Week 8/9

My week got busy with trainings, and by the time I got a break I was off track and had stopped taking pictures of my food. In fact, I'm off the original diet that I had been on because I can't afford it!

So, I'm still paying attention to what I eat, and am working on making my own food whenever I can. I've actually lost weight once I quit the diet, very suspicious!

So, here are the foods I've had in the past week or so that I remembered to take pictures of!

Lunch, brussels sprouts, cheese and onion. Cooked in bacon grease with a little bit of lime juice.

I added breakfast burritos to my meals, I love them! But, I need to make my own. These aren't healthy.
Mandarines, grapes, peas, string cheese, goldfish, pineapple and strawberries, dehydrated apples, cashews and walnuts.

Cottage Cheese, pineapple and strawberries, mandarines, peas, cashews and walnuts, burrito and frosted mini wheats.

Breakfast burrito, kiwi and raspberries, string cheese, banana chips, cashews, walnuts and chocolate covered raisins, chick peas and green olives, brussels sprouts cheese and onion, a mandarine and coffee.

Breakfast burrito, mandarines, avocado and rice, grapes and peppers, peas, cashews, walnuts, pistachios and chocolate covered raisins, pineapple and strawberries and green tea.

Last night's dinner, bacon, eggs and homemade waffles!

Some changes that I decided to make are to focus on exercise routines that I like. The gym is alright, but I'd rather be hiking, biking or kayaking. (Alas, I don't have a kayak). So I will at least focus on several small, manageable goals:

1. Drink at least 1 Nalgene bottle's worth of water a day.

2. Go out for a walk at least 3 times a week

3. Focus on having homemade from scratch real meals at least 2/3 of the time. This means No more buying breakfast burritos, if I want them I have to make them. 

4. Packing a smaller lunch. To ensure this, I am using a smaller lunch box!

I went on a walk yesterday and wish I had done it more often!

Week seven day seven

Yesterday I went for a walk after work. I was exhausted, it had been a stressful busy day, but I decided that a walk somewhere would be relaxing and better than trying to push myself at the gym.

It was just what I needed! Even though I was tired, it seemed to help melt the stress right off my shoulders! A few bald eagles flew over heard, I heard a meadow lark showing off his beautiful voice, and a flicker chattered noisily in the trees.

I resolved that this would be an ideal place for a walk after work everyday, and I ought to keep it up for my own good. One lap around is 1.6 miles, go I just need to go around twice to get a good 3 mile walk in.

I thought if I took a picture of something from my walk everyday it might be a great way to encourage myself to keep it up, and I'll have something interesting to look back on.

Lagerman Reservoir

When I got home from my walk, I discovered my friends were still visiting (they were driving from Maine to New Mexico and asked to spend the night) so I went back out for another walk to Rabbit Mountain where we saw about ten deer.

Food for today:

I packed a little lighter, and left out the mini frosted wheats because I could be eating better than that!

Cashews and chocolate raisins (I still haven't eaten these yet!) mandarines, peas and grapes, cottage cheese, black beans and rice, and bananas and kiwi. And coffee, not shown.

Dinner will be Corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and a side of some sort. I will have to post a picture, review and recipe for that tomorrow!

(well, it may take me a few days. The next two days I have training, let's hope I stay on track with exercise!)

Week seven day six

Two ladies who were heavier than me, ran past the gate today and asked for water. I asked them how far they'd been running, impressed they were running the 5 mile loop around the reservoir. One of them told me they were actually doing a 11 mile loop, and were training for a half marathon this summer!

I was super impressed, and I am shamed to say that other than working too much I don't have a good excuse. I should be out there running like they are. They seemed like such nice people! I really should make more friends to go running with, that should help motivate me to run!

I have an 8 hour day today, but I can feel  my feet dragging every time I move. I'm halfway through my week. I can do this!

Breakfast and lunch: cottage cheese, kiwi and raspberries, mandarines, cashews and chocolate covered raisins, grapes and peas, rice and beans, and frosted mini wheats. And coffee. 

