the one with the half marathon.

Happy Monday, friends! And yes - it is actually a happy Monday, because it's my wedding week!!!

This will be my very last post as a single lady, and I'm chalking it full of good vibes and motivation to get you through the week ahead. Let's talk about how I rocked the shit out of the Air Force half marathon this past weekend, shall we?

Yep, that's right. Despite having run one half marathon before, in January 2011, I felt like this was my first one. I'm in a totally different frame of mind now, and my lifestyle has changed so drastically that it's hard to compare this one to my first half. I was fortunate enough to run with my friend Kim over at Fabulous Fit Foodie, who provided such a good balance for me along the way. My official chip time was 2:32:56 - almost a full 30 minutes off my final time from my 2011 half. Winning? Yes, that's what winning looks like to me.

As for the race itself, here's a brief rundown of what goes through my head during each mile.

Mile 1: Alright, I'm off. I feel good and dear God I hope this damn rain stops. I didn't buy a $60 lululemon shirt just to slip and fall on my ass. Is my volume up enough? Are my running pants adjusted properly? WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE IN MY WAY.

Mile 2: Okay, this is the groove/pace I'm used to. This I can do. Thank God for Kim, or else I'd already be bored. Who the hell put a massive hill during the second mile of a half marathon? This person should be shot, immediately. 

Mile 3: Pace yourself. Don't jump the gun - don't start off too quickly. You've got a lot of miles ahead of you. Don't burn out too quickly.

Mile 4: I'm a full 5k into this race - awesome! One fourth of the way done, almost. Time to pop some sports beans and convince myself they work (they actually do, but I always wonder). I can totally do a 5k 3 more times. I GOT THIS.

Mile 5: My legs hurt. So does my stomach. Why did I insist on eating a banana this morning? I know I run better on an empty stomach, contrary to what's recommended. Ugh. Time to pop some Gu. Kim recommended peanut butter - it's not bad. But this is not peanut butter. Real peanut butter comes with sweatpants and crackers. I've been deceived. 

Mile 6: I feel good. This Gu really works. Except now I have peanut butter mouth. And my hips and legs are killing me. I vaguely remember the early parts of my running career, where it was stamina that caused me to burn out - not physical ability. Now, my lungs can run for days. It's my body that hates me. But we're just about halfway through! 

Mile 7: Okay, it's all downhill from here. Metaphorically. I know there's a hill coming up. But I'm more than halfway through, and Kim and I are rocking a totally kickass pace. Maybe we should slow down a bit. 

Mile 8: THERE'S the hill everyone was talking about. It's an ON RAMP to a damn highway bridge. Cruel. Let's slow our pace so we don't puke on this road in front of all these people. 1 minute walking, 1 minute running instead of our usual 1:3 ratio. We will survive! God, my hips hurt.

Mile 9: Thank GOD that's over. It has to be all flat and downhill from here. And thank God for all these people in the cheering section. I would have passed out forever ago if it weren't for you guys. I love that my name is on my bib - these strangers are yelling "Go Lauren" and I am in love with it. 

Mile 10: Why, God, why. It hurts so bad. We should have just gone to breakfast instead of run this stupid thing. But there's only a 5k left, right? I mean, I can do that. But HOW in God's name are there all these deceiving small hills? They're horrible little monsters. Kim, we got this. I am so thankful for the people along the race course running with us who said things like "You got this!" and "Those full marathon runners make this look so damn easy." 

Mile 11: I can do two more miles. Just two more. I run two miles in my sleep. It's just two. My hips seem to think two miles feels more like 16 at this point. 

Mile 12: What is this awful pain in my heels? Is this the tendinitis Kelly was talking about? Oh my God, am I getting tendinitis in the middle of my race? Kim, I'm pushing to the finish - I'll see you there. Keep going, just keep going. You can stretch when you're done. Holy hell it hurts. Maybe you can stretch now. Just for a hot second. STRETCH. STRETCH FASTER.

Mile 13: THERE'S THE FINISH. Oh geez, it's so close. SO CLOSE. Just keep going. GO. GO. GO. WHERE IS MY FAMILY? They said they'd be here, I don't see them - I don't want to cross the finish line if they can't see me do it! Ahhh - there they are! Ok, RUN LIKE HELL. 

