lying around. I lay in the sunshine for a while, I watched a couple episodes of friends... and then I just sit around and wait for my boyfriend to come home haha. Also, even if I want to work out for a few hours a day, to try and take up more time and get more fit, I'm not at a place where I am even physically fit enough to really do that. 



I need to start coming up with some hobbies haha. I love to read so I should start doing more of that and I have always wanted to get better at art so I should also try that as well. I've been browsing pinterest to try and find new recipes, exercises and fun things which has been good to. For today, I've decided to post a few pictures of me right now, as well as my measurements.

These shots are from today, after the gym. Probably not the most flattering time to take selfies, but hey you can see this is the real me. As you can see from the collage below my skin is not having the greatest time right now. I attribute this to stress as well as drinking too much alcohol and pop...and the fact that I am totally a picker, I can't help it!. I am really hoping with drinking 3-5 litres of water per day that this improves. I met my goal today water wise. I have drank almost 2 1/2 litres of water and 1 litre of green tea so far and I still have 1 litre of peppermint tea to go before bed! I was surprised that I didn't even feel like I had to force myself to drink that much. Between the gym and lying in the sun I wanted to drink lots of water!

I also took my measurements today which was depressing. I've never actually taken measurements of myself so I don't really have anything to base it on, I just hope to see these numbers shrink. I also don't have a scale to weigh myself and there isn't one in our apartment buildings gym so I really only have these numbers to base my progress on.

Measurements

Wrists: 7.25 inBicep: 14 inBust: 44.25 inUnder Bust: 40 inStomach and Hips: 43.25 inButt: 50 inThighs: 29.5 inCalf: 18 inAnkle: 10 in

I also went to the gym today and worked out for half an hour on the elliptical, and then did leg day! I'm thinking of getting a fit bit so I can more accurately check how many calories I'm burning because these machines don't even have a heart rate monitor on them so I think they aren't very accurate. Savannah, you're unemployed and broke, remember? Oh right, never mind.

Exercise

• 33 minutes on the elliptical, 4452 "strides"
• 3/15 side leg lifts, each leg
• 3/15 front leg lifts, each leg
• 3/15 lying butt lifts
• 3/15 lying toe taps, each leg
• 10 minutes of stretching

This totaled a bit over an hour of exercise and my legs were burning at the end, but I was very happy that I got through it. I am thinking of adding some yoga to my mornings as well to take up some more time in my day but also as a form of exercise that is highly beneficial but also won't tire me out too much for my gym session.

I did well on the eating thing today I think. I am going to re-download the myfitness pal application on my phone so that I can better keep track of my calories and exercise. The most frustrating part about those apps though is trying to calculate for your own dishes, like soup or dal. How can I accurately guess exactly how much of each thing was in one serving? Oh well, at least this will help be a guideline for how much I should be eating every day.

Meals

Breakfast - Left over dal makhani with rice, weird brekky, I know.

Lunch - A large spinach salad with cucumber, pepper, tomato, carrot and avocado with a balsamic vinaigrette. And a quarter of a small water melon.

Post Gym Snack - 1 cup of cashew milk with turmeric, a cup of blue berries and a handful of raw almonds

Dinner - Simple Summer Corn Soup from Minimalist Baker's website slightly modified, and half of a whole wheat bagel.

Snack - The boyfriend wants popcorn later which will have a bit of margarine and nutritional yeast.

Simple Summer Corn Soup

Cashew milk with turmeric and black pepper

Not so bad right? You know, I don't even know if anyone is reading these, but that's ok. If it keeps me on track, if it makes me feel better to share then I am going to keep on posting.

Cinnamon

xx

insta: @cinnamonheartvegan

twitter: @cinnamonheartv

Eggplant and Tomato Spaghetti

Alright, this one is actually about food. I had an eggplant sitting out and getting a bit spotty, so I of course went to pinterest to find a new recipe. I came across this vegan spicy eggplant pasta recipe. I modified it because I only had one eggplant, and I also only had whole wheat pasta, and fresh on the vine tomatoes. Below is the modified recipe.

1 Medium Eggplant
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, divided
1 small/medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper (or more to make it spicy)
1/2 tsp of dry basil
1/2+ tsp salt
1/2 pound of the pasta of your choice




Slice eggplant crosswise into 1 inch slices, salt them on both sides and let them sit for 30 mins (I actually only did 10 mins)

Chop up onions, garlic, and tomatoes while the eggplants are busy getting salty and preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Use 1 T of the olive oil and coat the eggplant slices, salt and pepper them thoroughly and pop in the oven to roast for about 20-30 minutes.

While the eggplant is roasting, heat the other T of olive oil in a medium sauce pan and cook onions and garlic until soft/slightly golden, add oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt, and tomatoes. Gently simmer.

Bring pot of water to a boil and cook pasta of choice until el dente.

When the eggplant is nice and cooked take it out of the oven, and chop it into aprox. 1 inch cubes (I peeled it because the skin was spotty) and throw them in with the tomatoes and onions. Simmer together until pasta is done, or longer if you want.

Drain pasta and combine with the sauce. Serve, top with more pepper flakes and eat.

I will note, I think that if I made this again I would add more chili, maybe... just more spice in general. Since I've eaten so much Indian food all my food needs to be super flavourful and spicy all the time haha. I also think that it would be really tasty over quinoa instead.

I am about to start a new instagram and post my food pics there, so please go give me a follow @cinnamonheartvegan. You can also find me on twitter @cinnamonheartv.

I also wanted to note, I have zero cooking training and all my pictures are taken with my Samsung S3. So yeah, it's a novice blog :P

Keep it spicy,

Cinnamon
xx