Superbowl Sunday

Happy Sunday! I was shocked to wake up to the sun beaming through my window... I almost forgot what it looked like! Since I last posted, I completed week 2 of the Couch to 5K program! I went to the gym Thursday night and Sunday, and I feel great! I think I will start week 3 tomorrow morning before work.


Yesterday I had a cheat day - Walter and I went to the International Great Beer Expo in Secaucus with some friends. Despite the weather, we had a great time! We tried many types of beer, but my eating wasn't the best :(


My eats have been pretty standard since I last posted on Thursday:


THURSDAY
L - Chili over salad
D - Salad topped with a black bean morning star burger, tomato, avocado, hot sauce, and ranch


FRIDAY
B - Yogurt w/granola and pear

L - Grilled chicken sandwich on ww bread with roasted peppers, lettuce, and basil mayo (whoops!) with soy crisps
D - One (!) slice of pizza


SATURDAY
B - A monster orange and breakfast sandwich: ww english muffin, an egg, roasted peppers, lettuce, balsamic, laughing cow cheese wedge. (recipe to follow)
S - Handful of Puffins Cereal, 1/2 granola bar
L - soft pretzel, 2 bites of Walter's cheese steak
D - tons of beer, a chicken finger, some disco fries, spinach artichoke dip


SUNDAY
B - English muffin w/apple butter
L - 1/2 Qudoba burrito bowl with rice, black beans, peppers, onions, pulled pork, mild salsa, guac.

AMAZING BREAKFAST SANDWICHES
I wanted to go through the "step by step" and ingredients in my breakfast sandwiches I have been raving about lately. For this one, I changed it up a bit, which made me realize the ingredients to my favorite sandwich!

For bread, I use these Thomas light multi grain english muffins. I take one and throw it in the toaster...

They only have 100 calories each and are really good!

Then I spray a small pan with Pam, and cook an egg over easy. I actually poke a few holes in the yolk and then flip the egg, because I don't like a runny yolk. If you do (Walter), you don't have to flip the egg.

Here are my toppings for this sandwich. Lettuce, roasted peppers, a laughing cow cheese wedge, and later - balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

 Once everything is done, assemble, and EAT!

 My favorite breakfast sandwich by FAR includes the following:

• English muffin
• Over easy egg
• Laughing cow cheese wedge
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Hot sauce

These sandwiches are easy to make, and taste great! The sandwich I made above had 300 calories including the orange on the side. I think these are a perfect weekend breakfast, because they break up the oatmeals and yogurts of my life, and i look forward to eating them all week! 

After breakfast, Molly and I played for awhile. She tried hiding from me, but i found her...

 There she is!

 Here she is chewing her favorite red ball:

 And posing with it. Doesn't it look like she has a mustache?!

I actually had to throw that ball away, because she started tearing little pieces of plastic off and eating it. I now owe her a new favorite ball. Happy Super Bowl watching!

Running

I am doing it! I am doing the Couch to 5k and not dying! On Friday, despite getting out of work late, it snowing out, and being stuck in traffic, I STILL made it to the gym and did my second workout. And despite running WAY late on Saturday, I went and did my third workout of week 1! It felt so good to complete the workouts, and my body felt so good after doing them!


Monday morning I started Week 2 of the C25K program, and it was HARD. Who thought going from running for 60 seconds to 90 seconds would be such a big change? Here is the week 2 C25K plan: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. If you were running on a treadmill, it would look like this:


00:00-5:00: Warmup walk
5:00-6:30: Run
6:30-8:30: Walk
8:30-10:00: Run
10:00-12:00: Walk
12:00-13:30: Run
13:30-15:30: Walk
15:30-17:00: Run
17:00-19:00: Walk
19:00-20:30: Run
20:30-22:30: Walk
22:30-24:00: Run
24:00-26:00: Walk
26:00-30:00: Cooldown Walk


I ended up doing the first 26 minutes, and finishing out on the elliptical for 10 minutes. Take that, c25k! We have been snowed in for the last 2 days so back to the gym tomorrow to do workout #2 of week 2!


In other news, I signed up for my first race! I signed up for the Spring Lake 5 which is over Memorial Day weekend (5/28). Its funny, because I registered for this 5 miler even before I registered for the 5K I am planning on doing!


My eating has been OK at best. I cheated over the weekend, so i haven't seen much (if any) movement on the scale. 


SATURDAY
B- Egg sandwich on a WW english muffin w/tomato, cilantro, 1/2 avocado, a laughing cow cheese wedge, and hot sauce. (SO GOOD!)
L- Chik Fil-a grilled chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun
D- (Was at a party) appetizers: guac and 5 chips, caprese salad. Dinner: Lasagna, a meatball, salad, a piece of chicken franchese. 2 glasses of wine. Dessert - fruit, a sliver of chocolate cake, and a coffee.
S- a million chips and dip (DANGIT)


SUNDAY

B- Egg sandwich on a WW English muffin w/tomato,  1/2 avocado, a laughing cow cheese wedge, and hot sauce.

