Will Power is a Muscle

And mine has atrophied. I stuck to the 10k training plan for the first couple weeks (although loosely) and as of recently it has fallen by the wayside.  Alex and I took Julia to the rec center yesterday to go swimming with Stacy and her daughter.  The rec center is close to my house so I decided to after hitting the pool that I would run home.  It was a chill 50 degrees and raining and the run home was miserable.  It turned out that the distance from the rec to the my house if only 1.85 miles and I was so completely grumpy about being cold that I didn't even run up and down my street to round my mileage off to two miles.

I would be angry too if I didn't have a sports bra on...

Despite my mediocre run, I spent a delightful evening cooking dinner with my daughter.  Perhaps it's the parental controls that we are using on the TV or just a budding career in the culinary arts, but Julia's favorite channel is the Food Network.  It's so weird because I am not really one to watch that channel.  Or maybe Julia is getting tired of the meals that I cook and has decided to take matters into her own hands....

The highlight of the meal was green bean fries.  Hold on, they were good!  I promise.  Alex usually chokes down a vegetable or two but for the most part he tries to stay away from them all together.  He actually went back for seconds of these fries!  It was a vegetable miracle :)

Here's the recipe:

Green Bean Fries

8 ounces green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup wheat flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt
ground black pepper

I blanched the green beans (put in boiling water for 3 minutes, immerse in ice water, and dry with a towel) and then set up a three station breading area.  The first dish had the wheat flour, the second the eggs, and the final dish had the Italian bread crumbs, onion powder, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Once the green beans were breaded, I put them on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and baked them at 425 degrees for fifteen minutes. 

They were absolute perfection when they came out. 


Anyway, I did some strength training this morning and have three miles planned for tomorrow morning :)

Dogs, sick kid and WMG

Teleworking days are my most favorite day of the week!  First off, I love my lunch break runs.  They are a little nerve wracking for me because of the time crunch but it definitely keeps me from slowing down!  On my run yesterday, I decided to cut out a mile since I was a little late in getting started. 

This run was one of my more adventurous runs.  I was on the last mile of my run and I saw a dog on the other side of the road that did not appear to be tied up.  It was a small dog and it seemed to be staying on the sidewalk.  Go ahead and judge me but I tried to avoid eye contact with it so it would stay where it was and I could finish my run.  Well, the plan failed.  I kept glancing over just to be sure he was staying put and apparently that was enough to spark his interest in chasing after me.  In order to do so, he began crossing the street.  Eff.  I saw the cars coming for him and I summoned all the officer skills I had, dashed into the street, stopped traffic and chased him onto the sidewalk again.



Santa will not bring you any presents if you let me die.

Thank goodness the little yapper was friendly.  The tag showed that he belonged to the house on the corner.  I knocked, rang the door bell and waited.  Apparently, no one was home.  There was a big dog in the fenced backyard.  I went ahead and threw the small dog in with him and prayed the other dog was a vegetarian ;)  The big dog didn't eat him right away so I was able to finish my run with peace of mind (and my best mile -- 8:36.4!)

Since I was teleworking, I had time to make a special holiday meal for my kid :)  Christmas Town was not kind to her and she has been coughing nonstop and running a fever ever since.  I have to admit that I have a pretty good case of WMG (Working Mother's Guilt) so I wanted to do something that would cheer her up since I couldn't spend another day taking care of her.

Ta-Da!  Snowman Pizza

Followed by a healthy dose of sugar :)

She was pretty satisfied with my efforts and somehow I felt like a better mom :) 

Are you judging me for initially not wanting to help the poor dog?

Do you have WMG?

Rumble Rumble

Today's post will be about food because I am starving and can't stop thinking about everything I want to eat :)  So here are some foods that I am thankful for:

Don't get me wrong, this will NEVER replace peanut butter for me but it's very delicious as well.  I have been mixing it in with my oatmeal in the morning.  I am almost out and will be getting some more soon!  I actually want to do some baking experiments with it so look forward to posts about that! 

I guess I have a thing for nuts because I also love these:

These guys have actually been my breakfast for the past couple days or so.  I have been running late in the mornings and this is all I have to grab for breakfast before catching the bus.  They keep my stomach from eating a hole through me and then I usually have my fiber one cereal once I get to work.  Seriously, they are unlike anything I have ever had before.  If you get a chance, try them out!

Finally, I am thankful for celebrations at work.  My coworker Erica is getting married this weekend and so we had a mini-shower for her.  Of course, there was cake!

