Making a Decision

First for the nice comments on my hair cut from last nights post. Very much appreciated.

As you all might have noticed I’ve been lacking in the gym/running/workout department. Over the past week or two I’ve maybe gone on one or two runs and maybe one time to the gym. After a super busy weekend I can’t believe how tired I’ve been over the past two days and I’ve just had very little motivation to do any real activity lately.

After a long talk with the husband today I’ve decided to take the rest of the week off from working out. I need to get re-energized and motivated again to work out. So to do that I’m taking a break for a few days. I’m going to spend the rest of the week relaxing, eating healthy and maybe go for a light run or walk on the weekend and hopefully by next week I’ll be motivated and excited again about working out.

The lack of motivation is really bothering me and I hate that I don’t want to go to the gym so I just don’t want to force it. I’m hoping this decision will help with that.

Now onto my daily eats:

As planned last night’s dinner was pita pizzas. Mine had spinach and chicken. Hubby had chicken, onion and mushrooms.

So good!

Today: breakfast was a muffin and a pear.

Lunch was random: pita chips, pb, cheese string, kashi bar and yogurt cup.

Tonights dinner was Subway. Turkey sub on cheesy bread…

With a glass of milk…

Dessert was mango frozen yogurt with fresh pineapple. So good!

I’m looking forward to the evening with my husband watching The Biggest Loser and enjoying large plate of veggies. What a great way to relax.

Night all!

~ Katie :)

Falling Behind

Sorry for the lack of posting over the weekend. It was crazy busy.

My weekend looked like this:

Saturday

Matt and I slept in a bit and then got up early and went for a late brunch at Cora’s. I decided to go with the fruit plate with a side of brie and a piece of whole wheat toast and pb.

We then spent the next 4-6 hours walking around and stopping at a couple of shops. Since it was sunny and warm out we spent most of the day outside walking. I am still sore from it today.

While I didn’t pick up much shopping I did find this new tea store in the mall. David’s Tea. And picked up a couple of things.

Organic Spring Break (coconut green tea)…

And it comes in the cute little container…

Some Agave nector sticks. A set of five original and five various (including: lime, peach, etc.)…

Since brunch was late we grabbed an early dinner at the Chickenburger in Bedford. I love this place. I hardly ever make it out there but it is always worth it. I usually skip the side orders and get both a chicken burger and a hamburger since they are small and I can never decide on which one I like better.

Its funny I had my camera with my all day an didn’t take a single picture.

We then headed home to watch Avatar for the first time and relax. I really didn’t have high expectations for Avatar. I’m not sure why but we just never made it to the theatre to see it so Matt decided to buy a copy on Saturday and we curled up on the couch to watch it. I actually enjoyed it a lot more then I thought I would. I’ll definitely have to watch it again to get a full grasp on the movie.

Sunday

Sunday was also pretty busy. Since we skipped grocery day on Saturday we had to make a trip to both Costco and Superstore.

Sunday started out with Oats in a Jar – Chocoloate Peanut Butter Oats to be exact. I can see why everyone raves about this. NOM!

Lunch was some Annie’s White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with added broccoli.

On the menu for tonight was Ribs…

Asparagus…

Baby Potatoes…

Dinner: BBQ Ribs, Roasted Asparagus (with EVOO, salt and pepper) and Roasted Baby Potatoes (with EVOO, salt pepper, garlic powder, onion salt and thyme)…

I actually only ate half the ribs on my plate. They were huge and I could hardly finish them.

Today

Breakfast was vanilla greek yogurt, granola and 1/2 a banana. I will have to agree with Jaime on this one. The vanilla greek yogurt is good but I’m not sure it’s worth the price. I’m not sure it’s THAT much better then the plain. I’d love to try some other flavours though (too bad we don’t get any here in Canada).

Lunch was left over Annie’s Mac and Cheese, a yogurt cup and a Cherry Dark Chocolate Kashi bar.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and picked up a package of these:

I can’t wait to try them. Thanks Jaime :)

Dinner later is going to be pita pizza’s with chicken and spinach. Yummy :)

I’m going to leave you all now with some pictures of my new hair cut I got on Friday.

Old Hair Cut…

New Hair Cut…

Sorry it looks a little flat – I took it just after I got home from my school’s spring concert on Friday night and it had been a very long day.

I hope everyone had a great Monday back.

