Brie Fit

Susan is a big proponent of waffle Wednesday. 

I have to say: I really like waffles.  But they are a pain in the butt to make—it’s impossible to clean the waffle iron, and they always wind up too soggy or burned.   They are definitely not weekday “make breakfast in 0.2 seconds on your way out the door” friendly.

Enter frozen multigrain waffles.  I enjoyed these for breakfast today (and yesterday, so I did, in fact, celebrate Waffle Wednesday) with a little natural peanut butter and a Greek yogurt. 

I’m generally a breakfast creature of habit, but switching it up a little bit lately has been nice too.  Maybe I’ll keep it up.

For lunch, I had fruit, cheese, and what I’m now calling crack soup. 

I think I may make a big batch of this in the crockpot over the weekend to freeze for lunches.  It is so good, guys.  Make it!  You won’t be sorry.  (Note: I subbed olive oil for butter, and made half the roux so it’s a little lighter.)

Snackage:

After work, I hit the gym for an easy shake-out workout—I ran a mile to warm up, and then did not-super-intense intervals on the elliptical for half an hour.  I am sore from CrossFit, but not as bad as last week.  Progress, right?

Dinner was a stir fry mess:

Brown rice, beef, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, cashews, teriyaki sauce, and garlic.  Nom.

So, tomorrow, I’m engaging in bribery.

Backing up a little: my goal is always to work out five days a week.  But more often than not, I hit four days, and on the fifth day I have to go somewhere after work, or it’s Friday night and I just want to go home, or something. 

Tomorrow morning there is a 5:30 am CrossFit class.  I’ve never ever worked out before work—EVER—because my morning schedule is pretty tight, I’d have to pack a veritable suitcase to take to work to get ready at the gym, and working out at home is just not my favorite.  I have to be out of our house around 7:20 am to be at work at 8 every day as is!

Anyway, I want to start doing Friday CrossFit before work to get it done so I can enjoy the start to my weekend on Friday nights.  But doing something new (and, hello, getting up that early) is always a little scary and God knows I’m a creature of habit.

So.  Internet, you’re my witness.  If I make it to 5:30 am CrossFit tomorrow, I will reward myself thusly:

(Also, Tim and I have a little deal going now about me folding his laundry in exchange for a blind eye on a lulu bag coming in the door once a month.  But that’s neither here nor there.)

Anyway.  Stay tuned to find out if I can do it!   It’s going to be a tight squeeze to make it to work on time, so I may skip out on the cool-down a little early, but I’m excited.

(Related: it feels really good to be excited about something fitness-related for a change!  It’s been awhile since I’ve been looking forward to the gym.  The thought of a half marathon in October is kind of filling me with dread, frankly.)

What are your tips for morning workouts?  And, more importantly, if I do it: what color tank?

The smell of new crayons is in the air, no?

It’s back-to-school time ‘round these parts, and I’m throwing elbows to get to the copier.  It’s not pretty.

But, I have to say, my inner nerd just loves it.  The excitement of a new year.  The first day of class nerves.  The cooler weather.  The new haircuts, and sharpened pencils, and the lectures on attendance and ideals and ethics.  They make me all a-twitter.

Anyway, it also means my work week is crazy this week.  It also means the “don’t eat anything you didn’t bring in the door with you” is temporarily suspended, as most of my lunches this week are mandatory work-event-type lunches.

Today was pizza.  Good pizza, and I ate moderately, so I’m fine with it. 

Tomorrow’s catered breakfast is donuts and fruit and catered  lunch is deli sandwiches/chips/cookie. 

Strategy?  Well, I’ve been craving a donut for ages, so I’m going to have one, and some fruit.  They’ll be good ones, so I’m kind of excited.

I am not a huge deli meat fan, but when you add in the element of not knowing where it’s from and how long it’s been sitting out, it makes my stomach turn.   So I think I’ll bring something I can eat on a quick break, like an AB&J sandwich, and skip the lunch stuff.

We’ll see how that goes.

Anyway, I ellipticaled for a full 50 minutes today before I wanted to hurl myself off. 

Crockpot made an ugly dinner of salsa chicken, but it was good anyway.

