Pumpkin!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin..............how many times can you say pumpkin in one post (or commercial, that one's for you dear!)  I'm pretty obsessed with all things pumpkin.  Drinks, food, lotions, etc.  I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago that someone added pumpkin to their oatmeal to give it a little something extra, well I am a fan!  I got some Libby's 100% pure pumpkin (40 calories for a 1/2 a cup) and I add about 1/4 cup to my oatmeal.  It's not super sweet, does not make it taste like a pie, but it does give it a bit extra flavor.  I won't post a picture because it does not look all that appetizing, kind of like baby food, but I like it!

So instead of baby food pumpkin oatmeal, I leave you with a picture of Chris and I from the pumpkin patch the other day :)

My Next 5K

I decided that having a goal, like a 5K, keeps me focused.  One of Chris's friends wives asked us to participate in a Turkey Trot 5K coming up in November so that's what I'm setting my sights on.  I know this one will be on pavement so I'm going to set a goal to complete it with as little walking as possible.  I have 5 weeks and 2 days to train.

The Return of Biggest Loser and Me

There are no excuses here, 100% honesty, I've fallen off the wagon.  I've been lazy, stressed out, lazy, busy, lazy, lazy, lazy.  I was on such a good kick with the 5K and as soon as that was over it was downhill from there.  Eating poorly, not working out, making excuses, etc.  I decided I wasn't going to "wait until Monday" again and just do it.  Two weeks ago Chris and I did a 5K with my aunt, sister-in-law and my nephews, that's kind of where it started.  It felt good to be outside, walking around, getting a bit of exercise.  Then over the weekend one of my friends asked me to go workout with her.  I didn't want to, but I went anyway and was so glad I did.  On Tuesday I worked from home and decided to start the 5K training over from the beginning.  Chris and I also bought FitBit's.  They track the amount of steps we've taken in a day, how many calories we've burned, it integrates with My Fitness Pal for calorie intake and also shows us how we slept at night.  So that encouraged me to start tracking my food again.  I haven't stepped on the scale yet, I don't want to because I know how my clothes fit and I'm not ready for that yet, but I am ready to tackle this again.

It was a pleasant coincidence that The Biggest Loser started again last night.  I'm excited to see the transformations and all of the hard work that is put in.  I always feel so motivated by the show.  This years theme is "2nd chances".  I feel like I'm on my 1 millionth chance (or try I guess) but I haven't given up yet and I don't plan to.

  

A Bit Behind

I'm a little behind in my posting!  The weekend was a lot of fun.  Eric and Ann were in town and we went bowling, shopping, hung out, etc.  We always have so much fun when they are around.  On Monday I woke up with a pretty bad headache so I ended up staying home and Chris and did double doctor duty!  We went to the chiropractor in the morning and followed that up with the acupuncturist.  This time I got the cupping procedure done on my back, HOLY MOLY that is kind of uncomfortable.  She also did this scraping technique and afterwards it looked like I'd been through a war.

Last night we got together with my mom and her new husband (Joe) to celebrate their marriage!  We got to meet Joe's kids and also got to see my brother/sister-in-law, aunts/uncles and grandpa.  It was a nice party to honor them.  I get double family time this week because my cousin Mike's engagement party is on Saturday!  Love being with my family.

Tonight we go back to the acupuncturist, tomorrow we have a couples baby shower and on Friday we get to see Ann who is in town again for another class.  It's a busy week for us, but it's also a very fun one!  

Not Much Today

Don't really have any stories or things to talk about today so I'll just post my food.

Back to Acupuncture

When Chris and I first tried to get pregnant it was taking longer than expected.  We had tried for almost a year and nothing was happening.  As girlfriends do, I talked to some of my friends and realized I wasn't the only one.  I wasn't worried about not getting pregnant, but was getting increasingly frustrated when each month "Aunt Flo" would come to town.  A few of the girls I talked to highly recommended acupuncture.  One of my friends at work tried to get pregnant for seven years.  She went through a few rounds of IVF, had a miscarriage, but was still hopeful.  She started going to acupuncture and within a few months was pregnant.  I knew that one of the VP's at my company (also a good friend) went to an acupuncturist who was located in Oak Brook, right in the middle of work and home so I asked him for her information.

