Too pooped to post.

I am too pooped to write a real post tonight. I am finishing up watching Detla Force with my man Chuck Norris, and then I am heading to bed.

More in the morning!

Oscar Night

No parties over here. I was actually barely able to convince Andrew to watch the the show with me for a bit. I don't really care that much, because I've only seen a couple of the movies, but I still like watching at least a little bit of it, to stay culturally up-to-date.

Workout today was a 15 min Bodyrock workout in the morning before work, then a 3 mile run after work. After I finished stretching after my run, I felt like doing some push ups, and to my surprise I was able to do 15 full push ups! Six months ago I could barely do 1.

I tried experimenting with some different backgrounds for my pictures last night and today...I don't know how successful I was, but I was getting a little sick of my faux-wood counter as the background for every picture I took.

Last night after posting I made a lazy girl version of Emily's Black Quinoa Blueberry Pudding. I had good intentions to make the real recipe, but it took me a while to get around to it, and then I ran out of almond milk. So, I just combined some blueberries, a spoonful of coconut milk, some frozen blueberries, and a packet of stevia in a bowl. It was so good I had a second serving!


Random evening snackage also included about .5 oz peanuts, 1/2 carrot, a few pieces of broccoli with hummus, and .5 oz cheese.

For breakfast I made chocolate souffle oatmeal! Similar to my custard oatmeal, but with cocoa powder. I topped it with sunflower butter and a handful of frozen blueberries.


At work I ate a bowl of spaghetti squash, broccoli, beans, turkey, and hummus. I also had a grande soy latte and a banana with a few almonds on my way over to the other work location for a meeting.


Dinner was truly random. I threw together some turkey, the rest of a can of black beans I had in the fridge, a little bit of quinoa, and a bag of brussels sprouts for Andrew and myself.

My absolute favorite way to eat frozen brussels sprouts is with an easy sauce of yellow mustard and a little bit of sugar. I just made extra sauce and put it all over everything in my bowl. Trust me on this. I know it sounds weird, but it's really really good.


For dessert I had a grapefruit and a Reese's PB cup that I snagged from the work meeting.


Have a lovely night!

Sick Day Boo!

Andrew and I had some fun plans for today. Work meeting in the morning (not fun), then heading to Mona's house (Andrew's mom) for laundry and dinner, then stopping to hang out with some friends on the way home.

Well...we woke up with sore throats, so we called the whole day off. I was pretty disappointed, but we've just been bumming around the house all day, which has been nice also. I even took a nap!

The days eats have included:

Breakfast smoothies!



His = chocolate whey protein, unsweetened almond milk, peanut butter, banana

Hers = plain soy protein, unsweetened almond milk, banana, blueberries, spinach

Lunch bowl with quinoa, chicken, black beans, broccoli, nutritional yeast, salsa, and mustard (weird, I know but it was delicious!)


We had an early dinner of steamed tofu, broccoli, bell pepper, and peanut sauce. This was an attempt to re-create the Rama Salad from my favorite Thai restaurant.


It was pretty good, but I think it just made me crave the real thing more! Thai food has been on my mind for a while. You will be mine soon!

Throughout the day I've also snacked on a couple apples and a grapefruit.

In other news we reactivated our Netflix account and Andrew set up an extra computer so we can stream through our TV. We have been watching Battlestar Galactica non.stop.seriously.

Taking it easy and a new kind of celebration

Ahhhhhhhhh. It really feels good to have the defense behind me! It went pretty well, I don't have any required corrections or additions that I have to make. The graduate school requires that I print out my final copies on fancy expensive paper, then I just have to get the signatures from my committee members and turn it in. I will do that next week.

Today I am taking it easy. I found someone to sub for me at work today, so I slept in until 9 am (wild child!) and decided no workout for today. Looking back over my workout calendar, I realized that I haven't had a day with no exercise in over a month. So I figured today would be a good day.

Andrew and I watched Walker:Texas Ranger (<3 you Chuck Norris!) and later we are going to some fun and free activities like cashing in a free instant lotto ticket that we've had for a while and visiting a pet store! Later might involve a movie rental.

