Changing it Up

Tonight was a prime example of how even the best laid meal plans don't always work out. FH had a "working lunch" with a co-worker who is moving on to another position. By working lunch I mean they had some beers and potentially there was food involved. Anyway, he called around 4pm to let me know not to count on him for dinner....so I definitely wasn't going to make the big chicken and potato dinner I had planned. We'll do that tomorrow since tomorrow's plan was for turkey burgers that are still in the freezer anyway.

Instead, I thawed out the last remaining Baked Chicken and Bean Rollup and served it with a big salad.

In the salad was a big handful of mixed lettuces, a smaller handful of baby spinach, diced tomatoes, a few bits of red onion, matchstick carrots, and a tiny bit of minced jalepeno. I mixed it all up with my recent "dressing" of choice...salsa & light sour cream. At the last minute I topped it with a few of those tortilla crisps I bought a while back.

Earlier in the day I stopped at Bulk Barn for a few baking items and some more oatmeal...and since no trip to BB is complete without a treat, today was no different. I got myself a little bag of bridge mix and had that for my afternoon snack.

I saved my strawberries and canteloupe for dessert, and skipped the tea & mini cookies. Topped my fruit with a scoop of vanilla yogurt and a drizzle of chocolate PB2 (I'm trying to find more ways to use this as so far I haven't been overly impressed).

Must head for bed. Morning comes much too fast!

Kashi-licious

And now that I have that out of my system....I present lunch! :



I added a couple of slices of ham to the plate when I realized I hadn't included anything specifically in the way of protein. I should also note that was way too much cream cheese...hehe.

Kashi TLC Original 7 Grain Crackers

I'm cheap. I hate buying anything from the grocery store that isn't on sale....unless it's something that normally isn't way overpriced...say condensed soup...or a staple like milk. If there is a product I want to try, I wait for a sale. Almost everything in a supermarket goes on sale at some point. Of course, waiting for Kashi crackers to go on sale has been like waiting for all of this snow to melt....it never happens! Until finally the other day when I wasn't even in need of crackers, they finally appeared at 2 for $5....so I grabbed a box of the Original 7 Grain and a box of the Honey Sesame.

Upon first taste I wasn't too sure about these. I've waited so long to try them that I had them built up pretty high in my mind. They have the texture of a graham cracker, except maybe a bit harder. And because they aren't salty at all I was a little turned off. But after trying them again with some hummus, then again today with my lunch snack plate my opinion has been renewed. They are a hearty little cracker and certainly satiate my love of crunch without requiring half a box (like those evil Multigrain Wheat Thins). Definitely a better bang for the buck when they are on sale...since they will last much longer than the "junkier" snack crackers I usually have on hand. Problem is that I won't pay full price.

I haven't opened the Honey Sesame ones yet. I'm trying really hard not to have a bazillion boxes open in the cupboard these days. Once I finish something, then I can delve into those.

Hey, while searching the Canadian Kashi website I found a contest!
Free Granola Bars!

Shop Nude!

Oh, lululemon...this could be dangerous. Shopping from the comfort of my own home....my credit card is cringing already. ;)

I've had my eye on this little number for a couple of weeks....now it may happily become mine without even the slightest effort!

Spring Storm

Yes folks, here in Halifax we are in the midst of a freaking snow storm. What the hell? This is my unimpressed face.

View from the front window. Yes, that is icy snow stuck to the screen.

View from our back door.

Just yesterday we could see 3/4 of the lawn and were so excited.

However, I did drag my bum outta bed this morning to drive FH to work. My car has the snow tires, and for him to find parking in this kinda weather he woulda had to leave like 2 hours early. Not fun. So instead I took the opportunity to get myself moving and got my gym trip out of the way for the day. Tuesday = 25 minutes cardio & lower body strength training.

Treadmill: 5 minute warmup, 4:1 x 3, 5 minute cooldown = 25 minutes

+ plie squats with the ball x 3 sets

+ stationary lunges with weights x 1 set (these actually killed my sore tailbone)

+ walking lunges with weights x 1 set (still painful but not so bad)

+ step ups on weight bench x 1 set per leg

+ calf raises standing on bottom stair x 1 set

Came home and shoveled off the front porch and more of the driveway. FH did some before we left this morning, but not quite enough and then another few inches had piled up before I got home. Nutty.

Breakfast needed to be warm and filling, so I opted for egg whites and a ww english muffin. Mixed 1/4 cup egg whites, splash milk, dill, red pepper flakes and a bit of salt in a ramekin and cooked in the microwave. Toasted the english muffin, smeared with a bit of Olivina & ketchup. Topped with the egg whites & sprinkled with grated light cheddar. Served with vanilla coffee. Yum!

Today's eats...

- pre-gym: 1/2 Larabar (apple pie!)
- egg whites on english muffin
- coffee with skim & brown sugar

- leftover pea soup, Kashi crackers, light garlic & herb cream cheese, baby carrots, pickles

- strawberries & canteloupe, Baked Cinnamon Riceworks

- oven roasted chicken boobies, mashed taters, gravy, steamed brocolli & cauliflower

- tea and cookies

Mondays are Easy

So easy to stay motivated and on plan on Mondays, isn't it? I didn't even think about straying off to snackville today, and even though FH stayed home from work today I didn't use that as an excuse to miss the gym...I just went later. I heart Mondays.


