Sunday, December 6, 2009

Moving Day

Hey Everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend!  I spent most of it trying to get Christmas going in my house and also, setting up my new blog!  I’ve been working on it with the help of Blain at 13-infinite for couple months and I’m finally ready to move over to Wordpress and my new domain…www.loserforlife.com

I’ll explain more about it and the reason for the new name over on the new blog, but for now, please bear with me while I get everything up and rolling.  This blog will be completely transferred over to Loser for Life and I’ll no longer be updating here.  I hope you’ll join me in my new digs - please remember to update your Google Reader to still receive the feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/LoserForLife

See you on LFL!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Run, Forrest, Run!

With a morning like this…

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you gotta Run, Forrest, Run!!!!

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Even he had an “escort”.  See the resemblance…

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Before heading out, I fueled up with some banana and 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter

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Looks kinda gross in this picture, but it was good!

Then I was off to the trail to pound the pavement.  I knew right from the start that it was going to be a good run.  My breathing synced up right away and I was able to get in a nice groove mainly because I brought my “old school” headphones and didn’t have to fiddle with my ear buds the whole time…

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Excuse the bug-eye glasses and Bride of Frankenstein hair.  Scary.

I planned on doing 3 miles, but since my run was going so well, I wanted to see if I could make it to 4.  Answer:  hells to the yeah!  I can’t believe I did it!  I felt great!  I even felt like I could have done more, but didn’t want to be in a wheelchair later today, so I stopped at 4.  My longest run so far!  Coolness.

During my run, I observed some of the other runners as they sped by me like freight trains ran past me.  Did you ever notice that everyone has their own individual style of running?  Some seem to bounce, some run with their feet high off the ground like there are little wings on the back of their sneakers, others run without lifting their feet very high, but are fast as lightning.  Some run on their tippy toes and some run with a flatter foot. 

I thought about how I must look.  I’m definitely not light on my feet.  I have more of a clod, clod, stomp, stomp style similar to that of Godzilla crashing through a city….

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Oh well.  Maybe one day, I’ll run like the wind!

I brought a dashboard breakfast (part 2) of light string cheese and Triscuits to get me through the rest of the morning…

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After some errands and a good shower, I was ready for lunch.  I was in the mood for another tofu scramble.  In the mix…

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Very delicious!  I’ve had some questions about this, so just to clarify, there are no eggs in the scramble.  I crumble the tofu and brown it before adding the veggies, so it looks and has the consistency of a scrambled egg.  It was a huge serving and filled me up for the afternoon!

I was looking forward to dinner – Philly Cheesesteaks and sweet potato fries!  I decided to make my cheesesteak into a wrap using a Joseph’s Lavash Bread with sauteed peppers, romaine lettuce, pickles, ketchup, 2% cheese and 2 slices of Landis sliced sirloin steaks.  Messy, but good!  My sweet potato fries, on the other hand, went over to the dark side…

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I lost track of them and they torched up in the oven.  Boo!  I was so excited for those, too :(  I ate a couple but they were too “blackened” for my taste.

I have quite a bit going on for the coming weekend, so I may be MIA.  I have been working hard on my new blog and hope to have everything up and running for Monday!!!  I’m really excited about it and hope you guys will like it, too!

ONE GOOD THING:  I ran 4 miles today!!!!  Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp…

Have a great day, everyone!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

To Stink Or Not To Stink

That was the question.  On my way to the gym in the morning, I remembered I forgot to put on deodorant!  I was more than halfway there and thought about turning back or trying to hit up the nearest supermarket, but I had limited time for my workout as I had to run a bazillion errands afterward.  Ugh.  My original plan was to set The Arc Trainer on fire, then do weights.  The Arc Trainer = sweatin’ and stinkin’ (if you didn’t wear deodorant!).  What to do, what to do?????  The real question should be why do I give a hoot, but I do and stinkin’ was not an option.   So my de-stinkified workout was…

  • 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill
  • hip strengthening workout (Tina has hip bursitis, too)
  • lower-body circuit – leg curls, glutes, hip adductor and abductor
  • ab crunches

It worked my legs good, I felt the burn and wasn’t stinky.  All is good :)

Breakfast was TJ’s High Fiber O’s with some Fiber One, strawberries and unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze

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I did stop home ,amidst the errands, and whipped up some lunch.  I was pretty hungry and ate a little earlier than normal, but I’m trying to eat when the hunger strikes!  Novel idea, huh?

