A morning at the rec center

Today was the kids' last day of Winter Break from school, so we decided to take them to the rec center this morning to go swimming. I told Jerry he could watch them in the pool while I did a run on the indoor track, and then I'd watch them in the pool while he did whatever he wanted to do.

I brought my bathing suit because the kids really wanted me to swim with them. I hate swimming. I don't like being wet, I don't like how disgusting my hair feels from the chlorine, I don't like having to wash a ton of towels and stuff when we get home... but I agreed to swim with them.

First, I did my easy three-mile on the indoor track. It was kind of boring for the first mile, because nobody else was on the track. But then some guy came in and started lapping me. He was probably running a 6:30 mile, but he quit after about a mile.

Right when I was finishing my run, I walked over to my water bottle and saw this guy that I went to high school with. I started going to that school in tenth grade, and he was my first crush at that school. I even asked him out to the Sadie Hawkins dance (the only time I've EVER asked someone out!) and he said no. Hahaha, he didn't give me the time of day!

I wish I could say that I looked really awesome today and he was checking me out and all that, but no--I had just run 3 miles, my hair was in a bun and I had no make-up on. My shirt was a little sweaty, and it happened to be my horribly embarrassing "Half My Size" shirt. I don't know if he recognized me, but I avoided looking at him while I stretched and then I went downstairs.

I went into the women's locker room and undressed to put on my bathing suit. It's way too big (a size 12 suit) and I knew I looked ridiculous. But I hate wearing bathing suits, so I avoid shopping for them. I hoped that I'd be less self-conscious of my body now that I've had the skin removal surgery, but I was actually MORE self-conscious. I was very aware of my saggy thighs and upper arms. The bathing suit was really baggy, so I kept pulling at it make sure it was in place. I was the very definition of 'awkward'.

I was relieved to actually get in the water so I could hide myself.

I swam with the kids for about a half hour, the whole time dreaming about getting in the sauna to warm up when I was done. I brought shampoo with me to get the chlorine out of my hair, so I washed my hair and then happily skipped over to the sauna. I was so looking forward to feeling that hot, steamy air hit me in the face when I opened the door.

When I opened the door, it was just as cold as the air outside. It wasn't turned on :(  So I just hurried and changed into my clothes and we left. Next time I'll need to remember to turn on the sauna before I get in the pool, so it's nice and hot.

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I sneaked a peek at the scale this morning, and my weight is going back down since I quit the challenge--hallelujah! In the three days since I quit, I've dropped 5.5 pounds. I started the challenge at 136, got up to 144.5 in the three weeks that I was doing the challenge, and then today I was 139. I think quitting the challenge early was definitely the right decision!

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A super speedy interval run

I just finished doing intervals on the outdoor track at the high school, and I'm psyched at my pace! I was feeling kind of down about last week's intervals when I did them indoor--my pace was under 8 minutes per mile. But then I realized that I calibrated my foot pod wrong, so I wasn't as fast as I thought. But today, I redeemed myself!

I did quarter mile intervals again, and here is my pace for my "fast" splits:

7:43
7:38
7:46
7:47
7:56
7:44

 ALL of my intervals were at a sub-8:00 pace! I've never done that before. In the fall, when I was training for that 10k, I was doing speed work. My usual pace for my intervals then was about 8:15.

Now, I know this isn't very impressive to some of you super speed demons out there, but for ME, it's pretty awesome, and I'm still feeling 'high' from my run. I'm starting to think that maybe I actually WILL get a PR at my 5k race next month. But tomorrow I'm going to do a super easy (read: slow) run, probably on the dreadmill (we're supposed to get dumped on with snow tonight).

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Renee sent me a text this morning asking if I wanted to take the boys to McDonald's for lunch. She has three boys, and they are off of school also. I took Noah and Eli, and Alicia joined us with her two girls as well. Renee and Alicia are going to run the Leap Year 4-Miler race with me on Wednesday.

