Day 31 – What Now?

I got a text this morning from my friend, Danyalle, who wanted me to come try a new class at the Y called AMRAP. So I rushed off to take the little man to school and had just enough time to hit the treadmill for the “meat” portion of my scheduled 7-mile tempo run before the class started. I ditched the warm-up and cooldown and just did the 5 mile fast part of the run.

I forgot my iPod, so I had a chance to spend some time thinking about what I want to do next as far as eating goes. Changing from being a vegetarian to eating Paleo then to the Whole30 has been a big adjustment. I have really enjoyed both ways of eating. I enjoyed the vegetarian cooking more I think, but I feel physically better with the Paleo eating.

So I think where I want to go from here is what my friend Barb refers to as “Paleo Light”. Basically I want to eat Paleo whenever possible but adding back in a couple of things that the Whole30 program didn’t allow: natural sweeteners like honey, agave and maple syrup. I also want to add back in wine and cheese occasionally. Well, wine regularly… cheese occasionally.

Things that I haven’t missed, I see no reason in re-introducing at all.

I don’t want to schedule cheat days or meals. When I do cheat I want to make sure that it’s something so totally worth it and special that I won’t feel guilty. Guilt is no longer allowed in my life in regard to food.

My husband lost 18 pounds during his Whole30, but he still has a significant amount of weight to lose. For that reason, I might decide to do the Whole30 program again soon to support him in his weight loss efforts. Or anytime I’m feeling like I’m getting off track.

And then you’ll get to read my day by day accounts all over again. Yay! … Just kidding! I wouldn’t do that to you.

Today’s breakfast was a Steve’s Original Paleo Krunch Bar:

I ordered a few items and a seasonal sampler pack from their website to try.

After my run and the AMRAP class I went to, I decided to take myself on a lunch date to Zoe’s kitchen. I ordered the Steak Kabobs with roasted veggies and substituted slaw for the roasted potatoes it normally comes with.

I had some time after lunch before the little man got home from school, so I thought I’d run around and do some Christmas shopping, but I actually ended up deciding that I really just needed some time to rest. Resting and relaxing are not things that come easily to me, but they are still important things. I’ve worked really hard lately, so I’m taking the next 24 hours and having myself a “lay down day”.

I’m playing Wii with my son, making Christmas cookies (that I don’t plan on eating), watching movies and laying around. I don’t even plan on changing out of my pajamas.

As a matter of fact I’m laying in the yard right now…

Oh, and I almost forgot … for those who are wondering, I lost 8 pounds during my Whole30.

On the Mend

Today has been a much better day. I got up at a reasonable hour, actually quite early. Ate healthy, well balanced meals and even felt like exercising today.

The toddler must have been off yesterday as well because he skipped his nap and then went to bed at 5 pm (his normal sleeping time is between 10 pm and 7:30 am). I was really worried that he was going to wake up at midnight, but he slept virtually all night. He woke up once at 2:30 am for milk and then was up for good at 5:30 am, but I can’t complain!

Breakfast this morning was an unphotographed bowl of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with sliced banana. I’ve never been a huge fan of cereal (I usually want something more substantial), but man … this stuff is good!

Lunch was a Falafel wrap, with leftover Falafel from last night’s dinner.

Flat Out Wrap + Homemade Tzatziki + Falafel + Spinach + Diced tomatoes =

I’m loving the Flat Out wraps for this application, I love falafel but I always felt like the pita bread was just too much.  This works perfectly!

I was itching to get back into an exercise routine today, my body craves it after a day off. I didn’t feel quite ready for a run yet, so I spent some time here instead:

There wasn’t a class going on, so I had the room all to myself. I did a 45 minute intense solo spin session. It was a nice change of pace!

One of my goals is to spend more time cross training and strength training and being less focused on only running. I think this will help my body recover more quickly, make me stronger, confuse my metabolism, and help prevent injury.

