My Goals

This post is going to get kinda personal. I want to be 100% honest with this blog because if I am not honest, what is the point? I want to be held responsible and if I avoid certain topics then I won't be doing myself any favors.

Food has always been a main focus in my life. They say some people live to eat and others eat to live. I am definitely in the first category. I love restaurants and cooking, baking and pot lucks. I love the social aspect of eating and the pure joy that a wonderful meal provides. I am not an emotional eater, actually, when I am really emotional or stressed, I get sick to my stomach and food is the last thing I want. I do, however, eat when I am bored. I love snacks and ice cream and I haven't met many foods I don't like. To go along with all of this, I am not a consistent exerciser. I will start doing well on an exercise plan, only to let life and time get in the way.  It is because of these things that I need to get on track. I need a plan that I won't break and a "diet" that allows me the foods I love and the freedom to eat out and socially.

I can't really remember a time in my life that I didn't have some kind of relationship with food and exercise. Even in high school, when I was a scrawny, knots for knees, 110 lb, lanky girl, I exercised and dieted.  I would do the fad diets that were "cool" at the time and my girlfriends and I would all get together after school to do exercise videos. I don't think we actually worked out. We more socialized and danced around, girls just being girls. Plus, I was always involved in some type of school sport or activity that kept me pretty active and slim.

I went away to college and somehow, throughout endless nights of drinking beer and eating poorly, I maintained my figure. Certainly more than 110 lbs, but I was pretty happy with my weight of 120-130lbs. Even still, I can remember my roommates and I doing many variations of diets and I would run around my apartment complex or neighborhood to get some exercise. I wasn't very consistent or serious about my workouts so it is no surprise that after college was over, I began to gain weight.

The first few years out of college, I didn't gain much. I was not exercising very regularly or eating healthy so I guess I just expected my body to keep up. It was at that point when I had met Mike and we began dating seriously. We moved in together and since I had never lived with a boyfriend before, I thought that I should be making "man-type" meals. I was making casseroles and meatloaf, spaghetti and tacos almost weekly. I always found new recipes to try out and none of them were very healthy. Add that to our several nights a week eating out and the pounds definitely started to pack on.

Fast forward a few years later to when I got engaged. At that point, I was 174 lbs. I was disgusted with myself and very unhappy. I saw photos of the first few months of our engagement and knew I had to make a change.I set a goal to be 150 lbs at my wedding.


So, I hit the gym and started counting calories. I tried working out for about 3 months on my own, without any help. I lost probably 5 lbs in that 3 months which was not enough for me. Mike begged me to let him give me some pointers at the gym. We started getting up every morning and going to the gym by 6am. He is actually who taught me about weight training and how it actually burns more calories than cardio. Although I have always known that, I just didn't believe it. In a little over 4 months of working out with Mike and eating healthy, I lost 15 lbs.

Not only was the weight coming off, but I wasn't getting sick as often either. My clothes were looking great and I even had to go down a size. My arms were more toned and my belly was flatter. I still didn't have abs or big muscular legs, but I was feeling wonderful.

On the day of my wedding, exactly 1 year after I began my quest to lose weight, I was 148 lbs.  I am so happy with the way I looked on my wedding day and made a promise to myself that I would never, ever go back to the way I was. I remember that promise now because I have gained roughly 8-10 lbs since then. I feel myself softening and the numbers creeping back up on the scale. I know that if I do not get a hold of this now, I will spiral back out of control.

My new goals are going to be broken down into long term and short term. My long term goal, I would like to accomplish in 1 year, is to lose 25 lbs. My short term goal would be to lose 10 lbs by 2012. That gives me 3 months to get back to my happy, wedding weight. This is my new promise to myself. You all better keep me in check!

Check out the difference:

Me - the day after we got engaged.

Me - the day before I got married.  Photo courtesy of Lindsay :)

Thirsty Thursday

Hey! Happy Thursday. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is almost here!

My run last night was not nearly as exciting as my run on Tuesday evening. I was fully aware that I was running the whole time, and so was Franklin. We were able to run the same amount, but that wonderful feeling was definitely not there last night. Oh well, at least it got done!

Franklin is ready to go!

