New chapter...NEW CLOTHES! (clearly?!)

 I love LuLuLemon. Love. 

Ok, lets back up. We'll recall that a couple of weeks ago I was told that I am 10 pounds overweight. I came home and was down, deep, for several days. I want to take my Dr. seriously. I also know that I'm active and healthy. I felt trapped in the feedback. 

So I took a drastic measure. I threw out my scale. Well I threw it storage anyway but same thing. It's under lock and key and no where near where I can get to it. I decided that too much of my daily happiness is based on a ******* number on a scale. Since when do I define myself on a number?? And now it's been 2 weeks since I've weighed myself. I AM curious but for the most part it's been liberating. I've judged myself on the scale everyday since I was 12 years old. And now it's based on how I feel and what I've done for myself each day. 

We'll see happens with the tale of the scale.

Anyway, on to more exciting new as my LULU love suggested. 

Kendayl and I are doing the Richmond half/full marathon in November as we've previously mentioned. Mild problem: I don't really like running. I used to, growing up. But I do really like challenging myself. What better to start off training than with a new outfit. I figure we did every year for the new school year. Why not!? And off I trotted to LuLuLemon. The people who work there are so uplifting and encourage. I think they just excited that you're trying to do something.

Items purchased: Berry Swiftly Tech Short Sleeve Shirt, Willpower Short Sleeve Tech Shirt in Surge, A light pink post work out pull over and MOST SHOCKING a running skirt.....

Don't I look cute? Well...that's kind of what I look like in it...

I'm going to let that sink in.

I bought a running skirt. two words that I didn't even know could go together. And it shows my knees....

I tried on actual running shorts....HORRENDOUS. 

My shirts even have pockets that are meant for gels but I think they are also the perfect size for my ipod nano. LOVE! So here's to a successful training.....And looking good doing it.

SMART Goals

First off: I bought the living social deal today for SEAL team training - HOLY MOTHER! 

Check it out! http://www.sealteampt.com/index.php

Have you ever heard yourself giving advice to someone and then thinking later - I guess I should listen to myself sometimes? About a year ago, Kendayl told me that she was frustrated because she was trying really hard to lose weight and stay in shape but she wasn't making any progress. At this point, I'm in a great place because I had just lost 15 pounds, run my fastest 10K to date and finished my Power 90 program. So I started rattling off all the advice I had learned during my 6 months prior to this conversation - Are you writing down what you eat? Are you snacking? You shouldn't be discouraged after a week, it takes time. Be patient. Take it one day and one meal at a time. This is about a lifestyle change not about losing weight in a week.

Easier said than done. But it's all true. Being healthy doesn't mean you have to deprive yourself or go the dreaded diet. It's about being mindful of what you put in your body and how active you are. Just writing down your food each day helps you lose weight because it forces you to stay accountable and help prevent grazing. Gluten Free diets (not related to good allergies) were a big fad last year. But studies show that removing Gluten from your diet doesn't cause you to lose weight, it's more so the fact that you're paying attention to what you're putting in your body. And that focus works.

 So, I'm not on a diet. I'm not trying to lose weight. But I do want to make some changes. Enter: SMART goals. Cheesy, I know. We talk about them during performance management at work but it does make sense.

I need to focus on little successes.

Today's goals:

Run: I did! This morning when I got up. WOO!

Eat a sensible lunch: CHECK! Mushroom Lovers Veggie Patties with two types of mustard. I have to say here that the adding of various dipping sauces is what made this. The patties are good but the sauces made it more "fun."

Tonight, I'm taking my mom out for a nice dinner on the town. It's been a mother's day tradition for us but our schedules were a little hectic. So tonight my goal is to have a great time with my mom!

I will get more detailed with my goals and I get in to this and the training for the half marathon. But I think the important thing to have fun with it. Being healthy doesn't mean boring or deprived. And if I'm being smart about my food and eating local and getting out and having fun then the number on my scale (which is in storage!) no longer matters nearly as much to me or my doctor.

I can see the light!

The light at the end of the tunnel, aka the school year, is less than a 1/2 day away! Can I get a WHOOP WHOOP! It's been a long year and I'm more than excited! My goal this summer is to find, create, and make new healthy dishes. Tonight's dinner is lighter up eggplant parmesan from this awesome website Skinny Taste.
My second goal is to document my preparation and cooking process so that all of my readers (all 2 of you.. ha!) can follow along. And lets be honest reading blogs with pictures is more fun than without pictures. So here it goes...