Went to the gym right after hitting up the grocery store. It was just before 5pm when I got there so it was getting crazy busy, but I managed to get the two cardio machines I wanted when I needed them so I was happy. Monday = 45 minutes cardio.


Treadmill: 5 minute incline walking warm up, 4:1 x 4 = total 25 mins
Elliptical: tension intervals = 20 minutes


+ crunches & side crunches on the ball
+ hamstring curls on the ball (thanks Amy for the link) - soooo hard!


Dinner was a comforting meal of Habitant Pea Soup with Ham and sammiches of ham & cheese. I stuffed some spinach in there along with the smoked ham, light jack, and grainy dijon. Fairly tasty although I will say that this particular brand of whole wheat brand is boring. I like me some multigrain or ancient grains or something in my bread!



For a snack with our tea, we are going to try out these little chocolate chip cookies I found. PC Organics at Superstore. Decent ingredient list and good calorie count.

This Week, The Plan

I've planned our dinners for the week, and put some thought into lunches and as such came up with a grocery list for today. Mainly just a stock up on some fresh ingredients and few final pieces for the dinner plans.

Friday night is another night out to celebrate FH's birthday. His actual bday isn't until the 6th, but this is our only opportunity for a night out. Not sure the full plans yet, but I'm sure there will be fun, food and drink. ;)

I am sticking with mainly the same activity plan as last week, and since my tailbone is almost fully mended I shouldn't have too much difficulty. I was sad to miss warm yoga again yesterday and am crossing all of my fingers and toes that I can go this Sunday. Oh please, please!

Activity (copy and pasted from last week):

- Mon, Wed, Fri: 45 minutes gym cardio (running when possible, but otherwise incline walks and resistant elliptical work)

- Tues, Thurs: 25 minutes gym cardio, strength training (Tues upper body, Thurs lower body)

- Sat: 60 minutes gym cardio, strength training (full body)

- Sun: warm yoga or long walk or light gym cardio (pain and weather dependant)

*add a daily yoga session when tailbone allows

And for your viewing pleasure....today's lunch:

(I couldn't get the wrap to stay closed for the photo, but there's yummy chicken salad under that spinach!)

Camera Happy

Trying to keep the monotony out of my Monday morning work routine, I decided to keep taking food pictures for you all. :) Monday mornings require a couple of straight hours of catching up on important intake forms from my work website, which gets a little boring so I tend to like to break it up and do something else every 15-30 minutes. Today I decided to take some time on eating/planning/picture taking.

Started with my essential morning coffee, bottle of water, and finally unwrapped the Self magazine I got last week.

Even though the weather is annoyingly wet and blustery and it is a perfect oatmeal kind of day, I opted to make a yogurt parfait since the one I had on Saturday was so yummy and satisfying.

In the bowl: 5 fresh sliced strawberries, 1/2 sliced overripe banana, 1/3 cup All Bran, 1 Liberte vanilla yogurt with Apple Raisin Muesli.

Next break I will be writing my grocery list and making a workout plan for this week. Although if this weather keeps up I may be hibernating inside. It's disgusting out there! (What happened to that 14 degree sun from yesterday?)

Today's menu plan...

- water & coffee with skim & brown sugar

- yogurt parfait

- leftover chicken salad on a ww tortilla, baby carrots, pickles

- Kashi granola bar

- Split Pea soup w/ grilled ham & havarti sammiches

- tea & snack

Recovery Dinner

Thanks for the comments on my stagette party post, dear readers! I felt pretty hot. That black tube top never fails for me. When in doubt, I wear that top. The freaking excellent hair day totally helped too. haha. :)

Today's recovery continued on with a simple Spring dinner. (Did I mention is was a crazy 14 degrees here in Halifax today? It was actually Spring. Amazing.) The easy route really would have been to get drive-thru, but knowing that wouldn't make us feel any better I opted to rummage around in the fridge and came up with a simple, tasty, healthy supper. Spinach salad and chicken salad sammiches. Lucky for you all, I had my camera in the kitchen so I have a few pics for you.

I did the salad up with baby spinach, red onions, tomato chunks, quartered mushrooms, about 1/2 oz shredded old white cheddar, a sprinkle of Ready Crisp bacon bits, and a splash of ranch dressing. Toss that all up with some s&p and I dare you to find a better 3 minute salad. :) (My trick is to make one big salad and toss it all, then serve. You can use WAY less dressing this way...like maybe 1 tbsp for the entire huge bowl.)

For the sammich filling I started with a leftover grilled chicken breast, diced it up and mixed it with a chopped green onion, s&p, some light mayo and a healthy squirt of grainy dijon. I made FH's sammich with this, then added some extras to my share....red grapes, chopped walnut pieces, and a few raisins. Put all of this on my favorite Country Harvest sunflower flax bread and a bit of extra light mayo and served with the salad.

In the end, I threw a handful of Mrs. Vickie's chips on my plate too for some crunch and salt.

