To Clean or Not to Clean?

This morning's workout ended up being housecleaning. We have a 5k race tomorrow and I decided to just take a "rest" and I could get the house in shape for the weekend. One of my biggest challenges is that our workout time is at the same time that I used to do housework. I am a zillion times more productive in the morning (which is good for workouts too). The problem is that by the time I get home from work I am not at all interested in doing housework. Last night I didn't even want to make myself cook, so we ran to Subway for dinner. When we got home I hated the way the house looked and decided in that moment I would clean in the morning instead of walking. I suppose it is all about finding balance..and I am a work in progress.

I got a bit of a workout at work today. My office was recently moved down a floor. However, the color printer was not. Today I was working on a big project with lots of color printing to be done. Printing on different mediums (labels, cardstock, etc.) meant lots of trips up and down the steps to adjust the printer for various jobs. I really don't mind going up the steps as much as I hate coming down them. I guess my shock absorbers (joints) are a bit sore. Hopefully, that improves as I lose weight.

But here is the real issue of the up and down stairs day.  The bowl of mini candy bars is upstairs. I can usually talk myself out of taking the trip up to get one. But today I had to go past them over and over again...each time trying to talk myself out of grabbing one.  It is like I mentioned the other day - it is so much more peaceful to not have stuff like that around the house. Same goes for work, but I don't control that space. I am not proud to say I had already succumbed to a mini Kit Kat before 10 a.m. Seriously, I am okay with it as long as I track the calories and I did.

Went to get a movie from the video store (why don't we call it the DVD store?) this evening.   While at the video store we saw these. Apparently Peeps are not just for Easter anymore.  No thank you - especially watermelon!

Time to settle in for the new (to us) TV series we picked out.  House of Cards. Hope it is good :)

What's for Breakfast?

I love to read about what other people are eating and get new ideas to incorporate into my diet. I thought I would share what I am eating. Here is the breakfast edition.

I am such a creature of habit!   I am currently rotating between two different breakfasts - smoothie or cereal with fruit. I will also reveal my obsession with blueberries.

A few months ago a co-worker got me thinking about smoothies. Of course, I'd heard of them before, but they never really appealed to me. I wasn't feeling all the "crazy" ingredients people put in them.  I like to keep things pretty simple. My co-worker was always talking about the yummy fruit blends he was having. When mentioned that he bought this blender at Walmart for less than $20 - I decided to give it a try.  This model is Faberware. It came with 5 cups and two blades. It works great.

After trying several different combinations, I have settled on a favorite - banana/blueberry.  I break up a small banana, 1/2 cup spinach leaves and 3/4 cup each of frozen blueberries and almond milk. Aldi recently had blueberries for 99 cents a pint. I bought 5 pints and froze them.  If I'd had more freezer space I would have bought more. I really like using frozen fruit because it gives the smoothie a nice consistency. Okay, I confess - I like the consistency because it is like a shake.

Here it is - a big glass of purple yumminess. I know the spinach idea freaks some people out but you really don't taste it. And with the blueberries' vibrant color you don't even see the spinach. Now I know a 1/2 cup of spinach leaves isn't going to make a huge difference, but I believe every little bit helps get to the greater goal. Spinach is high in vitamin A - good for the eyes and immune system - which both of mine could use all the help they can get :)  I usually eat my smoothie with a hard boiled egg or a piece of string cheese (240-270 calories). At first I was concerned that it wouldn't keep my satisfied until lunch, but I have found that it does.

My second go-to breakfast is cereal. I have a weird little cereal thing. I love me some Fruit Loops or Reese Peanut Butter Crunch (and many more), but I don't like them for breakfast. Bottom line is I like the unsweetened cereals for breakfast. Then I like to add fruit - blueberries for example :)

My real cereal weirdness...I like mixing several cereals together. I think it comes from when I was a kid and my mom would mix the ends of cereal boxes together to clear the clutter. For as long as I can remember as an adult I have bought several kinds of cereal and dump them all in together. I make a big batch of my mixed cereal, store it in freezer bags and toss the boxes.

