Christmas Eve

Just quickly checking in with a quick update on how my Christmas Eve went!

I started my day with an early workout which consisted of 50mins Moderate/Hard intensity followed by 50mins Easy on the bike. Then I did the usual stretching and replenished with a protein shake & some chocolate milk. For the rest of the day I helped my parents out tidying up and wrapping gifts for extended family.

This evening we celebrated Christmas Eve with my dad’s side down at Bondi Beach. We headed to my Aunt & Uncle’s place late afternoon and the weather was absolutely gorgeous throughout the evening. Exactly the way a summer Christmas should be!

It was awesome to catch up with cousin’s and just chill and chat. I had 2 glasses of champagne. I initially wasn’t going to drink…I had been sitting on the fence with this issue. But I set myself a 2 drink limit for the night and stuck with it. I’m so happy to not have restricted with food throughout the day prior to heading out tonight. I ate normally and consistently even though I was still petrified of the calories that are going to be consumed throughout the weekend. Dinner this evening was Roast Turkey, Quinoa & Veggie Salad, Cherry Tomato & Green Bean Salad, Smoked Salmon & Asparagus. Yay for variety and healthy food For dessert we had a Christmas Log and homemade Rocky Road which I might add was in shape of a Christmas tree (my Aunt made this from scratch).

Honestly I don’t think tonight could have gone any better. It almost felt like I was back to my old self, yes I still had ED thoughts floating around in my head. For the most part I didn’t really pay much attention to those voices.

So now I just have to wait for the man in the red suit to pay me a visit

I Hope You All Have A Wonderful Christmas Weekend!

This Week So Far…

Just a few more days till Christmas! With only a handful of days left to do Christmas shopping and I haven’t quite finished just yet. I spent ages trying to find a parking spot this morning at the shopping mall. I ended up leaving and going somewhere else to buy groceries then I came back about an hour later to see if I could find a spot. But no luck, so I headed home.

I finished putting some finishing touches to my parents Christmas cards & gifts this afternoon. I opted to make their card this year. Christmas is going to be more of a quiet affair this year since both my brother and sister are overseas. More presents for me I guess!

Earlier this week I had a physio appointment and he thinks their might be a fracture in my heel. I have to get an x-ray done before the end of the week and an ultrasound on my heel. Not going to let this upset me. Ill wait for the results first before I start stressing and freaking out. Just going to try and enjoy Christmas and New Year.

Workouts this week:

Monday: Stationary Bike – 15mins Warm Up, 30sec Sprint/30sec Easy x5, 15mins Easy (did this twice)

Tuesday: 2 x45mins Sets on the Bike

Wednesday: Same as Monday, also did some Light Weights -Shoulder Press 15reps x2, Side Raise 15reps x2, Bicep Curls 20reps x3

Some of my most recent edibles:

Cinnamon Banana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1 Banana mashed, 1tsp Cinnamon, scoop Chai Seeds, topped with Mixed Nuts & chopped Nectarine

Snack: Strawberries, Carrot sticks & Sesame Snaps

Broccoli, Mushrooms & Cottage Cheese

Smoothie: Tub Strawberry Chobani, 1 cup Frozen Berries, scoop Chai Seeds, scoop Vanilla Protein Powder, 1/4 cup water, topped with Apricot slices & PB

Black Lentils, canned Salmon & Steamed Veggies

I Hope Your All Having A Lovely Week So Far & Enjoying The Time Off

All I Want For Chrismas…

• Halo Headphones ( I know for a fact I’m getting these…I may have done a bit of snooping!)

• Nike+ Sport Band: Via a chip in your trainer, the SportBand gives highly accurate statistics on pace, distance, time and calories burnt. The information can then be downloaded and stored on Nike’s website, where you can review training, set goals and challenge other runners.

• Vibram Five Fingers: With all my injuries lately I think I would benefit from doing some barefoot running!

• Compression Socks: I wouldn’t mind a few pair of these for recovery purposes. Reduced Muscle fatigue, cramping & stiffness.

• Socks. You can never have too many socks ( I already got this pair from my dad as an early Christmas present)

Ugh this list could go on forever and this is only some of the things on my ‘running list’. My ‘other gifts’ list is just as long

Hopefully in a few day’s some of the things above will be under the Christmas Tree!?

Friday Faves

• New Foodie Finds! Chobani has finally hit Australian Shores. I couldn’t decide which flavors to get so I started off with French Vanilla, Blueberry, Mango, Passion fruit & Strawberry.

• Pomegranate Seeds. I normally just buy a whole Pomegranate and de-seed them myself but these were on sale. So I bought 2 packs

• Finishing off the Choc Chip Sweet Potato Muffins I baked. I’ve been enjoying them as toppings on my oatmeal and as part of snack plates.

