It Starts With Foood

This morning I woke up and pretty much felt the same as yesterday.  I had a ton of blood tinged gunk drain out of my nose over the first hour and a half of the day, I will spare you the rest of the gory details.  So I dedicated most of today ready my book "It Starts With Food" by Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Hartwig.  Or in other words, the first book that teaches you about the Whole 30 diet.  I took the kids to the gym and camped out in the cafe.  I have several things mulling around in my head now so hopefully I can get this all out in an organized and coherent manner. 

What I like about this book is how it goes through and explains everything in detail.  It goes through the science, and the biology (and you know me, I love biology) and explains how food acts in your body.  It outlines four good health standards that your food should meet and the very first one is the one that most weight loss bloggers talk about at nauseum: Food should promote a healthy psychological response.  This is where we talk about our sugar cravings, emotional eating, uncontrollable binges, unhealthy relationships with food, and all that stuff we are trying to beat but just can't seem to win.  While I found the other four points interesting, informative, and pretty important, this is the one that resonated with me the most.  The psychological effect that food has on me.  This is why the book I found and loved last year "how to have your cake and your skinny jeans too" doesn't work.  While I agree with a lot of things in her book, and my ultimate goal is to be able to live and eat intuitively, you can't cure sugar cravings by feeding them.  In the book Josi says that the reason why we crave certain foods is due to restriction.  While that certainly has a psychological effect on us, the authors of "It Starts with Food" (lets just call them the Hartwigs so I don't have to keep typing out both their names) make it clear that your body's biological and hormonal responses are much stronger than your willpower.  Doesn't that always seem to be the case?  We can white knuckle our way through for only so long before the urge to eat becomes too strong and we give in. 

Source

Without rewriting their whole chapter on this topic (which might be hard because I really loved that chapter) basically refined sugar and artificial sweeteners are much sweeter than anything we could find in nature, eating sugar then creates a very real chemical and hormonal response in our brains and our bodies.  The food processing industry puts extra sugar, corn syrup, MSG etc into foods to make us like them more.  These foods trigger the reward centers in our brains, more specifically for all you biology nerds like me eating these foods releases dopamine, the feel good neurotransmitter, which then "reinforces food seeking and energizes your feeding.  It gives you that rush of anticipation before you've even taken your first bite. "  (Think about daydreaming about eating a cookie).  The other side of this is the hormonal response that these foods create, basically creating insulin and leptin resistance.  Also, since there is no real nutrition in say cookies the only biological signals you get to stop eating them is the feeling in your stomach when you have to manually force yourself to stop eating or face the consequences of overindulging.  (And if you are like me, stopping eating these foods once you are in full swing can be so difficult that often I just take the consequences of overindulging.  That is a classic sign of dopamine working alongside messed up hormones, combined with consuming a food that has no nutritional value so my body doesn't tell my brain it's nutritionally satisfied.  Ok, that's the best summary I can do I hope it made some sense.  I also really like the chapter on hormones, that was very fascinating and explains why many people have such a hard time losing weight, especially through calorie restriction.  But this is why Josie's idea of "eat whatever you want, even if it's cookie dough" idea is flawed.  Because for the food addict, you always want more.  You don't eat cookie dough three times and decide you've had enough, because you are dependent on it to change your moods, make you feel good, and your brain becomes hardwired to want it because it feels so good.  (In the moment that is, we don't need to get into the pity party that takes place afterwards).

Moving on.  This book made me cry.  This book is well written, funny, informative, includes testimonials from real people at the beginning of every chapter, and makes some pretty intense promises.  One of which I think we can all relate to.  The third promise is simply this:  "You will never again be controlled by your food.  Freedom."  Isn't that what we are all hoping for?  Isn't that what we are all striving for?  Having a healthy relationship with food, freedom from food so we can live our lives to the fullest.  What I wouldn't do to no longer be enslaved by food. 

So let's talk briefly about some of my previous arguments against Whole 30: Isn't it really restrictive?  I heard you can't eat hardly anything.  It's too strict. 

