Run, Forrest, Run!

With a morning like this…

you gotta Run, Forrest, Run!!!!

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

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

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…

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….

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…

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

• 1/2 block Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu
• 1 package of Green Giant Immune Blend Veggies
• 1/4 cup of Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds

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…

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!

Pep In My Step

I woke up with such a happy feeling!  I think my “step it up” pep talk really worked!  I can’t describe the feeling;  it’s like something changed in me overnight.  I feel like I have a stronger resolve to stay on the healthy eating track.  I kept saying to myself that I would not let food control me.  I’m not giving it the power.  I have the ability to eat just what I need.  I have the ability.  I make the choice.  It’s up to me to do what’s right for my body.  It deserves it.   I know there are going to be rough times.  Times when food wants me…really badly.  I have to remind myself that I am in control of what I put in my body.  I can be in control.  Even through the holidays…  :)

So, breakfast was one of my favorite Yogurt Bowls topped with strawberries and diced apples…

I cheated on Chobani with this guy…

Chobani will always be my first greek love, but ya gotta get what’s on sale when ya can :)

After breakfast, I got my butt out the door for a peppy 45 minute walk (I’ll fill you in about the running tomorrow) around the neighborhood in the glorious weather.  I love mild November days!  The husband even joined me for the last 20 minutes which was  nice!

My stomach let me know it was lunchtime about 3 hours after eating breakfast.  I tried to cue into that to see how long it takes me to get hungry between meals.  I think knowing that is key to keeping munchies at bay and also, to help understand what types of food stick with me the longest.

Lunch was a Grilled Vegetable Boca Burger on a Pepperidge Farms Deli Flat, piled high with baby spinach and tomato.  Instead of my usual side of chips, I went with a longer lasting choice of fuji apple with 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter…

We spent the afternoon at a Christmas carol sing-a-long at church.  It was a nice time and really got us in the spirit!

Again, around the 3 hour mark, I was hungry for a snack.  I decided to go salty with reduced-fat Triscuits with turkey and a dab of  wasabi mustard…

Yum!

The dinner plan was a new recipe from Amelie for Grandmom’s Macaroni.  It sounded delicious;  sort of a new twist on baked mac n’ cheese.  I changed it up a tiny bit by subbing these for the originals :   Ronzoni Smart Taste elbow macaroni (high fiber), my own marinara sauce (had some left in the fridge to use up), Cracker Barrel 2% white cheddar and whipped light butter.

