Tag Archives: coffee

February 15, 2013 · 11:37 am

Running, Running

Yesterday evening, Danny brought me home the best Valentine. It wasn’t chocolate. It wasn’t flowers. It was…

…coffee!! ( I don’t know why my head is so weirdly tilted).

I was way more excited for the coffee than I was for the chocolate covered strawberries (which were delicious, by the way). I have been looking for the Golden French Toast coffee everywhere, and I haven’t been able to find it. I mentioned how hard it was to find the other day, and Danny went out to Wal-Mart near his work and was able to find it!

Now, I know he really loves me…I wasn’t too sure before I also know that I have an odd obsession with coffee. I’ve got my eye on that Keurig Vue coffee maker…too bad the thing cost $200!

Dinner

Our dinner last night was very nice. We had a candlelight dinner with every candle I could find in the house, and the kids got to order off their menus. It was a lot of fun. After dinner, Danny took Jacob to archery, and we had dessert when they got home.

I ate a lot.

Today’s Workout

9.33 miles treadmill (!!!!)
15 minutes stretching

Yes, you read that correctly – I ran 9.33 miles today!!

I decided not to go to BodyPump this morning and run on the treadmill instead. I was feeling good so my goal was to finish 5 miles in under an hour. I finished 5 miles in 55:34. Then I figured why not keep going?

I didn’t have to pick my niece up today, so I had some extra time to spend in the gym. I completed 9.33 miles in one hour and 51 minutes. I was able to run the first five miles without stopping at a slow and steady pace. After five miles, I had to incorporate some walk breaks.

I felt awesome, especially because I tend to stick to 3 or 4 miles at a time. 9.33 miles is my second longest distance. Bring on The Biggest Loser 15k!

Post 9.33 miles:

I wore my calves sleeves during my run, and surprisingly, my right quad is the most sore right now. I did make sure to stretch after my run. Maybe I should pull the foam roller out…

According to my BodyMedia Fit , I have taken over 17,000 steps and burned over 1800 calories by 11 am! A good way to start the weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Do you have any plans this weekend?
If you run, what’s your normal distance? Do you incorporate walk breaks?
Any workout today?
What kind of coffee maker do you have?

runeatplay

18 Comments

Filed under Dinner, Family Fun, Fitness, Working Out

Tagged as 9 miles, biggest loser 15k, coffee, dinner, keurig, running, treamill

January 17, 2013 · 1:18 pm

BodyMedia Fit Review

Last Night’s Workout

Stationary Bike – 15 minutes
Elliptical – 20 minutes

I did end up going to the gym last night, but I didn’t go to yoga. I like yoga, I really do, but sometimes I really need to be in a yoga mood. And last night, I just wasn’t in a yoga mood. Instead, I took a 15 bike ride through the forest…

I love the new bike with the screen at my gym. Last week, I was racing on a track and this week I’m riding on a trail through the forest. Fun. After 15 minutes, I switched to the elliptical for 20 minutes. Danny didn’t go the gym last night because he takes Jaden to get an allergy shot on Wednesdays once a month or so. Poor Jaden and his allergies. Luckily, they seem to be slowly improving.

Today

Breakfast

Coffee.

That was it. I know, I know. I broke the #1 rule – Thou shall never skip breakfast. But I woke up a little late and not feeling the happiest, so I just stuck with coffee.

Today’s Workout

Adaptive Motion Trainer – 18 minutes
Step Class – 60 minutes

Of course, within the first 10 minutes of Step class, I was kicking myself for not eating breakfast, but I got through the class, and ate my post workout snack in the car.

A Builder Bar and a clementine. I love those chocolate peanut butter snack size Builder bars so much. I just wish they weren’t $8 a box. I also treated myself to some McDonald’s coffee.

Directly from the gym, I go to pick up my niece, and when I got there today, I saw the best thing ever:

Little McCutie Fitness has her very own Step, just like Auntie Heather! Could life get any better

Well, I use mine to stay in shape, and she uses hers to practice walking up a step, but I still love it!

BodyMedia Fit Review

I have been wearing my Body Media Fit device for about 17 days now, and I just wanted to do a quick review on it.

