Athlete's Appetite

One thing I've noticed since being back to working out six days a week anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes a day is that I find myself hungry every three or four hours. I'm assure by Cale that this is normal, but it's kind of frustrating. I don't want to be hungry so often. I don't want to eat so often. I've been trying to combat this by eating 3 small snack-type meals all day and a "normal"-sized dinner at night, being conscious of keeping my calories under a reasonable level. If I were just trying to maintain my weight, I wouldn't stress too much about counting calories. As I'm trying to lose the few pounds that snuck up on me during the rest period of the surgeries and their subsequent recoveries.

I've also been attempting to eat verrry clean (minus the Chinese food episode of Sunday night). Lots of fruit and veggies and whole grains and lean proteins. I wish this weren't challenging to me at all. I wish I never craved chocolate, or sugar. Although, if I'm honest, it has gotten easier. I hardly ever crave fast food anymore... that used to be a huge weakness. I actually crave fruits and vegetables now. I feel my best when I'm eating healthfully. That's great. I never ever would have guessed this would be my reality at any point of my life. Don't get me wrong... this girl still has an obsession with cookies.

And speaking of cookies. I have been reading Jenna at Eat, Live, Run for about two years now, and lately she's been baking up a storm. I am not a baker. Something so scientific about it, but I've been trying to get more into it. Because I'm following Michael Pollan's advice -- if you want to eat "junk food," make it yourself, from scratch. Jenna has a similar philosophy saying she'd rather eat one cookie with real butter and sugar than several cookies with margarine and artificial sweeteners. Smart!!! Common Sense!! I love it.

Anyway, back to these cookies. Jenna posted her recipe for her favorite chocolate chip cookies, and I'm planning to bake some up. I have a current favorite cookie recipe -- Double Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal cookies. Next time I bake them (I just baked two dozen -- some for Cale's parents, and some for Cale and me) I'll take photos and post the recipe. They're ridiculously good. Yum.

My next baking adventure, though, is these babies: Jenna's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies.



Source

Don't these look so insanely good?!

I'll have to eat one or two and give the rest away immediately. I can't be trusted around these kinds of things.

That will have to wait until we get back from Omaha. Making the trek home for Labor Day weekend, and then Tuesday I start my new job! Exciting!

Today I did 65 minutes on the elliptical, and then a 10 minute strength routine on ExerciseTV. (By the way -- my favorite new fitness discovery, second only to the Kettlebells.)