Running for time instead of distance was liberating at first, but I also learned that I can’t run too fast, because I wouldn’t complete my run any faster if I did… just get more tired All in all, I was proud when I was done. This was the longest run I’ve done outside to date, without stopping to walk. A 10K will be even longer, so I really hope I get to do this more often (treadmill running does not compare, although it definitely helped me get to the point where I am today).  Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:53 (that’s 40 minutes of running + 13 minutes of walking) + stretching
• Calories: 514 (40% fat)
• Ave HR:157 (81%); Max HR: 177 (91%)

Oh and I guess since we started with workout-talk today, I should mention that I also Shredded (level 3) this morning. I missed it, believe it or not… so I really enjoyed this morning’s workout. I also really liked that when I was done with work, I could have a glass of wine with some co-workers and not worry that I still had to exercise Shredding stats:

• Duration: 0:25 + stretching
• Calories: 178 (50% fat)
• Ave HR: 132 (68%); Max HR: 161 (81%)

EATS

[42 calories]

[400 calories]

[202 calories]

The snack above was kick-ass! Seriously I could not believe how amazing it was… and it was SUPER filling. 2.5 hours after I had it, I was still a little full, but I had to go on my run or I knew it wouldn’t happen.  I’ll be sure to keep this combo in mind!  Awesome awesome awesome!

The stars of lunch were cakes I made from leftover butternut squash risotto. I made 2 patties out of 1/4 of the recipe, dipped them in 1 egg white and about 2.5T of ww bread crumbs. I then pan fried them (in pan covered in EVOO spray) for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

You know you want one

[452 calories]

For dinner, I was planning on making some crab cakes, but time totally escaped from me and at the last minute I decided to just bake the TJ’s wild mushroom and black truffle flatbread pizza we had in the freezer (for emergencies just like today). This is 1/2 of the pizza… and I’m going to say again that it’s the best (frozen) pizza ever! I’d choose this over take-out any day…. ok, unless I’m craving some veggies on it or something But yeah, this was decadent and indulgent and I want some more right now (I’m half-way kidding about that one… mmm truffled pizza).

[350 calories]

And then I had one of the chocolate-pecan macaroons I made earlier in the night (and that’s why I had no time left to make “real” dinner). I made them for my parents for passover – they use matzo meal and I thought they’d like them. They did! I made them extra decadent by adding chocolate chips to the batter. I’d say the chips were key! Oh and mine were much flatter than the ones in the Cooking Light picture, but they were also a bit bigger… I made 23 (instead of 26). Whatever, they were yummy (but honestly not amazing… pretty good for flourless cookies though).

[113 calories] + I later had another 1/2… another 56 calories

After finishing dinner, my husband and I went to my parents’ house to deliver the cookies. I had another 1.25 glasses of red wine there (+ as mentioned above 1 glass with co-workers after work)… that’s 2.25 glasses (~225 calories]

Total calories consumed today:1922 (eek!)

I’m leaving for NY tomorrow afternoon. I probably won’t be able to blog during the weekend, but I’ll definitely be back with a full recap. I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that we have no plans but eat and drink for 2.5 days straight!

Our goal at Henrietta’s is to deliver the freshest available food, through proper cooking techniques and excellent service,” says Executive Chef Peter Davis.  This attitude is reflected in the Henrietta’s reliance on local farms and fisherman to keep her kitchen stocked.  We at Henrietta’s aim to provide you with the best experience possible while we share our home with you.

I liked that they use local farms for their produce – it really appeals to what I’m all about these days. And when was the last time you heard a restaurant refer to itself as “home.” Love it!

Minutes after being seated we were served some fresh warm bread. There were 2 nice little fruit and nut bread slices, 2 ww slices and 1 little sourdough roll. Why just 1 of this one? I had a slice of the fruit and nut bread (awesome!), tried the ww bread (tasted like nothing!) and split the sourdough roll with Katie. Oh and of course I used some butter with the bread

I also ordered a glass of Cabernet. Somehow I forget to take pictures of wine… maybe because you all know what a glass of wine looks like, right? Well, I had 2 of them throughout the night

Katie and I talk a lot but finally after a waiter came back like 4 times to ask us if we need more time, we decided to order. I was all ready to start with a fresh salad of mixed field greens and champagne lemon herb vinaigrette. It sounded a little boring but I knew I wanted 3 courses and everything else seemed much more substantial. BUT literally as I was asking all sorts of onion related questions, Katie noticed they had specials. I saw a salad there that silly me of course can’t describe now (and it’s not online because it was a special!) Ok ok – it had mixed greens, pickled beets, sliced almonds and some kind of cheese in the blue cheese family. I don’t like blue cheese and because I ordered without really analyzing this item, I had to pick the cheese off. Everything else was fantastic though. The pickled beets were awesome, they pared nicely with lemony greens and the addition of the almonds added a nice crunchy texture. This is definitely my kind of salad, except I’d replace the blue cheese with goat cheese next time

The food came out strangely fast. I know time flies when you’re having fun and Katie and I (as aforementioned talked A LOT) but seriously I feel like everything came out in minutes. So yeah, as soon as our appetizer plates were taken away, we got our entrees. When I eat out I like to order things I’m least likely to make at home, so I went with the House Smoked and Grilled Free Range Duck Breast, Confit Leg, Cranberry Compote, Port Wine Reduction… and a side of roasted root vegetables.

This kind of reminded me of a fancy Thanksgiving dinner! The duck was cooked 2 ways – both great preparations. I removed all the big fat layers. I ended up leaving a small little piece of meat (+all the fat). The root veggies were honestly kind of bland – I’ve made better! I ate 1/2 of this dish and took the rest home.