The result was DELISH and a hit with the husband and daughters…

My dish…served with a side of broccoli…

This will definitely be added into my regular dinner rotation!  Thanks for the great recipe, Amelie!

~~~~

I have been thinking a lot lately about the blogworld and about how much encouragement I receive from other bloggers without them knowing it.  I read a lot of blogs.  A lot.  If you have a blog, you can rest assure I am reading it!  LOL!  I guess there are worse addictions :)  Anyway, I got to thinking how many bloggers write things that really strike me.  Really spur me on or cause me to take pause and reflect.  I don’t often take the time to get in touch with each person and tell them how something they wrote affected me, so I had the idea of making an addition to the end of my posts with a reference to a blogger who made an impact on me that day.  I decided to call it Brilliant Blogger because I often think “that’s brilliant” when I’ve read these words of wisdom.  There are also readers that leave me comments that are brilliant words of wisdom and they don’t have blogs, so I’m going to include some of those, too.  Just my small way of saying “thank you” to those bloggers/readers and sharing some great insights from them!

My first Brilliant Blogger is Joanna from Fitness and Spice. 

She wrote:  This year I’ve decided I’m not going to stress out about eating too much and working out too little during the holidays. That’s because I’ve already made up my mind that I won’t be eating too much and I will be making the time to workout.

Love that!

Don’t forget to enter my Campbell’s  Soup Giveaway – there’s a cool pedometer in there!!!

Have a great day, everyone!

Up And Moving: No Candy Required

It’s so nice to get up with the sun!  Love the time change for the morning, although getting dark by 5:30 p.m. kinda stinks.  Oh well, can’t win ‘em all!

The daughters were off from school today, so it was a nice relaxing morning in the pj’s for us.  I took advantage of the extra time to make a bowl of Pumpkin Oat Bran…

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• splash of Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 2 tbsp. walnuts
• 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter

Delicious and very filling.  The addition of almond butter made it!

After breakfast, I got in a good amount of organizing and decluttering in various rooms.  It all accumulates so fast!  Especially books and magazines!

Lunch happened earlier than I thought.  The oat bran was filling, but didn’t hold me over as long as it has before.  Oh well, I ran with it and fixed up a leftover turkey sandwich on an Ezekiel Hamburger Bun with spinach.  The star of the sammie was this awesome mustard…

 

It wasn’t as zesty as Zesty!  But, it was the perfect compliment to the turkey sandwich, as were the POPchips and crunchy Gala…

Later, while I was packing up the mounds of Halloween candy, I had a little treat…

Then carried on along my merry way, pinching my nose so as to not be enticed by the smell of this…

or this…

Yes, you can smell it through the wrapper.  Uh huh.  Have I mentioned that I hate Halloween?  Yes?  Okay, moving on…

While little daughter was at dance, I decided to hit the gym for a quick run.  I wanted to do 3 miles today, but knew I probably wouldn’t be able to fit it into my 30 minute time frame.  I tried pumping up my speed, but it left me a little too winded, so I  resigned myself to the 2 miles and walked the rest at a 10% mountain climbing incline.  It felt great!

Dinner was prepped (me) and in the oven while I was gone (thanks, big daughter!), so a yummy cheesy Lasagna was waiting when we came home.  I wasn’t in the mood for it , though, plus I made it extra cheesy for the family and I didn’t think it was worth the splurge.  I decided on a Salmon Roulette with a drizzle of pesto, leftover roasted potatoes and veggies…

I’m turning into the Leftover Queen!  It’s my secret way of cleaning out the fridge :)

I ended the night with a decaf soy latte:  decaf coffee and Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk…

Candy?  What candy?  Yep, I can say that now.  I am so over it.  Who needs it?  Nope, not me!  Whew!  Now to brace myself for Christmas cookies!!!  Aaaaah!!!!

ONE GOOD THING:  I’m back to running again and I love it!  So far, so dizziness and no major hip issues.  I’m going to try out a pre-5K training schedule which I’ll post about tomorrow.  I like pushing my body a little to see what it can do!

Have a great day all!

Life Is Like A Bag Of Chocolates

Hey guys!  I’m a little off my blogging schedule – not enough hours in the day, ya know?  I’m faltering with my “to-do list”!  I started off great but, I got side-tracked with other things and now my list is a mile long again.  Pffft!!

The morning began with the growl of my stomach.  That is one annoying alarm clock ;P  Breakfast was definitely in order before gyming it.  I munched down a Thomas’ Light Multigrain English Muffin with homemade almond butter and a pear…

Almond butter is so good.  And sooo hard to control!  I could eat gobs of it, but I have to keep reminding myself:  A serving is 2 tbsp., a serving is 2 tbsp.  Yes, I chant this as I spread it :)  I have received some requests for this recipe, so here it is…

Homemade Almond Butter

• 1 cup whole almonds, roasted
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. olive oil (not extra virgin)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 7-10 minutes. Watch closely to not burn.
2. Place nuts in food processor and pulse until nuts are fully chopped.  Add salt, honey and oil.
3. Continue to process until creamy;  this may take 5-7 minutes.
4. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
5. Try not to eat the whole thing.
6. Good luck with that :)

