HPJ

Sunshine is Back!

by Heather on March 15, 2010

Happy Monday morning all! Hope you guys had an amazing weekend like I did

Yesterday morning we were in a hurry to get to church, so we stopped at Einstein’s for some bagels:

I didn’t realize that I really wanted the power bagel until they’d already made the blueberry one, so I ate it anyway…not like it wasn’t delicious! It’s a blueberry bagel with reduced fat honey almond schmear. YUM

Church was great, but I’ll get into that later. Nate and Amy and I decided to hit up DD’s Sourdough Pizza after church! They have really great lunch specials there. I got a D’Pesto Calzone (pesto, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, red onion, mozzarella, and ricotta) and a drink for $8! I ate the whole thing, but Nate and I decided that once I can eat meat again we’ll start sharing a lunch special. It’s more than enough food and that would come out to $4 a person!

When we got home we were doing some work on the computers and then accidentally fell asleep…oops! It was snowing and cold outside, and oh-so-snuggly indoors. Just couldn’t help it I guess! When we awakened we started cleaning a little more, and then decided to hit up the store before the snow got too bad. We ended up at Walmart and ate at Subway there…no pictures because I didn’t think we were going to eat! Sorry! I had a 6″ flatbread veggie delight with lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, red onion, pickles, olives, banana peppers, and sweet onion sauce. Oh, and 1.5 cookies When we got home we just finished up laundry and did some blog-stalking before hitting the sack!

This morning I got up WAAAAAAAAAAAY too early (still felt like 5 instead of 6!) to do the weight part of the workout on my HPJ page…tomorrow’s the last day! The good news? I’m already there Now I’m working on a workout plan that accomodates my healing knee and incorporates more weight training so I can (hopefully) get a little more toned over the coming months. I’m hoping to finish it this coming weekend and start next Monday! Breakfast was a Green(ish) Monster:

I made a little extra to freeze and eat with lunch I’m so excited I get to see my sister tomorrow! She and her boyfriend are coming up tomorrow and will be here through Friday! I wish my parents could come too, but they’ve got some fun travel coming up at the end of this month and needed to stay home. But I’m excited to show them around the area and hit the slopes for Skiing 101 on Thursday

I mentioned earlier I would talk about church for a bit. Yesterday Nate and I and 2 other couples were able to get up in front of everyone and talk about some recent conflict in our lives, and how we’ve been able to get through that together and with the people (our friends and family) in our lives. Nate and I went first, and basically were talking about how we both want to be in control all the time and react to uncontrollable situations poorly. The next couple went, and started talking about how they’ve recently been struggling with coming to grips with their inability to have children the traditional way. Honestly, there was not a dry eye in the house! But here’s the thing: in the middle of listening, I started to think something horrible: that she was lucky she didn’t have to worry about her body changing. There are so many women, several of whom I am blessed to be friends with, who would change their bodies a million times over if only they could have children. Then I thought to myself that, sure, we’ll have kids…but only after I lose some weight. And that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks that I really could not be more ridiculous about this.

Why ridiculous? As I’ve said before, I believe that every woman has a right to choose whether she wants to try to have children or not. There is no right or wrong answer to that, and it depends on each individul. I DO want to have children, but the ridiculous part comes with me saying that I want to wait to lose weight before starting to have kids. Not “I want to live healthfully and garner as many healthy habits as I can before having kids,” (which is what I should be focused on), but trying to lose weight before children? This is silly because it’s the perfect example of how my life has been dominated by my weight, my appearance, and my body issues. It’s silly to think that I can start living my life when I reach a certain weight or fit into a certain size. And it’s silly for anyone to think that their life will start when they get married, get skinny, have children, have the perfect job, the perfect salary, or whatever it is that is being idolized. I haven’t enjoyed spending time with people I love, haven’t taken risks that I need or want to take, and I haven’t lived my life to the fullest because of thoughts. I’ve been saving the way that I live so that when I get there I can be happy. My life started 26 years ago, and I have slowly wasted the time worrying about the way I look.

