So yesterday was not a better day. It was likely one of my most stressful days in recent history. It started off well with a nice breakfast cookie, which fell apart a bit, but was still very tasty.
But my day slowly transitioned into stress mode once I got to work. The project from the day before continued to linger and heighten in stress. I had my usual granola bar mid-morning snack and then popped out to get a salad for lunch. It was filled with romaine lettuce, cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries, chickpeas, carrots and topped with balsamic vinaigrette.
I then went back into work mode, trying to make a 4 p.m. deadline. Well…we missed the 4 p.m. deadline, but figured out a way to still make everything work out if we hit an 8 p.m. deadline. Back to the drawing board. Work, work, work, stress, stress, stress… oops I’m hungry and totally forgot about my afternoon snacks. Finally around 4:30 p.m. I had my Chobani yogurt filled with a Kashi Go Lean/Granola mix.
I gobbled that down and then it was back to work, work, work and stress, stress, stress. We finally wrapped everything up and dropped off our package at 7 p.m. Phew – made the cut.
However, now it was 7 p.m., I was exhausted and slowly coming down from my peak of stress and knew that a stop at the gym was probably not in my future. Then I started to get angry with myself and tried to rationalize that if I made it to the gym by 7:30 and ran 3 miles I’d be done by 8:00 p.m. and could head home and have dinner by 9:00 p.m. But after eating so little throughout the day (seriously, I usually snack way more than that – especially when prepping for the gym), I knew my run would be lackluster, distracted, and I’d probably be starving. Dinner at 9:00 p.m. sounded too far away. I coudn’t make it.
So I headed home and had the easiest dinner ever: Amy’s Black Bean and Vegetable Soup with a side of Kombucha.
For some reason, I really liked the Kombucha much better the second time around. I still have a little bit left, which I’ll probably finish up tonight.
I have to admit that while waiting for the soup to heat up, I did snack on a few Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips that Hubby had in the house (sorry Hubby!). I couldn’t help it! They are my FAVORITE chips and I blame my weakness on stress. So yes, I partook in a little emotional eating last night.
Have you ever found yourself eating more or eating something you normally wouldn’t because of stress or any other emotion?
As I was eating dinner, I was watching The Biggest Loser and then followed up dinner with half a grapefruit with a Truvia packet sprinkled on top for dessert.
The grapefruit really hit the spot – it was so juicy. I can’t wait to finish the other half.
Now as far as BL goes – I am torn. Part of me wants to believe that the red team woman isn’t that conniving and manipulative as to throw the weigh-in, but then the other part of me finds her really annoying and pompous a lot of the time and agrees with Jillian that if she was really working out that hard and not doing anything else (like scarfing down extra food), then she would have lost more weight.
Anyway – I finished up BL and then raced to bed. My plan of attack for today (Wednesday) was to hit the gym in the morning in case any work snafus should arise, forcing me to stay late. I was sad that I couldn’t read my book before bed, but there just wasn’t any time. So, did I get up and make it to the gym… SURE DID! More to come on my great workout and hopefully making this a new routine in tomorrow’s post.
And lastly, some health news that caught my eye:
Exercise: In Women, Training for a Sharper Mind – I swear I’m going to work in some strength training during my workout tomorrow.
Big Benefits Are Seen From Eating Less Salt – DAD: You should read this article!
Huge variation in salt content of processed food – Umm… so I think salt is the big focus for 2010. NYC is coordinating a nationwide effort to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods. I am all for it! Reduce the salt or take it out, and then if people really want it, they can add it to their food on their own. What do you think of the less/low salt movement?
Have a happy Hump Day everyone!
Eat, Read, Run 
First of all, I love your blog! It’s really inspired me to incorporate more healthy foods into my diet.
I feel you on the BL episode. I really don’t believe that the red team is truthful. Forget the tears! She lost 11 pounds this week – weird how diet and exercise can make you lose weight. She did it this week even though she had immunity just to prove to Jillian and Bob and the rest of the people that she ‘wanted’ to be there. Did you see that sly little smirk and wink she gave Miggy during the voting – puh-lease. She needs to go!
So sorry about all the stress! I’ve been the same way lately. It just consumes me. I hope things get better for you soon.
I definitely stress eat and S&V chips are my fave chips ever so I probably would have eaten the whole bag!
Um, YES! I eat way more when I’m stressed! Just today, I had half of my lunch before running some errands. I was relaxed and satisfied with half. But my break turned out to be super stressful so, even though I wasn’t REALLY hungry, I was convinced that I actually was and I devoured the second half of my lunch and my dinner by 5pm!!
Take it easy on yourself, beautiful. Self care is just as important in training as the running. You’ll be alright 🙂
You poor thing- I hope the rest of your week gets better! Work stress is the worst.
Yup — I totally agree on the whole “salt is the theme for 2010” dealie — it’s been making the rounds in the news up here in Canada too. It’s really amazing how much extra salt is in foods that we would never think of, and how much it can vary from brand to brand.
Also feeling you on the work getting in the way of working out — was supposed to go to my first 10 km training clinic tonight, but had to work late and missed it. Grrr!!