Sweat, Eat, Sleep, Repeat

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

2007-12-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

Same blog, new site!!!!!

Kath Eats Real Food:
www.KathEats.com

I LOVE SATURDAYS!!!

2007-12-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

Got up at 7:15 this morning, which is late for me!! But I enjoyed 8.5 hours of nice sleep :) We're headed to see Davidson play Duke at noon today. Go Davidson! Go Duke! I'm torn!

I had a cup of tea when I got up.

Workout:
I was having fun working on a new project (which you all will see soon!) and all of a sudden it was 9:00!!! We had to get to the gym by 9 to be on time, so we rushed and got there at 9:30. I had a quick piece of toast with PB (the end piece - so it's all funky shaped!)

Luckily, I got in a good workout - Stairmaster, ET, and weight lifting and burned a nice 465 calories!

Breakfast:
Of course we're in a huge rush, so husband made banana oatmeal. WOW! It's really good. He just added finely chopped banana while it was cooking and it kind of melted in. I'll have to see exactly how he made it so I can post the recipe.

It's 11:15 now and I'm just having breakfast (brunch??), so I added some walnuts and PB for more protein to hold me over until 2:30 when the game is over for a late lunch. I shouldn't need a snack while at the game since this breakfast usually holds me over about 4-5 hours.

Breakfast calories (including pre-workout toast): ~550.

We're headed to a wine tasting later this afternoon with 36 wines for sample, so it should be an interesting day!

See you then!

Friday Night Treat :)

2007-11-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

Mac and Cheese
with Mushrooms, Broccoli, Zucchini and Roasted Red Peppers
Topped with Bleu Cheese Crumbles

Egg Nog Ice Cream
My two loves in the same photo

Rode the lightrail home from work! It was fun again and flew by with my novel in hand. Once home, the husband and I went on a 20-minute walk to the grocery store for dinner vegetables and bread for tomorrow's lunch. We live right around the corner from a Harris Teeter, so it's very convenient to make ourselves walk. Of course we brought our reusable BHappy Bags along for the ride! While we were there, I spotted Edy's Slow Churned EGG NOG Ice Cream. Mmmmmm. Now I can't tell you how many times I've stopped in the ice cream aisle and almost bought it. I LOVE egg nog and get one carton of this every year. I knew I had room for it today, so we splurged!

Volumetrics:

So as many of you know, I'm a volume eater. Which means I just like to eat good food, and lots of it!! You've probably also heard of Barbara Rolls, the infamous author of Volumetrics. Here's a passage from her book that TOTALLY makes sense:

Research shows that over a day or two, a person will eat about the same weight of food. Obviously, there is some variability - on days that someone eats out, for example, she may eat more food. But in general, when scientists have looked at what people report they eat, or when food intake has been measured in the lab, the weight of food a person eats is more similar from day to day than the number of calories consumed. It seems that we have learned how much food it takes to satisfy our hunger, and that is what we choose to eat.....

My takeaway message from these studies is that by choosing foods that have fewer calories in your usual weight of food you will end up eating fewer calories. And you won't feel any hungrier! -The Volumetrics Eating Plan, p. 8

So Barbara says it best: if you want to be healthy and keep your calories in check, choose foods that are low in energy density, namely, lots of vegetables!

I didn't use to like many vegetables when I was growing up. I ate broccoli, corn, potatoes. That was about it. But in my adult life, I've experimented with SO many kinds of veggies - particularly the cooking style - and found that I just LOVE them!! I love that I can eat a lot of them and that they're not going to derail my diet.

So volumetrics is the concept behind my vegetable mac and cheese, although I really shouldn't say "my" mac and cheese because this is probably the most well-known thing to do to mac and cheese to lower the calorie density!!

Dinner:
I really like the Annie's brand mac and cheese's - I've tried both whole wheat kinds. I have to say I like the Wisconsin Cheddar one better (it has the same nutritional information but it makes 3.5 servings instead of 2.5, so we have to pull one out instead of just splitting the box). But this one was good!

Add to it whatever veggies you like - sautée them first in a pan with whatever seasonings you might want to add. Mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and roasted red pepper from a can:

And voila! A yummy dinner! Topped with just a few crumbles of bleu cheese.

This was actually a HUGE portion (we have big bowls :) ) About half way through it didn't even look like I'd made a dent!

Dinner calories: ~415.

Dessert:
Husband and I settled on the couch to watch March of the Penguins (cute movie - I can't believe how long they go without food!!). And for dessert we had our egg nog ice cream!! I had a full cup (I had the room) and got in my holiday egg nog fix. I have to say, for 110 calories a cup, this is better than the real stuff!!

I try to avoid processed foods and "fake" things, but I thought for ice cream this one had pretty good stats, particularly for a once-in-a-while treat.

INGREDIENTS: milk, skim milk, cream, corn syrup, sugar, egg yolks, whey protein, tapioca maltodextrin, natural flavor, nutmeg, cellulose gum, annatto color, mono and diglycerides, turmeric color, guar gum, carrageenan, dextrose, vitamin A palmitate

I also had hot tea to balance out the coldness!! It's not exactly the season for ice cream :)

Dessert calories: 220.

This afternoon I also snacked on a mini box of raisins, as my banana didn't do very well to fill me up :( I didn't want anything filling since dinner was looming, and these were perfect to tide hunger.

Total Friday calories: 1901

-661 through workout and 2 walks

= net of 1241. Just over my daily goal of 1226, and no biggie since I was under a few days this week. And I did get lots of exercise today!

Tomorrow we're getting up to hit the gym before we head into town to watch our alma mater, Davidson College, play Duke. I'm not sure which team I'm routing for, as I was a huge Duke fan growing up (and still am...). May the best team win!

Afternoon Snack

2007-11-30T16:37:00.001-05:00

I always have bananas in the mornings, so I never want to have them for a snack too. This morning I had pear, so I packed a banana! Also had a few Kashi crackers....

Another view of the Charlotte skyline!

Having vegetable mac-n-cheese for dinner!! And getting in a walk to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients first!!

Cute Lunch!

2007-11-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

The husband made my lunch today since my class went late last night. I asked him for a half sandwich and spinach salad made with some leftover chicken and he came up with the cutest lunch!

Spinach salad with carrots, apples, almonds, and 1.5 oz diced white meat chicken. Plus a homemade walnut oil-lime-honey dressing.

Cranberry sauce in low-fat plain yogurt with flax (it looks kind of gross!)

Half a pimento cheese sandwich on Ezekiel bread:

Apple slices with cinnamon:

All together for ~550 calories:

After lunch I went on a 30 minute walk. It was sunny and chilly out there, but so refreshing. -111 calories more.

Thanks for all of your comments! I promise I'll get to them this weekend....I'm really busy and need to work this afternoon!

FRIDAY!!!!!!

2007-11-30T07:20:00.002-05:00

Oatmeal with Peanut Butter, Almonds, Pear and Flax
made with Skim Milk and Water

I think I'm coming down with something. Woke up with a sore throat and that "I'm getting sick feeling" :( I'll be sure to get 9-10 hours of sleep tonight.

Had toast before workout....

Went to my regular Friday morning hour-long cycle class to burn 475 calories!!! I feel so strong during cycle classes. And it's always a great workout!

Breakfast was pear, almond and PB oatmeal with some ground flax and hot tea....

I've got a GREAT lunch and snack planned today (thanks to my handy husband who packed it for me b/c of my late class). I can't wait to eat them already!

Off to the lightrail!!

Dining Hall CLOSED = Unexpected Bad Situation

2007-11-29T21:07:00.001-05:00

No time to type!!!! Here's a photo recap. The dining hall was closed so my mother in law raved this place with homemade soups only for us to get there and find it out it was a smoky bar with pub food. Ewwww.

I had vegetarian black bean chili, which I guessed was 200 calories. 100 for 1/2 cup of beans and 100 for the rest of the cup (all veggies, cooked). I ate the 2 saltines it came with.

Also had a salad of iceburg lettuce, bell peppers, homemade croutons, and raspberry dressing (which I think was low-cal because it was really runny).

Also had two sips of husband's beer!

I think I did a great job making the best of a bad situation. I ordered my salad without cheese or creamy dressing and the healthiest soup I could find. But the bad part was it only added up to about 300 calories, including saltines and beer sips, so I was pretty hungry when I got home.

Had some toast with jam:

Dinner 1 + Dinner 2 (toast) Calories: 405.

I also ate the other half of my Kashi bar during class, but that was already accounted for!

AND, I got in about 15 minutes more walking across the campus.

Afternoon Snack:

Total Thursday calories: 1616 (man, this has been a low week!)

- 571 thru walks and workout

= net of 1045. Geez. I'll eat a little more tomorrow!

Night!!

Almost Friday!

2007-11-29T13:14:00.000-05:00

Great lunch today :)

PB + Banana + Honey

Spinach salad with spaghetti squash and the last of the leftover brussels sprouts. Having these on hand was great - a way to get in a delicious side of veggies without having to prep them during the week. If you have a favorite vegetable dish, make some on the weekend to have for lunch during the week. It really ups the quality of my salads!

Yogurt + cran

All together for 543 calories:

After lunch I went for a 30 minute walk. It was nice to get some fresh air!

I'll do my best to post dinner in the dining hall tonight when I get home, but if class runs until 8:45-9, I might have to hit the sack....but I'll do my best!!

Long Day Ahead!

2007-11-29T07:46:00.001-05:00

Tonight I have my nutrition class, which I'm taking at a local university to learn more about the body and the physiology behind nutrition, so I won't be home until 9 p.m. It's gonna be a long day!! But I get to have dinner at the dining hall, which is always exciting and will try my best to post dinner after class.

Got great sleep last night. I told the husband I was NOT allowed to be on my computer past 8pm, so he had to pry my hands from the keyboard to get me off! I was so glad he did though, because 30 minutes of reading (I'm reading the novel Rise and Shine) was just what I needed to unwind. Lights out at 9:00, and I got a great 8 hours of sleep. Much improved from Tuesday!!

Workout:
I decided on half a Kashi bar before my workout this morning and saved the other half for a snack during class tonight. Mid-workout I started to get really hungry. Although my normal toast + jam isn't that many more calories, it certainly holds over better.

Workout was ET and upper body lifting. It's not good to have RAGE at 5:30 in the morning, but this woman on the ET beside me was hacking up a lung - rhythmically - and I just couldn't take it anymore, so after 7 minutes I picked up my magazine and went to another ET in another room. Uggggg. If you can't get through 2 breaths without eating your snot, GO HOME!!! Gross. 426 calories burned.

Breakfast:
Had my favorite: Peanut Butter + Walnut Oatmeal with a small amount of chopped pear and banana in there somewhere. It was quite filling!!

And decaf coffee:

Back to volumetrics, I just love oatmeal because it's so voluminous (but not instant because then you get half the amount but the real kind!) and I'm always full when I finish it. Volume eaters love to feel full :) I just eat the Old Fashioned Oats, but I like the Quick Oats and Steel Cut as well. Quicks are better for oatmeal pancakes and steel cut when you have an hour to cook them, which isn't often!

Breakfast calories: ~500 (not including half of Kashi bar for tonight's snack)

I can't take the lightrail today because of my class tonight, but I'll be back on it tomorrow!

Tropical Delight, As Promised!

2007-11-28T19:48:00.000-05:00

Tropical Shrimp + Beans over Brown Rice

with Pineapple, Green Beans, Warm Walnuts, and Toasted Coconut

Another great dinner!! The husband and I thought this one up a few days ago and I couldn't wait to try it out! We ended up not having black beans, so we used white navy beans instead. I had lots of calories left so I added in some toasted walnuts - which went beautifully with the coconut!

Ingredients:

Frozen shrimp (about 20) thawed and peeled
1 cup navy beans, drained
7 oz canned pineapple (about 1/5 a cup)
1/2 a bag of green beans (about 6 oz)
1 oz toasted coconut
20 grams toasted walnuts
Cinnamon and cumin to taste
Brown rice on the side

And it was supposed to have avocado but we forgot!!

It was excellent, but I would recommend adding some of the canned pineapple juice, as it was a little bit dry.

Short Grain Brown Rice on the side:

Total dinner calories: ~500

Hot tea for dessert:

My delicious lunch held me all afternoon, but I had my apple out of hand around 3:45. I was busy at work and wanted another snack around 4:30, but I decided that I could wait until dinner. The lightrail was much more crowded on the way home - I couldn't even get a seat for the first 4 stops! But once I was reading my magazine, all was good :)

Here's my apple with the Charlotte skyline as the backdrop:

Total Wednesday calories: 1590

-472 from workout and lunch walk

= net of 1117

Guess I should have had another snack! Off to red in bed and get all cozy next to the husband :)

New Lunch Spot!

2007-11-28T13:18:00.000-05:00

FABULOUS lunch!!! I discovered this place called Crisp a few weeks ago and had the most amazing split pea soup there (here's the old post) and so I decided to go back with a friend and the husband. I had another WONDERFUL soup:

Red Beet!!!

I struck up a conversation with the chef behind the counter because I wanted to know how it was made, and I wanted some insight into the nutritional information. He said it was just beets, EVOO, onions, and cream. Oh, onions and cream, my favorites! *Sarcasm* Honesty it wasn't that creamy, but I had to take this into account. He said the batch used 25 lbs of beets and he used 3 quarts of cream. After some quick math and the assumption I consumed about a cup of pureed beet soup, I settled for about 250 calories for this portion. I gave a little of it to the husband too. Not too bad for such a good soup, but it certainly would have been a lot healthier had he used half and half or cut back on the cream (of the 250 calories, I'm estimating about 150 were cream and 100 were the beets!) But it was worth it and was delicious, warm and filling.

With the soup I had a big salad with:

Spinach
Mixed greens
Roasted turkey (I'm guessing I ate 2 oz worth and gave 2 pieces to the husband)
1/4 cup raisins (they totally made the salad!! But for 100 calories? I could have done better with another vegetable
Roasted portabella mushrooms
Carrots
Broccoli
Honey dijon dressing (I had about .75 oz and settled at 50 calories' worth)

It also came with a toasted buttered piece of bread, which I gave away too (empty calories).

And the best part? They have a table with free CRISP apples!! I took one for snack :)

Lunch calories: ~500.

After lunch we got in 15 minutes of walking around the neighborhood. Nice!

I was so busy this morning that I never needed a snack. Sweet!

Dinner tonight is titled Tropical Delight :)

Morning in the Future!

