10 years ago ...

Senior year - 2000

My ten-year high school reunion is this weekend and who would have thought - I'm actually super excited about it!

Sure, I'm going alone because the boyfriend has to work. And sure, I'm not married, have no offspring, and am (only technically) unemployed because I'm still in school, but I've lost 50 POUNDS since high school! Heck yeah I'm going to this reunion!

Maybe my history isn't that well-known to my blog readers, but in fifth grade I was dubbed "Fatalie" by a jerk and the name spread like wildfire. Luckily, the fire was put out before junior high started - but the damage was already done. My self-esteem received third degree burns and I still carry the scars.

Junior year - 1999

In fact, as I type this I hear those kids taunting me with phrases like "I can see your fat jiggle when you walk!" Man, kids are cruel.

I suffered from debilitating depression throughout my adolescent years and there were days when it was a struggle to get out of bed, much less go to school. But as I grew up, they got nicer and I became more comfortable with myself and my body, but I was never proud of it.

Another episode I remember occurred my senior year. In an act of bravery, I wore a short skirt to school. I remember it specifically because it was super cute and maroon and suede. (Yes, suede. Don't judge.) I was walking down the hall during class and a guy passed me and said "Mmm, I love me a thick woman."

I was mortified! Until it was explained to me that some men consider "thick" to be a compliment. Ok, so it was nice that a guy thought I was attractive, but once I processed this I was still not happy. The thing I hated most about myself is not what I wanted others to like.

Homecoming senior year 2000

By the time I graduated high school, I was convinced that I was meant to be a size 16 forever. I told myself that it was clearly the body I was meant to have and I better get used to it. And I tried. I figured the key to happiness was coming to terms with myself as I was. There were times when I almost came to terms with my body, but deep inside I couldn't ignore the taunting voices on the playground at Farine Elementary. Those voices were part of the motivation when I started on the 50n50 journey. I was sick of hearing them and wanted those 10-year-old jerks to stop calling me names every morning as I looked at myself in the mirror.

I'm glad I never learned to be satisfied with myself as I was because then I wouldn't be where I am today. And I am thrilled to be where I am today! I'm truly happy and truly healthy - physically AND mentally!

I can hardly wait to go to tonight's homecoming football game sporting those old school colors and greet my classmates. I hope life has been just as good for them as it has for me. I am excited to see how the past ten years have blessed them and treated them.

Okay, so maybe there is a little part of me that hopes the guy who dubbed me "Fatalie" shows up ... He had the nerve to try and Facebook-friend me ... and he was perfunctorily rejected. But for the most part, I'm just excited to put Fatalie to rest and let the new me take over for the next ten years!

@MeatlessMondays - a year later

This week marks my anniversary following the Meatless Monday movement!

All in all, it's been a neat endeavor that has greatly opened my palate. I can see a difference in my grocery bill and have often found myself going meatless on other days of the week just because I'm craving the dish.

My boyfriend has joined the movement too, much to my excitement. This semester has us apart on Monday nights and last week he grabbed his dinner at a fast food place. When I asked what he ordered - out of idle curiosity - and discovered it was vegetarian, it brought a huge smile to my face. It was proof that he believes in the movement too and isn't just doing it because someone else is cooking the food and giving it to him.

Here are some meals that have come into our world thanks to Meatless Monday:

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 cup refried black beans, with lime
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c onions
1 poblano pepper
1 whole roasted, peeled chile
2 sticks string cheese
4 multi-grain wraps

Baked sweet potato at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until soft
Let cool. While potatoes cool, saute onions and peppers in olive oil until onions are caramelized and soft.
Peel sweet potatoes and mix with refried black beans. 
Put sweet potato mix on wrap, add onion mix and top with string cheese. Roll wrap unto burrito, place on pan and heat in over for 15 minutes, or grill in panini maker (as pictured). 
Number of Servings: 4
295 calories, 13 g fiber, 18g protein

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili

1 medium onion, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 c. fire roasted red peppers, chopped
4 c vegetable broth
4 c black beans, cooked and drained
1 can pumpkin, no salt
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp parsley

Saute onions and yellow pepper.
In crockpot combine all ingredients.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours, until heated throughout. Enjoy!
Makes 10 servings.

128 calories, 8 g fiber, 7 g protein

Grilled Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant
1 Eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
Spray with cooking spray, lightly salt and let sit while prepping the grill. Place on grill for 5-8 minutes each side until soft and amazing. Top with chopped peppers or your salsa of choice.

