Follow Me On Wordpress

I've started a new page at http://want2berunner.wordpress.com/

What do you tell people???

I went to gym today to walk on the treadmill in my Vibram FiveFingers. One of the gym trainers came up to me said: "What in the world is on your FEET?!" I tried to explain I'm trying to get into barefoot running and these shoes help reduce injuries that runner's commonly experience by teaching you how to run/walk more naturally. She was slightly appauled. She tolled me I was going to develop plantar fasciitis walking in those. I didn't really know what say...I felt embarrassed to be honest. I wish I was able to defend my position better but it was difficult to do while I was walking on the tredmill and she was walking away to train someone.

So, What do you tell people??? Here is what someone else suggested on their website: "They are designed to adjust your stride, distribute your weight, and minimize the impact on your joints—on the fly. Unfortunately, when you encase them in modern running shoes, your feet lose contact with the ground. They don’t adjust. They aren’t free to do what they were made to do."

I'm tempted to only wear my Vubram's outside, rather than at the gym where I feel like all eyes are on my feet! I don't want to feel presure to defend my footwear choices everytime I want to go for a walk or a run but I guess people are just naturally curious.

Gluten-Free Vegetarian Mexican Casserole

I took the opportunity to make another casserole last night (sticking with my goal of learning to cook at least once a week). Casseroles of great because they are fairly easy and can be used for multiple meals throughout the week. This is an adaptation of some Mexican casserole recipes I was looking at online.

Ingredients:

2 medium onions chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 can red kidney beans rinsed and drained
5 oz frozen corn (1/2 of a 10 oz bag)
2 bell peppers chopped (I used 1 red, 1 orange)
five 6" corn tortillas
1 1/4 cup cheese (I used part-skim mozzarella, but Mexican would be better)
Salt, pepper, taco seasoning, and chili powder to taste
scallions for garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add chopped onions, garlic into a large skillet over medium heat for 5-10 min. Add bell peppers, frozen corn and kidney beans to mixture for another 5 minutes. Prepare a casserole dish by lining it with the 6" corn tortillas. I used 5 tortillas, but you can use more. Pour vegetable and bean mixture into the casserole dish lined with tortillas. Sprinkle cheese all over the top and bake for 25-30 min. Let cool for 10 min. Garnish with chopped scallions.

I calculated that the entire casserole is approximately 1,430 calories. 1/4 of the dish is about 360 calories.

I'll give this a 3 out of 4 stars. I would use more seasoning next time and switch up the ingredients a little for something new and different!

Fitness Schedule: March 21 - March 27

Sun, Mar 21	Spinning 9:00AM-10:00AM complete!
Mon, Mar 22	Walking 30-60 min. complete 30 min!
Tue, Mar 23	Body Pump 12:15PM-1:00PM
Wed, Mar 24	Spinning 12:15PM-1:00PM
Thu, Mar 25	Walking 30-60 min.
Fri, Mar 26	Spinning 9:30AM-10:30AM
Sat, Mar 27	OFF

Looking Forward

It's Saturday night and I think it's a good time to look ahead and plan for next week.

"What actions are you willing to take this week to bring you closer to your goal?"

1. I'm willing to record my food intake and count calories

2. I'm willing to eat whole foods and not processed/packaged foods
(The above are from last week that I will continue to follow)

3. I'm willing to exercise 6 days this week
I think it's important to start moving everyday so I'm going to pick some classes offered by my gym and also incorporate some long walking sessions in my new Vibrams to make progress towards running again.

4. I'm willing to set up a calender and track my progress in exercise and weight loss.

Weekends are hard

Today I realized that weekends are hard. I was out of the house all day, so that meant all of my meals were not prepared at home, where I know what I'm eating and how many calories are in my meals. I had a pretty large brunch at a local diner. I ordered a vegetable egg omelet that came out with GOBS of cheese and TONS of hash browns and toast with LOADS of butter. It was a gooey mess that I couldn't resist. I thought I was ordering the healthiest option on the menu but I was wrong. I don't have a lot of self control and ate the entire omelet, half of the hash browns, and avoided the toast. I felt sick. What I learned from this experience is next time, order regular old eggs and maybe fruit instead of the gross omelet made with half a dozen eggs and an entire wedge of cheese.

The rest of the day wasn't terrific. I snacked a little too much on god knows what and then sat down to a microwaved dinner. I learned I do a lot better when I prepare my own meals, but eating at home ALL the time is not realistic so I'm going to have to learn to make better choices when eating out.

I took a spin class at the gym today. It was hard, but it made me realize how much I missed exercising. To calm my afternoon sweet tooth I've fixed a cup of tea with a squirt of local honey.

