Today's Run 7 + miles

Wow, today's weather was picture perfect for running.  The temps were in the mid 60's when we started at 7AM and no humidity.  My Florida friends would be sooooo jealous, because I know they are running in high heat and humidity.  

Yesterday, I stayed the course with my meal planning, but swayed off a bit when the hubby left an open jar of dry roasted peanuts out while I prepared dinner.  I have been craving sweet corn and purchased some from the supermarket.   It was just getting placed on the display area, so it was most likely fresh. Well, it was not very good.  Next time I crave sweet corn, I am heading to the local farm stand.  I did end up having some wine with dinner as well. Just one glass.  I did not have dessert, so I am proud of myself there.  All in all, not a bad first day, but I did go over that calorie count (I want to stay in the 1200 range).  Total for yesterday:  1,398.  I went over on, guess what?  Fat by 1 gram.  And I was under on the carbs a bit.

We also went to see the movie, Inception, with Leonardo DiCaprio.  Love him.  The movie, not so much.  The best description of this film was strange.

Today's meal plan is simple.  I have already had one green tea and it is starting to grow on me.  I really wanted that extra cup of coffee this morning, but had the tea instead.  I had a new cereal for breakfast called Optimum Slim & some blueberries.  That was only 369 calories, including my gummy vitamins and calcium pills.

Lunch will be a salad.  Dinner is tuna steak on the grill and some summer squash and cooked spinach from our garden.

I may even have room for a little dessert. I will update with a pic of the salad and dinner later today.  I have provided a link to our planned run from this morning.  I modified it a little as I dropped water before the run and probably added 1 mile to my total, including the run home.  I felt so good running and felt like I could definitely do more today, but my kneecap was hurting and of course, the old hamstring on my left side.  But you definitely have to say today is one of those perfect weather days.  This is what makes New England a nice place to be in the summer.

Lynda

Confessions: 137.8 OMG!

First let's start with the confession. I was moved by a blog post by another Spark Friend, Florida Sun, to come clean with my uprising weight. Yes, one year ago this week, I weighed 129 lbs. So what has changed?

Easy answer: I stopped logging into Spark, got too busy with my social life and work and stopped counting calories. Actually, I think it is not counting calories and protein, fat, etc. That is how I found out how to lose the weight last year. Once I started looking at my food intake, I found I was a high fat/carb person and my protein was too low. I am a vegetarian. So, I would eat tons of walnuts for protein. But also consumed lots of fat.

I worry about this marathon I signed up for. I am thinking I have bitten off more than I can chew. Can I do it? Is it too much? Too far? My friends gave me a training schedule, but I am going to follow the Marathon Rookie plan. It has long runs, but not as many. It is a much lighter schedule with the theory being not running as far is better because once your body has run for two hours the benefits for training are nil. When exhaustion sets in, the likelihood of injury does as well. There is a 20 mile run in the training and a few 18's. I will attach a post of the schedule in a later blog post. It is just that this schedule is not as daunting as the one my friends provided.

I have been struggling with injuries all summer, hamstring, knees, top of foot. Icing and Motrin constantly. And I am struggling with light headedness which my doctor says is allergies. None of my meds seem to help all the time.

So, it is posted. I am up almost 9 lbs. I am up a pant size (from 6 to 8). The size 8 is loose but the size 6 is tight. I can see the fat under my arms, on my back and in my tummy. Very ugly.

Today is a new day, right? And every day is a gift. I learned that when I lost my son two years ago. I plan on counting my calories again. Doing more yoga and trying to like green tea. That is what worked last year and hopefully this almost 50 year old body will respond again!

So far today, I had a ; small organic yogurt before Powerflex class, spinach/goat cheese/omlet for breakfast and two homemade Tazo green teas, with agave (1 tsp.) and lemon (why don't I like green tea?). 

Planning on a corn on the cob, summer squash, and Rachel Ray's Open Eggplant sandwich for dinner.   

