trippin'

hey, friends.

i just got back from colorado springs.  let me tell you something about colorado springs, i love that place.  hubs and i went to visit old friends who also have the last name of one of my fave cocktails: VDC

anyway, like every vacation i come back from, it's a real bitch getting on the scale.  howevsies, turns out i left 4lbs in colorado springs over 5 days...how the hell does that happen?!

well, i've been wondering that to myself as well so as to live every day as if it were a colorado springs day.

here's what i think nudged the scale in the right direction:

*no sugar: the VDC's have, like, no sugar AT ALL in their house...which is quite impressive.  i didn't think i had a lot of sugar in the house (my pallet is decidedly more salty) until i read this book on the plane:

(and we shall talk more about this book this week)

turns out, a lot of stuff in our house that is "low calorie" and "low fat" also is high in sugars--damn.  the VDC's make a conscious effort to not eat or buy anything that lists "sugar" or "corn syrup" or "high fructose corn syrup" (aka the devil) as one of the top 3 ingredients...if at all...period. this sugar stuff has snuck up on me. seeing as how they were gracious enough to prepare our meals while we were there (shout out to Cathy, my CookingLight confidant!) the only sugar i ate was when we went out to Josh & John's for ice cream.  further evidence that they are really good about watching the sugar was that their tot, hudson, had his first taste of ice cream while we were there and he was not into it...until it hit the bloodstream.

*don't watch a lot of tv
ok, so, we watched a fair share of tv in CO.  there was a packer game, a badger game, and then we unleashed "Mantracker" on them (which was the ultimate hit)  but when we weren't around the tv, we were being productive.  we went for a run, did a lot of walking about town and in nature, and the dudes built a shed while us women folk crafted.  what's the big take away? alison's getting into crafty hobbies.  it's hard to eat when your fingers are crafting stuff and all of a sudden, 3 hours have gone by and there's a pile of cool stuff on the chair next to you. winning.

*don't worry, have a homebrew
my husband makes a damn fine beer.  our friend mike makes a super damn fine beer.  i had two brews and sampled every one my husband tried including the california common that i will dream about from this day forward (nectar of the gods)  i'm just going to go ahead and say that beer actually helped me this weekend...because i ate less and more conscientiously at most every meal to have some budget room for brews and i don't regret trading southwest sliders for a hummus plate and an ipa.

*get a toddler and/or a dog
the VDC's come complete with a 15 month old and a black lab, both of which are pretty active...mostly the tot.  i wanted to put my garmin on the dude to see how many miles he logs a day running back and forth from room to room moving spoons and chairs and finding the dog...easily that kid gets in his 10,000 steps per day...and if you have the privelege of wrangling hudson, you get those steps in pretty quick as well.  

so, in summary, i'm going to eat less of the sweet stuff (especially the crafty hidden sweet stuff in my fave lo-cal eats); stop watching so much tv and take up the noble art of the crafting; and work on getting a toddler.

but it's still vacation...kinda...so i'm going to watch the season finale of True Blood with a bowl of popcorn peppered with dark chocolate m&ms

stay tuned this week for a new edition of a solid read featuring "eat this, not that: supermarket survival guide"

check point

it's been a month that i've kept this blog in check and i'm just as surprised as you are.  i'm more surprised that i've kept (for the most part) to my healthy eating/living business for this long. 

here's a check point--be advised that this is the part of the blog you'll probably not be into and i won't feel bad if you aren't...it's pretty boring and it's all about me...but i've learned that success loves accountability...go figure.  so enjoy the post or don't...it's all good.