How the BodyMedia Fit works:

Your BodyMedia^® FIT Armband has multiple sensors. Those innovative sensors take 5 different “views” of your life:

Motion	The Armband contains an accelerometer, a device that measures motion. (Your car air bag has an accelerometer in it that lets it know when you’ve been in an accident.) We use it to measure HOW you move from multiple axis and perspectives, allowing us to better understand your activity.
Steps	We count your steps, using the accelerometer to measure the distinct patterns created by walking and/or running.
Galvanic Skin Response	When you sweat, your skin becomes more electrically conductive. This measurement helps us see how active you are.
Skin Temperature	There’s an electronic thermometer inside your armband that helps us know how hot you are.
Heat Flux	When you move, your muscles produce heat. We measure the heat that’s flowing from your body into the environment.

Basically, you wear the BodyMedia Fit on an armband all day (and night). It measures your calories burned, fitness levels, steps taken, and sleep. You can input what you eat into the activity manager so you can see how many calories you’ve eaten compared to how many you’ve burned.

It’s pretty simple. I put the armband on my left triceps and I leave it there all day. Before I go to bed, I plug it into the computer and this screen pops up automatically:

This screen was uploaded about noon before I had entered my breakfast, that’s why it’s showing that I only consumed 37 calories. I put the device back on my arm and sleep with it on. I plug it in one more time when I wake up. So, once in the morning and once at night. And that’s usually enough time to fully charge it. A full charge will last about five days.

I input everything that I ate so that I can make sure that I am burning more calories than I am consuming. When you initially setup the BodyMedia Fit, you can enter in your stats and activity levels, so that you know how many calories you should be eating and burning. It is really simple to set up.

So far, I love the BodyMedia Fit. It is very easy to use, and the activity manager goes into a lot more detail with nice reports and nutrition feedback, but I personally just like the basic screen with my basic information. This helps me know if I’ve burned enough calories and if I’ve gotten in my 10,000 steps for the day.

At first, I wasn’t excited about wearing it on my arm all day. I can’t even stand wearing an iPod armband for a whole 5k. But surprisingly, after the first day, it didn’t bother me at all. And now, I feel weird if I’m not wearing it. You just velcro it on once and then you can slip it off your arm when you need to remove it. It doesn’t even bother me when I sleep.

Even though, I love this device, I’m not convinced that it measures my sleep correctly. I think it underestimates how long I’m sleeping, and honestly I’m not very much interested in how much I sleep. I can easy figure out how many hours of sleep I am getting without this device. But it does go into detail about when you’re laying down, when you’re sleeping, and when you’re awake.

I think I like the BodyMedia Fit so much because it really lets me see everything that I’m doing during the day. I am very good about counting every calorie, so it’s nice to see how those calories are being burned. The only downside is once you spend $100+ on the device, you then have to pay $7 a month to go online and see all the info. (The first three months are free). But you can also sync the BodyMedia Fit with an iPhone or Android app.

Right now, I just plug it into the computer to see my info and that’s good enough for me. If you’re looking to lose weight and want to know how many calories you’re burning, I would definitely recommend the BodyMedia Fit. It’s a little bit pricey, but if you’re a little bit obsessive like me, it’s nice to see all those numbers. And it helps you track your food which is a great aid in weight loss.

I know there are few other devices like this one, The FitBit and BodyBugg, but I have no experience with those so I can’t compare them to the BodyMedia Fit. Bottom line, I love my BodyMedia Fit, and even Danny is thinking about getting one. It’s simple to set up, easy to use, and very helpful in showing how much activity you get throughout the day.

Do you use a device like the BodyMedia Fit or FitBit? I would love to hear your thoughts on it!
Do you ever go to yoga?
How often do you eat breakfast?
Favorite meal of the day?

runeatplay

23 Comments

Filed under Breakfast, Fitness, Working Out

Tagged as bodymedia fit review, coffee, fitness, gym, step

August 4, 2012 · 10:50 am

National Night Out, Boot Camp, and Coffee

Yesterday

Yesterday afternoon, I took the kids to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.

It was really cute and funny, and the kids enjoyed it. I let the kids pick out a candy at the store to bring to the movie theater. I didn’t plan on getting popcorn, but knew that I would reach for the kid’s candy if I didn’t get something for myself. So, I bought a bag of sugar-free Werther’s Original hard candies. Five pieces of candy have only 40 calories. And I’ll admit it, I did eat five of Jaden’s Sour Patch Kids. I have a serious sweet tooth.

