2 hour intervals

If I thought I was hungry the day of my half, I was possibly even more hungry the day after!  I literally ate every 2 hours, if not more. 

9:45 (luckily my job let me sleep in!) – whole wheat waffles topped with syrup & pumpkin cream cheese.

Mmmm cream cheese.  Who says it’s just for bagels?

With a small bit of Voskos Greek yogurt with pumpkin butter swirled in.

11:30 rolled around, and my appetite was high!  I had a small bit of a pesto turkey sandwich at work.  About half of a half…so pretty much a 1/4.

And then made my real lunch at 12:30 – Trader Joe’s black bean and corn enchiladas. 

There was no sour cream in the house, so instead I sprinkled it with feta cheese.  Which was a brilliant idea.

See the Diet Coke there in the background? 

Okay – let’s just pretend you didn’t.

Oh heyyyy.  Whats up.

My, what attractive bling you’re sporting.

I actually wasn’t super hungry come 2:30, but I needed a snack pre-work.

Bagel thin with strawberry jam

and pumpkin cream cheese.

But of course I was starving at work about 4:30.  I snagged some trail mix and chowed it down fast.

At 6:30, we breaked for dinner.  Nothing too appetizing on the hot foods bar, I stuck with a salad.  As my co-workers said “the mother of all salads.”.  Hey – I like ‘em big. (mixed greens, blue cheese, kidney beans, beets, pickles, sunflower seeds, raspberry dressing).

And a ton of rice.  I said I wanted a lot.  And they listened.  (Full size plate, btw)

8:30 rolled around, and 2 hours post-dinner I was hungry…right on schedule!

Apple (2x what’s shown – I already ate a few slices!) with laughing cow cheese, and peanut flour dip.

And around 11:30 I got out of bed after trying to fall asleep on an empty tummy.  It wasn’t working.

Cereal to the rescue!!

 

And then I was out like a light.  I assume we’re talking a burnt out light here.

 

Official race photos are in!  If I had known the color theme of the race was going to be hot pink, I’m not quite sure I would’ve worn it.  I definitely blend in!  not too many great pics – I’m rather small in a lot of them.

Front and center:

Raise the roof!

Right in the middle:

Almost done!  Holding onto my Ghiradelli chocolate as well.  That’s what’s important.

Right under the clock…clapping? haha

So hardcore…she told me to pose this way…not quite sure why.

More natural.  If you call standing stiffly with a fake smile natural.

 

I’m going to be honest here – as I was looking at these today, I wasn’t all too happy.  I said to myself that they weren’t “very flattering” and I found myself getting down on how I looked in these pictures.  (I’ve mentioned how I’ve recently had a good amount of weight gain, and how I’m dealing with that).  I was kind of put off by these.  I knew it wasn’t good of me to think these thoughts, but I couldn’t help it.

Later I realized how incredibly awful I was for critiquing myself the way I did.  These pictures demonstrate me running 13 miles for crying out loud.  And here I was critiquing my body.  These pictures prove the strength and stamina that my body has to offer.  How dare I think poorly of it? 

Just a little something I realized this afternoon…

Tell me one (or more!) thing your proud of your body recently accomplishing

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Saturday vs Sunday

Or the post also known as: “I completely passed out on Saturday night before posting and had to combine 2 days worth of eats.” DUN DUN DUN!!! It’s on! Which long day of eats is more delicious?

But first, I have to say…I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I seriously can’t stop eating!Friday night I just wanted to eat eat eat! Definitely wasn’t hungry – but I sure was munchy! I just went with the flow and knew my body was craving something. Obviously, if I let myself eat every single time I want to – I would balloon (I could eat almost all the time). But with recently upping my mileage, and perhaps exhaustion from work – I know my body needs fuel. I’ve even been waking up in the middle of the night hungry!

Midnight cereal.

I can’t fall asleep when I’m hungry. Ever. No matter what.

Now onto the battle.

Saturday’s Breakfast:

I was starving when I awoke at 5:00 am! Scratched out my original plan for a small breakfast! And went with a yogurt mess instead.

• Plain yogurt mixed with cinnamon
• Honeydew (so so so so juicy & sweet!!)
• Kashi Golean
• Strawberry jam (RIP. I need a jam detox)
• Scoops of nut butter
• Drizzle of maple syrup

Mmmm maple syrup.

All mixed up!

My 8:45 am breakfast went unpictured since the lighting in the caff is awful at that time. But it looked the same as this one:

Cottage cheese + canteloupe and oats + eggs.

vs.

Sunday Breakfast:

Unlike Saturday, I was completely not hungry Sunday morning. My breakfast was still yogurt & cereal, but on a much smaller level.