Guess what? I had room for dessert. I know you’re shocked I got Henrietta’s World Famous Chocolate Bread Pudding with Rum Caramelized Bananas, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. This was my first time having bread pudding. I never thought it was my thing until I saw it on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown and noticed the amount of chocolate that goes into it. With that much chocolate, the thing must be good, right? I’m going to say that this particular chocolate bread pudding was too sweet for me (the rum banana sauce) and not chocolaty enough. There were a few nice pockets of chocolate but otherwise it was intensely sweet but not necessarily satisfying. I saw like 20 pieces of chocolate mouse cake pass by after polishing off my plate and definitely got plate envy. I totally would have ordered it if the menu appropriate identified it as such. Oh well… I still liked the place and would come back there!  I think Katie liked her food too (she said the crab cakes were awesome!).

OTHER EATS

I know I said I liked the staying power of oats, but I missed my yogurt… so I had some today.  In this bowl I combined 2/3 cup of oikos with 1/2 banana, blackberries, Kashi Golean, pb puffins, hazelnuts and Erin Baker’s chocolate granola (the last of it!).

Instead of the usual coffee with breakfast, I decided to try the POM juice straight up. I liked it! It was very sweet… and kind of tasted like cherries but I love cherries I think diluting it with something could be nice (more volume for the same calories)… and just that half a cup had a crazy amount of antioxidants. Gotta love that!

[394 calories]

I still had coffee a few hours later at work (unpictured)…42 calories.

I haven’t had a KIND bar in a while, but after just the first bite I realized how much I missed them.  The whole nuts “glued” together with honey and thin coconut chunks just made me very happy. This bar was not overly sweet either (like some of them are) and got me through a busy afternoon at work, until I was ready to finally sit down for lunch (about 3.5 hours later).

[190 calories]

I have a detailed review of FIVE other KIND bars I’ve been meaning to post about. Stay tuned

I made this for dinner last night but never got to eat it (still too full from the crazy delicious cookies)… so I had it for lunch today.  This is haddock in coconut red-curry sauce with a blend of grains on the side. For the fish, I used this recipe from Cooking Light found through Lauren’s blog, substituted haddock for halibut (it was on sale at our local grocery store), used a little less oil, no onions or scallions, and about double the amount of red curry paste.  It took a little longer to cook the fish than the recipe specified, but it ended up being nice and flaky and the sauce was fantastic!  Oh, picture some additional grape tomatoes + asparagus on the side of this

[~440 calories]

Btw, the grains on the side are TJ’s Harvest Grains blend: a savory blend of Israeli style couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, orzo, and red quinoa. Pretty cool to have all these goodies in one package! This was actually my husband’s find at TJ’s… I love how he craves healthier foods now. He loved these grains (and so did I!).

Delicious, delicious foods today!

WORKOUTS

So I did level 3 of Shred this morning. I think I’m on day 23. It was tough! The cardio parts now include weights, and the strength training parts now include cardio. What’s up with that? Can’t we get a break?! I loved it of course… except for those last jumps at the end. Had to revert to Anita’s version. I want to be a badass like Natalie! Shredding stats:

• Duration: 0:25 (+ stretching)
• Calories burnt: 185 (55%)
• Ave HR: 134 (69%); Max HR: 208 (107%)

And mid-day I sneaked out of the office to do my scheduled 3 mile run. I read today that you’re not supposed to run at your fastest pace unless they’re interval or tempo runs. I find it hard not to push myself to my limit but hopefully that means less injury and actually will improve my running, rather than hold me back. I’m still confused… sounds a little counterproductive. Do you push yourself during every run (or other workout) you do? I used to, but I’m trying to think long term! So yeah, I warmed up for 0.15 miles at 4.3mph, then 0.15 miles at 6.2 mph and then did another 2.85 miles at 6.5-6.6 mph and cooled down for another 0.15 miles at 4.3 mph. And then I stretched a bunch. I’m totally paranoid about shin splints! Speaking of that, what (if anything) do you do to prevent them? Any special exercises or stretches? I’d love to hear from all of you experts Running stats:

• Duration: 0:32 (includes about a minute of stretching – I forgot to turn off my HRM)
• Calories burnt: 295 (30% fat)
• Ave HR: 152 (78%); Max HR: 164 (85%)

Ok, it’s way past my bedtime. See you later. I can’t believe it’s Friday tomorrow (well, technically today!). Yay!!

Today was interesting. I discovered this morning that our blender wasn’t working. Dead. It was on its last legs this weekend when I whipped up the peach pie smoothie (took a while but I made it happen) but this morning it wanted to do nothing with my blended spinach oats alla Heather.  Yeah, kitchen gadget malfunctioning is just what I need at 6:30 in the morning! Good thing I chose to go straight to breakfast instead of working out this morning… which gave me plenty of time to prepare my breakfast.  I scraped everything out of the blender and plopped it in the food processor.  Wasn’t as creamy as I would have liked but it got the job done

So yeah, today’s interesting food was spinach oats! I used 1/2 c dry oats again (made with 1/2 c skim milk, 1/2 c water + 1/2 banana on stove top), then added a bunch of raw spinach to the oats and blended them in the food processor. Toppings included some choc chips, dried bing cherries (so plump + no sugar added!) and 1T TJ’s almond butter. I’m out of Barney Butter which makes me sad, but I think I’m back to liking raw TJ’s AB. It’s kind of grainy so I understand why many people don’t love it and it’s no BB but still pretty delicious in its own way

So did the spinach oats taste like spinach? Yeah, they kinda did. I prefer avocado oats The color was gorgeous though!