At McDonald's, I ordered Happy Meals for the boys, but I just kept staring at the menu and trying to find something that didn't sound GROSS to me--and I ended up not ordering anything. I haven't eaten McDonald's food since August 2009, and I have honestly developed a disgust for it. And not in one of those self-righteous ways, either. You all know that I admit when I think junk food is good! I'm not at all disgusted by Mrs. Fields cookies topped with a fuckload of buttercream frosting--but McDonald's just grosses me out!

The kids played in the Playland area for a while, and then we headed home. I made a salad with "Franch" (French+ranch dressings)--oh, how I missed that dressing when I was doing the challenge! I really do like the balsamic vinaigrette I was making, but not as much as Franch.

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On my way home from the high school track, I decided to stop at Kroger and get a treat as a reward for my awesome splits today ;)  I bought something I haven't had in a while...

I LOVE Cherry Garcia! This isn't a whole pint (I could never eat just one serving from a pint!) It's just a little baby cup for 220 calories. Worth every calorie, too! I'm going to eat that and catch up on my shows tonight. My DVR is nearly full.

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Too many races

Dog sitting last night was fun! However, I think my cats have put me on their shit list for it ;)

The cats spent the whole evening sulking in my bedroom. Paolo is usually totally fearless, so if any of the cats would be cool with a dog, it would be Paolo. He unsuspectingly walked into the kitchen to eat, and then Bailey (the dog) spotted him. Bailey ran up to him and started barking and getting down on her forepaws like she wanted to play.

Paolo just stared Bailey down and neither one of them moved a muscle for about two full minutes. Then, at the exact same time, they both started to run--but they were on the linoleum, and they both have furry feet, so they weren't actually moving anywhere, despite moving their legs as fast as possible in a run. It was hilarious to watch! Then we had to intervene and put Paolo back in the bedroom.

The cats usually sleep with me on the bed, but none of them did last night--I think they're really mad at me. Bailey slept on the couch with Jerry:

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I went to the rec center to do my run today. I had planned on running 3 miles of intervals, but my friend Jennah said that she wanted to start running, so I asked if she wanted to come with me. I decided to go early and run three miles alone and then run two with Jennah (if she could run two--she's not a runner).

My Garmin foot pod was newly calibrated (I took it to the outdoor track last week to calibrate) and it's true--the indoor track is measured around the center, rather than the inner lane. Oh well, at least now I know. So my five mile run meant over 60 laps around the track--SIXTY. Hahaha, it went by fast though.

Jennah completely amazed me at how well she did. For not having run (like EVER), she did the full two miles with me, only stopping twice for a drink. I would haven't have made it around the track even once as a beginner!

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When I got home, I had a snack I'd been craving for weeks--Ezekiel bread, toasted, with peanut butter. Today I used the cinnamon-raisin Ezekiel bread, and the Peanut Butter & Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter. It definitely hit the spot!

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I got an e-mail about running events that are coming up soon, and one of the races on there was a 4-miler on Leap Day. I impulsively decided to go for it--for no real reason other than the fact that the race shirt is a sweatshirt ;)  I got a sweatshirt for a Memorial Day race last year, and I love it. The Leap Year 4-Miler is an evening run, starting at 6:30, and it's in a Metropark, so it should be a nice run.

I've committed to way too many races this year. I had planned on not doing more than one or two, to save money, but everything just sounds like fun! I have a 4-miler, a 5k, two half-marathon, and a full-marathon all before JUNE. Oh well, at least it keeps me running!

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Dog-sitting

My little brother Nathan got a dog yesterday, and we're dog-sitting her right now! She's a black lab mix, about a year and a half old, and her name is Bailey. Nathan got her from a friend's sister, who is pregnant and wanted to find a new home for her dog before the baby came.

But Nathan had to work a 12-hour shift tonight, so I said we would watch her. Jerry's off work, and the kids are off school, so we get to be dog owners for the evening. It's actually been pretty fun. I took her for a walk at the state park, and she LOVED it.

She's a super friendly dog, and very well-behaved. The kids are having a lot of fun with her.