And then it's over. It's the shortest, longest, worst, best experience of your life, all at the same time. It's emotional, physically demanding and brutal. The moments after the race leave you breathless, yelling out to anyone who can hear you that you'll never, for the love of God, do this again. Who the hell does this for fun? you yell. And then you realize, after the pain subsides, you regain logical conscious thought and you've had at least a day to reflect on the madness, that you're the one who does it for fun. And as much as your body hates it, you'll probably do it again - sooner than later.

Here's a couple good shots from race day - I am ever so grateful for the fabulous ladies I run with, and for the constant support of my family and soon-to-be-husband. You're all stars in my book! And watch me cross the finish line at the very end - yay for good friends and family capturing this one!

just keep swimming.

I am starting to loathe the part of me who scoffed at brides during their final weeks of wedding preparation. They clearly can't handle the pressure, I said. They should have prioritized better early on, I said. I should have known that karma bug would come back to bite me in the ass. With exactly two weeks until the big nuptials, it's safe to say that if I get dressed in the appropriate attire on any given day, I'm calling it a success.

On top of that, let's throw in running a half marathon next weekend, starting my very first week of Tina Reale's Best Body Bootcamp and spending some time with the Humane Society of Greater Dayton at one of their local adoptathons this weekend, and I'm pretty sure you can call me a tired panda. But here's the best thing about this kind of busy I've been lately - every single bit of it fills my heart completely. And that's the best kind of busy.

I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be for my half marathon. I can't run any more miles, do any more strength training or warp my diet any more to make much of a difference to next week's race. As always, this completely non-competitive girl will be thrilled to cross the finish line and plaster my smiling face, medal in hand, to every social media outlet I can think of.

But since I'm new to Best Body Bootcamp (BBB), I want to review my very first week and let you know how it's going. Some of you have asked me to keep you posted, as you're looking for some structured workouts with a flexible schedule, and I think I've found your ticket.

I had two personal goals to set this week - I've mentioned them in last week's post, but again, they were to drink a shake each morning and get at least 64 ounces of water in each day. My crazy weekend schedule prevented me from fully completing my morning shake goal, but I'm happy to say that I got my water intake in 6 days out of 7 this week. It's a conscious effort to drink that much water when you haven't done it in awhile, but it was a fabulous reminder of how much better I feel when I do it.

I barely managed to squeeze in this week's exercise requirements, but these days, I'm counting even a brisk dog walk as countable activity. Between running around like a chicken with its head cut off picking up things for the wedding, tying up last minute travel arrangements and freaking the hell out about the dog virus that has been plastered to the news this past week (thanks mainstream media, you've successfully given me a panic attack every day for the past week), I haven't been able to do as many of Tina's workouts as I would like. This week, I'm making a valid effort at dedicating even 20 minutes to a designated workout. I know I met last week's requirement, but I can tell I'm not pushing myself like I should be. Or maybe I should just lay off myself since I'm getting married in two weeks, running a half marathon in a week and getting ready to be out of the office for 10 days. There's a new thought.

Anyway - for those of you considering Tina's program, I'd highly recommend it. I really like the accountability of the Facebook group - the girls check-in daily for workout logs! If that's not motivating enough, I don't know what is. I'm also a big fan of the actual workouts. I watched all the videos, and the workouts I've done so far are awesome - challenging, but not to the point where you feel like a total idiot for having signed up. The best part about it is that it's totally up to you when and where you workout. For me, this took place in my living room with both dogs doing their own version of downward dog in a heartwarming attempt to support their mom. At least that's what I'm going with.

Happy Sunday, friends!

measuring success.

Happy Sunday! I regret to inform you that this post will not be a weekly meal planning one - the craziness of our schedule has made it nearly impossible for me to accurately track my grocery bills. With the wedding just three weeks from today, and my half marathon looming even sooner, I'm pretty sure the only A-game I've been on lately is not losing my damn mind. Surprisingly, I'm surviving in tact.

My "scaleless in September" attitude is working, believe it or not. In all honesty, I weighed myself once - this past Friday - and I was happily at the same place I was before I committed to the idea of not weighing myself so frequently. It's all I can ask for, considering all that's on my plate right now (literally and metaphorically).

