My lunch bag

I have been trying to eat better for a long time. I have really struggled with the sweets in the past but I feel like that’s slowly changing. With my new goal, I really need to get some more self-control in that area. Yesterday I did really well all day with my eating. After dinner, I met my protein goal and was under my sugar goal. That was the first time in a LONG time that happened! THEN – TBL came on. Last season it was a tradition for me and hubby to watch TBL and have a snack (ironic, right?!?). This season I’ve stuck to the tradition. Last night I had a bowl of Breyer’s Rocky Road Ice cream. So much for staying in my sugar range!

Today has started great and has looked more like what I need my nutrition to be! I planned ahead, which is crucial for success. My pretty new lunch tote was filled with all kinds of goodies.

Breakfast = 1 large egg + 4 egg whites made like scrambled eggs. ½ cup Quaker oats with ½ cup mixed berries

Snack 1 = 5 almonds, 1 string cheese, ½ red bell pepper

Lunch = Whole wheat sandwich thin, 6 slices turkey, 5 strawberries, green beans

Snack 2 = Chocolate protein shake

What are your favorite healthy things to have for breakfast/lunch/snacks?

Is 15-16% BF healthy for a female?

The Half Marathon is only three short weeks from this Saturday. I am getting extremely excited! I have been able to do my long runs without stopping at all, and that is a HUGE accomplishment for me! With the way my runs have been going, I should be able to run the whole Half AND still beat my PR (not hard to do when I’ve only run one other half).

As the race has been getting closer, I have been thinking about my next goal. The thought of a full marathon has crossed my mind. Part of me once to do it just once to say I did it, and to have that accomplishment. The other part of me is not sure if I want to invest the time into doing one. I know people do them all the time, but I wonder how healthy it would be for my body. I mean, I would fuel properly and everything, but… well, I just don’t know. Another goal that crossed my mind (and don’t laugh) was to do a body competition. This one had a very short journey through my mind, but it did cross it none-the-less. I know the competitors put in a LOT of hard work and dedication (and have to be very self-controlled) but I just don’t want to prance around in front of a bunch of strangers in a bikini ;)

So here is what I think I have decided on… I want to get to 15-16% body fat (BF). That’s only a loss of about 3-4% from where I am now. Genetically my extra BF goes straight to the heart-disease area (your midsection) so I think it’s important to get/keep that area under control. As you lose weight in general your body fat starts to drop, but I want this to come from muscle. My fitness journey is to be healthy though and so I have a few concerns. First, I want to make sure this is a safe and realistic goal. Second, this means I need to be more self-controlled on what and how much I eat. This is the toughest part for me but I think if I have a goal and really commit, I could do it. The third concern I have is that in the near (but not too near) future, my husband and I will want to start a family. I’ve heard there can be complications if you are at a low weight. Would getting to 15-16% BF be safe for me in the aspect of getting pregnant? I mean, I guess once the time came that we were ready for babies I could put some more weight on if needed, but again… I want this to be a completely healthy journey.

I know for anyone to accomplish a goal in their life, they really have to have their mind set on it. I feel like I am getting there. The exercise piece of it has clicked and I enjoy it. Like everyone, I still have occasional days where I just don’t want to go run or lift (my ‘I just want to be lazy days’), but I usually do it anyway because I know once I get there I will be glad I did. Side note for any reader, I do take 1-2 rest days throughout the week, so I am not over doing it. The food piece is where I know I will really struggle. I feel like I would an accountability partner would be beneficial if I do take this journey. I have people who review my food journals and give me advice. They also give me tips and ask how my exercising is going. I would want a hard-core, tough-love candidate though; someone who would check in with me often and ask all the right questions; someone who would tell me the things I’m messing up on and give me direction on how to change and why I need to change; someone who I could vent to on days I am frustrated that would be encouraging in their response. Ha, ha, maybe I should post an ad :)

If I definitely make this my goal, my plan to accomplish it is to reduce my cardio days to 2-3 days a week and then I would strength train 3-4 days a week. I would talk to a trainer before putting this in place to make sure I am on the right track, but I think that would be a good goal. The timing on this is… well, interesting I guess. On one hand it is good because the holidays are coming up and that’s when people tend to over-eat and having this goal would (hopefully) keep me in line. On the other hand it is bad because, well, because the holidays are coming up and that’s when people tend to over-eat. ;)

Does anyone have thoughts/suggestions/advice?

New Goal

Right now I am training for another half marathon. Can I just say how much I LOVE it?!?! Last year when I was training, I had a ‘training schedule’ but I didn’t do any tempo or easy runs, I just did the miles it required. I have this thing with always wanting to increase my time so I couldn’t stand to look at my Garmin and see anything less than a 10:30 pace (don’t laugh, that’s good for me!).