So, back to yesterday... after the defense was over it was obviously time to celebrate! I have to tell you that up until this year celebrating for me and Andrew meant going all out. What can I say, we love to have fun! Unfortunately, 'overdoing it' was a pretty common occurrence (i.e. eating and or drinking so much that you feel sick).

Yesterday's celebration felt like a new kind of celebration, and it felt really really good. I had a lot of fun, and had some tasty treats, but I really don't feel like I overdid it, and I didn't feel like crap in the morning. Good stuff.

Thesis Defended!

That is all. Goodnight!

Two exciting things!

This morning it took me a little while to get rolling on my workout. It's funny, on days I have to work I am totally on my game, but on my days off I tend to procrastinate and dawdle. I had a pre-workout snack of an apple and a couple handfuls of cheerios. When I finally got around to it, I did a 10m Bodyrock.tv workout and then went over to the gym for 30 minutes of incline walking on the treadmill.

Right now I am enjoying the giant brain power breakfast I made for myself. It included:

-1/3 c. oats made with 1/2c. water + 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk
- 1 banana
- a few chia seeds
- 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
- 2 eggs
- 1 T. sunflower butter


The blueberries made it a creepy color, so I added some unsweetened coconut and sprinkles to the top to make it pretty. This breakfast is a little bigger than what I would normally have because I need extra brain power today - I am defending my thesis this afternoon!

It's been a long time coming...I started grad school in Fall 2007! I can't believe it's been that long! I'm so excited to get this over with!

Also -a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Erica and her husband Matt! They had their first baby last night - it's a girl! Erica and I have been friends since junior high. I can't believe she's a mommy now! She'll be awesome :)

Rebound!

Another contribution from Andrew! I found this picture on the camera when I went to get pictures for this post. Salmon burger from Sam's (these are good!), veggies, and cheese. Looks tasty!


Last night my dinner ended up being pretty light, because of all the eating I did earlier in the day. I ended up having a small roasted sweet potato, a few peanuts, and some fruit salad that Andrew made.

I know I said I was going to take a skip day from working out yesterday, but I started getting really antsy in the evening and sick of working on my thesis so I decided to go to the gym for an easy 60 minutes on the elliptical. It felt really good to stretch out my calves! Before the gym I grabbed a few mini colas.


So, overall yesterday was sort of a crummy day...I just felt kind of out of whack all day. But that is cool because I feel like I totally rebounded today! I think you have to have some bad days sometimes to make you appreciate all of the good stuff that happens the rest of the time.

This morning, I got up at 6 and did a BodyRock workout. The workout used a jump rope, but since I don't have one I subbed jumping on the trampoline. I think I figured out the key to getting up my heart rate - going fast! It worked! No leisurely trampolining (is this a word?) for me.

After Bodyrocking I went to the gym to get my run in before work. I got to the gym with plenty of time so I decided to just see how far I could go in the hour that I had.

At the beginning of the year I made a resolution to run a 10k this year in under an hour. I hadn't really planned on focusing on speed too much until later this year, but my treadmill workouts this winter have really helped me improve my speed. As I kept going in my run this morning, I started thinking that today would be a good day to give it a shot...and I did it! I did 6.2 mi in 59:36.

Man.I.was.so.tired. My face was also embarrassingly red. But I was really proud of myself so I felt great! It was really satisfying to cross it off my list of goals for the year!

On top of that the gym really wasn't too crazy today so extra bonus points for that.

And finally, I am defending my thesis tomorrow so extra yay! Today is a good day.

I don't have many pictures of today's eats. They were mostly boring because I have to focus on the task at hand (thesis) and didn't have time to come up with any wild and crazy creative recipes today.

I will leave you with a picture of my dessert - tofu chocolate pudding with red hots and sprinkles. After I finished the pudding I added a few more red hots to my bowl and ate them with a spoon.




Andrew and I were talking about Easter candy the other day and started getting really excited about it, although it feels like it is too early to actually buy any. Some favorites:

1. Reeses PB Eggs
2. Cadbury Eggs
3. Robin Eggs (Andrew loves these)
4. Cadbury Mini Eggs (I love these)

Andrew made a great observation - the reason why the Reeses PB eggs are better than regular PB cups is that there is more peanut butter. Genius, my husband!

