Movin' On

Visit me here.

Or for the hyperlink adverse, inmytummy.wordpress.com

Technical Difficulties

I'm not sure what's up with my header. I changed it a little bit but it's supposed to be the same color as before, not this strange blue. It looks normal when I open it in Photoshop or Preview.

Anyway, the reason for my new header is that I decided that talking solely about what I eat everyday is sort of boring. At first, I was inspired by a bunch of popular food bloggers and thought it'd be a cool thing to do. But then I realized that taking a bunch of food pictures is not that fun and I'm way too lazy. So I decided that I should talk about other things too. I am more than just what I eat and how much I weigh. Sure, that stuff takes up a huge chunk of my brain, but there are plenty of other things in there too.

So, a non-food about me type dealio.

35 things about me:
1. What is your occupation? My actual title is Graphic Production Coordinator. Don't ask me to explain what that means.
2. What color are your socks? I am sans socks at the moment.
3. What are you listening to right now? The music that is myself typing.
4. What was the last thing you ate. Skinny Dipper popsicle
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Damn straight
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Silver
7. Last person you were on the phone with? Jason
8. Do you like the person that sent this to you? I stole it from a random blog. I have no idea.
9. Favorite Drink? Diet Coke although I've given up the crack to some extent.
10. What is your favorite sport to watch? I'm not very sporty
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes
12.Pets? I really want a Golden Retriever.
13. Favorite Food? Hmm, sushi, hummus, salsa, avocado, tuna, soft serve ice cream.
14. Last movie you watched? Sex and the City
15. Favorite day of the year? Whatever day's a holiday.
16. What do you do to vent anger? Cry or call my mother.
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? I liked dolls. I also had these paper people that I drew and played school with. I was a strange child.
18. What is your favorite? Fall or Spring? Probably spring.
19. Hugs or Kisses? I like both.
20. What kind of pie? Pumpkin or lemon merengue. Key lime is good too.
21. Living arrangements? I live by myself.
22. When was the last time you cried? I'm not sure. The happy pills kinda stop that.
23. What is on the floor of your closet? Clothes
24. Who is the friend you’ve had the longest that you are tagging? I'm not tagging anyone. Jason is the only one who reads this, maybe Lauren too. If they want to be tagged, go for it.
25. The friend that you have known the shortest amount of time that you are tagging? No answer
26. Favorite smell? Cookies. And candles that smell like cookies
27. What inspires you? My friends.
28. What are you afraid of? Losing people that I love, losing my job, Right-Wing Conservatives
29. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Veggie burgers. No cheese.
30. Favorite cat breed? Im not a cat person.
31. Number of keys on your key ring? Probably like 6-7. There are some mystery ones on there for sure.
32. How many years at your current job? 1.5 years.
33. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
34. How many provinces have you lived in? I will change this to how many states have you lived in? 3 - Maryland, Vermont and Georgia
35. How many countries have you been to? 5 - Canada, Spain, England, Ireland, France, Italy

Blog sans camera

I wish my cousin would send me my camera. I had a fun weekend and have no pictures to document it by. I might just have to suck it up and buy another one; I'm not so sure how reliable my cousin is. You know, since he ignored my text and email about the camera.

We went to a new restaurant on Saturday night - Zaya. It was middle eastern. I heart that type of food. We got a baba ghanoush appetizer to start off with. Oddly enough, I like baba ghanoush although I don't like eggplant. I had the vegetarian platter. It came with hummus, spinach, tabbuleh and lentil stew. The service left much to be desired but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt; it's a new restaurant and it was crowded.

I had a busy day on Sunday. Jason and I had tickets to a Braves game so we decided to get brunch beforehand. We went to the Brewhouse. They have a special of two breakfast entrees and a pitcher of Bloody Mary's for $25. Now who can turn that down? Unfortunately, I didn't choose wisely. I got the tofu scramble which sounds healthy but was just drenched in butter/oil. Of course, I still ate it but it wasn't even that good. After brunch, we made our way to Turner Field and watched the game for a few hours. Afterwards, it was still pretty early so we decided to go to the Highlands for another drink. Jason ordered a hamburger at Moe's & Joe's and pretty much devoured all of his fries. *embarrassed face* After our VA-HI excursion, which included more than one drink, we made our way to Piedmont Park for Unplugged in the Park. The main band was A Fine Frenzy but we were tired and didn't end up staying. I actually ran into this guy that I graduated high school with. That's not common considering I grew up almost 600 miles away. After we left, we got some food from Trader Joe's and went home to eat it and pass out. We were fast asleep by 9:30.

If only I had my camera to document the fun. And the greasy tofu.

Still Alive

I don't know where my time has gone. The whole not being able to surf the internet at work thing really puts a damper on my career as a blogger. I can read other people's blogs (hello copy and paste) but as for updating my own, I just seem to forget.

Anywho, I'm still alive and sans camera. I left it at a friend of my cousin's house in Maryland and am patiently waiting for my cousin to send it back to me.

So no pics, not that I have made any delectable creations anyway.

Lunchtime guilty feeling

We had a luncheon today at Ray's on the River. I looked at their menu beforehand and found some good options. But since they took our entire office of 25 people, they had it banquet style. You got a salad, a choice of entree and a dessert. I ate:

salad
some flatbread
glass of wine
salmon
mashed potatoes
and a whole piece of pie

And then for the rest of the day I felt like a disgusting pig. Such is my life. I don't know why I don't let myself enjoy it. All day I've had a stomach ache and felt like I gained 10 pounds from lunch. I tried to roughly estimate the calories and came up with something insane like 1500.

But life goes on and I know that I didn't really gain 10 pounds. I just want to feel like I'm my regular size and I need to lose like 15 pounds to do so.

Ass successfully kicked

I went to a spinning class today at 6:45. They pretty much have them every day at my gym and I've been experimenting to see which instructor I like the best. I can honestly say this one kicked my ass the hardest. I was dripping sweat and my legs felt like they were going to fall off at the end.

I had a thing of Trader Joe's Asian veggies in my fridge and knew that I needed to make them soon or they'd go bad. So I combined them with a veggie burger and made a black bean/soy/hot sauce and served it on a bed of quinoa. The sauce had a weird flavor and I'm holding the black bean sauce responsible. I don't really like black bean sauce. It's one of those things; it always sounds good to me but then it tastes gross. This sauce really didn't have much flavor, I had to put more soy sauce on my quinoa. It looks pretty but it was nothing to write home about. (That phrase sounds familiar, like I used it very recently.)

Omaha Un-Steak, Stolen Corn etc

Last Christmas, a vendor gave me and three other co-workers a big
cooler of stuff from Omaha Steaks. Everyone thought it was funny
since I don't eat steak. I gave some to Jamie and kept some in my
freezer for Jason. There were a couple of things in the cooler that
weren't steaks. One of which was crab stuffed sole. I decided that
after six months in my freezer, it was time to cook these up. They
weren't too caloric but they did have HFCS in them. We made baked
them and had them with baked butternut squash and canned green beans.
Truthfully, the squash was the only part of the meal that I enjoyed.
The fish tasted very seafoody. I love seafood so it's strange that I
thought a strong taste was bad. And the beans, well, they're from a
can.



My long weekend was filled with little to no home cooked meals. Jason
and I went to the Brickstore for dinner on Friday. I had the Veggie
Gyro (without the yogurt sauce) and a salad. I strong armed Jason
into getting a Turkey Burger. I also had two Hefeweisins. The rest
of the weekend was filled with various other restaurant food and drink
but nothing to write home about.

We did, on Memorial Day, attempt to grill out. Neither Jason nor I
know the first thing about grilling. There is a grill by my pool and
someone had left charoal by it so we just used that and grilled some
steak (for Jason), smart dogs (for me), and some portabello mushrooms.
They all tasted rather charred and not so good. Perhaps the grill
was dirty (dirty with Lord knows what on it.) But the best part was
that there were these random ears of corn that had been on the grill
for a long time. I don't know who's they were, but we ate them.
Gross! But delicious.

Slacky McSlackster

I was all set to go to the gym tonight and then fell asleep on the couch. In my defense, I had a tough night sleeping last night because my air conditioning was broken and it was HOT. I get mad at myself if I don't go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week. I need to be okay with taking at least two rest days a week, maybe three. Working out four days a week is good and something that most people don't even do.

I had read about how freezing tofu and letting it defrost gives it a different texture and it totally does. I made tofu with broccoli and water chestnuts for dinner. The tofu almost took on the consistency of eggs except it was chewier.



I don't really have anything else to write about.

Jason would like to say

That it was Morningstar Farms soy meat in our burritos not Boca.

