Looking Ahead & Staying Healthy

Whew! Is anyone else feeling the post holiday blahs? I'm currently in the battle of the bulge, trying to work off a few extra pounds that arrived with the extra cookies, drinks, and constant celebration.

It's not the end of the world, but I certainly don't like not feeling comfortable in my jeans. I guess that's an up side to buying well fitting or skinny jeans. There isn't much opportunity to get out of control with your daily nutrition because there aren't extra inches in the jeans waiting to be filled! ;)

This sort of feels like my last week of vacation, although I'm still working regular hours. With New Year's and my birthday this week, it just feels a little special. Next week is the start of winter term, ready or not.

I have been thinking of ways I can stay on track with my studying, but also fit in the important/fun stuff like running, hanging out with the manfriend, etc. I don't know about you, but my biggest distractor can be my blog feed or social media. I love reading about what others are posting, but ultimately I need to remind myself that 9 times out of 10, the distractions won't help me reach my end goal any faster. In fact, they can hinder me. So, onward and upward!

Over the next few months, I also want to stay on top of meal planning for both lunches and dinners so that we are eating healthy, affordable meals that are easy to assemble because we have the ingredients for them.Yesterday morning, I looked through a few cookbooks and wrote out meal and grocery lists for the week before we headed out to do errands. Sunday night dinner was a healthified (no crust + lots of veggies + reg. milk) quiche.


On the menu for tonight is baked chicken and a honey dijon broccoli salad from the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook.

In unrelated news, we got a new kitchen floor mat from Costco yesterday. Jonah Bell thinks it's her new dog bed. I can't really argue with her as it's memory foam and extra comfy.


And lastly, as I'm looking toward maintaining health and balance through the beginning of 2014, I am signing up for a few races! It feels like far too long since I've raced or trained (Chicago Marathon was my last "race").  

So far, I've signed up for the Grapes of Half, a local 1/2 marathon in wine country with some rolling hills. And in the next week or so, I'm planning on also signing up for the Peterson Ridge Rumble, a 20 mile trail race in Central Oregon that I've run once before. While that race didn't go magically for me, it was one of my first real trail races and I've had a lot more experience since then. This time around, I'm hoping to feel strong and happy most of the 20 miles. 

Do you have any fun New Year's Eve plans or traditions? Are you doing anything special to prepare for the start of 2014?

Comments

Raina said…
I got off track with holiday food too.. :/ Having a menu and sticking to it really helps!

Will you be running a NYE/ NYday race?
Yep, I am definitely feeling the aftermath of too many sweets and not enough activity during Christmas. Yikes. But I will get back on track now that I am back in Charlotte and far away from all the yummy food my mom makes!

I am not doing anything special for New Years this year. I will stay in and work on a puzzle most likely. If I lived in Minneapolis, I would probably host a game night but I don't have enough friends in Charlotte to do something like that (as lame as that sounds!). I am looking forward to a new year, though, and have set some goals for myself.

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