2007-11-28T08:53:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. We just got our first form of mass transportation - a lightrail - and the first line opened over the weekend. I was scared to ride it, but the station is a mile from my house and goes right to my office building, so I knew I had to give it a try. The results? It took me 7 minutes longer to get to work (about 35 minutes door to door) but the stress level was GREAT!! I read SELF magazine and relaxed the whole trip. No traffic. No brakelights. Ahhhhhhh. I can't ride tomorrow because I have my nutrition class, but I will again on Friday! I think the evening commute will be even better!

Workout:
Woke up a little sluggish this morning, but I got in by at 8:30 and was asleep by 9:15, so I should have gotten about 8 hours. Had a half serving (1/4 cup) of oatmeal with a bit of PB before the gym.

At the gym, I was so excited because I had a new magazine to read that I couldn't wait to get there! I usually read magazines while I do cardio (even running sometimes!) and it makes me enjoy the time so much more. I get TONS of magazine subscriptions (all the health and fitness and all the home and garden), so they keep me busy :)

30 minutes Stairmaster, level 12
15 minutes stat bike
5 minutes abs + ab roller (my new favorite toy :)

= 415 calories burned!

"Part of This Complete Breakfast!"

I was craving eggs last night, so I had them for breakfast - and a little bit of everything! It reminded me of those commercials that say "Part of this Complete Breakfast." All that was missing was the OJ - and I had a sip of the husband's, which we only had on hand because of Thanksgiving guests.

Omlete made with 1 egg, 1/2 cup carton egg whites, spinach and 1/2 oz blue cheese (more leftovers!)

Grapefruit, which I sliced and prepped last night when I was making dinner.

Toast with jam...

And decaf coffee, which I guess should be a 6 oz glass of milk to be a true "complete" breakfast!

Breakfast calories: ~500.

I want to blog about volumetrics and food weight (I don't think this breakfast is going to hold me very long because it wasn't very "heavy" compared to my oatmeal) but I don't have time!

The Surprise Ingredient

2007-11-27T19:07:00.001-05:00

Canned Clams!!!
Audience responds with "EWWWWWW!!!"

Linguine in a Tomato Clam Sauce
with Zucchini, Jalapeño, Capers and Spinach

The husband LOVED it!!!

Run:
Got off work around 2 p.m. and came home to relax. Around 3, husband and I went for our run. I made the mistake of trying to run too far on too little energy - we did a HARD 5.3 miles. My legs were like lead. I have more energy at 5:30 in the morning than I did today! If this is what it's like to be sleep deprived, I can't imagine those of you who don't get enough a few days in a row. I really feel sick! After the run, though, I felt a lot better, although my brain was no longer tired, my legs sure are! 400 calories burned though.

Snack:
Husband and I showered and put on all of our Davidson College sweats :)

I had a post-workout snack of unsweetened applesauce and half a serving of Kashi Heart to Heart. ~

Cocktail Hour:
We had an early dinner since I was getting hungry around 5:45. Dinner was all on me, and when I cook alone, I like to have a drink, even if it's just sparkling water and lime. Tonight I had a Gin + Tonic, but it only had about 1/3 an oz of gin.

Kath Cooks:
My production was inspired by this recipe from Cooking Light for Linguine with Clam Sauce, but I rarely follow a recipe and made quite a few changes to this guy.

In action:

Here's what was in my sauce:

10 oz of chopped zucchini (2 medium)
1 jalapeño, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 big handful baby spinach
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 6.5 oz can minced clams, partially drained (EWW!)
Basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Dry Sherry (just a splash)
2 tbsp or so of capers
1 tsp EVOO for veggies
7 grams grated fresh Parmesan

I served it over 2 oz whole wheat linguine for me plus 4 oz spaghetti squash (pre-cooked leftovers for more volume!). The husband just got 3 oz linguine.

Dinner is served!

Vegetable Mountain:

A volume eater's delight! (See below of the shocking low calories on this dinner!)

Leftovers. It is a RARE occasion that I don't clean my plate, but I was really stuffed when I got to the bottom. I gave this to the husband and subtracted 1/2 oz pasta from my bowl, which may have been a little less but the leftover sauce made up for it. I probably should have done without the spaghetti squash on the bottom, but who knew 2 oz of linguine was this much pasta!?

Total dinner calories: 398!

The reason this HUGE bowl of pasta is not very high is that I used lots of vegetables to bulk it up and used crushed tomatoes and added my own seasonings instead of jarred tomato sauce, which is usually pretty high in calorie. This dinner was amazing! I think next time I'd like to use bigger pieces of clam. These were good, but they were so tiny I didn't get too many bites where I thought "Mmmmm, clam!"

Total Tuesday calories: 1559.

Amazing since I was awake for so many hours, but I never got too hungry. I think it was the super-filling meals - oatmeal, soup, and vegetable delight.

-410 through 5.3 mile run

= net of 1149. I'm waaaay too full to have the rest of my allotment.

Off to watch some March of the Penguins with the husband then it's up to read in bed and hit the sack early. Night!

Lunch, and Lunch!?

2007-11-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

I'm here, barely awake! My body feels like I have the flu going on 5-6 hours of sleep. People: DO NOT SKIMP ON SLEEP! It's sooooo important to your health! I can't believe how much worse I feel than usual, and I only got a few less hours! Guess my body needs every minute. I'll be in bed early tonight to catch up :)

The newscast went well and actually flew by (unlike the last one I did at 5 a.m.!) It was lots of fun. They had the most wonderful tea - Earl Gray Lavender - and I had four teacups!! I split the four cups between one of those half and half containers, for 20 calories, but otherwise I didn't snack. I was offered omelets, smoothies, and more, but I knew I didn't need any fuel because of my superstar breakfast, so I turned them down. Next time I might skip breakfast and just eat there (this was a breakfasty client that actually has healthy options) but it was easier to just say no.

Lunch #1
I got home around 8:30 and took a 30-minute power nap, as I was pretty exhausted, and felt better after that. By 9:30, it had been 5 hours since breakfast, so I figured I should have "lunch." I whipped up some pumpkin yogurt and fiber one and had some coffee, decaf ironically, with skim milk in it.

Calories: ~120.

Lunch #2
I started to get really hungry around 12 - not sure if my body knew it was usually lunchtime or if it was ready for dinner!! I ate too fast and am now really full!

Leftover homemade Butternut and Carrot Soup: (DEE-licious!!!) This was a HUGE bowl too, so it's more soup than it even looks like.

Sliced apple with cinnamon:

And Kashis:

From above, with Cooking Light:

Lunch calories: 467 (Soup was 250, 15 crackers were 130, 6 oz apple was 88.)

I'm still hoping to go running this afternoon. We'll see how I feel when the time comes.

I'm surprising the husband with a really fun dinner tonight - I'm using a surprise ingredient that I normally would never want to use and he's stumped as to what I'll be making. Guess you'll have to wait and see!

Early Morning Oats

2007-11-27T04:15:00.000-05:00

Peanut Butter Walnut Pear Oatmeal

Recipe!

Here's my oatmeal recipe. Sometimes I switch the walnuts to slivered almonds and I change out the pear to banana, apple, or frozen fruit sometimes, but this is the general gist of it:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup water
4-5 oz chopped bosc pear
1 tsp vanilla
LOTS of cinnamon
10 grams walnuts (used a food scale to weigh these, it's about 1 tbsp)
10 grams of PB (about 2/3 a tbsp)

I put the oats, milk, water, pear, cinnamon and vanilla together in a pot and set the heat to medium high. Meanwhile, I put the walnuts in another skillet to toast and weigh out the PB. I continue to stir the oatmeal with a small spoonula until the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes or so. Take the walnuts off the heat when you start to smell them. Put oatmeal in bowl, top with walnuts and scoop PB onto a spoon.

It's all about 450 calories, depending on the fruit.

NOTE: Kath's Instructions for Eating Peanut Butter in Oatmeal:

You have to keep the peanut butter on the spoon instead of stirring it in. That way you get a little lick in every bite. If you stir it in it gets too diluted and you can't really taste it. It's just all "PB flavored" then. You can also get by with much LESS PB if you keep it on the spoon. I just put a little pile of oats on the spoon and am careful not to bite off too much PB per bite. This is ALSO good because you eat more SLOWLY!!

********************

4:26 a.m.
I usually go to bed at 9:00 every night - in order to get 8 hours of sleep - but of course the one night I NEED to be asleep by 8:30, I toss and turn for an hour!!! Needless to say, I slept horribly last night. I'll be going on adrenaline until about 9 or 10 a.m. and then I'll need a nap. Hopefully I can leave work around 2 or so.

Hot pumpkin tea with splenda:

Total Breakfast Calories: 435

Since I missed my workout, I feel a little funny eating this HUGE bowl of oatmeal in the middle of the night, but I need it to carry me through the morning, so I'm chomping it down. I guess I'll have to have a 10:00 a.m. snack today since that will technically be my "lunchtime!"

See you all later!!

Thanksgiving Leftovers.....Or Was It???

2007-11-26T19:39:00.000-05:00

Cranberry-Walnut Chicken Rice Salad

Tonight was a mish-mosh of a dinner. We were supposed to have leftover turkey, but our families ate it all the day after Turkey Day!! So husband baked some chicken breasts this afternoon for tonight's planned Turkey and Wild Rice Salad.

We just used the recipe as a guide though. We had some leftover brown rice and black beans (like 7 days leftover - it had to go!) and I chopped up some celery, carrots and green beans to bulk it up some more. On the side, I warmed up 4 oz of shredded chicken in a skillet and toasted about 2 tbsp of walnuts. Also added 1 mini box of raisins instead of the cranberries (I can't find cranberries without added sugar - grrr!). Lastly, I made the dressing from leftover cranberry sauce, tangy mustard, 1 tsp EVOO, and Williams-Sonoma Aged Balsamic vinegar and topped it all over some baby spinach. And topped that with 1 oz of plain yogurt!! Whew!

The heavily toasted walnuts and cranberry sauce really made the dish. I didn't really taste much else!

From above, with my Thanksgiving pumpkin candle. ~ 415 calories. (It was pretty high because of of the 1/2 cup of black beans and rice for 120 cals, which I barely tasted! I like my rice on the side of things, not mixed in.)

Uggg. Charlotte rush hour was NOT pretty tonight! I had a bite of freshly cooked spaghetti squash when I got home and packed my lunch for tomorrow.

Total Monday calories: ~1650

-486 at the gym

= 1186 net. I'm a little hungry (or just thirsty, probably) but I have GOT to get in bed RIGHT NOW!!! (See below :) so there's no time for a snack!

Tomorrow:
I've got to get up at 3:15 a.m. tomorrow to host a client on a 5-8 a.m. newscast! YIKES!!! This means:

No workout in the morning. I'm hoping to get in a workout in the afternoon, but it depends on how tired I am. I may have to settle for a short walk, but husband and I are planning a 3-4 mile run as of now.
I get to leave work early because my workday starts at 4:30!
I need to get in bed NOW!!!!

I made my oatmeal tonight on the stovetop (I like it made with half milk and half water on the stovetop - it's creamier and has more texture that way!) so all I have to do tomorrow is toast walnuts, measure peanut butter and nuke the oatmeal and pears! I've got everything all set up and ready to go :)

I'm not sure if I'll be able to post breakfast or not - it depends on how late I'm running, but I'll certainly be here for lunch!

Warm Afternoon Snack

2007-11-26T17:03:00.000-05:00

I was freezing again (I'm only wearing 1 layer today = big mistake!) so I had my hot chocolate at 3:15 - a little earlier than usual. I think I really missed my yogurt at lunch because my stomach never really got rid of all of its hunger. I like the cold, wet weight of yogurt to end lunch with!

So I had a cup of skim milk, half a CIB and 2 tbsp Cool Whip - a major splurge since I try to stay away from fake things and HFCS, but it was in the work fridge and tempted me. Yeah, I'm a real person with real cravings : )

I also had two rice cakes made with Kamut and sweetened with Agave nectar. I needed something to crunch with my hot chocolate!

Snack Calories: ~215.

Dinner should be interesting - we're making a turkey and wild rice salad with chicken and 7-day old black beans and rice. Hmmmmm....

Rainy Lunch

2007-11-26T13:33:00.000-05:00

First off, let me say thank you to all of the wonderful comments! I'm completely flattered that so many of you find my blog, photos, recipes and meals inspiring. I'll keep the posts coming!

For some reason, I had a really late lunch today. I usually eat at 12 on the DOT but today I had a few things to do at work and just kept working. Must have been that stellar breakfast this morning that held me over!!

I had hot pumpkin tea at 11:00 because I was freezing (not because I was hungry!). NOTE: I got really "hungry" at 10:30, but I knew it wasn't real hunger. I guzzled some water and sure enough, 20 minutes later I was chugging along again on my projects. I think I was just bored! You can tell when I'm bored because I go through sugar-free gum like water.

Lunch:
My "go-to" lunch when I want to feel healthy is tuna salad. Last night I decided on salmon salad instead, and it was great!

Ingredients:
3 oz packet of pink salmon
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp reduced-fat mayo
3-5 squirts of 2 kinds of mustard
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced

It was great and mighty filling!

Of course I had to have Kashi crackers! I treated myself to 5 more than usual since I left out the yogurt today.

Also had 1/2 cup of leftover brussels sprouts (from Thanksgiving - sauteed in apples and bacon) over baby spinach:

And my fruit component, kiwi :) Yes, I eat the skin. Who wants to peel fruit when you don't have to!?

All together with my big orange cup of water for 485 calories. A little lower than usual, but I thought the two salads added enough bulk. I'm still a little hungry, but I think I just need some more water.

I REALLY wanted to go walking today, but it's raining and the radar doesn't look good. I guess I'll have to wait another day.

I brought some skim milk in a jar to have hot chocolate (CIB) as a snack. Yum!!

Lunch breakdown for Hope:
(This is EXACTLY why I believe in food journaling! Calories do sneak in where you might not expect. I had 20 Kashi crackers, which is more than a serving, and the brussels sprouts were about 50 for half a cup per the recipe nutritional info since they had bacon and apple in them.)

