Tag Archives: running

Maude’s and miles

I loved the things all of you would say to your past selves!  Thanks for the comments on my photos, too.  There is always mixed feeling of shame and embarrassment in putting those up there. …

Saturday morning and out to breakfast!  We took my folks out as a thank you for when we were on the cruise and they watched Pixie and the house for us.  They have not been to Maude’s kitchen, so that is where we took them.  I love Maude’s!

I had my usual cheese omelet!

It was weird eating here before working out, as we have only come here on a gym workout day.  I actually was showered 😀

John got a short stack of blueberry pancakes.  Fluffy white things, so good, but dense.

He could only eat half of these.

I thought these shakers were pretty cute.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

We then spent some time at their house looking at photo albums and laughing at my mullet in highschool from the 80s.   😯  Needed to let breakfast digest for a couple hours before hitting the gym for my run!

I have never been to the gym on a Saturday afternoon.  It was full of preeners :mrgreen:

Busted out 6 miles today:

I would not recommend a breakfast like the above on a longer run day.  I was getting a little bit of heartburn, which is really rare for me.

Segue to this FAQ:

I was wondering what you have to eat pre-workout? This is just me, and it has taken a lot of playing around to find my comfort level of food for workouts.  I exercise pretty much exclusively in the mornings because my work day starts at 10 am, and I don’t always know what time I will finish.  On run days, I eat a bigger snack – usually around 150 to 200 calories prior to going to the gym.  This is either accomplished with a bar of some sort (balance or Luna) or 1/2 a bagel/toast with PB.  Yogurt smoothies are also really good.  On days where I don’t run, but do lifting, I tend to eat about 100 calories of dates with nut butter.  If I have eaten a heavy dinner or had a late snack where I go to bed full, I won’t always eat a pre-workout snack on my lighter days.  I have not found that much difference if I eat or not at those times.  Otherwise, the snack gives me the energy I need to get through a longer workout.

If I exercise later in the day, I don’t bother eating a pre-workout snack as I have been already eating during the daytime.

After my run, I came home and had a snack:

Then a shower and some game playing:

I do like video games, but don’t get to play them as much as I used to!

And John made me this (yes, it is on the floor…):

It’s been a lazy day 😀  and I love it!  It’s also been a really weird eating day.  I never really ate lunch because of the big breakfast, but had a few snacks. I am craving carbs like crazy (yesterday, too).  I think it is PMS, but irregardless, I am giving my body what it is wanting today.  So, I kind of felt like oats for dinner!

Isn’t that weird?  But it totally hit the spot.  I would rather give in to the cravings sometimes rather than eat way more calories trying to eat my way around it if I can’t get satisfied.  Know what I mean?

Question:  Do you give your body what it craves or do you work around it?

Balanced day and bring on the questions!

Thanks for all your input on my to goal or not to goal post from yesterday!  I am always looking for ways to challenge myself, and without any specific events or anything to train for right now, it seems as good a time as any to see what I can do with the scale.  Nothing may happen, but I am willing to give it a try.  I do know that if it doesn’t really want to move, or I find it too hard – I am okay with where I am.  😀

Started off the day with a pre-run snack!

I need to make my own and quit with the bars.  (Yeah, I know I keep saying that…).   Today was run day at the gym.  I am glad I lifted light yesterday, because my legs felt nice and fresh today.  The goal was 5 miles or whatever I felt like doing after that, which turned into 6!  I had covered up the electronics after mile 1 and just listened to my tunes (Hot Club of Detroit).  When I uncovered, it was just about 6 miles, so I finished it out.  Going at a slower pace (for me) really helps the longer runs.  I do between 5.5 and 5.8 mph for the longer runs.

Schweaty:

I was totally ready for breakfast!  Banana custard oats and cafe au lait:

Topped with PB&J!

Got right to work this morning.  Busy, busy.  And watching the snow start to fall.  We are predicted to get a good amount of snow over the next couple of days of 8 to 16 inches (could they maybe have narrowed that down a bit??).  Regardless, there will be some shoveling happening tomorrow.  Not sure if that will affect bagel Wednesday or not 👿

Lunch break of greek yogurt, hemp plus granola and strawberries!

