A different kind of marathon - losing weight!

I’m taking a little break from running before I start training for my next marathon, but I’m not taking a break from eating!

I just completed some training for work and we’re celebrating with a week in Hawaii. I am so excited for the food.  I may not eat red meat or chicken, but I love seafood, and going to an island and all, I’m pretty excited for the seafood.

The reason I stopped eating red meat and chicken was solely for weight loss reasons.  In highschool I put on a lot of weight and I have spent the last 6 years trying to get rid of it.  Ever hear of that saying “gain by the pound, lose by the ounce”? I understand that saying all too well.

I usually do not show people pictures of me when I was this heavy, but I figure if we’re being honest here…Ugh!

I left for Air Force Basic Training right after graduating and after completing nearly 5 months of training, I had dropped 15 pounds and had started working out.  I felt so good about myself and thought I looked good, too.  Looking back at pictures, though, I saw that I still had a bit of weight I was hanging on to.

Here’s me with my dad and sister after I got back from basic training and tech school.  You can see my face is still pretty pudgy.

I hung out at that weight for about a year before kicking up the running and dropping another 10 pounds. Again, I was so proud of myself! However, I hit a plateau.  About a 4 year plateau. I did slim down a bit because I was running more, working out more and making better food choices, but the scale kept steady.

Here I am (second from the right), 15 pounds (25 total) lighter.

This past January, I started some training for work and decided to take advantage of being away from my routines and mixed things up a bit.  I stopped eating meat, joined weight watchers, and kept working out.  Lo and behold, the last 10 pounds finally came off!   I’m still 1-2 pounds away from my goal weight and I know I’m going to have to be mindful in order to maintain it, but let me tell you, weight watchers works.  If you need the jumpstart to lose some stubborn pounds, it’s worth checking out – www.weightwatchers.com

Me and a friend after running a St. Patti’s day 10k. (I'm on the right)

I know that I’m not quite where I want to be, but I figure blogging about my journey might help me reach my destination!

I try a lot of different recipes, as a vegetarian runner, here are a couple that me and the momma tried yesterday:

Hungry Girl Mac n Cheese (2 points on Weight Watchers)
(original link here: http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/show/2234#mac)

-1 pack of tofu shirataki noodles (she uses the macaroni shape, but any work)
-1 wedge of swiss laughing cow cheese
-1 slice american cheese
-a dash of Parmesan cheese

1.  Use a strainer to rinse and drain noodles well. This is soooo important. They do not smell very good before you wash them, so wash them well. Pat dry. 

2. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave noodles for 1 minute.

3. Drain excess liquid. Dry thoroughly with paper towels.

4. Add the cheese wedge and cheese slice, breaking both into pieces as you add them. Microwave for 1 minute. 

5.  Add the parmesan and give it all a stir.

Here's the mac n cheese with a leftover pulled jackfruit sandwich (http://armyontherun.blogspot.com/2013/04/meatless-marathon.html)

I love mac n cheese, it is a weakness of mine, and I was hoping this would fill that craving, but it falls a little short. It was good, but not creamy, amazing mac n cheese good. Maybe adding an extra slice of american cheese and bumping up the Weight Watchers point value by 1 would help? Let me know if anyone tries that.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza (Weight Watchers point value varies based on your toppings, ours was about 4 points for the mozzarella cheese because the zucchini and spinach is 0)
(Original recipe here: http://www.eatingbirdfood.com/2012/09/healthy-pizza-with-a-cauliflower-crust/)

-½ head cauliflower

-garlic

-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

-1 egg

-Some seasoning

-Any toppings you want

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400° F.  Prep a cookie sheet by placing some aluminum foil down and spraying it.  If you don't spray it, it will stick.

2.  Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it.

3.  Place cauliflower in an uncovered microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes.

4.  In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with the garlic, egg, seasoning and the shredded cheese.

5.  Spread dough out evenly over foil – about ¼ to ⅓ of an inch thick, don't go too thin because then it just breaks apart.

6.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.  If you have some toppings that need to be cooked (like our zucchini) add them now and let them cook with the crust, let the other toppings wait (like our spinach and mozzarella cheese)

7.  Remove the crust from the oven and add the extra toppings. Be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.

8.  Broil the pizza for 5 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes then cut and serve immediately.

Cauliflower crust pizza with buffalo tempeh, yogurt blue cheese and celery

The buffalo tempeh is super easy - just chop it up, bake it for about 5 min on each side, toss it in whatever sauce you want (buffalo, bbq) then bake for a couple more minutes. Super filling!