I'm thankful for...Chocolate

How could I not include chocolate early on in my thankfulness posts?

I love chocolate.  Good chocolate, okay chocolate...I can't even say bad chocolate because I don't know if that exists in my mind.

Slowly savoring it.  It takes away so many stresses from a bad day.  It's like it can heal so many wounds.  Dark chocolate is my favorite - the darker the better.  Recently I've been trying to be more interested in other, newer chocolates.

My running mentor gave me some fantastic chocolate this week that brightened my day during an especially tough moment.  Straight from Switzerland, some very yummy chocolate.  It's dark chocolate, but has that smooth texture and flavor like milk chocolate.  Super yummy.  The whole label is in another language with lots of recipes posted and I'm curious what they are for...but it just adds to the mystique!

~A

You know that feeling....

You know that feeling when you just complete a ridiculously hard workout...wait...I didn't really know until today.  Headed to the gym this morning after seeing today's crossfit workout of the day thinking it sounded fun. (Note to self - Next time you think a WOD looks fun...think twice!!!).

Here's today's Crossfit Southie WOD:

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
10 Burpees
20 Push ups
30 Air Squat

In retrospect, I'm really not sure what about this looked fun besides the running.  I think the running part always grabs my attention.  Plus the squat part...Have I mentioned that I'm doing so many squats lately that I can only believe that my butt must be starting to be irresistible?

Anyway, so I got to the gym to do my workout and it was pretty humorous - it was completely empty.  First time that's ever happened to me...but then again, it was my first time going to the gym on the weekend too.

So I did my warm up and hunkered down to do this workout.  I decided to time myself...oh what fun!

Round 1 went pretty well.  I ran a very fast 400 meters (for me) in less than 2 minutes.  Got my 10 burpees done.  Pushed through the push ups (no fun intended), and the squats were a piece of cake - I was really focusing on my form on those. Time was just over 5 minutes - not bad!

Round 2.  Ran another fast 400 meters - just at 2 minutes.  Burpees were challenging, but I got through.  Push ups - wall.  I did a mix of full push ups, girl push ups (using my knees), and then some altered push up where I went all the way to the floor and lifted myself up.  Squats again were fine. Time is just under 12 minutes.

Round 3.  By now I'm sweating and getting pretty red faced.  This is more challenging than I expected, but I like me some cardio.  Run 400 meters in 2'01".  Burpees I am basically barely passing as burpees at this point - at least the push up part, the jump part is fine.  Push ups - I'm dying here.  Did another mix of regular, girl, and my strange altered push ups.  I'm doing 20 of them still and focusing on working various muscle groups in my arms.  Squat time again is fine.  I paid attention to my form and it looks good, but I'm thinking squats shouldn't be this easy...or maybe they should considering how many I've done? Time is around 19 minutes I think...or was it 21? I'm losing track!

I considered stopping here.  I mean, it's five rounds for everyone, regardless of level.  My level 2 guys I work out with would probably be done...I could stop now right?  I'm a girl and not level 2.  No way, keep going!

Round 4. More sweat.  Run 400 meters just over 2 minutes again (somehow).  Burpees - yeah, kill me.  Suffer through them.  Push ups...I'm really dying now.  Barely make it through.  Squats - finely getting a little challenging, but still not bad.  I believe my time was now somewhere around 26 minutes.

Round 5. Give myself a little pep talk - almost done! You got this A!  Run my last 400 meters and push through keeping my pace - 2'01" again. Whoo!  Burpee and push up time...oh dear.  Worst push ups and burpees ever and I was glad no one was there to watch.  No where near good form, but I got them done...somehow.  Squat time - almost done - thank God!  Squats went okay and I pushed through.

Final time: 34'01".

Yep.  I did it.  I wanted to die afterwards.  I felt a little nauseous.  I remember sitting on the box we use for box jumps and thinking...now I know why people decide to sit on the couch and not work out.  This was tough!  It would have been so much easier to go run a few miles...or not workout at all. So now I know the feeling of doing a workout and feeling like I'm crazy!

I recovered and headed to the locker room.

You know that feeling a bit after your workout, after you've showered and cooled down where you feel amazing?  Yep.  The walk out to my car - I might as well have been on cloud nine.  Wish I could have had an audience to strut my stuff in front of - I felt great.  I love how after you cool down from a workout, your muscles are still warm, yet nice and firm from the workout.  Perfect combination!  Not in pain yet, feeling good!

I somehow felt pulled to reward myself for this crazy workout by going to Starbucks and getting an iced mocha.  So I did.  I mean, come on...Chocolate after working out is good for you.  I've read it on the internet, it must be true!

