The long and winding road to fitness, day 14

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Fourteen days.  Two weeks!!  I’m doing it!  I went to the farmers market this morning and got some delicious peaches as well as some veggies (can you tell I like fruit a lot more than I like veggies?), did quite a bit of walking around and a little people watching (the elderly couple walking through the market holding hands, the little boy wading in the water…both adorable). 

I kind of went over on my calories for the day though.  I ate close to 2,000 calories today.  I don’t really have any excuses other than I didn’t plan what I was going to eat.  Learning from this, I’ve got tomorrow’s meals and snacks planned out.  That seems to be the best way for me to stay within my calorie range…and why not utilize what works, right?

My exercise was light today too.  The walking I did at the farmers market plus about 10 minutes of faster paced walking earlier, and that was it.  Tomorrow I’ll get in more exercise.  I’m going to increase my cardio minutes again.  I’m still doing cardio that is low impact in an attempt to avoid the knee pain I had last year while running.  I’m also going to work hard to build muscle, in the hope that it will provide additional support to my knees.  I can definitely tell I’m not in my twenties any more…

I’m a little disappointed in how I did today, but I’m not going to allow that to derail my efforts.  I’m just going to be stronger tomorrow, plan better and do what needs to be done.  Have you ever had a bad day (or even part of a day) and then just thrown in the towel?  I can’t even count the number of times I’ve done that, but not today, not tomorrow…I’m just going to keep moving forward, one step at a time…come on!!

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Farmers Market in early July

I finally made it to our local farmers market this morning.  I have every other weekend off work and it seems like it’s always either raining or I’ve got other plans.  But today I got up early, gathered my totes, put on comfortable shoes and made my way down town.  I got there just a few minutes after it opened (operating hours are Saturdays, 8 am until 1 pm) while the crowd was still navigable.  Believe me, with this particular farmers market, that’s the only way to do it.  On occasion, I’ve gone at around 11 am and could hardly see the vendors’ booths through the mass of humanity.  By going early, I was able to find my favorite vendors (there are several organic farmers who sell their produce and plants at the market, one of my favorites is a farm that is owned by a woman…one of these days I’ll remember to take a picture of her at her booth, but that didn’t happen today.  It’s nice to be able to talk with the farmers who actually do the work to bring us all the fresh fruit and veggies.  I like to hobby garden, but to do it on a large enough scale to earn money is a huge undertaking, not to mention, a lot of hard work!  I have total respect for these people and thankfully,  I get to enjoy the fruit of their labors.  In addition to the produce, you can find honey, eggs, meat, freshly ground flour and cornmeal, all kinds of live plants, cut flowers, coffee, prepared food and lots of live entertainment.  It’s really a social event for a lot of people here in my home town.

I came away with several baby zucchini, some juicy peaches (I ate one as soon as I got home), some red leaf lettuce, a Patty pan squash, a yellow tomato, and a red tomato.  I think I’m going to grill the zucchini and the Patty pan squash, brushing them with olive oil first.  The red tomato will likely go into a nice fresh salsa, one of my favorite summer foods.  The lettuce?  Well, salad for work with tomato, cucumbers and peppers.  And the peaches, really, do I have to explain?  I will eat them out of hand…although I have read various blogs about grilling peaches and watermelon…should I give it a whirl?

By the time I got home, it was beginning to get hot (we’re under a heat advisory today) and the humidity was making it a little difficult for me to breathe.  I went out to look at my own little garden where I have several cucumbers ready to pick.  And I noticed one of my Amish paste tomatoes is turning…ahh…to be able to walk out of my kitchen door and pick my own produce right before I eat it, it doesn’t get any better than that!!  But the convenience and ambience of the farmers market comes in a close second!

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