4/24 Tuesday

Work went really well overall on Tuesday. I had a few meetings with parents and felt like they went well overall. For breakfast, I had strawberries and kiwis again for 0pts.

For lunch, I went to Cobb's pizza with Liz and Teresa from work and had a grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing for 6pts.

For dinner, I had more amazing falafel chips with red pepper humus for 4pts and a cup and a half of butternut possole soup for 3pts. I didn't love the soup, but I ate it anyway since there were so many good veggies in it for me.

After dinner, I went to Commonwealth Skybar to meet up for a friend's birthday. I had two beers for 10pts and a tiny bit of tiarmissu for 3pts. 

Pts Total: 26/26

Exercise: none

4/23 Monday Funday

I've been hubbyless (and computerless) for a week! Hence the non existence of the posts. Only one more week until Matt is back from his work trip, and I can't wait. 

I started back to weight watchers last week and am going to be counting points (points plus, not old points) and tracking progress that way again. I actually went to a meeting for the first time in a million years even though I've paid membership fees since I started. #lovewastingmoney. 

Today, I had strawberries and kiwis for breakfast for 0pts. 

I had coffee with a little cream for 1pt later in the morning as a pick me up. Can you see my to-do list next to it-- and that was only page one!

For lunch, I had a salad of spring mix and tomatoes 0pts with salmon salad 3pts and sun dried tomato vinaigrette dressing 2pts.

For dinner, I had a tiny piece of steak for 2pts with a little oil 2pts. I also had these AH-mazing falafel chips from Whole Foods. I am completely addicted. I had 3 servings (oops) for 9pts with some fresh pico de gallo for 0pts.

serving 1

serving 2

You must try these! (I have the spicy ones now and they are even better)

Since the boy has been gone, I've been spending all our money at Whole Foods, and pretty much, I'm addicted. But it is SOOOO expensive. I've decided that I'm going to sell my organs on the black market so I can keep shopping there. They have everything...and it all says its good for me so that means I can eat unlimited amounts!! ..or something like that.

I am also addicted to this antioxidant trail mix. I'm hoping it keeps me from getting Alzheimer's since it sure as hell isn't helping me fit into my skinny jeans.

That's all for now! Hope to see less of each other next time!

C

First 5k

I ran my first race ever on Saturday! It was the Virginia Institute of Autism 5k, and an absolutely gorgeous morning to be running. There were so many people I knew through work at the event and it was a lot of fun to run with everyone for such a great organization and great cause. 

I ran with Megan, a friend from work, and we set our record for the year which we hope to beat soon at 38 minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, but here's a shot of all 800 of us lined up to start.

I didn't realize how slow races start when you're trying to get out of that huge pack!! After we finished the race, we headed out to the rocket town beer and music festival where we got rained on all day for Meg's birthday. 

Megan and I got a picture with one of the band members

Let's talk warriors...

The muddy kind.

You know, the kind who wakes up on a lovely Saturday morning and runs 4 1/2 miles through an obstacle course full of mud, fire, and climbing walls.

Yes, me.

And some equally crazy friends.

Spencer, Shanna, and I ran in the Mud Warrior race last Saturday. It was a 4.5+ mile course with obstacles throughout it. I was a little nervous the night before since...ahem, I can only do about 1/2 of the recommended exercises the race cites on their website. As a team, we made the pact to finish together or not to finish at all. :) It was nice to know we'd all make it some how! 

The race started with a sprint to a mud pit with barbed wire over it you had to crawl under, then up my LEAST FAVORITE part of the race ~a mile run uphill. I think they planned it that way to thin out the pack. I was definitely walking by the end of the "Spartan Everest." A few of the other obstacles were tires to run through, as well as tires hanging that you had to beat your way through, balance beams to cross, hay bales to climb over, hurdles to jump over, fire pits to run through, cargo net walls to conquer, ropes to climb walls with, and finally a giant mud slide into a mud pit to finish the race. We crossed the finish line together!

Overall it was a pretty fun day and I felt like a badass for finishing. I can say though, I probably wouldn't have made it without Spencer! He was definitely our team's pacer and encourager.

I'll be back to posting regularly this week, so stay tuned!

10 lbs To a Healthy Me

I haven't written in the last week, but I wasn't falling of the wagon or anything. I've been eating relatively healthy - although our friends' Seder dinner on Saturday was extremely decadent. I haven't been counting calories for the most part. If anything, I've just been totaling them up in hindsight. I'm losing weight, not quickly by any stretch, but a little bit at a time. I think its because I haven't had a clear goal in mind. I originally set my sights on getting (and staying) under 160 even during weight fluctuations. I'm pretty much there. I see 160.0 after I eat dinner and drink a ton of water, but that's about it.