This was the most phenomenal cake I have ever tasted.  It was moist and light and...and....delicious!  There is just nothing more to say.  It was a Wegman's Ultimate Vanilla cake and from what I understand, there is an ultimate chocolate cake too.  Guess what I am doing this weekend???  It is taking every ounce of will power that I have to not grab another slice from the kitchen.  Is it too early to start carbo loading for the Hot Chocolate 15k?  I was super excited that I had lost another couple pounds after being stagnant for a couple weeks but after this cake, I doubt that loss is here to stay!  I am planning on running three miles tonight :)

What do you like more:  nuts or cake? 

My runs revolve around vices

Good Morning!  I spoke earlier about needing to sign up for another run in order to keep me motivated and running.  There is one thing that I need no motivation to do: eat!  Why not enter a run that promises me lots of delicious foods at the end??

My first half-marathon was the Disney Wine & Dine.  It was not a successful run but the end was amazing :)  The after party was held at Epcot and you got a free plate of food and beverage of your choice at any of their countries. 

Another run I did was the VA is for Lovers 14k, which I really enjoyed.  It was definitely cold but the after-party was worth it!  It was catered by Yuengling and Moe's :)  I also loved that I received a technical t-shirt, medal and souvenir glass! I should do this race again next year....

So the next run I am planning to do is the Hot Chocolate 15k!  It's official, I have registered :)  A finish line filled with Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate, fondue and many other chocolate treats sounds like the perfect motivation for a run.  The race is 10 weeks away and it's time to get running!  I will be setting up a Daily Mile to keep track of my training :)  I'm excited!

What's your vice?

~Andrea

Hello, Reality...We meet again...

I wish I was still traversing the Arizona mountains or the hills of Blacksburg; but alas, I sit taking redundant calls from US citizens and international visitors all day.  Now that play time is over, it is necessary for me to get back to reality.  First on the agenda, get back to healthy eating and start exercising!

Yesterday started out much better than Monday.  I still hadn't put everything away from our beach trip so I spent Monday morning cleaning my house.  Yesterday morning I got on the treadmill :)  It has been way too long since I have done that!  It felt really, really good.  I still did some cleaning when I got up so I only did thirty-five minutes (3.3 miles).

This morning I let my alarm go off for a while before setting it for a later time.  NO exercise happened.  I don't know what the deal is but I am exhausted and have no motivation to workout.    I need to somehow "reset" my motivation.  Any ideas? 

Eating has been OK.  I did a really great job of eating well for breakfast and lunch on Monday but then I got home extra late and Alex came home with Thai food.  It wouldn't have been too bad except I was beyond tired and had the self-control of a two year old and ate everything in sight.  Yesterday was much better although I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my brother Sean's birthday.  We went to a buffet but I was able to keep myself under control :)  Of course, there was cake and I had a slice in support of Sean's twenty-two years on Earth.

I have to bowl tonight to make up for a day I missed last week...does that count for exercise?  Some would say yes...

Did you choose sleep or exercise today?

~Andrea

Hokie Dokey

Good Evening!  After a week in Nogales, I went down to Blacksburg to see my first college football game at Virginia Tech.  I was shocked at how chilly it was in Blacksburg!  Hello FALL!  Even though I am shocked about the temperature, I'm super excited about Fall.  I think Fall is truly the best time to run outdoors :)  It should be excellent weather for my run this weekend.

My time in Blacksburg was awesome.  We started the day off with some tailgating before the game.  There was tons of food.  I figured since this was the last day of "vacation" I would go ahead and allow myself a few treats.  There was some amazing pork BBQ as well as delicious pound cake.  I was one well-fed lady!

The game was a blast!  It was a "white-out" and luckily our friend's mom was kind enough to get us some white Hokie shirts to wear.

Here is a little-known fact about me:  I love matching outfits!  I was so excited that Alex and I were wearing matching shirts.  He has let me know this is the one and only time it will happen.  Haha, we will see about that.... ;)

Another wonderful moment at the game was getting back in touch with my marching band roots.  It was so amazing.  Marching band was so much fun!  I'm a definite nerd and I will give you no apologies about it.  I honestly think that I would take reliving a day in high school over a day in college.

Seeing my love after a week away, trips down memory lane, matching outfits, yummy food...It was a win for me and a win for the Hokies.  It was such a great weekend and the perfect end to my "vacation."