Do you have a favorite Easter Candy?

Source

Bottomless Pit

My hope from this morning that my appetite would even out did not pan out like I was hoping. I like to call days like this "Bottomless Pit Days". On these days I feel like no matter how much I eat I cannot get full. Please tell me I am not the only person who experiences this?!

Actually, I shouldn't say that I can't get full. What it comes down to is that I don't feel satisfied. I just want to keep eating. I think that this is more of an emotional thing than an actual hunger thing. Today's bottomless pit day is brought to you by:

-dreary weather
-a stressful day at work (kids are out of school so they all come to the gym!)
-nervousness/procrastination related my upcoming thesis defense

Although, I do want to say yay for me because many many times when I have a day like this, I end up saying 'forget it!' and just stuffing my face with whatever frozen baked goods I find at the back of my freezer. Today, even though I ate a lot in terms of volume, I managed to stick to healthy foods. So in the end, I think that the overall damage was minimized.

My morning snack at work was a standard apple + almonds. When I got home I made a GIANT chopped salad with chicken, mysterious kale/lettuce, peanuts, carrot, apple, grapes, broccoli, and a tahini dressing. I was so frustrated from work and I needed something to crunch on! I also had enough frozen blueberries to turn my mouth blue for the rest of the afternoon.

Later on I made a green smoothie with soy protein, almond milk, spinach, and a banana. I also had some Uncle Sam/Cheerios.




After I finished the cereal it felt like it expanded in my stomach because I felt so sick! That was a while ago and I am still pretty full, so I think that the immediate danger of more eating may have passed.

Tomorrow some of the schools in town are off again which means crazytown at the gym. Tuesdays are my long day too, so I am trying to mentally prepare myself. I honestly feel like I have so much respect for my teacher friends now after having to deal with kids at the gym. My nerves are always fried after days like this. Thank you teachers for educating tomorrow's future, because if I was a teacher I would probably just hide under my desk and cry.

Sometimes you need a skip day

Today would be that day. After yesterday's workout, I thought my thighs and butt would be killing me, but they feel fine. Instead, my calves are so sore it's a little difficult to walk. I figured this is my body's way of telling me to take a day off. Maybe some stretching later, if I can convince myself to do it. I have trouble getting myself to stretch sometimes, so I usually set a timer for 20m and stretch until it goes off.

The Moussaka was not a big success. I thought it was good, but Andrew and John didn't like the eggplant. Maybe next time I will cook the eggplant before I layer it into the casserole.


John brought over some V-day candy from my mom, so I had two of the chocolates. I also had a black licorice wheel.



It's been fun this morning to sit around for a few minutes and eat my breakfast on the couch. I haven't eaten breakfast at home before work in a while. I had pumpkin with cereal and sunflower butter like yesterday. Today I had a sliced banana on top and a sliced apple with peanut butter on the side.


Why is my appetite so big on the day I decide to skip my workout? I'm hoping it will even out over the rest of the day.

In other news, I am seriously craving cookie cake. I'll take a slice with lots of frosting.

Sunday Night Dinner

A couple of days ago Skinny Runner wrote a post about how even though she works out regularly, she has to watch what she eats in order to maintain her weight. I thought this post was so honest and awesome.

I don't know how many times I have read a magazine article where an actress goes on about how much she loves to eat burgers and fries, or pizza, or whatever and still manages to stay a size 0. To some extent, I see this happening on certain blogs as well. I think it's a bunch of crap, and I think this gives women unrealistic expectations that they should be able to eat whatever they want and should somehow be able to be stick-skinny like a celebrity. One of the commenters on SR's post put up a link to a NY Times article that talks about this subject. You can read it here.

Yes, it is hard work to lose weight. No, you cannot eat whatever you feel like eating all of the time if you want to be thin. Sure, you can have indulgences every once in a while. I think it's ok, and I think that it's healthy. But don't give me any of this, 'I eat a cheeseburger and fries every day and I never gain weight' junk.

