Firehouse. Recipe for a cold night.

When I was little, my nana (and then my mom) would make this dish called Firehouse. I always imagined firemen making it, and having to run out in the middle to fight a fire but coming back and finding it still tasty and delishous.

2 pork chops. Mine were pastured from the farm down the street. Salt & pepper the chops.

1 onion, sliced.

3 red potatoes, or 2 larger ones, sliced.

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup milk or cream

olive oil

butter

salt

pepper

thyme

This recipe is best salted in layers. I use kosher salt, just sprinkling a little at a time. Using kosher salt with its larger grains helps the dish not get over-salted but still have enough salt

Heat oven to 400

Sear pork chops in a cast iron skillet, 4 minutes per side. Remove from pan. Add onions, a little salt & pepper, tsp or so of thyme, and a little butter, sautee until tender. Add wine & boil for a couple of minutes to reduce. Layer potatoes on top (salt & pepper), add pork chops back to pan. Pour milk or cream over top. Cover with tin foil and put in oven for 15 minutes.

When mine came out of the oven I hadn't reduced the liquid enough, so I simmered it a bit and then added 1 tblsp. of slurry of cornstarch & milk. You want a nice sauce.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve with something green and some bread. And some more of the white wine.

Chilly!

Last weekend at this time I was in the woods of Maine with the fam, seeing the first falling flakes of the season. They kept falling into the night and we awoke to a beautiful snowy day. No snow here, but certainly a chilly day. It has me wondering about frozen ponds and ice skating.

I have not exercised in a while. I thought it was because it was cold, but that's not true. I have plenty of warm winter clothing. Sometimes I am just a lazy slug. The thing is, when snow-showing weather comes, I will wish my lungs were stronger. So, I will commit to some walking this week, even if it is only from parking really far away from Williams Sonoma when I go there to buy myself a sweet hand mixer today. Yeah, because going to the mall 2 weeks before Christmas is an awesome idea!

Breakfast was english muffin with butter and jam.

Lunch is a mystery. Maybe tuna?

Dinner will involve potatoes and leeks - soup maybe?

Lunch!

Last night's frittata, brown rice and beets.

Veggie Fritatta

Tonight's dinner. Serves 2. And is widely adaptable to whatever you have on hand.

1 cup chopped cabbage.

1 large leek, chopped.

6 or so mushrooms, chopped.

Small onion.

4 Eggs, beaten.

Salt & pepper & herbs to taste.

Sautee veggies in a little butter or oil, with salt, until soft. Taste veggies and adjust seasoning. Add eggs, shaking pan around to distribute eggs. Or, put veggies in a bowl, add eggs, stir and add mixture back into pan. Cover and cook over low heat until cooked through. Serve with salsa, kim chi, cheese, or whatever else you please.

Each serving: 240 calories, 15g carbs, 15g Fat, 14g protein. 6g Fiber.

Could probably use a grain on the side for more fiber and calories. I had mine with a whole wheat english muffin. And a glass of wine.

Coucous, Veggies & Fish

That's what I ate over the summer when I lost the 15 pounds. And I biked a lot. And did more yoga. Shouldn't be that hard to do again. I like couscous and veggies and fish. Yes, the winter vegetables are different but leeks and cabbage are lovely foods, and broccoli and kale are available, and all the lovely peppers I froze over the summer.

And, sure, it's too cold for biking and it's dark in the mornings and early in the afternoons but there are other options - walking in places where there are lights and not just in the woods, taking advantage of day light on the weekends, being ready for snowshoe weather.

The key is to just remember what I did back then (and it's all tracked on Sparkpeople, so I can read it) and do it now. And keep doing it. Easy peasy, right?

Last night's yoga was a lovely relaxing practice from Shiva Rea's Drops of Nectar. I'm going to do 21 days of yoga to get me started. Even just a few minutes a day, since I know that gets me down the path.

Plan:

B: Kashi's version of Grape Nuts & milk.

L: remainder of leek casserole, beets & something protein-ish.

D: something with the eggs I cracked this morning before realizing I wanted cereal. Maybe a veggie frittata?

E: Yoga, sit ups, maybe a walk.

Slowly but Surely

Yoga last night for 25 minutes. I know that I start off slow, going to the mat before I actually want to go to the mat. Feeling agitated and wanting the practice to be over, but sticking with it because I know what it leads to over time - strength, flexibility, contentedness, a sense of well being that pervades everything.

Plan for the day:

B: english muffin with almond butter.

L: leek casserole w/ boiled beets on the side.

D: sauteed leeks and mushrooms and cabbage with rice or something. And turkey?

E: sit ups, lift hand weights, yoga.

I was awake at 4am for a bit, then awake for the day at 7:30 and am now running quite behind.

Um, yeah

In surveying the results of this body neglect, we are pleased to find that only 4 pounds have been gained since last checking in, and not the 20 it feels like. The amount of flab that accumulated in the wake of the muscles making their exit is not quite so pleasing.

So, we return to the yoga mat, we return to the hills, we return to lifting weights and shooing the dog off the rug so we can do sit ups. We return to being more mindful of what goes in our mouth. We begin with willingness, not waiting for motivation.

Plan:

B: english muffin, almond butter, jam

L: leek casserole, potatoes

D: Turkey. Roast beets.

E: weights lifted this morning. walk or yoga this afternoon.

Belly Aching

I don't know what it wrong with my stomach. Ever since Friday it has felt weird. At the top part of my stomach like heartburn or a hangover, but it's not either of those things. Eating doesn't help. Not eating doesn't help. An hour long walk in the woods didn't help. I may go out in search of Tums or something after a shower.

I'm trying to figure out what to make with eggplant. I love to buy them, and they have such pretty varieties at the farm stand. Maybe a small batch of eggplant parm. The recipe from Laurel's Kitchen is good - no frying needed so it goes together quickly.

I'm having some fresh corn ravioli for lunch with some cold salmon from last night's dinner. The temptation when I feel like this is to keep eating, hoping that it will help. But since I know it won't, I'm going to track my calories and stay within my goal. And hope that tomorrow brings wellness.

Still working on eating enough at breakfast and lunch so I'm not starving at dinner. Since this is my constant dilemma, you'd think I'd be better at solving it by now. But alas.

Anyway, I had shrimp fajitas for dinner. Lots of veggies, even if the tortillas were a bit high in calories.

And I walked the dog for about 15 minutes which is a start. I just wish I didn't start so slowly every time. And fall off track so easily.

I hate eating so much for dinner because it leaves me too full too long to do yoga in the evenings.

Tomorrow morning I will review the meals I was eating earlier this summer when this was easier, to get me back on track.

Oh, Hi.

I stocked up on veggies tonight at Whole Foods. I missed the farm stand on account of a wedding, catered by Red Bones (yum!). I am roasting some cauliflower with crushed red peppers to have on hand for lunches, and am going to make some whole wheat cous cous to get me through the week. Shrimp was on sale, so I'll peel and devein that for lunches or dinners. And I have some eggplant ravioli from Nella Pasta which is made locally.

The plan is some yoga before bed. I haven't done any in a while and I can feel my back being tighter and my sleep not being as good.

I would like to say that while my blogging slacked off, my exercising didn't - but that would be a lie. So, I'll say that I intend to do yoga before bed. I intend to remember what my routine is like when I'm in the habit of exercising and easily tracking my food. I intend to continue taking good care of my body and being mindful of what goes in it.