Both Chris and I started seeing her last year.  I was going for fertility and he was going for that as well, but also to help with his allergies/BP/etc.  We started going on October and by January we were pregnant.  While it didn't work out that time, it was good to know that we were able to conceive.  With the stress of the failed pregnancy, grandparents passing away, Chris's health issues, etc. we stopped going to the acupuncturist for awhile.  Fast forward to Chris's follow up with his cardiologist last week.  He recommended that one of the things that Chris looks into is homeopathic medicine.  We started talking again about going back to the acupuncturist, so last night we did.  I don't know 100% if it works or the study behind it, but I do know that it's nice to just relax/meditate for 30 minutes (I try and not think of the fact that I have 30 needles poking out of me).

It really doesn't hurt!  For me she puts the needles in various places (legs, stomach, hands, ears, head) and I lay there, usually super relaxed and then she comes back 20 minutes later, I flip over and she does the same on my back.  Chris however leaves there looking like he was abducted by aliens!  He gets the initial "poking" as we call it with the needles, but for his second 1/2 she does a "cupping" technique where she puts these round cups for a lack of a better word all over his back and they create a suctioning effect and are supposed to release the toxins.  After she takes them off she scrapes his back.  It looks like huge, circle hickies all over his back with scratch marks.  I usually leave there either feeling super relaxed or a bit dizzy.  Yes odd I know but hey whatever works!

The best thing about it all is that it's covered by insurance!  We each have like 70 more sessions that we can use before the end of the year so I have a feeling we'll be there a lot.

A Little Sore Today

I'm a bit sore today, not from any particular workout, but from the best day ever yesterday :)  I watched my three nephews while my brother and sister-in-law went to the Bears game.  Hanging around with an 8, 5 and 2 year old is a workout in and of itself!  We ran, played, chased, had tickle fights, had Aunt Cole carry them, etc for almost 12 hours.  You won't ever hear me complain though!  They are the three best reasons to feel sore, I love being with them so much.

The rest of the weekend was great as well.  Friday night we had an impromptu hangout session with my Uncle Tim and Aunt Jeanne.  Saturday during the day we hung out with my mom, then went to church (yes church!) and then another impromptu hang out with my friend Eve and her husband Pete.  Notre Dame and the Bears both won this weekend, so the weekend was a huge success in my book!

Happy Friday!

Wow what a change in the weather!  Earlier this week it was almost 90, today it's 57!  Fall is my favorite season, so I'm happy to see the weather change.  I love all things fall - football, changing colors, cozy clothes, windows open, all things pumpkin, PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES, fall festivals, etc.

I've decided to restart my 5K training.  There are a few I'm looking at doing, one that I'd like to do is in November www.ditkadash.com (how fun does that look)!  I didn't complete the full training for the last 5K so I'd like to start over and go through the whole program.

Sweet Treat!

A few weeks ago Chris and I went to Costco (shocker!) and tried some of the samples.  We always get sucked into buying the samples :)  This one was worth it though!  Dark chocolate covered banana slices, YUM!  It's the perfect sweet treat.  There are only four slices per 100 calories package.  It's enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but not to over indulgent to feel bad about eating it.  It's a winner in our house!

Last night's dinner was super random.  I made Mahi Mahi, which usually I really like, tonight not so much.  I had some of it and I just wasn't feeling it.  So I had a random array of various items, vegetables, hummus, sun dried tomatoes, etc.   

We Will Never Forget

New Foods

Yesterday consisted of a few new food items.  Last Thursday we had a tailgate pot luck at our office.  My department was in charge of the "mains" so we decided to make Sloppy Joe's.  One of my team members made turkey ones and I said I'd make the vegetarian ones.  I found a recipe online and got everything together.  I got to work early so the crockpot could work it's magic.  At lunch time the lentils were still raw!!  I quadrupled the recipe so I have a feeling that was the issue.  I ended up ordering pizzas to cover my "main".  By the time I went home, I had a crockpot full of vegetarian Sloppy Joe's.  They actually turned out pretty good, I would make them again, but not so much at once.  Below is the recipe.  I've been eating it without the bun, so it's more like a chili.