Yum! Today was really a yummy food day.  Or maybe it was the long run that made everything taste extra good.

My own personal barista made me  latte, which I paired with an Attune bar.  I really think the raspberry ones are my favorite.

I finished up work right at dinner time, which was nice.  Most evenings I have about 1/2 hour or so left by dinner time, so this was a happy thing.  Needing to eat up those potatoes!  I also had thawed out some ground beef.  We purchase our meat from a local smokehouse, and they do not have any lean mixes, just straight up 80/20.  So, ground beef is a little rare (hardeehar) around here.   I cooked it up and mixed it with some barbeque sauce (addiction alert!) and topped a baked potato with it.  Really, really good:

Overall, I did quite well with the eating today.  I had extra calories because of the run x2:

and I balanced my meals and snacks pretty well.  And fairly clean. Tonight will be some stretching and working on a strength training workout for tomorrow (if I can make it to the gym!)

FAQ time: Okay – I am going to do another round of FAQs as there are a lot of new readers.  So please, ask me anything in the comments or email me at javaqueen01 (at) yahoo.com.  I am going to use these to compile an FAQ page, along with the ones I did before.  Long overdue for that….

Don’t forget about the 15% off coupon at OpenSky for the Olympics promotion!  It expires on the 23rd.  I have some new nut butter in my shop, too.

Question:  Are you seeing any snow?

Running and food experiments

Ah Saturday. I get to sleep in just a bit since my gym doesn’t open until 8 am. I had a pre-run snack of dates and almond butter.

If you haven’t tried this combo, you must.  It’s delicious, particularly if you have the soft medjool dates.

Passing some time before leaving the house always means self-portraits!

Thank goodness for hats, or Medusa would be heading out to the gym 🙂

Hopped on the hamster wheel and busted out 5 miles.  It felt really good.  Do you ever have those days where you just feel in great shape?  I was feeling it today, and I loved it.  I am also feeling those harder chin ups from yesterday, too.  Soreness down my sides (in a good way).

I was craving some protein waffles for brekkie!  I don’t know why this same recipe tastes different as pancakes versus waffles.  Or maybe it is just in my mind.

I had a lovely package arrive from a secret bloggy valentine.  I don’t know who it is, though!  I have a last name, but that’s it.  It had some wonderful pampering stuff in there.

Thank you!!  Scented with coconut lime. You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up – sing it with me!  I used this in the shower today.

I came up with a cool recipe for lunch today.  I had some rice pudding during the cruise.  Rice pudding has always been a favorite of mine, but I hardly ever make it  (not exactly sure why that is).  Anyway, we had some cooked brown rice in the fridge and I had an idea for a quick rice pudding:

  • 1 individual container of vanilla greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 20 grams of chopped raisins (I had a mixed grape color type)

This was really good!  It had some of the yogurt tang, but the overall texture was good and packed with protein.  I think some ground pistachios would have completed it.  Next time I will mix it earlier to let it sit and meld for a while.

I had to work some today to make up for missed hours this week.  I will be going 8 straight days of work until next Friday, wahhh!  But it was worth it.

John and I took a break for some coffee at Cool Beans, and I was tempted by a treat:

Goodbye 5-mile run calorie burn :mrgreen:

Came home to find Pixie being lazy on the dishwasher.  She gets on top of it whenever we run it because it is warm.  I love her giant feet.

Dinner was another experiment.  I pan sauteed some broccoli in sesame oil, then added chopped cooked chicken breast and salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl, I mixed 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar with 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp cornstarch and added it to the pan.

This was pretty good, but it needs some other flavoring.  Not sure what it would be, though. Maybe mustard?  Anyone have any balsamic vinegar tips?

The rest of the night will be made of some reading and resting.

On a sad note, I wanted to take a moment and ask you all to please send your thoughts to Steve, as he has lost his father suddenly.