A first

I went to a spinning class today. I'd never been to one before. I'm not sure; I was always a little intimidated by them. It was definitely working up a sweat and my legs are tired. I liked it okay but the instructor was sort of hard to hear over the music. Plus, he didn't have us do anything to increase or decrease the resistance. Is that normal? I know I can do it on my own, but I thought the instructors encouraged you to make it harder, like a hill? Anyway, I liked the class and now I'm not afraid to try another one. The only problem is that most spin classes are offered at 6 am.

I bought a bikini today from Jcrew.com. It's my cruise motivation. Let's see if it works. I've never worn a bikini in my life.

Crap run

My legs were sore and tired from my workout on Friday, but I forced myself to get out there and at least do a little run today. It was cool and breezy out and if I'd been in the right frame of mind, it would have been perfect for running. But my legs felt like lead and I just wasn't in the mood. So all in all, I did 1.3 miles in 13 minutes. That's my normal pace, but it felt like I was hauling ass so I sort of expected it to be faster than that. I think I need another race to train for. I'm not good at setting my own rules. I like the rigidity of a schedule. I thought about Team in Training today. I always think that might be a good idea but then when it comes down to it, I get scared. I don't run with a running group because I'm afraid of accountability. I trained for a month or so for a race with two friends and hated how I had to be up at a certain time because they were counting on me. When I train by myself, I have the best of both worlds; I have a schedule which force me to run but I still have the leeway to do it on my time. But I think that running with a group would be a totally different experience and it might help me become a better runner.

I don't have any energy. I haven't all weekend. My mom insists that taking Vitamin D supplements will help. I try to but I forget. Multi-vitamin, Vitamin D, Claritin, AD, BC, it's a lot to swallow. Literally! Not to mention that I didn't even learn to swallow a pill until I was about 18.

off and on

I guess that's the definition of moderation; sometimes you're on and sometimes you're off. I felt like that this week. I ate mostly healthy. Jason and I made burritos on Wednesday night. They consisted of whole wheat tortillas, boca meat with taco seasoning, avocado, olives, pico de gallo, jalapenos, salsa and cheese. I had one and then some extra filing without a tortilla. Pretty tasty. I had bought some beer for the Radiohead concert the next night but we were good and didn't drink it. I wanted to crack one opened but Jason didn't want to, so I didn't. I'm a sucker for peer pressure, whether it be good or bad.

Bueno Burritos:


Jason didn't have to work on Thursday so he bought some subs from Subway to eat before the show. We hung out at my apartment for a while and then drove down to Lakewood. It took about an hour to get there with all the traffic (both concert traffic and normal Atlanta rush hour). We missed the opening band, The Liars, but no one really minded. At the show, I had a giant Bud Light that was TEN DOLLARS. Yes, ten dollars for crappy domestic beer. The show was good despite the fact that it rained on and off and they didn't play many of their hits. And that the beer was TEN DOLLARS.

Us at the show:


Radiohead:


On Fridays, I normally go to a circuit training class that's taught by a work friend's husband who owns a personal training studio. Normally there is about 4-5 people in the class and we move through circuits, doing each exercise for a certain amount of time. This time, it was only me and my friend from work Desiree at the class so Kristian (the trainer) just treated it like a regular personal training class and we did everything for a certain amount of reps. I liked this format better though I'm not sure why. He said that my form has gotten a lot better and that I've gotten stronger.

I took a nap after work and then Jason and I met Jamie and Dave at Nam for dinner. We had a bunch of wine and I had the Scallops with beans. They were pretty good. I also had a bite of some sort of crepe appetizer that isn't listed on the menu. After dinner, we made our way over to The Highlander and then eventually to Andrew's apartment to hang out.

We didn't get home until really late but of course, I was up at 9 am. When Jason got up, we went over to Northside Hospital to see Ayse. We couldn't stay for very long and there was a lactation nurse there at the time and Erin was trying to shield her breasts the whole time. I still can't believe she has a baby. She was so little!

Ayse:


No gym today. I got a pedicure and some sushi from Whole Foods, took a nap and then made a tortilla pizza for dinner. Today was meh. Not good, not bad. I didn't do anything horrible (eating or drinking wise) but I didn't do anything good either. I just kind of vegged. I think I'll try to go run at the Park tomorrow morning if we can get up.

Beans, beans

A couple years and more than a couple pounds ago, I used to eat virtually the same dinner every night. I used to have can of Old El Paso refried beans mixed with some salsa. I used to go through about a third to half a bag of Baked Tostitos a night, dipping them into my bean dip. At the time, I didn't think there was anything wrong with this by any means. Low fat beans, low fat chips and even veggies in the salsa. But times they are a changin' and I've cut down on the beans. But when I do crave them, I tend to make a more colorful meal instead.

My new version:


I'm tired but I need to run. I can't even remember the last time I went running. I was going to go last night but that didn't happen and instead I ate a Frosty. (That little fucker had 300 calories in it). This always happens to me when I'm not training for something; my running becomes so inconsistent. I'm doing the Peacthree in July and probably a few 5Ks beforehand but that doesn't really help because I don't need to train for those. Half marathon again, maybe?

Oh jeez, I just looked at my title and realized that I'm going to have gas at the gym.

Productive day

My Friday night in brief:

Fado, beer, quesadilla, GPS went the wrong way, The Depot, salmon salad, Atkins Park, dropping her off on the corner, I hear you talking about me in the bathroom, The Warren, the hot tub is cold, bathtub doesn't seat two very well, sleep.

I don't want to go into detail but I had a fun night, albeit I was not on my best behavior at all. Oh well.

The rest of the weekend was much more subdued. I spent most of Saturday lounging around and doing nothing. I met up with Erin in the evening and we saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." I actually really liked it. After that, we tried to have dinner at Twist but they were too busy so we went next door to The Grape. I had this tortilla thing that had goat cheese and grilled veggies on it. It was sort of like a pizza.

Today was super productive. I managed to: go to Old Navy (although I didn't buy anything), go to Target and leave without spending half my paycheck on random shit, get my eyebrows waxed, go to the gym, refill a prescription, drop off my recycleables at Whole Foods, do some laundry, go to the grocery store and make dinner. Oh and clean the kitchen. I rock.

Speaking of rocking, this was awesome:

I am aware that it looks sort of gross, but it's Creamed Spinach. The "cream" is actually made of tofu, milk and parm cheese and it was really good. I'l be making it again. The salmon in the background was meh. It had an avocado sauce on it that was good, but the actual fish was sort of boring.

I had a diet coke with dinner. And then after dinner, I got snacky. I've noticed that lately I'm not so snacky. I've had a box of cereal in the house for two weeks. I have a bag of granola, some crackers. I don't feel the need to eat it all. But after I had the diet coke, I went rummaging through the cabinet looking for more sweet stuff to eat.

Coincidence? I think not. Buh bye diet coke. Our love affair is officially over.

I write these at work and forget to post them

need to work on my speed. I've been running for long enough that I
should be able to push myself to get faster. I've always heard that
you should work on endurance before you work on speed. I have
endurance. I can run far if I train. I am just a slow poke and don't
want to be anymore. I want to be proud of my race times, not
embarrassed by them.

So last night I did what I thought was a tempo run. It was actually
3.12 miles in 35 minutes. Not fast. BUT, I did walk up a hill
(probably .25 miles) and had to stop for traffic lights. So I am
going to tell myself that I really ran somewhere around the 9:50 mark.
That's why I need that Garmin!

Mission: Healthy Pizza was a success. So successful, in fact, that I
didn't get a picture of it. We used Trader Joe's Whole Wheat dough,
Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce, Trader Joe's Lite 3 blend cheese
(mozzarella, cheddar and monterey jack, I think) and some frozen
pepper/onion blend. The entire pizza came out to roughly 1600-1700
calories. I ate a fourth which filled me up nicely. I had also
snacked on some hummus and crackers beforehand. We paired the pizza
with a bottle of Riesling that I had in my fridge.

I wasn't going to drink last night but I wanted a glass (or two) of
wine. I feel okay today. I think that two glasses is my limit on
school days. Anything more than that and I feel awful in the morning.
I can take the awful feeling if I can sleep it off, I can't if I'm at
work.

I've been using www.thedailyplate.com to count calories. I know that
it can lead to obsession but I really do need to get rid of these
extra 10 pounds that have crept up on me. I've counted yesterday and
today and gotten under 2000 each day with a net of around 1600 when
you factor in exercise. According to this website, I should be able
to lose a pound a week at this rate. So maybe I will be bikini ready
for our cruise in September. Or at least more comfortable in a
tankini.

