I just got back from the gym, and I will admit openly that it was a half-assed effort. I started out on the cross-trainer for my HIIT, but I wasn't feeling it so after my warm-up and only 5 minutes of HIIT I moved over to the treadmill. I did 10 minutes of 1:1, walking and jogging. I know I could have pushed harder, but the love just wasn't in it today.And I only did part of my strength training. My rib/arm/shoulder is still in major discomfort so I'm afraid to do too much...but I totally used it to talk myself out of other stuff too. I still did all of my squats, step ups and abs...but that was it. Booo.Oh and while I'm here admitting these things, I'll tell you that I didn't get to the gym yesterday either. Work ran an hour late (grrr....) and by the time we had dinner I didn't want to go. I hate going after dinner. Lame.In other news, we tried those Yves Veggie Breakfast Patties...and I didn't like them. There was some spice in there that totally turned me off. As a sausage substitute, texture-wise they were OK...for me, it was the nasty seasoning that didn't work. The omelette on the other hand, was KICK ASS...and I sauteed up some potatoes that were super yummy too.After dinner I threw together a new batch of bran muffins. DBF likes his straight up, plain...no frills. I like mine all decked out. So I did up a half dozen for him, and then fancied the rest up with shredded zucchini, cocoa, and chocolate chips. To. Die. For. I ate two when I was only supposed to have one, but I missed a snack earlier in the day, so I was still OP for the day.Today's menu is using up some stuff in the fridge...- Starbucks double tall vanilla non-fat latte- Red River Cereal with pumpkin & natural pb- Honeycrisp apple (bought at a local farmer's market)- "taco" salad...leftover tossed salad topped with leftover chili & light cheddar, light sour cream & salsa- yummy chocolate zucchini muffin- sesame rice crackers if I need them- Balsamic Dijon Chicken Breasts with sauteed mushrooms, steamed brocolli & spinach salad- pear with light Laughing Cow
Grrrr.....the scale is catching up with me. 153.8 just now. That's up 1.4 from last week, making an total of 3.8 up for the whole month.Time to buckle down! Operation Vegas is in full force! 23 days for staying OP and toning, toning, toning.I'll have to find time to squeeze the gym in after work today. Mondays are supposed to be a day off but since I didn't go at all over the weekend, I feel guilty and need an extra cardio day. I made Mondays one of my days off because of my work schedule, so I don't know when I'm going to be able to go, but I'll figure it out. Maybe right after work...before dinner.Dinner is going to be breakfast. I had planned to make spinach & egg white omelettes this weekend but we didn't have any tomatoes and they just aren't the same. So I will get DBF to pick up some toms and make the omelettes tonight...serving with Yves veggie breakfast sausage patties....hopefully they are yummy.Day 1 of 23...today's goal: no straying from the menu plan.- fresh pineapple- coffee- Red River cereal with natural PB & 1/2 banana (time to break out the Autumn breakies)- Greek salad (if it's still good...if not, spinach salad) with ww pita & tzatziki- pear- sesame rice crackers with light Laughing Cow- spinach & egg white omelette, served with Yves veggie breakfast sausage patties- skim milk- new batch of bran muffins tonight...maybe zucchini choc chip bran....get to try ONE :)
Did you know that Walmart has small containers of Smarties ice cream on for less than $2?I do.One of them made their way home in the bag with the heating pad I went to buy last night.It's gone now.Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.
Most of my neck/shoulder/upper back issues are actually caused by a rib or two that wind up out of alignment. Most people don't realize that you have ribs there, but you do! Mine cause me different sorts of pain...this manifestation is the worst for me because it's tied to the muscles somehow and just turning my head can create an agonizing spurt of pain. Tres annoying.Having said that, as I finished up work last night I was starting to get into a funk, so rather than sit here feeling sorry for myself I sucked it up and put my workout gear on. I'd already plowed through that box of chocolate almonds (damn cheerleader!) and that didn't make me feel any better (although they were super yummy!). So I figured worst case scenario I could just walk on the treadmill for an hour, or best case do more. I had to go over there to the pharmacy anyway, so might as well not waste the drive.And it was fine. I did 25 mins on the treadmill, random setting...even managed to include 10 mins of intervals...1 min jogging/1 min recovery. Then onto the elliptical for another 25 mins...using the cross-trainer setting with a medium resistance. I just had to be careful about turning my head to fast so as to not hurt my shoulder/rib/whatever. I was even able to do the majority of my strength training. I watched my weight and positioning, and changed up how I did my lunges. I have been carrying the 10 or 12 pound bar on my shoulders, so instead I carried a 5lb weight in each hand. I even managed to do two sets of jumping squats.All good.I will admit that I did this so late I was starving, so ended up with a cheeseburger for dinner...points wise it was fine...just not the healthiest choice. Oh well. I didn't snack at all once I got home, so that's a big deal for me.Today I'm trying to go back to the chiro and DBF is going to set up the new office chair I bought. I'm hoping it's better than sitting on this ball. The ball is comfy but I can't get it to the right height for typing at my computer and I think that's part of the issue I'm having. No gym today...but maybe a walk later since DBF is home from work and the sun is out....Menu plan off the cuff....- coffeeeeeeeeeeeee- fresh pineapple- All Bran bar- Greek salad, ww pita & tzatziki- sesame rice crackers w/ light Laughing Cow- apple or pear- grilled chicken with salad- some sort of evening treatie
1 - it appears that I've thrown out a rib again, which explains the excrutiating pain under my shoulder blade. yippee. this should make gym time interesting.2 - there is now a box of chocolate covered almonds sitting on my kitchen counter. this is a pitfall of suburban living...the constant onslaught of cute kids soliciting at my door. today is was the cutest 12 year old competitive cheerleader ever. 3 - DBF is at work all night and also just emailed me to let me know that his schedule has changed indefinitely, which leads to self-pity about being alone a lot this Fall and Winter. Boo hoo.
