NPC to MC pipeline

New year, new pinned post.

If we haven't met yet, you can call me Jo (any pronouns). I'll be turning 40 in 2026, and I started this blog in June 2025 as a place to talk about health, wellness, fitness, healthy eating, etc.

I've kept this blog very anonymously for the first six months of its digital life, and I did that out of fear. I was very afraid, as I've often been, of people in my life judging me for caring "too much" or caring about things they personally dismiss. Since I started here, I've worked on myself in many ways, and I'm starting 2026 with a new outlook to accept scary situations and move through them rather than avoid them.

That means that 2026 will be a little bit more open, a little less anonymous. That doesn't mean I'll suddenly be posting my GPS coordinates and doing a face reveal, but y'all might see (gasp) my torso or something.

In the past year, I've lost about 17 lbs, hit my goal weight, built a consistent strength routine, and started running.

My penultimate goal is always, always, to pursue habits that will lead to lifelong wellness and contribute to being a badass, powerful, active 80 year old. That means cardio to improve my heart health, lifting to stave off osteoporosis, mobility so I can come back from injury, good diet so I'm fueled for health and healing, and rest and mental health days so I can truly be my best self.

My lifestyle goals for 2026 are:

Run a sub-30 minute 5k

Run my first 10k

Eat at maintenance calories, prioritizing protein and whole foods

Join a better gym and try out some group exercise classes or join an in-person fitness group

Continue strength training full body twice a week

Spend more time on hobbies instead of scrolling my phone, whether this is crafting, reading, writing, or anything else

Tuesday after work I headed over the run club. This week, they were hosting a representative from Hoka to demo the newest models. I decided to try the new Clifton Pro.

Since I'm supposed to be on a deload week and taking it easy, I wanted to stick with a slower pace and only do the two mile route. I went out with a lady at my pace who said she was doing that, but then got a bit lost. We ended up doing 3 miles, which put me at twice the mileage I was supposed to get that day. Whoops.

I did like the shoes, and the event was fun, but I felt like I was really paying for the extra evening miles later, when I slept poorly and had bad recovery Wednesday morning.

Because I didn't feel strong Wednesday morning, I ended up skipping the gym and walking the dog instead. I was starving from the extra running, too, so I made a big breakfast with chicken sausages, a fried egg, half a bagel, and fruit.

My old walking pad recently fritzed out, so I got a new one and got it up and running. I like how lightweight the new one is, and it has an option to add 6% incline, but I hate that it requires an app to run. Would not have gotten it if I knew that, but it's too much trouble to return it.

Mid-week meal prep was beef stir fry with fresh peppers, carrots, and cabbage, plus frozen broccoli and cauliflower, and a can of water chestnuts. I didn't buy any sauce for this and tried to just make my own, but missed that we were running out of hoisin, so it ended up a little light on the sauce front.

I was late getting to the park today but had a shorter run than I expected on the plan. The weather was also gorgeous -- sunny and 58, low humidity -- so I was feeling it and ran this one a little faster than I have been lately with the same effort.

Damn, sorry I vanished for a bit there, guys. The air quality situation made it hard to leave the house at all, and that really tanked my energy, and then yesterday I did the long commute to and from my company's headquarters. But we're still in it!

Sunday morning, AQI was properly breathable again, so I went out as planned for my long run. I've been trying to not stop at the gas station every Sunday morning, so I packed a protein bar and drinks from home to leave in my car instead.

We had some storms Saturday night, and there were four downed trees across the trail. Most were too leafed out for anything other than walking so I could carefully step over, but one was a properly dead log, so I got to jump it. That was fun.

I need to look back at the last times I did a 5 mile long run, because I think the duration/pace is about the same, but my heart rate may be lower? My iron supplement appears to be really making a difference on my heart rates.

Sunday night, I made chicken and gnocchi soup because the store had fresh gnocchi on sale. I added more veggies and subbed the half and half for 2% milk, plus I added rosemary and thyme from my garden. Tasty, but I wish I had also added more chicken!

