Sometimes I think I’m depressed…not sure if it’s just a bad day, or getting my period (sorry guys!). Check out this article titled “Foods That Fight Depression“.
Things that can help:
Just before bed last night I weighed 104.2 pounds. I wanted the scale to say 103 again, but I wasn’t too shocked that it didn’t. I don’t usually drink water after my dinner at about 5:30 or 6:00 each night. Last night I went for a run after dinner and drank a bunch of water, and water is pretty weighty stuff. This morning I weighed in at 102.8. This was just what I was hoping for. All those trips to the potty during the night took care of that excess water I consumed.
My pancakes are getting smaller! That is a salad plate folks, not a full-size dinner plate.
On weekends my breakfasts get very exciting. We usually have pancakes or waffles – homemade healthy, vegan recipes, of course. Healthy or not, I did feel last weekend like my serving size was a bit too big. So I cut the batter back today and made myself two smaller banana pancakes – at least 25% smaller than the “old standard.”
Workout 1 We had plans to head south for the day, so I squeezed in a short, high intensity workout with my buddy Jillian Michaels. I threw in my 30 Day Shred DVD and did the 20 minute level 2 workout.
Lunch The whole point of our trip down south was to take our boy, Romero, out to lunch at a very special spot (and maybe just to get away for the day). The Park Bench Café in Huntington Beach is an outdoor café that is super-duper for doggies. They have people food and even a menu for dogs.
This is my half of the sandwich and my fries.
Shauna and I split their veggie sandwich. It was on wheat bread, spread with guacamole, and filled with lettuce, onions, tomatoes. I let myself have french fries once every few weeks, so today was my day. I had 12 with my sandwich. I was not full or stuffed and felt that I had made the healthiest choice for my lunch. Romero loved his ice cream and peanut butter snacks.
Dinner We were on the road when dinner time hit and boy was I hungry. I should have brought some nuts along to have as a snack. A small, healthy, low-calorie snack about midway between lunch and dinner keeps me from getting completely famished and making stooopid decisions at dinner time. If I let myself get to “starving,” I can definitely slip into overeating without thinking about it. Shauna and I were both wanting Mexican food. We weighed our options as we passed through Ventura and chose to go with Sharky’s Woodfired Mexican Grill. This is a much healthier choice than that good old, yummy authentic Mexican food. I don’t care how good it tastes, I am not eating lard, thanks. By the time we got to Sharky’s, I was so fricken’ hungry. I really thought I’d want to eat the whole veggie burrito I ordered. Instead I only ate half of it– made with black beans, zucchini, rice, bell peppers, onions, some salsa, guacamole, all wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. I also had about 10 tortilla chips and water. I was plenty satisfied. I would have been totally stuffed if I’d eaten the whole thing.
As we came back into Santa Barbara, we stopped and gave our uneaten halves of our burritos to some homeless men. Why stuff ourselves eating more that we should? And why let it go to waste? Either take your leftovers home and eat them later, or give them to someone who will really appreciate them.
Workout 2 I brought my workout clothes with me, just in case . . . And it worked out wonderfully. I switched clothes and had Shauna drop me off a few miles from home and I ran the rest of the way home. That felt so good. What a great way to end our day out. I think I ran for about 25-30 minutes or so.
Dessert After my run and my shower, we had dessert and guess what?? Prepare to be shocked. If you have been following my blog over these last 16 days, this next piece of info may actually cause you to fall out of your chair, so please secure yourself or call for assistance. (Drum roll builds . . .) I did NOT have a cookie tonight! See, I told you! Shocking, to say the least.
Just enough to enjoy the taste.
Instead I had one scoop (about 1 ½ tablespoons) of Purely Decadent Chocolate Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert - coconut milk “ice cream” – with two blackberries sliced and tossed on top. Ahhhh, so refreshing.
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Weighed in at 105 at bedtime and at 104 when I got up this morning. I weighed myself after this morning’s workout, just for kicks - - – 103.
Breakfast Had my standard weekday breakfast minus the blueberries. Just a few slices of banana, strawberry, and blackberries, topped with a spoon of vanilla coconut yogurt and Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax Cereal.
Workout 1 We returned to the Wall (see Day 6 of 30) and did that great workout one more time. This time Laura was able to join us as well. This wonderful cement wall is about 150 yards long, I’d guess. We worked a section on the wall doing fun things like side to side vaulting while moving forward, bear crawling, plank walks and all sorts of good stuff. In between these wall-working sections, we ran down the sidewalk that runs the length of the wall and back. It felt good to run, even if it was in bite-sized pieces. I tape my toes daily to make running possible. It still hurts, but it’s totally manageable. I did so much better this week with my forward moving side to side vaults. I got up and over – no feet touching the top at any point. I could feel it in my arms, chest, core and legs. Fantastic.