Last night's dinner concoction involved another recommendation from DBF's dietician...TVP...textured vegetable protein (aka TSP...textured soy protein). I'd never heard of it, but we think she told him to try it out so that he would still get lots of protein without eating too much red meat, etc. It's made from defatted soy flour.Aside from being a high-protein meat substitute, it doesn't seem to have many other good nutritional properties, so I think we'll keep it to a once-in-a-while item. I'd personally rather just eat more chicken and beans and watch our portions.Everything I read online recommended trying it 50/50 with actual meat in a recipe before trying it as a straight replacement, so I made up a batch of chili last night and it turned out pretty good. If no one told me it wasn't all beef, I wouldn't have known.The TVP comes as a bag of dry flakes...looks like smashed up corn flakes. You reconstitute it with water and it puffs up into a meaty texture....now looks like mushy corn flakes. I reconstituted with some beef broth to give it some flavour, then used it in the recipe just like ground beef....browned it right along with the onions & the 1/2 lb of ground beef.Anyway, so that was last night's adventure. Didn't manage to get out for a walk yesterday....work impeded me during the day, and then it was dark by the time we finished dinner. Boooo. I'll have to make sure to get extra time in at the gym today. I have a chiro appointment so my strength training will have to be reduced so I'll have extra time for cardio.DBF is at work overnight so my meal plan is using up some stuff in the fridge....- coffee- Kashi Crunch with vanilla soy milk- fresh pineapple- Greek salad with tzatziki & ww pita- Kashi bar- 1/2 banana before gym- Butternut squash soup, with Ancient Grains tortilla stuffed with leftover baked black beans- skim milk- blueberry bran muffinLord help me not snack my face off tonight!
I finally updated my other blog with info and photos from my Mommy's visit!
I stole this recipe from the internet, but it's pretty simple so I don't feel bad. :)- 1 medium/large Butternut squash- 1 tetra pack chicken broth- 1 medium onion, diced- 2 cloves garlic, minced- nutmeg, cinnamon, salt & pepper - olive oil Wash, dry and cut the butternut squash in half (this is easiest if you score the skin and pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to soften it a bit).Roast the butternut squash cut side down on a sprayed baking sheet in the oven for about 45 minutes at around 375-400 degrees. Flip it over to give the flesh a poke with a fork...if it feels fairly tender then it's close enough to done. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle.Scoop out the prepared squash. (I got about 4 cups out of mine.)In a large saucepan, saute the onion in olive oil until tender. Add squash and saute a few more mintues. Then add chicken stock, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to light boil and cook for 20 minutes or until squash is tender. If it starts to get too thick, thin it with a bit of water.Remove from heat, let stand about 10 minutes.Puree squash mixture in a blender in small batches until smooth and then return to saucepan. Reheat and serve.Can be topped with light sour cream or yogurt. Sprinkle with parsley if you wanna be pretty.(Note: I added flax meal to mine and you can barely notice it...works pretty good if you are looking for somewhere to sneak in that flax.)
Ha! I should whine on here more often. Look how many of you came out of the woodwork to comment yesterday. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Thank you, I needed it! (I'm worried with all of you BLBE Challengers out there, that the rest of us will get lost....don't forget about us!)I was just reading some comments on Amy's blog and all of you with your "bring it" attitude are awesome and hysterical. The motivation is fantastic, and I'm hoping to catch some of it. I'm really starting to wish I had some sort of goal so I could join you, but honestly my big thing right now is just maintaining and toning so it's sort of hard to use that. I'll just cheer myself on right along with you all.I want to take a moment to thank all of you that are doing the CIBC Run for the Cure. I can't do it this year, as it's the day before DBF leaves for 5 weeks again, but I had really considered it. After the accomplishment I felt when I did the Relay back in June, I decided that I would like to get involved in more of these activities. But since I can't do it this time, I'm greatful that many of you are and I will be thinking about you and cheering you all on on race day.Yesterday was a pretty good day. I did indeed get to the gym at lunchtime. Had to cut the HIIT short by 5 minutes and left out a couple of arm excercises in order to get in and out in under an hour, but it was a good workout and I'm glad I went. I also went for a brisk 15 minute walk after dinner last night. It's really starting to cool off in the evenings but it felt good. Today is cardio day and since it's nice out I think I'll go for a walk along the local trail again.Food was a little over, but I think with the exercise it probably mostly evened out. I didn't eat anything terrible, just maybe a little too much, and not enough fruit & veg. Oh well, today is a new day!Today's plan....- ww english muffin with natural PB & smear of jam- coffeeeeeeee (tried with vanilla soy milk today and it's pretty yummy)- Gala apple with light Laughing Cow- homemade butternut squash soup, Ancient Grain tortilla with leftover baked black beans- cucumber slices- baby carrots- Kashi bar if needed- not a frigging clue what to make for dinner....didn't do a proper grocery shop and now I'm stumped....I'll think about it. :)- blueberry bran muffin & decaf tea