This is the current blend I am working on - cheerios, rice/corn chex, puffed wheat, rice krispies, corn/bran flakes. I like the different textures and shapes of the cereal. 

I usually eat a cup of my blend. It is a little tricky to calculate the calories for all the different cereals. Instead of trying to do that I just took the higher end of the cereals I used and call it 120 calories per cup.  None of the cereals are more than that per cup. For the time being my issue is portion control, not whether or not I am eating 20 calories plus or minus for breakfast.

I told you...I am obsessed with blueberries (and bananas) lately. This bowl is 1 cup cereal, 3/4 cup 1% milk, 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/2 banana (280 calories).

I have been reading recipes for the egg muffins. I think I am ready to take the plunge. I've been a little anti-egg in the morning lately - from a taste standpoint.  However, the egg muffins have caught my interest. It also looks like a good way to get a few more veggies in. See exploding garden.

I whipped up a batch this morning using Skinnytaste's recipe.  I had some leftover grilled asparagus and peppers that I chopped up and added to some broccoli.  I ended up using 2 eggs, 6 egg whites, 2 cups veggies, 1 oz shredded Parmesan and 2 Tbsp reduced fat Mexican blend cheese  to make 9 muffins. I am a little confused on how hers came out to so many more calories. I figured them at 44 calories per muffin and double checked it on a recipe calculator which gave me 47 per muffin. I made a half batch according to her recipe, but it looks like we both got 9 muffins. Maybe her muffin pan makes bigger muffins.

I ate one when they came out of the oven - delicious!! I took two to work for my afternoon snack. They were still good in the afternoon, but I did like them a little better fresh from the oven. Maybe I needed to have something with them at snack...a few grapes or something.

What are some of your favorite breakfast options?  Please, please don't say waffles and bacon or breakfast pizza :( 

Side note:  I wore a top to work today that I wore for some our engagement pictures three years ago. After gaining about 20 pounds of "happy to be married weight" the top got stuck in a box in the closet.  Happy to be wearing it again :)

August 2011

July 2014

Look how skinny that husband is!!  Now that I am back where I started I am looking forward to the next side by side when my loss shows up too :)

Change of Scenery

This morning my husband's alarm didn't go off. By the time we woke up he didn't have enough time to get his run in before work. I still had time to get my walk in because I leave much later than he does. Even though he didn't have time to get his run in he did have a few extra minutes to sleep in. So you know I am not going to get out of a cozy bed with a husband in it - so, I didn't walk this morning. I debated getting up...I really did. But I ended up making a deal with myself that since it is unseasonably cool this week that I could sleep in a bit if I walked on my lunch hour at work.

I packed my walking shoes and clothes and headed off to work. About a 11 a.m. I decided to get walking before it got much warmer.  My office is just a block or so off a historic street. I drive down that street everyday to and from work. I was excited to walk down it so I could get a better look at some of the beautiful houses.

This one is for sale!!  Probably a little out of my price range :(

The local school district's offices are in this old house.

Apparently I have no concept of distance.  I thought for sure I would be close to three miles if I walked to the end and back.  But, the street wasn't as long as I thought.  There was a cemetery at the end, so I walked around it for awhile to get in another half mile.

I thought this was a pretty grand entrance to the family plot.

Not to be morbid, but I think cemeteries are fascinating. I love to look at the names. I can't help but imagine their life stories. There were graves from the 1800's. (There were also recent graves as the cemetery is still open for burials.) I saw a headstone for a boy I imagined died in WWI - right year, right age. I saw another headstone with 4 sides - each one had a name and birth/death years - two of the four had died under the age of 3. One had the name and 1900-1900 :( 

I didn't realize how big the cemetery was or that it was so hilly. My legs definitely got some extra burn going up and down the hills.

On the way back to my office I took a detour down a side street to get in more mileage.  I really didn't want to do less than 2.5 miles.  By the time I got back to the office I was at 2.9 so I made a turn and went another block or so to get in a full 3 miles.