What's a little-known fact about you?

~Andrea

Notes from Nogales

Good Evening!  It's been a wild week in Nogales, AZ!  I went for a business trip to meet fellow coworkers in our satellite office and to see how the land border operates.  It's the WILD west for sure!  I saw more action in the three days I was down in Nogales than I saw in two years at Dulles.


The aftermath of an attempted drug smuggling

It was truly amazing seeing the CBP officers and Border Patrol Agents doing their thing on the southwest border.  They have my full and total respect for the jobs they do every day.

Out with BP at the International Fence

The next best thing about my trip was the food.  My coworkers made fun of me the whole time for taking pictures of my food haha.  Here's some highlights:

Mexican BBQ pork on sweet bread with mild sauce and cream

Chicken Mole

Ahi Tuna with Cowboy Caviar

I was instructed as soon as I was picked up from the airport that there was not going to be any dieting while on "vacation."  I thought I was on a business trip but I decided not to argue and just eat whatever was placed before me.  One of the best meals that I had I actually did not document.  It was a Sonoran-style hot dog.  You take a hot dog, wrap it in bacon, put it in sweet Mexican bread and top it off with refried beans, chopped onions, mild sauce and Mexican cream.  Beyond delicious!

I have successfully gained five pounds but tomorrow starts a whole new week!  I look forward to getting back to my normal eats and also doing some running.  Oh yeah, my Maymont 8-mile run is this weekend!!!!!  I'm pretty excited about it.  I'm looking to complete it in under 88 minutes.  I can do it :)

What's your best vacation?

~Andrea

An Evening of Indulgence

Good Afternoon!  I'm writing to you guys from Denver International Airport and I'm pretty much hating life.  Apparently, Denver had some dumb fog this morning which delayed my flight an hour and a half.  That was exactly the amount of time for my layover and I missed my connecting flight :(  So here I sit, for the next four hours, waiting for a flight to take me home.  Lucky you, I will stop giving you the silent treatment and get everyone up-to-speed on my life!

I attended a baby shower last Saturday for a friend of mine and I really let myself have a good time :)  

Rebecca is having a little boy next month (she's the one in the middle) and Becky (on the far left) is another friend that I used to work with at the airport.  As per usual Becky-style, she made a delicious tres leches cake that I simply couldn't resist.  In fact, I inhaled it so quickly that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Another delicious indulgence was a banana cupcake with chocolate frosting, yum!  They were adorable too!

There may have been a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting that I ate as well.  I did not record photographic evidence of that either. 

One of the activities that we did at the shower, was decorating onsies for Rebecca's little boy.  Since Rebecca and I used to work together, I decided to base the design on our job.  It was very pleased with the final outcome:



It says "On Duty" on the booty

We also played the diaper game.  You know, the delightful game where they microwave fun-size candy bars in diapers and you have to try to identify the type of candy bar.  It was really gross haha.  At the end of it all, Rebecca gave us all a bag of candy...you guessed it...the fun-size candy bars from the game.  It should have grossed me out but I ate every delicious piece.

It was so much fun to see my friends again!  It was very delicious too.  I need to repent now, haha.

What is the grossest baby shower game you have played?

~Andrea

Happy Labor Day!

Good Evening!  I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend :)  I won't be going back to work until Wednesday so mine isn't over just yet :)  I took the day off from running today and replaced it with some rigorous housework.  I swept, mopped, vacuumed, and did tons of laundry :(  I love a clean house but I rather not be the cleaner haha. 

After cleaning the house all morning, I went out to a couple stores to pick up a few things.  My first stop was CVS.  I am starting to embrace their rewards program and I had ten dollars of Rewards Bucks that I needed to use.  I ended up getting $40 of merchandise for $20 AND walking out with eleven dollars in Rewards Bucks for a future purchase.  Not too bad!

Next up was Target, which is generally dangerous for me.  I feel like I got some decent deals but I still ended up parting with a lot of cash.  I did try to stick with the sales that offered gift cards with their purchase and ended up with $20 in gift cards. 

I received some coupons for Dairy Queen so tonight we went out for a treat :)  Julia and I shared a double fudge, cookie dough blizzard, which was everything I needed.  It did get me thinking about my journey to a more healthy life.  I was pleased that Julia and I shared out blizzard rather than each having our own.  I was a little concerned about what I ate today and the amount of my activity throughout the day....  If you remember, my goal for August was to lose another ten pounds, which I did not do.  I have only lost eight pounds so I am going to try and step it up and meet that goal before I head down to Nogales, AZ in a week.  Hello again 4AM workouts!