Because I was planning to go to the office early Monday, I also used Sunday night to pack some snacks for the office - an aged cheddar stick, 6 oz of grapes, some baby carrots and cucumbers, and a protein bar. I figured this would keep me out of the office snack cabinet, and I was really glad to have this in the end because the snack cabinet actually needs a restock and barely had anything!

I ended up not eating the protein bar, but did grapes and cheese in the morning and the veggies after lunch.

The company catered lunch from a local dumpling place. They had a bunch of bao options, plus fried rice and lo mein dishes. I skipped the rice and noodles because I wanted to try one of each dumpling-type item, and then I loaded up a lot of cucumber salad, baby bok choy, and some fried shrimp.

This ended up being fewer calories and more protein than I had expected. Not life-changing because it was all sort of cold by the time I could eat it, but it was still decent.

This morning, I clocked in at the park around my usual time. It was humid, and I'm on a deload week, so I kept it really chill. Depending on the weather, I may also go to a shoe demo with the run club tonight.

Yesterday morning, the smoke was just starting to reach us, but the air quality was still "moderate," so I was able to safely run outside. The only indication of anything unusual was a slight haze and this orange-ish sun that I had to snap a picture of.

Since it was really muggy and a bit smokey, I decided to focus my recovery run on staying in a Zone 2 heart rate. I walked a couple times after hills until I could bring my heart rate down, so I averaged a little slower than usual.

Post-run breakfast was half a sourdough bagel with butter and honey, some eggs (1 full egg, two whites, and an ounce of cottage cheese), strawberries, and mango. I was originally planning on blackberries, but they were moldy, so I had to pivot to the mango.

For lunch, I made some spicy tuna salad using some pickled jalepenos, a whole can of tuna, and an ounce of Greek yogurt. I had that on crackers and then did cucumber and tomatoes on the side.

I completely failed to take pictures of the Wednesday meal prep again, but I made some roasted pesto veggies (eggplant, squash, peppers) and just mixed those into some high protein Banza penne. It's so easy to overdo it on pesto, but so tasty.

This morning, the air quality had flipped to "hazardous." I really didn't want to be doing interval work on the treadmill, but with the weekend uncertain, I didn't have a choice. It was a really boring run and I don't feel like my mileage and times are accurate at all, but I did the thing the best I could to stick to my plan.

I got super sweaty, so the first priority at home was a shower, then breakfast. I did the other half of the sourdough bagel from yesterday, this time with regular peanut butter. Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola. And then, I had empty space on the plate (illegal!) so I sliced up half an apple to round things out.

Made it out to run club last night! No one there really wants to run my pace and go shorter distances, so one of the organizers ran with me. We had a decent little chat, and I hung out after to talk to a few other people.

Every time I mention where I live (~20 minutes away) someone tells me there's another run club closer to me, and I have to explain for the millionth time that they only coordinate runs day-of on Facebook, and I don't have Facebook (or the ability to drop things at a few hours' notice).

We skipped the gym this morning to walk the dog ~2 miles instead because we're getting another heat wave he won't be able to walk in. For breakfast after, I made some bacon, cereal, and fruit. Bananas this week were enormous, so I split one with my partner.

Saturday morning, I start us off by making some bacon and doing French toast with the keto bread before we went to spend some time with MIL.

We ended up getting to her place around lunch time, so we took her out to... Applebee's. Yeah, whatever lol. It was better than the food they were offering for lunch at the home.

She grouses a lot about not being allowed to walk outside, so we took her for a walk in the woods at the shortest and easiest trail (.5 miles) She's definitely lost a lot of stamina in just a couple weeks in memory care, and it took an hour to walk that half mile with her.

Once we got done with the walk, I asked to be dropped at home. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike with a cult documentary and then started in on the new book I got this week. I've got mixed feelings on the book so far, but it's a quick read.