I doubt you’ll hear from me tomorrow; I have a 14 hour work day lined up.  Woo!

What’s your favorite part about back-to-school time?

Instead of whining I’m going to start this post with a tip.

Backtracking: I kind of hate “diet/fitness tips” as a rule, because more often than not they are just some trite way to summarize something most three-year-olds know.  But sometimes something sticks in my brain, and I want to share, and it’s my blog, so I will.

My bestie e-mailed me a few days ago after I posted about stress eating at work.  She said something simple that stuck with me—don’t eat anything at work that you didn’t bring with you.  (Or something to that effect.)

It’s so easy at my job to grab chips or pretzels or candy when I’m stressed.  I never eat a ton of it, but a bite here and there adds up. 

So, for the last two days, I haven’t eaten anything at work that I didn’t bring in the door.  It sounds silly, but it’s worked, and I feel good about it.  Baby steps down the hall.  Baby steps onto the elevator.  Et cetera.

And I’m damn proud that amidst the chaos we’re dealing with right now that I’ve done this.

I know I won’t live by this rule forever, as sometimes I HAVE to eat work-provided food or go hungry, but it’s going to help me keep the stress nibbles under control, I hope.

Breakfast was a yogurt bowl.

Lunch:

Egg white/Canadian bacon/cheese/whole wheat English muffin sandwich, carrots with hummus, cheese, and a peach.

My afternoon snack really hit the spot today.

I bought some peanut butter at Trader Joe’s that is technically the kind you’re supposed to refrigerate.  However, I don’t have a refrigerator at my desk and I need instant peanut butter access so I’m hoping I don’t die from leaving it unrefrigerated.  I kind of prefer it this way, since it’s easier to spread.

After work I spent a record-breaking 50 minutes on the elliptical.  Why?  Hulu Plus.

We canceled cable and Tivo in favor of Netflix streaming and Hulu Plus since the cost savings are so great.  And now, I can watch TV at the gym!  Baller.

The longer workout made my stomach growly, so as soon as I walked in the door, I had a few blue corn chips. 

For dinner, we made a stir-fry.  Quick, easy, and delicious.

In unicorn sticker chart news, I received one half of a sticker today.   I didn’t cry, but I almost did.  But then I didn’t.

What’s one healthy tip that really resonates with you? 

Whew!  Today was a crazy, but fun, day.

I started out the morning by sleeping a bit late (9 am) and then going up to grab a quick breakfast. 

I had a miserably stale cinnamon raisin bagel, some pineapple, and some bacon.  There was a really tiny spread available, so options were limited.  Womp womp.

Then, I wasted time putzing around my hotel room for awhile.

Then I worked out.

My legs are sore to the point of waddling (I did lots of squats, lunges, and deadlifts on Wednesday), so I took it easy with half an hour on the elliptical and about 20 minutes of upper body lifting. 

For lunch, I hit up the Highland Bakery, which came highly recommended.

I had trouble finding parking, which I figured was a good sign.  As I went to take my seat at the counter, I noted that the breakfast dishes looked and smelled awesome, so I went for breakfast for lunch.

Sometimes simple is the way to go.  I had an egg sandwich with white cheddar on the most amazing rosemary garlic bread with a side of fruit.  I seriously wanted to buy a loaf and stash it in my bag.  The sandwich was otherwise good—you could tell the ingredients were fresh, and the service was good.

For dessert, on the way out, I picked up a mini donut.  How cute is this?

It was suprisingly awesome for something so small, and was the perfect size for a little dessert.

Afterwards, I headed to the World of Coca-Cola.

I was a wee bit annoyed with the pricetag—$16 for entry, plus $10 for parking was kind of lame.

It was fun to see all the Coke memorabilia.

Some days I really feel like I could use a brain tonic, don’t you?

There was also a tasting room, which was frankly just kind of a mob scene with a very sticky floor.

I did get a Raspberry Diet Coke from this fancy little machine, though.  I wanted to like it, but it reminded me of some unfortunate incidents with raspberry vodka in college.

After the World of Coke, I went to the Martin Luther King, Junior National Historic Site, which was free, with free parking, and was much more awesome than the World of Coke.