Also last night I made the second pasta that we got at the Farmer's Market a few weeks back.  It was an onion/leek flavored pasta.  It didn't have nearly as much flavor as the Italian spice one did.  While the pasta was cooking I sauteed some zucchini in a pan with garlic and Italian seasoning.  I also cut up some chicken sausage and put it in there to warm up.  I put the pasta sauce in the same pan to warm it up as well.  Good reviews all around :)

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe's:

1 cup dried lentils, picked over (not red lentils; they would get too mushy)

1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

15 ounce canned tomatoes

1/4 cup + 1 table spoon tomato paste

3/4 cups onion, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (about 3/4 cups)

1T apple cider vinegar

1T garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1T chili powder

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more depending on your tastes)

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker; stir until well combined and cook on high, covered, for 3 to 4 hours on high or 7 to 8 hours on low, depending how fast your device cooks.

Taste test to ensure lentils are cooked through. If not, cover and cook in 30 minute increments until soft.

If too much liquid remains, cook on high without the lid for 30 to 60 minutes, keeping in mind these thicken as it sits.

I found this recipe on this blog.

First Official "5K" in the Books!

My first official "5K" is complete :)  I put it in quotation marks because according to all of our running apps it was not a full 5K.  It was more like 2.5 miles as opposed to 3.1  Either way I'm happy I did it.  We previously had signed Chris up to be a participant, but that was prior to his heart stuff, so his sister Kathleen went in his spot.  We got down to Peoria on Friday afternoon and went to get our running packets.  They contained a t-shirt, a packet of neon powder and our number bib.  The race wasn't until Saturday at 8 pm so we had a lot of fun hanging out on Friday and Saturday.  We got to the race location around 7:30 and we were SHOCKED by the number of people there.  There were thousands of people.  My bib number was 11657 and Eric and Ann were in the 4000's it was crazy!  As we walked to the start everyone was throwing their color packets at everyone else, so we were neon even before we started :)  They were letting runners go in waves every 5 minutes.  We kind of jumped to the front of the line and bypassed the long wait.

We had no idea of what the course looked like, it was hidden away.  Chris took lots of pictures of us at the start and finish which was nice!  Our wave went and Kathleen took off, she wanted to get a really good time.  Eric, Ann and I all started jogging together.  Once we got a few minutes in we saw part of the course.  It was an open fair ground field and you went back and forth across it following the path they'd laid out with cones, in the dark!  The problem with it being at a fair ground is that there wasn't a paved path, it was just an open field full of rocks, stones, holes, etc.  After almost tripping a few times, Ann and I decided we were going to power walk it.  We saw a few people wipe out, not our cup of tea.  Every 3/4th's of a mile or so we would go through a "glow station" which was basically 6 people throwing neon powder at you.  Some didn't have the best aim, we had it up our noses, in our ears, lol.

The second part of the course wound us through the animal stables (thankfully they weren't full!)  Again pitch black at times and a bit scary, there would be large curbs to look out for, animal "droppings", etc.  I had my phone so as we came close to the end I was able to text Chris and let him know we were almost at the end so he could look out for us.  He saw us coming around the corner and video'd our jog in.  Overall it was a fun atmosphere and experience with friends, but super dangerous.  I don't think I'd do a night run again.

The website told everyone to dress in costumes and crazy colors.  I looked online for how to make a tutu and went to Hobby Lobby for the supplies and made Ann, Kathleen and I each a tutu.  Kathleen hooked us up with the glow stuff.  The whole weekend was a lot of fun, kind of giving me the Monday blues, but I'll just keep looking at the pictures and enjoying the memories.

Me, Kathleen, Ann and Eric at the start

Us at the finish

My running buddy

Chris and I at the end

Great friends

Me at the end

Weekday Blues

I had the best weekend with all of my family in town and am a little sad that they're gone.  I seriously cannot get enough of them.  We had such a nice celebration of my grandparents life and then spent the weekend together.  I am truly blessed to have the family I do.  I thank God for them all the time.  We may not live in the same town or even state for that matter, however when we get together it's like we pick up where we left off.  At one point on Sunday my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much!  I love you all.

This weekend is the big 5K!!  I will admit that I am NO WHERE NEAR where I'd hoped to be in training, but at least I did some.  I'm getting very excited for it though and hope to find some others coming up soon that I can really train for and hopefully run the entire way.