And my 8:45 am breakfast snack of cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, and the iced top of a bran/carrot/ginger(?) muffin.

Saturday Lunch:

Lunch was small, yet rich. Mushroom bisque soup (SOUPer creamy. ha) along with vegetable ratatouille.

I only managed half the soup before calling it a day.

vs.

Sunday Lunch:

Orange glazed chicken, broccoli with garlic butter sauce, and turkey meat sauce which I topped the broccoli with. And also ate a bunch on the side. Kind of like soup.

And a small side salad with blue cheese, olives, & craisins.

Saturday snacks:

English muffin around 2:30.

Along with a fatty slice of watermelon.

And canned green beans + pasta sauce + parm cheese at around 4:45.

I’m a big fan of canned green beans lately. And pasta sauce. Win win!

And an Asian pear I got from Farmers ($1/lb!! Deal).

My temporary new roommate also brought apple strudel and said to help myself. She asked for it!!

I picked at a whole piece throughout the afternoon.

vs.

Sunday Snacks:

I came home, ate a giant slice of watermelon like looked exactly like Saturday’s (scroll up, or just here’s a reminder:)

And then CRASHED for a good 1 1/2 hours. I’ve gotten 7 hours of sleep combined in the past 2 nights on top of my 8 hour a day exhausting job. I’m looking forward to sleep tonight!

I awoke to have a pre-run snack of toast with PB & vanilla-pear butter.

And yes more apple strudel.

No more! It looks good, but honestly doesn’t taste that good. Not sweet enough for me 😉

Saturday Dinner:

I ended up hitting up Woodstocks for pizza with a couple friends. Normally I wouldn’t spend money, especially since I just bought dinner at Farmer’s this week. But I really really needed to get out of the house and be social.

Since the table ordered pepperoni, I got a personal half “Garlic Bird” and half “BBQ Bird” on wheat. With light cheese. But it was of course still super cheesy 😉 Exactly why I got light cheese – they layer that stuff on!! I totally didn’t expect them to do half & half on a personal, but they did! 😀

I had half of this personal, and 1 slice of a pesto veggie. Funny stury -we still had the old people’s number up from the table before us, and they accidentally re-made their pizza and gave it to us. We told them, but they couldn’t take it back. And we were left with a free half meat lovers-half pesto veggie pizza!

Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a funny story. But since the whole table seemed to be scared of veggies, I got free pizza from it.

I was trying to save room for the delicious cinnabread, which my friend got to go, but we never broke into 😦 Ahh well.

We then continued to redbox, where they decided to rent Wolfman. Which I think I slept through half of, thank goodness. It was beyond awful. And I swear, the graphics were from the 80s. I half expected Michael Jackson to jump out and rock his Thriller dance any second. My friends also convinced me to have a glass of wine, which I think aided in the sleep.  Okay, not much convincing was involved.

vs.

Sunday Dinner:

Leftover pizza!! 1 BBQ & 1 garlic slice (which I took a bite out of to taste it cold) toasted in the toaster oven.

I’ve never toasted up leftover pizza before, but it was A-MAZING. Seriously, better than last night. Slightly crispy, warm, and still ooey gooey!

Plus a veggie pesto piece eaten cold while the other two were toasting up.

So in short story, the exact same dinner I had last night.

I could’ve had a glass of wine to make the nights even, but opted for hot chocolate instead.

My days were similar, my days were different. But which day’s eats look better to you? Even though they are super similar.  Not gonna lie.

PS: Run was awesome 🙂 My Garmin never located satellites, so I just ran for time.

Time: 50:13
Est. Distance: 5.25-5.5 miles

And I ran the ENTIRE time. I’m so happy to be back and running normally again. I thank my lucky stars everyday 😀

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A Perfect Dozen

The morning sang with the hymns of “Long Run Day!!”. It was a dreary perfect foggy and misty morning.

Bummer for beach days.

Perfect for long run days 😉

I debated having an English muffin (look – I capitalized it this time) like before my last long run. But decided on having something more filling. Much more filling. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt stomach with a side cramp.

OAT-ME-ALLLL!!! That’s how I sing it. And that’s how I roll.

• 1/4 cup oats + 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water (+ a extra splash of almond milk towards the end because it was too thick)
• 1 egg
• Cinnamon & maple syrup
• Peanut flour

Toppings include vanilla-pear butter, strawberry jam, and melty melty chocolate hazelnut butter.

Perfect-o!! Not one, I repeat in all caps, NOT ONE side cramp during my run. I can’t remember the last time that’s happened. I set out aiming for 11 miles. Partway through I decided to do 11.5. A little farther I decided “what the heck! Let’s do 12!!”.