Mission: Healthy Pizza

So, I figured out that if I use a whole wheat crust, a jar of TJ's marinara sauce and a half bag of light cheese, a pizza will come out to be 1665 calories for the whole thing. So that's approximately 416 cals for two slices. That's a lot. I am not good at only eating two slices. How can I make this pizza better? Less cheese? Mix with fat free cheese? More veggies? The only reason I don't have any listed is that I don't have any at home. Ooh, maybe we could only use half the dough and make the pizza really thin crusted. Then I could have half a pizza for the same amount of cals. I'm a smarty pants. (Until I burn the crust because it's too thin).

Hmmm.

I'm also fighting the urge to go out and have a glass of wine. I know that I'll feel like doo in the morning if I do. What I need to do is get off the computer and go for a run. I'm so sick of my running routes. Half of them are on shady streets and the other half, they're alright, just old.

Oops, Forgot to post this

My weight went up a pound today and I think that's probably because I've been using my birthday as an excuse to eat and drink with reckless abandonment.

Jason and I got all fancied up on Monday night and had dinner at One Midtown Kitchen for my birthday. We had some wine beforehand at my apartment. Neither one of us had been to the restaurant before. They gave us complimentary hummus with a variety of breads and crackers. We ordered a bottle of Savingnon Blanc with dinner. I ordered the tuna and Jason had steak frites. Probably because I was buzzed from the wine, but I felt like trying Jason's steak. It was the first time in probably 10-15 years that I've intentionally eaten red meat. It tasted like, well, steak. I was never a big fan of red meat to begin with so I didn't think I was missing out on much. I also had a bunch of his fries. We wanted to order dessert but there was nothing on the menu that really appealed to me so we split some sort of chocolate peppermint martini instead.

Us at dinner:


Jason with the martini:


Last night, I decided that enough was enough and I needed to get back into my healthy routine. SInce I have about 37893 billion recipes saved in my allrecipes.com cookbook, I read some of them to Jason and had him pick one. He pick spaghetti squash lasagna. Fancy!


It was good but we both agreed that cooking it back in the squash shells was probably more for presentation than anything else. There was a lot of leftover "spaghetti" that wouldn't fit back into the squash when you added the sauce and the cheese. It was good though. I had some leftovers today for lunch and added a stolen* cut-up veggie burger. It was pretty good although it didn't satisfy me as much for lunch.

* I had brought a box of Morningstar Farms Mushroom burgers to work and there were two in my box. I saw a box of Morningstar burgers and there were two in there also so I just opened it. After I cooked it, I realized, "Mushroom lover's burger's don't have carrots in them." It was someone else's and it was the Asian variety. Oops. He didn't seem to mind though.

Happy almost birthday

Yesterday was filled with all my favorite things: running, shopping, friends, seafood, wine and Jason.

I began the day with a 5K. It was the worst time I've ever had in a 5K by at least 6 minutes. I don't know what was wrong with me. I just felt sluggish and it was hilly and at times I stopped to walk which is something that I've never done such a short race. In fact, the only race that I've ever walked in at all was the marathon. Anyway, my time sucked but it was fun anyway and I got a t-shirt that said 420fest 5K. After the race, Jason and I went to this tiny little restaurant in Candler Park. I treated myself and had sweet potato pancakes. I probably ate one and a half.

I did some shopping and then met up with my friends at Six Feet Under for dinner. They had a fabulous patio with views of the city. The weather was perfect. I had on a short sleeved shirt and wasn't cold. I ate 2 pieces of fried shrimp, a fried green tomato, a taste of calamari, fish stew (my entree), some bread and some of Emily's fries. And lots of wine. Needless to say, it wasn't the healthiest of meals but I'm trying not to let it bother me. It was my birthday dinner, after all.

After dinner, we went to The Local for drinks. I had a little too much fun and pulled a classic Lee move and proceeded to start to fall asleep at the table. I had fun though. I also ate some boiled peanuts.

I had a really fun night. What I remember of it! Lol, you only turn 30 once. (And I'm still 29 for a few more hours.)

Oh, and Jason bought me The Stick which we saw at the ING marathon expo.

I want

On an non-window shopping tangent, I went running tonight. 4.25 miles. Finally.

Runner's guilt

I haven't run for two weeks. It wasn't intentional. I ran the half marathon on a Sunday and then went to DC the following Wednesday. I had intended to run there but I sprained my ankle. It's better now and although it's a tiny bit twingy, I was going to run after work tonight. Except that it's like 30 degrees out. Umm, yeah, it's the middle of April and did I mention that I live in Georgia? So I'm sitting here feeling all guilty wondering if I should go to the gym later to run on the treadmill. The obvious answer would be yes if you didn't know that I already went to the gym to lift weights during lunch.

Argh. I'm giving myself an hour to decide.

I bought some Uncle Sam Vanilla Oatmeal the other day and I don't really like it. It is supposed to have soymilk in it, I guess powdered, but it just tastes fakey. I'll eat it though. I'm kind of confused about instant oatmeal. When you look at the ingredients, it says Whole Grain Oats. So is this the same or different from the slow cooking, explode all over the work microwave type?

I basically had the exact same thing for lunch and dinner - stew (which I am aware looks rather disgusting, but I swear it's good) and salad with goat cheese.

The bomb

I made the African Sweet Potato Stew and it was soooo good. I didn't notice, when I bought the ingredients, that it was supposed to be for a slow cooker. So it took quite a while to get the sweet potatoes to soften. I actually ending up eating another dinner because I was hungry and didn't want to wait. So, instead of my good soup (which of course, I sampled later), I had a fake turkey and cheese on wheat, an apple and some sauteed bok choy and mung beans.

Last night had the potential to be an eating disaster because my friend Danny wanted to go out for Mexican food. I suggested Coyote's in Decatur because I knew that they had at least some fish and shrimp items. I didn't eat any chips to begin with but then Danny's friend ordered some guacamole and I had to have some. I had a few chips with salsa, but I didn't overdo it. I also had a very large margarita. We ordered the regular size, but the waitress messed up and brought jumbo. I also had a shrimp salad which was basically grilled shrimp on a bed of romaine with some avocado. It was good but the bed of romaine was tiny. Then we went to Pozole in the Highlands and I had another margarita, this time jalapeno. It was actually quite good.

No more margaritas for me. It's too much of a caloric waste. I'd rather have a beer if I'm going to have a drink. Or wine.

So, my goal for this week is to make a lot of recipes, not drink until Thursday after kickball, start running again and run in a 5K on Saturday morning. Seems doable.

Sleepy Beepy

When I was younger, my mother would always call me a sleepy beepy when I was tired. I think. Either I was a sleepy beepy, or I was just sleepy and my nickname was beepy. Anyway, I've been tired all day. Last night, I had dinner and my favorite frozen yogurt from Yoforia with Erin. Afterwards, I promptly fell asleep at 11. This morning, I woke up at 8, then went back to sleep until noon. So, I probably slept for a good 12 hours. Sometimes I don't know if there is something actually wrong with me or I'm just catching up on lost sleep or I'm just lazy.

My ankle feels better but there is still a tiny bit of a twinge so I skipped the running today. I haven't run in two weeks because of this dumb ankle injury. I did 45 minutes on the arc trainer instead. My neck has also been really stiff. I think I must have slept very strangely because for the past three days, it hurts to turn to the left. This makes driving really fun, let me tell ya.

I need to go to the grocery store super badly. I want to actual make some recipes this week. Because I am weird and get overwhelmed looking at the recipes that I've compiled on my computer, I tend to make them in alphabetical order. So on tap is. African Sweet Potato Stew.

An average day

Sometimes I pretend that if I don't write down what I eat, then it doesn't count. I need to start being more accountable than that. So, here's today. It's an average day. Mostly healthy food but probably a little too much.

Breakfast - plain oatmeal with trail mix (220)
Lunch - Brown rice California Rolls (315); 1 cup mixed fruit (100); Glenny's brownie (100)
Snack - 1 cup mixed fruit (100); cup unsweetned almond milk with agave (60)
Before workout (I was starving) - 2 wasa breads with laughing cow cheese (105)

30 min elliptical (ankle is still not 100%)

Sample pizza in trader joes (100)
Dinner - salad with lowfat ranch (30); shrimp with broccoli and water chestnuts (300); baked chips and salsa (200)

1930. Which I guess is fine. My lunch did not tide me over. I think I need to focus on getting more protein at lunch.

Sidelined

I sprained my ankle. Jason and I are in DC and we were walking to the metro station. There was some construction on the sidewalk and they had put a little wooden ramp down. Unfortunately, the ramp had sort of been squished by a big machine and it was uneven. I stepped on it and twisted my ankle. The construction people were all nervous and kept asking me if I was okay. At first I sort of felt like I was going to throw up. Jason went into Blockbuster across the street and got me some water. After I drank it, I felt okay and thought I could walk it off.