All of that flew threw my head yesterday morning while I was on stage at church in about 30 seconds. But I think the effects of that flow will last for much longer than that! I am vowing to myself to LIVE my life to the fullest, take chances on myself, and not put stuff off just because I think I need to be skinnier or make more money first. It’s going to be a process, but I’m starting my life NOW, and I don’t ever want to give it up to something ridiculous again!

How are you living? Is there something you’ve been putting off because of something silly? Are you ready to start LIVING?!?!

“Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.” D.H. Lawrence

{ 24 comments }

Another Reason to Snuggle

by Heather on March 11, 2010

I’m not a fan of starting posts on an unhappy note, but today I just feel so frustrated that I really can’t think about my food just yet. I just got back from my walk a little bit ago, and my knee hurts more than it’s ever hurt before. I have NEVER, not in 13 years of volleyball, weightlifting, running, and activity in general, had pain like this before. And it’s getting worse every time it happens, too. I guess the thing is I’ve always been fairly active, and I’m just not sure how I’m going to continue to lose weight if I’m not exercising as well. I’m only 26 – I shouldn’t be falling apart like this! The only thing that comes to mind as a substitute for that cardio is cycling, but I can’t afford a new bike or a trainer or anything. Sigh. Any thoughts? Ideas? I’m really open to just about anything at this point! The good news is this gives me yet another reason to snuggle with my sweetie!

Other than that, it’s been a great day. I made treats for the office:

They are white chocolate walnut (because the store didn’t have macadamias) cookie bars. I just figured that walnuts have a similar texture and the same kind of buttery flavor, and it turns out I was right! Great sub, Heather Also, we didn’t have any brown sugar so I made my own. That’s right! 1 Tbsp molasses to 1/2 cup of sugar. They turned out a little darker in color than I think they would have with the store-bought stuff, but the flavor was a lot more developed! I might just start making my own from now on anyway. These seriously flew out of the pan in a matter of hours! I might have had 2. OK, fine, 3 We didn’t have any leftovers for lunch, so I had a can of Amy’s Lentil Vegetable:

A side of carrots – no almond butter today!

The soup:

And a Boca burger on a whole wheat sandwich thin with provolone and mustard. This was easily my favorite part of the meal, the main reason being the mustard

(insert excitedly receiving a package of goodies for an awesome review and giveaway coming soon)

(insert getting my blogger business cards in – don’t be skurred!)

(insert crappy walk here)

When I got back from my walk I had a couple of spoonfuls of Dylan’s Chia Granola for a little snack. This stuff is SO good! I wish the website actually worked and I would give y’all the link, but I’m guessing it’s not up right now…

The backside:

For 1/4 cup there are:

160 calories
7g fat
21 total carbs
5g fiber
7g sugar
3g protein

The ingredients are rolled oats, wildflower honey, chia seed, canola oil, pecans, and vanilla extract. BAM! That’s all there is to it! Here’s hoping y’all have this stuff at a store near you, it’s deslicious!

Tonight I’ll be making doctors appointments (just check-ups), doing laundry, taking pictures, and then excitedly sitting down to snuggle with my favorite person in the world to watch a little Thursday night TV. Not a clue in the world what’s for dinner, but I guess we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there!

Question: what’s your favorite brand of granola/granola bars? Favorite flavor? Why? This might or might not have something to do with the little giveaway I have planned for next week…!