I also had an apple.

Anyway, the MLK historic site was incredibly moving.  Definitely worth a visit if you’re in Atlanta.

Afterwards, I went shopping, and walked out of both Lululemon and Sephora empty-handed.  Someone give me a cookie, quick!

I was pretty pooped after all that, so I just had a quick Panera dinner.

Ham sandwich, and their new lemon chicken orzo soup, which I LOVED.

I would have liked to try something a little more adventurous for dinner, but frankly, after awhile, eating alone at restaurants gets a little depressing.

Now, I’m spending the rest of the evening watching TLC in my hotel room.  Tomorrow, I plan to work out and then I don’t know.  I have some work in the evening and have a late night flight home, so we’ll see!

What’s your favorite way to see a new city?

And mostly back to normal. 

I went to bed last night around 8:15.  It was glorious, and I woke up this morning at 6:30 feeling like a normal human being again.  My hip flexors are totally pain-free, and I was alert and not super hungry all day.  Sleep can make a world of difference!  Amazing.

So, I hate the phrase, “I fell off the wagon,” because a) that sounds like it would hurt; b) a lifestyle is not something you can be ‘on’ or ‘off,’ really, but a ‘diet’ is; and c) it’s just stupid and overused.

We’ll say that today I indulged a liiiittle bit more than I know I should have. 

Exhibit A.

My boss very kindly purchased these cupcakes as a thank you gift for her staff, and brought them up to my desk, raving about how they’re the best cupcakes she’s ever tasted, etc.  She had four different flavors—carrot cake (ew), lemon (meh), PEANUT BUTTER CUP (zomg) and oreo with cream cheese frosting (holy cow).

So I had to take one.  Could I have said no?  Yeah.  But I didn’t really want to.  I skipped these cupcakes the first time they were in our office and regretted it because everyone said they were awesome. 

BUT—good decision alert: I cut it in half and threw half away.  So, I got to try it and enjoy it with my morning coffee, but didn’t eat the whole thing. 

Then, we went out to a thank you lunch at a Mexican place.  A REALLY GOOD MEXICAN PLACE. 

Suffice it to say, I have no control around chips and salsa, and there’s no saying, “please leave the basket in the kitchen” when you’re out to lunch with a group of celebrating co-workers. 

I ended up eating way more chips and salsa than was advisable.  I did, however, order the only entrée at the table that wasn’t smothered in cheese and/or sour cream—I had two delicious carne asada tacos, garnished only with hot salsa and lime, and some awesome rice on the side (skipped the refried beans).

After work, I did 45 easy minutes on the elliptical, just to check to see how my legs are feeling.  They feel good!  I’m going to attempt a middle-distance-ish run tomorrow—maybe 6 miles?—since I have to take the weekend off.

(Sidenote: I FINALLY GET TO MEET MY NEPHEW!  And we will spend a nice long weekend at the in-laws’ blissfully silent house, doing country things like shooting guns and making pie.  I can’t wait.)

I had stupidly planned Mexican rice and beans for dinner tonight, but after a Mexican lunch I wasn’t feeling it, so we had grilled cheese and tomato soup.

So.  Today wasn’t exactly an A+ on the healthy living scale, but I suppose it’s not an F, either.    I’ll go with a solid C.  

I didn’t track my food because trying to track restaurant food sends me into a tizzy and is kind of like herding  cats anyway.

Tomorrow is another catered lunch, BUT I got to order an awesome spinach salad so no harm done.

10 days until half marathon #5.

What good decisions did YOU make today?

Down, up, down, up, rinse, repeat.

At least our kitties (and kitty houseguest) are cute.

Lunch was another Branny burrito (yum!), a salad, a teeny tangerine, a teeny cheese, and Fage with cherries.

I really, really, really love Fage.  There’s just something about the texture and flavor—it’s super creamy, but doesn’t really have a huge tang like a lot of Greek yogurt, and the topping is just enough to make it sweet without being overwhelming.

Unfortunately, it’s the most expensive yogurt at the grocery store.  It was on sale this week, though!

Nana and PB snack:

Leftovers for dinner.