Vibram Five Fingers

I just bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. I took them for a test run/mostly walk. I read that when starting off with these shoes it's important to go slowly. Since I haven't been running recently I did a 5 min walk followed by a 1 min run, 1 1/2 min walk (repeat 3 times). So, not a whole lot. They felt pretty good. I think if I can keep some running momentum going and run every other day I can build my distance back up. I'm going to see how my feet feel tomorrow morning. Soreness is expected.

Black KSO Vibram Five Fingers

Chocolate Mishap

Sliding back into old habits happens, and it happened to me last night. Our brain's are hard wired with habit (some good, and some bad). I am a night time muncher. I can follow my diet all day and then 10PM comes along and I'm knee deep in popcorn, candy, and ice cream. I've tried to combat this bad habit by replacing it with a new habit, such as go to bed earlier, take a shower, or brush my teeth right after dinner, but sometimes I feel like I've lost my will power and give into snacking in front of the TV late at night. Last night I found myself unconsciously eating Dove chocolates. I felt numb while I was eating and then I suddenly woke up and thought "Dear god. What am I doing?"

Instead of wallowing in disappointment and regret I've decided to learn from this mistake, forgive myself, and move on. What I can learn from this chocolate mishap is that staying up past 10PM is not going to work for me. I naturally get hungry at that time, so making a mandatory bed time of 9:30PM next week might help. Eating in front of the TV is another no-no. I know I use food to as a soothing and coping method, so I need to acknowledge my feelings and replace food with blogging or reading instead. Last night I think I was feeling anxious about not knowing what I'm doing this summer so I dove into some Dove. If I lived by myself I would choose not to have snacks and tempting munchies around, but I don't, and can't enforce food choices on the people I live with...so I need to learn to cope with temptation.

Ironically, the message inside one of the Dove wrappers was: Take 5 deep breaths. I should try that next time.

The Happiness Makeover

I finished This year I will... so I have moved on to another book called The Happiness Makeover. In my quest to find more satisfaction with myself and with life I thought this book was a good fit. The book opens with this quote:

"What would happen to us if we really fell in love with life?..."

Qualities of happy people that the book notes: Happy people are accepting of themselves and others. They are more appreciative. They smile more. They take action on things they can change in their lives. They have more fun and take time to play.

I plan to to conduct my own happiness study, where I will start paying attention to what makes people happy and record the results.

More List Progress...

9. Blog more often

• Specific: My goal is to blog at least 2-3 times a week, Measurable: I will look at the blog on Fridays and see how many times I've posted, Achievable: 2-3 time/week is realistic, Relevant: This is important to me because it helps me write down my thoughts, Time-Bound: Blog every week till my birthday
  

12. Create a book list/read more

• Specific: Make a book list* and read more, Measurable: Read 1 chapter everyday, Achievable: 1 chapter is realistic, Relevant: Reading is important to me because it teaches me to learn/think in new ways, Time-Bound: goal expires on my birthday *created a book list on Amazon already and keep adding to it periodically
  

13. Visit best friends from college*

• Specific: Visit friends from college, Measurable: Visit at least 3 people, Achievable: Making the effort to visit at least 3 people is realistic, Relevant: Visiting and keeping in touch with friends is important to me, Time-Bound: goal should be achieved by end of summer *Progress: Planning a trip to Chicago in April to visit a friend from college. Also planning a reunion with a group of friends from college in July.
  

#15. Take Up Photography

#15 on my list of 24 Things Before 24 is "take up photography." I discovered that I really enjoy photography after I lived abroad in London for six months. I decided to sign up for a 3 hour photography workshop tonight and make progress towards developing this hobby more seriously. Below is how I'm making this goal more concrete and less vague.

MY GOAL: Take up photography

Specific: I would like to learn more about photography and develop better skills/techniques
Measurable: I will participate in a photography workshop or photography related tutorial once a month
Achievable: Committing a few hours or 1 day a month to this hobby is realistic
Relevant: This is something that matters to me because it is something I enjoy
Time-Bound: This goal will end on my birthday

"Am I living the life that wants to live in me?"
-Dawna Markova

"Create a vison of who you want to be and then live into that picture as if it were already true."

Who do I want to be? I want to be healthy and fit. I want to be the kind of person who runs a marathon. I want to be someone who is comfortable in their own skin. Someone who has style and confidence. I want to be authentic and sincere. I want to be the person who set goals and achieves them. I want to be a smoothie drinking, flaxseed eating, bikini wearing hottie. I want to live with purpose and find a career I love. I want to care less about money and care more about the people that surround me. I want to do more and watch less tv. I want to volunteer. I want to be the person others admire and look up to. I want to be the person who wakes up in the morning and goes for a run before work.

