100 days straight...

A good friend of mine Jen and fellow weight watchers leader told me about her daughter challenging her to a 100 days of working out. 10 minutes of activity qualifies as a day. I thought really long and hard about where I am with my fitness goals... Even though I am a runner I still need motivation sometimes. Tomorrow is day 1 of 100. So here goes the blog... All about my 100 day journey... I will try my very best to post everyday what activity I did. I told my mom today that I have a zillion fitness magazines with circuits in them so I am sure I can manage 10 minutes. Although the challenge doesn't have to be 100 days of exercise what could you challenge yourself with.... So tomorrow is day 1... what will bring... check back and find out...

Lunch Time

So this week at weight watchers we are talking about not being bored with our meals... I heard an idea from another leader that if she is out to eat or at a party she takes pictures of her meals so she doesn't have to worry about tracking. I also had read this is a great idea. So over the next several days I am going to post some of my meals. I figured this would be a great day to make myself make some changes. Today's post is going to be my lunch from Tuesday. It may seem like a lot however here are a few reasons why. I get 29 points plus values per day. My lunch tends to have to hold me over for awhile so I want it to be filling.

The first picture shows a zoomed in picture of my salad. It is 4oz of turkey breast, spinach, green pepper, mushrooms, carrots, grapes, pickles, red pepper flakes and 1 tsp of Olive Oil. This ends up being about 3 points plus.

The second picture features the salsa that I top my salad off with. It also features 2 small sweet potatoes, fat free sugar free butterscotch pudding and an apple. The reason there are two sweet potatoes is that those are very small. In fact after being cooked I weighed them on my scale and it was only 5.5oz which equals 3 points plus.

The apple and pudding are my dessert because I am a sweet eater. I love the pudding because it is only 1 points plus. I can dip that apple in the pudding and YUM! The salad is one of the keys to my lunch. I can change up what I put in it everyday and still keep this not feeling so boring. What could you do to spice up your lunch? What do you think of my lunch? Any ideas for me?

New Running Shoes

So I finally broke down and bought a new pair of running shoes. Many people have told me that fleet feet is a great place to go. They were right.  I went to the location here locally in Schererville, Indiana. They do have locations all of the united states so I am sure there is one locally if you are trying to find out. Check out their website... fleetfeetsports.com

The employee Louie who helped me was very friendly and I felt he did a great job. One of the really great things about fleet fe et is that they not only meausre your feet but they really look into what kind of shoes would be best for you. They have a lot of different types. Louie told me that I really didn't need a shoe for any kind of support simply just something that would light on my feet. He was right. I LOVE MY NEW SHOES. (photo to the right). The other really great part is that they bring out several pairs. You try them on and they even let you go outside and test them. I think I really ended up with the most expesnsive pair of all of the ones I tried on however these truly were the ones that felt the best on my feet. They are a pair by brooks.

 Although fleet feet is epensive I really think they are great for new runners or someone who has to clue where to start looking for shoes. They also recommend use dry fit socks. I knew I would have to eventually give into the dry fit socks since my running coach had told me how important they were. I haven't run a race in my new shoes yet but I have run a few practice runs in them and I am loving them.

Finish Line

So I finished the Crossroads of Indiana half marathon. 2 hours  8 minutes 47 seconds. 168th place out of 389 and I also finished 16 out of 45 in my age group. I feel proud to have finished! I have often said I think I must be crazy to have become a runner...BUT you know what makes it all worth it? The finish line. Unlike losing weight where there is no true finish line there is when you race. Even though my time wasn't great and the race was much harder than I truly anticipated I finished and it felt good. Oh and the cookies are usually an added bonus! I love my running friends and the piece of mind I get from pounding the pavement. I even bought new running shoes (post about that to follow soon). I am exicted for my next race and I am so glad spring has finally arrived!

Ahhh Baseball Season...

That means spring will be coming! The sun will be shinning! I am so ready... Here is a picture of me and Rosie Red. You know I am from Cincinnati and just so you know I love the REDS! Always have always will. I love all that follows the beginning of baseball season. I am running the Lowell Half Marathon this weekend. I do not feel prepared but the one thing I can say is that I plan to go out there and give it my all. I also have a lot of warm weather plans in the making. Do you? What do you love about spring? The annual Ringing in the Spring 5K in Valparaiso, Indiana is this weekend. What else is kicking off spring for you?

What I have learned from Vacations...

Ok so many of you know Jason (my boyfriend) and I spent a week in Las Vegas. We had a great time. The weather was much colder than we expected but we still had a great time. Here is what I learned. I basically stayed the same/gained about .2 pounds while I was gone. Although we did two days of all you can eat buffets we did a ton of walking. I tracked over 115,00 steps on my weight watchers pedometer. It really felt good to not be so lazy and to walk places. I also made sure that I did make as many good choices as I possibly could. I am not sure they were all the best (see photo of very large drink... I shared I promise).

 I think after several vacations since joining weight watchers I have learned several things.

1. Have a good time. Its a vacation enjoy it.

2. Do the best you can. You don't have to be perfect on vacation but try to enjoy yourself. Sometimes we think because we enjoyed one meal that wasn't so friendly they are all going to be that way but it doesn't have to be.

3. Don't be disappointed by the numbers on the scale. I feel going and not totally blowing it is success.

4. Find a way to be active. Most of my vacations have involved a lot of walking so that has helped me. On the one that didn't I found at least one day to hit up the hotel gym. I feel like being as active as I possibly can really helps.

How can you make your next vacatin successful?

What can we learn from basketball?

If you know me well enough you know I LOVE SPORTS! Right now we are in the thick of one of my favorite times of year.. MARCH MADNESS... so it got me thinking what can we learn from basketball?




1. It takes a team... you can't win a basketball game without teammates. You also can lose weight without asking for help. Who is on your team? Who is there you catch your pass? Who can you feed the ball to when the shot is open for you to take? Don't be afraid to ask for help.



2. Be Selfish. The really great basketball players know when to just take the shot. They also know when to pass the ball. If you have the open shot take it. This is your life. Take control the best you can. Don't be afraid to do what you need to do to accomplish your goals and win the game.



3. The little guy can always win. Every year the media dreams of a Cinderella team beating up on the big teams. Just like in basketball anyone with the willingness and determination can win. Just like you. You can win this game we call weight loss. Make a plan and put it into action.

4. Sometimes you just get beat. You can have the best game plan, the best team and sometimes you just don't win. When you don't win though you have to bounce back. Learn from your mistakes. What didn't work? What did? Reflect and put a new plan into action.

What kind of plan are you putting into place? What do you need to do to hit the slam dunk?