Good Food Choice Wednesday

So I wrote this morning on my Twitter account that this was going to be a Good Food Choice Wednesday. (Yes I made that title up on my own and people actually picked up on it, including Merbear). I said I was going to eat well today, work out, and blog about it. Well, I was going to end the day with only the good eating. There were things at work that came up that kept me from working out. I know it's an excuse but they were things that caused me to get home after 7. I typically won't work out after 7 on a week night because I won't be able to sleep after and I still need to eat dinner. So dinner was eaten separately from my husband, who didn't get home for at least another half hour.

Overall I'm pretty happy about the food choices I made today. I did slip up twice but hey, no body is perfect, including me. I don't regret those two slipups

Breakfast was a serving of low sugar oatmeal made with milk. For a morning snack, I had a Yoplait Greek Yogurt.  They are pretty good although I do like Chobani better. We had a coupon for these last time we went grocery shopping.

For lunch I had a slice of turkey on a wheat sandwich thin with lettuce and honey mustard. A carrot with Laughing Cow cheese was my side along with some dried apricots. I slipped up with a snack sized bag of lays, not baked, from the snack box at work. I need to remember to take something salty with me for lunch to satisfy all those different flavors. Afternoon snack, well I forgot to bring an afternoon snack with me. So I grabbed some peanuts from the snack box because they were high in protein and would keep me from being hungry the rest of the afternoon. I only ate half of a serving. I just needed something to keep me going for 3 more hours.

Dinner consisted of a salmon burger from the freezer on another wheat sandwich thin and lettuce. I'm so exciting. I finished it off with a couple spoonfuls of my husband's macaroni and cheese. Oh, I almost forgot about the couple spoonfuls of pumpkin frozen custard from Thanksgiving. By the way, there are a ton of calories in frozen custard. I might just allow myself only one spoonful when I want some. Jeez! Otherwise, I was under my calorie goal for the day.

I tweeted earlier about having some craving issues with the candy box at work. So I popped some sugar free gum into my mouth and ignored the craving. It helped tremendously!

I didn't get a work out done today like I had originally planned but that is on the plan for tomorrow now. I will have to work out extra hard!

Thanks to everyone for their support today. It was greatly appreciated.

I Fought for 5k!

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning to a clean house, a huge amount of food in the fridge, and the wind blowing against the siding. That wind was telling me it was too cold outside to get out from under my covers, it was too cold to pull on my work out gear and get ready for the 5k I had committed to over a month earlier. I just wanted to stay under the sheets, cuddle with my husband, and dream about the upcoming Thanksgiving meal that was going to emerge from my oven. I even asked my husband if he wanted to skip out on the event. I can't believe I did that! As I stared at the ceiling, trying to talk myself out of the bed, I began to think about everyone else that was going out into the cold air and running or walking a 5k that morning. There were my parents, my sister, and the majority of the Pack. If they were braving the weather, then I could too.

After the stuffing was in the crockpots for my first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I climbed the stairs to put on my warm clothing. I made sure to check the weather before I decided what to wear. It was windy and the air was was damp and cold. Hubby and I climbed into the car and started on our way to the Berbee Derby. I couldn't understand why he was trying to push me out the door nearly an hour before our race start. Once we got there, I was glad he did. The place was already swarming with cars! We decided to park about a half mile from the event start line so we would have an easy get away at the end of the race. I would have to say there were atleast 3000 participants between the 10k and the 5k race. I like these bigger races because I can blend in with the crowd and there are sure to be people in that crowd that I am faster than. It gives me a confidence boost.

Berbee Derby 2011

At the beginning of the race I thought that I was going to stick by my hubby the whole time because he was being a dear to participate in the event with him. But then again, I also wanted to see how hard I could push myself and see how far I could go. We placed ourselves in the last wave just ahead of the 5k walkers. In the end, it was the right place to put myself. Hubby ran with me for the whole first mile and then he started to walk. I asked if it was ok if I kept going and he said it was. So, I just kept going. Coming around one of the turns I noticed a big hill ahead. I briefly thought that the hill was going to suck and I was going to let myself walk it. But then I thought back to when I was running earlier in the summer and when I proclaimed that I loved running hills because conquering them made me feel strong! I took that hill, and the next two without stopping to walk. I also took each subsequent down hill quickly. I heard a dad telling his daughter to just let the down hill push her, to let gravity work with her legs and to not push against it. I took his advice and just sailed down the hills.

I fought through the mental battle of wanting to stop to walk. Thing I have read kept working through my mind. "You can do anything for five minutes" kept really sticking with me. My foot went numb, I just kept going. I sprinted at the end. I did! It felt good to put all my energy into going all out the last few meters. I finished and I didnt stop to walk. I fought for it! Hubby finished 5 minutes after I did. It wasn't my best time but I'm ok with that.

Goal Week 8 - More Fruit and Veggies

I was bad again and didn't make my goal for this week public on Sunday night. I wanted to do just a little recap of the goal I set two weeks ago about having a little more faith. I did make it to church that week. I found out how much I had miss from not attending mass since Easter. I learned that the Catholic Church is actually changing some of the wording of mass and the change starts the first Sunday of Advent which is this coming weekend. It will be strange. If you want to learn more about it, you can click here. I did not make it to mass this last weekend because we got so busy preparing for our family Thanksgiving on Sunday.  I will make it this weekend though and it will then be the start of preparing for the Christmas season. I LOVE singing Christmas music in church. Yes, I will admit to being a dork.

