Coffee Crisp!

Today was a tough day for me as far as temptation goes. No run on the schedule this morning, so I had a pretty lazy morning. My dad came over, and dropped off some of the kids' stuff, and then he said that he had something for me. My dad is notorious for junk food, so I assumed he brought me a fun-sized Butterfinger from his treat jar (my favorite thing to grab when I go over there).

He was holding it behind his back, and the kids were trying to guess what it was. I could hear the wrapper, and said, "It's a Butterfinger." But I was wrong--it was even better than a Butterfinger. What's better than a Butterfinger?

Coffee Crisps!! I absolutely love these candy bars, but they are only available in Canada (as far as I know). So whenever someone in my family goes to Canada for whatever reason, they come back with a bunch of Coffee Crisps. My dad used to bring me back the ginormous-sized ones, but I think he was trying to do something nice without sabotaging me. (Although a small part of me wishes he'd brought the ginormous ones...haha!)

The kids got Christmas cards in the mail from my brother's ex-wife, with gift cards to Target. They were SO excited. They talked all day yesterday how they were going to spend them. So this afternoon, I took them to Target to spend their gift cards. I also wanted to get the stuff for a care package for a soldier in Afghanistan, and that was actually really fun to shop for.

I asked my little brother (Nathan) for some ideas, because he spent three years in Iraq. He said his favorite things to get were beef jerky, "real" toilet paper, magazines, and homemade cookies. I never would have thought toilet paper would make the list, but I bought the best quality toilet paper they had ;)  The hard part was the cookies.

I don't bake, because I can eat a whole batch of cookies (or a whole pie, cake, sheet of brownies, etc). So it's easiest for me not to bake. But I really wanted to include something homemade in the care package, so I decided to make my very favorite oatmeal cookies. (Yes, the ones I almost ralphed when I decided to run them off last summer). I made a full batch, which is three dozen cookies. And since this particular soldier likes M&M's, I used those instead of chocolate chips.

I took a tiny taste of the dough, and it was soooo good. My good intentions went out the window, and I ate about 5 pinches of dough. I guesstimated it to be about 12 PointsPlus worth. When I realized it was getting out of control, I stopped what I was doing and went and brushed my teeth really well, so that I would have a minty mouth and cookies wouldn't taste good--or at least that's what I told myself. But it worked, I didn't touch any more of the dough, and I didn't eat a single cookie once they were baked. They were VERY tempting, however!

I packaged up as many of them as I could fit into the box I was preparing, and the kids and Jerry each ate a few. Now they are gone. I wasn't even hungry for dinner after that, so I just counted the cookies as dinner and moved on. Not the best choice, but stuff like that happens once in a while. I handled it much better than if I had binged!

Chandler is cracking me up. He and Phoebe were fighting, so I put him on the third level of the cat tree (he usually only goes on the second level, because it doesn't have sides and he can actually fit). He thought it was awesome being up there on level three!

And to my surprise, he got comfortable...

He looks kind of like a overfilled muffin--when the top gets so big that it spills over sides. He actually slept like that for a while.

Well, tomorrow is the big day for me. Sub-26 or bust! The race is at 3:00 in the afternoon, which means I'm going to be a nervous wreck all day. But I hope I'm feeling my best tomorrow and ready to run hard enough to puke.

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10 miles followed by Biscoff spread

I've discovered that I dread any run that's more than four miles. Fridays are my long run days, so today I was scheduled for 10 miles. I really wanted to get warm and cozy under my electric blanket and watch Lifetime movies all day, but I knew that wasn't going to happen ;)

I procrastinated for a little bit after the kids left for school, but finally dragged myself out the door. It was cold, but thankfully not rainy and cold, like the weather app predicted. Running in the rain doesn't bother me, but at 35 degrees, it would have been kind of miserable. I chose a route that I've never run before--basically five miles in one direction, and turn around and come back. I would be running on busier roads the entire time (which I like, because it's generally safe from dogs). I hoped trying a new route would distract me from the fact that I was running 10 miles.

As soon as I started running, I felt a weird cramp in my side--awesome. I hoped that it would go away soon, and just kept running. After about 3/4 of a mile, it started to sprinkle. Even more awesome. I started saying, "Please don't rain until after my run!" and naturally, the sprinkles turned into actual rain. I debated whether I should keep going or turn around and finish on the treadmill. I didn't dress for a wet run. I decided to keep going, and since I was going to be passing a recreation center at about mile four, I could just go inside and call for a ride if the rain was too bad.

The new route was the perfect distraction, and I actually was enjoying it. I refused to look at my Garmin the entire time, because I didn't want to push my pace--my race is on Sunday, so I want my legs to feel good. Unusual/interesting things I saw along the way, in order that I saw them:

• A man in his underwear taking a pizza box out to the trash (he looked totally embarrassed when he saw that I was running by, haha)
• A used condom
• A hypodermic needle
• A dead rabbit :(
• A homemade bong
• Another hypodermic needle

So based on my run this morning, one would think that I was running through the ghetto.