I love all the geometric shapes in this pic

[479 calories]

This bowl held me over for 4.5 hours. I think having more oats is the key to preventing mid-morning hunger pains. I need to go easier on the toppings, though. This was a bit too much calorie wise for this girl Oops, I went a little crazy adding stuff in

Lunch was 2oz of whole what pasta with creamy paprika mushrooms. It was delicious but even with the pear I was hungry 1.5 hours later!

[441 calories]

So I had lots of snacks. I was a bottomless pit today!!

[86 calories]

[140 calories]

I ate 1/2 of the bar above. After reading Ashley’s post on the Odwalla banana nut bar, I went to the grocery store the same day and bought it… how could I not after such a review?! Today was the day to finally give it a go.  What did I think? Not bad… I liked the strong banana aroma the moment I opened it, but the crunchy bits (oats?) distracted me. I prefer banana bread Larabar

[120 calories]

Then I wanted chocolate, so I had this…

[100 calories]

But what I really wanted was this…

And no, this is not a stand-in photo. I actually went out and bought this these cookies. There are actually TWO of them (1 still in the bag). I didn’t plan on eating both (they are BOGO free) but I did. These are wonderful. I love them and I felt good enough about myself and knew I wouldn’t feel guilty or be mad at myself for indulging. And I’m not… BUT I discovered something interesting after eating them. I finally found out the nutritional info on these. You see, these are full of fat and butter and delicious chocolate and I never ever pretended like they were health food, but because I didn’t know exactly how many calories they are, I either didn’t input them at all into Sparkpeople or just estimated (and the estimate really depended on the day). Well, FINALLY, somebody discovered that they are 300 calories a pop. That makes the 2 cookies I consumed (on top of all the other food I already did right before that) 600 calories!! Let me repeat – I do not feel guilty for eating them, BUT knowing their exact calorie count will surely prevent me from eating 2 at a time the next time around. I’m sure I could be happy with just one

Total calories consumed up until this point: 1967 … I haven’t had dinner yet, but of course I’m not hungry after all of this. I still have to do my run + Shred and I’m usually not hungry after working out. We’ll see what happens There was fish on the menu for tonight and I bet my husband didn’t eat 2 ginormous cookies for a snack earlier

Lastly, I should mention that I went to a sports yoga class today and it was intense but amazing. This is my favorite yoga class ever! I wish it wasn’t smack in the middle of the day (at 3:15pm) when I am rarely able to sneak out of the office.  I definitely toned my leg muscles with crazy poses that we did but I also stretched many muscles that definitely needed some love.  I’ll edit this post with my workout stats from my run. I don’t want to do it, but I am not deviating from my training schedule unless there is a really good reason (which there isn’t tonight) so you’ll definitely hear back from me. All right, I’m off…

*Edited to add* I just finished my 9×200 interval run + level 2 of Shred and feel fantastic!! I LOVE exercise! So for the run, I started with 0.15 mile walk at 4.3mph to warm up, then did another 0.15 mile run at 6.3mph and got started on my 9 intervals of 0.13 miles at 8.0 mph. I rested between each interval at 6.3mph for about 0.13-0.20 miles.  Nine intervals is a lot mentally but because they were so short, I knew I could do it. At the end I actually had a bunch of energy, but I just did another 0.15 mile run at 6.3 mph and 0.15 mile walk at 4.3 mph and got off the treadmill to stretch. So total running amounted to exactly 3.o miles + 0.3 miles of walking, for a total 30 minutes on the treadmill. I think next time I can even slightly increase the pace on the fast intervals (maybe 8.2 mph?) and see how that goes.

I was super pumped after finishing this run and my Shredding was extra energetic Total workout stats (for both):

• Duration: 0:55 (+stretching)
• Calories burnt: 496 (30% fat)
• Ave HR: 151 (78%); Max HR: 169 (87%)

• Duration: 0:45 (+stretching before and after the run)
• Calories burnt: 440 calories (35% fat)
• Ave HR: 157 (87%); Max HR: 220 (113%)

Heh, almost forgot… after work I did level 2 of Shred (I think I’m on day 23, but I skipped a few days here and there so I’m going to stick with level 2 for a few more days).

• Duration: 0:25 (+stretching)
• Calories burnt: 179 (50%) – it’s getting easier!
• Ave HR: 132 (68%); Max HR: 211 (109%)

Oh and just for kicks, I thought I’d include a very old post from my days of blogging on Sparkpeople about my first run outside (completed last summer)… such a blast from the past

Today I had a 15 min abs class + a 45 min run planned for a workout. I am considering doing a 5K race in two weeks, and should really start running again (I mean I’ve been running but not as consistently as I should be to improve my time from last year’s race, which was 28:41). As I was walking to the abs class, I thought that I should plan a run outside sometime soon if the weather is nice. Running outside is SO different from running on a treadmill. There are so many external factors (weather, hills, etc.) and keeping a good pace is so much harder when the risk of flying off the treadmill isn’t there. Well, as I was waiting for the instructor for the class, I realized that today was a really nice day out. I thought after the class I should just run outside and then come back to the gym and shower before returning to work. I didn’t plan out my route, and didn’t have a watch, which was a bit annoying (I had a clock on my ipod but that’s not the same) but it worked out. It was soooooooo HOT outside and I was dying after about 20 minutes. I kept on trying to visualize how good it would feel to finish without stopping (after all, I’ve run up to 80 minutes without stopping on the treadmill) but after a really large hill I had to stop and walk for about 1.5 minutes. Then I realized I was walking down hill and that actually it would be a pretty easy run and picked up again. I made two laps around one of the parks so after the same hill, I walked again. With addition of heat, that hill was a KILLER! I made it though!!!! Final tally was a 40 minute run + 10 min walk (about 3 min warm up, two 1.5 min stops, plus 4 min cooldown). I mapped my run and it was 4.44 miles together. Not bad! Does running in the heat burn more calories? I don’t know, but I was exhausted (and proud!).