So what is my goal for this 8th week of goal setting? Essentially I wanted to make a goal of getting five servings of fruits and veggies daily. The hope of this is that if I fill up on the healthy things, I'm not going to want the other not-so-healthy things that are keeping me from losing weight. After looking at my foods that I have been logging for the past few weeks, I'm realizing that I am eating way too many of my daily calories from carbohydrates that come from breads and high sugar unnatural foods (like candy).

So since I've discovered that servings tend to be smaller than what I would expect, I dont think I will have a problem meeting this. Although yesterday I dont think I made it. I had one medium carrot and celery for lunch. I also had home made applesauce. But I don't know if that is a fruit serving? Then some more celery and carrots after work for a snack. So I definitely did not make the goal yesterday but I wasnt really thinking about it too much.

So here is to picking up the healthy fruits and veggies and losing weight.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Ps: I still havent bitten my nails.
Ps: I went to McDonalds for breakfast over the weekend. That was a disaster and I felt gross afterward. The feelings lingered through Saturday into Sunday morning. So not worth it!!!!

I Have a Problem!

I have a problem with tea! Specifically unsweetened hot green tea, any flavor! This is an addiction I should probably welcome, especially for a healthy replacement to coffee filled with cream and sugar. I would even go as far as admitting to wanting tea at Caribou instead of a turtle mocha. Uh oh!

I used to choke down unsweetened tea because I couldn't stand the idea of flavored water with out sugar. But that is when I was addicted to soda. Not any more.

Unsweetened tea typically doesn't have any calories so it fits into my diet so well. It also is a must have on these dark and colder mornings when all I need to do is warm my hands.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to my friend Christina about tea because she drinks it all the time. We agreed that we absolutely hated how some teas just dry your mouth out. I really have no idea what causes this but it does not make me want to drink more of it.

So I have quite a mix of teas that I have been drinking over the past couple of weeks. I have plain old green tea, orange passion fruit green tea, citrus green tea, some black tea. I had some excellent green tea at a restaurant a few weeks ago and I want to find that kind because it was just so yummy.

Do you have any favorite tea that you could recommend?

Just Fight!

I'm watching The Biggest Loser, just like I do every Tuesday night when it is on. I started watching the show because I wanted to be inspired to make changes in my life. Here we are, how many seasons later, and I am pretty much the same weight I was when I started watching, maybe more actually.

Watching one of the competitors, John, break through some of those mental barriers that everyone talks about made me cry. I'm such a sap really! It reminded me about those times when I just want to stop because that barrier is just too hard to get through. I titled my blog Destroying Dead Ends because I didn't want to have those barriers anymore. It's time to remember to fight through those moments.

It's time to fight the food cravings! It's time to fight for my right to be healthy! It's time to fight to be my best self!

I pushed myself on my run tonight after work. I fought with my mental thoughts about it being too cold outside to work out. It's time to fight to fight to be faster and better! It's time to fight through the pain and numb left foot! It felt great to fight to make it to the top of the hill, back down the other side AND up the next hill! I'm proud of my 3.17 miles in less than 40 minutes that I fought for. I deserve it!

Just fight!

I Hate Broccoli

But I love Broccoli Sprouts!

They are just like alfalfa sprouts but broccoli instead. I really do hate the taste of broccoli. I only like it if its been pan fried in Chinese food. Then it is delicious but I'm sure it's not very healthy for me. They are healthy, but do lack the same amount of vitamins as their older siblings. It has been found though that they are supposed to help ward off cancer...but doesn't it seem like everything will help fight of cancer these days?

I eat them on salads and sandwiches. They add a little spicy flavor to my food. 

Give them a try some time!

Goal Week 7 - A Little Faith

I can't believe I am already working on goal 7. That would mean I'm seven weeks into this project. That also means I havent had McDonalds breakfast for 7 full weeks! Wow. Lets see how things are going.

I have continued to eat breakfast at home every day.

For the most part, I still don't drink soda. I do have to admit though that it has snuck back into my life a little bit. I had a coke yesterday on the drive home. I'm starting to fall in love with tea.

Lunch from home still continues for the most part. I have let myself eat out once a week. Usually I end up regretting it.

I'm still counting my calories, mostly every day. I did fall off the wagon over the weekend during a friend's wedding. I was just too busy to count.

Last week was no nail biting. I caught myself doing it on Tuesday morning but I have been good since then. It is really hard during some moments when I just want to chew. I make sure I put on some scented lotion. The lotion does not taste good.

So now it's goal week 7. I have seven more weeks until the New Year 2012. Eeek! Where has this year gone!? I'm still compiling a list of ideas for the next seven weeks of goals. This week's goal is a little different I guess.

The goal making was initially to improve my health. Last week's goal could have been pointed towards that general idea of not eating germs. This week's goal is one of faith. I need to go back to church. I was such a strong Catholic when I was younger, going to to church every weekend, going to youth retreats and volunteering my extra time to the congregation. I haven't been to church in, months!

I really want to go back because I feel like I'm missing that part of my life. It's only one hour out of my week. My goal is to go to church every weekend. I really really am in love with Christmas so this should be pretty easy for me.

Btw, I lost a pound last week.