In the last month…

•  I’ve lost 6 lbs .  that doesn’t seem like a lot, does it?  Doesn’t feel like a lot either.  However, at least the hash marks are moving in the right direction.  I venture to guess that regular exercise 5 days a week has generated some muscle gain as well.  But it’s also not like I’ve been 100% perfect on the eating right thing…especially this weekend when I ate a lot of wedding cake and drank a lot of champagne to celebrate one-year of marriage J  I did my best to work It off (wink)

·         I managed to stick with my training schedule…about 90% of the time.  I always make up a day if I miss one here or there but I don’t cut myself a lot of slack either.  Excuses are like fat cells: everyone has them. but those who make too many excuses typically end up having too many fat cells as well.   I it’s not easy to talk yourself out of watching the 8^th hour of Kardashian re-runs after work…but then I look at Bruce Jenner on that show…dude used to be the best in the biz…now I run more than he does on a weekly basis (remote control helicopters consume him now)

·         I don’t hate running…as much. Now that my body is used to running (my lungs aren’t wheezing or collapsing, I have a healthy dose of calluses on my heels, toenails are growing back, muscles are getting stronger, bones don’t feel like shattering when hitting the pavement, etc.) my mind is starting to like running more also.  I got up to almost 7miles on my run/walk plan this past Saturday…that business is sick.

Overall, I’d say this last month I’ve built a good foundation.  I realize that to get to where I’m going, I have to understand that it’s going to take time if I want to do it the right way.  If I want to sustain a healthy life for myself in order to sustain a healthy life for my family (someday) then I can’t cut corners now and have unrealistic expectations. 

And no, I’m not in any of those skinny jeans yet…but I set the goal of getting into at least one pair by my 27^th birthday (December 8^th) Hope I find them cute once I’m in them…otherwise I would have wasted a lot of time trying to be healthy when I could have been eating papa john’s and drinking red bull while keeping up with bruce jenner and his jumpsuits...all of which i've been wanting to do for the past week

happy hour

you know what, in most cases, 'happy hour' is an oxymoron.  think about it.  most of the time, atleast, when i find myself grabbing a drink, it's typically after a rough day.  i haven't been keen on drinking these days.  i found out that alcohol has a lot of calories in it...duh.  alcohol also stops your metabolism.  that means, all those mozzie sticks you eat during a night drinking or the subsequent binge-pizza-fest at sal's following a night of drinking, does not metabolize.  trust me.  it's science.


 alcohol is also not a friend of the athlete due to the fact it is hella dehydrating.  all reason aside, sometimes, you just need to get yo drank on...which brings me to today.

tensions are running high this week and as a result, homegirl wants a drink.

welcome to happy hour.  for our first round, i present to you the glory that is the low-cal margarita.

dudes, everyone is getting in on the "low-cal" margarita racket.  that chick from real housewives, chi-chi's, you know, everyone.  one time i was at the grocery store and i saw margarita-lime (generic) crystal light.  hells yes. i was like, get out of my dreams, and into my cart.

thus, the glory that is mixing low-cal flavored water with booze commenced. and god saw that it was good.

i call this drink, "the broke-ass burro"

ingredients:
tequila (any kind--we're not fancy people)
h2O (water lolz)
2 packs of generic margarita lime drink mix; (or the real crystal light stuff if you feel like that extra $.90 is burning a hole in your pocket)

1 pack of generic margarita lime drink mix contains 5 calories per serving, with 8 servings per pack (one pack when mixed with 64 oz of water.)  what we're going to do is put 2 packs of mix into only 64 oz of water...so now your dealing with 80 calories in 64 oz of mix.  why double it?  because it tastes better and seriously, 8 oz of ready-made margarita mix has 200 calories...WITHOUT THE BOOZE!  that's nuts.  don't even get me started on the 600+ calories you can find in a BLENDED margarita.

pour yourself one shot of tequila for every 8 oz of mix on the rocks and you're working with a margarita that only packs 110 calories TOPS with zero gut rot and more flavor than you'd expect.

as you can see, i enjoy mine in a nice, tall lenie's pint glass because again, we're not fancy people, people.

bottoms up

h&b

new feature to go with the new layout (let's hope the feature lasts longer than this layout probably will)

introducing: h&b
h&b does not stand for "hookers & blow" so you were wrong to assume that.  it does, however, stand for "health & beauty" which is something, i feel, without ever trying the hookers or the blow, is just as great.  not to mention more affordable and with 100% less negative consequences.

let's talk about sweat (baby.)

working out 5+ days a week, i sweat.  a consequence of sweat is obviously losing salt and water from your body.  i sweat like a beast when i run outdoors.  fact.