Lynda

Sticking to the Game Plan

Day 6:

Okay, sorry I did not post the pic of my pasta dish from Sunday.  To be honest, the dish was quite bland.  Instead of the Parmesan cheese that was recommended as "optional", I used smoked Gouda.  So it made the dish at least have a flavor. That did add calories, but I just shaved the Gouda and only used less than one ounce.

 Yesterday's dinner was scrumptious:

I made a swordfish steak and just grilled/steamed it in a tsp. of olive oil and some lemon pepper seasoning. For the side, that is a big portion of sauteed spinach that I cooked with a small amount of water until it wilted and then added a pat of butter (real kind).  Also, I cut up 1/2 of an avocado and squeezed some lime onto it.  Delicious and low calorie and good fats.

This morning I was up at 3:50AM.  I have accomplished so much already.  6 1/2 mile run- check done! Dog walk- check done!  Garbage out-check Done! etc. etc.  I ran with the running group that meets at 5AM and I am so glad I did.  Good run, good friends.

For breakfast today I have had 4 egg whites and 1 small individual package of egg beaters, scrambled with 1 c. spinach and some fresh basil chopped up in it.  I did spray my pan with a  little olive oil pam.  For my "side" I just put a little fresh salsa.  That should keep me full till lunch time.  Oh, yes, and I am having my chocolate-pistachio green tea with honey.  It is the only green tea I like.

Lunch today will be small.  Another Bocca Burger and that black bean - avocado - corn dish from Sunday.  Snack will be an apple.

Tonight's dinner is at Naples Flatbread and Wine Bar.  I will order my favorite dinner, the Mediterranean flatbread.  It will be cut in half, as they serve such large portions there.  And this is my only wine night.  I have not had one glass since 3/31/10 - part of my detox/cleanse plan.  

And it is working (down 2 lbs already).  I feel better and my run today was a great one.  Felt like I could keep on truckin! What is that old adage?  You are what you eat.  So true.

Lynda

1200 Calories

Okay, so I got the idea about 1200 calories from the biggest loser show. And from entering my settings on www.Sparkpeople.com website. But after reading several articles regarding women in the over 45 age group needing 1 hour of exercise per day to MAINTAIN their weight and reading how women after the age of 45 start to have their metabolism slow down and require less calories per day than before that magic number to MAINTAIN. I figure it is much better (for weight-loss purposes) to keep the calorie count in 1200-1299 range and exercise every day.

Today's breakfast was oatmeal pancakes (this is a file pic-I did not add banana):

	Oatmeal pancakes

I found this on www.sparkrecipes.com.  It is delicious, easy to make and makes 3 servings.  And did you check out that protein count?  Awesome.  Especially for vegetarians.

Now, since it is Easter Sunday, I am planning on a long dog walk (long for them is 2-3 miles) and 1 hour of weight training with a short bike ride today to the gym.  It is supposed to be another glorious day, sunny and in the mid 80's.

Lunch will be an avocado-bean salad and a bocca burger (more protein) again found on www.sparkrecipes.com.
Snacks for the day include a serving of 100 calorie Orville Redenbachers kettle corn fat free popcorn, a handful of apple chips from Fresh Market and 1 skinny cow vanilla ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Does that sound like 1200 calories?  Well it is if you measure and pre-portion out those serving sizes.  The total calorie count for the day only comes to 1,234 and I am well within my protein and fat and carb numbers that work for me for weight loss.

I will update and post pics of the dinner later in the day.

Spring has sprung!

My April promises to myself:

I am going to try to keep the calorie count to 1200-1299 every day. This promise will include pre-planning and calculating my meals in advance.

I am reading the Runner's world book, Run less, Run Faster. I plan to implement some of their program (more to follow). So far, the training only has you running three days per week and it highly recommends cross training to strengthen your runs.

8 Glasses of water per day.

Green tea (still not liking it), but I am drinking it daily. And 1 cup of coffee.

Yoga class 1 x per week; this will help with the running plan.

Weight training 2 x per week

Now, this week we have a training run tomorrow that is 12 miles. It is funny even writing this, as that is almost a half and now I use 12 as a gauge for my training runs.