We went to The Holocaust Museum and then met my mom for dinner and it hurt a little but not badly. Then, after dinner, we went for drinks at Jaleo and it started throbbing. We had to take a taxi home even though it was only probably .5 miles.

My mom had some Percoset in the house, so I took one which really didn't do anything except make me fall asleep. Now, the next day, it feels okay when I don't put pressure on it but sore and stiff when I do.

This sucks. This is going to ruin my vacation. Not only will I not be able to run (I'd been hoping to do a 8 mile run on the Crescent Trail) but I'm not really going to be able to walk around which is really what you do when you visit DC.

SUCKS.

April Measurements

Weight - 152
Waist - 28
Tummy - 36
Hips - 39
Thigh - 23
Calf - 13.5
Arm - 10.5

I think this is the exact same as last month. UGH.

Race day

I got up this morning at 5:30, ate a half pita with some almond butter and we were on our way to the Marta Station to go to the race. We got to the station a little after 6 and the train was pretty much all runners. We took it to the Five Points Station and walked to Centennial Olympic Park. I was excited but mainly I was cold! It was probably in the low 40s out. Quite a difference from last years sweltering heat.


I'm cold!

The race began. I crossed the start line about twenty minutes after the first runners. The course was different this year. It went down Piedmont Avenue, up North Ave and then through another street towards the Old Fourth Ward area. I began slowly and began to warm up after about three miles.

The water and gatorade stations were great this year. There was probably one every other mile. I started to get more into a groove around mile 4. It went through Inman Park and Little 5 Points which is always nice for scenery. We went up Freedom Parkway and passed the 10K mat. Then the course looped back up North Ave to North Highland. The marathoners stayed straight on North Highland while the half went left. In the Highlands, I felt good because I was really familiar with the area. I grabbed some pretzels from a spectator.

Around mile 9 or 10, a motorcade came through and it was the man in the lead for the first marathon! He had already gotten to mile 22 when we were all at mile 10. The course then went through the Park and then back up through Tech and back to Centennial Olympic Park. I felt fine during the whole thing. I didn't stop to walk at all. I did stop for every water/gatorade stop though. I also, at some point, had a Jolly Rancher and a Vanilla Gu.

Jason was at the finish line and then somehow found me again after I got my medal and blanket. I ran it in 2:29. That wasn't a PR by any means (PR is 2:17) but considering it was really hilly and I didn't do the best training, it's fine.

I've basically been sleeping and eating all day. I can feel that I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, go away

I have bad running weather luck. Last year it was ten thousand degrees out and this year, it's cold and rainy. Jason and I went down to the race expo at the Georgia Dome last night. It was cool but I remember it being larger and having more free samples last year. We did snag some Larabar samples. Key Lime Pie is really good. And we got massaged with The Stick which now I want. Afterwards, we ate at Sweet Tomatoes which I used to love but don't really anymore. Not sure why. The olives have an odd taste. Plus their fat free ranch is gross. I tried to mix it with regular to get a better tasting "lite" dressing.

Today was pretty much shot because I had to go into work for most of it. Bleh. And now it's raining.

My illegal half marathon mix*
No one - Alicia Keys
Intervention - Arcade Fire
Begin - Ben Lee
Howl - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Story - Brandi Carlile
Saeglopur - Sigur Ros
Blackout - British Sea Power
Lover's Spit - Broken Social Scene (I might remove this, too slow)
Sparkle Me - The Buffseeds
Never Leave Your Heart Alone - Butterfly Boucher
Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
These Days - Chantel Kreviazuk
9 Crimes - Damien Rice
Kryptonite - Purple Ribbon All-stars (yeah, random)
Toes - Zac Brown
Rainbows in the Dark - Tilly and the Wall
Bad Education - Tilly and the Wall
These Streets - Paolo Nutini
All Will Be Well - Gabe Dixon
Belief - Gavin Degraw
Pain Killer - Turin Brakes
Falling Slowly - The Swell Season
A&E - Goldfrapp
Me and Mia - Ted Leo
Here in Your Arms - Hellogoodbye
Between the Lines - Sara Bareilles
This Boy - I'm From Barcelona
Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson
Breathe Me - Sia

4, 3, 2, 1

It's taper week. I did four miles on the treadmill tonight, I'll do three tomorrow, two on Thursday and then nothing until the race on Sunday. I'm starting to get excited. I haven't run a race of any distance since the Peachtree last July. I honestly have no clue how I am going to do. My training started off very sluggishly. I was running 10:30 miles. Lately, I've gotten faster though; today I ran two miles at 9:50. I'm hoping that after this race, I'll start working on speed and that I won't burn out. I don't feel burnt out though.

My taste buds are changing. I haven't had diet coke, save for 1/4 of a can when I was stressed out, in almost two weeks. Even that 1/4 can didn't taste that great. I've been drinking hot tea straight with a splash of soy milk. After the gym, I went to get some groceries. I wanted something sweet. What I really wanted were those Tofutti Cutie ice cream sandwiches (soycream? ice soy?) but they didn't have them. So I bought sugar free pudding and generic redi whip. The pudding tasted fine but the whipped cream tasted like overly sweet chemicals. Bleh. Of course, this didn't stop me from squirting it straight into my mouth, but what fun is a can of whipped cream if you can't do that.

Tangent - When I was in college at some point, I was in the grocery store with my mother. I had gone off to find that whipped cream. All I could find was the type that came in tubs, like Cool Whip. So I went up to some guy that worked in the store and said, "Excuse me, do you have the whipped cream that squirts?" and he goes, "You should watch how you phrase that." I was so embarrassed!

Anyway, I went to the doctor yesterday and she switched my birth control once again. I don't really know why I had to come into the office for her to do that. All it did was make me $30 poorer. I hope this fixes my problem. I honestly have no clue if it will or not. I'm eating better now. I'm mostly off the artificial sweeteners and fake shit and eating all natural stuff. I have cut way down on my alcohol consumption and I'm drinking lots of water and green tea.

Ten sucked

My last long run was today and it sucked. I don't know why but I wasn't feeling it at all. I think part of it had to do with the route that I chose. I basically ran up to Peachtree and did the entire Peachtree Road Race and then back to my apt. The thing about Peachtree is that while there are things to look at and sidewalks to run on, it's still a major road and even on a holiday, trafficky. And people do not like to stop for runners in crosswalks. I ended up walking up some hills in three different sections of the run. I also ended the run down the sketchy street that I've talked about before and got a very uneasy feeling. I normally feel fine on that street but today there seemed to be a large amount of shady people milling about. I need to find a way to get where I want to run without going down that street. It's kind of hard because that leads to midtown and virginia-highlands, where I like to run.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to discuss this weight gain. Basically I think it's from taking the pill and she does not. She thinks it's from an anti-depressant. That doesn't make sense because I've been taking the AD for like two years. She thinks two years into it, I suddenly developed a side effect of weight gain? It just seems dumb because it happened about a month after I started taking the pill. I'm not a doctor, but that makes a lot more sense to me. I don't mind going in and talking to her about it. Maybe I don't need the AD anymore. I'm not sure.

Obsessively checking the forecast

Last year when I ran the ING, it was some record breaking 87 degrees. I got some form of heat exhaustion and ended up throwing up 4 times several hours after the race. So, of course, this year even though I'm doing the half, I'm still checking weather.com every two minutes. Looks perfect now - high of 69 and partly cloudy. Perfect.

Now vs then

I just finished Stage One, workout A from my lifting book. Here is how I've improved in the past 6-8 weeks. (I'm not exactly sure how long it took, I didn't write the dates down)

Squats - I began using an 8 pound weight in both hands doing 2 sets of 15 reps. I ended using the V-squat machine on 90 pounds with 3 sets of 8 reps. I'm not sure how the comparison from dumbells to machine really works but it sounds a lot heavier.

Push-ups - This is hard to explain because I did them on the Smith machine at an angle. When the angle got too easy, I'd lower it. I don't know the exactly measurements but it went significantly lower.

Seated Row - I began with 45 pounds doing 2 sets of 15 reps. I ended with 60 pounds doing 3 sets of 8.

Step Ups - I began on the third setting from the top as far as how high the platform was. I did 15 pounds, 2 sets of 15. I ended with the second setting from the top of the platform, 25 pounds, 3 sets of 8. I AM SO GLAD THESE ARE OVER!! I HATE THEM.

Prone Jacknife - I went from 8 to 15. But I couldn't for the life of me, figure out how to get my body into a pike position. It just didn't work so I put my knees into my chest.

I was going to do my last long run today but then I realized that I had this coupon to The Limited that expires tomorrow and that the mall would probably be closed for Easter so I decided to do it tomorrow instead.