And 12 glorious wonderful stupendous miles it was. These long runs are so exciting to me now – not necessarily that they’re the longest I’ve ever ran (I don’t think I’ll ever go farther than 26.2 haha). But because they’ve all been the farthest I’ve ran since April 2009, when my injury hit.

Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:52.44
Avg pace: 9:24

• Mile 1: 8:36
• Mile 2: 9:12
• Mile 3: 9:33
• Mile 4: 9:39
• Mile 5: 9:22
• Mile 6: 9:59 <– 3/4 of the mile is up a big hill
• Mile 7: 9:41
• Mile 8: 9:38
• Mile 9: 8:54 <–1/2 uphill, 1/2 downhill – speedy me!
• Mile 10: 9:29
• Mile 11: 9:11 <–Getting excited to finish
• Mile 12: 9:30

I want to note that I’ve kept up a run/walk pattern with most of my runs.  Usually about 2 minutes walking every 1.5-2 miles or so.  Today I walked 30-45 seconds (about .05 of a mile) every mile.  Even if I didn’t feel the need to, I walked 30 seconds at that mile mark.  Sometimes it was hard to make myself stop.  But I didn’t want to regret it in the end!

Regarding hills – honestly, I live all around hills, and there are inclines every other mile.  Some are steeper than others, but can’t avoid ’em!  I also planned my route to hit up drinking fountains, but knew I needed some fuel. 2 problems:

1. I had no Gus/gels to bring.
2. I left my fuel belt at home, so had no where to store food.

Solutions!

1. I bought peach rings last night with my extra dinner money in the cafeteria, mainly because my roommate loves them. Perfect fuel 🙂
2. Plastic baggy down the sports bra. Don’t judge. It actually wasn’t uncomfortable. I just had to make sure to sneakily take the baggy out at my breaks. Awkward.

I had 2 of these at mile 5 and 3 at mile 8.

I actually finished up 12 miles pretty far from my house. As tempted as I was to keep going, I didn’t want to push it, so I stopped and did a long cooldown walk of 1.6 miles in approximately 28 minutes. Towards the end I just wanted to get home, sit down, and eat.

Guess what! My wrap I forgot at work the other day was still in the fridge yesterday. Thank goodness 🙂

A seriously delicious blend of petso, mozzarella cheese, turkey, squash, portabello mushrooms, and basil.

The mushrooms and squash gave it a very meaty feel.

Prior to work I had a small snack. Not at all hungry, I knew I would get hungry during work. 2 rice cakes with some maple PB and vanilla-pear butter.

Dinner at work consisted of some nasty looking kung pao chicken (didn’t taste super great either – yet I still ate most of it), brown butter & chive mashed potatoes (yeah – those were good)..

And some type of apple crumble thing. When I saw this, I knew I had to have it.

And I just finished up a night-time snack of a mix of cereal. I sprinkle cinnamon in my cereal – that’s why it looks so brown.

Globs of PB in cold cereal is amazing.  Try it.  You won’t be sorry.

The tiredness of a long run + walking around for 5 hours at work is setting in. Goodnight!

What’s the farthest you’ve ever ran? And what’s the farthest you’d ever want to run?

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A Romantic + Pumpkin Heaven

This post was meant to go up yesterday (Sunday).  It looks like I wrote it, uploaded it, and then completely forgot to publish it.  Shows how tired I was.

Up and at ’em at 5:00 am yet again!

I had some of my new cereal and yogurt. Plus a scoop of maple PB.

And mulitple cups of coffee obviously.

Breakfast#2 at breaktime (again – sorry of the awful lighting in the cafeteria that early in the morning).

I had some Kashi Heart to Heart with milk (it’s been so long since I’ve had normal cow’s milk!), a banana, 1/2 a blueberry muffin, and a few bites of scrambled egg.

Due to the larger than normal meal at 8:45, 2 more cups of coffee + creamer, and a large cup of water, I really wasn’t that hungry when 11:00 lunch break rolled around.

I had some steamed peas & carrots. And got a pesto turkey wrap from the ‘to-go’ section. This wrap was delicious. Turkey, pesto, mozzarella, and different squashes.

So so good!! But I was super full and only had a few bites. I saved the rest in the fridge for when I would actually get hungry.

I did have a small piece of banana bread overly sweetened shortbread with brown “banana” globs during the afternoon. Leftover from the patients’ lunch menu. It was okay. Remnants:

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I left my wrap in the fridge at work! You don’t understand how upset I was.

