Category Archives: Food

Wednesday Weigh-In (12/5)

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Today’s weigh in has me at …128. Just like last week! And the week before! Same with the 30% fat, too.

What does that mean?  It means I should put the pizza down.

LOL. Ok, and I should also be more consistent with my interval work. But really, when it comes down to it – studies show that your weight is reflected by 70-80% diet, and 20% or so from exercise. Considering I eat like a maniac when I’m endurance training, and don’t when I’m weight training, I think that’s a pretty accurate statement.

I still eat pizza (local sourced only, tyvm), and chocolate here and there.. a french fry or two on the way to the valley… uh, yeah. That all adds up. As I went to lunch with my hubby to celebrate something (TOTALLY a reason for Pinthouse Pizza!), my mind started wandering a bit. I think from now on, Wednesdays and Saturdays will get one cheat meal. mm hmm. Designating days/times for it will be much easier. The rest of the time, I need to be more strict about eating “one more piece of chocolate” or “one more tiny glass of wine.”  It adds up!

Turkey Day Recap

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I love Thanksgiving. It’s always been a holiday that I could count on reconnecting with family, outside of my immediate family, and have a great time seeing everyone. I’ve probably posted about it over the years, but I always have the most fun when I’m around the folks I grew up with.

This was the first Thanksgiving I brought my Gringo Husband around – and it was the first time I brought him to “The Ranch” to hang out with my Mom’s family. He’s met my Dad’s on several occasions, with weddings and the way they actually travel to visit me, but not my Mom’s. so, he got a small taste of what it was like out on a true Border town, checking out the family property (where my mother wants to open an organic farm in her retirement), and checking out the bridge to Mexico that carries the family name… And the Border Wall that borders the property.

I wish I had taken pictures for y’all – it’s really surreal, especially growing up while the property changed so much. When we were growing up, there was no bridge or border wall – just miles and miles of land to be seen.

Anyhow, we got there, and K got to meet about twenty people whose names he won’t remember – but I was SO SO happy, my cousins who lived in Germany moved back, to the San Antonio area! It was great to reconnect with them, see their baby girl (who is growing so quickly), and make plans to get together soon.

I am always happy to leave the valley, but I’m always sad to leave the old houses we visited each Sunday. It’s a conundrum.

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A funny story – Thanksgiving morning, I got up at around 7 to feed the dogs. Then, I went back to bed. I don’t sleep well at my parents’ house, Mmmkay? I got up and moving about an hour and a half later to find… My parents fed the dogs, too! So, they got two breakfasts. Only, they fed Chiclet enough food for two meals. So, she had three meals worth within two hours.

Needless to say, she had a very good Turkey Day.

Reply to Past Self

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Ok.. No more wheat for at least 48 hours before races. Sweet potatoes all the way, baby.

-This includes homemade wheat bread/toast for breakfast the day of. Too heavy.
- ditch the beer (for reals), and stick to wine if neded.

So. 48 hours before jack’s, no gluten, no dairy. If that goes well… Sigh!

Note to Future Self of 24 Hours

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Tomorrow’s race is a Sprint, so it’s the perfect time to play with pre-race nutrition!  For this race, I’m testing the 18-hour carb load. What that means is:

-Larger Breakfast than normal (2 homemade waffles, eggs, 3 pieces of bacon)
- A beer after we washed the cars (+2 glasses of water)
- Much larger Lunch- a larger than normal serving of 2 turkey tacos, rice and beans.. and a lunch beer (+2 glasses of water)
(note: haphazardly eating wheat to see if its a good or bad. Had a little bit of cheese with eggs, no dairy after that)

Dinner will be light – a salad and grilled chicken breast.

I’ve been reading my book on endurance athlete nutrition, and most modern studies suggest an earlier carb load is better than a later one (a ton of spaghetti for dinner is now supposed to be a “not as good idea”) – combined with pre-and-during race carbing (e.g., Gu and sports drink, which I already do).

So.. self.. read this note tomorrow and Monday, and remember how it feels. TYVM!

Workouts = Perpetual Hunger

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There’s nothing like being on a sickness-induced workout break for a while and losing your appetite to remind you that workout out makes you RAVENOUSLY hungry.

And, you know what bugs me the most about it?  I was losing weight by not working out. Its always a constant battle with myself to improve, improve, improve – get faster, get leaner, improve my form.. and after working my tail off for years, none of it really helps.

What that tells me, really, is that what I’m doing isn’t efficient. In fact, based on science, I know for a fact that all the cardio is hurting my body image goals rather than helping them. But still, I enjoy cardio activities way more than I enjoy the anaerobic exercise – and something is better than nothing, right?