Lunch		Cals
	1 serving, 1/4 cup (2.2 oz) Bumble Bee: Fish, Canned, Packaged: Salmon Pink	90
	1 tablespoon (0.5 oz) Hellmann's: Mayonnaise: Reduced-Fat	20
	2 teaspoon (0.2 oz) Hellmann's: Spreads: Dijonnaise	10
	3.75 oz Vegetables, Fresh: Carrots, raw, edible portion	44
	2.5 oz Vegetables, Fresh: Celery, raw, edible portion	10
	20 cracker (0.1 oz) Kashi: Crackers: TLC, Original 7 Grain	173
	1 1/2 cup Brussels Sprouts with Apple	54
	2 oz Fresh Express: Salads: Blends, Baby Spinach	13
	3 oz Fruit, Fresh: Kiwi Fruit (chinese gooseberries), raw, edible portion	52
	0.25 serving, 2 tablespoons (1.1 oz) Newman's Own: Salad Dressings: Lighten Up, Honey Mustard	18
Total:		484

Cranberry Sauce Recipe

2007-11-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

Homemade Healthy Cranberry Sauce

Here's my recipe for cranberry sauce that I posted in the comments. Thought some of you might want to try it!

Recipe:

I use the recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray bag as a guideline and go from there. It says to put the whole bag of berries in 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. Instead of the sugar, I put about 1/3 a cup of splenda. I like my cranberries tart though, so you might want to add more. I've also experimented with a cinnamon stick, vanilla extract, orange juice and cloves. Just add what you like!

So once you have everything in the pot, cook it on medium heat until all the berries start to pop open and spray their gel all around the pot. I usually keep cooking until all the water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Be careful - the pot has a tendency to boil over if you don't watch it! And the berries will splatter as they pop open - you might want to keep a lid handy to partially cover the pot.

The sauce comes out to about 10 calories per ounce when cooked and cooled.

Stir into oatmeal, smother on oatmeal pancakes, or my favorite - as a topping on plain yogurt!

Amazing Breakfast!!!!

2007-11-26T07:34:00.001-05:00

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt

Wow, this breakfast was amazing!!!

Started with an oatmeal pancake topped with microwaved mashed banana and 10 grams of walnuts.

On the side I had a new creation: pumpkin pie yogurt!!

Recipe:

Mix together...

1/2 a cup canned pumpkin (80 grams)
4 oz plain low-fat yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 packet splenda

It really was like a tangy version of pumpkin pie. Maybe I'll try a Fiber One crust later this week :) ~100 calories.

Also had DECAF hazelnut + french vanilla coffee. Should solve my shoulder tension problems - and it was just as delicious as any other coffee!

Breakfast calories: ~420.

Had toast with 5 grams PB before the gym at 5:15:

I was on fire at the gym this morning. My body knew it needed a good recovery workout and my heart rate was in the 160's and 170's on the elliptical. 45 minutes of ET + upper body weight lifting (biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders) = 486 calories burned.

Total AM calories: 530.

Off to work on this disgusting rainy overcast Monday :(

Comforting Dinner

2007-11-25T18:24:00.000-05:00

Creamy Butternut Squash, Carrot and Root Vegetable Soup

I decided to make Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup tonight to use up some things we had on hand. It turned out great!! I nibbled on 2 Kashi crackers and some of the root vegetables while packing my lunch for tomorrow, which is going to be SO yummy!! I was pretty starving at 5:30 since I didn't eat much today, but the nibbles helped tide me until the soup was ready. And we have two servings of this soup left for Tuesday's lunch.

Recipe:

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (2 pounds, 4 oz worth)
3 carrots, chopped (9.5 oz worth)
Leftover root vegetables (4.5 oz worth)
1 small box Pacific Brand Carrot Cashew Ginger Soup (These make the BEST soup bases!!)
1 cup of water
Peeled and chopped ginger root, about an inch
1 clove garlic, chopped
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
About 1/3 cup fat free half and half (any kind without trans-fat)

Put all vegetables in pot over high heat. Let cook around to sear on the outside. Add liquids and seasonings. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until squash is tender. Puree with a stick blender (or transfer to blender and puree 75% of mixture). Divide between 2 bowls and 2 tupperwares for the leftovers! This made a very thick soup. You could add a little more water or broth to thin it out some.

~250 calories per serving.

I had Kashi crackers on the side:

Total dinner calories: ~335

Total Sunday calories: 1277. Whoa!

Didn't get in a walk, but I could use a rest. We totally would have gone walking if the weather hadn't been so rainy and gross. I'll be back at it hard tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m.!!

= net of 1277. Just over weight loss net goal. I'm really full from the soup, so I may just get in bed soon and hit the sack early. Mondays are easier if I get in bed at 8:30 or so :)

Wrapping up with Sunday

2007-11-25T16:11:00.000-05:00

What a cloudy overcast day! Fits my mood somewhat :( Since we were staying at someone else's house, we decided not to get up and run in the morning. I think I'm actually going to take today off of exercise, as I haven't had a day off in a long time. It's raining out, but we're going to try to get in a walk before dinner to get some movement in.

Breakfast:
I brought some plain instant oatmeal and a pear for breakfast. Also found some almonds in my purse (which I keep in there for emergencies) so I had all of that for breakfast. It was delicious!!

Plus coffee with some skim milk:

Breakfast calories: ~289. Rather low! But that's a good thing, I suppose!

Lunch:
I couldn't decide what I wanted for lunch. Husband's mom came over with her friend and we were still with his brother as well, so there was a crowd. I decided on a bowl of leftover vegetables and a piece of Ezekiel toast. Along with some tea.

I was still a little hungry, so I had plain yogurt with cranberry sauce afterwards.

Lunch calories: 469.

Snack:
Went grocery shopping (LOVE grocery shopping!!!) and got healthy food for the week. I'm so excited about the meals I have planned. I definitely want to have my curry tuna salad for lunch tomorrow :) Anyways, I have been enjoying Carnation Instant Breakfasts in milk as hot chocolate, but I always have to use half a packet and hate having to save the other half, so I investigated other options in canisters (I can't find the No Sugar Added kind in a canister). So I got some NSA Nesquik. It's great!! It's very similar to the CIB's but isn't made with dried milk and doesn't have as many vitamins, but I think it'll do find until I get the courage to just order a canister online. I've hesitated because I think I might not drink it all if I buy it and pay for shipping and all. Dumb excuse, but at least I have a temporary solution.

8 oz of milk with 2 tbsp Nesquik. It was delicious!!! 125 calories.

We're making homemade butternut squash soup for dinner tonight. I'm pretty starving now at 4:30 and hope I can make it without needing another snack.

See you then!

I'm Done!

2007-11-25T15:51:00.000-05:00

Whew. Done eating out. Done overeating. I'm ready to get back on track (and couldn't be more excited about eating healthy again!) I think I did some damage this weekend, but not as much as it could have been thanks to a few hard workouts and good choices.

Saturday recap:

Lunch:
Once we arrived in Spartanburg we had Progresso Reduced Sodium Gumbo with grilled cheese. I had my grilled cheese open-faced to save calories. Also had a Diet Coke.

Lunch calories: ~371. Rather low!

Snack:
I was starving around 2:30, so I decided to try the Kashi GoLean Crunchy Pretzel Chocolate bar I brought along if I needed it. 150 calories, 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber. It was good, but I was expecting more pretzel and less chocolate. I only got a few tastes of pretzel. But it did a good job holding my hunger for a late dinner. I'll probably get these again, but I didn't think it was as good as the TLC bars. But the stats are heavier for longer tiding of hunger. Hard decision!

I also had a few sips of husband's nonfat latte at Barnes and Noble. Sorry, no photo.

We came back to get ready for dinner and I had a few Wheat Thins and some of the husband's Bourbon on the rocks. I LOVE this drink, but only as sips from the husband. I don't think I'd want my own. I am certainly acquiring a taste for liquor these days! Bourbon reminds me of Christmas, so that's why I love it :)

Total snack calories: ~225, which put me around 1,000 for the day. Had plenty available for dinner.

Dinner:
But........unfortunately I blew it at dinner!!! I made healthy choices, but I just ate too much and did way too much nibbling off of other people's plates. It was also the kind of place that I couldn't pass up on wine (we got 2 bottles for the table) so I had about 8 oz - not. good.

Had two of these:

Had a tiny piece of bread:

And two mussels from the appetizer:

Husband had frog legs for his appetizer - ewww! I couldn't bear to try them, although I believe they did taste like chicken. Duh.

I had a tomato / goat cheese / balsamic / pesto salad to start. I had 2 of the 4 tomatoes and shared the rest.

I went with the healthiest choice I could: Grilled pork chop with asparagus and beets. Well, the pork chop was covered in butter sauce and served over buttery grits (NOT on the menu!), the asparagus was just 3 spears and the "beets" were just two beet chips. All topped with fried carrots. Of course I ate too much of the grits (probably half served) but I did only eat about 1/3 of the pork chop and gave the rest to the husband. I wanted the Grouper, but I got this because it seemed healthier, but the grouper was a much better choice!! Ugg. Oh well. It was good.

Also had 2 bites of husband's filet, about 4 french fries, and 1/4 of this braised cabbage, which was SOOO good. Not sure the nutritional, but I logged it as 50 calories.

Since the restaurant screwed up our order a few times, we got 2 free desserts (too bad they couldn't just have reduced the bill instead of giving us food we didn't need!). I had about 4 bites of the creme brulee....

And two of the chocolate mousse....

And a decaf coffee....

So that was dinner. I ate about 1,000 calories, and did NOT do a very good job, thanks to the wine. But as always, it could have been a lot worse. Amazingly, I did so well during the first half of the day that I hit about 2,000 calories total. Thanks to 500 calories worth of exercise, I net about 1400 - which is actually acceptable.

The worst part was that I when we got home and I was a little tipsy, I had 2 Starburst and 2 Wintergreen candies. Totally out of character!!! I told you wine is my best friend and worst enemy. I think I was just sad the day was over. I logged them though, so they're included in the numbers.

All three holidays, I was at or just over maintenance calories, so although I drank and ate too much, I didn't do as much damage as it feels like. Just a few days of healthy eating will get me right back to where I was.

And I can't wait to resume my healthy lifestyle!!

Sweat it Out!

2007-11-24T10:10:00.001-05:00

There are millions of Americans hopping on the scale this morning proclaiming:

"I gained 5 pounds at Thanksgiving!"

Now for 10% of Americans, this might be true, but for most of us it's just plain old water weight.

Folks, you're going to retain water and feel bloated and gross the day after eating. It's factual physiology and your body trying to deal with an excess of food. But you need to realize this will come off with some good, old fashioned sweat (and getting back to eating fresh healthy meals!)

Rather than trying to starve yourself the day after overeating, hit the gym. Go for a walk. Get active. SWEAT!!! And resume eating whole, unprocessed, fresh foods with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables. You'll feel good as new in 48 hours.

As for me, I got up this morning and burned 480 calories at the gym. I feel 90% better! Did the sweaty Stairmaster, the funky elliptical and some pushups/abs.

Pre-workout toast:

Now I'm having an oatmeal pancake sans sides (to keep calories lower for my dinner tonight). I did add some walnuts for staying-power, as I have reason to believe walnuts do something magical to my body.

Also gave in a had butterscotch coffee. It smelled too good to pass up. If I get shoulder tension, I'll just have to relax in the car with a good book.

Breakfast calories (plus toast): 415.

Off to Spartanburg, SC for the night. Lunch today is most likely make-your-own sandwiches. I'm bringing a pear as a side dish. I'm hoping to get a walk in this afternoon around my father-in-law's neighborhood.

I'll be back tomorrow after lunch with my report!

Enjoy the rest of your weekends :)

Alcohol + Leftovers = ugggggggggg!

2007-11-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

Wine = <3

Did I mention that alcohol is a big trigger of mine?? How is it that I managed to do more damage the day AFTER Thanksgiving than the day itself?? ALCOHOL!! I had a glass of wine before we started dinner....and the rest is history.

Breakfast:
Starting this morning, I woke up on little sleep and feeling icky from a glass or two of wine the night before. I had a big bowl of oatmeal with banana and walnuts before we departed on our family hike to Crowders Mountain.

Breakfast calories: 340

Hike!!
We did a 3.5 mile hike up a mountain and back down. I wore my heart rate monitor and burned about 300 calories. Not too bad, but not enough to fight Thanksgiving leftovers! At the top of the mountain, I had a cranberry-turkey-spinach sandwich and some fresh fruit. Check out the view!!

Cute husband eating!

View from the top of the mountain:

Lunch calories: 357

Afternoon:
After we got back from the hiking, I was pretty hungry. I had a cup of tea to tide me until dinner, but it didn't do much....I had some bites of mashed potatoes and vegetables.

And mom and I got in 40 more minutes of walking!!

After our walk, it was about 4pm and I was going on about 800 calories with 450 calories burned. I need some fuel!! Had a bowl of leftover veggies and brussels sprouts. And one too many nibbles of sweet potato casserole :(

Afternoon calories: About 300. Too many bites of other people's dishes!

Dinner
OK, can we emphasize again that wine is the catalyst for me to overeat?? At 5:00, the whole family came over again for a dinner of leftovers. We opened a bottle of pinot, and it was FABULOUS!!!!!!!! I had a glass before dinner (about 2 of these 3 oz ones) and it triggered me to overeat....

I also sipped on the husband's DELICIOUS Chardonnay (Indian Wells from Washington - unbelievable!!) 2 more oz under my belt.

Here's my plate of leftovers, which isn't that damaging, except that I did a lot more nibbling than is photographed. Sorry to be inaccurate, but I was BAD tonight!

For dessert, I had a sliver of pumpkin chiffon and some pecan - too much of both! But seriously, is that really 151 calories worth of pecan pie?!?!? It is 1/3 of a slice, but I find that so hard to believe!!!

Also had about 2-3 oz of mead (honey dessert wine) when the husband surprise-opened it, which was above and beyond what I had planned.

Here's my dinner calorie estimate:

Dinner		Cals
	5 serving Roasted Veggies by OZ	102
	4 serving Cranberry Sauce - Thanksgiving Version	85
	0.5 serving, 1/2 cup (4 oz) Wegmans: Bread Products: Holiday Dinners, Herb Stuffing	103
	1 1/2 cup Brussels Sprouts with Apple	54
	0.5 serving, 2/3 cup (5.9 oz) Puddings: Corn, home prepared	109
	7 fl.oz Sutter Home: Wines: Pinot Noir	161
	1 oz Turkey: Light Meat, boneless, no skin, roasted	45
	2 fl.oz Wines: Mulled or Mead	88
	2 fl.oz Sutter Home: Wines: Chardonnay	47
	.4 serving, 1/2 cup Vrooman: Sides: Sweet Potato Casserole	82
	0.25 oz Be Happy & Healthy: Breads: Pumpkin	19
	1 piece (0.2 oz) Sunspire: Chocolate: Grain Sweetened, Dark Earth Balls	32
	0.3 piece, 1/8 of 9" dia (4.3 oz) Pies & Tarts: Pies, Pecan, prepared from recipe	151
	0.33 serving Pumpkin Chiffon Pie	98
	1 oz Beer: Regular (5% alc.)	12
Total:		1188

SO as you can see, I was not very well behaved today. One day this week was enough damage!!