With all my exploring and picture taking my pace wasn't anything special, but I was pleased to average about 17 minute miles. I am not sure I will have too many cool summer days, but this fall I will definitely put that route on my walking schedule. I nice brisk walk breaks up the work day nicely too.

Since my husband didn't do his morning run he wanted to run this evening. We went to one of the bike trails to avoid the neighborhood traffic. I rode my bike along with him. I can't believe how far he has come. He ran 5 miles - each under 10 minutes - last one in 8:13 - CRAZY!

Of course, I took lots of pictures. The sky was incredible with the fluffy white clouds on the perfect blue sky background. Thankfully, I did not run over my husband taking my crazy shots. I was a little scared for him in this first one.

Home for dinner. Tonight was chipotle pork and pineapple lettuce wraps. It is an adaptation of a pineapple pork taco I've made in the past.

Today was a much better day than yesterday. I appreciate all your kind words of encouragement.  I know we all fight the same feelings at times and I know you understand :)

All in a Day and Weigh-In

Another weigh-in has arrived.  This is weigh-in number 8.  Okay, first I would like to congratulate myself on sticking with this for 8 weeks. And the best part is I am not considering giving it up :)  I am thankful that my husband and I were ready at the same time to do this and that we have been able to encourage each other through the rough spots.

So, today's meeting with the scale says I am down 1.6 pounds.  I am very happy with that...but (why is there always a but?) it leaves me just .4 short of getting into another ten zone. It feels so good to see the second number on the scale change too :) 

I think I am getting my faster walking groove back.  At least I hope so since we have a race on Saturday.  Yesterday we had some crazy thunderstorms. This morning the temperature was crazy low for July in the 50s.  It felt great!!  Anyway, I managed to be under 15 minute miles for 2 or the 3 miles. With this race being a 5k and the competition of the other racers I am really hoping for sub-14:30 miles. The race is the evening so I am not sure how that will factor in.

Speaking of it being an evening race I have a question. I have thought it good to have a rest day before the race. I walk in the morning and since this race is in the evening I am a bit conflicted. Should I just rest Saturday morning or should I rest Friday morning too?  Any thoughts?

See this sweet innocent kitty...it kind of freaked me out this morning. I was walking along and all the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this white steak coming across a yard and into the street behind me. I turned and the cat was coming right for me. Seriously, am I about to be mauled by a puddy-tat?  Thankfully, when I turned the cat changed course and continued to cross the road.  Then it stopped and gave me the stare down.

I suspect these people are waiting for someone else to come along and clean up their mess. Okay, technically someone does come to pick up branches, but most people pile them on the curb not just toss them in the street. I am constantly surprised by the things I see in the road or next to the road. The most tragic thing was an unfinished McDonalds shake smashed in the middle of the road. Enough remained to tell it had been strawberry. Even the cherry lay on the road :( 

When I finished my 3 miles I waited for my husband to catch up.  I was captivated by the light of the morning sun.  It was a little frustrating to be stuck just with my cell phone camera when I see the "perfect" lighting. The beautiful glow came out much more yellow. I love seeing the "da mooooonn" (name that movie!) during the day.

This monstrous electric pole was installed recently.  One day I was driving over to my sister's house and all kinds of construction equipment was driving up to a house. By the time I went home (an hour or two later) the house was demolished...turns out it was destruction equipment rolling up. Apparently the power company decided it was better to buy the people out and tear down the house rather than to try to work around the house. It made me tear up a little thinking about the memories that house held. 

I never get tired of this view - my husband running towards me. He is a little distracted by checking his watch though. His "slowest" mile today was 10:04. Crazy!! You can see we are not the only early birds. The woman in pink always walks her Australian Shepherd around the same time we are out.