Sunday morning, I had a progressive 4.5 mile long run on the program. I ended up going a little extra. When I started with Runna, I was worried that it would hit me with too much too soon, but so far I'm wishing it was challenging me a little more.

Monday, I started the day with some protein-packed oatmeal and then leftover spaghetti for lunch. Apparently I neglected to take any pictures of what we prepped for dinners this week (chicken burgers with broccoli slaw and potato salad).

I was really tired on Monday morning, so I skipped the morning strength training, but then I hit the gym solo after work. The same woman was on the leg press machine for my entire session, so I ended up doing stair stepper to work my quads and then doing some calf raises with dumbbells later.

Had some speed work this morning, then came home to do a sourdough bagel (butter + honey) and some Greek yogurt with berries. For lunch, I finished off some leftover chicken breast in a whole wheat pita with salad and light ranch, raw veg and blackberries on the side.

A little something different, using this blog as a blog! I've gotten some messages and comments lately where folks said they enjoy my food posts because it gives them ideas for different healthy meals to eat. I love to hear that! I really enjoy cooking, and I enjoy having a nice-looking plate. I'm not a chef by any means, but I think I'm a pretty decent cook, and on top of that I think I'm especially knowledgable about putting healthy meals together on a budget.

These days, I don't need to be especially cost-conscious, but I spent over half my life in poverty, and it built some principles for me around food and cooking that I still apply today.

I also started out my journey toward cooking from zero when I got my first apartment in college, and I'm fully self-taught. I know a lot of people grow up never cooking for themselves and with parents who don't cook either, so I tried to think about what I would teach someone who is literally coming in with no information, who is totally overwhelmed and unprepared to start cooking at home, and who also has to contend with costs of everything they make.

With all that laid out, I'm going to try doing a little series of posts of how to cook healthy meals in a budget-conscious way for someone who has no background in cooking at all.

I could start by talking about shopping for produce, or how to follow a recipe, but I think we have to start even earlier than that, so this is:

Healthy Cooking Basics, Part 1: How to find good recipes

Before you can make a recipe, you need to have a recipe to make, and there are a lot of recipes out floating around in the world. Some are good, some are disgusting, and these days, some are actually unusable because they were generated by AI (which has no taste buds) or only created for the purpose of trolling or rage-baiting.

So, how do you find healthy recipes that you actually want to eat?

First, I want to put a definition here for "healthy recipe." A healthy recipe, to me, includes fruits or vegetables. That's it. It doesn't mean no processed foods, no dairy, no carbs, or only a certain amount of calories. Everyone has their own goals and preferences when it comes to things like that, but my only standard is: are you getting micronutrients?

We're doing basics here. I'm imagining someone who has never made their own meals beyond assembling a sandwich or pouring canned soup into a bowl to microwave. Our starting point for healthy food, therefore, fits this person who may eat cereal for breakfast, PB&J for lunch, and gets chicken tenders and fries from a fast food place at dinner. The end goal of this series is for them to be able to be a little healthier.

Option 1: Ask About Someone's First

If you have a friend, family member, or mutual who likes to cook — someone who is also self-taught, not someone who went to culinary school — ask them, "What was your first cookbook or the first recipe you made?"

Many people can actually tell you what the first meal they made from scratch was (mine was scrambled eggs) and what recipe or cookbook they used. In my experience, a lot of people in the USA started with the same few basic mass-market cookbooks, which are easy to find new or used to this day and have remained pretty similar over the course of decades.

My mother married in 1972, and when she did, my grandmother gifted her a copy of the first cookbook my grandmother purchased as a newlywed in 1933. She learned to cook from that cookbook, and my mom did the same thing, decades later. While it wasn't my first, I also have a copy and used something similar for my first cookbook.

These types of books are very good at conveying the basics, and your family member or friend may be able to point you to specific recipes they like or found easy to make.

Option 2: Just Fucking Google It

Or the search engine of your choice.

