Vacation Confessions

Happy Hump Day!

You learned on Monday that I did my vacation right and didn’t force any workouts into my week in paradise. 

Want to know something else?

I didn’t obsess over being 100% Paleo either. 

I ate airplane peanuts. 

I ate beans (black and refried).

I ate rice.

I ate fried bread. 

I ate focaccia bread.

I ate Doritos. Handfuls of Doritos. (have you tried the Spicy Sweet Chili ones?)

I ate cheese.

I ate m&m’s.  

I ate tortilla chips. 

I ate the taco shell of a taco salad (and loved every crunchy bite I took)

I ate airplane cookies. 

I drank juice.

I drank too much rum.

Detox week in order? Yes!

Stress over what I ate? Never!

Huge implications on my weight and my body? Not at all! 

There was no sense in worrying over what I couldn’t eat in a group of people - so decided to live bravely, cheat moderately and confess openly. 

I live to tell the tale and I still fit my skinny jeans.

Cheers to indulging!

Failed to Plan

So you guys know how I am always telling you "plan or plan to fail", right?

Usually at work I've always got some emergency snacks - carrots, meat, protein powder. It all counts.  

Yesterday was no exception! I packed a lunch, I had my snacks and I was all set for another healthy day. 

All of a sudden time slipped away from me and I was off to a 5 hour back-to-back meeting schedule without an opportunity to grab my foods. 

I was doing well until 3pm rolled around and there was a snack table from catering that had coffee, fruit, m&m's, pretzels and a nut mix. 

Now the "good" me would have politely grabbed a banana and coffee, but the "treat yo'self" me said screw you, Paleo and opted for the m&m/nuts mix. It was also really salty. Hate me. 

The "treat yo'self" me was very satisfied with this decision until I immediately felt lethargic and in dire need of a sweaty circuit workout. I got home and got it out of my system, but know that I shouldn't feel the pull for my workout because I've made poor food decisions. 

I feel like I've been a poor example to you ladies recently with my cinnabon delights yesterday and now this - plus my lack of water lately! I'm not falling off the wagon but I'm definitely letting some obstacles get in my way. 

This is the part where I confess, get over it and become a better role model for you again. 

Wish me luck!

Happy confessions with Kathy!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Hello, my name is Jessi and I'm a Trader Joe's addict.

It's a problem and I'm addicted. 

You'd think that a girl with very little "free" time would like to be more efficient about her grocery shopping. The truth is that I intentionally self-sabotage when I go to Trader Joes. Instead of going there and buying groceries for the entire week, I'll "oops" and forget one thing.... on purpose! Just so that I have an excuse to go back another night during the work week.

It's sick. It's twisted. I know.

No it's not because I want their sample snack and sample coffee - because the snack is never paleo and the coffee is usually too hot.

No I don't have a crush on any guy that works there or any missed connections (that I'm aware of).

No I don't get a thrill out of swiping my credit card and staying under the signing limit.

No I don't bring my re-usable bag (I'm a bad Portlander!)

It's just the feeling I get when I walk into these stores that has me smitten. Everyone's in a good mood, there's bright colors all around, the displays are beautiful and I feel like I always see something new, even as a 3-4 time per week shopper.

My bill averages around $14 and I'm happy about that. Even the trip I made last night - I didn't need these groceries urgently. I didn't need them today for a lunch. I just went and bought. They won't go wasted, but they could have waited if I wasn't an addict. 

Also confessing that the looks I got as a single female shopper buying that cucumber made me uncomfortable. Snapchat friends, you know why(!)

Does anyone else have this addiction?

One more confession for the road: It's also mayyyybe partially due to my fantasy that I'm going to meet the man of my dreams there in the wine aisle. A girl can stalk dream.

Linking up with Kathy!

More Fitness Confessions

You would think that coming up with confessions week after week here on the fitness blog would get tougher every time - but there's always something more that I'm keeping up my sleeve and haven't yet spouted to you in blog world!

Beginning this blog I though that it would be difficult to come up with new and exciting content, but week after week I continue to challenge myself with something new. Whether it's a different workout, youtube demo video(s) or inspiration from you guys -  this world of fitness changes each and every day!

This has nothing to do with these confessions - just my overjoy in the fact that there's so much to do, so much to learn and so many people out there with their own way of doing things.

Enough philosophy, let's get juicy with my confessions!

:: I haven't done a morning before work sweat in almost a month.
:: I skipped dance class yesterday so that I would have enough energy for my evening workout.

:: I've kind of fallen in love with the "Death by Beth" class!
:: I LOVE when people email me with their fitness story.
:: My newest favorite fitness instagram account is @prove_it. Check his videos out, now.
:: All I ate last night was meat & sriracha. Not even mad.
:: I get "kind of" sweaty when I work out hard. Do you agree?



Who said you can't work out from home?

Linking up with miss Kathy

I'm Not An Expert

I hope that I didn't give off the impression with yesterday's post that I have abs. 

I don't. 

I mean they're under there somewhere and they're a little tight today, but I have a ways to go until I can see them if I'm not flexing, sucking in and taking a morning photo. I'm not sure I even want that, but it never hurts to try. 