Today I got my first FleurtyBand made by Jasmine at Fleurty and Fit. I ordered "Dreamsicle" from her Etsy shop. She was so sweet to include an extra one because I mentioned her on my blog a couple of weeks ago. I can't wait to see how much faster I walk with my hair under control :)  

I have a confession. I tend to write my blog throughout the day when I have a few minutes. Part of the reason I do that is I feel like it gives a more accurate portrayal of my feelings. I want the blog to be honest about the ups and downs of this journey. Today would be a perfect example. I felt pretty good about my weigh-in this morning, had a good walk and then sometime after lunch the bottom fell out. I have noticed the past few days I've been hungry in the afternoon even though I've been doing pretty much the same thing exercise and meals. Then when I am hungry I start to question the process. Am I doing the right things to achieve my goals?

I ended up getting myself all worked up about how hard this is and that I don't want to do it. I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know for sure I have another 50ish pounds I need to lose (then re-evaluate). Today that just seemed overwhelming. By the time I got home from work I was a bit of a mess. I was trying to make dinner through my tears. My husband was doing everything he could to console and encourage me. But you know how it is, sometimes nothing helps, but time.

We had talked earlier in the day about playing frisbee golf this evening.  We haven't played in months. I didn't want my crummy mood to change that plan. It seemed like it would be better than sitting at home stewing. It did help some, but I was still grouchy. I ended up getting down on myself for being a terrible frisbee thrower. Seriously, get a grip!  By the end I settled down some. Perhaps taking Millie wasn't the best idea. It was a little stressful because she didn't quite understand what we were doing and there were a bunch of squirrels taunting her.

On the way to frisbee golf I asked my husband to stop so I could get some chocolate. I got a Dove bar - so good. I don't feel guilty about the calories because it didn't make me go over.  However, I know there was some self medicating going on with that chocolate and I don't know how I feel about that.  That is going to have to be a question for another day. I am getting ready for bed and am just thankful I have made it through the day :)

My Bug-Eyed Husband

Crazy morning!  My husband had a trip today and decided he wanted to get his running and weights in before he left. So he set his alarm for 4 a.m.!!! Yikes!  I didn't want to walk that early.  My plan was to get up when he got back from his run and walk while he was at the gym. I just wasn't motivated to walk in the neighborhood by myself this morning. Not that I couldn't do it or haven't done it many times before I just didn't want to. So I decided I would ride along with him to the gym and walk on the treadmill there.

Before we left though there was a situation. My husband was explaining how while he was running his last lap a bug flew in his eye and his eye was still bothering him. So he asked me to look at it. At first, I couldn't see anything other than irritation and then I realized the bug was still there. It was stuck right in the inside corner of his eye - a relatively big bug. It was horrible! I was trying not to panic, but I couldn't get it out. Finally after dumping in Visine, probing with a Q-tip and using a pair of tweezers he was finally able to get it out. That goes up there with one of the grossest things I have ever seen. No, I did not take a picture. I am hoping to forget the image. 

Okay, if that had happened to me I would have been traumatized. I would probably have bandaged my eye, put on my pjs, got back in bed and waited for the get well cards to start flooding in. My husband, however, just matter-of-factly moved on with his day and off to the gym we went.

The cardio room is upstairs at our gym. For some reason I have trouble with the stairs there. In general, I don't love stairs, especially going down. I have some balance issues and I think going down stairs makes me fearful of falling. However, I really hate going up these stairs also. They don't look different from other stairs, but they seem very awkward to me - like the rise is too high. I am hoping that as I lose weight and get stronger that stairs will become less of an issue for me.

I only had about 40 minutes to workout (the time it takes my husband to do his weights). This morning I started on the treadmill. I set it for 20 minutes at 4 mph. Normally, when I walk on the treadmill I do about 3.8 mph, but I thought since I've been doing around 4 mph outside I should try to up the treadmill. Again, my balance issues come into play and the treadmill makes me nervous...I have to hang on the whole time.  

The walk felt good. I considered just staying on the treadmill for the whole time, but once you hit your set time it goes right to cooldown. Not sure if there is an easy way to extend without slowing down.

Next, I got on the bike for 20 minutes. I set it for level 6 and tried to keep the speed above 12 mph (only a couple slips under that speed). My legs were getting pretty tired by the time my husband came up to get me.