PB&J Grahamwiches
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 Tsp jam/jelly
2 sheets graham cracker
Make like peanut better jelly sandwich. Tastes better after sitting a few hours because the jelly side gets a bit soggy and it melts in your mouth.

I've also learned a lot about eating out on Mondays and ways to avoid meat at restaurants. I particularly love sushi for Meatless Mondays, but when in a bind you might find me at Taco Bell because of their myriad of veggie-friendly dishes.

If I had to criticize the Meatless Monday movement about anything, I have two things to say.

First, the recipes offered on the official Meatless Monday site tend to be amazingly complicated and expensive. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that turns people off when they first think about going meatless one day a week.

Second, they don't talk enough about ways to meet protein needs sans meat. Someone like me needs at least 60 grams of protein a day - even on days I go meatless. There are a lot of ways to do it, I just wish the Meatless Monday organizers would talk more about it. Sure, you can miss it one day a week and make up for your protein needs later, but doesn't that defeat the purpose? Also, if someone chooses to go meatless more than once a week they need to know how to do it safely.

Lunch today is mashed avocado with chopped peanuts spread on a tortilla and cooked quesadilla style. It's another fave lunch I've discovered thanks to Meatless Monday and writing about it has my mouth watering!

Click here to read my first post about this awesome movement! I don't celebrate the end of August as my anniversary date because I fumbled a bit at the start. But since Sept. 20, 2010, I've consistently NOT eaten meat on Mondays.

Happy trails to us

As mentioned previously, I am back in training with the Couch to 5k program. However, what I haven't lately mentioned is the break I took for the past two weeks - first because it was triple-digit hot everyday and then second to acclimate myself to my new semester routine. During that break, we all reveled as I discovered a fascination with trail running.

Here I am in the second week of classes and I'm working out my workout routine. Basically, my running days will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays for the next couple of months. Since Kevin and I are both home by 4 on Tuesdays we've dubbed it Trail Day. Thursdays are neighborhood jog days and Saturday depends on our schedule, but we're always shooting for a trail somewhere.

Today was our first Tuesday Trail Day ...

It was also the first official run I've attempted since Aug. 12. I planned on repeating the last week I completed (Week 3), but accidentally hit the start button for Week 4 and decided, what the heck and gave it a try.

Success!!!

All things were in my favor: the weather was beautiful, the trail was fairly empty, and I had lovely music on the phone. The running itself wasn't so bad either! In fact, it was almost enjoyable. I got a kick out of the random dog that would run across the trail - without an owner in site. Maybe that's how dogs are in the wild?

This week's run routine involves running for 3 minutes, walking 1.5 mins, running 5 minutes then walking 2.5 minutes and repeating for a total of 16 minutes spent running and 18 spent walking (including 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down).

I started dragging in the last 2.5 minutes of my final run, but out of the brush came Kevin and Chester as part of their run! They joined me for a bit, but then ran past because I'm a lot slower. Chester was cute, however. I could tell he was torn between staying with me and going with Kevin. In the end he went with the faster choice and I finished my run in blissful solitude.

Kevin and Chester headed my way :)

Seriously, I was alone the rest of the time and loved it. I had calm music in my headphones and just took it all as an active meditation. I didn't stress about how long or how far I was running. I just focused on sidestepping the next rock in my path.

While Kevin finished his run, I chilled my the water fountain and watched the dogs playing with each other. This park - about a 20-minute drive from my house is pretty fantastic. Kevin said he and Chester both had a blast and we're pretty excited to make this part of our weekly routine.

Finally, I CAN

One of the BIG things on my summer To Do list was to learn to can. It's been on my version of a bucket list for several years, but this year is about making things happen. I bought the necessary equipment in July and have made my first goody a couple of weeks ago.

Jalapeno-Spiked Cherry Preserves

All in all, I've made Vanilla-Infused Blueberry Jam, Jalapeno-Spiked Cherry Preserves, and Ginger-kissed Honeydew Drizzle. While these are all fun to have made, they aren't foods I normally eat. Instead, I'm saving them to give as Christmas gifts (and am more than half-way done with my shopping thanks to them!). But to be cost-effective, I need to use my canning stuff for REAL food, you know?