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I quit my challenge last night :) After writing yesterday's post, I had planned on continuing the challenge through to the end, but I still kept obsessing over peanut butter, so I decided to just end it now. I shared some Valentine's chocolates with Jerry last night, and they were delicious! I thought maybe they'd be too sweet, or make me feel sick, but I felt totally fine eating them.

Today, I've eaten really well--back to "normal". A couple of the comments on my last entry made me wonder what people think my "normal" diet is like... it's NOT bad! Maybe I gave that impression? Most of my diet consists of "real" food that I cook myself, but I do eat things like Ezekiel bread, mayonnaise, ketchup, graham crackers, chocolate chips, and canned tomatoes. Those things aren't terrible for you--just not "real" food. I do love my daily treat too, which almost always has sugar (not honey or pure maple syrup, but sugar).

Here is today's food log, for an example:

Breakfast--breakfast cookie, tea with stevia and cream
Lunch--tuna with full-fat mayo on a homemade whole wheat tortilla
Dinner--homemade fajitas
Snacks--gingersnap cookies, popcorn with oil and salt, a few mini Reese's cups

It was much easier to refrain from bingeing when I wasn't so restricted. I was craving tuna with mayo really badly for a couple of weeks now!

I didn't eat a paczki today, despite it being Fat Tuesday ;)  I have never been a huge doughnut fan, and I've actually never eaten a paczki. I'd rather have a cookie!

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Well, I have to cut this short, because I have lots of stuff to get done tonight! Did you eat a paczki today?

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Real Foods Challenge: Day 20

Today I had a "short" long run on the schedule of 7 miles. The schedule has the long runs increase in distance for two weeks, then decrease for a week, then increase for two weeks, etc. So the last two weeks were 9 miles and 10 miles, and today was just 7.

Since my kids are in Winter Break, I met Jessica pretty early (7:30) for our run. Jerry was with the kids and waited for me to get home so he could go to sleep (he works a swing shift, and he's on midnights right now).

The run was actually really nice. It was cold outside (18 degrees) but after a mile or two I felt good. I have a love/hate relationship with long runs--I hate them because they're long (duh) but I love them because I can take it at a slow, easy pace and not worry about my speed at all.

Our splits:
Mile 1: 10:36
Mile 2: 10:58
Mile 3: 11:21
Mile 4: 11:32
Mile 5: 11:14
Mile 6: 10:56
Mile 7: 10:49

When we were done, Jessica noticed that I had a "hair-cicle" from my sweat...

Yep, it was a cold one this morning! ;)

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I altered my Breakfast Cookie recipe to make some "real food" muffin tops. They turned out really well. I made a batch to put in the freezer and pull out one at a time for breakfast. I had one after my run this morning, and it kept me full until lunch time.

I was very close to calling it quits on this challenge today. Not because I was tempted to eat something like the chocolates sitting on my dresser, but because my weight keeps climbing. I know that it's because of the peanut butter! (It's not muscle, I promise--my clothes are tighter and my body fat % is up, too). I've gone through three jars of peanut butter in 19 days. I refuse to open another one (natural pb is expensive!), so I'm going to try my best to see if I can get my weight back down without counting calories and still continuing with the challenge.

If there is one thing that I take away from this challenge, it's that I was completely right about the advice I always give: Don't make any changes that you're not willing to live with forever. This challenge is too restrictive, and it's not something that I'd be willing to do forever. It's so restrictive that it's making me binge on peanut butter and honey. If it's not peanut butter, then I'm sure it would be something else.

The whole time I was losing weight, I ate ANYTHING I WANTED as long as I counted the calories for it. This kept me satisfied, and I didn't feel too restricted. I think this was a key component to my weight loss. I was mentally satisfied as well as physically, and it worked.

I don't regret doing this challenge, because it really did confirm my belief that everything is okay in moderation. And there are a few things that will be permanent changes (or at least I will try to integrate them)--like eating more vegetables, using "real" ingredients whenever possible, baking with honey instead of sugar (on a lot of items). Oh, and let's not forget homemade tortillas! I won't be buying tortillas anymore.