Then, I drug myself to the gym.  I know that’s not a word, but it is when you don’t want to go to the gym.  Drug is way worse than dragged ;P  I usually like the gym, but since I’m restricted to the recumbent bike  til this dizziness goes away, I’m less than thrilled.  For some reason, the bike just doesn’t do it for me.  It’s boring and I don’t feel like I’m doing much of anything  for a workout.  I did try to pump up the resistance, which definitely was a challenge, but it’s still just “meh” to me.  Maybe, I’ll learn to like it??

I was ready for lunch after my non-exciting gym experience.  I couldn’t wait to get some food.  It was one of THOSE days.  Lunch was a Health is Wealth Chicken Free Patty on a deli flat with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and spinach.  Some soy crisps and carrots filled up the rest of my plate…

But not the rest of my stomach!!!  No, really my stomach was full, but my brain did not get that memo.  It was too focused on these Halloween candies…

My favorite…

A close second…

What I thought I should have instead…

What I did have… all of the above.  And CHEEZ-ITS!  I hate those friggers!

Dinner, as if I needed it, was a delicious bowl of Cheesy Polenta with mushrooms and asparagus…

I used this Polenta recipe from Everyday Food …

 

It was a beautiful thing.  So is chocolate.  I know it so well :)

ONE GOOD THING:  I did not eat 105 pieces of chocolate :D

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite exercise machine at the gym/home?

You Spin Me Right Round

I can’t stop singing that dopey 80’s tune.  But, it pretty well describes my morning.  I was still having vertigo issues and the medicine I took the night before made me drowsy to boot.  I actually went back to bed for a bit in the morning, too.  Don’t like that feeling, but I had to do it.  Anyway, I finally felt decent enough to make breakfast.  I went with Chobani nonfat yogurt sweetened with NuStevia and topped with strawberry syrup, pomegranate arils and granola crumbs…

Really good!  I loved the crunchy addition of the pomegranate arils (aka seeds!).  This is the season for pomegranates and I picked one up at the supermarket the other day along with a cool brochure from the POM people with instructions on how to open one.  I have always just hacked away at it, but now I know the “proper way” to open this beautiful guy…

and you can, too…

It worked perfectly and I got many more arils, especially non-butchered ones, than when I just hacked away at it –LOL!

I slowly worked on some house cleaning, then realized that I was starving and ready for lunch.  When I’m like that, the first thing that jumps at me is what I choose.  Today, leftover pizza was the winner…

With some awesome cantaloupe and grapes.  Hmmm… I miss summer:(

I spent some time doing research on my vertigo diagnosis.  I love doing research (it’s the old paralegal in me) and I love the easy access to all info via the Internet.  It’s so easy to come up with questions for doctors when you have info at your fingertips!  Anywho, what I found was a bit disheartening.  Without getting into a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo, I basically found that there  is no specific, guaranteed  cause or treatment for Benign Positional Vertigo.  The general treatment is a series of exercises or maneuvers that the doctor performs to help move debris from your inner ear to a less sensitive place within your head.  Many of these exercises I can do as a home treatment.  So, I decided that I would try to do these and see if it would rectify the situation.  There is a decent success rate with doing these, however, BPV may reoccur.  But, I’m willing to try it so as not to have to take any medication (Antivert) which, oddly enough, has a side effect of possible dizziness!!!  Huh???  The disappointing part is that while doing these maneuvers, I have to be careful not to put myself in a position that’s counterproductive to moving the debris – no leaning too far back or flat, no bending over with head down, no sports activities involving lying flat (weight bench, yoga, pilates) or too much jostling of the head (RUNNING!!) and I need to sleep propped up on pillows for a bit.  For now, running is out.  Major bummer since I was all juiced up to start racking up my mileage :(  But, if I’m going to lead a “healthy” lifestyle, I have to do ALL the things needed to keep me healthy which includes paying attention to my body’s needs.  So, I may be benched for now, but hopefully not for long!

I felt a little frustrated after my research session and I took it out on myself by eating!!  Aaaah!  I made up some homemade almond butter…

and ate a whole lot of it!  Then I snacked on most of these guys…

and there may have been a few Cheez-Its involved, too.  Moving on…

I finished off the whole shebang with a hearty, carby bowl of Creamy Bowties with Asparagus…

made with Chavrie goat cheese, parmesan and a bit of milk.  YUM!

Have a great day, everyone!!!

An Okay Day

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and prayers for my friend; it really means a lot. I'm still kinda wishy washy and bummed out today, so I wasn't up for any heavy duty workout this morning. I decided to just do a walk on the treadmill at a medium pace. I did 46 minutes while watching some morning shows and burned up a whopping 265 calories. I think I'm gonna stop wearing my friggin HRM; it's getting on my nerves. I liked it better when I "thought" I was burning more calories than I really am ;P


I wasn't feelin my cereal bowl this morning, so I went with a tofu scramble. Nothing too fancy, just a serving of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, baby spinach and a slice of 2% cheese. I forget how much I love these scrambles when I haven't had them in a while. To go with it, I had a whole wheat english muffin with some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray. A hearty 4 POINT breakfast...



After some home schooling of the daughters ( yes, I'm a meanie that makes them do math facts in the summer and God Bless you home school moms who do this on a regular basis cuz lord knows I couldn't -lol!), I made a twist on an old school favorite - PB&J. I swapped out peanut butter for 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter and served it on organic spelt bread. AB&J rocks!