When I went to the farmer's market this morning for my weekly groceries, I had this hope that I could find a great deal on tomatoes and make (and can!) tomato sauce. It's practical, useful, and something I can benefit from this fall and winter. Imagine my joy when I managed to buy 12.5 pounds of tomatoes for $8! Add the that the cost of peppers, onions, spices, garlic and lemon and I spent a total of $13 on today's adventure.

I based everything on a recipe published in Taste of Home last year and republished online this week. Here is a link to the original recipe, but I made a few modifications. First, I cut the recipe in half. Then, I chose to omit the canola oil. I see no reason for it at all and my mother said she's never heard of a tomato sauce calling for oil. Then, after reading the comments at the bottom of the recipe, I decided no oil was a good thing - food-safety-wise. Generally, tomato sauces require a pressure canner. In fact, I was pretty surprised by this recipe. But since it was first published last year, I figure if anyone got sick from it the magazine wouldn't have included it in their weekly emails this week. My mother agreed with this as well. Finally, I used fresh basil from my garden rather than the dried stuff - because I could, duh.

At the end of the day, I'm thrilled to have made 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce. We ate one tonight (with leftovers ready for tomorrow's Meatless Monday lunch) and have three to store for winter!

All ingredients necessary ... purchased from local farmers market

Prepping tomatoes for blanching and peeling.

Boiled 60 seconds until the skin started separating from tomato.

Thrown into ice bath to stop the cooking.

Peel is super easy to remove!

All ingredients cut, chopped, diced, etc. Ready to simmer 4-5 hours.

Still simmering after 3 hours ... just one more to go. Time to get water bath ready for jars.

Sanitized jars are filled with 2T lemon juice and the super-yummy sauce.

Dropped into water bath - carefully - for 40 minutes.

All canned and ready to store (well, once they cool).

Bon appetit!

P.S. Tomato sauce is SUPER low-calorie and high fiber. I like to serve it on julienned zucchini mixed with noodles in order to lessen the carbohydrates and increase the flavor and veggie love.

Very filling AND healthy zucchini "pasta"

Successful trial run for trail running

Ok, so this is super duper exciting for me ... FINALLY, I have found a way to love running!

As you know, I've struggled with this. I want to love running, I really do. However, I don't. It's boring and each morning my run just feels like 30 minutes of torture that I endure so that I can feel proud of myself for said torturous endurance the rest of the day. Sure, I feel fantastic after my runs - but I feel miserable during them. Until yesterday.

Kevin and I joined a Meet Up group that goes hiking every other week. We drove about 45 minutes out of the city to a small state park and joined 24 others in a lovely four-mile hike. We took Chester (dog) and had a blast.

About half a mile into the hike, Chester decided he needed to relieve himself. Kevin bagged it up and we left the bag planning to come back at the end of the hike so we wouldn't have to carry the stink package with us. So, after our hike and a lovely little picnic lunch, we rested and went back into the woods to retrieve Chester's doggy bag.

Feeling refreshed, we decided to run the trail. And it was AWESOME! Admittedly, it was a hard run. And I was pretty ashamed when I realized I could barely breathe after running a mere quarter of a mile, but the shame was replaced with joy as I realized how much fun I was having. First off, while running this trail, I felt very in-tune with my surroundings. I wasn't worried about anything but where to put my foot next and whether I was going to fall and roll down a hill to my death. The exhilaration I felt while gravity and my athleticism (ha, yeah right) propelled me down the steep hills was indescribable.  My blood was pumping, my lungs were burning, and my face was lit up with delight.

Basically, I loved every second of the hardest run I've ever tried and am not even disheartened by how hard it was (um, hello: wearing pants + full stomach from lunch + already hiked 4 miles that day = exhaustion and lack of energy). I said something to Kevin about the idea of trail running and he said he really enjoyed it, too.

Lucky for us, we live in an area of the country with a lot of trails to run. And we've decided to run them. I visited Active.com today and found a great article about the best trails to run across the country. That, plus my decision to register for an actual train race in the next few months has me very excited for fall and training. (I'm pretty sure this will be a race I run ... or this one ... or both!).

Yes, there is a lot of training ahead of me - and sadly during the week very little of it will get to be on trails - but I'm excited for weekend runs. That's right. I'm excited. About running. How awesome is that?