And low and behold...I run into some fellow bloggers.  Fate I tell you, fate!  None other than M from Dodging Acorns and M from Filling Our Bucket. Fantastic ladies - love their blogs.  I've got to give them some blog love now - so please go over and take a look at their blogs and follow them and give them some love.  They are both working on being fitter ladies too (they both looked AMAZING today!!) - so they can use some encouragement and love.  And they are both hilarious - so go check them out already!

What a great start to the week.  See, I knew it would get better!

~A

An emotional rollercoaster of a week

I'm really not sure what's going on in my subconscious this week, but it's throwing my emotions for a loop.  I have days like today where I range from feeling strong and confident, to weak and meager - all without any sort of external stimulus seemingly triggering this change of emotions.

(at least it's not this bad I guess)

Perhaps it's because I was only able to get to the gym for strength training twice this week?  And then I was only able to run one other day based on my schedule.  I'll chalk this up to that.  Lots of extra steam to blow off and few chances to release it.  Or it could be hormonal I guess too.

I hope to remedy that this week though.  I'm better than this.  I should be beyond getting stuck on an emotional roller coaster. So, I'm planning to try to go to the gym or for a long run tomorrow.  Then hit up the gym for cross training three times this week.

(Love this...Totally me right?!?)

I really think the cross training is helping me.  I went for a run on Friday and decided to do a very challenging, hilly route.  I ended up running the route in my normal mile pace time, but given how hilly of a route I did, I'm very impressed with that.  I felt extremely strong when I was running and I think my form has improved.  There was a quarter mile flatter stretch in the beginning and as I passed the third of a mile distance, I was tracking for a PR mile pace.  Then I hit up the hills and let me tell you, they were tough hills - but I owned them. 

So yes, I'm happy with my 9'28" pace on Friday because it was a very hill course and I killed it.  And, the best part of all - no leg pain while running.  I still get some occasionally when I'm not working out, but I suspect that that is pulled muscles from my workouts verses and injury.

In addition to my cross training and focus on physical fitness lately, I've also been trying to think of things I want to try to do when I have some downtime and the things that matter to me.  It's going slow, but it's a start.  It's easier to come up with the list of things I want to try than it is to think of the emotional side of what values are important to me and who I am, but I'll get there.  I think I've got most of the basics and fundamentals down - now it's the more peripheral things I think...but who knows.

How was your week? How do you get yourself out of a slump?

By the way, I'm a little sad that I only got one comment in my shout out.  I'm going to assume it's because you are all so busy working out and running, so I won't take it personally.

I ran across this someEcard and it made me giggle a little.  I think I've said several times in the past week to myself that I've done so many squats lately that my butt must look AMAZING. Hopefully I'm right...it feels pretty damn good anyway.

Tomorrow begins a new week.  And it will be better, I can feel it.

~A

PS - And now I'm going to go have a nice tall glass of chocolate milk - because seriously chocolate milk makes anything better.

Workin' it

What's that you say dedicated blog follower?  I haven't been talking about running as much lately...Am I still running?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

The answer is yes, I am still running...just not as much.  After starting up again just a couple weeks ago now and quickly feeling the pain in my left calf again, I decided that cross training and developing some better core strength might just be a good idea.  And good timing because it came at a time when I need to be stronger than ever - both mentally and physically.  So here I am, focusing more on cross training and developing my core strength.

Tomorrow marks my two week anniversary of starting cross training, so I'm heading into my third week.  And I feel like I can already tell a difference.  When I ran on Saturday this weekend, my whole body just felt smooth and natural - in line.  And when I look in the mirror, I can see results in my arms.  And as much as I hate my stomach, it's feeling pretty nice when I have clothes on these days.  I think my muffin top is pretty much gone.  I think I still have a little ways to go on my stomach and I honestly don't know that I'll ever feel good about it...but we'll see.  My legs and butt...well, I haven't paid too much attention to them, but with the quantity of squats I've done in the past two weeks...I can only imagine.

So, what's some of my strength training workouts look like?  Well, the guys at work who so graciously allow me to attend the workouts with them (and bare with my silly questions and lack of form as I completely kill their timed workouts), are big cross fit fans and follow Crossfit Southie.  So they grab the workout of the day (WOD) each day and we do that after doing the warm up.

Today's workout...
Strength
Overhead Squats
3-3-3-3-3

WOD
100 Overhead Squats(95,65)
Every minute on the minute 4 burpees
Level 2 (75, 50)-3 burpees
Level 1 (45, 25)- 2 burpees
So I did the strength warm up with just a wooden pole that probably weighed less than three pounds - but it was to focus on form.  I think I did the last couple of reps with a 12 pound bar and I did almost all of the my 100 squats with that bar.  Also, despite being probably lower than Level 1, I did four burpees at each minute mark...although again, my last couple of reps ended up being girl push ups because my arms were burning.

