The Missing Weekend

Note to self: Must get better at blogging on the weekends. Sorry for being MIA all weekend long. It seems like summer makes it oh so easy to slack on things. For what it is worth my weekend was pretty full. Saturday started off with my week’s “long” run. Of course as you might remember this was only 3 miles. The hubs ran it with me. Even at 7:00am the humidity was terrible. We were both sweating before we were finished stretching. It was not a terribly difficult 3 miles minus the heat and we were finished pretty quickly. The hubs also saved a turtle from certain death on the trail by picking him up and letting him go in the wooded area. Said turtle was not pleased at being handled but did get to live to see another day.


After our run we unloaded the bikes and went for a 4.5mile bike ride. By this time it was painfully hot and I really struggled through it. I was pretty proud to not have to push my bike up the monster hill at the end so we finished on a high note!

After our ride I was starving (I had not eaten yet) so we stopped at a café for a bottle of water. They also had (my fave) baklava. Mmm. Since Saturday is my flexible day I had a piece of pistachio baklava and a huge bottle of water.

The hubs mentioned I needed some actual food so we stopped for some take-out. I ordered some Pad Thai and ate almost ½ of it. It was pretty good though I should have ordered hot instead of medium hot. Live and learn.

After breakfast/lunch we packed up the cooler and met some pals for a day of swimming at the lake. We thought our plans were shot when a huge storm blew through but it passed during our 45 minute drive to the lake and we ended up having nearly the entire beach to ourselves. It was great!

After some swimming we took a quick break for some food. Peppercorn steaks and veggie packets on the grill. Yum!

We completely ignored the “don’t swim after eating” rule and went right back to swimming until the beach closed for the day. It was one of those really nice days with friends where you relax a lot, laugh a lot, and the calorie burning didn’t hurt either.

I spent Sunday recovering! I was so sore after my running, biking, swimming Saturday. Luckily I think I have found a perfect solution that I will soon be sharing with all of you! Sorry again for the blogless weekend! Carrie and Harlow say sorry too. 🙂

Harlow (l) and Carrie (r)

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Get Excited!

My exciting news is two-fold today. First up, I made my hotel reservation and bought my plane ticket to Chicago. I am officially all set to attend the 2010 Healthy Living Summit in Chicago in August! I have never been to Chicago so I am stoked to check out some good shopping, good food, and get some great tips on diet, fitness, and blogging. I am going literally not knowing a soul there. But, it’s funny how when you regularly read someone’s blog and they yours you become “blog friends”. I think it is going to be really fun to meet these interesting and dedicated girls in “real life”. I am rooming with Andrea from Run, Eat, Date, Sleep (the first blog I ever regularly read) and I think the whole weekend is going to be a fantastic time.

My next but of exciting news (or an exciting teaser I should say) is that something really fun and exciting is coming soon to the blog! It will combine several of my favorite things so keep checking back for that!

As for the rest of my day, today was a cross training day for my Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 marathon training. I did 4 hard miles on the bike.  I am amazed at how this works almost the complete opposite muscles than running. It makes it a pretty ideal cross training activity. I was insanely hungry when I got home so the hubs and I made some organic stir fry with whole grain rice.

Tomorrow is my “Friday” so I am getting ALL geared up for some weekend fun. Be sure to stop by on Saturday and check out my “sample platter” of fitness activities! Also on the agenda: a grill out, the lake, and find out what I pick for my Saturday flex meal!

Have a Happy and Healthy Wednesday!!

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How Not to Diet..

My weekend (which was set aside for relaxation) was oddly busy.  It was also full of dieting faux pas. Though it was nothing too serious I think it is always good to take a look at the small things that have the potential to lead to a big derailment.

Friday night went just as planned. The hubs and I had warm spinach salads after work with steak and onions on top and the best salad dressing ever. Note to self- when you hear oodles of food bloggers recommend something- Buy It! I am so glad I did. 🙂

After dinner we headed out to Sweetbrier College for a local production of Alice in Wonderland. I heart Alice in Wonderland so I was really looking forward to the play. It tried (ish) to follow parts of the book but try as I might I just wasn’t into it. I also was wierded out that we couldn’t get cell phone signal out there.

Pretty basic right? Well Saturday is where things started to unravel. It started off well. I went on a short jog to break in my new running shoes (YAY!) and then I did a 4 mile bike ride with the hubs. It had rained the night before so it, for a nice change, was not unbearable outside!)

We started on the trail....

and ended up downtown

The hubs on my pink bike

biking in pink!