Jacob has been very into skateboarding lately, so after the movie, I took the kids to a local skate park so they could check it out.

We actually ended up going back to the skate park later in the evening because they were having some pre National Night Out festivities. National Night Out is an event sponsored by the local police and fire departments to heighten crime awareness and just to help bring the community together. This year it’s on August 7, but a town near us was having some activities last night too.

There was free pizza, chips, drinks, popsicles, train rides, and games. The skate park was open late with a DJ, and the pool was free to get into for the night. We stayed for a couple of hours while Jacob practiced his skateboarding and Jaden danced to the music. It was a fun night.

Today

I had Biggest Loser boot camp at 8 am this morning, and this is what I saw when I got there:

Giant beach balls! Working in teams, we had to hit the ball back and forth while running down a field without letting it touch the ground. It was a lot of fun, but today’s workout was super tough. And the fact that it was almost 90 degrees outside didn’t help either.

Some of the things we did today:

jogging
squats with a shoulder press
walking lunges
jumping jacks
push-ups with a partner (we had to slap high-five during our push-up)
sit-ups
bear crawl
triceps dips

I think I lost five pounds in sweat.

Breakfast

When I got home, I made the same peach oatmeal yogurt parfait that I made the other day, only this time I added fresh blueberries to the top.

I also bought this Folger’s vanilla biscotti coffee to try out.

I really liked the Folger’s caramel flavor, so I thought this one would be good too. It ended up being okay, not the greatest. I’ll finish drinking all of it, but I won’t buy it again. I’ll stick with the caramel flavor.

Later this afternoon, we’re getting together with my husband’s family. I know there will be lots of pizza involved, so I’m making a salad to bring.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Questions of the day:

Any plans for today?
If you know you’re going somewhere where there won’t be much healthy food, do you bring something?
Do you drink coffee? How many cups a day? I usually drink one cup a day. Sometimes two on the weekends, and I treat myself to McDonald’s sugar-free iced coffee once in a while.
Do you have a National Night Out in your area?

runeatplay

5 Comments

Filed under Biggest Loser, Breakfast, Family Fun, Fitness, Working Out

Tagged as Biggest Loser, boot camp, breakfast, coffee, diary of a wimpy kid, national night out

July 20, 2012 · 12:04 pm

Coffee Mugs are Fun

Yesterday

I had my tomato soup for lunch yesterday, and it was so good. This was the first time I’ve had the Campbell’s 100% Natural soup. I have had the Healthy Request and the Progresso tomato soup before, but this was the best one I’ve tasted. I thought it was creamy and very flavorful. Plus, it’s only 100 calories and 3 grams of protein per cup.

After we picked up my niece yesterday after, we went to Marshall’s and Target. Look at this super cute coffee mug I found at Marshall’s.

Keep calm and drink coffee. Yes, please. Only $2.99?! Yup, you’re coming home with me. And I also found this other cute little glass for only $1.99. I love coffee mugs, but I am super picky about them. Is that weird? I use the same two coffee mugs all the time. Well, I have two of the exact same one, so technically I use three, well, now four with this one I just bought.

After Marshall’s, we walked next door to Target. I found a Bell helmet for Jaden for only $8 on clearance.

I also found the boxes of the oatmeal iced cookie kid’s Clif bars and bought a box.

These bars are awesome! If you like Clif bars, try these bars. I ate one on the way home. I wanted to eat another one…or three, but I stayed strong.

The plan for tonight is to take the kids to Panera for dinner, then drop them off at my mom’s house. She’s watching them while we do the Muddy Buddy tomorrow morning. Then, we’ll drop my niece off at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. They live 12 steps from my mom. Literally. That must be nice. Hello, ~~built-in babysitter~~, I mean mom.

I got the final instructions email from the Muddy Buddy. Besides Danny and me, Marlene and her friend Katie are also doing the Muddy Buddy. Danny and I start in the co-ed wave #4 at 7:18 am. Marlene and Katie start a little bit after us. Here’s a map of the course we’ll be doing.