here's another fact, i haven't been doing a super great job of staying hydrated. i sweat like a beast when i run outdoors and apparently, i'm not doing a great job of staying hydrated. even 80oz+ of h20 a day has not been cutting it. enough water loss can really screw up your innards but let's focus on what's really annoying: dry skin.  i don't know about you, but my tummy can't handle 1000 gallons of water so until the cool, fall weather gets here and i don't have to wring out my sports bra, my solution to staying hydrated is in the medicine cabinet and not in the nalgene. btw: i use all the below products and love them.  btw pt 2: every product listed individually will not set you back more than $6 :)

eyes
eyes? yeah, eyes.  i wear contacts. if you wear contacts (and even if you don't) you probably find the sting of sweat falling into your eye pretty annoying.  that's salt, baby, and it'll dry out your eyes super fast.  i now carry eye drops with me errywurr i go to avoid that nasty burning and premature tired feeling.  i have episodes of true blood to catch up on.  i can't be going to bed early due to dry eyes.

for the peepers:

can't go wrong with some equate artificial tears.  thanks, sam walton.

lips
man, my lips get CRAZY dry when i work out.  i'm always licking the salt off them while i run.  couple that with winds that come with the outdoors and you have a recipe for sandpaper smackers.  it's not cute.  it can be painful.  no one likes making out with sandpaper.

for the smackers:

  

           

skin
a combination of outdoor running in the sun and wind, 2 showers (roughly) a day, and mild dehydration has turned my skin as of late all rough and itchy and flaky and all that other jazz.  alligator skin works for a lot of people (especially alligators) but for me, i prefer to have skin like a baby bunny's butt--super, super soft.

for the skin:

 

if it's good enough for babies, it's good enough for me...and it smells awesome

happy hydration, the drugstore way!

homsies.

made it out of mke alive, peeps...and not any fatter or skinnier than when i got there (winning.)

i wish i could post you some sweet tips to tell you how i managed to get out of that place without falling off the bus entirely but in all honesty, i didn't try anything really out of the ordinary. as far is eating is concerned, i didn't even have to try to eat heatlhy. there was no choice in the matter.

turns out, our corporate lunches and breakfasts were super healthy!  so healthy, in fact, that i hoarded mini boxes of kashi "heart to heart" <3 and low sodium V8s all week.  seriously, my work bag is full of hoarded snacks from the conference.  the company i work for, as it turns out, has a really strong and prevalent culture of healthy living.  every dish in the cafeteria had a calorie count.  everything was low-sodium.  there was tofu e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e...which is exciting for me. 

i'll tell you what did suck hardcore, keeping up on the old training program in a hotel gym with 3 treadmills and about 15 people fighting for them.  happy to say, i never went one day without getting a covetted treadmill.  don't mess with me and my treadmill especially when the only alternative is a shady, off-balance eliptical.  chick from boston learned that the hard way.

also in the suck category was little to no sleep all week.  i'm a light sleeper.  my roomie snored like ridiculous. sleepy alison has a hard time working out and she also really loves eating junk food...but for the most part, i kept that chick in check.

i did get crazy with it at the brewers/cubs game on friday night and pretty sure i threw down on a steak pita at cafe lulu and also anihilated brunch at cafe hollander this morning...and pretty sure i don't regret it.  i mean, really, we can't take ourselves or this life too seriously...you'll never enjoy it that way.

work-ation

Tuesday starts a whole week of corporate training for me. 

Pro: I’ll be even more kick-ass at my job by the time Friday gets here.

Con: It’s 9 hours a day of training.

Pro/Con: It’s in Milwaukee

Let’s focus on the last bullet point: my corporate training is in Milwaukee.  Friends, this is a double-edged sword for me. 

Edge 1: I love Milwaukee.  My husband lived there for about 5 years during our epic courtship.  The whole “not seeing each other except on weekends” pretty much sucked M-F.  BUT on most alternating weekends, I’d venture to the 414 for the brewers, the beers, the bloodies, and, oh yeah, the boyfriend.

Husband really lucked out on the whole “meeting cool people who do cool things” while living there and through osmosis and the magic of friendship and marriage, I have now inherited this fantastic bevy of chill people who know how to get crazy with it.