Not one comment yesterday! Booooooooooooo! Here I am trying for a Restart and no comments....come on you guys! Help a gal out! :)Yesterday went OK, but too many 2 point snacks and an extra bowl of cereal again. I know it's not a big deal, but lands me up about 8 points over for the day. DBF and I did go for a lovely 4km walk on the local trail at lunchtime though, so that was a highlight. We went to the movies last night and all I could think about was CANDY the whole time...which is what I think led to the extra bowl of Kashi when we got home.I had planned to drive DBF to work this morning and hit the gym, but he had errands to run for work and wanted to have his own car. Of course, this shouldn't have stopped me from getting up and going to the gym anyway, but I must've hit the wrong button when my alarm went off because I thought I snoozed it and the next thing I knew it was after 9am and time to start work. Meh. I guess I'll be trying to squeeze in the gym at lunchtime instead. It's HIIT on the cross-trainer today....plus full on strength training.Menu plan so far...- Kashi Go Lean Crunch with vanilla soy milk- 1/2 banana- coffee- homemade butternut squash soup, 1/2 english muffin w/ Becel- grapes- carrots & cukes with hummus- dinner is going to be some kind of quesadilla concoction with leftover turkey sausages, chicken & black beans, served with salad- blueberry bran muffins & decaf tea
Although I'm still weighing in at 151.4, I feel like today needs to be a true restart. Points/calories wise I think last week sort of evened out by the end of the weekend, but it certainly wasn't my healthiest week ever. Exercise was almost non-existant. There may have been a greasy carborama appy platter at Boston Pizza. There most definitely was a few late evening bowls of cereal that definitely weren't planned for. A Mars bar was eaten in under 30 seconds due to starvation while shopping and I don't even like Mars bars.Mamma is gone now and DBF is doing freaking great on his new menu plan, so there are no excuses for me! I leave for a business trip in Las Vegas in exactly one month. So today commences OPERATION VEGAS BODY!A few points I thought I'd write down to keep myself accountable...- Lattes need to be treats, not daily requirements- Water is my friend- Take advantage of the good weather while it's still here (walks after dinner and such)- New workout schedule (due to stupid work meetings buggering up old schedule) - Tues/Thurs early morning HIIT & strength training, Sat or Sun HIIT & strength training, Mon/Wed noon cardiofest- Stick to the menu plans!On a positive note, we had a lovely goodbye dinner out on Friday night before Mom left and while she and DBF enjoyed steak and potatoes (he planned his treat night into his new menu plan), I ordered a seafood plate that was light and freaking to die for. Served with salad, it was perfect and I didn't feel overstuffed or saturated in carbs. No wine for me either!Also, while DBF enjoyed a boys day yesterday I ran errands and did some shopping, and as the good little girl I am I toted my gym gear with me and at the end of the afternoon I hit the gym! Treadmill hill inclines powerwalk, followed by full strength training routine, including my 100 crunches. (I had actually tried to go to the gym on Saturday morning after dropping Mom off at the airport super early, but it wasn't open yet! and of course, my motivation died and I never made it back there when they were open.)Today's menu plan...- coffee- Liberte Muesli yogurt cup (choco crunch)- fresh pineapple- homemade butternut squash soup, 1/2 english muffin with Becel- Gala apple with light Laughing Cow wedge- Kashi cherry/choco granola bar- Tomato Basil Turkey sausage, grilled and served with spinach salad- glass of skim milk- Special K vanilla almond with vanilla Almond Breeze- 2 litres of water!
Another yummy treat courtesy of DBF's dietician....the morning smoothie! She offered this up as a great way to get some fruit in, as well as some soy protein. We added the flax ourselves, but that is something that is listed on her menu plan as well. Tastes great, easy to make, and covers three of his nutritional bases!- 1/2 banana- 1 cup strawberries- 1 cup vanilla soy milk (we bought Silk)- 1 tbsp flax mealBlend the mothering bejesus out of it, and serve. :) For a more complete breakfast, have a slice of whole grain toast with Becel or natural peanut butter.
This is the recipe from the "bean book" the dietician sent home with DBF. I made these for the three of us last night, and while I was making them I was skeptical, but they turned out really good....all of us enjoyed them. And holy filling Batman. Mom and I each had one, DBF was allowed two...served with salad....and we were all freaking stuffed.- 2 cups white pea beans (Navy beans), cooked & cooled (I just bought a can...no cooking required...rinsed)- 2 cups white skinless chicken breast meat, shredded (I used the two breasts from a pre-cooked deli chicken because I was in a hurry)- 1 cup medium or hot chunky salsa- 1.5 cups shredded Monteray Jack or Cheddar Cheese (I used only 1 cup and it was more than enough...next time I'll use light)- 6 x 10 inch flour tortillas (I bought whole grain flax tortillas and they were fantastic!)- light sour cream for serving (if desired)I also added a few dashes of cumin and a couple of chopped green onions. The recipe indicates you could add peppers or onions or jalepenos if you like. I might like some fresh tomatoes chopped up in there. Quite versatile really.Mix the beans, chicken, salsa, cheese (& seasonings & added veggies) in a large bowl. Evenly split the filling amongst the six tortillas. Roll each one up burrito style, making sure to tuck the ends in as you go, so you have little "packages". (I suck at this by the way.) Place on a cookie sheet, seamed side down.Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until browned. (Mine didn't really brown, but the tortillas were crispy to the touch.)Et voila! That's it. Let stand maybe 3 minutes, then serve.(According to the recipe these are about 485 cals each, but I used less cheese and obviously it would depend on the salsa and tortilla nutritional info.)We had two leftover and I'm going to try freezing them because I think they will reheat later fantastically.