{ 15 comments }

Talking Dogs

by Heather on March 11, 2010

Good morning everyone! First off, I feel the need to apologize for the bad lighting in some of the following pictures. It was a great night of food, but apparently eating good food out means bad lighting for pictures. Just sayin’ is all

SOOOOO, we ended up going to Via Toscana last night with Jason, Steph, Arlene (Steph’s mom), Robbie, and Stef, and it was AMAZING!!! The Med is a great place too, but this place had even better deals without the hassle of dealing with traffic in downtown Boulder. The happy hour menu is online, but here’s my special little copy:

I got the $2 Roasted Red Pepper Cream Soup (‘scuse me while I wipe the drool off of my desk):

Sampled some marinated olives:

A piece of bruschetta (obvi, it’s only one of my favorite things EVER):

And got a little $3 eggplant panini with arrabiata sauce for dipping:

Y’all, this place is amazing. Nate and I spent $20 total (that’s for my meal, his food, 2 beers, and tip) which is a steal! It was so fun to see Robbie & Stef again, too – they’ve been in Mexico for a week! Lucky kids We ran home to feed the dogs, drop our stuff off, and head out again. We went to Baker Street Pub for some pool with Jason & Steph, Arlene, and TJ & Brenda.

Nate and I split a little cone of fries:

And I had a Deschuttes Black Butte Porter (aka ‘heaven in a glass’). Sorry for the blurry picture

We had a lot of fun…Steph and Brenda are both pregnant (can you say “baby fever”?) I got to sit and listen to them talk about the changes their bodies are going through and hear the excitement in their voices. I know Nate and I aren’t planning on trying for kids until another year from now at least, but it’s definitely something that I’m becoming more and more comfortable with. I used to think I didn’t want kids (the thought of gaining weight FREAKED.ME.OUT) but about a year into marriage I realized that I can’t wait to raise children with my husband What about you? Do you want kids? Or not? We all have our choice to make, and there’s certainly no right or wrong answer!

This morning I got up and did Whittle My Middle, and then started on a yoga workout that proved to be too difficult, so I didn’t finish it. That made me feel like a major slacker, but I sat down and just stretched instead. As I said yesterday, I’ve noticed that when I stretch out my legs – specifically hamstrings – my knee doesn’t hurt when I do my cardio later on. Even though I hate not finishing things, I think it was good for me to just sit and stretch instead. Afterwards I did a Purple Monster (same as the Green(ish) Monster sans strawberries and added 1 Tbsp of flax meal):

And a big glass of iced coffee:

On the way to work today we were talking about our dogs as though they were our children, which of course is a completely normal thing to do. Right? Right. Nate mentioned that Keira probably would talk like a younger Queen Latifah if she could speak…he feels like she would be able to spread that sassiness I laughed SO HARD at that, but mainly because I realized that we were talking about our DOGS. We couldn’t figure out what Bunker would sound like though…maybe a mix of Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx? Yes, I’m serious Anyway, it was a great start to the day – the conversation made me smile and now every time I look at my dogs I can’t help but laugh a little bit!

If you have pets, do you ever give them voices or personalities? What kind of pet do you have? What voice have you superimposed on them before? I think I’m going to be laughing at the comments a little later on this one…

{ 20 comments }

Whole Foods Fun

by Heather on March 10, 2010

EEEEEK!!! I only have a few minutes to post before we run out the door to go to Jason’s birthday extravaganza! But first, lunch was awesome and veggie-filled today. I had some leftover maple roasted sweet potatoes:

Leftover risotto:

All served with a Boca burger on the side!

‘Twas delicious. I was SO FULL from all that food, but a couple hours later it wore off I was planning on walking today per the HPJ page, but it started raining/snowing and I decided to take a trip to Marshall’s (to look for curtains) and Whole Foods instead. Turns out that was a good idea because this is what my windshield looked like after about 10 minutes!

Brrrrrrr…but not really. When you live out here you kind of get used to the cold and it’s really not that bad. I keep thinking that if this were Texas the whole state would be shut down I miss that sometimes! I didn’t see anything at Marshall’s, so I hit the road to Whole Foods. TONS OF FUN! I was able to find quite a few goodies:

The bag on the right is unsweetened shredded coconut. I’m going to try (at some point) to make coconut butter a la HEAB, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to grab some. I also got a bag of locally made Dylan’s Chia Granola:

And some posole for Jason for his birthday. I know, it sounds lame, but he makes REALLY great posole, and he’s been talking about wanting to make all of his food from scratch (i.e. instead of using canned beans, using dry, etc). So I got blue and white posole!