No idea what I will have for dinner. I think chicken though, if we have any left. Or perhaps brussels sprouts. I am afraid of pushing myself too hard and getting sick, I really need to make it to training on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm not sure if I will go to the gym. I will try working on my fitness pinterest board at least, to get motivated.

I should work on my friend finding skills too. I should have a gym buddy. (They're all in New England! >< (or on the wrong side of the mountains))

Week Seven day five

I may have mentioned the diet isn't super working. I am going to kill the three days of eating bad and have just one day a week of unhealthy eating. Within reason. I can not eat a whole pie. Haha.

I am also in the middle of a rough 8 day work week with three ten hour days, (the rest only 8 hour shifts, hah) so I'm struggling to get a workout in when all I want to do is curl up and sleep for a week.

But summer is so close, and with that long runs and bike rides!

Breakfast and lunch: Frosted mini wheats , grapes and peas, pineapple and strawberries, the last of the chicken chili and rice, green olives and chickpeas (I haven't had this in a while!) two mandarins and coffee. I didn't eat the cashews, walnuts, chocolate covered raisins, kiwi or granny smith apple.

I packed a lot because I had a ten hour day, and didn't eat it all! For dinner I had some canned Clam Chowder.

Week Seven Day four

Yesterday I got a good 25 minute workout on the elliptical, a success in itself because I had a bad migraine and it took some convincing to go to the gym. There was also a strange occurrence when I walked into the gym yesterday there was a strange prolonged scream. We never found out where it came from... some men hollered into the women's locker room just to make sure everyone was ok.

Very odd, but oh, well.

Spring is lingering tantalizingly in the air, and runners and bikers are clogging the roads already in their excitement to get out and enjoy the fine warm weather that we're having. Even the gym was more packed than usual, as cabin fever has taken hold of many.

I think it will be time to start biking to work, and I am excited to do so. I have even found a good halfway point so I don't have to bike an hour and a half to work!

Anyways, here is today's breakfast and lunch:

Eggs (not in picture, I ate three before work) peas, green pepper and grapes, kiwi, granny smith apple, walnuts cashew and a few chocolate covered raisins, cottage cheese, pineapple and strawberries, rice and chicken chili. Green tea (also not shown)

I am not sure if I have time for the gym tonight, I have a ten hour day tomorrow and may need the extra sleep! I will at least do some workouts while I'm stuck here at the gate, but I know right now it won't be as strenuous as a good jog. 

Dinner will probably be the last of the rice and chicken chili. I've been meaning to finish that up and clear up some space in the fridge!

Week Seven Days 1, 2 and 3

Monday and Tuesday were my days off, and I COMPLETELY forgot to take pictures of my food. I'm letting myself fall off the wagon, I've got to stop that!

I did manage to take a picture of Tuesday's breakfast. I think Monday's breakfast was an oatmeal cookie. Poor choice on my part. I had bacon and rice for dinner, but I think I forgot lunch.

Oatmeal and tea!

 Tuesday I had a burrito and later a homemade fruit smoothie. (frozen pineapple juice, frozen fruits and berries) and dinner was brussels sprouts and some left over chicken chili and rice. I made sure it was a smaller serving than usual.

I went shipping on Tuesday and restocked the fridge with fruit and veggies! 

Pineapple, clementines, brussels sprouts, grapes, green peppers, bananas, string cheese, kiwis, sunny D, boiled peanuts, corned beef (for an Irish dinner!) I also got carrots, cabbage and potatoes.

Wednesday:

Ok, back on track! 

I drank a lot of coffee last week so I'm back on green tea, and I packed a smaller lunch. It made me sad because I have an 8 hour day and have to really focus on not eating everything at once. I can do that, you know. 

I am also amped up to go to the gym tonight, and am adding to my motivational song list so I can focus on the songs and not how much my legs are hurting while I run = )

Breakfast and lunch: pineapple and strawberries, chili and rice, brussels sprouts and cheese (and onion too) cashews and walnuts, kiwi, clementines, grapes and sugar snap peas, string cheese and green tea. 