I am not planning to run tonight since we have dinner plans for a good friend's birthday. There won't be much time between when I get home and we have to head to the restaurant. So today, I decided to do legs. I really can not do any type of cardio after a leg work out. My legs are like jelly and I just can not get into a groove. I have tried doing the elliptical and other forms of cardio, but it just doesn't work. My legs do not want to move after squats, lunges, calf raises and leg presses. I also got in a pretty good ab work out today since my abs were too sore yesterday.

I am glad I was able to stick to my goal of going to the gym for weight training at least 3 times this week. I still have tomorrow left, but I may just let myself sleep in since I have been so good the last 3 days. There is always Saturday morning if I want to get a 4th day in, but I am pretty happy with 3 so we will see. I will at least go for a run on Friday evening and maybe even on Saturday morning. I am going to take the whole day off on Sunday since we will be out of town with friends and it is the day after a football game. Those days are usually recovery days for me.


Today I wanted to talk a little about drinking. I feel that drinking has been a major component of weight loss and gain in my life and I want to share my thoughts on the topic.

Drinking is something that my friends and I do pretty often. It is much less frequent than it used to be, but it is still pretty much the only thing we do together. We plan get togethers, cook outs, birthday outings and holiday parties with drinking as the main focus. I have no problems having a few beers or a few glasses of wine with friends, I think that is healthy for friendships and a great way to unwind. It is when it becomes much more that I need to learn some self control. 

If I have one or two beers, or a few glasses of wine, I am usually fine the next day.  When I start having more like six or more beers or share a bottle or two of wine that I feel pretty rough the next day. Although I know that alcohol is a depressant, it seriously makes me depressed the next day. I don't just mean that I feel so hungover that I am depressed. I mean that I really feel down, negative and angry at myself the next day. I hate that feeling so much. Not to mention that when I am hungover, all I want is crap to eat. I want burgers and french fries, greasy fried chicken and pizza. Then, I get depressed because I just ate a bunch of crap. It is a viscous cycle.

Over the last year or two, I have tried to minimize my drinking to once per week. That has worked out great and I can usually stick to that rule. But now, I would like to try to only have three drinks per session. Although I only have myself to blame, I allow myself to get sucked in to drinking more than I had intended if my friends are drinking more.  I can set out with the best of intentions to only have a beer or a glass of wine... that usually quickly turns into more depending on how the crowd is drinking. I just would like to make those nights of drinking heavily a little further apart than every week or two.

Clearly too much...

 
The other problem is that when I am drinking, I usually don't care so much about what I eat. I will eat a lot and I don't make very healthy choices. I can usually wreck an entire week of eating healthy and working out on one, extremely fun, out of control, Saturday night. 

So tonight, I have a birthday dinner to attend where, more than likely, everyone will be drinking... heavily. My goal is to have a glass of wine with dinner and then have one glass of wine or one beer after dinner. I've been sticking to my goals so far this week, let's see if I can do this one too! Wish me luck!


Yesterday Stats:
Calories - (+) 11 (whoo hoo!)
Sodium - (-) 542
Protein - (+) 11 (whoo hoo!)

Breakfast - egg whites with cheese, sea salt and pepper, whole grain toast with earth balance
Snack -gala apple
Lunch - Spicy Thai Tuna on whole wheat sandwich thin with celery and almond butter
Snack - dum dum lollipop
Dinner - salsa topped chicken breast (1/2) with baked potato - loaded with earth balance, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and a small teaspoon of sour cream, black beans and corn
Dessert - 1 Banana Chocolate Chip cookie with 1 cup of skim milk (thanks Lindsay!)

Looks gross, but it was delish!

Work outs:
 40 minutes of chest/back weight training - flat presses, incline presses, pull ups, dips, lat pull downs, rows
30 minutes of running with the Frankfurter

Ouch...

I knew I would be sore, but wow. My arms are so achy and my sides are tender. Soreness from working out is so strange. It is such a wonderful, miserable feeling. I guess it 'hurts so good.' haha.

Yesterday morning I did arms, shoulders and abs. Then, I went to work and sat on my butt all day. When I got home, there was a certain puppy with way too much energy. Mike had tried to warn me. He told me that Franklin was extra excited today, so I was ready for it.