Think what you want about Victoria Beckham, but I love this quote from her:

‘I’m not going to lie – I’m not one of those people that says, “Oh, I eat hamburgers.”

‘I eat salad. And I start off every day with a double espresso. Then I get on the running machine and I run like a bat out of hell.’

At least she is honest!

Moving on to a lighter topic: Me jumping on my mini trampoline!


This morning I did the BodyRock Sumo Squat Step Up Challenge. 200 reps total! It really didn't take me as long as I thought it would (22:35), but was I ever sweaty when I was done! I rounded out my 30 min workout with some jumping on the mini-tramp. I find that it's kind of difficult to get my heart rate up while jumping, so today I wore my ankle weights. Still not really that hard. I'm going to try to think of some ways to make it more difficult. Just so I can post more awesome jumping pictures of myself. All of the rebounding websites (fancy term for mini-trampoline) I found seem like they are designed for older people or people who like to wear 80s workout clothes. It looks like I'll be on my own for this one.

After my workout I brought back some breakfast favorites that I haven't had in a while!



1. Smoothie! I used almond milk, soy protein powder, blueberries, and some mysterious purple leafy vegetable that I bought at Meijer. The sign said it was Chinese Kale, but when I looked at pictures of Chinese Kale, it did not look like what I had. It actually looks more like the stuff that buffets use to line the salad bar. Does anyone know what this is called? Look at the color!!

2. Uncle Sam! This is probably my favorite cereal. I am convinced it is the healthiest cereal ever invented. Check out the nutrition facts! 10g of fiber and 7g protein per serving? Yes!


It is kind of an acquired taste though... I gave my brother some once and he told me it tasted like sawdust. What does he know anyway? Although, I am sad because it seems like it is becoming more popular; I keep seeing the price go up everywhere. I wish it could have been my little secret cereal forever. I had a handful with a handful of cheerios, canned pumpkin, and some of my new Pepita Sun Butter. Delicious!

I spent some time this morning preparing dinner for tonight. Last week Andrew and I watched a Throwdown with Bobby Flay where they made the Greek dish Moussaka. It's a layered lasagna/casserole-type deal with seasoned meat sauce, fried eggplant, and a bechamel sauce. It looked delicious, so today I tried making a healthy version. I also made a salad to go with it. I'll report back later with how it turns out!


Lunch today was leftover shrimp-y goodness from yesterday. No picture though because it wasn't pretty. I added in some refried beans and more broccoli, and had a few grapes on the side.

Time to be productive. Have a great day everyone!

Sunny Saturday

Today is such a pretty day! It's not really that warm (the Weather Channel said 45), but I'm going to post quickly so I can get outside for a walk!

Like I said yesterday, Andrew and I went for a quick trip to Springfield last night so Andrew could do some work on my Dad's office computers. Before we left we had a really tasty Asian-chicken salad concoction.


I just made up a salad of random veggies like nappa cabbage, carrot, bell pepper, broccoli, and edamame, Andrew cooked some chicken, and I made a quick dressing. I think it was something like this:

- sesame oil
- soy sauce
-rice wine vinegar
-thai chili sauce
-fresh grated ginger

In the car on the way down I ate a few almonds and a banana. We had Mexican for dinner and I had planned on getting fajitas, but when I opened the menu they had a Shrimp Salad that looked amazing! It wasn't really a 'salad', but a mixture of grilled shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, and some rice on the side. I skipped the rice, but stole some guacamole and beans from Andrew's fajitas that I made him order under the guise of splitting our two dishes. I got some of his chicken fajitas, but he did not get any of my shrimp salad. Sorry Andrew :)

After dinner Andrew and I stopped at Great Harvest to get Andrew a coffee and they had Naturally Nutty nut butters there! They are made in Traverse City, Mi and I bought a couple while we were there over the summer. They were super super tasty. Almost a little too good, if you know what I mean.


Well, Andrew convinced me that I should buy two (seriously, it was his idea), and the jars are BIG (I included a picture of my soda for comparison) so now I am stocked up for a while. I am going to do my best to eat these appropriately and not take sneaky spoonfuls.

