Sweet Saturday

Seriously this weekend has been fantastic and is only getting better.



We started the weekend off with a trip to The Grilled Cheese Truck. We went with some friends and ate deliciousness. So good. Of course we had to eat on the ground in the dark so pictures did not happen. I really need a camera that can handle low-light.



This morning I woke up with my legs looking super puffy and swollen. Especially my knees. Andy went on a run at a local park and I decided to walk on the treadmill. But not without taping my knees first!



My PT suggested tape only. He explained to me that knee braces or sleeves can't move the kneecap in the way I need to. I highly suggest talking to a physical therapist before taping your knees! (Everyone is different and there are tons of different ways to tape.)



I start with the cover roll. The leukotape will rip your skin off. You don't want that. The cover roll serves as a barrier.



You want to get a tight fit so your legs look really awkward.



You want knee puckering. You seriously do. That's how you know the leukotape is tight enough. (Again, this was a suggestion from my physical therapist.)



Weird knee puckering.



Then I foam rolled my calves, IT bands and hamstrings. Tight muscles can actually make knee pain worse. Foam rolling helps stretch them out.



I bought my foam roller on Amazon for super cheap. It's short but does the trick. Afterwards I walked 2 miles on the treadmill at an incline with wrist weights. Biz gave me the idea. I ran .6 of a mile and lifted weights for 30 minutes.



After my walk/run we went to pick up our CSA and go shopping. I was so excited to find PUMPKIN ice cream!



And I made a pizza with figs and arugula from our CSA. I also used pancetta, mozzarella, roasted garlic and parmesan.



It was amazing! I sauteed the arugula with the pancetta which was a great idea. The arugula had a wonderful flavor to it.



The figs caramelized nicely and added a welcome sweetness.



The crust was wheaty and buttery due to the garlic butter I brushed it with. YUM!

I weighed in today and my weight is the exact same. I haven't been eating as clean as possible and need to work on that. I went out for dinner for my sister's 21st birthday, for my friend's birthday and I ate delicious grilled cheese. I also cut back on weight lifting. Bad idea. I know next week will be better!

Can't wait to post about where we're going for dinner tonight!

How's your weekend going?

Taking a serious look at my life

I lost a pound this week. Not terrible but not exactly what I wanted. That means I have three weeks to lose seven pounds. It can be done...but the holidays are RIGHT around the corner. How am I going to tackle this?

My plans are to track what I eat down to every bite, lick and taste. I am going to run today immediately after I hit publish on this post for about 45 minutes. After my run, I'll try some of the weight machines at our apartment gym out. Question: Do you weight train before or after cardio?

As for the eats, I could always do better!



The people over at Vitalicious sent me and Andy some vitamuffins and brownies to sample. (For free, I was not paid to write about their product.)



As soon as the box arrived on my doorstep, I froze the muffins and brownies. When I was ready to eat one, I plopped it in the mircowave for 30 seconds.



Then I topped it with light whipped cream, vanilla ice cream (I actually measured out a proper serving size of 1/2 cup) and some caramel. Including the muffin, this dessert ended up at about 300 calories. I think next time, I'll put only half a muffin with my dessert. I was super full afterwards.



I also received these noodles from the folks at Al Dente Pasta. While Andy cooked the turkey italian sausage, I started boiling the water for the noodles. Once the water is boiling, you throw in the noodles for a mere 4 minutes. Our noodles weren't done until about 6 minutes.



Look, there's no way to make a sausage look attractive. (TWSS!) But I digress, I served up the pasta with some tomato sauce, a turkey italian sausage for protein and some roasted asparagus. The flavor of the pasta was great. I love whole wheat pasta but this didn't even taste like whole wheat. My only gripe about these noodles is that they stick together easily. (Maybe operator error?) Anyway the stats for this meal aren't terrible...about 400 total with tons of fiber from the pasta and the sauce.