BEST MEAL OF THE DAY

I decided to start waking up earlier in order to eat breakfast at home (I know I’ve said it before but we’ll try this again). Yesterday’s oats in the afternoon (only a small instant oats packet) filled me up for way too many hours, so I thought this kind of staying power is something I could definitely use in the morning.  I’m not a big fan of microwaved oats anymore, so that requires waking up early. Today I didn’t mind it, because my oats were fantastic! This bowl is inspired by Tina‘s almond joy oats (sorry, I couldn’t find the link to her oats… she made them like last October when I first discovered her blog). I made mine today with extra oats (1/2 cup dry) cooked with 1/2 c soy milk, 1/2 c water + 1/2 banana… then topped it with almond slices (oops – burnt them twice on the stove), choc chips, shredded coconut and “frosting” (oikos + agave nectar).

Yum! Btw, I think oats + chocolate + yogurt = heaven!!

[389 calories]

OTHER EATS

[100 calories]

Ok, so when I had the first half of this bar, I hated it! I thought it tasted completely weird – kind of salty (and almost spicy)… just very very strange. I reached for the other half today because I don’t like throwing food away, especially food that would be decent run fuel. Well, today I thought it was pretty good. Maybe because I had VERY low expectations, but seriously… it wasn’t bad at all. I have another one of these babies, so maybe I’ll provide a true review once I decide what I really think of it

[394 calories]

[71 calories]

Total calories for the day: 986 – Not sure what’s going on with my stomach, but the snack above totally kicked my ass. It’s been sitting like a huge rock in my stomach. I ate it over 4 hours ago, and sweated through Shred in between, and I still can’t stomach the idea of food. Too much fiber again? I’ve never eaten such low amounts of food… but I’m not going to force food down. I’m sure tomorrow I’ll make up for it!

RANDOM

I have so many questions now that I’m trying to run outside. Should I get a garmin? What model?  I hear they don’t fit well on girls’ wrists. I see them a lot on the blogs… are you suffering through a moving garmin or is this an uncommon problem? I feel like a garmin would really help improve my speed if I can monitor it and push myself accordingly. Anything else I should purchase for runs outside?

Barney Butter is having a sample campaign for newbies.  This is your chance to try my crack of choice for free (!) if you haven’t already You like me even more now, huh?

I’ve been totally obsessed with the thought of this since watching the movie on Thursday (on the train to NY).  I’m very excited and scared at the same time.  My friend Katie is running a 10K race in 5 weeks, so I think I’m going to join her! This is a bit rushed. The plan was to start running outside when the weather gets better, then schedule a 5K and eventually do a 10K.  But I know that I can finish a 10K (I’ve run up to 9 miles on the treadmill) so I think I should just dive right in and go for it. I even set up a little training schedule for myself, and will be running about 5 times a week (instead of the 2-3 I’ve been doing). You can check it out here if you’d like I also want to join some running groups. That will come when the weather gets a little nicer

Oh, but I’m still not sure how to incorporate strength training into the routine.  My training in the past has been more boot camp like (so lots of cardio spurts in between lifting).  I don’t know if that will put too much pressure on my running legs.  Should I switch to pure lifting?  I feel like this is a whole new world I’m not familiar with.  Do you runners do hardcore bootcamp classes on top of your running? I’m totally confused For the last 2 days, I’ve just done the Shred dvd. I’ll figure it out as I go I guess. Any comments on the subject are MUCH appreciated!

I followed my schedule for the last 2 days. On Saturday, I did Shred level 2 and then 55 minutes of cross trainings (25 minute run, 15 min stationary bike, 15 min elliptical).  Workout stats:

• Duration: 1:20 (+stretching)
• Calories burnt: 746 (40% fat)
• Ave HR: 153 (79%); Max HR: 169 (87%)

And today, I started with a 0.15 mile walk on the treadmill to warm up, then ran for 5 miles at 6.2-7.0 mph, and walked at 4.3 mph until 55 minutes were up (I was watching Sopranos and wanted to finish the episode). Then I came back home and did level 2 of Shred. I took it easy on the cardio intervals as my legs were feeling quite weak after the run.  Workout stats:

• Duration: 1:20 (+stretching)
• Calories burnt: 688 (50% fat) – interesting that the run burnt less than cross training…
• Ave HR: 146 (75%); Max HR:166 (86%)

FOOD

Saturday…

I didn’t count calories but I tried to make healthy choices.  I feel like I did pretty well despite having many meals out!

It was beautiful in Boston so we went to Harvard Square to walk around.  My husband wanted pizza from Oggi (their pizza is fantastic!) but I went with a poached pear salad – poached pear stuffed with goat cheese, baby spinach, candied walnuts & cabernet savignon vinaigrette.  I added grilled chicken to it for some extra protein. The chicken was nice and the pear with goat cheese was great, but I didn’t much care for the dressing so I left most of the spinach undressed (and I find that spinach needs a strong dressing since otherwise it just tastes like grass) and the candied walnuts were basically nonexistent.  I think I found 2 walnut crumbs in there. Yeah, I’m not going to lie… I was definitely jealous of Adam’s delicious looking pizza (ok I had 2 bites )

And the best part of Harvard Square is BerryLine – the best frozen yogurt place EVER! You know me guys, if there isn’t chocolate in it, I’m not typically impressed, but I swear they put crack in it.  It tastes SO creamy and fattening but has no fat! I went with the coconut flavor today. And their toppings are super fresh.  I always get the mango + pecan combo.  Next time I’ll branch out Oh and I got a pint to go so you’ll be seeing it a few more times this week

Me met up with our friends Kyle and Tiffany for some Saturday night drinks at Boston Beer Works in Kenmore Square.  They brew the beers right on premises and the place is very cool.  The blueberry beer (with real blueberries!) is awesome.  My other favorite is the watermelon beer (comes with a huge fresh watermelon wedge) but they only brew it in the summer.  I started with the blueberry beer…

And then got a sampler of the Bambino, blueberry, Patriots pilsner and Belgian amber (4oz each).

