Last week I told you that I meal prepped something new for snacks but wanted to try it before I talked about it. In spite of all appearances, I really am trying to Eat Better, and part of that process is finding afternoon snacks that:
a. tame my running hunger monster
b. are not potato chips and M&Ms from our office snack stand when said running hunger monster rears its head every afternoon
I've been reading food blogs since the dawn of time and writing one since 2011, but I had never had overnight oats until this week, so obviously I was not a Real Blogger until now. Why now? Well, I was roasting up a bunch of sweet potatoes to make loaded baked sweet potatoes for lunches and at the same time Nicole did a post on sweet potato overnight oats. And I said to myself huh let's just try it and see what happens. Between you and me I was certain that it was going to be a flop.
And...it wasn't. At 2:00 on Monday I had my first taste of the oats and not only liked them but felt energized and thought of nothing besides my job for a good bit longer, and then had my normal afternoon snack of yogurt. And then walked out of the office at quitting time feeling neither stuffed from eating junk food all afternoon nor starving. Quite the difference from everyday life.
In other news this week threw me a curveball with illness. I started off the week feeling very tired from the time change and by Tuesday it was obvious that something more was going on and I had a few days of fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. But I lived to tell and am now back to my normal self with some awesome eats to tell you about.
Breakfasts
Tuesday & Friday: breakfast burritos
Wednesday: felt terrible from illness, nibbled at a few snacks here and there.
Thursday: breakfast burrito with eggs, cheese, and Trader Joe's pepita salsa
Saturday: pre-run waffles via hubs
Sunday: something I've been dreaming of for a while. I made a batch of breakfast potatoes with Trader Joe's bell pepper mix and onions and loaded it into a tortilla with eggs, cheese, and Trader Joe's pepita salsa. And it was everything that I dreamed it would be.
Lunches
Monday, Thursday, Saturday: Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes via Skinny Taste. This is a complete win across the board: it tastes good, it's healthy, it's filling, and the leftovers are every bit as good as the first pass.
Tuesday: some very yummy Mongolian Soy Curls.
Wednesday: The sickness was in full force. Food didn't sound good. I took a few nibbles to keep myself going.
Friday: work went all out for St. Patrick's Day and I went all out on the lunch. Rueben and waffle fries.
Dinner
Monday & Tuesday (family meals): leftover lasagna.
Wednesday (date night): yeah. I went grocery shopping in the morning and though I didn't feel well, I was sure it would pass. By nightime food was not my friend. Hubs did all of the cooking and enjoyed his plate of grilled lamb, zucchini, and bacon cheddar mashed potatoes (pictured: his plate, I had a few bites). We set aside the second lamb steak that I had gotten for Friday.
Thursday (fend for yourself night): veggie burrito
Friday (date night #2): repeat of Wednesday. Hubs enjoyed his plate, I had a few bites. I was off food for a different reason: the aforementioned epic St Patty's day spread at lunch.
Saturday (date night #3): we went out for a change. We figured that our local Italian spot would be the least crowded place on St. Patrick's weekend. I had a big ol' burger, hubs had Irish Stew (yes our local Italian spot has an Irish streak).
I don't want to make anyone jealous with the three date nights in one week thing, but this is my life and I need to share that after dinner on Saturday we had the Ultimate Romantic Experience. We walked hand in hand to Lowe's and bought a toilet for our upcoming bathroom remodel.
Sunday (family meal): it was boy scout camp weekend, so we had our guaranteed meal of tacos. This is stepson #1's favorite meal, so he gets them as a reward for surviving camp (and if he would ever not survive the rest of us would have tacos as consolation).
Meal Prep
I have one more portion of loaded sweet potato to finish off, and then I'll turn to the freezer for the rest of my lunches. We have tacos galore for the next few nights.
Workouts
23 miles of running
Monday: I started the week feeling every minute of the lost hour due to the time change and I took my frustrations out on the gym with a killer workout. Weights and 4 mile speedy treadmill run and felt like I was on top of the world.
Tuesday: Had a fast fall from grace as I was starting to get sick. Crawled through a 5 mile tready run.
Wednesday: off due to normal rest day
Thursday: off due to illness
Friday: back at it. I wasn't feeling 100% but 4 miles went by quickly.
Saturday: the weather permitted running outside (low 30's with a few snowflakes here and there but clear roads). I wanted to run 10 miles but wasn't sure if my body was down for that, so I gave myself permission to bail anytime. It was obvious from the start that this was not going to be the greatest run of my life, but once I got through 4 miles, my head said that all I had to do was run 2 more miles 3 more times and my body went along with the plan. And then I was surprised at how quickly the 10 miles went by and that it was time to stop. I figure that this is a good baseline run for if I don't feel 100% on race day (my first half marathon is in 2 months)...if I got through this then I'll get through anything that race day can throw at me.
Workout thought of the week: you know I believe in rest days so much that I take two of them every week, but I really feel like I'm ready to add an extra day of running. It's nice to take Wednesday off from workouts because it means I can sleep in a bit, it's also nice to take Sundays off because the day after my long run is a natural time to take a break and it's nice to have a weekend day to be lazy. What to do...stay tuned.
Watching
From the treadmill: I ended up taking a detour from TV shows to rewatch some Harold Lloyd. Safety Last and Girl Shy. They are both great treadmill watches since they're 100% action. I think I'm going to continue on the old movie streak for a bit.
From the couch: hubs and I saw Highlander last night.
Reading
Nearly done with Girl, Stop Apologizing.
Great miles in spite of not feeling well! It had to be all that good food...
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