L- SUSHI! A side salad w/ginger dressing, 2 rolls sushi (spicy tuna roll, shrimp tempura, Christmas, spicy shrimp shared with Walter)

D- 1/3 cup yellow rice, 1 cup broccoli, 1/3 cup pulled brisket (like pulled pork)

MONDAY

B1- 90 calorie fiber one bar before the gym

B2- oatmeal w/half a banana and 1 tbsp craisins

S- 1/2 banana

L- healthy choice meal

S- Soy crisps (2 servings)

D- Can of Italian wedding soup with grated cheese

TUESDAY

B-fruit and cereal (2 servings of cereal, snacked on it dry)

S- soy crisps

L- huge salad with chicken, roasted peppers, artichoke hearts, feta, balsamic vinaigrette

S- multi grain chips and hummus

D- can of soup, WW English muffin, brie cheese (snacked way too much today!)

WEDNESDAY

B- yogurt w/1/2 banana and cereal (trying to fill myself up so i don't have the urge to snack!

Working from home sometimes hurts me, because I want to snack ALL day. This is what ended up happening to me yesterday, and i felt so gross by the end of the day. I need to figure out how to stop this from happening. Any suggestions? Maybe a bigger breakfast to fill me up more? That's what I tried today. We will see if it works!

Snow Day!

We got yet another snow storm in NJ last night, and we now have another 15 inches of snow! Looks like I am working from home today :)


Today would have been the week 2 weigh in for the Biggest Loser Challenge at work. I opted to weigh in a day early because I had a feeling we wouldn't be going in today, and i only lost 0.2 pounds. BOO! You know those days during the week where you just feel heavier? Yep-yesterday was one of those. I weighed myself this morning at home just to see, and i am 2 pounds less today then yesterday on my home scale. I guess that's why they tell you not to weigh yourself every day!


So now that I have my eating *semi* under control, I needed to get my butt to the gym! Enter, the COUCH TO 5K (C25K) program! I knew I needed a goal to get myself to the gym 3x a week, so i found a 5k in early April I am planning on signing up for. To help run the 5k, i printed out the C25K program, along with a handy treadmill guide for a minute by minute breakdown. I cut out the week 1 workout, slid it into the back of my clear iPhone case and went to the gym on Tuesday morning to start!

Hello gym, I'm baaaaaaack!!!


Here is a summary of my workout:

00:00-5:00: Warmup walk5:00-6:00: Run
6:00-7:30: Walk7:30-8:30: Run
8:30-10:00: Walk10:00-11:00: Run
11:00-12:30: Walk12:30-13:30: Run
13:30-15:00: Walk15:00-16:00: Run
16:00-17:30: Walk17:30-18:30: Run
18:30-20:00: Walk20:00-21:00: Run
21:00-22:30: Walk22:30-23:30: Run
23:30-25:00: Walk

25:00-30:00: Cooldown Walk


I did everything but the 5 minute cool down walk. I was scared I wasn't going to have enough time to get ready and be to work on time. Turned out, I definitely did. While I was doing this workout, I jogged the running parts, and increased my speed by .1 for the second half of the runs (I started out running at 4.2 and ended at 4.6). I didn't want to kill myself and quit after the first workout, and I am glad I used that strategy! I was so proud of myself for finishing, and not dying during the process, I think I am actually excited for my next workout! (which was supposed to be today, thanks a lot snow day!) I also liked getting ready for work at the gym. It definitely speeds up my morning routine. 


I guess I will end with my eats for the last few days. I will pick up where I left off, Saturday's lunch!


SATURDAY
L - Salad w/feta and kidney beans, a pear
D - slice pizza, 1 in slice sausage bread, small salad with balsamic vinaigrette and feta.


SUNDAY
B - WW toast with almond butter
L - Leftover veggie stir fry with jasmine rice
S - small salad w/kidney beans and cheese, balsamic dressing, pretzels and hummus
D - Crock Pot Adobo Chicken, jasmine rice, and a slice of heaven - I mean beer bread (recipes coming soon!)


MONDAY
B - Dannon Light n Fit yogurt w/blueberries and granola
S -  beer bread
L - small wonton soup, 2 spicy tuna rolls with brown rice
D - Adobo chicken


TUESDAY
B - Dannon Light n Fit yogurt w/granola
S - banana
L - salad w/ground turkey, artichoke hearts, bruchetta, shaved parmesan cheese, and balsamic dressing
D - Chili Mango Chicken with wild rice- recipe here


WEDNESDAY
B - 1/2 pumpernickel bagel, insides removed, 1 tbsp chive cream cheese, an orange
S - Pretzels
L - side salad with artichoke hearts, onion, balsamic, Chili Mango Chicken, small slice of beer bread
D - Huge salad with chicken sausage, artichoke hearts, feta, bruchetta, and balsamic. 1 clementine


Off to work from home on this SNOW DAY!!!