Cruising food plans

Another busy day on tap here at casa java!  I got some more great sleep.  I’ll do a more informative post on the 5HTP hopefully this week.  Think it is doing me some good!  Today was a run day.  One thing about my job in transcription is that there is sometimes medical information given that I find applicable to my daily life!  One doctor was treating a patient for a stress fracture caused by treadmill running.  The doctor said that treadmill running can cause a stress fracture in your foot bones because your stride never changes and the repetitive motion can cause the fracture.  So, a good reason for intervals or changing up the speed on the hamster wheel!  So that’s what I did today.  I did 4 miles (on my taper plan this week) in 44 minutes with speed intervals during miles 3 and 4.  It really felt great!  It went by so fast only doing 4 miles instead of 6 (did I really say ‘only’???).  Even John commented that I got back early from the gym.  😀

I was ready for waffles!  This will be the last of the protein waffles this week as there isn’t enough cottage cheese to make any more.

Doesn’t today look much better than yesterday?

It’s amazing what a little sun does for mood!

Lunch was a BBQ chicken pizza made on a Joseph’s pita bread.  I used BBQ sauce, cooked chicken breast and a little mozzarella and popped it in the toaster oven:

Served with an unpictured kiwi.  Yum!

John is sitting on a jury this week, so I have been entertaining myself during breaks from work.  Tried to get Pixie involved in picture taking with me:

She wasn’t all that interested….. 10 pics later and I finally captured a decent one:

So regarding the cruise/vacation eating plan.  We are getting into New Orleans on Saturday late afternoon, and our boat leaves on Monday after lunch.  I will say that all bets are off for the short time in New Orleans.  The food there is fabulous and we are going to take advantage of that.  There will be pictures of beignets, chargrilled oysters, probably some pralines.  It’s really hard to go wrong there.

The cruise itself is another matter.  One thing about cruise lines is that there is always food available.  24 hours a day.  Did you know this ship has a complimentary sushi bar?  😯  Not to mention complimentary room service.  Some people rave about ship food, but I found it to be a little institutional, if you know what I mean.  Not that it is bad at all, though. They are cooking for 2000 people, so that is some bulk cooking!  It’s not really gourmet food.  It’s probably better than most people are used to, and there is plenty of it.   The sit down dining room meal portions were actually ‘normal’ size portions, and I think that is due to  the fact that they have to feed so many people and it isn’t cost effective to serve portions that won’t get eaten.  More restaurants should take note of that…..

Our ship (Carnival) also has an a la carte area to eat on the Lido deck, and that is where we ate the majority of our meals last cruise and what we plan to do on this one.  We are very informal and getting dressed up for meals with a server bringing food is not high on our list.  I would rather get a casual meal and sit on the deck and look out over the water.  There are actually plenty of healthy choices available if I choose to make them.  I am going to try and eat what I would normally eat during the day, and a couple special dinners.  Plus the chocolate buffet 😀 .  Gotta partake in that.  There will be plenty of exercise to be had on the ship.  There is a workout room, or the outside track to run on (which is my choice).

The only variable here is the port of call places.  We are stopping in Cozumel and Progreso.  I don’t know what type of food is available there, and I certainly want to sample local cuisine.

The bottom line is that this cruise is not about the food.  It’s about relaxing and enjoying time with my hubby.  I am going to indulge some, but not overdo it.  Yes, there may be some weight gain, but I am very okay with that.

So, let’s see how well I actually stick to that plan, shall we??

Dinner tonight was an omelet stuffed with a Laughing Cow wedge.  Why have I not tried this before?  It was sooo good!

That’s the last of the strawberries this week!

I am off to my rental house to do the last few things like hang closet doors and replace some baseboard.  2 open houses this week.

Question:  When you vacation do you eat whatever or try to have a plan?

An Egg-cellent day!

The end of the work week has arrived for me!  It’s been a busy week, that’s for sure.  I am so ready for New Orleans and the cruise (9 days and counting…..).

Today was a run day at the gym.  Seeing more new members, which is good (as long as they don’t take my favorite treadmill!).  I noticed it is definitely lighter out in the morning now when I leave the house.  Spring is coming! Right?? 😉

I put on Harry Connick Jr today (25) and hit ‘start’.  While I like this album, I think it was too mellow for running.  I did 6 miles, and did the last 3 miles at 6 mph.  Felt good!  I was incredibly sweaty today, though, more than usual (which is already pretty scary). I’m getting used to 6 miles as a base distance now….. maybe.