[I have a video or two to post here, but YouTube is down at this moment. So I'll post it a bit later.]
Then we got Laura to do the Run to Jump to Land and Roll. She was so funny. Instead of doing the shoulder blade roll, she kept doing a somersault right on top of her head. That girl didn’t give up though and she got it. Why is this important? Well it’s all about functional movements. Running, jumping onto an object, jumping off and knowing how to land in a safe way is all functional stuff that you may need. You don’t know when you’ll have to jump out a window to get out of a fire, or to help someone else, or just to play with your kids. People get hurt because they don’t know how to land in a good, safe way. Doing this in our workouts gets us all prepared for whatever life throws our way. We jump off things and land with bent hips, knees and ankles and then transfer that force and energy into a roll so that our bones don’t have to absorb it. We were doing this from a low jump today, but the same principles apply for bigger distances. We should never roll with our head on the ground, taking all the impact. That’s a sure way to hurt your neck. Instead we worked on doing it safely, getting ourselves to roll onto our shoulder blade. Training functional movements is also a fantastic way to give yourself a full-body, multi-dimensional workout.
Working out here does it all – cardio, core, upper, lower . . . strength everywhere.
Very daring!
We even got all daring at the end and held some nice strong chaturanga poses in the bike path.
We ended the morning sandy, sweaty, and strong.
Lunch Homemade falafel pita. I list all the ingredients in yesterday’s blog so check that out if you haven’t already seen it. On the side I had 10 Honey Dijon Kettle Chips. Eating whole wheat pitas instead of bread is a healthier option and one I haven’t really done until lately. I used to think I couldn’t get by without bread, and lots of it. I was sure I’d self-destruct. Can you tell I just love bread? But I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all eating pitas.
Snack 5 red grapes and 5 raw, unsalted, mixed nuts (cashew, almonds, brazil nut, and hazelnut). And a big glass of water – my second since lunch. I’m doing better at drinking more water between meals.
Dinner I made some pasta with chard tonight. I cooked up some Ezekiel 4:9 Pasta along with some Rice Pasta (I was low on the Ezekiel 4:9 so I supplemented). Then I sauteed some garlic and onions, added some chard (from our garden), then some sundried tomatoes and pine nuts. I mixed this with the cooked pasta and sprinkled some Parma Vegan Parmesan Cheese on top. Shauna made a great salad using green and red lettuce from our garden, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, green onions, tomatoes, and a few pepitas. I had a small bowl of salad – about a cup and a half – with a tablespoon of my homemade vegan ranch dressing. I also had a piece of sourdough garlic bread.
Here’s the exciting part. I served myself too much pasta, though I didn’t realize it at first. I had put less in the pasta bowl than I used to have so I figured I was good. Then, as I was eating, I had one of those moments. It was just a moment, a pause, and I realized I felt good. I knew I could actually stop right there and be satisfied, but there was still half my serving of yummy pasta in my bowl and a bit of salad. I finished the last 3 bites of salad and didn’t take another bite of the pasta. It was wonderful, really. Being strong enough and aware enough to just put the bowl of pasta down and say, “I’ve had enough.” For dessert I had the tiniest of my homemade Cocoa Hazelnut Cookies. I mean it was teeny, tiny. A perfect way to end. I felt satisfied and not full.
Workout 2 I pulled on the gloves and spent 30 minutes jabbing, punching, throwing hooks and uppercuts, kicking, bobbing, weaving, and ducking. It was a great workout and a great way to just de-stress at the end of the day. And then, as I was putting the cover back on the bag, I got to use that functional fitness stuff I was talking about on Workout 1. I had to climb up on a storage container. It was too high to step down from, so I jumped and landed in a nice low squat. No roll necessary. Actually this second workout was also very functional. Doing moves that emulate self-defense are not only a great way to stay fit, but also a good idea just in case you ever need to defend yourself.
I weighed 105 pounds when I weighed in last night just before bed. When I got up this morning I was 104 . . . exactly. I know I was at the 104/103 spot just before the weekend and now I’m back up, but I’m not bugged. I’m feeling good about what I’m doing. I know I’m trimming the serving sizes. I know I’m doubling my workouts. These two things are making me feel really, really great. Time to get personal, so hang on to your panties. I always seem to put on a pound or two when on my period, which happens to be happening now, so I’m thinking this being up a pound thing could be because of that. At least that’s what I’m hoping. If I’m right, I’ll be back to my 104/103 in a couple of days. After my workout this morning I was at 103. I am really keeping that number in my sights right now.