I hated the Patriot pilsner (actually most of us at the table thought it was strange tasting), the Bambino was nice and light so I enjoyed it and the Belgian amber was sold to me as being kind of close to a wheat beer which it wasn’t – definitely very much like an amber beer (it was nice but I wasn’t it the mood for it, so I probably only had 1/2).  The blueberry was my favorite of the bunch

Oh and do you see those cheese fries in the background?  Tiffany ordered them but we all ended up kind of picking at them throughout the night.  They were SO good!  I tried to behave but my hand reached for the plate a few times.  Oh well

We had so much fun! I love Saturday nights

Sunday…

I started the morning with an unconventional breakfast for me – a smoothie. I saw Ellie Krieger make this peach pie smoothie on a show a little while ago and thought I’d give it a try one day.  I had all the ingredients on hand, we were kind of in a rush (perfect – smoothies are super portable!) so I gave this baby a go.

Half way through, I knew this wasn’t going to fill me up, so I made a toast with Barney Butter.  I can’t live without the stuff.  Seriously, I’m addicted.  I actually went to Whole Foods today and wrote a note to them asking them to start carrying it.  I’m not joking!

Oh and the smoothie was quite nice, but it didn’t fill me up.  I was hungry after this breakfast earlier than usual and that’s even with the BB toast!

[Breakfast calories: 426]

What do we do every single Sunday? Go to open houses.  Another bust today I did grab this cookie at one of them.  It was from a bakery and I had a feeling it was going to be amazing… and it was! Thank god I had it after we left that condo, because I would have totally grabbed another one if I knew just how amazing these would be.

The salad was awesome but I knew I had to finish lunch on a sweet note.  The So Delicious coconut mini sandwich was killer (in a good way )! I think I’m becoming coconut obsessed! This was creamy and super satisfying… and for only 100 calories!

[lunch calories, including dessert: 354]

[110 calories]

The rest of the frozen peaches came alive in this pork chops with bourbon-peach sauce recipe from Cooking Light. I used pork tenderloin instead of pork chops for a leaner entree.  Pork tenderloin is one of our favorites meats!  It’s just so tender and lean.  And for those of you who don’t like pork (I typically don’t!) – it does not taste porky at all! Give it a try, if you haven’t already. Oh and this recipe is great.  Pork + fruit is a match made in heaven.  I’ve made it before and loved it, and this time it didn’t disappoint I had a tiny bit of whole wheat couscous on the side…

More BerryLine! I had 4 oz with blackberries and pecans.  I just couldn’t stay away…

[~470 calories, including dessert]

I also had 3 Girl Scout peanut butter patties (unpictured – 225 calories) and sample a chicken dish at Trader Joe’s.

And that should do it! I sure had a lot of food this weekend!

Let me know your thoughts on running + strength training please!

BEST MEAL OF THE DAY

I used TJ’s ww dough with 2% cheddar, TJ’s pizza dough, lean ground turkey, black beans and some spinach.  What you see above is actually 1 slice worth of pizza dough, but you should double the picture above because I went back for seconds Sorry, no time to calculate the calories…

OTHER EATS

[453 calories - includes morning coffee + handful of pb puffins consumed as a pre-shredding snack ]

I did NOT like those banana slices.  Bleh.

[89 calories]

[356 calories]

[189 calories]

I didn’t like the guy above either.  More on that when I have more time

[100 calories]

WORKOUT

I woke up bright and early to do the Level 2 of Shred (I think I’m at day 18).  I am not a morning person at all, but somehow it seemed to be easier this morning than last night.  And I loved being done with it before 7am!  There may be more morning workouts in my future Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:25 + stretching
• Calories burnt: 204 (40% fat)
• Ave HR: 144 (74%); Max HR: 188 (98%)

During lunch I took a spinning class. I was actually really excited for it, so that made for an extra fun (and tough) workout.  I really got into it Spinning stats:

• Duration: 0:41 + stretching
• Calories burnt: 407 (35% fat)
• Ave HR: 159 (82%); Max HR: 199 (103%)

I won’t be able to blog tomorrow. I’ll be literally gone all day. K, gotta run!

If any of you are from California, then you’re probably familiar with Taco Tuesdays.  I’m not from California, but it’s my understanding that most Mexican restaurants in the state (and there are lots of them!) pretty much have Taco Tuesdays which means tacos at crazy cheap prices.  Tonight, Shannon, Lauren, Katie and I met up at La Verdad (my favorite local taco spot) for $1 tacos.  These babies were gooooooood (I want more right now! )

BEST MEAL OF THE DAY

Although all of my meals seemed to be especially delicious today, tacos at La Verdad definitely earned today’s “Best meal of the day” award.  I got 3 tacos for $3.  How’s that for recession proof pricing?!