Dinner: Lighter Eggplant Parmesan (all the information below is from www.skinnytaste.com)
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 8 servings • Time: 60 minutes • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 265.3 • Fat: 12.4 g • Protein: 14.1 g • Carb: 35.4 g • Fiber: 4.4 g

1 large eggplant (2 lbs)
1 tbsp olive oil
12 oz fat free ricotta
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano (I didn't have any so I used a little more moz. and some Asiago)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 medium egg
2 cups reduced fat mozzarella
3 cups homemade tomato sauce (I used already made marinara)
salt

Start by making the sauce if you don't have any already made. While the sauce simmers, slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices. Lightly salt the slices and put in a colander to release excess moisture for about 1/2 hour. Lay on paper towels to soak up any extra moisture.

-Preheat oven to 450°. Brush eggplant lightly with olive oil on both sides and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way through until eggplant is golden brown.


-In a medium bowl combine ricotta, egg, parsley and 1/4 cup of grated cheese.

-In a 9x12 baking dish, put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish and put a layer of eggplant to cover the bottom of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese and sauce. Add another layer of eggplant and repeat the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and sauce until everything is used up. Top with sauce and the mozzarella cheese and the remaining grated cheese.

Cover with foil and bake until cheese is melted and everything is bubbling, about 30 minutes at 400°.

Remove foil and bake an additional 8-10 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

*I'm still working on the picture quality but despite my lack of foodography it was delicious!

What are some of your favorite recipes, blogs, or websites?




xoxo,
K

Fat or Phat?

Let's chat for a moment, shall we? I'm confident. I'm a strong, independent woman. I love speaking in public, taking on a challenge, debating and taking control. It's no secret for those that know me well that I've struggled with my body perception since I was young. It's my weakness. But the older I get the more I want to just love who I am and what I do really well.

I'm not athletic. However, I've made huge strides to be more active. I run races and compete in tris each year. I'm obsessed with Beach Body work outs like Insanity and Turbo Fire.

Still, when I feel like I'm in a good place, I get knocked down. And because this is an area that I'm not confident in - a knock down feels a lot like a knock out.

I had finally made the decision about two weeks ago to stop. Stop weighing myself. Stop obsessing. Stop. I decided that it's time to live and love my life and accept that I'm not a cheerleader and not little and not a model. But I am beautiful and healthy and full of life.

But I went to my annual doctor visit yesterday and like I knew he would - he said "By all measures, you're 10 pounds over weight." Not that he'd like to see me lose 10 pounds but that I'm over weight.

When I pushed him on the topic he brought up that I've gained 8 pounds since I was 18 years old. But that it's not just about the number on the scale. I have to consider how my clothes fit and how active I am etc etc. My problem is that he's only using THE NUMBER on the scale to tell me that I'm over weight. And what does that mean? What standard is being used to say that I'm over weight? What's normal?

I trust my doctor. I also don't want my happiness or health status to be based on a single number.

I'm completely lost as to what to do about this piece of feedback.

Greetings from a stranger

Well hello there (said mainly to my sister, the other person who reads this). I'm sure you must be thinking that I've disappeared or perhaps am no longer interested in the blog. Fear not.

However, my life is changing considerably since I lost posted and blogging (and I fear my healthy goals, have taken a back seat. Right around Easter,  my hub and I started talking about looking to buy a new house. Or rather, I started stomping my feet and holding my breath until he agreed to consider it. The plan was that I could START to look so that I could get a sense of the market and what our budget should be. After years of HGTC and My First Place and any other real estate show I could get my hands, I already felt like I had a good sense. So naturally, roughly 1.5 days after starting my research I'm stunned that I may have found THE PLACE. Fast forward now less than two months and we've negotiated a kick ass offer, had it accepted, found a renter, packed our boxes (mostly), moved in to a storage unit and we are now preparing to move back in with my parents while our new home is being built - did I mention that it has a 2 car garage, attached, IN THE CITY!

Our new home!

All of this means that my spare time has been about patching holes, re-caulking the bathtub, paperwork, mortgage discussions blah blah blah. With all my dishes and pots packed, making lunches has taken a back seat. I spend my nights packing and that means that my morning work outs have also taken a back seat.

K and I are turning that around though. So I'm posting it here - so that I cannot back out - I'm running my first ever half marathon in November. In the Outer Banks. While I'm doing this crazy stunt K will be running her first ever FULL marathon.

Here we go Coopers Here we go!

Stuffed!

