Turtle slowly catching up to the hare!

This week I didn't keep a very good log of what I did, as I got a bit lazy with everything except running!
But in saying that...
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3km run, 3km walk
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday 3km run, 3km walk
Sunday 3km run, 3km walk

So 3 runs and 3 walks, I don't mind being lazy this week since next week I'll be doing 110 km of walking with a big pack on my back :)

Yesterday's and today's runs were awesome. I felt way faster than usual and it showed in my timings. I tried a few things on each run, such as counting in my head "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2" which actually worked, trying to keep a better posture, and also splitting my "outing" up with a 10 min walk, then the 3km run, then the 10 km walk, so "warmup" and "cooldown". I think the combination of these things all helped, and I feel sooo good! Yay!!!!

I'm all packed and ready to go for tomorrow morning, it's a 5 hour drive and then we're chilling out in a hostel for the night before starting up the first day with a fairly easy 17 or 19 km walk (forget which?)

The weather looks like it might rain... every day... but at least that means it will be warmer at night. I've got the beanies and thermals packed anyway, especially as my sleeping bag SUCKS and I could not afford a new one.

Oh, and fitness plan for this week?

Monday: rest OR yoga
Tuesday: 17.5km bushwalk
Wednesday: 39.8 km bushwalk
Thursday: 22.7 km bushwalk
Friday: 19.9 km bushwalk
Saturday: 21.1 km bushwalk
Sunday: rest OR yoga

Hoping to come back feeling nice and fit!!

Ahh and slight confession... I also ate this today:

It was one of my favourites from back in the day, but had since been banned due to its sugar / fat content. Well, let's just say today I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not punish myself for it, or go on an all out binge after eating it :) So proud! (And soooo tasty...)

September Goals

September Goals

Hey so I'm only 10 days late... so we'll call this challenge a 3 week one - no, two, because next week I'm away all week bushwalking.

1. In my never-ending journey to eat like a normal person, I shall eat something which offers little to no nutritional value once a week (Thursday at uni, most likely), just because it looks nice and tastes good - so that's two times this month. Preferably something I used to enjoy pre-ED.

2. I will complete 2 strength workouts a week - (minus the week away)

3. I will actually follow the 100 pushup plan!

4. I will clean my car... been putting this one off too long :)

That should be enough. Anymore and it will just add to my never-ending uni stress. Today I spent roughly seven hours... yep... smashing out some work. On the plus side, I got heaps done. 

Also managed a really enjoyable 3km run this morning, it was such a beautiful day! Thinking of another one tomorrow... then Monday heading off!

Some things I ate today:

One of these oat - almond meal - banana bars, microwaved for 30 seconds till it goes mushy...

And a pumpkin - almond - brazil nut - cashew muffin... 

Yes... I eat way too many nut products in my day, but theyaresodelicious!

WIGTOW? (What I'm going to eat Wednesday)

Woo, time for some more What I Ate Wednesday shenanigans thanks to Peas & Crayons.So I didn't have much that was of interest today, apart from a bit too much of this (recycled pictures...)

Three coffees.... and one tea.

Peanut butter and apricot jam open sandwiches

And I had OIAJ again...

So... today's entry will be What I'm going to eat next Wednesday :) Next Wednesday I will be doing a hike of about 40 km (this will be the longest day of a five day hike), so I've planned quite a few yummy things to eat, although I suspect I may be too exhausted to eat at the end of it :P

Here's some of the things I've thought of so far:

A few nut bars

A big pack of dried fruit - includes prunes, apricots, apples, pears and peaches. I think I might pick up some cranberries and goji berries too, and some seeds and nuts and mix it all in together. Maybe some dark choc chips too??

A couple of RAW energy bars - I have a few of these stashed away, the top one I think has spirulina and stuff in it, so that's one way to get your greens without a fridge!!

A pack of couscous, mum bought this for me... I was planning on going all raw and natural foods so that I feel good (+ added bonus of not having to carry a stove or matches) but this might be nice one night when we're at a proper camp...

Rice cakes!! Planning on covering them with PB...

This awesome looking raw muesli I found in the health food store the other day. It has sprouted grains and stuff and is made locally. Yum.

The all important ingredient... one with a plastic container. And of course I've already started eating some to "lighten" the container for next week ;)

I may or may not take these... they tend to be on the heavier side, so if I do take some I will eat on the first few days. 