Ok so it's not for everyone.  If I picked up this book at 211 pounds I would have laughed in it's face and thrown it out.  In fact, I laughed in its face at 155 pounds and it was only when I was ready for it that I picked it up and seriously considered it.  Did you catch that?  It was ONLY WHEN I WAS READY.  Ready to do it for myself, because it would give me the push in the right direction that I needed.  I love the go at your own pace idea, make small changes, do what you can when you can and that is exactly what I've been doing.  It's what got me to lose and maintain a 60 pound loss in the first place.  Only maintaining is very hard for me right now.  My eating is all over the place, and my emotions are up and down like a roller coaster ride.  I have gone from eating really poorly to eating less poorly.  I seem to be coming up against the transitional foods a lot in other bloggers posts lately.  Where they talk about how some people knock the processed health foods because they aren't really all that healthy and some bloggers defend them and some don't.  For me, those foods helped me get where I am.  I live on Chobani fat free black cherry yogurt, fruit and protein bars, healthier chips, whole grain breads, and a lot of other choices that the Whole 30 deems as generally unhealthy.  They are right, they are not the best choices, but for me they have been the better choices.  They got me to where I am, but you know what.... they are also keeping me at where I am.  I am ready to move out of the transitional phase.  All those bloggers who have lost tons of weight and seem to effortlessly maintain?  Yeah, they are eating unprocessed whole foods.  Eating much healthier than me.

Weight loss is a journey, this is the next step in my journey.  

Time to change

Over the last few days my cold has turned into a sinus infection and the pain on the right side of my face hurt so much my teeth were aching.  I looked in my essential oils book and it said to use eucalyptus oil and to swab the inside of your nose with it.  Since I was home most of the day yesterday I made sure to swab every few hours, or as often as I thought necessary.  Every time I swabbed it would cause a ton of gunk to come out and this morning I actually felt better for the first time.  That was pretty cool.  Now it could just be a coincidence since I have now been sick for 8 days, but I do feel like the eucalyptus oil helped.  I know for a fact that every time I used it my sinuses emptied out.  So I thought that was neat to actually see some results and to get some success using the oils. 

I've started playing my flute again.  I picked up a bunch of music at the music store and some pieces online that I want to work on.  I got this brilliant idea to play my flute for my grandparents.  My grandma on my mom's side has dementia, and my brother played his trombone for my grandparents last week and she really enjoyed listening.  I've been wanting to start playing again for a long time and this gives me a reason to play and to work on new songs.  I'm pretty excited.  I've got a bunch of good stuff to keep me occupied for quite some time.  (It also gives me more stuff to do in the day and maybe can help keep my mind off food..... maybe).  I also picked up a rhythm kit for the kids.  It has a drum and a triangle and some other percussion instruments, and a beginner recorder book for Lily.  I'm going to start teaching Lily how to play the recorder and how to read music.  I'm sure it will be slow going but whatever exposure she gets will be good for her.  I also want to do some rhythm activities with the kids with their new instruments.

In other news, things seem to keep going from bad to worse in the triathlon field.  I talked to my father in law today and he said the third guy might not come through after all and that he (my father in law) doesn't really want to pay for the trip up to Aspen (hotel room) to do the triathlon.  So it seems like we might not do it at all now and we might try to get our admission tickets changed over to a different triathlon in August (the one where we are relaying and I'm running and my husband is biking). 

Well I've been thinking about this whole journey and where I am now and what I need to do to progress.  I feel like I have the exercise part down pretty good.  I have found lots of activities I like, and when I'm not sick I get between 15,000-25,000 steps in per day.  But I am just not making it with the food portion.  I have been trying for a year and a half now to get my eating under control and to change my eating and eat healthier and I just have not been able to do it.  I realized it was time for a major nutritional overhaul.  In times like these I feel like you might need a push forward.  I started looking at what beachbody had to offer since I had a good experience with Shakeology.  I had pretty much decided on their 21 day ultimate reset and I started talking to my mom about it.  She said I should try Whole 30 first if I wanted a detox program, it's pretty similar to the 21 day ultimate reset (only without all the supplements) and the huge bonus is that it's free. (Compared to the ultimate reset which is $200 just for the program and supplements). 

