Austerity Measures

Hello again friends.  It has been a bit of an odd week.  I am fighting to not get sick, and I think I have licked whatever has been sneaking up on me, but my focus has been a bit off this week.  I failed at my Meatless Mondays challenge this week because I forgot it was Monday until about an hour after lunch.  I am doing tomorrow meatless instead, which works out great for two reasons.  One, I do not have rehearsal, which allows me to cook vegetarian instead of buy vegetarian.  The other is that I got out grocery shopping today and got some great produce at my favorite greengrocers, Edgewater Produce (I got three bags full of veggies and fresh stuff for $20), and a few delightful looking vegetarian options from Trader Joes.  Part of the issue the past week and a half or so is that I have not been planning ahead and I get stuck eating out way more than I want.  It is expensive, doesn't taste as good, and doesn't give me the kind of nutritional punch I get from cooking myself.  I can fill myself up way more for less calories with homemade meals.  Less sodium, too.  Now I have the supplies to get back on the horse, so to speak.

On that theme, I seem to have broken the plateau I was on for about 10 days.  I took steps Monday and Tuesday to really cut back on my calories.  Basically I ate chicken breast and lettuce with an apple thrown in for fiber.  Not fun for long term use, but fine for two days.  It has worked to break the pattern, though.  I am down over 3 pounds so far this week, and with an extra night off of rehearsal I can really get out for a good walk/jog a couple more times this week.  I have worked myself up to about 5 miles on my walks, which takes about 1:15 minutes or so. A great pace, and when I throw in 5 or so jogging spurts a good workout.  I have felt my endurance with dance stuff going up already, but I am a far cry from where I need to be for performance, so on off nights I plan to push myself even harder.  Anyone jogging late on the lakefront up North expect not only to see me, but hear me, because I plan on singing while walking/jogging to build up that capacity.