This time around I decided that MAYBE the people at Runners World know what they’re talking about and maybe I should give these whole ‘tempo’ and ‘easy’ runs a try… THEY’RE GRRREEEAAATTT (picture Tony the Tiger here). This past weekend I ran 5 miles and only stopped 3 short times. Twice for water and then once because the girl I was running with needed a quick breather. I could have run the whole thing though. That has NEVER happened before! THEN - 2 days later, she and I ran 3 miles without stopping! It’s been years since I’ve been able to do that! So yeah, apparently RW is pretty informed ;)

Okay, so on to my new goal… This past weekend I was at the park with my nieces and nephews. This may sound silly to you, but I have never been able to do the monkey bars. I just don’t have the upper body strength. I decided to give those monkey bars another try. While I was able to get further than normal, they still kicked my butt and I had to drop off half way through. By the end of this year – I will successfully be able to get across the monkey bars!!! I have incorporated 2 intense days of strength training each week; 1 of those specific to my upper body. I WILL be able to accomplish this!

What are your goals?

Protein Powders

I seem to constantly be trying new protein powders. I need one that tastes decent (at the least), has high protein, and one I can stomach. With all my lovely food intolerance's, I have to be very careful what I consume.

The brand I'm finishing up now is Solgar Whey To Go, Vanilla. This one meets two of my three requirements; with 20g of protein per scoop, it's high in protein and is easy on my stomach. It does not taste very good though.

The brand that is in the mail on it's way to me is AllMax Nutrition Isofemme. I've had this before and it hits all three requirements. Well, 2.5 I'd say; it's a little rough on my stomach but not enough that I would avoid it. I  know it's the artificial sweetener in it, but I think there isn't a large amount of it which is why it only kind-of hurts my stomach. I got chocolate and vanilla - YUM!

I did a little price shopping and found a pretty decent deal on them and purchased them. THEN I decided I should do more research on actual protein powders. Kind of backwards, huh?!? I think so too. I have found the one I am going to try once these run out; Dr. Mercola's Miracle Whey. This brand has no artificial sweeteners and is completely natural. It also comes with a 100% money back guarantee. So while it is more expensive, if it doesn't meet all my requirements I can send it back for a refund.

Do you use a protein supplement? If so, what kind and what do you look for in a protein supplement?

How did that happen?

As you can see, I haven't blogged in over a month. SO much has been going on in my life that it's taken a spot on the back burner. I decided to log in just to see when my actual last post was and I noticed I had 6 new followers! How does that happen? Well, to those of you who are new, welcome :)

This past month really has been crazy.

We moved. At the end of May, the hubby and I discussed moving out of our apartment. We threw out the pro's and con's and started praying about what we should do. The third week of June, we decided we were going to move. We contacted the leasing office to find out what our options were (our lease didn't actually end until the middle of September. They said if we didn't find someone to take over our lease, we would have to pay the remaining months rent. That would have defeated the purpose of moving! We gave them permission to start showing our apartment if anyone was interested. That Saturday we got a call that someone wanted to walk through at 1PM. By 2-2:30 we got a call saying they signed for the apartment. They liked the colors we had on the walls so we didn't have to paint them all back to white (YAAAYY!). The leasing office said they wanted to move in at the end of July and asked if it would be enough time for us to be out by the 15th.  We agreed. Later that evening the hubby mentioned that since he was off the following week, maybe if we could be out by the 1st, we would not have to pay that months rent. The leasing office was already closed so we couldn't check on that. Monday morning rolled around, Chad got a hold of them and they said yes; if we could be out by that weekend (the 1st) we would not have to pay any July rent. Sooooo... I was off work Monday, we had a birthday dinner Tuesday night, church Wednesday  night, I had my First Place class Thursday night and then Friday was the weekend. That didn't leave me as much help. The hubby rose to the occasion though. He got us all packed and moved in ONE WEEK!!! He's pretty flipping amazing :)

That week was a great opportunity for him to get everything done since he was off work. His previous positions have been contract spots and were only a few months long. After his last one ended, he searched for a new spot. Really praying for a permanent position instead of another contract. Well, that's exactly what he got. He received the offer in the middle of June and they said he would start on July 5th. Another transition but he is absolutely loving the new job!