Holy crap I'm actually going to do it.  After ridiculing it, I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  Now it is important to approach this from the right angle and for the right reasons, otherwise it is just going to be a bunch of wasted time.  I am not looking at this as a diet or the magical cure to all my problems (although I'm sure it will help (It had better help!)).  I am approaching this from the angle of learning something new, experimentation, and taking my journey to the next level.  I want to do the whole 30 program because I want to cleanse my body, get rid of food cravings, feel better physically, boost my energy, and stabilize my mood.  All of which the creators of the whole 30 plan claim their plan can help with.  If I don't do anything, I'm not going to get anywhere.  I've been killing myself with exercise and getting nowhere.  I NEED to get my food under control.  I NEED to kill these cravings and learn how to behave myself around food, and how to have a proper relationship with food.  It is time.  Either I can keep doing what I'm doing now and continue getting nowhere, or I can change my food, learn a bunch of new things, try something new, and see where it leads me. 

I'm not going to tell my husband I'm doing it lol.  He eats whatever I put in front of him, and besides that he is gone from about 8am-9pm so it doesn't really matter what I make at the house.  And making a nicer breakfast for him will make him happier.  I will still get him sandwich bread and stuff to pack in his lunchbox, lets just be practical.  But hopefully the kids will benefit from eating healthier too.  We still have way too much junkfood in the house to get the kids 100% on the bandwagon, but you have to start somewhere.  I am aiming to start on Monday, but I don't know if I can read through all the literature, meal plan, and shop in time to start Monday.  I also want to blog about every day through the process, track the benefits, the drawbacks, the changes.  Everything I can and see if it is really worth it.  I'm also excited to see if there are certain foods my body reacts negatively to, and to see if it helps my seasonal allergies like some people say.  There is a lot to find out and to experiment with.... It's going to require more cooking and meal prep and the tricky part will be how to not eat out for 30 days without Matt discovering what I'm doing (He knows of the whole 30 diet plan and thinks it's ridiculous... which I did too, but now I have a purpose and a reason to do it and I have no intention of staying super strict after the 30 days, definitely planning on reintroducing foods, but sticking to healthier food choices.)  Maybe I will just tell him I'm really focusing right now on eating clean.  The Whole 30 is less strict than the Ultimate reset which is another desirable trait.

Well I'm going to read the book a little bit before bed and hope that I feel good enough to go to Zumba tomorrow,  If not I will just take the kids to the gym and read my book anyway.  

Weekend Mayhem

I just got back from the most depressing vacation I've ever taken.  The last time I blogged was Thursday just before lunch.  My cold hadn't really developed yet and I was fairly optimistic.  Well Thursday night was the worst night I've had in a very long time.  Despite taking medicine my head hurt so bad and my nose was producing so much snot that I thought I was going to die.  I didn't fall asleep until after 2am when I went downstairs and slept on the couch to try and elevate myself.  Friday morning was the worst morning I'd had in a long time.  I felt awful and we almost decided not to go on vacation this weekend.  It was the worst cold I have had in a very long time.  Getting everything packed and getting the family into the car was quite a feat in and of itself. I guess the good thing is that because I was feeling so bad Matt just decided to eat out a bunch and I didn't have to make food.  I was supposed to pack a lunch for the family but that didn't happen.  Friday afternoon we stayed at Mt. Princeton Resort playing in the hot springs.  When we arrived it was pouring rain.  We waited in the car for about 20 minutes and then met up with my inlaws.  We were able to play in the pools for about 30 minutes when another storm hit and we had to get out.  We waited around for about 45 minutes to an hour before we could get back in.  That was the last storm thank goodness and the kids had a great time playing in the pools.  Matt and I tried to escape for a little bit to the adult pools which were across the river, but we were only gone for about five minutes when we heard Lily screaming her head off.  And we could hear her across a raging river!  (Remember the two downpours?  Yeah, the river was raging and very loud and we could hear her over the river in the secluded adults only area).  Fortunately nothing was wrong and the reason why she was screeching was because I had left.  Well that put an end to anymore trying to escape the kids. 

