The Benefits of a Large Breakfast

Lately, I’ve been trying to eat a very large breakfast:

This breakfast is about 500 – 600 calories.

 

I believe I’ve mentioned before that I struggle with balancing my meals throughout the workday. If I don’t use snacks properly, I’ll end up overeating at one of my regular meals. Last week, I was very hungry at breakfast, so I had oatmeal AND a breakfast sandwich — it was a lot of food, but I didn’t feel groggy afterwards like I do when I eat a huge lunch, and I noticed when it came time for lunch, I didn’t eat nearly as much.

So, despite conflicting studies (this article in the New York Times cites a study that says more calories at breakfast merely adds calories throughout the day), I think for me a large (about 600 calories) breakfast is the key to curbing my hunger throughout the day.

Also, let’s stop demonizing bagels, ok? I eat a bagel for breakfast roughly once a week and it’s one of my very favorite breakfasts. If you get a whole grain bagel and don’t go overboard on the cream cheese, it’s actually a very nutritious breakfast. I can see how eating such a large amount of bread daily could be an issue, but having a bagel for breakfast isn’t the end of the world. And it tastes so good!

Anywho, after all that I’m sitting here post-bagel and I’m not sure I can choke down the rest of my breakfast. No big deal, I’ll eat it in about an hour. The key is to not go into lunch feeling like I might die of hunger!

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How was your St. Patrick’s Day weekend!? Mine was pretty good. Zach and I ended up not doing much of anything in the evenings, however.

On Friday, I went to Crossfit and saw that our first task was to run a mile for time. I was immediately anxious. There were only three of us at class on Friday evening, and the other two were men (one of whom was wearing a t-shirt from a marathon). I was sure that they were going to finish a mile 5 minutes ahead of me. Ever since my injury during the Marshall Half Marathon and the longest winter ever where I’ve been plodding along on the treadmill doing 11 minute miles, I felt like my days of running (relatively) fast were gone. A few years ago, I took a running class at my alma mater’s Rec Center and we had to do a mile for time. My time was 8:08, and I’ve been so proud of that mile ever since.

So, needless to say, while we stretched and foam rolled our muscles at the beginning of that class, I was feeling nervous. We set off to do the mile and I was sure I was going to fall behind the guys, but I kept the pace. I focused on breathing evenly and just kept my pace up, pushing hard at the end. I was glad to see that I was only a few seconds behind the guys when we finished, but when my coached said my time, I was shocked: 7:50! No way! I thought for sure I would have run it slower than my fastest mile. I’m pretty pumped to get back out there and run again after that.

Our WOD, if you’re interested, looked like this:

1 mile (for time)

2 rounds:
10 high pulls (65 pounds)
10 front squats (45 pounds)
Prowler pull
30 sit ups

I finished the mile in 7:50 like I said, and the rest of the WOD in 9:06 (I was the first to finish, but the guys were doing 115 and 65 pounds respectively).

After that, I was content to sit on the couch like this for the rest of the night:

 

The Friday evening Crossfit class has been giving me zero motivation to do any other workouts for the rest of the weekend. I didn’t do anything on Saturday OR Sunday (although to be fair, the weather outside on Sunday was awful! Snow! So over it!)

Our evenings on Friday night and Saturday night were laaaaazy! We just couldn’t get the motivation to hit the town. I’m a little bummed we missed out on all the St. Patty’s Day fun, but  we did manage to spend a little time at a friend’s house on Saturday:

 

I just love this photo of Zach. He’s so handsome.

..and on Sunday, I decided to throw together a vaguely St. Patrick’s Day themed dinner:

…which consisted of sausages, sauerkraut (which is cabbage!), Irish soda bread and potatoes. Zach even braved the yucky weather to go get us a six pack of Guiness for the occasion.

Question of the Day:
If you’re a runner, have you ever run a mile for time? If so, what is your best time? 

 

Will I Ever Learn My Lesson?