I felt surprisingly good after the first few miles. It helped that I wasn't concerned about my pace. Last week, my nine-mile run felt rough. I was pushing it, and I felt tired. Then at the end, I had to run super hard to get a sub-9:30 pace. Since today's run felt rather easy, I was guessing it was about a 10:15/mi pace. I was shocked when I stopped my watch and saw that I ran done a 9:30 average pace! I don't know what was different between last week and this week, but I was happy to see that I felt so good while running that pace.

I love how consistent my splits were! It's hard to do that even when I'm trying to.

I went grocery shopping after I showered. While I was there, I have no idea what possessed me, but I decided to buy a frozen meal for lunch. I despise frozen meals, and probably eat only one a year. I saw them in the display case, and I thought, "I wonder if they've gotten any better since the last time I tried one?" They were on sale, so I ended up buying one.

When I got home, I threw it in the microwave for four minutes, and it was done. After stirring it up, it looked like this:

It was 8 PointsPlus, which seemed like a lot for such a tiny amount of food. I kept thinking how I could cook something that tasted better, was cheaper, and a bigger portion--but I wanted to give it a chance.

Eh. It was okay. I wouldn't buy it again. It was pretty bland, and tasted like all the other frozen meals (it's weird how they all taste the same!)

Yesterday, I kept thinking about my ten-miler today and how I could buy a yummy treat to have after the run. I earned 12 PointsPlus, so I was excited to "spend" them on something good. But after the run, nothing really sounded good. Even at Kroger, I didn't see anything that sparked my interest.

But then it hit me in the late afternoon, and I knew the perfect way to spend the activity points--the last of the Biscoff spread! I did check how much was in there before eating it, because I wanted to make sure I was able to count the PP in it. There were 5 Tbsp. left (I usually eat 2 Tbsp at a time, which is a big spoonful). I happily savored every lick, and thoroughly cleared out the jar:

That was 11 PP, so it was the perfect amount for after my run. (Yes, Biscoff spread is pure junk food, but that's why I run!) I don't think I'll be buying another jar, though. I did great with this jar--I didn't binge at all--but I couldn't stop thinking about it, and it was driving me crazy. Knowing it was in the cupboard was taunting. It was great while it lasted, and I'm really happy I was able to go through a whole jar without bingeing, but now I'm fine with not buying more.

By the way, Jerry loved the reading your comments on my last post. I told him that he should write another guest post, and he said he wasn't sure what he should write about. So if anyone has questions for him, just leave a comment and he can do a Q&A post :)

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Weight Watchers 360 plan

Jerry must have read my blog post from yesterday, because I found this note from him on the mirror in the bathroom:

That put a big smile on my face!

I got dressed for a cold run, and then got the kids all ready for school. It's quite possible I was still asleep during my run today, because I don't remember much of anything about it! So weird. But I was dreading this run with a passion--I don't know why, but I just really wanted to skip out today. I thought of a million excuses not to do it, but excuses always lead to more excuses, so I knew I was going to get 'er done.

I even slept terribly last night, because I knew I was going to be running five miles in the morning when I didn't want to. Maybe that's why I don't remember much of my run! Anyway, I was scheduled for five miles at race pace (9:00/mi) and I had no intention of trying to push the pace--I would have been happy with nine minute miles, even though my previous race pace runs have been faster. I did an out-and-back route, and apparently I took a picture of myself when I returned:

(My plan was to have this be a wordless post--where I just took pictures of my day. But I quit before breakfast, because it was too much to think about. Maybe another day!)  Turns out that I ran faster than I'd planned on, despite being tired:

After my run, I jumped in the shower to get ready to head to Weight Watchers for my weigh-in and meeting. Since I'm in maintenance mode at WW, I don't want a big dip in my weight, so I just tried to make my weight the same as it was last week (with clothes and shoes and all that). The WW center got a new computer system last week, and when I saw my weight sticker, I thought the computer must not be very smart. I can do math in my head better than that:

Last weeks weight: 141.6; Today's weight: 141.5. That should be a loss of 0.1, right? Well, it said -1.5! I was confused, but since I didn't notice it until I got home, I figured I'd bring it up next week. What I think may have happened is that the computer uses my GOAL weight as the base, and then the +/- section is how far off of my goal I am...? My WW goal weight is 143, so 141.5 would be a loss of 1.5. That would make sense. Since I'm at goal, WW is only concerned with the fact that I stay at or below goal.

We got our materials for the 2013 plan, called Weight Watchers 360. From what I gathered, between WW Online, the meeting I attended today, and all the materials I've read, the 360 plan is the exact same plan as the 2012 PointsPlus plan. My leader said that the 360 plan is more about fitting WW into your lifestyle, but I didn't feel like anything was different.

