"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -Michael Pollan

Wednesday, October 31

Halloween......Unwrapped

Pumpkin Bumpkins



Our spooky house!



Cutie pie waiting for ghosts!



Temptation



Afternoon Snacks

Yep, it hit me at 2pm when I was passing out candy around the office. I WANT A CANDY BAR!!! I hadn't eaten one in a looooong time, and I've been eyeballing (and resisting) them all month at work. I deserved one b/c it was Halloween. I made the decision to have one.........which turned into five!! YIKES!! But the good news is that I logged all of them and have compensated tonight in other ways.









Dinner: Guts and Blood

I swapped out the turkey in our dinner for shrimp and the pasta for frozen (and fresh) vegetables.

Crushed tomatoes, olives, capers, shrimp, okra, green pepper, and Parmesan:



Right now, at 7:05 pm, I have only had 2-3 bites of the husband's chocolates as we wait for trick-or-treaters. He's keeping his eye CLOSE on me (because he knows I'll thank him in the morning - not because he's a controlling jerk!)

Total Halloween calories: ~1850

-504 thru workout and walk

= net of ~1326

Not that bad, all things considered!


P.S. PMS + Halloween do NOT make a good combo!

P.S.S. My finger is SO much better - I don't even remember it is hurt!

Sloooooow Down

I need to slow down or I'm going to eat too much without even realizing it!

We had a catered lunch today and frankly, it was fast food, cafeteria style. Not worth it! But it was a client and I had to partake. The turkey was tender, but so salty!! I think I had about 4 oz. I also had some green beans, corn, and about 2 bites of instant mashed potatoes (hidden in the back) before I realized they weren't worth it either.



After I finished, I snuck out and got in a 28-minute walk. Might try to get in another this afternoon.

When I got back I logged lunch as follows:

1 serving Bojangles: Sides: Individual Fixin', Green Beans25
0.3 cup (5.4 oz)Vegetables, Fresh: Corn, sweet, edible portion40
1 ozKFC: Sides: Mashed Potatoes, no gravy29
1 ozBoston Market Restaurant: Sauces: Gravy, Poultry4
4 ozBoston Market Restaurant: Meals: Roasted Turkey144




Total? 242 calories! Geez. I need to eat more.

So I had an apple (half eaten!)



And then a chocolate Gnu bar with lots of fiber to try to make myself full.



Now I'm up to 482 lunch calories, which should be plenty to feel satisfied, and I have 250 left for snacks, but I still want to keep eating :( I really want a Butterfinger (mini) but at 100 calories, I just don't know if that is worth it either!!

Waaaaaaaaa!

11:30 snack to tide hunger:



Finger Update:



The other side, which is really purple on the right (hard to see with the lighting)

Back to Routine

It was nice to get back to my workout routine. Finger is much better today - I'm using it normally, although slowly. I was able to wash my own hair (I think the husband was disappointed :) )

Pre-workout breakfast today was 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1 tsp PB and I forgot to photograph it!! I think because I didn't have my normal toast and PB. Sorry!

Workout: 30 minutes stairmaster (with super-high heart rate today for some reason!?), 13 minutes stat bike, 7 minutes light abs/lunges/squats. Finger did great, although I don't see myself being able to grip a free weight for a few days at least. 400 calories burned.

Changed up breakfast today! Had an "eggwich" with some Cabot reduced-fat cheese



Plus 4 oz Kefir with kiwi, flax and pomegranate seeds. This had REALLY good texture! If you like plain yogurt, give Kefir a try. It's like yogurt with more tang and more liquidy. Perfect to pour over fruit so you don't have to dirty a spoon scooping out yogurt from a tub!



And a hazelnut coffee with sugar-free English toffee syrup and 2 oz milk. Yum!



Total breakfast calories: ~575. Rather high today, but I'll keep the morning snack to a few almonds if I can.

Tuesday, October 30

Fabulous and Filling!



Husband and I got in another 40 minute walk - that's an hour and 20 minutes of walking today for me. Quite nice considering I didn't go to the gym this AM. I can't wait to go tomorrow!

Had the leftover Butternut-Parsnip-Carrot Soup for dinner - it was fabulous and filling! And the side of Kashi crackers made me double drool!






Snack today was 5.5 oz of pear and some leftover Fage:



I've got 67 calories left, but honestly I'm pretty full of liquid and soup. I'm headed to read under the covers where it's toasty warm!

Hard to believe I still met my net calorie goal and felt satisfied most of the day.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving lunch catered by Bojangles'. I believe there will be turkey - with all the fixin's. I'm bringing and apple and yogurt and plan to eat turkey and green beans but no other sides and definitely no bread. I might have a little pumpkin pie though, as I bet they'll have it. Just a little sliver!

Catered Lunch

So in fear of eating too much, I ate too little! At our catered lunch (by McAlister's Deli) I took a tiny turkey sandwich (he looks big but was only about 3" long), removed the cheese (because I couldn't even taste it), added mustard. I had two pickles and an apple that I brought.