How to prepare for a Stagette....and how to recover

Last night was a stagette party for a friend who is getting married in Mexico next month. She lives a bit out of town, so she and her MOH decided to get a hotel room (a suite!) here in Halifax and hosted the first part of our evening there. A Sexy Girl party! There were snacks and drinks a plenty....including my Jell-O shooters and my drink of choice for the evening, Proseco. From there we carried on to a pub for some more drinks, and then to a local bar for dancing and of course, more drinks! I dragged my sorry behind home around 2:30am....just in time for FH to arrive home from the corresponding stag party. Today I'm a bit of a tired, headachy mess, but it was worth it.

Jell-O shooters: Wild Cherry Vodka & Lime Tequila

In preparation:

- slept in
- pre-gym snack of Kashi granola bar & coffee
- water!
- glorious workout consisting of treadmill, rowing machine, StairMaster, and full body strength training - water!
- hearty and healthy brunch:

- long, hot shower
- self-manicure
- extra long time blowing hair out and flattening properly
- mini-dinner including protein
- water!
- make-up, ironing, dressing up, taking blurry self portaits in bathroom mirror:

- call taxi while putting on finishing touches (then end up totally ready and still waiting for late taxi!)
- arrive with Jell-O shooters and make instant friends!

What not to do:

- mix too many alcohols...blech
- Proseco, Jell-O shooters, Strongbow, broken down golf cart shooter, vodka/soda, tequila shooter, random beer...nuff said

Bride to Be et moi (we totally forgot to make her wear her tiara when we left the hotel)

Morning after:

- try to sleep in
- get up to pee and take Advil
- nap a little longer on the sofa
- guzzle water
- attempt to get ready for brunch date, but give up immediately
- wait a couple of hours, then go for big bacon filled omelette complete with coffee, lotsa water, and fresh OJ
- feel slightly more human
- do a little shopping therapy
- eat massive pile of veggies for dinner
- console one's self with Easter Caramilk Egg supplied by equally tired FH :)
- hit the hay early

Should have done:

- more water throughout evening, especially before bed
- taken Advil and Gravol before sleep
- NOT MIXED BOOZES

Snack Attack - RiceWorks

I mentioned RiceWorks Gourmet Brown Rice Crisps in a post earlier this week. They were kryponite then, and they were kryptonite today. Ha. I should have known not to buy more! bwahahaha. But after watching the cute commercials on their UK partner website, I just had to try more flavors. Let me tell you that the Baked Cinnamon are PURE EVIL in a bag. Not exactly fair considering their slogan: Give in to Good.

Riceworks are my new fave treat.

I'm not even going to spend any time telling you about them. I am only going to demand that you pick up a bag the next time you are in the cracker aisle at your fave grocery store. If you like chips like I like chips, then I bet that you love these too. Just don't sit down with a bag like I have...cuz then you won't have any left for sharing!

Confessions

It's Friday so it seems like a good day to come clean. You know, so I can have a guilt-free weekend. (haha, ya right!)

This week has been a SNACKORAMA. Yesterday being the worst, but don't let that overshadow the rest of the week. Munch. Munch. Munch. I won't get into the details of the first few days as mainly it was just a lot of extra, unneeded snacks like cereal and such....but yesterday the chocolate monster in me took over! I found the remaining Easter Creme Egg in the pantry and sucked that baby back in about 20 seconds flat....didn't even savor it. Which led to an overwhelming craving for more, more, more. So while at Blockbuster last night I picked up one of those bigass boxes of Junior Mints...and ate the whole thing all by myself (subconciously totally chose something that FH didn't like so I wouldn't have to share). Topped that off with two mini bags of Jelly Bellys. Ugh.

What is my motto? "Today is a new day!"

Got up extra early to drive FH to work. I will have you know that normally I don't drive him on Fridays as he generally has short days that have him home by noon, but I purposely offered to take him so as to force myself to the gym first thing. Yaaieee me.

Added 2 more minutes to my treadmill run today. I'm totally on to something with the slightly slower pace. Warmed up with some incline walking for 5 minutes. Ran 7 minutes, walked 1, ran 7 more. Was just starting to feel a stitch at the end of the second running interval, so timing was perfect. Cooled down for a full 5 minutes of walking. For my modified ab work I did some crunches and side crunches on the ball. I'm so out of practice on the ball! Followed up with some planks, a few bum exercises, and some Supermans. This weekend I'm going to design myself a new workout routine or two....write them down on some cards to keep with me...so I'm working on a plan, not just on the fly. I will try to fit in another gentle yoga session later today too, since yesterday's went so well!

Sidenote:
- my tan (hahahahaha, my burn) is officially gone...and peeled or peeling. I guess the tropical vacay is totally a thing of the past. :(

Today's eating plan...