Googling it can be a little more tricky than going off personal recommendations (and I will do my own recommendations in this series later!), but learning to identify promising recipes online will open your options up by a lot.

I personally don't recommend video recipes, TikTok recipes, etc for a beginner, and I'll talk more about why in the next blog, but I would say to look for recipes that are simply written instructions instead or have optional video versions. A lot of recipe sites these days also have a lot of goddamn pop-up advertisements, and I'll talk in part two about how to deal with those if you don't have an ad-blocker.

Now, how do you tell if an online recipe is actually pretty good?

The technique is the same as when you're looking for a good product in online shopping or finding a good place to eat in a new city — you want to see an average on reviews of 4-5 stars, and you also want to see a large number of reviews, preferably in the hundreds or thousands of reviewers.

Once you've found a recipe that looks interesting and has overall good reviews from a lot of cooks, you want to read a few comments. This isn't Facebook! The comments on recipes can be funny or ridiculous at times, but are often very helpful. A quick scan at some of the top or most recent comments will tell you things like: are people making this over and over again? Are they making a lot of substitutions? Are the reviews from legitimate people, or do they read as potential bot reviews?

Regardless of how you decide to look for recipe options, learning to identify what is a promising and usable recipe is a key starting point for beginners. I've seen some real horror stories where people new to cooking decide to jump in head-first with a complicated dish or something that just looked good on social media, only to end up with a total flop. Especially when you're looking at online recipes, sometimes the flop is not the cook's fault, but that the recipe was never going to work to begin with!

Easy run day! Definitely felt a little tired starting this one, but it got done on goal. Going to lean into resting up and relaxing tomorrow to prep for the long run Sunday morning.

For breakfast after I did a cinnamon raisin Sola bagel with PBfit, honey, raisins, strawberries, and cherries.

I impulse made a hair appointment today, and the only time they had was around lunch, so I grabbed a Built puff bar from the pantry before I went to the salon.

Was still starving when I got back! For lunch, I made a whole grain English muffin and a side salad. I used leftovers from our chef salads for the salad of course, and leftover chicken breast from the same to make chicken salad for the muffin -- 2.65 oz of chicken breast, 20g of celery, two green onions, 5g of kewpie mayo, and 35g of low fat greek yogurt.

I seasoned the chicken salad with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, but I do wish I'd added more salt. It was definitely filling, but could have packed more flavor.

Chef salads from last night! Greens, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, one slice of center cut bacon, one boiled egg, ~2 oz of chicken breast, 1/4 avocado, light ranch, and some croutons as a little treat.

Having the same thing tonight, so I was able to plug it into my tracker for today this morning.

It was pretty warm and extremely muggy today, but I really enjoyed this interval run and felt great. Garmin says my heart rate variability is improving and my resting respiration rate is getting lower, and my overnight stress has dropped a lot as well. I'm wondering if this might be the result of the iron supplements I'm on, but it's too early to retest.

I also saw a small falcon perched in a dead tree on my run! The picture didn't really come through clearly, but it was cool that I happened to pass under this tree on a rest interval, so I could spot her up there.

It may be the same one who nested in this park last year. I remember seeing them swooping around and hearing them scream in the fall.

Couple slices of keto toast this morning, one with jam and the other butter and honey, and then a side dish of cottage cheese with blueberries.

When I prepped for salads, I made twice as much chicken breast as we need for salads. Had a tight timeline today for lunch, so I made some dry ramen with frozen corn, peas, and edamame and then added in a couple ounces of the leftover chicken breast.

Skipped run club yesterday, but instead put on a show and did 30 minutes on the stationary bike. We've had this cheap foldable bike for ages, and it's not fancy, but it definitely gets the job done when I need it to.

Kept up my streak of getting to the gym for strength. Some of the weights I was moving today are lowkey embarrassing compared to what I could hit on the same exercise a month ago, but it's something, and my experience is that the strength will bounce back pretty quickly if I'm actually consistent.

