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!

Is This a Bake Sale?

What a difference a day makes.  This morning was almost 20 degrees cooler than yesterday morning. So much better for walking. I actually was a bit cold the first mile...had to walk faster to warm up :)

Saw this scary viper on the street.  Upon further inspection I was able to identify it as the relatively harmless Midwestern Rubber Snake.

I hope these skid marks were not absolutely necessary.  People drive a bit nutty through residential areas and hopefully someone's child was not a risk.  My limited knowledge of skid marks makes me think someone pealed out of the turn and squealed their tires. Just a theory.

My husband has signed up for a triathlon in August. So, I think we will be changing up our workout routine a little. Just for fun I am going to "train" with him. I will probably ride my bike for 2-3 miles and then do a 2 mile walk. I would like to do the triathlon too, but I want to do well. In the past, I have considered doing it thinking I would just be happy to finish. Having put some serious effort into my fitness, I don't think I would be satisfied with just finishing.  At this time, I would have to walk the whole run part (4 miles) and I am not sure my buns can handle 12 miles on the bike. Don't even get me started on my swimming :)  I am going to enjoy the "training" process and cheer my husband on at the race. And maybe next year...

Today turned out to be an eating out day for me. We have a new person in our office and we all decided to go out to lunch with her. It was fun. I ended up getting the salad special - Fire Roasted Corn with peppers and onions on lettuce, topped with feta and bacon. It came with a creamy balsamic dressing, but I decided not to use it because the corn salad created a sort of dressing. I ate about half and did my best to estimate calories - I think I was pretty fair.

After work I met my sister at a local evening farmer's market. For the record farmer's markets are starting to look more and more like bake sales.  I tried not to make direct eye contact with all the goodies. But I do love to bake and was very curious about what people were selling. Cookies, quick breads, pies...it all looked good but I resisted.

There were plenty of veggies, but I didn't end up buying any of them either. I am having a bit of a veggie situation at home already ;)  In fact, I had my sister come by the house on her way home to take some tomatoes and cucumbers.

Then for dinner my husband and I went to our favorite Mexican place. He LOVES their Arroz con Pollo. I had actually figured up the calories the last time we went and entered it into MyFitnessPal.  We split an order and got some extra veggies on the side.

I have thought quite a bit about eating out. Since there isn't always a reliable way to calculate the calories of a restaurant dish I need to find another solution. I still want to go out to eat. Sometimes, a girl just doesn't want to cook :)  If my husband and I split a dish that we would have normally eaten ourselves, I am satisfied that I have made a significant improvement.

How do you handle eating out?

Birthday and Weigh In

At least I lost :)  I was down .2 (as in 2/10ths) of a pound this week. It is one of those things that I can't account for.  I did the workouts and ate right. My body just decided to do its own thing this week. Yes, I am disappointed, but I can live with it because I know I am on the right track. This is one of those times that I need to look forward 6 months. All the little losses will have added up.

I had hoped to do better because I knew this week was going to be tougher with my birthday and 4th of July.

As far as the great debate goes I have loosened the reins for the day, but I am tracking. I am sure I will end up going over my regular calories, but I am NOT strapping on the feed bag and/or grazing all day. 

I was debating on what to do for lunch. I confess Burger King's new BBQ Bacon Whopper was in the running - with all 750 of its calories - eek!! However, I inadvertently learned that my husband was coming to surprise me at work and take me to lunch. Together we decided to go to Subway. I had the BBQ Chicken Melt instead of my usual turkey sub. It was good and I was satisfied.

My in-laws took us out to dinner and my sister with niece and nephew joined us. We went to the restaurant where they have the most delicious Gyro Salad.  Last night they had a Gyro special and I decided to do that instead. In came with fries which I had a few then pushed them down the table for others to share. The gyro itself was ENORMOUS.  I haven't yet figured out how to calculate the calories. I think I will work on that sometime today. I didn't finish it, but I know I went significantly over calories and I am okay with that.

Like exercise I think the body needs a little shake up on food too.  Meg with Running Just as Fast as She Can reminded me yesterday of an 80/20 plan.  You eat very well 80% of the time and the other 20% you loosen up a bit. Losing and maintaining weight is a LIFELONG process and I don't know too many people that will (or want to) live the rest of their lives without occasional treats. I know I don't!

I do have a food regret from yesterday.  When we got home my sweet tooth was raging so I got a caramel sundae from McDonalds.  I just wanted a bit of ice cream.  The first couple bites were great...then I realized I was still eating and not loving it. And I still almost finished it. I want to get to the place where if a treat is not what I really want I stop eating it.

I got some great birthday presents this year. At the beginning of June I got my present from my husband - the Garmin Forerunner 10 watch that I have been loving!  Last Saturday at the farmer's market we found this ornament. It is made from a gourd. Then she woodburns the designs and uses stains to add color.  They are so intricate.  There were several designs that I wanted, but they were a bit pricey (worth it considering the work that goes into them) so I only chose one. I have an extensive Christmas ornament collection. I chose this one because it represented my pursuit of herons this year. I have been obsessed with getting the perfect picture of them.

I haven't got the perfect shot yet but this is one of my favorites so far.  The other day when we walked on the levee we saw a spot where a ton of them were hanging out.  I have to get over there with my "good" camera when I am not trying to get in a workout.

My sister gave me this super cute 31 insulated tote. There are going to be some fun (and stylish) picnics in my future. It was a good birthday :)