I'm not going to lie...this was a pretty intense workout.  I wasn't really expecting it to be.  But both me and Crazy Feet (my nickname for A who was there today...hi A if you ever stumble across this!) were rather exhausted after this workout...in a good way.

By the time I exited the locker room, my quads were basically spasming from the crazy workout this was.  I did lots of stretching and it must have paid off because I'm not in pain now.  I don't mind squats so much.  I feel like I've mastered them because I've done so many in the past two weeks.

As my closer to the night, I went through the core training exercises that I posted about from Life's Run yesterday.  Then I followed that up with 125 crunches of various types.  I usually don't do follow up exercises on gym days, but honestly I wanted to see if I could best my plank time (Yay, 1'15") and I figured it couldn't hurt to try to get in the habit of doing these for a bit...so I'm going to try to do it every night.  We'll see how that goes!

Plus, all this muscle building is really giving me more excuses to eat, drink, live chocolate.  I'm not going to lie...I'm consuming a lot of it lately.  Plus lots of healthy vegetables, fruit, and water.  I'm trying to eat more protein but I don't quite think I've found the good balance.  I'll get there hopefully.

So that's what I've been up to.

What have you been up to?  Any questions for me? Any tips for me?

~A

Sometimes it's the small things...

I'm coming off of a rough few days.  On top of the agonizing pain I'm feeling from boot camp last week, other things have just been tough.  Feeling pretty awful about myself...insecure, small, weak...plus some other things.  I've also gotten stood up/blown off by people multiple times over the past few days.  So yeah...I'm feeling kind of lame.

I was pretty sore after my Thursday boot camp on Friday.  It just got worse throughout the day.  I left work early, took the dog for a quick mile run or so, and then mowed the lawn.  Later, I tried to do some warm up and good stretching at night to help relieve some of the pain.  It didn't really help that much, not going to lie. 

I was seriously wondering if I could make it out to my run with my MRTT girls Saturday...but I woke up bright and early and headed out.  Ended up doing 2.12 miles and I felt pretty good by the end of the run.  And then I bent down to get in my car...pain had returned. 

After that we headed over to the Scituate Art Festival.  I've always wanted to go, but never seem to make it, so I was really determined to go this year.  See, I'm on a quest to do the things I've always wanted to do, but haven't...so I think that was #2 (#1 being going to boot camp at the gym).  I should write an official post detailing some of those items...another day perhaps. 

Where was I?

Oh yes.  So, Scituate Art Festival.  With our strange weather this weekend, it was crazy crowded Saturday.  So much so that we parked around 1.5 miles AWAY from the festival.  So after running 2.12 miles, I walked 1.5 miles to the festival.  Walked probably a good 1-2 miles through the festival.  Then walked back another 1.5 miles to the car.  Burned my calories that day apparently!

Sunday.  Did another "dog jog" with Kona.  Did a mile this time. 

Today, I'm in LOTS of pain.  No exercise today for me.  Oh, and did I mention that the pain in my leg seems to might be coming back...please, no.  I don't have time for this right now...and I really need running as an outlet for the stress I'm working through.  Argh.

Tomorrow I'm hoping I can wake up early enough to join a colleague in some strength training at the work gym.

But, onto the good stuff. 

Ended up coming home to a really enjoyable dinner - steamed whole artichoke with butter.  Every leaf was delicious.

But...onto the small things. Sometimes it's the small things in life that make life worth living.

I just made what could be the best (unhealthy) milkshake ever.

I think I'll call it...

Rough Weekend Recovery Milkshake

- A couple scoops of: Breyer's Blast Chips Ahoy Ice Cream

- Some Chocolate Soy Milk

- Some fresh strawberries

Blend until smooth.  Oh yeah.  So good.  *Almost* makes up for the weekend.

 

So tomorrow I'm planning to wake up and start fresh and anew.  It will be a good day dammit.  It will.  And my leg won't hurt...

This is what I want to do right now...

And this speaks to me right now:

And this reminds me of something I love: chocolate of course.  I'm starting to eat more chocolate again...and that makes me feel happy lately.

~A

Leibster Awards - Pay it Forward, Pay it Back

Leibster Awards

The Liebster Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers

(A quick check revealed that I'm up to 6...from my previous 4 - woot!)

I was tagged by Courtney at So Many Miles, So Little Time - she's a fellow Moms Run This Town Chapter Leader. You should check her out!

(shhh,I also cut and paste this from her and she cut and paste from someone else)

The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

Rules for receiving this award:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Then answer the questions the tagger sent for them, plus create 11 questions for the people they’ve tagged to answer.