Breakfast and lunch today both needed to be quick, so this morning it was a bagel with cream cheese and fruit, and then lunch was an instant mac and cheese with turkey dog and frozen spinach added, plus an apple.

Mid-week meal prep tonight is going to be chef salads, so I need to double check the fridge and pantry to see if we need anything else for that.

Meal prep dinner this week was super quick and easy to do. We picked up some boneless pork chops, which took the longest just to get them baked. Brussel sprouts I did in the air fryer - 5 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking. The sweet potatoes came with instructions to steam them whole in the microwave, so I gave that a shot, and it worked great. Definitely one of the fastest things I've put together from scratch ingredients.

Stayed locked in on the strength work by hitting full body on Monday morning. Had some struggles because someone at the gym stole my towel, though, so I went there planning to shower after and then couldn't. That kind of ruined my mood, so I kept breakfast simple with a Sola bagel and some fruit.

This morning I hit a 3.5 mile easy run at the usual park. It was misting rain the whole time, but my running cap kept the wet out of my eyes. Felt really good and the energy was good.

After I got home, I had a bowl of oatmeal and a couple sausages. I took a picture, but it was ugly and boring! Tasted fine, though.

Yesterday, I had some potato chips as an afternoon snack. My partner loves chips, and they're not tempting for me because I'm ambivalent to chips, but having a few yesterday gave me a craving to have a sandwich with chips on it.

Happy long run day to all who celebrate! Last night was kind of rough. Our neighbors are very enthusiastic about fireworks, and our dog is extremely fearful. We gave him a strong anti-anxiety drug, but he was just trembling and panting non-stop.

We've tried all the usual things - TV/radio on, treat or toy distractions, the drugs, calming pheromone sprays and such, thunder shirt, etc etc. He's absolutely not having any of that shite.

The one thing we've found that works for the 4th of July is... car ride. He gets so excited that he's going somewhere, that it really breaks through most of the fear. Then, we go drive around in the dark with some music on until way past our bedtime.

We usually bring home a much happier dog... only to have the neighbors still setting off rockets, so he freaks out again. But we get a little peace in the car.

But because of this, we got to bed late and very tired.

Friday, I got out to the store and got a pair of new running shoes! This was a different running store, and they have me at a smaller size and not needing a support shoe, so I got the Asics Novablast 5s on sale. Really happy with the feel of them so far. We shall see if my legs like them in the long run, though.

This was my first Runna long run and closes out week 1 of 5k improvement. It was a nice, easy effort - really I would have gone faster the last bit if I hadn't had pace target on my watch. I used the second half of the run to try out my "daily discovery" playlist on Tidal to learn some new-to-me songs to freshen up the running playlist.

Post-run breakfast, we got some English muffin, fruit, sausage, maple syrup, and unpictured yogurt.

After work yesterday, we escaped the heat at a local public pool. It felt fantastic to swim around a bit and then lay out in the shade with wet suits on. Swimming always makes me really hungry, too.

Got up early even though I have the day off, just so I could get out and run before the heat hit. Despite the mugginess and faster intervals, I felt really great on this workout -- probably the results of my week long break from running last week.

After a shower, I made an air-fried hashbrown and a scramble with broccoli (3 egg whites, 1 egg). Was hoping for some meat, but all my breakfast meats had gone bad.

Went for a drive to the running store to get some new shoes and managed to snag some Asics Novablast 5s on sale. Hopefully they work out long term.

After the shoe store, I was planning to grab a coffee and hit up a new bookstore, but the only coffee shop in town that was open is run by a neo-nazi (red county problems), so I tried a new bakery. They turned out to be only a bakery with no beverages, and the bookstore wasn't open either, so I ate a sticky bun in the car and drove home.

(Sticky bun looked amazing but was not as soft and squishy as I like these things to be, so it was fine but I don't need to do that ever again.)