wiaw + ladders

I can’t thank you all enough for the wonderful comments from yesterday’s post!  It’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one who feels completely lost as a parent at times.  It will definitely continue to be a struggle, as I’m sure this is probably the easiest I will have it during MacKenna’s lifetime.  I don’t even want to think about adolescence yet!

When I’m not focusing all my time on MacKenna, I’m focusing a lot of my energy on continuing to lose my baby weight.  I’ve still got a good 5 or 6 pounds to go, but generally, I’m happy with how I look.  Clean (-ish) eating and occasional calorie counting has definitely helped.

I am currently reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald and am finding it incredibly interesting.  I will do a full review when I finish it, but the one thing I have taken away from it so far is that just by calorie counting occasionally, even if it is not exactly accurate, can help you lose more weight than by not doing it at all.  While I don’t necessarily enjoy counting calories as much as I used to, it’s nice to know that even if I’m only doing it on occasion and not really measuring everything out exactly, I am more likely to lose weight.  So far, it seems to be helping!

Pre-Workout Snack

Another delicious homemade protein bar.  I forgot to link you to the recipe last week, but seriously make them!  Easy + delicious (as long as your honey hasn’t crystallized like mine had).

AM Workout

A short mile run on the treadmill in the good ol’ Vibrams, along with Week 1 Day 1 of the 200 Situps program.  My abs are lacking strength right now so I’m trying to get back into the habit of hitting my abs in the weight room.

Breakfast

Can’t go wrong with a to-go smoothie!  Blueberry-banana-peach this go around.

Mid-Morning Snack

I decided I should switch it up for ya’ll since I’m sure you’re sick of seeing honey roasted peanuts (don’t worry, you’ll see them later on).  An apple and a string cheese.

Lunch

Veggies!  A delicious salad with carrots, tomatoes, onion, celery, cheese, hardboiled egg, croutons, and TJ’s low fat Ranch dressing.  Hey, if ranch dressing is going to help me eat vegetables, then so be it!  And this was a better-for-you ranch than other ones.

And half a baked potato with cottage cheese on the side.

Afternoon Snack

The best Chobani flavor, in my honest opinion – Blood Orange!  I’m not even a big citrus fan, but this is delicious!  With honey roasted peanuts on top for added crunch!

PM Workout

Tuesday’s are speed training days for me, and this one just so happened to be a ladder day.  Matt’s track season started this week, so I’m in charge of picking up MacKenna in the afternoon.  Usually, my speed days are my long days, but since I didn’t want to pick up M too late, I wanted to keep this a little shorter.  I did a 1-2-4-4-2-1 ladder workout with half time recoveries – short + sweet:

31 minutes of intense running – hurt so good!  I use my RunKeeper Pro app on my iPhone to set the intervals, but if you wanted to you can sub distance for time.

• 1 minute = 200 meters
• 2 minutes = 400 meters
• 4 minutes = 800 meters

Dinner

I was single-parenting last night because Matt not only had track after school but a meeting in the evening.  Of course, M screamed while I was making dinner, stopped while eating (thank goodness), and passed out after dinner, leaving a pile of dishes for me to clean later.  But, my dinner was delicious!

Quinoa, peppers, corn, zucchini, black beans, cheddar, and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt – YUM!

Not Dessert Dessert

This not eating after dinner thing is KILLING me!  I just want something to nibble on.  I’m drinking hot chocolate every night now because it’s the only thing that helps me not go to bed as starving as when I don’t drink it.  Homemade hot chocolate is AH-mazing too!

2 tablespoons sugar + 2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder + 1/4 cup water microwaved, then add 12 ounces vanilla soymilk and microwave for another 2 minutes – tastes like Starbucks!