Probably some of the specifics of my workout aren't that interesting on a blog, but I want to document some so I can look back later and see how I have improved. Sometimes my insecurity takes over and I worry that people will think I am just trying to brag. Don't get me wrong, I like all the positive feedback I have been getting. But in the end I want to be able to look back and see where I was, what I have lost, what I have gained, etc.

I love the Special K campaign "What Will you Gain When you Lose?"  Such a great way of looking at the process. I am looking forward to the list :)

Bouncing Back

We have definitely bounced back from yesterday. Even though I didn't go over my calories I wasn't happy with how the day went in general. I felt stressed. One treat just seemed to make me want more. Then there was the constant mental struggle of do I just forget trying for today and "restart" tomorrow.  This morning we were both back on the wagon. I can say with certainty that other times we have tried to lose weight it has all ended with a day like yesterday. I am proud of our determination :)

This morning it was all about the bunnies.  I saw so many of them in the neighborhood while I was walking. I thought it was be futile to try to get a picture of the speedy little things. Not to mention, I was really trying to get a good time this morning. Stopping to take bunny pics would have been a bit counterproductive. So I finally got these shots in my front yard when I finished walking.

 I have been frustrated lately that my mile pace hasn't been improving. In fact I haven't been under 15 min/mile for a couple of weeks. This morning I finally got a sub-15/mile.  Okay, it was 14:45 but I will take it.

After we walked/ran we went to the gym. My husband wanted to get his weights out of the way early. I did some of the weights with him. I was a bit worn out so I did a lot of watching.

Then we got home it was yard work time - UGH! My husband mowed and I worked on the garden. Having those raised beds makes such a difference in upkeep - so much easier than previous years. This morning's harvest was a doozy!

 I planted several things for the first time this year so it has been a challenge to figure out how to use everything. My husband despises Brussels sprouts so I might have to take them to work and make them on a day when I am working alone. Every time I cut the broccoli it sends up more florets - I didn't know it would do that, but I am very pleased.

Our tomatoes are finally starting to make their move. We have 4-5 different kinds of cherry tomatoes this year. I think our favorite will still be the yellow ones - Sun Gold. The stripey green one at the bottom is Green Zebra. These aren't quite ripe, but I had to rescue them after their vine was murdered today by a crazed weed eater. Hopefully, they will ripen up and the other plant will produce well.  The kind of brownish tomato are called Black Pearl. Not the most appetizing color and the flavor was okay. Probably won't plant them again.

I attempted to grow these Mexican Sour Gherkins last year, but my plants died. I am not very skilled at growing plants from seeds :(  This year I managed to get a rather sickly plant in the ground. Then I just direct sowed a few more seeds figuring they didn't have much chance. Well, they grew. The gherkins are about the size of a grape. They have a kind of lemony cucumber flavor. They look like baby watermelons.

We have several jalapenos plants. We are big fans of pico de gallo.  My husband will make tons of it when the tomatoes really get going. This one jalapeno plant is so odd - the peppers are growing straight up. All the others hang down. Weird.

Now you all know since I harvested this morning I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how I am going to work all this produce into meals. Here is what I came up with for lunch. Gotta love the grill.  The corn is actually from my boss' garden. The pork steak is marinated in some of our homemade salsa verde then grilled. I highly recommend grilling green onions/scallions.

That became this.  Pork/veggie tacos with salsa verde and fresh tomatoes. Pork steak is pretty high in calories (220 for 4 ozs.) so I wanted to bulk it up with some veggies. The zucchini and onion worked perfectly. I chopped it all up and mixed it together. I could eat this every day. The corn was so easy. I just put it directly on the grill and it is doesn't take long at all. Sure beats a pot of steaming water in your kitchen.

Dinner was grilled chicken - marinated in rosemary, basil, garlic and balsamic vinegar. So flavorful. I served it with grilled Italian bread topped with a little mozzarella and tomatoes with basil and balsamic vinegar. I splurged awhile back on some pomegranate balsamic vinegar. I have been loving using it. It is going to be gone soon and I have to decide whether or not to invest in another bottle...it was a bit pricey.