- 1/2 apple post-gym
- coffee w/ brown sugar & skim
- oatmeal: unsweetened Almond Breeze, 1/2 banana, raisins, sprinkle chopped walnuts, Almond Butter
- Healthy Request chicken soup, multigrain Wheat Thins, baby carrots, hummus
- 1/2 banana, maybe some grapes
- chicken quesadillas for dinner!: ww tortillas, grilled chicken boobies, leftover black beans, corn & spinach...with salad
- ff yogurt & strawberries

My Friend Hatha

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!! I just did 20 minutes of hatha yoga and it didn't hurt. I looked through a few of my pose guides from yogadownload.com and determined that Gentle Hatha #2 didn't have any sitting poses that looked like they would rock me back on to my sore tailbone so decided to give it a go. It was lovely. :) A few positions required some care but the bending didn't bother me at all. I'm on my way to a full recovery I think....soon I hope!

Blue Skies

I see blue skies outside! It was -5 this morning, but it's apparently going to be +8 this afternoon, so maybe it's finally time for a neighborhood walk. I suppose I should quit surfing the internet and get some work done so I can take advantage of that sun in the sky. :)

Yesterday was an activity bust. Not one damn thing. See, this is what happens when I stray from the routine of driving FH to work...I try to finagle my schedule to do my exercise at a different time of day and then end up not being able to fit it in. Work ran way late last night, so by the time we ate it was too late for a trip to the gym. And since yoga is still out of the question (boooooo) I didn't do anything. Gah.

Up and at it early today though to take FH to work....so a workout has already been done. I added another 4 minutes running time to my treadmill routine today and I think I've confirmed that running for sure does not bother my tender tailbone. Nice. A positive side-effect of being careful this week is that I've realized that I've maybe been running too fast for my skill level. I've dialed it down to 5mph (as opposed to 5.4) and I don't feel strained while running at all. I think slow and steady may be the answer I've been looking for...I'll keep playing around with it. I added 15 minutes of elliptical time to the session as well, just for a bit of extra calorie burn and a slight bum workout since my usual glute exercises are on the backburner for now.

Ab exercises are my concern now though. Definitely still can NOT do my favorite reverse crunches or v-situps....I tried just one and the tender pain just about made me yelp out loud. So I did three sets of boring, regular crunches but those are not enough to work on my whole core so I've been doing some online research. I'll post later about what I've found that I think will be great (again, positive side effect of my tailbone injury is that I'll be finding new and fabulous things to try). I did do a few planks, but even those hurt because of the flexing. It is getting better though.

I tried something different for breakfast today. I made a little egg white omelette in the microwave and it was fantastic. Mixed 1/4 cup egg whites, splash of milk, 1 tbsp Ready Crisp bacon bits, smidge of finely grated light cheddar, s&p, sprinkle of dill, and a bit of green onion in a ramekin coated with non-stick spray. Nuked for about 1 min 20 sec. Topped with salsa and served with toast.



Today's eats...

- coffee
- egg white microwave omelette, sunflower flax toast w/ Olivina
- 1/2 apple
- leftover Caesar salad w/ leftover mini Turkey & Black Bean burger patty
- banana
- spaghetti & meat sauce (leftover from FH's lasagna), steamed brocolli & cauliflower
- ff yogurt & strawberries
- tea (maybe banana muffin)

Recipe - Turkey & Black Bean Burgers

This is a modified version of a Rachael Ray recipe....she calls it the Burrito Burger. Hers is made with beef instead of turkey and is topped with yummy guacamole. FH doesn't like guacamole and I wasn't in the mood to make it just for me, so we used salsa and sour cream instead.

My Version - Turkey & Black Bean Burgers

1 pound extra lean ground turkey
15oz can black beans (rinsed)
1/2 cup leftover cold rice
1 tbsp grill seasoning (like Montreal Steak Spice)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
(optional: minced shallot or onion & fresh cilantro or Italian parsley)

We used ciabatta buns, but any nice roll will do. Topped with sliced tomato and spinach (because that's the greens we had on hand) and the aforementioned salsa & sour cream. Would also be good with fresh or pickled peppers if that's your thing.

Mix all ingredients together with hands. Form into 4 huge patties or 6 regular ones. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Cook patties, turning once, until browned...about 5 mins per side. (The oil is important...gives the patties the crispy outter coating). Serve piping hot on toasted buns with toppings.

I can't wait to try it with guacamole. It will be extra super fab.

Yum-O!

Hermit

I haven't left the house in about 28 hours. And I don't plan on leaving for at least another 5 hours. hehe. The sun may be out right now, but there is some crazy wind action out there and you can just tell it's cold. Not too much interest in having icy snow blown at me today. The bright side is that I didn't have to shovel anything and it doesn't look like I'm going to have to. Besides, FH will be home in about 4 hours so if something happens that requires any work he can do it! Good timing really, since I am planning to hit the gym for a treadmill run after work...

The only major problem with hibernating during shitty weather is that I get all snacky. Especially when left alone. Work was slow during the day yesterday, so I cuddled up on the sofa with my book, my coffee, and a box of Multigrain Wheat Thins. Yes, the stupid box. I so totally know better....but I was too lazy to get a bowl. Besides I probably would have just continued to fill the bowl anyway...it was one of those kinds of snacky days. Needless to say, I ate about 2/3 of the box! It did tide me over for the entire afternoon though...dinner wasn't until almost 8pm (mainly because work started to flow so I was busy).