Total Friday calories: 2189

-448 through hiking + walk

+ 300 added maintenance calories to lighten the load.

= net of 1440.

Now I know plenty of people who have done fine on 1440 net, but I'm not one of them. I know my body and know that this was overboard. This is NOT how a nutritionist would eat. This is how the old me would eat. Get a grip, me!

Tomorrow we're headed to Spartanburg, SC to visit my husband's dad, and we're going to dinner at a German restaurant. I would love to limit myself to NO alcohol tomorrow, but I know that is unrealistic. I think I'll just do my best (absolute BEST) and call it a weekend. I'll be back on track hard core on Monday. We do plan on hitting the gym hard tomorrow morning, early, so that should help.

See you then!!

Kath

Oatmeal Pancake Recipe

2007-11-23T17:38:00.001-05:00

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Quaker quick oats*
1/3 cup egg whites (the kind in the carton is best since there's no onion powder in it like EggBeaters - ewwww)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon to taste
Optional: 1/2 a mashed banana or 2 tbsp pumpkin puree
Toppings to taste!

*You can use any amount of oats/whites - 1/4 a cup of each (~100 calories) or 1/3 or 1/2 cup each (~200 calories).

Mix together oats and egg whites with baking powder, vanilla extract and cinnamon in a bowl. Optional: add half a mashed banana to the batter.
Preheat a skillet, spray with non-stick spray, and pour your batter in while shaping it into a large disc "pancake" with a spoon.
When you can shake it around in the pan, it's time to flip.
Once cooked through, top with syrup, peanut butter, canned pumpkin, fresh fruit or my personal favorite - mashed banana and maple syrup!

Thanksgiving 2007 Recap

2007-11-22T11:59:00.000-05:00

I did great!!!! I'm full, but not stuffed. Very satisfied. Got lots of exercise today, and ate a little of everything. I'm guessing I had about 2200 - 2300 calories. I had planned for 2000, so I consider being just a hair over a great success. I also can't believe how easy it was to eat a small amount for breakfast and lunch since I was so busy. I think being the chef for Thanksgiving really helped me eat less (if I was a guest at a more traditional (and more unhealthy) dinner, I'm sure I would have eaten more).

Our guests had a great time and we got lots of compliments on all the foods!

I do feel pretty full and uncomfortable, but I think I'm more full from drinking lots of water than lots of food!! I also did eat most of my calories at one meal, so it's no wonder I'm full. I'm reallllly thirsty, but other than that, I feel like I just had a big meal, that's all. Go me!!!

Here's a recap................

Thanksgiving Run:
Woke up to a drizzle outside - so cozy!! After a small bite of banana and PB, husband and I set out on our run just in time to have the sun poke through the clouds!! It was a wonderful run (despite my aching hamstrings, which took a while to warm up!). 5.3 miles; 450 calories burned. Perfect weather: overcast with bouts of sunshine, 60* and a slight breeze.

Breakfast:
Since I'm obviously trying to eat light today, I just had an oatmeal pancake and coffee. Yum! The coffee made me rather jittery and my shoulders did their tension thing. I am giving up caffeinated coffee forever!

Breakfast calories: ~310 (including pre-run banana)

Morning Meal Prep:
We spent the morning prepping for afternoon cooking. Veggies were chopped, ingredients measured, and everything was put in tupperware so it can be dumped right into the recipe when we're under time pressure.

Lunch:
Kept things simple and light with a smoked salmon sandwich.

And some sliced apple:

Lunch calories: 310.

Afternoon:
Of course we spent the afternoon cooking. I went for a 30 minute walk with my mom, sweet! Got in all my required exercise. I was pretty hungry after our walk, but I had a few grapes and a virgin tonic and lime and felt much better to make it until 5pm.

There are a few bites missing of things throughout the day, but I kept an eye on my bites and don't think I had more than 100 calories of extra bites of things like Brussels sprouts and 1 bite of cornbread.

Afternoon calories (sips of husband's beer, apple core, grapes, cornbread): ~100.

Chopping apples:

Virgin Tonic (everyone else had liquor in theirs!)

Table Decor:
Here's our beautiful table....

Kitchen centerpiece:

Cocktail Hour:
I assembled the appetizer plate and put it out at 4pm. I only had a few grapes and one piece of cheese. No crackers and I certainly didn't nibble. Nice!! The guests gobbled it up like turkeys!

Cranberry cheese, crackers, grapes, almonds, apricots:

5:00 Dinner is Served!

Pumpkin Bread and Blue Cornbread:

Vegetables on the grill:

Bleu Cheese Smashed Potatoes:

The most amazing wild rice, mushroom and sourdough dressing (with homemade bread!)

Apple-Bacon Brussels Sprouts:

Mom's Corn Pudding:

My cranberry sauce (made with brown sugar...). And in the words of my 21-year-old brother in law "This cranberry sauce is DEE-licious!!! The best I've ever had!!"

Gravy..stovetop homemade

And our favorite: roasted vegetables:

Turkey!!!!

Carving the turkey!

My plate:

A little of everything, in moderation of course! I was full about 1/2 way through but kept eating. Was just perfectly full when I was done. Only had a little seconds on the dressing (which I usually hate) and the cranberry sauce, but not enough of either to do damage. Also had exactly 6 oz of wine - go me!!! Dinner calories: ~1,000 (including 6 oz wine).

Dessert:
We cleaned the entire kitchen before eating dessert, so I built up another appetite. I had the exact portions I had planned but they seemed SO SMALL!! I had a few more nibbles of pie, but not a significant amount (although with pie, it's always significant!). But my initial pieces may have been a bit small, so who knows what my exact calories were! We also had a dessert wine with dessert (duh) and I had my planned 2 oz. I pretty much ate exactly as planned.

My grandmother's Staffordshire turkey plates:

The pies!! Pecan and Pumpkin Chiffon (so much better than regular pumpkin!)

The table all set up with the turkey plates:

Dessert calories: ~500, including dessert wine.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!!!

Tomorrow is a hike up Crowders Mountain with turkey sandwiches at the top and leftovers for dinner. Can't wait!

2007-11-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving 2007 Menu

Hors D'oeuvres
Cranberry English Cheese
Whole Wheat Crackers
Red grapes

~

Cocktail Selection
Clay Station Old Vine Zinfindel
Toulouse Pinot Noir
Indian Wells Chardonnay
McMannis Viognier
Gin + Tonic
Vodka Martini
Leinenkugel Honey Weiss Beer
Amstel Light Beer

~

Main Course
Citrus-Herb Roasted Turkey
Homemade Gravy
Bleu Cheese Smashed Potatoes
Grilled Fall Vegetables
Apple-Bacon Sautéed Brussels Sprouts
Creamy Corn Pudding
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
Wild Rice and Mushroom Dressing
Pineapple Sweet Potato Casserole

~

Breads
Blue Cornbread
Pumpkin Nut Loaf

~

Dessert
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Ledson Winery Orange Muscat
Tomahawk Mill Earl of Chatham Mead

4-day Weekend Begins!

2007-11-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

Fun afternoon!

After getting off of work early (YAHOO IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!!!!!) we went for a 30-minute walk (what I beautiful afternoon!), made cranberry sauce (it boiled over), brined the turkey (it's in a cooler in a brining bag full of salt and OJ and spices), baked the most DELICIOUS sourdough bread for the stuffing, baked a loaf of pumpkin bread, went to EarthFare for dinner, and watched Planet Earth.

Surprisingly, I was able to realize that I didn't need a huge planned snack and just nibble on a few things - a bread sample and some cranberry sauce - this afternoon.

At EarthFare, I got a salad, but I didn't get lots of the fun side items so it was a little disappointing.

Mixed greens
Broccoli
Cabbage
Shredded carrots
Bell peppers
Raw mushrooms
Marinated mushrooms
Sun-dried tomatoes
Broccoli salad (3 florets)
Saffron pasta (5-6 fettuccine pieces)
Glazed baby carrots (4)
Kalamata olives (4)
Spicy peppers

I think that's it??

Plus the most delicious Cranberry Butternut Squash Salad EVER!!! (SUSAN - this one's for you!!!) I warmed it in the microwave. Thanks to Wegman's, which I've never been to but would LOVE to have in the South!!, I was able to get the nutritional info for this pretty accurately. Calorie King has so may of Wegman's packages salads in its database. Since it was .13 pounds, or 2.1 oz, I calculated it about 60 calories. It was delicious!!!

With all of our Thanksgiving prep, I forgot to have my glass of leftover wine I've been saving all week! I had it when we got home, but was really too tired and it was a tad old (too bad because it was expensive!) so I had 3 oz and gave the rest to the husband.

Dinner calories + Wine: 425

Total Wednesday Calories: 1605 (possibly a little more b/c of unlogged bites today)

-519 thru workout and walk

= net of 1097. Too low but I'm too sleepy! Plus, I felt like I ate enough today. If I wasn't counting, I'd think I ate plenty.

Our house smells amazingly like a brewery from the yeasty bread. And it's sitting in the cabinet drying out for tomorrow - so tempting!!

Tomorrow's plan:

8:00 - 5 mile run (if my hamstrings aren't too sore from Tuesday's lunges - I can barely walk!!)
9:30 - Oatmeal Pancake
10:00 - Thanksgiving prep
11:30 - Parents Arrive
12:00 - Smoked salmon sandwiches with my mom
1:00 - Thanksgiving prep
2:00 - Family walk
3:00 - More cooking
4:00 - Cocktail hour + hors d'oeuvres
5:00 - Dinnertime!
7:00 - Mandatory family walk
8:00 - Dessert

I've got a game plan for eating for the day - y'all need to hold me accountable!!

Spinach Overload!

2007-11-21T12:47:00.000-05:00

I got pretty hungry today around 10:30. Could walnuts be the secret ingredient to satiety? I had the same weight and calories in almonds today, but that's the only thing I change. Hmmm. Experiment in store!

Had 5 almonds at 10:30

And hot tea at 11:00

And the most AMAZING PB + Banana + Honey sandwich at 12:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This Ezekiel Sesame bread is so. good.

DROOOOOLLLLLLL!!!

And a HUGE spinach salad with pom. Didn't realize how much spinach was packed into my zip-lock bag!

Kiwi:

Cran-Yogurt:

Note the size of the spinach compared to the slices of bread - or my tupperwares! It was a LOT!

Total lunch calories: 511.

My stomach is kind of hurting. Maybe from a spinach overload? No walk today - gotta get through work so I can leave! Can't wait to start the weekend :)

Another Oatmeal Day

2007-11-21T07:48:00.001-05:00

Don't worry, I'll get sick of oatmeal soon :) I did change it up and add almonds instead of walnuts today, but I think I prefer the walnuts!!

Toast at 5:15:

Workout was 40 minutes ET + good upper body lifting with the husband. 415 calories torched. Wore my sexy tight new shirt again! Loved it! I'm going to get a few more of these soon. I'm wearing my black one to work today :)

Oats made with half skim half water, pear, cinnamon, vanilla, and toasted almonds (no sugar needed with the pear since it's pretty sweet)

Hot vanilla tea:

My vitamin : ) This won't be making an appearance everyday, but I thought you should see that I started taking one after my nutrition class project pointed out I'm not getting the 100% DV of all of the nutrients from my diet alone (but I am doing really well on some things like calcium and Vitamin A and Vitamin B6!)

All together for 402 calories:

Breakfast calories: 510.

We're closing the office at 3pm today and I have a lunch meeting. Hoping to get a walk in when I get home - before I start setting the table and making cranberry sauce!! I got my mom's pumpkin pie recipe and put it in CK - 300 calories a slice...not bad!! I'll have half of one. Also got her corn pudding - 1800 calories for the whole recipe. If I have 1/4 of 1/4 of the dish, that's about 100 calories. Not bad!!! I'm planning to log Thanksgiving. Call me crazy, but I am determined to make this my first holiday where I enjoy myself without making myself sick from fullness!!

Fun Dinner!

2007-11-20T19:21:00.001-05:00

Taco salads!!!

They were amazing!!!

Components:

Spinach
Bell peppers (lots)
Jalapeños
Leftover beans and rice (1/2 a cup)
.5 oz avocado
Chopped tomato
1.5 oz Mexican reduced fat cheese
2 oz plain yogurt
1 Blue Corn taco shell, toasted in the oven

Total Dinner Calories: 443

+ 2 oz pear core
+ 2 Kashi crackers

Afternoon Snack:

Yogurt + Cran + Fiber One. Had it at 4pm. Perfect tide-me-over.

Dessert: 1/2 a CIB with 6 oz skim milk = "hot chocolate." It was heavenly!!!

Total Tuesday calories: 1729

-553 thru workout and walk

= net 1176.

Best Lunch Ever Take II

2007-11-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

Remember how good my lunch was last week when I had curried tuna, a spinach salad with roasted veggies, fruit and Kashi crackers? I made it again and it was just as good!!!

Tuna salad:

Packet tuna
1 tbsp mayo
1 squirt mustard
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
Sh!tload of curry powder :) (maybe 1.5 teaspoons?)

YUM!! And super filling.

Spinach salad with leftover veggies:

Pineapple and kiwi:

And Kashi crackers

All together for 500 calories:

with hot tea to drink

Also got in 40 minutes of walking!!!

I really wanted a homemade ginger cookie (which I didn't get to try yesterday) with a dollop of Cool Whip but the husband convinced me not to, so I brushed my teeth instead.

I've got yogurt and cranberry and Fiber One for a snack, then Taco Salads for dinner!

And 248 calories left to eat weight loss calories. Gah!! Maybe I should have a cookie.... : )

If I do, you'll see it here!

"What's In Your Fridge?"

2007-11-20T09:02:00.000-05:00

The Fridge:

IateApie.net is hosting a "What's In Your Fridge" Contest this week asking readers to post photos of the inside of their fridges. Here's mine!