I did buy a new 3-Month Journal, because that's how I log my food, and I really like the new design of it! It's bigger than the old one, but worth it when I see the layout.

2013 tracker vs. the 2012 tracker

This is new. Each week, you can plan out your meals in advance.

This is where you can plan your exercise for the week, and keep track of
your weekly points and activity points

These are the actual tracking pages to log your PP. I like that they have a
spot to distinguish between the daily, weekly, and activity points used (the
old planner didn't do this).

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I had such a great time last night catching up with Stacie! She's had quite a bit going on recently, so it was good to hear from her. We sat at Tim Horton's for about two hours, and then we made plans to meet up again on Monday (that way we don't go another year between visits!)

For reference, Stacie is the friend that I suckered into coming to dropped everything to fly out to Minnesota with me in August 2010 to run the Ragnar Relay Great River! Neither one of us had a clue what we were getting into. My brother (a team captain) had a couple of people drop out last minute, so Stacie and I took their places on the team. We had a blast! (Although we definitely questioned what the heck we were doing there).

 I believe this is in St. Paul... but I'm not sure. We had been awake for 30 hours, and I'm surprised we were still standing!

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Words with Friends and Wed. Weigh In

Yesterday I was in shock at how warm it was, and this morning, I was in shock by the cold. It was 61 degrees yesterday morning, and 30 degrees this morning.

I decided to go ahead and take a rest day today. I felt like I needed it. So I guess I'll just do my schedule as written this week--5 miles at race pace tomorrow, 10 miles easy on Friday, and rest Saturday, and race on Sunday. I just hope I'm rested enough for the race. The race is in the afternoon, and I never run in the afternoon! It should be interesting.

Today was my Wednesday Weigh-In. I was happy when I saw the scale:

134--so I'm down one pound this week. I am now just one pound away from my goal weight!! These last few pounds have come off very slowly. In November, I only lost 3.5 pounds. But the last 4-5 pounds have made a world of difference in my clothes. I tried on all of my clothes yesterday--every single item in my closet--and got rid of the stuff that I don't like or doesn't fit.

I had been holding onto a couple of shirts that I was hoping to wear at goal, but they are still too small, so I am getting rid of those. I hesitate to get rid of the jeans that are too big, because I keep thinking, "What if I gain the usual 15 pounds over the summer yet AGAIN?" But I think that keeping them will almost give me permission to gain, so I'm ditching them.

Like I keep saying, I have a maintenance plan this time around, so I WILL keep my weight in my maintenance range (preferably at the low end, but my panic weight is 137). I am also going to work hard to plan for the summer, and the emotional eating that always leads to weight gain. Anyway, one more pound--hopefully next week will be the week!

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So a couple of days ago, I discovered Words with Friends on my iPhone. I know, I'm about two years late to this party, but I think it's awesome! I've always hated Scrabble--not only am I terrible at it, but it's so boring to sit and wait forever for your opponent to come up with a word.

Words with Friends is an app that's essentially Scrabble you can play with your friends. The part I like is that you just play your word whenever you have a moment, and then come back to it later after your opponent has played a word. So theoretically, the games could go on for days, each person just playing a word when they have a moment.

I'm not even a little bit joking when I say that I'm terrible at the game. I have only played with Jerry and John so far, and I'm too embarrassed to even play with anyone else ;)  I don't mind losing, but it's not fun for other people to play with someone that is as bad as I am at that game!

The app even reminds me constantly
that all of my opponents have beat me

I also played Scramble with Friends, which is essentially Boggle. I like this game more, but I'm even worse at it than I am Words with Friends! After the first round, I was pretty confident--then Jerry just demolished my score. For that game, and the next two games.

 It's kind of ironic, because English and writing were always my best subjects in school. My grammar and spelling are both pretty decent, and I love to write. You would think I'd be good at these games! Oh well, at least it's fun :)

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Tonight I'm meeting up with my friend Stacie at Tim Horton's. I haven't seen her since we ran a 10K together in April. Every time we see each other, we say, "Let's get together next week--we can't wait another year again!" and then inevitably, we don't get together for months. I'm excited to catch up with her!

I've been going totally stir-crazy for three days now. Our minivan still isn't working, so Jerry has had to take the Jeep to work--all day long. I haven't left the house in three days, other than to go for a run. There are things we need from the store, so I think I will make a late run to Kroger after I see Stacie.

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How sodium changed my dieting mentality

Not to sound like a broken record, but what the heck is going on with this weather?! I wore my Heat Gear capris and a short-sleeved tech shirt on my run today, and was totally comfortable. Living in Michigan, I'm used to freezing cold December weather. I'm not complaining, I just think 61 degrees at this time of year is strange.