~ Katie :)

Giveaway Love:

• Jess at Dairy Free Betty is giving away some yummy looking treats. Check it out here: http://www.dairyfreebetty.com/2010/04/giveaway-day.html
• Ali at Fat to Fit is giving away some Amazing Meal. Check it out here: http://fatbutchanging.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-have-excuse.html

First Wordless Post

Sorry for the lack of posting over the last few days. I had a migraine yesterday and had to leave work early and today was our school’s spring concert so I haven’t really had time to post.

Here’s a short wordless post to show some of my eats over the past few days…

Running Accomplishment

I just got back from a run with Matt and I just hit a major running accomplishment for myself so I wanted to write a quick blog post about it.

As you my know I am not a very good runner. I can run a little on the treadmill but I have a mental block when it comes to running – especially outside. I’m working on it and a while back Matt and I decided to start the C25K program. We’ve completed week 3 and were to start week 4.

On our drive home today we started talking about running and about distance running. Without telling you word-for-word our conversation we decided to just run today and see how far we (or I)could go. We came home had a bagel and some pb and put on a running shoes and off we went.

We ended up running 3km.

I know that might not seem like a lot for some runners out there but I have never run more then 2km outside – EVER!! I am very proud of this accomplishment. We completed it in just under 20 mins (19:15) and our second 1.5km was faster then the second half so I’m getting better.

Anyways, I’m now going to shower and figure out what’s for supper. I hope everyone else enjoyed a beautiful sunny day too!

~ Katie :)

Question: Does anyone else have a recent accomplishment that they are proud of? I really never thought I’d ever be able to run farther then 2km and accomplishing that goal just helps to boost my confidence in running.

Trying New Things

Hey everyone! Tomorrow is Wednesday – hump day and then the week is half over.

Today’s breakfast and lunch eats were simple. Breakfast: homemade granola bar and a banana. Morning Snack: cheese string and pita chips. Lunch: a piece of leftover pizza, yogurt cup and kashi bar. I stopped taking my camera to work because I thought I lost it last week but maybe I’ll get my confidence back soon and be able to include pictures for you guys.

I also had half a Coconut Cream Larabar on my way to pick up Matt from work.

Dinner was something new. The other day I picked up a few new things at the grocery store so I thought I’d give them a try.

 

The nutritional info wasn’t too bad either…

This is for 1 cup servings.

I had no idea the amount of salt added in regular pasta sauce compared to no salt tomato paste – 630 mg compared to 60 mg. I decided to make my own sauce today.

I boiled my pasta and heated up the tomato paste in a pan. I have never made my own sauce so this was going to be an experiment for me. I didn’t look at a recipe and since I’m just working on my cooking skills I just started to throw spices in there.

What I think made it into the sauce:

• 2 cloves of grated garlic
• Onion Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Chilli Powder
• Thyme
• A little Ms. Dash
• And 3 Bay Leaves

I topped the pasta with some parmesan cheese.

I also served it up with some of Lynn’s brussel sprouts. Maple Balsamic brussel sprouts. I made a little mistake when I was making them. I just started grabbing things off the shelf and grabbed Red Wine Vinegar instead of Balsamic Vinegar. So I had to over correct myself and added a little more Balsamic Vinegar and more maple syrup.

Dinner is served…

Overall pretty good dinner. I think there was too much maple syrup on the brussel sprouts so I’d definitely follow the recipe next time and the sauce was ok but I might need to use the internet to help me figure out what spices should actually go into pasta sauce. I’ll try this meal again though. Just a few tweaks next time.

After dinner I headed to the gym and did a quick 5 min warm up on the elliptical and then did Winter Shape Up Week 3 using the same weights as before. I love this week. I think I might do it a couple more times before moving on.

I also picked up this today. I can’t wait to look through it. The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes look yummy.

Going to watch The Biggest Loser with the husband.

Night all!

~ Katie

Not my Favourite Yoga Class

So before I start on today’s food I thought I’d share with you my yummy snack from last night. I actually can’t take the credit for this. I read it on Sammie’s blog the other day and when I saw mini angel food cakes at the grocery store I couldn’t resist.

Mini Angel food cake with fat free vanilla yogurt and berries.

So good.

Today was an interesting day. I really wasn’t feeling well most of the day so I didn’t actually eat too much. Breakfast was a cheese string and an apple on the go. By lunch I was not feeling well at all. I nibbled on leftovers from last nights Chicken Teriyaki dinner, some yogurt and a Kashi bar. After work I was feeling like complete crap but I wasn’t sure if it was the lack of food or I was actually getting sick so I stopped at home to grab another cheese string and a homemade granola bar before picking up Matt from work.

I felt a little better but not 100% so I just wanted something light for dinner.