Another little packet of Justin’s to try (maple this time):

I brought some pumpkin yogurt from home and made a little parfait with that and some of the chia granola I just got. Bunker wanted in on that action:

But I said heck no

SOOOOOO good, and so filling! I figure the more filling foods I eat before going to the restaurant the less I’ll want to make unhealthy choices. Even if the plates are small I still need to be mindful of what I’m eating!

In other news work today was super busy for me! This is order entry season for our company and it’s just a lot of rushing around and getting stuff done. The good news is it should be over after this weekend, and then my sister and her boyfriend are coming in town! WOOHOO! I can’t wait to take them around the Boulder/Denver area

What sort of workout do you do when the weather’s nasty outside? I’d love any thoughts/comments on indoor workout that don’t take place in a gym (since we don’t belong to one). I can’t wait to take pictures of the food tonight and show y’all in the morning!

{ 18 comments }

Easy Risotto & A Pep Talk

by Heather on March 9, 2010

Happy Tuesday morning everyone! I hope y’all are having a good one so far

Last night’s dinner was a real winner in my book! I had 2/3 of a maple-roasted sweet potato and some brown rice risotto with asparagus and peas:

I also added a little goat cheese on the sweet potato. It’s so yummy and creamy, and the tang from the cheese mixes perfectly with the sweetness from the potato!

Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

1 whole sweet potato (aka yam), peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp each of olive oil, salt, and pepper
1 Tbsp maple syrup

Whisk the syrup, oil, salt, and pepper together. Pour over sweet potato cubes and toss to coat well. Pour onto a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes at 400, turning halfway through. Turn the heat up to broil and broil for 2-3 minutes until you start to see the potatoes caramelize on top. Serve hot (with added goat cheese!)

Easy Spring Risotto

3 cups prepared brown rice (I just made my own this past weekend and popped it in the fridge)
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut into fourths
1.5 cups frozen peas
1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp goat cheese
salt & pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat saute onions in oil or butter until translucent. Add garlic and saute another 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn. Add asparagus and cook another 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour and stock. Add to pan and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Add peas and thyme. When the liquid starts to thicken, add the cooked brown rice. Stir together until the sauce can coat the back of a spoon. Take off heat and stir in cheeses, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately!

I really like that risotto recipe since it contains brown rice and doesn’t require 45 minutes of standing over the stove stirring and adding stock the way the traditional risotto does. However, I will say that nothing beats a good traditional risotto…nothing! I also made Nate a piece of salmon that I marinated and cooked with 1 tsp olive oil, 2 tsp maple syrup, 1.5 tsp dijon mustard, and 1 tsp olive oil mayonaise. I just cooked it in a skillet over medium-low heat, covered, for 3 minutes on each side. He said it was really good!

We ate on the couch in front of the TV…oh yes we did! Mainly because we DVR’ed The DaVinci Code and really wanted to watch it. I’ve read the book, but never saw the movie! Honestly it was really good and reflected the book almost verbatim (from what I remember anyway). Definitely an attention getter, though! It was great to just relax though After the movie we climbed in bed and passed out!

This morning I got up and did today’s Whittle My Middle workout and the yoga from my HPJ page. This month is coming to a close and I’m noticing a difference! Plus, I can easily slide into the pants, just like I was hoping After my workout I showered then whipped up the Green(ish) Monster:

And poured some iced coffee in a tumbler for the road. When I got to work I just poured it into a glass with ice, a Truvia packet, and a little creamer:

‘Twas yummy!