I am going to Nogales for one week to see how the SW border operates.  It should be a pretty fun trip and I fully intend to continue working out and eating right while down there.  I am confident I can meet my goals, I just need to keep my priorities straight!  So I want to lose two pounds this week and lose another six by October :)

Did you labor today?

~Andrea

Holy Bloom Trip!

So today was double coupon day at Bloom, up to $1.99.  I'm not sure if you clip the coupons or not, but that's pretty good.  Usually stores will only double coupons up $.99 so I made sure that I took advantage of the situation!  The catch was you could only have twenty coupons per transaction and per person.  So what did I do?  Got my lovely parents to meet me at the store so they could "buy" one of my transactions.

I'm sure you all have seen the TLC show "Extreme Couponing."  I am definitely not a contender for the show.  That show actually made me feel bad about the savings I didn't get.  I should have walked away with free stuff or things that they paid me to have!

So what do you think.....

Would you pay $155 for this?  Allegedly, my savings was $125.35.  I spent my lunch break checking out the sale ad for Bloom and comparing it to the coupons that I had.  I made an extreme rookie mistake.  Bloom had Herbal Essence on sale and I had Garnier Fructis coupons; so based on the picture on the coupon, I thought they were the same :(  Oh well, I have no shame....the cashier let me run and get the right one haha.

Another rookie mistake:

It was like playing Tetris in my freezer trying to get everything to fit!  Alex is pretty stoked for the things that I bought....it's not too often that you see coupons for chia seeds or spinach...

Has a TV show made your accomplishments look like chump change?

~Andrea

The Uninspired, Guilty Mind

Hi!  I really meant to post something last night.  I really wanted to but just couldn't come up with anything I wanted to write about.  I think it's because I have not been eating nutritious things and I have not been working out either and I didn't want to tattle on myself :(

I started this blog as a way to keep myself accountable in my pursuit of a healthier lifestyle so I could be a better example for my daughter.  Ommission was not part of that plan.  So here it goes:

I have not worked out since last Friday.  I realize that it has only been four days but I really think it's affecting me mentally.  First of all, I'm tired, like ridiculously tired.  All I want to do is sleep.  Second of all, I want to eat and eat and eat some more.  Third of all, my mood is a little (or a lot, depending on who you talked to) poopy.

So I have now learned that exercise is my "drug" of choice.  In the absence of my "drug", I get cranky and attempt to self-medicate with food.  I gorged myself on roast beef and gravy last night.  It was super yummy but the feeling of poopiness has remained. 

The good news is that I have a session scheduled with Patrice tonight :)  I couldn't be happier about receiving a butt-kicking!  I really hope this will elevate my mood and reinspire me to get up at 4am to get my workouts done.

What's your "drug" of choice?

~Andrea

Boo Benjamin :(

Good Morning!  It's my last full day of vacation and it's bittersweet.  Vacation is always fun but there is a certain comfort that comes with going back to real world and your regular routines. 

The other day we woke up at five-in-the-freaking-morning to have pictures taken at the beach.   I was pretty excited about it because I have never had professional pictures taken of my daughter and I thought these would be beautiful.  Well, they were gorgeous but they took me out of commission for four hours in the afternoon.  Yay for vacation naps!

When I finally woke up (8 pm), we decided to grab some dinner.  We ended up at Benjamin's Calabash Seafood Buffet.  Never again.  We paid $22 per person and the most palatable things there were not seafood.  They really committed to the seafood buffet idea though; even Alex's beef tenderloin tasted like fish!  The only bonus to the buffet was getting to learn how to eat crab legs.

I'm pretty sure my college roommate Kelly would have laughed at my attempts to eat crab legs (she's from MD).  I have learned that crab is for the patient and that's not me. 

Last night, Alex and I hung out with my sister Jessica and her husband Kevin.  We started the night out at Bovine's Woodfire.  We had a great view of the marsh and the food was heaven compared to Benjamin's. 

After dinner, we headed out onto the MarshWalk, which is a boardwalk around the marsh (go figure).  There was one genius in our group that wore high heels and kept getting stuck in the cracks of the boardwalk...

Oh well, at least I looked cute while getting stuck.