While eating "real food" is certainly the ideal way of doing things, I can't wait to go back to "normal" and incorporate some of my favorite non-real foods back into my diet. This will make me feel more satisfied and hopefully get my weight back down.

My next challenge is going to be MUCH less challenging and something that I'd be willing to live with forever ;)  All of this thinking has also made me decide not to give up nuts for Lent after all. Instead, I'm going to make it a mission to go 40+ days staying binge-free.

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After lunch, the kids and I had some fun re-creating something that I saw on Pinterest. Here is the original picture that I saw:

Photo source

Does that not have Estelle's name written all over it?! So when I was about to recycle a box today, I remembered this picture and decided to re-create it with my cats. It did NOT go as planned, but we still shared a few belly laughs while doing the cat photo shoot. Here are a few of the pics (and I think it's obvious how artistic I am, lol):

Estelle refused to put her face through the hole

Chandler was too fat to fit comfortably in the box, lol

Phoebe can fit through ANYTHING.

Paolo wins for the best mouse photo ;)

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Reader Questions & Answers

I rarely have much to write about on Sundays, so if that is the case, I'll answer a reader question or two :)  If you have a question that you would like me to answer here on the blog, just send me an e-mail with the subject "Q&A".  They don't have to be about weight loss or running--anything is game!  (Remember, I'm not a doctor or dietician, or any sort of medical professional--I can only answer questions from my own experience).

Q. As a person who has lost 100+ pounds, do you take people seriously who always complain about how they have to lose 5-10 pounds?  Or do you applaud everyone's efforts?

A. I think this is a great question! My answer has definitely changed through my weight loss experience. When I was 253 pounds, I hated hearing "some skinny chick" talk about how she needed to lose 5 pounds because her size 6 jeans were feeling a little snug. However, once I started losing the weight, I found myself thinking (many times), "If I had just lost the weight when I 'only' had 5-10 pounds to lose, I would be done losing weight by now!"

And that's totally true. I applaud the "skinny chicks" who are looking to lose the 5-10 extra pounds NOW. Are we supposed to expect them to wait until they have 50 pounds to lose? 100? I think taking the initiative now is something to be proud of.

I've also become well-aware of just how hard it is to lose those last 5-10 pounds. I struggled (and STILL struggle) with them, and it's been about 18 months! I think this is because those last pounds matter the least--right now, I can fit into my jeans comfortably, and I don't think anyone would really even notice if I dropped the last few pounds. It's so easy to tell myself that those last few pounds don't really matter at all.

But honestly, they DO matter (for me, and anyone else who is looking to lose the last few pounds). It just STARTS with five pounds. Soon, it will be 10. And after a vacation, it'll be 15. Throw on a birthday and a holiday, and suddenly it's 20 pounds that I need to lose.

So anyway, to answer the original question, I definitely have respect for people looking to lose "just" 5-10 pounds, and I applaud everybody's efforts.

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Q. Can you update us on your skin removal surgery? And show us new pictures?

A. Well, I'm not going to post pictures--I was extremely embarrassed when I saw pictures of my stomach on Pinterest. Pinterest should be saved for pretty things! ;)  But I'm healing very well. I haven't written anything about it because I'm healing just fine and there really isn't much to tell!

I wear my compression garment only when I run. Dr. Tepper didn't tell me that I had to wear it, but I feel a little more "secure" when I do. It keeps my stomach from jiggling around (and yes, it still jiggles in places--the skin has to adhere back to the muscle wall).

My scar is still very noticeable (and I think it always will be). It can be covered with something as simple as a g-string, but it's noticeable when I'm naked. The skin on my abdomen is still numb, but I'm starting to get some feeling back. It's a little tingly when I touch it.

I'm still happy that I did the surgery and would do it again in a heartbeat :)

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And now a question for all of you... 

What was your favorite breakfast as a child?