1. Because I was planning on eating the rest at a normal lunch time. Or for dinner.

2. Because it really was so delicious.

3. Because they might throw it away. I seriously hope not.

So instead, I had a whole wheat english muffin (is english muffin capitalized or not? Still not sure) with mixed berry cream cheese.

I was not expecting the cream cheese to be so….purpley-blue.

Eaten while enjoying the beautiful sunshine outside.

Then I decided to run some errands. Why? I’m not sure. I didn’t exactly need anything. Apple eaten on my way out the door.

I might have gotten 2 huge bottles of wine at Trader Joe’s for an amazingly low low price of $2.99.

And at Costco, I got slightly jipped on my sample. Excuse me, who eats the strawberry stem on their strawberry shortcake?

I got an ad in the male from Cost Plus this week advertising these on sale:

Having a love for anything (I mean anything) pumpkin – I knew I had to treat myself.

Cost Plus has the most amazing pumpkin selection in the world. I was in heaven (because I stood in awe at all the glory) and hell (since I couldn’t slam down my unlimited debit card and but it all).

Beer!!

Pumpkin caramel corn?!?!

Pasta sauce!!!!!!!

+ cookies, pancake mix, bread mix, cupcake mix, scone mix, coffee, syrup, pumpkin bark…OMG GUYS. I was in there staring at all things pumpkin for a good hour.

Now I also had a $10 off a $30 purchase. So I decided to spend another $20 to get me up to $30. Which would then giveme $10 off and bring me down to $20. So in reality, I would only be spending another $10 than I already was. But getting $20 worth of goods. Make sense? It does to a bargain shopper.

Anyways, I walked out with this:

+ some amazing looking vanilla pear butter, which I broke into promptly upon returning home. A little pre-run snack.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm. I found my new true love.

Seriously. This gave me the energy to go on a bangin’ 3 mile run. Bangin because:

1. I felt awesome and sped through it at a fast and uncomfortable pace.  I made a goal when I first set out to try and make it under 27 minutes/9 min. per mile pace.  I ended up with 3.1 miles in 26:53. That would be an 8:39 average, with my max pace peaking at 6:55 minute mile. Prior to my injury, I used to average all my runs at an 8-8:30 pace.  But since I’ve gotten back into running, my pace has definitely been slower.  I was so proud today 😀
2. I wasn’t even planning on running. Yet I went out. And did it. And loved it.
3. I was purely motivated by wine.

Who said wine isn’t a great post-run recovery drink? I had a date with these 2 right after my run:

Nothing (I mean nothing) screams classier than foam rolling while drinking wine. With a few ice cubes. Yes. I’m serious.

Thank you Trader Joe’s cheap, yet delicious wine. Check out this beast in comparison to a normal bottle of wine.

It’s like a handle of juice wine! Glorious.

I was also excited because I figured out how to use the corkscrew and pop this beauty open. All by myself. First time doing that ever. Pathetic or not, it’s true.

2 large completely normal glasses of wine later (I’m no lightweight, trust me)…I had a dinner of carrot fries, and homemade spring roll. No picture. Muchos apologies.

But needed something more around 9:15. Enter my latest obsession – Yogurt + stevia + peanut flour. Put said yogurt into freezer. 15-30 minutes later (depending on patience) remove from freezer and mix in some jam or preserves. Holla holla holla!!!! So good.

(This time I added some cereal for more substance).

All mixed up – the jam gets all swirly.

I guess it just looks like a normal yogurt mess. But the half-frozen nature of this thing just makes it so much better.

Can’t forget my nightly chocolate fix 😉

GOODNIGHT to one and all. This Tay-Tay needs some major shut eye.

Here’s to hoping my wrap is stil in the fridge safe and sound tomorrow.

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Skimpy Dimpy

Let me walk you through my weekend day of eats 🙂

5:00 – ALARM ALARM!!!! Okay. My alarm isn’t that alarming. But at least it wakes me up that early. I made sure to have breakfast ready for me.  Overnight oats to the rescue!! And coffee already in the pot ready for me to press ON.

My first nectarine was moldy (boooo) so I had to use up 2 this morning. At least the second one was still good!

I am obsessed with jam as of late.

8:30 – Break time! Which means breakfast numero dos (sorry – awful dim lighting in the cafeteria that early). I got some scrambled egg substitute (really meant for the diabetic and cardiac patients.  But normal eggs were out). Score! There was leftover cottage cheese and canteloupe from breakfast as well. + another coffee

11:00 – Lunch break! Our lunch break is a tad on the early side, since we actually have to make and serve trays during true lunch time. Nothing on the menu looked good today, so I stuck with the salad bar:

• Mixed green
• Sunflower seeds
• Kidney beans
• Beets
• Artichoke hearts
• Pineapple
• Couple tortilla strips
• Honey mustard dressing

We actually got off early today at around 1:45 (it was a slightly slower day), and I scuttled home (scuttled Taylor? Really?) to change.

