I'm mostly back on track and I love, love, love the lettuce and bok choy from the farmer's market. I had an awesome grilled chicken salad on Tuesday with the lettuce, bok choy and chicken we grilled on Saturday. Yummo!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
oh my
I'm mostly back on track and I love, love, love the lettuce and bok choy from the farmer's market. I had an awesome grilled chicken salad on Tuesday with the lettuce, bok choy and chicken we grilled on Saturday. Yummo!
California photos
I mentioned a few posts back that pictures my husband took of me in the dress that looked adorable in the dressing room were enough to keep me from eating. I thought I'd post one, because apparently I like to torture myself like that. Also, if you have a large chest, please don't buy an empire waisted dress....as dooce would say, be ye not so stupid.
In my defense, it really looked more like this and less like I was pregnant.
In my defense, it really looked more like this and less like I was pregnant.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
more farmer's market fun
I think I'm getting into the farmer's market groove. This was week 2 of our (small, about 10 stands) farmer's market. This week from the CSA, more bok choy* and flowers, but also a small amount of broccoli and green onions. Yum. I also bought 1/2 dozen eggs from the egg people (www.2silos.com), lettuce, and some local honey. I was reading on a website that someone in MO had strawberries at their farmer's market. I'm jealous, I can't wait for the berries. I'm still splurging at the grocery for berries. I also bought some parsley to grow with the rest of my herbs.
I do have to say that I love the atmosphere of the local farmer's market, I get to ask questions, like which honey is best for my allergies, and can I get a half dozen eggs. Plus, it's way more fun than the supermarket. I just felt better being there.
With all this fabulous fresh produce, I've been doing pretty well with eating healthy although it continues to be stressful at work and a splurged for dinner Thursday night and yesterday for lunch and I had to open a bottle of wine last night. It just seemed like the thing to do on a Friday night for dinner after a long week.
Exercise too has been difficult. The weather turned very warm this week, and with my asthma, getting outside to exercise in the warm weather is difficult because of my breathing. I did make it to the gym but I'm trying to get on my bike more, because I just love biking and our bike path is shaded and pretty flat so it doesn't get too hot.
My in-laws are coming this weekend, so I'm making cookies. I've had a terrible urge to bake. Something about following directions and a concrete product soothes me. Plus, you get to eat the results. I'm making Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (I don't remember the exact name) from Baking: from my house to yours by Dorie Greenspan. I have yet to make anything from this book, though it's beautiful to look at. I love cookbooks. Plus the recipe that the Baklava Queen posted sounds fabulous. I might have to try it if I can get some lavender from my brother.
*Which last week I put in stir fry and came out pretty good. To me, it didn't taste like much, but I'll take veggies that don't taste like much that I put in something and they give me fabulous nutrients
I do have to say that I love the atmosphere of the local farmer's market, I get to ask questions, like which honey is best for my allergies, and can I get a half dozen eggs. Plus, it's way more fun than the supermarket. I just felt better being there.
With all this fabulous fresh produce, I've been doing pretty well with eating healthy although it continues to be stressful at work and a splurged for dinner Thursday night and yesterday for lunch and I had to open a bottle of wine last night. It just seemed like the thing to do on a Friday night for dinner after a long week.
Exercise too has been difficult. The weather turned very warm this week, and with my asthma, getting outside to exercise in the warm weather is difficult because of my breathing. I did make it to the gym but I'm trying to get on my bike more, because I just love biking and our bike path is shaded and pretty flat so it doesn't get too hot.
My in-laws are coming this weekend, so I'm making cookies. I've had a terrible urge to bake. Something about following directions and a concrete product soothes me. Plus, you get to eat the results. I'm making Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (I don't remember the exact name) from Baking: from my house to yours by Dorie Greenspan. I have yet to make anything from this book, though it's beautiful to look at. I love cookbooks. Plus the recipe that the Baklava Queen posted sounds fabulous. I might have to try it if I can get some lavender from my brother.
*Which last week I put in stir fry and came out pretty good. To me, it didn't taste like much, but I'll take veggies that don't taste like much that I put in something and they give me fabulous nutrients
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The farmer's market
Today was the first day of my neighborhood farmer's market. Our CSA had emailed us to let us know that they thought they would only have flowers for us today, but when I got there, they also had bok choy for us. I've never had bok choy, so it will be a new adventure. The farmer recommended it in a salad or steamed. Since I've usually heard about it in stir fry or chinese food, I might have to make stir fry this week.
I also purchased some thyme, rosemary, and basil. I absolutely love the smell of basil. I think I would bathe myself in basil. Last summer I was obsessed with pesto sauce.