Yummy Dinner

I didn't take a picture of last nights dinner, but it was a good one!  I got compliments from both Chris and grandma so you know it's good then :)  Chris and I went to a farmers market on Saturday in Downers Grove.  We'd never been there before, it was a recommendation of my friend Eve.  It's a great one!  We bought a ton of stuff!  One of the stands they had there was fresh pasta.  You can by a pound, but get 8oz of two different flavors if you want.  We got the Italian Spice and the Leek and Onion.  Last night for dinner I made the Italian Spice pasta, it cooks super quick.  I cooked some andouille chicken sausage that we had in the refrigerator and sliced it up and put it with the pasta and topped it with some organic, low sodium pasta sauce.  It was a very yummy and filling dinner.  I can't wait to try the other one.

Back to my Routine

It is SO NICE to be back home.  I'm used to 2 - 3 day trips, a week was a LONG time.  It felt good to get home and get back into a routine.  It was also great to be able to kiss and hug/squeeze Chris :)  The good thing is that while I was gone I didn't gain any weight.  I tried to be as good as possible, when you're eating out three meals a day that's tough.  I was able to do a workout while I was there as well.

One of my colleagues that was at the training with us did an Ironman yesterday!  That's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, followed by a 26 mile marathon!  INSANE.  I tracked him online and he did it in 12 hours and 41 minutes.  I went out for my 5K training yesterday and it had some longer interval runs and when I wanted to give up I kept reminding myself that he was doing an Ironman while I was doing 30 minutes!  Talk about motivation :)

I hope this week flies by!  My family is all coming into town this weekend from MI, WI, CO, MO and locally here in Chicago to celebrate the lives of my two grandparents that passed recently.  I cannot wait for some serious family time filled with laughs, memories, I'm sure a few tears, fun and of course a cocktail or two.

I'm Still Here

Three days in to my Atlanta trip.  Things are going well, we've had a few hiccups but nothing too bad.  I've been trying to be good with my eating, for the most part I'm doing ok.  Not great, but not horrible either.  I did get up this morning and go workout at the gym.  I did my 5K training.  I can't complain about working out though.  One of the guys I'm with is doing an Iornman this weekend!!  2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run.  HOLY SMOKES!  He wants to accomplish it all in 12 hours.  That's amazing.  So I can't really say that I don't have time to workout when he's here doing it and working the whole time!

14 Years!

Today marks 14 years with my company.  I had absolutely NO IDEA what they did when I took the job.  I'd made conference calls before, but had no clue when it came to anything else.  I feel so fortunate to have been here for 14 years.  They have been amazing in helping me to grow my career.  In my time here I've met some of my best friends, got my Masters, went from being a one woman training team to having 30 people under me and was able to celebrate our engagement with 300 of my co-workers when Chris proposed the night before we left on our Gold Club trip!  I feel very blessed to be where I am today.

As I mentioned yesterday, last night I worked out with my friend Eve.  It's so nice to have a workout buddy, she is very motivating, even if she doesn't realize it.  She made me go a little faster on the treadmill, lift more weights than I normally would and stay at the gym longer than usual.  She is very knowledgeable in strength training and that's where I get intimidated, so it's awesome to just follow her lead.  We agreed to workout together once a week.

We went to the gym at 7 and I didn't want to eat before hand and I knew I wouldn't want anything heavy when I got home because I'd be going to bed shortly after. Before I left for the gym I made a protein shake and put it in the freezer.  It was a good one!!  I used one scoop of vanilla protein powder, a banana, a cup of frozen strawberries, a cup of frozen mixed berries and 8oz of coconut water.  Delish!

Happy Friday :)

 

Workout Buddy

Tonight I'm going to the gym with my friend Eve.  She's a total inspiration, she's lost 80lbs over the past year and looks FANTASTIC.  She's a total motivation to workout with!  She has free passes at her gym, so I'll be meeting up with her there.  I'm going to do my 5K training on the treadmill so I'm hoping to up my mileage.

Last nights dinner was an old standby.  Mahi Mahi on the Foreman, a side of green beans and quinoa.  Nothing too exciting, but healthy and good at the same time.  I also had one of my yogurt bars, they are good!  I've now tried both the strawberry and coconut.  The coconut is my favorite, but the strawberry is pretty darn good too.

Next Week

Next week is one of those weeks that I'm kind of dreading.  I have to be in Atlanta Monday - Friday.  I'm not looking forward to it for many reasons.  First, and most important, I don't want to leave Chris.  I know he's doing much better than he was and the doctors are happy with his progress, I just don't want to leave him.  I didn't like leaving him prior to the health scare, this is making it even that much harder. He keeps telling me not to worry, he is fine.  Also, a week away means I will be eating every meal out.  I know I can do it and make healthy choices though.  Finally being away means getting out of my workout groove.  I guess it's good that I'm training for the 5K because it gives me something to work towards and motivates me to get out and do it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to cancel my trip.  I know this is part of my job and I do enjoy getting out to other offices and training.  I just am having a bit of an anxious moment about it right now.