DBF went to visit a dietician yesterday so I was pretty interested to hear what info he came home with. Of course, the info he has is tailored more to him but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. It is mostly what I expected....portion control, less dairy, more fruit, more fibre, more healthy fats (specificallly Omega-3), eat breakfast, etc. I'm going to try to read through the extensive pamphlet she gave him, so I can make sure to help him with the healthiest dinners, etc possible. I do pretty much all of the dinner cooking, so for the most part everything is quite healthy because that's my lifestyle...but I need to make sure I am incorporating her suggestions for him now. I am actually really looking forward to it! And I wish I could have gone with him to see her so I could pick her brain too. Oh well, I'll just learn by osmosis from him. :)One of the things she specifically told him was to make friends with beans. This will be tough because he's not a bean fan at all. But she gave him a little booklet of recipes and recommended a few in it that she says most of her patients like, so I'll be giving them a go to see if we can get him liking them. Apparently white pea beans (aka Navy beans) are one of the most nutritious foods out there...lots fibre, protein, vitamins, etc.... We already knew beans were good for us, but apparently these ones are the best. This may mean that I can try out some of my recipes that include black beans or chick peas, etc and he might actually eat them now!Another thing that she told him to try was to get soy protein into his diet. I'm not totally sure the reason for this, but I'm guessing it's because she wants him to limit his dairy intake (he drinks 4 litres of milk every 2-3 days, and now has to cut down to 3-4 glasses per week), plus because he'll be eating smaller meat portions and leaner meat portions, he needs to get his good protein from other sources. So we got him some vanilla Silk to make his new breakfast smoothies with (a good way for a non-lover of fruit to fit it into his menu)....I tasted it and wouldn't drink it as a milk replacement but would definitely use it for cereal and stuff like that.And finally....she recommended flax meal for him...especially for the Omega-3 aspect...and conveniently I just bought some (I exchanged those seeds I bought and got the ground stuff)....so he put it in his smoothie and said it was fine. So I'll try stirring it into sauces and stuff for us too.So we'll see how it goes....I'm excited for him to do this, although it will be a hard change for him. I won't be blogging a lot about it because it's his life, not mine, and if he wants the world to know about it then it's up to him. I'm not one to announce other people's lives on my blog...but I wanted to share the few interesting things I heard so far. As for me, I had a dentist appointment this morning and my face is still slightly frozen so here it is 11:30 and I haven't eaten yet. I did manage to slurp back part of a latte, but I dribbled my last sip so now I'm waiting. (DBF, sweetheart that he is, stopped at Starbucks with some work buddies this morning and had himself a black coffee with sweetener...tough for him and his love of the Frap...and brought home lattes for me and Mom.)I have lots of work to do...still catching up from being off last week, plus some boookkeeping issues that came up, and I'm off tomorrow....so hopefully I finish early enough to get some kind of workout in this evening. We didn't get our walk last night because it gets dark so early now...booooooo....so I really feel I need to do something today.Today's eats...when I can finally shovel them in....- SB triple grande vanilla latte (he forgot to say non-fat, but it was a nice gesture and I really needed coffee! 2% won't kill me.)- Liberte Svelt vanilla yogurt with 1/2 banana- Campbell's Italian Wedding soup, hummus & toast- apple & natural PB- dinner will be to try out these chicken and bean wrap thingies the dietician recommended, served with tossed salad- grapes
Yesterday was still a good day, but lunch ended up being a tiny cheeseburger, some fries and a small vanilla shake at The Chickenburger instead of the spinach salad. I had wanted to take Mom there, as it's just one of those places you should visit when in Halifax...and so we did. :)DBF and I did go for a walk last night though, plus I eliminated a few snacks to help even things out. All in all, I'm pleased with the day.Today I have a stupid work teleconference to prepare for (yes, you've been reading that a lot here...the new bosses are big on these), plus I have a chiro appointment this afternoon, so no gym for me. Hopefully we'll be able to get another walk in tonight though.Today's menu....- blueberry bran muffin, coffee, fresh canteloupe & strawberries- lunch will be that spinach salad & pita with hummus from yesterday- some sort of afternoon snack: All Bran bar maybe- dinner is tacos! hard shells, extra lean beef, veggies, lotsa salsa, smidge of cheddar & light sour cream, small glass of skim milk- after dinner maybe some yogurt or grapes or a couple of Lifestyle cookies or somethingOh, and just a minor note: on Monday night DBF went to the store for milk and asked if we wanted anything....I actually started out asking for Dairy Queen but he said he didn't want any so I decided not to either. Mom got a McFlurry anyway, and it didn't even phase me! Woooo!