2:15 – Tummy rumbling once again! I really didn’t have any grainy carbs at lunch, so I made up for that with some cereal. And a scoop of PB in the middle.

I love to add a drizzle of syrup and some cinnamon to my cereal, depending on the flavor and sweetness.

4:00 – More work work work! At least I only babysat for 1 1/2 hours today. I did grab some grapes though.

There was one thing I knew I needed to do on my way home – and that would be get groceries!!

Sad, pathetic, skimpy food stock:

Mmmm that Mike’s Hard Lemonade looks good.

The pantry wasn’t much better.

$35 later…Oh yay – MUCH BETTER. (Ignore the empty wine bottles in the back. I only wish I bought those).

• Watermelon
• English muffins
• Carrots
• 3 small containers of yogurt
• 2 things of almond milk
• Zucchini

• Cauliflower
• Tub of plain yogurt
• Cream cheese
• 2 coffeemates (large size)
• Poweraide
• Cinnamon
• Cheddar cheese
• Cereal

While it was more than I wish to spend (my weekly budget is $40, and I still want to go to Trader Joes), I know I got a good amount for what I paid! Coupons coupons coupons! Find what’s on sale, and shop the cheap stores! Budget post is still in the works – I swear! It was also a bit more becuase I bought a few extra things such as:

• 2 almond milks (which should last me 2 weeks) – I don’t like shopping at Food 4 Less (where I get almond milk), so I try to stock up when I go in
• 2 coffeemates (it was a great coupon!)
• Cinnamon – expensive addition. But I’m out. And I can’t go without my cinnamon I didn’t necessarily need
• Cheese – I only bought it because it was on coupon for $1.69. So I’ll work my meals around it. English muffin pizzas anyone?

Right away I got to work on dinner with something I already had in my pantry. Nothing special. Nothing fancy. But something quite delicious.

Spaghettios?!?!?

Make that Annie’s P’sghetti loops with soy meatballs (found on sale at Target last week for $1! Trust me – everything I buy/eat will be on sale 😉 ). I also had some leftover chili beans chillin (I kill myself) in the fridge, so I mixed those in as well. Why not [take a crazy chance]?

Mmm these meatballs are yum.

Spaghettios was our main source of fuel when I moved into my house when I was 5.  Since we didn’t have many dishes or pots and pans unpacked to cook, we relied on these canned beauties.  I vividly recall sitting on empty crates in our empty kitchen eating spaghettios.  Brings me back.

Please don’t judge my skimpy side salad + sesame dressing (x2). It has feelings too.

Now my eyes hurt. I’ll probably hit the hay at 9:00 or so. After I have some hot chocolate of course.

Hey all, by the way – what are you all doing for Labor Day weekend?! I hope something fun pleeeeease!! 😀

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Un-overnight oats

I know what you’re thinking.

“That is one dang big bowl of cereal!”

Oh but there’s yogurt under there don’t ya know. Mixed berry flavor.

Also sprinkled with some peanut flour, for good measure.

I’ve gotten a few curious “Taylor – what exactly is this peanut flour you speak of?” comments.

Well, friends. Please, let me show you. This is (cue drumrolls) peanut flour.

It sounds way more exciting than it looks, I know.

But I told you – it’s almost like peanut flavored protein powder!

Pretty snazzy. $2.99 (or 3.99 – I really can’t remember) at TJs. Go. Run. Buy it now. But leave some for me please.

I ran. However, not to go buy more of this peanut flour (I still have half a bag left, thank you). But I ran nowhere. Just to run. What an odd concept.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 59:22

Some random thoughts and facts about my run:

• Total average was 9:53 per mile. But my first mile was a 8:34 pace. While my my last 2 were 11:06 and 10:68. I got tired. What negative splits?
• My legs were really really tired. Really.
• I stopped by my house around mile 4.5 to grab a drink of Poweraide. I thought it would be easy from there on out. I was wrong.
• My side muscle pain thing is gone. But it still feels tight there while on my running. Maybe I should incorporate ab stretches?

Post run, foam rolling, stretching, and icing (man I have a long itinerary!), nothing in my (weak) food stash looked good. Frozen meal? Bleh. Eggs? Eat that with what side? Cereal? Umm just had that for breakfast. Oatmeal? Hello – I am mucho sweaty and hot. No thanks.

Ooooh that melon looks amazingly refreshing and good. But I’m out of yogurt to go inside the “bowl.”