I think the place is pretty authentic.  Here is the restaurant front…

And my 3 tacos

All 3 were amazingly delicious.  It’s hard for me to pick a favorite.  Ok, maybe the chicken one…pollo pibil: achiote and sour orange rubbed chicken

Hmm, oh maybe it was the carnitas: confit pork, cilantro, onions*, salsa verde, chicharrones…

Or the pastor traditional? …”el farolito” pork adobo, roasted pineapple, lime, cilantro, onion*

*Of course I asked for no onions on anything.  Yes, I’m a pain in the ass, but they complied

We chatted with the girls about house hunting, Lauren’s upcoming wedding, Shannon’s dog sitting gig and Katie’s search for Flat Out wraps It was fun and since we all live so close to each other, I think a future date is in order.

Now, can I have some more of those tacos?

OTHER EATS

[425 calories]

[140 calories]

[365 calories]

[?? calories - a coworker made this.  I'm guessing a little over 100? It tasted light and fluffy and was a pretty small slice]

Seriously, some extra delicious eats today!  This girl is 100% satisfied

WORKOUT

So today’s planned lunch workout never happened because of this little thing called my job.  Damn meetings at inconvenient times! J/K.  I actually love my job and the meeting was surprisingly entertaining And yes, I let Jillian kick my butt after I got back from the taco date. Since I skipped my lunch lifting session, I decided to do Level 2 of Shred and then Level 1.  OMG, I was drenched in sweat and am still surprised that I actually finished.  This was tough!!!! (I used 5-10 lb weights, depending on the exercise). Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:47 (+ some stretching at the end)
• Calories burnt: 392 (45% fat)
• Ave HR: 144 (74%); Max HR: 178 (92%)

BLOGGERS’ GIVEAWAYS

Well, you know I’m holding a granola giveaway… only 2 more days left to earn those extra points!

Amanda is giving away your own customizable MyWayCereal cereal. Is this better than granola? I think I need to find out (I better win!)

Jumbo Empanadas is giving away a vita mix. That’s the best giveaway I’ve ever seen.  Vita mix people, can I have one please? Pretty please?!

Missy Maintains is giving away some Michael Season’s products. Yum!

How was everyone’s weekend?  Mine was so busy, I think I need another weekend just to recover I am definitely going to bed early tonight.  No excuses.  Today went ok, though, and all of my eats were healthy and delicious.  Love that!

I’ve received a request to include calories for each of my meals.  I know a lot of bloggers have received criticism when they started doing it, but I know that’s something that I liked when I first started reading blog (although most of those bloggers stopped counting calories by now).  I try to count calories for the most part (unless it’s a meal out) so I don’t mind including the counts.  Let me know if it’s helpful to any of you.  I’ll see if I can keep this up if you guys really want it

BREAKFAST

These strawberries were a little watery.  I was VERY happy with my bananas though.  I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve had one.  This yogurt medley was amazing… it included almost all of my favorite topping.  I <3 TJ’s nutty American trek mix

[388 calories]

SNACKS

[107 calories]

Insert here 1/2 Kashi TLC Pumpkin pie bar… I felt I needed a little more than just carrots + hummus before my 6 mile run.

[60 calories]

VeggieGirl’s banana fig pistachio muffin + tea:

These muffins are amazing!  I felt guilty having one of them all by myself at my desk today without anyone else enjoying this goodness.  Seriously, I love these!!

[189 calories]

LUNCH

Since I ate only 1/2 of my entree at the Mission Oak Grill yesterday, I took the rest home and made a lovely steak salad for lunch.  The steak was so tender – it really made the salad! Oh and I really love strawberries in salads.  I think it’s my new thing

[316 calories (I'm really not sure if that's right because I weighed the steak cooked but maybe the calories in Sparkpeople are for raw meat which would be about 30% more.  Hmm)]

DINNER

I had my friend Katie for dinner tonight and she likes to eat vegetarian meals for the most part.  That narrowed down some of my saved recipes a bit (actually it was really good because I have hundreds otherwise) and we decided to go for something that we’d both enjoy but her boyfriend, who’s out of town, would hate.  This is Heidi’s Cashew Curry over 1/2 cup of brown rice.  We used asparagus in place of green beans (TJ’s was out of green beans today) and light coconut milk instead of the full fat version.  It tasted a little bland (despite a strong curry taste) but after adding a bit of salt, the flavors seemed to work better together.  The cashews also added a really great crunch and nutty flavor.  If I wasn’t counting calories, I’d dump a whole more of them in This was VERY filling!  I’m actually in a bit of a pain right now.  We really loaded it up on veggies

[356 calories for 1/4 of the curry recipe + 1/2 cup of brown rice]

I also grabbed a dried fig while cooking dinner (unpictured) ~25 calories + throughout the day I had 2 Adora calcium disks (60 calories)

Total calories consumed: 1502

Hmm, ok, so I feel a little strange writing calories for every single thing.  It seems very obsessive when it’s really not.  I do count calories but it’s really like second nature to me inputting everything into Sparkpeople.  I don’t want to give off the wrong impression.  Let me know what you guys think about this.  I know at least one reader that wants to see this kind of a breakdown.  Do the rest of you love it or hate it? Maybe instead of writing calorie counts for every single meal, you can just ask me for specific meals if they look particularly interesting?  Let me know!

WORKOUTS

I’m back to regular exercising and shredding.  It felt good to be back!  During my lunch break I completed a 6 mile run and after work I did the level 2 of the Shred dvd.  Both workouts were intense and I loved how I felt after finishing them (not necessarily during the work out). 