Why I Count Calories

So in the midst of horrible humidity and heat that affect my disposition like nothing else, I slacked off on tracking my foods. My weight has remained steady but I could tell that things were off. I was ravenous at times, yet never feeling really satisfied no matter what I ate.

And then it dawned on me that when I track my food I can make sure that I'm eating enough at breakfast and lunch so that I'm not too hungry when I get home for dinner. The last few days I haven't had enough at lunch to keep me going until evening, so when I get home I'm famished. And then I didn't plan enough protein at dinner, so what I ate didn't fill me up.

I'm going back to tracking. I know it works for me. I can't just "intuitively" spend money, and I can't just "intuitively" eat. I mean, I can form general meals in my head, but then I need to track them so I can tweak as necessary to add more proteins or fats or fiber to make sure my body is getting what it needs.

Plus, when I track I eat more veggies, so that's reason enough.

Starting The Week Off Right!

My cold/sinus thing is gone. Yay! Wonderful way to start the week. And I finally put the AC in the window so I could feel human and cook and clean. It made such a difference. I don't usually need it unless it gets over 90 for a few days, but it is a very nice thing to have when it does get that hot. Now that the sun has set, the windows are open again.

I julienned a bunch of veggies - carrots, zucchini, beets - and steamed them before adding a little butter. Then I poached some salmon, and made some fresh ravioli that I got at the farmer's market. What a lovely meal! Everything except the fish was local. The fish was from Trader Joe's which means it was probably horribly harvested and over-fished but I like to think that it all balances out. The meal will be repeated at lunch tomorrow.

Then at 6pm I biked down to the beach for a swim. It may have been the best swim of the last couple years. The water was so perfectly chilling after this hot and humid day, the sun was quiet again and on it's way down. Not too many people, just enough to say "isn't this heavenly?" to. (Well, and that weird chatty guy. But by then I was so happy to be floating in the water that I chatted right back.) I swam and floated for almost 40 minutes, until the goosebumps came and the veins in my wrists that had been so valiantly trying to cool me down all day were thin as pencil lines. I rode home without drying off, and after a quick shower to get the salt off me I can say that I am sufficiently chilled. The goosebumps are still on my arms and legs.

I am hoping the swimming and biking will lead to peaceful sleep. As I was floating around I thought "I could sleep in the water, it is so peaceful" but I think that would lead to drowning. There was a sail boat moored in the cove, and I wondered if people would sleep on it.

Being in the water just makes me happy. And being chilled and tired when I get out of the water makes me happy.

169.8

Down 1.4 pounds and out of the 170's baby!

And this is my thought - this process has been fairly painless. I'm well fed, I'm exercising how I want to, when I want to and the weight is coming off slowly but surely. So what they heck was I doing before? Was I really eating that much more? Was I that much of a slug (ok, the answer to that might be yes) but I don't feel as though I've made drastic changes and yet changes are happening.

Still no need for new clothing sizes, and I bought a new bra (love!) and have not gone down a size. And not one person has noticed that I've lost weight. Or if they haven't they haven't said anything.

I guess that's the down side to being tall, you can carry a lot more weight, but you need to take off a lot more weight before anyone notices.

Still blowing my nose a lot but feeling much much better.

Plan for the day: more coffee and breakfast, decluttering, cleaning, trip to the dump/recycling, farmer's market for some flowers (last week's bunch lasted all week!) and then we'll see.

Aaah, Sleep

I slept through the whole night! What a joy. I wonder if it was because I listened to the Yoga Nidra relaxation from Drops of Necter. Whatever the reason, I am very pleased to have slept all night and I woke up feeling much better. This cold has moved out quite quickly, I will remember that and be sure to head to the acupuncturist at the first sign of illness and not wait until it has a chance to settle in.

Sunny weekend in store. Maybe an early hike tomorrow before some decluttering at home?

Still losing weight despite lack of exercise. Down .6 pounds this week. Almost out of the 170's.

Sick

Ugh. I have a summer cold. Which is hopefully on it's way out. It was terrible yesterday so I went to acupuncture which seemed to get things moving. And then I followed the doc's instructions to drink 2 cups of ginger tea to try to sweat it out of me. And I kept my wool hat on all night to protect my aching ear and increase the sweat. But I slept like crap - from 10:30 - 3, then maybe 4:30 - 8. Today was a little better, lots of psuedoephedrine kept me awake and my nose not too runny.

The result of all this is that it has not helped me exercise more, although it does make me not hungry. But I would rather be hungry and not sick.

I do think that being sick gives me the benefit of being glad and appreciative of health when I feel better.

zumba-less

There was no zumba tonight. It was too hot for the sweaty rec center, and then I was going to go walking after work but the skies were rather foreboding so I didn't. Actually, that's a lie. I walked with the dog for a bit, and could see the mist rolling in and the skies darkening which is when I decided against biking down for a swim.

I did 40 minutes of yoga last night.

I need to get back on the bike. Back on the trails. Back on the mat. I can feel my muscles turning back to mush.

My eating is fine - I seem to eat about 1500 calories a day without really struggling one way or the other.

And I may be coming down with a summer cold caused by too much air conditioning at the office.

Funk-Be-Gone

So my little Sunday night pity party is done. Back in the groove. Sort of. Still haven't worked out in a few days. But zumba tomorrow night, so that should help.

Made a veggie tart last night which will be good for cold meals this week.

Today's food:

B: english muffin with almond butter.

L: veggie tart and a hard boiled egg.

S: 1 oz. cheddar cheese

D: I don't know. I'm hungry. I have shrimp. And veggies. And pasta. Or chicken and veggies and orzo.

I think dinner will be shrimp and veggies with pasta. Lunch will be chicken and veggies with pasta.

I just start chopping veggies and wait for whatever wants to join them to make itself known.

---

Dinner was shrimp, veggies and tagliatelle which is my new favorite pasta. It cooks in only 4 minutes, but is wide (not skinny like angel hair.)

Hopefully it will cool down a bit later and I can get in some yoga.

Not There Yet

Beware, this is a post in which I complain and generally feel unappreciative towards my body which does so much for me. But I know it will understand.

I tried to go shopping today for new clothes. I should know better than to try to buy things at the TJMaxx Runway section where the size run smaller and are made for women with a much smaller chest than mine. So, I tried on pants and discovered that losing 10 pounds meant that the 12's no longer fit me, and the 10's don't quite fit me. Great. I am an 11. Which would be fine if they made 11's.

And the cute pink dress I found to wear to my brother's wedding just looked like a big lumpy potato sack on a big lumpy potato.

So, I returned my 7 items to the rack, and wandered into shoes, where I got some great shoes to replace a few pairs that were getting tired.

And forward I trudge.

Recommitting

I need to recommit. This week has been a slow slide off the rails. Exercise got pushed aside. Yesterday's 1/2 eaten lunch caused way too much dinner and not even an attempt to track. I can hear a little voice saying "You've lost 10 pounds, you're fine. You can stop now."

But I don't want to. I like the way my body feels when I exercise more. I like not going to bed uncomfortably full. I am committed to this. And I have a plan.

I will spend the morning at the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's restocking my kitchen. I will chop fruit and veggies to have on hand. I will plan some meals so when I come home I can just cook and not wonder what to make.

And I will bike or yoga or lift weights.

- .2

Hey, I'll take it. Considering I only exercised twice this week, I couldn't really expect more.

Dinner Quandry

I can't figure out what to have for dinner. Tomorrow I can go and buy some new and exotic things to cook but tonight the salmon is staring back at me from the fridge and I don't want to cook it. And I don't want zucchini. Or anything involving english muffins. Or tuna. Or couscous. Or beets. Or chicken.

