Oh how incredibly easy it would have been to just look at my schedule and say there was no time. And it was beyond tempting to do that some nights, but I just kept reminding myself that it was only half an hour out of my entire day. That's not so much to give. I just had to plan properly to fit in a run before it got dark outside. And if I couldn't manage that, there was always the option of doing a half-hour session of Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred in my basement. There were two days in particular last week that seem to stand out in my mind as proof of my theory that people cannot claim to be too busy to work out. I generally wake up around 6:00am, get ready for work, work for 8-9 hours, and leave work sometime between 5:00pm and 6:00pm. On these two particular days, between running errands after work, cooking dinner, running, and doing housework and yardwork, I never stopped until about 9:30pm-10:00pm - just in time to go to bed and do it all over again. I didn't have down-time or TV time or some good old R&R time. But what I did have was 30 minutes for a run. And that run provides enough endorphins to make up for that lack of R&R. And I'm healthier for it.
I'm by no means advocating a lack of sleep or additional stress to your life - both of those can actually be very detrimental to your health. I'm simply saying that it's usually possible to rearrange your day or night by half an hour to squeeze in a run or a quick workout. No matter how busy you are. You just have to want it bad enough. It all comes down to your desire to run or exercise. If you don't make it a priority, it's ridiculously easy to find an excuse not to work out - heck you can probably find 10 of them. But if you really want it, you'll find a way - no if's, and's, or but's.
Ok, enough preaching for now. I just get fed up by people that I encounter who whine about not being able to lose weight when the truth is that they're not really making an effort. It's hard - I get that. I really do. But to me, it's harder to be fat, unhealthy, and afraid to see people you know because you're embarrassed of your weight. I'd rather put some effort into exercising and eating healthy so I can live longer and healthier and feel proud of myself. As the saying goes - choose your "hard".
Speaking of eating healthy, dinner tonight was a kinda a combination success / complete bomb. How is that possible, you ask? Well after a long day of catching up on housework, errands, and yard work, my husband was home and hungry, so I came inside to whip up some fish tacos we'd been wanting to try. Tilapia Tacos Now, I didn't quite have all the ingredients on hand - surprise surprise, right? I'm sure you're catching on to the trend that I do this often. And yet again, I wasn't making another trip to the grocery store for just a few small things. I'd just substitute. My husband doesn't like tomatoes anyway, so I was thinking of just using some of the bell peppers I'm growing on my deck. I get started on the recipe, and things are going well, until I realize that my bell pepper plant has failed me. No usable peppers right now. I steal a glance at the jalapeno and serrano chile pepper plants. The recipe does call for a jalapeno, and my husband always likes stuff really spicy. I make the game-time decision to use 3 jalapenos and 3 chiles (they're small). So now I've gone from tomatoes and one jalapeno to 3 jalapenos and 3 chiles - no tomatoes. Haha! Well my inexperience in the kitchen showed today. I chopped up those peppers, seeds and all, and through them into the salsa mix. Once the salsa was mixed, I stuck my finger in and licked it for a taste. HOLY COW!!!! What was I thinking??!?!?!?! My lips and tongue were on fire! I squeezed in some more lime juice hoping to tone it down, then remembered that I had an avocado yet. Aha! Rather than slicing the avocado and putting it on top of each taco, I would chop it up and add it to the salsa. I was sure this would work, and went about the rest of the prep without another thought to the fire salsa I had just created.
Dinner was finally ready, and my husband and I both agreed that it looked amazing. (Yay for me! This time the picture below is the picture of my actual result too! And keep in mind that I was VERY liberal with this recipe and didn't really follow it at all to be honest...)
The first bite was excellent - we both agreed! Success!!!!! :oD The avocado must have worked to tone down the heat of the salsa. Wait - O-M-G!!!!! No it didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our mouths were suddenly on fire. I was guzzling milk and my husband was running to the cabinet to grab the crackers (and he adores spicy food). We looked at each other, almost on the verge of crying from the spiciness, and we burst out laughing. All I could do was apologize over and over in between laughing, taking a bite of taco, and shoving crackers down my throat. (Good thing they were whole wheat crackers.) After our mouths returned to a normal temperature and tears stopped forming in our eyes, my husband and I agreed that it was definitely a great dinner, aside from the extreme heat, and that I needed to make it again.
Ok, so I made a teeny tiny mistake on this one. And yes, it has an enormous impact. But it was still a healthy meal, and it was still a fun, enjoyable evening with my husband and a great way to end the weekend - with a smile on my face and a kiss from my husband for a job well done on another healthy meal. <3
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