I actually had a fast-food craving yesterday, but due to the crazy weather I wasn't interested in venturing out just for that...so I made myself 4 chicken nuggets and a serving of baked Superfries instead....and served them with a massive salad. :) Dessert was a minty Cadbury Thin.

So far my weekly menu plan has not been working. ooooops. "Today is a new day!"

I had really hoped to do some noon yoga today, in lieu of not making it to the gym this morning but my tender bumbone is still not interested in much bending. Boooooo. I want yoga dammit. (Somehow I don't think yoga and dammit are supposed to be in the same sentence.)

Today's eats...

- coffeeeeeeeeee w/ brown sugar & skim
- Country Harvest sunflower flax toast w/ natural PB, sliced banana & honey drizzle
- 1/2 apple
- small ww tortilla w/ hummus, spinach & tomato
- other 1/2 apple
- Turkey & Black Bean burgers w/ bagged light Caesar salad (if these turn out, I'll post about them tomorrow)
- tea & banana muffin

Snow. Wah?

Yesterday didn't go quite according to plan. It is always so hard to stick to regular meals and not get all snacky the first couple of days after a heavy eating weekend or event. Damn those Mike n Ikes I left in the car....I sort of maybe ate those on my way to pick FH up from work. And damn those tasty rice chips I discovered...so yummy I might have eaten a whole bag throughout the evening. ooooops.
My new motto is "today is a new day". haha. I think that is the motto of dieters and wannabe healthy eaters everywhere. Well, it's true dammit.

I've opted for a bigger breaky today to see if it makes a difference. Oatmeal!

oats w/ unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 banana, ground flax, few raisins, mixed seeds, sprinkle of mini choco chips & natural pb

So, today I got up drive FH to work extra early. We had to get up a bit early because IT FREAKING SNOWED LAST NIGHT so we thought we might have to shovel and clear the car off. Thankfully FH shoveled before bed and not much snow fell overnight. He had to be at work early though because he's on duty today and had to relieve yesterday's duty watchkeeper. Of course, I hit the gym because I have no other reason for being out and about at 7am!

As usual I started on the treadmill. Since yesterday's 5 minute run went OK, I decided to go for 8 minutes today. Walked the first 10 minutes, ran 4, walked 2, ran 4, walked 5 minute cooldown. Followed up with tricep pulldowns, bicep curls (ya, it was supposed to be lower body day but I didn't make a plan and was at a total loss....dumb), then planks & sideplanks, 3 sets of regular crunches (how boring...I can't wait until my tailbone isn't so tender so I can do more variety!) and some bum exercises. I can do two of the four exercises, so I just did 2 sets to make up for missing the others. Threw in a double set of ab twists with a 12 pound bar and some shoulder shrugs with 8lb weights in each hand. I just felt like I needed more to do since I had to cheap out on the crunches and such.

This all just makes me realize I need to study up on some more exercises. I have a fairly limited repetoire!

Since FH is on duty today, he'll be at work overnight. Do you see the irony that he is finally home from sea when it snows, but he's still not going to be here to do the shovelling? I'll have to head out there at least once today. Hilarious...not. Since he's gone overnight I'm just eating up leftover and such, and will have time for some yoga (oh, I hope I can do it!) and will catch up on some bad TV (Celebrity Apprentice anyone?).

Today's eats...

- coffee w/ brown sugar & skim
- oats (see above)
- grapes
- leftover chicken stirfy
- hummus & crackers
- leftover pork loin chop, spinach salad
- tea & banana muffin, strawberries

Grumpy Muffins

A new week usually puts me in a pretty good mood...however, since I fell down the damn stairs first thing Saturday morning I've been kind of grumpy. It comes and goes, but I'm definitely feeling off. Yesterday, FH got himself a new toy (computer) so he spent a fair bit of the day tinkering with that and cleaning up his room (teeny tiny rec room is his "office"/guitar room) so I just puttered around and had some me time. Good timing because the best thing for a cranky me is some alone time. I shopped, I read, I tidied, I cooked, I baked. I was hoping this would get me going for today, but I'm still working out of that funk.

My baking was a success though. I used this awesome Banana Oatmeal Muffin recipe. Somehow I only got ten muffins though....must've been overzealous when filling the cups. I made four straight up, three with coconut, and three with mini peanut butter chips. Yummy!




This morning FH actually had to go to work so I got up to drive him in so I could go to the gym and see how my tailbone injury would fair. I started on the treadmill....mostly just walking but changing the speeds and inclines to keep it interesting. At 15 mins I decided to try running and managed to do so for a straight five minutes.....I think the key was that I ran at a slower, even pace (5mph vs my usual 5.4 or 5.6). The running actually hurt less than the walking because my strides were smaller. I finished up with five more minutes of walking. I'll try a bit more running tomorrow. Because my calories burned were a lot lower doing this I hopped on the elliptical for 20 minutes as well. Total cardio = 45 minutes, 350+ cals burned. Tried to follow with bum and ab exercises, but I'm definitely going to have to come up with something different in that department. Regular crunches were OK up to about the first 10 or so, but my reverse crunches and v-sits were a total no-go. Even planks were hard because flexing hurt my bum crack. Argh.