...two more to get me past my OP hump. (it always takes me three solid days to really be fully OP....yes, I'm mental.)Good eating yesterday. Didn't do the gym as I was just soooo tired I didn't want to risk another dizzy spell or anything. No biggie as my food was all OP and I got to hang out with my man and my Mom. :) Got up to drive DBF to work this morning so did yesterday's planned workout all before 9am today! It was a bit tough getting back into it, but I just took it a bit easy on the cardio and powered through my strength training no problem. Nice.So now I have the whole day to continue catching up on work and maybe have lunch with Mom.Today's eats...- pre-gym: big gulp of Bolthouse Strawberry Banana Smoothie, choc chip banana bran muffin- Starbucks double tall vanilla no-fat latte- ww English Muffin with natural pb and smear of that homemade jam we bought- fresh canteloupe & strawberries- spinach salad & toasted ww pita with hummus- After Eight single- dinner is a honey-soy chicken stirfry with brocolli & rice, small glass of skim milk- blueberry bran muffin & decaf tea
As promised!So, first things first...weigh in. Apparently .4 pounds feels like 5 pounds. That's right, I'm only up .4 pounds. (note stunned look on my face!) I'm stoked about the great number, but I still feel lumpy and lethargic. Sometimes it's not about the number, it's about the feeling. And my current feeling is UNHEALTHY. Today, it stops.DBF is home now. Yaaaaaaieeeeeeeeee. (Picked him up at the airport at 2am, so of course I'm super tired for my fresh start...but I'm trying not to let that effect me too much.) Mom is still here, but I am back to work for four days so we will be on a more normal eating routine. Homecooked dinners and my normal breakfast, lunches and snacks. No more Cheetos!! I banned the "vacation snacks" since I am no longer on vacation. Conveniently the last box of malt balls mysteriously disappeared (into my tummy...not really a mystery!) last night, so no temptations left. I even made a batch of bran muffins last night...1/2 dozen blueberry-flax-honey, 1/2 dozen banana choco chip.So here it is for today:- Bolthouse Strawberry Banana Smoothie- coffee- PC BM multigrain flax bagel with light cream cheese & a smear of yummy homemade raspberry jam we bought at the Farmer's Market- chopped freaking good fresh local canteloupe- hummus "pitza": toasted ww pita spread with hummus & topped with tomatoes, spinach, shredded carrots, mushrooms & light cheddar- chopped gala apple with Liberte vanilla yogurt- grilled pork chops with mushrooms & onions, corn on the cob with a smidge of real butter, leftover spaghetti squash with parmesan, glass of skim milk- blueberry bran muffin & decaf teaI REALLY want to go to the gym...but dudes, I'm so freaking tired I don't know if it's a good idea. My eyes are drooping as I write this, and I have one of those crazy lack-of-sleep headaches that I usually only get after a night of partying. I'm going to try my damdest to get there right after work though, so I can enjoy my yummy dinner and get to bed at a reasonable time.- 20 mins intervals on cross-trainer (30 second sprints, 1 minute fast paced recovery walks)- full strength training routine (I'm soooo missing my 100 daily crunches!)Good luck to everyone else that is embarking on Fresh Start Monday!!!
...as my plan to smarten up for the weekend is not going so well. God, it's just a downward spiral once you get on the "off-plan" ride, isn't it?We ended up sort of hurrying out the door today to make it to a Farmer's Market that I wanted to check out. So breakfast for me was my coffee. Oh so healthy I know.I had intended on stopping at the little restaurant at the same location as the market, but after we had driven away I realized that I had forgotten. Ended up at Jack Astors sharing calamari and crab dip. Somehow the Sprite Zero I ordered seemed a bit ridiculous next to the carb-o-rama.Dinner was Asian Slaw served with these wicked homemade Chicken & Veg Eggrolls and Deep Fried Pork Wontons we picked up at the Market. Sooooo good. Not sooooo good for us though.And now I shall go and chop up that lovely Tiger Butter Cup (ha, sorry Phoenix!) for my evening treatie. :)Tomorrow morning we have plans for brunch with some friends that wanted to meet my Mom....and of course right now my intentions are for poached eggs or some other lovely healthy thing....but there will be bacon so we all know how that goes. At least the dinner plan for tomorrow is for the chicken breasts I have marinating in Greek spices, to be served with some yummy spaghetti squash I picked up from that market today. And dessert and snacks can be the freshest, tastiest friggin canteloupe I've ever had that we bought at a market in Mahone Bay. Can you say fresh is freaking yum!?!
There was an incident at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory today. There might have been a huge chunk of English Toffee covered in chocolate and nuts. To. Die. For. And maybe a hefty chunk of the hugeass cookie Mom bought. (at least I didn't buy my own!) I still have a large Tiger Butter Cup for tomorrow. And dinner was a chicken souvlaki wrap with fries dipped in mayo. On any normal day that would be OK, but after the week I've had, I need some freaking veggies in my life.I've been cranky and I bet this is why. My body is mad at me.I'm on it! (well, I'm still gonna eat that Tiger Butter Cup....but maybe I'll serve it with salad...ha.)
