This past weekend was super busy. On Friday night, I came home from work and made some dip to take with me to the football game on Saturday. I didn't try to make anything healthy since it was a tailgate and no one likes healthy food at a tailgate. My family makes Texas Caviar at almost every occasion so I knew it fed a lot of people. It made an enormous amount of dip. (That is not the recipe I use, there are many variations of this dip and I use one that my family has created. If you want my recipe, let me know.)
I also decided to make some energy balls. They are so delicious, and a great little snack if you need a boost. I made a double batch and now have plenty to get me through the week. They are so easy and you probably already have the ingredients.
Energy Balls (adapted from Smashed Peas & Carrots)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup of Nut Butter (any type, I used almond)
1/3 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
Other mix ins would also work - dried fruit, nuts, puffed rice cereal, etc.
Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for 30 min. Roll into small balls (about golf ball size) and store in refrigerator (because of the flaxseed). Grab and go! (I put these into a nutrition calculator and am getting about 300 calories for 1. That seems too high, but I would still watch how many you eat at a time. They are full of protein though!)
On Saturday I woke up still pretty sore from my leg work out on Thursday. I was having a hard time getting started on my run, but eventually got into a nice groove. Franklin and I actually ran even further than we had been running. I haven't calculated it exactly, but I think we added another .4 miles to our trek. I am so excited that we are running almost 3 miles every day.
When I got home from my run, I was starving. I had picked up a can of pumpkin puree on Friday night especially for my breakfast on Saturday morning. Pumpkin oatmeal was exactly what I had been wanting. I am so excited the weather is finally cool enough to go back to hot oats and nothing screams fall more than pumpkin.
After breakfast and some cleaning up, I got in the shower and got ready to go to the football game. This is where my weekend took a nose dive. Anytime I am eating healthy, I try to give myself a day of freedom to eat, drink and do, whatever I want. If I want to take the day off from exercise, I do. If I want to eat whatever I am in the mood for, I do... and I don't calorie count on those days so that I don't feel guilty and I can really enjoy my free day. Just for fun, I decided to log everything that I ate and drank on Saturday. It is astonishing how many calories I took in in one, single day.
I had picked up some pumpkin beer to take to the tailgate. I only got a 6-pack so that I would only drink that amount. I know 6 beers seems like a lot, but I normally drink 8-10 on a full day of tailgating. So I thought 6 would be a better idea. I guess pumpkin beer is much higher in calories, but I have been in such a pumpkin mood, I just didn't care. :)
The beer was delicious and so was the amazing spread of food that we had at the tailgate. There was pork BBQ, coleslaw, baked beans, mac n cheese, and green beans. Not to mention all the cookies and dips and chips also available. I only had a very small spoonful of each item, but the calories still amounted to way over my daily limit. At the end of the day, with all the food and drink logged, I was at 3,900 calories. Can you believe it?? I was even conscious of the calories and cut back my portions! Imagine what I have taken in at a tailgate where I drank twice as much and ate twice as much. It is such an eye opener how detrimental it is for my health when I engage in these types of activities. That doesn't mean that I will stop, but I am certainly going to make sure those times are fewer and further between each other. :)
Our football team played awful and we lost the game. We stayed with friends on Saturday night and spent the day with them on Sunday as well. My mom and her boyfriend met us on Sunday to take our puppies for the next 2 weeks. I am going to miss them so much but I am so glad that my mom is willing to keep them for us. Deluca has always loved going to stay with Grandma and Charles because they spoil him rotten! He gets a walk through the woods every morning, a ride in the car every morning, plus, endless amounts of chicken from Charles. He is always a few pounds heavier when he gets home and is usually kinda mad at us for bringing him back to his boring house. My mom and Charles also work much closer to their house than Mike and I do, so they stop in to take him outside throughout the day and are home much earlier than us. I am sure Franklin is going to have a blast there too.
I guess I will have to find my motivation elsewhere since I won't have Franklin this week. Maybe I will just stare at that 3900 calorie count from Saturday and that should get me moving...
Now, a question: to work out while on vacation, or to not work out while on vacation.... hmmm. That is a tough one. I feel that I am a little early in my journey to take a week off. Plus, the resort we are going to is all inclusive, which means lots of yummy food and sugar filled drinks. I should probably make use of their amazing exercise facilities and take advantage of the warm weather with a run on the beach early one morning. But, I just want to relax and not think about working out. I could try to do some out of the ordinary exercises like kayaking or maybe Mike and I can rent some bikes. What would you do?
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