Wordless Wednesday Redux

Dinner Tonight. Yum!

Wordless Wednesday

Now I realize that this title usually means you'd see one or more clever pictures, but I don't have any great pix to share with you today. I used it because I like the alliteration and because it's almost like saying "Speechless Wednesday", but it sounds a whole lot better.

Why speechless? Because I am at a loss for words to express my elation about my run this morning. It was C25K, Week 5, Day 3 and I DID it! I ran 20 minutes without stopping. I had perfect conditions, low 50s, no wind or rain, and fairly early in the morning. TWENTY minutes. Without stopping. Did I mention that I'm 50-something? A late 50-something? Bring on Week 6!

I went to my WW meeting at noon. I go to a meeting 15 miles from my house because the leader at that meeting is super. I'm a connoisseur of WW leaders. Some of them make me want to run out and go to the nearest fast food place and eat all the wrong things. Barbara, though, is great. Another reason I go to that meeting is because my BFF attends the same meeting. (Hi Marilyn!). We always go out to lunch together afterwards, have a great, OP lunch, and talk about our goals for the week. Then we usually go shopping. I love Wednesdays.

DH just got home and we're going to go out for our bike ride before dinner.

Dinner tonight: Stir fry (with left over pork tenderloin, red peppers, shitaki mushrooms, onion, tiny French green beans, and eggplant), brown rice (it's cooking now. I love the smell of brown rice cooking), and a WW latte bar for dessert.

What have you accomplished that you weren't sure you could?

The Day Before Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for me. First of all, I run my C25K Week 5 Day 3 run which entails 20 minutes of non-stop running. I'm trying to adopt the Little Engine that Could philosophy and think positively about this. I think I CAN do it. The weather is supposed to be perfect for running, cool and dry. I'm going to run early so I'll have everything laid out ready to get out the door after my cereal. At noon I have my WW meeting. I'm expecting good things.

I watched my grandbabies today. J is 10 months old and E is 2 1/2. E is starting intensive potty training (panties instead of a diaper, but not at all reliable at telling that she has to go!) and J seems just on the verge of starting to walk. You know they keep me busy. I love being with them. They both love being read to and they love "playing" the piano. We have two pianos in our living room (don't ask) and each wants to play his own! It was fairly chilly and rather rainy most of the day so we played indoors. I made them a "playhouse" by putting my largest tablecloth over our kitchen table. I anchored it down with lots of cookbooks because J kept tugging at the cloth. They loved it. The picture isn't great, because J kept going in and out under the cloth, but E had her little chair and some books and the toy baket in there. And yes, the electrical outlet has clear plastic plugs in place.

They arrive at 7:45 am and I give them breakfast and lunch as well as an afternoon snack. I've had a hard time staying away from their snacks. (E gets a few m&m's as a reward for performing on the potty so I have to keep some on hand). Jack is just starting finger foods and I have little packages of yogurt melts and pretzel rods and yum yums, and banana puffs. All new to me except the pretzels. The m&m's tempt me, but I asked her mom to bring a very small tupperware container of them (it holds maybe 1/2 cup) so there aren't enough for me to have any because I need to have them for E. I try to keep the other stuff out of sight and to keep myself feeling full with my ice water. I've been positively angelic this past week in regard to those temptations.

I'm still reading along in my book 100 Days of Weight Loss. One of the suggestions really struck a chord with me this week. It is the idea that I should eat dessert only when it's special. And no, not every dessert is special. My sister's pecan pie definitely ranks in that category, but I've fallen for countless lesser versions offered in countless restaurants. They never stack up to my sister's. I am beguiled by the desserts on the menu, but really, so often there is nothing there worth the calories. Other desserts that are "worthy" include my daughter's apple crisp. It used to be "my" apple crisp, but somehow hers is now the gold standard. And my own brownies. I have to stay far, far away from those brownies. Anyway, the author made me realize that I would be foolish to eat a dessert that isn't worthy. If I'm going to splurge, I may as well splurge on the best. So most restaurant desserts are out. And my sister and my daughter live hundreds of miles away.

Dinner tonight was baked tilapia with lemon, whole wheat couscous with a sprinkle of pine nuts, and fresh asparagus. Yum. I love those individually frozen fish servings. I get them at Costco and we're eating a lot more fish because it's so easy. I like the Alaskan salmon too, but it's a bit more pricy.

I did it!

Today's C25K run (week 5 day 2) called for a five minute warmup, an eight minute run, a five minute walk, another eight minute run, and then a cool down five minute walk. And I survived! I did the whole thing, plus added several extra minutes and did a five minute run at the end. Yay me. The next run (Wednesday) calls for a twenty minute run--without stopping! Yikes.

Weekend Wrap-up

I'm feeling good about the weekend. My meals were all OP and yummy, I exercised each day, and I even made serious inroads on the laundry.

DH and I went on a long bike ride this evening. When he bikes by himself he rides 40-60 miles. He's nice enough to slow down and accompany me on our hour-long rides. We have a great bike trail nearby, but usually prefer to bike on a route through some beautiful neighborhoods and a 150 acre National Park to avoid the crowds. We enjoy looking at the gardens, seeing the houses and there is very little traffic. Our usual route is just over 13 miles and takes us an hour or so. It has one big hill going out and another coming back. The hills aren't actually horrible, but I usually end up in the lowest gear spinning fast and hoping to make it to the top. I'm hoping to get fitter and breeze up that hill by the end of this summer. In nice weather (spring, summer & fall) we go out about three times a week.