So, I just have to say I really enjoyed reading the pep talk that Gina’s pilot gave her (click here and scroll to the bottom of the post). What he said is so true! Many times something that is going to be rewarding has a hard journey to get there. Sometimes brutal honesty is totally necessary, and I felt ready to go after reading the pep talk! It’s just a great reminder that although I’m not in my dream job right now, it’s going to take hard work to get there. It won’t be easy, and it’s probably going to suck a lot at times, but the journey is what makes the ending worth it! Way to go pilot

What’s a journey you’re on that frustrates you? Or, have you already overcome that and made it to your goal? I’m in the process of losing the weight I gained after I got married, and it really does suck sometimes. But the results I’ve seen so far have totally been worth the journey! On a lighter note, I’m also growing out my hair…and oh.my.word that is a hard one to stick with! The hardest part is dealing with the awkward shoulder-length (which just doesn’t work for me logistically), but it’s awesome because I can ALMOST put it in a braid!!!

What’s your favorite recipe to make with the following list of seasonal Spring veggies? I’m totally open to new options (rhubarb pie, here I come!!!)

Artichoke
Asparagus
Avocado
Celeraic
Fennel
Fiddlehead Ferns
Mustard Greens
Radishes
Rhubarb
Watercress

{ 21 comments }

I Heart Color

by Heather on March 8, 2010

Afternoon y’all! How’s it hangin’?

So this morning I became ravenously hungry, which isn’t something that normally happens when I have oats in some form or fashion for breakfast…weird, I know. I walked to the kitchen to grab some more water, and lo and behold! On the table sat a smorgasbord of snacky foods! I opted for a serving (10 sticks) of these whole wheat honey pretzel sticks:

I’m not normally a pretzel kinda gal, but these have a really good sweetness to them that mixed really well with the salt. YUM! Alas, they only held me over for another hour or so before I decided it was lunch time. I had some veggies left over from our pizza the other night:

And some carrots with almond butter (best.combo.ever):

And a sandwich thin with a slice of provolone and a Morningstar Farms Tomato Basil Burger:

Such a yummy lunch, and SO COLORFUL! I was super satisfied and it was actually a lot of fun to take pictures and edit them. I also did my walk for today, and sadly my knees are acting up again It’s just the weirdest pain…it’s right in the middle of the back of my knee, and whenever I do a full step the pain spreads around the sides to the front of my knee. Anyone out there know what’s going on? Either way, it HURTS, and was almost to the point of me stopping and using a stranger’s phone to see if Nate would come pick me up. No bueno.

However, once I got back to the office I was able to enjoy one of these bad boys (woohoo COLOR!!!)

It’s funny, the tangelo I had today was slightly spicy! I was different though, and I really enjoyed it. Plus, look at all that happy color! How could you not love that?

The more I think about blogging, the more I’m realizing that one of my favorite things is taking the pictures! It’s so amazing how truly healthful, GOOD food has so much great color! Definitely makes for some awesome photography anyway I must say, I seem to enjoy a lot of orange foods, but when I think about it my favorite color is green (at least this week anyway ) I thought this silly quiz was kind of fun to see what your favorite color says about you!

Since I love both green & orange, I checked those both out: green says I’m sympathetic (check) and cheerful (check check)! So go on, take the quiz! It’s one question long… What does your favorite color say about you? Do you feel like that’s an accurate description?

{ 14 comments }

FoodLove

by Heather on March 5, 2010

All I have to say is T—-> G—> I—> F! This was a good but long Friday for me, and it’s SO NICE to have a break!

