Today was a pretty good day – everything except for my afternoon run, that is 🙂 (and I think I know why) But let’s start from the beginning.

I woke up at 5:45 and got ready for work, and was out the door by 6:15 with my travel mug of coffee, my packed breakfast and lunch, and my work bag. (My gym bag was already in the car.)

I got to work at 7:15 this morning and I was most of the way through my coffee. (We have been using this new french vanilla coffee – when my mom was preparing the coffee maker last night, I walked downstairs and exclaimed – “It smells like cake down here!” I was definitely hoping there was cake. But no, just amazing coffee for the morning. Yum.)

For the record – we are tracking my protein intake today, so as I tell you what I’ve eaten, I’ll write out what the protein content is.

At 7:45 I enjoyed my Kashi chewy granola bar. (120 calories, 5 grams of protein)

I had a super busy morning at work, and the next time I ate was at noon, when I had my lunch. (Note – there was no morning yogurt this morning – so I was missing this 2nd breakfast, and missing the extra protein I get from the typical morning yogurt!)

Lunch was the same as yesterday. A salad, piece of bread and some hummus. Approximately 4 grams of protein (2 from the hummus, 2 from the bread). The salad was full of vegetables, I forgot my hard boiled egg at home and I was super unhappy about it.

Lunch (same as yesterday):

The salad this week has been really fantastic, and it was rather easy to prep last night. Mom was nice enough to wash and store all of the lettuce on Sunday, I chopped the vegetables on Sunday night so mixing everything together is a lot less time consuming. Today’s salad had: red pepper, green lettuce, orange pepper, carrots, scallions, and cucumbers.

I left work a little early today to make it home in time for my doctor’s appointment. I got back home with a few minutes to spare before my appointment. I fixed the best afternoon snack ever:

Oh my goodness. So delicious. I had two graham crackers, two halves with peanut butter, two halves with nutella. This snack really hit the spot. It also added a little bit of protein to my tally for the day. Graham crackers: 2 grams. 1 tablespoon of peanut butter: 4 grams of protein. 1 tablespoon (maybe a little less?) of nutella 2 grams of protein (I think – it could just be 1 gram…) Total protein for this snack: at least 7.

I got to the doctor’s appointment early (I’m compulsively early, it’s a habit I can’t seem to break). But what I love about my surgeon’s office is that he takes me early when I arrive a few minutes before my appointment. 🙂 My surgeon and I are of the same mold. He is a runner, too and always understands my need to get moving and my eagerness to get back to my running – but he always tells me when it’s healthy and has never given me bad advice. He is the best, and of course he saved my life – so I am forever grateful to him!

So, today’s meeting was mostly good. The best news? I can get back to running as long as I listen to my body. The “eh” news (I would say bad, but I totally expected it so I think it is fine) no heavy lifting for at least three more months, maybe longer. Nothing heavy, nothing awkward, nothing too big and no placing things too high on a shelf. I can live with this.

The best news – I did not do any permanent damage, and I do not have a hernia. Hallelujah!

As my surgeon and I parted ways he said, “Ok, get out of here – go have a good run.” I went to the gym and jogged on the treadmill for 35 minutes, with a little bit of walking incorporated. I have to tell you – the run was sort of stinky. I hated it. I guess that everyone has a bad run every now and then, but I hate tough runs. But still, I managed to make myself get to the end of it – I accomplished 3 1/2 miles. I just hope my next run on Friday or Saturday will be better than this one was.

So, my total protein intake for the day is pretty low at this point. Breakfast was 5 grams. Lunch was even lamer at 4 grams. My snack, oddly enough had the highest protein count at about 7 grams. I aim for about 50 grams of protein a day. I hardly ever achieve it because I do not eat a lot of meat. But today I had a quick fix to get some protein into my body, post run.

A Quick Protein Smoothie:

The majority of the smoothie was 1/2 skim milk, 1/2 water, 3/4 of a scoop of Jay Robb’s Whey protein, 1/4 scoop of Amazing Meal, and a spoonful of PB2 for a peanut butter flavor. The smoothie was amazing and really hit the spot.

As I type this post, I am snacking on an apple.

Dinner tonight will be the same thing as last night, ratatouille with whole wheat pasta. I’m adding some beans to the mix tonight to get a few more grams of protein 🙂 I hope it is good!

Anyhow, so much for the recap of the day. I hope you all had a great Tuesday. See you in a bit!