Welcome to the latest edition of CNC Instagram Live WITH TEXT! I heard you guys loud and clear, and I’ll continue to transcribe my videos on the blog! 🙂
So, I actually haven’t done an Instagram Live in a few weeks, and when I asked for questions, I received a bazillion of them – love it! I’ve answered a few in this Instagram Live and will save the rest for future ones. Thank you all for your awesome questions so far and keep them coming!
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Did you go to college?
Yes! I went to Union College in Schenectady, New York. Union is a pretty small liberal arts school with an engineering school – and it was awesome! I absolutely loved it and always joke that I did college really well. I worked hard, but also played hard. I was part of a sorority, so I was definitely in that whole “party” scene, but I also (somehow) managed to get really good grades. I graduated cum laude! 🙂 It was the best time, and after I graduated, I went to Boston College for my master’s degree in Higher Education Administration – more on that below!
Did you have a full-time job before blogging?
After receiving my master’s degree, I worked in admissions at Boston College and then at the Harvard School of Public Health. I actually worked at Harvard College for a bit under the Dean. At that point in my life, I was interested in continuing my career path in Higher Education. Like I said, I really loved college and saw firsthand what it had done for me as far as confidence, networking, and overall development, and I wanted to help other students have similar experiences. My goal was to ultimately become a Dean of Students or something similar, so pursuing a degree that would help me fulfill this goal just made the most sense.
I began blogging a little over eleven years ago while working full-time and, at first, it was all just for fun. I actually started CNC as a personal online journal to keep me on track with my health and fitness goals as I got in shape for our wedding day. Prior to the blog, I was super old school with staying on track– I literally had a binder full of ripped out magazine workouts and recipes! Over time, I became more and more involved with the blog as it began to grow, and it got to a place where it just made financial sense to leave my full-time job so I could focus on CNC 100%. Really, I started it just for fun and had no intention of it ever becoming my job! I kind of just fell into it, but now I can see how it made total sense for my interests and who I am as a person. I love food, fitness, and helping people way more than I ever loved working in Higher Education, so I hope I can do this for a very long time!
Is the air fryer worth it?
Yes! The air fryer is absolutely worth it – it’s SO much more than just another kitchen gadget. I use it a lot to make veggies, like cauliflower and potatoes – really, any vegetable! What’s nice about it that you can just make a few servings at a time, so that your meals are always fresh (no one likes soggy, day-old veggies). You could use it as a bulk meal prep tool and make several servings to last for a few days, but I feel like it’s just so easy to use, it totally makes sense to create fresh meals. The options are endless!
Aside from veggies, I will use it to make fish (even shrimp) and veggie burgers such as TJ’s high protein veggie burgers. You could even do a turkey or chicken burger – just pop it in and you’re good to go! The one we have was about $30, so not very expensive, and it doesn’t take up much space. In fact, I actually wish we had purchased a bigger one! We eat a lot of roasted potatoes (Quinn loves them!), and the most I can make in our current air fryer is maybe 3 servings at a time, so a big one would really benefit us to be able to prep a ton of potatoes for several meals. (To reheat leftover potatoes, I just pop them in the air fryer!)
How often do I do cardio?
To be honest, I hardly ever do straight-up cardio, like an elliptical workout or going for a run. I just get bored with it now, even though I trained for marathons for years! I do focus on “lifting weights faster” when strength training and incorporating plyometrics, so I am always doing cardio in some capacity.
If I’m in the right mindset for it, I will go out for a run now and then, but it’s not an active part of my exercise plan. I just like working out in other ways, especially CrossFit-inspired workouts that include weights such as a barbell or kettlebells and plyometric moves like box jumps. This type of training just fits better into my on-the-go lifestyle. I work out 4-5 days a week, and most of my workouts never go over 30-40 minutes, some are even only 20 minutes. It’s definitely a far cry from how I used to work out by doing CrossFit 5 or 6 days a week. Over time, I’ve changed how I view fitness and have come to believe that you don’t need to spend a ton of time in the gym to really see results!
Do I ever eat fast food?
I’m one to never say never, but, truthfully, I pretty much never eat fast food. It’s definitely a “the more you know” type of situation. Once you know what’s in the food… Quinn even once told me there’s “poop” in fast food (ha!), and he might be kind of right!
But, seriously, fast food is gross! And I don’t know about you guys, but it really tears up my body – think in one end and quickly out the other! So, no, I don’t usually eat fast food. I used to grab a salad or something “healthy” from McDonald’s when I needed to, but over the years I’ve learned so much about the animals and how they’re cared for that I can’t bring myself to touch fast food meat. Now, I focus on packing healthy snacks like RXBARS or pieces of fruit, trail mix – things I can just grab and go, so I won’t be tempted to resort to fast food when in a pinch.
There are definitely some healthier options in terms of “fast” food, like Cava (love!) or Panera. But when it comes to late-night, drive-through fast food like Taco Bell or McDonalds, I skip it!
What’s my biggest petty annoyance (love this one!)?
I have a few, but the biggest one by far are loud chewers! I don’t know what it is, but loud chewing just bugs the heck out of me, and I find it so strange when other people tell me they aren’t even phased by it. You guys know what I’m talking about… that sound when people are chewing with their mouths open? I even get the heebie jeebies when Mal chews gum, and he’s not even a gross gum chewer.
Most of the time I just deal with it, because I’m not going to call somebody out about chewing their gum loudly or anything like that. But above everything else, this irks me the most!
So, there you have it! This was kind a random mix of questions this week, and I have even more to answer next week. I hope you guys love watching these Instagram Lives as much as I enjoy doing them, so keep them coming!