So, I get to spend a week in Milwaukee…with my husband…and my friends…and yeah, there’s some work in the mix, but all in all, that sounds like a pretty “pro” situation, right?  Right.  However…

There’s this whole “training for a half-marathon” thing and “trying to keep off some poundage” also going on in my life which brings me to Edge 2: responsibility.

Being responsible totally sucks when it comes to being in Milwaukee.  It especially sucks when the responsibility I’m trying to maintain involves getting in all my scheduled training for the week while on the road.  In all likelihood, this will involve a hotel treadmill. 

Responsibility also sucks when the training seminar serves box lunches which, on the whole, probably harbor no-less than 700 calories per meal full of bad carbs, sugars, and full-fats.  I mean, I doubt I’m going to get a whole-wheat pita stuffed with spinach and tuna with a can of V-8 on the side for lunch. 

ALSO, being responsible means taking it easy on the alcohol which, incidentally, hasn’t been a vice for me lately …but, folks, I have a Hold Steady concert, a beer flight at Rock Bottom, a Brewer’s game, and Saturday brunch on the docket—how can I NOT get back into the 920 without packing on like 5 lbs from tasty food and bitchin’ brews?

In general, it’s just tough staying on a workout routine and maintaining a healthy diet while on the road but in my line of work, I need to learn how to deal sooner rather than later because it’s about to get crazy up in here when it comes to travel and, well, you get better gas mileage hauling less ass around J

I have no clue how I’m going to pull it off…but I have some tricks to try out and if they work, you better believe I’m going to share them with you next week.

PS: I don’t think I used the “double-edged sword” metaphor thing correctly but if you’re reading this blog, it means you’re smart so you probably got the gist anyhow.

skinny dippin'

i love dip.  it's almost ridiculous how much i love dipping everything in some kind of condiment.  ketchup, hummus, honey mustard, greek yogurt, salsa (especially salsa)--love them all.  FACT: one day my husband came home and caught me eating a bag of chips and a jar of salsa.  he claims i was eating over the trashcan in a frenzy, exclaiming, "wow, you really went to town on those chips."  i think it was a little less ferocious :)

maybe it's because i like when my veggies, chips, fries, hotdogs, etc. have a little buddy to weather the violent digestion cycle together (no one should go through that alone.)

here's the thing, though.  one of the easiest ways to cut out a few extra calories/sodium/preservatives here and there is to get rid of the dips and condiments and all that jazz.  well, that depresses me.

to my delight, i've been finding, trying, and enjoying a lot of healthy dressings and dips...and i'm going to share them all with you in what i hope will be a recurring feature on this blog: skinny dippin'

without further adieu, i give you,  

CREAMY DILL DRESSING 

 ingredients:
1/2 cup low-fat mayo (i like Kraft with olive oil--the green on the bottle makes me happy and it tastes good)
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (i can't keep herbs fresh in this house so i just use 1/2 tbsp of dried dill weed)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

directions: dump all the above in a bowl.  whisk feverishly until smooth.  yields 8 servings; 1 serving = 2 tbsp.

nutrition info: 21 calories per serving, 1 g of fat!

i use this dressing for A LOT of stuff.  if you add a little bit of greek yogurt or light sour cream, you can thicken it up and use it as a dip for veggies or pita chips.  otherwise, it's a great dressing for chicken salads.  i recently started mixing this dressing with 3 oz of tuna (bagged, in water) and the dill and lemon really brighten up that sad looking bag of tuna.

i served dill dressing (thickened with a 1/4 cup light sour cream) to my sister at our first-annual "deck day" (aka crazy booze-fest day)  the kid really liked it.  i served it again at crivitz (aka crazy booze-fest weekend) and it got good reviews.  i guess mentioning that both events had a lot of alcohol at them kind of makes you wonder if the dip really was edible. just gotta keep it real with you.

rule of thumb: when people not watching what they are eating and actually like the healthy stuff you make, that means it is legitimately delicious. i don't know about you, but it's easy for me to talk myself into liking foods because they are healthy regardless of what they really taste like (i use a lot of mental energy playing that game.)

howevsies, this dill dressing is a winner.

recipe adapted from:

(CookingLight: Fresh Food Fast, Weeknight Meals)