Anyway, I was scheduled for a three-mile easy run this morning, and I had no plans of pushing my pace today. I'm thinking of rearranging my run days because of my race this weekend. Instead of taking tomorrow off, I might run tomorrow and Thursday, then take Friday and Saturday off before the race. My long run is 10 miles this week, so I would like to have two days off afterward.

I did an out-and-back route and it went by pretty quickly. I couldn't believe how warm it was outside.

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Tomorrow is my weekly weigh-in day, and as I was trying to decide what to eat for breakfast, I remembered why I despise having a particular day for an "official" weigh in. In all of my past attempts at losing weight through the years, I always avoided sodium for a day or two before weighing in. I could easily drop a couple of pounds of water weight in a day of low-sodium eating.

But it drove me crazy! I didn't want to avoid sodium--I like salty food. And because I have very low blood pressure, my cardiologist (after I fainted, I had to see a one to rule out heart conditions) suggested I actually get more sodium in my diet. So I have no medical reason to avoid sodium.

When I was finally successful in losing weight, it was because I did on a daily basis what I knew I could live with forever. I didn't reduce my sodium on the day before a weigh-in. I decided that if I lost weight on the scale, I wanted it to be REAL weight--fat--rather than water weight; so there was no purpose in deliberately avoiding sodium that day. As far as sodium goes, my diet was pretty much the same day in and day out throughout my weight loss. When I had a loss on the scale, I didn't feel like it was "only" because of the reduced sodium.

(source)

Then this morning, I found myself thinking about what I could eat that was lower in sodium because I am weighing in tomorrow. No idea where that thought came from--I gave up that thinking a long time ago! So I did not reduce my typical sodium intake today, and I'm happy about that. If I have a loss tomorrow, awesome--if not, that's fine, too. At least if I lose a little, it won't be just water weight.

That whole sodium realization back in the day in 2009 (when I first started losing the weight) actually played a big part of my weight loss success. It wasn't just the sodium that I didn't want to have to think about daily; it was calories and exercise and food choices.

I knew I could probably get the weight off very quickly if I exercised seven days a week for a few hours a day (Biggest Loser-style); but I didn't want my body to adapt to that, because then I'd have to do that every week in order to keep losing weight (and maintain, if it ever came to that).

I also knew that I could lose weight quickly if I ate just 1200 calories a day. But again, if my body got used to that (even for a few weeks), if I ate any higher than 1200 calories, I wouldn't be losing weight anymore. And I most certainly didn't want to live off of 1200 calories a day forever. So I ate the most that I could get away with and still lose the weight (about 1800).

I knew I could lose weight faster if I gave up sugar, or carbs, or other "bad" foods; but if my body got used to that, I would probably gain weight if I ate a single cookie or ice cream cone after that, so I didn't want to give those things up--even temporarily.

The whole point is, I made choices I was willing to live with forever; that way, I was okay with my body adapting to them, because I planned to continue it. The sodium is a good example of seeing immediate results, but also seeing that it's only temporary.

Another example would be when I went to Weight Watchers way back in the day. The day of my meeting, I would skip breakfast and not even drink water that morning because I wanted my weight to be as low as possible at the meeting. That's ridiculous thinking!

Avoiding water wasn't going to give me "real" weight loss on the scale. It would dip down for that morning, and then go right back up when I drank my water and ate breakfast. I should have just aimed to be consistent--eat breakfast and drink water before every meeting, and then if I saw a loss, it would be because I had actually lost fat.

So I made my main focus on consistency. As long as I was consistent, I felt like I was doing it "right".

I hope this is making sense. I understand it perfectly in my head, but it's not very easy to write out! ;)

Basically, it call comes down to what I tell anyone when they ask me for weight loss advice:

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Cat tales

I hate tempo runs. Especially when they are scheduled for a certain amount of time rather than distance. (A tempo run is a run where you go faster than normal--not as fast as if you were racing, but fast enough to wear you wish you could slow down). Here is a quick rundown of the basic runs that I do:

When I do a tempo run for time (rather than distance), I have no motivation to go faster because I know I'm going to be running for x number of minutes, no matter how fast I'm going. When I run for distance, I tell myself that I will be done sooner if I run faster, so I have more motivation ;)

This morning on my schedule was a 40 minute tempo run, and I just didn't want to do it. Since I've been running most of my runs at more of a tempo pace lately (pushing myself to go faster), I decided to run intervals this morning instead--1/4 mile really hard, and then 1/10 mile walking. Repeat that for a total of eight times. Same exactly interval workout as last week.

I started with a short warm-up just to the end of my street, and then I started the first interval. I felt like I was flying! I've been wearing my Mizunos Wave Inspires for fast runs, and my usual Brooks Adrenalines for easy runs and long runs. The Mizunos are much squishier, where I feel more like I'm running on clouds (unfortunately, they give me blisters if I run more than eight miles in them, otherwise I'd wear them all the time).