No idea what dinner will be tonight. Maybe BBQ chicken because it's simple. 

Week 6 Friday, Saturday Sunday

I seem to keep thinking I've taken pictures of my meals when I haven't, and I am missing a few meals. Sorry about that!

Friday's meals:

Chicken chili, granny smith apple, grapes and sugar snap peas, cashews, walnuts and chocolate covered raisins, avocado and rice, kiwi and raspberry.

For dinner Friday we had pizza. I know, not a diet food, I know. But it had been a good week and I had gotten some awesome gym time in. (One should not reward gym time with pizza, but I wasn't thinking with my brain and let my stomach do the talking.)

Saturday:

Breakfast and lunch: BBQ chicken, clementine, string cheese, grapes and peas, pineapple and strawberries, gold fish, granny smith apple, coffee and yes, some salt and vinegar chips. Oops. I had a ten hour work day though. 

Saturday night we had waffles for dinner, a small celebration for our friend's birthday.

Sunday:

I forgot to take a picture of my lunch. It was pretty much the same as Saturday's, minus the chips.

Sunday night we had Arbies (To be fair it was our weekend to eat bad)

I really need to focus on eating less, I think that will help me a lot. A week or so I came across this TED Talk about the mathematics of weight loss. What does fat become when you get rid of it?

It made me rethink my current weight loss/ a healthier me journey, and the most important part of weight loss: Eat Less, Move More.

Even if I'm eating healthier, to at least start losing weight I need to be eating less.

On the plus side, with all this healthy eating, this is the first winter I have made it through (well, we're not done with winter yet) without getting sick. Usually I've caught at least one flu or bad cold by now! So maybe I'm not at the weight I want to be, but there HAVE been good changes, and I'll take that.

Week 6 Day 4

I will start off with a review of yesterday's crockpot chicken chili and the recipe!

I have tried making a chicken chili recipe before, and did not like the recipe. It tasted like a really chunky chicken soup, and while this isn't bad per say, it was not what I was going for.

So, thanks to Pinterest, I located another recipe and gave it a shot.

Here is the recipe

I left out the Cumin, and got just plain diced tomatoes with out peppers. I also omitted the onion, as my husband doesn't care for onion or spicy food. 

We agreed that it was good, but could use more beans, maybe a can of chick peas (because we both love those) and some sausage. So I will add those the next time I make this!

Lunch and breakfast for today:

Kiwi and raspberries, clementine, chicken chili, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, grapes, rice and avocado, walnuts, cashews and some chocolate covered raisins! And Coffee. 

Dinner tonight will probably be left over BBQ chicken or chicken chili.

In other news, I have decided to run a 5K this summer at the Wild Animal Sanctuary, which means I will be supporting an awesome cause and running my first 5K ever!

I've run on the treadmill three times now. The first time I timed myself to see how long it takes me to run a mile. It took 20 minutes, but I also started out slow and was messing around with the incline.

The second time I ran I only ran a mile because my legs started to cramp up. I still managed to run a full mile and it took me 15 minutes 15 seconds.

Yesterday I had a half hour at the gym and pushed through the leg cramp pain to see how far I could run in a half hour. I maned two miles, and did the first mile in 14 minutes 30 seconds. Not bad!

My legs hurt today, but I am going to try another run tonight.

With the cool down, I spent 35 minutes on the treadmill and went a good 2.3 miles. Woot!

Week 6 Day 3

Another snowy day, but I am planning a gym visit after work. The treadmill makes my feet hurt after a while, but I'm hoping that it's just my shoes still being broken in. I am going to try for distance tonight, we will see how it goes! If I keep aiming for 6 miles, then a 5K (about 3 miles) will be easy!

Breakfast and lunch: sugar snap peas, celery, clementines (2) kiwi, granny smith apple, cashews, walnuts, homemade chocolate covered raisins, cottage cheese, pineapple and raspberries, brussels sprouts and cheddar cheese. And coffee. The pineapple is tasting funky, not sure I can finish it = (

Dinner will be chicken chili. I am trying a new recipe! So, I should post a review and a recipe for it tomorrow. I hope it's good!