New Sweet Treat

Every once and awhile I get a craving for a sweet treat, usually ice cream.  Obviously that's not a great craving to have.  When we were at Sam's Club the other day I saw a box of frozen yogurt bars by Yasso.  I can't find the exact image online, but the box I got has both coconut and strawberry bars.  I had the coconut one last night and it was really good.  There were actual pieces of coconut in the bar, not just coconut "flavored".  They are 80 calories, so not too bad of a hit to my calorie count for the day.

I did my 5K training this morning.  I set the alarm for 5:30 and after hitting snooze once I got up and then I realized, it was still dark out!  I wasted a little time getting ready and when I left the house at 6 it was starting to get light out.  I did better today than I did on Sunday.  Sunday I only went 1.7 miles, today I made it 2.03.  This week's training is a hard one!  5 minute warm up brisk walk, jog for 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, jog 5 minutes, walk 2.5 minutes, jog 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, jog 5 minutes, 5 minute cool down.  That last 5 minute jog was a killer.  It's a good thing no one is around me at that time because I'm sure I sound like I'm dying :)  

New Water

I think I've mentioned before that I drink sparkling water to make me feel like I'm drinking pop.  I just get so bored with plain water, although I have no problem drinking it.  I still feel like I need something with carbonation and fizziness at some point in the day.  I've been drinking La Croix for some time now, however they just came out with a new flavor that I LOVE!!  It's Peach-Pear.  Some of the flavors like lime and lemon don't really have a taste to them, they are just fizzy water - but you can really taste the flavor in the Peach-Pear.  I'm a fan :)

I started back with my 5K training yesterday, man it kicked my butt and I was SLOW, but at least I did it.  I'm a little behind in my training but that's ok.  I still have three weeks to try and get a bit better.  The goal is to finish, not to race :)

Birthday Celebration

Last night I went do dinner and a play with my mom, aunts and cousins.  We were celebrating my Aunt Marilyn's birthday.  We always have so much fun when we are together.  I tried to eat well during the day because I knew I'd have a few drinks and that we were going to a pizza/flat bread restaurant.  It was very good!  My mom and I split a flat bread that was described as a "salad on a crust".  The crust was SUPER thin and on top was arugula, heirloom tomatoes, freshly made mozzarella and some olive oil and sea salt.  It was so so good.  We went and saw the play Late Night Catechism.  For a bunch of Irish Catholic girls it was pretty funny.  It was an interactive play and of course I got called on :)  I won a key chain that says "God Protects."  Inside of it were three little knives, hahaha get it.  Anyway fun was had by all and while I wasn't great in terms of food/drink, I still tried to keep it healthy.

  

Fishy-fishy!

Hahaha, I now always hear that McDonald's commercial when talking about fish.  It doesn't help that Chris sings it a lot as well, fishy fishy!  Last nights dinner was a good one.  We took out Mahi Mahi from the freezer and made it on the Foreman.  No salt/spices/etc.  Then I also made a spaghetti squash for us to split.  Chris ate both his fish and squash without any seasoning.  I put some salt (hey I can have salt, my BP is usually 98/70 so some salt isn't all that bad!) on my squash and some olive muffalata on my fish.  It was tasty!  I grilled two extra fillets so I have some left over for lunch today and tomorrow, I'll be having fish tacos!

After dinner we went to Sam's Club for a "few things".  Has anyone ever left Sam's with only a "few things?"  I'm not sure if Chris liked shopping with me though because everything he picked up was followed with me either saying "you can't have that" or "how much sodium is in that" or "put it down."  :)  One thing I did like that he picked up was the coconut water.  One of his medicines depletes his body of potassium so he's always looking for things that are high in potassium and coconut water is!  I like it too, and before when I would suggest getting it, it was followed by one of Chris's common responses to me while shopping "not at that price!"  Now we aren't as worried about price (we are still being conservative, but a few dollars won't break us) and more concerned over nutritional value.  