Lunch was a wrap made with Joseph’s Lavash Bread, a few slices of turkey, Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge, a tbsp. of cranberry sauce and spinach.  It was a winning combo!  The cranberry and Laughing Cow were great together!  I added some carrots for crunch and had at it…

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I still felt a little hungry, so I had a blueberry Chobani

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Then, errands, errands, errands.  :(

I’m trying to choose more wholesome foods for my snacks instead of grabbing  junkier (Cheez-its!) things.  A pear and almonds fit the bill…

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Dinner had to be quick and easy since we got home late from little daughter’s religion class.  Nothing quicker than boxed soup and grilled cheese!  I decided to try out the Campbell’s V-8 Garden Vegetable that was sent to me last week…

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I paired it with grilled cheeses on sourdough.  I made mine with asiago, baby spinach and Trader Joe’s roasted  red pepper and artichoke tapenade

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This soup was fairly good.  It was thick and reminded me a lot of split pea soup in texture.  It had a nice amount of vegetables in it and overall, was a pretty hearty bowl.

~~~

Brilliant Blogger:  I’ve been  a lurker on Joan The Weight Pilot for quite a while.  She is a Weight Watchers Lifetime Member and has some of the most inspirational posts that I have ever read.  She  begins her posts with some amazing quote that always seem to speak to me at the moment.  Her post today was especially meaningful to me.  As I have been on this journey, I have realized that I don’t need to beat myself up for the indulgences or going off track.  Every GOOD choice that I make in a day is a step in the right direction.  I encourage you to read her whole post, but it ends with…

''the little things we do add up; the small steps become giant steps."

Thanks for the reminder, Joan!

In other blog new, my friend Krittie at Healthy Living, One Day at a Time  is having a cool American Express Gift Card Giveaway – be sure to check it out!

Have a great day, everyone!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Fitting It All In

I can’t believe it’s December!!!  Holy moly!  I’m feeling a little wigged out about fitting in all the things I need to get done before Christmas.  It seems that everything is happening at once and the calendar is already looking jammed up!  Well, one thing I will fit in is fitness!  I made a promise to myself to keep my workout schedule and I’m stickin’ to it!

Before heading to the gym, I had a mini- breakfast of a string cheese and a few Triscuits…

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Just enough to tie my over for my 35 minute run on the treadmill.  I tried out some intervals this run and I really liked it!  It took the pressure off keeping a steady fast pace and I liked being able to coordinate the pace with my music.  Fast songs = fast pace, slower songs= slower pace.  It was fun!

Breakfast part 2 was by the dashboard light…

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After changing, it was off to Gram’s for a day of shopping.  She loves to shop and can outlast me any day!

I finally dragged her out talked her into leaving and headed back to my house for lunch.  I made a terrific tofu scramble

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In the mix…

  • 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu
  • 3 cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • a few onion slices
  • 1/2 small red pepper, sliced
  • handful baby spinach
  • 1/4 cup Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds

Gram declined the tofu and went for a turkey sammie instead!  I’ll make a believer of her, yet!

I also took a few minutes to assemble dinner , since I knew the afternoon would be busy.  I saw a recipe on Kalyn’s Kitchen for Brown Rice Casserole and thought I would give it a try, knowing full well that this would not be welcomed with open mouths by the husband and daughters!  But, I decided to torture them anyway.

I baked it when I got home after little daughter’s dance class.  It looked and smelled delicious…to me…

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Them…not so much.  I proceeded to rant about how I didn’t give a flying fig newton what they thought and they were going to eat this fabulous, healthy dish.  And I dished it out…

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Okay, I know it doesn’t look pretty, but it was very tasty!  I even threw in some broccoli to make it a true one-dish meal.

Little daughter cried full blown tears at the sight.

The husband hates mushrooms and moved the stuff around to make it look like he ate some.  Okay, but he will eat kale chips???  Whatever.

Big daughter said, “Mom, this actually tastes good.”  She is the only one I love ;)

So, not the biggest hit, but I will keep trying to feed them healthy foods.  Hear that, family???  Yes, the torture will continue…