3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.

4. Notify the people you have tagged.

5. No tag backs.

11 Random Things About Me

1. I was born and spent a good part of my childhood in Oklahoma.  Am I the only person from Oklahoma you know?  I am for many people. :)

2. I've played a ton of sports throughout my life.  Basketball for close to fifteen years, soccer, softball, track and field, and tennis for a short time.  I also loved volleyball, but never played on a team.  I was captain of my highschool basketball team.

3. I love really stupid Sy Fy B movies.  Sharktopus, I'm there.  Piranaconda - Saw it.  I frequently set my DVR to Sy Fy on Saturday nights at 9 PM to catch the latest movie.

4. I can be a bit ADD about things and am a control freak about certain things (if you couldn't tell)

5. I have two tattoos.

6. I LOVE board games.  Haven't played in a while, but I love them.

7.  Sometimes I consider going vegetarian or paleo for a while but I don't think I can give up some of the foods required.  Nor do I think the hubs would be happy for either choice.

8.  I bite my nails. :( It's a horrible habit.  I wish I could stop, but I've done it so long I don't even know how to.  Every attempt to stop has failed miserably.

9. I don't drink.  I haven't had a drink of alcohol in more than three years.  I made the decision to not drink any longer when I realized I didn't enjoy it and I don't really look back.  I do find it humorous how much it bothers other people though that I do not drink.

10.  I LOVE popcorn.  For years I probably ate a bag every night. I know microwave popcorn is awful for you, so I try to do air popped now.  But sometimes...oh year.

11. Doing things I've never done before scares the daylights out of me.  I'm trying to challenge myself at this and am doing ok I think...but it's still pretty bad.  It's everything...even small stuff.  Driving somewhere I've never been, doing something I've never done...I don't really know where this comes from.

11 Questions from So Many Miles, So Little Time:

1. Have you ever been on a blind date?

I think I went on a couple in high school.  Can't really remember anything shocking from any of them though - it was always a group type of situation, never one on one.

2. If you could be any of the Fresh Beat Band members, who would you be and why? (If you don't know who the FBB is then you are WAY to cool for my blog.)

Ummm, I know of the FBB, but not individual members.  My little is still too young.

3. Are you a righty or a lefty?

Righty for most stuff, although I do some sports lefty.

4. Do you have a pre-race routine and if so what is it?

Being that I've only done one race, that's a no.  I'm hoping it will be have a smoothie 2-3 hours before hand and a coffee afterwards.

5. Have you ever stopped to ummm, go number one in the woods on a long run?

Ummm, nope.  My longest ever was 5 miles, so no need yet.  We'll see when I get longer distances.

6. Can you ice skate?

I have in the past...probably can, but not very well.

7. What is your chosen profession?

Marketing.  I currently work in electronic marketing - Web site, Social Media, Sales Integration best practices...Great stuff.

8. What is one of your favorite non-running blogs?

Free Range Kids.

9. Have you ever been to Las Vegas, and if so did you do something that should stay in Vegas?

Yes...I can't tell you that.

10. Please share the answer to # 9! (if you haven't been to Vegas would you go?)

Honestly, probably nothing dramatic...ha ha.

 

11. What is your favorite book or book series?

I recently read The Hunger Games.  Really liked that series.  Can't think of anything better as an answer.

11 Questions for you to answer from Tales of an Unfit Mommy:

1. What's the longest distance you've ever run?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. White, milk, or dark chocolate?

4. If you were a flavor of Ben & Jerry's, what would you be?

5. What's your favorite vacation place?

6. What's your favorite room in your house?

7. What's your cooking specialty? (the recipe you make the best or others request from you)

8. What's something on your bucket list?

9.  What's your favorite outdoor activity?

10. What's the last movie you watched?

11.  Suggest a song for my workout playlist.

Bloggers I'm tagging to nominate/challege:
Irma @ Moms Run San Jose
Molly @ Moms Run Lancaster
Nicole @ Centralia Moms Run This Town
Crystal @ The Domestic Warrior
Jamie @ Thrifty Veggie Mama
Dani & Pam @ Fit Moms Full Plates
Sarah & Katey @ Simply Mommies
Melissa @ Life in the Valley of the Sun

I'll tag a few more after I get some more volunteers hopefully.  Let me know if you want tagged!

H...is for Happy & Healthy

For my next edition of my A-Z blogging challenge, I have the letter H.

This was a pretty easy one for me.

Healthy.  The main reason I want to be a fitter mom.  I want to be healthy so I can be the best mom and wife I can be. 

I look up the definition of healthy on dictionary.com:

/ˈhɛlθi/ Show S

1. possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.

2. pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance; healthy attitudes.

3. conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.

4. prosperous or sound: a healthy business.

5. Informal . fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.

I'll take all. Yes, please.

Happy.  Happiness is also an important thing to me.  I'll consider myself a successful mom is my little is happy and healthy.  It's the little things that make you happy, but it's those little things that really matter.  My cousin once asked my aunt, "Why is Amber so happy, she basically wakes up happy."  I guess I'm just a pretty happy person in general, not prone to unhappiness.  I'm pretty intrinsically motivated, so even when I'm down I tend to take steps to turn around my day.

I have periods in time when I get a little down and one of my best ways to help me feel better is to try to make other people happy.  Compliment them. Help them.  Give it a try.

This image made me happy as I tried to search for something to put here:

I'm reading Gretchen Rubin's "Happiness Project" book.  I love it.  The whole concept is even if you are happy, you can be happier and it talks about little steps you can take to be happier.

 Another thing that makes me happy?  Do you know what's coming here? Chocolate.  Oh yeah baby.  Had a nice glass of chocolate milk tonight.  Mmm, mmm yummy.  Even better - shared some with the little.

Those are my thoughts on H.

~A

C...is also for Chocolate.

OMG - I almost did a C post without mentioning Chocolate.  Who am I? What happened?  I must need a nap.

Chocolate is one of my vices.  I love it.  I've blogged about it.  I still eat it daily and managed to lose almost ten pounds.  It's my path to happiness.  I won't give it up.  And I'm ok with it.  So there.

C = CHOCOLATE.  Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  I had some in my coffee this morning already.  Have some in my nightly trail mix/protein pick me up.  Have it in other ways too.  Need to go find some now.

Portion control

When was the last time you took the time to actually measure out some portions?  I've been really trying to do this lately and I find myself pleasantly surprised at how small some portions of things are.  On my healthy eating/being fitter quest, I've kind of gone off the rule that I can eat as many veggies as I want and really balance the other things.  I've cut out a ton of processed foods (yay) and I'm working on reducing my sugar and salt intakes (hard work for sure!), but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I still wasn't losing weight. 

So I started counting calories again (see previous post about tech gadgets) and to do it accurately, I've started measuring portions.  My whole wheat chex this AM - 3/4 cup is a serving, with a 1/2 cup skim milk.  It fills less than half the bowl.  Quite different from what I would have poured myself, that's for sure.  But it was pleasantly satisfying.  I also added in some bananas as a filler (gotta get in those fruits and veggies remember!)

I was checking out one of my favorite new shows - Drop 5 Pounds on Cooking Channel. They had some really great visuals for figuring out portions.  Serving of meat - think the size of a smart phone.  I use that all the time since I don't have a food scale.  Serving of chocolate - size of two dice. LOVE IT!  I've also gotten some great recipes from that show...but I'll leave that for another day.

So, circling back around, my point here is...measure out some portions.  Take the time to read the nutrition label.  You'll probably be just as surprised as I was!

Until next time,
A

Way to go M! A quick shout out

I wanted to send a quick shout out to my friend and fellow blogger M over at Dodging Acorns. I can relate to so many things going on in her life and recently she's really stepped up and taken initiative to be a healthier, happier person and mom.  Her recent posts are full of energy, tips, and great advice.  It's always great to see another person take steps to leading a healthier life.  I always enjoy reading her blog posts, so if you have a moment, head over there and congratulate her on her healthy decisions lately!  I mean seriously...she even put down chocolate at the store and decided to go home and eat a healthy meal instead.  Not sure I could put down the chocolate...but I can relate to the decision to eat healthier food.

So to you, my friend M - You rock! I'm so proud of you!

~A

Sick mommy :(

Lucky for me with some healthy habits I've picked up on my quest to become more fit, I tend to not get very sick a lot.  Sore throats - I used to get plenty of those.  Since I've been eating healthier and working out when I can, I've actually not gotten sick.  Until now. :(

I caught G's cold.  Surprisingly G is also a really healthy kiddo.  She eats her veggies and is really active too.  She's only gotten one other cold this year in early winter despite the stomach bug, strep throat, pneumonia, and other random colds going around at daycare and in the family.  I'm sure it helps that she's also obsessed with washing her hands just like Daddy.

Washing hands hasn't kept Daddy from getting sick though.  Recently he's had illness after illness.  He just got over a sinus infection, before that a cold, before that a minor stomach bug, etc.  Hmmmm.  Proof healthy living keeps you healthy?  Maybe not 100% but the fact that we managed not to catch it from him is really impressive.

Unfortunately now that I am sick, it kind of sucks.  Cough, super runny nose, achy body, dry/scratchy throat.  I'm wondering if I might have an ear infection too - I get occasionally pains in my ear.  Nothing constant though.  Blah.