Each interval I ran, I thought, "Ugh, there is no way I have another one in me." But then after my 1/10 mile walk, I somehow mustered up enough energy for another. When I finished, my lungs were burning and I was dripping with sweat--it was great!! My split times have improved again, even since last week (first number is time to complete the interval, in parenthesis is the pace per mile for that interval)

Interval 1- 1:48.2  (7:13/mi)
Interval 2- 1:42.4  (6:50/mi)
Interval 3- 1:49.7  (7:19/mi)
Interval 4- 1:47.1  (7:09/mi)
Interval 5- 1:49.2  (7:17/mi)
Interval 6- 1:51.1  (7:25/mi)
Interval 7- 1:52.3  (7:30/mi)
Interval 8- 1:42.5  (6:50/mi)

Average pace for each interval today was 7:11; last week it was 7:25; and a month ago, it was 7:40. It doesn't sound like a huge difference, but I am thrilled to see that I'm constantly improving with all the hard work!

I have a 5K race on Sunday--this is the race where I'm praying to break 26 minutes. I've done it a few times during training, but I'm the type of person that totally chokes when it comes to the race. I almost always run faster during training than I do during races--I get SO nervous to race (which is ridiculous, but I do).

To finish in 25:59, I'd have to run an 8:23/mi pace--and that's if I run exactly 3.1, but since I usually end up running a little longer than the actual course (due to weaving in and out of people), I'd like to try and stick with more of an 8:18 ish pace. Yikes!! My previous PR was an 8:42/mi pace, so this will be tough.

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My cats have been cracking me up lately, and I just have to post a few pictures. (I apologize if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, because I've been posting all about my cats lately!)

Yesterday, the boys and I were watching Homeward Bound (movie about two dogs and a cat), and I noticed that Phoebe was totally engrossed in watching the movie. She couldn't take her eyes off the screen. And then Estelle noticed too, because she started watching the movie as well. The two of them sat on their cat tree watching the movie for probably about an hour!

This morning, I noticed that Phoebe was eyeballing the Elf on the Shelf that was perched on top of the TV (my kids know that we are the ones moving the elf, but they still like to look for him every day). So I moved the elf to the curtain right above Phoebe, and she had a blast trying to knock him down.

When the elf actually did fall down right on top of her, she jumped up so high she about hit the ceiling, and she fell off the cat tree. I wish I had gotten pictures of that part!

Estelle is obsessed with boxes and anything else that she can sit in or on. She thinks we bring everything in the house just for her. I got a package in the mail a couple of days ago, and within minutes she was sitting in the box. And she stayed like that for about 30 minutes, just chillin' in a box in the middle of the floor.

(If you want to take a guess as to what was in the package, you can check out this Etsy site. It's the final part of my Ragnar Relay outfit ;) For now, I'll bombard my blog with cat photos).

Phoebe found a box of her own (Christmas stuff that we aren't using):

Chandler is so fat that he can't really fit inside of anything--but on the cat tree, there is a little platform without sides. That's the only spot that he can fit. But I use the term "fit" loosely, because there isn't even enough room left for his head...

And poor Paolo... I don't really take many pictures of Paolo, because he never does anything except for sleep. I'll try and catch him doing something picture-worthy soon.

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Virtual 5K

This morning when I woke up, I checked the weather on my phone before getting dressed to go for a run. I was shocked by what I saw!

It's December, in Michigan, and it's 57 degrees at 7:30 in the morning?!! I dressed in my UA Heat Gear capris and a thin long-sleeved shirt (which ended up being too hot--I should have worn a tank). When I stepped outside, I just couldn't believe how warm it was. Last week, it was 19 degrees during one of my morning runs.

I was scheduled to run 4.5 miles at an easy pace. I've been pushing the pace a lot lately, and I didn't want to feel pressure to keep doing that on every run, so I decided not to look at my Garmin at all. Maybe it's because I wasn't looking, but I felt like I was going SO slow the first couple of miles. When I knew I was close to the turn-around point (2.25 miles in), I looked at my Garmin just to see the distance; and I accidentally saw my pace was at 9:04/mi. I was surprised to see that I was going that fast, because I could have sworn I was running about a 10:30/mi pace.

Seeing that kind of motivated me to pick up the pace a little and try to finish with a sub-9:00/mi average. Shortly after I turned around, however, I stopped dead in my tracks because there was an unleashed German Shepherd practically right on top of me to my left (I was running against traffic, and the dog was in the yard right next to me). The dog was totally quiet at first, which scared me--and then it started barking at me and coming toward me. I darted across the street and just stopped, so it wouldn't chase me. The owners weren't outside, of course, so I just stood there for about two full minutes, debating what to do.

