Hello there!
It is probably not very apparent on here, but I used to be a runner. Yes, I've run half marathons, trained for the full deal (though never finished) and run countless shorter races. Running was always the perfect way for me to keep my weight in check. Then, after my attempt at the 2007 Chicago Marathon, I was seriously mentally scarred from the ordeal and have not been able to pick up running again. I know, it sounds crazy, but I swear it is true!
I do however own all the goodies that most serious runners do! I started with my good old Polar F11 heart rate monitor. I wore that thing like it was gold!
Yeah, not exactly gold, but I loved that bad boy! That is until my runs got long enough that the dang monitor started rubbing me raw! I had a scar on my chest for like 6 months!
So, I moved onto the Garmin Forerunner...can't recall the model right now and I'm too lazy to get up and look! That was pretty much the Lamborghini of sports watches...too bad its been sitting on my kitchen table for the past year just gathering dust. Oh well.
Anywho, I dug out the Polar, made a quick run to Radio Shack to get some replacement batteries, and I was ready! Finally, I was going to see the massive calorie burn that I was getting from all this hard working out. People on my Power 90 message boards were claiming 700, even 800 calories burned...I was psyched!
Strapped it on and went to town! Jumped, kicked, punched, sweated until the end. Hit the stop button, went to the summary...and saw 440. Really?! Just 440?! The truth is, I knew it was right. It is dang hard to burn more than 100 calories for every 10 minutes you workout. I knew I shouldn't buy the claims of 800 calories for the Sweat 1-2 video (I'm on Sweat 3-4 even!). Oh, I was taken in. And then disappointed when reality came crashing down. What a crock! I will keep wearing it though because I need to get a better handle on what I'm eating and knowing what I'm burning is a start!
On to dinner!
This weekend, I bought all the fixin's for a pizza since I've seen everyone all over the blog-o-sphere making them. And, I had all those veggies from the Farmer's Market to use up!
I forgot to throw the tomatoes into the picture...lots of veggies, pesto & soy cheese.
I really, REALLY wanted fresh pizza dough. For some reason, the Whole Foods I went to did not have any :( This was all I could find so I gave in and bought it. Not a whole lot of nutritional value in these...so sad.
And the final product...
Very refreshing! The crust was like a big thick cracker...eh. But the veggies cooked up so good! I made two of these little guys and only ate half so I will be eating this for a few days! Love cooking for one!!
On a sweeter note, I was wandering through another department at work today on the way to a meeting and saw a little gift box on the counter. Made my way over and it was filled with these little gourmet chocolates. The only catch was that the labels were in another language. Most of them had pictures of fruit on them so I knew what they were...and I'm not a huge fruit & chocolate fan...but there was one (and seriously, only one left) that did not have a picture on it. Complete crap shoot as to what it was...I took it!
Unwrapped it...
Dark chocolate with a rum filling! Success!!! Oh, it was sooo good! Perfect little mid-afternoon treat!
On that note, I'm going to try to have some sweet dreams! Have a lovely night!
It's so amazing how calorie-burning claims can get so exaggerated for certain workouts. I used to have a spinning instructor who would yell "you can burn 7- to 800 calories if you push yourself hard enough!!!" during class, which was obviously a ploy seeing as we weren't in a TWO HOUR class (which seems like the only way that could be possible..). Kinda funky if the workout program is advertising a false number, though!
ReplyDeleteIt is ridiculous when commercials claim you can burn 1000 cals and hour -- because sometimes the workouts are only 30 minutes, and if you are more "fit" then you need to work so much harder to burn that many cals.
ReplyDeleteSorry you had a bad experience with running -- good for you for doing what you want to do!
Oh YUM... pizza looks awe-some!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened that scarred you at the Chicago marathon?
Brittany - it was the year that we had record hot temperatures here...it was already 83 by start time! They did not have enough water on hand to support the extra that runners needed. People started dropping like flies and they actually canceled it about 2 1/2 hours in! I didn't get water until the 3rd aid station! We were really lucky though that the wonderful people of Chicago came to our rescue...they brought out their hoses for us, bought us bottled water and handed them to us as we ran by. It was a miserable experience and I only made it about halfway before they told us to go back because they were canceling it!
ReplyDeleteMaking a homemade pizza is the best! U can make it any way you want it, and healthier too!
ReplyDeleteHope your week is great love! xoxo
Pizza = fave food ever. I love to make it myself, but I don't neglect all the amazing Brooklyn pizzerias in my hood. What can I say--I'm surrounded by pizza. It's a curse. :)
ReplyDeleteyour pizza looks good! i love being able to use up all my veggies on them...
ReplyDeleteI think people way overestimate how many calories they are burning! I know some people that go on the elliptical for thirty minutes and they think they can eat a huge burger and fries. Lol.
ReplyDelete