(Source)

Danny and I are the blue line since we’re doing the bike+run. The thing I remember most from the course is that major hills. Some of them are impossible to ride up, and you have to walk your bike up them. I also think there’s some new obstacles this year – should be lots of fun! I’m sure my legs will want to punch me in the face by the time we’re done.

Today’s Breakfast

For breakfast this morning, I had Kashi oatmeal topped with chopped apples. I usually top it with strawberries, but we were out of them, and I loved the nice crunch that the apples gave the oatmeal.

I’m taking the day off from the gym today, so after breakfast, the kids and I ran to craft store. I decided at the last-minute to make something to wear for the Muddy Buddy tomorrow.

My dad is designing our helmets, so I wanted to make something to go with it. You’ll see pictures tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have time to finish it!

After the craft store, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some sunscreen. I never can walk out of the store with just one item, so I wasn’t surprised when these ended up in my cart:

Frozen Greek yogurt bars! Awesome! And only 70 calories with 6 grams of protein! I can’t wait to try one.

Questions of the day:

Do you have any plans for this weekend? Can you believe the year is already half over?!
Do you collect anything?
Coffee or tea? Both? Neither? I love my coffee.

runeatplay

9 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Fun, Lunch

Tagged as coffee, greek yogurt bars, lunch, muddy buddy, soup

June 30, 2012 · 10:15 am

Boot Camp and Exercise Lingo

Last night, I was craving Mexican food, so I made chicken tacos for the boys and a cheese quesadilla for myself.

I found these La Tortilla Factory wraps at the grocery store, and they only have 100 calories for the whole giant tortilla.

I added red onion, green and red pepper, and cheese to mine.

I ate it with a bit of sour cream and pineapple salsa. I also had steamed brussels sprouts on the side. It was so good, I’ll probably have one for lunch today too. I also had some fresh strawberries and blueberries.

I have been trying to eat fruit when I’m craving something sweet instead of reaching for candy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Today

This morning was the Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout at 8 am. Even though I left in plenty of time, I was still five minutes late because I couldn’t find the stupid building. The Saturday workout is at a nearby park, not at the normal park district. I was finally able to find it, but I hate being late. I am the kind of person who is usually a few minutes early to everything.

Boot Camp was tough. It was outside, and it’s hot out today so that makes it feel harder. We did some sprinting, lunges, squats, arm work using our own body weight, push-ups, shuffling, burpees, and ab work. I didn’t eat before, and was hungry by the time I got home.

I had a bagelwich with three egg whites and a thin slice of cheese. Strawberries and watermelon on the side.

I also had a new coffee this morning – Folger’s caramel drizzle. I have been wanting to try this coffee, but kept putting it off. Usually, I like medium or bold coffee with a bit of flavored cream, rather than flavored coffee. But the caramel drizzle flavor kept catching my eye at the store, and I finally decided to try it.

I’m glad that I did because it was delicious. I love coffee.

While eating breakfast, I was reading the new issue of Shape (I can’t seem to break the habit of reading while I eat), and I found a short article that explained exercise lingo. I thought it would be really helpful to someone who is new to exercise or who just isn’t familiar with certain terms.

Anaerobic Exercise – A high intensity activity (like sprinting) performed for fewer than two minutes, that uses phosphate and glycogen – instead of oxygen - as fuel. Anaerobic means “without the presence of oxygen.”

Compound Exercise – A movement that occurs at several joints, working multiple muscle groups. Ex: squats

Drop sets – A technique that involves starting an exercise with the heaviest weight you can lift, then decreasing with each set.

High-Intensity Interval Training – Alternating short bursts of exercise at a very challenging effort level with recovery periods at a moderate level.

Plyometrics – Quick, explosive moves, like jumping, that increase muscle strength and power while blasting calories.

Superset – A set of two exercises done back-to-back, without rest in between.

Target Heart Rate – The beats per minute you should aim for during cardio exercise, based on your intended exertion level.

Questions of the day:

Were you familiar with all those exercise terms?
Do you like coffee? How do you drink it? I use 1 tbsp. of cream and a Truvia packet.
Are you always on-time or are you always running late?

runeatplay

3 Comments

Filed under Biggest Loser, Breakfast, Dinner, Fitness, Working Out

Tagged as Biggest Loser, breakfast, coffee, dinner, exercise terms

June 9, 2012 · 3:08 pm

What Happened to Size Small

I spent two torturous hours trying on bathing suits at the mall yesterday. I left defeated and empty-handed. When we got home, Danny found my bathing suit top hanging up in the back of my closet. Go figure.