If I turned around to run a different way home, it would add about three extra miles to my run; but I was scared to keep running. I saw a car coming toward us, and as soon as it was fairly close, I booked it and started running--that way if the dog tried to run at me, well, the car would stop it. I could hear the dog barking, but I just kept going.

It started raining on my way back home, but not pouring rain. It actually felt really good!

I'm bummed to have encountered the dog. I've stopped running the other routes I used to love because of the unleashed dogs, and this route was new as of recently. It's mostly on the shoulder of a busy road, so I felt "safe" from dogs. I really need to remember to bring my pepper spray from now on.

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I can't believe I've been 30 for almost a year!

I made a little sign-up form for the virtual 5K next month. If you missed my mentioning it, my 31st birthday is on January 25th--and I thought it would be fun to run 5K (3.1 miles) for my 31st, and make it an event :) So, if you're interested in joining me, I would love that!

A "virtual" race is really just where you map out the distance near your home (or use a treadmill) and run it on your own on a certain date. Then I will post all the results on my blog, and have prizes. I haven't worked out the details on the prizes yet, but I definitely will have a least a few (self-funded). If there are any companies reading this that may want to donate something, please e-mail me! I'll post more about that when it gets closer.

This isn't just for runners--you're welcome to walk this, too! The prizes will be given out at random to people who finish the 5K and give me their results--so you don't have to be fast. My mom said she will try to make this her first 5K (she's still doing the Couch to 5K program), so I will most likely be doing it along with her.

Here is the form:

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Typical meals

I've been asked quite a few times recently about the specifics of what some of my typical meals are, especially since I've been doing Weight Watchers. I was avoiding this post, because I know that my diet is FAR from perfect. I probably have too many carbs, too little protein, not enough veggies, too much processed crap, and too many sugary grapes. However, this is an honest look at what I eat.

The point of posting this isn't for a "meal plan" but to show that I eat things I like and still manage to lose weight. I don't live off of salad and grilled fish. These are things I enjoy eating. I usually go through phases, where I eat the same thing for a long time before switching to something else; but these were the common things I found while going through my food journal from the last three months. I just eat whatever I feel like eating, and I count the PointsPlus in it.

Typical breakfasts:

• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter + 1 Tbsp. Nutella and a banana
• 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water and 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, and a banana
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 egg + 1 egg white (scrambled) and 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese, and a banana
• Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Raisin granola (1 serving) with 1/2 cup 1% milk and a banana
• 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbsp. PB2, and 1 Tbsp. chocolate chips, and a banana
• Protein shake
• 1 serving Kashi GoLean Crunch with 1/2 cup frozen blueberries and 1/2 cup 1% milk

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Typical lunches:

• 2 eggs + 1 egg white, scrambled, with 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese; 1.5 cups grapes
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 egg + 1 egg white (scrambled) and 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese, and 1.5 cups grapes
• Subway 6" ham & turkey sub on wheat bread with provolone cheese, lettuce, green peppers, onions, banana peppers, and mustard; and 1.5 cups grapes
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 2 Tbsp. almond butter; and 1.5 cups grapes
• 1.5 cups spaghetti squash (cooked) topped with 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese, 1/2 cup jarred spaghetti sauce with 1 oz. cooked lean ground turkey, and 4 tsp. parmesan cheese; 1 slice 35-calorie bread, toasted, with 1 Tbsp. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light spread and sprinkled with garlic salt
• 1 can light Progresso soup with 5 saltine crackers; and 1.5 cups grapes
• tuna salad (1 can tuna + 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese) on 6 Dill Triscuits with 1.5 cups grapes

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 Typical dinners:

• Chili with 1/4 cup fat-free cheddar cheese and 2 Tbsp. chopped onions
• General Tsao's Chicken with 1 serving cooked brown rice
• Homemade pizza--homemade crust (1/4 of the recipe), 1/4 cup canned pizza sauce, 1 oz. mozzarella cheese, 1 oz. fat free feta cheese, 2 Tbsp. chopped bell pepper + onion, 4 tsp. parmesan cheese
• Homemade split pea soup in the crock pot
• Southwest Chicken & Beans in the crock pot
• Baked Ziti
• Pasta e Fagioli

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Typical snacks:

• CLIF bar
• 1.5 cups grapes
• 2 Tbsp. peanut or almond butter
• Fiber One Oats 'n Chocolate bar
• 1 oz. almonds
• 6 oz. wine + 1 Dove Promise (dark chocolate)
• Broccoli with 2 Tbsp. Marzetti light ranch veggie dip
• McDonald's vanilla ice cream cone
• 2 cups Kroger Butterfinger ice cream (I only have this occasionally when I earn a lot of activity points--the pint is 18 PP, so I obviously can't have this very often!) 