This morning’s desk breakfast is oatmeal, which never, ever keeps me full until lunch, but apparently I will never learn my lesson:

This time, I added 2 egg whites and a scoop of peanut butter to the oats to give them some staying power, and paired them with a pear on the side. The oats were really thick and creamy and delicious. I also drizzled some honey on them and cooked them in almond milk. Surely I’ll be starving by 10:00, but I was just craving a hot bowl of oats this morning!

I need to talk about my fitness plan. I’m feeling overwhelmed by my fitness desires lately. I want to do more running, and I also want to keep up with the Jamie Eason LiveFit Trainer (which I put on hiatus over the holidays), and as of today, I really want to get back to going to my group fitness classes, but it just doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day to meet all of my fitness wants.

This morning, I went back to the 6:15 Cardio Fusion class at my gym. I used to attend this class incredibly regularly, but I stopped going altogether after the half marathon and starting the LiveFit Trainer.

Whew, it was a rough one! Here’s what we did:

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Circuit 1: 30 seconds work/15 seconds rest; 2 times

– Sumo squat with dumbbell curl
– Push up, then move foot to elbow
– Renegade row (on each arm), with burpee
– Dumbbell curl with push out to squat
– Bent over dumbbell row to flye

Cardio blast: Run the length of the gym and back with Bosu over your head, then do 6 Bosu push ups. Repeat run, followed by 6 Bosu burpees, repeat run followed by 6 mountain climbers on Bosu — do 2 x

Hold wall sit, then raise each leg for 8 reps. Then hold wall sit again for 2 8 counts. 

Circuit 2: 30 seconds work/15 seconds rest; 2 times

– Half get ups (right) with dumbbell
– Side lunge (right) to curtsy lunge with curl (alternate lateral raise every other time)
– Half get ups (left) with dumbbell
– Side lunge (left) to curtsy lunge with curl (alternate lateral raise every other time)
– Chest flyes with double leg lower on floor

Repeat Cardio Blast

Do one set of all 10 exercises from both circuits, 30 seconds work, 15 seconds rest 

Cool down and STRETCH! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whew!! My heart was pumping and I sure was glad to reach the stretch portion of this class! This workout made me realize how much I miss going to this class. It’s so nice to wake up, throw on my workout clothes and shoes, and just go to the gym. No need to make a plan, no need to make sure my phone is charged, no untangling my headphones.

However, I am loving the muscle building that is going on with LiveFit. As much as I love my class, it’s more of a fast-paced, low-weight, high rep class with emphasis on fat burning. I need to figure out a way to fit it all in with running as well. Which means that I won’t be following LiveFit strictly anymore. I think because the Cardio Fusion class meets 2x a week, I can probably fit in one of those days. Since I made two fitness resolutions (run 600 miles this year and make a specific strength training plan each week), I will have to sit down and figure out how to fit it all in. I will keep you updated!

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In other food news, I wanted to share my dinner from last night:

I had to fit our cabbage in yesterday, and what better way to do that than with sauerkraut!? I made smoked sausage sauteed with peppers, onions and kraut, the Pioneer Woman’s crash potatoes, and roasted broccoli. It was so delicious, and I feel luckier already!

Question of the Day:
Do you ever feel like you can’t fit in all the different kinds of workouts you want to do? 

 

 

Don’t Snack Before Dinner: Go For a Run!

Yesterday when I got home from work, I was pretty hungry. I had a whole organic chicken in my refrigerator that I was planning on roasting, and pairing with mashed red-skin potatoes, roasted veggies and gravy (I’m practicing in case I have to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year). As soon as I got home, I prepped everything and threw it in the oven. All the yummy smells made my tummy rumble even more, which made me think about snacking.

I wanted to save my appetite for dinner, so I thought to myself, “Hey — Running suppresses my appetite, and this chicken has to cook for about 50 minutes….”

So, I strapped up my laces and hit the road.

So glad I did.

I don’t know what the weather has been like where you live, but we have had a perfect fall. I’m glad, because it’s my favorite season and last year we didn’t get much of a fall at all.