First, I had to take Deluca for a mini walk. He gets so upset when I only take Franklin on runs and leave him behind. Mike was at the restaurant last night, so Deluca had to stay home. This is Deluca's "I'm not talking to you" face that he gives me when I don't take him on the leash.

Deluca gives the best puppy dog eyes.

So, after my little warm up walk with Deluca, I grabbed Franklin and we were off. It was seriously one of the best runs I have had in a long time. We got started a little later than usual, so the weather was perfect and the daylight was fading. Usually, I have to make deals with myself to keep running and not to take breaks. Last night, I almost forgot that I was running. Franklin and I were in such a groove and ran the entire 2 miles. My mind was pretty heavy with work related stress so it felt great to clear my brain. When we arrived back at the house, I felt like I could run even more, but since it was getting pretty dark, I figured it was time to head in. When we got in the house, Franklin drank a ton of water and then collapsed on the floor. He was one tired pup. Mission accomplished!

He slept til 630 this morning! yay!

I made myself a quick dinner of leftovers from the weekend and then started washing dishes and clothes. I got a good amount of cleaning done last night, but have quite a bit more to get through. Mike will be home tonight to help me, so I know it will all get done. :) Thank goodness for a helpful husband.

I hope you all have a fabulous Hump Day! 2 more days to the weekend!



Stats:
Calories (+) 7
Sodium (-) 1702 (sad face)
Protein (+) 7

Breakfast - Hard Boiled Egg with 1 piece of whole wheat toast with earth balance buttery spread
Snack - gala apple
Lunch - 1 cup of corn, chicken and potato chowder and 1 cornbread muffin, nectarine
Dinner - pulled pork shoulder, homemade coleslaw and baked beans leftover from a catering event Mike did with 1750 on    Saturday (definitely where my salt intake took a nose dive).  Pork topped with hot sauce and apple cider vinegar (could be that too).
Snack - 1 cup skim milk  

Work outs- 
40 minutes weight training and ab work out
25 minutes/2 miles of running - 10 minutes walking with the horrible walker.

Lovely Suprises

Hey there! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday. :)

Last night was a great night. I got off of work and went to 1750 for their Monday Night Beer Run. Before we got Franklin, I went to this every Monday. It is a great way to end a Monday. Everyone meets up, goes for a 2 -5 mile run, and then meets back at the restaurant for cheap beers, $1 tacos, and trivia. Since Franklin has come into our lives, I have been going straight home after work on Mondays so that I can take him on a run and keep him out of the kennel. Last night, we decided to bring him to run club since 1750 has a dog-friendly patio.

I ended up running about 2.5 miles last night and stopped by a good friend's house along the way. We sat outside with our dogs and caught up on life. I feel like we never get to see each other so it was nice to fill each other in on our lives. Then, I ran back to the restaurant to do trivia. I didn't have any beer, but it was still a nice little evening out. 

When I got home after the Beer Run, there were 2 wonderful things waiting for me. The first thing was straws. Straws may not seem very exciting, but these straws were special. I am currently planning one of my best friend's baby shower and the color theme is orange and gray. I ordered some paper straws from Shop Sweet Lulu. These straws are adorable and will look great with the rest of our decor. The best part though, was the packaging. How cute is this?

If you put anything in a cute package with a sweet thank you note, I will probably buy it.

That is a single piece of taffy inside of this envelope with a thank you card. Get Out!

Not to mention the wonderful straws for only $4 for a package of 20.

The other thing that was waiting for me when I got home... duh, duh, duuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhnnnnnn...

OUR VACATION PACKAGE!!!!! In a little less than 2 weeks, Mike and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in MEXICO! A big thanks to our wonderful travel agent, Dawn, of 4Moons Travel, who helped my husband pick the most perfect first anniversary trip for us. We will be staying at the El Dorado Royale Spa Resort in the Riviera Maya for 5 days and 4 nights. I could not be more excited about this trip. I don't think that Mike and I have taken more than a day off since our wedding. I can not wait to be on the warm beach with a drink in my hand and to spend some quality time with my husband. It is going to be glorious.