For a while now, we've known that the hubby's car needed to be replaced. Aside from mechanical reasons, It was lowered which means you could feel every little bump in the road! Last Friday we went and looked at a car for him... It was a great deal!!! They did a little negotiating and we said we would think about it and get back to them. After discussing it and talking to the bank, a price was agreed on that Saturday. Saturday hubby listed the old car for sale. HIS PHONE DID NOT STOP GOING OFF from the time he listed it until the FOLLOWING day when he had cash in hand for the purchase. That meant he went a few days having to borrow his dad's car, but overall it worked out!

Now we are trying to get settled in to life again.

Hope everyone is doing great - I'll post again :)

Pictures as promised

I was never able to get my camping pictures loaded to my computer, so I have to use my husbands computer because he was able to get them.

I have been off work this whole past week, just spending time with the hubby. We went camping, went to the Reds baseball game, hung out at the pool a few times, met his mom for lunch, visited with some friends, went roller blading, running, watched movies and just hung out. He's so great :) The fun continues this weekend. Right now he's golfing, but then we have an engagement party, then a suprise birthday dinner for a friend. Tomorrow is church and then a wedding in the evening (praying for no rain because it's outdoors). Monday is back to work :( Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job, but it's been very nice getting to spend so much time with Chad.

Yesterday we ran 6 miles. Normally I wear my knee brace on anything over 3 miles. Yesterday my legs were feeling pretty good so I decided to skip the brace. Throughout the whole run and even after, my legs felt perfectly fine. Today my left knee/leg is a little sore though. I wonder if I will always have to wear my brace?!? When we first got to the park and were stretching, this little pug dog was running around. I thought it belonged to this girl but then she ran off and the pug stayed. He ran over to us and we pet him for a minute and looked to see if he had any tags but there were none to be found. He ran off and we continued stretching. As we started our run, Mr. Pug was back. He would run with me for a minute, get distracted by something, realize I had run off and then run really fast to catch back up. I could hear his little legs coming up behind me. This happened for a little over a mile. I knew there was a water stop at a mile and a half that has a doggy fountain and I planned on stopping to give him a drink. Prior to reaching 1.5 Mr. Pug was distracted by a ditch filled with dirty water. He wanted to stay there and relax so I didn't see him again. I hope he found his owners :(

Okay, so as promised, here are some pictures from this past weekend / week...

And some from the Reds game...

Hiking & a new recipe

With the extended weekend we just had, my husband decided to plan a last minute hiking adventure. We left Saturday morning and went to Red River Gorge and came back Monday afternoon. It was a nice little getaway and didn't take too long to get to :) Pictures soon! I decided to take a few vacation days this week to spend some time with the hubby. After the hiking trip, we gave our cars a MUCH needed wash. I've been wanting to wash mine for quite a while now but with all the rain we've had, it was pointless. Yesterday we spent some QT with a bunch of friends at a MLB game then watched a movie. We watched 127 Hours. Ewww, I had to turn my head towards the end of the movie. Blood makes my tummy turn. Overall it was a good movie though. The rest of the week will consist of hanging out at the pool and having lunch with the in-laws. I need to make some time for running this week. It went from raining all day to being sunny and scorching hot in a matter of days. To get anything under 80 degrees I'd have to get up at 5 or 6 and I don't know if I want to do that on my days off ;)

The latest edition of Clean Eating Magazine is GREAT!!! There are so many recipes I want to try! I made one last week and have another planned for this week. There is also this amazing-looking cherry pie recipe that will be made very soon! I have to substitute the cherry's for a different fruit though; the hubby isn't a big fan of cherry's.

New Potato and Turkey Skillet
From Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients:
Olive Oil Cooking Spray
1 lb ground turkey breast
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb new potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
Pinch dried thyme
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth (I used about a cup to make it more moist)
1 lb Swiss chard, thick stems removed, leaves chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
Pinch red chile flakes, or to taste
Juice 1/2 lemon, plus 4 wedges for serving
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used regular shredded cheese bc I don't like feta cheese)

Directions:
One: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Two: Coat a large (at least 12-inch) over-proof skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium. Add turkey, season with salt and pepper and cook, breaking up meat with a spoon until no pink is visible, 5-6 minutes. Transfer turkey to a large bowl returning skillet to heat.
Three: Add potatoes and thyme to hot skillet and season with salt and pepper. Transfer skillet to over and cook until lightly browned and tender, about 20 minutes, stirring once. Carefully return skillet to stovetop on medium-high heat (leave oven at the same temperature). Add broth and bring to a simmer. Add chard and stir just until wilted. Stir in tomatoes, rosemary, chile flakes, lemon juice and reserved turkey. Ensure broth is simmering and transfer skillet back to oven. Cook until tomato skins burst, about 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Divide mixture among 4 bowls and top evenly with cheese. Serve with lemon wedges.   

I will post pictures of my extended weekend / week off shortly.