I was pretty excited about lunch today because I knew I’d be trying a new Amy’s soup! But first I had some clementines and fun with the camera:

Doesn’t Summer Corn & Vegetable soup sound amazing? I know I’ll probably be looking to buy just about anything that has the word “summer” in it…I’m just sayin’! I ended up making a provolone grilled cheese in the toaster oven to go with it:

Basically it’s 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 1 tsp of Italian salad dressing spread on each side, and 2 slices of lowfat provolone cheese. MEEEEEEEEEEELTY! This was a great soup & sandwich combo:

The soup was nice and sweet from the corn with a little kick from some peppers in there too! Verrrrrrrrrrrrry tasty

Like I said, the rest of the afternoon went by pretty slowly until my lunch break walk, which I was SO excited about. Funny thing is I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt…and it was only 40 degrees! I didn’t expect that because the last time I’d gone outside it was WAY warmer! I decided I’d warm up as I went, so I just stuck with it. About 5 minutes in my knee was acting up again, so I tried stretching out my hamstrings and calves to help alleviate that. It worked a little bit, but I have a feeling that the pain comes from trying to walk too fast and striking the ground harder than I normally do. I still finished the walk, but my mood definitely took a hit from the knee issues flaring up again! Tonight I’ll have to finish up the arm workout on the HPJ page; I feel like I haven’t really done any strength training in a while, and I miss it!

We finished work and ended up going to Costco for dinner. Yes, you read that correctly. BUT we remembered it was Friday, which typically means pizza for dinner, and Costco’s got some cheap slices! I got a slice of cheese and Nate got a slice of pepperoni, then we split a slice of supreme (he took the meat off of my half). No pictures – sorry – but tonight was just one of those nights where I felt like sitting down and enjoying dinner sans camera! Besides, I’m sure you all know what a slice of greasy pizza looks like, right?

I’m going to see Dear John tonight with some of my awesome friends while Nate plays poker with the guys!

I’ve heard mixed feelings about this movie, so I’m really not sure what to think, but it’s going to be so fun to do a Friday night movie with the girls!

A while ago my good friend Jackie posted this quote on my wall (she knows me too well ):

“We all need to eat and drink to stay alive. But having a meal is more
than eating and drinking. It is celebrating the gifts of life we share.
A meal together is one of the most intimate and sacred human events.
Around the table we become vulnerable, filling one another’s plates and
cups and encouraging one another to eat and drink. Much more happens at
a meal than satisfying hunger and quenching thirst. Around the table we
become family, friends, community, yes, a body.

That is why it is so important to “set” the table. Flowers, candles, colorful
napkins all help us to say to one another, ‘This is a very special time
for us, let’s enjoy it!’” – Henri Nouwen

While I was walking today I was thinking about why I love blogging so much. I’ve mentioned before that a LOT of it has to do with the amazing community of bloggers, which still stands true, but another part of the equation is that I just LOVE food! Not just the fact that it tastes good, but it has the ability to evoke emotion, create memories, bring BACK memories, and our lives are so built around it that it’s nearly impossible for me to remember something that isn’t tied to food. It sustains us, but it does even more than that: it stimulates emotions. It is part of the core of who we are. It’s a challenge to cook and prepare, and it’s one of the ways I share my love FOR others WITH others. I don’t really know of any other medium to do that!

What do you love about food? Is there any particular kind of food that brings back any specific memories? I know I have too many to name, but like I said before, I have so many memories that involve food that I don’t know if I have any that don’t!

OR, if you don’t feel like going into detail on that…

What are you doing this weekend? I need good ideas for fun weekend activities!

{ 15 comments }

Why I Walk

by Heather on March 3, 2010

Hey there! Hump Day’s almost over, and I don’t know if I could be any more excited! I think I feel an after work cocktail calling my name

Lunch was the same as yesterday: a wheat thin, 2 cups fresh spinach wilted, a Laughing Cow cheese (spread on both sides), and 2 Morningstar black bean burgers.

This is such a great combo! I know I talk about it every day, but seriously it’s face-rocking amazing. You gotta try it!

The rest of the day just kind of flew by, and before I knew it my lunch hour was upon me! I took off on my hour-long walk and ended up going faster and further than usual! I don’t know if it was just me being that awesome (not likely) or the spring weather (much more likely), but it was a great walk today! When I got back to the office I made my new favorite snack:

That’s right, it’s the return of the Pumpkin Yogurt Parfait! This one was 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, and layered with cranberries, GrapeNuts, and mini chocolate chips!