Mine was a poached egg on toast. My aunt (who babysat us in the mornings and after school) would make us anything we wanted, and I always requested a poached egg on toast. She would cut it into 9 squares, and my favorite piece was the center square. I always think of her when I eat a poached egg!

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Real Foods Challenge: Day 18

This morning, after I took the boys to swim class, we went to Hobby Lobby so that I could get some fabric. I wanted to make something cute to wear at the Corktown 5k. Jessica bought some festive socks for us to wear. I decided to make a skirt to wear (over my running tights). I also wanted to get the some iron-on letters to make a shirt (not for the 5k, but for the Rock CF Rivers Half-Marathon).

I saw the perfect fabric for my skirt--green sequins! It reminded me of some running skirts I've seen on other blogs. And I picked out some white lettering for my shirt. I let the boys pick out some craft stuff to do this week, because they are off of school for an entire week for winter break.

I worked all afternoon on the skirts (yes, plural--I got enough fabric to make one for Jessica, too) and my shirt. I'm not thrilled with the shirt, but I love the skirt!

Front of the shirt

Back of the shirt, right above my butt

And my adorable sequin skirt

I love the skirt so much that I think I'm going to make more in different colors for my other races :)

I had to hurry up and come up with something to cook for dinner, and what I threw together ended up tasting sooo good. When I'm stuck for dinner sometimes, I have a go-to dinner method that never fails:

Heat some oil in a skillet, and add about 6 cloves of garlic, sliced paper thin.
Cook on medium-low for a few minutes until garlic is transparent or light golden, being careful not to burn it.
Add a vegetable (in this case, shredded Brussels sprouts).
Add a protein (optional--today was chicken).
Add a (cooked) grain (whole wheat spaghetti).
Add a cheese (feta).
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir it all up and serve.

Another favorite is spinach, quinoa, and feta; and yet another is asparagus, pasta, and parmesan. The garlic and oil is what makes this so good!

Brown rice, peas, Parmesan

Asparagus, whole wheat penne, Parmesan

Penne, broccoli, Parmesan

Whole wheat rotini, peas, Parmesan

Quinoa, spinach, and feta

See why it's my go-to? There are tons of different combinations, and they are ALL good!

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Real Foods Challenge: Day 17

I had a five-miler on the schedule today, and since the snow melted yesterday, I decided to go to the high school (outdoor) track and recalibrate the Garmin foot pod. I didn't know this, but one of my readers pointed out that indoor tracks are measured differently (from the middle lane) rather than the inner lane like an outdoor track. So my calibration was probably off when I was running indoors a few days ago. I'm probably not as fast as I thought. Bummer.

But at least now I know. I went to the outdoor track and ran two laps (800 meters). Then I did 4.5 more miles, for a total of 20 laps around the track. When I think of 20 laps, it doesn't sound like much, but it was boring. I like the indoor track much better. But I really need to go back to running on the road, at least for most of my runs.

512 calories burned? I'll take it!  (Do you think 2/3 of a loaf of banana bread has less than 512 calories? Yes? Okay, good.)

Tomorrow and Sunday are both rest days, but next week I'll probably be doing a couple of dreadmill runs because my kids are off of school all week for winter break. So I'll be interested to see how accurate the treadmill is compared to the newly-calibrated foot pod.

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After I showered and dressed, I had to go to H&R Block to sign my tax papers. My aunt works there, so she does our taxes for us. We're getting a $4,400 tax return, which is about what I expected. I want to put it toward our debt, but we desperately need new carpeting, and I think we're going to do that. We've had the same carpet since we moved in in 2003, and we've had dogs, cats, two babies (now children) in that time. So you can only imagine all the years of baby spit-up, milk, food, dog pee, cat puke, and other stuff that is lurking in our carpet.

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photo source

Jerry and I were talking about giving something up for Lent. Lent begins next Wednesday, Feb. 22nd. We're not Catholic, but I do like to give something up to practice the self-discipline. When I was losing weight, I gave up white flour/white rice/white pasta (basically any refined grains) and I discovered SO many new foods. It was very eye-opening for me.

