Working It Out

We've been on a major work out kick. I have been running AT LEAST every other day for about a week, and Aaron has only taken off two days in the last two weeks. He runs 1.5 -2.3 miles, mostly at a sprint, and I run 2 - 3 miles at about 9'45".  Let's be friends if you happen to run with Nike+... ;)

I really meant to take Connor on a run this week, but it didn't happen. Instead, we braved the aquarium (and a bit of a sight-seeing jaunt down the pier) AND the zoo without a stroller! He made out like a champ, being carried for less than five minutes on either trip.

I think we're setting a good new routine for our lives. It was pretty hard (and still is) to motivate myself to get moving some days, but Aaron doing this with me has made a huge difference.

Walk, run, jump rope, whatever. Get out there!

P.S. Lost 4 lbs since I started... YES!

Ah-Ha!

Perhaps it is a case of being more aware of things I am involved in at the moment, but every time I make a new goal I seem to find something big in the news about it!

I found this on Slate Magazine:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/cleanplate/

The author also sets up mini goals per week, and ultimately has a lot of good strategies for eating healthy (since weightloss was not the primary goal, even though it was attained). Among them are ones I struggle with myself, like eating slowly and avoiding temptation.

I really liked the idea of meditating while eating to keep focused on your meal. Her point about small indulgences also rang true, since I have been struggling with an end-of-the-day binge on sugar lately.

Happy Eating!

Cooking To Lose

Other than tonight's double dinner, I have been making recipes that the entire family would enjoy that were also on the lighter side. Some of these were a delicious Margherita Pizza from Cooking Light and chicken fried rice, a family recipe. First thing is first.

Dinner tonight was a struggle, since we bought a ton of groceries all at once and have strived not to run out on our usual daily grocery trips. We decided on breakfast burritos, which are not a healthy food by any means-- huge, white flour tortillas, greasy meats, cheese... I made the boys' burritos out of maple sausage, scrambled eggs, frozen diced potatoes, and sharp cheddar cheese. Aaron topped his with salsa. Here is a pic of the stuffing:

For my burrito, I used a 95% fat free honey wheat (Aaron refused to eat this), a gardenburger regular veggie pattie chopped up, 1 tbsp of onion, 5 grape tomatoes sliced in half, 2 egg whites, and a tablespoon of 1% organic milk. I forgot to toss the tomatoes and onions in with the eggs, so I just cooked them for a min or two in the hot pan after I scrambled the egg whites. It probably looks prettier this way.

 I also opted to top mine with salsa.

It was SO VERY GOOD! Aaron ate two helpings of his burrito, so I am guessing he liked his, too.

The pizza was kind of troublesome. I worried that it would be really hard to make pizza dough from scratch, but again I was wrong. We ate the chicken fried rice one night, and once I finished prepping that I made the dough, which has to rise in the fridge for 24 hours.

To lighten up my usual chicken fried rice, I just used 1.5 cups sticky short grain rice, 1.5 cups brown long grain rice, and less sesame oil when prepping the final large pan.

The pizza dough comes out the next day and after it comes to room temp, you work it into a circle and top with homemade pizza sauce.

The sauce took 30 minutes to make, tops. The recipe is also at the above link.

Top with fresh mozzarella slices (we also hid tomato slices under each cheese slice).

This is best made right on top of your pizza stone / pan, because it is a MESS to move once topped. When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with fresh basil. YUM!

Ahh!

I've been majorly slacking on this blog, mostly due to a newfound love of tumblr.

Excuses aside, I have run Saturday (1.1 mi), Monday (3.2 mi) and Tuesday (2.3 mi). Aaron has been a big motivator here, as he's been going every single evening after work. I see him do it and I get jealous and feel bad if I don't, so I go, too.

Took Connor out in the jogger for Monday's run, and if I tried to walk he would say, "All done!" or "Faster, Mommy!" or complain about falling behind our friends who were running with us. He's a pretty good coach, but the added 33 lbs and heavy Joggertrend stroller really wore me down. I averaged a full 20"/mi faster yesterday when I ran without him.

We've also been eating dinners from cookinglight.com! Not only are they around 300-450 per good-sized serving, but they keep carbs, fat, and sodium in mind as well.

I will post some recipes later tonight.

Watch Out, March!

Time to lose those 10-15 lbs that I've gained in the last year and a half and EXERCISE more.

I usually run 3 miles 1-3X a week, but it is so infrequent and half-hearted that I am pledging March as fitness month. I'm also logging my meals here. So far I am very, very happy with that site. It even included the three recipies / dinners I've made from http://www.allrecipes.com/ and http://www.cookinglight.com/!

I am going to achieve this goal by eating healthy, setting aside time every single day for exercise and making a back up plan for when the weather is too bad or my hair is too gorgeous to run. I've also started following a bunch of other dieters on my Tumblr, which has given me a lot extra of willpower.

Here are the very sad statistics:

I'm 5'7".
CW: 135 lbs
GW: 120 lbs

I was 123 lbs spring / summer of 2009, so I know I can achieve this.

I'm also really excited about the prospect of making my boys even healthier. Aaron took up running after I did and Connor rides in the jogger for about 50% of my runs. I am making every effort to stock the healthiest things they like to eat in the house (organic, as close to completely natural as possible, homemade over processed).

I'm also sneaking the good stuff in whether they like it or not-- whole grain pasta and rice in with traditional (about 1 part to 3, sometimes 1.5 part to 3), Smart Balance light spread instead of butter, cutting all oil / fat by 50% at least, fresh and steamed veggies with every single dinner.

As an overall trend, this is going to save me money since I will look better in the clothes I have and will be eating less of the garbage processed foods that ultimately cost more. As a parent I am setting great examples for Connor and keeping him healthy with great food.