I love that it’s not only tasty but very pretty to look at! I love the texture that the pumpkin adds, and it just tastes sinful even though it’s good for you!

Today I submitted my first proposal for freelance work (YIKES!) and am hoping to hear something back sometime tonight or tomorrow morning! I don’t really want to go into detail unless I get it because it might be something I just write about anyway, but I’ll definitely keep y’all up to date on what’s happening. My hope is that this is the start of something big, but even if it’s not I’m just glad I put myself out there

There have been several of you who have emailed me and asked me about my “training” on my HPJ page, and are wondering why I choose to walk and not run for my cardiovascular health. There are actually a lot of reasons for this, but first off I want to say that when I first started blogging I became very VERY self-conscious that I was not training for races. I felt very left out and decided at one point to run a marathon because hey, that’s just what you do when you’re a healthy living blogger right? WRONG. THIS healthy living blogger does not run unless the urge just overtakes me and I decide to intermittently run to supplement a walk.

I realize that running is a wonderful means of cardiovascualr exercise, and believe me, I wish I had the love for it that I used to. Unfortunately, when I was running before (I did about 7 miles a day, everyday, for 3 years) I loved it not as a release, but as a way to burn calories. It became all about the number on the treadmill, and I ceased running outdoors at all. When I graduated from college, I no longer had access to a free gym or rec center, so I started walking. Comparitively I was burning far fewer calories, and so I just kind of gave up. This is where the poundage started to creep on, and after I got married I basically stopped working out all together. When I was a personal trainer I did the stairclimber, arc trainer, and elliptical, but never running.

When we moved to Colorado, I started running again outside on a track by our townhome we rented. I started to love it again. But then, 2 months later, I got a desk job and stopped running. Ever since then I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not I like it enough to start up again. I’ve come to the conclusion (after many ankle and knee issues) that it’s simply better for ME to walk.

I like it better.
It’s MUCH easier on my joints.
I’ve stuck with walking longer than I have any other endurance activity.
It forces me to really pull my core in consciously (as does running, but it works better for me with walking).
I know that walking is something I will do consistently even when I’m older.
I have no desire to ever be in any kind of race; I did that twice in 8th grade, and that was enough thank you!

I hope that with your exercise routine you’re doing it because it’s what you love to do, and not because you feel like it’ll make you lose weight faster or fit into a group better (like I thought running would do with my blogging). Your workout is about increasing your health for your whole self (right Katie? ) and not about fitting into a stereotype!

What do you do when you work out? Why? What drives you? My goal is weight loss, and yes it’s going to take a lot longer to get there just with walking, but I’m thankful to have found something that will not only increase the weight loss, but help me to maintain that for many MANY years to come!

{ 21 comments }

Thank You

by Heather on March 3, 2010

Good morning everyone! Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments from last night’s post. Self-doubt is a scary thing, and I don’t know why I beat myself up once in a while over these things. I do firmly believe that I am where I am for a reason, and I just need to make sure that I remember that! Once again, I’m so thankful for all of you, your sweet comments, and the blogs that expose your beautiful lives as well!

Last night Nate did everything he could to cheer me up, and that alone reminded me that I am a very lucky girl to have such a sweet husband! He even let me pick Noodles & Company for dinner (he’s not the biggest fan). It was either that or Subway, but eating lettuce sandwich just didn’t sound good to me. I got the Bangkok Curry (regular size) which is only 490 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein:

And then, in honor of Stephanie’s birthday, Emma brought this incredibly fabulous chocolate cake:

Nate was about to eat it whole:

But seriously would you just look at that?!

