Splish splash and some smiles

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

Oh hey there. Remember how I decided to have a beer last night after calming myself down?

Well I had two.

…and they were big. And I felt them.

Oh well! I had fun and when I got home some crackers helped soak em up.

After a good night’s sleep, I did a bit of work this morning (it’s a miracle) after breakfast.

oats, egg whites, apple, cereal for crunch, brown sugar, and some soy milk

I’m mostly working on my assignments and still haven’t studied. But that’s okay. Each thing is worth not very much at all I realized, which just made me feel even less worried!

Since there were thunderstorms this morning, my riding plans got cancelled. I decided to go to the pool instead. I looked on my daily mile and saw that it’s been a month since the last time I went–oops! In my defence, it was closed for two weeks of that month and I needed a break after all that swimming with my injury.

I had a snack to tide me over, but FYI rice cakes are mostly air so when you have two and feel hungrier, feel free to have three more as you head out the door. Note to self: throw down some almond butter with them next time!

My swim was pretty good! I really prefer having friends to swim with but lots of people are racing/away/busy this weekend so I was on my own!

I’m not going to lie, I started to think about lunch partway through the swim so when I got home I threw together a quick salad with spinach, more turkey sausage, some goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes. It was delicious but I got a bit of a tummy ache after. Weird!

Now that I’m starting to feel better, the roads are looking dry and some of my friends are riding so I’m obviously choosing biking over books again and am gonna get my spandex on ASAP. Obviously in my world:

BLOGGING > BIKING (toss up) > BOOKS

And it kind of looks like I’m going to be “winging it” tomorrow, doesn’t it?

Do you like rainy days? What do you do with yourself if you can’t get outside?
What’s your favourite post-beer, bedtime snack? Do you crave salt or sweet or carbs or fat or what?

Saturdays are for…

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

Swimming, shopping, and smiling?

Sure, we’ll go with that.

This morning I left my cereal boxes in the cupboard and made a bowl of warm oatmeal with walnuts, banana, brown sugar, and soy milk. Note to self: eat more oatmeal!

Just before swim my stomach was growling so I downed a quick bowl of yogurt to fuel my workout, which was awesome! I had company and we did some fun stuff out of the box for us! Yay for working new muscles and giving up your ego (we even did fly, not our strongest but definitely worth doing!)

When I got home I was smiling but I was ravenous. I tided myself over with my second adora disk of the day (love) while I made use of the heftiest bunch of kale I’ve ever bought. Kale chips, anyone?

They went perfectly with my ham and cheese sandwich with alfalfa sprouts. So much good on one plate!

My afternoon was about coffee, shopping, and snacks.

I even got to hear some vintage BSB when I was out and about!

And I returned some stuff to Aerie and came out with this awesome necklace…perfect much?

I also may or may not have been shopping for the finishings of a certain someone’s birthday present. I have a road trip on the agenda for this week so ya know, it might have happened!

How are you spending your Saturday?

How much is too much?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

So, looking back on my eats, one thing stands out. I am loving the high fibre cereal right now.

Last night, post-spin, I had yogurt with All Bran Buds.

This morning, I combo’d more of the buds with Kashi and berries and soy milk for breakfast before swim.

I had a snack that was not cereal–an apple–and after swim I ate a big salad with turkey, sweet potato, maple vinaigrette, dried cranberries, and pecans.

I also did some core work and stretching with my swim because I’m nervous about my back of the knee pain. I thought it was in my hamstring, but now I think it’s in my calf. And I had calf pain last year similarly, so I know I can get through it. Nonetheless, blasting these songs is necessary:

And I’m moving on. I had a snack of more All Bran (but the original kind, so there’s the variety I know is important) with you guessed it, yogurt when I got home from ~~texting and reading blogs at Starbucks~~ studying. Tomorrow’s exam is worth 20%, is open book, and is a Writing exam. I’m not sure what to expect because I’ve never had one of these before! So I’m studying a bit, staying calm, and trying not to worry (recall epiphany?).