I had an Easter treat - Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are not the worst of the worst. They have 9 grams of fat and 210 calories but they are damn good and I only have them once a year.

Good Friday

I had today off work which is so nice. I love it when I have random days off that don't really feel like I should. Today was pretty productive actually. I took my car in to get some brake stuff done. The brake place was a mile from my apt, so I left my car there and walked home. Then I walked back to pick it up. So, that was 2 miles. Then I ran 5.5 later on. I enjoyed my run. I am finally to the point where I like to run again and that's good since my half marathon is in a week and two days. I have one more long run and then a few short ones and then I'm done. I definitely don't want to take a long hiatus from running after this race like I did after the full last year. It was not fun getting back in good running condition. I already signed up for the Peachtree. So did Jason and I'm really proud of him for doing so since he is not really a runner. I think that if I can run races, anyone can. I know that everyone says that but seriously, back in college, I was lazy and overweight and if I can overcome that and be an athlete, anyone can.

Here's a number for you. 7. You know what that is? It's the number of days that I've gone without a diet coke! And while we're at it, here's another number. 30. That's the number of days until I turn it. Ahhh.

Analysis

of the new Trader Joe's items. Yes, I've tried them all.

Yerba Mate - I know that I don't really like this. It tastes grassy. I really bought it to use as a stimulant in the morning instead of caffeine but just don't care for it. I think I'll just do tea. I actually had some coffee today with almond milk and a pinch of real sugar. I was getting headachey. I just don't like coffee very much. Or maybe it's just the kind that we have at work which is Starbucks. I know some people don't care for that.

Fruit Popsicles - This was really the only new item that I liked. I thought it was 100% fruit but there is fructose and something else in it. They only have 80 calories though and they were pretty big and took a long time to eat. I just looked and they have 21 grams of sugar. I think that's too much. If it was just from the fruit, that'd be fine.

White Bean Hummus - this was okay but had a very pungent taste that I can't describe. I'll stick to regular hummus. I actually don't care for TJ's hummus that much. They're decent but I much prefer Sabra or the Costco brand.

Puffins - Eh.

Caccitore simmer sauce - Tonight I decided that I was going to make a black bean sauce stir-fry because I had this package of stir fry veggies to use up. I added some frozen peppers and these random mung beans that came with my Vietnamese take out last weekend. And shrimp. But at the last minute, I decided to use the simmer sauce instead of the black bean. Not that great. It didn't have much flavor. Maybe I didn't put enough on it. The veggies were definitely more conducive to a Chinese tasting sauce. It was pretty colorful though:

Bingey

I met Jamie out for a drink for St. Patrick's Day. I had two beers. I hadn't eaten and I got home and ate:

steamed broccoli
tuna mixed with salsa
yellow peppers dipped in salsa
cracker with hummus
popsicle

Okay, that doesn't sound that bad if you think of it like a meal.

ETA - that was my dinner. That wasn't after dinner snacking.

Nice day

Yesterday we had a tornado, today was sunny and beautiful. Go figure. Last night, I went to a baby shower for my friend Erin. I think I did pretty well, foodwise. I basically had a bunch of celery with hummus; some pretzel snack mix and a little bit of mac and cheese. Not great, but not horrible. Everyone was going out to Fado to celebrate St. Patty's Day but I was tired and knew that I had to run the next day. Plus, I didn't feel like dealing with huge crowds.

This morning, Jason and I had lunch at Lettuce Souprise You. My salad basically consisted of normal veggies, along with a few egg whites and some low fat ranch. I also had a cup of vegetable soup, a low fat pineapple muffin (small) and some orange slices. With WATER!!!

9 mile run was fine. I hate the beginning and end of my runs because in order to get to the neighborhood that I like running in, you have to begin in a sketchy area. I think a cracked out man told me I was beautiful today. I wasn't sure. There was nothing really monumental about the run. I felt fine the whole time. Around mile 8, back at the sketchy street, I just really wanted to be done, but I think that's normal no matter how long the distance is.

I went to Trader Joe's and bought some interesting new things. I bought the following, all of which I have never tried before:
Caribbean Fruit Floes (popsicles)
Puffins Cereal
Yerba Matte (to drink in the mornings instead of diet coke)
Cacciatore Simmer Sauce
Blood Oranges
White Bean and Basil Hummus.

Yum.

You can't run during a tornado

Last night a tornado blew through Downtown Atlanta. There was a lot of damage. Fortunately, the area where I live just really got a bunch of heavy rain. Jason wanted to go out last night before the storms hit but I wasn't feeling like it. So we ended up getting Vietnamese food and watching a movie (which turned into watching the news.) We got home right when it started to rain. It's very fortunate that I was tired because the area where he wanted to go, East Atlanta, had reports of car windows being broken and debris in the streets.

Another heavy storm came through at around 6 am. And they are predicting another one! This does not bode well for my running plans. I was planning on doing 9 miles outside this morning. I don't want to go now, even though it's not raining, for fear that I'll get caught in a storm. I don't want to go to the gym because 9 miles on a treadmill is torture. And I don't want to go tomorrow because I'm supposed to go to a baby shower and then out for St. Patrick's Day tonight. The baby shower is at 6, so I'm sort of hoping that if we do get more storms, they'll get here already and I'll still be able to fit my run in. If not, I guess I'll suck it up and do it on the treadmill. Ugh.

I go to this circuit training class sometimes on Fridays. It's taught by a co-worker's husband who owns his own personal training studio. I mentioned to him that I'd been lifting weights consistently for a month now and haven't seen any results. He asked if I was also doing cardio. I said I was running aroun 15-20 miles a week. He asked about my diet. I said it was pretty decent. Then he asked about soda. I told him that I only drink diet. He told me that the body still produces insulin (I could be getting this wrong, but something to this effect) because it's being fooled into thinking that it's getting sugar. So somehow that extra insulin causes you to store your carbs as fat. Or something. But in any event, he told me that the other trainer there, Dory, had her very-overweight father stop drinking diet soda for a month and he lost 30 pounds without exercising or making other changes to his diet.

So I figured that I'd try it. I had one yesterday. I am going to try, for the most part, not to have any for a month and see if that changes anything. Today is day one.

Loooong week

This week has been long and stressful. Fortunately, I have kept to my workout schedule. Yesterday I ran 5 miles. When I mapmyrun'd it, it said 4.7 but I think it was five. I did weights today. This is what I did:

5 minute walking warm up
Deadlifts - 50pounds, 3 sets of 10
Dumbell shoulder press - 15 pound dumbells, 3 sets of 10
Lat pulldowns - the first set I did 75 pounds, that was a little too heavy so I bumped the weight back down to 67.5 for the last two sets
Walking lunges - 30 pounds, 3 sets of 10 on each leg
Swiss ball crunch - 10 pound weight, 3 sets of 25

I have to admit, I'm getting frustrated. I feel like I'm working out a ton, I'm eating better and I'm seeing NO results. I'm not going to quit, but it's frustrating. My eating has been fine:

Breakfast - 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt mixed with mixed berries and some crushed graham crackers (I had been having this with cereal and it's much more filling.)
Snack - 2 eggs. I ate mostly the whites with a tiny bit of yolk.
Pre-workout snack - Quaker Harvest Oatmeal that I found in my desk

Lifting

Lunch - 1 cup tomato/red pepper soup; steamed green beans with almonds
Snack - 4 cuke slices with laughing cow cheese
Dinner - stir fried (in cooking spray) veggies with some shrimp and tofu with black bean sauce; 4 little pieces of cheese
Dessert - vegan orange muffin with pudding.

The muffin wasn't great but it was small and at most, it was 300 calories but I doubt it was that much. It was organic too and I really wanted it.

Awful day

Today was not a good day. I made what potentially could be a very expensive mistake at work. I didn't make the mistake today, but it was noticed. I spent the entire day waiting for an email saying if it was going to be okay or not and haven't received one. I'm taking it as no news is good news. Then, I made another stupid mistake that ended up costing my boss like $100. The littler mistake was me being rushed and dumb and not paying attention. The big one was an honest mistake. Something that I probably should have known, but for whatever reason, it didn't occur to me.

Despite the awfulness of the day, my eating was good.

• Breakfast - greek yogurt with one serving mixed berries and 1 serving cereal
• Snack - hardboiled egg

Gym - Lifting. I have started to be able to do real push-ups! This is a big accomplishment. I can't go down super far, but I can definitely do 10.

• Lunch - Yummy salad made with spinach, shrimp, hearts of palm, cucumbers, red and green peppers and onions. With 1 serving of Ken's Light Olive Oil Vinigrette dressing; Larabar
• Dinner - Flounder with veggies; 1 wasa bread cracker with salsa; quaker natural harvest granola bar (I wanted something sweet.)

