Truths and Lies

I just recently realized I tell myself a lot of lies. Here's what they are:

Lie: I like fried foods.
I go crazy for fried pickles and onion rings. I regularly order chicken fingers.  I lourve French fries.  Don't get me started on the White Horse's apple sticks. But here's the truth that I've just recently realized: Fried foods make me feel gross.  Afterwards.  Fried pickles may taste good going down, but then they sit in my stomach feeling heavy and just weighing me down. I'm not sure it's worth it.

Lie: I deserve a reward. Bring on the chocolate!
I'm a raging chocoholic. I wish there was a 12 step program for it, except I don't really because then I would have to give it up and be choco-sober. On top of that, my thinking usually goes something like this "Yay me! I worked out extra hard today!" or "I'm awesome, I solved a difficult problem/got a lot of work done today." or "Poor me, I had to do something horrible today. I deserve a treat."  Interesting how it works both when I've done something good AND when I've done something bad.  Yet in neither situation is it appropriate to reward myself with food.

Lie: I am sad. Eating whatever I want will make me feel better.
Here's the thing, kids. Food might taste good, but it doesn't solve problems.

The bad thing is I'm pretty sure there are other lies I'm telling myself.  And I'm pretty sure I'll continue to get tripped up by these three.  I'm hoping that recognizing them will give me some measure of defense against them.

But how about you? Have you ever caught yourself telling yourself lies?  Care to share with the gang?

PS. I made it through one day of being back on track!. I actually counted my calories, have thus far eaten within my allotted range and haven't been hungry, plus I ran/walked for 55 minutes. It's not impossible to live life with a little discipline, it's just not quite as sugary.

Best Laid Plans

I weighed on Friday for the first time in just over two months.  It has been wonderful, the not weighing and the eating whatever I felt like.

However, I've gained 15 pounds since then. Not cool. Apparently I'm not meant to live a life where I can eat whatever I feel like. I'm meant to live a life of counting every calorie and avoiding ice cream and sweets like the plague.  Wonderful.

I took this information in stride on Friday.  I didn't let it affect me (see my happiness post) and planned to start trying again on Monday.  Over the weekend I tried to eat the foods left in my house from my time of freedom that do not jive with my diet plan.  Some chips, some ice cream, some beer, you get the picture.  Was this a healthy attitude? Probably not.

I made my meals yesterday and then I realized that today I had plans to eat lunch with a friend and dinner at a cookout.  Two situations I can not control, so I gave up on today. I got breakfast on the way to work and made an unhealthy choice at lunch.  Was that the right attitude? Probably not.  Was I a little bit scared of failing to lose again? Probably.

Plus, I've been reading a LOT lately.  I love this, but the more I read, the harder it is to return to the real world. Is that crazy? Probably.

Where does this leave me?  A little depressed and a little resolved to try again tomorrow. It seems like everyone around me is moving forward with goals or big life changes (marriage, babies, etc.), and I'm still here trying to lose the same pounds I've already lost once before.  "Frustrated" sums it up.

Any encouragement you can provide would be appreciated.

New Kicks!

Thanks to my friendly Omega Sports employee (and one of my top 5 favorite high school SENIORS), Jenna, I got some new kicks last week.

My last running shoes wore slap out and then I started running in just some generic sneakers because I was too lazy to go buy new ones. Then those generic sneakers wore slap out, and I've been using that as an excuse to not run as much lately.


But I've offiically registered for the Heels N Wheels duathlon on August 27 in Way Cross, GA, and I've got to get serious about running again. It's amazing how quickly you (I) lose the ability to run.I can't believe that in December/January I was running 5-6 miles.  Now I can't even run one mile. Right now, I'm doing a run/walk combination where I run for the length of one song on my ipod and then I walk for the length of one song.  I've completed two of these workouts this week. I hope to move up to running two songs/walking one song in another week or two.

Anyway, check out my new kicks.  These new guys are Mizuno Wave Riders. I took them out for my first run today, and they did great. Like running on a cloud! And no blisters at the end, which is a blessing for new shoes.

You may wonder about the difference between running shoes and regular sneakers.  Mainly, if you are interested in running, you need to go to a running store and get fitted by a professional to make sure you're buying the right shoe for your foot. These stores usually have treadmills with cameras attached to them. The cameras record your gait and then the salesperson can tell what kind of shoe you need based on how your foot lands on the treadmill.  They should also let you try them on and run in them a bit to get a feel for them.

Happy running!

Happiness and Farm Fresh Friday

While today is yet another Farm Fresh Friday (just two more after this), I don't want my blog readers getting bored with my vegtastic updates. So today is going to be a post chock-full of lists.
First the Farm Fresh list. Today we got:

• tomatoes
• corn
• cantaloupe
• green peppers
• cukes
• onions 
• green onions
• cherry tomatoes
• blueberries
• okra (new to the box! Luckily, I've already learned to cook it.)