I want spicy shrimp over polenta with okra. But I have no shrimp. I want a grilled ham and cheese but I have no ham and no cheese.

I want to go to Kripalu for the Ecstasy of Chant: Get High on Mantra. How amazing would that be? I believe this weekend I will be making my reservations.

...

Well, I've settled on salmon and some paparadelle pasta.

Tomorrow will clearly involve a trip to Whole Foods and perhaps a perusal of some cookbooks to get me out of my rut of the same foods. I will stock my freezer and pantry full of new and interesting things, and maybe freeze some small flatbreads that I can turn into a quick meal.

This week has been a low exercise week. So I think I'm heading out with the dog for a little jaunt.

no zumba

no moving

no packing

no cleaning

no worries

no stress

no nothing to do for anyone else tonight. or tomorrow morning. my time is mine again. my weekends are mine. my worries will be about me and things that I can control, not about a parent who can hopefully take care of himself from here on out.

I have a big fat new book, The Forgotten Garden, that wants to be read.

And some Louise Hay Power Thought Cards that somehow always know the right thing to tell me: "I breathe in the fullness and richness of life. I observe with joy as life abundantly supports me and supplies me with more good than I can imagine."

Today's meals:

B: whole milk drunk out of the carton, whole wheat english muffin with PB& J eaten in the car on the way to work.

L: cold salad of whole wheat cous cous, salmon salad, beets and avocado. (one of the best meals ever.)

D: chicken thighs, couscous, zucchini & beets. boring but satisfactory. goat cheese toast on the side. wine.

I don't really seem to be calorie cycling this week, just staying within my range. And that's ok.

zumbaaaaaaahhhhh

Back to moving again today. A tired and hungry and hot zumba session, but the thing about zumba or yoga or hiking or biking is that no matter how miserable I am during it, I never regret going.

I know that next time I will have fueled myself better during the day, and brought *cold* water and remembered my towel but for now I will just be glad I went.

One final moving chore tomorrow morning which will prevent morning biking, and the tides don't seem right for an afternoon swim so I'm not sure what tomorrow holds in store. Maybe get back on the yoga mat.

Hoping zumba leads to some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

Lazy Days

I've decided to not go to yoga. I have been out of my house all day the last 3 weekends (cleaning and lugging) and I really just want to stay home (plus, I'm going to zumba tomorrow night. woot!) So, I took a late afternoon nap and will make dinner soon.

Dinner: chicken thighs sauteed with mushrooms, zucchini, onion and capers with a little milk over some farro pasta. And cantaloupe for dessert.

All Dressed Up But Not Going

I have my bike clothes on. But I can't get moving and I've decided to bag the ride. I may be having a slight existential crisis.

I've decided to pack a bag with workout clothes and then either do zumba or yoga at 5:45 tonight. I'm thinking yoga is what I need.

Breakfast: english muffin with almond butter. milk.

Snack: cantaloupe and cucumber.

Lunch: beets, salmon, whole wheat cous cous.

Dinner: chicken thighs and mushrooms?

Crazy Days

These last 2 days have been crazy. My dad is moving out of his house where he's lived for the last 40 years so my siblings and I have been helping to clean and pack and watch toddlers and make sure the dog doesn't run away and go back and forth about what to toss and what to keep and somewhere in all that eating just goes by the wayside. (Wine and beer drinking strangely don't go by the wayside) but the end result was I got home last night at 10 pm. having had about 1000 calories over a day that involved a 50 minute bike ride, a 45 minute round trip walk to the beach and lots of throwing stuff into the dumpster (and squirreling away the sterling silver into my car.)

Today was slightly better. Breakfast of eggs and goat cheese on english muffin, a little cheese and few crackers for lunch and then finally home to then unpack, cull and repack into pretty boxes the photos, letters and papers from generations past. There is a pile of sterling to be polished, but that will have to wait.

Right before I passed out from hunger I made dinner - shrimp, leeks, mushrooms, zucchini, tagliatelle pasta with a little butter and parmesan cheese. Ah, finally veggies. I still need to make some things for lunch for the week. Maybe roast some veggies, poach some salmon and cook a grain. I may have to make something that involved thinly slicing veggies on my new-to-me mandoline slicer.

And then I have to sleep.

10 pounds?

Early poll results are showing that I have lost 10 pounds.

Which just goes to show that if you have a big tantrum and then have over 100 grams of fat in one day (and do zumba), you will finally lose 2 pounds in one week and be back on the downward track.

Yay.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Plan for the Day

Today's Plan:

1. Coffee (in progress)
2. Bike Ride (on road bike, unless roads are wet, then on hybrid)
3. Recycling & trash to the dump
4. Buy light bulbs (2 in my living room burned out this morning.)
5. Help Pa clean out the house with the fam, and have yummy food. I have some beets, fresh onions and zucchini to bring for roasting.
6. Not sure what the tides will be like for swimming down there, may need to go this evening after I get home.
7. Laugh at the fact that the scale is down to the lowest number yet on this journey. Down 1.4 from last week. Finally. When I looked back at Sparkpeople to figure out what was going on, I noticed that the calorie differential report (the difference between my intake and output) showed that during the weeks that I hadn't lost, my average calorie intake per day was about 200 calories lower than on the weeks that I had been losing. So, I guess upping my calories this week, in addition to cycling them, worked.

Bodies are weird and funny.

Fightin Fire With Fire

Ok, so my earlier attempts at a high calorie day failed. But I knew there had to be a way (duh, or I wouldn't be trying to lose weight in the first place) so I decided what better way to sneak in calories than with heavy cream and wine!

I had my usual boring breakfast and lunch, and then for dinner I made the yummy shrimp and tagliatelle leeks, zukes, and mushrooms. I added a little butter, parm and heavy cream at the end to make a sauce and ooh, yummy. I still weighed the cheese and measured the cream but I'm almost up to 2000 cals for the day.

I won't tell you the number of fat grams I ate today because I think it might be illegal. But I'm attempting to shock my body into weight loss so I'll do whatever it takes. I'm also going to shock it by continuing to go to zumba since I'm pretty sure that will scare any weight right off.

I feel like Baby whenever I'm at zumba.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go work on my pachanga moves.

Still Stuck

Day 21 of the scale not moving.

Whatev.

Thanks for nothing you little fucking piece of plastic and metal and wire.

Glad I've been taking so much care with what I've been eating because clearly that has worked really well.

Have a nice day.

zumba!

Had zumba tonight, which was awesome and outside. I am as uncoordinated as an ox sometimes, and get thrown off by singe-single-double and end up out of step half the time but I still love it. It thrills me to know that there may be other things that I have not yet discovered that I might love as much as zumba.

I did not eat all my calories today. I blame the heat and zumba and the lack of wine or beer in my house. And the fact that no one would go for a martini after zumba. : ) And the fact that I was too sweaty to go to Whole Foods for something after zumba.

Breakfast: english muffin with avocado & a hard boiled egg. 300

Lunch: 1/2 Mediterranean Veggie sandwich and chicken noodle soup from Panera. 400

Snack/Dinner: hard boiled egg, cereal w/ milk, english muffin with PB & J. 700

It's now 9:30 and there's nothing in the house I want to eat that doesn't involve some sort of cooking or prep so I'm just going to bed and will resume the calorie cycling tomorrow. I should have had the full sandwich at Panera, and will plan better next time.

Day 3 of Calorie Cycling

This day did not go quite as planned. I was supposed to eat 2140 calories.