I’m just about to gear up for a ride. I hope my calf cooperates but I’m ready to do whatever I need to to take care of this/nip it in the bud! I think there’s a massage in my future and I’ll be stretching extra with all my spare time, rather than compulsively googling “back of the knee pain” etc. etc. and freaking myself out. Tonight I’m planning on seeing some friends, perhaps eating some fro yo, and on making sure I don’t eat All Bran for dinner! My fibre intake for the day is already over 50 grams, which is double the recommended intake. Yes, I am regular, thank you very much!

PS On my walk home today, I had time to slow down and notice some pretty flowers. Sometimes I get so in the zone and have my headphones on and my mind racing, but today I tried to walk and enjoy it! And tah-dah, look what stared me in the face!

Do you ever get in food ruts?
Do you know if you eat enough fibre?

Things to do when you can’t sleep

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…NOT. I am stressed. I know this for many reasons including the fact that I can’t sleep. For someone used to going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 5:30, being awake at 2:30 (I tweeted to mark the time) is not ideal. I tossed and turned for a while and finally got hungry enough to just get up. I admittedly had a real coffee later than normal yesterday, but I think my mind racing had more to do with not being able to sleep. Eventually, I unset my alarm and got up, snacked, and worked on my take home exam/essay some more. Things to do besides worry about not being able to sleep:

read blogs
write in your journal
embrace the opportunity to have a true “midnight snack”
research wild trips you’ll likely never be able to go on—or find one you actually want to try! (I am particularly drawn to the semester long treks through NOLS)
finish the draft of an essay you’re worried about
read a book
paint your nails
clean

Those come from experience. Enjoy.

My midnight snack of choice was a boring bowl of greek yogurt that got more exciting when I added a spoonful of peanut butter. I think there’s a saying that a spoonful of peanut butter makes life complete? I almost repeated my morning snack, which was similar—greek yogurt with honey, cocoa, and a few Mini Eggs. I think my thoughts just caught up with me at night because I was going all day and didn’t have time for them to sink in or swirl around my head. After my morning post yesterday, I ended up spinning at the gym before heading to The Gazette. I ran into Nina and ended up eating lunch (turkey sandwich with leftover kale chips). I love seeing her, but realizing we are almost done this semester and that she might not be here next year makes me uber sad and reminds me of all the other good friends who are going to be friends from remote locations after this year ! I worked for a bit but I started to get really anxious about my assignments so I went to the library. I saw Ellen, who has a knack for making me happier, and sat in the less stressful cafe part of the library where eating my afternoon granola bar wouldn’t piss everyone off and where my stress levels wouldn’t increase by association. Afterwards, I went for a swim! Luckily I had company, otherwise I’d probably have bailed. I did a short set with more kicking than was originally planned to save my shoulder a bit of stress. It really didn’t hurt much, just felt tight, so I don’t know what to do. I have a massage (for my hip, mostly) on Thursday, but I think I’ll see if getting her to loosen up my oh so stressed back/neck/shoulders helps things out. I also have physio on Friday so I can bring it up there too! After the swim, I had dinner with Nina (spinach salad with leftover sweet potatoes, salmon, cranberries, and pecans) and after arming myself with Mini Eggs, we met Angela for a night of studying at Starbucks. Studying with friends makes me more likely to smile and not to go into tunnel vision about “never finishing this essay” or about “having nothing to do in the summer”—common worries for me during the final stretch here! So, even though it’s kind of a stressful time, I’m trying really hard to spend as much time with people as I can and to enjoy the last bit of time here! I had a few “OMG I AM SO GLAD I’M COMING BACK NEXT YEAR” moments yesterday. Not only does taking time to see people and to just slow down keep me sane and make me happy, it also is important since the semester is coming to an end and I’m realizing how much I’m going to miss these folks. And, tear. This morning I woke up a little full from last night’s middle of the night snack, sad that I missed swim, but ready to get on with my day. I started things off with a few of my favourite things: cereal, coffee, and blogging. It’s on to working on my exam, trying to make it to campus, spinning, and teaching bootcamp. Busy is better than bored! Do you get stressed when things end/change? What do you do if you can’t sleep? What kind of trip would you go on if you had unlimited money and resources?