I was super excited to eat my salad. I'm going to have to make that again. I love it when salads are full of good stuff. Props to my little sister for suggesting hearts of palm. The Flounder was okay. It didn't have a great flavor.

ETA - I just got munchy and had two more wasa crackers with salsa. Anyone have any suggestions on how to curb the after dinner muchiness?

Great Eight

Last week I skipped my eight mile run. I just wasn't in the mood. Today I was and I'm really glad because it was a really good run. I had big ambitions this morning. I was going to get up early, run the eight miles and then cook pancakes for Jason. But it didn't really happen that way because it was too cold. I'm a wimp about the temperature. I know that people living in the north would totally make fun of me but 32 degrees is way too cold. So, instead I went back to sleep for a few hours.

Lately, I've become sort of domestic. A domestic diva if you will. (Really, no.) But I have been doing one thing and that's making pancakes for Jason on the weekends. I bought Hodgson Mill's Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancake mix. It's good. Jason, who is not a huge fan of Whole Wheat (really, Whole Wheat pasta), likes it a lot. Today I chopped up a banana and put that in them. Last weekend, I did strawberries. I'm thinking blueberries would be good. Or apple. I'm not sure how apple would work though.

Jason had to go to work *sad face* so I got ready for my run. I stopped at a gas station that was on the way and was annoyed because they didn't have Propel. The thing that I like the most about Propel compared to other sports drinks is that it comes in a squeezy top bottle and I don't risk spilling it all over myself. So, I settled for G2. Of course, after I bought it, I realized that there was HFCS in it, but I had already bought it so I figured I'd just drink it but I'd remember for next time. It did not come in a squeezy top bottle.

The first mile of this particular route sucks. I live off of a road that's rampant with strip clubs, head shops and sex stores. There are a lot of shady people walking around. But in order to get to the neighborhood that I wanted to run in, it's the best way to go. It's about a mile before I can turn off of that road and into a nicer area. My favorite place to run is Virginia Highlands. It's about 2.5 miles away and I just love all the people watching. There are always people with dogs and it's just a fun place to run through. Someone did ask me if I wanted to adopt a dog today. Apparently, this dog is a "good running partner." The Highlands part of the run is great. Then I go past the Park which is nice too. Then the run gets yucky again because I'm going back to the street of ill repute. But the good part is that it's almost over at that point.

I'm glad that eight felt relatively easy. It's suddenly occurred to me that the race is in 3 weeks.

Feels like a Sunday

But it's not. Yay. I love that. I went to Eclipse Di Luna last night for dinner with Adina and some of her friends (and some mutual friends). The thing about tapas is that no one ever gets enough food! It's even harder when you're trying to eat healthy and you don't eat chicken, pork or beef. I had some sauteed spinach, ahi tuna, a few potatoes and some mussels. Oh, and a piece of bread dipped in the tomato broth that came with the mussels. And wine.

After that, we went to a local gay bar for drinks and dancing. I actually had a lot of fun despite the crowds. I drank a little too much, but it was a lot of fun. Jason met us out and fortunately, drove me home. When we got home, he was starving so he made a veggie burger with a slice of low fat cheese and marinara sauce and then some All Bran crackers with almond butter on them. We shared.

All in all, not too bad.

I went to Bloomingdale's this morning to exchange the jeans. Except they wouldn't let me since I'd ordered them online and with a gift card. They took them back, but now they have to send me another gift card in the mail! What a pain. So that means that I have to wait for it to come and then go back to the mall. I hate Bloomingdale's. I always feel so out of place. I was wearing workout clothes and I felt the same way that I'd feel if I were wearing that in a nice restaurant. I went there for designer jeans but whenever I wear them, I feel like an imposter.

The Jean Dilemma

I received a gift card to Bloomingdale's a while ago. Now I know it's not the smartest idea to buy jeans on the internet but I found a free shipping code and I didn't feel like braving the crowds at the mall. So I ordered these jeans that I liked in a size 30. They just came today. They're stretchy so I don't know what they'll be like after an hour of wearing, but they were definitely on the snug size. I'm sure that size 31 would be perfect. So here's my dilemma. Do I return them in exchange for a bigger size or do I keep them in the hopes that I will lose these pesky 10 pounds? They were expensive so I don't want to feel like I just wasted a bunch of money (or rather a gift card) but on the other hand, maybe it'll be a good motivational tool.

I did a circuit training class with some of my co-workers at lunch. It was good for some variation. I have pretty much followed my workout schedule to a T this week. I'm glad that I scheduled my 8 mile run for Sunday and not tomorrow because we're supposed to get snow flurries. Come on. It was 70 degrees today. Like I told Jason a few weeks ago, I'm going to start a band and I'm going to call it, "I live in the South, so why is it so fucking cold??" except not with the question marks or I may have to drop them like Panic at the Disco.

Okay, random. I need a nap.

Today was better

There's really nothing you can do about a bad eating day except start over and that's what I did today. I'm trying to see that I get a mixture of carb, protein, fruit/veggie and maybe a little fat in each meal. Lauren is right in her comment from my previous post; my diet is definitely heavily focused on carbs.

Apparently, this is just going to turn into a list of what I eat everyday kind of blog, but whatever.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese mixed with 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 banana and 2/3 cup cereal.
Lunch - that same damn tuna/bean wrap that I've had for the past few days; non fat yogurt; clementine
Snack - a pear; later some raw broccoli with low fat ranch
Pre-workout snack - 2 pieces of low fat cheese; 1 wasa bread

5 Mile run

Dinner - courtesy of Chef Jason - whole wheat penne with marinara, peppers and olives and a bit of cheese; salad with low fat ranch.

I don't normally eat so much pasta but Jason wanted to cook dinner and it's one of the things that he likes to make. I've gotten him in the habit of buying whole wheat. He doesn't like it but I think it'll grow on him. He also bought some Two Buck Chuck. I did not partake. I had Cherry Coke Zero instead and that was fine with me.

Mile 5 mile run was on the treadmill at Jason's apartment gym. Let me gush about this apartment gym for a minute. First of all, there are 4 treadmills, 4 ellipticals, 2 bikes and 2 stairmasters. And, they all have personal TVs on them! When we got there, there was only one free treadmill and of course that was the one that had the broken TV. So I did 2 miles on it and when another one freed up, I did the remainder on it. Running does go by a lot quicker when you have Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on.

My feet are blistery.

Tailgate = bad choices

There was a tailgate party yesterday for a girl I work with's wedding shower. I thought I did okay, except for the beer consumption. But the scale shows otherwise. I'm freaking out, the number just keeps going up and up. My mother actually said that she'd pay for me to go to an RD for my birthday (in April). I'm thinking about taking her up on it. I just feel like in order to be thin, I have to work SO hard and there must be something I'm doing wrong.

Yesterday:

Breakfast - oats made with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 small banana.
Lunch - 2 figs; wrap made with tuna/bean/veggie mixture; low fat yogurt
Tailgate - Ugh, 4 beers; some hummus and pita; a few chips; some peanuts
Dinner - clementine; 2 slices of Kashi pizza (250 cals for that)
While watching Project Runway - roughly 10 All bran crackers with salsa

So I see the problem was the beer and the snacks at the tailgate but I don't know. It's hard to be perfect all the time.

Frustrated

I've been trying to lose these stubborn 10 pounds since New Years and haven't lost anything. I really don't understand. I'm lifting weights. I'm training for a half marathon. I'm trying to weigh most of my food to get a grasp on correct portion control. I'm drinking less. But none of it seems to be working. Maybe I'm still eating too much? Maybe I'm eating too much fake stuff? I don't know. Take a look:

Yesterday

Breakfast - Oats made with 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup water; mixed with a banana (roughly 80 cals) and some agave nectar. (310)

Snack - Harvest Oats Granola Bar; tea with agave nectar (210)

Lunch - wrap on Light Flatout Bread. Made from tuna, beans, salsa and a little bit of light ranch dressing; clementine; fat free greek honey yogurt (495 - estimate, I dont know how many cals the wrap had)

Snack - low fat cottage cheese with pineapple (come to find out this has hfcs in it - i won't buy it again); clementine (145)

Dinner - veggie burger; sauteed squash; salad with oil and balsamic and feta; serving refried beans (600?)

Dessert - 100 cal ice cream sandwich (100)

After workout - slice low fat cheese (50)

Workout was run 5 miles. Any suggestions? This is 1910 calories give or take. Is that too much? Maybe it is. My snacks are too big, I think.

A random picture post

Tonight's Dinner
Last Night's Dinner
Grocery shopping!