So, I had another shitball workout today. 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.  For the last two weeks, I feel like my only good workouts have been lifting.  My running and other cardio has just sucked.  I hate it.  I stare at the clock on the treadmill/my Garmin and just will it to move faster. 

And a million tiny little things are always wrong.  My shins are sore and I’m afraid they’re going to get worse.  My asthma flares up and my throat closes.  Today, I forgot my water bottle, and my mouth was painfully dry to the point where I felt like I was choking.

It’s just stupid.  I just feel like I want every run to be over before it even starts.  And then I feel even worse because I get lots of people who say I inspire them, and I feel the furthest thing from an inspiration right now. 

I’m not really sure what I need, but I’m running a half marathon in a week and a half.  I’m hoping for a decent long run on Friday, and hoping that my base will power me through.  But I hate that approach, you know?  I wanted to really be able to train hard for this race, but God knows why, it just isn’t happening.

Here’s what I WANT to do for exercise:

• Spinning classes with a fun, motivating instructor and great music
• Sweaty power yoga
• Lifting in a place that isn’t packed like sardines
• Kickboxing/boxing classes
• Work with a personal trainer for the first time
• Crossfit style workouts
• Run, sometimes, when I want to.  Train to improve speed.

Here’s what my current gym situation allows  me to do:

• Outdoor track running
• Treadmill running
• Track running
• Ellipticaling
• Lifting free weights in a packed weight room
• Weightlifting machines
• Stationary biking
• Swimming

See the problem?

My gym offers classes, but they are at times I can’t go and extremely expensive.

My gym is extremely cheap and I don’t feel comfortable spending more money.  And I don’t feel comfortable getting into a new contract with a gym since we may be moving this year.   And there aren’t any great options near our house or my office anyway.  I liked the gym I went to when we first moved here, but given where we live, and where I work, and where the gym is, I’d never get there. 

The only new option I haven’t tried yet at my gym is swimming.  I think I would like swimming, and I can swim, in the very-poor-form-freestyle vein, but I feel like embarrassment at my lack of skill is holding me back. 

Anyway.

I can’t decide if my workouts are sucking because I’m feeling bored and unmotivated, or because I’m not eating enough, or because it’s just a slump, or because I need to take a rest week, or what.

But they are sucky lately and I’m sorry.

(Today’s workout: run 1.35 miles on treadmill.  Die of dry mouth.  Get water.  Run .5 miles on track.  Shin starts to ache.  15 minutes on elliptical.  Leave.)

At least there was this funny sign that made the trip almost worth it:

WTF?  Who is lubing up in the weight room?  On the rubber floor? 

Does not compute.

How do you get over a slump?  Do I need a rest week?  Do I need to eat more?  Do I need a new gym?  Should I take a swimming  class?  Do I need to suck it up and just make it work?

Ugh.  This is really annoying.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, though!  I totally celebrated:

I specifically selected an Irish Cream K-Cup for my morning coffee.  I also wore a green camisole under my shirt and wore my claddaugh ring.  Totally festive, y’all.

My lunch contained a glut of fruit and veggie servings.  Baller.

Except I bought a new flavor of hummus and hated it, so I only ate a little bit of it and about half the carrots.  In lieu of hummus, I ate some peanut butter off the measuring spoon.

So, after yesterday’s clean up my diet rant, I was kind of embarrassed to discover that I’d left my healthy, natural snack at home and had to eat a bar that would make Tosca Reno clutch her pearls.

At least it was tasty.

Happy brag: today I ate zero inappropriate and random snacks.  No pretzels from the boss’ jar, no handful from the community popcorn, no hard candies, no nothing.  AND, my boss even offered me her box of FlipSides pretzel garlic herb crackers, which I love, and I said no.  So, win on that one today.

After work I had another shitty workout.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I was hungry and didn’t want to crosstrain on the stupid elliptical.  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, switched to the bike, did 10 minutes and my vag hurt so I quit.  WTF.

On my way home from work I remedied another major issue.   My lunch box is WAY too small, so I bought a giant, embarrassing-but-awesome 18 can cooler at Target and some icepacks.  I use an obscene amount of Gladware every day between breakfast and lunch and snacks, so I might as well just embrace the freakshow.