~~~

Brilliant Blogger :  I read a great post by Jack Sh*t today.  So motivational!  His posts are usually flat out hilarious, but every so often, he throws in one of these “serious” posts to really get you thinking.  What struck me was when he describes a conversation he had in the locker room after a workout – go check out his post for the whole story – but he replied to the person:

 “I didn’t leave a lot in the tank.”

And that’s how I approached my run at the gym.  I kept thinking “don’t leave anything in the tank;  give it your all.”  Result:  awesome workout!  Thanks, Jack!

Oh, I almost forgot… the winner of the Campbell’s Soup Giveaway is  Denise!

I have a couple of favorite soups - creamy tomato, taco soup and butternut squash. Yummy!

Denise, please send me your address and I’ll forward it to the Campbell’s rep:)

If you’re not too sick of me, go check out my guest post on Melissa’s blog – www.abetterbagofgroceries.com  -and see how I tried out the NuVal nutritional scoring system!  Fun!

Have a great day, everyone!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Back To The Gym

I was itching to get to the gym first thing!  Although, we had some nice family time over the Thanksgiving break, it was good to send everyone off to their appropriate locations and get back to my routine.

I was hungry right off the bat, too, so I made up a Yogurt Bowl before heading out.  In the mix…

  • 1 cup plain nonfat Chobani (it’s baaaaack!)
  • 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 packet NuNaturals Stevia
  • 5 sliced strawberries
  • 1 tsp. shredded coconut

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It was so rich tasting;  the cocoa powder mixed into the yogurt made it seem like frosting!  Mmm…dessert for breakfast.  It’s a good thing :)

I pumped it out on the elliptical for 35 minutes, then hit the circuit weights for an upper body workout.  I decided , for the month of December, to mix up my workout.  I’m going to run 3 days a week – T, TH, Sat, do a cardio mix with weights 3 days – M, W, F and take Sundays off.  I think this will be a better plan for me.  More consistent running ( my marathon running neighbor told me he hated my “every other week running plan” – LOL!) and a nice mix of cardio and weights on the other days.  I think that will keep it fresh and fun!

After the gym, I ran errands in the nasty, cold rain and finally made it home to eat LUNCH!  My stomach was way past growling.  I did notice the growl at the 3 hour mark again, so that seems to be the magic number these past few days.  I reminded myself not to grab anything and start shoveling.  Instead, I heated up some leftover Individual Turkey Pot Pies

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Halleluia for leftovers!

Later, I couldn’t shake the damp coldness, so I made a cup of French press…

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For a special treat, we went to dinner with the in-laws at a new local restaurant.  It’s owned by the family of the husband’s best friend and opened for business today.  I was in the mood for a big greek salad

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I’m not usually a fan of stuffed grape leaves, but the ones on my plate were delicious and very rich, so I only ate one and passed the rest to the husband and FIL.  Sadly, my salad was supposed to have grilled chicken on it, but it didn’t make it to the plate on time, so I had it on the side.

I wasn’t completely satisfied (taste-wise) after this meal, but I had eaten enough and was okay with it after everything settled.

I used a little “pep talkin” while scooping some ice cream for the daughters when we got home.  I knew I didn’t need it.  But I sure did feel like I wanted it!

 *hit replay in my head* 

I will not let food control me.  I have the ability to eat just what I need. 

Somehow repeating that over and over took all pressure off.  It was almost a sense of relief.  Like, oh yeah, I can say “no” and it’s okay.  Niiiiice :)

Today is the last day to enter the Campbell’s Soup Giveaway! 

Have a great day, everyone!