Maybe awesome

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

Random awesome…

…I love love love magnolias. In March they’re an even awesome-er sight. It’s cold today but still, Spring is near!

This post is going to be random, and maybe awesome, too.

If you’re worried and want to read something certifiably—not maybe—awesome, check out this

an excerpt from Marion Nestle’s book that comes out next week (Why Calories Count)–>takeaway:

“Despite widespread concerns about the health and economic consequences of obesity on the one hand and undernutrition on the other, correcting calorie imbalances presents social and economic challenges that few countries are prepared to meet. Calories, therefore, affect societies in ways that are political as well as personal.

Calories, of course, derive from food. But calories are a convenient way to say a great deal about food, nutrition, and health. For this reason, and because calories are so poorly understood, we thought it would be useful to research and write about calories in all of their dimensions — personal, scientific, and political. And because we are both consummate “foodies” who derive enormous pleasure from eating, we liked the idea of using calories as a way to think about these aspects of food.

Let’s be clear from the beginning: This is not a diet book with a breakthrough scheme for losing weight and keeping it off. Instead, we try to provide an appreciation for what you are up against if you want to control your body weight in today’s “toxic,” obesity-promoting — or as we like to call it, “eat more” — food marketing environment [2]. We intend this book to give you the information you need to interpret food labels, diet claims, and your own reactions to this food environment. Knowledge, we argue, is not enough to counter the biological urge to eat or the subtleties of food marketing. But it is a powerful first step in developing weight-management strategies that work for your particular body, lifestyle, and food preferences.”

my latest article on Runners Feed about the benefits of going meatless…10 benefits. get on this. I expect to see plenty of clicks for this bad boy…

Anddddd, onto the recap.

Sometimes I feel like I’m swimming in yogurt. After last night’s post spin snack and this morning’s pre swim repeat (yogurt with a sprinkling of oats), I realized there was more yogurt in my (blurry) chocolate overnight oats, which I added a nanner to!

Breakfast was awesome today because I got to have it with my friends at Weldon. We are getting excited for our road trip to Kingston this weekend for a triathlon at Queens. I am doing a relay with a friend (a speedy runner who I hope I can do justice in the pool and on the bike).

Now I’m plugging away at the Gazette. I just ate my lunch (spinach/artichoke hummus sandwich and a spinach salad with sprouts and sundried tomatoes) and am thinking about all the work I want to get done before bootcamp tonight!

Monday’s munchies…

This post is wildly disorganized.

Swim yesterday was good, my day was busy (though not with my essay, I did get my bike in for a tune up, replaced my broken spring jacket, and taught spin/did a 15 minute run without pain). My hip hurt after the fact and I iced it and got up for swim this morning even though I REALLLLLLY wanted to sleep in! We were supposed to have a staff meeting today so I had a short swim, but when I heard it wasn’t on, I finished up with some more swim (mostly pull) and did 2700m when all was said and done!

I’m pooped.

I’m frustrated that my hip’s not getting better. I finally have that appointment for my bone scan, though I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have an ultrasound instead? I am also going to a new physio on Thursday. This is getting ridiculous. 12 weeks! No answer!

My brain is like this post: in 1209102901 different places. This is not good!

I’ll be back, and hopefully my head will be screwed on the right way soon!

Monday madness

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

I wish the madness was the fact that my lunch and dinner were strikingly similar…

DINNER: hummus and veg sandwich (plus tahini)

LUNCH: veg and nut butter sandwich

Or that I had a seriously awesome massage today.

Or this Clif bar.

Or that I’m about to leave to teach a spin class INDOORS when it’s honestly June-like outside (good thing I love kicking butts into shape regardless).