The bonus of this is that I no longer have to use the community fridge at work, which always smells funny and is so full I think it might collapse one of these days. 

Dinner featured this:

Plus some chicken, mushrooms, and a little bit of random sauce I made from sherry, garlic, lemon, and chicken broth.

Yum.

I would be glad it’s Friday tomorrow, but I get to work late (yay) tomorrow and work on Saturday (awesome).  So…weekend in the toilet.   I’m looking forward to May when we go down to summer hours and I work four day weeks!

Do you take a lunch to work?  How do you pack it?

Other than that I feel particularly sodium bloated after my eats yesterday today.  Sodium is kind of unavoidable if you’re going to eat out, unless you’re going to eat a salad with no dressing at every meal!  I predict a gain on the scale tomorrow.  Such is life.

Anyway, I got up this morning and headed down to the hotel gym.  I wasn’t awake enough to run, so I did 45 minutes on the elliptical while watching A Baby Story.

And then the lady on A Baby Story was 9 months pregnant and pumping major iron and I felt like a pussy.

Oh well.

Tapering, right?  I’ll run tomorrow.

I really enjoy working out in the morning, I just wish it worked with my regular work schedule!  I’d have to get up at 5 am every day and…that’s just not doable.  I can barely swing 6:30!  I seem to be doing fine working out after work, so I guess if it ain’t broke…

Working out in the morning did make me really hungry for a bigger-than-normal breakfast.

Back to Panera!

I had some terrible customer service there (boo), but I got the breakfast “power sandwich” (egg, cheddar, ham) on a whole grain bagel instead of bread to bulk it up a little bit.  I also got coffee on the side—I love Panera’s hazelnut coffee!

It was really delicious and filling.   Usually I feel my stomach growling a bit by lunchtime, but not today!

I did my work thing in the morning and enjoyed another lunch of Subway while driving.

Since I was so full from breakfast, I had the sandwich around 1 pm…the apple slices around 2…and the chips as an afternoon snack at 3:30. 

I was in the car all afternoon.  Good times.  Two things:

1. Although I’m vehemently opposed to Jillian Michaels’ diet pills…thing, she had a podcast a long time ago that I very much liked.  It ended, but it’s back and I listened to two episodes on the drive!   You can find it here or on iTunes.  It’s a wee bit self-help-y, but she does have some interesting info and it’s good for a long drive or run.
2. I stopped to fill up the rental car with gas when I was almost back to KC.  A man old enough to be my father who was at the pump next to me yelled, “watchin’ you sure makes pumping gas more enjoyable!”  I am not certain if this was because a) I’m a hottie, and my black work pants and modest blue work top really got him going; or b) he found it funny that it took me about 10 minutes (and Google) to figure out how to open the gas tank.  He was wearing striped overalls, like a train conductor.  Surreal.

But I digress.  We had sweet potato fries and chicken for dinner…nothing exciting, but I didn’t really feel like cooking after a long day on the road. 

Today’s Sparkpeople details:

Oh, sidenote: here are my Trader Joe’s purchases from yesterday!

There may be a finger swipe or two missing from the PB cream cheese.  Heaven!  I can’t wait to pack this in my lunch tomorrow.  I’ve also never cooked polenta before, so that will be a fun adventure next week.

Also, while I was gone, my new running shoes came!

Since May of 2010, I’ve been running in New Balance 759s in a 9D (which is a wide width.)  They were the first shoes that didn’t rub giant ugly blisters on my arches.  I replaced them with the same style in early September 2010 because I was still thrilled that I was blister-free.  But, as my marathon training ramped up I became pretty certain that while the blister issue had been solved, these weren’t the absolute perfect shoe for me. 

The 759s are a neutral shoe, and I’ve always known I’m a bit of a pronator, so I e-mailed my buddy Susan who works at a running store to see what she recommended.  She suggested I go to the New Balance 760s, which are more of a stability shoe.  I’m excited to see how they feel!