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As you can see, I just tend to eat whatever I'm craving at the time; and I'm happy with the way I eat. However, I do plan on challenging myself to eat more veggies sometime soon--I'm definitely lacking in that department, because I'm just not a big veggie fan (and when I do buy them, they go bad before I use them). So while my diet certainly isn't ideal, it's definitely MUCH healthier than what I ate when I was obese!

Now that I've shared, what does a typical day's food look like for you??

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Pink, yellow, and orange

I reeeeally didn't feel like a long run this morning, and was so tempted to just put it off and possibly do it tomorrow. But if I put off every run that I didn't feel like doing, I wouldn't be a runner anymore ;)

So I got up and dressed, and since Jerry was home to get the kids off to school, I left the house at 7:15. I drove to the Metropark to run, since running nine miles around here would drag on forever--I needed the change of scenery. I parked at the same spot I ran with Steph last week, and just planned to run out 4.5 miles and then turn around.

It was in the mid-30's, and I felt hot almost immediately after I started running. I was wearing two long-sleeved shirts, and I should have just worn one. I was glad I left my gloves in the car. My goal was to try and maintain sub-10:00 miles for the whole run. For the first couple, I felt fine. Mile three, I started to feel really irritated and I wanted to turn around early.

During the fourth mile, I just felt "off". My legs felt clumsy, and I just really didn't want to run! I kept going, but quit pushing the pace. Once I got to the turn-around spot, I was happy to be headed back to the car, so I started running a little faster each mile. After mile eight, I saw that I was running a 9:32/mi average pace, and I decided to use the last mile to try and get the average under 9:30. So I ran hard for the last mile, and finished the last mile in 8:41, making my average overall pace 9:26. I was happy with that!

I was really surprised to see that I had burned 916 calories! I very rarely burn 100+ calories per mile... usually more like 85. I've noticed that I've been burning more lately, since I've been running faster (obviously because it gets my heart rate up higher).

When I got home, I showered and then made a very indulgent breakfast: steel cut oats topped with 2 Tbsp. of Nutella! It was as yummy as it was messy and gross-looking ;)

After breakfast, Jerry and I went out for some errands. Our garbage disposal broke yesterday, so we needed a new one from Lowe's. I also had to mail some shirts to a couple of the girls on my Ragnar team. We finally decided on team colors!! Our team isn't going to be wearing the exact same shirts, but we're going to wear the same colors--that way we can wear whatever we like and still match.

For the first run, we'll be wearing bright pink. Run #2 will be bright yellow. And the third run will be bright orange. I have a bright pink tank and a bright yellow tank, but was in need of orange. And since all the winter clothes are out now, I was worried I'd have a hard time finding a tank to use in Florida. I ended up finding some on clearance for $4.50! They are performance tanks (moisture-wicking fabric, which is what I like to run in). And they had bright orange.

I took this picture in the fitting room to text to the rest of my team, to see if they wanted me to pick up some for them as well. Jerry was desperate to be in the picture ;)

We talked about maybe putting "our number" on the back--meaning the number of pounds we've lost. These tanks are ribbed, so I'm not sure how I will do that. Maybe with reflective tape?

I'm waiting on one more part of my outfit, and then I'll post pictures. I'm getting SO EXTREMELY EXCITED. The Ragnar is all I have thought about for days now! I cannot wait to meet my team, and run with them in Florida.

Noah went to a pool party with a friend tonight, so Jerry and I asked Eli if he wanted to do something special while Noah was gone. He said he wanted to go out for ice cream. Thankfully, all of the ice cream shops around here are closed for the season, so we went to McDonald's for ice cream, where I could get my beloved vanilla cone. That cone has become a favorite treat of mine lately! Jerry and I always look forward to seeing what our cones look like--sometimes, they look picture-perfect; other times, they look very sloppy.

A few days ago, we got one that was the sloppiest cone I'd ever seen. I wish I'd thought to take a picture! Literally half of the ice cream was falling down the side of the cone. I was a little shocked when I saw it, and then when Jerry was handed his cone, it looked the same as mine! We thought it was hilarious. The person who made it definitely needed more practice.

Today, our cones weren't very pretty, but they sure did taste good!

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Weight Watchers goal weight

As you probably know, yesterday's Powerball was big news--$500 million. Jerry and I play the lotto only once every three years or so, when the jackpot is super high like that. We know nothing about the lottery, but when everyone talks about it, we might spend $5 on tickets.

So a few days ago, I happened to have $10 cash in my wallet (I very rarely have cash), so I told Jerry to go ahead and buy $10 worth of tickets, just for the fun of it. He bought the ticket and then last night, we were looking at it for the drawing when he realized that he'd bought the wrong one!

He bought the Mega Millions ticket instead of the Powerball.

We're lucky that our numbers weren't pulled on the Powerball, because that would have been the ultimate disappointment! Not that we expected to win, but it was nice to think we at least had a shot... until we realized Jerry's mistake ;)

This morning, I had four miles at race pace on the schedule. Technically my race pace for Ragnar is 9:00/mi, but when my schedule says "race pace", I just try to run anything sub-9:00. Unlike yesterday, I really didn't feel like running today. It's always hard to get motivated to run after a day off!