A quick survey of the market also had several other produce stands (still not a ton of produce yet, because it's early here in Ohio) and someone with eggs. I've been reading about fresh eggs and how they are supposed to be tastier than the stuff you get at the grocery. They had various varieties and I may have to try some different stuff.
I also tried Qdoba today for the first time. I love Chipotle, and allow an indulgence sometime for Chipotle since they so have quality ingredients and you can tell. Qdoba is new here, so I thought I would try it out. While tasty in that fast-foody way, I could tell it was not as quality as Chipotle who's guacamole haunts my dreams. I might try it again when I could eat in and have the cheese sauce which my friend says is the best part about Qdoba to him. So, that doesn't necessarily fit my mission, but at the same time, my mission is about balance. Which means the occasional indulgence.
I also purchased some thyme, rosemary, and basil. I absolutely love the smell of basil. I think I would bathe myself in basil. Last summer I was obsessed with pesto sauce.
A quick survey of the market also had several other produce stands (still not a ton of produce yet, because it's early here in Ohio) and someone with eggs. I've been reading about fresh eggs and how they are supposed to be tastier than the stuff you get at the grocery. They had various varieties and I may have to try some different stuff.
I also tried Qdoba today for the first time. I love Chipotle, and allow an indulgence sometime for Chipotle since they so have quality ingredients and you can tell. Qdoba is new here, so I thought I would try it out. While tasty in that fast-foody way, I could tell it was not as quality as Chipotle who's guacamole haunts my dreams. I might try it again when I could eat in and have the cheese sauce which my friend says is the best part about Qdoba to him. So, that doesn't necessarily fit my mission, but at the same time, my mission is about balance. Which means the occasional indulgence.
Friday, May 18, 2007
May Flowers
Unfortunately, another chunk of time has gone by before I've gotten a chance to write again. I think this is mostly because I'm still just chugging along. Not much has changed. Well, until this last week, I feel like I finally made a breakthrough. I've been consistent in my exercising and have been getting outside more now that the weather is nicer and I continue to love pilates and what it's done for my core. As a person who carries weight around the middle, I'm finally seeing some relief from that.
It's also been hard for me to write when I have those bad days. Like last week when we came back from 4 days in California. We went out to Orange Co (south LA) for a wedding last week. It was a quick trip since I am low on vacation, having spent most of it on my honeymoon. I bought a dress that I loved at Ann Taylor for $40 (originally $150). A cute halter dress with an empire waist and A-line skirt. I looked cute in the dressing room. However, the pictures told a different story, at least to me. We got back from the trip and looked at the pictures my husband had taken of me. I looked like a cow. Worse, I looked like my chubby relative who shall remain nameless since this is a public blog. I lost it. I wanted to eat everything in the cabinet. What's worse is from the plane trip and eating out I had managed to gain back 4 lbs that I had worked to diligently to lose. Lesson 1: never get on the scale right after you get back from vacation and are PMSing. So, in the middle of losing it, I had the presence to mind to know that eating everything in the cabinet was not going to help. Deep breath. We do not eat because we're sad or any other emotion. So instead, I dragged my husband out for a bike ride and angrily pedaled and cried the entire way to the library to drop off books. Later, there was more crying, but not eating. Yay!
The day after that, all hell broke lose at work and I was stressed out. Again, I managed not to eat because I was upset; however the downside of this is that I was so upset that I couldn't eat. Not something I take pride in, but again, to try and sort out my feelings there was a long walk, a bike ride and healthy eating. It's more than a week later, and though the work stuff hasn't been resolved, I've fought the urge to eat because I'm upset, stressed, etc. I've maintained eating healthy and when I had an all day class that took me away from the office. I did not use it as an excuse to get a greasy burger or fast food. I brought my lunch. I had a salad for dinner the day I really wanted to just eat a bowl of the ice cream that was in the freezer. And because of that I can also say that whatever tiredness, etc that I'm feeling is due to something else, not how I've been eating. I feel less physical fatigue. As a happy bonus, I have also lost the 4lbs I was up coming back from vacation plus one additional. I have no doubt that one or 2 of those lbs was water retention from being on the plane, but it always feels great no matter how much I'd like it not to, when that number changes.
Just a note on some changes: as we head into summer, my brother and his wife have split at share in a farm with me and the hubby, so I'll be trying to think of new and inventive ways to eat and use the fresh veggies and fruit we'll be getting. I've also been doing a lot of reading about the 100 mile diet ( www.100milediet.org) so I hope to post updates about that and maybe some recipes as I try new things out.