Came home and wanted oats today, and decided to make them custard oats!  I used 1 serving of liquid egg whites.  I almost used a regular whole egg, but I wanted the fat on top in the form of peanut butter!  One thing I love about the egg white in the oats is the volume you get out of the bowl.  For only 30 calories and it about doubled in size.

Cooked with a banana mashed in and topped with peanut butter and some peach grand marnier jam that was made locally.  So awesome!

One of the reasons I posted my snacks yesterday is that I do worry that there are people who copy what I eat or who email me saying I don’t eat enough 😯 , and I want to make sure that people understand that I actually eat a lot of food, particularly because I work out so hard, or just because I eat too much sometimes :mrgreen:   I don’t like how I tend to snack so much, because it isn’t always hunger.  It’s not really boredom either, since I am working.  It’s one thing to bring snacks to work and eat them, but since I work from home – there is *always* stuff around to eat, cause I live here!

I was in the mood for a waffle sandwich for lunch, so here comes the 2nd installment of eggs:

There was an egg in the waffle mix, plus the egg/egg white fluff on the sandwich with laughing cow.  Plus an awesome red pear.  I think red pears are my very favorite pear.  Bosc pears, not so much.

I rocked on the football picks again.  Okay, I just squeaked out a win this week, but I’ll take it!  I decided on dinner instead of breakfast out.  Our original plan was to go to Rock Hill Bakehouse, but when we pulled in it was incredibly crowded.  I think it was open mic night or something?  So we went across the street to Wholy Crepe.

I already had eggs for breakfast and lunch, so why not dinner, too?

I had a chicken and broccoli crepe.  How sad that I can’t get out of my rut even when eating out 😳  It had a dill sauce with a tiny bit of cheddar cheese in there.  Served with a side salad.

Delicious!

Of course, when you are at a crepe place, you must get a sweet one.  We decided to split an apple crisp crepe.

Not sure how they formed this to be a bowl, but it was a cool presentation.  The crepe was filled with apple crisp, drizzled with caramel and had a most fantastic whipped cream with it.  Sooooo goood!  I wish they would get rid of the florescent lighting, though.

Now for a relaxing evening and Project Runway!  I have a lot of things to do on the day off, including working on the rental house to get ready for the open house and broker open.

Question:  Have you ever had crepes?

Runnin’ and ramblings

Thanks for the nice comments yesterday about my flashback fat feelings.  It just nice sometimes to admit to these things and know you aren’t alone.  So, I hit the gym for run day today.  I set the treadmill at 5.5 mph and just chugged it out while listening to my player.  I had downloaded Casandra Forsythe‘s podcast as I mentioned yesterday.  You know, I liked listening to people talk while jogging.  I normally listen to music, but this maybe made the time go by faster?  I don’t know why that would be.  It made me think some and nod my head in agreement a lot.  Sometimes I didn’t quite agree with what was said.  I really liked how this interview was 2 real women talking about fitness in a way that isn’t all magazine headline and ‘lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks’ kind of thing.  Also interesting to note is that Cassandra is quite far into a pregnancy, so she also talks a lot about what she does and does not do being pregnant.  They also brought up a great point about how women just always aren’t nice to each other (or themselves).  We cannot appreciate someone for just being, but there has to be a “She’s too skinny/fat/muscular/tall/short/old/wrinkled/etc” thrown in there.  Whatever that blank is.  Why is that??  Quite a long interview, too.  It was about an hour and got me most of the way through my run, which was 6 miles.

I was ready to eat!  I wanted a fast breakfast, so it was Cream of Wheat time!  Made with a mashed banana, cinnamon, and topped with the last of the pecan butter and some chips.  These are regular size chips, and it looks like so few compared to the minis!  They still got nice and melty, though.

There’s some chip dust on there, too, from the end of the bag.  I was sad when the bowl was done.  🙂

Fun note: I received a wonderful email from Brad Schoenfeld and I about fell over!  You know that I recommend a couple of his books 28-Day-Shapeover and Sculpting Her Body Perfect.  Anyway, he apparently stumbled across my blog and he mentioned me on his blog!  I was so flattered! Eeeeeee!!!!!!!!  You all know how I loves my lifting 😀

Still in the ‘use things up’ mode in the house.  We have a lot of food!  Lunch was the rest of the greek yogurt with a little agave, some Special K Protein cereal and strawberries.