My Couch to Five Kilometers C25K running program is going along well. I'm half way through week five (of the nine week program). It always seems like the next step will be harder (impossible), but I've managed so far and anticipate doing tomorrow's run as well. I downloaded a free podcast from itunes that has Christian music with the C25K directions. It's great not to have to consult my watch to time my runs and I love the music. The link, above, to C25K has a link to several podcasts with various languages and music. This is a picture of my running trail. It's in a National Park and absolutely gorgeous. Just five minutes from our house. I use the Nike+ with my Ipod and my little Nike+ Mini to the right of this post will always

tell you how I'm doing. I think, as I write this, that I've logged my 201st run and some 745 miles since I got the Nike+.

I did the C25k two years ago and was running well; I even ran a 10 miler a year ago April, but I slacked off and gained weight. I've never stopped "going running," but my running slowed and got interspersed with lots of walking over the past year. Now I'm getting back in the groove.

Tonight I made one of our go-to favorites, Marinated soy-lemon chicken. We had brown rice and a green salad with red leaf lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Last night it was grilled scallops (marinated in orange juice) and a salad (black beans, corn, chopped red pepper, cilantro, green onion, and avocado). Friday night we had a stir fry (sliced red peppers, green onions, shitake mushrooms, and flank steak) and whole wheat orzo mixed with tomatoes, fresh baby spinach, lemon juice, and toasted pinenuts. Lunches were all the same--fat free cottage cheese with fruit (sliced strawberries or canned mandarin oranges). This sounds boring, but I'm trying to stay far away from bread, pasta, or rice for lunch and this is what appeals to me now. And it's super easy. And, for now, it's working. Breakfasts all the same, too. Shredded (non-frosted) mini-wheats and sliced strawberries. Snacks: fruit (clementines, strawberries, natural applesauce), air-popped popcorn last night, meringues (100 calories worth each day), and my favorite, WW bars.

My Spring Focus challenge (see icon/link to the right) is to drink 8+ cups of water every day. So far, so good. It's definitely easier in the summer. Most days, I drink over 8 cups and I always have a glass of water by the bed. It's funny, but I'm even thirsty sometimes. I got a late start drinking my water today (I only had one cup before church and we weren't home until 1 pm) but I'm on my final glass now. I know that Weight Watcher's has changed to suggesting any liquid, but, for me water is better. I still drink fat free milk with dinner and have a very occasional cup of tea, but water is my go-to drink. I'm hoping my water chugging, my exercise, and my OP eating will bring good news at the scale this week.

Any suggestions for a quick non-bread, pasta, rice lunch?

of Pitfalls and the Popsicles

pitfall |ˈpitˌfôl|nouna hidden or unsuspected danger or difficulty.• a covered pit used as a trap. The four times in my adult life that I've managed to get almost to goal, I backslid. Not all at once, but bite by bite, until I gained all or most of the weight back. One of the major pitfalls I ran into is grocery shopping. In my family, that's my job. I want to do it, because I want to plan the meals and buy the things that I need. The problem is, though, that the several places I shop all have dangerous pitfalls. And when I've been at that happy place in my weight loss, where I can wear size 8 and where I feel fit and pretty, I am somehow more apt to fall victim to the siren call of the fresh baked sour dough bread, or the sample pushers at Costco, or the Snickers ice cream bars, or the Reeses at the checkout. I've tried all sorts of things. I seek out the no-candy lane. I try hard to shop the store margins. I try not to shop when I'm hungry. I chew sugar-free gum. Those tactics are good, but have not stopped the seeming inexorable creep of excess poundage.
The thing I've found that works best for me is to plan to buy myself a treat that I allow myself to eat as soon as I get in my car. My favorite treat is wonderful and well worth "denying" myself all those other temptations. I must admit that sometimes I eat two, and one time, three--all in the car. Maybe some day I'll have enough self-control to wait until I get home. What is my treat, you ask? Well,popsicles. Not just any popsicle, but the WW Giant Latte bars and, a new find, their Strawberry Smoothie bar.Each has 1 point per bar. The latte bar, which is a bigger than the strawberry bar, has 90 calories, 1 g of fat, 55 mg of sodium, and 4 g of fiber. The strawberry bar has only 70 calories, 1 g of fat, and less than 1 g of fiber. Yesterday my wonderful husband called in from the garage to ask why we had several opened boxes of WW bars in the freezer. . . .
I receive no compensation for promoting WW bars, nor was I asked to review them. I just love 'em!

I Won!!!!!

I just got back from a bicycle race and I won!


Here's what happened. I'm trying to nurse my Achilles tendon along, so decided it would be a cardio-at-the-gym day instead of a running or biking day. Went to the gym, but couldn't get settled into the eliptical. I abandoned it after about 5 minutes. Then I spied the rows of cycle machines. I chose one at the back and situated myself behind and to the right of a woman who looked pretty fit and waay younger than I am and who had started about 8 minutes before I did. I decided that we would race. I didn't tell her we were racing, of course! I just settled down and spun pretty hard with settings raised to eat the miles and calories and watched my numbers creep closer and closer to hers. I was afraid she might quit before I caught up, but at my 28 minutes, I overtook her and went on to sprint across the finish line (my 30 minutes)!!! Yay me!!!

Gotta get a life here, ya think??!!

(recycled post from my other blog)