We also went to Schnucks to pick up some dessert for us and my parents. I got Happy Cola gummies and Black Licorice Wheels. My parents seemed kind of grossed out that I like black licorice.


This morning I had to work really early. I don't really mind this shift, but it messes up my eating schedule. I made some oatmeal and scrambled eggs with veggies to bring with me. I tried to spread them out as much as I could, but I think I was finished with them by 7 or so. Saturdays are my planned 'rest' days from working out. I usually try to do a little yoga/stretching, so I did that when I got home. I also did this BodyRock workout because I am addicted to them. Afterward I fell back asleep until 2 and then I was crazy hungry.

Since I didn't have a camera to take a picture of last night's dinner, I created a re-enactment of it for you to see. I figured I would go ahead and eat it for lunch since it was there. I didn't have any guacamole though. I will remedy this when we go to the store tonight.

I also had two grapefruits, and was still hungry a little while after that so I had half of a bell pepper with almonds and hummus. Now I am finally full and I am going to bundle up and go enjoy the sunshine for a little bit.

Do you like black licorice?

Safe Running

Hey all! I don't think I have mentioned this yet on the blog, but I am training for my first half marathon! Running a half marathon was one of my New Years Resolutions for this year. I am preparing for the Illinois Half Marathon. It is on April 30th. I haven't officially signed up yet, because things are pretty up the in air for Andrew and me right now. If one of us gets a job offer before then and we have to move, I don't want to have wasted the money on a race I can't run. So, I am training like I am going to run it, and then closer to the date of the race I will sign up if we are still going to be here.

This morning I ran 5.5 miles in about 55 minutes. This was the first day of the year I was able to run on the Constitution Trail. I tried a couple days ago but it was still to icy. It's super close to my house, and there are miles and miles paved trail so I use it all the time. I have always felt pretty safe there. Except, the last time I ran on it in November, I had a disturbing run-in with a creeper guy. Nothing happened, thankfully, but it really freaked me out. I have been thinking about getting some pepper spray to bring with me on my runs, but I'm not even sure where to get it. Does anyone know where I can buy pepper spray?!

Before my run I ate a few handfuls of cheerios and a jelly heart (excellent running fuel). When I got back I made a tasty scramble of broccoli, spinach, eggs, and a little buffalo hot sauce.


I also had a grapefruit on the side. We have had a steady supply of grapefruits in our house for the last couple of months because Andrew eats them all the time, but today was the first day I felt like having one and it was so good! I went back for a second one!! Sorry Andrew :)

This afternoon we are heading down to Springfield because Andrew needs to do some work on a computer at my Dad's office (Andrew is my Dad's IT guy). We are going to get dinner with my parents at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Xochimilco. I am thinking fajitas. I can't wait!

Tomorrow I work early early early (4:45 AM), so I will be going to bed at like 7:30pm.

Progress!

Ok - so Andrew informed me today that the 'meat salad close-up' from yesterday was unappetizing. He meant the picture of my lunch salad yesterday. Taking flattering food pictures is difficult! I had a similar salad today, but I made it even bigger with the addition of some napa cabbage, bell pepper, and peanuts. No chickpeas today though, I am all out. I took a picture because it was comically large. I ate it out of a mixing bowl! And yes, I ate the whole thing :) Hopefully this picture is a little better. What do you think?


Breakfast was the same as the last two days. Once I find something I like, I tend to get a little obsessive...once Andrew was out of town for a few days and I only ate oatmeal. I love oatmeal. I also snacked on some almonds and an apple at work today.

This morning my workout was this. I slept in a little bit today, so I only had 20 min to workout in the morning. This afternoon I had a haircut appointment and afterward I was planning on going to a power yoga class, but the sticker shock from my haircut stole my motivation. Instead, I went home and hung out with Andrew.

