The long and winding road to fitness, day 36

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Well…I’m certainly glad to have this day over.  I worked open to close today ( I volunteered to do that so my boss could have at least one day of his weekend off.  I know I don’t like having to come in on my weekend off.  I’m sure he feels the same.).  Tired?  Oh yeah!

This was a pretty good day of eating.  I didn’t have time to cook anything, so I kind of took a little of this and a little of that to work.  I did end up grabbing a bag of Cheetos (those jalapeno ones…hey does that count as a veggie?  ha!) from the vending machine to go with my veggie burger at lunch.  I had my yogurt with blackberries and granola again.  Also cucumber slices and a tomato, cantaloupe and string cheese…tea…so some degree of healthy eating for the day.

I didn’t exercise at all today other than the running around at work, did do quite a bit of ladder climbing and a lot of walking.  I skipped the planned exercise knowing I was going to be working all day…I think it’s fine to skip a day here and there, it’s even recommended by experts, so I don’t feel bad about it.

Oh, I did weigh in this morning, lost the two pounds I’d gained over my vacation as well as another pound…so that puts the total at 12 pounds lost now!  Not bad…still a long, long way to go, but I’m on the right path.

How did your day go?  Did you eat anything exciting?

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• How the New Food Plate Helps People Lose Weight (self.com)

The long and winding road to fitness, day 18

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I had the day off work today.  It was nice early, then a little hot later on.  Fortunately, I did all of my running around early in the day and spent most of the rest of the day working around the house.  I didn’t get in a lot of exercise today (walked for 20 minutes), but I did work up a sweat cleaning house.  I managed to get everything done on my to-do list and, believe me, that doesn’t happen very often!!  So now I have a (relatively) clean house and can face the next few days of work before I go on vacation (woohoo!!  I love vacations!).

I had to go grocery shopping.  I was out of bread and close to being out of fresh fruit and milk.  So I took my list and my coupons and headed out to Kroger.  I ended up spending way more than I wanted to, but I bought some things to take to work for healthier alternatives to the junk in the vending machine.  Now I need to package them up in individual serving size bags, then they’re ready to just grab and go. Better for my health and for my wallet.  I bought a bag of prepared popcorn from Popcorn, Indiana…seriously…it’s just down the road from where I live.  I’m going to have to make a road trip and check it out.  Anyhow, I’ve had the popcorn from Popcorn before, and it’s really, really good!!  I also bought some dried pineapple to use in my trail mix.  That’s probably my favorite dried fruit.  So now I’m all set as far as food for work is concerned. 

You’d think, having the day off and running around in the morning then doing all of those chores in the afternoon would have kept me from eating too much, but you’d be wrong.  I bought a baguette from the Bakehouse ( a local bakery).  All of their breads are so tasty and I’m a huge fan of fresh bread.  So, yes, you’ve figured it out already, I ate too much bread today.  Combine that with a bowl of ice cream and you’re looking at a nutritional disaster of a day.  Oh well, tomorrow’s meals and snacks are already planned.  It’s truck day, which means a day full of running around like a maniac, lugging boxes around, climbing ladders…so plenty of exercise.  I’ll just let today fade into the sunset and move on with increased determination tomorrow.

How’d everyone else do today?  Anything fun and exciting to report?  Any great recipes to share?

Related articles

• Adventures in Bread (liverpoolrestaurants.wordpress.com)

The long and winding road to fitness, day 17

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Today was one of those winding road kind of days.  I got in plenty of exercise (in addition to my workout, I was up and down a ladder at work all morning…whew), ate six servings of fruits and veggies, consumed 1628 calories, but also ate a package of Cheez-Its from the vending machine…that threw my sodium intake for the day over my upper limit…water, I’ve got to drink more water…This was one of those days when we didn’t really have enough people working and there was so much to get done.  On days like this, I tend not to take my breaks and wolf down my lunch.  I know this isn’t healthy, but when I’m the only manager in the building and everyone is calling you for this and that, it makes it difficult (try impossible) to sit down for a break.  That’s when I find myself heading to the vending machine in the break room.  As I think about it, this is probably the result of stress more than anything else.  So…what can I take to work that would be relatively healthy, but also be quick and have that sort of vending machine appeal?

I could have made my “trail mix” which is usually a combination of dry cereal (Cheerios or Chex) with some kind of dried fruit and either a few chocolate chips or some unsalted nuts.  That’s the closest thing I can think of.  It’s the sort of thing you can eat on the go, isn’t messy and is fairly good for you.  What else, does anyone have any suggestions?

Related articles

• Smarter Eats: Keep a Stash of Healthy Snacks at Your Desk (fitsugar.com)
• 4 Ways to Eat Healthy(ish) From Vending Machines (wisebread.com)

The long and winding road to fitness, day 2

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It was a hectic day at work today, but I managed to resist the temptation of the vending machine!!  The thought of a bag of chips did cross my mind, but then I reminded myself of what I was working toward…health and fitness.  And the thought flitted right out of my mind!!

I got up at 4:30 this morning so I could get in some exercise before work…rode the exercise bike for 10 minutes, walked for 10 minutes, did lower body strength training (4 sets) and then walked 10 minutes at lunch.  I also did about 5 minutes of stretching…I should do another 5 minutes or so tonight closer to bed time…we’ll see how that goes.

I had the same breakfast as yesterday.  Lunch was quinoa and black bean salad and a bowl of cooked apples.  I had a snack in the morning of 1 cup of grapes and 1 serving of string cheese.  I had my own “trail mix” for an afternoon snack (Wheat Chex and dried fruit, sometimes I throw nuts in it too, but didn’t do that today).  Dinner was a bowl of soup and 1 slice of rye bread.  I also have to admit that I did eat a Ghiradelli dark chocolate square.  I find that I can eat dark chocolate and not feel like bingeing..probably because I don’t like it as well as I like the milk chocolate…Finished the day with 1743 calories, so right within range for the second day in a row…woohoo!!

So how did everyone else do today?  Did you stick with your plan?  Get in a little extra exercise?  Cook something healthy?

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• Healthy Snack Recipes (fitnesstipsforlife.com)
• Snack Attack: Make Your Own Trail Mix (fitsugar.com)

No Soda Challenge, Day 12…tired

Well, I did make it through day 12 without a soda, but, this afternoon, I sure could have used that little boost I get from the caffeine.  Went in to work at 6 am, worked on setting the ad for 5 hours, then had to start working on getting things ready for our corporate visitor (he’ll be here Tuesday).  There’s so much to do and we’re so terribly busy that I can’t seem to get anything done.  So tomorrow starts at 5 am and will last until it’s all done (heck, I could be spending the night…)

I did hop on the exercise bike and did upper body strength training before I went to work…and managed to get in quite a bit of walking.  Took my yummy pizza to work for lunch, along with my crustless pumpkin pie…it tasted just as good as it did yesterday.  I had a bowl of trail mix (well, Cheerios and dried fruit), but ended up not taking an afternoon break…so now I have it for tomorrow!  Think I’ll head to bed in just a bit…I need to get up pretty early and I am really making an effort to get enough sleep.  I think lack of sleep is a big issue for me as far as weight gain goes.  So now to tackle day 13…