Top Shelf:
(L to R)

Pomegranate seeds
Avocado on top of....
Leftover garbanzo beans
Smoked salmon on top of....
Homemade sugar-free cranberry sauce
Lots of diced pineapple!

Top shelf left:

Ezekiel Sesame Bread <3

Veggie Drawers:

Celery
Bell peppers
Broccoli
Turnips
Parsnips
Baby spinach
Apples
Carrots

Door:

Organic skim milk
Natural organic peanut butter
Stonyfield low-fat plain yogurt x2
Two single-serving sugar-free yogurts
Smart Balance
Kalamata olives
Capers
Reduced-sugar raspberry jam
Jar of sun-dried tomatoes
Assorted condiments (below), such as Cholula hot sauce, pickles, prepared pesto, Hellman's reduced-fat mayo, leftover Sauvignon Blanc, old mango sauce, 3 kinds of mustard, ketchup, 5 kinds of hot sauce (thanks, husband!)

Middle Shelf + Bottom Shelf (below):

Thanksgiving turkey, thawing for Thursday!!
2% cottage cheese
Omega-3 Cage Free Eggs
Egg whites
Dried apricots
6 pack of beer

In the Cheese Drawer:

Sargento reduced-fat Italian, shredded
Parmesan, hard
Laughing Cow
Sargento chipotle slices

Fruit:
And last but not least, our fruit bowl...

Bananas (I panic if I don't have any!)
Pear
Lime
Roma tomatoes
Kiwis
Oranges

Root Veggies:
Sorry, no photo, but we have sweet potatoes, 3 butternut squash and acorn squash in the pantry!

Perhaps a pantry tour is in store for next week!?

Another PB Breakfast

2007-11-20T07:50:00.001-05:00

Peanut Butter, Walnut and Pear Oatmeal with Pumpkin Tea

Almost skipped my workout today because my legs were tired, but since it's Thanksgiving week, I need all the exercise I can get. Plus, I was already wide awake.

Pre workout toast:

Workout was 30 minutes Stairmaster, 15 minutes bike, and some squats and lunges. Hoping to get in a good walk today too! 400 calories burned.

Breakfast:

PB + Pear + Walnut Oatmeal :)

And hot tea:

I really think my shoulders have improved since giving up the coffee. I'm hoping we can switch to decaf once we use up our caf.

Total breakfast calories: ~511.

Feeling Proud(er)

2007-11-19T19:52:00.000-05:00

Spinach Salad with Root Veggies, Turkey and Pomegranate

How on earth did I end up under net today!?!?!?

This is why I rock: I didn't nibble all afternoon. When I got home and convinced the husband to take a 30-minute walk. Then I had a simple spinach, turkey and veggie salad, drank some water, made a SUPER healthy and delicious lunch for tomorrow (curry tuna salad, spinach salad, fruit, Kashis) and am going to read in bed. How fun!

I was really kind of full all afternoon. Or not really full, but I just didn't feel like eating. Wait, I take that back, I felt like pigging out on everything in the kitchen, but I knew that lunch should have kept me satisfied for HOURS so I knew better. Come 6pm, I still didn't really want anything for dinner, but I could feel hungry returning...er....fullness leaving. So I settled on a small salad and feel nice and satisfied again and happy with my day!

Husband's dinner of leftovers:

Despite the fact that I ate a little too much at lunch today, I made up for it with no snacks, plenty of exercise and healthy choices (as I said before, I could have easily doubled my lunch calories as some of my colleagues did!). THESE ARE THE REASONS WHY I AM FIT AND HEALTHY!!!

And I think I'm going to do GREAT on our actual Thanksgiving!

Total calories for Monday: ~1736

-530 thru workout and pre-dinner walk

= net of 1206.

Of course I could have consumed way more calories than I estimated, but I'm just going to have to assume I was accurate and be proud of myself!

B+

2007-11-19T14:18:00.001-05:00

I'd give myself a B+ on lunch today. Could have been better, but it also could have been much, much, MUCH worse!!! There was a ton of stuff that I didn't even try, and although I'm full, I'm no where close to being FULL, which I could have been. I'm perfectly satisfied, if just a little more full than normal.

Here's my plate - from L to R -

A few marinated veggies (green beans, snap peas)
Big helping of collard greens
Black beans and brown rice, ~1/2 cup?
My roasted root veggies, nibbled on these too so I'm guessing I had 6 oz total
The most heavenly, fattening buttery corn pudding ever (which I wouldn't have had so much of if I knew it was 350 calories per serving!)
1 tbsp rice casserole
1/4 cup baked mac and cheese
1 oz turkey (I only had 2 pieces/bites)
Bite of a mini biscuit (not shown)

Pretty healthy!!! I certainly ate lots of healthy things, the corn pudding and mac and cheese being the exceptions. The corn pudding was made from Jiffy corn muffin mix, so I was able to find the recipe and calculate the nutritional info. It makes 8 servings at 350 calories each!! I'm guessing I had half a serving and leaving it at that.

Dessert:
I had more than I had planned. I even waited a while to go up to get some. It was delicious but so damn high in calorie!!

Clockwise starting at the 12:

Scrapings of pecan pie with 2 tbsp of Cool Whip (co-worker dolloped that on!)
Apple crumb cake - small piece
Sliver of oatmeal cookie fruit pizza, which was 300 calories per slice. I'm counting this as 1/3 a slice and crossing my fingers I'm accurate
More corn pudding. Drool.

So it looks like I was pretty good right? Try 914 calories for lunch, WRONG!!! Argh!! Really I'm just mad because I don't get to have a good dinner tonight : ( I'm bringing home leftovers, but I'm sad that my eating is basically done for the day. Maybe I can get in a walk before the sun sets.

However, if I ate 2,000 calories today, which is what all the "normal" calculators say I need to MAINTAIN my weight, height, and activity level, I'd be fine. I guess I should just give myself some wiggle room and not eat weight loss calories today. It's just hard because my body likes eating weight loss calories. It doesn't NEED more calories today. But I just want the fun of more food : (

Here's some more highlights from lunch:

Root veggies the husband brought for me <3

Food items:

More food:

Desserts:

Lastly,

Here's my calorie estimate logged in my food dairy:

		Cals
	1 oz Turkey: Light Meat, boneless, no skin, roasted	45
	1 serving, 2 cups (2.8 oz)Glory Foods: Vegetables, Fresh: Collard Greens	25
	0.15 piece Fresh Choice: Desserts: Cake, Southern Apple Crumble	65
	6 serving Roasted Veggies	165
	0.3 1 slice Oatmeal Cookie Cake	98
	0.5 serving Jiffy Corn Pudding	155
	1 serving, 1/2 cup (3.4 oz)Rice: Brown, medium-grain, cooked	109
	0.15 1/2 cup Low-Sodium Black Beans	15
	2 oz Canned Meals: Entrees, Macaroni & Cheese	46
	1 serving, 2 tablespoons (0.3 oz)Cool Whip: Cream: Whipped Topping, Regular	25
	1 oz Pies & Tarts: Pies, Pecan, prepared from recipe	117
	0.25 serving 1/2 cup (3.9 oz) Wegmans: Vegetables, Packaged: Sauteed Greens & Beans	18
	.2 biscuit Red Lobster: Sides: Lighthouse Menu, Cheddar Bay Biscuits	32
Total:		914

Thanksgiving Round I

2007-11-19T07:41:00.000-05:00

It's judgment day folks! Time to see if I'm really an intuitive eater and can handle myself around dozens of homemade goodies at the Thanksgiving lunch day. Husband is preparing roasted root veggies for my contribution and bringing them up at 11:00. What a sweetheart. I've already logged most of my "entree" items and am only at 350 calories, so this might not be a killer lunch after all. Let's just see how I handle the desserts.....

Started the day with toast + PB....

Followed by 415 calories burned on the ET and some weight lifting. I bought two new stretch t-shirts at Target yesterday for sleeping/workout out and I LOVED wearing it to the gym. It was black and tight and I felt thin instead of frumpy in my too-large college shirts.

Had an oatmeal pancake today. I prepared the batter the night before using the rolled oats so it would be less runny and I'd have less to do in the AM. Worked like a charm! I added in some more baking powder right before I put it in the pan and whoops - I dumped in a good half teaspoon. The thing puffed up a ton, which I enjoyed. It was more like bread than a normal oat pancake! I forgot to add mashed banana to the batter, so it was a little dry, but I topped it with PB and banana, so deliciousness was still present.

No tea or coffee today! I wanted fruit on the side, but pineapple wasn't the most appealing side to the creamy pancake so I went with milk instead.

All together for 512 calories:

Sunday Recap

2007-11-18T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling rather down today and I'm pretty sure hormones are to blame :( I can feel them racing around my bloodstream, and I wish I could make them go away! I had a good day though, and we got lots of stuff done, including my final project for Nutrition. All I have left is the final exam!

Breakfast:
Had a leisurely breakfast of PB oatmeal and a Toffee Latte:

Breakfast calories: 472.

Workout:
Was going to skip a workout today and just go for a long walk, but husband suggested a run around 11:00, so run we did. About 4.75 miles. 400 calories burned!

Lunch:
Had the most AMAZING lunch after our run. I was brainstorming what I craved most and decided I would have whatever that was.

Tuna salad?
PB + J?
Bean Sandwich?
Spinach salad?

Nothing was appealing. Then I thought about grilled cheese - and grilled cheese it was!!

Ezekiel Bread with 1 slice chipotle cheese, 1/8 cup shredded reduced-fat Italian, and some Smart Balance (~ 1 tsp?) on the bread for good flavor. We put it in a pan over medium heat and topped it with a few pots for a panini-style press.

Had it with Pacific Buttery Corn Soup. I LOVE this brand of soups. They are a little on the boring side by themselves, but they make the perfect base for a quick homemade soup. I chopped up some carrots, celery and broccoli, presto soup! You could easily just add pre-chopped frozen veggies too.

All together for 420 calories. I felt SO satisfied when I was done...

After lunch the mother-in-law stopped by with pecan pie. I had 1 good-sized bite and that was it (husband wolfed the rest down before I could even think about a second). Logged it for 60 calories! Yikes!! I'm well aware that pecan is the MOST DANGEROUS pie there is, but it's one of my favorites :(

Afternoon:
After lunch I worked on my project, then we went to Target and World Market for some items. I was hungry when we left at 3:30 but decided I would live without food since I didn't feel like making a snack. But when we got home, I was sluggish with low blood sugar (or something!) and needed a snack. Vanilla tea with yogurt, cranberry, pom and fiber one for ~120 calories.

Dinner:
Dinner was good, but left us wanting more.

Salmon patty on a big white bun with spinach, avocado, dill and mustard.

Steamed broccoli that I did in the microwave for 3 minutes with a little water in the bottom of the bowl. It was the PERFECT doneness and SO quick and easy!

And rosemary oven-baked red potato "home fries" with ketchup:

All together for ~480 calories (thanks to that huge bun!)

Dessert:
Had a warmed jello pudding cup and chopped pineapple for dessert. And 2 bites of a chocolate-covered frozen banana (husband's). Last night I did have an oatmeal pancake but didn't get the photo up. ~125 calories.

Total Sunday calories: 1686

-450 from run and walking

= net of 1235.

I'm thinking of upping my net back to 1350 or 1400 after I get through Thanksgiving. Just seems like I've been eating so well that my body could use some more fuel. We'll see how the next week goes!

Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving Pot-Luck at my office. I know the menu since I've been the one in charge of coordinating the dishes, including like 10 desserts! My strategy is going to be:

Skip the turkey since I'll be having it again this week (I'll probably just have 1 oz instead of the usual 3-4 oz serving)
Fill up on the dishes that look homemade and worth it (the healthier ones, that is)
To not eat anything store bought (I can eat that anytime!)
Stick to two SMALL bites of dessert - whichever looks the best
I'm also going to log it all before lunch rather than after - that always helps keep things in perspective.

I think I'll do well at the lunch, but the real question is: can I stay away from the leftovers all afternoon? We don't have dinner planned tomorrow to leave some wiggle room. I'm hoping to be a show off on my blog at how well I do, but we shall see!! Hold me to it ladies!

Thanksgiving Prep Day

2007-11-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

Had a great Saturday! Husband and I did lots of prep for Thanksgiving and got most of our Christmas shopping done! We're on a roll! We're hosting our first Thanksgiving - my parents and husband's mom, brother and a friend. We're SO excited we've been planning for weeks!!

Breakfast:
Started the day a little different than normal - cereal. Well I was very unhappy with this choice because I was starving two hours later in the middle of cycle class!

Kashi Heart to Heart with skim milk and banana (370 calories' worth too!)

Also had hot tea:

Workout:
Breakfast was at 7:30, and we planned to hit the 9:15 a.m. cycle class, which is only 45 minutes and the PERFECT cycle class length. The instructor was great today and the class was hard - I burned 426 calories! (I also did 8 minutes elliptical as a warm-up). Workout - check!

Snack:
After cycle, we made lattes and I had toast with pear. I was soooo hungry. Not sure why!! I ate this snack way too fast, and then my stomach was cramping all morning and thru lunch. Not sure what was going on!

Snack calories: ~176.

Lunch:
After a much-needed trip to the grocery store, we prepared the most delicious lunch.

Smoked salmon, avocado and Laughing Cow with dill on Ezekiel Sesame Bread. I enjoyed having that catering smoked salmon a few weeks ago so much that I'd like to have it more. It's only real downfall is the sodium amount, so I wouldn't make it a weekly lunch, but maybe once a month?

Also, this Ezekiel Sesame Bread is the BEST YET!!!! Very nutty and delicious!! Look for it in the frozen section of your grocery store. Don't be scared of frozen bread!! Just thaw it in the fridge and then let it warm to room temp or toast before eating.

Also made a salad with spinach, broccoli, carrots, cuc, and pom seeds. I got the new Ken's Spritzer Honey Mustard Dressing - the kind you spray on 10 sprays for 10 calories. (Hungry Girl said it was good). It was OK. Not great, but better than plain? I also cooked the veggies for a few minutes in a hot pan to take some of the raw out.

And lastly, I had Mango-Apricot yogurt by Cascade Fresh, which I really liked. Added a little ground flax after the photo.

All together for 500 calories:

Afternoon:
We hit the mall for some Thanksgiving/Xmas shopping after lunch. We got the cutest leaf plates on sale at Pottery Barn that will serve as our Thanksgiving centerpieces. And cute squash + pumpkin candles to go in them! You'll see these again soon!