If it's not one thing, it's another!

I'll keep working through the funk by making a bigass stirfry for dinner and maybe sorting through my tax papers (I have a ton of receipts and stuff to organize). Maybe read a little more New Moon and play some cards with FH. I'd like to try a calming session of yoga, but I'm guessing that would just bring on some extra pain and frustration so I'll tough through and try again another day.

Today's eats...

- coffeeeeeeeeeee
- strawberries, ff vanilla yogurt, All Bran
- plum
- tossed salad w/ artichokes, deli turkey & pickles
- banana muffin
- chicken stirfry
- 1/2 apple & pb
- tea

This Week, The Plan

Since I've hurt my bum-bone I had to rethink the weekly goals I had already decided on for this week....well, one of them anyway....

1) Activity every day (this was yoga every day but my tailbone disagreed)
2) Menu plan every day in advance
3) Water (3 litres per day)

Activity:

Mon, Wed, Fri: 45 minutes gym cardio (running when possible, but otherwise incline walks and resistant elliptical work)
Tues, Thurs: 25 minutes gym cardio, strength training (Tues upper body, Thurs lower body)
Sat: 60 minutes gym cardio, strength training (full body)
Sun: warm yoga or long walk or light gym cardio (pain and weather dependant)

*add a daily yoga session when tailbone allows

Menus:

I'm adhering to a strict eating plan: coffee, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. Dinners all planned in advance...

Mon: chicken stirfry
Tues: leftover pork loin chop, spinach salad (FH working overnight)
Wed: turkey & black bean burgers, salad
Thurs: spaghetti & meat sauce (leftover from FH's lasagna), steamed veggies
Fri: chicken quesadillas, salad
Sat: Girl's Night Out (stagette)
Sun: TBD (shopping day)

Just when I was getting into the swing of things....

...I hurt myself!

Yesterday morning I woke up around 10am, having had a great sleep (no insomnia this whole past week...thank God!). I got into my gym clothes, washed my face and was heading downstairs to let FH know my plans for the day (poor boy, his insomnia attacked again on Friday night so he was down on the couch) when my slipper slid on the second step and I went down....HARD. Bang, bang, bang...down like five stairs right on my tailbone. I hit the landing and just sort of froze in sheer agony. Hit so hard and gasped so loud that I woke FH up. Afraid to move, I just sort of fell over onto my front and laid there in shock. Not fun. After a few minutes and a few tears I finally got the courage to stand up and although my tailbone was freaking killing me, I don't think there's any major damage. Mainly a piss off because running, biking, bending and yoga are all out of the question for a few days. Argh. I'm getting around just fine, but have been somewhat hopped up on Tylenol and Advil...and maybe a few glasses of wine last night. I was still going to go to warm yoga with my Halifax girls today, but after bending over to get a few things out of the car this afternoon I've decided that it would be a waste of a session since I can't do any forward bends or downward dogs, etc. Booooooo.

So instead I have a chance to tidy around the house (we did all of the cleaning yesterday but it's amazing how much dust, etc resurfaces when you have friends over for dinner and drinks) and to finally do my mid-month banking (only a week late!). Not exactly the exercise I had in mind to work off that lasagna!

FH's lasagna turned out fantastic and was a great hit. It was HUGE!! I had planned to do a photo essay on it for you guys, but he had already delved pretty far into the cooking process when I got home from my errands yesterday so no photos. We served it with a bagged caesar salad and garlic bread. Pre-dinner I put together a few antipasto-type items for appies. Cured meats, provolone, marinated artichokes, green and black olives, hummus, crackers, cherry tomatoes w/ balsamic & EVOO. Yummolicious. I ate way too many pre-dinner snackies....but honestly that's my favorite part....not to take away from the delicious lasagna of course. :)

This morning I met a couple of girlfriends for brunch. Coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, bistro plate of excellent scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, and a shredded potato pattie. We finished up with a mini vanilla cheesecake. I figure since it's two meals in one, it's OK to have a treat!

I then wandered up the street to LuluLemon where I scored a cute hot pink tank top ON SALE....and almost got new capris but wasn't totally in love so put them back. For $82 I need to love them. But I can't wait to wear my new tank for yoga....next week I hope.

Tonight's dinner will be heavy on the veggies....maybe a bigass hearty salad....with a wedge of leftover lasagna. Tomorrow FH is definitely back to work so I'll get up early and attempt something light at the gym....elliptical may be my best bet for low impact. Hopefully I can still do something in the way of crunches or modified ab moves. I love my crunches. Hmmmm.....

Old School

I've had a few light breakfasts this week made up of fat free yogurt, fresh strawberries, and original All-Bran. When I was mid-Weight Watchers this was my standard breakfast almost every weekday. I'll bet it's been almost two years since I've made this. Man, it's yummy! (and if you are counting...it's only 3 points!) This is what happens when I buy strawberries for FH to make smoothies and then he only makes one in the week! Someone's got to eat those berries. :)

Keeping on top of my menu plan for today because tomorrow is a planned splurge. FH has a buddy in town on a course who hasn't had a home-cooked meal in a few months so we are having him over tomorrow night for FH's delectable lasagna. FH doesn't cook much, but he makes a mean lasagna! This will of course also include such treats as garlic bread, caesar salad, some sort of dessert, and probably more than a couple of glasses of wine. :) I of course have a double-long workout planned for earlier in the day because Lord knows I'll be needing it. I will be keeping my breaky and lunch light and full of fruit & veggies too.

