These people are amazing

My new favorite lunch

I've made the same thing for lunch everyday for like 5 days in a row and I still love it. It's a super fast, low-cal, low-fat "Chicken Salad Pita". Here's how I make it:


(1 serving) Mix together:

2 or 3 oz. of grilled chicken breast, cubed

1/2 stalk celery, chopped

1/4 of an apple, chopped

A few grapes, halved

A few walnuts, chopped

1-2 Tablespoons of Miracle Whip or Light Mayo

Put it in a whole wheat pita. It's only about 250 calories and it's really good and filling! I love it.

I use these grilled chicken strips from Costco.

These are the pita pockets I buy:

P.S. I've lost about 4 pounds so far. Yay! My goal is to lose 4 more before my half-marathon.

Less than 2 weeks!

Our Half-Marathon is in 12 days! I'm pretty excited for it. It's so fun to have friends to run it with! Last Saturday (the 16th) we ran 12 miles. It went really well. I never thought I would run 12 miles in my life. The last 2 miles were really hard for me, and I was just praying for the energy to keep going. I was so proud of myself when I reached the end.

Running increases self-confidence more than anything I've done in my life. When you've been running for 10 miles and your body is begging you to stop, but your mind keeps you going to the end, you feel like you can do anything. I've been surprised at how much of running is really about mental strength and endurance, not just physical. The thing I have loved the most about running is the opportunity it has given me to prove to myself that I can do hard things. In everyday life, I don't get a lot of opportunities like that. I guess that's because I avoid things that are hard. :)

I hope that I keep setting goals with running, so that I don't ever stop being active. I think I will sign up for a 10K after this Half-Marathon. And then maybe I'll do another Half-Marathon next year.

Hello!

I've decided to come back and update this blog. So here is what's up with me:

My half-marathon is in 3 weeks and 3 days. Training is going pretty well. We ran 10 miles on Saturday and it was way better than I expected. Don't get me wrong- it was HARD. But not super horrible. I was so proud of myself for being able to do it. This Saturday we are running 12 miles. Yikes. But then we taper back down up until the race, so that's a relief. I get so nervous to run long distances. I'm always so afraid that something will go wrong and I will have to stop and then I will be disappointed in myself.

So, you would think with all this running I would have lost a bunch of weight. Not so much. Everyone told me not to expect to lose weight, but I still hoped I would. I'm a firm believer that diet is crucial to weight loss, especially for me. I've been eating a little more since I've been running because #1. I feel entitled to, and #2. I feel like I need more energy/nutrition to keep me going.

But now that I'm about 3.5 weeks away from the race I really, really want to lose some weight. I want to look like an athlete when I run the race. Plus, it's summer-time and I want to wear a swimsuit comfortably-ish. So after months of not really focusing on my diet, I just started counting calories again and trying to Eat Clean. It works everytime I do it, but it's hard, so I'm not looking forward to it. But I am looking forward to my clothes fitting better. This time I need to maintain my weight loss. That's the hardest part for me.

My goal is to lose 7 - 8 pounds by August 5th. I have a new ticker at the top to track my progress.

This is me back in late January when I was at the weight that I hope to be by August 5th. I was also lifting weights regularly, so I need to get back to that. Ready, go!