I decided to make Stuffed Peppers for dinner tonight! What I love about stuffed peppers the most is that they are so easy! I made 6 stuffed peppers. Three of them I made with Mediterranean ingredients (ground turkey, garlic, parsley, feta, rice, green onions and for a kick some Greek yogurt). The other three I made Mexican style! ( I heart Mexican). I stuffed with with ground turkey with fajita seasoning, jalapenos, onion, salsa, cilantro and rice.
I just cooked 1 lb. of ground turkey and split it in half so I could throw the Greek ingredients in half and Mexican in the other. I pre-cooked the rice and ground turkey and mixed it altogether. Then I STUFFED the peppers full! I made the Mediterranean pepper tonight for dinner and now Mike and I have 5 left over for the week! That's another great thing about stuffed peppers you can freeze them and quickly take the out the morning before work and it's thawed out and ready for the oven when you get home. I'm excited for the Greek style peppers because I've never made them before... Yumm!
*Side note: don't put the peppers you aren't eating in the oven for the final cook until you are ready to eat, they can get mushy.*


Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
-4 bell peppers (I prefer the sweet red ones!)
-box of couscous (I love the Near Eat whole wheat roasted garlic)
-feta cheese
-green scallions
-1/2 lb. ground turkey
-fresh garlic
-Parsley
-Dollop of Greek Yogurt

-Brown the ground turkey in a pan. Towards the end throw in the garlic for some added flavor! (Make sure not to brown the garlic)
-Cook the rice (you can substitute it for couscous or quinoa too) as it says on the box.
- Chop the scallions and parsley
-I added a dollop of Greek yogurt to give the stuffing some moisture and a little kick
-Mix everything together and start stuffing!

put the top back on the pepper and bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes (give or take depending on how crunchy/not crunchy you like your pepper)

For the Mexican Stuffed Peppers repeat the same recipe above just substitute the ingredients for the following:
-rice
-jalapenos (any pepper you like for a Kick!)
-salsa for added flavor and so it doesn't dry out
-sprinkle some Mexican cheese on top before baking
-cilantro
- red onion

Here's a before picture of the different peppers before they are baked!





Enjoy! Let me know if you tried them and if you changed up the recipe at all!:)

Time flies when you're having fun!

This weekend was FABULOUS! My sister came in town and we got to finally spend some quality sista sista time together! Mike was out of town and as much as I missed him it was nice to have a relaxing weekend with just my sister. Here's a quick recap of how my weekend went.

Friday: Hilary came to work with me! The kids LOVED her! They came up with 25 questions they wanted to ask her and let me tell you they didn't hold back (ex: when will you give Ms. Cooper a niece or nephew? AHAHA that was actually my question but still) It was so much fun having her in my classroom not only to see my kids but to see what I do! She bought the kids cookies shaped like fish, flowers, and butterflies; too cute! She only stayed part of the morning because she had to go back to my house so she could "work from home".
After school was over I rushed home! We were going to go to LOFT to shop but Hilary had a whole mess of stuff with work she was dealing with. So instead, we opened some wine:) That night we went to Vapion's which is a little Italian Restaurant in Ballston down the street. We walked there and met up with two of her college friends. I was REALLY hoping they had gluten free pizza; however, when I guessed the guy if they did this was his response " No, there's isn't enough of a demand and that would be too hard for us". BLAH! I understand that everywhere doesn't have GF (gluten free) options but all their food is already pre measured and packaged so it's easier for them to prepare it faster so it blows my mind that they can't make GF dough and have it ready for people who want to order it. Oh well... this GF journey may be for the best but it's already turning out to be frustrating.
Instead of the delicious GF pizza I had envisioned I went with a basic salad with chicken. It was good... but not what I really wanted. Not to mention my sister and her friends were eating yummy pasta dishes and pizza... I was green with envy!
We had a nice dinner, caught up, and then headed home for an early night.