Sunday I have brunch plans with a girlfriend so I'm already thinking about some yummy poached eggs. And I'm totally looking forward to an afternoon session of warm yoga...I missed it the last few weeks while on vacay or recovering. :) Hali girls....you interested??

Taking today off from the gym....but I'm about to download a 45 minute session from yogadownload.com so will fit that in later today. Five gym days this week seems more than enough! Besides, I have laundry to finally get caught up on, plus chores to do since we've totally slacked on those since returning home. Time to really get back to reality I suppose!

Hope you all have a fab weekend planned. :)

Today's eats....

- coffee w/ skim & demerara
- ff Activia raspberry yogurt w/ fresh strawberries & All Bran
- tossed salad w/ chicken/bean/cheese/salsa mixture
- banana
- grilled pork loin chop, with steamed broc & cauli, leftover brown rice
- tea & Kashi granola bar

Trip Review and Photos

Hop on over to my other blog if you are interested in photos and comments from our Dominican vacation!

Keeping On

Crazy. I slept in again. Good thing I actually caught up my work by Tuesday and the bosses are on the road at a convention this week. Not that they can tell when I sleep in because they are four time zones behind me and I am always on top of things, but I still feel guilty. I need to get out of this routine, but I guess my body needs it. You'd think I didn't get enough relaxation on vacation!

Had another good day yesterday. Stuck exactly to my plan aside from one pudding cup, but I always underplan by a couple of points just so I can do things like that. Seems to work for me. Actually, come to think of it I didn't eat my grapes so really it evened out points wise. That taco salad I made was fan-freaking-tastic. Looked a little like a dog's breakfast...haha...but still tasted great going down. I love me some beany-cheesy-chickeny-salad goodness! That chicken rollup filling recipe was a good find....and those little tortilla salad toppers are perfect for that Mexican crunchiness without needing a whole taco shell or tortilla.

Workout was good too. Went right after work....it was busy but I still managed to snag a treadmill. My running was a little off (my lungs are feeling really labored this week, which is generally my issue....I swear I have child's sized lungs) so I did 1-1 running/walking intervals...came up about 50 cals short in the end, but such is life. I did add on an extra 10 minutes on the Stairmaster though....and I'm really concentrating on adding planks to my strength training each session. Yesterday I added side planks to the routine, and now my goal will be to lengthen the amount of time I hold each position. Currently I have excellent form for about 15 seconds, then mediocre form for another 10 seconds or so....I'm working to 30 seconds of perfect form, then a full minute in each position. Good for my core and my bad lower back.

Today will be a similar workout. Obviously sleeping in is forcing me to evening workouts but that's fine. I'll be running/stepping/planking my way to a healthier me, with crunches & bum exercises of course!

Today's eats...

- coffeeeee with skim & demerara
- oatmeal with unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 banana, ground flax, coconut, raisins, and a drizzle of PB2 (breaky & lunch all in one)
- grapes & light cheddar
- baby carrots & hummus
- spinach & mushroom omelette, served with a sundried tomato turkey sausage (from Sobey's...low cal and super freaking tasty) and toast
- tea & granola bar
- strawberries & ff yogurt if still snacky

Quiet

Well, either you are all working diligently or no one feels like commenting! haha. I'm such a whiner.

Another sleep in for me this morning. FH is off yet again...like I said, lucky bugger (until he has those 22 hour shifts at sea of course)...so I was going to get up around 745 to hit the gym, but managed to snooze my way right to 10am! oooooops! So I'll be heading to the gym shortly after I finish work today.

Had a decent workout last night. There may have been a run-in with a bag of Swedish Berries that I was feeling guilty about so I was determined to burn a few extra calories. Went right at 6:00 and thought it would be crazy busy (the parking lot was packed) but it wasn't too bad at all. Got right on a treadmill for a good run...5 minute incline walking warm-up, then ran 5, walked 1, ran 4, walked 1, ran 3, walked 1, then sprinted 1, walked 1, sprinted 1, walked 2 to cool down. Followed up with three sets of crunches divided by 30 second planks, full set of Eurydice's bum exercises (I sooo love these!) and some pushups. Was going to do arms but my favorite tricep equipment was busy so I just hurried home to dinner with FH instead. Today I will do the same run and exercises, but will add the arms and maybe some rowing or Stairmaster.

Started back with my daily yoga today. Nice and easy Gentle Hatha #1 from yogadownload.com to get me back in the swing of things. Loved it.

Today's eats....