Next week I am scheduled to do a 10k that is hosted by the Naples Philharmonic. They are going to be playing at every mile marker. Hal Higdon is going to be there signing books. Pretty cool, huh?

I forgot to add this one link:

www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/detox-diet?page=3

It was an interesting article and I tried this meal plan o 4/1/10. On 4/2, I can honestly say I woke up with flatter abs. Not sure why, but I did feel "cleansed" a bit. And I felt better, which is the real whole point of the article. This page link brings you to the sample two days of foods to eat. It is from Women's Health Magazine.

Happy Easter everyone!

Monday Monday

 Today my hubby comes back from wet, rainy Rhode Island. He is in for a treat because it is 75 degrees and "bountiful" sunshine today.  I love the way the weathermen down here come up for new ways to describe sunny weather.  Makes me glad I live here.

So far, for breakfast, I had a smoothie.  It looks like I did that alot when I was successful with my weight loss last year.  So, I am coming around full circle.  The smoothie consisted of:

1 c. fresh squeezed OJ
1 scoop Pure Protein brand whey protein in Vanilla
1 c. frozen unsweetened strawberries
1 tbs. flaxseed
1 small container of Fage 0% greek yogurt, vanilla flavor

Total Calories for breakfast:  458, carbs 52, fat 7, protein 30

The higher carbs will help me to fuel.  Today I went for a 20 min. dog walk (aka stroll) and then went for a two mile run to my gym and did the full circuit with heavy weights.  Then I ran to where the alligators are and did 100 pushups off the wall.  Then I walked 1.3 miles home.  Whew!  Since I was not hungry this morning, I only had 2 cups of black coffee and 2 large glasses of water before the workout above.  Had the smoothie at 11AM after the workout.  I know the experts say this is bad, but I am going to try to eat when I am hungry and stop when I am not. 

Now, for dinner tonight.  As I said yesterday, the hubby wants to lose some weight.  So I made my famous Pea soup.  I will post on that later and take a nice picture of it with the recipe.  I found this interesting article on Prevention Magazine, which I would like to share:

One woman’s scale diary

Don’t let the number determine your self-worth! One 40-something Prevention reader shared how her weight fluctuated in 1 day.

7:15 AM: 133.8 lb, Right before hopping in the shower

8:30 AM: 137.5 lb, Wow, my clothes weigh 3.7 lb!

9:15 AM: 138.7 lb, Gained 1.2 lb from breakfast

10:30 AM: 137.9 lb, Bathroom break, -0.8 lb

1 PM: 135.8 lb, Lost 2.1 lb, thanks to a sweaty cardio workout

1:30 PM: 137.4 lb, Up 1.6 lb from lunch

4 PM: 138.6 lb, Gained 1.2 lb, probably from all the water I was drinking

5:30 PM: 137.5 lb, Bathroom break, -1.1 lb

11 PM: 140.8 lb, Yikes! Gained 3.3 lb—probably the pasta I ate and the wine!

11:30 PM: 137.1 lb, Undressed—huh, gained 3.3 lb since this morning

7:15 AM: 135.4 lb, Lost 1.7 lb while sleeping

Now, my weigh-in at the gym today (fully clothed and all I had was the two coffees and two large waters) was 140 lbs!  Ahhhh!!!!!!!  But I don't feel that fat today, what is up with that?


Lynda

Back on track

Today I decided would be a good day for me to get "back on track".  I have been eating well (for the most part) for the past 10 days.  I have not had dinner out and have been preparing meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) with recipes found on Spark People Recipe website.  I have been counting calories.  I decided to return back to this blog because last year at this time I was at a lower weight (by 3 lbs) and I was actually keeping fit. 

So, I plan on going back in time to 2009 and see what I was doing "right" and find out why I feel a little pudgy and not fit and trim like last summer. 

I ran 4 miles this morning and it was a beautiful morning  We ran down at a place called "Clam Pass" in Naples, Florida. It had this really cool boardwalk that is pretty new and was made from recycled milk cartons--really cushiony run.  We ran at 8:30AM, ran on the beach and actually made a circle and ran back to our car.   I need this practice running on the beach since my next 5k is the Beach bum 5k, which is held on the beach.  Beach running is tougher on the knees and ankles than running on a flat road.