Yesterday's choices were not great, nope nope nope. But enjoyable...yes, yes, yes. :)I did a quick Timmy's run in the morning for coffee since we didn't want to make a pot at home. I was going to run further to SB for my latte, but got lazy and just grabbed a Timmy's for myself too. I actually hate Timmy's coffee....with a passion. And for some reason ordered it with 1 cream, 1 sugar...which I would never do anywhere else. Weird. But it was caffeine so I drank it. I also grabbed a muffin for Mom so decided to get myself a toaste bagel, dry. But of course when I got home, they had buttered it. Grrrrr....but by then I was starving and didn't want to waste it so I ate it. I think I had a plum too but now can't remember.We did stop for a chocolate bar for the car ride, which I had planned. 4 points for a Crunchie bar.When we got to Mahone Bay, we decided to keep going to Lunenburg and I'm glad we did because it was a great day and we found a really yummy restaurant. It was right in the heart of tourist-land so I wasn't expecting it to be good but it was. I could have ordered a salad or something, but they had a Haddock Burger that looked awesome so I chose that....and holy crap was it ever good. Lightly fried, with lots of tartar on this amazing focaccia bun. And the best handcut fries I've had in forever. Totally worth every calorie. (I'll regret that at weigh in time, but right now I don't care. haha.)Of course, it was a little downhill from there. Stopped at a cool little market on the way back through Mahone Bay and got a giant mint Nanaimo Bar. About double the size of what I should have had but so good. Then we didn't bother with dinner because lunch was so huge and so late in the day....so I got snacky in the evening and we cracked a bag of Cheetos. Oh well. Today I've stuck with Special K and coffee for breaky, and a bowl of fruit salad (I made up a big bowl last night so I wouldn't have any excuses not to eat it today). We're heading out for shopping or something so I might get a snack or a latte at the mall. Dinner might be out, so who knows!
I had to get up early for a chiro appointment yesterday, so breakfast was just a quick Special K bar on the way out the door....more like a pre-breaky snack I suppose. (BTW...those Peanut Almond ones are OK, but pretty dry). When I got back I was lounging on the couch with my book while Mom slept in, so had some coffee and a plum to tide me over. Later I made us tuna sammiches for lunch.Dinner was out at Fisherman's Cove in Eastern Passage....and big touristy waterside restaurant called Boondocks. It was OK...it's off season now, so it wasn't super busy or anything and because the weather is windy and a lot colder we couldn't sit outside. I had expected it to be nicer, but Mom was happy with it so all was good.We decided to order the Surf-n-Turf platter for two. It was MASSIVE. Caesar salads to start, steak to share, a lobster to share (poor Larry!), a huge piece of lightly battered haddock, shrimp, scallops, two huge dishes of steamed mussels, baked potatoes, rice pilaf, steamed veggies, and corn on the cob.The steak was stringy so I only ate about half of my half...so that was fine. And I purposely only put half of my potato on my plate. I had a few forkfuls of rice off the tray but didn't put any on my actual plate. The haddock was good with some tarter sauce on it, but I ate it last so I didn't eat much because I was full. I of course did eat all of my share of poor Larry, plus most of the mussels and all of my scallops and shrimpies. Mostly dipped in butter, but it was only a small dish of butter and I barely used 1/3 of it. I ate a good portion of the veggies, but the corn on the cob was way overcooked.Most of it was pretty tasty, but I guess I'm becoming a snob after all of the quite nice places DBF and I have been for dinner here. I had fun with Mom, but it's certainly not a place I would chose to go again. And the service was freaking terrible. The place wasn't busy at all, and at first he was basically rushing us on our drink choices, then once he brought our food....he never came back. Good thing we didn't really need anything. I actually had to flag him down to get the tartar sauce at one point. And it took forever for him to come clear our table when we were obviously done. He got a shitty tip for his shitty service and we didn't stay for dessert.Mom quite enjoyed herself though, aside from the slowass server, so all in all a big success. We are off to Mahone Bay today, so breakfast of coffee and fruit and maybe a bagel or something before we go. Lunch and fudge when we get there. :) No idea about dinner but I'll probably whip something up here.
So my choices thus far have been OK....just OK, because seriously people this is vacation time and I want to enjoy my Cheetos and ice cream. :) But so far so good.The first couple of days entailed our obligatory Chinese food, so I'm feeling pretty sodium laden...but other than that all good. Getting in at least as much water as usual, maybe even more. Breakfasts are no problem....with PC BM bagels, or fruit and yogurt, or even a stellar spinach and egg white omelet. Lunches are hit and miss. Yesterday we were at Peggy's Cove so we decided to be full-on tourists and eat at the restaurant there. It is NOT a good restaurant...I opted for the seafood chowder and it was mediocre at best....and I ate too much bread. But the soft ice cream made up for that! :) Dinner was those yummy maple BBQ salmon fillets from Superstore, baked and served with a huge-ass spinach salad. We won't discuss the bag of Swedish Berries that disappeared in a blink of an eye. Today will be similar breakfast, snack-type lunch, and whole lobster dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. Can't wait!