We took a walk (outside! without winter coats!) to downtown Bloomington to check out a hobby store there to see if they had some stuff that Andrew needs for a project he is working on. They didn't have it, but we also stopped by the health food store and a candy store called the Chocolatier. They had Valentine's candy half off, so we each got a little bag. I love that you can fill your own bag with however much you want! I am always afraid of buying a full-size candy because I don't want to eat the whole thing in one sitting. They offered us chocolate samples, so we shared an irish cream filled chocolate and a cherry-type filled chocolate. On the walk home I had a few of Andrew's malt balls. Other afternoon snacks included a petite salad like I had for dessert last night, half of a bell pepper, and a few more almonds.

We also went to the mall so Andrew could get something from RadioShack, and I tried on some jeans at the Gap. We really haven't bought any new clothes since our honeymoon, since we have been losing weight and also trying to save money. I didn't plan to buy today, I just wanted to get an idea of where I stood, size-wise. I am really trying hard to get away from focusing on the scale, and looking for other ways of measuring my progress. I was so pleased to find that the size 6 jeans at the Gap fit me! I have never been able to wear that size before. Around the time of the wedding I was a 10. Andrew and I are planning on treating ourselves to new wardrobes eventually - once we have lost most of the weight we are going to lose and once we have more money (hopefully these things will happen at the same time). Now I am even more excited!

I have to say, after not going shopping for such a long time, it really felt like a chore to try on 5-6 pairs of jeans. It never really used to bother me before! After shopping I had a tasty dinner salad of baby spinach, green beans, leftover roasted brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and some steak. I used Annie's Green Garlic Dressing. It's so good, but sooooo garlicky! My favorite Annie' s brand dressing is Woodstock, but I can't ever find it here in town.


For dessert I had a sliced apple with cinnamon and a few of my gummy candies from this afternoon. My brother is coming over to watch a movie now. We will probably end up watching a Disney movie. :)

Day Off Wednesday

Today was my day off from work. Creative title, huh? One part of blogging that I totally underestimated the difficulty of was coming up with titles. Seriously, I need some inspiration.

Yesterday when I was talking to the trainer at work about my workout routine, I told him that I had been lifting heavier weights for a while, but had recently switched things up to do more high intensity interval strength training and body weight exercises. I was starting to feel like I was putting on too much muscle. He suggested that I try doing just a few reps of heavy weights with some large muscle groups (legs, back, chest) to get the metabolism boost, and then do my interval stuff afterward.

I gave it a try this morning. I loaded up an ez curl bar with 50 lbs and did 3 reps of rows and deadlifts, and then I managed to lift the bar over my head and onto my shoulders so I could do some lunges. However, I didn't plan ahead as to how I was going to get the bar off of my shoulders when I was done. It was really heavy and I was afraid to lift it back over my head because I thought I might just knock my head right off. I managed to shimmy behind the bench and place it backward onto the rack, but I will need to plan better in advance next time.

I also did this BodyRock workout. I was only able to manage the full dive bomb push ups for the first minute, and then I had to do them modified. It was an awesome upper-body workout though! After that I went for a 3+ mile run outside (!!!!). I mostly had to run in the street because there is still a lot of ice everywhere. I was out about 8:30, so I had to deal with some traffic. But I was just happy to be outside!

Today was another day of seriously delicious food. It's really not hard to eat healthy when you are loving what you eat!

As promised, I did take pictures of my new breakfast oatmeal custard concoction today!


I did not toast the almonds this morning, though, and after eating I decided that I must do this in the future. It just adds so much more flavor! If you haven't toasted nuts before, you can just add the them to a dry pan over low heat and let them toast for a few minutes. They will start to smell delicious, and then you know they are done. Don't let them burn though! They will be really gross if burned. Below is a picture of what the oatmeal looks like on my spoon. Can you see the steam rising?! I kept trying to eat it while it was too hot and it burned my mouth.



I wanted something quick and easy for lunch so I threw together a salad of tuna, chickpeas, diced red onion, celery, apple, and broccoli. I made a super quick dressing of tahini, hummus, lemon juice, and dijon mustard and microwaved it for about 30 sec. Then I tossed everything together. It was so crunchy and just yum! I also had about an ounce of peanuts.




