Fitness Friday: Fitting It In and Eating Right

I'm linking up with my friend Jen today for Fitness Fridays.  


If you've been around my blog for any amount of time, you know I love to run and exercise.  I really just don't feel good when I don't.  I believe that fitness should be a part of our lives and not just something we do because we feel pudgy or want to look good in a new bathing suit.  There are so many things we can't control about ourselves (genetics), but two things we can control are our exercise and eating habits.

Exercise Matters: Fitting It In
I don't think exercise should be something we should have to fit in our schedule.  It's something we should do as part of our daily lives.  Having a family, working, and other committments can make it tough to exercise, and I think that too often, we use these things as an excuse to not exercise when in fact being active makes these things so much better and easier (in my opinion at least).  

One thing that works for me is planning my exercise.  I don't plan down to the minute, but the first thing I do each Monday morning is look at my calendar to see what we have going on.  I first determine the nights that I know I won't be able to exercise and make sure that I mentally plan to run or go to the gym those mornings.  I then pick the day or days that I want to do more than my standard run.  I also have a goal for each week for the amount I want to run and the number of times I want to go to the gym.  Generally, I run at least 15 miles a week and go to the gym twice.  I also do ab work at home.

Each time I exercise, I log it in my calendar and through the Fitlinxx system at my gym.  Seeing the pink (how I code exercise in my calendar) on almost every page makes me feel accomplished and gives me an easy way to keep up with my miles.

Healthy Eating
I'm fortunate that I haven't had to worry about my weight.  I chalk it up to a good metabolism and being active.  With that said, I don't take it for granted and eat any and everything I want.  I try my best to eat healthy, but I don't give myself restrictions.  For the most part, I drink only water.  I love Dr. Pepper and an ice cold Pepsi, and of course, sweet tea, but I try to limit those to maybe 1-2 a week.  I'm also not a big snacker and don't eat many sweets (Kevin is probably laughing as he reads this given that I ate a piece and a half of chocolate cake Wednesday night!) generally.  I do love chocolate and I believe it's better to give into a craving (like Nutella and pretzels :) ) than to deprive yourself of it.

When I think about food, I try to eat and prepare things that are both healthy and filling.  With the boys, it's so important to me to feed them things that are healthy and to work my best to help them develop healthy eating habits at their young ages.  

Starting the day off with a healthy breakfast is key, I think, to eating healthy throughout the day.  I love Better Oats Oat Revolation Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Oatmeal for breakfast.  The individual packets are so easy to prepare and the packaging comes with a fill-to line to make preparing your oatmeal even easier.  These are so filling and good, too.  

I make lunch for the boys to take to school everyday and also usually pack lunch for Kevin and me.  We usually have a salad and some kind of fruit.  I've also starting making some wraps that are really good.  I use a tortilla shell, some different types of lettuces, cheese, olives, and meat. 

For dinner, we have a lot of grilled chicken, steak or another beef, and pork chops, a good filling side like brown rice or au gratin potatoes (not the healthiest), vegetables, and fruit.  

When I run in the morning, I end up starving during the day.  I always eat my oatmeal and have a glass of water before I run, but by the time I get to work, I'm famished.  This week, I started packing some snacks.  I've used snack size bags and filled them with grapes and pretzels and brought in a banana.  

Weekly Recap
I've had a good week exercise-wise.  We had something to do almost every night, so I'm pleasantly surprised that I was able to get in as many miles as I was during the work week.  I'll recap from last Friday until yesterday.
Total Miles: 18.3

I think I've done pretty well eating breakfast and lunch this week, but our nighttime eating hasn't been very good.







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