My meals were:

Breakfast (pre-ride): english muffin with goat cheese

Breakfast (post-ride): cereal with milk.

Total: 550

Lunch: Almond butter and jam on english muffin. A hard boiled egg. Carrot sticks.

Total: 393 (I brought some cous cous and avocado with me, but didn't eat it.)

Snack: Almonds Total: 165

Dinner: 3 slices of pizza with cheese and veggies. 860

Total for the day: 1968.

And I'm full. Done. So, I'm calling it quits and figuring I got close enough.

Tomorrow is 1784 calories and zumba. Both of which seem really doable. Right now, I just want my bed. I was up this morning at 5:30 (yet somehow didn't leave the house for work until 9:30...?) and am going to try to sleep in a little tomorrow. The dog might have different ideas though.

Hope you all had a fantastic Wednesday!

Keep On Keepin' On

11.5 miles this morning. My bike is starting to annoy me. The seat post keeps sinking down into the bike frame when I ride, so that after a while the seat is almost an inch lower than when I started which makes it very inefficient to ride, and then I have to stop and adjust it which just breaks up my rhythm.

I'm not sure how to fix this. It's a "quick release" fixture, I guess so you can take the seat with you when you lock up the bike, but there's got to be a way to make it stay where I want it.

I might switch to the other bike for my next ride. Which means I have to find the tracker thing for it which has been traveling in my car with me for months waiting for me to buy it a new battery. But at least that seat stays where it should.

Cooling down, drinking water, eating second breakfast, and looking forward to *zumba* tomorrow night.

Rest of the Day

I really did take a day of rest, although I might do a little yoga before bed. I almost biked to the beach for a swim, but I decided against it. I need a wide brimmed hat to protect my face and ears, even with sunscreen, if I'm going to be out in the sun like that for 30 minutes. (The hat is for the swimming time, I wear a helmet during the biking time.)

So this was the "low" day of my calorie cycling adventure. I was supposed to eat 1425 calories, and I came in at 1497. I'm not hungry at all, since I tend to eat higher fat and protein foods which keep me full. My breakfast was 460 cals, lunch was 540, dinner was 497. Tomorrow is 2100 calories, and should really not include eggs since I had a lot of them today. They are so yummy, though. And versatile, and cold and salty. I should make a little plan for tomorrows food.

I found the "zig zag" schedule on this site: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm . At the bottom of the blue box you can see the "7 day calorie cycle" option. I figure it can't hurt and it might help. And it seems more interesting than eating the same amount every day.

I'm going to set out my biking clothes for the morning. If I'm eating that many calories, I might as well take advantage of all the extra energy. And if I'm lucky maybe it will start pouring rain on me!

A Day of Rest

No biking this morning. I was awake from 1:30 to 3:30 for some reason. Then up at 6:30 but decided to not bike today.

Breafast was scrambled eggs with goat cheese on an english muffin. Yum.

Lunch is a cold salmon salad with couscous, cucumber and avocado.

Dinner - not sure, something cold.

Evening Swim, Interrupted

As I drove home and saw the high tide, I thought it would be the perfect evening for a swim. But after biking to the beach I saw that it was piled high with sea weed, and some trash, and remembered that a nearby beach had been closed on Saturday due to high bacteria counts from all the rain and run-off and I was sufficiently skeeved out enough to peddle back home without a swim.

Bummer. And while I appreciate the extra 20 minutes of biking, I hope that the beach goes back to normal soon so I can swim.

I will say that my sit-bones are smarting every time I get on the bike. It goes away after a few minutes, but yikes, it hurts like the devil. And I wear padded bike shorts and have a rather cushy seat. I'm hoping I adjust soon and don't mind it so.

I have also figured out why it is useful to have so many work out clothes (and not just because they are cute) - it's because when I workout every day, I can toss them in the washer and not have to do laundry every day and never being able to use the excuse "but I don't have anything to wear..."

Today's Meals

I'm experimenting with calorie cycling, and with eating more in the beginning of the day. Here's what I've had so far today:

1st breakfast: whole wheat english muffin with goat cheese.

2nd breakfast: (post bike ride) Barbara's Bakery Shredded Oats with milk.

cals: 550

Lunch: tuna with 1 T mayo, whole wheat english muffin, carrot sticks with almond butter & 1/4 cup avocado. (This is very filling, and some of it may be saved for a later afternoon snack.)

cals: 615

Dinner (plan): 6 oz Trader Joe's coho salmon, 1/2 cup brown rice, sauteed fresh onions and zucchini, glass of wine.

cals: 500

Snack (plan): 1 oz. cheddar cheese or something else of around 100 calories.

cals: 115

Total: 1780 which is right in line with where I should be for the day.

Tomorrow is around 1400 calories, so I'll figure out what those meals will be this evening.

13.5

13.5 miles this morning. A soaking rain around mile 10 was heaven-sent. My average speed went up by 1 mph to 12.5 mph. I ride on my hybrid which is slower than my road bike but feels more stable and the tires are less prone to flats. And I sit up straighter so I can look around at all the new places I've never been.

I'm going to try calorie cycling this week, in an attempt to get past this plateau. The theory is that you eat the same amount of calories over a week, but you vary the amount you eat per day:

Monday-----1784

Tuesday-----1427

Wed ---------2141

Thursday----1784

Friday--------1606

Saturday-----1962

Sunday ------1784

We'll see how that goes.

Zumba is on Thursday and this week is supposed to be a tad humid. Will hope for a few more bike rides. The key seems to be putting on my bike clothes as soon as I get up, and getting the bike out while the coffee brews. Then I sit and have coffee and breakfast and water and then go biking. Then after showering I will have second breakfast and make lunch.

Hope your week is starting out well!

11.3

That was my biking total this morning. I decided to have a bigger breakfast (500 cals.) since I knew I wanted to bike and wasn't sure how far I wanted to go. I biked out to Hull and just kept going, almost to the end. Next time I'll go all the way to the end.

It was a nice grey, misty morning and started to rain on the way home about about mile 10. It was a blessing. I tend to get very hot when exercising no matter the outside temperature, so the cooling rain was nice.

Now I know that biking on wet roads and with a little rain is ok. I even minded the wind less, which means my legs and lungs are getting stronger.

7.5 Miles

That's how far I biked this morning. I had finished my coffee and English muffin and wasn't quite sure what to do next and it wasn't raining and I could hear the bikers going past my house so I decided to be one of those people that starts the day off with a bike ride.

I ended up going about twice as far as I normally do. My stamina is definitely improving. I reached the point where I normally turn around and I just kept going past it, past the other walkers, and surfers and swimmers and the old, tanned men sitting on the boardwalk.

Then I came home and had second breakfast since I realized my 200 calorie breakfast wasn't really enough to fuel me for the bike ride and a day of hauling stuff out of a house into a dumpster. Second breakfast was cereal, and I think some watermelon in a bit.

Farm stand later today to stock back up on vegetables.

From Y to Z

I went on an mind/body exercise extravaganza tour on Wed. and Thurs.

Wednesday was a two (and a bonus extra half hour) hour back-bend workshop. I realized I'd been avoiding back bends, and saw this workshop offered by cat kabira and knew I had to go. She was an amazing teacher and I have a whole new appreciation for bridge pose, and was able to kick up into forearm balance which was pretty cool since I'd never been able to do that. And I realized I need to do much more ab work as part of my routine.

