Chocolate = Perfect Fuel

So many bloggers talk about healthy eating and making weekly meal plans....I must confess, domestic goddess, I am not.  Luckily, my husband knew this when he married me and doesn't seem bothered by it.


The only things I generally cook that require significant effort are my homemade chili and spaghetti.  Normally.  After another blogger, Kristin, broke down how easy it can be to meal plan, shop for the ingredients and actually COOK dinner all week, I decided if I didn't do it, I had to confess to being lazy.  While I might actually be lazy, I'd rather not confess to that.


So, I sucked it up, looked up some recipes and came up with a dinner meal plan for the week.
Monday: Fend for yourself.  (I know - great plan, right?)
Tuesday: Barley Risotto Primavera
Wednesday: Honey Sauced Chicken, crockpot
Thursday: Meatball Sandwiches
Friday: Fish & veggies
Saturday: Crockpot lasagna
Sunday: Hamburgers
This is not the original order, I switched around Friday, Saturday and Sunday when I remembered I was racing on Sunday instead of having a long run on Saturday.


I had to cancel on my normal Monday morning stuff, so that gave me a chance to go grocery shopping to get what I needed.  In hindsight, I should have rewritten my list, grouping things of a certain type together.  I had to return to the produce section 3 times.

The haul

I did buy a few things that weren't on the original list.  Some were good, like pumpernickel bread....and some weren't what you would expect to see if this were a healthy living blog:

The most important items

Luckily, while this is a blog about me losing weight and getting in the best shape of my life to try and tackle a mountain...and all my running...I've never claimed to be about eating healthy.  These also happen to be my favorite candies of all time, and I went shopping hungry.


I am sad to admit - that I bought 3 of the Cadbury chocolate bars (they were on sale!) on Monday morning.  As of 7:30am this morning, all three are gone. Each bar adds up to 510 calories.  Oops.


The good news is - I was considering these bars as fuel on Rainier.  We need to bring high calorie snacks that we like to eat.   On Monday, I ate a little more than one entire bar...and then I met my friend Andrew for a 5 mile run.  Fastest. 5. Mile. Run. Ever. For me anyway.  Our last mile was our fastest, because at that point, I'd given up on slowing us down for what was supposed to be our RECOVERY RUN.  After I came home, I also did my strength training workout with my Adam.  We also did measurements, but I'll cover that another time.


Obviously, giant chocolate bars, with almonds, are the perfect fuel.  I had a great run and a great workout.  When I admitted to my trainer about my fueling choices, he asked how I felt.  I don't think he expected my answer - "GREAT!"

Where's my chocolate mommy?

Because that worked so well, obviously, I had to have more chocolate before my run on Tuesday night, and the last 3 squares before my spin class this morning.  Now, I am sadly without Cadbury chocolate bars.  


So, what did I learn from this, besides the fact that chocolate is great workout fuel?  Is that I should wait to buy more of these until I am about to climb the mountain.  I mean, RIGHT before I strap on the boots and the pack.  HA!


I did make the first meal of the plan (since fending probably doesn't count).  I have two things to say about it.

It's rather colorful

1.  With it's high fiber content, bad choice just before a run.  Luckily, it was only 3 miles.  The peppers kept straining to give me a second taste of them as well.  See, chocolate is much better to me pre-run than anything healthy.


2.  It was not nearly as tasty as the amount of effort that went into it.  Mark better enjoy the leftovers, because I'm not making it again.


So far??  No domestic goddess points for the meal plan.  BUT, I definitely have a great pre-race and during-climb fuel.  We'll just pretend that was the original plan when I went shopping.

We don't think any of them are buying that.

What food item can you never resist???  Obviously, for me, it's those Cadbury chocolate almond bars.


What's your perfect pre-workout fuel?


Do you meal plan?