Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Sometimes It is One and Sometimes It is the Other

Two days into the week and I have had two very different days.

Monday - Good on Food and No Exercise

I bought of bag of peaches from Aldi. I am always anxious about buying peaches. Seems like they are never ripe when I buy them they get ripe and spoil 8 seconds later. I end up wasting them. This bag was actually very good from the start and haven't spoiled yet. I am putting my sweet potato on hold for a couple of days and having peach oatmeal this week...mmm!
After breakfast, Monday set in. I was in the middle of curling my bangs when this happened.  How does a curling iron just randomly break in half?? I got a little burn on my forehead where it hit me, but fortunately I dropped the iron quickly and it didn't roll down my entire face.
I packed a lunch with leftover Cajun Shrimp and Veggies that I made on Sunday. The Cajun Shrimp portions seemed a bit skimpy, especially for the 300 calories listed in the recipe. I recalculated the calories using the actual ingredients and amounts I used. It was actually 194 calories. Remember I used half the oil, less shrimp and a different andouille sausage. To bulk up the meal a bit I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti and put the shrimp/veggies on top. It turned out really well, even though I am not a huge whole wheat pasta fan . I mostly used it to finish up the box and get it out of the pantry. Cherries and veggies completed the meal. I love the black meal containers - they really highlight the colors of the food.
While I was at work, my husband called to say the person who wanted to buy our car was ready to get it. I ended up leaving work a bit early to meet my husband, give the car a final cleaning and deliver it. We have had this car for almost 5 years. I am too embarrassed to post a full picture of it - it is a hot mess. However, it has run great and my husband was a trooper for using it so long. Hurray for saving money! About a month ago we bought an upgrade for my him - he definitely deserved it. He appreciated the years of service his ugly car, affectionately known as R2D2, gave. But he was ready to move on. I don't think Boba Fett is known for watching over people per se, but I hope he will watch over the new owner and she will have some good years with our R2D2.
While dinner was on the grill, I visited the tomato plants. I am eager for fresh ripe tomatoes, but thought we had a couple weeks to wait/ Then I spied these guys nestled in the middle of the tomato bed. Can't wait to eat them!
Clearly, I am a fan of the Cajun Shrimp foil packets. I ate them again for dinner. The fourth packet is safely in the freezer...for now. For dinner, I ate it with a sweet potato. I was a happy camper.
By the time we got home after the car delivery I was hungry and not in the mood for a workout. I know, I know, lame reasons to not workout, but it happened. This also happened. That is my shoulder to the left of the picture. Millie was leaning against me. Puppy snuggle time :)

Tuesday - Not So Good on Food and Great on Exercise

I got up at 5a and enjoyed a beautiful dawn walk in the 53 degree weather (ideal in my book). One of my absolutely favorite things about dawn is this. Be sure to turn up the volume.


This walk is brought to you by the color pink.






There was an abundance of pink flowers blooming in the neighborhood. Even the fake flowers were pink.
This particular house had so much more than pink. How pretty is that??