I’ve heard the rumors that you can make overnight oats in about 20 minutes and decided to try it out! In my overnight 20 minute oats:

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• Peanut flour, cinnamon & squirt of syrup

Topped with 2 scoops of maple PB and some strawberry jam.

I don’t think I soaked the oats long enough – they were still chewy and slighty hard. But I was honestly hungry and had no patience! That’s the benefit of soaking them overnight I guess. You’re not awake to hear the oats taunting you from the fridge “Na na na-na na. Come eat me!!”

(PS: As per my nut butter challenge, I’m done with nut butter for the day now. Hold me to it!)

(PPS: To everyone out there who has yet to eat a melon bowl, or is craving one now –> Get up. Drive (or walk if you’re feeling extra environmentally friendly and green) to the store – hopefully one that has honeydew or canteloupe on sale. And buy a melon. Proceed to come home, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and eat your melon bowl. Preferably filled with yogurt or cottage cheese, nut butter, and jam. Perhaps you may had some cereal or granola for crunch. Please. Just take my advice).

I snacked on some nature’s candy at work.

And some manufactured made candy.

Apparently after drinking this drink I should be able to GO-GO and run around like a super-powered maniac.

Dinner fulfilled my veggie quota for the day week.

In my giant salad:

• Stir-fry veggies
• 2 scrambled egg whites (random add-in)
• Chili beans
• Mango chutney
• Sesame seed dressing

I roasted some cauliflower before realizing I had no room in my stomach for more veggies. So I saved it for a snack later in the night 30 minutes after dinner.

I toss my cauliflower with olive oil, garlic salt (or salt + garlic powder), paprika and sometimes some cumin. It’s also delicious topped with parmesan cheese. Then cook it at 400 F for 25 minutes or so!

I’m now enjoying my 3rd Red Box movie of the week (not pathetic. Just no cable over here), and enjoying a delicious snack. Also known as one of the only things in my cupboard.

Air-popped popcorn tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper. That bowl was once completely full.

Anyone seen the Bounty Hunter? That was my movie of choice tonight. Not sure what to expect though!

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So long. Farewell

Adios 12 hour crazy work day. May I crash now?

Let’s see. Today was:

9:00-1:30 – Nannying job. During which we walked the 1 1/2 miles to the library and 1 1/2 miles back.

Got called into work early. So I raced home, threw on my uniform, grabbed a snack, and sped to work.

2:00-8:45 – crazy crazy hospital day. It was jam packed today and super busy.  Which = me running around like crazy.

Boom. That was me falling on the couch.

But you want to see some food, now do ya’?

I woke up not hungry at all (thank you late night snack literally 15 minutes before I went to bed). So I kept it light with cereal – Kashi Golean, banana slices, & almond milk. Plus a 2-egg white puff on the side for some protein.

❤

Almonds while walking from the library (repeat picture).

Rando sandwich thrown together at work. Basil, hummus, pickles, blue cheese on whole wheat. And mustard.

Super random. But it’s what they had. I wanted to use feta, but the container wasn’t open. And I felt weird opening it.

+ a peach. Juicy. And probaby organic. Not that that matters.  But it was good.

Scarfed down some cocoa almonds in between jobs. Not hungry. But I didn’t want a 7 hour break between lunch and dinner.

I was literally running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off (is that true? Do they really run around after? Ugh. Please don’t tell me), and didn’t get a chance to eat dinner until after the cafeteria closed. Luckily the chef grabbed me some leftover food right before it was washed away. So I took what I could get. And it looks like I’m on the Atkins diet.

Also, luckily the meatloaf was turkey meatloaf. And it was good! I’m usually only a meatloaf fan if it’s made with a specific recipe. This one was tasty.

That fried chicken on the other hand, was nasty.

I need my comfy flip flop slippers. And a mattress. And some carbs after that dinner.

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Battle with the air mattress

Today my long day of hospital orientation definitely brought me back to the days of 2 hour long lectures taken back to back all day. As sad as I was to graduate, I do not miss those boring days. Imagine your most boring class dragged on for 7 hours, with a few 15 minute breaks sprinkled in. That was today.

I made sure to prepare breakfast last night as I knew I would be up and at it early this morning.

Overnight oats yummy yummy in my tummy.

Yay for more jam from Target!

I even chopped up my nectarine last night this morning at 1 a.m. for easy access. Yes 1 a.m. The same time I also mixed in more oil to my maple peanut butter becuase I couldn’t stop thinking about how dry and flaky it was.

I obviously have been having a hard time falling asleep. No offense air mattress.

Actually yes. You should take offense.