I like the Special K, but I noticed it has HFCS in it.  Booo….  Doesn’t stop me from snacking in it though, I noticed. LOL

Snack time involved more of yesterday’s item: 

I am snacky snacky lately.  I’ve been swamped with stuff in the last few days and just tend to eat.  Not to mention the long run.  I tell you, wish I were earning more money for how busy I am!

Dinner was a pizza made from a Josef’s Pita.  These are nice and soft and make a good crust, if not a little thin.

Topped with chicken, feta cheese and a piece of crumbled bacon (couldn’t resist the last piece that John cooked…..mmmmm…. bacon).

I have made so many spelling errors tonight.  I made peanut butter after dinner, and managed to slice my finger cleaning off the blade.  See what happens when you try to do stuff yourself 🙄

Owie.  It always seems like when I cut myself, it is where the digit bends, and that makes it hard to type.  Of course, my job requires typing all day long, so I’ll probably be swearing some tomorrow LOL!  Thank goodness for spell checker.  Going to have some pineapple later for a snack.  Good thing that is already cut up :mrgreen:

Enter here to win some Barney Butter at Healthy Living!

Question:  Do you listen to music or podcasts when working out?  Which do you like better?

Everything’s bigger in… NY??

Woke up way too early this morning.  My gym doesn’t open until 8, and I was up at 6:30.  I had a snack and thought “It’s supposed to be 40 degrees today, I can run outside!”  Well, yes 40 degrees, but not at 7 am!  I did a 2-mile loop and came back to the house.  It was cold and the sidewalks were really sloppy, so I had to run in the shoulder (hope Mom doesn’t read that 😕  ).  Anyway, I decided to just wait and finish up at the gym.  Ran 4 miles on the treadmill for a good 6 mile run total.  Saturday workouts always feel like a Friday, if that makes any sense, in that it’s the last workout of the week for me, so I am ready for a day off tomorrow!  I am very pleased about my mileage this week.  I did a total of 20 miles!  That is a 10% increase from last week.  I will keep it the same for next week, as it is important not to increase too much each week.

With such a spaced out workout, I was ready for brekkie!  Pumpkin multigrain topped with craisins and a bit of pecan butter.

Yay!  It was good.  I was very sad when this bowl was gone (how sad is that :mrgreen:  ).  I finally got caught up in my google reader and with emails and such.  I swear that’s a full-time job in itself, know what I mean??

I was trying to use up some fridge stuff for lunch, so I made an interesting meal.  I mixed together chocolate protein powder (don’t forget to read my post from earlier!) and greek yogurt, and spread it on a toasted Josef’s pita with the last sprinkle of mini chips.

This was  good, although the pita was so crispy I had to use a fork to eat it because it kept breaking apart.

After lunch, it was down to meet my sister at BJ’s Wholesale.  My trial membership expires in a couple weeks, so we wanted to stock up on a few staples.  Afterwards, we popped across to the mall and stopped at a coffee shop that had the perfect name!

It was cute.  The owner obviously does artwork and jewelry, since this was for sale everywhere.

I had a latte and half a cookie.

Me and sister (who sprained her knee – ouch!).

One thing about BJ’s, either everything is in case form or giant form.  Check out these huge bags:

That chocolate chip bag is 72 ounces!  Should last a good long time.  John and I eat a lot of nuts and make nut butters.  BJs has great prices on almonds and pecans.  Almonds were $3.99 a pound!

Football time!  That means we’re in for the night.  I had a dinner salad and cleaned out the rest of the spring mix bag.  Check out this giant bowl of lettuce for 30 calories!

Guess that’s the good thing about salads.

Off to watch more of the games.  There is chocolate in the house…….

Want a chance to win a VitaMix mixer?  I know I do!  Check out Katie’s giveaway here!

And don’t forget to enter the Lose The Diet Book giveaway!  Ends Sunday.

The colors of food

Finished up my work week! Yes!  Now it’s relaxing time.  Sort of.  Lots to do this weekend.  Don’t forget to enter the book giveaway if you haven’t!

