Day 20

So Saturday was an awesome day ... I'm a vendor at the Farmers Market each week with my Vinyl lettering signs & sewn baby items, and since there's limited choices for food there... this is what my normal Saturday's food choices would've been:

1) A small Apple Caramel Crumble pie from Miss Penny (my neighbour)  $5.00
2) A tray of Brownies or Unbaked Chocolate cookies (or both) from Amy, my other neighbour $5.00 each (Mind you, I wouldn't have eaten the whole tray ... but I definitely would've done some serious damage to it)
3) A bag of fried Wontons for lunch $5.00

And all that because I never wanted to prepare my own things to bring, & didn't think I would be satisfied with a bag of carrots from the vegetable vendors.  So... a bunch of junk & $15.00 - $20.00 wasted.  But Saturday was a different story...

Friday night I loaded up a cooler with bottles of water (& I've got my main water bottle that I filled with ice) * Here`s a note about water bottles to choose...  I`ve tried a million different ones & I like this kind the best... It`s got a wide mouth screw top lid (so I can put ice in) but it`s got a flip top lid as well, so I can swig out of a smaller opening (no buckets of ice dripping down my chest because I`m drinking out of a wide mouth opening while on the elliptical.)  This one I got from Superstore for $4.99... but there are some fancier ones at Costco which, I`ve decided, will be my first reward.

1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese (excellent source of protein, but watch your sodium!), an orange, a ziploc bag (these will become your friend) with 15 almonds, some SatisfAction yogurt (you already know how I feel about that stuff :), a Laughing Cow soft cheese wedge (good source of protein...you can spread it on bread instead of reg cream cheese or butter, or chop it into cubes to put it into a salad, a ziploc bag with 1/4 cup of dried blueberries that I got from Costco (naturally sweet snack...kinda like candy (almost) & great source of antioxidants), some celery sticks (a few with some light peanut butter (1 TBSP - good source of protein & feels like I'm eating food I shouldn't... keeps the calories down by pairing it with celery instead of crackers) & ...

wait for it...

spelt bread... OH MY GOODNESS... if you haven't tried spelt bread... get your butt down to your local Farmers Market (my new neighbour is the lady that makes the spelt bread (no more pies or brownies for me!)  If you don't know what spelt is, check out the above link... but here's a quick overview... it's a grain that can be used instead of whole wheat flour, it has higher levels of protein & better nutrition values.  The stuff I get from my neighbour is SOOOOO good, I don't even have to put anything on it, it just tastes so good.

So that was my day at the market...   That night I went for 82 MINUTES on the elliptical & did 9.11 miles... I was a bit slower at times;  I'm not super fast yet, I'm just trying to go on for as long as I can each time...build up my endurance first, & then my speed...  And I don't go for that long all in one chunk... I do have to pause the timer to go for a pee break or two.  I used to use the excuse that when I had to go pee, I'd just stop & not get back on... but now I just pause it & then go again... and my feet normally go numb after a while on the elliptical (it's a thing that just happens from that type of exercise... I'm looking into different types of shoes to prevent that feeling (any suggestions?) ... so I'll get off the elliptical & stretch or whatever & then go again.  But I think this coming week, I'm going to pair the elliptical with some of the workout videos I've bought... I have:















So I'll let you guys know how those go...
 
As per Kristi's request, I'm going to do some posts about a few different topics: the songs I have on my playlist...my exercise schedule and some of my go to snacks and foods.So stay tuned for those... they will be showing up on the right column as a link.  Take care!