This morning, Danny woke me up at 8:10 am to ask me if I was going to yoga at 8:30 am. I wanted to punch him in the face. Obviously, if I’m sleeping, I didn’t plan on going to yoga.

Sometimes, I wake up at about 4 or 5 am, and I have a hard time going back to sleep. By the time I do fall back asleep, it’s almost time for me to get up for the day. This morning was no different. I was up at 5 am, and had just fallen back asleep when Danny woke me up. Hence, the reason I wanted to punch him. I don’t usually wake up wanting to punch people. Usually.

I did end up going to yoga, and didn’t wake up until about halfway through it. Then, I went to McDonald’s for a sugar-free iced coffee.

I finally figured out the trick to ordering a medium iced coffee. If you order a large, they give you a large. If you order a medium, they give you a large. And if you order a small they give you a medium. Apparently, they don’t have small iced coffee cups. It took me quite a few times of ordering a medium iced coffee only to get a large to figure this out. Obviously, if I order a medium, I want a medium, so stop giving me a stupid large.

Since when did they get rid of size small? And if there is no small, then isn’t the medium a small by default? Or am I thinking too much into this?

Along with my iced coffee, I had some Fiber One cereal, blueberries, and grapes.

Later in the afternoon, we stopped at Subway for lunch and brought it to the splash park. Subway is another place that’s stupid to order at. I ordered a kid’s mini sub. For a kid’s sub, they cut one stupid inch off of the bread. So, it’s not really a mini sub, it’s a 5-inch sub instead of a 6-inch sub. Not everyone wants to eat super sized.

Although, I did also eat half of Jaden’s pizza…

The kid’s played in the water and sand for a couple of hours and Danny and I had a water fight which was pretty refreshing. Except for when he threw water at me so hard that I went rolling down a hill. Thanks, honey.

This weekend’s plans include:

running hopefully sometime today
picking up my new bike which finally came in
going to my mom’s house tomorrow to celebrate my brother’s and Danny’s birthday

Questions of the day:

Do you ever have a problem ordering at restaurants?
What was for breakfast today?
Favorite sandwich?

runeatplay

12 Comments

Filed under Breakfast, Family Fun, Fitness, Working Out

Tagged as bathing suits, coffee, size small, yoga

May 26, 2012 · 11:04 am

Fox Trot 5k

5k complete!

Yesterday, my brother and I went to pick up our race packets for the 5k today.

My brother ran into a Trashformer.

Last night for dinner, we stopped at Panera for dinner, where I had my usual. Hello, carbs.

This morning, Danny and I woke up at about 5:45 am to get ready for Fox Trot 5k. The sky was dark and there was some lightening, but luckily the rain held off for the race. The weather was cool, which I was so grateful for. My 5k race last weekend was very hot, and I didn’t run very well.

My dad made sure to take my picture with Ronald McDonald before the race. He even flagged him down, and told him that I needed his picture for my blog. Thanks, Dad.

Baby McCutie was a little unsure about ol’ Ronald.

Danny, Paul, Sue, and I all ran the 5k, and my dad and Crystal walked 2 miles with Baby McCutie Sunshine Happy Face. Everybody did a great job!

I went into the race planning on doing a 4:2 run/walk ratio. And although the course was hilly, I felt good, so I ended up running the whole thing. I did slow down to a light jog for the two minutes that I should have been walking and just picked up the pace for four minutes.

I ended up finishing in 35:20, which is great for me. It’s way better than I did last weekend. If you’re a newer reader of the blog, I have calf problems and plantar fasciitis, so I have a difficult time running. The doctor thinks I have compartment syndrome, which just means my calf muscles are very tight and the blood doesn’t circulate properly.

Baby McCutie Sweet Pie gave me a congratulations hug.

Danny finished with an awesome time at around 24 minutes, and my step-mom, Sue, PR’d with a time around 27 minutes. My brother did great too. And my dad and Crystal walked it out. Walk it out, now walk it out!