My boyfriend

Gym tonight was good. I am in a phase where I think I like lifting better than running. It's kind of too bad that I'm feeling like this when I'm running a half marathon in less than a month. I'll be okay though. I'll get it done. I know it's not going to be my best time ever, but I'll do it.

I have to brag about something. I know it sounds lame, but I just realized that I can do 5 push ups. I used to be able to do one! So, these workouts ARE working and I am getting stronger.

March Measurements

Weight: 152
Waist: 28
Belly button: 36-37 depending on how tight I pull the tape measure
Hips: 39.5
Thigh (at largest part) 23.5
Calf (at largest part) 13
Arm: 10.5

I will be doing this once a month to see if I make any improvements. Ideally, I'd like to lose about 10 pounds.

Slacky

I didn't run yesterday because Jason and I went to Commerce to meet his parents for a late lunch. Okay, I could have run beforehand, but I didn't. I know from previous experience that leaving my long run for a Sunday is not a good idea. I should have gotten up early this morning to do it, but I wanted cuddle time with Jason and frankly, I am a slacker. So, here it is 4:45 pm and I still am supposed to get in 8 miles. I have a few options. The most attractive one is not to run at all. But I also could do the 8 miles at the gym on the treadmill or split it up and run 4 today and 4 tomorrow. I know that splitting up the long run kind of counteracts the point, but oh well. This is the first time I've really gotten to relax all weekend and I don't feel like spending it running. I know I'll feel better if I go, but I just don't want to.

Whine, Whine, Whine.

I just came to a realization. It's okay to not do it. I am extremely hard on myself when it comes to working out and eating right. I feel like if I'm not going to the gym one day, that needs to be scheduled into my plan and it needs to be for a reason (dinner plans, vacation etc) But you know what, I went to the gym 5 times this week, I can take 2 days off. It'll be okay. I wont get fat and I won't mess up my half marathon training plan. I tend to be so strict on myself on the weekends that I don't get any relaxing time. It's go, go, go constantly whether go is running or workout out or going out with friends or what have you. I just want to do nothing for a while and I think I'm entitled.

Should I or shouldn't I?

Sign up for the Silver Comet 10K next weekend?

Saturday

I have somehow become one of those people where I eat really well during the week but lose all control on the weekends. Last night Jason and I had tickets to Regina Spektor. We were going to take Marta there so we decided to have dinner and some drinks at Taco Mac before getting on the train. I tried to order what I deemed the healthiest thing on the menu, the Portobello Wrap with steamed veggies. It was not that good. Taco Mac's food pretty much sucks. They have an awesome beer selection though. I had two Purple Hazes which they have on tap! We got to the concert, which was good but short, and then decided afterwards to have a drink at The Sun Dialwhich I had never been to before. We both had a martini. Then we got home and I pigged out. Jason actually drove my car to Kroger and bought sushi (not badly really but granted this was 1 am) and I ate that and a bunch of cereal. Ugh, I just have to immediately go to sleep after I've had any alcohol whatsoever or I will eat the entire contents of the kitchen!

Oh well, today is another day. We're going to the outlets in Commerce later and I am going to meet the parents for the first time (!)

Today is my rest day. Tomorrow is 8 miles.

On track

This weeks been good. I've kept up with my workouts and my eating has been decent. I've been really munchy today though and I'm trying to figure out why. I ate some "empty" stuff - rice cakey things. It seems like, while they are good, I'm not getting much bang for my buck there. I think that I identified a big problem though. I think I make my meals too little and then am still hungry and snack instead of just eating a bigger meal. Example - for dinner I made stir fried bok choy, broccoli, water chestnuts and shrimp. But that's all I made. And of course, after I was snacky and picked around in the kitchen. I think that I need to really try to eat real meals.

4.5 miles twice this week went okay. I am running slower than I used to but I'm not really that concerned about that right now. 8 miles this weekend. The race is coming up, it's in a month. I'm thinking about running the Silver Comet 10K next weekend too.

Ice, Ice, Baby and other randomness

I wanted something sweet to eat after dinner and freezer burnt Skinny Cow popsicles weren't going to cut it. So that left me with one lone choice - Jello. I never understand one thing about it though. That's the speed set method. Okay, so it says to use 3/4 cup of boiling water and 1/2 cup cold water. Got that part. Then it says to add enough ice to make 1.25 cups. Now what does that mean? I took it to mean fill up the measuring cup with .75 cups of ice but if that's the case, they should just write that and if not, I guess I'm having some watery Jello.

I lifted weights at lunch and now I don't know if I want to go to the gym again or do nothing. Sometimes I feel like I should save my do nothing days for days when I'm really tired or have other plans or a hangover or something. So it's either stay home, run 4.5 miles or do the elliptical. The last of which really accomplishes nothing but then I feel like I can say that I went to the gym. In any event, this is what I did at lunch:

• 5 minute warm up on bike.
• Deadlift - 2 sets; 12 reps first set at the weight of the bar (which I think is 45 pounds) plus 10 extra pounds, second set the weight of the bar plus 15 extra pounds - this time I did them straight legged and still feel like my form is off. I think I really need to have someone show me how to do this properly.
• Dumbell shoulder press - 2 sets; 12 reps.; 12 pound weight in each hand.
• Lat Pulldowns - 2 sets; 12 reps; 67.5 pounds. Woo - I used to do this at 45.
• Lunges on alternating legs - 2 sets; 12 reps per leg - 10 pound weight in each hand.
• Cruches - 2 sets; first set was 50 regular crunches, second set was 30 reverse crunches.

I've been cooking more lately. Which is great in all respects but one. I am constantly emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen. Everytime I turn around, there is a mess of dishes in the sink. I cook for one, sometimes two people, I can't imagine what it'd be like to cook for a family. Of course, then I'd make the kids do the dishes.

I also discovered at about 2 in the afternoon that I'd been wearing my underwear inside out all day. My lacy thong. Who does that? Not only was it inside out and I didn't notice in the several bathroom trips that I made in the morning, but I changed into and back out of my gym clothes and still didn't notice!

Derailed

The weekend wasn't so great, food wise. On Friday night, Jason and I went out to dinner at some random little bar that is near my apartment, sort of, but I'd never been in. It was weird, like stepping into a small town. It was very family oriented and sort of country. Anyway, I ordered a veggie pita with steamed veggies. It was okay. The description of the pita said it came with some sort of dressing and I asked for it without it. The waitress informed me that it was already mixed together and asked if I'd like to try it. It just seemed like an oil and vinegar type dressing, so I got it.

We left after the meal and went home and watched a movie. Yeah, I've become boring.

Saturday is where the diet derailment began. I had a 7 mile run scheduled. I was going to do it while Jason was sleeping but I just wasn't in the mood. So, I waited until about 2. It started out badly. I felt super sluggish. I almost talked myself into not running the full distance many times. But I knew that if I didn't get it over with, it'd just be there the next day and I'd be mad at myself. So I finished it. I walked up some hills but mostly I ran. I got into a zone at about Mile 4. That's been happening lately. I used to start to feel that way at Mile 3, but for some reason now it doesn't happen until 4. When I came back from the run, I had to get ready quickly because one of my friends and I had tickets to go to this Oyster Festival and she was coming to pick me up at 3:45. I hadn't eaten lunch yet and wasn't really hungry but decided, for some reason, that what I needed was a bunch of fat free ice cream. I probably ate at least 3 servings. We got to the Oysterfest and it was horribly crowded. Like push your way through the crowds, stand in line for 20 minutes to get a drink crowded. So we left and went out to dinner in the Highlands.

All was fine until the pitchers of Stella started coming and my willpower just went out the door. We went to a different bar and met up with some other people and one of my friends ordered chips and salsa which I ate a bunch of. Then Jason came to meet us out and he ordered hummus which I also ate. I had already had hummus for dinner!

All in all, it wasn't terrible, I suppose. On a good note, I just realized that Map My Run has a Follow Streets option. I think this is the best discovery I've made so far in 2008.

Riddle me this

Why do running shorts always, always, always ride up? I don't understand. I've tried various lengths, bought them in different sizes and no matter what I do, they ride up. So I'm that girl. The one that looks like a fool on the treadmill trying to get her shorts to fall normally. Does this happen to everyone? It's always happened to me and that's one reason why I've worn capris in all of the races that I've done. Well, the longer ones. You'd think that someone who invent shorts that don't ride up. Maybe I should try a running skirt. Or maybe I'm doomed to a life of spandex.

At least I ran 4.5 miles. Bitching about my shorts in my head the whole way, but 4.5 miles anyway.