On a weight loss note, I've lost almost 8 lbs in the last few weeks.  I'm actually surprised by this.  Normally in high stress situations I go nuts (arrrrrrrrrrrrrr) eating bad foods.  While we were at the hospital I tried making as healthy food choices as possible.  I had the salad bar, veggie burger, potato, chicken, etc. as opposed to the mac and cheese, fajitas, cheese burgers/hot dogs/fries, etc that were also available in the cafeteria.  It helped that the food was kind of gross anyway so I didn't really want it :)  Chris says he notices a difference, I'm still waiting to see it :)

Eating Clean

Now that we are readjusting our eating habits, we are trying to eat as "clean" as possible.  We want to eat fresh, non-chemical foods.  Chris was always super conscious about sodium in the past, but now I'm trying to take note as well.  It's not as much of an issue with me, but I am trying to alter my diet to match Chris's.  Last night's dinner was pretty good!  It's funny because even before we started eating Chris said "don't you want to take a picture of it" :)  I made salmon on the George Foreman grill, no seasoning or anything on it.  Then I put some spinach on the plate and sprinkled a little Italian seasoning over it.  We still had zucchini left over form the night before (the part of the dish that looks like pineapple!) so I heated that up.  I put the salmon and zucchini over the spinach and then used the Bolthouse Tropical Mango Vinaigrette over the top.  I was hoping the heat from the zucchini and salmon would have wilted the spinach a little more, but overall it was a good dish.  I made some extra salmon to have with my salad for lunch today.

Health is Wealth!

Well after a very scary, physically exhausting and mentally draining week, I'm back.  If the last week has taught me anything, it's to be truly thankful for my health and that of my family.  Other "issues" such as arguments, job woes, stress, etc are possible to get though, but when there is a health issue it's not always as easy.  Chris was faced with a very real and frightening health scare last week.  The doctors and nurses were very realistic with us about what could potentially happen to him if action isn't taken immediately and it was like someone had punched me in the stomach 500 times.  I'm happy to report that he's on the path to getting healthy, but we have some very serious lifestyle changes to make in order to get him there.  Diet, activity and environment are all factors in getting him healthy, some are easier than others to tackle, but we will tackle them no matter what it takes.  I want/need him around for a VERY LONG TIME and am willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.  Many of these changes will also be good for me in terms of diet/exercise.

I'd like to thank everyone for their calls, texts, prayers, support over the past week.  Knowing that I have a family that loves us so much means more than you will ever know.  Everyone's love had a great impact on us, but especially my Aunt Jeanne.  She truly was our angel while this was all going on.  I can't even tell you how many texts/calls were exchanged over the past week.  Having her to explain the doctor/nurse talk, the various medications, calming my panic attacks, the reassurance that I wasn't crazy for questioning the doctors/nurses, her visit to the hospital, recommending Chris's new cardiologist, etc.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Chris had his follow up with the cardiologist today and they are tweaking some of his meds, sending him for more blood work, giving him a 24 hour blood pressure machine and then another follow up visit next week.

Time to get back into a routine of working out and healthy (non-hospital food!!) eating.

        

Can't Wait for Tonight!

I'm so EXCITED for tonight, I get to see my three nephews!  My mom is having all of us and my grandpa over for dinner.  We haven't all gotten together in awhile so it will be nice to hang out.

Today and tomorrow are filled with doctors appointments for Chris and I.  Today Chris goes to an allergist and I'm going tomorrow.  My allergies have been really bad lately.  I've never been officially tested, so I want to see what it is I'm allergic to and then what I can do to make it better.  I hate waking up every morning feeling like I've been run over by a bus.  Chris also has really bad allergies and believes that some of them are tied to his high blood pressure so we want to get it figured out.  Tomorrow afternoon is the most important appointment though, Chris is seeing a new cardiologist.  Thanks to my Aunt Jeanne for both doctor recommendations, but especially the cardio doctor.  I'm optimistic about getting Chris's blood pressure under control.  I know I'm greedy, but I kind of want him around for the next 50+ years or so :)

I completed day 3 of week 3 for my 5K training today.  Not as bad as the first day in week 3 :)

Wasted Saturday

I wish my blog post meant that I had fun drinking all day Saturday, but quite the opposite.  I wasted my entire Saturday sick in bed :(  Friday night Chris and I went out to dinner with two of our friends and even before we left the restaurant I wasn't feeling well.  All four of us got food poisoning!  I seemed to have the most severe case though.  NOT FUN.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I was laid up all day from being sick.