I'm also thinking the first morning when I'm at home I'll have for breakfast: avocado on toast with vegemite, and a berry/spinach smoothie... to try and get some good nutrients in me before we begin :D

So if you're reading this... do you have any other suggestions for deliciously healthy food that can be taken on the trail, and doesn't weigh much?

On another note... I'm struggling a lot with my motivation lately. I was going to join a local running group today, but then I psyched myself out by the fact that "everyone will be way better / faster than me and look at me like, 'what is she doing here?' and didn't go. I then didn't have any motivation for anything else either. 

I think I'm just really overworked from uni that I just want to sit and do absolutely nothing once I'm done. I spend so many hours studying that when I actually get a chance to do something else, it's like, I don't want to. The lack of parking at the gym lately is making it difficult too. As Nike says though, I should JUST DO IT. I guess today I might just give up on it and have a rest day, relax, watch some TV and then begin again tomorrow.

Sticking with the plan.

I made up a fitness plan for myself after the City2Surf finished, but I'm finding it hard to follow. Every time I've put down to do weights, I end up going for a run instead. It's just so much easier to put on some sneakers and get out there, than to drive to the gym and need to remember water bottle, towel, keys, wallet etc... but I really need to do some strength work!
I've never liked strength work. I just find it boring. I like to be huffing and puffing and "feeling it". I did like BodyPump for a while but it's so same-same. Anyway. Today I actually drove to the gym all ready to do BodyPump, and then I couldn't find a car park. I drove around and around, but nothing. This is a growing problem with my local gym and it's really frustrating me. So I drove down to the local park which is about 500 metres away from the gym, and went for a run again.
This time though, it was a nice change. I usually just run around home and the route gets a bit boring, but it was really pretty around the park, and all flat for a change... since my home is around a hilly area. Plus it was a beautiful day.

Canola flowers starting to bloom... I totally took this mid-run.

Close up of canolas and some other blue flower...

The lake, and there's some white birds in the pic too but iPhones don't have a zoom, that I'm aware of!!

So after that I didn't feel so bad about having to change the plan again. I'd like to think I'll be able to wake up at 5.30 am tomorrow for BodyPump (since I can actually get parking at that time), but the reality is, I have work tonight and it may finish as late as 2 or 3am (I have to run the bar).
In other news... my brother got me the best 3-months-late birthday present EVER.... 100% chocolate!!! And I thought the 99% was good. I haven't trialed it yet, but he got it in a little bag with all sorts of really good quality chocolate, and I tried the 72% mexican one, and it was divine.

 Ingredients: 100% cocoa mass from Dominican Republic. oOOh yeah.

Yum, even wrapped in gold wrapping...

So... what's the best way to stick with your plan?? Start early in the morning I suppose, when people aren't at work yet and hogging all the car parking spots!! As for motivation, that's another story :)

I do try to stick with Jillian Michael's thing of "Just go for 10 minutes, and if you don't feel like it, come back...", but you can't really leave in the middle of a BodyPump class ;P

Trying some new foods...

So today I was a little more adventurous with my food intake, taking note of a few blogging favourites out there and giving them a go!!! I love blogging because of that, I've discovered so many new things to eat and ways to make things :)

Breakfast was pumpkin oats, with a spoonful of ABC spread on top. I wasn't hugely fond... it was nice, and healthy, but it really wasn't something I would rave about and eat over and over... especially with the fact I had to actually cut up, cook and blend a pumpkin to make it! (Although this was made with leftovers from yesterday's muffin mix)

For a snack I tried this one, which I think I found from .running with spoons.'s blog - crumbling up a muffin and mixing with yoghurt. This is one of my pumpkin muffins from yesterday's post, with a bit of strawberry jam, some greek yoghurt and cinnamon. Pretty good combination, will definitely have it again! Especially if I have dry or overcooked muffins, as the yoghurt makes it nice and mooshy.

Then I tried this kombucha stuff. This was "original recipe". I have to admit... I'm not a fan. The first mouthful tasted like vinegar, the second sort of reminded me of beer, or cider that was kind of off. I'm not overly convinced of the health benefits either as there is conflicting information out there about it. I gave it a good go though, drinking about half of the bottle. I tried diluting it with water, but I was not won over!! Yeeuck! Maybe it's better if it's flavoured or something? I dunno, but it was gross.

