Sweet Tooth Satisfied

Last night when I got home from work I realized that I'd only eaten 550 calories for the day.  Not nearly enough for being 6 pm!  Luckily I already had dinner made and all I needed to do was heat it up.  I made chili in the crockpot over the weekend so I heated that up with some spaghetti squash I made the night before, I also added a tablespoon of non-fat greek yogurt.  That filled me right up!  Chris asked me how many calories I had left for the day and I told him around 400.  We had some running around to do and Chris suggested as a treat on the way home that we get some frozen yogurt.  Ummmm, OK :)

After our errands we were driving home and realized the only ice cream places by us were Baskin Robbins and Dairy Queen, neither of which have frozen yogurt.  I suggested we go to Jewel and just pick out something to take home, that way we have the ability to manage what we get calorie/fat wise.  We spent probably about 10 minutes analyzing the ice cream section.  Chris said "no wonder we are all fat, look at the quantity of the ice cream aisle as compared to the other sections."  True, very true!  Anyway, the lowest calorie frozen yogurt I found was 90 calories for 1/2 of a cup.  Now I don't know about you, but 1/2 a cup of ice cream to me is about 2 bites :)  Then I saw a box of italian ice.  100 calories and 0 fat for a 6oz cup, that's already pre-packaged!  That's key to me.  If I had to measure out my own ice cream, I know an extra spoon full probably would have made it's way into my bowl.  This way it's all done for me.  I got the package that has 3 strawberry and 3 watermelon.  Chris was then able to get whatever ice cream he wanted since he doesn't really need to worry about calorie content.  He was willing to get the lower calorie ones for me though :)

We got home and both had our treats.  Now don't get me wrong, the italian ice will never be the same as having ice cream, however it was perfect for a little sweet evening treat.  Who goes out to get ice cream when it's -10 degrees and snowing?  We do :)

Back By Popular Demand

By "popular demand" I mean the encouragement of Chris :)  Sooooooooooo, did I start 2014 saying "That IS me", nope.  Did I loose weight, nope - in fact I'm heavier now than at this time last year.  Did I stop using excuses, nope.  Did I stick with my "lifestyle change, not a diet" attitude, nope.  Does that mean that I've given up, NOPE.

So many things have happened since my last blog.  The most exciting thing is that Chris and I bought a house!  I am so in love with it and it's finally starting to feel like home.  We hosted 40 people on Christmas Eve and another 20 people a few days later.  It was the best Christmas ever!  Chris's blood pressure has finally stabilized which I am SO thankful for.  It was the main driver behind us getting the house.

I had a treadmill in my condo that we moved into the house.  There was a lot of debate as to where it should go.  I wanted to hide it away in a bedroom or the basement because it didn't "look nice" in certain areas, Chris's thought was to put it in the area that we would be most likely to use it.  It took me awhile to come around to the idea, but he's right.  So the treadmill sits in our family room.  I've started using it, I try to walk an hour every night.  I'm not always successful, or sometimes it will be a different activity (like Zumba on the Wii or going to the gym) but as Chris just pointed out I have worked out 13 of the past 16 days.

I've started tracking my food again, I've been doing so everyday since 1/6.  I'm not going to lie and say that I haven't gotten crabby or that this is easy, it sucks at times, but I can't keep letting myself spiral out of control.  So here I am.............again.  At least I can say that I am trying!

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.