Dinner tonight was a lovely bowl of Vegetarian Crockpot Chili.

I’m hoping that in the morning my body will feel rested enough to go for a run. The weather should be amazing!

A Day Trip to the Country

Yesterday Tim, Lincoln and I made a day trip down to my parent’s house for a quick visit. Its about a two hour drive from home. We arrived just before lunch. My mom made Eggplant Parmesan, green beans, garlic toast and salad for us.

After we filled our bellies and let it settle for a while we decided to go on a walk/run together. My family has all been taking some steps to live a healthier and more active lifestyle.

I had been craving to get outside all day, the weather was absolutely perfect in the morning. Tim, I, Lincoln, my mom and my 6 year old niece headed out on a walk down to the creek. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite as perfect as earlier in the day, the sun was high, there was very little shade to be found, and it was nearing 90 degrees by the time we actually made it out for our walk.

I ran up and down this dirt road while my family and the kids poked along.

I was able to run 2 quick miles up and down the road before my family made it halfway down the road. When we all met back up there were some mini-meltdowns taking place. In the end Tim took Lincoln back to the house and myself, my mom and my niece drove the rest of the way to the creek, where we met my sister.

We had to either climb over or crawl under a fence to get to the creek. I tried going over a couple of times, but got scared. (I have an intense fear of heights). Ultimately I crawled under, which was apparently HILARIOUS!

I haven’t been to this spot since I was a small child, with my grandparents. It brought back alot of memories!

 

My family waded in the water a bit, and splashed my mom with the nasty cow poop infested water. They were under strict orders to not even think about getting me involved.

After splashing around we headed up to the bridge.

For some reason this bridge has terrified me for my entire life. I vaguely remember hearing a story when I was a child about a drunk man who drove off of the side of the bridge and died, and ever since I’ve been scared of the bridge. Its just one of those strange childhood things that sticks with you.

I still to this day can’t walk or drive across it.

I stepped onto the bridge far enough to get these photos and then chickened out and turned back around.

After getting a few more quick pictures (courtesy of my niece), we walked back home.

 

All in all, I walked/ran 3.54 miles in a little over 45 minutes. It was nice to get out in the sunshine and do something active with my family.

H.E.A.T & R3 Prediction Run

Yesterday I tried something new for the first time in a while. I’m the kind of person that gets stuck in a routine and doesn’t go outside of her comfort zone very often.

A friend of mine asked me to go to a new exercise class with her yesterday and I decided to take her up on it. I figured it would be better to do something new with a friend than alone.

The class was called H.E.A.T. (High Energy Aerobic Training). I didn’t know anything about the class other than the name when I showed up, which is highly unusual for me. Normally I research everything to the nth degree.

The class was a good mix of cardio, weights, ab work and kickboxing.  It basically consisted of four 1 minute segments of work followed by 1 minute of rest. There were a few sets that I felt were entirely too hard to combine together, but overall it was a good class.

You know you got a good workout when you have to manually pick up your legs the next day to move them because they are so sore!

After one hour of sweatin’ my ass off in H.E.A.T I headed over to the River Region Runner’s 2 Mile Prediction Fun Run. No watches allowed. Predict your time to run the 2 mile course, closest guesser wins. The course was the same (but the opposite direction) as our Summer Solstice Fun Run back in June. In June I ran the course in 14:53, so I figured I’d give myself a little extra time to account for the heat and the H.E.A.T. I guessed 15:35.

As soon as I wrote it down I figured it was a big mistake! I basically just forced myself into running all out after an already strenuous workout. I ended up running the course in 15:23, only 12 seconds off my predicted time.

I wasn’t the fastest runner, but that didn’t matter in this “race”.

I was the closest guesser and therefore, I won 🙂

Tim came in 3rd for his guess in the male division.

Doesn’t he look so manly with his teeny-weeny trophy? 😛

Too Sleepy To Blog

I’m fading fast here, so I’m gonna make this short and sweet.