What I want to talk about is measuring success. Usually, as with most tasks, you often look for a concrete way to measure how well you've gone. Teachers judge students' progress using grades, football games are scored on a points system, and people losing weight go straight to the scale to see how they've progressed. I get it. It's measurable, and you can't manipulate a number. But teachers, coaches and most people struggling to lose weight know that there are thousands of other ways to measure success than a number. My hiatus from the scale this month has forced me to reevaluate how I measure my success at the end of the day, and it's forced me to take a look at what I view as a win or loss.

I've been without a scale for just 8 days (and that hardly counts, because I still weighed in once), but without the stress of daily weighing, here are the ways I've measured my success:

• I ran 10 miles yesterday. TEN MILES, you guys. I have no idea how many calories I burned, because I'm not concerned with how that generates on the scale right now. What was I concerned with? Fueling my body, hydrating, maintaing a good pace and taking care of my body afterwards. In other words, what you should care about when you run 10 miles. Not how many pounds you'll lose as a result. The one thing I've learned about long distance running? Don't do it to lose weight.
• I hate my legs. I have a stocky build, so even though I've lost about 70 pounds, my legs are still thick. But I rocked shorts yesterday anyway - and when I looked in the mirror yesterday, for the very first time in my life, I thought to myself, those legs just took me 10 miles. I love those legs.
• Without a scale, I'm forced to evaluate every single food choice based on how it's going to make me feel - not how it's going to appear on the scale the next day. I learned this lesson the hard way after consuming half my weight in nachos and french fries Friday night, followed by Chipotle after my run yesterday. Realistically speaking, I probably burned most of those calories during my run (and what I didn't burn in that run, I know I will this week), but that's not the point. Those choices made me feel like shit. I mean, seriously guys. Awful. I've been trying to lose weight, but I'm still teaching myself lessons every single day. 

In the spirit of measuring success in various ways other than the scale, tomorrow kicks off my very first ever Best Body Bootcamp - an online program designed to provide 8 weeks of strength training and bootcamp exercises with the option for weekly prize drawings. Tina provides the workouts, but really advocates for making the program work for the individual. With that, she asks that each participant set two individual goals each week in addition to meeting the weekly requirement of being active 5 times per week to be eligible for prize drawings. 

I am in love with the idea of setting personal goals each week that make me strive towards being healthier in general - not towards losing more weight on the scale. The goals can be anything that will personally aid you in being a healthier you. This week, my two personal goals are:

1. Drink a ViSalus shake every morning for breakfast. I've given up my shakes lately, but need to get back on track as we near the wedding day. The shakes make me feel great, help refuel me after workouts and start me off on the right food each morning.
2. Drink 64 ounces of water every day. I have a big 32 ounce water bottle that I used to be really good about filling up twice a day at work. It curbed my need to snack at the office, made for better workouts and hydrated me before and after long runs. Time to get back on it!

I've been doing a lot of running these past few weeks, but not a lot of anything else. The calories I burn running have allowed me to eat fairly poorly and still break even on the scale, but my body feels weak. I've lost some serious core and upper body strength, and I'm really looking forward to incorporating BBB into my schedules, especially over the next 3 weeks, so I feel strong and confident at my wedding. I've learned the hard way that it's not enough just to do cardio - strength training gives me a sense of strength the same way that running does. 

Here's to kicking off a new workout program, a new week and the official 3-week countdown until my WEDDING!

scaleless in september.

Happy Labor Day, friends! I hope you're all enjoying the always-needed long weekend, and soaking up every last bit of all that summer has to offer. Around this time of year, I always feel so mentally ready for all that fall brings, but then I'm so quick to miss the summer months. I'm living out every minute of these warm days as best I can. This past weekend was no exception - we wrapped up our last official weekend at the lake with the family, and it was the most beautiful weekend we've had all summer. It's been so unusually wet there this summer, and our previous trips down have been filled with rain, clouds and not a lot of sun. Fortunately, we were blessed with some beautiful skies this weekend - I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I also get to keep summer going as long as I damn well please because September is my WEDDING MONTH! Yep. Really. It's crazy how fast time flies, but at the end of the month, Rob and I will be en route to beautiful Hilton Head Island with our closest friends and family for the big day. I. Cannot. Wait. It's safe to say I won't be transitioning into fall until I'm no longer a Mayberry. This is so bittersweet, but I'm excited for everything the future holds.