It's been really great seeing my sister and her family!  I'm definitely sad to be leaving them.  Her daughter Audra is very slow to warm up to people and I felt like I was finally making progress with her.  Instead of her greeting me with "No.  Icky," she was actually saying "Hi" to me.  Oh well, back to square one.

What food tragedies have you had?

~Andrea

Impromptu Spirit Day?

...Hello...spiritful is not how I feel today.  Yesterday? Yes.  Today? No.  I want to crawl back into bed and not come out until my booty is on a beach towel down in Myrtle Beach.  I unconsciously decided to create my own spirit day at work....you know, old school, like homecoming week....

Dress like a Homeless Person Day

Let me back it up a bit.  I went to Busch Gardens yesterday with Mike, James, Julia and Alex and had a blast. 

This is what spirit looks like

It was a ton of fun, the weather was perfect, and the company was perfect!  It was such a perfect day that we decided to end it in the most perfect way:  fireworks!  It was a lovely display that ended around 9:45pm.  Add on time to catch a tram to the parking lot and get everyone packed in the car, we were on the road at 10:40pm. 

The ride from Williamsburg to Woodbridge was uneventful but still took the customary two hours.  By the time I got into bed, it was 1AM.  I don't think I have adequately informed you of my alter-ego (Super Granny) but I haven't gone to bed that late in at least a year!  My alarm clock went off this morning for work at five-thirty and I was angry.

I think it is a combination of the anger, tiredness, and haze of sleep that ultimately caused me to choose this outfit.  I regret this choice everytime I walk by a mirror.  And I'm not really sure what came first, my outfit or my attitude.  I think it was my attitude because I remember just wanting something comfy and warm to wear because I was tired, grumpy and wanted to sleep on the bus.

So yesterday at Bush Gardens, here is what my food looked like:  pork ribs, dill pickles, sour kraut, dinner roll, bratwursts, German potato salad, beef ribs, brisket, roasted chicken, waffle fries, ice cream (with hot fudge, whipped cream and sprinkles), and cotton candy.  After eating whole grains, high fiber, and fruits/veggies, all the fatty, yummy, and sugary foods were like crack to an addict!  I have been wanting sugar all day.  I haven't even had the desire for that stuff really but that is all I have wanted today.  My prescription for that is a run and a good night's sleep!  (Jersey Shore is on tonight so the good night's sleep might have to wait until tomorrow night....)

What's your prescription for getting back on track?

~Andrea

Just peachy!

Happy Tuesday!  I had an exciting weekend with my daughter, Julia.  We finally got to meet her little brother Austin Michael :)  She is very excited and loves being an older sister.  (Now just for the record for those of you who might not know me, Austin is Julia's Dad's child and not mine....what do we call this?  A blended family?)

To celebrate after we got home from the hospital, we made some peach cobbler!  My mom bought a million peaches through her church so it was a waste not, want not situation. 

Julia has always loved helping in the kitchen.  Peach cobbler was the perfect thing for her to help with too.  It was my job to skin the peaches and cut them in half.  Julia's job was to cut them into slices.  Hold on folks, peaches are pretty soft and she was only using a butter knife.

This was a modified recipe that turned out to be quite delicious :)

Peach Cobbler

Filling:

• 4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon chia seed
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed

Cobbler Crust:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2/3 cup soy milk
• 1 tablespoon coconut sugar, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously butter a 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Place the sliced peaches in the dish and sprinkle with coconut sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and flour. Mix gently and spread evenly again. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all dry ingredients for cobbler crust in a bowl. Cut in the coconut oil with a pastry cutter or your fingers, to make the texture like coarse crumbs. Add soy milk and stir to form a soft dough.

Remove fruit from oven and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on top. Sprinkle with last tablespoon of coconut sugar and return to oven. Bake until fruit is bubbly and crust topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

That's the worst picture ever...something must have gone wrong when I was loading it haha....maybe I will fix that later....maybe...

The cobbler was very good.  Of course, it was not the standard super-sweet cobbler but it was ooey, gooey and delicious all the same!  I really liked the topping.  It was very nutty and earthy tasting.  I would definitely make this again.

So in not-so-peachy things, I noticed as I was walking into work this morning that I had a slight twinge in my left calf.  Not legitimate pain but the feeling of some possibly brewing for the future.  As some of you may know, I was training for a half-marathon last summer and got a pain in my right leg.  Some said it was shin splints.  I went to an orthopedic surgeon that wanted to inject radioactive materials into me to determine if I had a stress fracture or not.  The end result would have been the same for shin splints:  stop running and rest.  I chose to go straight to the treatment without the radioactive diagnostics.