There is only so much two people counting calories can eat in one day. So I used some of the cucumbers and onions to make refrigerator pickles. The peppers are store bought - gasp!  We were almost out of the salsa verde so I made a double batch to use up the ripe tomatillos, more onions, jalapenos and cilantro.

Overall, I think it was a pretty productive day!

Hanging with the Niece

I don't even know where to start so I am jumping in basically chronologically.  Our niece spent the night Friday night.  Our weekend started with watching her softball game.  We took Millie...she was mostly good. She just gets so excited when people come over to talk to her. 

When we got home we grilled a few hotdogs and veggies. My in-laws came over.  We had a nice visit hanging out on the deck eating our dinner. I had an idea that I think I need to do more - especially for potluck type get-togethers.  If you don't record your food immediately it is easy to forget some of the little things you had. I was hungry and didn't want to record my food before I ate so I took a picture.  Made it very convenient to record later.  I do like my hotdogs hotdogs in something, but 2 buns at 90 calories each is significant. I found I can have them in a yummy corn tortilla for about half the calories. 

Dinner was good - sometimes a grilled hotdog just really hits the spot. My mother-in-law brought brownies and I couldn't resist having one. She also brought me a very small piece of the blueberry-apricot pie she had made..and I ate that too. So for the first time, according to MyFitnessPal, I went over my daily calories. 83 calories over - oops!

It wouldn't have been a big deal if I had not skipped my morning walk too. I stayed home and cleaned house like a madwoman because we were having company. So that didn't work out for me so well dietwise, but at least the house wasn't a pit :) There is quite a bit of give and take in this process. 

Saturday morning we all got up early and headed out to the levee.  My husband ran his usual 5 miles while my niece and I rode our bikes. We ended up going a little more than 6 miles - by no means a blistering pace but we had tons of fun while getting decent exercise. 

We park by the base of the bridge. I am not sure what is going on with the steep hill sign. Maybe it is to warn people to slow down because the path crosses a road at this point.

As always I love the scenery along the river. This barge is moving over to head into the lock. The last time I saw one going through the lock it was being pushed through this time the barge was going the opposite direction and was being tugged.  

We saw 6 or 7 herons along the river today, including a couple Great Blue Herons. I love watching them.  The one on the right below was fishing - darting his head in and out of the water. 

The river is quite a bit higher than normal right now. Below you can see where it has come over the bike path - thankfully it had receded before our ride. 

However, it has not completely receded yet. Not sure what a water main is doing out here in the middle of nowhere, but it certainly isn't useful at the moment. 

We made it to the turn around spot and headed back to the start. 

My 12 year old niece would like to point out that her shoes are bigger than mine.  She is on the verge of being taller than me too. I am destined to be the family shorty!

After our workout we went to breakfast. That was our planned splurge for the weekend. We planned for it to be within our calories. The calories were higher than we expected - at least as we guesstimated since you can't know for sure at local eateries. I think it might have gotten us off on the wrong foot for eating today. We have been struggling ever since. 

After breakfast my niece and I did a little exploring we found this cool grill.  Yes it is a bull made of metal with a grill in it's back. How cool is that?

The smoke comes out his nose.  The fact we already have a grill kept me from buying it. Well mostly it was the $650 price tag that kept me from buying it. 

When we got back home this happened.

My poor pizza loving husband has been seriously craving pizza, so since we had someone to help us eat it we got one. It probably wasn't the best day to do it after eating out for breakfast. It has been a tough weekend in the food department. I am still in my calorie range...if I have water for dinner. Just kidding. I am actually not very hungry so I think I am going to have a little banana/blueberry smoothie and call it for the day. I can do that and still be in calories. 

So far the weekend has had some ups and downs. Tomorrow is a new day and I know we will be fine. I will be burning up the pavement in the morning and making healthy home cooked yumminess :