I also got us cute green placemats to dine on. Neither husband or I come from a "placemat family" so we have never really used them, but now that we're eating in the dining room and not on the couch (which I LOVE, by the way - no wonder the table is the preferred and recommended dining location!), we need something to protect the table each meal. Plus, I really like the look of placemats. They dress up the table without hiding it with a huge tablecloth (as long as they're modern and not frilly and from the 80's!). I hope to purchase many more in the future :)

We shopped for almost 2 hours and walked from the mall, across the street to Williams-Sonoma and back, so I gave myself 150 extra calories for the day.

AND....I didn't snack ALL AFTERNOON!!!! I got pretty hungry around 5:00, but a Diet Tonic and Lime fixed that.

Dinner:
Dinner was great - all grilled!

Sun-Dried Tomato, Walnut and Spinach Pesto
over Butterflied Grilled Chicken Breasts and Parmesan Cheese

With Grilled Asparagus

And Portabello Mushrooms with Parmesan

YUM!!! ~360 calories.

Here's the husband enjoying a beer with our new placemats:

Dessert:

Grilled Pineapple, Dotted with Brown Sugar and Drizzled with Maple Syrup

It was amazing!! I licked my plate :)
~100 calories

Total Saturday calories: 1541

-647 from workout and shopping/walking

= net of 842. YIKES!!!

Our dinner was majorly lacking a whole grain, so I'm off to have something now, as I'm pretty hungry 1.5 hours later. I think I might have an oatmeal pancake!

G'night!

Forgot the Rice!

2007-11-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

Panko-Crusted Tilapia
with a Lemon, White Wine, Caper Sauce
over Sauteed Turnip Greens and Kalamata Olives

Finished working from home right on time for a nice walk to the grocery store for our dinner ingredients. We are FLAT OUT of groceries for the week and had no vegetables at all to cook but canned tomatoes. This is sort of a goal of ours to save money. I feel like we normally keep a good stock of stuff in the fridge - at a cost - and we are trying to learn to live off some of our staples. So anyways, we desperately needed something green for dinner and bananas for breakfast (1 day without them was torture!).

30 minute walk was freezing cold, but nice and brisk. While at the grocery store we sampled three wines (1.5 oz total) and had 3 cheese samples (tiny cubes), which I logged as around 75 calories.

I also had a few kashi crackers with leftover goat's cheese at 5:00. I was getting really hungry, but I didn't want to have a big snack with dinner looming. I am SUCH an intuitive eater these days! I made it all day today with very minimal snacks. Oh yeah, and I had 2 almonds from husband's pile at 3:30. Had two of these:

Once back from the store, we opened a nice bottle of Frei Brothers Sauvignon Blanc. It's quite typical Sav. Blanc. with crisp grapefruit flavors but it changed SO MUCH during dinner! More later. I had my wedding rings cleaned today and they are SO SPARKLY!!!! Someone remind me to get them cleaned more often! I never think they look that dull until after I get them cleaned. I tried to capture the sparkle here, but I think it just missed the flash....

The wine changed dramatically with the meal. It was an amazing contrast and one of the best wine and food pairings I've ever experienced. The dinner was very acidic and it made the wine much more like a buttery Chardonnay and not like crisp grapefruit at all. Unfortunately, this led me to have 2 more oz. for a total of 8 oz of wine tonight. But I'm not feeling tipsy, so hopefully my body isn't mad at me :)

Tilapia and turnip greens. We used a pound of greens (a HUGE bag) and they cooked down significantly. Since we're volume eaters, we have to make a huge portion of the raw stuff to get enough cooked! This was 75 calories worth of greens - and if you know anything about calories in greens, that's a LOT!

The tilapia was delicious, but halfway through dinner I realized we had forgotten the rice!!!!!!!! We're so used to just protein + veggies for dinner that I completely forget. Luckily the husband had made it the day before, so we just had to microwave it hot (a good strategy - cook rice on the weekends and just nuke when you need some).

This is the BEST brown rice we've ever had. We usually have basmati or just the quick brown minute rice, but this stuff is worth the 45-minute simmer. It's sticky and gluteny - just the way I like it! I think I much prefer short grain to long grain. I ended up buying this because it was half the price of some of the others, including the basmati. What a steal!

Lundberg Short Grain Brown Rice. See more here.

Half-eaten fish with rice added:

Dinner was delicious, but rather salty (from the olives and capers??) so my mouth is craving more to eat. I was going to cook tapioca, and then pumpkin pudding, but I'm full. It's all in my mouth. So I'm going to skip.

Snack calories: 130

Total dinner calories: 550

Total Friday calories: 1662

-537 thru workout and walk. I probably burned more being on my feet for a few hours at the chicken event, but I guess I won't count these....feels too much like cheating today since I did eat some unhealthy things.

= net of 1126. 100 under. Maybe I'll have some warm milk and half a CIB??

Tomorrow's schedule:

Wake up around 7
Normal breakfast, lazily
8:45 gym time + 45-minute spin class
Snack + latte
Grocery shopping
Lunch
Thanksgiving decor shopping
Relaxation
Grilled chicken and portabellas

Kath Does Fast Food!

2007-11-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

Chicken and biscuit making was actually really fun!! We were really working like real employees by lunchtime:

"FRESH HOT BISCUITS" and "HOT CHICKEN IN THE WINDOW!!"

I got to roll out 2 sets of biscuits and bake them and made fried chicken from scratch!! It's really quite amazing what goes on behind the scenes. They have it all down to these specific routines and procedures. The biscuits can only sit out for 20 minutes, so they have to make new batches quite frequently and very fast! It got a little crazy when the lunch rush picked up, but luckily we were released from our duties then. Too bad there was vegetable shortening in the biscuit mix bag and the 'grease' we fried the chicken in was melted vegetable shortening - allllll trans-fat!! Ack!! It sure did look good though.

Lunch went really well. I took most of my breading off and ate the whole breast. I also ate all the pinto beans and green beans (which are both made with lots of salt, but nothing else harmful - I saw the recipes! I probably wouldn't have eaten them otherwise in fear of butter or worse additives.) I also got served a fried chicken tenderloin which I was basically forced to take a bite of. I enjoyed the one bite though :) And I had some honey mustard sauce too.

But the worst part came when they brought out the dessert biscuits. Yikes!! I can be all high and mighty about not eating a regular biscuit, but the dessert ones were all ooy gooey and I ate about 25% of one of them (~50 calories). My body will forgive me :)

When I got home I ate my fruit, to make lunch add up to 460 calories, despite the splurges!

YAY! IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!! Husband and I are making fish, kale and brown rice and opening some white wine :0)

I Can't Believe It's Friday!

2007-11-16T08:43:00.000-05:00

Husband and I slept 30 minutes in today because of last night being a late night and the fact that I'm working from home before the client cooking event so I didn't have to commute!

Pre-workout toast with PB and jam:

Workout:
Workout was 26 minutes elliptical (here on out this will be called ET!), 16 minutes treadmill running (while reading a magazine!!) and 15 minutes weight lifting. 426 calories burned! Tomorrow we'll do the 9 a.m. cycle class since I missed today's.

Breakfast:
We are FLAT OUT of food!!! I usually pick up a banana and apple from the dining hall but they were all out. My last resort: frozen fruit in oatmeal! Used tropical fruit (strawberries, pineapple, raspberries and mango) and didn't need anything to sweeten it either. It was good, but not as good as PB and walnuts :(

Along with Sugar Cookie Decaf Tea! Yum!

All together for 520 calories:

See you after I'm covered in biscuits and fried chicken!

Hoping to get a walk in this evening....

K

Dining Hall Thurday

2007-11-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Had a great dinner at the dining hall! They had chicken picatta on the menu, but I was able to easily take off the breading and had a little chicken breast all ready to eat! They also served ratatouille, which was very delicious, and a wild mushroom rice with vegetables - I piled the broccoli high! The rice was great, and I estimated about 1/4 a cup plus veggies.

Estimated "3.5 chicken breast, no skin, no breading." (It was smaller than it looks here since it's pictured in the front!). Ratatouille veggies were listed as 50 for a 4 oz serving on the dining hall menu. I estimated 75 calories. I put in a boxed seasoned rice for 1/4 cup mushroom rice plus the veggies.

Also had a side salad, which I only ate half of. Topped with a drizzle of honey mustard:

All together:

\

Had one bite of this banana pudding that the husband and MIL shared:

And snacked on 1/4 a cup of mini wheats!

My calorie estimate:

	3.5 ozKFC: Chicken: Original Recipe, Breast, no skin or breading	129
	0.3 cupNear East: Rice: Rice Pilaf, Wild Mushroom & Herb, prepared as directed	66
	1 serving, 3/4 cup (3.7 oz)Salads (Fresh, Deli, Restaurant): Salads: Mixed vegetable tossed, no dressing	17
	0.25 serving (2 oz)Quizno's: Dressings: Honey Mustard	35
	1 serving (7.5 oz)Italian: Meals: Ratatouille	76
	0.25 serving, 1/2 cupLifeway: Puddings: It's Pudding!, Banana	38
	0.33 serving, 24 biscuits (1.9 oz)Kellogg's: Breakfast Cereals, Ready To Eat: Organic, Mini Wheats Frosted Bite Size	63
	0.5 order (5.5 oz)Panda Express: Entrees: Vegetables, Mixed	45
	8 kernelNuts: Pistachios, dry roasted, no salt added, edible portion	32
	2 almondNuts: Almonds, raw, unblanched, edible portion	14
Total:		513

Also had 8 pistachios and 2 almonds during nutrition class. Test went well!!

Total Thursday calories: 1711

-541 from walk and workout

= net of 1170. I had a bite of husbands dinner, so I'm probably all even here! I did go to bed hungry though, but it was too late to eat!

-K

"If It Doesn't Taste Good, Don't Eat It."

2007-11-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a major issue for me tomorrow, as one of my clients is a fast food joint (fried chicken one, to be specific) and I have to eat there for lunch. We're cooking fried chicken and biscuits all morning and then we have to eat them.

Now "have to" is debatable, but I have to at least eat something. I think I'm going to try to eat a chicken breast without the skin (It will probably be pointed out that I'm "so picky I have to remove the skin") and hopefully there will be salty canned green beans on the side. I won't eat a biscuit since they have shortening in them (=transfat). I'll have an apple and something healthy from the whole grain group in my car.

It makes me soooooo annoyed that I have to eat this food, and I hate having to miss a good meal with gross food, but I don't see that I have a choice, as this is a client and I have to be there.

On the topic, here's a Fit From Within chapter that I posted in Elle's CK blog:

Fit From Within's Chapter 10: "If It Doesn't Look Good, Don't Eat It."

Overeaters will eat a dish that's too hot or too cold, overcooked or undercooked, or something they just don't like. They give foods so many chances, taking bite after bite of this scalding/freezing/burned/raw/bad-tasting dish, as if eating enough of it could transform it into something good after all.....To become Fit From Within, you have to develop discernment. This means becoming selective about what you put in your mouth - "picky" even.....Not every meal will be a gustatory adventure, nor does it have to be, but everything you put in your mouth does need to meet some basic standards. At the very least, it should be fresh, properly prepared, and taste like something. You're worth it!!!"

Sigh....

2007-11-15T13:21:00.001-05:00

I'm not having the best day. Lots of stuff going on that is stressing me out in my personal life (nothing major, mostly financial) and it's put a damper on my day. I didn't enjoy my lunch and I could feel the urge to binge (I hate that word!!) coming on. If there had been cake in the work kitchen, I might have gone to eat it. I really have that "food will fill a void" feeling in my chest. But I know better. And thank goodness there is fried chicken and biscuits in the kitchen (ewwwww fast food) and not dessert!

I went for a short walk even though I didn't have the time in my day to do so and it made me feel a little better, although I talked to the husband on the phone. I should have just breathed fresh air and got my mind off of things.

Lunch:

Garbanzo beans spread on bread with avocado. It was very dry and a major disappointment.

3 oz root veggies (I missed my baby spinach ;( )

Kiwi and POM

A small bit of leftover pretzels (craving....)

Cranberry yogurt:

All together for 613 calories!! YIKES!! That sandwich was a KILLER disappointment. And those root veggies were too high. Next time I'll cut back on the high-cal ones.

Tonight is nutrition class at Queens. I have a test and I'm not prepared!! But I know I will do OK on it, but maybe not a 100 this time because I haven't had the chance to study enough. Dinner is in the dining hall with my mother-in-law and husband. Yay! I'm going to try not to eat a smörgåsbord this week! I've got 602 calories remaining if I don't have an afternoon snack.

Unless class gets out early, I'll see you in the morning.

Rainy Thursday

2007-11-15T08:52:00.000-05:00

No this is not something disgusting - it's the "skin" on the bottom of my oatmeal pot. Kinda gross, huh!?! I guess it's the gluten or something that kind of makes a film on the bottom of the pot when it dries a bit, but I LOVE scraping the bottom of the pot when I've emptied out the oatmeal!! It's chewy, not flaky, which is what I love (and why I think it's gluten-related). Sometimes it's more moist and I just scrape it out with my spoonula, but today it was all dry like Slim Jim skin from my childhood and came out in one long piece. I know, I know - I'm soooo strange.

I forgot what it's like to drive in rain - and so did all of Charlotte. Uggg. My commute was horrendous.

Pre-workout toast:

Workout:
Workout was just s0-so today. I burned 400 calories, but I felt like I was just going through the motions. Oh, but this great thing did happen:

I was getting on the stationary bike and this elderly man said:

Man: "Young Lady. Are you a soccer player?"

Me: "Yes, I was. Why do you ask?" (with a smile)

Man: "I've been wanting to ask you for a while. You've got great muscular legs!!"

Me: (Flexes calf muscles) "Why thanks! I used to play soccer in high school and college but then I had to have foot surgery so I had to stop. Most people think I'm a gymnast because I have broad shoulders and I'm small."

Man: "Well you've still got those soccer legs!"

What a nice compliment!

Breakfast:

PB oatmeal - Skipped the brown sugar today, but I ended up adding some maple syrup halfway through.

Pumpkin tea - also no sugar. Trying to see if I can live without splenda. So far, so good!

His and Hers Baked Potatoes!!