"What actions are you willing to take this week to bring you closer to your goal?"

1. I'm willing to record my food intake and count calories
2. I'm willing to eat whole foods and not processed foods
3. I'm willing to look into a gym membership
4. I'm willing to weigh myself on Friday morning to check my progress

Update: I've been using the LiveStrong App this week and stayed between 1,400-1,600 calories while eating whole foods. I also signed up for a gym membership today!

#23. Learn to cook (healthy meals)

I've decided the best way to start learning how to cook is to start cooking. So, I'm making the commitment to cook a healthy dinner once a week.

Goal Break-down

Specific: Learn to cook healthy meals*
*I will know they are healthy by picking good ingredients and researching recipies
Measurable: Cook dinner at least once a week (I will look back at the end of the week and note how many times I cooked a healthy dinner)
Achievable: Once a week is realistic
Relevant: :Learning to cook healthy meals with natural ingredients will help in living a better lifestyle
Time-Bound: I will cook at least once a week till my 24th birthday

Tonight I am making a gluten-free casserole. I got the idea from The Gluten-Free Homemaker.
I picked a protein, starch, vegetables, sauce and topping and layered them into a casserole.

Layer 1: 1 cup cooked Quinoa
Layer 2: 2 cups sauteed vegetables (mushrooms, peas, onion, garlic)
Layer 3: 16 oz. Red Kidney Beans
Layer 4: 2 cups Organic Traditional Pasta Sauce
Layer 5: 1/2 cup topping of low fat mozzarella cheese

Bake 350 degrees for 30 min. Add topping for the last 10 min.


Entire casserole Nutrition:

Calories	Fat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbs	Sugar	Fiber	Protein
1,663	18g	20mg	3,520mg	290g	78g	50g	89g

I will eat 1/4 for dinner making a serving about 415 calories.

I give this meal a 3 out of 4. Very healthy and colorful, but needs more spices or seasoning next time.

Tackling The List

There is no time like the present to start tackling the list. Some of my items are going to take some more thought and time, so I'm going to start with one or two to focus my efforts on. The first biggie is "Lose Weight." Although, I make a conscious effort every day to move towards this goal I need to make a more concrete plan.

"When we create a vague goal, we set ourselves up for failure. Because we're never quite sure when we've crossed the finish line."

My goal is too vague right now: "I want to lose weight." This is not good enough. In This year I will...The author says in order to change you need to create goals that are S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Great! Let's get started.

MY GOAL: Lose weight

Specific: I want to lose 10 lbs.
Measurable: I will record my weight every Friday morning on a calender to measure and track my progress
Achievable: Losing 1.4 lbs per week is realistic
Relevant: This is something that matters to me because I want to feel and look healthier
Time-Bound: I'm going to lose 10 lbs by April 30th.

"Because change happens in small increments, unless you track yourself, you can't see the improvements you may actually be making."

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
-Aristotle

The List: 24 Things Before 24

I got this idea from This year I will... In the book the author talks about using the list as a wake-up call to get motivated and prepare for change.

In no particular order, here is the list I have been working on...*

24 Things Before 24:

1. Run 5k
2. Run 8k
3. Run 10k
4. Run half-marathon (by the end of summer)
5. Cut-hair
6. Dye hair
7. Wear a bikini (this scares me)
8. Get a tattoo
9. Blog more often
10. Find a summer job
11. Lose weight
12. Create a book list/read more
13. Visit best friends from college
14. Ask a guy out
15. Take up photography
16. Go skinny dipping
17. Go parasailing
18. Clean out closets and sell/donate stuff
19. Wear a sexy dress w/heels
20. Save money
21. Join a club/group
22. Meet/Make new friends
23. Learn to cook (healthy meals)
24. Start my masters degree (on track already!)

*open to revision and additions
bold items are works currently in progress

Spring Forward

Winter was really rough in Pennsylvania. I did not run. AT ALL. I started to feel tired and fed up with my running progress so I stopped. Instead, I chose to focus on other things such as applying/getting into grad school, reconnecting with friends, and spending time with my family. Now that it's spring I have a renewed spirit and am eager to start running (again). I realized that I was missing the healthy balance that exercise adds to my day.

I just finished reading a book called This Year I will...: How to Finally Chnage a Habit, Keep a Resolution, or make a dream come true. The author talks a lot about changing habits, and why we sometimes sabotage ourselves when we make goals. I've learned that it's important not to give up when you experience set backs, but learn from the experience and begin again, wiser. So, it's time to being again. And I can't think of any better time then Spring Time.

The first thing I want to do is make some goals because I think they will help me get clear on what I truly want. Some will be running related but some will be about self-improvement and personal growth. The last few months were a major set-back, but it's time to Spring Forward and begin again.