I served it with the last of the soy crisps, last of the mini edamame crackers(came to a half serving each) and a super sweet fuji apple. It was one great 7 POINT lunch...

The daughters and I spent the afternoon at the pet store buying new hermit crabs (ugh) and made a quick stop at TJ's. I almost made it through snack time without incident, however I broke out the pita chips that I bought at TJ's and snagged a couple handfuls. Incidently, they are called "reduced guilt" pita chips (sorry no pic). How apropos :)


Dinner was a new recipe to try from Gina's awesome recipe blog called Sofrito Chicken Stew. It was easy and amazing. A thumbs up from the husband and daughters! The husband even said , "Hon, this is really good. Definitely make this again and don't do anything different to it." Fine. Squash my creativity! He knows I like to "tweak" and it scares him-lol! Anyway, I served this superb creation of Gina's with orzo(instead of rice) and some broccoli. A delish 8 POINT meal...

I was pretty full and my stomach has kind of a dull ache, so no dessert for me tonight. I'm sure I'll make up for it another day ;) All in all, it was an okay eating day.

Have a great night everyone!

Oh and I always forget to share these at the end of my posts, but I caught myself just in time! Danica is having an awesome HOLEY DONUTS giveaway. Yes, I said HOLEY DONUTS!!! Go on over and give her your best creative comment!

Soul Searching For A New POINT Of View

I woke up with a lot on my mind this morning. It all had to do with my weight loss journey. I haven't been happy with the way things are going, or shall I say, not going. If you're a regular reader, you know I keep lamenting about my difficulty with getting to my WW goal weight. I've been playing with those last 10 pounds for months now and it's wearing on me. I was thinking today that you are all probably tired of listening to me winge and whine about it, too! But, this has become a place to not only document my eats for the day. I realize it is a therapeutic exercise to blog every night. I write about my frustrations with myself, my trials and tribulations and it all seems to help me move on and be able to start over when I've gone off track. Sometimes, I feel badly to have you all put up with my boo-hoos and pity parties, but I began this blog as a tool to help me through the remainder of my weight loss, and as much as I don't want to bore you with it all, I have to maintain the integrity of why I started this blog to begin with. That being said, I really did some soul searching today. I was feeling like I've lost it. Lost my desire to keep losing. Lost my will to keep going with this and hit goal. I thought maybe this is a sign that I am just done. I am okay at this weight and I should just get on with my new healthy life. But, I'm not feeling it. I need to keep going, but how do I get the strength to keep going, the drive, the will? Well, I came upon THIS article on Wellsphere that gave me the answer I was looking for. It's not will power that's missing; it's WANT POWER! This article spoke volumes to me! It's exactly the boost I needed. So I give you my New Point of View: There is no such thing as will power, only want power! Spread the word, not the icing!!!





So, I came up with a new plan for myself today. I devised it over my breakfast of a whole wheat cinnamon raisin english muffin with a tsp. butter for 3 POINTS...


Okay, this may sound weird to those of you that count WW POINTS, but I think this may be my answer. I am going to start my tracking day with lunch. I will start off with my 21 POINTS at lunch and subtract the day going to breakfast the next morning. Why? Well, it seems that I really have trouble in the afternoons with snacking. So, I thought if I start at lunch, make lunch bigger and end with breakfast, if I had an "incident" or maybe overate a little in the afternoon, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to only have a couple of POINTS left for breakfast. But, if I kept it the same and overate leaving me only a few POINTS for dinner, that would leave me feeling deprived and sad. I know this may seem like a strange way to look at it. It's mind games. It may or may not work or make any difference at all, but it dawned on me today and I felt excited to try out this "experiment". We know all that matters is "calories in, calories out" in a 24 hr. period, so who cares what meal starts your 24 hr. day, right?


So, I decided to embark on my new plan at lunch, making it as "big" as necessary to feel full. Guess what? I wasn't so hungry today! Murphy's Law. But, I know that the afternoon has been rough lately, so I just ate what I was in the mood for and therefore, had lots of POINTS for later, just in case. Lunch was an almond butter and sugar free jelly sammie with carrots and sour cream and onion rice chips for 6 POINTS...

and a Grande Mocha Lite Frap for 2 POINTS while picking up a few things at the supermarket...

Well, that took me all the way to dinner! I decided on a quick dinner of Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein (split with big daughter) for 6 POINTS...

and for dessert, a Weight Watchers CandyBar Ice Cream Bar for 3 POINTS...

That leaves me with 4 POINTS for breakfast tomorrow! I know it's just switching things around, but for some reason, I felt much better using my tracker this way. If anything, it's at least a fun twist on my "old" program. I'll still be blogging the same way, beginning with my breakfast, but I'll just be counting that breakfast with my previous day's POINTS.

If you made it through this everlasting post, I commend you! Thank you for listening to my rambling and for all the wonderful comments and suggestions. I really appreciate you coming along for my crazy ride :)

Have a great night !