I'm also kind of anti-medicine.  I try not to take any if I don't have to.  My theory has been that as a population we are over medicated.  So I convince myself that if I only take meds when I really need them they'll have a better chance of working.  Well, this cold was enough for me to take meds and give G some meds too.  I picked up a homeopathic cold medicine - Hyland's Cold & Cough.  It's mostly honey, but it's at least something.  And I'm taking an extremely low dose.  It seems to help somewhat.  Seems to really help G.  This is only the second time she's had to take medicine - the only other time was for an eye infection.

I tend to eat weird things when I'm sick - I get weird cravings.  This time around I'm craving carbs - which is odd because I'm not a big bread eater.  But today alone I probably had 6 or 7 servings mostly all whole grain wheat - got to at least eat it the healthier way. :)  Also dairy. I like dairy, but I probably don't eat enough of it normally - I hit it in spurts.  I get plenty of calcium from other sources based on the white calcium spots in my finger nails and my blood work.  Today I had a cup of chocolate milk for the first time in a while.  It just sounded fantastic.  Guess I needed the extra calcium and energy to fight this off.

Typically when I'm sick I crave salty foods and green beans.  I guess getting some of the crap I was eating previously out of my system I've improved my sick cravings  Kind of like a cleanse of sorts I guess.

So, I'm off to do some R&R.  Drink plenty of fluids.  Hopefully kick this bug before going away in a little over a week.

Happy Valentine's Day

I just realized I wrote a full post without talking about chocolate.  And on Valentine's day.  What's wrong with me?  Don't worry - despite all my veggie and salad eating, I still eat my weight in chocolate.  Well not really.  But I eat a lot.  But I eat it slowly and savor it.  Especially dark chocolate.  The darker the better.  Mmmmm.

Joe and I don't celebrate Valentine's day.  I'm a big believer of showing your love all year long instead of on a commercialized, inflated, over-priced holiday one time a year. 

However, I will admit that a small part of me keeps wishing for chocolates.  For whatever reason I have it in my mind lately that I really want to branch out my chocolate tastes and get more exotic.  The ones with spices in them - cinnamon would be a first choice, but I'm open to all of them.  And chocolates from around the world.

So help me out - any recs on places to get some cool chocolate?  Any suggestions on what to try?

And my little tip on eating chocolate.  Eat chocolate.  Enjoy it.  But eat small pieces and savor it slowly.

I've been watching this new show lately "Drop 5" by Good Housekeeping.  They said to visualize a serving of chocolate of one ounce as four dice stacked up - two stacks of two.  That's 150 calories.  Have half the amount and save yourself 75 calories per serving.  I like that myself. 

Enjoy! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Walk the walk...

I know...you guys have been waiting all day for my  updates...First off, I apologize, I was too crazed at work and spent my free time walking instead of blogging.

So, by 10 am I thought I was off to a good start - already up to 2,500 steps or so.  Unfortunately, I got stuck on a conference call for two hours so by noon I was only up to 3,000 steps.  Seemed pretty pathetic since by that point I had walked up to the fourth floor using the stairs already three times and down two times in addition to the walk in the building since I parked in the back of the lot.  Yikes...

So, I also decided today would be a good day to jump back into running - figured that would help my stress level and get my step count up right?  So according to MapMyRun.com my trail was about 1.2 miles - the one I normally run/walk.  I pushed myself harder than normal and as I got towards the end I checked the pedometer...big yikes...not even up to 6,000 steps...So I decided to do a longer loop and walked most of the way and ran a tiny bit more.  By the time I went in I was up to 8,000 steps.

Went up and down the stairs two more times - had to get water. :)  Gotta keep up that hydration.

By the time I left work I was up to 9,600!  Yay!

Get home, run down to the garden with G to pick some veggies - gotta keep eating healthy right?  Run around with her a while.

Just now sat down to blog and update...

11,091.

Wahoo!!!! 

Not only did I finally meet my goal of 10,000, I actually achieved my stretch goal of 11,000.  And I'm pooped. 

I think I pushed myself too far though...I'm in quite a bit of pain.  My knees and ankles hurt.

It was quite challenging to get to 10,000.  I'm really surprised how much work it was.  If I don't run, I figure it will take quite a bit of effort, we'll see though.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up.

Ironically, with the extra running and hydration today, I found myself craving veggies...green, yellow, red.  So I added cauliflower, broccoli, and yellow squash to my dinner tonight.  Then I was still craving red so I made a small dish with red sauce.  So I definitely got my veggies in between that and lunch.