I also went from a 9D to a 9.5D just on a crazy hunch—I’ve had a black second toenail (and sometimes big toenail) since I started serious distance running  last spring.  I get blisters under the nail and the front of the toe is heavily calloused.  I’m pretty sure this means I needed a bigger size, especially since my feet swell on long runs.

I thought I might be able to squeeze a few more miles out of my old shoes, but then I took a good luck at the treads tonight, and yikes!

The ball of my foot has been rubbing almost raw on long runs lately.  Now I know why.

They have about 220 miles on them now, so maybe it’s time to say goodbye.

They also are stained with red Gatorade I spilled on them once.

I’m going to run in the new shoes tomorrow to see how they feel.  I know you shouldn’t do new shoes on race day, but if I have one rehearsal run…what do you do?  The old shoes are pretty far gone at this point, and have been bugging me on long runs…but I won’t do more than 4 miles tomorrow, so I won’t be able to test them at super distances. 

Also, thanks for all your awesome comments on my post this morning!  I’m reading them and responding and clarifying and such, but it’s interesting to hear other perspectives.

So: what shoes should I wear for race day?  Would it be a death sentence to wear a new shoe with only one short run on it?

Again.  It’ll be interesting what it says tomorrow!  Even though I’ve been tracking everything, I haven’t been able to measure and I’m sure my sodium intake has been high because of all the restaurant food.   But, on the other hand…I did run 11 miles.  So, we’ll see!

I set my alarm early this morning so I could enjoy the nice hotel gym with TVs on the machines before I had to go work.  I dragged my butt up at 7 and stumbled down to the gym by 7:15.  My legs felt surprisingly awesome given yesterday’s long run—I’m not sore at all.   It’s amazing when I think back to how I used to feel after long runs this time last year—I had trouble walking the next day and just remember how hard they were!  Yesterday, I ran, showered, and went off to work without missing a beat.  It’s great.

Still, I knew today needed to be a recovery-ish day.  I just spent 45 minutes doing some light intervals on the elliptical watching A Baby Story.  Good times.

Then I showered.  And ate.

This may take the cake as my most photogenic breakfast ever.  Not that I spend oodles of time photographing my food, but it looks pretty anyway.

This breakfast was MacGyvered from last night’s Wal-Mart purchases. 

(Source.)

I am nothing if not resourceful.

I used a hotel plastic cup, a plastic spoon and knife from Chipotle, and I layered Fage Cherry Greek yogurt, some Kashi GoLean Crunch, and sliced banana.  It was heavenly!  I wish I had time to make more complex breakfasts like this on weekdays.

(PSA: Fage Cherry is probably my favorite yogurt ever.   I just wish it wasn’t so expensive!   But when work’s paying…)

Lunch was exactly the same as yesterday.  Subway, eaten in the car.

My options were Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, or Sonic.  You make do.

In other news, I’m sick of sandwiches and Baked Lay’s.

I drove some more and finally made it back to my office.  And had a snack.

This and the chocolate brownie one are probably the only two Larabars I actually really like.  The rest are just okay.  Dates aren’t my bag, I guess. 

Speaking of bags!

My Lululemon Urban Yogini Messenger was waiting for me when I got home!

This was the state of my purse before.

It was a black hole.  If Tim ever needed something and I told him it was in my purse, he would groan, knowing he’d never find it.  (Please note dirty socks in purse.  Classy.)

So this is definitely an upgrade.  I’m in love with the purple color—it’s a nice subtle jewel tone and not a smack-you-in-the-face bright color. 

Under the main flap, there are two big zipper pockets, as well as a big one on the back.  The bag also comes with a fold-up drawstring bag for transporting dirty or wet gym clothes, which is really nice.

Here’s the main compartment with my stuff in it.  Part of the problem I’ve had in the past is that there’s no way to differentiate my gym accessories that I haul around with me all the time (combination lock, Garmin, heart rate monitor/strap, SPIbelt, lifting gloves, headphones) from the other stuff I use all the time (wallet, sunglasses, phone, lip glosses, hairbrush, advil).  This bag has a nice section that’s technically for a laptop, but it snaps closed and I’ll be “hiding” my gym gear in there from now on.