Workout today: went for a short 3.7km run, took it slow as for some reason my knees are now playing up. Sigh. I tried to get the motivation to go to a BodyPump class but it just wasn't happening, my body seriously wanted to just get out there for a run, so I listened to it.

Pumpkin Almond-Brazilnut-Cashew Muffins & Nuts and Bolts

Baking Time!

The other day I had what I thought was this fantastic idea as I sat on the bus to university... pumpkin & peanut butter muffins! Yumm... anyway it eventually evolved into pumpkin with almond-brazilnut-cashew spread (ABC spread), and so I decided to give it a go. I kinda used the baseline of a banana & sultana bread recipe that I've cooked from before, and then modified it like crazy so it was completely different. The result?? Pretty good, but peanut butter would have been better haha!

Here they are all fresh from the oven...

Cut in half...

And if you're interested, here's the rough recipe I used:

Oven 180'C (350'F I think)

1/2 cups splenda (can use normal sugar)

1 cup pureed pumpkin (We don't get canned pumpkin in Australia, so I had to actually cut up a pumpkin and boil it up, then mash it up... gasp!)

4 eggs (or could use egg replacer)

3/4 cup water

1 cup ABC spread (or maybe peanut butter? sunflower seed butter? the choices...)

3 1/2 cups quinoa flour (this was what I planned, but I couldn't find it and used spelt instead)

2 tsp baking soda

30 raisins

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (I may have added more)

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp LSA mix (linseed, sunflower seed, almond meal)

1 tsp chia seeds

Pretty much put all the dry ingredients together, add wet, stir... put in muffin tray... bake for 20-25 mins. I baked about 25 minutes and it was probably slightly drier than I like.. although I like my muffins slightly undercooked :)

Makes 18 muffins or 2 x loaves

Then I made this... it's called "Nuts and Bolts", recipe here: Nuts and Bolts snacks 

It's definitely not totally healthy (has 1/2 cup oil!), but I made it for the 110km hike I'm doing next week, so I will be needing extra energy and it's... EXTREMELY morish. Plus, usually when I bushwalk I have a problem with... not eating. Basically, I struggle to drink enough water, then I'm dehydrated so I can't eat much. Last 3 day hike? Lost 3 kilograms. So this time I'm prepared and have gatorade mix and yummy snacks... which means I'll probably gain weight instead... although I do plan to share it with the others, and it does make a HUGE batch.

This is what I ate while I was baking... I just like to take pictures of peanut butter and jam bread because it looks so tasty.

Intuitive Eating

I forget what blog I read it on, but I have been trying - sort of - to eat intuitively. It's been failing most of the time, because I still count calories. But today I attempted to follow it by buying this monster:

It's a chocolate chip muffin with sugar granules on top. I was in line for a coffee to dull my hunger as it was only 9.30 am, when I saw one of these... I'd always looked at them and told myself no, too many calories, made with butter, flour and sugar - three things I usually avoid if possible. A fear food, if you must. So today I thought... I'm going to get one. Must find out if they are as good as they look. (The pic doesn't do it justice...) Anyway, it was ok. Wasn't fantastic, but wasn't bad either. It reminded me why I don't like floury buttery sugary muffins - because I get that weird feeling on my tongue afterwards! Mostly nobody knows what I'm talking about when I say that, so I don't expect people to...

The other thing - I felt guilty every single bite I took, but I still ate the entire thing. I also denied myself lunch by eating it, which ended up being OK as I wasn't hungry for lunch anyway.

How does one get past the guilt and just try to enjoy the food because you like the taste? Instead of going "I will only eat something high calorie if it offers nutritional benefits / I enjoy it immensely". Instead of eating it and then bingeing because you feel guilty, or denying yourself healthier food because it's then too many calories? How do you eat something just because, and then continue on with your day as if it didn't matter?

Yes, I'm still not really "normal" in my eating habits, yet I'm very close to the BMI of overweight. I don't know how to lose weight without counting calories (even though that's still not working!). If I try to intuitively eat, I tend to go overboard and think I can eat anything, so I eat like crazy and gain weight. I don't know what the solution is, so I'm just going to keep counting calories... wow, did that paragraph make any sense?? Anyway onto some pics because I am rambling...

Here's what I had for breakfast today... two pieces of wholemeal bread with ricotta cheese, pear and a couple of raisins. Was delicious!

Here's a pic of the weird oaty banana coconut slice thing I made.

These are slightly amazing.

I have some plans for some baking this weekend, as well as copious amounts of study...