I was going to do my usual 3 mile up and back, but I got bored about 1 mile in and made a right hand turn. I ended up running through town instead of the park, and it was a much needed change of scenery.

Oh, and dinner was incredible:

Roast chicken (don’t worry, I didn’t eat that skin), mashed potatoes and roasted butternut squash, carrots, broccoli and few Brussels sprouts.

I’m absolutely obsessed with Thyme lately. I’m putting it in everything.

Question of the Day:
What’d you have for dinner last night? 

Weekend Eats

Still sleeping not-so-great, still having not-so-great runs. Think they are related? Hmmm 😉

I thought I’d use this post to share some of the yummy food I had this weekend. I cannot for the life of me remember what I made for dinner on Friday night (that’s what I thought about while I was laying awake in bed in the wee hours this morning), so I’m going to start with Saturday morning.

I woke up feeling not-so-hot, probably due to the fact that Zach and I met some of his friends out pretty late and then ended up meeting up with another friend. We were out later than usual, and I still wasn’t sleeping so well. I decided I wanted to make something different, so I whipped this together:

 

I chopped up some green peppers, onions and a potato, and sauteed them in my cast iron skillet (which is my favorite thing on earth, by the way). Then I sprinkled on some cheese and cracked two eggs on top and threw it in the oven for about 5-8 minutes.

Oh. my. goodness. was this delicious. I served it up with a slice of whole wheat toast. Yum.

Saturday was kind of….blah. I ended up taking a rest day from exercise because I was so tired from not getting enough sleep. I ended up taking a three hour nap in the middle of the day! I don’t know if I’m a little sick or what, but you would think a three hour nap would be refreshing…nope. I was still so tired throughout the day. But, we decided to meet up with some friends anyway to go to the annual Ribfest happening down by the riverfront: 

Ok, not the healthiest meal, but it sure was delicious. I got the three bone sampler, which came with potato salad, baked beans and a cornbread muffin. The cornbread muffin was more like dessert, but I wasn’t complaining (I ate Zach’s, too). It was pretty good, but I wish we had stood in the longer line to get Carolina Rib King. Though our friends were keeping the party going, I was feeling too run down to go out, so instead Zach and I headed home to watch a movie. On the way back to the car, I made him stop at Tropical Moon so I could get some frozen yogurt:

 

I got the mountain blackberry flavor, and added fresh fruit, including….more blackberries! It was really good, but I think the craving was just a craving, because I was too full from the Ribs to finish it.

The movie we watched was Wanderlust with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston — it was quite funny! I hope you check it out if you haven’t.

On Sunday, I woke up not feeling great (again!), so I didn’t get around to running until late afternoon. I cleaned house, made some breakfast, and went with Zach to get some new work clothes (for him). Then I decided I had really better get a run in, considering I’d already skipped a training run on Saturday. Here’s how my first week of half training went:

Since I wasn’t feeling so hot on Saturday, I had planned to combine Saturday and Sunday’s run into one long 8 miler, but I ended up not feeling great on Sunday either. 😦 I did end up doing 5.5 miles, so I ended up 2.5 miles short of my goal for the week. It’s not the end of the world, I’m sure I’ll have better weeks. I do need to figure out why I’m feeling blah though – I suspect allergies. Are anyone else’s flaring up a lot right now?

After my run, I made lasagna for dinner, and it turned out really well. When I make lasagna, usually I just throw a bunch of veggies in a bowl, mix in ricotta cheese, mozzarella and spices. Then I layer it with sauce and the noodles. Easy as pie (why is that a saying? Pie is kind of hard to make…):

Yes, I put corn in my lasagna. I had some leftover from something I made, so I threw it in. It was very yummy. After a relaxing Sunday evening, I thought for sure I would sleep well, but I think maybe I was too anxious about it, so I ended up tossing and turning all night 😦

To top things off, here’s what I had for a nice desk breakfast this morning:

Scrambled eggs with cheese and sriracha on a whole-wheat wrap, cottage cheese with blackberries and a cup of green tea (still no coffeepot!). Yum!

Question of the day:
What was the best meal you’ve had recently?