The boys got their free beer after the race. Then we headed over to Dunkin Donuts because I was in some desperate need of coffee.

Coffee makes life better. Then we picked up the kids from my mom, who was nice enough to watch them overnight.

Today, we’re having my family over for a cookout, so hopefully the sun will come out! I hope you have a great Saturday!

Questions of the day:

Are you a fast runner?
What are your favorite running conditions? Flat and sunny? Hilly and cool? Snowy and below zero?
Any plans today?

runeatplay

10 Comments

Filed under Family Fun, Fitness, Uncategorized, Working Out

Tagged as 5k, coffee, Dunkin Donuts, family, fox trot, running

May 21, 2012 · 3:16 pm

The Big 3-0 Part III

This will be my last birthday post. I promise. You can check out my birthday post #1 here and part #2 here.

Although my birthday celebration was Saturday, my actual 30th birthday was on Sunday. I told Danny that all I wanted for my birthday breakfast was Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts. I had my free DD birthday coffee card, so it worked out perfect.

Before we picked up the kids from my in-laws, we headed to Dunkin Donuts where I ordered half a dozen donuts.

There’s seven donuts in the box because the manager gave me a free jelly donut since it was my birthday. I ate half of a chocolate frosted cake donut, half of a regular chocolate frosted donut, and a whole jelly donut. That’s what I’m talking about.

I only ate two donuts total, Danny had a couple, and we brought the rest to the kids. I honestly ate so much this weekend and whatever I wanted, so I don’t think the scale will be budging this week. In fact, it might even go up a little bit. I’m hoping not, and I’m back on track today so we’ll see!

After we picked up the kids, we went to a nearby outdoor kids festival. Jacob had a great time climbing the rock wall, but Jaden was upset because he was too small to do it, so I told him that we could beat each other up Gladiator-style instead.

Hitting his mom with a giant Q-tip made him feel better.

We walked around for a bit and checked out everything they had. The kids played some games and did some gymnastics.

Jaden won a prize from a local radio station. They didn’t have any kids prizes left, so I talked him into getting the Biggest Loser workout DVD. It was between that or a Breaking Dawn (Twilight) hat. On second thought…

Then we came home and Danny and the kids had some birthday presents for me. The best part was the wrapping paper. (Sorry, Danny. This is too funny not to share). As soon as I saw the wrapping paper, I asked Danny why he got me baby shower wrapping paper. He asked me what I was talking about, and I showed him that the wrapping paper said baby all over it.

He told me he just assumed that it said happy birthday. I thought it was hilarious.

Then my mom also came over with some happy birthday presents. How cute is this bag? I’m going to use it as a pool bag this summer.

Later in the afternoon, I went to the Benefit Brow Bar in Ulta to get my free eyebrow wax! The Ulta near me recently relocated and added a Benefit counter. I was so excited because I love their brow bar (a fancy way of saying eyebrow waxing). It’s normally $20, but on your birthday it’s free. I always tip though, of course. The girl who did my eyebrows also just turned 30 and was so super sweet. I will definitely be going back.

After getting hair ripped out of my face with hot wax, we went to Qdoba. It was a toss-up between Qdoba, Chipolte, or Moe’s. Qdoba won.

And of course, I couldn’t end the night without some birthday fro-yo.

End birthday celebration weekend. Now, I’m just old and 30.

Questions of the day:

What’s the last thing you did outside?
Qdoba, Chipolte, or Moe’s?
Favorite donut?

runeatplay

12 Comments

Filed under Breakfast, Dinner, Family Fun, Fun

Tagged as birthday, coffee, dinner, Dunkin Donuts, fro-yo, Qdoba

May 5, 2012 · 9:21 am

A Morning Run

I went to bed last night at 11:30 pm feeling exhausted. I was so tired, I felt like I could sleep for three days straight, or at least until 9:00 am. But nope. I woke up at 6:30 am. Seriously? 6:30 am? It’s Saturday!

Since I couldn’t fall back to sleep, I decided to get up a go for a walk/run. I usually go to yoga on Saturday mornings, but I wasn’t really in a yoga mood. And since I went to yoga on Wednesday night, I didn’t feel too bad about skipping it today.

