I apologize for the delayed post, but my face has been stuck in food for the past two days – not even kidding. My little “only indulge on Thanksgiving and on Friday” rule didn’t really go according to plan. Anyway, let me start with my first 10k Turkey Trot!

I woke up around 6 am – this time fully rested – changed into my running gear and headed to the kitchen to brew some coffee and make toast and peanut butter (my running fuel.) Georgia got to my house right on time at 7:15 and I had her folded piece of toast with peanut butter in a zip lock bag for the road. The race was about 45 minutes away in a north suburb of Chicago. I looked at the directions online, but apparently didn’t study them enough because at 8 am  (the race started at 8:25) I realized that I was oh, about 12 miles too north (you’d think I’d put the address in my gps system, but I guess I was just too excited to be thinking clearly!) So, we turned around and made it to the nearby parking garage with 5 minutes to walk run to the start line. Guess you could say that was our warm up!

The course was beautiful, but entirely  uphill and downhill. We started off faster than we anticipated (I guess that typically happens from your excitement.) We managed to run to mile three at a sustainable pace with no walk breaks.

 We kept an average of 11:50 pace throughout the whole race – no walk breaks!

At the 6 mile mark we decided to just sprint the rest of the way to the finish line – I actually captured the sign too and the photographer was making fun of me thinking that I was texting (wouldn’t be that surprising if I was.)

We obviously had to take a picture with the giant turkey…

We could not have asked for better weather! Such a perfect running day – especially because of the amount of food that I was about to consume later on. I started my food-for-all with a peppermint mocha from Starbucks – sugar.com. Got all dressed up (thinking it would prevent me from eating too much – false) I then went to Georgia’s house for pre-appetizers.

New you new “do”

Appetizers included: Tiropites (Cheese Pies)

Homemade real Southern Corn Bread: (the missing piece is mine of course)

Followed by a traditional menu of turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, veggies, corn bread, mashed potatoes, stuffing and the Greek item Mousaka:

and this…

and this…

and it keeps on coming…

The moment I have been waiting for (can you feel my excitement)… Dessert: Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Coconut thing

Cookie Platter: Peanut Butter, Chocolate Truffle, Pupmkin Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

Amazing Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:

As you can see, I was set up for failure. There was no escaping this paradise! The good news is I did run on Saturday and today. Starting tomorrow there will be no more of this food nonsense! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving mini-vacation!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! First and foremost, I want to say that Georgia and I completed the 10k Turkey Trot with zero walk breaks – I’ll elaborate more on this topic tomorrow!

Things I’m thankful for:

• My health
• My loving family
• My fantastic boyfriend & friends
• Georgia – for waking up early and running with me
• Living in this wonderful country
• YOU! My fabulous readers who keep me motivated.  Hopefully, I am  inspiring some of you to pursue your goals too

What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving – so close, yet so far! I really love Thanksgiving (I’m sure you haven’t noticed by now) and I think it’s because – for me- it marks the start of this wonderful holiday season. It’s the first of the family gatherings and it just sets the tone for the following to come.  This weekend I decided to get a head start on my desserts so I wouldn’t be rushing like a madwoman this week.  I chose to make the “Pumpkin Ice-Cream Pie”  first since it was a very simple recipe.

To make this recipe even simpler, I bought a 10″ pre-made graham cracker crust instead of crushing my own.  I also made the mistake of buying Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream as opposed to just Chocolate Chip, but it’s chocolate – can you really go wrong with a little more of it?!  I think not!

Step one: 

I couldn’t take a picture of step two because the ice-cream melts really quickly so I had to move fast, but here is the final product:

The recipe also didn’t call for extra dark chocolate chips on the top, but like I said – how can you go wrong with more chocolate  After I finished that I decided to try another recipe I found at eatingbirdfood’s blog, called “Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bars”. I know, I don’t know what got into me on a Friday night, but I was in the baking mood!

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bars

Makes about 15-20 squares

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour **
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin, canned or fresh that’s been roasted and pureed
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, cut into small chunks (or chocolate chips) – I used Ghiardelli Dark chocolate chips

Ready for baking!

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Spray 13 x 9 pan with non-stick spray.
3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl mix sugar, apple sauce, yogurt, oil, egg whites, and vanilla until well combined. Stir in pumpkin.
5. Slowly pour flour mix into the wet ingredients and mix well until everything is combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.
6. Pour dough evenly into the greased pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of the bars (about 30 minutes).
7. Cool completely, cut and lift from pan. Enjoy!

It’s fairly common for us to gain a few extra pounds – in my case, around five – during the holiday season. This year I’m really hoping to stop that from happening. I know, you always say the same thing over and over – that you won’t gain the weight this winter and then you find yourself making an unrealistic “lose 10 pounds” New Year’s resolution which you can’t even stick to. Let’s prevent that from happening this year, shall we? This way we’ll be able to make a better, more realistic New Year’s resolution since we didn’t gain any unwanted holiday weight!

Some tips to remember during this magnificent food-filled season:

1. Treat each holiday as a separate day, not an entire month.  I find that if I had just indulged on the day itself (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year ’s Day) instead of stuffing myself with leftovers for the following weeks to come, I more than likely wouldn’t have put on the extra weight.
2. Just because it’s the season of joy, laughter, parties and fun doesn’t mean you forget about your daily responsibilities (exercise.)  If you want to have your cake and eat it too at your holiday party, there is an absolutely positively non-negotiable exercise policy. Get – over – it.
3. Pick and choose which foods or desserts you definitely cannot go without and have only those.
4. Embrace the gift of giving. It will heighten your spirits and make this season that much more enjoyable.