That evening at the cabin the adults stayed up to watch The Shining.  It was pretty much perfect since the movie takes place in a hotel in the mountains of Colorado and we were in a Cabin in the mountains of Colorado, and the party that takes place in the hotel with all the ghosts in the picture takes place on July 4th and we were watching it on July 3rd.  I was the only one who had seen the whole movie before and I felt so sick so I didn't watch it.  I really wanted to stay up, but come 9:40 at night I thought my eyes were about to fall out and my head fall off.  So I went to my room and put my headphones in to listen to soothing music and fell asleep.  Everyone was talking about the movie the rest of the weekend though.  Good thing I had already seen it or I would have really felt left out. 

We spent a few hours at the pools the next morning and Chloe just wanted to be held in the pool.  She practically fell asleep.  My morning was spent taking kids to and from the pool to the car to get a snack and some water and holding Chloe while she slept in the pool.  Around noon we left the hot springs and moved on towards Gunnison.  This was the best part of the whole trip.  The kids fell asleep in the car and when we arrived at Gunnison we stopped at a nice restaurant and had lunch (again I was supposed to pack a lunch but well, I wasn't feeling good, so that is two meals I got to eat out instead of make!)  It was designed like a hunting lodge with animals on the walls and the kids loved looking at the animals and pointing them out.  By this time though it was very obvious that Chloe was sick.  I probably gave her whatever I had.  She had a fever and wasn't eating anything.  Poor girl.  Despite that we had an amazing lunch and I had a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich for the first time in my life.  It was really good, I enjoyed it.  As we drove on to the ranch I bemoaned the fact that I didn't get to go swim in the lake like I was supposed to.  The weather was so nice and the water was perfect!  Oh well.  That night we had hamburgers.  It was the meal I was supposed to be in charge of  but I didn't do too much meal prep and the burgers didn't turn out too great.  When I say I didn't do much meal prep I mean our meal was hamburgers and I made the mac and cheese for those who didn't want hamburgers.  I felt so pathetic... Well mostly I felt sick and tired.  I didn't go on the bike ride that afternoon like I was supposed to, too sick. 

That evening was July 4th so we headed to a little town called Lake City to watch the fireworks.  Our whole vacation must have been cursed because it started to downpour right as they started setting off the fireworks.  It was a great show and we were really close so the fireworks were huge but the rain really put a damper on the whole thing.  I had to take Chloe back to the car because the rain got to be too much for her.  We were using the kids blankets as umbrellas.  More good news is that the kids fell asleep in the car on the way back so we didn't have to struggle putting them to bed that night, and I slept pretty well that night. 

Sunday morning dawned and I got up with the kids as usual and a nasty cough set in.  Fortunately everyone FINALLY decided to pitch in and help out with the kids that day and I ended up taking three much needed naps. (Seriously there were two grandparents, two aunts, and of course one husband, and no one helped with the kids until the third day).  My cough was really bad.  I was coughing for hours straight, coughing up all sorts of phlegm.  It was so miserable.  I was really sleep deprived from not sleeping well the past several nights and then all the activity we were doing due to being on vacation (even though I missed my swim and bike).  It was just as well I slept through most of the day because it rained all day.  Massive downpour.  It was kind of neat to watch the rain.  Sunday night I ate way too many desserts and it was the only part of the vacation I felt I ate too much and I should have eaten differently. 

Monday I felt the best I had but at 2:30am I had a coughing fit that lasted over an hour.  I had to leave the room where my family was sleeping because I couldn't stop coughing and I didn't want to wake anyone up.  We were able to walk around a little bit and ride the ATVs I took this picture of the kids playing in the stream from all the rain yesterday