• Smoothies in a bowl! I make myself at least 1 smoothie a day.
  

• Family. Can’t wait to catch up with my cousins for Christmas

• Running! I did my first run for the week this morning and it went well. It was nice to be able to squeeze in 1 run this week. Which means next week I should be able to do at least 1-2 runs & just cross train the rest of the time.

Hope You All Have A Lovely Weekend

Workouts & A New Recipe

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Less then 2 weeks to go till Christmas!

I finally started Christmas shopping for my family, still have a few more things to purchase. But at least I started!

I haven’t been able to go for a run this week at all so far. I’ve strained the ligament in my other heel now…I honestly have the worst luck. So whilst my left heel is healing nicely the other one is out of action. I changed my workout schedule so that the only run I would be doing is this Saturday. My club is having a Christmas Party and they are hosting a 5k fun run. For this run you have to estimate what time you think you’ll complete the run in. You can’t run with a watch and the person who run’s closest to their estimate wins a prize. Their will also be various other games like sack races, egg & spoon, tug-of-war & best costume

So my workouts on the bike this week have been as follows:

Monday: 15min warm up, 30sec Sprints x5 with 30secs easy in between, 15mins easy (I did this twice), Stabilization

Tuesday: 2 x 45mins of Intervals, Stabilization

Wednesday: Same as Monday + Light Weights Shoulder Press 15 reps x2, Side Raise 15reps x2, Bicep Curls 20reps x3

I plan on going for a swim later this evening to do some laps + Kick boarding.

Some of my eats:

Cinnamon, Apple & Sultana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1 Chopped Apple, 40g Sultanas, 1tsp Cinnamon & scoop Chai Seeds

Beets, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Carrot Salad

Baby Spinach, Tomato slices, Sweet Potato & Chilli Tuna

I did some baking this afternoon. These muffins are easy to prepare and nutritious

Choc Chip Sweet Potato Muffins

• 1/2 cup Multigrain Oats
• 1 cup Wholemeal Self Raising Flour
• 1tsp Baking Soda
• 3/4tsp Nutmeg
• 3/4tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Dark Choc Chips
• 1 cup mashed Sweet Potato
• 2tbsp Oil
• 1/4 cup Soy Milk
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 Egg lightly Beaten

Preheat Oven 375 deg F (180 deg C)

In one bowl mix together oats, wholemeal flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar & dark choc chips.

Combine mashed sweet potato, oil, milk, egg and water in another bowl and mix. Then add to dry ingredients.

Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins and bake for 15-20mins.

I’ve already had 2 so far today in a yogurt mess & as a topping on my oats.

Yogurt Mess: chopped Peach, Apricot & Choc Chip Sweet Potato Muffin

Vanilla Mixed Berry Oats: 1/2 cup Oats, 1/2 cup Mixed Berries, scoop Vanilla Protein Powder, scoop Chai Seeds & topped with a Choc Chip Sweet Potato Muffin

Happy Wednesday

Something Sweet Sunday

After a 2hr workout on Sunday (I’ve been replacing my Long Runs with 90min-2hr on the bike at an easy pace) I decided to experiment with my oats a little.  There’s something about the sweet taste and aroma of Chai Tea/Lattes that is so addictive! So I attempted to incorporate that delicious spiced tea into my oatmeal

Chai Oatmeal

• 1/3 cup Oats
• scoop Chai Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Cloves
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1 1/2 cups of Chai Tea
• Toppings: Banana Slices, Dark Choc Chips & sprinkled some Mixed Spice

Mix all ingredients together and prepare oats as usual either on the stove top or microwave!

I thoroughly enjoyed this brekkie. The only thing missing was a drizzle of Honey or Maple Syrup…but I was out of both!

Weekend went by so quickly again. But i doesn’t really matter for me because I’m on vacation till March 2012, then the torture of studying begins again.

I slept in this morning and decided to workout in the afternoon for once. I did some sprints on the Stationary Bike, with the warm up and warm down it took me about 75mins to complete. I finished off my workout with some Stretching and Stabilization.