For the run, I decided to break it down into 1/2 mile intervals… here is what my plan for the run was:

• Warmup – 0.15 mile walk at 4.3 mph
• 0.35 miles at 6.2 mph
• at 6.3 mph, 5 intervals at 0 incline, 0.5 incline, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 inclines for 1/2 miles each
• repeat the above at 6.4 mph
• 1/2 mile at 6.5 mph
• 0.15 miles at 6.5 mph, 0.5 incline
• Cooldown – 0.35 miles at 4.3 mph

Total distance 6.5 miles (6 mile run + 1/2 mile walk)

I really tried to stick to the above but about half way through I couldn’t stick to the plan completely.  I made sure to keep the inclines as planned and reduced the speeds slightly (to 6.3 or 6.2 mph) as needed and after getting up the strength, went back to the planned speed.  It was tough, but I finished it and felt VERY proud! Workoout stats:

• Duration: 1:03
• Calories burnt: 644 (15% fat – I think my strap wasn’t tight enough so it kept on moving around and showing lower HR)
• Ave HR: 162 (84%); Max HR: 181 (93%)

After work I did the Shred dvd.  It was a little bit vomit-inducing today.  Jillian really kicked my butt!

• Duration: 0:25 (+ cooldown stretching)
• Calories burnt: 181 (50% fat)
• Ave HR: 138 (71%); Max HR: 167 (86%)

And that’s it for today!  I have a fun dinner date tomorrow so stay tuned for that

Reminder: There is still time to enter the granola giveaway.  Don’t forget to link to the post on your blog for extra chances to win

I started the day on a healthy note with a delicious bowl of coffee oats and a cup of coffee.  I made a very similar concoction here and I have to give Ms. Caitlin all the credit for adding coffee into oats (just substitute coffee for water).  Topping it with Archer Farms double chocolate espresso trail mix and having a large cup of coffee with the oats helped me OD on coffee made for a delicious coffee themed breakfast.

(My new obsession – taking aerial view pictures )

Then my husband and I went shopping.  It’s been too long!  I bought the cutest outfit at BCBG Maxmara.  They had so many sales and I got an awesome boyfriend cut sweater, a button down shirt, a belt and a summer scarf.  I felt so fashionable in the store – love when everything just comes together!  This is the only store I went into for clothes and walked out with enough stuff to satisfy my shopping cravings Maybe I’ll model the stuff soon

We stopped by Chipotle for lunch.  My husband looooves Chipotle!  Actually I used to love it too.  When I lived in NY I ate there at least once a week and many times twice a week (I never used to bring my own lunch to work), but when I developed my love for cooking and started making my own lunches, Chipotle became a rare treat.  I ordered the chicken burrito bowl with rice, black beans, and a little hot sauce and lettuce (no cheese, no sour cream).  This actually really hit the spot.  I didn’t miss the cheese and sour cream at all!  Adam had a few bites of my bowl but I finished it otherwise (and was stuffed for hours!!).

After a long day of shopping we finally came home and got to Shredding.  I also planned on doing a 6 mile run, but we were running late so I just ended up doing the whole Level 1 of Shred + 2/3 of Level 2.  Level 2 really kicked my butt yesterday (although I should mention that we finally got heavier dumbbells so I used 10lb weights for many of the exercises!).  Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:42
• Calories burnt: 296 (55% fat)
• Ave HR: 131 (68%); Max HR: 198 (102%)

And finally the big night out!  It was our friend Tiffany’s birthday (hi Tiffany! ) and she wanted to go out somewhere where we got to dress up.  We started with a casual dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and ended with drinks at the beautiful Top of the Hub in Boston.  The views were killer!!!  I forget that Boston is a real city sometimes.  Top of the Hub is on the 52 floor of the Prudential Center in Boston (tallest building in the city, I believe) so we got to see the whole city from above.  Very cool!

So yeah, while waiting for a table at the Cheesecake Factory, Tiffany and I went to the Paradise Bakery and split a chocolate chip cookie.  Who said you can’t start dinner with dessert?

At the Cheesecake Factory I had 2 slices of bread with butter…

… and a Weight Management Asian chicken salad – Grilled Chicken, Romaine, Snow Peas, Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Green Onions, Crispy Noodles, Almonds and Sesame Seeds Tossed in a Low-Cal Sesame-Soy Dressing (no onions for me).  The salad is one of my absolute favorites, but how embarrassing is that name?!  Weight management?!  Can’t you just say lighter or something… We were all laughing about it, and you know I don’t have a problem with ordering stuff like that, but I bet a few people were ashamed of this name and got something much fattier as a result.  This salad was ginormous!!  Seriously, one way to manage your weight would be to eat 1/2 of it….so that’s what I did

At the Top of the Hub we were required to spend a minimum of $24 per person (=2 drinks) to get a table, so I had to order 2 drinks.  Ok, it wasn’t that hard I was going to just be good and get 2 glasses of wine but their cocktail menu was so extensive and everybody was getting really excited about these concoctions, that I didn’t want to be lame with my wine… so I went for it!

First drink: Native Berry Caiprihna – Lebron cachaca, muddled seasonal berries, fresh lime. I really enjoyed the berries but I kind of tasted whiskey in this (which I hate!) so I didn’t drink much of this (one of our friends happily finished it for me).

Next up: Green Tea Mojito – Christian vodka, green tea, sour, fresh mint, lemon.  This was AWESOME!  I loved it!

And then came out the warm plate of cookies.  They make their cookies fresh to order and we couldn’t resist. SO good!  Not much better in this world than warm cookies after a few cocktails I had 1.5 of the chocolate chip ones, 1/2 of the sugar cookie and a few bites of the toffee cookie and the oatmeal raisin one.  Definitely too many in the calorie department but everyone was nibbling on them, I was tipsy and they were yummy.  ‘Nuff said.

We had a blast!  Tiffany and I decided we need to go out more often!  Fine by me

So obviously the caloric drinks and the cookies were not good for my diet.  Unfortunately we have one more dinner out tonight at a fancy steak house (my parents in law are taking us out!) but after that, back to super healthy eating!  I’m ready!!