Workout:

Approx. 3.5 miles (2:30/2:30 walk/run ratio) outside

The good thing about waking up early is that you get done with your workout early. By the time I got back home, Danny and the kids were still sleeping. I felt accomplished.

I finished my run/walk by 8 am, and then stopped at McDonald’s for some coffee and cinnamelts for the kids.

I haven’t had McDonald’s coffee since I started my Spring Weight Loss Challenge. With cream and sugar it comes out to 110 calories, compared to 37 calories for the coffee that I drink at home. I use Truvia and Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss cream. But today, I decided to treat myself.

On my run this morning, I found this little caterpillar guy that I brought home for Jaden. He has an affinity for collecting rolly pollies, so I thought a caterpillar would be fun too. I named him Lawrence.

I haven’t seen a caterpillar like this since I was young! My brother and I always used to catch them.

On a totally unrelated note, I started reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth last night. It’s book #2 in the Divergent trilogy.

I read Divergent so long ago that when I started Insurgent I was lost for a while because I couldn’t remember what happened in Divergent. But after a few chapters, it started coming back to me. I might have to go back and skim through Divergent though.

Today will be pretty busy. Jacob starts a computer class today where the kids design their own video games. Then directly from there, we’re going to a mini golf place for Jacob’s birthday party with his friends from school. Then right after that we’re having a family birthday party at home.

The menu includes:

Italian beef sandwiches
Baked mostaccioli
Orzo and spinach salad

We’re also going to have assorted snacks and Marlene is making a yummy birthday cake!

Questions of the day:

Do you wake up early? Do you like to sleep in on the weekends?
Did you collect anything when you were younger? Do you collect anything now?
Any plans for today?

runeatplay

14 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Spring Weight Loss Challenge, Working Out

Tagged as caterpillar, coffee, run, working out

January 20, 2012 · 12:08 pm

I’ll Just Take the Coffee

Look what Danny brought home from work yesterday:

Jeesh, doesn’t he know that I have a donut addiction?! Luckily, I stayed strong and didn’t eat one. The fact that they sat out all day long kind of helped sway my decision. They sure smelled good though…

For dinner, I made salmon with roasted red potatoes, green beans, carrots, and cottage cheese with peaches.

I buy the white wine preseasoned salmon at the store. It’s only $1 more than the plain salmon, and it saves me the time of having to season it myself. And to me that’s worth paying the extra $1, because I am also making burgers for everyone else, cooking side dishes, and watching the kids.

After dinner I headed out to the nighttime BodyPump class. I wasn’t able to go to yoga on Wednesday, so I wanted to get another class in for the Commit to be Fit Challenge.

Today

Danny is so sweet. Look what he brought me home this morning:

Kleenex and coffee. He’s so romantic. He asked me what was better: Kleenex and coffee or Kleenex and chocolate.

Kleenex and coffee. Duh. This man really know that way to my heart.

Workout

10 minutes hoola hooping
23 minutes treadmill (walking/jogging)
7 minutes stepper machine (after 7 minutes I still couldn’t figure out how to work this machine)

I started my workout with 10 minutes of hoola hooping at home. Then I headed to the gym for a quick and easy workout. My body is pretty tired from doing BodyPump three times this week, so I just did a quick cardio workout. I used the stepper machine for the first time, and I couldn’t really figure it out – it felt awkward. I like the Stairmaster better, but my new gym doesn’t have one.

That’s the way I hoop:

Breakfast

On the way to the gym, I heard a radio commercial for Panera’s Mediterranean Egg White sandwich. I’m such a sucker for advertising. You know the car commercial with the dancing hamsters? Well, I don’t even know what kind of car it is, but I’d buy it just because those dancing hamster are so funny.

I guess it’s no surprise that I went to Panera after the gym. My Panera card had a free smoothie or frappe drink on it. I asked if I could just get regular coffee instead because those frozen drinks are like 500 calories. The lady was like but the frappes are $4 and the coffee’s only $1.89. Are you sure you want to do that? You’re losing money. How about a coffee and we’ll add a pastry to make up the difference.

I just wanted my breakfast sandwich and free coffee. So finally, I settled on a chocolate chip muffie for Jaden. Then she’s like oh, take two muffies to make up the price difference. I know she was trying to help me out, but I was already tempted with donuts yesterday. I didn’t want to be tempted with muffies too.