See, it’s my opinion that the best way to deal with losing weight is in 5 pound increments. For people to look at the scale and say, “I have to lose 20, 30, or 50 pounds,” just sounds so overwhelming, so impossible, almost hopeless. But to keep yourself to thinking about 5 pounds at a time is much more doable.
Breakfast The very simple, not-so-thrilling, weekday breakfast of some sliced fruit (banana, blackberries, and blueberries), with a spoonful of coconut milk yogurt, and a spoonful of Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax Cereal. This really works for me. It’s a small amount of food (may 1 cup altogether) that fuels me for my workout and gets me through until lunch. The one thing I want to improve is my morning water intake. I am in the habit of having about 8 ounces of water with breakfast, then nothing else to drink until lunch. I am going to start making myself drink another glass between breakfast and lunch.
Workout 1 I am so over this fricken broken toe!!! I want to run like normal. Today’s workout only had about 4 minutes of running total, but I have to do it with adjustments. And downhill . . . that always hurts. Today’s WOW was all about the medicine ball and making myself do each of the 11 exercises powerfully and then move on quickly. It’s a torturous, wonderful workout. When it was done I felt strong, enabled, and ready to take on anything. There were moments during the workout where I just felt so tired, so fatigued. When I push through that, that’s where fitness happens, that’s where strength is born – inside and out!
Lunch Falafel Pita with Kettle Chips. I put three of my mini falafel patties on top of a four inch pita that was spread with hummus. Then I added red leaf lettuce, a bit of chopped carrot, chopped cucumber, chopped red and green bell peppers, sliced green onion, a sliced snap pea, and a bit of diced tomato. Then I topped it all off with a tablespoon of my homemade vegan ranch dressing. On the side I had 8 Honey Dijon Kettle Chips. I fell in love with these when I lived in Palau. This was my first day having them since I’ve been home. So pat me on the back! I only ate 8 of them!! That’s like 100 calories of crap-free goodness.
Dinner It was leftover night. We had what was left of Dolores’ Dish (AKA Veggie Casserole). I definitely and consciously served myself about 20% less than I used to serve. It has Yukon potatoes, sweet potatoes, three colors of bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, garlic, red onions and tomatoes in it, along with some olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. I love this dish so much. On the side I had a piece of Rudi’s Sourdough. I so missed that bread while we were in Palau for 7 months. Then I had dessert: a Cocoa Hazelnut cookie. Boy did I make these small. They are less than half the size I used to make.
Workout 2 After this morning’s strength training workout, I decided I needed some cardio tonight. I would normally just strap on my shoes and go for a run. And you have no idea just how badly I want to do that. I love to go for a run. It’s so therapeutic for me – gives me time to zone out, to just watch, and listen, and breathe. It totally lets the air out of any stress I have. It’s a great second workout. It’s been 3 weeks since I broke my toe. Hopefully I’ll be all better in the next three weeks so I can get back to running. But for tonight, it’s a substitute. I came up with 13 movements and activities I could do that would get my heart rate up and my body working without making my toe hurt. I did each one for 1 minute, one right after the other. At the end I took a quick breather and did them all again.
Anyone in a relationship knows that you have to give in order to get back in return. The pleasures of a relationship that remain after the moonlighting days subside can be preserved by giving time and energy in return for let’s say a girl’s night out or a back rub for instance. There’s minimal guilt involved in receiving a perk after giving a perk and the sky is the limit when deciding what you would do for a klondike bar. The concept of giving now in order to receive later is a fulfilling one especially when dealing with food. For example, “giving” up the tortilla from your breakfast burrito and the bun from your sandwich at lunch can easily translate into “getting” that glass of wine for dinner or that toothsome dessert that you just can’t get out of your mind. See how no guilt equals good pleasure? This concept can be used for anything you consume from downsizing your steak portion in order to have another helping of your host’s famous casserole dish to deciding which side dish gets that extra pizzazz through a variety of toppings. A real life example that happened to me just the other day: I gave up the sour cream and cheese on my baked potato in exchange for a mayo dipping sauce on my artichoke. I compromised the taste of my fully loaded baked potato for the savor of the succulent mayo dipping sauce I used for my artichoke. It was without doubt worth the swap and proved merely to be a small price to pay to sustain my healthy relationship with food. I knew that the next time I wanted a baked potato with all the fixings I would just forego a vegetable that tempted me to slather on the extra mayo calories. Yes, a bit of self-control and planning is exercised in the production of each meal; but like in a healthy relationship it takes hard work and dedication. Once you open yourself up to different options to manage your food allowances, similar to the compromises you make in your relationships, you will see that the best things do happen to those who wait. Enjoy having your cake and eating it too!