Because it is my wedding month, and because I don't want to miss a single moment of it, I'm going to do something crazy. I'm participating in a scaleless September. It sounds like a death sentence - not watching your weight the month of your wedding? Am I crazy? No, and here's why.

Ever since I started having weekly weigh-ins, my diet has been focused around that one day a week I step on the scale and record my official gain or loss. Therefore, my entire "week" is typically focused on what's going to generate the biggest loss on the scale that week. Nights before my weigh-in are typically really light dinners, and the couple days right after my weigh-in are filled with high-calorie "binge" meals knowing I'll have another 5-6 days to make up for it before I weigh-in again. It's all centered around that one day. Once I'm in the routine of living this way, I have to really take a step back and realize that I'm honestly missing the bigger picture.

I eat, I workout and I function based on the scale. For some people, that works out fabulously. For me, it's a downward cycle. Before you know it, I'm actually not eating that great. I make horrible choices on the weekend and then I'm detoxing the first few days of the week in order to have a loss by my weigh-in day, which has always been on Thursdays. My focus becomes losing weight, not eating healthy. The two are not mutually exclusive, and that's what we so easily forget.

So for this month, I'm giving it up. When I start making eating and exercise choices based on what makes my body feel good, what challenges and pushes me mentally, and what I know makes me a better person, I'm forced to evaluate each choice for what it is, not for how it'll appear on the scale the next day. Truthfully, it's the way that the journey towards being healthy should work, but I often lose sight of that. I want to enjoy every single moment of my wedding month without the scale dictating how I feel. If I don't hit a certain number on the scale, I don't want to feel less beautiful in my wedding dress. I don't want my walk down the aisle to be exciting because I met a weight-loss goal I'd set, I want it to be exciting because I'm marrying my best friend.

This doesn't mean I won't be staying on track and making the right choices this month. I have a half marathon in 3 weeks, another one a month after that, and this past weekend's indulgences have proven to me that my body desperately wants to get back on track with my eating. It just means that I'm going to be looking at my choices from the bigger picture - not for a weekly weigh-in.

Wondering if you think giving up the scale is for you? Take a look at the things I realized I was doing before I decided it was best to put that scale away for a while.

- I routinely discredited runs, workouts and weeks of tracking and making healthy choices if it wasn't reflected appropriately on the scale.

- I discovered I was typically down more after a good cardio session - therefore, I'd always run the Thursday morning of my weigh-in before I stepped on the scale, even if it didn't make sense for my training to do so.

- The 2-3 days after my weigh-in were filled with poor eating choices, followed by days of no carbing it and "recommitting" in order to break even or have a loss at weigh-in.

- I'd excuse incredibly poor choices throughout the week if they magically resulted in an unexplainable weigh-in I wasn't expecting. If I said "screw my diet" the night before weigh-in and ate pizza, I'd still celebrate the loss if my body gave me one.

It was really the first of these, and the last - the combination of the two - that made me realize my priorities weren't exactly on par. I'd discredit an entire week of awesome choices, meal planning, sticking to my workout schedule and accomplishing a great long run just because I didn't lose on the scale. But if I ate like total garbage, missed a few workout days and my body (because bodies do this, we know) gave me a loss that was undeserved, I'd celebrate it. I need to detach myself from the concept of constantly weighing myself. Realistically speaking, I need to break the addiction.

So here's to a scaleless September, making the right choices, fueling my body and pushing it to completing my second half marathon, and then walking down the aisle (or, down the beach) and marrying my best friend.

Happy September, friends!

meal planning, week 5 - and more dog food.

Happy Sunday! I apologize for being such a bad blogger this week. There's been a lot on the table on all fronts, and I'm pretty sure if I got the chance to sit down, it was mostly to sleep. And eat. I never forget to eat. Ever.

On the wedding front, we had a big decision to make - we decided to cancel our local wedding reception, intended to be held two weeks after the big day in Hilton Head. As to be expected, it wasn't an easy choice, but we've decided to focus our energies and efforts towards the actual wedding celebration with just close family and friends - after the initial "bummed-ness" I felt, I'm happy to say it feels good to know that this year old build-up until the big day will now culminate in what I imagined as my dream wedding for as long as I can remember. Knowing I'm not trying to plan essentially two weddings has reduced my stress level infinitely.