Chloe was still pretty cranky since she was still not feeling too good, and of course I'm not all the way better either, although I feel much better than I have all weekend.  Right before we left I had a talk with my Father In Law who basically told me I wasn't ready for a triathlon because I missed too much training.  We were supposed to go swimming again today but Matt and I decided I should stay out of the cold water and just rest and make sure I get better and I don't get more sick.  It's been a bad spring for training.  It has rained more in Colorado this year than it has in decades and that has caused the kids to be sicker (colder weather), and a lot of training sessions to be canceled due to weather or being sick.  Well that sure took a huge chunk out of my self esteem.  Here is someone who has been a regular cheerleader for me for my fitness and he tells me point blank that I can't do it, I'm not ready.  Even if he is right (which he probably is, I really have missed a lot of training sessions and I haven't gotten in half of the outside training sessions I had hoped to get in) no one likes to hear that.  So we are going to take our two registrations and combine them into a relay.  I will do the swim (since I have a wetsuit, I might as well use it) my father in law will do the bike (he is the best at the bike and the trail is pretty technical) and one of my father in laws friends is going to do the run (he is apparently a really fast runner).  Which makes me the weak link of the relay team again.  And it means I have to make swimming in the pool a priority for the next three weeks which sucks, but I will just have to deal with it.  I really love swimming outdoors in the lake.  Swimming laps is just plain boring.

We left around noon to come home and drove straight home.  The good news is that both the kids fell asleep in the car so the trip home was pretty quiet, although I got really car sick (I had been getting car sick really easily all weekend).  It was a four hour drive home and since there was nothing to make at home besides spaghetti I got to eat out again!  Haha!  Another meal I weaseled out of making.  We came home, unpacked, showered, and now the kids are watching a movie before bed. 

I guess the good thing about not doing the whole triathlon is that I don't have to worry about training much for it.  Just the swimming.  So I can focus more on weight loss instead of training.  Also I can lay off the running and let the blisters on my feet heal.  I want to keep up my running a little though because I will be running in the triathlon relay I'm doing in  August.  (That one my father in law will swim, my husband bike, and that leaves me to do the run- again the weakest link.  My husband is a strong biker and my father in law is a pretty good swimmer *sigh* at least I'm out there doing something). 

So now the question is what do I do now?  I'm thinking of doing a combo turbo fire/Zumba/Swim routine.  Plus I still want to go mountain biking with Matt every so often.  I just hope that I sleep well tonight and feel better in the morning.  Right now I'm pretty depressed.

Re-Inspire Yourself

I'm getting tired of being where I'm at.  I was 152 this morning.  Working hard and feeling like you are going no where is discouraging.  Plus I picked up a cold from somewhere, of course it's right before our vacation.  It was incredibly windy last night and it really stirred up my allergies.  At 3am I woke up with snot pouring out of my nose.  I decided to take my antihistamine early.  About 30 minutes later my nose felt better but my head and throat hurt plus Chloe had woken up so I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night.  I woke up with a headache and not feeling too well despite doing nothing last night from about 8pm on.  I put the kids to bed and then put myself to bed.  I figured I was getting sick since I was so tired and my throat hurt.  Today I get the killer combo of having a cold plus really bad allergies.  Even maxed out on allergy meds my nose is still running.  But at least it's liveable.  This morning I wanted ice cream for breakfast, I was upset and my head felt awful.  I had two leftover pancakes and then I was going to go shower but as luck would have it the pilot light for our water heater had gone out.  I don't know if it was due to the wind or not but Matt couldn't get it re lighted.  So no hot water.  I guess that turned out to be a good thing because I decided to do Fire 45 from my Turbo Fire DVDs instead.  I was talking with a friend yesterday about how I broke through my plateau last year.  Basically it was by doing Turbo Fire and being very careful about what I eat.  I was also drinking Shakeology at the time.  Being sick and tired of sitting around at 150 maybe it's time I start doing more of what I did a year ago.  150 seems to be a natural resting place for my body.  I had a hard time breaking past that point the first time and now that I am here again, I'm having a hard time breaking past it again.  (Let that be a lesson to me never to reach 150 again or I will probably have to deal with a plateau again).  I'm thinking of getting some kind of health shake like shakeology to have for lunch to help me overcome this second plateau.  Lunches are the worst time for me anyway, I have grown tired of sandwiches and the general healthy options so knowing that I'm just going to have a shake will probably be a good thing.  I've been eating a lot more calories for lunch than I used to (Chips, bread, butter).  I'm thinking of giving some of the Doterra Slim and Sassy metabolic shakes a try since I can get them at a distributor discount.  Shakeology is just so stinkin expensive, it's like $150 for one month for a one time order (they slap on $15 in shipping for one time shipping.  Shipping is almost free if you order it on a recurring monthly basis). 