Weighed in at 105 at bedtime last night and at 104 when I got up this morning. And . . . here’s a little something that gave me a even more encouragement. After this morning’s workout, and subsequent much-needed shower, I stepped onto the scale and was cheerfully greeted by these numbers: 103! I’m on the right track.
Breakfast Back to my standard weekday breakfast of ½ banana, 2 small strawberries, 4 blueberries, 2 blackberries, a tablespoon of Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax Cereal and a tablespoon of vanilla coconut milk yogurt.
Workout 1 I didn’t do my WOW workout today. I’ve been having lots of workout ideas every time I pass the long wall along Cabrillo Blvd. here in Santa Barbara between the harbor and the pier. So today I headed out there to act out some of my workout fantasies.
Dolores and I worked the wall, while Melina did her own version on a smaller wall for her and her baby in the belly. Shauna and Romero did another version – sometimes joining Dolores and I and sometimes doing extra top-secret stuff.
Dolores and I did Dip-Flips down one segment of the wall. That’s a tricep dip, followed by a pushup.
Then we went for a run down the wall and back. Then Dip Walks. We walked along the top of the wall, lowering one leg toward the ground with each step. Another fantastic run, a bit further down, and back.
Then we Bear Crawled the next section of wall. Another run then we repeated that same section doing Sideways Bear Crawls. Another run, a bit further, then we vaulted back and forth over the wall as we moved down another segment. You guessed it, another run down the length of the wall and back.
Next up was some Leg Launchers. We would step up with one foot, launch high and land in a squat. We went for half a segment of the wall working one leg, then the other. The we took those wobbly legs for another run out and back.
Then we did Samurai Squat Step Ups – boy do these work the legs and hips! Another run – all the way to the pier and back.
Now for the best and most fun activity of the morning. We ran, jumped onto the wall, then off, landing in a squat to a forward roll.
This was so much fun, Dolores kept begging to do “one more.” We finished up with the wall with a some butt kickers and a nice declined plank walk. Then we got even more sandy by going from a kneel to a lunge over and over. Then we had Melina help us with some Disturbed Planks – that means she pushes, pulls, and messes with us while we are trying to hold a steady, strong plank. And last but not least, we did Kneel Up. Kneel in the sand, extend both arms overhead, then stand up one leg at a time. Keep going up and down, keeping those hands high the whole time. This was a great workout. We loved it to pieces and it worked us in just about every way imaginable.
Snack Four red grapes from the farmer’s market.
Lunch I had one and half falafel balls left from my lunch in Ventura on Monday. I used those and made a Falaco. Yes, another of my own creations. I made spelt tortillas, spread the hummus Shauna just made on it, then put in my broken up falafels, veggies (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion), and a bit of sundried tomato pesto (that I made using basil from our garden). See it’s a falafel-taco . . . or a falaco! On the side I had 8 Kettle Brand Baked Hickory Barbeque Chips. Washed it all down with a big glass of water.
I spent the next 3 ½ hours cleaning and re-arranging our garage. That meant non-stop movement, lifting, squatting, pushing, pulling and carrying stuff.
Dinner I made veggie fajitas. I sauteed red, yellow, orange, and green bell peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini strips, corn in olive oil with some seasonings (no salt and no “fajita mix”). Once I put my fajita together I added some sliced tomatoes, avocado slices, cilantro, and a spoonful of vegan sour cream. On the side I had ¼ cup of homemade black bean and ¼ cup of homemade whole grain Spanish rice. And once again, I had my small homemade chocolate chip cookie for dessert.
Workout 2 I did a 20 minute, hard core workout with Jillian Michaels once my dinner was settled. Oh, by the way, this is a great indicator about your meal size. You should be able to workout or do something active within an hour to and hour and a half after eating. If not, you most likely ate too much. I did level two on Jillian’s 30 Day Shred DVD and it was short and sweaty. Eat your dinner before 7:00 then try going for a walk, jog, bike ride after dinner. Get out and enjoy these longer days and if you happen to pass the wall on Cabrillo Blvd. or some other great wall, have some fun with it like we did today.
