st. patty’s dinner party

Want to have your awesome guinness and steak pie and eat it too? Then maybe invite 6 people over to eat it with  you and give your roommate the leftovers. Worked for me.

So yeah, yesterday I  had some friends over for an awesome St. Patty’s day dinner. We had steak and guinness pie,, garlic mashed potatoes and spinach salad. What a glorious meal. Definitely well-spent flex points, AND a friend of mine also polished off the rest of that blueberry pie, so now it is not mocking me anymore. Hazah!

versus the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet

Uncomfortably full right now. Food pushing won out in the battle of the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. I love my family, but they aren’t very supportive food choice wise. Ultimately, what I put in my mouth is my choice, but it’d be nice if people helped making good choices be easier.

avoided a high cal/low nutritional content breakfast today so I can have guinness and steak pot pie tonight

Knowing what you are going to have for dinner is uber helpful in planning out your meals for the day. I *know* I am going to have epic guinness and steak pot pie for dinner, which is probably hella high in points, so I avoided the tempting breakfast options around my parent’s house (croissants and this awesome cranberry bread stuff) and am going to have a veggieful lunch today.

The food pressure is not as bad as it has been in the past. I think the family gets that I am trying to eat well. Although they still get annoyed when I want to make my own plate up for dinner. And ask things like “Don’t  you like croissants?” Yes, I like croissants. Also, blueberry fritters. But I don’t feel like being hungry again in an hour, especially given that today is a long run day. (Um, no I did not say that. I said Yes, I like croissants, but I am going to have cereal ; )

I have been encouraging my brother to join Weight Watchers. He’s underemployed and in a bit of a funk and it shows in his weight gain. It’s weird, kind of, or maybe not at all — I totally see myself  in him two years ago. I wasn’t underemployed, just really unhappy. I would stay at home all the time, eating, and avoiding people, sleeping a lot of the time. And that’s what he is doing. I am trying to be supportive and help him to get out of it, but it’ll be hard — I am only in town for a week. Looks like I am going to have to make a lot of long distance phone calls.

half-marathon training update

Week 2 of Three-Runs-A-Week (TRAW!) half-marathon training is going well — 14 weeks till the race and I feel spectacular! At least running-wise. Food  is a whole other story.

I just-ish got in from my once-a-week interval run.  This is what I did:

Warm up: 1 mile easy

5 x 1 km with 400 m rest intervals (meaning I ran fast for a whole kilometre, walked 400 m, then ran fast again for another kilometre, etc.)

Cool down: 1 mile easy

I ran each of those five 1 kms at a speed of 5 min/km, which is amazing! I can’t believe I did it. Five times! Without falling off the treadmill! Or puking! I am liking my new training regime — it is really making me push my limits.

Whenever I start training for half-marathons my weight goes screwy. I end up not eating enough, or not bringing enough food with me to work, or not eating enough carbs or eating too many carbs — basically I end up accidentally going hungry, and then over-eating, which is totally what made me overweight in the first place. That and eating my feelings and being depressed. So, I need to make sure I have a lot of hearty, good food around to allow myself to eat when I am hungry. So I am currently making a chili! Also…

I am switching to (steel-cut) oatmeal for breakfast with almonds and some sort of fruit (possibly an apple). Apparently it keeps hella well so I can make a weeks worth in the slow cooker and have it good to go for breakfast everyday. For lunch, I will have a hearty salad or sandwich and veggies for lunch. I have no idea what to do dinner wise; normally I try to just have veggies and some sort of meat, but I am not sure that will cut it — any suggestions would rock.

fear, part deux

Fear (the movie) starred Marky Mark, was scary, and there was a memorable scene on a rollercoaster. But there is something even scarier than Mark Walberg lurking in the corners of your kitchen cupboard: carbs. Yes people. Carbs. These villains would batter old people– or at least not walk them across the street — if given the chance. I bet they would kick puppies, and murder babies if they could. They are seriously the spawn of Satan. Or at least that’s how they are painted.

Carbs aren’t evil, everybody. In fact, your body actually needs them, albeit in moderation. Does anyone else get dirty looks when they are eating pasta or couscous or rice or insert carb here? Or is it just me? Seriously, folks, back the fuck off. I am going to eat spaghetti sometimes. YES EVEN AT NIGHT. And I am going to do so in moderation, within my points-allotment for the day.

Mofos.

bringing my lunch to work week — good for my wallet and waist

I made a pact with a co-worker that I would bring my lunch to work EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. I work downtown and sometimes bring lunch 0 out of 5 days, so this is requiring more forethought on my part. She hasn’t actually done that yet. But, it is going well thus far for me! I eat my biggest meal at lunch — it tends to be more dinner-y, content-wise — because I gym it up after work, and then have a small dinner.

Yesterday and today I had potatoes, which I slow cooked in burrito spice (umm delicious); chicken — rubbed in a bit of oil, garlic, rosemary and a pinch of lemon juice; and mixed veggies. I am about to cook some eggplant and mushrooms in veggie spice in foil in the oven, as well as some chicken skewers for tomorrow and Thursday (with left over potatoes, probably).

Bringing my lunch in makes me eat healthier, whole foods, costs less, and is probably better for the environment, given the amount of waste take out creates.

Also, today I did the split your lunch into 2 and eat half of it now, half later thing and it really curbed my usual 2 o’clock sugar crash / ravenous chocolate craving that I get EVERY DAY. w00t. Recommend trying if you have not!

