Farmer's Market

Today is a beautiful fall day.  Raj, Deven and I got in to the car and went downtown.  Once there, we bought some cheesebread and sat in the sun, enjoying every bite.

I thought I would share some of the images from this morning.  I love my life.

This tree is just starting to turn.

The sun is filtering through the trees. Also, I am totally chewing here.


My loves.

Deven is obviously tougher than me.

After some lunch, we are heading to a farm market.  Great day planned.

Preparing for the weekend

The coming weekend is busy in a very pleasant way.   We usually go to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings.  We might still do that.  We are planning to go to Pecks Farm Market, pet some animals, feed some other animals, just hang out and absorb nature. I am going to try to get some pictures of myself and my family.  If I get any that aren't horrific, I will share them.

 I will also be taking the dog for a run at some point on Saturday. It's Couch to Five K week 6 day 1.   My recollection of this run previously is that it is deceptively hard.  I know I can do it, though. I am tooooough.

We need to clean the house desperately.  Raj is getting my cold, it seems, so we might be low key.  Deven and I will be doing at least one baking project.    We will be planning our meals around stuff that is on hand, so all really really need to buy is veggies and some milk. I am trying to step down my (insanely high) fruit sugar consumption, so I will be doing more snacks like celery with laughing cow (YUM) and carrots with peanut butter.  More eggs for breakfast for the protein punch without the relatively high calories in Overnight Oats.

On Sunday, I have Weight Watchers- I have about 4 meetings left until my paid subscription expires.  I am not working WW right now, just my fitness pal, but I am still going to weigh in at meetings until my subscription runs out.   After that, I am going to be taking the dog for a very long walk (at least 4-5 miles) and listen to podcats and make note of the day.  I also want to take Deven to the movies- the cheap theater has Ice Age and I want him to be more used to being at the movies and relaxing and watching quietly.

Anyway, the whole time, I will be logging my calories with My Fitness Pal and staying on track and blogging here.  Clawing my way back on track, taking one more step to being the best possible version of me.  To setting a positive example for my son.  To fitting in all of my cute, prepregnancy clothes.

I've got this.

Celebrating Victories as They Happen

This cold has been kicking my ass hard.  I put off my Week 5 Day 3 run for quite some time.  But then I decided it was time to just do it.  My chest is still heavy, my cough is still intense, but I came home from work, put on my sports bra, laced up my running shoes and grabbed my phone, I turned on the podcast and hit the sidewalks with my trusty puppy.

The first few feet were rough.  The dog was spazzy and had to be talked to and I'm the kind of runner that has to count steps and breaths, to be honest. Without the count, I don't really have the lung capacity to run.  I can't run with chatty friends.  If I do, I will be walking within a mile.  With the cold, I REALLY had to focus on keeping my breathing controlled.  I was tired, dude.  I mean tired before I left the house.  I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  Just kept counting one-two-three-four in and one-two-three-four out.  My podcast advised I had gone 5 minutes and I thought, "What? Already?" I had hit a pretty decent stride and was eager to just keep running.   Then she announced ten minutes and I thought, "You know what?  I can do this!"   Then my dog saw my neighbor's dog.  And my neighbor's dog (Blitzen) is a badass.  A German Shepard that doesn't much care for other dogs.(understatement)  So Blitzen starts barking his head off, Conner starts acting like an idiot, lunging for Blitzen and I am trying to pull my poor dog across the street with a car coming because I don't feel like burying my dog today after Blitzen rips his freaking head off.  OF COURSE I forget to count.  And I turn on the afterburner and I sprint like two blocks to get the hell away from them.  The Blitzen has already forgotten about Conner and is barking at another neighborhood dog, but Conner is trying to rip my arm off to get to all the spots where Blitzen might have peed.  HELLO? I AM RUNNING HERE, JACKASS.  Anyway, with the sprinting, the idiot dog, the psychopath dog, etc, I ended up really burning up a lot of my energy and my breathing was really labored.  The podcast announces that I have 5 minutes to go.  Shit. I can't breathe.  How am I going to make it five more minutes? I slow down a little. I make myself pick my feet up a little higher.  I take note of a pain in my low back on the right.  I focus for a minute on my posture, check out my shadow, notice I am slouching.  Berate myself for sucky posture.  Advise myself that that isn't helpful in the slightest.  Straighten back and shoulders and soldier on. Keep counting breaths.  Say "holy shit, this is the longest five minutes in history"  out loud. Wince in the direction of a little park, notice there are no children at play and just keep running.  Podcast announces I have two minutes left.  Quicken my pace a little.  Try to plan my route.  The dog has other ideas.   So I turn the opposite of where he wants to go, because I am in charge, right?  Head for the highway. And time is up.  Say to myself "well, that wasn't so bad." 

I've apparently developed some last five minute amnesia.  I mean I remember sucking air, wondering how long before I give up and walk.  I was feeling that low back pain and I wanted to quit.  But I straightened up, counted my breaths and I finished all twenty minutes.