Each time I responded to a comment with a "Hey, by the way, I don't have abs" I felt like I needed to submit a retraction. Like all thoughts about the way I can blog differently - it inspired a post. 

A confessions post on the things that I want to clear up for those of you who are amazing and have followed me over the past month.

I am not an expert. 

I am a girl on a fitness/lifestyle/happiness/discovery journey (just like you).

I can't plank more than 2 minutes.

I'm not certified in anything fitness related.

I have "trouble areas" too.

I do like 'bad foods' too, I just choose to not eat them.

Some days I don't sweat, that's okay.

I can't do a perfect push-up.

I am still on the hunt for my soulmate workout.

I don't count calories or weigh the ounces of food I eat.

I don't always hit my 100oz water goal and can be better at that.

I do sleep in on the weekends and I do love it. 

I don't fitness shame - no matter what level of fitness you're at.

Again, I am not an expert. 

Thanks for listening to a girl who tells it as she knows it from her point of view!

Linking up with kick-ass Kathy

Paleo Cooking Confessions

Are you here for some quality humpday confessions?

Good - because I'm about to share some pretty good ones about my paleo lifestyle and my prowess (or lack thereof) in the kitchen!

Me in the kitchen in one word: disaster. 

I'm great at following directions but I'm pretty bad at caring enough to follow them. 

One of the main things that I love about Paleo is that it's pretty hard to mess up meats and vegetables. I don't buy much variety so I don't have to learn how to prepare all the different kinds of dishes with dozens of ingredients to keep on hand.

My real only focus while cooking is looking cute.

And if I can't look cute, it's important that what I've got cooking looks cute.

Just kidding, I'd never do that!

To be honest I'm pretty boring with the range of foods that I eat. I get asked all the time if I get tired of the same lunch or the same dinner options. Truth talk? No! I love the way I feel when I'm getting my meats and vegetables and it really takes all of the decision making out of my hands because I only know how to prepare a few things anyway.

(this gif has nothing to do with anything... except for everything.)

The foods I eat make me happy and I know what I'm putting into my body at any given time - so no label checking in my world!

Just don't judge me for my smoke detector -

Or the silly dance I do while I wait for my meatloaf.

What are some of your cooking confessions??? I'm sure you have some good ones! 

Linking up with amazing Kathy!

Fitness Journey Confessions

Happy Wednesday, my fitness friends!

Something I love doing on my other blog is Wednesday "Humpday Confessions". It's an opportunity to wash myself of all the dirty little secrets I keep in my sweaty 3rd day hair and present it in a humorous manner. Some days it's a gif party, others it's a list load - some days you're going to get one long and lean post about just one topic.

If we're clear on the rules, how about we jump right in?

+ This Jolly Rancher Lollipop (from Valentine's Day) is not Paleo.

+ Some days I don't want to work out either, but I often find the motivation in my "Why" to do it.

+ I'm one of the worst at drinking my daily quota of water. Tips on how to, please?

+ Sometimes I can come across as fitness obsessed - I'm really just life obsessed!

+ I realize now how much time I wasted in four prime years of my life focusing on only running.

+ I'm tempted by office sweets, too.

+ I think dance class is my soul-mate workout. However, I couldn't do it in heels.

+ I can't do all of the push-ups in my workout DVD's but I'm getting there (little by little, day by day)

+ I'm the annoying co-worker who takes a section of the fridge with my prepped lunches.

+ I like to sweat. Oh wait, you knew that already.

Want to play along next week?

Linking up with my fitness inspiration, Kathy

Confessions: Why a Second Blog

I bet that many of you are still wondering why I started a second blog.

Do you think I have too much time on my hands, or that I just really am that crazy? It's probably the latter, but just hear me out. 

In the "lifestyle blogging" world we joke that we only get out of our houses and see the world so that we have something to blog about other than Netflix, wine and our significant others (where applicable). While that's true for JumpingJE, it's far from the truth for Not the Average Bear.

The content that you find on Not the Average Bear is how I'm already living my life. Eating well, maximizing sweat sessions and balancing life's big dilemmas are daily activities of mine. In the past few months I feel like I've made some personal progress in both fitness and mental health - so I feel like I have earned the "right" to share with you. While this may be a false notion, sharing my world with you helps me to continuously seek ways to develop myself personally and hopefully enrich your world in the process.

Simple reasons why I started a second blog:

+ People ask me about fitness and nutrition - now I have a link to direct them to.
+ JumpingJE can be anything on any given day, this blog is focused and adds credibility.

+ I like food.

+ I like to sweat.
+ I like talking about food and sweating.
+ I like to put sweaty selfies on social media.
+ I want to read more personal development books.

+ I want to learn more about paleo.
+ I have weight to lose, too!
+ I want to show you my progress and inspire you!

The final big mega "aha!" reason is this:

When I add more things into my life (like a second blog or a second job), it helps me to organize the rest of my life and clearly define my priorities. What comes from that? I weed out all of the negative that's not helping me push any closer to achieving my goals! Make sense?

Good, because it's science! 

Linking up today with fit & fierce Kathy!