I love holidays! I think every holiday is so fun in it’s own way. So, I am obviously excited about Halloween. I made this “Pumpkin” Cake for my mom to take to her class (she’s a teacher). I didn’t have any other excuse to make it, but once I saw instructions for how to make a pumpkin cake I had to make it for something! It didn’t come out like I wanted, but at least I tried right? Looks kinda a mess… “A” for effort Monica

And here is my little brother, Matt, in his costume: Can you guess who he is?

Ha! I talked him into being Michael Phelps. I think it will be so cool since most little kids are Power Rangers and Disney Characters. “A” for effort once again!

My plans for tonight include taking Matt Trick-or-Treating, giving out candy, finding a costume, and not eating too much candy or junk! Wish me luck. I’ll be back later Happy Halloween!

So I have just signed up for the Surf City Marathon on February 1st 2009. That sounds far away, but it is only about 14 weeks away - just 14 long runs until 26.2 miles! What was I thinking?! Well, I was thinking that it is time to bite the bullet and just go for it. I have been wanting to run a full marathon for a long time now. I have been thinking about it and struggling with, “Which one should I choose?”, “How much training time do I need?”, “What else is going on in my life that will affect my training?”. Well, there is always something going on with me, there is always a road trip coming up,or a long run that has to be rescheduled or something else outside of my control that makes me second guess committing to a race. That is life.

I want to run a full marathon just to prove to myself that I can do it, so I signed up. There. Now the decision has been made and I have to get my training on track. This is scary and exciting at the same time! Ah! It is even scarier that I am announcing it here to all of you. I can’t back down or change my mind. That’s a lot of pressure. But, my goal is to finish, even if I crawl across the finish line I just want to complete it.

So, now Run, Eat, Repeat is getting even more exciting (really, was it exciting before?)! I am documenting my training and nutrition to prepare me for a Full Marathon in February. How I train and what I put into my body have never been more important. I am asking a lot of my body. It is very hard on your body to run those long runs and extremely hard to run 26.2 miles. So, how I treat myself is of utmost importance for the next 14 weeks. I am still committed to losing 17 pounds, which would seem easier since my runs are going to get longer. But, I also need to make sure I am properly fueled while trying to cut calories. This is a very delicate balance, but I am up for the challenge. Hey, if I can run 26 miles I should be able to eat healthy right?

I just switched to wordpress and have some kinks to work out. Sorry for the inconvenience!

It’s everywhere…Halloween Candy can be the scariest part of Halloween if you are trying to watch your weight. The nice people over at SparkPeople have a slide show of treats that are 100 calories or less. Here it is : SparkPeople Candy Slides.
This is a handy tool so you can have your candy and eat it too! 1 or 2 pieces of candy won’t kill you especially if you work them off by walking with your little one around the neighborhood Trick-or-treating (or little brother like I am doing) or go out dancing at a Halloween Party (which is cooler than what I’m doing, but not as special). I only eat the candy I really like so I feel satisfied. Also, I am totally willing to throw away any piece of candy if I bite into it and it’s not what I expected. My ass getting fatter is not going to help starving children anywhere.

They also have this quiz to see how much you know about candy and how it compares to others. I failed miserably. How embarrassing is that!

I have to try something new. I have gained 10 pounds in the last year and cannot seem to lose any weight (not that I am making a real effort). So I am breaking down this problem and finding a solution like a reasonable person instead of beating myself up internally until I feel like shit (like I normally would do).

Reasons for weight gain:
1. The BF and I started spending more time together and during those times I eat like he eats (that is a 6″2 former offensive lineman)
2. I am not in therapy or doing anything to actively stop and help my emotional eating issues
3. I am constantly reading foodie blogs and thinking about food
4. I eat when I am not hungry all the time – for a number of reasons > stress, boredom, tired, lonely, frustrated, you get the idea…
5. I have a horrible “nighttime snacking” habit and easily add 200 to 500 calories to my total after dinner each day

The Solution of my problem requires:
1. That I not feel like deprived so I don’t end up in a horrible binge/restrict cycle (which I have a history of).
2. That I can still live a normal life of eating with the BF (just not matching him bite for bite)
3. That I eat about 1600 cals a day during weight loss phase
4. That I am not always thinking about food/the next time I am going to eat
5. deal with my emotional eating triggers in a way that is not eating.
6. don’t eat so much – in quantity or frequency (yeah, this should be obvious)

I don’t want to do anything dramatic, I want to make reasonable and “do-able” life style changes so I don’t have to deal with this problem for the rest of my life. Since my problem also involves emotional eating, this is more complicated than just making a meal plan.