I like to pick something that is going to be the most difficult for me to give up. Can you guess what it will be this year? I'll give you a hint. It makes up approximately 95% of my diet.

Yep, peanut butter. Well, more specifically, NUTS. This isn't set in stone, so don't hold me to this, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to give up nuts for Lent this year. It will be the most difficult food to give up. Anyone else giving up something for Lent?

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Real Foods Challenge: Day 16

Tomorrow is the day that I would have been leaving for Florida to go on a 7-day cruise with my mom, my sister, and my sister's best friend. It was about a year ago that my sister asked me if I'd like to go on the cruise with them, and after thinking it over, you know what I said? "No, I think if I am going to spend the money to go somewhere, I'd like to go do a really cool race--maybe a marathon in Napa Valley or something like that."

BWAHAHAHA! I turned down a 10-day trip with my mom, my sister, and Audrey because I would rather RUN? What the hell happened to me when I lost the weight?! ;)

I'm still happy with my decision not to go. I've got an awesome Ragnar Relay planned, as well as a three-day trip to Cleveland for a marathon. That sounds like much more fun to me. Strange, right?

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So this morning I went to the rec center to ride a stationary bike (to hopefully work on my cadence). I went to the cardio room, and there were a lot of women in there chatting really loudly (which is fine with me! I was just surprised to see anyone in there). There were three bikes in front of the room, but they were all recumbent (which isn't ideal for what I was using it for). But I made do with what they had, and I got on one of the recumbent bikes.

After spending a good two minutes fiddling with it to get it turned on, I finally got going. And I was SO BORED I wanted to shoot myself after two or three minutes. But I was too embarrassed to get off that soon, so I decided to stick it out for 10 minutes. They had two TV's on, but one was PBS (a children's program), and the other was ESPN (kill me now). After 10 minutes, I got out of there and went upstairs to the indoor track to run.

I didn't have my foot pod with me, because I wasn't planning on running, but I just used my Garmin as a stop watch and pressed the lap button every time I went around the track. I noticed I was running right behind my friend Alicia for a few laps, and keeping pace with her. So I caught up to her and ran with her the rest of the 3 miles. Well, it actually ended up being 3.5 miles, because I forgot to push the lap button 6 times, haha.

Running with Alicia made the time go by fast and it was actually pretty fun. She's faster than me, so I was running at more of a tempo pace than an easy pace, but it felt good. I ended up with a 9:13/mi average pace, with splits of 9:07, 9:14, 9:18, and 9:10.

Running on the indoor track is almost like getting a new toy. The novelty of it makes me excited to run! I'm sure it'll wear off in no time, though ;)

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When I got home, I made this recipe for "real food" banana bread. It is sweetened with honey, and it turned out SO good!! I was very impressed.

I'm glad I came across her site. The only reason I clicked on it was because it's called "Cookie + Kate"... that totally caught my attention! ;)

I bought something at Kroger today that had me very excited to try--

It actually didn't disappoint me, either. I added a few drops of Stevia extract and about a teaspoon of heavy cream. It was pretty chocolatey and definitely a good novelty tea! I went to Kroger specifically for this item, because my friend Andrea sent me a text yesterday with a picture of it. We like to show each other our good finds :)

When Noah and Eli got home from school, I ALMOST caved and quit this challenge. It was really tempting. Eli just celebrated his 100th day of school in kindergarten, and the kids all had a project where they had to bring in a plastic bottle filled with 100 "things". They could be cotton balls, tooth picks, dry pasta, Legos, whatever. When I asked Eli what he wanted, he said "Reese Cups". So we filled a bottle with 100 miniature Reese Cups and sent it to school.

I was hoping he wouldn't bring it home, but he came home with it today. The boys wanted to eat them all, of course, but I told them they could have three per day. But I just kept thinking how badly I wanted to open one after the other and eat them ALL. I love me some Reese Cups!