I felt like I was betraying this mug by drinking coffee out of it. It looks like a tea type of mug.

How quaint.

I made sure to pack snacks for my break. Am I the only person in the world to get hungry during break time? No one else brought snacks.

I’m sure they were all envious of me crunching my way through Kashi cereal and some cocoa roasted almonds. Plan ahead people.

Lunch was actually pretty awesome! They had many sandwich options, including turkey on a croissant and a roasted veggie one. I chose the veggie and ate outside.  It was so warm out today, and freeeeezing indoors!

It was kinda greasy. But oh well.

Sorry for the odd glare. I also grabbed a couple pieces of fruit (instead of chips) and stashed them in my purse for future consumption 😉 Budget planning my friends.

I went back and snagged a really good peanut butter cookie on second thought.

+ 2 sodas. Oh darn.  Does it help that I drank one 2 hours after the first?

But I did get out on a run! So happy I did 🙂 I don’t know if it was the time of day, that it was still warm out, or what – but it was hard!

Pre-run I had a couple bites of nut butter:

It was one of those runs I felt like I was going pretty fast, but when I looked down at my watch, I was barely going below 10 minute miles. What? I hadn’t even walked yet! I wanted to go 4-5 miles, but ended up stopping at 3 and decided to walk a mile rather than head home right away.

Distance: 3 run + 1 walk = 4
Time: 28:38 for the run; 46:23 for the whole thing.

I got a phone call from a friend during my walk, so I came home and decided to have a snack rather than dinner just in case my friend wanted to grab a bite to eat.

Canteloupe sprinkled with peanut flour.

This melon was super ripe and soft! I got all the way down to the rind!

But then decided to just make dinner soon after.

1 egg + 2 egg whites cooked up with the seasoned potatoes with herb butter sauce (that sounds fancy).

Tupperware the potatoes were stored in. Classy, I know. But it saves dishes.

I topped it with this mango chutney I’ve been using on almost everything.  Costco – will you marry me?

And another bite of chocolate hazelnut butter to kill my after dinner sweet tooth.

Ok ok, I know nut butters are a healthy fat. But there is such thing as too much! I’ve been going crazy with all my delicious nut butters in the cabinet (especially my new maple PB). I really think I’m going to give myself a challenge.

No, I’m not going to deny myself of nut butters completely. But I am going to measure out my portions for a week. And limit myself to 1 serving per day. That can be split up however I want – 1 Tbsp at breakfast, and 1 Tbsp at night. 2 Tbsp all at once or 1 tsp every few hours. Who knows. I’ll just total 2 Tbsp at the end of the day max. It’s expensive, and I think I need a detox from it.

Now I’m tired. Yawn. I have my long 8:30-8:30 day tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep!

Hey air mattress. Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you.

It’s on.

Once I fold my clothes, that is.

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Freshmen once again

Welcome to finals graduation week! Most eveyone else is in finals, but since I technically already graduated and am already out of school, I’m just continuing my normal routine of work. And maybe a bit of shopping. And tanning 😉

Breakfast contained something that’s been in my fridge for a while and I’ve been waiting to try. Waiting for what? Not quite sure…

Raspberry Chobani! It was delicious, but still not as great as my beloved pineapple 😉

Eaten with

• Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal (broke into a new box of cereal)
• Nature’s Path Pecan Crunch
• Bluebs
• Dollups of PB (Smart Balance)

And cinnamon chips because I felt like it.

 

Where’s the yogurt you ask? Ahhh there it is.

I then did a bit of strength training and foam rolling before sitting out in the warm sun for 30 minutes. And then shopping for a graduation dress. Oh the life 🙂

I came home starvingggg and whipped up a pizza. Sorry it’s a deconstructed mess. I forgot to spray the pan and it stuck.

x this amount by 2.

Whole Foods lavash wrap topped with

• Butternut squash pasta sauce
• Crumbled Sunshine burger
• 1 egg white + 1 egg

Yes I cracked the egg over the pizza and then cooked it. Got the idea from this lady.

 

I could actually barely taste the egg. Guess it just added some protein!

And snack was a blended strawberry smoothie topped with a bit of whipped cream 🙂

Anyways, in honor of my graduation this weekend, I decided to do a little flashback action each day to celebrate the highlights of each year of the past 5 years of college.

Let’s pretend we’re freshmen for the day, okay? I already did a Flashback Friday post about my first summer here at school.

After spending the best summer of my life in the dorms, I moved to an off-campus student housing facility. It was suite style (with 9 people per suite) and had 1 common dining area for the whole facility.

I had a hard time adjusting. I don’t adjust well to new situations if I loved the last one so much. I really missed my summer dorm life. But I tried to move on and enjoy myself!