Almost finished my walk. It occurred to me there should be GO signs to encourage walkers in the wee hours of the morning. I guess I will have to interpret this sign as "stop, making excuses and keep moving."
It wasn't exactly a time to write home about (just to blog about). For the next walk I am going to have a time goal. I think I can take a minute off each mile. Obviously, a little time is lost in picture taking, but I definitely need to pick up the pace to get a good cardio workout.
Breakfast was peach oatmeal again. Spoiler alert: Tomorrow will be peach oatmeal. The next day will be peach oatmeal.  
I packed my lunch from the meal prep grilling I did on Sunday - chicken, veggies and cherries. A former co-worker was going to be at the office today and I knew we would go out to lunch. I packed my lunch just in case, her plans changed. I certainly didn't want to be lunch-less. 
On the way to work I had to stop at the store and I saw this. I like granola bars okay, but have never found them very satisfying. I am not sure making them bigger is the best solutionl - more sugar, more fat, more calories. I did not buy them.
As I mentioned, a former co-worker was at the office today. She was there cleaning out some of her stuff from when she worked there. I carried about 5-6 stacks of books up these stairs. The same steep stairs I mentioned carrying books up last week because I am super strong now :)
Honestly, I wasn't excited about going out to lunch because I wanted to eat really well this week before a planned splurge Wednesday evening. But here I was trying to make a decent choice. I got sucked into the lunch menu and nothing else sounded good after I saw this taco salad. Okay, it is a salad, but that doesn't mean healthy. I ordered the dressing on the side, so that was good, right?
And I picked around most of the chips. In an alternate universe I would have eaten ALL of those chips - after dipping them in the rest of that chipotle ranch dressing. Hurray for small wins at least.
When I got home there was a Double Light strength training waiting for me. We started with Skier lunges. Basically you are lunging from side to side as you are raising and lowering the weights. I didn't love this exercise, but I had determined to have a better attitude.

A better attitude - even if the smiles were fake!  I suspect my trainer recognizes sarcasm, but he might prefer it to grouchy trainee.
Bent rows. By the way, did you notice those are bigger weights. My husband broke out the 15 pounders for me. There were definitely fewer reps before I failed out, bur it felt good to push. Like I said, I prefer pushing strength training to pushing cardio :)
Finished up with some Skullcrushers. Another workout without actually crushing my skull...winning!
Dinner was very similar to what I would have eaten for lunch :)  I need to get those peaches eaten before they turn.
Some days you might be better with the food and some days you might be better with the exercise. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it has balanced out in my favor this week.

I am writing this Tuesday evening and thinking I should be getting in bed because I have early morning swimming on the schedule Wednesday. We are having dinner out tomorrow and I want to get a good calorie burn in to help balance that controlled pizza splurge.

How do you find your balance?

UPDATE:  I am completely bummed. I went out to pick those beautiful tomatoes and they were GONE!!!!  Maybe rabbits?  I am buying some fencing today!

12 comments:

  1. Some days or weeks life is just a balancing act. You did great!

    A tomato thief? Probably from the dark side. Definitely need to put up a protection sheild. LOL

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    1. Yes, definitely need a shield....I want to eat those yummy tomatoes!

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  2. Is there any better feeling in the world than a puppy snuggle? I don't think so!

    I was so nervous that you were going to say the hot curling iron landed on your foot. So glad it didn't! Whew

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    1. I definitely got lucky with the curling iron. Millie things she is a big ol' lap dog so it is a good thing we like puppy snuggles.

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  3. BOOOO to whomever stole those tomatoes! You are so right that it is completely about balance. And one bad day on exercise doesn't negate a bad day with food. Just find that happy medium and keep pushing! You are doing so well! Just keep plugging away. That is sort of the running theme on my blog post today also ironically enough. And speaking of irons, I have never seen one break like that! Love all those flowers in bloom and that chicken looks yummy!

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    1. One thing I guess I didn't really say is my not so great food day was a zillion times better than some food days I've had...so that is progress too.

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  4. Do you shave Irish Spring around your plants? I do that with mine and those wily rabbits leave them alone.

    Awesome job on your food and your workouts!

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    1. I am definitely going to try that...if only I can remember to buy it (just got back from the store and forgot.)

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  5. I am curious about how you balance your meal planning with a hungry husband? Does he mind eating the same as your meals or does he eat different meals?

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    1. I do try to find things that he likes too or that he can double the portion and still be in reason. Although he likes most of what I make in general he has been preparing his own meals for awhile now. He doesn't mean eating the same thing over and over...I need variety.

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  6. I was so disappointed with your update about the tomatoes!!!!!

    I think you actually had two great days. A rest day isn't that bad as long as it's only one day from exercise and I think you did a great job on managing (you didn't scarf all the chips!!!)

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    1. Oh me too!! True my days were better than many, many days I've had in the past :)

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