Today I didn’t have anything planned except to look around for an apartment. My friend and I are currently looking for a place to rent for February next year. A group of us always go away towards the beginning of February. It was on one of these trips that I got my tattoo…it was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. I had a few shots of vodka beforehand and voila  a few hours later I was inked up! I’m not going to do anything as drastic this time round hopefully

Some of my eats from today:

Cinnamon Banana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1tsp Cinnamon, 1 Banana mashed, scoop Chai Seeds topped with chopped Apricot, mixed Nuts & Plum Jam

Parfait: Muesli, Blueberries & Yogurt

Snow Peas, Radish & Corn on the Cob

Vanilla Mixed Berry Oats: 1/2 cup Oats, scoop Vanilla Protein Powder, 1/2 cup Frozen Berries, scoop Chai Seeds, topped with a chopped Peach & PB

Baby Spinach, Tomato slices & canned Salmon

Hope You All Have An Amazing Week. Not Long Now Till Christmas

Trusting Ourselves

Rebuilding trust within myself! This is exactly what I had been quietly working towards for the past few months.

What Do I Mean By Trust?

For me personally my eating disorder developed as a mechanism to cope with stress and just life in general. I’ve never considered myself fat or overweight, I always led an active lifestyle and ate pretty much anything and everything without a worry. So it’s still a shock for me to see how easily I fell victim to an eating disorder. With it came the constant need to over exercise and counting calories. My biggest fear was trusting myself around food. I live in constant fear that I won’t have self control around certain foods. For example eating 1 cookie might turn into eating a whole packet. So I would avoid certain food groups. Most of you would know this as ‘Food Fears’. I’ve had many for so long even now that I can’t bring myself to face just yet or I will eat in small quantities.

Last night at my friends party I was set on just sticking to the dishes that she had specifically ordered for me. But instead I decided to have a little of everything. I systematically added challenge foods to my plate. Entree I had what everyone else had a Spring roll and a Noodle Salad. For the Main meal there was a Pork dish, Beef dish, Asian greens and Seafood dish…I had a little of everything with Steamed Rice. Dessert was a slice of Caramel Mud Cake with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream. It’s funny how prior to my eating disorder I could just enjoy food without being overwhelmed by irrational thoughts that fill my head when I’m indulging in a challenge food. In reality it’s not indulging….it’s called eating normally! I’ve given food way too much power in my life and letting go can be scary but as I go on I realize that there is no such thing as perfect eating/clean eating. We just have to be more flexible and eat a variety of foods, all the rest will fall into place. The guilt and anxiety will fade, eating with others is the perfect way to overcome a lot of this. Balance is the goal to recovery!

End Result:

I enjoyed myself last night and had fun

I know we’ve all heard it before but recovery means getting out there and living life. Our thoughts shouldn’t revolve around food or meal times. But when you actually act on this you will feel so much better and a weight will be lifted off your shoulders.

Moving onwards to this morning. I was able to get out of bed and go to my Club 10k Training run since I didn’t drink too much last night. I stuck to a 4min per k for the whole run which was a nice comfortable/conversational pace for me. I did feel a little more pain than usual afterward’ s in both heels! That sucked, so I iced it immediately once I got home. I’m thinking next weeks training will be more cross training…oh well. Lol I’m not sure which is worse recovering from a running injury or ED!? They both give me a headache!

I did make my fave bowl of oats for breakfast post run.

Cinnamon Apple & Sultana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1 Chopped Apple, Sultana's, scoop Chai Seeds & 1tsp Cinnamon

I also had quite a few snacks this afternoon. I don’t normally eat this much in one afternoon but I was hungrier than usual. So I just went with it and ate what I craved. In addition to several handfuls of Raw Mixed Nuts I also had:

Yogurt & Pineapple

Bowl of Pomegranate Seeds

Mixed Berry Smoothie: 1 cup Frozen Berries, scoop Chai Seeds, scoop Vanilla Protein Powder, 1/4 cup Milk or Yogurt

I haven’t decided yet what I want for dinner. But The Lion King is on the Disney Channel tonight so dinner will be eaten in front of the TV tonight

Well I can’t believe Saturday is over already! Tomorrow I plan on starting my Christmas shopping once and for all. Hopefully I can get everything in one day.

Hope You All Have A Wonderful Weekend

My Week At A Glance

This week has flown by and it’s almost 2 more weeks till Christmas! It’s been a week filled with appointments, catch up’s with friends and shopping.

First thing Monday morning I had a Physio appointment. I had my weekly check up to see how my injury is holding up after the race last Saturday. Some of my Physios recommendations for the rest of the month: Build up my runs on concrete 1-2 times a week no more then 5k, take 2 rest days a week if I need it, don’t push it too soon! Basically I still have to be cautious and listen to my body. So if I need to back off I will. I’ve got to continue to look at the bigger picture and focus on racing well in 2012!

I spent a good portion of this week shopping for outfits for some upcoming parties. I still haven’t bought my family Christmas presents yet. I’m so selfish I know! As well as getting myself some things I purchased some gifts for my friends. I have a friends 24th Birthday dinner tonight and another friends Christmas Party next Saturday night. It is the season to be merry and I will allow myself to get a little merrier than usual. Yes I plan on drinking my calories for once!