That much yoga is a lot of yoga, and I tried to not use all my energy in the beginning so that I was able to stick with it to the end. There was only one part where I thought I'd puke or pass out, so I just got out of the pose and leaned forward for a bit. The room was way too hot for my liking (it was in a heated yoga studio. the room wasn't heated, but it was on the 3rd floor with little ventilation and lots of sweaty bodies) but other than that it was amazing. I will definitely seek out more workshops to enhance my home practice and introduce me to new styles.

Then last night I went to *zumba*! I think I love zumba. It was fun and a great workout and great to move in a different way.

This morning my entire upper body is sore. My abs hurt, the muscles around my shoulder blades, my arms. And I feel like I threw out my right elbow waving my arms around in zumba. But it feels good. I now know what needs more work and attention. And hopefully those workouts will nudge the scale down a little. I think I will also take some measurements now, to see what changes going forward. I know I should take them in the beginning, but I didn't.

My eating has stayed on track and even though it is hurricane-like weather out there now, this weekend should be nice for some more outdoor things.

Wicked Yummy Salad

Today's lunch. How last night's dinner can be today's lunch without being boring.

4 oz. salmon

1/2 cup brown rice

2 cups lettuce (I used romaine)

2 teaspoons olive oil

sliced cucumber

18 grams of sunflower seeds (I weighed these, but it seems to be about 1 tablespoon)

Combine all in bowl with salt and pepper. Yum!

480 calories, 7 grams of fiber, 32 carbs, 27 grams of fat, 30 grams of protein.

I'm having some bing cherries on the side, and a little square of dark chocolate. A perfectly lovely lunch.

The Slow _______ Movement

So you've heard about the slow food movement. Where you bake bread that rises for 18 hours, and eat slowly and grow your own food or get it from a CSA.

Well, I might start the Slow Hike movement. And the Slow Swim movement. I was thinking about this while I was swimming the other day. I swam for about 40 minutes. I swim slowly. I keep my head above water (and my sunglasses on, and am considering wearing a wide brimmed hat to complete the sun-safe ensemble) and do a modfied breast stroke along the shore, then flip over and do a modifed back stroke the other way. I try to face away from the sun. Sometimes I do the side-stroke which seems like the ultimate old-lady stroke, but I love it and its scissor kick.

Then sometimes I'll just stop and float and stick my feet up out of the water and marvel at how lucky I am to be in floating in the ocean. And then I swim some more. Back and forth. Until I feel done.

I'm a slow hiker, too. A steady hiker, but not a quick one. No peak-bagging here (although I have bagged a few and certainly keep track of them, but you'll not find me racing to the top to check another off my list.) No jogging up and down Mount Washington like I saw someone doing when I climbed it 10 years ago. And that's ok. I go at a pace that I imagine will keep me hiking well into my 70's or 80's (not that the mountain will take me that long, but that my knees and ankles will stay happy enough to allow it.)

A bit of yoga planned before bed.

Food today:

Breakfast: english muffin with butter and a hard boiled egg.

Lunch: leftover polenta with roasted veggies, hard boiled egg for snack.

Dinner: brown rice, salmon and asparagus. with a little goat cheese toast on the side.

Progress Report

The scale-loss has slowed to a crawl, the kind of crawl that just lies there and doesn't move. Yes, my legs are getting stronger (not sure about my arms yet) but the fact remains that there are still 25 extra pounds on my body that don't need to be there. That have not always been there. And I want them gone. They can come off 1 pound at a time, but I would like them to please go.

Anyway, to that end, I will add in a couple of bike rides this week, and maybe an afternoon swim towards the end of the week depending on what the tides are like.

Positive changes:

- I am no longer sore after hiking.

- My legs are getting toned and stronger.

- I wake up early in the morning, more refreshed & ready to go.

Things to do:

- stock up on sparkling water

- organize kitchen again to make meal prep easier

What do you do when the weight loss slows or stalls?

Need to go North

Another Blue Hills hike today. Same route, but started at 8:20 a.m. which is a much nicer starting time than 10:30 a.m. - fewer people, but still enough so that I'm not the only one there, not as hot and there's a lot of day left when I'm done.

But I think I'm done there for now. I need to take my pack and sticks and head north. A two hour drive to Mt. Monadnock will be a good next step. It can be crowded, but hopefully if I got there by 8:30 (which would mean leaving at 6:30, up at 5? eep) it would be ok. And not all of the trails are as heavily traveled.

Rest of the day was farmer's market and house work. Made some polenta with roasted farm stand veggies - new onions, fresh garlic, summer squash and some non-farm potatoes.

Now I'm sleepy, preparing the house for the week and hopefully asleep shortly after 9.

Bike Swim Bike

My own mini biathlon today. After hitting the farmer's market for blueberries, eggs and coffee I realized that the best way to beat the steamy heat was with water - sea water! So I biked to the beach (about 10 minutes) slowly made my way into the water (about 5 minutes, it was a bit brisk at first) and then swam and floated and swam for about 40 minutes before I could feel that I had cooled down to the core.

A quick dry and a nice ride home and I'm feeling so much better.

Lunch was egg salad with chopped jalapenos and a little of the burdock root that I got the other day, some cherries on the side and milk.

Hiking tomorrow, and later today I'm going to check out some small day/hydration packs at REI that will hopefully be less sweaty on my back than my pack I use now.

Motivation v. Commitment

My motivation is flagging today. My commitment is not.

It was hot today. At least in my mind where anything over 80 is hot. It makes me cranky and sweaty and uncomfortable.

Breakfast was left over dinner from last night. Not the best as it was too low on fiber. Then lunch was cereal and by the time dinner rolled around I was hungry and made my old stand by of shrimp, veggies and pasta. It's not high in calories, but it's very filling and now I just feel like a big sweaty beached whale.

I can feel myself getting bored with entering all my foods in Sparkpeople, and having to think about my meals and plan them out. But the commitment means that I will do these things anyway, even though I don't feel like it. Even though that little voice is saying "this isn't going to work, give up now." And it isn't even like giving up would mean "yay, ice cream and brownies and fried chicken!" It would just mean a few more snacks during the day like english muffins with butter, letting the yoga practice slide (nah, that'll never happen, that feels way too good), getting careless with my serving sizes letting them creep up and up, and eating even when I've had enough.

Typing that out I see that the only thing I would be giving up would be mindfulness about what I'm eating. I mean really, is that so difficult to maintain? I'm not depriving myself of anything here. I love the activies that I've been doing and wouldn't stop for anything. And there is no food I can't eat, as long as I just keep the amounts within the limits of what my body needs.

Do people think, "oh it's so difficult to keep track of what is in my bank account. Screw that, I'm going to be free and not do it and just spend what I want." That's not freedom. That's heading towards over drawn accounts and no savings.

Same with not paying attention to what I'm eating. That's not freedom either. That just leads to where I am now and where I was 8 or so pounds ago.

So, I will continue on. And I will try to do what ever yoga my full belly will allow of me tonight. And I will pack a day-pack for a hike tomorrow or Sunday. And I will plan out some new meals for the week. And I will just keep going, because I am commited to this even when my motivation falters.

Quick post

Quick post: poor planning, too much food and not enough water the last 2 evenings have left me sluggish and full. Have restocked up on veggies, filled my water bottles and am feeling better already.

Working on my business plan this morning and talking with my biz. consultant early this afternoon, then a bike ride (although it may be too hot and sunny) or some yoga. Tomorrow calls for rain so the hike may have to wait until Sunday. The trail is rocky and get slippery in the rain.