I understand it’s much easier said than done – especially when you have work parties and friend parties on top of your family parties, but if you change your mindset going into it, your chances coming out of it (weight in tact) are far greater! It’s very easy to make time for dinners, parties and outings, but learn to make time for yourself too. Your body will thank you!!

Related Article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heidi-grant-halvorson-phd/avoid-holiday-weight-gain_b_1091302.html?ref=health-and-fitness&ir=Health+and+Fitness

I’m pleased to announce my results are in! I weighed myself last Wednesday, so in order to accurately track my progress I will be weighing myself every Wednesday until Thanksgiving. Drum roll, please. A total loss of three pounds this week! Yay! I finally broke the plateau I was stuck at for over three months.

How was my week during the detox? Well, the first few days were the hardest of course because your body goes into shock-mode, but having an end goal or vision really helps you prevail from moments of weakness. I also had to keep up with my training program so there were times where I felt a little tired, but I pushed through and made it happen – I have no choice in the matter. If you want to start an exercise program I suggest you sign up for a race. There’s nothing more motivating than having no choice but to follow the training program or you won’t make it to the finish line – it’s brilliant!

I’ll be honest; weekends are definitely the hardest part – for me – because I’m used to pretty much splurging and “cheating.” Not being able to do that or cheating with a fruit has really made quite the difference. Like I said earlier, if you cheat every weekend that’s nearly half of the month and you’ll never make progress – I learned that the hard way.

Is it easy to change your habits? No – it’s not easy, but anything worthwhile doesn’t come easy!!! I had to run 4.5 miles yesterday on the treadmill (sprinted the last quarter mile) – that sure as hell wasn’t easy even though I’m on my fifth week of training. The bottom line is you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone. No one likes to diet or detox or run (and if they say they do, they are lying) but what they do like is the outcome and the feeling of accomplishment – knowing they have pushed themselves to the limit and ultimately survived – because you will survive!

My first 4.5 mile run: (the hear rate is off because I wasn’t wearing a hr monitor)

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” 
- Nelson Mandela

Happy Hungry Hump Day

First and foremost, I want to do a mini recap of my “Setting goals for October” post since we have now entered November – time for new goals, or rather time to achieve the previous goals that were left behind act.

In case you’re like me and have a bad memory, here is a brief overview of my “Setting Goals for October” post.

October Goals Revisited:

• 45min to one hour of exercise or activity most days of the week (It doesn’t matter what -just get moving!) - I did on average 5 days of cardio, not all were 45 min, some were more and some were less so it’s safe to say it balanced out
• Wake up 30 min early a few days to do some cardio before work (I’ve done this before and it really helps keep your energy up throughout the day – it’s just getting out of bed that sucks!) - Truth be told, this happened only once. 
• Grocery shop on Saturday or Sunday to prepare foods for the week (so I can limit eating out.) - Could have done this each week, probably happened twice this month. I definitely ate out more than I wanted, but less than I have in the past!
• Try new recipes! - I give myself an A+ for this one.
• Stick to three meals a day (been on a snacking frenzy this past week and that needs to stop!) - I give myself a D- for this one… snack attack at its finest this month.
• Work on my self-discipline!!!! (Halloween is around the corner and that = candy overdose) - The best I can say here is – WIP (work in progress)

Here’s my calendar full of stickers

I would love to say that I accomplished all of those listed goals, but for the sake of making this an honest blog – I won’t. I also forgot to add that signing up for a race was another goal of mine and I actually signed up for two (thank-you-very-much.) What I didn’t say was that I’d actually run the race… guess the joke was on you! Just kidding My first 5k is this Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been training for exactly a month now and I think I’m ready to go for this one… it’s the 10k on Thanksgiving that I’m worried about because with my luck we’ll have a crazy snow storm. Crossing fingers.

Let’s focus on November and how to beat those winter blues by setting some goals – and sticking to them There are 23 days or a little over 3 weeks until Thanksgiving. That’s a perfect amount of time to start a workout routine/better eating habits and keep them going throughout the holiday season.

 Here are a few of my personal goals for the upcoming 3 weeks:

1. No sugar – It takes about a week and then you no longer have cravings, but you must do this cold turkey. (Sugar = anything that ends in -ose, white starches (because those are ultimately sugar,) and all sweets.
2. Continue my 5x a week exercise regimen with 3x a week running.
3. Drink 8-10 cups of water a day.
4. Complete my first 5k and 10k

Trick or treat? There definitely were a lot of “treats” – to the point where I don’t think I can have anymore chocolate for the rest of the month. In fact, that might be my personal challenge for the month of November (up until Thanksgiving of course.) Sugar Detox. Who’s with me? It’s gonna be rough, but it will be worth it!

Anyway, I absolutely love love Halloween. Partly because you get to act like a kid and look ridiculous and partly because of all the candy – obvi.

Costume fun: (Playing Card, Alice, Marge and Queen of Hearts)

Marge and Homer Simpson:

My Knight in shining armor

On the workout front, I did complete an hour and a half of cardio on Friday (to make up for not making my Wednesday cardio day) and my four mile run on Sunday – yay –  which was completely canceled out by the amount of BBQ food and Halloween candy I consumed. What can a girl do?!

After dinner plans tonight (because I do plan to indulge at this restaurant) I think I’ll be able to start full force tomorrow with my no sugar detox. I have the working out down, but it’s time to get a handle on my food escapades! I’ll think of tonight as “The Last Supper.” It better be a good one!

Happy Halloweenie