The Plan -
1. I am going to try eating ONLY 4 times a day. I know that sounds weird, but recently Kath mentioned it on her blog and it totally hit me like a ton of bricks. I need to do this! I am constantly eating or thinking about eating. It is an escape from my life and it’s not healthy or productive.
2. Those 4 times a day are: Breakfast, Lunch, PM snack and Dinner
(I was thinking about just 3 times a day like Fit From Within suggests, but I normally don’t eat dinner until about 7is, so 12pm to 7pm is way too long for me to go without eating.) I actually haven’t even read the book, but the excerpt I read on Kath’s site has me convinced that I have to. Outside of that NOTHING should be eaten.
3. I need to make sure the meals I am eating are filling, satisfying and around 400 to 500 calories.

I am actually never hungry for dinner because I always have an afternoon snack and take it too far. I think I need to get something that is individually packaged and just enough cals to keep me from coming home starving, but not so much that I am not hungry for dinner. What do you ladies suggest for this? I was kinda thinking Z bars or something like that.

Now, after writing all that I don’t even want to describe my eats… greek yogurt with pumpkin butter and a little granoly – amazing.
Oatmeal when I got to work

Lunch – LC panini, salad

Vita Top and tea I also had a fun size chocolate bar for no reason other than they were there:(

Traffic was ri-f-ing-diculous! It took me 30 minutes alone to get off at my exit. I was super frustrated and stressed when I got home and was randomly grabbing almonds and other stuff while I was heating dinner. Dinner: chickpeas with some TJ’s sauce and garlic naan.It was an okay day up until this point and then I totally let it all go to hell. So,I grabbed some of these…
and the last of the ww pumpkin cc cookies…

and a 100 cal pack. I don’t know why I kept taking pics of all this crap. I figured I wasn’t going to post it anyways. I have no shame. At least I’m honest right? Anyways, I guess I’m posting all of this because I am sick of it and need to stop and I need to hold myself accountable, which is the point of the blog in the first place right.

Well, all is not lost – sorry for the downer post, but I actually have some exciting news I will post tomorrow.

Yeah, I fell this weekend…I was doing my long run on Saturday morning, about 7 miles into a 12 mile run at my turn around point…I was running a point and back course that I often do and was about to turn around on a round wooden board walk that circles a life guard station. My mind was off in la la running land, not really paying attention to stuff around me and I was obviously fatigued from my previous 7 miles when my foot caught on a wooden plank that was slightly higher than the one before it and I started to trip…I tried to regain my balance and prevent the fall, it felt like I was in slow motion “nooooooo!”…I took a couple of steps before I crashed down onto the wooden boardwalk – Hard! I tried to brace my fall with my hands and then slammed down onto my side. I was disoriented for a second then, I got up and ran off on my not so merry little way. Luckily, I was on the backside of the life guard station so there were not many witnesses. Apparently, that is the world’s dirtiest boardwalk because my hands and the entire side of my leg were covered in dirt. I stopped at a water fountain nearby for water like I always do, but I refused to wash my hands inside the restroom. I was pissed off and embarrassed and mad and hurting. I figured washing my hands might awaken whatever splinters or cuts I got from the fall. So, I ran all the way back with filthy hands and a dirty leg. Boo. It sucks to fall.

Later that night when I was recounting the story to the BF I was laughing so hard. It wasn’t that bad and is kind of funny that I kept running all dirty. I left my hands completely dirty and while I run I always touch my face to rub sweat away. So, I was running along with a dirt covered face too! Ha. People must have been wondering what that dirty girl was running from. I used to hate falling, but now I think it’s funny – sometimes.

…at the time.

Long story short: My BFF and I went out dancing/drinking on Saturday night. On the way home we decided to stop at Denny’s because we were hungry. There was a 15 minute wait and we were like, “Forget that, we’re hungry now”. So we drove through Jack in the Box. Here is my BFF showing you her hash browns and sausage biscuit – both of which I had a bite of – the sausage biscuit was excellent – the hash browns, eh.

I ordered the grilled chicken strips (because grilled chicken is a healthy choice) and curly fries (because curly fries taste good).

I also ordered French Toast sticks. These are like freshly made doughnuts. They are fried and topped with powdered sugar – need I say more? So good, but so bad I ate 2 of them, 2 of the chicken strips and the curly fries you can see in the background. I really shouldn’t have ordered or ate this crap, but I rarely eat fast food and every now and then there is nothing else open.