A bowl of Low Fat, Low Sodium Cream of Mushroom Soup…

Grilled Cheese on flax seed bread with a mix of mozza and cheddar…

A glass of Pom Wonderful…

And lots of H2O…

After dinner I took a 30 min nap before deciding if I was up for yoga or not. After my nap I felt better and headed to yoga at Nubody’s.  I must say I’ve gone to this class a couple of times and enjoyed but tonight was different. I just didn’t enjoy it that much. It was about 90% stretching and 10% yoga. I was looking for something that would push me a little more. I much say tonight’s yoga was a fail. I think I’ll give the class at least one more try before I completely give up on it but I definitely like a class that pushes me a little more.

Sorry for the short post going to hang out with my husband before bed. Night.

~ Katie :)

Running in the Snow and Rain

Ahhhh…the weekend is just about over. It’s 8:30 on Sunday evening and just about to go to bed before starting a new work day tomorrow.

Here’s a quick recap of my weekend.

Saturday started with Oatmeal. In the pot: 2/3 cup of oats, 2 tbsp of flaxmeal, 1 1/2 c of UCAB (Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Breeze), and 2 tsp of vanilla extract. This served two.

Topped with 1/2 a banana, a spash of UCAB and a scoop of white chocolate wonderful pb.

After breakfast I did a little running around by myself trying to find some of Prairie Natural Lean Whey. I checked Planet Organic, GNC and The Healthy Bug. All listed on their website saying that they carry their products. They all do just not the lean whey. Very frustrating. I am looking for something that is low in calories but high in protein. After I checked Halifax I picked up Matt and we had some errands to do across the bridge at Mic Mac so I decided to check GNC there too. No luck. There’s a store in Bedford that lists their products so I’m going to check them out this week. Maybe I’ll luck out.

We also grabbed lunch at the mall too. We decided to try to do as healthy a lunch as you can get in the food court and went with Jugo Juice. I got the Greek Veggie Wrap: hummus, zucchini, green peppers and red onion all in a whole wheat wrap.

 

Along with a mini smoothie: Mini Mango – mango, OJ and tropical nector.

I’m very proud of this meal for two reasons. First, I wanted chinese as soon as we walked in but I opted for the healthy choice and second I am not usually up to trying new things. I’d never had hummus in a wrap or a wrap/sandwich without meat and I really enjoyed it. Yay!

After lunch Matt and I got some groceries and then I dropped him off back at home and I decided to do some shopping. I picked up two dresses for the summer. I can’t wait until it gets nicer out so I’m able to wear some of them. I’ll post pics this week.

By the time I got home I was tired and hungry so we grabbed some pizza and sat on the couch and wached the first movie and a half of Lord of the Rings – Matt just bought them on Blue Ray and he couldn’t want to see how good they looked.

Breakfast this morning was whole wheat French Toast – 2 eggs, 1 c of UVAB (unsweetened vanilla almond breeze) and 1 tbsp of cinnamon. Topped with peaches and maple syrup.

Since we got up so late we didn’t eat breakfast until about 11:30. I spend most of the rest of the early afternoon catching up on Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. Around 2 I was hungry again. I boiled some progries and served with carrots and cucumber. Since I am out of greek yogurt I had some light caesar dressing for dipping.

After lunch I was getting restless and although it looked like this outside…

I talked Matt into going for a run with me. We did Week 3 of C25K. Run for 90 secs, walk for 90 sec, run for 3 mins, walk for 3 mins – times two. By the time we got back we were freezing and wet but I felt great.

That’s water from the rain on Matt’s shirt and my pants. I’m so glad we got out even if it was a little nuts. After my shower I had a green smoothie to tide me over until dinner. In the blender: 2 huge handful of organic spinach, 1 organic banana, 2 tbsp of flaxmeal, 1 c of UVAB and ice. Yum!

I also snacked on some of Stacy’s Pita Chips.

I did a little cleaning and made some more granola bars. I used my recipe from before except I used syrup instead of honey (I find they hold together better that way.

In the pan to head into the freezer

Dinner was a variation on a picture I found on Heather’s (Hungry Pants) blog the other day: Choices.

Chicken Teriyaki Bowl:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• broccoli
• pineapple
• brown rice
• teriyaki sauce

Cut the chicken into small pieces and cook in wok.

Add broccoli and cook for 3-4 mins and then add pineapple and cook for another 1 min. Then add rice and sauce and cook for 3-5 mins until everything is mixed well.

 

Serve in bowl with nice cold glass of milk.

Yummy and easy.

Now I’m going to enjoy my evening with my husband and relax.

Night all!

~ Katie :)