I put on the Jillian Michaels' podcast and listened to that while I ran. I love doing out-and-back routes, because they seem to go buy so much faster. Once I get to the turnaround, it's just a straight shot home. I finished with a pretty good time!

Tomorrow is my long run--nine miles.

After my run, I showered, ate breakfast, and got ready to go to my Weight Watchers meeting. Last week, I drank a ton of water and wore heavy clothes before the meeting. This morning, I didn't have a lot of time to worry about that, so I just dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, drank one quart of water, and two cups of tea.

I knew that the Weight Watchers scale would register a large loss, but I really didn't care, since I'd already done my initial weigh in. Last week, I went to the Wednesday night meeting, since Thanksgiving was on Thursday; so it was a different leader. Today, I met the leader that I'd spoken with on the phone. She weighed me in and I was down 6.4 pounds from last week (yikes). Which means I reached my WW goal weight.

To reach goal on WW, you have to have lost at least 5 pounds from your starting weight, and your goal has to be within the healthy BMI range (for me, that's between 117-144). I chose 143 for my WW goal weight, because I weigh in with clothes on, and after breakfast and all that. I wanted to have a little "cushion" in case I gain a few pounds. So today, I was 141.6, and "officially" reached goal.

My leader asked if I wanted her to present me with the sticker at the meeting, and I said no, thank you. Despite the fact that I am a blogger, and write all about myself, I really don't like getting attention. So she handed me a pamphlet on maintenance, and the sticker, and a little WW charm for reaching goal:

I was being silly when Jerry took this pic--like, "I've been on and off WW for the last almost-20 years, and I FINALLY reached goal, and look what I got!!" It's such a dumb thing to get excited about, but I worked a loooong time and very hard to get that little star!

I put it on the WW 10% key chain my sister gave me. When I was losing weight, I was still counting WW Points, but wasn't a member. I had lost 10% of my weight, and my sister wrapped up her 10% key chain that SHE had gotten from WW and gave it to me. I thought that was really awesome of her! She said I should get something for all the work I was doing...

So the key chain is old and worn, and I love it like that--because both of us worked really hard for it!

Now, the next step is to become a "Lifetime" member. To reach that status, I have to maintain my weight loss for six weeks (losing more is okay). After the six week period, if I'm at or below goal, I will be a Lifetime member, and won't have to pay for meetings (or e-tools, a way to log PointsPlus online) as long as I continue to weigh in once a month at or below goal.

I really should have thought this through before reaching goal today, because you know when my six-week period ends? The day after I get home from Key West. This could either go really well, or really badly. It can definitely help to keep me on track in Florida, but I don't want to be afraid of letting loose and having as much fun as possible down there.

We all know how much weight I can gain in a few days on vacation... it's not unusual for me to gain 10 pounds in a weekend! I think I'll be fine as far as the food goes, but it's the alcohol that I'm worried about. Jerry and I will be on vacation in Key West without kids, in a beautiful hotel on the beach... and I plan on having some drinks. Too many drinks! But I'm certainly not 21 anymore, so maybe I'll only last a day before I never want to see alcohol again ;)

Regardless, I'm not going to worry much about it. If it means that I have to maintain my weight for another six weeks when I get home, so be it! But I was a little worried about going super-overboard while on vacation, so maybe this whole WW thing will keep me in check. I don't mind gaining a couple of pounds over the week, but I certainly don't want to gain 10.

Anyway, the meeting was okay. The ladies in there were VERY friendly, and I didn't feel judged in the slightest. They asked if I was new, and I said yes; they all introduced themselves, which was nice. I didn't tell anyone that I'd lost a lot of weight or anything, so they probably assumed I was just looking to lose a few pounds. It was hard NOT to talk about that, because all the other ladies were talking about how much they'd lost--but I kind of felt like if I said anything, I would be stealing the show, and I didn't want to do that.

The hardest part was when someone brought up The Dr. Oz Show. Of course none of them knew that I had been a guest on the show, and I almost mentioned it, but didn't want to get totally off the topic of what the leader was trying to talk about (which wasn't The Dr. Oz Show!). So again, I just kept quiet the whole time. And it was actually really nice, to not have to talk about my weight loss, and just hear about the success of others.

I liked the leader of the Wednesday night meeting better, but I have to pick a daytime meeting while my kids are in school. So I'm not sure what I'll do next week--if I'll stay in the Thursday morning meeting, or switch to one with a different leader. Maybe I'll go to a few different meetings (once you pay, you can go to as many meetings as you want that week) and try out a few different leaders before finding one to stick with. But since joining, I haven't had any negative experiences this time around, so I am happy about that!

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