My Mom is visiting for the next couple of weeks, so I took this week off work to play tourist with her. I plan to try to stay active but no specific plans for the gym or anything. Everyone deserves a little vacation!Same with food. Gonna have some yummy treats and snacks, but will try to keep our main breakfasts and lunches on the up and up. :) This morning's weigh in put me up an even 1 pound from last week's record low of 150...but I expected it. Hard to keep at that even 150 for more than a day or two.
Went to bed after 3am...yes, I wind up doing puttering around when I should be sleeping.Got up just after 10am, drank orange juice, put on face, went to hairdresser. Breakfast consisted of Starbucks of course! Triple Grande Non Fat Vanilla Latte, and a bite of an oat bar.2pm, leave hairdresser and shove remainder of oat bar in my starving piehole.Run a couple of errands, go to chiropractor, attempt to eat the grapes I brought in my purse while stuck in traffic, but grapes are past their prime. Get home and immediately start long list of chores to prep for Mom's arrival tomorrow. Make sandwich of two pieces D'Italiano white bread (only 3 points for 2 pieces!), light Miracle Whip, grainy dijon, smoked turkey and light cheddar. Not a sandwichable veggie to be found in the house.Keep working away on chores, eat plum at like 8pm. Go to grocery store as I must present a healthy fridge for Mom after her all night flight. Wait in godforsaken checkout line for 20 minutes and eventually succumb to Crunchie bar. At least I bought lots of fruit, fixings for a great spinach omelette, and yummy Bolthouse juice....for tomorrow....Come home. Continue on with remaining chores. Get good workout vacuuming entire three story house. Pause to blog and drink my weight in water.Finish blogging. Fold laundry. Swiffer Wetjet living room floor. Collapse.Pick Mom up at airport at 7am. Oh yippee....6am wake-up....it's now 11:21 and look at all the stuff I still have to do.I love my Mom.
Oh sure, and now I'm singing that Madonna/Justin Timberlake song in my head!At least I'm not trying to save the world...just trying to squeak this blog in before my next teleconference.Had an ass sleep last night...AGAIN...but still got up basically on time. Worked for an hour solid, had some OJ, mowed the rest of my lawn, came in and made breakfast, worked for another half hour, put on my gym gear and headed out. Did HIIT on the cross-trainer (shorted myself about 5 minutes, but still worked up a good sweat and heart rate)...followed by my full strength training routine. Loving the walking lunges with the 10lb bar on my shoulders...think I'll try a heavier bar next week.Stopped for Starbucks on the way home. Yes, I have an addiction...but it's only 2 points for a Double Shot on Ice and I hadn't made coffee at home this morning. :)Now the rest of my day is jam packed so I'm stoked that I got my workout out of the way and can now carry on and enjoy my weekend. My Mom will be here at the crack of dawn Sunday morning and I'm off work all next week so she and I can be Halifax area tourists. Love me some vacation time!Eating today is looking good...- OJ- slice of yummy white bread with natural PB & 1/2 banana- Liberte Svelt vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries- grande Starbucks Double Shot on Ice with vanilla- sliced baby cukes, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, toasted ww pita, edamame hummus- grapes & light cheddar- I think I'm going to get fast-food for dinner...maybe Subway- and whatever drinks or snacks present themselves while at my friend's this evening :)HAPPY FREAKING FRIDAY!
Sorry for the late post. I had a lot going on today and for once, I decided to stick with what I was doing and stay off the blogs. haha. Mainly, I woke up late...like must have slept through my alarm late. Good thing I work at home and my coworkers are all in a different time zone. So by the time I got caught up on work, and managed to cram a late breakfast in, it was time to run out to the chiropractor. And when I returned from that, it was work work work. Work has been behind for a couple of weeks due to all this extra teleconference time with our new bosses, plus I'm off next week so trying to work ahead and put in training time with some coworkers. Then when I couldn't work any more because I was starving for dinner, I stopped and noticed the sun had come out...so quickly changed my clothes to mow the lawn after dinner...plus got invited out for coffee with my neighbors so really had no time in between anything. Whew...no blogging time allowed!However....I did get to the gym last night and had a grrrrrrrreat workout. It was busy there for some reason so I had to do my strength routine out of order, which annoys me but led me to force myself into walking lunges instead of stationary lunges so that was cool.No gym today because of the chiropractor, but I did mow half my lawn plus pull a MASSIVE amount of weeds, so I'm happy with that.Food today was a total mish-mosh of unplanned whatever...- 1 coffee (forgot the rest in the pot)- yummy squishy white bread with natural PB & 1/2 banana- intended on having OJ but forgot- Starbucks triple grande non-fat vanilla latte- Bear Paws Banana Bread- had intended on veggies & hummus but never got to it- at least dinner was healthy.... leftover piece of maple BBQ salmon (these are soooooooo good), served with leftover Asian slaw which I had mixed the last of the leftover roasted chicken into.- got a invite out with the neighbor girls so wound up at Starbucks again...so this time it was a grande decaf non-fat pumpkin spice latte (no whip) and an espresso brownie. - now I am going to drink as much water as I can in an hour.Over points, and not healthy at all...but all in all it's not really so bad. Tomorrow I'll be sure to get lots of produce in during the day. I'm going over to a friend's for the evening and who knows what treats that might entail. :) Work is going to be extra busy tomorrow but I do plan to start a bit early and I have scheduled myself exactly an hour & a half to race to the gym in the middle of the day....so let's hope that works out for me. Tomorrow is all about sticking to my schedule and not slacking off!Sleep tight!