So anyway, I stopped training and have only recently started running again.  Is my mind playing tricks on me?  Or could something be happening that I need to address?  I have been warming up and focusing on stretching but maybe this isn't enough?

How do you run injury free?

~Andrea

What in the Rooster???

Good Saturday Morning!  I hope your day has been going well.  I had quite the surprise this morning:

Mr. Rooster was in my neighbor's yard across the street!  What?!  I have always been able to hear the  and the rooster in the distance but he has always sounded further away.  This morning, Alex went out to take some recycling out and the cock-a-doodle-doo was much louder.  He started looking around and there the rooster was in the neighbor's yard.  You can't just have a rooster running around on the loose, right????  I called animal control but apparently they don't work on the weekends.  I was told I could capture the rooster myself and they would send someone to pick him up.  No, thanks.

Instead of catching myself a rooster, I made myself some breakfast instead.

It was time to clean out the veggie drawer so it was a veggie loaded omlet.  I put in spinach (of course), mushrooms, peppers, onions, parsley, and tomatoes.  I mixed in a slice of ham plus flax seed and topped it all off with some goat cheese.  It was perfection!

I received something else that was very exciting today:

I bought these with my workout reward money :)  I bought the original Biggest Loser cookbook many years ago and I have always loved their recipes.  They are always really flavorful and different from what I usually imagine healthy food to be. 

I bought these from half.com and didn't pay much.  In total, I paid $30 for all three, including shipping!  I'm most excited for the flavors of the world book.  I'm so excited to plan my meals this week using these cookbooks :)  As always, I'll let you know what I make and how it tastes!

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

~Andrea

Mmmm...food....

Hello, dear readers :)  Here I am again and I still have concerns about the progress that I am making in my health goals.  I have really been trying to keep the focus on my physical abilities and how my clothes fit but alas, I still love my scale and want to see smaller numbers each time I step onto it. 

I'm sure it's not a surprise to anyone if I admit that I am an emotional eater.  I love that we even have a term for this!  So anyway, the scale was not moving and I was not seeing any difference in the way I looked or how my clothes fit.  Frustrating.  What do I do when I am stressed and frustrated???  Eat! 

I will give myself credit.  My goal each day has been 1200-1550 calories and over the past week I have consistently had between 1700 and 1950 calories.  I was considerably reserved in my stress-eating compared to previous damage I have done, haha.  And you know what?  I lost a pound :)  So this got me to thinking about the changes I made.  Unfortunately, this is no where near a scientific study and there is no way that I can conclude that eating more calories caused me to lose weight.  It did however cause me to wonder how spark people came up with my caloric goal and whether or not they could be wrong.

So I tried to do some research about the number of calories I should be eating per day.  Almost every site I found talked about BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate.  Esentially, this is how many calories your body would use if you did nothing all day.  My BMR is 1646. 

Next, you multiply your BMR by an "activity factor" which I chose moderately active (1646 * 1.55 = 2551.3 calories).  Now according to this website , you should cut your calories but at least 500 but no more than 1000 calories per day from your BMR for weightloss.  That would put me between 1551 to 2051 calories.  I have gone to several different sites and put in my information;  here are some of my results:  1520 calories, 2023 calories, and 2057 calories.  If you recall, I have been eating only 1200 to 1550 calories :(

So anyway, I'm thinking that maybe I need to bump up the food intake a little bit in order to feed my body appropriately so it doesn't freak out about eating away at the fat reserves.  Maybe I should just try the BOD POD and get the final say so that way??

How do you figure out your caloric needs?

~Andrea

Pay Day

Good Evening!  I hope you had a great day!  I had the day off of work and it was sooo enjoyable :)  I started the morning off with breakfast with Julia, which I feel like I haven't done in forever.  She had some light vanilla yogurt with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries topped with some whole grain granola.  I made one of my favorites:

Spinach, tomatoes, ground flax seed, one egg and two egg whites topped with hot sauce.  So delicious.  I have renewed my love of cherry tomatoes this summer.  They were my favorite veggie (ok, ok fruit) growing up because they taste like sunshine.  There is just something about having the tomato explode in your mouth that makes me happy :)

Lunch wasn't anything too exciting.  I sampled some potato salad and had a veggie burger.  Like I said, not very exciting. 