But nope..

It’s that I was reported today to the campus police for a parking violation that is pretty much out of the realm of things I’d fathom doing in my rav 4. Not to mention out of question since I have a parking pass.

Being called during class and told you’re being towed and that you drove over a soccer field and up a hill (see below) that I think is impossible to get up without a hummer will shake you up a bit. As will finding two parking tickets for things you didn’t do (I should pay A ticket for not exiting after swim and re-entering, but I will not just pay one of the ones I got since they say I drove AROUND a gate (which was open) and that I drove through landscaping and up a hill to get to the parking spot I have parked in all semester). We enter the building at 6am and luckily I swiped my card today when I got to swim. I am not arrested and my car isn’t towed, but I was off all day for it. Oh well. It gave the Gazette office some laughs when the other editors had to comfort me over the phone. “Cheryl’s on a hill…” It’s not a story I can really describe…just a bit ABSURD. RIDICULOUS also comes to mind. I’m not that lazy or that CRAZY to drive up a hill covered with trees.

And sigh*

I’m done ranting. I think I bawled to about 6 people over this today. Thanks for the hugs folks!

I’m off to the gym now–hoping for a mic that works and some eager spinners to make for a fun class.

1, 2, 3 and ABC

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

You’re about to learn more about me than you ever wanted to know…

Three Things I’m Looking Forward to This Week

The exercise nutrition symposium this Saturday.
Volunteering this weekend (hopefully) at a hockey game for Hope’s Garden.
Warm weather! And rain! My favs.

Fun Fact Survey: A to Z

A is for age: 23. Kind of an in between age. I’m not at that quarter life crisis age, but I sorta feel like I already had enough life crises to earn a get out of the normal 24/25 one free card, ya know?

B is for breakfast today: pre swim = yogurt (greek plain, vanilla) with some crushed Kashi shredded wheat; post swim = shredded wheat, dried apples (new love)/raisins, and vanilla soy milk

…ps I need coffee!

C is for currently craving: SUMMER! And RUNNING! My hip is bugging me (aching a bit) again…I think I need to back off! Building up the runs too fast is silly because I want to run allllll summer! This is another push to get in the pool more!

D is for dinner tonight: I was thinking falafel, but I’ve got to teach spin afterwards, so I’m thinking googling pre-spin dinner (or making something a bit blander) might be in order. Or I’ll take suggestions?

E is for favorite type of exercise: Triathlon! Yoga! So running, biking, swimming, yoga, etc. I like circuits if I’m doing weights and I wish I could add “core workouts” to this. I need some that get me going…

F is for an irrational fear: That I’m going to somehow open a car door by leaning on it or something while driving and fall out. I think it comes from a door opening when I was in preschool going to school while we were moving—I still remember it—but now I lock the door all the time.

G is for gross food: Goat’s yogurt. How can goat cheese be so freaking good but goat yogurt be so…sickening.

H is for hometown: I’d call it Sarnia, Ontario. But I was born in Westchester, PA and grew up near Cleveland! Now I live in London, Ontario!

I is for something important: Integrity. Living your word, being honest, and following your heart. Cheesy, I’m aware, but entirely necessary.

J is for current favorite jam: Wild Ones (Flo Rida ft. Sia). This one is on repeat and definitely got me through swim this morning! It makes me feel like summer, if that makes sense…

K is for kids: Not for quite a while.

L is for current location: A desk in my classroom. I am not being bad, class doesn’t start for 8 minutes!

M is for the most recent way you spent money: Massage! I made an appointment for this afternoon—back to that aching hip and needing to stay on top of things!

N is for something you need: Water bottles! I think I lost 4 over the winter…the cheaper kind you use for biking. But now that spring has sprung and outdoor rides are happening, I’m going to need to get on this!

these are my favs!

O is for occupation: Student, freelance writer, fitness instructor, editor at The Gazette.