Started off the morning with a good run.  While I truly miss my biking since it is winter, I am actually enjoying just concentrating on running.  Over the summer and fall I was doing NROLW, and training for a triathlon and duathlon, so I couldn’t focus on just one thing.  So this has been fun.  I did my speedwork yesterday, so today I put on something from jogtunes and went to town (or rather went on the hamster wheel…).  I varied the speed a little according to the music, but pretty much averaged 5.5 to 5.7 mph.  I did 6 miles today.  It really felt good.  I’m not sure if the runner’s high is real or not, maybe it is just feeling good running that far LOL!  Put me in a really good mood all day long.

Came home and had some steel cut oats cooked with a nana, and topped with those itty bitty mini chips.  I love how 1 serving looks like a billion chips (hello bulk eater).

Plus some delicious cafe au lait:

Everything was so hot.  I was practically dancing around waiting for it to be cool enough to eat or drink 😯

One of the reasons I love  working from home is because I get to work like this:

At least I was showered and dressed, though :mrgreen:

Lunch was a hughjass salad with bbq chicken and feta cheese.  I am addicted to this mixture.  This picture doesn’t even show how big the bowl of salad mix was.  Probably 3 cups or more.

This is such a pretty and colorful lunch.  I used the 50/50 spring salad mix from Salad Express.  Gotta love salad in a bag!

Had an interesting phone conference today.  It involves the blog, so I hope some good things come out of it.   Only time will tell.

Afternoon caffeinated necessity:

Breezed through the afternoon of work.  I won the football picks this week, and almost thought about dinner out tonight, but I am leaning more towards breakfast or possibly lunch!  Go me!  😀  So instead, I kind of wanted some extra carbs (6 mile run will do that, I guess…).  I wanted a sweet potato, laughing cow,and some brussel sprouts, but also needed protein.  I decided on some lentils.  The idea was to put everything on the potato, but it was too small to hold the sprouts.  Ooops!

The lighting isn’t great, but the plate was very colorful while I was eating it 😀  I love laughing cow on a sweet potato!  Who knew.  Funny thing during dinner.  John was kind of looking at my plate a little funny.  He then said that this plate was representative of how much I have changed.  Almost like we were in an alternate reality LOL!  Tastes really can change.

Think I might go out and buy some new walking shoes with a gift certificate I got from work (Christmas bonus).  Mine are pretty  much the worse for wear and I need something to walk around N’awlins and during the cruise!

Question:  What is one thing that you ate now that you would never have imagined you would eat?

Football Saturday and loose skin.

Happy Saturday!  So cold here today.  Sunny and beautiful, but only about 20 degrees.  There are times I am glad for the treadmill, and today was one of them.  I’m all ready to hit the gym as soon as they open here!

For those that ask (or wonder), this photo shows an example of loose skin on my upper arm.  One of my battle scars 100+ pounds later.  I’m still somewhat self-conscious about it, but not enough to keep it covered up anymore.  Drinking lots of water, strength training, and losing slow did not prevent the loose skin (although my upper arms have a nice shape to them from strength training).  You’ll either have it or you wont.  That’s probably the #2 question by email that I get.

It was just a quiet 5-mile run on the treadmill.  No speed work or anything, since it’s my last workout day of the week, which usually means legs are a wee bit tired.  The first 2 miles went fast, but then the batteries died in my player!  That left me to listening to the music station that was on, which happened to be country (double and triple ick!!!).  So, the last 3 miles I couldn’t wait to get through.  Plus, I was thinking about these:

Banana multi grain cereal (sent from Country Organics) and topped with some of the pecan butter I made yesterday and these teeny tiny chips!  Nestle makes these minis, and 1 tablespoon looks like so many more than the 16 regular size chips you get.  Hooray for extra surface area!  And these were absolutely as good as they look 😀

John and I daydreamed over breakfast about New Orleans and where we are planning to eat.  In a city that is all about food, you have to plan your meals as carefully as the activities!