Bringing back the gym-

This week I am starting to incorporate weight training back into my work out routine. I would like to do a very detailed post about my most recent experience with losing weight and getting in shape. Maybe I will work on that over the next few days and hopefully post it this week. Anyway, one thing that I learned during that time was that weight training is what really works for me. Some people only need to do cardio (eh hem, my Mom, and she only does 15 minutes a day??? what the heck is up with that? I certainly didn't inherit that gene, nor her slim figure... ah. life.).  Others, only do weight training or yoga and they are able to maintain a healthy, slim body. My body needs weight training. I can run every single day and it will only make me feel good. It doesn't do a whole lot for my pants fitting too tightly. I have to do cardio and weight training in order to get the body that I want. For now, I am going to shoot for 3-4 days a week of 30 minutes of weights and ab work outs. Today was the first day of that and I did 5 arm/shoulder exercises with 10 lb weights and 4 ab work outs on the mats and with 10 lb weights. I am sure I will be majorly sore tomorrow but as Mike always says; "That's a GOOD sore!"

Damn right it is!


Monday's Stats:
Calories (-)5
Sodium (-) 587 mg
Protein (-) 20 g - Need to up that protein!!!
Definitely doing better!!! 

Weekend gains, weekend losses.

Friday night, I worked at my 2nd job. I got off from Job #1 at 6, went home, took a 2.5 hour nap and then got up to go to the hospital. I always dread doing those shifts all day long. Then I get there and really don't see why I was dreading it so much. Working there is definitely a good thing for me and my bank account. It gives me a nice little shopping fund, plus, it is helping us get where we want to be with our debt pay off and savings account.

I didn't get to do any type of work out on Friday so that I ensured I got enough sleep for my shift. Although, working at the hospital is a work out in itself. I am moving constantly, lifting patients and running around like a crazy person. I am usually sore the day after working there, especially my arms and back. I had all intentions of getting a run in on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Neither happened. :(

Saturday, the day just got away from me. I woke up around noon (I am not a slacker, I didn't get in bed until 8am). Once I woke myself up enough, I decided to start cleaning. Mike and I got the whole downstairs cleaned, vacuumed and mopped. It was a good feeling to have that done. Once we finished with that, I had some errands to run. By the time I got home and started to make dinner, it was 9 pm. Definitely a loss in the work out department... One gain was that on Friday night, the whole floor ordered pizza. I was able to steer clear of eating any pizza during my shift and munched on some mixed nuts instead.

Saturday I had a peanut butter and rasberry preserve sandwich on wheat bread when I woke up, a hard boiled egg for a snack and a homemade whole wheat crust pizza with veggies and turkey pepperoni for dinner. I am definitely glad I passed on the pizza on Friday night!

Sunday, I woke up and started cooking. We decided to have some friends over to watch some football and enjoy some chili and soup. I made a chicken corn chowder and Mike made some chili. I also wanted to have some snacks out for everyone and decided to make some pizza filled pretzels and a mexican pizza. I forgot to take pictures of all the food, but it was all sooo good! Anytime I am trying to eat healthier I try to give myself a "free day" per week. I know that if I don't, I will end up failing.  Plus, this strategy worked pretty well for me when I lost 25 pounds before my wedding. I definitely had a free day yesterday! Between the snacks that I made and the cookies and food that others brought, I didn't even get a chance to have any chili or soup. I was so full! I also ran out of time to go for a run before the guests started to arrive, so we will just call Sunday an overall loss in the work out and healthy eating department. At least we had a great time catching up with friends and just enjoying each others company. Now back to staying on track!

Today I will be taking Franklin for a run and will probably do more like 2.5 or 3 miles. I am going to take him with me to a Run Club that I sometimes do on Monday nights. We will see how it goes!

Kitchen FAIL = yummy!

Yesterday, Mike had requested that we make quionoa. I found this quite odd since I didn't think he liked it. I am a lover of all things quinoa. It is so much better than rice. in my opinion, because it doesn't leave me feeling too full and is so much better for you.

I had been wanting to make this new recipe I found for a mexican style quinoa that had mexican spices, salsa, corn and black beans. We got home, prepped all the food and started to boil the quinoa. We also decided to make a salsa smothered chicken to put on top. As we were cooking, we were also catching up on the millions of sit-coms that started this week (I love this time of year!). 30 minutes later, the quinoa was done. We had boiled the spices in the water, so that was already done. We added in the salsa and then made ourselves some bowls with quinoa on the bottom and some strips of the salsa smothered chicken on top. After we took our first few bites, we realized we had completely forgotten to add in the corn and black beans. They were still sitting in the strainer in the sink. I am sure they would have made this meal better, but even without them, it was outstanding. I will definitely be making this again, with the corn and black beans next time. I am so excited to eat the left overs for lunch today!

