No Hair Tie? No Problem.

Day Ten.
Slacked on my food photos.
Aside from what's featured below I had some spinach soup, a string cheese, a lovely dinner of pork roast, tiny potatoes and brussels sprouts, a bosc pear and a GF chocolate chip cookie for dessert.
Phew, so much easier to take photos (reminder to self).

Went to the gym and stayed on the elliptical for 60 minutes. 750 calories.
Forgot my hair tie and almost skipped my workout because of it.
So glad I didn't.

Things are about to get really hectic for a few days and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I will not let that translate into poor food decisions or no time for exercise.

 

Sushi Happens

So there I was minding my own business while eating some of these beauties....






























When all of sudden the phone rang and the next thing I knew THIS was happening..



The rest of the day was on point though and so I just have to allow myself to enjoy the occasional night out and remember that sushi happens.

 

Smile (plus weigh in # 2)

Day 8.
Wow, made it through the first week and it didn't feel "hard". Ever. That is saying a lot, because I've had a lot of false starts, enough to know that this isn't an easy thing to do.

Last week 223.0
This week 214.6
Loss of 8.4

That might sound like a lot, but the 223 was probably a bit inflated, 216/217 has been more of my baseline over the last month. So no freaking out about how 8 pounds is too much, because I find it highly unlikely that it will happen again.

I feel good, I've been eating wonderful food and getting enough to feel satisfied. I'm still nursing my darling baby boy, who is well over 15 pounds by now and never leaves a feeding feeling hungry or only half full. Plus I'm still pumping 10 ounces once a night (in under 5 minutes might I add), so my milk supply is doing just fine.

I did 60 minutes outside today for 650 calories.
Fartleks, same as yesterday and I even got adventurous with the route.
These fartleks are proving to be just what I needed.
By the end I was sort of annoyed every time I had to run again, but then I just reminded myself that it wouldn't be for very long and so I pushed through.

Also, there was smiling.
I've decided that I'm simply going to smile and say hello to everyone I pass.
You'd be surprised by how many people try to get out of doing this.
Such a small thing.

Goals for the week:
Exercise 250 minutes. Remain GF. Go to one yoga class, but practice at home at least one time (it doesn't even matter how long, just try it). Get my eyebrows waxed, seriously they are scary. TERRIFYING even.



Tomorrow I will take the dreaded "before" photos.

P.S. Chobani yogurt is 1,000 times better than the Yoplait crap I tried today.

Fartleks

Day 7.
Today, following my friend's advice (thank you Joyce), I decided that Fartlek is the way to go with my "training". I charged my iPod, dug out the heart rate monitor and took to the streets for some run/jog/walking. Fartlek training as far as I can tell is all about switching up your speed for shorter intervals. I'm pretty sure it is used for speed training and used by people who are actually running, but I'll be one of them someday so I'm just going to say it applies to what I did today.

50 minutes, 550 calories.
50% jogging, 50% walking.
And since I wasn't worried about distance, I went off the beaten trail of my usual route and felt totally free.

My stride was sloppy and that of a struggler (yes, I know it's not a word).
I struggled.
I also saw a lot of other runners out there who weren't struggling, I smiled at them.
I did come across one other struggler along the way and I smiled at her too.
She didn't smile back. That's okay, it's hard to be a struggler.

Food was on point. I added ground flax to my breakfast. Did you know ground flax was supposed to be refrigerated? Me either until a few days ago. I saw it on FB and so it must be true.
Plus then I bought a new bag (to replace the one I had been keeping in the pantry) and sure enough "refridgerate me" was printed right on the bag. Just one more health food thing my husband will be thrilled to find taking up space in the old ice box.

I hope it's nice out tomorrow. Fartleks are much easier to do outside.

 

Pizza

Day 6.
So far so good.
We had Breakfast with Santa today and I avoided the pancakes by making sure to fill up on my yummy  cereal at home first. By the time we got back I was starving and feeling unprepared. I had originally intended to have an avocado salad today, but my hunger insisted that there was no time to create such a thing and so I opted for a repeat of yesterday's lunch, simply because it's easy, super fast and incredibly tasty. Spinach, mushrooms, tomato and one egg=yum. Snacks included some Chobani peach yogurt and sliced red peppers/carrots (not pictured) and a small bowl of leek/sweet potato soup (which I am not sure was Gluten Free). Dinner was amazing though, everyone else was having homemade pizza and at first I was sort of bummed out, but then a friend told me about some GF ready-to-bake pizzas that the co-op makes. Spinach, artichoke, chicken, and it was to die for! Dessert was a banana, chocolate chip muffin (another winner).

Me: How many calories do you think are in this muffin?
B: I don't know, but it'll be half as many if you share it with me.
And so I did.

Went for a jog up to the hardware store and back.
2 miles in 25 minutes.
350 calories in 35 minutes.