Fruit is a bit lacking though...so I'm going to go have a small bowl of ice cream for dairy and some strawberries and walnuts.  Mmmm, mmm good.

Until next time,
Amber

Emotional eating

Hi, my name is Amber. Sometimes I'm an emotional eater.

Admitting it is the first step right?

Seriously though, we've had a rough week in the Grasso household. I don't want to get into details, but needless to say, I'm stressed beyond belief. I normally handle stress pretty darn well, but this week, I think it's just too much at one time. The straw that broke the camel's back I guess.

And to top off all the stress, I didn't even get to run to release it because things were so crazy at work with the market volatility and the weather was a little weird. Looks like the weather will hinder me for a few more days too...hopefully I'll get in a run or two later in the week.

Anyway...back on topic.

Emotional eating. I think emotional eating is what drives a lot of people to make unhealthy choices. So, now that I'm trying to be fitter, I'm trying to at least eat healthier when I'm emotional eating. I mean, let's face it...if I say I'll stop...that won't happen...I better be more realistic...small steps...small steps.

So after the wonderfully crap-tastic day I've had today...started at 3:30 am when the baby woke up...and stayed up until 5:30, only to wake for the day at 7 and then take little to no naps today and just be fussy, cranky, and naughty today - the rain keeping us cooped up didn't help...I think I just had it. So at 8 pm after sitting in her room for almost 45 minutes to get her to FINALLY fall asleep (and so help me God if she wakes up at 330 this morning again...), all I could think of was the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the freezer...it had my name on it.

The old (unfit) Amber would have gone downstairs and made a HUGE bowl of ice cream - like 4-5 or maybe even six scoops.

I decided to try and make it healthier though. I originally intended on one scoop...but then went for two...shame shame shame. Small steps...Anyway. I then added on top four cut up strawberries, walnuts, and some dark chocolate (couldn't resist). So instead of just fattening (wonderful) ice cream, I got a serving (or more) of fruit, some good protein and fats from the nuts, and well, some flavonals and antioxidants from my dark chocolate. Plus, as any good chocolate aficionado knows, you have to eat dark chocolate slowly and save it.

So this helped me eat slowly, and more healthy. I still got to appease that emotional twinge, but I added in some good vitamins and nutrients into it. That's better than nothing right? Don't be hating...don't be all judgy, mcjudgy and go all "You shouldn't have eaten at all...". I think that would lead to binging. Not me. See my previous post on Indulgences.

So that's my little (win?)/tip for the day - if you are going to emotional eat, try and realize it and minimize your portion and add in some nutrients so you aren't eating a boat load of junk.

Until next time,
Amber

Healthier eating - can you train yourself to crave healthy foods?

Read an interesting article on CNN recently.  Find the full post here.

Basically the articles says most of us crave unhealthy, fatty goods due to evolutionary traits that haven't disappeared - IE - Our ancestors spent most of their time hunting for food so eating foods high in fat was good for them since they burned a lot more calories and didn't have food as readily available as we do today.

However, since things have changed and we are significantly more sedentary and have food essentially at our fingertips (in this country anyway), this leads to many people over indulging in high-fat, unhealthy foods...thus, you crave foods like chocolate, bacon, ice cream, etc. instead of salad, strawberries, and other healthy foods.  Most people anyway.

But according to this article we can take over and change the way our brains work so we can crave healthier foods.

 vs.

I really like this idea.  At quick glance I was like...NO WAY.  Never gonna happen.  Besides...chocolate will forever hold a place in my heart.  But then I think about it more and realize...I bet this is why lately, no matter how many green beans I eat, I still want more.  And more, and more.  And I find myself craving salads and healthier foods.  See, I've been increasingly cutting out processed foods and eating more and more produce and whole grains.  Chocolate though..yeah, still eating it every day...because have I told you lately...I LOVE CHOCOLATE.

Okay Amber, moving on.  Back on track.  Healthy eating.

I really think that eating more healthy foods can help retrain your brain into thinking more about healthier foods.  Don't worry...I have no intention of giving up chocolate anytime soon - as I mentioned, it's my indulgence and I'm okay with that as long as I eat healthy otherwise.

I don't know how I feel about wedging your craving food in the middle.  I guess that could help initially to get people to eat healthier...but I'm thinking that you're better off learning some self control and keeping your indulgence as a reward for eating healthy.  That's just me though.

What are your thoughts on this?  Can we retrain our brains to crave healthy food vs. fatty foods?  Seeing that I'm craving green beans and okra right now...(Instead of chocolate ironically), I'm thinking its possible.  Then again, I do want chocolate again...darn it all.  You win again chocolate.

Amber

Results are in...