I knew I could do it. I am feeling so proud.

My Fitness Pal Pros and Cons

I'm on my second day of relying only on My Fitness Pal.  I have a couple of friends that are using this as a way to track their intake, plus one of my readers tracks her food there.  If you are also using My Fitness Pal- Feel free to friend me. I am emilythegood there :)

Some things I really like about My Fitness Pal-
*The mobile app.  SOOOO much stronger than the very terrible Droid version of the Weight Watchers app
*The dashboard.  I love being able to see what my friends are up to at a glance. I also love that it lets my friends know when I haven't been on for a while and encourages them to send me encouragement. 
*It also provides a forum for me to encourage my friends and family.
*It lets me decide which nutrients I think are important to track.  I'm taking a run at reducing my sugar.  I don't have any sugar problems, per se, but I feel like even for fruit sugars, I probably eat far more than is reasonable.
*It's free
*HUGE database
*no huge pile of bonus calories that I feel obligated to burn through

Some things I am on the fence about-
*No meetings.  I am hoping that the dashboard feature kind of acts like a meeting but we will see.
*I kind of think the recipe section sucks.


That's really it.  I am feeling good(ish)  I'm counting my calories, taking it day by day.  I am still fighting this chest cold, but I think I am going to resume my run training as I really want to run a good portion of Color Me Rad.  I can't wait to write reviews of that event.

This coming weekend, I have no events, but on Saturday, 10/6  I am doing the Des Moines Get Your Rear In Gear event.  This is a really important event for me, because my sister in law lives in central Iowa and is a Stage IV Colon Cancer Survivor. 

On 10/13, I have Color Me Rad.  On 10/14 I have the Autism walk.  My collection of events this year is largely walks.  This is by design because I am not in run shape, but I need to get into run shape, because my high school friend, Cherie, said she wants to run a half marathon with me.  I have A LOT of training to get there, but I think I can.

I just want to keep making the small changes in my lifestyle to enable me to be the me I deserve to be.   I know I can, little by little.

But give me a nudge if you think I'm not, ok?

Making some changes.

I feel like Weight Watchers isn't working FOR ME.  I feel like it's a really great program for a lot of people, but as someone who has used various iterations of Weight Watchers over the years, it just doesn't work for me.  I lost my weight originally on 1-2-3 Success- which was a points range and you could bank your points to go over, but not more than 10 in a day.

Fruit cost.

While WW is the way it is, I can't keep paying for a monthly pass and struggling. I just can't.

My pound for pound challenge is completely over.  Know why?  Because I have lost 2 lbs this year so far.  Less than, really.  I'm starting almost from scratch.  I've cancelled my monthly pass at Weight Watchers.  I will keep going to meetings until the end, but I just need to change my focus, because whatever I am doing right now isn't working for me.

I am not going to do anything radical.  I am going to count calories at myfitnesspal.com. I am going to keep exercising.  I have already challenged my husband to get in shape and be my support group.

I can do this. I CAN.

Weigh in, plus FMM Fall Favorites

esterday at weigh in, I was up another 1 lb, so now it is do or die time.  I've been spending a lot of time being mad at Weight Watchers, but the fact is, WEIGHT WATCHERS isn't the problem here.  It's me.  It's always been me, no matter what program I am using.


If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!


Fall Favorites



1. What is your favorite thing about this time of year? I love the weather, the fall leaves, the apple cider, the pumpkin flavored things, Halloween, going to fall festivals.  I guess if I had to choose just one, I would say the time with my family at pumpkin patches.

2. What do you hope to do again before Summer is officially over? Well, it's been fall for two days now, but I'd love to get myself back on track and finish the couch to 5K program before snow falls.

3. When did you last go on a hay ride?  Last year, at a fall festival.

4. What is your favorite pumpkin dish?  Pumpkin spice cupcakes or pumpkin pie, probably.

5. Do you decorate your home for fall?  I am not much for a seasonal decorator.  For fall, we will carve some pumpkins and maybe put some spider webs up at Halloween.

6. Do you have any hobbies that are seasonally specific? I knit more in the fall and winter, but I do that year round.  In the fall I am far more likely to take a nature hike.

 7. Apple cider or hot chocolate?  Apple cider, please.

8. Are you a fan of football? Yes.  Go BUCKY! Wisconsin football.  If I had to choose a professional team, I would pick the Seahawks, primarily because they have Russell Wilson, quarterback for Wisconsin last season.

9. Share a fond Fall memory. I got married on October 3 of 2004.  We had a fall themed wedding and it was lovely.  We had a really great day with friends and family and love and laughs.  Best.Decision.Ever to marry my husband.

10. It's not Fall until...Starbucks starts selling their seasonal pumpkin spice latte.  Which they are doing now! HOLLA!



Now it's your turn to answer this week's questions.  Don't forget to come back and link up in the comments!  Happy Monday!

This cold

has taken up shop and apparently permanent residence on my chest.  Of course this means comfort food.

Apparently I am still looking for excuses to veer off my program.