Anyhow. I’m bummed that I gained my 2 lbs back. And, I’ve already eaten 1000 calories today and I’m still hungry.  Normally I wouldn’t let myself get to 1000 calories this early in the day, but I have a brick workout with my group tonight and I know that I:

A) need to fuel up for said workout
B) will burn off at least 600 calories

It’s a delicate balance, and I think its one that I struggle with when I have two workouts a week in the evening. I need to fuel up (with what kinds of foods?) to have energy to workout – but I don’t want to overdo it.  I also really want to avoid dairy and wheat on a regular basis. Dairy is pretty easy for me – the only dairy I consume is cheese – but wheat is the tough one. Its SO EASY to eat a sandwich for lunch, and for the most part it fuels well.. but, it keeps you heavy. I want to switch that out for stir fry with rice or something similar.  Its not difficult – just takes some prepping. Which I’ve been bad at lately with the two evening workouts. Its a viscous cycle!

I’m telling myself that once I get done with this week, I’ll look at my workout time averages and start planning for total calorie consumption on a macro level. I think that’ll help a lot as well.

More plants! Less cheese! More plants! Less cheese!
(Note: This means MARGARITAS are still in!!)

Wednesday Weigh In (6/27)

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Dun dun dun… today’s weigh in had me at 127.2. What does that mean?

It means I’m back where I started before I got sick several weeks back. Juuuuuust like I thought I would. It also means my appetite is back. :)

Now, I did start training with my triathlon training group again. This is forcing me to work out around 8 hours a week instead of the 3 or so I was doing for the last few weeks. This translates into ravenous hunger all.the.time. Its very easy to overeat the deficit I earn – because a lot of the time, the thought is, “I just rode and ran for 2.5 hours! I get to eat 2500 extra calories! yay!”

But really, that’s a bunch of crap.

I’ve got to concentrate now on making better choices about what I eat if I actually want this to come off. Does that kind of burn mean I get to indulge in pizza and burgers? Well, maybe one slice – but not three. It should be more like, one slice and a pound of veggies.  It means I need to hop on down to Central Market and find a few good veggies to incorporate into my diet.

I think I need a new mantra: More plants! Less cheese! More plants! Less cheese!

Where’s the Weigh In?

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Well, since I was traveling (pretty much on the drop of a dime) and was at one of the WORST places for healthy eating in the U.S., I didn’t do a lot of food tracking in the last week.  I kept myself in check, and kept all of my portions small, though!  I’ve been resuming my tracking since I’ve been back, and it feels good to eat vegetables.

I weighed myself in this morning, and I was at 128.4.  I’m basically the same where I was last week. Not bad, considering I spent five days or so eating pretty much nothing but protein and carbs!

Rant:
Seriously, though, eating healthy in the RGV is very difficult.  One of my cousins is trying out a vegan diet, and for the most part eats rice and beans. Oy. I think the healthiest vegetable I had while I was there were green beans from KFC. I’m not kidding! And you know how people bring over food when family members pass?  Nothing but sweets, pizza and Mexican platters of beef fajitas (botana platters). Its sad. Its unhealthy. And it shows in the population.

I want to say that maybe 80% of the population in the RGV is obese. I’d take a look around the room and notice that many people were quite large, drink nothing but soda (or diet soda), and have large children. I felt like the fittest person in the room most of the time, and it was kind of unnerving.  I guess I take it for granted that many people outside of Austin (where it feels like EVERYONE has done this or that distance event) don’t make healthy habits and exercise a part of their lifestyle.. or even try.  If its the norm to be unhealthy, where’s the support for the healthy ones?  Well, its non-existent. Any praises to the healthy lifestyle pretty much fall onto deaf ears, too. I heard a few times that I’m crazy for doing all this (when they observed that I’d take small portions or wouldn’t touch something fried) – and I’d just laugh and say they were crazy for clogging their arteries. C’est la vie.

Weigh In Wednesday (May 16th)

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Along with my resolve to start losing some fat, I’ve decided to do a weekly check in as well. Well, as long as I can remember to, so keep me honest, m’kay? :)   I ask you to call me out if I forget next week. I figure its a good way to keep myself accountable. Yes, internet, I’ll publish my weight and caloric intakes for your amusement (and to keep me on track).

Anyhow – this week’s weigh in has me at 127.8 - a full pound less than last week! wooohooo!

Lets keep this clear – I don’t at all expect that trend to keep up. In fact, I think its a “first week anomaly” since I’m basically just trying to bounce back to where I was six or seven weeks ago. Speaking of one week, isn’t it TOTALLY ridiculous that it can take months to lose 5 pounds but like, three weeks to gain it all back? That’s some total physiological bullshit right there.

So, how am I trying to bounce back?  By basically getting a lot stricter (read: obsessive) about my inputs and outputs. Its the only way I actually see results. I’m logging my calories on a daily basis on My Fitness Pal, and keeping a weekly tracker spreadsheet to see how I’m doing on average. Here’s what this week’s summary looks like:

Yes, I have some SERIOUS off days, along with some not-so-bad ones. And that’s OK. They’re typically over the weekend, when I have the time to have a few drinks (while I’m doing things like gardening) or have more time to sit and enjoy a nice leisurely meal with friends. This usually means there is alcohol involved – I mean, really, if someone has a BBQ, I’m TOTALLY going to chow down and enjoy myself.

