Putting the wheels back on

The last few weeks I've been less and less motivated to move, to follow the exercise program I set out for myself. I would plan out the workout week over the weekend, but only follow a day or two before giving up. This week I didn't even halfheartedly try to follow through toward the end of the week. 

I have all sorts of rationals and reasons why I haven't done what I said. Honestly, they all contribute, but ultimately in every case I could have said "no, I'm going to do this anyway!" instead of "meh, not today..."

I'm putting the wheels back on the bus this week, and doing well overdue maintenance as well. 

Not the bus I had in mind!
(source)

After reading THIS POST, as well as THIS POST, and knowing I have not been able to donate blood for literally decades because my iron is always too low, I added a ferrous sulfate supplement to my regime. I used to be a supplement addict, and would take about 15 pills a day. I'm down now to just a few. Biotin has proven to help with weak and splitting finger and toe nails, which are a result of my auto-immune disease. Vitamin D, my family is historically deficient in. This is even more important now I'm hardly outside anymore because of work. I take 5-HTP because it's supposed to help me sleep better. I'm still a horrible sleeper, so I don't have any concrete evidence this works. I like to think I'm up fewer times in the night since I began taking it though, so there's that. Now I take Iron as well. That, methimazole for the auto-immune disease, and the periodic allergy med is all I take. 

I haven't changed the exercise plan for this week, other than cancelling Monday's morning workout. I have to visit my local bank to see if they can help me reduce my mortgage payments. It seems having a low mortgage because I own a condo instead of a house is a detriment. If I refinance through a large mortgage company, I'll have to pay $500 or so above the higher interest they use to cover closing costs. I don't have $500. I'm told a small local bank can do things the larger finance companies cannot, and I happen to have accounts at our local credit union, so we'll see. 

I've gone back to counting calories. Not in an obsessive "I ate a cracker, I need to record that!" but in planning out my weekly meals. I do all my cooking and preparing food for the week on the weekends. This week I got rid of the crap in my house and started fresh.

Breakfast: Refrigerator Oatmeal. Mine is Apple-Pumpkin-Almond Butter with several other additions thrown in (like Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain cereal with flaxseed plus Grape Nuts, instead of oatmeal). Being incapable of following a recipe as written, I tracked everything I threw in using MyFitnessPal's recipe section. It comes out to about 240 calories, 39 grams of carbs, and 13 grams of protein. 

I've been struggling with fuel first thing in the morning. I don't really want to eat when I first wake up, but I need to eat something if I'm going to push myself for an hour or more before work. I made brownies filled with more raisin and date than brownie, but it turns out I don't want cookie first thing after waking up. I tried Clif Bars for breakfast too, but again, no cookies please. I'm hoping the oatmeal will work better. For one thing, it's supposed to be eaten cold. This means I can have a few spoonfuls, put it back in the fridge and do my thing, then eat a bit more if necessary.

Lunch: This is actually little more than a snack. I'm a grazer, and like to snack all day. I mixed up a bean salad with a bit of every dried bean I could find in the store, added sauteed onions and green peppers, then tossed the whole thing with some mild salsa. It's meant to be eaten cold as a grab-and-go I can eat at my desk. This way I have time to walk on my lunch, which is only half an hour anyway. If I don't walk at lunch I barely move from my desk, which is not good.

Snacks: I lean toward a whole food lifestyle, but there are some things I find REALLY hard to go without. I currently have a stash of crackers at work, portioned out carefully so I'm less inclined to binge. I've allotted myself one portion per day, plus 2 portions of grapes as snacks throughout the day. 

On the drive home, if I'm going to run before whatever is on the calendar that evening, I'll have half a Clif Bar. Cookie is ok later in the day. I just have to make sure I portion it out before, or I will eat the entire thing. I really don't need that much fuel for the one or two little miles I'll have time for. I just need to not be starving when I get home, so I'm not eating a big dinner instead of running.

Dinner: This is something along the lines of a Quesadilla, with spinach and mozzarella cheese on a Flatout. I'll cook them in my little sandwich maker so I don't have to butter them up. I've had that thing for years, and don't think I've used it once. It was a gift from the last place I worked, for sticking around 5 years. Because the sandwich is also barely above snack portion in calories, I've added a serving of long grain brown and wild rice. Two snacks = dinner!

Everything is nicely portioned out in my fridge. 

I have no intention of becoming a food blogger, as you can tell from the lack of glossy close-ups of every meal. Because I subjected you to my meal plan and did NOT include pictures, here's one of my little friend who helped me shop.

I found him while in the dairy aisle. He must have been there, hanging on my cart the whole time. After checking out, I made him climb up on my bag, from which he climbed up onto my hand as I walked out to the parking lot. I blew him off onto a bush, figuring he could find his way home from there, and walked home reflecting on good karma.