No seriously, Motivation...

You'd think I'd have given myself a kick in the pants after the last motivation post.  You'd think.

I didn't.

Anyway, I just placed an order for a BodyMedia FIT LINK armband - it's supposed to track your calories burned (all day and night) and monitors sleep patterns, and has a software it links up with for tracking calories ingested. I am so excited to get this thing.

To sucker my way into getting it, I compared it to our car (which is a hybrid).  The car shows  your it's performance while you're driving, so you can see if you hit the accelerator too hard or are riding the gas pedal too much, and if you want the car to perform better and have optimal gas mileage, you have to pay attention to what the car is telling you and go easy on it.  Same thing with my body and this BodyMedia guy (or what I hope).  I envision that it will show me how I'm doing all day long and I can track my history and see what works vs what doesn't work.  I've read a ton of reviews and 9 out of 10 say that the user has had a lot of success.

I'm so excited to get it and I'll report back when I do and have had it for a while :)

Dear Motivation...

Where the heck did you run off to?

It's the beginning of February and January flew by like a cat being chased by a cute puppy, much like my motivation.  It was a busy month, full of puppy duty and new job stuff, but seriously, I feel like SUCH a SLACKER.

So the other day after work I hauled myself off the couch and ran a mile.  For having not been on a run in, oh, three or four months, it felt pretty good to get back out there and it felt even better to actually be able to run the entire mile sans stopping.  So I plan on running again today after work, even if it is just a mile again. I've got to keep my priorities in check but also not push for too much to fast.

I've been reading a lot of 'runner-girl' blogs lately - Run, Eat, Repeat; Skinny Runner; Once Upon a (L)ime; Meals and Miles; Eat Live Run; Daily Garnish and they've been motivating - they all have (fairly) good diets, run like crazy and look amazing.  Here's to joining that crowd sometime in the next century!

Food woes on the j.o.b.

Yes folks, you heard it right. J.O.B.

I got one.

Finally.

!

It's going great so far, everyone's nice and welcoming, the facility is beautiful and they provide every single flavor of coffee a girl could dream of.  I'm on day 3 so not too much responsibility just yet, but we're getting there.

But this whole not being at home all day thing has seriously kicked my healthy eating progress in the hiney.  Know what I had for 'breakfast' today?  A peppermint mocha and a pop tart.

Sad. Face.

SO bad.  One package of pop tarts holds all of my daily allotted carbs, not to mention tons of calories and other things that are oh-so-bad for my body.  Sigh.

Christmas and new years didn't exactly go over so smoothly with the food thing, and as of a few days ago I hadn't lost anything more BUT I hadn't gained anything either.  As of this morning, I'm up 4lbs.

Really. Gigantic. Sad. Face.

Getting back on the horse that bucked me off (must've been spooked by the holidays) and having another go at this.

NO MORE POP TARTS.

"No offense, but..."

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times in my life I've felt like I'm not enough 'something'.  Not good enough, not spiritual enough, not skinny enough.  We all know that no one is perfect, but what happens when we extend an expectation of perfection onto others?  When we don't mean to offend but we say something offensive?  So many times we've all bit our tongues to a snarky remark or rude judgment and just let it float on.  How else are we supposed to handle stuff like that?

I truly have no answer to this, but I so wish I did.  There are often times that people close to us will say something incredibly offensive but not 'mean it that way.'  We've all passed judgment on others, including myself, and I rarely stop to think "I wonder if what I'm commenting on/thinking about might be a daily struggle for that person..." I understand honesty and truthfulness, but I think we all need to be more aware of others feelings and think before we speak to ensure we aren't offensive.  Even the smallest passing judgment can be seriously hurtful, especially when you don't stop to think about what battles people are fighting on their own.

We all have our own ideas of how things should be handled: how the kids should be raised; how the house should be kept; what fitness and eating well looks like, and rarely do two individuals agree 100% on these things, yet we almost all feel like our way is the right way and then feel the need to push that way on the other person.  I believe we should all be free to have our own opinions, but I also feel like there are situations in which our opinions are best kept to ourselves. Obviously, I could go on and on about this topic, it's such a predominant issue, but I won't.  I am going to make an honest attempt to make a serious change to be less judgmental and think more before I speak, and I hope others will do the same!

CrossFit's "Skinny Fat"

I happened upon this article on Pinterest and, normally when I find something like this I'll scan it for a minute or two and go back to aimlessly wasting time browsing for DIY projects I am likely to not ever DIY.  This article held my attention from beginning to end AND even reading back over certain sections.  A lot of it is information a lot of us are already aware of, but it really drives home the point that 'skinny' does not mean healthy and more importantly, the thing a lot of us ladies can be scared of, bulking up is almost impossible for women - we just aren't built to bulk up (you know, with muscle...with fat we can definitely be bulky...)

So...check it out, it really has some good advice.  http://www.crossfitsouthbay.com/2011/05/skinny-fat/

Just. Plain. Genius.

Zucchini Cakes

Image and recipe from lifesambrosia.com

Okay okay, chalk it up to laziness - or forgetfulness - I haven't charged the camera, hence all the meals I've made in the past week or so have gone un-photographed.  Including last night's Oven Fried Chicken and Zucchini Cakes.

The OFC was okay...but note that I did tweak the recipe and instead of using 1 cup of flour, I used 2 tbsp, which is a BIG difference but was the only way I could make it, and instead of dredging or shaking the chicken in the bag of flour mixture, I sifted the mix over the chicken and then baked.

The zucchini cakes (the recipe which I cannot take credit for, aside from my little tweak) on the other hand are the hubs new favorite and we always end up fighting over who gets more.  They are awesome with a little ranch or sour cream.  The tweak I make on this recipe is instead of using 1 cup of Panko, I only use 1/2 cup and they still are wonderful and stay together just fine (and I may very well use more than 1/2 cup of cheese).

Zucchini Cakes:

Ingredients (from lifesambrosia.com)

• 1 large zucchni grated, excess water removed (Note: To do this, after you grate the zucchini, put the grated zucchini into paper towels and squeeze to release the water)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (I use 1/2 cup instead...less carbs!)
• sprinkle of ground nutmeg, about 1/8 teaspoon (Note: If you add too much it can quickly take over the taste, less is more)
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Using a heaping tablespoon form the mixture into 8 patties.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Once heated, add patties and cook until golden brown. About 3-4 minutes per side. Serve.

Sit tight, more recipes to come ;)