So I haven't had time to update, but I got the results from my check up and guess what...I'm surprisingly healthy.  The doctor wished she had more patients like me ha ha.  And here I was feeling all pathetic...guess I'll go eat more chocolate...well, and keep becoming more fit because I still think I could be healthier and fitter.

So, great blood pressure - 120/80.  Great cholesterol.  I don't have all the numbers in front of me, but I want to say total was 141, HDL was 83, and triglycerides was 53...I could be totally off here.  All I remember was her saying all the numbers were great.  Thyroid test came back normal, iron levels good.  Yay, yay, yay..

Had a skin check.  Thankfully I did - turns out I have a suspect mole on my foot.  Apparently it's pretty common for the bad ones to pop up on your feet.  People don't check there frequently so they tend to go unnoticed for too long. 

So, just to be safe, I'm having it removed.  I'm also having some scar tissue on my thigh removed too.  So if anything, it's great that I got a check up just for that.

So note to all - Get a skin exam.  Check your feet.

The only thing that will suck about the whole thing is I'll have to take a week or more off of running to heal after I have them removed.  Then again, things have been so hectic this week I haven't been running like I want to (damn volatile stock market!), but I was at least good and have been walking.  And even better news, the hubs has been coming walking too after work.  Small things...small things.

Until next time,

Amber

Sweet indulgences

There are plenty of philosophies on eating out there and I'm not an expert, so I won't tell you which one is *the best* or which one is right for you.  I personally follow a conglomeration of philosophies - picking bits from this or that to fit what I believe is best for me and what fits my lifestyle.  I'll talk more about those another day...that's not the point of this post.

What is the point of this post?  Well, I'm glad you asked!

The point is your sweet indulgence.  You know, that thing you like to do when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc. that makes you feel even better.  We all have SOMETHING that is an indulgence for us.  I'd also imagine that we all have at least one indulgence that's a food.  And I think that's completely okay.

Personally, I have at least two indulgences that are food - Chocolate and popcorn.  Yep, neither are really healthy, but that's okay. 

   

 

I LOVE chocolate.  I'm making it a label on this blog as I can totally foresee doing multiple posts talking about chocolate..because...I LOVE chocolate.  Oh..ha ha..I said that already.  Did I mention...I love chocolate?

In the scheme of things, I guess I could have a worse indulgence...because really...who goes...wow, it's been a stressful day, let's go and eat a salad.  I guess we'd all be in a better place if we thought that way...but alas, no, not human nature.

So I eat some chocolate almost every day.  Yep, that's right.  Dark is my favorite.  The darker the better.  I firmly believe that it's just wonderful.  I remember reading once that there was a correlation between the amount of chocolate pregnant women eat and the happiness of the baby...well, for those of you who know G...yes, I ate a TON of chocolate while pregnant.  You can all thank me later.

Anyway...how does this relate to fitness and being a fit mommy?

Well, as I mentioned earlier - it's okay to have indulgences as long as it's in moderation. 

I've heard other people say it as part of food philosophical talk and I buy into it - if you eat healthy the majority of the time, the rest of the time it's okay to indulge.  I've heard it called the 80/20 rule - eat good 80% of the time, and do what you want the other 20%.  I follow this for the most part.  I think that that's a healthier way to live verses telling yourself you can't eat a food that you love and then craving it like crazy and then ultimately "failing" at your diet and over indulging.  Nope, not for me.  No thanks.

So what I'm saying is - to be fit, indulge sometimes.  Just make sure the other 80% or so of your time, you are eating healthy.  So what did I eat today you ask?  Well, let me tell you!

Breakfast: Whole grain cereal with low fat milk, coffee, water
Lunch: I usually pack my lunch, but was just too tired today.  So I got the taco salad at work - beef, chicken, lettuce, rice, olives, fresh salsa, sour cream, cheese.  Oh yeah, not the healthiest I know...but I did get veggies in there by eating the lettuce and salsa...I don't usually like tacos with lettuce, so I got the added kick of lettuce and salsa.
Dinner - Turkey breast, steamed carrots, steamed broccoli, and steamed cauliflower.  Yep - 3 veggies...and colorful!

What..where's the chocolate...oh yeah, the whole indulgence thing.  Well, let me tell you about it.  They had ice cream bar at work today...My FAVORITE.  So I indulged...It's been quite the stressful week with the stock market and other events in our life.  So I got 2 scoops - chocolate and coffee.  Toppings...oh yes.  Chocolate jimmies, Oreo cookie crumbles, hot fudge, walnuts, and a cherry (had to put something healthy-ish on there right...).

Heaven in a plate.

But I took a nice long walk around the walking trails and since I ate a very healthy dinner, I don't feel guilty about it.  :)  My indulgence.  Thank you, thank you!

Until next time,
Amber