In addition, on the home front, this weekend has been Operation: Fix the Leak at our house. This whole thing should really be titled "as seen on HGTV," but we've managed to make it work. It's been a long weekend for everyone, the dogs included, and I can't tell you how fantastic it is to have such supportive friends and family willing to help us out. In a nutshell, this is what my weekend looked like:

So, if you can imagine everything being taken out of our bathroom, can you begin to imagine where it all is? Yes, scattered around our house. There's a vanity in our office, drawers all over our kitchen table and a bathroom sink in our living room. There are mud rags and shovels in the entryway, and countless paper towel rolls, water bottles and dirty t-shirts in our kitchen. As most homeowners can attest to, what is supposed to be a 1-day project has turned into a full weekend of repairs, and that's assuming Rob finishes up today. To say it's put a dent in my meal planning and organized structure I live by would be an understatement. But, never fear - I've done my best.

I lost .2 at this past week's weigh-in. Am I disappointed? Absolutely. I am at the very bottom of a "decade" (a set of 10's, for those of you who don't give a damn about weight loss - ie, moving from the 140s to 130s, which is not where I am, but wish I was), and I peeked at the scale the day before weigh-in and, you guys, I was in my new decade. I was in it!

And then, because my body hates me, I got out of it for my actual weigh-in. The body is a bitch that way sometimes. Despite that, I did get a 9 mile run in on Friday - a fantastic one too, I won't even lie. I maintained an 11:09 pace, had negative splits for the first 5 miles and finished strong. More importantly, I felt strong. It's the first time in a while I've felt that confident in my running, and I hope to God it doesn't go away. I took a rest day yesterday, then hit the gym this morning where I did a timed 1 mile on the treadmill (9:26, yay!), and finished with an upper body/core strength session. I'll pick the miles back up next week, but I wanted to give myself time to recover. The best part about my house currently being a hot mess, is that the scale is buried somewhere in bathroom drawers and pulled up tile pieces, forcing me to live without it. This is so good for me.

If you didn't check in on last week's meal planning post, you can catch up here. I made a delicious new recipe - Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing (which is way too much of a mouthful, so I call it Thai quinoa salad). It. Was. Delicious. I made a dinner of it by adding Emily Bites' Thai Chicken Skewers (I made them in a pan, not on skewers on the grill), and Rob ate the leftovers all week. I'd highly recommend this!

YUM. No other caption necessary.

I had meals planned out all weekend, but late nights of leak-fixing allowed me to only make one of these and feast on the leftovers last night instead of making my second meal. Leftovers all weekend means I have a rollover meal from last week, leaving me with too many meals planned next week - if that's even possible. This week's meal plan is a little funny, just because we're not going to be around Labor Day weekend and I needed to pick up some "cookout" foods for the weekend. In addition to our normal groceries this week, I picked up soda for Rob, which is an added $10 I hate spending, but he demands on occasion. So, here are the details:

Total spent: $97 + $15 spent Friday to pick up english muffins, PB2, and some fruit
(this includes meat to last us through next weekend, 4 cases of soda on sale 4/$10)

Sunday:

Emily Bites Taco Cupcakes (rollover from last week - already have the ingredients)

Monday:

BBQ Chicken Quinoa (new recipe - pretty excited!)

Tuesday:

Emily Bites Pizza Logs,  roasted veggies

Wednesday:

Skinnytaste Meatloaf Cupcakes (I don't make the mashed potato topping), corn on the cob

Thursday:

BLTA's

Weekend: Hamburgers, chicken sausages and Schmidt's Bahama Mama's (yumsauce)

*My 1-too-many meal: garlic & herb chicken using Land O'Lakes Saute Express butter cubes (both the butter cubes and chicken, frozen, will last until next week, where we can use them one night)

Things I already had at home: all the ingredients for Taco Cupcakes (this was a rollover from last week), BBQ sauce, one giant zucchini from a co-worker's garden, and corn on the cob (I bought a bunch from the local market last week)

This week's grocery list looks as follows:

Produce:

cilantro

2 zucchini

1 yellow squash

head of lettuce

2 tomatoes

grapes (fruit for the week)

avocado (2)

white onion

Dairy:

Saute Express butter cubes, garlic & herb

2 carb-master yogurts (for snacks)

1 good block white cheddar cheese (splurge item!)

cheese slices, for hamburgers

shredded colby jack cheese

mozzarella string cheese

Meat:

chicken tenderloins

bacon

chicken sausages

Schmidt's Bahama Mama's

hamburgers (these came on sale in a pack of 10 - I separated them into two packs of 5 and froze them, so we can use them as a meal next week, too)

ground turkey

chicken breasts

pepperoni

Aisles:

egg roll wrappers

pizza sauce

soda

black beans

frozen corn

quinoa

Honestly, it was a pretty long list and I'm fairly surprised I survived for less than $100 - again, without a single coupon. I always go into panic mode when my dinner plans are thrown off course, but I've gotten fairly good at just looking at my week's meal plan, picking the meal with the least perishable items and holding it off until the following week. It takes some shifting around of what I had originally planned, but it works out. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with this little fun fact: Friday, I picked up dog food for both pups. You may remember my original post about dog food here, but this time I needed two 30-pound bags. The cashier had to have thought I was a nutcase for throwing one bag over my shoulder and asking her to lift the second bag onto my other shoulder. "I have someone who can take those out to your car, ma'am," she said to me. I told her I was fine - that I had lost 67 pounds and I needed this 60 pounds on my shoulders as a reminder of how far I've come. It sounded good in my head, but I'm pretty sure she still thinks I'm crazy. Regardless, by the time I got to my car, I was winded, my knees hurt and I was already sweating.

This is what 60 pounds looks like. This is what I carried on my body for years, never realizing how much easier my life could be without it. These two bags of dog food are a constant reminder that I shouldn't fuss over the minor details, and a visual representation of what I carried around with my every day. I'm so thankful for these two bags of dog food, you will never ever know. I will carry them out every single day until I am 90 years old and cannot lift them any longer. I don't need the extra weight, but I need these bags, and I will for the rest of my life.

Here's to a great week!

meal planning, week 4.

Happy Sunday, friends! If you're here in sunny Ohio, I hope you're making the most out of the beautiful weather we've had this weekend. It's been a nice change from the grey weekends we've had so often this summer, and I managed to make the most of it by getting outdoors, spending some much needed time with Rob and the dogs, and getting in some seriously awesome activity. But that's for another post. You're here for meal planning, right?!

I'm pretty excited about this week's finds. After last week's expensive trip, I was feeling discouraged about my grocery shopping trips and my ability to provide you with the best bang for your buck. That being said, we had some pretty awesome meals last week - we tried several new recipes, which you may remember from last week's meal plan and Rob even requested a few of them again this week - WIN! I always get nervous when I invest in ingredients for a new recipe, for fear that we'll HATE it and I will have wasted the money for nothing. Last week's menu included these fabulous new additions to our regular meal catalog:

Emily Bites Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese "Muffins"

Skinnytaste Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps &
Skillet Mexican Zucchini

I'd make both recipes again in a heartbeat. The only thing Rob and I weren't a huge fan of was the blue cheese flavor in the mac and cheese cups - I don't like blue cheese anyway, but I think when I make it again, I'll use low fat ranch dressing instead of blue cheese. The turkey taco lettuce wraps with skillet mexican zucchini are on this week's list again! I would highly recommend them both - but obviously the lettuce wraps are probably better for you in that they're full of whole, natural clean ingredients. But god, I love me some mac and cheese.

In addition to leftovers for lunches this week, I am making Thai quinoa salad - a new recipe recommended to me by a friend who recently made it and loved it. It holds up great for leftovers and I plan to munch off it all week - it's packed full of veggies, protein and tons of flavor and will go well with our Thai chicken planned for Tuesday. It's also something different from the inevitable go-to salad. Speaking of salads, though - Kroger has these pre-made guys and I love picking up one to break up my boring lunch routine:

At just 6 Points Plus, this guy makes a fabulous addition to your lunch hour. Just sayin. I've also been looking for low-point snack options and something to curb the insatiable sweet tooth I've had all summer. Rob and I, despite being better about eating out, have made more ice cream runs than real runs this summer, putting a dent in our weekly budget and a couple extra hundred calories added on to our days. To combat it, I've picked up an idea from Weight Off My Shoulders - she uses VitaCakes mixed with fresh strawberries and a dollop of fat free Cool Whip as a delicious dessert for just 1 Points Plus. I also picked up individual sized ice cream cups (tell me you've seen these) for Rob - who, unlike myself, doesn't last long on the low-fat dessert alternatives. This at least gives him some portion control, and who doesn't like things that are mini?