Had a great workout tonight… 45 minute spin class + 30 intense minutes on the elliptical where the sweat was literally dripping off of me. Loved every minute of it, my legs were feeling the burn and no pain from the surgery. Thinking about taking tomorrow off (maybe) and (maybe again) attempting a run on Thursday.

I didn’t get to eat dinner until about 2 hours later than normal tonight. Add that to my intense workout and my fairly low calorie intake earlier in the day and it just spells disaster. On the plus side I craved the hell out of veggies …

On the negative side I also craved the hell out of M&Ms and beer. And I gave in to my craving. I’m not talking a handful of M&Ms and one cold one here … I’m talking probably 3-4 servings of M&Ms and 3 or 4 beers (I lost count).

I always tend to sabotage myself at night. Especially after an intense workout, eating late and not eating enough earlier in the day. And to make matters worse I let my Brita water filter go empty therefore the only drinkable thing in my house was the beer. Doh! I set myself for failure. Problem is I do it over and over again. When will I ever learn?

I’ve got some possibly exciting (to me, and not really very exciting in the big scheme of life) things in the works for tomorrow. Now that I think about it its really not all that grand. Fill you in tomorrow.

Back to Routine

I’m trying to get back into my normal routine after being out of town for 4 days, and I think my body is craving fruits and veggies after eating out so much. Last night I randomly decided to head to the gym even though it was a normal rest day. I wanted to go for fun and not necessarily for the sole purpose of burning calories. Its fun to workout because you like it and not because you feel like you have to.

I spent 45 minutes doing a solo Spin workout. I love taking Spinning classes on occasion to change things up a bit from running, but I also love having the room to myself and just doing whatever feels good on the bike. I sometimes sneak in when classes aren’t in session so I can be alone.

If you’ve never tried a Spin class, I suggest you give it a chance. Its a lot of fun and low impact, but it still burns a ton of calories.

After 45 minutes on the bike I was ready for something else, so I thought I’d do a brick workout.  I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. I wanted to get a feel for what it was like to go from cycling to running since I’ve heard tons of people talk about what a weird sensation it is. It was definitely a strange feeling and for the first minute or two I wasn’t sure my legs were going to hold me. After about 0.25 miles I started to get my running legs back and then it was smooth sailing.

I headed to the grocery store to pick up one thing and as usual ended up with much more than that. My body must really want fruits and veggies right now because I ended up buying:

• strawberries
• blackberries (which I don’t even really like)
• blueberries
• watermelon
• celery
• baby carrots
• snow peas
• spinach
• Mung Bean Sprouts
• black bean hummus

I made a huge bowl of homemade Tofu Veggie Stir Fry with the ingredients I bought and some veggies at home that needed to be used up. It really hit the spot!

This morning for breakfast I couldn’t decide what in the world I wanted. I finally decided to make my own version of Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal.

I’ve never actually had the Perfect Oatmeal from Starbucks, but I like the idea. My oatmeal contained:

• 1/2 quick cook oats
• 1/2 banana
• blueberries
• handful of Fruit & Nut trailmix
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• drizzle of honey

It was amazing! I think this is going to be a new obsession for a while. Be prepared for lots of oatmeal pics in the future.

Unfortunately, part of getting back to my regular routine involves going back to work. I so enjoyed my days off! I always prepare my meals ahead of time and pack my food for work so that I can make sure I’m eating healthy meals, am less tempted to order out and therefore save money.

Working 12 hour shifts on my feet requires that I eat more than one meal while I’m at work. I usually pack dinner, a big snack and breakfast. Sticking with the fruit and veggies theme this is what I packed for tonight.

A huge bowl of Lentil Soup for dinner.

Baby carrots, celery, black bean hummus and mixed berries for snack.

And all the fixin’s for my own Perfect Oatmeal for breakfast.

 
See you in a few days! Have a great day.