Anyway, that's just my thoughts.  I did get a picture taken of my awesome racing outfit!

Lookin' Good.  Since there was no hot water in the house and I was a sweaty mess after doing Turbo Fire

I decided to pack up the kids and head to the gym to shower.  Plus I get to hang out afterwards at the cafe.  Doing Turbo Fire really perked up my spirits and I am going to start incorporating more TF workouts into my schedule, especially the HIIT workouts.  If they worked before, they can work again (given that I keep my nutrition in check.  Blast that whole eating thing why does it have to be so hard!) 

I decided to skip the ice cream today as I managed to re-inspire myself, and all because the water heater was broken.  (Way to look on the bright side!  Let's not think about the $1000 it will cost to replace it.)  I've been getting tired training for the triathlon.  I'm kind of bored with it, so I figure I will just do what I can when I can and make sure I keep working out.  It is much better to change your workout than to stop working out all together.  The Tri is coming up in about three weeks so it will be over soon and I won't have to worry about training for it anymore.  I'm going to wear my new outfit for our bike ride this weekend.  I'm excited for that!  Hopefully this head cold thing doesn't get in the way of a good weekend out. 

Things never go according to plan

Nothing seems to be going as planned these days.  Today I was supposed to go to the gym in the morning to swim and do a brick workout, and then do my errands in the afternoon.  But when I woke up this morning I could hardly walk because my calf muscles were so sore.  I also had a pounding headache from not sleeping well for several nights in a row.  It's been too hot in our room, and Matt has been working too hard making him more tired than usual and as a result he has been snoring longer and louder and more frequently than usual.  So this morning instead of going to the gym and working out I sat on my butt and did my nails.  I think they turned out super cute.

4th of July nails!

Didn't burn too many calories though.  I ate a light lunch: some turkey meat and a string cheese and we left to run errands.  I bought my official racing outfit!  My shorts are an xl and my top a large.  I guess they don't really need to make racing outfits too large since most people who participate in triathlon races aren't heavy.  But at least I fit into the outfit!  I wouldn't have fit two years ago, and probably not even when I first started training.  I will post a picture whenever I get around to taking a picture of me in it.  I should have taken one in the dressing room as I don't have access to a full length mirror anywhere else, but of course you don't think of those things when you have two little kids with you.  I also ran to WalMart to get Chloe another swim suit and some items for this weekend.  We are going to Mt. Princeton to swim in the hot springs and then to the ranch.  If everything goes as planned I will be doing two open water swims, one bike ride and hopefully one run during our vacation there.  (That is IF everything goes as planned). 

I feel like my triathlon training is falling apart.  It seems that getting in all the training is increasingly more difficult now.  That is probably because I can't workout 6 days a week and my training sessions are all at least an hour long so it is very difficult to combine two sessions into one day because that makes for a minimum of a 2 hour workout.  Besides that, it is hard for me to run for an hour and then go bike for an hour.  It's one thing to run for 30 minutes then go bike for 30 minutes, it's a whole different ball game to do both for an hour.  I think I need to get some GU or some Shot Blocks so that when I do longer training sessions I don't have an energy crash.  There was one workout that I had to stop because I just hit a wall.  (It was when I was trying to combine two workouts into one day and I just had to quit about 10 minutes into the second workout, I just didn't have any energy).  I have also heard that you should try whatever energy boost you are going to be using before race day because you might find that certain kinds make you feel sick.  This weekend will be a good time to try some out. 

Weekend and Weigh In

Saturday morning it was time to step on the scale.  I was happy to see that I was 150.8.  One more pound to get back to 149.8 which is where I was a few weeks ago before I ran into a few bumps.  I'm feeling pretty good right now, my size 10 pants are getting looser and my size 8 pants are starting to fit better, although they are still pretty tight.  I think they won't fit nicely until I get back to about 145.  I've been thinking about goal setting and achieving goals and I realize that part of the reason why I get so discouraged is because I do not set any short term goals.  I set a lot of long term goals but that gives me nothing to celebrate in the meantime and I get discouraged.  So my first weight goal is to get back into the 140s (so close now!) and then give myself a non food reward.  My next goal will be to get back to 145 which is my healthy weight range, and then to 143 which is the lowest I've ever been and then to 140.  That's as far as I'm planning out right now. 

