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.