Good Moon Rising, Actually, Setting

I woke up around 5:30 a.m. I could see the moon out my window, still bright, even though it was light out. And the birds are getting louder in the mornings. How could I not get up then? I realized that I will never be sorry that I got up early. I will never regret that I took an extra walk or ate something healthy.

I need to plan new routines like going to the high school and running up and down the bleacher stairs (as long as there are not people there) or finding some place that has those fitness stops like a Menatomy Park in Arlington that has pull up bars and things every so often. I don't want to keep walking the same route over and over. I want to trick my muscles and confuse them so they get stronger and stronger.

I'm sleepy, and hungry but not quite ready to eat, and I think I might walk to the train station this morning, then take the little loop up the second road. That will have 2 small but long hills, and will be longer than my usual route.

I think that morning beach walks have to start soon. Because I will bike there, too.

Alright, breakfast was eggs in a tortilla and coffee. And I'm feeling more awake which is good because it is quarter to 7, and almost time to walk. Shoes are going on, computer is going off.

Food Picture

This was breakfast. The eggs in a whole wheat tortilla.  There is a tiny plate under them. 

This was the curry in the beginning. It simmered for a long time and reduced. Then I added the yogurt and it turned a pretty gold color.  It will be lunch tomorrow. 
These are from Trader Joe's, Chili Lime Chicken Burgers. Very yummy. 
The chicken burger in a tortilla with 2 roasted peppers on top. So so yummy.  Do you see that I like food that is wrapped in a tortilla? I really do.  

Playing Hooky with Mother Nature

This is the hawk I saw on my birthday. He's on the branch right in the middle of the photo. 
This is the place I usually walk. 
This is where I walked today instead of working. Norris Reservation in Norwell.  40 minutes. Nice pine smell. Pretty woods. 
This was where I sat for a few minutes and looked at the river. 
This was where I took a photo by accident of my foot and iPhone cord.  

I made chick pea curry from this blog, but I think my curry powder had too much chipotle in it because it is very spicy.  I simmered it for almost an hour.  I think I might need to add more tomatoes and chickpeas.  

Early lunch

It's Patriot's day today, Marathon day. And no one else is at work in my office. And the mail doesn't come. And the bank is closed.  So, I've made the executive decision to leave at 11 a.m. and go find some woods to walk in.  

I just ate my lunch.  I might have been bored, but also I ate breakfast at 6:30 am, so I was also a bit hungry. 

Lunch was brown rice (maybe 1/2 cup?) 2 chicken thighs trimmed of fat, and a beet, chopped.  The chicken was cooked with salt, pepper, sage and crushed red pepper which burned the corner of my mouth.  It was a very tasty lunch.  There is some kale, too, but that can wait. 

Coffee. Yum.

Up at 6:00 a.m. Started the coffee, which is always prepped the night before, and took the dog out for a short walk. I was hungry when I came back. Breakfast was 2 eggs in a whole wheat tortilla. The eggs were cooked in a little bacon fat, which adds lots of flavor. My little dish of bacon fat is getting rather low, as I have not cooked bacon in a while. I suppose I need to restock.

 

The coffee was, and is, delicious. It was a blend of Ethiopian from Red Eye Roasters, and Pleasant Morning Buzz from Whole Foods. The Ethiopian tastes like blueberries if you drink it alone, so I mix it with something else. A little sugar and half and half, and it's heavenly. And the Red Eye Roasters is roasted in Hingham (you can get it at Whole Foods.)

 

I'm going walking at 7:15 a.m. Maybe 7:20 since I haven't finished my coffee yet and it's 7:05.

 

I went walking at World's End yesterday. I got home from Tom's and before doing anything else I put my shoes on and went to World's End. But, I didn't drink enough water throughout the day and was a little hungry so the walk was not good. And my pant legs kept catching on my shoes (note to self, while the lululemon Reverse Groove yoga pants are really cute, and make your bum look good, the boot cut legs make them inappropriate for hill walking.) So I was cranky and slow, and cut it short on the far side of the second hill (drumlin?) but it was still 45 minutes on what could have been a very lazy Sunday evening.

 

My Very Own Fitness Blog

Everyone else has one apparently, so I wanted one, too.

As for the title, well, I love beets, I love butter and I love mountaintops. And one of my goals is to be here around the end of August, with warm up trips to Lafayette (one of my favorites) and perhaps my old faithful friend Kinsman.

I don't count points or eat anything sugar free, "lite", or "diet." I do eat grass fed beef, pastured eggs from one of a few farms near me, real butter (although less of that since I stopped eating english muffins), beets, kale, arugula, coffee, brown rice, sushi, chocolate chips for dessert, and whatever else I think my body wants to eat. Another goal is to really listen to my body when it tells me what it wants to eat (and doesn't want to eat.) Lately it seems to want yellow foods - gold beets and grape fruit. And it really wants the farm stand to open so I can have baby arugula. Nothing like the bitter greens of spring to cleanse the liver. Ooh, and the raw goat milk that will be ready in May.

I will tell you at some point how much I weigh, and what my measurements are - maybe, but I will definitely keep you up to date on what I'm doing, eating and accomplishing. And in later posts I explain how I came to be this heavy, and what I think of it.

The golden beets of happiness. Boiled, then cubed with salt and pepper. They are the perfect addition to any meal.
Tonight's dinner, prepared in my tiny kitchen. The stove and counter are all one piece so dishes cannot be drying at the same time food is being prepared. It makes me be more tidy, less cluttery. I wish for a smaller cutting board. Anyway this is what it is: 1 piece of sirloin (fat trimmed and given to the dog), some onion, peppers, kale all seared with salsa, the wrapped in a tortilla (or 3) with more salsa. Less meat than I normally use, but they were perfect. The onion I chopped was too much, so I now have some partially cooked onion waiting to be made into something else.
mmmmmm. a few chocolate chips for dessert topped everything off perfectly. And since all the cool kids are cutting back on their wine intake, I figure I might try that as well. So, just water with dinner.

Other changes I've made so far:

1. I have not eaten english muffins with butter in 3 weeks. These were the bookends of my days but then I ran out (after years of making sure I never ran out of those whole wheat english muffins) and the world didn't end so I wrap my eggs in a tortilla now, and I have no need to snack on tortillas, unlike the english muffins which were pretty much the yummiest things in the world when spread with butter and sprinkled with salt. You'd think that having given them up might have lead to some weight loss, but no, it seemed to lead to a 3 pound gain.
   
   
2. I clean my kitchen before I go to bed. This means I also fix my lunch - which is usually brown rice, a vegetable (kale and beets are this week's choices) and then chicken, shrimp or steak, although I might make some chick pea curry for one of the days this week. I like a sort of routine with what I eat.
   
   
3. I walk every morning for at least 30 minutes, and longer on the weekends.
   
   
4. I go to bed early (it is 8:41 pm and I'm posting from bed) and get up early (alarm is set for 5:30 am, I'll probably be up by 5:45.)
   
   
5. I've actually gone to bed feeling a little bit hungry the past few nights.