P is for pet peeve: When people can’t put their phone down. When we’re out for coffee, WE are out for coffee. When you’re in class, at least TRY to stop texting for an hour. If you’re paying for something, talk to the cashier. When we’re out, you should probably make memories more exciting than the guy you were drunk texting all night.

Q is for a quote: I need to dedicate an entire post, page, blog to these. I love love love Quote Garden but a good google search helps me out in a pinch! The first quote I ever really remember loving (and the one I seriously consider getting tattooed across my side) is:

Other honourable mentions:

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” – Bob Moawad

“It isn’t necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look; you only have to know what feels better and what feels worse…Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than on how you think an ideal life should look. It’s the process of feeling our way toward happiness, not the realization of the Platonic ideal, that creates our best lives.”

R is for random fact about you: I have a piece of lead (graphite?) stuck in my right calf. It has been there since I was six and it came from a realllllly sharp Christmas pencil that was sticking through my backpack on the school bus, through a pair of pants. Impressive, no?

S is for favorite healthy snack: sweet potato with almond butter!

T is for favorite treat: FRO YO, best served with friends and hot fudge!

U is for something that makes you unique:

V is for favorite vegetable: TOSSUP–spinach, squash, or carrots…or brussel sprouts?!

W is for today’s workout: I did master’s swim this morning (2500m) before the sunrise. Tonight: CORE! teaching spin!

X is for X-rays you’ve had: one of my foot, one of my hip — both just en route to referrals for better tests around sports injuries — luckily i’ve not broken anything KNOCK ON WOOD!

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: Another tossup: awesome bike ride and seeing my friends at Sunday Funday!

Z is for your time zone: Eastern! I’m awful at knowing what time it is elsewhere…

Have you done this survey yet? Get on it!Happy Monday!!

A swim and St. Patty’s

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

Warning: not my healthiest day.

But sometimes you have to have fun at the expense of eating enough veggies, don’t you think?

Yesterday morning’s time trial was…interesting.

I decided to swim a 100m and 800m race because I wanted to see where I was at the shorter distance and because the 800m is close to sprint triathlon distance so it’s a pretty good gauge of where I’m at and I wanted to know.

The 100m was awful. That’s the only word I have for it. I was pretty sure someone was going to jump in to save me, and I think I drank half the pool. I cried. Baby. Bad way to start.

Luckily my friends talked me down and I did the 800m just fine in 15:30. Not fast fast, but less than 2:00/100m is a good starting point for me! A lot of my friends did AMAZING so I have something to ~~be jealous of~~ aspire towards!

After the time trial, it was game on. No one really had plans but we decided to start at my apartment so of course there was snacks:

To be honest I should have been hungrier but I felt off after the morning. There had been an early breakfast and a granola bar…but that’s not much for me. My lunch was drinks, pretzels, and m & ms and I’m not really going to be ashamed of that!

yogurt, all bran, banana, almond butter, honey

I spent the afternoon with my friends. We stayed out until about 9 and then the tired ones (myself included headed home)!

I wish there was this kind of weather EVERY time we wanted to go out!!

I wish these people were NOT leaving EVER. haha.

My grilled cheese post-bar looks way more gourmet than it was. Maybe it’s cuz you can’t see the ketchup?

I had a rough time falling asleep last night. Sadly my hip was bugging me so I think I got stressed, a bit worried about the fact that it’s coming to the end of the semester (goodbyes, assignments, and changes are getting closer), etc. etc.

Anyways, I had a good day and I’m not going to let worrying get to me!

Today it’s sunny, I’m all fuelled up, and I’m going to go for a bike ride! I’ll give my hip some loving later, hopefully heading to the gym after work at the gazette this afternoon. There’s also Sunday Fun day and loads of reading on the agenda…

kinda like apple crisp: warmed up apple, yogurt (vanilla, plain mix) a little bit of brown sugar/maple syrup (couldn't choose), raisins, walnuts, and all bran buds ... love me some fibre!

What’d you do for St. Pattys? Find any green beer?

Happy Sunday!

