2014. Let’s do this

We are nine days into the New Year and I’ve been reading a lot about various resolutions, intentions, promises, etc that folks are making. I want to eat better. I want to go to yoga more often. I want to run farther. I want to finish a marathon. I want to lose weight.

I set a bit of a mini-goal/challenge for myself this year – run 14 days straight? Get it? It’s a bit cheesy, but I really wanted to get myself focused again on running this year and making the time for it. I think a lot of the time I will go out on a run without even appreciating it, or the time it takes and the space it gives me to really think about whatever I want. That is a beautiful thing in a world where we are constantly being distracted.

But let’s also talk about those BIGGER goals, the kind that we really think about at the start of a New Year. Generally, I would say that having goals is a good thing. They are marks by which we measure progress. But what happens when things start to go awry? Do you give up on the goal? I have found that to be the most challenging part of goal-setting: what happens when things don’t go according to the plan? Setting a goal and making it happen are two totally different things, in my experience.

Don’t mine me, just taking a gym selfie at the gym where I work.

What is my experience? Let me be honest with you. I am not overweight. I am not underweight. But for a long time I have not eaten well. It started when I worked an overnight job, and basically made an agreement with myself that because my work hours were so screwy I could eat whatever I wanted. That didn’t work out so well. This is when I started making some modest changes to my diet, and running.

Since then I’ve lost a little bit of weight and I’ve improved as a runner. But I know I could do better. I love, love, love a good burger and fries. I also have trouble saying no to a chocolate chip cookie. Even if I say I’ll only eat half – I usually end up eating the other half and then another cookie. This is not good.

So I wanted to make some changes. I want to be a better runner and that means putting some good fuel into my body. I hope to lose some weight in the process. Not because I NEED to. I don’t. I want to. I don’t want my belt to cut into my tummy. It does. But I also don’t want to feel that brick in my tummy from the burrito I HAD TO HAVE, or the chocolate chip cookie I felt I deserved after my day took a nose dive. Those things are great in moderation, but I need to recalibrate my moderation.

I bought myself a fitbit, and I’m going to be cataloguing everything I eat via MyFitnessPal. I’ve heard great things about doing this from dieticians, to friends. It’s not going to be easy, especially for this picky eater. But change is never easy right?

Do you have any resolutions for the New Year?

Have you ever set a fitness or nutrition goal?

Tell me about it/them in the comments!

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one of the great loves of my life

I’m going to tell you a little story about one of the great loves of my life.  I want to talk to you about a relationship that doesn’t involve kissing, cuddling or dates to Kate Hudson’s latest rom com. Let’s talk about food.

I love to eat. Truthfully, I look forward to meal time more than anything. In the morning, it’s the way I literally get my body going. In the middle of the day it can be a chance to catch up with co-workers or a break from stress. At night it’s a chance to reunite with my favorite guy and recount the day. Food also has become the way I fuel up before a long run. So what do I eat? The answer: a lot.

I’m not a dietician. I don’t always eat well. I don’t even always finish my vegetables. In fact, I am prone to just as many french fry and big gooey chocolate chip cookie cravings as the next girl. What works for me is the other other golden rule: keep everything in moderation.

This is probably a great time to say again that I am not a dietician. I can’t even remember all of the parts of the food pyramid (or wheel … I think it’s a wheel now. My mom actually printed it out for me once. No joke.) I can tell you that I know when I’ve been bad. I feel bad mentally, and I’ve even started to feel bad physically.

Tonight I got off of work earlier than usual and I decided I’d wing something. It’s fall here and I’m already missing tomatoes so I decided whatever I made had to have roasted tomatoes.

I just drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and sprinkled them with a healthy dose of salt and pepper. I popped them in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes until they were lightly browned and shriveled. Shriveled is not an appetizing adjective for food, but trust me these ‘maters are goooood.

I basically grabbed other stuff that was lingering in my fridge. (Lingering is also not an appetizing adjective. Thank goodness I don’t write about food for a living.) Here’s what I came up with:

I had a little smoked chicken and turkey sausage, some fresh basil, a little mozzarella cheese (I added some olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, salt and pepper just to liven it up), some chopped garlic and some gluten free pasta. (I know, gluten free? What? Trust me, every now and then we all need to step away from the bread.)

I cooked the pasta and heated the garlic in a pan with a teensy bit (technical term) of olive oil and then added everything into a big bowl and mixed it together. It was pretty darn tasty.

It got high marks from Josh (who I might add is doing the dishes as I type this – he’s a keeper) and I think there are some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Now I have a confession – when I was training for my last marathon (which I ran less than two weeks ago) I ate out a lot. Sure, I ate some salads, but I also ate sandwiches and occasionally “worse than sandwiches” (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). I am not proud of this, but I put it out there in the interest of honesty. What I loved about this meal was it reminded me that a meal doesn’t have to be piled high with sauces, three kinds of cheese, and come with a loaf of bread to be delicious. I also remembered how fun it can be to cook.

Happy Wednesday night everyone! What did you cook tonight?