This afternoon we drove down to Elkhart to hang out with Andrew's mom and do laundry. When we got there I had a snack of three gingersnap cookies with peanut butter and some grapes. We had a fun afternoon activity : we made spring rolls! We made one recipe with chicken, and one with shrimp. They were lots of fun to make, but we decided that we have to work a little bit on our technique. Before you know it we will be spring roll masters! Next time I will be sure to bring my camera to document the process.

For dinner we had some really delicious filet mignon, baked sweet potato, roasted brussels sprouts, and shitake mushrooms. It was wonderful! My favorite part of eating at Mona's house is that we always get to bring home lots of leftovers. I love coming up with ways to re-purpose left over food. You will definitely be seeing some steak tomorrow!

Once we got home we had to put away all of the laundry (my least favorite part about doing laundry), and now it's time for bed already! I was feeling hungry when we got home, but I wasn't in the mood for something dessert-y, so I made a baby salad of spinach, broccoli, and hummus. I also had a cup of green tea.


Until recently, I always felt like I should be hungry when I went to bed. I thought that it was best for weight loss purposes if I didn't have anything in my stomach before I went to sleep. Although, I would always wake up ravenous. I felt like I couldn't get to the kitchen fast enough sometimes!

After Andrew and I read Set Your Metabolism on Fire, I started eating at night closer to the time I go to bed. I don't know if it really speeds up my metabolism while I sleep, but I definitely don't wake up as hungry anymore.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! How do you feel about night-eating? Do you eat before bed? Are you really hungry when you wake up in the morning?

Goodnight everyone!

Long Day Tuesday

My workout this morning was so much fun. I stared doing workouts from BodyRock.tv. This morning I did this one and it was awesomely hard. One leg squats are really hard! Then I went to the gym and ran sprint intervals on the treadmill. I have always been a slow runner, mostly by choice. I just didn't really have much interest in going fast, I was more interested in increasing my mileage. Lately I started doing some tempo and speed workouts and I really like them! It makes the time on the treadmill so much more bearable. This morning looked like this:
0-.5 - warm up at 5.5-6.0 mph
.5-2.5 - alternated 'sprint' intervals of 7.0-8.0 for 60 sec with cool down intervals of 90 sec
2.5-3.0 - cool down at 6.0

I finished 3 mi in about 28:30.

I know that my 'sprint' intervals are some people's normal pace, but it was a great hard workout for me! Maybe someday I will be super fast. Or not, that would be ok too :)

Tuesdays are my 'long days' at work. I work for 8 hours, which for most people is a normal day of work, but now that I've gotten used to short shifts of 4-5 hours, it feels like a long time! People also stress me out after a while, so by 5pm I usually end up wanting to smack the gym members. The hardest part of these days though is planning meals and snacks for the whole shift. It takes effort to think that far in advance sometimes! I work out before work, so I need breakfast, lunch, and usually a couple of snacks.

All of my meals today were seriously so good. I love days like that!

This morning I made an AWESOME new breakfast. It might be my new favorite thing! I cooked 1/3c. oats with water and a banana. Once they were almost done, I tempered two beaten eggs with the oats and then added the eggs into the oat mixture. I added a pack of stevia also. I put the mixture in a ceramic container with a lid and topped with .5 oz of almonds. When I was ready to eat my breakfast at work, I just microwaved it for about 90 sec, and yummy! The eggs turned the oats into thick custardy goodness. I can't wait to have this again tomorrow. I will be eating at home, so I'll try to remember to take a picture!

I snacked on an apple in the mid morning, and for lunch I brought leftover orange roughy with asparagus and tarragon from last night. The recipe was from my most recent Martha Stewart magazine. The original recipe used salmon, but we had salmon for lunch, so we used orange roughy. I also had a salad with spinach, radishes, bell pepper, and a giant scoop of hummus.

As a side note, last night we had a really fun V-Day dinner (thanks for V-day $ from our moms!) and we made mussels! I have had these at restaurants before, but this was my first time cooking them at home. They were really easy to make - I just made a broth of sherry wine, olive oil, garlic, red pepper, and parsley and steamed the mussels in it until they opened. It was a lot of fun and made the meal feel 'fancy'. I took pictures, but apparently I did not have my memory card in my camera. Whoops.