And on the eating front, add a ton of almonds and a slice of cheese to my previous list. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Cut off

I have been a bottomless pit today. So freaking hungry at work. It started innocently enough - egg beaters with a cheese and tomato slice open faced on a slice of bread. About a cup, maybe a little less, of Blueberry Kefir. But then around 10:30, the tummy rumblings started, as they normally do. And my dumb ass ate an apple. News flash, an apple is good for food cravings, when I just want something to eat, not so good when I'm actually feeling like my stomach is going to eat itself. I need to have snacks with a little fat and protein. But no. So a half hour later, I'm still famished and I my "afternoon" snack - triscuits. Then I decided I still wasn't full so I made a protein shake. And by shake I mean putting protein powder in milk and shaking it. Mind you, this was all before lunch.

Lifted weights at lunch:
Squats on the V-squat machine - 2 sets of 12 reps. One at 50 pounds, the second at 55.
Push ups at a 45 degree angle on the Smith machine - 2 sets of 12 reps
the thing - I always forget what it's called - it's for your back and works your biceps too. Anyway - 2 sets of 2 reps. First at 45 pounds, second at 52.5.
Step ups - 2 sets of 12 reps. 20 pounds both sets.
An ab thing - 2 sets of 15 reps. I was supposed to do Swiss Ball Crunches but nary a Swiss Ball could be found.

So, yeah, back to eating. I stopped at Subway and got a Veggie Delite (mustard; no cheese) and apparantly Subway has all these new "healthy" chips. I tried the Flat Earth Peach Berry Mango. Damn good. And if you check out their website, you'll see that you can print a coupon for a free big bag of chips. You're welcome.

So, didn't have an afternoon snack because I'd eaten them. Then I got stuck in horrible traffic. This city just falls apart if there is any sort of precipitation. It took me an hour to get home. I work 13 miles away. Had a normal dinner. More of the Mexican Pasta salad and steamed broccoli. Then I had a piece of bread with sugar free jelly.

Still kinda munchy. I need to run 4.5 miles today. No backing out like I did yesterday.

Maybe I was doing them right

My hamstrings are sore! Maybe I was doing the deadlifts correctly after all. I was reading somewhere about how a lot of women have a discrepancy between the strength of their quads and the strength of their hamstrings. I know that my quads are much stronger. In pilates class, I have a lot of trouble doing the bridges, especially on one foot. These are hamstring exercises. When I snowboard, I have a lot of trouble standing up on the board. (I mean physically getting up from strapping my boots in.) After trying to figure out forever why I had so much trouble, I summed it up again to weak hamstrings. Despite all the running I've done in my life, my legs really aren't as strong as I'd like them to be. I guess the ol' theory of "I don't need to do legs, I run" doesn't really cut it.

I ran 4.5 miles yesterday on the treadmill. It feels strange that I'm already more than half done with my half marathon training. I am not very confident in myself to tell the truth. I know that I'll be able to finish, but I don't really count on having a good time. I've been running 10:30 miles instead of 10 like I had done in previous races. It's important for me to not get bogged down with time. I'm extremely competitive with myself sometimes.

Food today was good. I've kept it under 1800 calories.

Breakfast - Lower sugar oatmeal made with skim mixed with banana and .5 oz almonds
Snack - .5 oz almonds
Lunch - Asian veggie burger (decent) on Masada (a local bread that rocks) bread with lettuce, tomato and 1 slice part skim pepperjack; big apple; 2 hershey kisses
Snack - 1 serving triscuits with 2 tbsp hummus
Dinner - leftover Mexican Pasta salad; steamed broccoli with my favorite "sauce". (Salsa and cottage cheese mixed together); Breyer's 100 calorie ice cream.

I feel like I'm going to be eating that leftover Pasta Salad for the rest of my life. The recipe said it made 5-6 servings. I've had it three times and there is still a lot left.

Back to the grind

In 2000, when I had my first job out of college, I worked a 4-day week. I worked a ten hour day, ate lunch at my desk but had every Monday off. I hated the job, but I loved the schedule. Life would just be so much better if we always had 3-day weekends. Two days is not enough time to relax, have fun and get stuff done. Usually, getting stuff done falls to the wayside.

So, now it's back to the grind. But the great thing about having Monday off is that today is not Monday. I went to the gym during my lunch hour. I have been doing the lifting routines from The New Rules of Lifting for Women.It definitely helps me to have a set routine and to note how heavy I lifted so I actually increase the weight. I've been lifting weights as part of my general workout routine for 7 years or so and I probably still lift the same amount!

This is what I did:

Deadlifts - 2 sets; 15 reps. Now, I couldn't really do this correctly. The picture in the book shows a person with bent legs picking up the barbell from the ground and then putting it down again. It said it didn't matter how you put it down. But I always thought a deadlift was more of a lift with a straight back where you don't put the barbell all the way down. I need to investigate. Anyway, I did them with just the weight of the barbell with no added weight.

Alternate sets of dumbell shoulder presses and lat pulldowns - 2 sets each; 15 reps. Shoulders with a 10 pound weight in each hand; lat pulldowns at 60 pounds.

Aleternate sets of lunges and crunches - 2 sets each; 15 reps each leg per set for lunges; 30 crunches. Lunges with an 8 pound dumbell in each hand. The workout routine actually had me doing a swiss ball crunch but I couldn't find a ball. It also only had me doing 8 reps which I thought was too easy.

I'm going to go back to the gym later tonight to do 4.5 miles. It's still crowded from New Years and I find that even at 9 pm, sometimes all the treadmills are full. Argh.

So, say what you want about this, but I started trying to count calories. I've been totally underestimating what I've been eating by a LOT. I was inspired by Kath who talked about using a food scale. I saw one relatively cheap at Target. So I've always thought an apple has roughly 80 calories. I happen to have two apples in my house and when you actually weigh them one has 146 calories and one has 130. I mean, whatever, it's an apple but I'm sure my portions of everything are way underestimated.

Oh and the Morningstar Farms Veggie Cakes (here) are sort of weird and mushy.

Happy President's Day

I actually had the day off today which was great. I sat on my ass and did nothing. I should have gone to the gym, and I guess I still can, but I know that it's okay to take a rest day. I am not sure when the last rest day I took was - maybe Tuesday? I guess I wasn't completely lazy. I went to Whole Foods to drop off my recycling and bought an artichoke. I had a craving for one. Unfortunately, I had to boil it because it was so big that it didn't fit in my steamer. It was still good though.

I made strawberry pancakes this morning for myself and Jason.
Pancakes:

3/4 cup of Hogdson Mill's Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake Mix
3 tbsp egg whites
1 cup skim milk
about a cup of sliced strawberries
about 1.5 tsps of canola oil

Mix and ummm...pancakize.


We ate them with Sugar Free Syrup. I'm trying to cut down on my fake sugars but I just am not at the point where I feel comfortable eating real syrup, especially when I'm trying to focus on weight loss.

I kind of snacked some during the day. Nothing horrible, mostly hummus.

I made dinner too. The above mentioned artichoke which I'm too lazy to rotate the picture of!



I also made Mexican Style Pasta Salad with Beans and Corn from The PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick) Vegetarian Cookbook.


My food photography definitely needs some help. I have a crapola camera and bad natural light in my apartment. Oh well.

It started out well

Yesterday started out really well. I woke up around nine and left a sleeping Jason in my bed and went on a 6 mile run. I forgot how much I enjoy running early in the morning. There is a part of me that enjoys it because I'm getting it over with and it doesn't loom over my head for the rest of the day and there is another part that somehow feels superior. Like I'm not in bed nursing a hangover on a Saturday morning, I'm out and about and doing good things for my body.

I had some sugar free jelly on a wasa cracker before I left. It was perfect weather too. About 55 degrees. I was dressed a little too warmly however. I had on capris and a long sleeve shirt. About halfway into it, I had to roll up my sleeves. I didn't really get into a zone until about mile 4 but it did happen. After I got home and showered (and bought Radiohead tickets!), I went to Publix and got ingredients to make pancakes for Jason. I used Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat pancake mix and put strawberries in them. We also ate two Yves Sausage patties each.

All was well until dinner time. It was Emily's birthday and a bunch of our friends went to Einstein's for dinner. I had a glass of wine and didn't partake in the appetizers that Erin, Baha and Caitlyn ordered. But then we noticed there was this menu of $6 martinis. As the martinis kept coming, my healthy eating went out the door. I ordered a pretty healthy entree, a grilled tilapia sandwich on foccacia bread with a side of spinach. They brought Emily's this huge ice cream sundae because it was her birthday and that's where I lost it. I ate A LOT of her sundae. It only got worse from there. We went to the Brewhouse and Jason met us there after he got off work. He ordered nachos. I ate a ton of them. Ugh.