I'm going to make shishkabobs again this week, as it helped me consume a lot of my veggies last week. I'm also going to make my favorite recipe, Veggie Sausage balls, because they use up some of these tomatoes!



Happiness
On to more exciting stuff.  I've been sort of bursting with happiness this week. I don't know why exactly, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. But here is a list of what has been making me happy lately:

• Anticipation of the final Harry Potter movie (I'm going tonight to see it!)
• The thought of seeing 3/5 of my nieces and nephews this weekend
• The thought of seeing 2/5 of my nieces and nephews in a few weeks
• Driving GeorgJetta! (my Volkswagen Jetta)
• Country music/ belting out country music
• My voracious reading habits of late
• The thought of the weekend
• Making lists
• Smiling (it's my favorite)
• Cookies and ice cream (sadly, this must come to an end...and soon)
• Cool summer nights
• Cute boys (men)

Top 3 Best Things About Driving Myself

1. Speeding/navigating around slower drivers
2. Listening to my own music (see country music, above.)
3. Being able to run errands/take care of business on my own

Top 3 Worst Things About Driving Myself

1. Stoplights (I forgot how much I hate them)
2. Having to get into a burning hot car at the end of the day (when people picked me up, the car was pre-cooled for me)
3. Being pulled over for speeding (yep, on my first day back to driving I was pulled in an RHPD sting operation. Luckily, I just got a warning.)

Hope you have a super fantastic weekend!

You Are What You Tweet

My friend and fellow blogger April posted her twitter-life infographic over on her A Little of This and That blog today.

I also love infographics, and while I'm not a heavy Twitter user, I have been getting a little more tweet-happy lately.  Every time I post a blog it automatically publishes to Twitter, so there's at least that consistently.

 April and I have a pretty similar tweeting infographic.  And while this graph rates my interestingess at a lowly 2.7%, I do love that it points at an ice cream bowl as a "likely obsession."  Does it know me or what?

Want to follow me on twitter?  @justjills.

What's Up Wednesday- Healthy Snacks

In this edition of What's Up Wednesday, I figure that since last week I encouraged you to share your guilty pleasure foods, this week I oughta hit the other side with healthy snacks. What's your favorite healthy snack?

I tend to go on streaks where I eat the same healthy snacks every day for weeks at a time.   Lately, I've been doing these Breakstone's Cottage Doubles cottage cheese and fruit combos. My favorite flavors are peach and pineapple.  The strawberry and blueberry are slightly gross. They come in 100 calorie packs,which have 8 g of protein, making them pretty filling for 100 calories.

My second current go-to snack is Breyer's Yo Crunch Fruit Parfait.  I prefer it in Strawberry. It comes with a packet of granola on top that you mix in, making them very similar to the fruit & yogurt parfaits you can get now from McDonald's and Chic-fil-A (except smaller). These guys are 120 calories and 3 g of protein. They are not quite as satisfying as the cottage cheese, but they are very sweet and a nice tasty treat.

I was eating a lot of almonds, but I am S-I-C-K of them.  I'm also getting pretty tired of both the cottage cheese and fruit and yogurt parfaits (plus, that's a lot dairy, really).  So I'm going to use this What's Up Wednesday to my advantage and hopefully get some great new snack ideas from ya'll.

Let me hear from you!  What's your favorite healthy snack?

Never Stop Moving

This is my new motto: Never stop moving.

Last week I was busy/lazy/tired and didn't work out much at all. In fact, the only exercise I did in a seven day span was two hour-long brisk walks, both of which happened on Wednesday of last week.

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you know that this is unlike me.  Normally I do not have a lot of excuses that keep me from fitness. Exercising makes me feel good, and since I usually work out alongside friends, it's fun too.

oh, my aching back!

    Beginning on Sunday of this week, I began to  get serious again about exercise. On Sunday I  biked and swam, On Monday I biked to work and  lifted weights, and today I ran/walked for about 50  minutes.

    Let me tell you, last night I paid for this sudden  burst of exercise. I was so sore that I couldn't  sleep.  I just laid there in bed and ached. And  began to compose this post in my head about how  I'm not going to let my busy-ness or tiredness  sneak up on me again.  I need to move. I need to  move regularly to keep from being this sore again.  I like moving, and I'd like to be able continue  moving and stop hobbling around like I have  arthritis in places you don't normally get arthritis.*  Therefore the new motto: never stop moving.

So even when I am busy or tired, I'm going to continue to make exercise a priority. I don't always have to tackle it at full steam, if I'm not feeling great, but the point is to get out there and do something.

Who's with me? Say it with me now:
NEVER
STOP
MOVING

*If you must know, my butt (glutes) is the most sore, but also my shoulders/back and my abs.