It's also been hard for me to write when I have those bad days. Like last week when we came back from 4 days in California. We went out to Orange Co (south LA) for a wedding last week. It was a quick trip since I am low on vacation, having spent most of it on my honeymoon. I bought a dress that I loved at Ann Taylor for $40 (originally $150). A cute halter dress with an empire waist and A-line skirt. I looked cute in the dressing room. However, the pictures told a different story, at least to me. We got back from the trip and looked at the pictures my husband had taken of me. I looked like a cow. Worse, I looked like my chubby relative who shall remain nameless since this is a public blog. I lost it. I wanted to eat everything in the cabinet. What's worse is from the plane trip and eating out I had managed to gain back 4 lbs that I had worked to diligently to lose. Lesson 1: never get on the scale right after you get back from vacation and are PMSing. So, in the middle of losing it, I had the presence to mind to know that eating everything in the cabinet was not going to help. Deep breath. We do not eat because we're sad or any other emotion. So instead, I dragged my husband out for a bike ride and angrily pedaled and cried the entire way to the library to drop off books. Later, there was more crying, but not eating. Yay!
The day after that, all hell broke lose at work and I was stressed out. Again, I managed not to eat because I was upset; however the downside of this is that I was so upset that I couldn't eat. Not something I take pride in, but again, to try and sort out my feelings there was a long walk, a bike ride and healthy eating. It's more than a week later, and though the work stuff hasn't been resolved, I've fought the urge to eat because I'm upset, stressed, etc. I've maintained eating healthy and when I had an all day class that took me away from the office. I did not use it as an excuse to get a greasy burger or fast food. I brought my lunch. I had a salad for dinner the day I really wanted to just eat a bowl of the ice cream that was in the freezer. And because of that I can also say that whatever tiredness, etc that I'm feeling is due to something else, not how I've been eating. I feel less physical fatigue. As a happy bonus, I have also lost the 4lbs I was up coming back from vacation plus one additional. I have no doubt that one or 2 of those lbs was water retention from being on the plane, but it always feels great no matter how much I'd like it not to, when that number changes.
Just a note on some changes: as we head into summer, my brother and his wife have split at share in a farm with me and the hubby, so I'll be trying to think of new and inventive ways to eat and use the fresh veggies and fruit we'll be getting. I've also been doing a lot of reading about the 100 mile diet ( www.100milediet.org) so I hope to post updates about that and maybe some recipes as I try new things out.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
reminders
It's absolutely beautiful here this weekend. Yesterday I went out for a spirit picking up walk. It was a tough week and I needed to get my head back on straight. It was good. Today we did almost 7 miles on our bikes (not very much to those who are serious) while riding around looking for houses for sale and open houses. But boy, did that kick my butt, it wasn't a very fast ride, but I'm tired nonetheless. But it definitely fits my mission of trying to work more exercise into my daily life.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
bad blogger
Oh no. I am a very bad blogger. It's been well over a month since I last blogged here. I've been pretty busy the last month or so, but I think mostly that's because I've sort of been stuck. My weight has remained steady since my initial loss and I've been trucking along with exercise. A couple of things have happened, so here's the down and dirty update.
So yay, today I feel like I'm on an up note about all of this. AND I'm very proud to have talked myself out of eating an egg roll this afternoon when I really wanted one. Despite the fact that I was not able to get any one on the phone to distract me.
- I've now finished two 5K races. I did do the one on St. Patrick's day even though it was freezing cold and snowing, my sister-in-law and I walked it and I finished in just over 45:00. I did another one on April Fool's Day (which I just tried to type foo's day, which is sort of funny) which took me a little longer, but I'm working on the exercising outdoors thing. It's very different than the treadmill. Of course people tried to tell me this, but I also of course did not believe them.
- Other than a blip of a splurge around Easter, my weight has held steady, which is an accomplishment.
- I've held steady with pilates and continue to lose inches even though I have not lost pounds. I try and do go (most weeks) twice a week.
- When I told my friend Laura that I did a 5K and I was attempting to run, she too wanted to run and we're about at the same fitness level and she has agreed to run with me once a week for variety. Although she's had some personal life blips over the last 2 weeks, I think once that stuff has resolved itself, we'll be back to at least once a week if not more.
- I tried on a dress that was altered to fit me at 16. This was a bizarre experience. It fits me on the bottom almost as well as it did at 16. On the top, however, I was about 4-5 inches from being able to close it. Wow what a difference 10 years makes. Though the fitting on the bottom does make me feel a little bit better about my current status.
- My brother (and sister-in-law) and I (and Dustin) are splitting a CSA share. This means that a lovely southern Ohio farmer will bring us fresh, in-season produce once a week at the farmer's market. I'm excited about this and learning how to cook new veggies. I'm also attempting to grow some herbs from seed. I hope that next year I will be able to grow veggies in my backyard....When I have my own backyard.
So yay, today I feel like I'm on an up note about all of this. AND I'm very proud to have talked myself out of eating an egg roll this afternoon when I really wanted one. Despite the fact that I was not able to get any one on the phone to distract me.
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