Shrimp & Veggie Delight

I decided to get some new things tonight at Whole Foods, along with my trusty old leeks and some cherries that looked really yummy. The frilly green thing is a savoy cabbage, which I have always thought were so pretty (and found out they are equally as tasty). The round brown thing is a small jicama, and the thing that looks like a stick is burdock root, which, according to that link can do everything from cure measles to detoxify my liver. But, mostly I got it because it was next to the jicama and I thought it might make a nice addition to jicama salad. And if it purifies my blood in the process, then that's just an added bonus.
Dinner was leeks, zucchini, chopped fresh garlic, savoy cabbage, shrimp and some tagliatelle that I forgot to photograph before cooking. There are probably 5 cups of veggies which cook down to about 1.5, 4 oz. of shrimp, 1/2 oz grated parmesan and some butter than was left out due to it's lack of photogenicity tonight.

The shrimp are seared first for a minute per side with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper and then taken out and set aside until the dish is done. I have discovered that this is the key to not over cooking the shrimp.
Then all the veggies are added to the pan and cooked until they wilt and look done. Add salt and pepper at this step, too.

Then the shrimp is added back in, a teaspoon of butter is added along with a dash of the pasta water and the parmesan cheese. Season to taste with more salt and pepper and add the past in and stir.

Put in a bowl and eat. If you have the capacity to eat a large volume at dinner (cals are about 600), this will feed 1, otherwise you could add a little more of everything to feed more than one person. I think I had my entire daily allotment of veggies in this one meal, but it was really good.

I have signed up for a back-bend workshop next week. I was working on my long terms goals for my life and realized that one of them is to be able to do back-bends, so I figure this will get me a little closer to my goal, and push me outside my comfort zone - both of which are good.

"Did you get your hair cut?"

I think my double chin might be going away. Someone asked me if I'd gotten my hair cut again, and when I said no, they said it was falling nicely. It didn't dawn on me until later that I think my second chin is getting smaller, which would make my face look different even with the same hair cut.

Eating today: breakfast was english muffin & 1/2 avocado, lunch was dinner leftovers with brown rice and jicama salad, dinner was poorly planned and the same thing as breakfast plus a spicy sausage from Whole Foods. Thankfully, the veggies at lunch were enough to get me all the servings I need for the day.

I think I need more milk. And there is salmon thawing for tomorrow's dinner.

Yoga last night was Shiva Rea's Solar Flow, which I think is in the side bar --> . It was a nice practice but then progressed into back bends, which I really need to work on. It felt good to challenge my body and my mind, and do poses that were uncomfortable and remember when other poses that are now easy were uncomfortable and know that my body will relax and get stronger and more flexible over time. But sometimes I just swear at her and do a different pose.

I am sleepy now. Time to prep the coffee and lunch for morning. Then maybe a little yoga before an early bedtime.

Medium

I'm cleaning on this Sunday night. Dusting, laundry, dishes and cleaning out my closet and drawers again. There are yoga pants in there that are size medium. I think back to when they would have fit me and I can almost picture it. And the skirt that is a size 6, the pants that are 8's. I remember those. I remember the ease of finding clothes that fit, and liking the way they fit me.

I am on my way back there.

I made the fajitas: steak, red cabbage, mushrooms, kale, onion, zucchini. Half of it was packed up with some brown rice for lunch tomorrow.

I am glad to have so many veggies in the house now to build my meals around. It is easy when you don't quite know what to make for dinner but can start by just chopping up whatever veggies there are, rooting around in the fridge for some form of protein and then figuring out what type of grain would go best to tie it all together, and if there's a fat (avocado, butter) or cheese that would top it off.

Goal tonight: 1 hour of yoga.

Pondering Dinner

This is what I picked up at the organic farm today. Zukes, fresh garlic, scallions and some fresh onions. And 2 bags of baby kale which aren't pictured. I'm wondering what I make for dinner. I have a thawed grass-fed NY strip steak which I think wants to join dinner. I have some small potatoes which could be roasted with the red onions & garlic.

Or I could make fajitas with the zucchini, steak, onions, garlic, kale and the last bit of red cabbage. Hmm, that might be it. An early dinner of veggies & steak so they can be digested by the time yoga/bedtime rolls around.

Jicama Salad

Take some jicama (not my photo. I forgot to take one before cutting into it.)
Peel.

Julienne. Put in big bowl.

Add juice of a lime or 2. Tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle of salt. 1/2 or 3/4 tsp. of chili powder. Bunch of mint chopped up. Mix and refrigerate. Serve cold. It's very refreshing.

Take A Hike!

That's what I did this morning. My usual route, 2.5 hours through the Blue Hills. I started at 10:30, which I think is too late because I was very hot and sweaty. Next time I will pack my bag the night before and have my waters and shoes and snacks and everything ready so I can just go in the morning and not putter around for a 1/2 hour getting ready.

I am loving my hiking poles more every time I use them. I have figured out how best to use them on the way down so they are like extra legs out in front of me, keeping my knees safe and my balance on track while I get down the hills faster. One little kid said as I went by "It's like those sticks are her legs."

One of the best parts about hiking is lounging around afterwards and wondering what to eat. Except that I'm too tired to actually cook or buy anything to eat so I just snack on some bits of cheese and dry cereal and drink water and think about lobster rolls.

I sometimes think I want to go on this hiking trip in this fall: http://www.fitpacking.com/2009/WMNF2.cfm because hiking that many days in a row would be so cool, but then I also think I want to go to Tribal Jam at Kripalu because dancing that many days in a row would be amazing. Who knows what I'll end up doing, but it's nice to know those opportunities are out there.

Yummy Yoga

My yoga practice last night was so yummy. That was the word that hit me in the middle of it. I decided that I wanted to design my own practice, so I put on some Mantras in Motion music and started with some Moon Salutations. I did the flow in very slow motion so I could get the most out of each pose, then I did a couple of rounds at normal speed, matching the postures to my breath.

After the vinyasa I moved to floor poses, forward bends, and a lot of hip openers. The final track on the CD is called "Bliss" which was perfect for savasana.

Now that I'm feeling stronger and have the basics down, I want to start working on wheel pose (maybe choosing a man to demonstrate that pose was not the best decision...), monkey pose, and some back bends. I can barely lift myself off the ground in my attempt to get up into wheel, so for now I will just practice lifting myself up slightly until my arms and legs get stronger, and I have to look into how to prepare for monkey pose.

Now that I've had my coffee and breakfast, I am going to go for a hike, I think.

Photos of Dinner

Posted too soon on the last post. Here is dinner:

Prep work : shimp, cabbage, mushrooms, leeks, garlic in there somewhere.

In the pan

All cooked down & shrimp added:

A wonderful day & my favorite dinner

Today was a lovely day. I had a massage from a fantastic masseuse who can get her fingers in between all the muscle fibers and just relax everything. Then in my fog of relaxation I got all my errands done and came home to make dinner.

Shrimp & Veggie Delight

(Serves 1, of me at least)

6 oz raw shrimp

1 tsp olive oil

1 large leek, rinsed and chopped (only the white part)

1+ cup of chopped red or green cabbage

1+ cup chopped mushrooms

(other yummy veggies - zucchini, broccoli, garlic scapes, onion)

clove of garlic

1 tsp. butter

1/2 oz. grated parmesan cheese

salt, pepper, crushed red pepper

1/2 cup cooked whole wheat coucous

Cook shrimp in olive oil with crushed red pepper and a little salt for two minutes. Remove from pan.