Anyway, I love it already and it actually feels kind of empty!  Guess I need to haul more around. 

Our produce delivery came while I was gone, too: bananas, tangerines, a grapefruit, blood oranges, apples, fingerling potatoes, onions, baby spinach, and cauliflower.

The only new to me thing is cauliflower.  I think I may try making this baked potato soup with a cauliflower base!

For dinner, we made burgers (lean ground beef plus Worcestershire sauce plus a little soy sauce plus garlic) on sandwich thins with half a slice of provolone.

I also made some Alexia chipotle sweet potato fries that were awesome!  I bought these because some lucky bloggers got them for free, but I didn’t.  Marketing works, people.

Also, a random reader question.  Jenny asks:

Completely unrelated to your post…the other day on twitter you mentioned washing your hair only every other day.  Can you tell us more about this?  My hair is super fine and I’m scared to give it a try.  TIA!

Yes!  I do wash my hair every other day or every third day, and I love it.  I switched last April and will never go back!

I am by no means a beauty guru, but here’s the details:

• I have fine hair, too.  But I have a lot of it, so it doesn’t look fine, if that makes sense.  It’s very very soft and I shed a lot.
• I wash and condition my hair with a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner on Day One.
• On Day Two, if I work out, I will shower afterwards and quickly rinse my hair with the coldest water I can stand so it doesn’t dry with a ton of sweat in it.  Hot water dries your hair out, which is why I keep it cold.
• But, if I don’t work out on Day Two, I shower and just don’t get my hair wet.  
• (Note: I am a night showerer, and I let my hair just dry naturally afterwards.  Every morning I wet it in the sink, blow dry, and straighten it with a flatiron.)
• I only let it go three days on the weekend because then it starts looking a bit greasy at the roots and in front.  I don’t care if I’m just hanging out at home.  I could probably go to three days if I used dry shampoo, but I’m lazy and every other day works fine for me.

Anyway.  I digress.

And an estimate (pretty high, I’d estimate lower):

This week has flown by.  TGIF tomorrow!

What’s your favorite 80s TV show?

Here’s a cat in a shirt to distract you from that trainwreck.

Usually I like Mondays.  I feel refreshed from the weekend, I have everything done that needs to get done, and I’m ready to tackle a full inbox.

But, since I worked all day Saturday, and spent most of yesterday baking and cooking and going to the Super Bowl semi-party…it was a bad day.  I felt tired and sluggish from the get-go, and it was a really busy day at work.  So…I’m glad to be home, showered, and cuddled up with my blanket.

Breakfast was the usual.  Lunch:

I had hummus with carrots and red pepper strips, an orange, the new Lemon Chobani with strawberries and Kashi, and a Babybel mini Gouda.

I tried with the red peppers, guys.  I ate maybe five strips.  It wasn’t BAD, but…I didn’t love it.  I want to love vegetables, but I don’t.  I think peppers may be a texture thing for me—you bite into them and there’s, like, a gush of water.  I’ll keep trying.

I did really like the Lemon Chobani though—combined with strawberries, it tasted like strawberry lemonade and was really good.

After work, I went to the gym.  I ran 1.25 miles with a headache, and then couldn’t take the pounding anymore so I hit the elliptical for half an hour.  It was a pretty lackluster workout, but I stand by my assumption that some movement is better than no movement.

For dinner, we had Branny’s Mac and Cheese and “chicken nuggets”—chicken dipped in egg white, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and hot n’ spicy seasoning, baked.

I used chopped broccoli instead of onions and peas in mine, and even though I WANTED to love it….I didn’t.  I miss super cheesy macaroni and cheese, and this was…well, squashy.  I liked it as a butternut squash pasta dish, but it wasn’t mac and cheese the way I love it.

Sigh.  This is when I feel like a failure as a so-called health blogger—I should be pissing myself over how awesome veggies are, right?  And telling you how much I love them?  I just want to find some truly healthy recipes I absolutely adore.

Tomorrow is a new day.   At least my eats were healthy today, right?

(I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor today because I have some underboob chafing left over from my 9 miler.)

What are your absolute favorite, no-fail healthy but totally delicious recipes?