A package arrived for me this morning from Melissa at A better bag of groceries .  I won a giveaway of these items – yay!:

I decided to incorporate the Josephs Pita into lunch.  I mixed together 1/4 cup of cottage cheese with 1/2 scoop (17 g) of vanilla protein powder and some cinnamon, topped the pita and wafer-thin apple slices.  Slid that into the toaster oven.

It was quite good!  Packed full of protein, too 😀   With some brussels on the side.

Then it was off to do some window shopping, which didn’t last long because it’s so freaking cold out!  We decided to hit up Fortunate Cup and have a warm drink.

Plus I brought along a chewy granola bar.

We then looked for some shorts for John.  He needs some for our cruise, since his from summer are too big after losing weight!  It’s hard to find them right now, though.  We struck out there.

Home for dinner, where I had me a hankerin’ for some BBQ chicken salad with the salty feta.  It’s those sweat sessions that make me crave this stuff.  I snacked on some pistachios before dinner, too.

It’s time for football!  2 days in a row, too.  Yay!

Question:  Rooting for any NFL teams this weekend?

Fab Friday and orange super foods!

Yay!  My first day of the weekend.  I was up early, though.  Ooops.  I was at the gym before 7 a.m.!  I decided to start with some stationary bike.  We got talking about our planned 100-mile ride this summer and it got me itching for my bike.  Come on spring!

After a little warm-up biking, I hit the weights.

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2
  • Barbell deadlift row combo:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds

Supersets:

  • 1-arm dumbbell snatch:  3 sets of 8 at 15 pounds
  • Pliet squats:  3 sets of 8 holding a 35 pound dumbbell

Supersets:

  • T-push ups:  3 sets of 3
  • Bent over dumbbell row

Then I walked on the treadmill for a while.  It was snowing this morning and I had the gym to myself all morning.  Nobody likes to work out on Friday morning.  I just chatted with one of the employees, and it was a relaxing workout.

Came home to John making pumpkin waffles, so I couldn’t turn down the orange super food pumpkin that was left!  I made pumpkin oats with cranberry sauce and toasted pecans.

I am too embarrassed to say how many cans of pumpkin I have collected to hoard.  It should last me to fall at any rate 😳

In weekend fashion, I had the TV on and ate breakfast on the couch.  Now I know why we don’t normally have the TV on in the morning – it’s a vast wasteland…..

I snapped this cute picture of Pixie.  Looks like she is telling me that John is her property!

I made the best nut butter today.  I toasted up 12 oz of pecans and put them in the food processor with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tsp of cinnamon.  The great thing about pecans is that you never have to add oil to get nut butter.  It tastes like a praline to me:

Yum!!!!  I also used some of this nut butter to make my granola bars.  I cut this recipe in half and did not use raisins or chocolate chips.  These are a good snack, I have to say.

After lunch (which included orange super food carrots!), I spent a relaxing afternoon at the library.  I brought home something like 8 books. 🙂  The library is near the cafe, so I walked over to have a skim latte:

And read one of said books:

If you are a woman thinking about getting into running, or if you already are, this is a good book to read.  It really goes into more than just the mechanics of running, but what it does for your self-esteem.  I have to say that what I have been doing with running going from C25K to much longer runs and races has done so much to build self-confidence and to allow me to not be selfconscious anymore.  I can go out in my tight trisuit and run and not worry about any loose skin, or unshaven legs (oh yeah!), or frighteningly pale upper arms, which you can probably see from space….   It doesn’t matter if a fast mile for me is several minutes slower than someone else’s, because I am doing it for me.  It doesn’t have to be running either.  I feel the same about biking and lifting!  It’s all about finding something you like and sticking with it.

If you give yourself a chance, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Be defined by what you do, not what you weigh.

I decided on more orange superfoods for dinner and had 1/2 a sweet potato spread with laughing cow and topped with sauteed broccoli ( yes Fran – I do love my broccoli :mrgreen:  )and a piece of Canadian bacon (for protein).

Interesting combo and pretty tasty.  I think I actually prefer sweet potatoes in savory dishes.

I asked John if it was too early to get into my flannel jammies, and he said I should at least wait until after dinner, so I am off to change!  It’s snowing out and perfect blanket, jammy, video game night.  Am I age 14 or 70???

Question:  Do you eat sweet potatoes?  Savory or sweet (or both)?