Add leeks, mushrooms, cabbage or whatever veggies you are using. Sprinkle with a little more salt, pepper and saute until soft and cooked.

Add shrimp back in, add butter and cheese. Put couscous in a bowl, put shrimp & veggies on top.

Calories: 500. Fat: 16g. Carbs: 41. Protein: 48. Fiber 7. Deliciousness: 11.

Enjoy with a glass of cold rose' or a beer.

So Long, Farewell

...to another pound! I think that's 8 now. I'm always a little fuzzy on the exact starting weight, but I can safely say it is at least 8 pounds gone! And while the number on the scale is not the be all and end all, it's like a progress report every week that says "Doing great!" and I'm a nerd who loves good grades so it makes me happy.

The other things that I'm noticing are that my Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) is getting lower and lower, when I lean forward in eka pada rajakapotasana (pigeon pose) my head can rest on the ground instead of needing a block, my legs are much stronger in Warrior pose, and my practices have naturally progressed from 20 or 30 minutes to 50 to 60 minutes.

Plan for the day: work in the morning, massage at 1:30 then working on my business plan.

Plan for tomorrow: hike in the Blue Hills.

Being Done

A big challenge for me is "being done" eating in the evenings. I know that if I am too hungry when I get home I will eat something as a snack before dinner, then have dinner, and then before I even stop to think about whether I'm full, I'll have another little after dinner snack.

Or I used to do that.

I had to go to Whole Foods today on my way home for some veggies and shrimp and coffee beans (I could survive happily on a deserted island with those 3 foods to sustain me). And I was getting hungry. I needed something to tide me over on the ride home, but not something that I would eat all of or want to keep eating once I got home. So, I found some nice sharp chedder and had a bite of that. Just one small bite. I pictured it going into my stomach and providing my body with the maybe 50 calories of fat and protein that it needed to stave off full blown hunger. And because it was sharp it gave my mouth something to keep it occupied.

I came home and made dinner - shrimp (5 oz), Farro Pasta, leeks, mushrooms, and a tsp. of butter and 1/2 oz. of Parmesan cheese. Yum. And with a beer it was still within my calories for the day.

After I finished, I had the fleeting thought of - hmm, do I want something more? But then I realized that I had given my body all the fuel it needed for the day and that asking it to take on more wasn't that nice.

I had an awesome yoga practice last night. I did side one of Shiva Rea's Drops of Nectar, which has Moon Salutations, a second track with no instructions where I just did poses that I wanted to do, and then some breathing meditations and finally savasana. I slept very soundly.

Plan for the rest of the evening - dishes, prep coffee for the morning, yoga, sleep.

Out to Lunch & new lulu

Went out to lunch today, but since I'd planned in advance I was fine - had a salmon salad, grilled salmon over greens with a little dressing & some asparagus. Yum.

Then I went next door to lululemon where they were having a sale - so I ended up with 2 new cropped pants and 2 tanks - both of which I need for my summer workouts and hikes. A fitting reward for my work so far.

Dinner is an open-faced tuna sandwich with a little mayo, a lot of jalapenos and some avocado for added fiber. As I'm eating I realize that this is my second fish dish of the day, but oh well. I'll not have any the rest of the week. I'm also realizing that they days I'm most satisfied and not hungry are the days when my fat & protein intake is higher than what Sparkpeople thinks it should be, even though my calories are within the limit. I figure I know me best, so I just go with it.

The nice things about new lululemon is that I, of course, put it on as soon as I get home, which makes an evening workout even easier to do. And I have scheduled a massage for Friday afternoon, so I should work my muscles a little before then. I'm really trying to keep on a 3 day a week schedule of sit-ups and lifting my 10lb weights since I know that makes a huge difference in building muscle and getting the weight off.

I will prep some lunch stuff and coffee for the morning, work on my business plan a little and then hopefully my dinner will have settled enough for a nice evening yoga practice.

Leave a comment if you visit - what do you reward yourself with?

Droopy Drawers

I guess this could be filed under "Good Problems To Have" or "First World Problems" but it is still an issue.

Every time I start to lose weight, the first place it leaves from is my gut (thank you) and my bum (no thank you.) Then my pants, which have sometimes needed to be altered to stop the dumpy-bum look, sag even more and I can't stand it. I'm on the verge of buying some silicone butt pads to fill out my pants. It's really sad when you think "these pants looked good 7 pounds ago" and you mean 7 pounds more!

So, those pants will be retired and put out to pasture and we'll move to the next level of pants that actually fit and trust that the Universe or the TJMaxx Runway section will provide us with the necessary pants to clothe us through the downward journey.

And I will patiently await the time when I can buy smaller bras and shirts.

In other news:

Breakfast: english muffin with almond butter. milk.

Lunch: egg salad on english muffin. carrot stick.

Dinner: small slice of veggie tart, mahimahi, couscous, red cabbage. glass of Rose'.

Exercise: walked the dog this morning, probably some yoga before bed.

Dinner Decisions

My snack supply got me through my day and evening at work. I had the mini almond butter & jam sandwich at about 5:45 and now it's 8:30 and I'm waiting for the hard boiled eggs to cool so I can have some egg salad with chopped jalapenos. Yum! 3 eggs, 1 T mayo and a few tablespoons chopped, pickled jalapenos, with lots of salt and pepper.

And still, with a glass of wine, within my cals for the day.

I was lucky that I knew I'd be at work late and could plan the whole day in advance.

And because what's a food blog without photos, here are some recent ones:

Today's lunch, the veggie tart with carrot sticks.
I think this is the ingredients in the veggie tart: broccoli, onion, zucchini, 1 mushroom.
2 weekends ago in Franconia, NH. The arrival meal - Stacey's Baked Pita Chips, hummus, and a nice cold Rose' wine.
The ingredients in the bacon veggie tart - bacon, red & green cabbage, zucchini, onion. Do you see a theme here?

I tend to make a dish to death when I discover it. I inherited this from my father who does the same thing. But I feel like it helps me perfect it and exercises my creative mind to figure out how many different iterations of veggie tart I can make. I'm guessing with all the veggies still to harvest there will be many kinds - tomato and basil with fresh mozzarella tart, anyone?

No Way I Can't Do This

Down another .2 this morning from Friday. I think the hour of yoga on Sunday morning helped, the Solar Practice from Yoga Sanctuary. For some reason when I do that practice I just keep going. Maybe because most of it is done on the floor... but it is such a nice workout and I can feel my legs getting stronger and my muscles getting more flexible. I also took a few walks with the dog, and lifted my hand weights and did my sit ups.

There was a little party on Sunday and I brought the veggie tart with bacon which disappeared in a flash, and there was corn and some chicken wings and rose' so I think my calories were all where they were supposed to be.

This morning I just did the weights and sit ups and will talk the dog on a walk when I get home.

I have a client meeting at 6:30 which means I had to plan more snacks for work so I'm not ravenous when I get home (or while I'm meeting with my clients.)

Here's what I brought (breakfast was english muffin with almond butter):

Veggie tart slice (sadly, no bacon in this one)

Carrot sticks

Almond butter & jam on english muffin

Some crunchy cereal

All of that plus breakfast puts me at about 1000 calories, so I should be fine until I get home and have something for dinner. I also have some dried bing cherries.

I know I can do this, and I make sure I can do this by planning and doing.

And another one bites the dust!

Down another pound this week, for 6 pounds total since the begining of June. I've kept at this - tracking my food each day, planning, figuring out a Plan B on the day I made the best lunch ever and then left it at home with all my water, going for hikes in the rain, crawling out of bed with one eye still closed to walk the dog in the morning - and have not once felt deprived or like I couldn't enjoy something.

