vicious sweet tooth

Hey y’all!  Happy “Hump” Day!  Glad the long weekend is getting closer – can’t wait to relax this weekend and hang out with the hubby and my sister!

Today has been pretty busy – I did a ton of errands for the office and worked on several marketing projects for the office as well…I hope we start seeing the fruits of our labor pay off!

This morning started off on a great note – the hubby and I actually got our butts out of bed and into the gym first thing this morning!

Workout:

• 10 min warm-up, walking on treadmill
• 35 min running – 3.30 miles
• 5 min cool down
• light stretching

While warming up, I read a little of this, which came in the mail yesterday!

Good Reading'

I really like getting my workout in first thing in the morning…I often say “so I can get it out-of-the-way”, but that sounds so negative and it’s not really what I mean.  I guess what I really mean, is that I just like to start off with a healthy and focused mindset.  When I get up and begin preparing for the gym, I’m doing good things for both my mind and body and this sets the tone for my day.  And will hopefully translate into the other choices I’m making for my mind and body.  If I don’t get up and do it in the morning, chances are, I’m gonna talk my myself out of it by the end of the day.  It’s definitely a total mind of matter situation.  Once I get into the gym I’m always glad I did and usually have a great workout – sometimes I might not, but majority of the time I do.  However, I think that performance wise, I often do better in the evening, it feels I can run faster without getting so tired.  I think I’m not always 100% awake and properly fueled since I practically roll out of bed into my workout clothes. I need to work on that.

I also feel that if I go to the gym first thing in the morning, my eats are better throughout the day…more balanced and healthier overall…well, usually.  I do sometimes make that excuse to myself that I can have that mini vanilla scone from Starbucks because I ran this morning, but I do try to make healthier choices.

Any advice or input about being an early bird or night owl at the gym is definitely welcomed.

Enough of my rambling….here are my eats today

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (298 cals)

w/ coffee

• 1/4 cup coffee
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened almond milk
• 1 Tbsp almond butter
• 1 Tbsp flax seeds
• 1 Tbsp Nutribiotic Brown Rice Protein Powder
• 1/2 banana
• crushed ice
• drop of stevia

Snack: Luna bar – Caramel Nut Brownie (180 cals)

Yummy Chocolate fix

Lunch: Amy’s black bean & veggies burrito (290 cals) + 2/3 cup blueberries (40 cals)

Black Beans & Veggie Goodness

I bring real plates to work

Nice & Plump

I also found this water on sale at Publix – I left my water bottle at home, so I needed something to drink!

Flavored Water

I was really excited to try this out today, it’s made with agave nectar and has 9 calories per serving (2.5 svgs per bottle) but when I tasted it, it tasted a little fake and left a weird aftertaste in my mind.  I did manage to drink it, but I probably wouldn’t by it again.

Snack: a little more blueberries and 2/3 tbsp almond butter (88 cals)

When I got home from work, this is how I found my hubby…this weekend we talked about cashing in our coin jar and he poured it all out in an attempt to count it.  But then gave up and we just went to Kroger and let the Coinstar machine do the dirty work!

Counting our pennies

After getting our money counted we headed home for some dinner!

Right now the fridge is getting low…we need to hit up the grocery store ASAP – we had to use a little creativity for tonight’s dinner.  Basically we had bean tacos, but this time I used kidney beans – as that is the only type of bean in our pantry. I do love me some kidney beans because they pack in lots of vitamins, fiber and protein.

Dinner: Tacos & a side of broccoli (289 cals)

homemade tacos

Last night I started soaking the beans in water.  I drained and rinsed them this morning and brought them to a boil and cooked for about 45 mins.  Since I had to leave for work, I just turned off the burner and let them sit on the stove all day.  Tonight, I drained and rinsed again and added enough water to cover them and brought them back to a boil for about 20 mins.  While bringing them up to a boil, I added freshly chopped onion and sun-dried tomatoes (we didn’t have salsa or fresh tomatoes on hand).. I also threw in cumin powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a little cayenne pepper.  I turned off the heat and let it rest for while so all of the flavors could meld together a little.  It kind of tasted like chili.

Tacos included:

• Kidney bean mixture
• 2% cheddar cheese
• romaine lettuce
• red bell pepper

I also had about 1/2 of this Bear Naked bar for something sweet (115 cals)

Fruit & Nut

TOTAL CALORIES: 1291 cals

The hubby and just watched an episode of Law & Order and are about to hit the hay!

Peace out y’all….