I don't know why, but while wandering around the organic section at the grocery store last night, I picked up a tub of flax seeds. I think because I was surprised how cheap they were. $4 for a tub that will probably last me the rest of the year. I know I like them, but I'm not sure where to use them. Muffins? Salads? What do you do with your flax seeds??I hit the gym after work like a good little girl. 60 solid minutes of cardio (treadmill, crosstrainer, recumbent bike) followed by 100 crunches on the ab apparatus. Felt so good.This through off my whole timeline though. That's what happens when I go to the gym after work instead of in the morning. It was 6:30 by the time I got out the door, so almost 7:00 by the time I started working out...then stopping at the store afterwards...I didn't get home until almost 9:00, and then I feel guilty about eating a big dinner so late at night. I was going to just have some cereal and fruit or something but I really wanted my Chicken Pie, so I ate it and some baby carrots.Today is a similar plan except I'm going to try to get to the gym earlier...guess we'll see how work plays out. Today is back to HIIT (I think elliptical today since it's been a while) and my full strength routine. I cannot believe that our weather is still sooooo freaking shitty...so no walk for me today.I almost forgot to eat this morning until I realized that was what was probably causing most of my headache....- coffee- OJ- yummy fresh D'Italiano bread slice with light Miracle Whip, shredded roasted chicken, and a bit of honey mustard...there is nothing like fresh soft bread!- 1/2 banana- baby carrots, baby cuke slices, cherry toms, 1/2 warmed pita, edamame hummus- plum- 1/2 Clif Bar before gym (carrot cake!)- maple BBQ salmon, grilled and served with Asian slaw- something with dairy...either yogurt & blueberries, or Special K with skim milk- grapes if I'm still snacky
Booooo. So the sun is finally showing it's face, after leaving me in the lurch all weekend. I mean yaaieeee for sun, but booooo for it showing up at an inconvenient time.Last night I was so bored, and thirsty, and snacky. I hate that. I felt like I was just sitting there waiting to go to bed. I avoiding snacking for the most part, but did eat a bigass bowl of Special K (gotta say, not a fan of the red berries) at like 11pm. Oh well, it could have been so much worse!Tuesdays are usually crazy-busy for work, and with the long weekend I thought it might be even crazier, but so far so good. At least while I was having trouble sleeping last night I grabbed my laptop and did some catch-up laying in bed. It sucked that I was awake, but it was sure nice not to wake up to a stack of work.This leaves me a bit of time for me now. I think I'll wait for the coffee to brew then go for a good long walk. I'll be doing the gym tonight...and although I've missed a few strength days it will just be cardio tonight so I can get back on schedule for tomorrow.I need to get some lettuce or spinach today for salads. I bought a bunch of fixings the other day, but forgot the main thing! Today is going to be a water and produce day...yesterday was light on both of those things.- 1/2 banana- coffee- Liberte Svelt vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries- plum- sort of a Greek salad...chopped tomatoes, cukes, orange pepper & goat cheese (gotta use it up) in Greek dressing...with 1/2 warmed pita, and edamame hummus (soooo good!)- All Bran bar- dinner is again leftover Chicken & Veg pie...with spinach salad - grapes
Back to a more regularly programmed post....I ended up not going to the gym yesterday. By the time I finished waiting around for the no-show Kijiji girl and then got through SuperStore and Walmart for groceries, I just wasn't in any mood to work out. The skies had cleared up so I really had planned on coming home and going for a walk, but that didn't work out either.I came home and read on my deck for a little while...I was desperately trying to cling to the little glimpse of sun. Then I had that recipe I was making, so started putting that together and it took way longer than I had figured. So by the time dinner was done, it was gloomier out, and by the time I finished eating it was too dark to bother going out. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Oh well. It's a long weekend and I'll just pick back up tomorrow like everyone else. Today's eats have been pretty simple and sad actually...haha...- coffee- small tortilla wrapped with light Miracle Whip, roasted chicken (lots leftover from the chicken I bought for last night's recipe), tomatoes and shredded carrots- double tall no fat vanilla latte- chocolate chip banana multigrain cake thingy from Starbucks- plum- dinner is leftover Chicken & Veg Pie, with raw veggies on the side- grapes- Liberte Svelt vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries
******************************************************************************** 150!!!
********************************************************************************If I could hug my scale and take it's picture, I would!! That lovely digital machine showed me this miraculous number this morning. Exactly 150.0. You know what this is? This is my GOAL WEIGHT. This is the number I reached ONCE about a year and a half ago....in fact, it was probably two years ago. It then creeped up about a pound and a half and I have never been able to get back to it for even one week. If my scale ever moved, it was always up...then I would have to fight it back down but could never get past 151 - 152. I was always fine with that, but after the work I've put in this month, I'm so excited to see it pay off!!17 out of 19 days OP. One of those off days was planned, and the other was barely off plan. At least 3 days a week doing HIIT and Strength Training, plus at least 1-2 more days of cardio...sometimes at the gym, and sometimes just getting out to stretch my legs.Obviously this a good system for me!Now, to figure out how to maintain this!!