A Change Of Pace

Normally on my off days I get up and make breakfast for the family and then spend the morning cleaning and running errands. I end up thinking all day about when I can best fit my workout in to the day. Do I workout while Lincoln naps? What if he doesn’t? Do I wait until Hubby gets off work at 5? By then I might be hungry. Today I decided to change the pace.

I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning to head to the gym for an invigorating elliptical workout. At first I didn’t want to get up, my chest was burning from last night’s margaritas and I could still taste them on my breath. But I pulled myself together and finally got out the door. I did a solid hour on the elliptical while I read my latest book 4th of July by James Patterson. I don’t do the elliptical nearly enough. I always really enjoy it and the time goes by alot faster than on the treadmill for sure, but driving 15 minutes to get to the gym is a real bummer.

Yesterday I decided to change up the pace with my hair. I gave this picture to my hair dresser:

She told me that my hair wouldn’t look exactly like that because mine is much thinner, but that we could use that as a guide. My hair looks nothing like that! Not even remotely similar. As a matter of fact I don’t think she even considered the picture at all as she razored my hair to oblivion! It was a hair emergency that could only be remedied by shopping and margaritas with the BFFs.

The good news is I got a sweet green Tech T to wear in tomorrow’s St Patty’s Day Lucky 7K. Who has ever heard of a 7K anyway?

After my workout this morning I made a huge veggie omelet and a green juice for breakfast.

My omelet contained:

• Baby Bella mushrooms
• Diced yellow squash
• Red Onion
• Cheddar Cheese

I made it with Egg Beaters instead of whole eggs to cut down on the fat/calories.

My juice contained:

• an apple
• a tangerine
• two handfuls of spinach

I have to say … it was horrible! I forced myself to drink it for the vitamins, but never again!

My breakfast didn’t hold me for long though, its only 10:50 and I’m already longing for lunch. I already have in mind what I want.

A couple of days ago I ran across these two recipes: School Lunch Bagel Sandwhich and The Best Veggie Sandwhich.  I couldn’t decide which one to make so I made both to compare them. I ate half of the english muffin one for a snack and I took the bagel to work for dinner.

They were both really good, but the Best Veggie Sandwhich (english muffin) was the clear winner. I didn’t have the exact ingredients the recipe called for so I substituted a few things.

My Veggie Sandwhich contained:

• English muffin
• Spinach and Artichoke Hummus
• Mushrooms
• Red Onion
• Cherry Tomatoes
• A dollop of Ranch Dressing
• A sprinkle of Toasted Sesame Seeds
• Cheddar Cheese

I broiled it for about 3 minutes to melt all the cheese. It was divine! I’ve been craving another one for lunch.

Versatility

I’m off work for 3 whole days! Its been a chaotic last couple of weeks so I haven’t been able to write as much as normal. Thanks for bearing with me!

I woke up this afternoon and checked my calendar to see what was on the running schedule for today, and was faced with 7 miles! Seven miles normally isn’t that huge of a deal, but I just really wasn’t feeling it today. I worked pretty hard at the hospital this week and ran a couple long runs last week that just have me worn out. But I didn’t totally want to blow off my workout either. Hmmm, what to do?

I haven’t been to the gym in a while, so I decided to go do some time on the elliptical. I figured if I ran 7 miles it would take me about an hour, so I did an hour on the elliptical instead. I like the elliptical on occasion because I can read books on my Kindle while I’m exercising. I actually was able to finish up the book that I’ve been working on while I was there today.

Its all about versatility. I’ve realized that I haven’t been doing much lately other than running and occasionally I just feel burnt out on it, or in the need for a change. Its nice to shake things up every now and then.

For dinner tonight I made another one of my E-Mealz recipes. Chicken Jambalaya with salad and cantaloupe.