Gym Nat

It's been a roller-coaster summer, weight-wise for me. I was headed on a lovely downward roll a few weeks ago and was swept right back into an uphill climb by some dumb decisions (one drink rule!). This week hasn't all been brains, but I added some brawn and feel pretty good about it.

Basically, it all started two weeks ago when I saw my dog pee on the playroom carpet. I couldn't stand it anymore, my friend came over and we just ripped it all out. Bye-bye stinky carpet! I stepped on the scale right after hours spent pulling and moving furniture and stuff and saw a beautiful 145.4!!! And then, I went to a party...

So, fast forward to this week, I finally decided just what I wanted to do with the space my organization efforts created in the playroom. After two days of work: painting, scrubbing, hauling, lifting, and even some wall-art making, I'm now the proud owner of a Zen Gym!!! It's ok, I'll answer if you call me a Gym Nat.

Ta da!!!

I wanted to make a place for me to easily access all of my workout equipment. I'm looking for some workout charts and still need to hang my resistance bands and jump ropes on the wall, but otherwise, the room is all done. I've got space for yoga and stability ball work and the tv is ready in case I decide to buy another digital converter for evening watching (rarely do it, but when I do I should totally multi-task for my body, right?) or a dvd player or vcr to watch movies and workout videos. Of course, there is always my laptop for that too ...

Anyway, I've used it two days in a row now! Perhaps it's my imagination, but I'm already seeing more definition in my legs. I swear.

The motivation has followed me in other areas of my day too: I'm sticking to my healthy eating better and I went on a 5-mile walk with a friend last night! The scale was pretty friendly this morning, though it doesn't count as a weigh in, and I'm pleased.

I just need to keep up this momentum! In fact, I think I'll go lift a bit now ...

Fro Yo Go Go

So, we all know just how much I love all things ice cream-esque. Last summer Kevin and I discovered a lovely ice cream and sno-cone shop two miles from the house and made it our habit to walk there whenever we wanted tasty goodness. Since then, two amazing things have happened.

First, our television was stolen. We didn't watch a lot of tv anyway, but with nothing but an old console left we don't watch nearly as many movies or video games these days. Instead, we look for other ways to pass our evenings.

Second, two frozen yogurt shops moved into the area.

Did you just hear angels singing? Yeah, I know: Evening activity + Fro Yo = Natalie and Kevin walking at least three miles almost every evening.

It's totally win, win, win too. I satisfy my ice cream fix, the dog du jour gets their energy walked out, I burn calories, and Kevin and I get to spend quality time together. It's awesome! I burn 250 calories or so walking two and from the fro yo shop and only consume 150 calories (and calcium!) eating my tasty treat. Plus, it makes for a lovely cool down in the middle of working out (yes, we walk briskly!) in this heat.

There are two frozen yogurt shops to choose from - PeachWave and Yogurtini. Peachwave is a 3-mile walk through the hip part of town. Yogurtini is a 3.9-mile walk through the fancy part of town. They each offer different flavors and different scenery so it never gets boring.

Today was hot. Officially the hottest day of the year with the high at 110 in some locations. My phone said it felt like 104 just a few moments ago. When I got up this morning and saw that the temp had already reached 90, I decided I wouldn't be able to handle my Couch to 5k routine. I was disappointed because I really do like the way I feel once I'm finished.

Anyway, because I missed the run this morning, we decided to walk the 3.9 miles to Yogurtini. The weirdest thing happened on the way home. I blame the heat ... and the fro yo.

I grabbed Sadie's leash and started running. I hollered to Kevin to tell me when 90 seconds had passed. Then, I walked 90 seconds and started running again - this time for 3 minutes. As I started that three-minute run I decided to just do today's Couch to 5k routine. And I did it!

Once I got home and brought my body temp out of the triple digits using a sugar-free Fudgesicle, I was thrilled with myself. The old Natalie would have let the heat stop her and use it as an excuse. But it looks like I turned it into a challenge or something. Because I certainly didn't let it stop me.

The last three minutes about killed me. Did I mention the heat??? And I hadn't really hydrated with running in mind. And I'd already walked 2 miles before even contemplating running. And even Sadie was so exhausted she just laid down at one point. BUT I DID IT. And I kind of feel invincible. Almost.

At first I was just proud to make myself work for my treats. I recommend it to everyone. All working out should come with awesomeness like frozen yogurt, right? Plus, you'll feel like you can take on the world. Or at least 110 degrees at 6 miles an hour - in intervals.