Then I was still hungry so I got a Diet Acid Water to help fill me up:



Then I did some quick math and realized I could have a bite of cookie....(which wasn't worth it so I only ate half)



And a bite of brownie (which was totally worth it). I had another one of these at 2pm!



So I came back and logged it all and realized I was just around 300 calories!! Geez! I know I didn't work out this morning, but I still needed a bit more. Found these pita chips from Friday and knew that's EXACTLY what I wanted. Weighed them at .5 an oz (which was only 25 more calories) and I ate them too fast.



Then I went for a 40 minute walk!! GO ME!! Way to fit it in. If I'd been on a health streak, I would just accept that I'm going to maintain today, but after this weekend's eating fest, I need to lose some, so not exercising and trying to net 1226 is impossible. The walk bumped me up and lot and I'm hoping for another tonight. I should be able to fit it all in then!

Morning snacks:

Half a leftover Kashi bar:



And some trail mix (add a few more peanuts to this that snuck into my mouth before the camera got them!)



I've got pear and Fage for snack. Then leftover soup and Kashi crackers for dinner. Yum!

This day is going by fast thanks to the morning meetings and a 4pm conference call. Can't wait to go home and hang out with the husband!

Tuesday

Had all my stuff out to go to the gym today - after all, my lower body works fine! But after getting up and trying to put on my socks, I gave up and got back in bed. I haven't had a rest day in a while, so I figured there's no better day than today to take one.

Got up after 10 hours of sleep and had leftover Swiss Oatmeal and coffee.

Swiss oatmeal:
  • steel cut oats
  • 2 oz milk
  • 2 oz yogurt
  • date
  • dried apricot
  • 1/2 an apple
  • cinnamon
  • chopped almonds
Cooked the oats, stirred in the rest. It was pretty good!





We have a lunch at work today and I have no idea what it is. I'm bringing a yogurt and apple to be save.

Ouch!!

Note: gross photos ahead!!!

Monday I wasn't feeling well and stayed home from work. When I started feeling better, I went to cut open some frozen salmon to defrost for dinner and jammed a knife through the two salmon patties and into my finger..........3 hours in the ER, almost fainting twice, 4 stitches, 3 PAINFUL needles, lots of tears, a tetanus shot later, here i am. My finger was stiff all day but didn't hurt too much.



I noticed this cut on the opposite side of my finger....now there's no way the knife came out the other side......right??? But where else could this have come from!?!?!?!? It hurts more than the cut part!



Here's a photo recap of some meals. Husband made the best butternut soup while I sat meekly on the couch. He used Pacific butternut and carrot soups as the base and simmered carrot, parsnip and squash in it, then pureed with our hand blender. It hit the spot!







Yogurt and cranberry sauce:



The evil salmon burgers with butternut fries and sugar snaps:







And a pumpkin cake for dessert (made with egg whites and cocoa!)

Sunday, October 28

Sunday Recovery



Guess whose is who's!?!?!

Took is easy today after a whole weekend of eating (and slept until 8:00!!!). Went to the grocery store, played online, did some cleaning. I went for another 5-mile run at 4:30. My legs were really stiff and sore by the end (not sure if it was the colder weather or the fact that I never allow myself to run two days in a row). For dinner, the husband and his mom cooked me a delicious meal - but it had to be under 400 calories! I splurged on the wine and half a cookie, but I'm still under net. It was a fun day!!

Breakfast:
Had yummy oatmeal with apple and almonds for breakfast. And lots of water!





= 337 calories

Lunch:
I picked up some chicken breasts at the grocery store and husband cooked one for lunch. Had it on a bun (I had to get the kind with HFCS because I went to Harris Teeter instead of Earth Fare - ugh!). Had a slice of havarti and lettuce on the chicken.



Got some of these tiny sweet peppers and had them with 2 tbsp of Wild Garden Bean Dip (which is only 35 calories for 2 tbsp!!)



I also got some radishes to try, as I've never really had them. I didn't really care for them raw (they were too much like onions) but I LOVED them cooked - just like potatoes! We sauteed them for a minute in a skillet.



I couldn't stop the Kashi cracker craving....I had 10



All together for 480 calories:



We have our Halloween candy in stock - and the husband and I split one after lunch!! 45 calories that were SO not worth it!




Snacks:
I made cranberry sauce again and had a little of that and had 2 more Kashi crackers and a bite of apple. I also cooked some Swiss Oatmeal (steel cut oats made with dried fruit, nuts, milk and yogurt - you'll see tomorrow) and had some tastes of that. Probably about 50 calories worth of licks?


Dinner:
Husband cooked me a fabulous dinner with the assistance of his mother and her boyfriend. We had a lovely Sunday night dinner, complete with wine! Husband sure is a fabulous cook!!

Cocktail hour:



"Paella" of lobster tail and pan-seared scallops with sun-dried tomatoes, jalapeños, roma tomatoes and sweet peppers, served over risotto, topped with capers.





After dinner I split a frozen oatmeal cookie with the husband. Delicious, but worth 100 calories? Maybe not...

Entree calories: 400

Dinner calories: 690

Sunday calories: 1617

-471
in run, shopping and housework

=net of 1146. And keeping it that way!