In my last post, I said I was starting to use My Fitness Pal to track calories. A big part of me wants to weigh 130lbs. But after Friday’s long run, I think I need to throw in the towel. I felt awful. My fingers got tingly. I felt out of breath. My muscles just didn’t have enough juice to keep up the pace. My body seems happy at 135…very happy. I occasionally fluctuate up to 136 or 137 during a training cycle. AND THAT’S OK!

I didn’t really track anything to get to where I’m at. I just made slow changes over time. I’m not really sure there’s any changes left to be made. I’m constantly working on getting my diet as clean as can be, but I still like carbs and treat myself every now and then. Poptarts are my cryptonite, but I have managed to succeed in limiting myself to one.

That being said, I am still going to track my calories and record what I eat. It’s definitely an eye opener to have to write down everything. I am also working on spacing my eating throughout the day. That way I don’t feel the need to stuff myself when lunch and dinner time hits.

This is what 430 calories of whole wheat pasta, red sauce (Runner’s World marinara, of course!), meatballs, and broccoli looks like. YUM! I made freezer meals to control my portions.

We found this at Sam’s in the freezer section over the weekend. I made it for lunch yesterday. It has two servings in each little steamer bag. Mr. Neon and I had it with meatballs and a little red sauce. Easy peasy. I like that Sam’s is starting to get more choices like this. Our Costco should open sometime this summer. I can’t wait!

The boys got some Valentine’s Day money from their great grandparents. Tiny Boy wisely spent his on the new Hulk bear from Build a Bear. He is a certified Build a Bear addict. He has his own personal assistant at Build a Bear. He’s on a first name basis with her, which makes me laugh. This bear is a hoot. He has pecs, abs, and muscles! The Thor bear and the Iron Man bear come on next month sometime, and Tiny Boy is already talking about saving his birthday money for them!

I got a new toy for Valentine’s Day. We’ll call it runner’s jewelry. It’s a Mio Link heartrate monitor. It’s pretty darn awesome! DC Rainmaker gave it a glowing review. I have always thought using heartrate for training effort and more accurate calorie burn was pretty cool, but I HATED my chest strap with a fiery passion. It restricted my breathing, would lose connection easily, and ate through batteries. This little bad buy has a rechargeable battery, goes on my wrist, and is more accurate.

The only downside is now there are a lot of things on my wrists. Mr. Neon giggled at me this morning when we got ready for the gym, because I had my Garmin Vivofit and 220 on my left wrist, and my RoadID and my Mio Link on my right wrist. My wrists are tiny, so it probably does look silly to have all these gadgets strapped to them.

Tiny Boy is breathing down my neck to play Minecraft, so it’s back to laundry for me! Happy Monday!! Have a great week!