Rampant cravings..

I should be writing more often, I think it will help me try to stay in check and keep me accountable for each day's intake. Once I'm back in my own space and have my own desk/computer area I can dedicate more time to focusing on cronometer and my journal. I want to stress how important it is for me to feel healthy and happy, and use this as a continual reminder of why I am doing this. So I promise to be more accountable and present. Honestly I didn't make any new years resolutions, I mean in general I don't really believe in that, because a lot of times it ends up being pretty superficial.. But I felt like the end of 2012 was a pretty good start for me, and I just wanted to do my best to keep it going and keep running and feeling good..
Yesterday and today, I had some slip-ups, they're not the end of the world, as always, and I'm not going to focus on it, I'm just going to let it go and move on. Well I'll discuss it a little here, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Yesterday I had two gluten-free wraps with my salad. Ohhhh myyyy goddddd. lol. I know, it's not a big deal, but again it's not on the 811 menu.
Clearly I was under-carbed, (as I was today when I had two more of those wraps -warmed up in the microwave?!?!?!- with a dollop of dijon mustard and baby spinach... ), and I was craving that savory salty taste. Another reason to get out of this house, there are too many temptations and smells. I got through what I thought was the worst of it at Christmas, as both my mom and brother got Chinese food take out while I consumed my banana smoothies. I was eating enough calories then. The smells were still really amazing, but since I was so full from the fruit, it made me not want to indulge as much. Not to mention, they were both meat dishes, and I don't really have a problem with resisting meat, I've not had meat in over 2 years now. But anyway. Oh right, I also had several black bean tortilla chips, which definitely had plenty of added salt. I can imagine all the water I'm going to be drinking as a result. It's not like I had a big mac, i know. But I was a bit disappointed that I had to go for the chips. I also had half of a cooked sweet potato in my salad, and that I'm not as worried about.

I guess I just have to face it, my cravings have been out of control these past couple of days! I think in instances such as these, I am going to make sure I have brown rice and/or quinoa on hand and potatoes to steam up, and have as an emergency back-up, continuing to not have any added salt.
It's SOOO HARD to be without salt right now, and I'm not sure why - well I know why, I'm addicted of course! I was mostly successful these past two weeks in Barryville though, in fact I was very successful up until yesterday.
I also have plenty of fruit that's ripening and basically ready to go, plenty of bananas, PLENTY of dates that I ordered online, like a lifetime supply of dates. Why am I still going for the crap? I don't know. One thing I'm not craving right now is chocolate, which is a miracle. I'd typically go for the chocolate this time of day..

Another thing I've noticed yesterday and today during my runs was my energy levels, they were definitely down. I'm not sure what that's all about and perhaps my caloric intake was lower than it should have been, but I was definitely dragging ass after a mile both days. Another issue is my sleep, and that may be affecting my energy too. My sleep is constantly interrupted - mostly by the cats - and that is problematic becuase I usually can't get back to sleep after. Fran starts in at 5 most mornings and I can usually shut her up until 6, but after 6 she just won't stop.. Bad girl!! So I'll probably need to just lock her up in the basement most nights, but we'll figure it out...

Anyway. These blog posts are never really organized, but that's just kind of how my thoughts flow out, disorganized, so whatever..

Today I did make a really yummy banana ice cream - the recipe was called cookie dough ice cream, from 40belowfruity, with frozen bananas, a bit of vanilla extract (powder is definitely a better alternative than extract, because the extract has alcohol, and I will look for that), and some gooey khadrawy dates that acted as the "dough". Man that was pretty delicious actually I must say. It tasted just like ice cream! I took a picture earlier and will upload it at some point in a future post.

Tomorrow is another day, and all is okay. I'm looking forward to getting down to Brooklyn and getting settled into a routine. I'm remaining as positive as I can and hoping for a good experience down there. Most importantly I can't wait to see Chris who I haven't seen in over two weeks. I'm excited to see where our running takes us :-)