well, hello

Wow. It has been quite a while since I updated this little blog. Here's a quick re-cap.

I did run the 5k! Well, most of it anyway. But I haven't stepped foot in my running shoes since. I have fallen off the wagon in a major way. We've had some pretty big life changes around here since December. They're all really GOOD changes, just still trying to adjust and learn our new normal.

Today is my first (again) day of Weight Watchers. So far, so good! :) I have a new 5k goal in mind for April: The NCR Sprint for Cancer. That gives me 81 days to re-train myself...here goes nothin'!

via

weigh in monday

today is my official weigh in day. and it was a good one!

August 15, 2011 Weigh-in:  -4 lbs.
Total lost: 12 lbs.


I also hit my first big goal for Weight Watchers. 10%!!

Saturday afternoon after i posted about our amazing weather, we walked to this little shopping center about a mile from our house for lunch and frozen yogurt. It felt good to get some activity in and have some sweet family time. It was super humid, so we worked up a pretty nice sweat. Plus pushing my 30 lb boy in a 10 lb stroller helped!

This week is short for us. We have some big plans for the weekend. I'll update through the week with my workouts. Going for a run tonight for sure!


Happy Monday!

i promise i'll stop talking about the weather

but it's RAINING outside right now! it has been raining most of the night apparently. and it's 77 degrees. I mean, i don't know what to say besides halleluja! we sure need it.

Back on-topic, I did get a good workout in yesterday. Hit the 30-day shred for the first time in almost 2 weeks. It felt awesome. I'm trying to talk myself into bumping up to level 2. I am such a chicken. I've never even done level 2. Maybe tonight or tomorrow. I might even talk myself into taking advantage of this cool weather and go for a run later today. We'll see.

Also, I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 4 lbs. this week. Holy cow! I made some pretty significant changes to my diet, and it's apparently working. I've cut gluten, most carbs, sugar (minus a teaspoon or so for my coffee) and dairy. I thought for this carb-o-holic that I would surely die of cravings, but it's actually been easier than I thought. I've had so much more energy, never feeling heavy or weighed down by what I eat. And seeing that scale move is really great motivation. So, the combination of weight watchers, and all that stuff is really working for me right now.

I'd love to hear what you guys are doing. Anyone else trying the gluten-free diet? Or paleo?

i'm off to enjoy the weekend with my guys. have a good one!

I'm baaaack

Finally! It has been a crazy few weeks around here. Today was the first time I've run since the last time I updated...isn't that awful? But I was doing the 30-day shred or yoga (or both!) every day.

Except last week.

Jackson and I spent a week with my dad...which is always so much fun, but also I tend to feel like calories don't count at Pop's house. But I actually did pretty well eating wise. I did get one good swim in while I was there, but that was it as far as working out. But, I still managed to lose 1 pound! So I'm officially down  8 lbs. (I lost a pound the week before too.) So, yay for not gaining!

Running (for the first time in my new fancy shoes!) felt so good! I've missed it, which is weird. I hit a really good stride tonight. I picked up where I left off instead of starting over, and even pushed a run through 2 of my walks.

(my app messed up and said I only ran 0.9 miles. that is wrong, I ran the same route I always run. It was 2 miles.)

Official stats:

Distance: 1.9 miles (I'm just going to call it fair...)
Walk pace: 15:18/mile
Run pace: 14:38/mile

I felt: awesome! First run in two weeks, and I feel like I knocked it out of the park! Glad to be back!
The weather was: Hot. 94 with a pretty nice breeze. And it was dusk, so it was pretty out!
Best song(s) from playlist: Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People and Someone Like Me by Laura Jenson (Armin van Buuren remix)

Times were a little slower than last time, but I fully expected that. I'm glad to be back on track! Will be doing a run tomorrow and then I'll be on my Monday, Wednesday, Friday runs again, with the shred and some yoga in between. 

We have a lot going on around here too. We have weddings we'll be filming coming up, our son will be 3 on the 24th and his party will be on the 27th and the school starts again. Busy, busy! 

I'll be back with my stats tomorrow. 

It's good to be back!

the weekend

this weekend was not what I would call productive. well, I guess I should say Saturday wasn't...

friday Jackson and I took lunch to daddy at work. when we do that, there's relatively no nap for the boy. He falls asleep for the 20 minute car ride there, and that's it. As we drove to dinner Friday night (sushi...it's a weekly thing around here) I was shocked to see that he had fallen asleep in his carseat. This boy will fight to the death to stay awake. I was even more shocked when he continued sleeping until we woke him up about 10 minutes before we left the restaurant. Good news is, it made for a nice, adult dinner date...just with a sleeping toddler in the booth.

pooped.

Saturday we hung around in our pj's until after naptime. Then in the afternoon we loaded up and went to a bounce house place in the mall. This was our first visit, and for $6 and lots of energy burned, I'd say we will definitely be going back. Jackson had a blast!

We had Italian food for dinner, and after that I forced myself to do this yoga dvd. It felt awesome. 

Sunday morning I had a photo shoot with a super cute little 1 year old boy, and then we hit brunch. The rest of the day was actually busy and productive. I got the meal plan for the week together, went to the grocery store, did some laundry (with lots of help from my guys!), and hubs even got some organizing done. All in all, it was a laid back weekend. And it was good.

Today is my official weigh-in day and I'm down another pound. It's a little less than I was hoping for, but we went out for lunch and dinner all weekend, so I'll take what I can get. Good news is I'm down 5 whole pounds! I even got my cute little 5lb star on my weight watchers tracker!

I didn't get up and run this morning, but after the boy goes to bed I will be hitting the neighborhood hard. Wish me luck...no new running shoes yet. I hope my shins are nice to me! I'll be back tonight with my stats.

swing batta, batta

well, my schedule changed a little for the weekend, but I'm still on track. I decided to take Saturday off instead of Sunday. I didn't get up and run this morning, but I am going to do hip hop abs tonight after baby bedtime, and I have been counting my points like a crazy person!

so, instead of talking about what I didn't do, I'll give you a little peek at what we did do.

We went to a Rangers game! It was so much fun. Jackson had a blast. He had his first taste of cotton candy, tons of popcorn, and his favorite...a sucker! It was a little hot and humid, but we kept the water flowing and we made it 2 whole hours. This is definitely something we will do with our boy again.

I'll be back tonight with my workout stats for the day.

Happy Sunday!

favorite summer salad

I love salads. Especially in the summertime. One that I have been eating a lot lately is this spinach and strawberry salad with fresh strawberry vinaigrette.

I originally found this recipe on Annie's Eats here. I just did a little tweaking to bring down the calories in the dressing, and added some avocado. It is cool, crisp and so refreshing on a hot summer day!

Summer Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette

For the dressing:
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or to taste)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
1 teaspoon white sugar
pinch of salt

Blend until smooth in blender or food processer. This makes about a cup and a half. It usually lasts me a week in the refrigerator.

For the salad:
(You can really add anything you like to the salad. This is how I like to eat mine.)
2 cups baby spinach
2-3 strawberries, sliced
1 tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 of an avocado, diced

Layer your salad and top with dressing.

For anyone counting Weight Watchers points, the dressing is 0 points plus per serving. Any salad toppings are additional points.

Enjoy!