Now that we've got dessert covered (in the words of my grandmother, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first") we can move on to the real meat of this post - the meal plan and shopping list. Here's the dirty details:

Total spent: 

$81.00, + $7 spent at my fancy local market to get a few items = $88 total

Sunday:

Garlic & herb chicken, corn on the cob

Monday:

Hamburgers on the grill, sweet potato fries

Tuesday: 

Thai chicken with Thai quinoa salad (SO excited to try this!!)

Wednesday:

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps with Skillet Mexican Zucchini 

Thursday:

Spaghetti squash with Italian turkey meatballs and marinara

Friday:

out to dinner

Saturday:

Emily Bites Taco Cupcakes

 Before I make my grocery list, here are the things I had at home and didn't need to pick up: 1 pound of frozen chicken breasts, sriracha, sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce, PB2, honey (all the ingredients for Tuesday's thai chicken skewers are worth the investment - you'll have them on hand and only need chicken and a few fresh ingredients to whip this meal up), queso cheese and salsa for my taco cupcakes, cilantro paste (purchased last week for skillet mexican zucchini), and cheese slices for hamburgers. I know this sounds like a lot, but once you invest in the ingredients once, they tend to last at least two rounds (or more), so I just so happened to be on an off week for purchasing them. 

Produce:

corn on the cob

3 limes

lettuce head

spaghetti squash

4 zucchini

cilantro

1 tomato

green onions

1 jalapeño

1 red pepper

1 red onion

1 white onion

red cabbage

shredded carrots

4 baked potatoes (for today's potato skin lunch)

strawberries (fruit for the week)

Dairy:

Land O'Lakes Saute Express (Garlic & Herb)

Low-fat sour cream

reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Laughing Cow Queso wedges

Egg Beaters Southwestern

Meat:

chicken

Italian turkey meatballs

1 pound ground beef

4 hamburgers

99% fat free ground turkey

Aisles:

Cashews (ended up omitting these from my quinoa salad - nuts are too damn expensive)

marinara sauce

black beans

hamburger buns

VitaCakes

fat free Cool Whip

And, since every week, I find myself learning something new, here are a couple observations:

- My list was heavy on produce, light on aisle foods - proof that buying fresh foods isn't always more expensive than its processed enemies in the neighboring aisles. 

- Nuts are expensive. I ended up omitting them completely. I also hesitated big time on making the quinoa salad because it does call for tons of fresh vegetables, which add up in cost. I played around with my meal plans to see where else I could use the ingredients, and found that I'd use green onions, red peppers, onions and limes in at least one other recipe. Winning. 

- Spaghetti squash isn't really in season until this fall, so when you catch them in the store through the summer, I'm more than willing to plow someone down in pursuit of it. That, paired with Italian turkey meatballs and marinara sauce, is a super cheap meal that you can do for about $6 total (we get 3-4 servings out of it, you do the math). This always helps keep my bill down, and I fully intend on experimenting with different spaghetti squash recipes this fall. 

- I've learned that the ticket to actually eating the meals we plan is to make sure they're good. I mean, it may take a little more work, but this whole thing is really just a trick of the mind. I tend to crave "bad for me" food on the weekends, so by planning Emily Bites' taco cupcakes, I'm more inclined to eat at home. Loaded with meat, beans, queso and salsa, these babies totally hit the spot without ruining your diet. 

Alright - I think that pretty much wraps it up. My apologies for making this entirely too long. I clearly get really excited about food. Understatement of the year. I wish I could rant for this long about workouts? Hope everyone has a great week! 

weighing in.

Today, in my Weight Watchers world, is weigh-in day. And more importantly, it's the start of a new week - a fresh set of points to track, and a blank slate to mentally refresh from the past week's successes and slip-ups. Despite my poor history of tracking points, this is the one thing I do really love about Weight Watchers. It's like a weekly chance to start over - no judgment or baggage follows you into your new week. It's a brand new 7 days, and it's waiting for you to mold it into whatever you want. Weekly weigh-ins and seeing that fresh start? It's half the reason I've stuck around this program for so long.