You can see why the black beans and corn would have been a nice added touch. Pretty boring.

Next, we decided to make M&M cookies for Mike to take to work with him. His work seriously has something to celebrate every week and they rotate who is bringing in the baked goods. This week was our week. Mike was trying to help make them since they were for him. He very simply asked me if he should add the ingredients into the standing mixer. I, while cleaning up from dinner and still watching sit-coms, answered yes. Completely forgetting to tell him that when you are making cookies, the dry ingredients need to be mixed separate from the wet ingredients. Doesn't everyone just know that?? By the time I had noticed, he had already added the eggs to the flours, powders and sugars. Oh well. I tried to scoop the eggs out and mix those with the butter, but the cookies ended up tasting great. I can't even remember the reason why you are supposed to keep the dry and wet separate, but I guess it doesn't make that big of a deal. I don't have a good picture to show you, but they were delish. 

So I guess our kitchen fails turned out to be winners! Love when that happens. :)

Breakfast - Overnight Oats with Mango
Lunch - leftover steak over a romaine salad with balsamic dressing and sweet potatoes on the side
Dinner - Mexican quinoa with baked salsa topped chicken
Snacks - apple, banana, fun sized three musketeers (prize at work), a handful of kettle cooked sea salt and vinegar chips, 1 M&M cookie and milk. Oh, and a spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter. My snacks suck.

I am trying to stick to 1500 calories per day and 1500 mg of sodium per day. I will be adding my nutritional stats here:
Calories - (-)145
Sodium - (-)1674!!! Holy crap. I really need to decrease my sodium intake.
Protein - (+) 5 - I never get enough protein! Must be the quinoa!

Have a great weekend!

C

4 Miles in 30 Minutes

...on the treadmill.

It drives me crazy that I can run so much longer and faster on a treadmill but when I go to run outdoors and I can barely get 2 miles in 30 minutes. I try to increase my incline and speed up and down but it is just too controlled, I guess.

I would much rather run outdoors anyway, but there are times when it is just not possible. Time and weather seem to be the main reasons I ever run on a treadmill. When I am working out at the gym, the treadmill is the easiest since I can get 30 minutes of weight training in and then go do 30 minutes on the treadmill. Otherwise, I would have to run outside, get to the gym, do my work out, and get a shower before work. I should build a gym that has an outdoor track or trail behind it... maybe that would be my key to making millions.

Each night, Franklin and I have ran 2 miles.  I know that I could run more, but I am trying to start out slowly so that I can work my way up, rather than walk most of the time. It is a good work out for me and I feel great when I am done. This morning, I decided since I didn't have to be at work until 10, I would take Franklin on a 2 mile run. I probably should have considered the fact that since we ran last night around 7pm, a run at 8am this morning would be a bit too much. We definitely didn't run as much as we walked. But, it was still nice to get out in the cool fall weather and get my heart rate going first thing.

Since I have already gotten most of my cardio done for the day, I figure Mike and I can take both dogs on a nice long walk tonight. I love taking walks at night with my husband. I feel like it is a great chance for us to catch up and talk about non business topics. We don't walk with our phones, so there is no texting, web surfing or facebook looking during that time. Although for most of our walk, Mike is busy yelling at Deluca.

Deluca is the world's worst dog on a leash. He pulls, chokes himself, won't listen, and goes to the bathroom every chance he gets (every stop sign, tree, mailbox, bush, or driveway). It is not fun. I don't even bother taking him when I want to go for a run. I only bring Franklin and Deluca does not like this very much. He only gets to tag along when Mike can join us. (I promise this is not going to be a blog about my dogs... I didn't realize how much of my life they consume!)

Do you want to hear about what I eat?  (all 3 of my followers - Hi Jaime! Hi Lindsay! Hi Mike!)

I feel like my eating is quite boring. I eat the same few things every day for breakfast, lunch is always leftovers or something equally as boring as breakfast. Dinner is usually pretty interesting. I love to cook and I love to eat. So, dinner is when I get to make great recipes and enjoy them thoroughly. 