Great food, awesome company

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

This is not the good food I am referring to, though snarfing my lunch (bagel with peanut butter and a banana) during class was delicious even if snapping the photo was a bit awkward…

And my homemade granola bar did taste awesome, though now I’m to the point where they’re not really BARS any more so most of what I ate is unphotographed…

And a sunshiny walk run where I got to RUN for 10 minutes! Plus 5x 1 minute on, 1 minute off for a total of 15 minutes of running…helps. I can’t lie and say I wasn’t jealous of the people out running, but this is where I’m at! I had a few yucky body moments, but mostly because I have pasty white legs and my shorts felt too short after a winter of wearing tights. I will feel better about myself the more I remember that I’m living healthy and my body is adjusting, figuring out where it needs to be, healing from this injury, etc. exactly as it’s meant to!

Going to yoga class is always a good idea for me and yesterday was no different! After an hour long power class taught by a girl I know from lulu whose classes are always challenging and fun (and whose adjustments are oh so wonderful) I felt a lot better .

Which is good because I had dinner plans to get to!

Ali, Sabrina, Ellen and I went for an early dinner at Veg Out, a really cozy vegan restaurant downtown. I’ve wanted to go there for ages so when they asked, I had to say yes!

What made last night so awesome?

The company: these three gals are all easy to talk to and the kind of people you’re glad you met!

The atmosphere: Not just the sunshine spilling in the doorway, but the whole place! The salt shakers on each table, for instance were in different shapes (we had tomatoes, there were artichokes on one table, bunnies on another, sheep on another–so cute!). There was lotion that smelled amazing in the washroom. The place is small but I really liked it and felt comfortable there.
The menu: SO MANY OPTIONS–here’s their menu!…I had a hard time deciding, but I settled not the Chickpea Nut Burger, which I’d heard was delicious in a review I read and which our waitress recommended.
Chick-Pea-Nut BurgerA chickpea, green pea, peanut butter patty topped with caramelized onions, avocado, tomato, pickles, sprouts, and Sriracha mayo. Gluten-free option available.

Chick-Pea-Nut Burger

A chickpea, green pea, peanut butter patty topped with caramelized onions, avocado, tomato, pickles, sprouts, and Sriracha mayo. Gluten-free option available.

Dessert options galore: While Ellen and I tried our best to devour a piece of triple chocolate cake, we couldn’t do it! I think it’s going to make an appearance in Ellen’s breakfast today so don’t worry, no chocolate cake is going to waste! The other gals had Earl Grey cupcakes with the best lemon frosting ever! The bean brownies with avocado fudge frosting were intriguing, as were other options on the list! Mmmmmm.

I can’t wait to go back! Happy belly, happy heart!

I spent the evening with Rachel, Nina, Ellen and Mel and then came home and found myself uber spoiled with flowers from Alysha and a note about my decision. Wow, I’m lucky to have such great friends in my life!

Now it’s time for me to go swim that time trial. Nervous would be in order, and I think I’m there, but it’s supposed to be fun and it will be! It’s too sunny to get too worked up about this, and I have to start somewhere. Also reminding myself that I literally took “Learn to Swim” as my aquatics requirement not too long ago and have only been swimming consistently for a few months. Not excuses for being “slow”, but reasons for being proud!

Have a great St. Patty’s day! I wish there was Bailey’s in my coffee…

How are you celebrating today?

I think I have a hollow leg

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Cheryl Madliger

…and I’m filling it with carbs.

Delicious and nutritious, ones, mostly!

Today Rachel was kind enough to give me a few of her fav books about vegetarianism. She is lucky to have a mom who is a dietitian (yay for RDs!) and thus a wealth of knowledge at her disposal. Rach is one of those people who knows her stuff–she doesn’t take being veggie lightly and she is really smart about her nutrition. It pays off because in case you haven’t heard, she is FAST.