That being said, I've learned that I have the best chance at success when I really sit down and evaluate the last week's eating choices before diving head first into that shiny new set of points. It's tempting to want to box up a bad week, and put it in the back of your mind where you store things like cleaning your baseboards and your credit card debt - things you know you need to evaluate, but don't want to deal with. But fessing up to yourself is the hardest, and most important, part of your journey towards being healthy. The food still goes into your body, regardless of whether you mentally acknowledge it - and the calories remain in there even though your mind knows you had a busy schedule and couldn't squeeze in those workouts.

So today, and probably on future Thursdays, I'm going to weigh in on my weigh-in. I lost .1 today. Point. One. I am less than 1 pound from being in a new "decade" - a decade that I've subconsciously deemed my "goal decade," and for the love of God, I just can't break through it. I've maintained, despite bachelorette parties and other indulgences, for over a month - that tells me that once I hit goal, I'll be the poster child for maintenance, but it doesn't do me a lot of good in the meantime. I shouldn't be surprised, because let's look at this past week:

• I only got in four days of activity, plus one 3 mile walk on my rest day. I know I shouldn't be complaining about that, but my body needs more. I logged 16 miles running, 3 miles walking and 1 bootcamp workout, but only got exercise in on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I need to work on spreading out my runs so I don't get the inevitable runner's burnout midweek. 

• This week's indulgences? Orange Leaf, Dairy Queen, a piece of chocolate silk pie, Chipotle, BBQ kettle chips at German Fest, a Subway breakfast sandwich and a delicious serving of sundried tomato tortellini salad with lunch yesterday. All that - and I still maintained. I guess I should be celebrating, because that has to be some kind of miracle.

• I've been a bad snacker lately. I've been hungrier than normal - probably because of the mileage I'm putting in, but I haven't been prepared with the right kind of snacks. I've munched on peanut butter and saltine crackers instead of almonds, string cheese and fruit. Prepare for hunger, Lauren. In the words of Scar, Mufasa's horrible brother, "Be prepaaaarreeeddd!" (extra points to you if were singing that in your head)

• I make a lot of excuses for myself. It's been a mentally tiring few weeks. They say that when it rains, it pours. Between wedding planning, unexpected and expensive home repairs, and feeling out of control of life's unexpected twists, I'd be lying if I said I didn't eat my feelings a little. I need to start asking myself again, like I was a few months ago, if each choice I make is bettering my life or hindering it - when I actively engage in my choices, I usually make better ones. 

• I didn't track. Once again, after an over-indulgent weekend, I decided it would be too much of a hassle to track so I decided to forego it completely and decided to just eat "mindfully" for the remainder of the week. This is a shitty sort of logic, incase you were wondering. 

Reading, and forcing myself to see the ways I can improve, helps me solidify goals for this upcoming week. Here are a few I'm gong to focus on - and keep in mind that my goals may be simple and obvious, but small changes often lead to big results.

• Track. Everything. No excuses. Starting today.
• Vary my runs. Focus on two short runs (3-4 miles) and one long run this upcoming week. My workouts tend to run Sunday - Saturday, while my WW week runs Thursday - Thursday, but I am planning a 9 mile run within the next week or so. 
• Go back to Zumba. Running, as of right now, is my only cardio and thus becomes a source of burnout for me. Switching it up with Zumba, a good hour of cardio that I love, will help me vary my workouts and look forward to my runs.
• Don't binge eat this weekend. Weekends, like most of us, are my downfall. I'm planning NOW, so I can stay on track and stay focused. 
• Get good walks in on my rest days. Walking the dogs, even if it's just a couple miles, gets me moving and helps me make better choices the rest of the day. 

There you have it, folks. Here's to a new week, and hopefully a better loss next week. I'm so close to that new decade I can taste it (it tastes like cheesecake). Hopefully being honest about it here, in public, will help me stay accountable through the upcoming week. Happy [almost] Friday!

What are you going to do to stay on track this upcoming week? How will you battle the inevitable temptations of the weekend?