Yesterday we had lunch at Red Lobster (we had a gift card courtesy of Andrew's dad!) and really really wanted to have leftovers to bring home to eat later, so I saved a tiny piece of salmon. I wonder if the waitress thought I was weird for doing that. She was really weird though, so oh well. I combined it with spaghetti squash, green beans, chickpeas, and a tahini dressing that i got from Kath's blog. The dressing was creamy and delicious. It was basically a big bowl of warm happy goodness. I also had another apple, and for dessert a little bit I am having chocolate tofu pudding! I know that the name is a little creepy. I must come up with something more appealing.


I just combine a block of lite firm tofu in the food processor with 6 packs of stevia, 1/4 c. water, and 5 T. unsweetened cocoa powder. It makes two servings and it does not taste like tofu. I discovered last weekend that if I put it in the freezer for about an hour, it gets a nice consistency kind of like a fudgesicle in a bowl! Pretty toppings are a must.

Andrew's contribution to this post is a picture of his bucket of cottage cheese and fruit!


On the agenda for tonight - painting my nails. Yay! I usually take it pretty easy on Tuesday nights. I had a hard day at work, after all.

I almost forgot - I got my body fat percentage taken today! I guess that is one of the benefits of working at a gym. One of the trainers had this nifty machine that uses electromagnetic current (I think) to approximate your body fat percentage. I know that these things aren't 100% accurate, but it's a place to start.


According to the machine I have a body fat percentage of 27%. Based on this chart from ACE, I fall into the 'average' range. Although, it seems like there is no standard for body composition; there are a lot of different opinions on the internet! At this point, I'm not sure what I want to aim for, just *less* is good enough for now. I'd love to be in the 'fitness' category. That would be like making it official that I am fit, haha!

Day 1 - The Countdown begins!

Hi everyone! 9 months ago today I got married to my best friend, Andrew.
We partied with our families and friends at our awesome wedding, and then took a fantastic honeymoon in New York City! We overindulged a bit (a lot) on the trip, as any couple should on their honeymoon!


When we got back, we decided that we needed to detox a bit and try to shed a couple of pounds. We started out by eating vegan during the week, and taking walks together in the evenings. As we both started seeing some progress in our weight, things really snowballed. We cleaned up our eating even more, bought a weight bench on craigslist, and started training for a 5k together!



We both had some success with weight loss in the past, but we were never really on the same page at the same time. This time felt so different because we were doing it together.


We decided to set our 1 year anniversary as our goal date. Neither of us really had a specific weight that we were aiming for, we just wanted to get in the best shape that we could in that time span. Things have changed for us so much in the past 9 months! Andrew has lost over 40 lbs, and I have lost almost 20! The changes that we have made have become a lifestyle for us.


I'm not going to say that it's not a challenge, though. It is. Sometimes exercising just does not sound like fun. Sometimes we just want Taco Bell or candy. There have definitely been some frustrating moments, and I'm so grateful we have each other for support.

I hit a plateau after the 6 month mark (thanks, Holidays), and I'm still working to get through it. At my lowest point I had lost about 20 lbs. Now my weight has crept up a bit. I think that it is mostly muscle weight, because my clothes are still fitting the same way. It's easy for me to get caught up in the number on the scale, so for the next three months, I'm going to try to focus more on fat loss rather than weight loss. I'm going to get my fat percentage tested later this week, so I plan on using that as my primary metric now.

In the end, if I'm not super hot in a bikini, it doesn't really matter (although it would be nice!). It's really more about making real changes in our lives to improve our health and well being for the long run. I want to be the lady speed walking at the 5k when I am 85! I also want to make sure that Andrew and I are both healthy and strong so we can enjoy our life together to the fullest!

I'm going to use this blog as a space to track my progress over the last 3 months of this first year. This blog is mainly going to be a way to motivate myself and keep myself accountable so I can really solidify the healthy habits we've been working so hard at over the past year!

What you'll find here:
-Daily posts (mostly) about my workouts and food
-Periodic updates about my measurements and body composition
-Info on Andrew's and my progress overall
-Other randomness as deemed necessary

Thanks for reading! Here we go.......................