I am going to a Weight Watcher's meeting tomorrow so I'll post my weigh in stats from that and let you know how it goes. I think it will be good for me to sit through a meeting right before the holidays start. I'm hoping that increasing my workouts and decreasing my caloric intake works for me. Otherwise I'll be one disappointed girl come January 5th.

So tell me, any tips for me? Remember I'm trying to lose the healthy way. No cabbage soup diet, slim fast or mystery maple syrup drinks for me. Less ice cream might help though!

Love the blog world!

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my blog post yesterday. I've decided that you are right, if my old friend wants us to start being friends again she will contact me. I tend to obsess over these things of course. I think I refreshed my gmail like 100 times before deciding to let things go.

I have always been like this. I hate when I let people into my life and then have to deal with them disappearing. It's hard to decide who to blame in this situation. I think I just expect a happy ending still even though it's been about two years since I spoke to this friend.

No more bummer summer Amanda.

So now that the November Challenge is over, I am desparately seeking a new challenge for myself.

Enter Operation Lose 10 Pounds by the New Year.

While I realize 10 pounds is a lofty goal, it's nothing I can't handle. I am going with my weigh-in weight from Tuesday and will weigh in every Tuesday. My final weigh-in will actually be after the New Year on January 5th. (Also our six month wedding anniversary!)

What does this mean?

Weigh-in December 8th
Weigh-in December 15th
Weigh-in December 22nd
Weigh-in December 29th
and
Final Weigh in January 5th

So I'd need to lose about 2 lbs per weigh-in. I know I can do this! Now I'm off to attempt a 45 minute Jillian Michael's video. Wish me luck!

Meat and Potatoes.

Last night, I made dinner FOR A MAN. Please click the link read Kalin's blog. She is hilarious!



I took 1/2 onion and 2 cloves of garlic and caramelized them. It was a slow process. I put the burner on low, added a tbsp of olive oil and stirred.



While the on-yons and GAAAAAHHLIC (a nod to Andy's grandma's southern boyfriend) did their thing, I put a pot roast in the oven with more onions. I was paranoid about cooking a pot roast. I kept checking the thermometer to see if the internal temp had reached 145*.



Of course, a pot roast cannot be complete without potatoes. I took these mini yellow potatoes and cut off the ugly bits. (I leave the skin on!)

For my mashed potatoes;

use 1 bag mini-yellow potatoes
1/2 cup caramelized onions and garlic
1/2 cup fat-free milk
a dash of half and half
salt to taste
pepper to taste
and 1 tbsp real butter.

The addition of the onions adds so much flavor. (Please feel free to substitute almond milk and earth balance if you are participating in Vegan Week (Or if you are a vegan!) And make some meatless meatloaf ala See Sarah Eat

I definitely could use more vegan meals in my life. But alas, I made pot roast. And it was SO GOOD!!!!



I was so happy with how this turned out. The pot roast had tons of flavor and the potatoes were spot on. I'm almost 100% irish so I know my potatoes. I loved these! I just wish I would have had some veggies on hand. I think some carrots, parsnips or green beans would have complimented this nicely.



But I digress, sometimes meat and potatoes is satisfying. Today I will focus on more veggies. I plan on doing something magical with a butternut squash and an eggplant.

3 things before I go.

1. My weigh-in last night wasn't as good as I expected. I lost 0.6. Which means I need to lose 0.4 to be at 10 lbs lost. Andy's birthday is on Saturday and I plan on sharing some sort of dessert with him...but I'm nervous. I plan on amping up the workouts!

2. Check out Lindsey's Give and Feel Good Challenge. I have been trying to do the dishes everyday. It's a way for me to give to Andy. I loathe doing dishes but it makes me feel good to do them for a change. Andy works so hard and deserves some sort of a break when he gets home!

3. Do you crave veggies? I always do after a few days of carbs, meat and starch. I'm on my way to drinking a big GREEN Amazing Grass Smoothie right now.

P.S. I am seeing New Moon friday! YAY!!!!!!!