Tomorrow is meal planning like last year.  I think why I haven't been doing so well is that my portions are not the same as the ones posted on the Spark Recipe website.  Hubby is back from Rhode Island and wants to lose weight too. 


Lynda

I am back!

Where have I been?  Great question. I have formally moved to SW Florida.  It is supposed to be warm here but someone left the door open to Canada and we are freezing!   So, I am sitting here enjoying a nice cup of Chocolate Pistachio Green tea and writing this blog.  I have my electric heat on 73 degrees.  This house just does not warm up like the one in Rhode Island, which is probably due to the heat rising and we have 12 ft. ceilings here.

So, what have I been up to?  I am training for my first Half Marathon.  I started in late October and am now into my final week!  How did that happen so fast?  I have also found out that my inner athlete has finally come out and I am officially a "crazy runner".  I joined the running group down here, The Gulf Coast Runners".  What a cool bunch of healthy people this group is.  And it is also a wonderful way to meet people with my same interests.  So far, the farthest I have run is 12.8 miles.  Next Sunday is the big day.

Updates:  Unfortunately, I was unable (or unwilling) during the holidays to maintain my weight loss.  I had managed to get to the magic number of 129 lbs. and felt and looked so great and light.  My size 6 clothes were falling off of me.  However, I am not at what I guess you would call my happy weight of 135 lbs.  Not tragic, but I am going to try to get to the 129 again and maintain.

So, for New Years, I pledge I am going to try to make the following changes:

1. Yoga (I think I stopped doing this due to all of the running and distances and time alloted for that during training.  Very dumb of me as if I ever needed a little yoga for my body, I need it now!
2. Green tea - I have to admit that I am not sold on the taste of green tea (bitter to me).  So, I remembered how I went to this awesome store down here in Estero called Teavana.    The lady taught me how to brew tea.  I know, this sounds silly, but, all teas should be made at different temperatures.  Green is brewed at 175 degrees, not boiling and only for 1-2 minutes of steeping.  I think in the past I boiled the water and left it to steep too long.  So, this morning I am having Chocolate Pistachio Green Tea and it is Yummy!  
3. Run my Half Marathon injury free!  This is a goal that I am enjoying so much now that I have friends to run with.  I am exited and I know that I can do this.  I am almost sad to know that I will no longer have this goal after next weekend.  My running friend told me that once I am hooked after the half, I will be signing up for a full marathon.  Question is:  Do I have that in me?
4. Drink less wine.  This is a tough one for me because I love my Cabernet.  However, with all of the training, I quickly found out that my running ability is linked to no alcohol the night before.  Since I have been running 4 days per week, that limits the wine.  I have found that less is best.
5. Sleep more and plan my sleep time.  Does this sound like a strange thing to add?  Well, I have been getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep per night and it is heavenly.  You have to plan on your required amount first and then adjust your time you retire for the evening.  It works!
6. Plan my meals.  When I get overwhelmed with work, this is where I slack off.  I am back to calorie counting and planning because that worked for my weight loss. I have learned eating healthy has made my running better.

So there you have it.  New year, new me.  Let's see how I do!  Green tea below:

Breakfast this morning was baked banana oatmeal brulee! (One fourth of this pan).  I added a little dollop of vanilla yogurt mixed with Fresh Market almond butter which was made right there in the store.  Recipe for the oatmeal was from www.katheats.com.  Her website is wonderful and has great healthy recipes.

Whoops, forgot to give the recipe totals:

Calories:  375 (including my topping)
Carbs: 77 (which you need in the morning)
Fat:  12 g
Protein:  15g (yeah)

I also did yoga at home this morning for 60 mins.  I got the class off of www.yogadownload.com. This is a great website if you cannot get to a yoga studio.  I am not much one for doing a yoga dvd, I find it distracting.  This is just downloaded off your iphone or ipod.  I did the 60 minute Detox yoga.

Happy New Year Everyone!
Lynda