I finally did it! I pulled the trigger on a real-life, big-girl blog! I did a bunch of research about how to have a successful blog. DO YOU KNOW how many blogs are out there about how to have a successful blog? TOO many. So, I am going to wing it a little bit, ask you guys to bear with me and we can go from there. Sound fair? Cool.

A few things about me:

I am a mom and wife, living in Southern New Jersey.

I enjoy all things food, fitness, and fashion.

I am an avid online shopper, especially Amazon and Express.

I am obsessed with Marvel movies, coffee, and a deal.

I workout in my garage and I track macros.

I am a Project Manager for the greatest software company in the world.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

My journey to this point (journey… is that too cliché of a word?) has been a few years coming. In 2011, my best friend and I starting a cooking club called Dining Dolls. She lives in New York City, and I am in Southern New Jersey, which technically isn’t that far apart but it was hard to spend as much time together as we would have liked. To bridge the distance, we would choose recipes and make them in our respective locations with a group of friends. We also would pick “secret” ingredients, and each create random recipes using those ingredients, and have people vote on which one they liked best. After making our recipes, we would post pictures and stories about how it went and it really felt like we were doing something together. You can check it out here, if you want a few laughs.

Looking back, we had so much fun with this and really should have kept up with it… but life gets busy, we had some major life events in between, so eventually Dining Dolls just sort of fizzled out. But, if you are curious, you can still find some really poorly-lit, blurry food photos on Instagram (my food photography skills have come a long way). At around the same time, I also began paying more attention to food, eating more vegetables, less processed food, and gravitated toward a Paleo diet. I went and read some of the blog posts I made on the Dining Dolls webpage and WHOA, did I have some neat opinions on food at that time.

At any rate, my view on food has changed over the years. In the meantime, I have added a husband, dog, son, house, demanding job, and a variety of other self-imposed “fun” jobs to the list. Now, I focus on tracking macros (carbs, fat and protein), which works for me and for my family. My husband has been tracking macros for years (read: I have been tracking his macros for him for years lol), and I jumped on the wagon 6 months after the birth of my son, Brock. I have had a lot of success in losing weight and finding balance.

Around a year ago, I started Barb’s Plate just to document some of the recipes I like to make that can be adjusted to fit most people’s macro goals. The beauty of macro tracking is the flexibility that you have – many of you may have heard the phrase “if it fits your macros” – its kind of like that. If you want something, and it fits your macros, you can eat it. There are a lot of nuances to this, and I plan to write more about the topic, but it really can be as simple as that.

During my journey over the last few years, we opened and closed and bought and sold two CrossFit gyms. Fitness, paired with my love of cooking and food, really brought me to this place. I wanted to help people achieve their goals physically, aesthetically, and otherwise. I used to run “Belly & Booty” classes at our former gym, which I found to be SO fun and inspired Barb’s Plate posts of my various workouts that anyone can do with some modifications. I also realized that I still loved learning and exploring all-things nutrition, which prompted me to enroll in the NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist program (passed my exam a few weeks ago, woo!).

Along the way, I have come to some realizations about myself. First, I can never NOT be busy. We sold our beloved gym this past January, and while I was initially excited about the downtime, I quickly started adding other things to my plate to fill my time. Ask my husband, unless I am sick or injured, I very rarely sit still for long periods of time. I am a planner by nature, and my amazing day-job as a project manager for a software company helps foster that side of me. I like to plan events, parties, and nights out. I love to be busy, feel involved, and interact with people (true extrovert over here). Over the last year and a half, I feel like I have been able to connect with so many new people over my recipe and food posts, my workouts, and my fashion/lifestyle posts.

All of these things, along with my desire to help people, have led me here. Barb’s Plate – as a blog and website! I am super excited about all the things we can explore together on this page. Here is a little bit about what you can expect to see:

• Food: I will continue to post recipes here, because I love to cook and I love when you guys make my food and tell me how much you enjoyed it! I really get energized off of trying new things, coming up with new ways to make the food I have always loved with a healthier twist. Check out my recipes page, and as always make sure you’re following Barb’s Plate on Instagram and Facebook.
• Nutrition Coaching: Now that I have my certification as a NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist, I am excited to announce that I will begin taking on clients to help them reach their individual goals through food and diet. The best part, is that it teaches you how to eat long-term, maintain progress, and doesn’t require you to eliminate the foods you love. You can find more about my Nutrition Coaching services here.
• Fitness: I will continue writing about fitness modalities, creating workouts, and posting videos of how fitness can be accessible to everyone. I think food is super important, and you can probably achieve about 80% of your goals simply by paying attention to what you put in your mouth. With that said, fitness is so important for a variety of reasons, including longevity and mobility. Check back often to see what I’m doing!
• Lifestyle & Fashion: If you know me, or follow me on social media, you know a few things about me already… I am obsessed with my son, Brock. I am married to Kenny, and we bicker and banter back and forth constantly…. And I am obsessed with fashion, finding a deal, and planning activities, parties, and events. So, I will be posting some of that stuff here too – ideas for fashion and family, best practices that I use in daily life, and some general opinions about all things momming and wife-ing in my early 30s.  

So, that’s it! My first post is posted, and we’re off to the races. Feels pretty cool, that’s for sure. Now I just need to keep coming up with stuff you guys will want to read! I am up for the challenge. Join me along the way!