Natalie Dee does it again, this time with Lean Cuisines!

I know they are super processed, but they taste good, are cheap, super easy and have a good calorie count. Too bad.

I had a bad run because I was upset about some stuff and walked half of it. Boo. Breakfast was oatmeal with 1/2c milk, naner, brown sugar and pb added after.

At work I had the boredom snackies all day! It started with pieces of sweet bread… Lunch was grapes and an attempt to starting eating away at my Lean Cuisine stash…

plus left over brussel sprouts
Then the boredom snackies hit again! I ate the almond out of this Almond Joy… isn’t that weird?

a piece of a super delicious chocolate chewy cookie that I stole from a friend.

My afternoon snack was yogurt and TJ’s twigs and flakes cereal… Plus I figured I might as well finish off the PB at my desk…because I like to self sabotage…
And half of this Zone bar, I threw the rest away when I realized I had zero self control.
I really was craving Gnocchi for dinner so I stopped at TJ’s and got some of this stuff and some crusty bread.

This is what was left of the bread after a 45 minute car ride with me. I am really bad about breaking into bags when I go to the store…

I started with some salad…Here is dinner on a plate finally, like a civilized person… I ate another half a serving or so of the gnocchi. There is not really much in the bag. If I would have shared it with the BF I think I would have still been hungry. Anyways, it was good!

Blogger erased my entire VERY LONG post and it will not let me upload my pics. I quit. I am posting what I have and that’s it. I am sorry, but my very long post was a lengthy rant on how I purchased a chicken for me and the fam to eat for dinner, but after I came back from a walk around dinner time the only part of the chicken left was a greasy drumstick. I do not eat dark meat. I only like the breast part and they should know this. I barely even eat meat as it is. What pisses me off the most is that I bought it to be nice and nothing was left of it for me. Unbelievable! I am still very mad because I didn’t even say anything since I was so disgusted. I was livid and considered making a veggie burger for dinner instead. I wasn’t that hungry since I had made a CostCo bag of brussel spouts and already ate a ton of them. So I ate the remainder of Matt’s food and ate multiple desserts to make me feel better. Well, it didn’t. So, I ended up feeling stuffed, bloated, fat and pissed off. Ah!

Sorry, I had to get all that out. Here is what I have of my daily:
Breakfast was an alternative bagel with PB and pumpkin butter, half a naner, greek yogi with more pumpkin butter.

I had some hot chocolate and a few animal crackers when I got bored mid morning. Bad.

Lunch started with some frozen veggies and carrots with hummus. This picture will not upload and I have had it with messing with it. Plus an egg salad sammie with 1 whole egg and 1 white and some mayo. So good!Dessert = dark chocolate I went to CostCo late in the afternoon and ate a bunch of unhealthy samples plus a ton of dirty grapes on the way home. When I say dirty, I mean dirty. They were gross, but whatev. I should be concerned that I have some sort of disease now. Oh well.

Here are the aforementioned brussel sprouts. The bag made 2 huge pans. I ate about 3/4 of one whole pan. I don’t know why but I cannot get enough of these!

Here is the previously mentioned leftovers of Matt’s food, I added more rice after this pic, a lot more.So, with dinner down the toilet I was so pissed and just decided to eat ice cream. Luckily this is the last of my ice cream, so I shouldn’t buy anymore for a while. I am trying to stop eating after dinner. Not eating a “real” dinner makes this hard to do. Obviously I justified eating after dinner tonight. This is unacceptable since this is the main habit that keeps me from losing weight.

I also had a Vitatop and a bunch of graham cookies and some milk. I felt like shit after. I was still pissed off and now felt disgusting. Boo. As much as I would like to believe that chocolate solves all problems it doesn’t. It actually causes some of mine. Ha. I am back on board tonight to STOP EATING AFTER DINNER. I am going to be honest here so I need you all to hold me accountable. I might have to post my address so you can come over and distract me after dinner.

Seriously, this is a horrible habit I have going back since I was a child. When I am over my mom’s for the night I see her eat a snack at night EVERY night. She gives my little brother a snack every night too. It is a habit that she has ingrained in me since I was a child. It has to stop here. I cannot tell if I am eating because I am hungry at night or because I have this life long habit of eating a snack every night. Any tips on how to stop this nighttime eating?

- I want a G1 phone
- I am super stressed with work, studying and other stuff right now
- I need to drink more (often and amount)