Saturday: Hilary had to go to wedding meetings all day (she has her own wedding planning company on the side.. she's a BIG deal!:) I slept in which was incredible! I don't get to do that often... well, actually I never get to do that so it was a lovely treat. After I woke up and had some yogurt with GF Puffin cereal I threw on my workout clothes and did a Power 90 Sculpt 5-6 Video. Great way to start the morning!
After that I spent the day at my pool with my friend Bridget. It was soooo incredible relaxing! I love my busy, on the go weekends but no having to do anything or be anywhere for once was nice. For lunch we made chicken fajitas without the wrap. We grilled grilled along with red and green peppers... YuM-O! We put it on top of some romaine lettuce and had some black beans on the side. It hit the spot but was light and filling because we left out the wraps and made it into a fajita salad!
After passing out at the pool for a few hours Bridget went home and I started to get ready for the most delicious and fun dinner I've ever had with my sister!
We went to Evantide in Clarendon for dinner and it was uber nice! We got to dress up and hit the town together! I got a salad as an appetizer because I was really hungry and it was the only GF app. on the menu. We ordered a bottle of wine ($60!! thanks Hil) and it was goood! For dinner I got Wild Alaskan Halibut and this was the description underneath "Artichokes bariguole, piquillo peppers, picholine olives, chermoula". I got mine without olives and I'm not sure what everything else is but it was so delicious I could have licked my plate but this was a classy place and I didn't think that would look very good. Hilary got some red meat dishes (which I don't eat) so I'm not going to bother explaining what she got. :)
We met up with my sisters best friend who was in town from Texas for her sisters Bachelorette Party. We went to a really cute lounge bar and hung out. It was a casual and very cute place. I wasn't feeling stellar so we left around 11:30 but still had a great time painting the town red... even if we were home before midnight.
Sunday we woke up pretty early and Hilary hit the road. I was sad to see her go but I had such a great time with her and I'll see her next weekend! I ran errands and cleaned all day and just got back from a run! I went to Trader Joes (which I L.O.V.E) and Whole Foods which I normally don't go to because it's so expensive but trying to find certain GF foods is tough in a normal grocery store. Finally I hit up GIANT for my regular items. It was the longest grocery shopping trip ever but I loved it. I got so many cool GF products and I can't wait to try them! (I'll blog more about them once I crack them open). My run was good! It's really humid today so that was a little rough but I just think of it as a great opportunity to sweat out the wine from the night before:)
Now, I'm just finishing up some laundry and deciding if I want stuffed peppers for dinner or eggplant Parmesan... hmmmm. I'm going to finish some things up and ponder that and I'll post later what I decide!

Overall a fabulous weekend with my sister! I did great with my meals and workouts!:) Go me! I'm really excited to start cooking differently meals and recipes that I find on others blogs too! Wahoo


adios!

Sayonara!

I'm a little late but I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend! I went to the Outer Banks with Mikes family and returned last night... yes, I took 2 extra days off of work and it was WELL worth it! We had fabulous time! I felt ok in my bathing suite... not as confident as last year but not as bad as I"ve felt in the past. I did the best I can with eating (started everyday off with a greek yogurt) turkey salad for lunch (with some chips... his Aunt lives in Hanover, PA where all the good chips are made!) and pretty well at dinner... it was Happy Hour appetizers that got me! However, I did a good and I mean COME ON it's a vacation! I ran the first morning we got there but after that sleeping in got the best of me and the time I awoke at 9:30 it was too hot and humid to even think about running. Instead I laid on the beach and at the pool:) Occasionally getting up to play paddle ball, walk on the beach, or throw the frisbee:)

Ok... back to the important part of this blog (besides the fact I need to kick it up a notch... or 2 or 3...

I've had stomach issues since... well forever. I always associated it with certain foods or stress but I finally figured it out! I have a GLUTEN ALLERGY! I do not have celiacs but I definitely do have a gluten allergy to the point where it's time to cut it out! Mike's cousins have celiacs and they are completely gluten free so I thought why not try going gluten free when people around me are gluten free. Well we had gluten free pasta and bread (I know not the healthiest but I didn't have a lot) and it was delicious! Usually after pasta or bread my stomach turns for the worst. NOT this time! But it was one meal, it could have been a fluke. So I continued eating gluten free the rest of the week and had no, zero, ziltch problems with my stomach. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! It's hard to really put into words how it feels not to be in pain after I eat. I've dealt with it for so long that it became normal. Well guess what! It's not normally!

Glutens (seen below here) are my nemesis


For those of you who don't know what celiacs disease is or what having a gluten allergy entail here is a great site to check out:
http://www.celiac.org
Basically, it's an autoimmune condition where the intestines are unable to absorb foods that contain wheat, rye, and barley. (That's a very brief version but those are the 3 main groups that i'll be cutting out... So many foods and products contain these things or different combinations that it's going to be tough getting used to looking at the ingredients before just swiping things off the shelf. But I know long term it's completely worth it for me and by body.

The week was going great so I decided to say "what the heck" and have a few "glutenous" pretzels, really not thinking it would make a difference. 10 minutes later I was getting my pills and hunched over in pain. From that moment on I realized it was time to make a change. It's not worth the pain and knowing what it feels like to eat and not have pain is so much more glorious!
So I'm on the mission to find healthy, tasty, healthy gluten free foods! Lucky for me, just jumping on the Gluten Free wagon, stores have SOOOO many more options of gluten free products not to mention the hundreds of websites that are available!

All in all my mini vacation was incredible! I was able to spend time with Mike's family, relax, get tan, and learn exactly what the DEVIL inside my stomach is caused from!:)

So as hard as it may be to let go some of my favorite glutenous foods it's time to say "See Ya Later!"