A few times I've been hungry after dinner, but then I look at what I ate and it was totally adequate fuel for the day and I just remind myself that breakfast will be coming shortly and we are in no danger of starving and we aren't actually hungry and I've moved on to something else. I think that is the helpful thing about tracking - I know for a fact that my body has received everything it needs that day so I don't need to eat more with the belief that maybe it's missing something.

And I know that the scale is not the ultimate tool for measuring how successful I am at this, but it is the most convenient since I don't own a machine to measure my lung strength and don't have any body fat calipers. So, I'll keep using it.

What to do with a grey Sunday morning.

Hike, of course. No need for suncreen, and the trails are much quieter. Somehow even though it's only 60 degrees and there was a light mist, I still managed to sweat my tail off. That is why I do not like summer. I think my internal thermostat is set higher than most people's. Which sadly doesn't translate into higher metabolism, just a bright red face and more sweat. But there were some lovely cool breezes. And there were no bugs, thank heaven.

Anyway, you can see the trail map here. If you see where Exit 2 is off the highway, I took the red trail to the observation tower, then the upper blue line trail to the big star (State Police & reservation HQ) then the lower blue trail back, and the red trail back to my car. It took 2:45, and as you can see from the elevation lines it involved lots of up and down. I had my hiking poles with me this time and was so thankful for them. Hiking as a 4 legged creature instead of 2 legged one makes my knees very happy, and gives a good arm workout, too.

Since I hike alone, I often just have random thoughts running through my head, and for part of this hike I imagined that I owned a little cabin up in the White Mountains and I imagined how I would decorate it. It would have been (or will be, you never know) really cute.

I had cereal before I left, a little of the veggie pie on the hike and some blueberries and strawberries (including some little blueberries that I picked!), and then had an english muffin with avocado on it when I got home.

Dinner might be shrimp, tagliatelle and leeks with roasted broccoli on the side.

Market Scores

This morning's take from the market:

Mint (for the jicima salad)

Broccoli

Kale

A pretty little pottery dish for my salt

Zucchini

Breakfast was Barbara's Shredded Oats, lunch was a little of last night's dinner (mahi mahi and fingerling potatoes) mixed with some broccoli and some freeze-dried blueberries. Dinner will be something involving those veggies. Maybe a veggie pie?

My house needs cleaning, and I'm going to bike or walk or something before the day is over. The sun is finally out after weeks of rain.

I'm in Cleveland, Metaphorically, But Not For Long!

You know when you start out on a road trip, like from Boston to San Francisco, and you're all excited. You stock up on everything you need - snacks, water, music, maps, money and you hit the road in high spirits determined to get to your destination. And then after a while, you're in Cleveland. Your water is gone, your snacks are lost under the seat, your legs hurt, you're tired, you're hungry and you have to pee. And you're in Cleveland.

So what do you do when you end up in Cleveland? Do you think, "well I tried to get to California and I failed, I guess I'll go home." Do you think "It's going to take me a really long time to get to California. Cleveland seems nice. I think I'll just stay here." Or do you say "Let's find a hotel, clean out the car, restock our snacks in the morning, fill the gas tank and get the heck out of Cleveland!"

Well, I'm getting out of Cleveland (and leaving .6 pounds behind from my 2 week stay here). No offense to those who like it, but I'm outta here. I have restocked my kitchen with fruit and fish, will be picking up some veggies tomorrow at the farmer's market, will be drinking more water even when I'm at home (for some reason I only remember to drink water when I'm out and about), and will be biking or walking or yogaing this weekend no matter what the skies decide to throw at me.

Goodbye Cleveland, I'll see you in Davenport! (wait, that doesn't sound right.) I'll see you in Des Moines! (hmm, not really feeling that either.) You know what, I'm just going to be driving west on Rte. 80, beep if you see me.

Dinner Yum!

Sometimes I get my dinner inspiration from a Twitter friend who tweets about work during the day, and dinner at night. Tonight, she said she was making this for dinner:

Tagliatelle With Leeks And Shrimp Recipe. And when I saw it was a recipe from Lidia's Italian Table I knew it would be very tasty, and it was! Sadly, I left my phone/camera at work so there is no photo, but it was pretty and pink and green and gold. The sauce was made by simmering the stock down, so not too much butter or cheese was needed. And I added some crushed red pepper for a little zing.

I also bought some jicama. It is really best mixed with some lime juice, chili powder and mint and eaten as a salad, but I'm snacking on a little of it in an attempt to get a little more fiber for the day. It tastes a bit like a raw potato. I think that maybe it will be best to save it for some sort of salad tomorrow, as I don't want to ruin the memories of my lovely dinner with the taste of raw potato.

As far as plans for moving tonight - probably going to be some bedtime yoga.

One Foot In Front of the Other

This is how I will get where I want to be. It would have been easy to say "oh, I burned all the calories I need to for the week on Sunday so I can cut back on my exercise," but that wouldn't have propelled me any further down this path.  So, yesterday morning I did some gentle hatha yoga (then lay in bed and watched movies in the afternoon because my knees and feet were killing me so I just envisioned all my cells repairing and restoring themselves) then this morning I got up and back into my routine of a morning walk with the dog.  

I was very glad to find that my cells had indeed restored themselves and I am not achy at all any more.  

Breakfast: eggs on toast. 

Lunch: carrots, ham & cheese on an english muffin with avocado. 

Dinner: ? Fajitas maybe? Lentil something or other? 

Hungry!

Clearly my body is still trying to make up for the fantastic calorie burn yesterday, as I am starving (or else my body is gearing up for winter since it is 56 degrees and pouring rain out). I had a normal breakfast at 8 (whole wheat english muffin with avocado) and by 10:30 I was eating my lunch (ham and cheese on whole wheat bread).  Now it is 2:30 and I am famished. There is some flat bread pizza that I'm reheating and hoping that a nice combo of carbs, protein and fats will keep me sated for a while.  

I might also need a nap. 

Putting the Mountains in "Beets, Butter & Mountaintops"

The view from Bald Peak to the Mt. Kinsman summit. 
I finally made it to the mountains. It rained all week last week and I wasn't going to go to New Hampshire for the weekend because I thought it would just rain up there, but it didn't! It was a little grey and cloudy, but it was perfect hiking weather. 

The trail head was .6 miles from the lodge (it used to be .4 miles but we found it had been relocated .2 miles down the road.)  So, we walked a ways before starting the hike. (Someone dropped a car off for us at the trail head so we could drive back. Heaven.)  

This hike was the inaugural climb for my 4 year old niece and 1.5 year old nephew, who alternately walked, were carried or rode in some form of carrier.  When hiking with small children you cannot rely on book-time to determine how long of a hike you will take.  This hike to Bald Peak, including the walk to the trail head, took about 5 hours. Book time was 2 hours. But the pace did not seem overly slow, and the grown ups appreciated the rest stops and seeing a 4 year old with a little backpack and hiking pole trekking along singing quietly to herself makes for a rather nice hike.  

The trail was very pretty with lots of brook crossings, and at the top we were visited by a very large Newfoundland dog named Bella who apparently made the trip a few times a week with her owner.  

My feet hurt, which I think may be from my hiking shoes. They seem to make the soles of my feet hurt. And I then drove home for 3 hours after the hike which resulted in stiff muscles and my limping around Whole Foods as I picked up some provisions.  But I feel good today and hopefully some yoga tonight will help loosen things up.