Week 6 day 2

Eating healthy is expensive. So, my husband and I have decided to ease off the diet in May. We picked May because at that time we will be able to get outside and exercise more, and fruit will be cheaper so we might be inclined to still eat healthy. 

Breakfast: Eggs! Yum! I also had chocolate milk...heh

 Lunch: I forgot lunch again. I'm pretty sire forgetting meals is what hurts my weight loss = (
Days off are the worst, because I'm so busy distracting myself from snacking, that I forget to eat a meal. I suppose it's good I only have two days off a week!

Dinner! More brussels sprouts, BBQ chicken and peas!

Week 6 Day 1

Onto week 6!

So I have still been balancing around the same weight. Frustrating. But, I realize I haven't been going to the gym as much as I should, and this is an easy fix. Especially with warmer weather coming, I will be more inclined to get outside and run! Or bike, or rent a kayak at work when the season opens..so one and so forth. 

In winter you have less outdoor activities, unless you are into skiing or snowshoeing. I love snowshoeing, but I don't have a pair, and not to mention Colorado doesn't get a ton of snow. Often it melts before you can get out, and it's too cold to enjoy any other outdoor activity!

So, as I have discovered, I won't make any changes without exercise. I have even come up with a plan for the summer; biking to work! Granted, it's about 14 miles, and the google maps estimate is about an hour and 20 minutes. So I am going to drive halfway there, park in the park and ride lot, and bike the rest of the way. 

Back in Maine before I had a car I used to bike the seven miles to work, sometimes getting out after midnight and having to bike the Maine roads where there is barely a bike lane. It got me in shape at least! So here in Colorado, where bike lanes actually exists (even if those jerk professional bikers don't know how to use bike lanes and seem to prefer to bike in the road..again, JERKS) the commute should be a lot easier! 

Monday's breakfast, oatmeal and coffee! I love my Maine DD mug = D

Lunch! I cooked up some brussels sprouts in bacon grease with some parmesan cheese. I added the cheddar cheese after, so good!

 Dinner was leftover teriyaki chicken and rice.

I made crockpot dark chocolate raisins (and cranberries) to eat when I have chocolate cravings. For chocolate, I just bought two large dark chocolate bars (the recipe calls for milk and white chocolate. I ignored that and did my own thing)

The recipe: Enjoy!

The recipe says to use a teaspoon to drop them on wax paper. I just scooped them all out onto the wax paper and spread them out with a fork.

Week 5 Day 7

I have my gym bag with me and even though I get out of work later now, I plan on going to the gym tonight and just seeing how far I can run. I also plan on going through my food posts and entering my food into a food diary so I can see how much calories I have been consuming. I tend to fall off the wagon with food diaries, but I should really keep trying. They are a good way to help you figure out what your actual calorie count is and if you are getting enough exercise to make up for the excess food you may be eating. It is sadly possible to over eat even if it's healthy food!

String cheese, pineapple and strawberry, granny smith apple. oatmeal, clementine, chicken, walnuts, cashews, dehydrated banana and mango, and ginger tea (my stomach hurt yesterday, I will take no chances today!)

For dinner I plan on having bacon and beans.

Week 5 Day 6

Went for a short walk instead of hitting the gym, and I found a really nice place to watch eagles. I think it will be a great place to go for a run once the snow melts!

Pineapple and strawberries, string cheese, oatmeal, clementine, green tea, rice and chicken, cashews and walnuts. I didn't eat the grapes, celery and sugar snap peas again, or the granny smith apple.

I felt sick after work, something I ate did not agree with me. Maybe the clementine, it was a little off. So, I went home and had rice for dinner. No gym = (

Week 5 day 5

Still working on running, and I managed to go from a 20 minute mile to a 15 minute mile. Now to  work on distance not just speed!

pineapple, clementine, yogurt from yesterday that I didn't eat, walnuts and cashews. I didn't eat the chicken and rice, celery, grapes and sugar snap peas.

For dinner, I had rice and an avocado with some slices of cheddar cheese.