I took a couple months, but I eventually grew closer and bonded with my new roommate. 🙂

Dorm room shot:

Halloween trip to Santa Barbara!

I also took another spontaneous trip to visit my best friend in Santa Barbara. It was 9:00 one Saturday night, I was feeling lonely, and she convinced me to hop in my car and drive the 1 1/2 hours to see her. Best decision ever!!

I took another trip that October to surprise my other friend for her birthday. We went to Hollywood for the day!

Mary-Kate & Ashley. I once was beyond obsessed with them. In high school.

There were beach trips…

And “crunk suite nights” as we liked to call them 😉

Hungry for bagels? And this is me being normal…

My family came down in December for my cousin’s graduation!

I took my first roadtrip by myself from SF to LA to meet up with my friends. Then drove to Vegas from there for New Years!

We liked to have random (completely sober) dance parties. Normal.

Money shot.

Our wall we demolished. It was a work of art.

And painting it 😦

Another Santa Barbara trip to visit my besties.

More theme parties…

Mud fights in the rain.

Birthday fun…

Summer friends reunion!

Farmer’s Market

And then our last day moving out. It was sad 😦

You can tell I’d been crying.

Sorry for the huge array of photos, but I get caught up in pictures 😉

As you might be able to tell, freshman year was also the year I got serious about my weight loss. I had previously lost weight in high school (my higest all time weight was 195). But in college, I went from 185 in November

to 145 by June.

All in all, freshman year in September started out a little rough, but I ended up having one of the best years of my life. And was sad to see it go! I wish I could go back and start college all over again as a little freshman!

What was the best part of your freshman year at college? If you remember 😉

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Happy Hour

Breakfast this morning was something I’ve had on my mind for a while.

Breakfast sandwich!

I microwaved 3 egg whites and layered it on a sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel which I spread pesto hummus & whipped chive cream cheese onto. Oh, and can’t forget the ketchup. This side looks pretty.

I had issues cutting it again.

The sweet and savory combo worked quite well and this was delicious. As was the addition of the pesto hummus & chive cream cheese. Happy belly.

I then headed to work where I made tons of money spent my paycheck on clothes. Ha. Whoops. In my defense it was all clearance items, and a few things I’ve been eyeing for a while. It was a bit depressing though when all my normal sizes didn’t fit at all. It’s one thing for my size to be tight, but quite another to have to go up 1 or 2 sizes. Seriously need to get my butt in gear here!

Lunchie chowed down during my 15 minute break:

• Chobani yogurt
• Kashi Go Lean cereal
• Strawberries (added post picture)
• Spoonful of PB

It’s hard to figure out an eating schedule with work. Sometimes I’m not hungry before work or during my break, but I know it’ll be a couple hours before I can eat again. So I know I need to eat something! Frustrating to make myself eat when I’m not hungry though!

Then it was time for happy hour!

Source – google images.

Starbucks frappucinos are all half off from 3-5 pm until May 17th! I know they are chemical laden and just plain not good for you. But who can deny themselves a frappie once and a while? 😉

Caramel light frappucino with non-fat milk. Perfect pre-run snack with a jolt.

My run was short but sweet.

3 miles in 28 minutes. I only did about 4-5 minutes of walk breaks throughout.

I’ve been building up the distance of my weekly “long run,” but keeping my other runs at 2.5-3.5 miles each. I really can’t wait until I can start adding miles to these runs too and head out for a 5-6 miler without a second thought. All in good time 🙂

Dinner was unpictured. I’m not joking when I say I was so starving, I started to eat it right off the pan, and then continued eating while talking to my roommates. And before I knew it, all my delicious parsnip fries were gone. But yup – parsnip fries!! Coated with nut butter. You betcha I’ll be making those again 😉

I also had the same salad I’ve been enjoying recently, which looked like this:

Finished off the texas caviar mix. You were quite tasty, but I probably wouldn’t buy again.

Oh can’t forget my little handful of granola in between my run and dinner 😉

Coconut Pomegranate Granola

• 3 cups oats
• 1/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• 1/2 cup nuts (I used almonds)
• 8 oz pomegranate juice
• 2 TB coconut oil
• 1/4 cup ground flax meal
• 1/4 cup Agave syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine above ingredients and toss to coat
3. Spread on baking sheet and bake 25-30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so.

So honestly, I had high hopes for this granola. But it never crisped up in the oven! Maybe it was because I used a container of multigrain oats. But it was still tasty 🙂

Are you a frappucino fan? Favorite flavor?

Caramel light frappie obsessed over here! Lovvvvve that caramel drizzle.

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