I hope you all are having a great week. Here’s our first Friday Favorites for the year! Linking up with Heather.

My Diet is Better than  your Diet

I generally don’t like reality TV and I usually really hate weight loss shows (don’t even get me started on why I can’t stand The Biggest Loser!), so it kind of hurts me that I like this show so much. 😛 It’s mostly because I’m a big fan of Abel James, and I’ve been listening to his podcast for almost 2 years. His diet plan isn’t quite paleo but it’s definitely paleo inspired, and its awesome to see a show actually talk about eating real food rather than expensive, processed, low nutrient diet food (rice cakes anyone?). Some of the other trainers are super wacky and annoying, but the show seems to focus on a sustainable plan rather than a quick fix, and the long term health benefits in addition to the weigh-ins. I let myself go back to standard American eating during the holidays (not my finest decision) but I’m back to Paleo-esque/Wild Diet eating habits and I’m already starting to feel better. It’s fun to see the Wild Diet dominate against everyone else — I hope Kurt wins!

My Fitbit Surge

I talked a little bit about this last week, but the more I wear the Fitbit the more I’m enjoying it. It feels great at the end of the day to see how much I’ve been moving, and being able to see how much I have (or haven’t) moved so far motivates me to get off my hiney more often. I started out averaging 3000-4000 steps per day, and I was surprised to see how sedentary I really am. I’ve started a new job as a substitute teacher today which keeps me moving at ton (rather than sitting behind a computer), and I nearly hit 11,000 steps for the first time! It’s nice to have a reality check that keeps me honest about my movement and my workouts. 🙂

Grokker

I first heard about Grokker from The Hungry Runner Girl, and I tried the 2 week free trial. I liked it a lot more than I expected, and I decided to try a subscription for now. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s basically access to every type of workout video you could possibly imagine, plus yoga and cooking. There are articles, forums for questions, and a neat tracking system to help you plan and track your workouts. I love the searching features because I can pick the time and equipment I have, and only relevant videos are brought up — super convenient! I’ll probably keep this up for quite a while, at the very least until a decent gym is built in my area (but maybe longer!).

Green Smoothies

On Monday I went back to eating a Paleo-inspired diet. I started this in November, but I really let it go around the holidays. I’ve been feeling sluggish and my stomach has just been angry, so I let go of the excuses and went for it. I decided to take a slightly different approach this time, and I’m sticking closer to the Wild Diet. I’ve been listening to Abel James for years, and I really have no idea why I haven’t just taken his advice before. It’s mostly paleo, but grass-fed dairy is fine, and there is some talk about how to include certain carbs (mostly potatoes, fruit, and the like, but also occasional quinoa or something like that) if your body needs it. This is great because my husband didn’t do as well as I did on the typical paleo diet, particularly with his energy levels. I can easily make us both a meal and add some potatoes or quinoa for him, because it seems like his body needs more carbs than mine does. I love that this diet leaves room for listening to your body’s cues, rather than relying on a strict dogma regardless of your success. I need to be able to find meals we’ll both eat, and I think this will really help. I’ve also been trying to make us a green smoothie every day, and that has been helping with my energy levels a lot. About 75% of the smoothie is green veggies, and the rest is berries. I also put in a green drink powder and some kefir or coconut/almond milk depending on the day. The combination has really been giving me more energy, and it’s been helping the hubby also. Here’s to loading up on the veggies!

What are some of your favorites this week?