Amongst all this working out was definitely not forgotten.

Monday: 8k easy run on grass, warm down on Bike approx 40mins & Stabilization

Tuesday: 2 x 45min Intervals on the Bike + Stabilization

Wednesday: 10 x 100m Strides, 30mins easy on the Bike & Light Weights

Thursday: 2 x 45min Intervals on the Bike + Stabilization

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 10k Club Training Run

Sunday: 90mins easy pace on the Bike

Only dilemma for the week was whether or not to work out today. I had set Friday aside as a rest day since I have my club training run first thing Saturday morning. I know that it’s not ideal to be running 2 days in a row on concrete it will will only set me back in terms of healing. But I so baldy wanted to go out for a run or do some form of exercise since I was going out tonight. It took an enormous amount of will power but I actually actively rested today and resisted the urge to work out. Those ED voices are always going to be there ‘Just burn a few calories to make up for what your going to eat tonight’. Yes tonight I will be eating slightly unhealthier foods than usual and having a drink or 2, I shouldn’t feel the need to work off calories in order to eat! I’m satisfied with my training this week and I need to understand that taking a break is necessary otherwise I will burn out again or worse re-injure myself.

As for tonight Sam who is one of my closest friends is celebrating her 24th Birthday has organized a dinner. It will be at a Vietnamese Restaurant with a banquet style menu. Sam was so thoughtful when she was choosing the dishes for tonight, she went to the trouble of making sure there would be Steamed Asian Green Veggies & Seafood for me. Sam is one of the few friends who understands how much eating out can still be stressful for me.

I’ve been starting off my Morning’s with a Black Coffee pre-workouts & Protein Shakes/Chocolate Milk post-workouts.

Cinnamon Banana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1 Banana mashed, scoop Chai Seeds, 1tsp Cinnamon, topped with Kiwi Fruit & Mixed Nuts

Morning Snack: Finished off a tub of Cottage Cheese with a chopped Cucumber & Carrot + Orange slices on the side

Lunch: Microwaved a Sweet Potato & Asparagus and an unpictured Mixed Berry, Yogurt & Muesli Parfait.

Afternoon Snack: Another bowl of Oats!

Vanilla Blueberry Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1/2 cup Blueberries, scoop Vanilla Protein Powder, scoop Chai Seeds, topped with an Apricot and PB&J

I achieved a small milestone today by not restricting with foods prior to heading out. I ate normally throughout the day something I never used to do back in my ED days. I’m happy about this because it means I’m addressing the food problems I have head on and these small behavioral changes are steps in the right direction.

Happy Friday

The Gift List

I haven’t even started Christmas Shopping yet. Ill probably be running around last minute as usual! I’m actually stuck on what to get people this year. I’m thinking going down a different route this year and purchase Christmas gifts with a difference. So I’ve been looking up various websites that offer a range of ethical Christmas gift ideas

I love the Oxfam Shop’s in Sydney, they have by far the best selection. From handcrafted homewares, fair trade coffees, teas and chocolates. The best part is it pretty much suits any budget.

Some of their foodie items that caught my eye:

• Zhena’s Gypsy Coconut Chai black teabags

• Sencha Green Tea Mints

• Oxfam fair Dark Chocolate Spread, 400g

• Ruby Grapefruit Marmalade 340g

I want to try all of them. So I figure if I get them for my parents it’s a win win for me…since ill get to sample them too

Some of my most recent eats:

Cinnamon Banana Oats: 1/3 cup Oats, 1tsp Cinnamon, scoop Chai Seeds, 1 mashed Banana topped with mixed Nuts & chopped Apricot

Snack Plate: Orange slices, Sesame Snaps, Carrot sticks & Cottage Cheese for dipping

Another Snack! chopped Strawberries, kiwi fruit & some of the Cookie I made earlier this week

This was my fave edible so far this week Poudine Mais aka Polenta Pudding. My Grandmother sent over some leftovers from a party for me. I’m going to try and make these this afternoon…I doubt it will turn out or taste as great.

Hope your all having a lovely week so far!

‘You know you’ve grown up when none of the things you want for Christmas can be bought at a store’

Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie

• 1 cup Self Raising Wholemeal Flour
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Rice Bran Oil
• 1 cup Macadamia Nuts
• 3/4 cup Dark Choc Bits
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 cup Water

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
2. In a separate bowl whisk wet ingredients together.
3. Combine both wet and dry together and stir until well combined.
4. Pour cookie batter into prepared cake tin and bake for approx 15-20mins or until Golden

I crumbled and enjoyed these on my oats!

Enjoy What’s Left Of The Weekend