Heaven will be made of this:

That cake was seriously amazing. It had the most subtle hints of coffee, and it was just so moist! Happy birthday (tomorrow) Steph, and thanks for the cake Emma! After we left, I realized that I had a massive headache, so I ended up going to sleep at 9:30. Yes, you read that right! But honestly, it was just what I needed…driving home the streetlights were KILLING my head, and closing my eyes was the only way to make it go away. I woke up bright and early and did the WMM2 and yoga parts of the HPJ workout, then headed to the kitchen to make a smoothie:

This bad boy had:

1 cup nonfat milk
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup oats (I mixed the milk/yogurt/oats together and let them sit for 20 minutes while I got ready)
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 frozen banana
5 ice cubes

I wanted to soak the oats because I figured it would blend into the smoothie better than way. This ended up being a great combo! I didn’t really taste anything different with the oats in there, but I have been full a LOT longer than I normally am with a smoothie. Hello favorite summer breakfast!

As a result of yesterday, I’d like to take this time to talk about how you’ve MADE things happen in your life. What have you done to consciously change the course you were on? Did it end up better or worse? What would you do/what ARE you doing now to change the things that are making you unhappy? I know when I was unhappy working at Starbucks I jumped right into being a personal trainer without any research, and ended up even more unhappy than I was before! BUT we also took a step to move to Colorado from Dallas, and that is something that has ended up bringing us a lot of joy as well! As for this recent unhappiness, I’m going to start putting myself out there for freelance projects and start writing articles and posts even if there’s no where to publish them (yet)! If I love writing, I should be doing it regardless

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Rut-tastic

by Heather on March 2, 2010

Hello there! I hope all of y’alls Tuesdays are ROCKIN’! Honestly, mine has been not-so-happy, but that’s a matter for another paragraph…

First up: FUN WITH ORANGES!!!

I just love the color orange…it’s a shame UT has to have the best shade of orange for my skin tone as the primary school color! Either way, stacking oranges was a fun little experiment this morning, and the bright cheery orange mimicked the sunny day outside!

Lunch was a black bean burger on a sanwich thin with about 2 cups of fresh spinach that I wilted down and a Laughing Cow cheese:

Don’t be scared of the seafoam plate!

This was a great lunch…I really love the creaminess the Laughing Cow gives and the spinach (after I wrung it out) was a great addition to the burger! I feel like I’ve gone vegetarian for the next couple of weeks, and I am hardly eating any veggies! I think I need to pick up the pace on doing that, eh? Today’s workout was a little different than expected because I (once again) didn’t account for that whole after-the-snow-melts-mud thing again! So basically I did a ton of lunges and squats, jumping jacks and running up and down a hill, and then ran back to the office. Overall it was a good workout, but since it wasn’t according to plan I had some internal freaking out. Dinner tonight is going to be a surprise because we’re going to be on the go all evening!

So yes, today was not a great day for absolutely no reason other than me wallowing in my own self-doubt. Why? Who knows. It felt like today was a good day for everyone in the blogging community, and for some silly reason I just felt stuck in a rut. I would LOVE for this blog to take me places I’ve never dreamed of and more than anything I want to touch people’s lives, teach them to love themselves and to love others. And for some reason today I just doubted that would ever happen. I watched excitedly as other amazing women talked excitedly about their futures, prepared for races, did interviews, and started their own businesses, ALL as a result of the places their blogs have taken them. And me? I’m just plugging away at my job and not really knowing what’s next. I’ve said it a million times, but I’m 26 and I think it’s about time I decide what’s going to happen, what I’m going to do, and who I’m going to be. Not that I’m ancient, but 26 isn’t as young as I used to be. I want to be able to look back at my 20′s and know that I made a difference and be able to live the rest of my life with some direction!

Have you ever felt this way? Not even specifically about blogging, but knowing that there’s something HUGE out there for you and not having a clue how to get there? If you’ve been there already do you have any advice to share? What’s your biggest defining accomplishment to date? I know this was a slightly depressing post, but I know it’s something I’ve got to share. Anything you guys could say would really make my day!

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