Dinner was much more satisfying.  We had our friends Jess and Mike and their son James over for dinner so we tried to make some tasty stuff.  With tasty comes calories.  We had bacon-wrapped fillet mignons, potato and ham salad, green salad and lemon cheesecake with fresh summer berries.  Mmmmmm.  So I didn't eat much of the bacon and only had half of my fillet so that I could indulge in the cheesecake.  I'm pretty sure the meal was far from healthy still but I felt good cutting back on part of the meal so that I could have my dessert.

In other news, I'm not sure if you guys remember or not, but I have been paying myself to workout.  I give myself one dollar for every fifteen minutes and then use that money to reward myself with nonfood items.  I used some of my money!

Workout Clothes!  Dick's Sporting Goods was having a clearance sale and I snagged both of these shorts for ten dollars a piece.  Score :)  The picture is a little dark but the pair on the right are yellow and purple.....Go Dukes!  I wore the light blue ones to work out with Patrice and they were wonderful.  They have a four inch inseam so I could check out my massive leg muscles while I did my lunges (haha) but long enough to not worry about tugging them down all the time.  I'm very happy with my purchase.

How do you reward yourself?

~Andrea

ch-ch-ch-CHIA!

Good Evening All!  I have a lovely coworker of mine that has introduced me to something new that I want to share with you.  Chia seeds.  Yes, that's right the kind that you spread on a terracotta cow and it grows into grass :)  Please do not eat the seeds that come in those packages; buy them at a food store.

Source

So basically, these little seeds are pretty awesome when it comes to health and weight loss.  They are able to absorb tons of liquid so they are really great for thickening up smoothies/oatmeal and help with hydration.  On Tuesday night after my training session with Patrice, I made a smoothie with protein powder, almond milk, blueberries, strawberries and chia seeds.  I was pretty amazed at the way it thickened up the smoothie so it almost had the same texture as a milkshake.  It was very enjoyable.  It also made me feel very full :)

After such a good experience with them in my smoothie, I decided to make overnight oats and include them.  This is one way my coworker has used them so I decided it would be a safe choice.  I usually make my overnight oats with 1/2 cup rolled oats and 1 cup milk, which makes it very soupy (but I like it).  With the chia seeds added to it, the mixture was much thicker and even pudding-like. 

Anyway, I have really enjoyed the ch-ch-ch-Chia seeds so far.  I'm really glad that my coworker gave me some to try!  I will definitely make the investment in a supply of my own :)

~Andrea

Overnight Oats

Good evening all!  It was my first time trying a recipe that I have seen on numerous websites and I think overnight oats are a win!  The idea behind it is to soak the oats in a liquid of your choosing overnight and breakfast is served when you get up in the morning. 

I decided to be adventurous and experimental right off the bat.  I decided to create a German chocolate version of overnight oats and they turned out really yummy.

German Chocolate Overnight Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup skim milk
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 tbsp pecan pieces
1 tbsp ground flax seed
2 packets splenda

I heated the milk and mixed the cocoa powder until it was fully dissolved.  Put all the ingredients together in a dish, cover and put in the fridge overnight.  Next morning, enjoy!

I doubled up on the liquid because I like my oatmeal a little soupy.  If you want something creamier or less soupy, I would recommend cutting the liquid in half so you have equal parts oats and liquid.  You can also use any kind of milk to change the texture as well (i.e. almond, soy, rice, etc). 

It was such a satisfying breakfast and it kept me full for a long time.  They were absolutely the perfect grab-and-go breakfast after my 4am workout :) 

~Andrea

Honey-Nut Yummy!

Good Morning y'all!  So my little one has gone off to her daddy's for the next two weeks and I'm not looking forward to my empty house at all :(  Right now I am OK just because I'm used to her being gone every other weekend.  I think around Wednesday I might start getting lonely and missing her a lot. 

We spent the morning coloring and snuggled on the couch playing with her markers (like they were action figures).  After that, we had some oatmeal.  Julia asked for hers with some honey in it and that gave me an idea....I decided to make myself some Honey-Nut Oatmeal!  It was delicious :)

Honey Nut Oatmeal

1/2 cup oats
1 tbsp ground flax seed
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Cook oats, flax seed and water in the microwave for one minute.  Add remaining ingredients and enjoy!

I plugged the ingredients into a calorie calculator and it looks like it's about 360 calories, which isn't too bad.  It was something very quick and easy to make too. 

I'm off to the ball fields to watch Alex!  Have a great Sunday!