The trick is to burn it off. This is where cycling is a really, really good thing. The calorie burn and time spent on a bike is really helpful – on Sunday, for example, my hubby and I went for a 3 hour bike ride. It was challenging, it was fun, and I definitely got to eat what I wanted afterwards.

As a side note: that’s the same calorie burn I’d get running a half marathon – but cycling is way less brutal on your body, and you actually can do a 30+ mile ride every weekend without too much pain. I couldn’t do 13.1 every weekend.

On average, though – the week went well. My gross daily intake averaged out at about 1700 calories, and I burned enough to keep my net average at under 1200. For my height and weight – that’s exactly where I need to be to see progress.

I call that motivation! Lets hope I can keep it up!

Resolve & My Next Read

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It hit me today that K and I have been on-and-off trying to have a kid for a year now. A year! Aside from the obvious emotional downsides that come with a realization like that one came another emotion: resolve.

Resolve for what?  To get serious about two things:

- getting faster on my bike
and
- losing around 8 pounds

Not quite what you expected? Haha. Probably not. There’s not much I can do but wait, but while I’m waiting.. I need things “to do.”  Life goes on, ya know?  I’m done with “waiting to see if I’m knocked up” to register for that next race, and I’m done with backing off because something “feels” different that month. I’ve decided that its stupid to live on hold like that. I’ve kind of had that thought floating around in my head for a while, but it never really solidified until now.

Honestly, I’ve been eating mostly healthfully, with maybe a three-times-a-week treat – mainly of Torchy’s or Trudy’s and beer. But that, coupled with the ankle sprain aren’t doing my waistline (and therefore, my speed on both runs and bike rides) any favors.  One thing I can definitely control is my diet. So, I got myself a new book to read:

“The Paleo Diet for Athletes” – mostly spurned on by so many friends in my Facebook feed taking on Paleo/Crossfit challenges this week! However.. I’m not doing crossfit. Enter this book. Joe Friel – who wrote the Cyclists Training Bible and the Triathletes Training Bible (both books that are staples in this house) – collaborated with another author on this, and I’m really interested in what he has to say about it.  One of my bigger worries about taking on something like that is the energy level dip that goes with it. Lets face it though, now is the perfect time – my training volume is still rather low compared to what it’ll be later.  The one thing I can tell you I think I’ll have problems with – is alcohol. I LIKE having a glass of wine (or three), and its a pretty big part of my social life. I’ll have to read any chapters on alcohol closely.

What else have I done in the last 8 hours? Registered for Splash n Dash next Tuesday, TriRock Austin (formerly known as The Austin Tri), and decided to go ahead and start that half iron training for Kerrville.  With that.. since its raining.. I’m off for a 60 minute session on the trainer!

Oh – and I’m going to go ahead and report my weight here, maybe on a weekly basis. Today, I’m at 128.4. When we moved back from NC, I was at 122.  So, here’s a special thanks to Texas for having the best food ever! I’d also like to thank the Academy for my Ankle.. and an Honorable Mention shout out to beer. Time to get rid of the belly…

Race Prep Day!

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Its two days til my last Half Marathon of the season! Yayyyy!  I’m all done with my taper runs and am currently on my hydration and carb kick. I do have an extra complication this time, that I’m not quite a fan of – I have to get on a plane tomorrow. Wop wop.

I should have flown out today to allow for better rest and hydration the day before, but it would have been $260 more on my flight total and I’m just too cheap to almost double my flight cost. I figure I’ll just buy a giant bottle of water and visit the plane’s restroom several times, haha. This ideally would have been a Friday-Monday trip, but alas.. Saturday-Tuesday it is. Its working out better for house and work stuff, anyway.

As I mentioned, I’m ready for a run break. Its actually going to be forced, too, since I get back and we’ll be finishing packing, going to DC to see some friends and family before we go, and then beginning the move back.  It does really cut down on my time to see people here in NC, but thankfully I’ll have time during the week for that!

Now, thinking about the race – as I said, I’m hydrating! I’m also planning out every almost meal between now and 7am on Sunday to get the best nutritional benefit for myself. I’ve done LOTS of experimenting over the last year, and find I do best avoiding wheat, dairy and alcohol for a few days before the race.  I’ve been very lax on that this time around, and had wine on Wednesday and bread & cheese yesterday morning… but then again, I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself for this one either.  Its time to get on that hardcore bandwagon!

It does make my packing list a little different than usual, I’ll say. I typically don’t bother to travel with food, but I’ll pack the endurance crackers I made last week as well as some brown rice to snack on along the way (so I don’t hop down to RDU’s Five Guy’s and order french fries instead). Yep, I’m going to finally be that crazy girl in the airport snacking out of a lunch box… :)