We went on a hike with the family on Saturday and because of how wet it's been there was so much vegetation and I saw Columbines everywhere!  Columbines are our state flower and I have never seen so many on a trail before.  Usually you see one here and one there, but they were everywhere!  It was absolutely amazing. 

Close up

See all the purple columbines everywhere?  The whole trail was littered with them

The kids were kind of tired so we didn't get to go very far which was unfortunate, I would have really liked to go farther up the trail.  But that is what you get when you have a 2 and 4 year old.  We went to get some chocolate malts after our hike.  In the evening Matt and I went on a date!  It has been a long time since we were able to go out together by ourselves. 

Sunday was a relax day, I ate too many cookies but not as many as I used to.  I made molasses cookies and it's been a long time since I've made those kind of cookies. 

I think I'm ready to start tracking my food again.  I've been doing pretty well but I want to make sure I keep going in the right direction. 

30,000 steps

I still haven't been tracking my food, I have been going just on how I feel.  I know that some days I over eat but on other days I under eat.  I'm just trying to focus on making healthy decisions and not snacking too much.  This morning I ate oatmeal and then did the grocery shopping. We came home in time for me to put everything away and head to Zumba.  I love Zumba and had a great time today.  Despite Chloe keeping me up in the middle of the night from about 2:30-4:00 I had a lot of energy and burned about 475 calories.  That's pretty good for that Zumba class without doing a pre exercise to get my heart rate up before class starts.  If I workout before Zumba I usually burn 525 calories, if I don't I usually burn about 450 calories.  After class one of my Zumba friends came up to me and said "I have to tell you that the sweat on your back makes a perfect heart as if to say "I Love Zumba!" I wish I could sweat that cute."  I've never heard of sweat being described as cute but it was pretty funny that my sweat made a heart.  This is kind of a blurry picture but you can see she was right.

If I haven't grossed you out by showing you a picture of my sweaty shirt then read on hahaha.

This afternoon I cleaned the whole kitchen, it took a while.  I had to clean up lunch, was all the dishes from yesterday and put them away.  Empty the dishwasher and load it up again, clean off the kitchen table change the tablecloth, clean the counters and then sweep and mop the floors.  It looks so much better now.  I also did the kids laundry and our darks and folded them and put everything away.  Afterwards it was off to my parent's house to do my first outdoor run.  I was going to run with my sister but she ditched me so I ended up running alone.  I think I did really well for my first outdoor run.  I haven't been doing any inclines on the treadmill so it didn't surprise me that my miles were over 11 minutes instead of 10 minutes like I have been running on the treadmill.  It is very hilly over by where my parents live.

The app I used to track my run is called "Map my Run"

I ran almost the whole way, with only about two minutes of walking so I was really proud of myself.  I forgot to take a selfie when I finished because I was distracted with Lily sitting in the window.  So I didn't take one until I stepped inside and I snapped this photo which is probably the world's worst selfie but there you have it.

My parents invited us to stay for dinner and we had sausages, mashed potatoes, green beans and watermelon.  It was very yummy, but I didn't eat too much because we ate as soon as I walked through the door and I wasn't very hungry after running for an hour.  It was my longest run ever! 

We left pretty much right after dinner, I was sweaty and wanted to get home to shower.  After my shower I checked my fitbit to see how many steps I had in today and I was shocked to see:

Woo Hoo!  Over 30,000 steps.  That is a first for me.  I had this in my inbox when I checked next.

It's called the Trail Shoe badge for walking 30,000 steps in one day.  The only downside is that the blisters on my left foot have gotten worse from this run.  So it's a good thing that I don't have to run for several days now.  Hopefully the new blisters will just go away, if anyone is ever that lucky.  Well, I'm pretty tired now, and I'm hoping the kids go to bed easily *fingers crossed*  Have a great day!