Well, we are going to be in Disneyworld this week gallivanting with the likes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck!  I hope you all have a wonderful week and wish me luck on eating healthy during the trip and getting in plenty of exercise!!  Until I get back, here are some ADORABLE Disney glitter pics to give you something pretty to look at.  Aren’t they SO cute?!

We’ll start with Donald Duck, my all-time favorite!

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Happy Mother’s Day to all you fabulous mothers out there!! 

I wanted to share this poem written by Amanda from The Mom Crowd.  I read it the other day and it just really touched my heart.  She somehow managed to put into words some of the joy I experience in being a mother to my daughter. 

Also, I found an article from holidays.net that gives an actual history of Mother’s Day.  I hadn’t thought about it before but it’s pretty interesting to see how it got started, especially here in the United States.  Here is an excerpt:

In the United States, Mother’s Day experienced a series of false starts before eventually transitioning into the “Hallmark” holiday that we celebrate today. In 1858, Anna Reeves Jarvis was the first woman to hold an official celebration of mothers, when in her home state of West Virginia, she instituted Mothers’ Work Day to raise awareness about local sanitation issues. During the Civil War, she expanded the scope of Mothers’ Work Day to include sanitary conditions on both sides of the battlefield.

I hope you all have a very fun, relaxing, and enjoyable Mother’s Day. May no mother wash a single dish or fold a single piece of laundry on this day…

So I signed up for another 5k!  This one is actually before the Bele Chere 5k and it’s closer to home.  I’m going to be running in the Susan G. Komen Recreational Run/Walk 5k.  I thought it would be perfect to do a recreational 5k for my first one to kinda get my feet wet the first time and see what it’s like (plus it’s at 9:00am versus 7:00am, ha!). 

This race is on June 14th and I am fairly confident that I should be able to run the entire thing, which is really saying something for this girl!  It’s really awesome to be doing these 5k’s and it’s even better knowing that I am supporting such a worthy cause like breast cancer research. 

I recently did my first run outside in the real world, away from the comfy confines of my treadmill… and boy is it different!  I couldn’t believe the differences between the two!  Now, I’ve only done one outdoors run so far (and this was just around my neighborhood) so my perceptions will likely change over time but here are the differences I noticed right away.

First, my breathing is loud!  I got up super early and was out the door at 6:00am.  It was very calm and peaceful outside.  That is, until I started running!  All I could hear was the sound of my own breathing!  Apparently the loud drone of my treadmill had conveniently blocked it out for me at home.  I was seriously thinking, my goodness, I am going to wake up everyone in the neighborhood!  Does anybody else notice this?!  (Note to self: Learn to breath quieter!)

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Do you have a hard time getting in your suggested water intake each day? 

I know that a lot of people do but for some reason, I was blessed with a love of the stuff.  I’m a drinker.  As in, I must have at all times something to drink.  For many many years it was iced white mochas (and I’m talking 32 oz. white mochas, yep they actually make ‘em!).  But ever since I first got pregnant, I have been drinking water on a very regular basis. 

I thought I would give you a run-down of how I manage to drink approximately 96 ounces of the good stuff a day.  Besides the obvious, chug-a-lug all day long, I start out with a water bottle and a goal.  My water bottle is in the picture there (and yes there is more than one… it’s not the same one every day!).  It’s a 32 oz. water bottle.  And my goal?  Drink at least three full bottles a day.

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Welcome to this week’s installment of the Useful Website of the Week!  This week I submit to you a fun little website that is devoted to giving us tips to improve our lives with a common sense approach.  The website, Dumb Little Man, states that they are here to provide tips that will save us money, increase our productivity, or simply keep us sane.

I have found many posts on Dumb Little Man to be very practical and useful.  Here are some of my favorites that make me laugh and yet still provide some real insight. 

I often refer to the post, 10 Commandments for Dropping 10 Pounds & 10 Years, for a much needed reminder on how simple it actually is to be healthy.  I tend to complicate health and weight loss, so it’s nice to have a post like this to get a reality check.

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Am I in the middle of a HUGE lesson in patience?  That’s what this feels like.  I feel like for some reason, I am stuck at 156 pounds and come hell or high water, that number in it’s 10 variations (156.0, 156.1, 156.2, etc.) are plaguing me to no end. 

So yeah.  Today is my weigh-in day and rather than wait until Tuesday to weigh-in, curiosity got me and weighed I in yesterday.  To my major dismay, I went from 156.0 last week to 156.8 this week.  Wow.  W-O-W.  W-O-W!!!

Pardon the tone of this post, please.  I am feeling very frustrated and angry at this point.  I’ve been stuck at 156 for what is now the beginning of three months.  And that is despite my going from running 3 minutes straight to 36 minutes straight.  And despite that I have added working out my arms with 5 lb. weights and started yoga for abs.  And that is especially despite my absolute healthiest week of eating, ever, in my entire life… this past week. 

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I found this recipe for oatmeal cookies in the ivillage Healthy Living Program recipe database.  It impresses me when a recipe for homemade cookies can boast 72 calories, 1.06 g fiber, and 1.88 g protein per cookie.  So I made these cookies this past weekend and gave them a shot.  My review would be that they are great, if you like a very moist and chewy cookie. 

My idea of an oatmeal cookie is that they are better when crispy so, I was a bit disappointed.  This is not a recipe I will make again, unless my daughter tries them and loves them (she hasn’t done her taste testing yet, and this girl is p-i-c-k-y!).  But like I said, if you love a chewy oatmeal cookie, these are for you!  So I wanted to paste the recipe just in case you chewy cookie lovers are out there.  Here you go and look for the rest of the nutritional info below the recipe!

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One thing that I have learned since I started running, is that it is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one.  When I described in a previous post about those days where I would struggle to complete my workout compared to the days where my workout was a breeze, I didn’t realize what the differences between those days were.  I had thought it had to do with my physical ability and possibly soreness from previous workouts.  My new experiences have shown me something completely different.

I still have the days where I struggle to run.  I now know that the reason why is that I am not mentally in the game.  In order for my runs to be “easy” and “a breeze“, I have to be in the right frame of mind, otherwise my eyes are glued to the timer on the treadmill and I am miserable. 

One post that really helped me come up with some mental strategies for staying in the game, is Thankful for 13.2 Miles of Road, from Workout Mommy.  In it she discusses the importance of staying positive during the run and having a list of things to think about for each mile:

Since running is mostly a mental game, I came up with a list of things I will think about during all of those miles. I figure if I can keep my mind occupied with positive thoughts then I won’t even have time to think anything negative.

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For you runners or aspiring runners out there, I found a wonderful article on Runners World about the type of diet we should be eating to continue to run and still lose weight.  Now that I am really starting to be able to run for longer distances (got up to 3 miles yesterday!), I have been wondering if I should be making changes in my diet to accommodate the running.  Apparently, I should be! 

The article discusses what they call the “The Runner’s Diet”.  It talks about selecting the right types of carbs and proteins and distributing them at the right times throughout the day (relative to your running).  Apparently it is the carb distribution that is so important because the majority of the carbs need to eaten before and after the run takes place.  The lean proteins and healthy fats need to be at different times of the day. 

What I also found to be particularly helpful was the breakdown of what carbs we should choose to eat often versus the carbs that should be eaten sparingly, along with the proper portion and calorie count for each. 

I’ve bookmarked this article and will probably be referring to it often.  Hope you find some use in it too!