On a positive note though, since I had so much sleep on Saturday that meant I was up and ready early on Sunday!  We went to the Frankfort Farmers Market.  Now talk about a Farmers Market!  That one is awesome.  They had entertainment, a petting zoo for kids, food stands, veggies/fruit, flowers, drinks, etc.  I haven't been as impressed with some of the markets we've gone to recently, but this one hit it out of the park!  Highly recommended :)

I started week 3 of my 5K training yesterday.  WHOA that's a tough one.  5 minute warm up, jog for 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, jog for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes, repeat the 90 sec and 3 min cluster again and then a 5 minute cool down.  The 90 seconds that seemed impossible last week was a breeze compared to the 3 mins this week :)

 

Lead Legs

I did my 5K training again this morning and my legs felt like lead!  I'm glad that I did it because it got me moving, however I didn't feel good about the run.  I may redo the training day.  I think I need to maybe take a day off in between the runs.  Even on day's that I don't feel all that great about my workout, I have to remember that it's better than nothing!

Since it was so nice out last night, we decided to grill.  We made some Steelhead Trout, portabella mushrooms and eggplant.  I put some Dijon mustard, italian seasoning and garlic on the trout before putting it on the grill.  I also put balsamic vinegar on the mushrooms.  Everything turned out great!

Fish Tacos and a Morning Run

Last night we had a really good dinner!  We'd taken some Mahi Mahi out of the freezer the other day and I planned on just grilling it.  The night before Chris and brought up fish tacos and I couldn't get that out of my head, sounded really good, so we made home made fish tacos!  YUM.  We grilled the Mahi Mahi on the Foreman Grill and then shredded it.  I bought some lower calorie wraps at Whole Foods and then we each topped them with what we wanted.  I went with plain greek yogurt (my "sour cream"), broccoli slaw for crunch, fresh herbs from the garden, avocado, the fish, some olive muffalata and topped it with some feta cheese.  I had two and was full.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and after a bit of a delay due to technology not working I went for my morning "jog" for my 5K training.  Chris was still in bed when I left the house.  About 10 minutes in I spotted a very cute biker :)  Chris decided to join in on the morning workout, only on his bike instead.  It was fun having him ride by every few minutes.  This morning's jog was a little rough.  My legs kept cramping up.  I probably should have stretched a bit before I started.  I'm glad I went though, the weather was awesome.  A little chill in the air almost, perfect workout weather.  

Back to the Podiatrist

Last night I had visit #2 with the podiatrist.  My foot isn't quite reacting how it should be to the inserts and steroid shot, so we have plan of attack #2.  I got another steroid shot in my heel (OUCH) and now they are making custom inserts for my shoes.  The inserts are not covered by insurance, but if it's going to make my feet feel better I'll bite the bullet and get them.  They made casts of my feet and sent them out and I should have them back in three weeks.

In the mean time she said that I could still continue my 5K training (YAY!!) as long as I promised to do better in terms of stretching and icing afterwards.  She also taught Chris the proper way to tape up my foot so that I had some additional support prior to my inserts arriving.

Chris started his training for the 5K yesterday, it was fun to have a buddy along the route (even if he was in front of me the entire time!)  I worked from home yesterday so we were able to do it over the lunch hour which was pretty cool.  When we got back I made a protein shake for lunch, chia seeds, coconut water, blueberries, pineapple, strawberries and spinach.  It was pretty darn good.

I Got My Juice!

The juice craving continued through yesterday so at lunch I went to the new Mariano's by my office and got a Super Kale Fruit juice!  It was so good.  It had kale, coconut water, apples, grapes, banana and cayenne pepper.

The pepper added an interesting kick and after I was done drinking I could feel the spice in my mouth, but nothing too overwhelming.  I may be hooked!  I have to go to Orland today so I may need to stop at Whole Foods and see if their juicer is working (unlike the one we went to on Sunday).  

After work I went to the cardio-sculpt class and then did zumba afterwards.  My foot has been hurting pretty bad since the stupid piloxing class so I have another appointment with the podiatrist tonight to hopefully figure out how to treat it so that I can still workout but not be in quite so much pain.  I am really excited about our 5K and don't want to stop training for it.  