Bizarro Week

If you are awesome enough to read comicbooks you would be aware of a villain of Superman’s known as BIZARRO. He has reverse versions of Kryptonian powers including freeze-vision, heat-breath, vacuum breath, spot-light vision, x-ray hearing. Those powers are kind of cool. This week I pretty much had opposite powers of last week. So, I had the power to eat Big Macs with the greatest of ease, leap over tall buildings in order to get blueberry fritters, exercise my right to not exercise, and not keep track of what I was eating. The only super power that remained was the grumpyness. I was able to clear rooms (such as my office) with mere glances. Which is pretty handy when you are irritated with yourself for being so off-program. Oh that part about leaping  over tall buildings to get donuts was untrue – I just picked them up on the way to work on foot.

So, what the fuck is causing Bizarro to reign in a crisis of infinite appetite? (Umm crisis of infinite earths reference? No? Drop the comicbook talk? ‘Kay.) I am stressed the fuck out. I have two term papers due within 3 weeks for school, my new boss is a douchebag, and all of this is cutting into my sleep time.

How will I fight my kryptonite? Seems like more sleep could really help. And making my schedule slightly less ridiculous via helpful time management so I have the time to plan for success – that is, to grocery shop, pack lunches, make dinner instead of eating out. Tomorrow is Friday. I am going to stay in, make myself something nutritious and delicious for dinner, and go to bed inordinately early. And it shall be glorious. Saturday morning I have coerced a friend into running 12 km with me, and Sunday I am doing a spinning class with another friend.

You’re dead Bizarro.

At least for now.

(Cause yeah, in comicbooks dead people always come back. Like the phoenix. Seriously, how many times has she died?? Oh wait I dropped the comics thing. Shit.)

Me vs. Weekends

I work an office job, so managing what I eat during the week is pretty simple, on account of the whole schedule thing.

Drag ass out of bed. Half asleeply eat cereal. Pack a fruit for a morning snack, vegetableful lunch, 2:00 snack, and go. Go to gym post-work. Eat sensible dinner upon arrival at home. Repeat x 5.

Enter weekend. I wake up late, make poor food choices, and am generally pretty lazy.

Anyone else losing the battle against weekends?

I started today off with a bowl of Cheerios, which was, as I discovered the hard way, doused in milk that was past its prime

I didn’t puke or anything, but it was an unpleasant way to start my day.

Especially because I was all proud of myself for not going to Tim Hortons, and instead picked up milk on my way into work so I could have a nutritious breakfast. I ended up nauseated and hungry. (A lone banana is a bullshit breakfast.)

Three days into consciously eating better and tracking and I am grumpy to the max. I suspect this has a little to do with not getting enough sleep this week (and the whole milk debacle) , and a lot to do with turning down the junk food . Sure, the first couple of days are all la-dee-da, yay I am eating better w00t me. Then it gets harder. Then grumpy p4p makes an appearance.

Luckily, I have been through this before and know that it will pass eventually. Until then I will probably be bitchy, and also resentful towards people who don’t have to try to be a healthy weight. Damn them.

I want a cookie.

And by a cookie I mean an entire box of oreos, just so we are clear.

Tomorrow I am going to use some of those flex points and have a pizza and movie date with my friend. And it shall be glorious.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

One of my closest friends just joined WW. (Uber proud of you, dudette!) This has got me thinking about my health and weight – where I have been, where I am, where I am going. Her commitment to her health  inspired me to revisit this blog, and I got a bit of a kick out of re-reading my ups and downs.

It’s been months since my last post. A lot has happened. I just completed my second half-marathon (21.1km) on Sunday. According to this blog, I started running November 18, 2007. So, under a year later I hammered out two half-marathons. A year (ish) ago I found running 3 km difficult/nearly impossible. It’s kind of amazing to stand back and think of it that way.

During the summer I took up dragon boating, and eventually became the co-captain of a competitive team. At the last festival we blew our best time out of the water, and I met some friendly, athletic women along the way. One of whom is now my weight lifting buddy. (Just re-started a weight lifting regime a month ago, and am already seeing results.)

I’ve also removed my head from my ass school-wise, too. I am on track to finish my MA for April.

Weight gain was a symptom of some seriously low self esteem, self worth, and confidence. I feel like I am getting back to who I am, and that feels pretty spectacular (more on this in another post, this one is already a novella an I’m not done).

I’ve quit weight watchers. I figure I learned all I could from them, and have the support mechanisms I need to succeed. Interestingly, I weigh roughly the same as I did last time I blogged. Apparently, according to my BMI, 150 is the MAXIMUM I should weigh, and I am thusly 15 pounds overweight.

I have plateaued.

Ultimately, I’d like to train for a full marathon. I have signed up for a 30 km race as litmus to see if 42.2 km is doable. Being overweight makes running harder on your body, and is bad for running economy. Have I mentioned I don’t feel overweight? I don’t. This whole BMI thing bugs me. Even though I don’t want to worry about the scale and about numbers, it is for sure in the back of my mind – especially when I step on the scale, or head out for a long run. I suspect it also bothers me because I am aware that I have stopped challenging myself to eat better (even though I continue to challenge myself as an athlete). I’ve accepted that this is the best I can do, when it isn’t, if I am honest with myself.

I don’t want to be a slave to the scale. But, at the same time, I think there is some wiggle room for me to do better food-wise. Inspired by my friend, I am going to start tracking again. I need to find the balance between obsessing and being cognisant of my weight. I am going to try harder to see if I have reached my potential, or maybe discover that I haven’t. Watching what I eat, and especially monitoring portion size, might just make me harder, better, faster, and stronger. Especially with all this running.