2007-11-14T19:20:00.000-05:00

Sweet vs. Savory

I decided to continue my "eat what I want" theme and swapped the leftover chili on my sweet potato for root vegetables and plain yogurt! YUM!! I had 1.25 POUNDS of root vegetables today. Yikes! I'm up to 48 grams of fiber for the day - but I've seen higher! They are my favorite food though : ) Husband had chili and cheese on his dry russet potato. Ew! I'll take sweet any day!

Sweet potato was super filling, but my mouth wanted to keep eating afterwards. Too much mush maybe and not enough texture variety?

......so I had a pear core as I prepped for breakfast. It did the trick. Now I'm REALLY full!!

That sweet potato was 13 oz before it was cooked...which clocks in at 313 calories!!! MAN! Sure, it's healthy, but that was NOT the biggest sweet potato I've seen before. Warning to those who don't have food scales: I would have called this a "medium-sized" sweet potato, which CK says is 103 calories. And it says a "large" is 160. Well mine was DOUBLE a large, so I have no idea what potatoes these food search engines base their data off of. Be careful out there!

Oh yeah, and I had cottage cheese and cranberry for a snack and TOTALLY forgot to photograph it!!! I didn't eat until 4:30 and wasn't even that hungry, but it was good. I'm having trouble making myself hungry these days! PB oatmeal....??

Total dinner calories: 566

Total Wednesday calories: 1810

-623 thru super-good workout and 40 minute walk

= net of 1186. 40 calories left, but I'm stuffed! Going up to read in bed :)

The Best Lunch #2!!

2007-11-14T14:13:00.000-05:00

So last night when I was thinking about today's lunch the thought of having my leftover chili was just not appealing. I pictured myself heating it up in the microwave and being done in 10 minutes with not many sides. I wanted a refreshing tuna salad with kashi crackers instead. The husband suggested that I have what I want and that we save the chili for dinner instead and top our planned baked potatoes with the leftover chili rather than the unopened beans we had scheduled. Wonderful idea!!

Moral of the story: If the thought of chili for lunch doesn't sound that appealing, it won't be. Eat what you crave and save the chili for when you ARE in the mood!

So my tuna lunch turned out DELICIOUS!!! I mixed a packet of tuna with 2 tbsp reduced fat mayo (I always try to skimp on the mayo, but I figured 40 calories wasn't that bad for the amount of creaminess it adds) and a ton of curry powder. I was in the mood for curry powder and it's a spice I really like but rarely use! I mixed in a chopped carrot and 1/5 a cucumber. It didn't look that good last night, but by lunchtime it had absorbed all the flavors and mixed together into a creamy tuna salad! I also always try to mix it with bread or crackers, but I really just like eating it with a fork and enjoying the crackers by themselves!! Another important lesson observed to increase satisfaction with a meal :)

Kashis on the side:

Sliced apple with cinnamon:

And the most delicious spinach salad topped with warmed leftover root vegetables (which I didn't get a lot of for 100 calories but they added a lot of flavor!)

All together for 537 calories:

My lunch wasn't 100% great though, as I got a call from a colleague at 12:00 on the dot who needed me to do something that took the whole lunch to handle intermittently. I HATE being bothered when I'm trying to enjoy a meal like French women who don't get fat do. Uggggggg. But it was urgent and I got it done, even if it did interrupt me a lot with emails/phone calls.

But I got in 40 minutes of walking afterwards!I earned it :) It's HOT out there!!!

Anddddddddd................didn't need a snack all morning!!! Sweeeeet. This oatmeal concoction might become my breakfast for life! AND I didn't even get to eat until 12:45 - 45 minutes late, so I'm so amazed that my stomach was not dying of hunger. I think I'm just getting used to not snacking and thinking about food ever 10 minutes. I did think about lunch during the 5 hours between breakfast and lunch, but whenever I assessed my hunger I was still satiated and content.

A bit of advice:

Don't just listen to your body; analyze your body.

"Listen to your body." We hear it all the time, but who really takes it beyond being hungry and not being hungry? Recently I started listening, really listening, and realized that about 2 hours after a meal I get "hungry." Buttt.....it's not really hunger, especially since I usually have a balanced breakfast and really shouldn't BE hungry yet. I've come to realize that if I drink a big glass of water right then, viola - hunger is gone!

Now if I had just "listened to my body" I would have had a snack. But after investigating why my body feels this way, I know the sensation is not really hunger, but my body's way of saying its thirsty (which is different than my mouth feeling thirsty - that's dehydration.) My body must just needs something cool to drink. So don't just listen, analyze. Interpret. Question. Scrutinize. Investigate. Really think about what you're feeling and experiment with different remedies. You might be surprised with what you discover.

Bright Morning!!

2007-11-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal with Cinnamon, Vanilla, Brown Sugar, Walnuts, PB, and Banana

NOTE to SELF:
You can't taste the 1 tsp of brown sugar in your oatmeal so do not waste calories on it! Use something more prominent, like a drizzle of maple on top - or nothing sweet!

No time to type, but I had a great morning!! Husband and I decided to run the track at the Y in the dark for a bit, so I did 2.5 miles there. Then some indoor ellipticaling, then some upper body lifting. My triceps are really starting to show!! Anddddddd.......475 calories burned!!

Of course I had PB oatmeal for breakfast again. I'm on a big kick!! I gave myself a little more PB and banana for the hard workout too. Husband and I ate in the dining room as planned. I'm REALLY loving these morning breakfasts together. I hope we can keep them up. <3

I decided that I think coffee caffeine is making me have more stress and tension than usual. I didn't use to have all the tension in my shoulders and I've noticed that on my drive to work I get this heavy, weighted feeling. I love the taste of coffee and love the warm beverage, but I might insist we switch to decaf (I mean, why NOT just drink decaf??). I skipped the coffee this morning and had tea instead and feel so much better today! Could be coincidence, but I'm going to keep it up and see what happens. I'm sure my body doesn't need stimulants interfering with its happiness.

Pumpkin Tea:

Pre-workout toast:

Total breakfast calories: ~600.

Have more to blog later!

Chili Night! (On a Hot Night)

2007-11-13T19:44:00.001-05:00

Turkey Chili with A Dollop of Yogurt and Blue Cornbread

Chili Ingredients:

12 oz turkey
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce (the small ones)
1 can mixed chili beans
1 cup frozen okra
3 oz frozen corn
3 oz green pepper
1 cup chicken stock
Spices galore, including cocoa powder!

Cornbread!! I called the husband at 5 and told him I had lots of calories left and wouldn't it be fun if we had cornbread? So he whipped some up. As much as I stressed "healthy", it still came out to 80 calories per oz, which is quite heafty for a volume eater. But he did manage to replace 500 calories (!!!) worth of vegetable oil with applesauce to reduce the calories a little.

Chili Simmering with a huge frozen chunk of chicken stock!

Cocktail Hour:
Gin and tonic (with a splash of gin!! - who knew I liked gin!?)

Snacktime!
AMAZINGLY I made it all the way to 5:00 without thinking about food!! Something in my brain is changing. Husband says he's been less hungry lately too.........could it be.......the peanut butter oatmeal???? More protein in the AM???

String cheese and melba crackers - just something light to hold me an hour or so.

I also had a handful of Kashi Heart to Heart and .5 oz roasted veggies while packing my lunch. Bad behavior despite having a few calories left! I was full and did NOT need those nibbles!

Total Tuesday calories: 1762

-563 thru workout and walk

= net of 1200.

See ya tomorrow!

Simple Lunch.

2007-11-13T13:47:00.000-05:00

Couldn't eat until 12:30 today due to an office tour, but that was OK because my oatmeal TOTALLY filled me up this morning! I was never really full but I was satisfied all morning. I had tea at 11:00 - because I was cold not hungry - and could barely finish it my body didn't want to be consuming anything!! But then right on cue at 12 my stomach rumbled. I was worried about not being able to eat until much later, so I had 3 almonds. Looking back, I probably didn't need them, but they didn't do any harm either! Probably more good than anything!

Tea (note the bee massager)

Lunch:

Had leftover prime rib on a sandwich for lunch. I normally don't really like red meat, but we have at least a pound STILL leftover, so I figured I should be economical and eat it rather than looking for un-opened protein sources. It actually turned out quite delicious! I had it with spinach and Sargento Chipotle cheese (YUM!) - look at it all melty in there after toasting!

Huge spinach salad with Pom and balsamic vinegar. Talk about a "throw together" lunch vegetable. If you like baby spinach and can handle just a little dressing, this is the perfect way tot get veggies at lunch. Just get a bag of baby spinach and stuff it in your lunch in a zip lock bag!

Kiwi:

Cranberry sauce + yogurt:

All together for 520 calories:

It's like spring outside, so I took a 40 minute walk! Another 150 calories burned :)

Dinner tonight: Turkey Bean Chili!

Wish It Were The Other "T" Day of the Week

2007-11-13T08:49:00.000-05:00

Peanut Butter Walnut Banana Oatmeal

That would be Thursday. I am so ready for the weekend already!! Husband I and had a debate over when Thanksgiving is over breakfast. He swore it was 2 weeks away, but I know since I'm counting down the days that it's NEXT WEEK!!! YAY!! Speaking of Thanksgiving, he found an all-natural turkey on sale yesterday when he walked (15 minutes) to the grocery store for some pizza cheese. So he bought it and carried it home in his backpack! Poor guy!!

Preworkout Toast:

With apricot jam and Smart Balance:

Workout:
Had a great workout this morning. Stairmaster, elliptical (twice) and a really good abs session. I used the ab roller - which my sister used to use back in the '90s - and found it be to really effective! I felt fit and firm at the gym this morning. Sweet! 415 calories burned.

Breakfast:
Back to oatmeal - with banana, 10 grams PB, walnuts, brown sugar, and a little milk (copied the husband's technique to make it less gluteny). The best part about eating the PB on the spoon is how sloooooow I eat it. This bowl took me a good 12-15 minutes to finish!!

Coffee #1:

Felt like a second cup today: Coffee #2

All together for 441 calories + 105 for toast = 545 breakfast calories

As you can see, we ate in the dining room again for a more soothing start to the day. Candles lit, sunshine coming in. I have proclaimed this week "Anti-Stress Week" and am doing all I can do de-stress. Took an Epsom Salt bath last night, husband made my oatmeal while I showered this morning. And I even got a quick shoulder massage before work!! I married the best guy : )

I still feel kind of stressed - really I don't feel stressed but my shoulders just instantly have tension the second I get in my car to come to work - so we'll see how the rest of the week goes!

Pizza-Pizza.

2007-11-12T19:34:00.000-05:00

Homemade Pizza Topped with Tomato, Spinach, Jalapeño, Mexican Cheese, Oregano and Pepperoni Triangles

Mmmmmmm. The crust was REALLY crispy thanks to a little EVOO and a long bake. We had quite a time getting the dough shaped though and found that using a rolling pin was the best way to evenly spread the dough (but we found this out after quite a few failed attempts to spread it out by hand). Not sure why it was so hard this time, as we've made plenty of pizza dough! NOTE: Pizza was really much smaller than it appears! That is a 10" plate, I think, so it was probably like 8" in diameter?

It wasn't as good as this one from September, despite having twice the cheese!!! But it was good :)

Side salad - spinach, cuc, pom, and balsamic vinegar, aged 10 years of course :)

All together for 546 calories:

Quite a lot of calories for not a very filling dinner! I'll get over it.

Total Monday calories: 1750

-532 from workout and walk

= net of 1222!! Right on target (I took out the borrowed 80 calories because I didn't need them).

I might have another warm milk, but I'm off to take an Epsom Salt bath and then read in bed!! I should be studying nutrition, but that can wait - I do have a 100+ average in the class :)

Snacktime!!

2007-11-12T15:52:00.001-05:00

Despite feeling hungry after lunch and my walk, I made it until 4:00 without feeling hungry again. Had my snack of cottage cheese, cranberry and Kashi crackers!

Oh, and I had a small piece of dark chocolate after lunch :)

Super-Size Me Not

2007-11-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

Delicious lunch today!!! A friend and I went to Berry Brook Farms. Berry Brook is a little organic/natural grocery store with a take-out juice bar open for lunch. They have a small selection, but the food is very fresh and healthy. I didn't get a chance to look at the menu beforehand, so I was feeling rather overwhelmed when we got there and there were people in line flying by! I just hate making decisions quickly when I have a lot of factors to think about when choosing something! But I decided to go with what I wanted when I first saw it.....

On a whim, I decided to try the black bean burrito - something I normally wouldn't order because the nutritional info is hard to determine and most tortillas are made with trans-fat, but I knew it would be healthy here. I actually even asked what kind of tortillas they use and when she told me Alvarado St. Bakery I knew I was safe. I started to worry on my way home that the burrito would be super-sized and stuffed with cheese, but much to my surprise it was PERFECT!!! Perfect portions and blend of flavors - I couldn't have made it better myself! And I ate it with a knife and fork to make it last extra long :)

Nutritional estimate:

Tortilla - Alvarado, burrito size, 170 calories
1/2 a cup black beans
.2 cup shredded carrot
1 leaf lettuce
1 serving sliced black olives
1/4 a cup of shredded full-fat cheddar cheese

= ~400 calories. Kind of high, but delicious!

I also had an apple sliced on the side:

Both for about 500 calories:

Now I have to admit, I'm still a little hungry. I would have liked to have had a yogurt with this. But I guess I just need to be a little hungry - or go have some water because this was a completely well-balanced lunch.

Also got in a 22-minute quick walk after eating. Sweeeeeet!

Morning Snack:

4 almonds at 11 to tide hunger:

Healthy Thought of the Day

2007-11-12T10:13:00.000-05:00

I posted this comment on Elle's CK blog the other day:

"My new thing is that I feel warm and fuzzy and healthy when I eat right and guilty and disgusting when I eat poorly. Even if I have the calories available for a good treat, I don't want to loose the warm and fuzzy healthy feeling, so I pass. It's taken me 2 years to realize that."

It's not about calories in-calories out (although it is!!), but true healthy eating goes beyond the numbers and what you can and can't fit into a day's worth of calories and knocks into your EFFORT. Are you putting 100% effort into being healthy? When you do, you feel amazing, no matter what the scale says or where you are on your weight loss journey. I often say that I feel better when my weight is up (perhaps after a big eating weekend) and I'm putting 100% effort in to get back on track than when my weight is down and I'm "allowing" myself to eat junk.

Here's another Fit From Within excerpt that says it best. I swear this woman wrote my book a few years before I got around to it!