White wine sangria we made for the Seder - did I
say decadent? I meant drunk.

As of this morning, I weigh 159.4 lbs. That is 9.4 lbs away from the healthy weight range for my height. Only 9.4 lbs!!! It seems like there's a goal on the scale right under my nose toes. I am so close to being in the "healthy" weight range again. So new goal- lose 10 lbs and stop being "overweight." It won't be the end of my journey, but its a good landmark. That will also be about 50 lbs of weight loss! Pretty huge. 

Let's see how long it takes me!

Y'day I had two handfuls of nuts and berries for breakfast. They are SO GOOD! Blueberries, raspberries, acai berries, walnuts, almonds and cashews. #betterthancandy

For lunch, I had my staple which which sandwich for 500 calories.

For dinner, I had ~1 cup of shrimp and 500 calories of baked french fries.

3/31 It Wasn't THE 10 Miler, But It Was Ten Miles

Saturday was the Charlottesville Ten Miler. Which I signed up for. Six months ago. And did not train for. And did not run.....

But I did pick up my Nike Dri-Fit T-Shirt for...duh. I set this goal a long time ago. I wanted to run a distance race and finish. My long term goal is to run a marathon [and then get a tattoo so I can unspokenly brag to everyone]. To be honest, I didn't train like I should. I did what could be considered "spot training." I would run and push myself for a week, and then ride the high of "successful running habits" for the rest of the month. January rolled around and I didn't think I had enough time to train and be competitive, then February rolled around and I was stressed about the time crunch, then came March and I was teetering on whether I could even make it ten miles (not even considering this is one of the hardest foot races on the east coast). In March, I just decided to hit it hard and do my best at getting to ten miles. I ran regularly more regularly than usual, and saw some progress. Did I make it to ten miles? Unfortunately, no. But I didn't make the decision not to run until the night before the race so that I pushed myself as though I had to run 10 miles. 

So race day rolled around and since I already had the t-shirt, I told myself I had to do my own ten miler if I didn't run the real one. I ran my longest run to date at 7 miles and walked 3 miles later in the day with the pup. It wasn't THE 10 Miler, but it was ten miles! I wish I had enough surplus brain power to photograph while running, but let's be honest kids, I use up all of my mental real-estate on tricking myself that "Its almost over." Just so you know- it worked for the first 4 miles, but after that, my strategy broke down when it wasn't over [again.and.again.]. I think I am going to resort to one of those headbands they tie a treat to in cartoons for motivation.

True story
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/d/dangling_carrot.asp

Probably more accurate
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/size_2.asp

Overall, I am pretty sore wowed by the fact that I made it 7 miles. That distance still seems so much to me. Also, I realized that I probably bit off more than I could chew for my first race. I probably should have signed up for a 5k first- or even a 10k. I am still glad that I had a goal to work for and probably wouldn't have made it this far without that. 

So next, I am going to look for a 5k to sign up and train for! Since I can already run that whole way, maybe I could work on a competitive time? [Let's be honest, probably not. Its a nice thought though.]

My food on Saturday was a little off par, but the exercise made up for it. For breakfast, I had a small breakfast taco with black beans, eggs, potato, and jalepenos from Beer Run with some coffee and 1/3 of an order of texas fries for 500 calories. I didn't get breakfast until 11.

After breakfast, I went on my run followed by lots of water, so I skipped lunch. Post run photo!

Hot mess, this picture actually looks better than I did. It poured down rain on about 1/3 of my run!

I've mentioned this before, but Matt and I are following a strict budget at the moment and trying to save some of our pennies. We have a flexible piece of our budget that if we complete our weekly to-do list, we each get an extra $50 to spend however we want [or on necessary expenses like haircuts which are not in our budget now]. Crossing off the 7 mile run put the end of my to-do list in sight so I went shopping!

Sz 6 Calvin Klein, what what! I almost bought this, but it would have been over $50 after tax. :( 

Sz 8 Calvin Klein. I did buy this. It just looked so summery. It was also $20 less expensive. My face was still pink from the run and a bit sunburned.

For dinner, I went to a friend's house to grill out. I had two premium beers for 600 calories, 1/2 a but with 1/2 a turkey burger, 1/4 of a sweet potato, and mac n cheese for ~600 calories.

[dinner not pictured]

Total calories: 1,700

Exercise: 7 mi. run + 3 mi. walk

Net Cal: ~1,050