I went so far as to ask Eli if me and Daddy could each have one, and he said sure. Then he took two out of the bottle, and gave one to Jerry and before he could hand me the other, Noah grabbed it from him and ate it. I took that as a sign that I would totally regret eating one, so I didn't. I know that one of those would have let to the whole box of chocolates on my dresser, too ;)

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Real Foods Challenge: Day 15

Running on the track this morning was so much fun! I wasn't really sure what to expect. There were about 6 other people there, but they were walking (and the outer two lanes are dedicated to walkers, the inner lane for runners). The track is 1/12th of a mile, so you have to run around it three times to equal 1/4 mile.

I spent the first half-mile calibrating the Garmin foot pod. And I was right--it was off when I used it on the treadmill. But once I calibrated it, it was right on target (I was counting my laps to be sure).

After that initial half-mile, I started my intervals. I set the Garmin to 1/4 mile intervals, so I would be running 3 laps fast, then 3 laps slow (5 times, which would be 2.5 miles). Because the track was small, I felt like I was flying around it. I was lapping the walkers constantly. I had no idea what my pace was, because I vowed not to look at the Garmin until I was done.

I was shocked when I finished and looked at my splits:

My pace for the first three fast intervals was under an 8:00/mi... I don't know that I've ever done that before (without being on a treadmill). Of course, running on an indoor track is much easier than running outside. There are no bumps or cracks in the road, no hills, no wind resistance, perfect temperature... but I'm still happy with my splits!

When I uploaded my workout info, I noticed that now that I wore the foot pod, it showed my "running cadence". I had to read up on this and educate myself a little. Running cadence is basically your foot turnover rate--how many strides per minute. And according to what I've read, mine needs some serious improvement.

Having a high running cadence makes you a faster runner. When you want to run faster, you should work on faster steps rather than longer strides. My cadence today:

Ideally, that average should be above 90 spm (or 180 if you count every step). The article I linked to above said that bicycling is one of the best exercises to increase your cadence. I think I'll try and bike when I can on my fourth run day (per week) instead of running. It's only a 3-mile run that I'll miss, and I think I will benefit from the cross-training. It's not really ideal biking whether in Michigan right now, but I can use a stationary bike at the rec center if needed.

I've never been a "gym person". Today was actually the first day I used our rec center membership and we've had it almost a year ;)  Jerry wanted the membership, and it was only $100/family for an entire year (much cheaper than the average gym). Running on the track was fun and I definitely want to do that again.

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I'm now over the hump and more than halfway through the Real Foods Challenge. It's getting easier in some ways, and harder in others. Easier because I don't have horrible cravings for sugar, but harder because I feel SO limited in my food choices. I know that it's my fault--I need to branch out and eat different things. I'm just so used to eating the things that I really want, things that really sound good to me. There are snacks that I consider "okay" and I enjoy them, but I certainly don't look forward to them--like fruit, or cheese, or hummus.

I actually think that this is one of the reasons I was successful losing weight. I didn't eat things that didn't excite me. Sure, I like hummus, but I don't LOVE it--so I didn't really eat it. By choosing foods that I really loved and looked forward to eating (like a piece of Ezekiel toast with peanut butter), I always felt so satisfied. I made every calorie count ;)

I'm really NOT a picky eater, I promise! I will try anything over and over and over again until I finally like it. Take yogurt, for example. I've tried yogurt 1,000 different ways and I still hate it. But I'm always willing to keep trying.

I tried counting calories today, but only lasted until about 2:30 pm when I felt like I was going to starve to death. Maybe just mental? I didn't go overboard though. I forgot how much work it was to weigh everything out! My food log:

Breakfast--overnight cinnamon raisins oats (not great, so I won't bother posting the details)
Lunch--salad with chicken, balsamic vinaigrette, and feta
Dinner--"grown-up hamburger helper mac and cheese" --a "real" food recipe! This was good.
Snacks--one date-nut ball, chai latte, popcorn, apple, 2 dates

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