"It is nearly impossible to have a negative attitude when you are supremely healthy. Let me fully acknowledge that I am not always this healthy. I get lazy sometimes, or I don't replenish the energy I give to work, family, and life's glittering diversions. But when I put my health at the top of my to-do list, it's not long before I feel on top of the world.

When you build a body out of the healthiest food, the healthiest environment, the healthiest lifestyle, and the healthiest attitudes you know of, it's like moving into a mansion from a tar-paper shack. At this level of health, or even on the road to it, the very process of living becomes a joy, and abusing yourself in any way becomes just about impossible."

New Breakfast Food

2007-11-12T07:45:00.000-05:00

So I've had this "MultiGrain Hot Cereal" in the cabinet for over a year and just never think to use it up. I went through a kick of it last winter but went back to oats sometime after. So husband and I decided to give it another shot.

It was good, but I think I still prefer oatmeal. It's make with wheat germ, flax seed, soy grits, and oats and has 2 grams more fiber and a few grams more protein than regular oatmeal for 10 calories more. You can definitely taste the flax, which was fun, and it's got a nutter, "woodsier" (husband's word) taste. I think I prefer the sweeter, softer taste of oatmeal, but I would still give this an A-.

Served it with pear (small amount), toasted walnuts and PB. I borrowed 80 calories to have the PB from yesterday since I had 80 left. Tonight we're making homemade pizza (~500 calories total) and I'm going out to lunch (unpredictable calories) so I was going to skip the PB today, but since I was under yesterday and am not trying to lose weight, I figured I could borrow the calories. I know a lot of my CK friends do weekly averages, but they scare me for some reason! I need to get over that, and I did today :)

Blueberry/French Vanilla coffee:

As you can see, we did eat in the dining room as part of our "Celebrate the Green" plan :) Note my pretty Xmas candle:

Before my workout I had Ezekiel toast with Smart Balance and jam:

Total breakfast calories: 520. (But 80 of those are assigned to yesterday!)

Workout calories: ~450 = a good day!!

I'll be back to post some Fit From Within thoughts later this AM!

And The Weekend Ends : o (

2007-11-11T20:06:00.000-05:00

Another fun day of cooking, relaxing and eating!!!

Lunch:
Breakfast held me over from 10 until 2pm - I love having late lunches! Of course I made roasted vegetables again, but this time they turned out to be 35 calories an oz!! That's rather high considering other batches were 20 cal. an oz. But they were just as good!! I had them for lunch over the last of last weekend's spaghetti squash and 1/2 a cup of garbanzo beans:

And had just what I was craving - Kashi crackers!!

Both with my pretty bowl:

Wish I could have had fruit and/or yogurt with lunch, but my bowl turned out to be high in calorie and pretty filling, so all was well anyways. Lunch calories ~550.

Studied nutrition all afternoon. That stuff is amazing!! The metabolic processes are so interesting - bottom line: EAT CARBS!!! They are your fuel and if you don't eat them - lots of them - your body will break down your muscles to fuel your brain because your brain can't be fueled by fat!!

Snack time:
Cranberry sauce (made a double batch!) with pear, yogurt, and flax. And a peanut butter cracker!!! I also nibbled on another oz of veggies and had 3 more Kashi crackers when I was packing my lunch. Snack calories: ~200.

Cocktail Hour:
Husband and I finished the open bottle of white. I wasn't really in the mood though, so I gave him my last oz. Way to drink intuitively!

Dinner: Taco Night!

Ground turkey with taco seasoning
Romaine
Sauteed bell pepper and tomatoes
Chipotle cheese (half a slice, sliced)
Plain yogurt
2 crumbled Blue Corn Taco Shells (a great find - just corn and healthy oils. 2 are 140 calories!)
and Cholula

Dinner was delicious, but it was gone too fast and wasn't the most filing!! I had some sips of the husbands hot chocolate after, but I want to go to bed more than I want another snack. I am a little hungry and have some calories left.....what to do!?!?!

Dinner calories: 350

Sunday calories: 1576

-500 during morning run

= net of 1076.

I wonder what would make a good snack? A glass of milk??

**********************

Edited to add that I had 4 oz of warmed milk. Hot milk is GOOD!!! And perfect before bed. I would have put a CIB in it, but didn't want chocolate when I'm about to brush my teeth. Off to bed!

Sunday Breakfast + Run

2007-11-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

Went to bed at 9:30 last night (I know, I know - too early for a Saturday - but I was tired!) and got up at 7:30 this morning - that's 9 hours!!! Geez! I started waking up around 5:30 a.m. but it took me 2 hours to wake up enough to realize I should get up and get going.

Run:
5.4 miles this morning for about 500 calories burned once I had cooled down and stretched. NICE way to start a Sunday!!!! The husband and I ran together, which always makes things more fun. I wore leggings but my legs were still rather stiff the whole run. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall morning. I had half a banana before I left.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal pancake!! I ate in the new dining room and read a Real Simple. Now I have to admit, we eat in front of the TV a lot. We love watching cooking shows and it always seems like a good time to watch. This is a habit I'd really like to get away from, but every time I make us eat at the table, we just wish we were watching a show!! Bad, I know. So I told the husband I'd like to eat in the dining room to "celebrate the green" every morning this week. He agreed, so we'll see how we do. I ate in there this morning and it was soooo beautiful!! Although watching TV is not stressful at all, it helped for me to just browse a magazine and not have to think about the TV or "busy" things.

With kiwi (I cut it open too early - it wasn't quite ripe enough :( )

Blueberry Cobbler Coffee. SMELLS amazing, but it tastes a little burnt. I found that if I double up on the sweetener, it's much better. But I hate that I have to make it so sweet!

All together for 334 calories (plus 43 from pre-run banana) = 380. That means I'm in negative calories from my run!! Maybe I should have a snack...

Weight: 120.4
Since my Saturday night was well-behaved and I didn't have to workout first thing, I weighed in today: 120.4!!! Good news. My goal is to maintain at 120. I was up a little bit to around 121-122 in early October and am glad I'm now back down. I don't have the chance to weigh myself often because I feel I get inaccurate weights at 5:00 a.m. and the weekends usually have wine or a treat on the night before and I never want to weigh in if I've had wine the night before (I retain water with wine). I used to weigh-in everyday when I was losing, and I believe that "losers" should weigh in at least once a week, but in maintenance I find that it discourages me more than encourages, so if I'm happy with my body, how I feel, look and how my clothes fit, I don't weigh.

TA DA!!!!!

2007-11-11T11:14:00.000-05:00

The new and improved dining room!

It's soooo serene now and beautiful and calming. I LOVE the white, green and brown contrasts. I had breakfast in there this morning when the light was shining in and just felt so happy!! It will be perfect for our Thanksgiving feast in 2 weeks - we're hosting our families for the first time as newlyweds!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

View all the way through the kitchen:

Super Saturday!

2007-11-10T19:56:00.001-05:00

All we did really did today was housework, but I sure did enjoy it!!!

Saturday Accomplishments:

Entire dining room painted with two coats!
All rooms dusted
All rooms vacuumed
Painting supplies organized
Trunk cleaned out
Bathroom trash cans emptied
Clothes laundry done, folded and put away
Sheets and comforter cover changed and washed
All mirrors cleaned
Grocery shopping done
Carpet spot-cleaned
Wood furniture polished (selected pieces)
45-minutes walking done
Meal made and cleaned
Dishwasher emptied

Husband and I decided we need to start taking reusuable bags to the grocery store. There's no reason to use plastic bags and plus, we HATE dealing with the plastic bags - in the store, from the car and in the kitchen. So I found these super-duper cute bags at www.reusuablebags.com for $19 each. They are BHappy Bags (www.bhappybags.com) and they come in all different colors. I ordered the Victoria and the Lucy:

Using them was SOOO fun!! I put all my heavy produce (butternut squash, carrots) on the counter first and then put it in the bottom of the first bag. All the light produce followed on top (pears, kiwis). The other bag got the boxed things and toiletries, turkey meats, maple syrup, Smart Balance, etc. Basically anything that wasn't produce. I fit $76 worth of groceries between the two bags, with the milk by itself. Harris Teeter usually packs your bags for you, but today they were busy so I did my own, but I have no idea how I'll handle this if a bagger is there. Maybe just dismiss them? And the best part: getting home. I could carry one bag per shoulder (I usually take 2-3 trips or command the husband to carry them in) AND unloading in the kitchen was SOOO EASY!! All my produce was there together and I didn't have plastic bags flying all over the place. YAY!!

Dinner:

For dinner we had to use up this cornish hen we had thawed and some leftover cauliflower. I also picked up a bag of whole carrots while at the grocery store because they were only $.99 for the whole bag - one of the cheaper vegetables! Husband did the meat searing, and I did the veggies -

Steamed cauliflower, mashed with 3/4 an oz grated Parmesan cheese and 1 tbsp smooth goat cheese, plus S + P.

Ginger-Brown Sugar-Butter-Orange Carrots. These were A-MAZING! First I steamed the carrots in 1/2 a cup of water with half the ginger. Once they were fork tender, I drained them and added 1 tbsp Smart Balance Light to the pan and sauteed the other half ginger, added the carrots, then added 1 tsp brown sugar. Once cooked through, the brown sugar started to caramelize on the bottom of the pan - YUM!! i removed the carrots and needed something to de-glaze with and chose a splash of orange juice I made from half a leftover orange. They were soooo good. Husband said his first bite of carrots was the highlight of his whole night! Go ME!

And finally, 3.5 oz Cornish hen breast. (Husband loves "weird" meats and these are just like little chickens.) He seared it in a little EVOO and then de-glazed the pan with a splash of white wine to pour on top. I took the skin off of mine.

All three for 340 calories:

Would have been even better with a glass of wine (but I was not allowing myself any tonight despite the open bottle) and a big leafy green on the side for some more volume because I was still a little hungry an hour later....

.....so I made an oatmeal pancake in a bowl!!

130 grams pumpkin
1/4 c egg whites
1/4 c quick oats
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Nuked for 3 minutes. Drizzled with honey!! ~175 calories. A little high for after dinner for me, but I had (surprisingly) plenty of calories left to spare tonight!! This version doesn't even compare to the stove-top version (the skillet browning adds a nice crust and this guy was a little soggy) but for an after-dinner mess-free dessert, it was great. I would probably leave out the oats next time to save 75 calories, but I have a long run in the morning and didn't have any grains with dinner, so I figured I needed some.

Total Saturday calories: ~1475

-369 through over an hour of good housework and 45 minute afternoon walk with the husband

= net of 1105. Way to recover from last night!!

Before and after photos of the dining room to come in the AM. I need some natural light for the afters. It's gorgeous!!!!!!

Disappointing Lunch

2007-11-10T13:56:00.001-05:00

Tuna Salad Melt with Green Apple Slices

I was super excited about this healthy lunch, but it didn't turn out as good as it was in my head. Neither was breakfast. Maybe I killed my palate with so much wine last night???

Tuna salad:

1 packet tuna
1.5 tbsp reduced-fat mayo
Minced bell pepper
Minced carrot
Minced radish
1 tbsp capers
5 kalamata olives
Squirt of honey mustard
1 tsp pre-made pesto

I topped 2 slices of Ezekiel bread with reduced-fat Swiss cheese (I won't be buying it again but felt I should use it up), and as you can see, it was really just a rubbery tasteless addition of 120 calories. I should have just eaten the tuna with Kashi crackers, which was what I really wanted, but I thought the melt had potential so I went with the experimental option.

Green apple with cinnamon. Note to self: green apples don't hold a candle to red ones. Yuck!

Lesson #1 - if you want the higher calorie cheese, have the higher calorie cheese.
Lesson #2 - I've you're craving Kashi crackers and not bread, have the crackers.
Lesson #3 - Don't ever buy green apples again.

I usually have smaller portions of things so I can eat more variety. I think it's more satisfying to the palate. So my palate was still craving more after I was done, even though I could feel myself getting full.

So I had some pumpkin tea, which hit the spot!

Total lunch calories: 576. (Includes tea and 1 cracker).

I've spent quite a bit of time cleaning the house, vacuuming, folding laundry, etc. so I've given myself a 150 calorie boost for the movement. Still not sure if I'll be going walking, running, or even to the gym. I'm going to see what I feel like doing at 4:00. I've got 445 calories left, which will get me through dinner if I don't snack. So we'll see! I certainly could use a day off.

Our dining room is turning this middle color olive green as I type! Somehow I got out of painting and the husband is doing it all :)

Here are before photos:

Saturday

2007-11-10T10:34:00.001-05:00

Slept till 7:30 today - then had a leisurely morning with the husband, drinking coffee, eating oatmeal and watching Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel.

But the exciting news is that we're going to paint the dining room today!!! Husband is at Lowes right now buying paint and I'm cleaning the house. This will most likely be my "workout" today because the last time we painted it was pretty strenuous, but I may go for a run this afternoon. I'll post before and after photos when we're done!!

We got a new blueberry cobbler coffee to try. It smelled better than it tastes :(

Had PB oatmeal for breakfast - minus the walnuts to keep calories a little lower.

Look at my pretty bowl (another that my sis gave me!)

Breakfast calories: 367

Until lunch........

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2007-11-10T10:25:00.001-05:00

The Good:

Got lots of exercise yesterday - burned 757 calories thru workout and 2 walks
I had lots of fun with the husband

The Bad:

I'm guessing I had about 30 wine samples, which equaled about 3 glasses!! YIKES!!!
I'm not feeling my best today.....which makes me soooo annoyed.
I ate a few cubes of cheese and bruschetta toasts while at the event. I didn't need them!

A visual of how much wine I tasted:

The Ugly:

When we got home to make dinner, I had another small glass of wine - I totally did NOT need that!!
Once wine gets in my system, I want to eat everything in sight. After dinner I ate:

A slice of our new toast with PB and jelly
PB from the jar!!!!
2 mini Hershey bars
8 dark chocolate discs
A chocolate ice cream ball
Some pretzels!!

Went over calories by about 700. Ugggg.....

Roasted acorn squash and 2 oz leftover prime rib:

I think you could tell by my tone yesterday that I planned to sample more than 12 wines. Husband and I just love wine and they just kept saying "Oh, you have to try the La Crema Pinot - it's just fabulous" and I couldn't say no!!!

Yesterday's afternoon snack of oatmeal, milk, almonds and CIB:

Total Friday calories: ~2700!!!! Uggggggggg!

But the good news is it's over, and it wasn't a horrible outcome, and I'm back on track today.