Breakfast Usuals:

Overnight Oats
       This is pretty much my every morning ritual. It is easy, nutritious, and keeps me full for several hours. Plus, you make this the night before so breakfast is ready when you wake up.  I use 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup skim milk or almond milk (chocolate is my fav), 1/4 to 1/2 cup greek yogurt, 1 tsp of honey, frozen fruit (raspberries, strawberries, or bananas - or all 3), 1 tbsp ground flax seeds and then add in some toppings.  You can really put whatever you want into these oats. Peanut butter, granola, dried fruit, chocolate chips, cinnamon, cocoa powder... I could go on and on. Today I tried frozen mango in my oats since I was out of berries. It wasn't the best, but still pretty good.
Refrigerate over night and enjoy in the morning.

Toast with Almond Butter and Bananas
      I love making my own almond butter. It is sooo amazing. Once I learn all the blogging rules about crediting others, I will share the links on where I get my recipes. Although, I am pretty sure the 3 of you know already.  Back to the toast - Toast bread (whole wheat, whole grain, sprouted) and add almond or peanut butter (1-2 tbsp). Then top with bananas. This was a childhood favorite of mine and I still love it. Almond butter and peanut butter really stick to your bones, so this keeps me full for a while too.

Eggs- Hard Boiled or Egg Whites Scrambled
     I usually try to hard boil about 6-10 eggs every Sunday so I have some mid morning, protein filled snacks available. Sometimes, I just eat the hard boiled egg with a piece of toast with butter. Or, if I have time in the mornings, I try to make some scrambled egg whites with toast or in a whole wheat tortilla. Add a little hot sauce and it is Ah-Mazing! Easy and delish!



I think I will post what my previous day's meals were at the bottom of each post.... that way, when I want to eat 1/2 a jar of almond butter, you guys can tell me to stop. :)

Have a great Thursday! 1 more day to the weekend!

C

My Motivation

Mike and I have 2 dogs, Deluca and Franklin. Deluca was Mike's before he and I met. We won't discuss that Deluca was actually a Christmas gift from an old girlfriend. I still claim him as mine since I am the only mother that pup ever knew. :) Deluca is just like my husband; laid back and care free. He is calm, sweet and all he wants out of life is to sleep, eat, and be pet, just like my husband. 

Franklin is a newbie in our family. We recently adopted him from the SPCA and he is only 6 months old. Although adorable, he is the complete opposite of Deluca and Mike. He has to be engaged at all times. If you are not petting him, he will nudge his head under your hand. He has separation anxiety and is so, very nosy. Mike thinks he is like me... whatever.

Franklin does not like to sleep. It is usually around 1 or 2 in the morning when I begin to re-think the decision to adopt this puppy. He is up every few hours, ready to play. If he can't get Mike or myself up to play with him, he will leap out of the bed on top of Deluca to wake him up. It drives me insane. Imagine waking up out of a dead sleep and having to scream at a dog that will not listen to you. It sucks.

Because I hate to lose any amount of the precious sleep I get, I find my motivation through Franklin. When I feel like going home and sitting on the couch after work, I take one look at those adorable brown eyes, sweet white paws and perky ears, and remember that if he does not get rid of some energy, he will keep me up all night. So we run. Every. Single. Night. He is a great running buddy. He makes running look so easy and pushes me when I slow down. And, do you want to know the best part? On the nights we run, he only wakes up about once throughout the night. I'll take those odds. 

It Starts Today.

Yesterday, I decided to start this blog. I am feeling a little weird about it since I have no idea what I am doing and do not think I am a 'writer' in the least.  I have been reading them for years and find such comfort in reading about others who have been through a lot of the same struggles and frustrations with a healthy lifestyle as I have.  I am beginning this blog with the thought that it will be a place for me to document my meals, keep track of my work outs, share my recipes, and encourage myself.  Hopefully, it will transition into a blog that mixes family, travel, fashion, and living, while remaining healthy and strong. 

I woke up yesterday deciding that from this point on, I will not allow myself to be depressed or sad or unhappy with my looks and how my clothes fit. I am making a change. This cycle of feeling great and getting depressed about my looks is done. My journey to finding the happiest and healthiest me starts today.

XO,
Carolyn