PS- if you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter the granola giveaway and spread the word on your blog for an extra chance to win!

So I had a hair appointment after work, which meant there was definitely no shredding after that.  You know how when they blow dry your hair at the salon and you can never ever make it look the same?  Well I wasn’t going to let that go to waste by sweating through it That meant – I had to shred in the morning!!  Yeah, I am not a morning person at all, but somehow when the alarm went off at 6am, I jumped up, put my workout clothes on and got to it.  Yay!  I should mention that there was not way in hell my husband was going to join me at 6am (but he did do the dvd on his own after work, as promised!) so I decided to move on to level 2 and see what all the fuss is about

SHREDDING – DAY 12

Level 2 was definitely waaaay harder than level 1.  Every exercise had both the upper body and the lower body working.  There were no fluff moves.  If you were working shoulders, you were also really working your legs at the same time.  I never thought that walking push-ups would be a welcoming break for me!  I’d say the cardio part was the hardest for me.  Burpees (or whatever they’re called) were not easy at the whee hours of the morning.  In fact I hate them at any hour but especially then.  Overall, though, I really loved it!  I do lots of training like that so it was fun to do it right at home this time!  I’m a little scared of what my husband will think though.  I can see how some of the moves can be intimidating (although Anita shows modified version of them)…  Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:25
• Calories burnt: 190 (45%) – much higher than level 1!
• Ave HR: 135 (70%); Max HR: 161 (83%)

BREAKFAST – BEST MEAL OF THE DAY

Breakfast was also the best meal of the day.  After finishing my workout and showering, I decided to make stove top oats as a treat (I still had plenty of time!).  But not just any old stove top oats… avocado stove top oats like Heather made a few days back.  I had 1/4 of an avocado with no special purpose for it, so I decided to give this oats variation a whirl.  I loved it!  I used 1/2 cup of dry oats (I usually can only finish 1/3 cup but figured I’d go light on the topping instead), 1/2 c vanilla soy milk, 1/2 c water – cooked that for a few minutes on the stove until it was creamy (btw, soy milk made them SO creamy, without bananas even!), then I threw them into the blender, together with my avocado, and it all blended beautifully.  A few chocolate chips and a spoonful of creamy Barney Butter completed this amazingly delicious (and crazy filling) breakfast.  The avocado was very mild, just added a touch of buttery taste.  So so good!

OTHER EATS (scroll over for descriptions)

Total calories consumed during the day: ~1650

Ok, so in case you were wondering, here is what happened with my daily “drama.”  Mid morning I was still very full from my oats but got a crazy craving for a muffin.  I didn’t have a particular flavor in mind – I just wanted a muffin.  I evaluated my options – I could get a Starbucks apple bran muffin (310 calories) or a Dunkin Donuts low fat blueberry muffin (400 calories).  Both are calorie dense and I suppose I could eat just 1/2, but I wasn’t sure if I could stop myself before devouring the whole thing.  So I decided that this could wait and that I would make muffins that night (I already had a recipe in mind and had all the ingredients on hand).  The muffin in the picture above was my evening snack (I’ll do a separate post revealing what’s inside this beauty).  My muffin craving was satisfied for under 200 calories.  Yay

But wait, there is more!  Haha, about an hour after my muffin “crisis” was averted, I stumbled upon a picture of the most beautiful chocolate chip cookies.  This is the downside of reading blogs sometimes.  Sometimes you get great healthy ideas, and sometimes you just make yourself hungry and craving all sorts of things for no reason.  I instantly wanted a big fatty cookie and couldn’t get it off my mind.  I love Paradise Bakery cookies and I can get 2 large ones for $1 in minutes.  I started evaluating whether treating myself to a cookie would be a good thing (hey, if you really want it, go for it and you’ve been working out hard lately!) or a bad thing (you should not treat your accomplishments with food and undo all the hard work you’ve put in).  I couldn’t decide! And since I couldn’t decide and I was “sane” enough to not just go down to the bakery like a robot and stuff my face without really accepting these actions (I’ve done that way too many times), I decided to postpone this trip to another date.  I think there is another baking project in my future this weekend. This time I’m going to make full fat cookies (sometimes as good as the healthy ones taste, it’s just not the same thing!) and will enjoy every bite of them.  Let’s see if I can wait until Saturday

And last “drama-ish” thing that happened had to do with my workout.  I planned on doing another circuit class during lunch, and then I realized that one of my favorite (sports) yoga classes was on at 3:15.  3:15 is a tough time slot because you have to sneak out of the office in the middle of the day and that’s tough to do on most weeks.  Well conveniently enough, the morning was very slow.  My boss was away on business so I thought this was going to be perfect.  I needed to stretch my muscles and I’ve been doing enough pounding (including the Shred workout just this morning) so yoga would be the perfect way to stretch and tone them.  Of course at 2:45, I get an email from my boss scheduling a 3pm conference call!  Ugh!  SO annoying!!!  At this point I knew that I wasn’t going to make it to them gym.  I thought about sneaking out after the conference call and doing my own little circuit training workout, but I decided to just let it go.  It’s easier said than done sometimes.  I really like crossing things of my list and a second workout was on the list for the day.  Oh well.  I’m sure my body will appreciate some extra rest, right?

Anyways, this was enough blabbering for one post.  Sorry, I had to get this off my chest.  How would you handle the situations above?  Do you treat yourself with food? I do, but I do it guilt free once a week.  More than that, and I feel like I’m overdoing it.  Oh, and try some avocado oats!  They’re pretty awesome.  I think I shoud bring some to the office next time.  Love the looks I get sometimes.  This should really get them going!