I only made it 4 miles which was disappointing in some ways but when I think back to my very first attempt at cycling ever (which was under 1 mile) this was great in comparison.

It was after the workout when things took a turn. Saturday is my flexible day in terms of my eating plan. I had planned to make homemade chicken salad for sandwiches and some strawberry cupcakes from scratch. That is what I had been craving. So after the workout the hubs and I made some breakfast sandwiches and then spent the morning running errands.

After said errand running we decided to kind of do our own thing for the day. I decided to go shopping for some beach necessities and underwear. Another little gem of weight loss is the constant dropping of bra sizes. It’s a pain but I do love an excuse to lingerie shop! No photos though since thats creepy and all. 🙂  I went from store to store  and was literally out for hours. I rarely go shopping alone so I was like a little shopping powerhouse. I should also mention that I wore another one of the NY and CO dresses that I cannot say enough good things about. LOVE them!

When I got home it was dark. I had skipped lunch (oops) and had not had a single drop of water (oops). So I decided the first thing I needed to do is get my 1.5 liters of water and get to drinking.  The next thing that needed to happen was making dinner. Now, in order to make my orchard chicken salad I first needed to make the chicken and let it cool so I could make the chicken salad. Therefore making the chicken first thing should have been the logical choice. But no. I was obsessed with these strawberry cupcakes and buttercream frosting so I started that process first. I made the frosting and put it in the fridge to firm up. Feeling super efficient I start on the cupcakes. Have you ever made cupcakes from scratch. I hadn’t. Apparently it takes forever. It didn’t help that I was making Martha Stewart cupcakes and I had to sift and chop and blah blah blah. It went from relaxing to making me crazy in a matter of two hours.

fresh stawberries for the cupcakes

I had added the last ingredient to the batter when my husband comes in to gently suggest “Maybe we should skip dinner since its almost 10:00pm.” I’m staring at this bowl of batter, no chicken made (never mind cooled), with no back up plan. So, the hubs patiently cuts and cooks the chicken while I fill the cupcake tins. “This will make tomorrow night’s dinner easy” he says.  A half an hour later the cupcakes are out of the oven, the chicken is cooling, the water has been consumed and I have yet to eat on my flexible day. It’s really bad for you to go a whole day and not eat. Its especially bad when you are on a weight loss plan. But, what was done was done and I decided “Tomorrow is another day”.

I woke up this morning with my muscles screaming at me. Apparently cycling tortures a whole different set of muscles than running does. Despite this the hubs was dying to get out and ride his new bike and I needed a Sunday workout. I was all ready to go when the hubs reminded me it had been over 24 hours since I had eaten and I needed to have something substantial. We had eggs and toast (not pictured) and headed out to the trail.

I reached my mini goal of biking 5 miles today!!I managed to get through it pretty quickly even though I was extremely sore in the “seat” area. Any suggestions on how to combat this? But, I felt really proud and oddly worn out after only 5 miles. My next mini goal is 10.

After our ride I decided I needed to get home and ice those cupcakes from yesterday. So then this next no-no happened. I decided since I missed my flexible food day yesterday I would do it today. This is problematic because 1. I weigh in on Mondays and I don’t want an extra salt or a heavy meal hindering that.  2. I hadn’t eaten the day before so my body was all out of whack anyway. 3. Sunday is not my flexible day Saturday is.  BUT be that as it may I still did it.

I did make the choice to only have 1 “bad” meal and in essence the only high calorie thing I ate today was a cupcake. But I will get to that. After the bike ride I iced the cupcakes and it turns out the nearly 3 hours of work was totally worth it. They were fantastic! (and pretty and of course pink!)

I also decided to make the chicken salad so it would have some time to come together in the refrigerator before dinner. For this super simple orchard chicken salad I did the following:

• Cube and cook 1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts and let cool. Then to the chicken add 1/2 cup cranberries, 1/2 cup golden raisins, 2 stalks celery finely chopped, 1 small granny smith apple chopped, grated carrot (1), 1 cup light or FF mayo, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 squirt of yellow mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

After preparing all of the dinner items we decided to head out to lunch and a movie. I wore a very light and airy (ie comfy) vintage inspired dress I picked up in DC a couple of summers ago (when it did not fit at all btw. I just liked it too much to leave it there).

Lunch was a tomato and basil salad with a couple of pieces of fresh mozzarella.  Such a perfect combo!