I’ve also decided to be a little more versatile with my December Goals that I set for myself as well. I’ve been failing in every aspect so far and I really think that now is the time to cut myself a little slack and enjoy the holidays guilt free. This is a scary concept for me because more than anything I’m afraid of going back to the way I was before. But for the next couple of weeks until New Years, I’m going to give it a try. I’m going to abandon my original plan of tracking all of my food, weighing and measuring, etc, etc .. and instead I’m going to enjoy myself and this special time of the year. Now this doesn’t mean I’m going to go wild. I’m going to eat healthy and try to stick to my normal eating habits while also enjoying the special occasions that are coming up without the added stress of counting every calorie that enters and exits my body. Its a scary thought! I know!

Speaking of special occasions … Tim and I are going to be celebrating our 8th Anniversary on Monday. I’m still working on the perfect agenda for the evening. We probably won’t be able to do much other than go out for a nice dinner and drinks somewhere because I only have that one night off of work. I’m researching every restaurant within a 25 mile radius to try to find the perfect place though, so it should be interesting.

Exercise is the Best Anti-depressant!

I’m in a much better mood than I was earlier today when I wrote my previous post. I let off some steam by going Spinning tonight. I used to spin every Tuesday and Thursday night, but I’ve gotten out of the habit since I started running so much. I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill and then did a 45 minute spin class. It was refreshing and I feel much better. Yay exercise!

Tonight for dinner I made Salsa Chicken from Allrecipes.com. It couldn’t have been any easier. You just sprinkle chicken breasts with taco seasoning, top them with salsa and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes, then top with shredded cheese and bake another 3 minutes or so. I topped mine with sour cream, cilantro and green onions.

I made spinach, onions and mushroom sauteed in balsamic vinegar on the side and corn on the cob. I probably should have made black beans and mexican rice instead, but I was craving spinach and corn. So sue me! I’ve really been on a corn kick lately since I discovered you can buy whole unshucked ears of corn for next to nothing and steam them in the microwave.

I’m off to watch The Biggest Loser now. I love Tuesdays! Have a great night.

Busy Saturday

My sweet hubby let me sleep in til almost 9:00 this morning. Trust me thats late when you have a toddler running around. I got up and made a Green Monster for breakfast and wrote my To-Do list for the day.

1. Take chairs and dishes back to MIL.
2. Laundry
3. Dishes
4. 1 hour Elliptical
5. Decorate Tree
6. Sweep and Mop floors
7. Separate chicken and freeze (I bought 7 packages of chicken breasts on sale yesterday for $1.79/pound)
8. Clean bedroom

I never actually complete my entire To- Do list, or I should say I very rarely do. But it gives me something to strive towards. I usually end up triaging my to-do list based on what is most important, or sometimes I go with what is easiest and knock those out first.

I will decorate the tree after dinner tonight and might spend a few minutes cleaning the bedroom before bed later, but I’ll probably save the sweeping and mopping for tomorrow. I’ve already got a mental list going for the things I want to accomplish tomorrow.

I had a great workout today on the elliptical. I used to do the elliptical quite a bit, but ever since I’ve fallen in love with running the elliptical has been put on the back burner. I ran 5 miles yesterday, and I’m scheduled to run 9 miles tomorrow so I decided I would trade today’s scheduled 4 mile run for 1 hour on the elliptical to give my body a little break. I really enjoyed it. I read my book Stolen Innocence for the full hour I was on the machine and it was really nice. I rarely find time to read anymore except for a few minutes before I go to bed at night, and I usually end up falling asleep in my book and having to re-read some things. So it was really nice to just have 1 hour to myself to read and burn some calories.

Today’s eats so far have included: a Green Monster, Tex-Mex Turkey Soup, an apple, a soft pretzel and a few chunks of cheddar cheese. I’m planning on making Pork Tenderloin and some yummy veggies for dinner tonight. I’ll be back later with recipes and pictures and we still have to talk about the goals I’m setting for myself, but I might save that for tomorrow.