Sometimes really loving food sucks. My taste buds are way bigger than my stomach (or my caloric needs). I am not always of the mind that a taste or 2 is enough. Sometimes a taste or 2 just wets my appetite and gets the cravings really going. That is why certain foods can’t come into the house, like any type of Reese’s product. I can eat an entire bag of mini reeses cups without blinking an eye (and I think that is a pound bag).

John bought some dark chocolate peanut butter M&Ms the other day, and I told him that they must be super secretly hidden and not his usual hiding places (which I know), or I knew that I would be into them. I cannot eat just a couple of those and be happy. I will easily and happily eat a cup of peanut Ms. That is the food addict in me. So, he obliged and they are very hidden….. and I’m not looking… yet.

Had a good workout today. Did some swimming, then weights. I am just finishing up the NROLW Stage 1. I’ll post the totals this weekend sometime of my progress. I did barbell squat 110 pounds today! I have done 105, and thought I would try 110 on an extra set. It is surprising how much heavier 5 pounds is. I could only do 7 reps, I started to wobble on the last one and stopped, but think I did pretty good.

So – the big move will be happening probably tomorrow to move my blog to it’s own domain! I’ll make the announcement and then flip it over. The new blog is still a work in progress, but at least the basic frame is there. I need a good logo person to make me a butterly curling a dumbbell, though!

Was going to swim at the Y today, but the pool was closed for emergency cleaning. I guess the chlorine was too high. Bleached hair, anyone? So I decided to do a brick instead (which is 2 triathlon events).

I rode the bike for 45 minutes, then jogged for 2 miles. I have to say that is tough on the legs! My thighs weren’t liking me very much. It was a hard start on the jog, then it got a lot better, but towards the end of mile 2, they were pretty tired. Of course, I will be fueling after the bike ride before the run on event day, so that might make a difference. I am going to start doing that during training in the next couple of weeks to see what it feels like (Yay, more food!).

I can’t believe it is only 6 weeks away!

Anyway, I was just going to do 3 miles, and then thought I would just go until my tunes ended or I felt like stopping. Then 4 miles hit and I was totally in a groove. I wasn’t going so fast that I was out of breath, and I had hit a good stride (probably somewhere around 5 mph) so I thought I would keep going. It was so nice out this morning on the track and no one was out. No traffic because of the holiday, so it was a peaceful time. I knew I was going to make 5 miles with no problem, but I should have had a bigger preworkout snack as all I could think of for the last 3 laps was waffles! I would have had a bigger snack if I had known I would go extra miles. So, I came back home all proud of myself! I’m thinking maybe a 1/2 marathon really is not out of the picture this fall!

Day 2 of my 12 day challenge went really well. I stayed within calories and no nibbling!

Should be interesting with next weekend thrown in there. I’ve really not been that good on weekends, so I am making a commitment to really focus and apply the principles of the Beck book.

I’ll make sure to report my progress.

What I have tried:

- empty stomach
- Luna Bar
- Zone Bar
- Balance bar
- Soy Joy
- peanut butter and dates
- protein shakes
- apple

The results so far:

- empty stomach: Surprisingly no problems with the workout, although I am totally ravenous when I get home.

- Luna Bar: Doesn’t make me full and gives me some energy.
- Zone Bar: Doesn’t make me full and gives me some energy.
- Balance bar: Makes me thirsty and gives me some energy.
- Soy Joy: Not enough, seems piddly in size for the calories.
- peanut butter and dates: Quite nice, doesn’t make me full, and nice and chewy.
- protein shakes: Excellent, although sometimes make me a bit full.
- apple: Bad – my stomach was growling fiercely 20 minutes later.

So, looks like straight carbs are out. The apple was a poor choice for me. I almost couldn’t concentrate I was so hungry. The protein shakes and the dates with nut butter were the most satisfying.

Interestingly enough, on days where I work out a while after breakfast, like going for a bike ride or a run on weekends, the 2 best breakfasts were oat bran with protein powder and the 1 minute muffin. I seem to do best with a mixed balance of all 3 macronutrients.

What preworkout snacks do you eat?

How often do you hear people moaning about having to diet or get to the gym or how horrible they look, or how they can’t eat something? A lot. You hear it in ‘real life’, you read it on blogs a lot. It can be a pervasive sentiment, and negativity breeds negativity.

Part of it is accepting things that can’t change (like calories in calories out) and realizing that what you perceive as a negative is really a positive.

Instead of griping about your exercise – how about looking at is as being privileged enough to be able to move your body and take care of it? Those of us that can move freely need to be very thankful for that, because there are plenty of people who cannot and wish they could.

Or eating fresh fruit and veggies – don’t complain about not eating the cheeseburger – see it as nourishing your health and your well being.

Something the Beck book has you do each day is to list all the positive things you did that day. It could eating right, having a great attitude, planning your meals, getting in exercise – or even just being able to stop a binge and get back on track. There is always some silver lining to be found, and the more positivity you project out, the more will come back to you.

Perception is everything.

A tasty treat was made in the kitchen today!  I got the recipe from Happy Herbivore.

Secret ingredient is beans!

My slight variant on this recipe was:

1 can of cannelini beans, drained (I don’t do black beans)

2 ripe nanas

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/4 cup oat bran

2 tbsp sugar.

Blend everything except the oat bran, walnuts, and chocolate chips in a food processor until smooth.  Stir all the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl with the batter.  Pour into a 9×9 pan sprayed with nonstick spray and bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Very fudgy and a fairly strong banana flavor, so not super brownie-like, but really tasty and very good for you.  They pack fiber, protein and very little fat (Omega3 from walnuts)!  And there is no trace of any bean flavor at all, so don’t be afraid to try them!

On the fatigue front, still not sleeping great, but I did get to bed a little earlier last night, which helped. I think I am just going to have to try to get to bed earlier. It seems no matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up early.

I did scale back yesterday’s workout a bit. Just did weights and jogging.

Today I did some swimming and 1/2 hour of biking, which is about half of what I would normally do – so that’s progress in the ‘taking it easy’ department for me! I never thought of myself as a type A personality, but apparently John thinks I am LOL!

It’s funny, I have finally conquered the “all or nothing” mentality towards food and dieting, but maybe I just pushed it onto exercise.
Once the triathlon is done, then I won’t feel so pressured to get everything in and can just be more relaxed about fitness. I love working out, but don’t like the feeling that I *have* to get in the pool every week.

On the fatigue front, still not sleeping great, but I did get to bed a little earlier last night, which helped. I think I am just going to have to try to get to bed earlier. It seems no matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up early.

I did scale back yesterday’s workout a bit. Just did weights and jogging.

Today I did some swimming and 1/2 hour of biking, which is about half of what I would normally do – so that’s progress in the ‘taking it easy’ department for me! I never thought of myself as a type A personality, but apparently John thinks I am LOL!

It’s funny, I have finally conquered the “all or nothing” mentality towards food and dieting, but maybe I just pushed it onto exercise.
Once the triathlon is done, then I won’t feel so pressured to get everything in and can just be more relaxed about fitness. I love working out, but don’t like the feeling that I *have* to get in the pool every week.