For dinner I had the chicken salad sandwich (1 serving = 6 points) on a whole grain bun with some baked “fries”. I am also slightly ashamed to say I ate another cupcake. For what it’s worth I am give the rest away to remove temptation from the house but they were kind of awesome (and did I mention even the cake was pink??) 😉

Tomorrow is my first weigh in since this whole “oh lets not weigh for a while and not be a slave to the scale” nonsense so my fingers are crossed its not a huge disaster. I also start my Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 marathon training this week so my blog will have a little more of a focus. I know these past few weeks Ive been all over the place.  I am so excited to have a set goal. My competitive nature kicks in and I am ready to train hard and hopefully lose some more pounds along the way! This will be a fun week on the blog so check back with me and have a happy and healthy Sunday!

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Cycling In Pink?

For once our big Sunday workout plans, well, worked out. The hubs and I got up bright and early for some running and cycling. For those of you who read my blog often you might be thinking “She bikes/cycles?” And the answer to that is no, at least I haven’t been.  I bought a bike three years ago during one of those divine moments of inspiration when I thought “ok this is how I am going to shed some pounds.” I rode it maybe 5 times and I was over it. However, I was thinking with my new healthy living lifestyle it might be time to revisit biking. Plus the hubs is an avid cyclist. In fact, cycling is how he lost fifty+  pounds B.S.R (Before Sara Renee) 😉 Since it is such a passion of his I thought it would be something else great for us to do together. He has taken on running like a champ and now it is my turn to give his sport a try!

I recently had an acquaintance who is working toward losing 200+ pounds ask me if there was a way for her to “bike at her size”. I thought this was an excellent question so I started looking for answers. For those with a little excess weight you can buy a wider seat for your bike, try a recumbent bike, or invest in some padded shorts to maximize comfort. I can tell you firsthand that biking at a weight that is not ideal can be painful. It’s the truth. But with the right modifications  it can also be great. I also wanted to find some answers for individuals who had more than just “some” weight to lose. Ideally I did not want to have to say you should start on one of the bike machines at the gym. It’s not the same thing. So after doing some research I found Super Sized Cycles.  Super Sized Cycles makes a variety of bikes for larger individuals and can accommodate up to a 550 pound person. While I have never used a Super Sized Cycle product I did communicate with them via email before writing this blog and the staff is very responsive and knowledgeable. They want to “spread the word that people of ALL sizes can bike” and I think that is pretty great.

It had been ages since I have even seen my bike. I bought it at Bikes Unlimited in Lynchburg, VA with the help of my husband (then fiance) and knowledgeable sales staff. I was obnoxious when I went in and demanded a pink bike. Ahem. I know better now and while I prefer pink and will pay a little more for pink athletic equipment is really not the place to make such a fuss over color. However, they managed to find me a pink bike that didn’t suck (Yipee) so I am now cycling in pink! My goal is to get up to 25 miles. Today I biked three. I know to avid cyclists this is only a drop in the bucket but to have some perspective I could not run for 3o seconds this time 8 months ago. The distance will come. The intensity will come. For now I will enjoy the workout and concentrate on getting stronger and faster and better.

Our Bikes

Me trying to remember how to even ride a bike. 🙂

After the 3 mile ride came a 4 mile run. It was slow and there was quite a bit of walking involved. Getting up and going this morning was a slow process so it was much too warm before I ever got on the trail to run. On the way back in that 1 mile marker has never looked so good. It’s funny how just knowing you are on the last mile puts the spring right back in your step.

I was completely worn out after all of this and starving. I had not eaten anything yet. Bryan and I headed out to Panera where I had a small BBQ chicken salad and 1/2 of a turkey/spinach/artichoke panini with red onions and tomato. YUM!

After lunch we ran some errands and ended up at the mall. 😉 I had one of those fabulous New York and Company coupons that offered 60.00 off a 125.00 purchase. I love to use NY&CO for all of the seasonal trends that you don’t want to spend a fortune on. You know? If you need a black dress visit Nordstrom but if you need a lime green cardigan visit NY&CO. Anyway the store was pretty much all on sale so I bought a ton of clothes for 60.00 or so ( I will show you some of my favorite pieces soon). I got loads of items in my new favorite color combo (gray/yellow/white). It has been my new favorite combination for all of 18 hours or so since I saw it on Katherine Heigel at the end of Killers last night.

I am sitting back waiting for the hubs to finish dinner (YAY for a man who knows how to cook) and watching Alice In Wonderland on DVD. How do you love to spend your Sundays?

Here is to a happy and healthy week ahead!

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