New Month, New Food Log

New month, new time to try something new.

I feel like I'm plateauing in different areas of my fitness routines and when it comes to my eating habits.  I feel I do eat a wide variety of foods; decent amount of carbs when necessary, I wish I knew the exact number but I'd say I eat a good amount of protein and good fats.  I feel we can always make minor changes and try different things to help us out in different areas of our lives.  I'd like to tweak how my stomach feels when I eat certain fruits, veggies and certain carbs; like oatmeal or a high fiber cereal.  I don't necessarily feel that I'm allergic to any of these foods, but I will say that they hit me harder on a day where I have ran.

I think generally, because you're moving your body in such a repetitive motion, our insides definitely get sloshed around.  From what I have read online, that makes sense to me.  I also struggle with feeling hungry directly after a run and since I have been practicing intuitive eating for a while now, I don't want to just eat to eat.  Just because I just ran 6-10 miles, doesn't mean I am famished right away or am in the mood to eat a lot.  Hunger eventually does catch up with me about an hour after a workout.  I always make sure to have either an apple on me or a banana for a quick bite and to settle my stomach.  A carby nut bar usually does the trick as well but again, I have to be in the mood for these foods too.  Sometimes I'll just have a cup of water mixed with one scoop of protein powder and that'll settle me until I feel like I want an actual meal.

I want to track my foods again and it'll be interesting to see what changes I need to make when it comes to my running and how I feel after other workouts. I do weights and lots of stretching and hot yoga.  I kept a food log from six years ago for the sole purpose of losing some unwanted pounds and getting in better shape.  It initially helped and I have kept twenty pounds off for six years now.  I didn't count calories, I just jotted down every single thing that I put in my mouth.  Initially, I had to really but calories and eat like a bird, basically.  I ate very minimally for about two weeks to drop some pounds and it definitely worked.  Obviously that's not sustainable, so I then started watching my portions and still occasionally ate the foods I loved. i love going back to that journal every now and then to see where I started and what I ate.

I also feel that we put so much pressure on ourselves to run the fastest or have a certain time in our brains, I feel this because I have done this to myself for the past two years since I began running.  I am trying to just go with how I feel when I do set out on a run and just try my best in ANY workout that I do. On the flip side, when I feel I have been eating quite clean and keeping consistent with all of my workouts, then hell yeah, I should want to see some improvement in my running.  For the most part, I have experienced slightly faster paces and hit goal times here and there.  But I want my outlook to be more of enjoying all of my runs in some way, that I am able to run because I am alive and healthy and I need to see it more as my therapy; my time to think about whatever is going on in my life, or zone out to good tunes or listen to inspiring podcasts.  I also love a good silent run from time to time. I love running the most because literally every run will be different. It's impossible to remain a carbon copy. 

 I'm not going to over think this.  So here goes my next adventure with food journaling  I should also note that I didn't run six years ago, and certainly didn't exert nearly as much effort/ calories as I do these days.  I just went to the gym and did my cardio on the elliptical machine and did some weight machines here and there.  Which, I should also add, was completely fine. It helped in the process of losing weight for sure!

9/1/17

Workout: did a long run of 11.60 miles. a few stretches afterwards. lunges and bridges. 12 reps.

Fuel:  Fueled minimally at 530am with half a peanut butter crunch Cliff bar and some water.

-sipped water along my run.

- 16 oz french vanilla coffee with skim milk from Wawa.

930am- breakfast was a pack of instant oatmeal ( better oats), a tbsp. of flax seed meal, about a tbsp. of chia seeds, tbsp. of salted almond butter, a handful of cashews, half a banana, and 2 eggs cooked in some coconut spray oil and feta cheese with some black pepper.  a tsp. of strawberry organic jam and some cinnamon.  This fills me up for a long time.  Don't knock this combo until you try it- it's delicious!

12pm-at 12pm I had an almond butter bar, chocolate chunk from Kashi. and a grande Starbuck's caramel Macchiato with skim milk.

3pm- Starbuck's berry yogurt with granola.  Hit the spot!

6pm- pizza night at a favorite spot of ours. I had two cocktails and a good amount of pizza.  The slices are smaller but I think I had five slices and I tried a piece of Claire's meatball.  We were pretty stuffed but then decided what the hell, we'll get a Krispy Kreme donut for dessert!  We were out with friends , so they kind of helped in making the choice!  I had a lot of water the rest of the night an enjoyed a hot original glazed and it was pure heaven.  I have also been eyeing their cinnamon bun donut so Claire and I split that.  It was delicious!