I think after reading through them a bit when I was waiting at physio and while I had my acupuncture today I would like to buy “Becoming Vegetarian”…this one’s by an RD and I like how it’s written. After reading it (I ate it up, pardon the pun), I felt smarter and EXCITED about things. Sometimes I think when you consider becoming a vegetarian or making some changes to your diet, it can be scary and signal restriction. The truth is, deciding to go vegetarian or just in my case to eat less meat (I still say if I knew where it came from and felt okay with it, I’d be okay with eating some meat here or there) is a reason to EXPAND your options! I never thought of it that way…but when I wrote the article for Canadian Cycling Magazine about just this topic (I sent it off today so hopefully it comes out in June/July’s issue!), I got that from one of the guys I interviewed–you actually end up LOOKING for variety and things get delicious.

I also noted something: I really really really depend on nut butter and nuts to get me through. My LARA bars are made up of nuts and dates, mostly. So that means usually 2 meals and at least one of my snacks involves nuts and nut butters. I think I’m worrying too much about getting enough protein, which is kind of a waste of time (deficiencies are rare). The vegan cyclist I interviewed said total calories and especially carbs are the nutrients to focus on getting enough of. So I started to think and I really realized that I am for some reason not eating as many carbs as I could, should, might need to.

So naturally, that translated into a hungrier me. Or maybe it was just the really good swim I had this morning? I dare say I felt fast! I think I found my rhythm with the set and I haven’t swam in a few days since the pool was closed so it just felt good to be in the water from the second I dove in.

Speaking of diving in, here we go with the eats I tried to fill that hollow leg with:

Before swim, I snarfed a bowl of yogurt (and had coffee, obvs):

After the super duper awesome swim, I was hungry for my overnight oats (which were a mix of porridge oats, cocoa, almond milk, a banana, and almond butter).

My lunch was good—a cheese and spinach sandwich spread with light mayo plus some carrot sticks on the side– but didn’t fill me up for long, so I ate an apple as dessert.

I had an afternoon snack attack and dug out a Clif bar I’ve been saving for just such an occasion. It’s been a while since I’ve had one of these bad boys, and I used to reserve them for when I was about to train/when I was on my bike/etc. but I realize that’s a food rule and it’s based on…nothing?

I ran errands this afternoon (bank, returns, retail therapy where I forgot to buy the things on my list but got a new lulu tank and a few headbands instead – but it’s justifiable because I just picked up the money I’ve made working at the Gazette over the last few months that I FORGOT I was getting paid for) and another snack attack struck. I was planning on making a new recipe tonight and needed millet (I’ll keep you in suspense til I make it) so I went in Bulk Barn. Going in there ravenous is a bad idea. I bought a bunch of goodies – tahini (a new food for me), the millet I needed, oat bran, spelt flour (I want to make muffins), kamut cereal, rice cakes, and some chocolate – and I downed about half the pack of rice cakes. Maybe a third. It happens—they’re mostly air.

pantry, consider yourself stocked!

When I got home I was too hungry to cook the recipe I had in mind so I went with an old faithful instead: my squash mix with almond butter/almond milk and spinach, raisins, and maple syrup. And yes I do eat it all together, and it is DELICIOUS.

Three chocolate nibbles and I’m set—the leg is finally full. Assume homework-ing blogging position on my futon, with a second cup of tea.

That’s the excitement of my Monday munchies. I went ahead and put them in my FitDay account to see how I did on the carb/energy front. Turns out I was pretty spot on for my activity level…even though I felt like I ate non stop! It was a little high on the fat % but that’s like I said–so much nut butter–and I am not willing to worry about it! Note to self: listen to your body cuz it’s working.

In other news, I got into Ryerson today. Acceptance letter folded and put with the other ones.

I am going to go and decline the offers all at once. It’s a big step! Thanks for the support. It’s still tough to hear people congratulate me and then say I’m not going, but it’s not so bad now that I’ve decided to be proud of my decision. Owning it! The more I talk about it and think about it, the more I’m getting excited for it, actually! Even the summer school part will be good.

Happy is the new healthy

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