Craving Healthy Food

Chris and I both noticed a change in ourselves this weekend.  It was a strange, yet exciting feeling.  We went out to dinner on Friday night and even though I TRIED to order well, it didn't work out that way.  Long story short, I ordered fish and when I got it there were TON of bones in it.  I'm not joking when I say that of the 1 inch of fish that I tried eating it had about 16 bones in it.  I ordered the fish broiled, which apparently they don't do a lot of.  She said all of their other fish is fried so that usually dissipates the bones.  She offered to get me something else.  By that time I was getting angry.  Chris's dinner came out wrong, the wine I ordered was sour, so I just asked her for a recommendation.  She said they were known for their Ruben's so I just said fine.  After it came out I regretted not getting something more healthy.  I ate about 2/3'rds of it and gave the rest to Chris.  Instead of fries I ordered the red potatoes.  The rest of the night I felt horrible.  I think my stomach has gotten used to eating healthier so when I put garbage in it, it didn't react all that well.

At breakfast the next morning Chris and I talked about how, now that we're eating better, our bodies are craving are different things.  I want to eat well, the garbage food isn't quite as appealing to me anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think that pizza will ever sound bad to me, but I am making much more of a conscious decision to eat more healthy.  Yesterday Chris and I were out grocery shopping and I all of the sudden had a craving for freshly squeezed juice.  Not just orange juice, but a veggie/fruit combo like we made in our juicer.  I even made a pit stop at Whole Foods hoping to get some, but their juicer was broken :(  

On Saturday my foot was finally feeling better.  As I mentioned last week, Piloxing won't happen again for me!  I wanted to keep up with my 5K training so I did my 2 1/2 miles outside.  Chris was at the gym, so I met him there and we did another 30 minutes on the treadmill together, then moved onto some weights.  Well by Saturday night my foot was killing me again and on Sunday I had a hard time walking around.  I guess I'll be calling the podiatrist again, ugh!  It actually upset me yesterday that I couldn't workout because of my foot.  Baby steps I guess :)

    

Piloxing and I Don't Mix

I was SO excited to finally get to try Piloxing last night.  It's one of the classes that got me really excited about buying the Groupon.  It's a combo of Pilates and Boxing.  It was nice because the class only had 6 people in it so it wasn't cramped.  The instructor told everyone to take off their shoes unless they wore orthodics or had feet issues - that's me!  So I kept my shoes on.  The class was a ton of either a lot of jumping back and forth or balancing on one foot or the other for long periods of time.  My feet were screaming at me to stop.  I thought, hmm maybe if I take my shoes off it will be better.  In the back of my mind I heard my podiatrist saying "never go barefoot."  I did it anyway, bad idea!  About 1/2 way through the class during one of the water breaks I apologized to the instructor, told her about my feet and let her know I'd be leaving.  She was very nice and told me to try it again sometime.  I was kind of bummed because I was supposed to do my 5K training after the class and there was no way that was happening so I went home, took Advil, iced my foot and let it rest.

I'm looking at the positive though.  I tried it, I at least burned some calories and now I know I never want to do it again :)

New Salad

Last night I took the night off of working out.  I needed a few things from the grocery store so that was our plan.  I knew better than to go out hungry though :)  A few nights ago I'd taken some chicken out of the freezer to thaw and it was ready to be cooked.  Well it's way too hot out to grill and to turn the oven on (this one I'm still trying to understand, since the air conditioning is on, but I go along with it) so I pulled out the George Foreman grill.  The chicken breasts where ginormous!  I could really only cook one at a time.  While it was cooking I cut up a watermelon that I'd bought a few days ago.  I've been wanting to make a watermelon salad since I saw it online a few weeks ago, so I gave it a shot.  I combined watermelon, feta cheese, some of the mint from our garden, some balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.  YUM!  I'm a fan :)  Next time I'd probably add more balsamic.  The recipe that I saw called for olive oil, but I didn't want to wast the calories.  Also said to add pepper, but that didn't sound good.

When the chicken was done I was curious as to how much it weighed so I put it on the food scale, 16 oz!!!!  Crazy!!  I split it in 1/2 and Chris ate one 1/2 and I ate the other.  I cooked the rest of the chicken too and weighed each one and split them into individual baggies with how much they weigh and how many calories that equaled, yes odd but it will help with meal planning/tracking in the future!  Most of them are 7 oz/175 calories.  I put most of them in the freezer.  One of them is on top of the salad I brought for lunch today and the other is in the fridge for dinner tonight.