- coffee with skim & demerara
- ff Activia raspberry yogurt w/ fresh strawberries & All Bran
- 1/2 tuna sammich on sunflower flax bread, with pickles, baby carrots & yummy hummus
- 1/2 apple that I didn't eat yesterday
- "taco" salad: bagged salad, tomatoes, tossed w/ ranch dressing & salsa...topped with mixture of chicken, cheese, navy beans (it's actually leftover chicken rollup filling from the freezer)...sprinkled with some of those tortilla strip salad toppers
- tea & granola bar
- grapes if still snacky

Resort Eats

It's mid-week already. Love it. So tough to get back into work mode after a lazy fun-in-the-sun vacation. I slept in again this morning.....ooooops. :)

I wanted to talk about the all-inclusive resort food for a few minutes. I wish I had thought to take pictures, but I'm not so much a food blogger so I didn't think of it until too late in the game. I don't know how you all do it....toting your cameras around and remembering to take shots (and generally GREAT shots at that!) of each and every morsel. Anyway...minus the photos...I can still tell you that we were generally quite impressed with the food at our resort. We certainly never went hungry and there was never a lack of choice.

We stayed at the EdenH Real Arena Punta Cana.

There was a FANTASTIC all-inclusive buffet. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast every day offered a WIDE variety of fresh fruit, a smoothie stand, a cook-to-order omelette bar (where they would also fry your eggs if you wished), pancakes, french toast, plus the entire hot buffet which always included some kind of potato, meat, scrambled eggs, veggies and more non-North American items like beans, mashed plantains, etc. They always had these hot sliced bananas in hot syrup with raisins...that by day three I was putting on top of my pancake....soooo freaking good. Lots of homemade breads, plus cereals, yogurts, cheeses, juices, etc. And the coffee was quite good and served with hot milk if you wished. They even had a self-serve espresso machine. My travel mug was filled each and every day for our trek to the pool after breakfast. :)

Lunch was also amazing, although we only ate there twice. FH didn't really eat lunch (instead opted for a much larger breakfast than mine, and survived on his tasty cervezas) and I would just take a trip to the snack bar (which I'll talk about a bit later) to tide me over until dinner. But the times we did go, it was just as good as breakfast. Always fresh salad fixings (they had the BEST cucumber) with lots of fresh veggies and pickled items (olives, capers, artichokes...yum!). Yummy homemade dressings. Always a fish choice, plus another protein...ham or pork or beef...sometimes chicken. Pasta made-to-order if you wished, or hot dishes of pasta in the buffet itself. Again, lots of bread, fruits, cheeses, etc. They also always had a big serving of paella but that's the first to go so you have to be quick! And pizzas...thin crust, homemade pizzas...yummy. Oh, and starting for lunch you can order from the bar at the buffet too....so no worries about slowing down your drinking. :)

Dinner is much the same as lunch, but they would have somewhat of a theme each night. One night was "American" so they offered things like fried chicken (super crunchy and tasty!) or roast beef with gravy. Always salad, veggies, potatoes, pasta, etc. Another night was "Mexican" so we had little cheese quesadillas with their excellent guacamole. The made-to-order pasta is offered at dinner time as well, but with all of the other amazing choices we never bothered to stand in line for that. Again, lots of side dishes to choose from....and always a carving station of some sort...ham/pork/beef. Something for everyone. At dinner, they even dim the lights in most of the seating and put out candles so it seems more like a restaurant....I appreciated that.

They offered MANY different desserts each day as well. Lunch and dinner. I tried a few different things...the ice cream and a few of the different cookies were the best....I saw donuts one day and I wish I'd had one but such is life. So much choice....just too much to try everything! A couple of the little cakes were disappointing, but that's the nice part about it being a buffet....if you don't like something, don't eat it and just get something else!

View from the buffet patio

The Snack Bar: so much bigger than we had expected. I thought it would just be a little food place that we could get something to munch on during the day, but honestly it was more like a mini-version of the buffet....open from noon til 5pm every day....located right next to the pool. For the first few days I stuck with just the salad bar (honestly, every salad I had was fantastic....I loved their dressing and each day there would be different toppings....beets or boiled eggs, etc) and would have some tortilla chips and homemade guac. By the last couple of days I was adding a few french fries and a hot dog (minus the bun)....but they had pizzas, burgers, plus other hot dishes that would change daily...ribs, chicken, beans, etc. And always fresh fruits and desserts. You would NEVER go hungry.

A la Cartes: the resort offers four a la carte restaurants....we could have dinner at each of them during our stay if we wanted, but we didn't want to be tied down to a specific reservation time so only booked two meals. I really wanted to try the Tepanyaki bar but it was by far the most popular and I didn't want to eat at 10pm so we chose the Italian instead...plus the American-style steak & seafood place. There was also a French bistro but we prefer Italian. The Italian was cozy...the food was OK....we liked the buffet food better, but it was nice to have a little actual "date-night" atmosphere. There was a little antipasto bar, a starter pasta (bland but good), and we both had veal marsala for our main meal....it's no Angus beef but it was nice and the risotto with it was pretty good. Dessert was a little tiramisu and a canolli....oh and I was also brought a very strong but super yummy espresso! The wine is NOT good though. haha. The American restaurant was a bit brighter and less "romantic" but still nice....I had the salad to start of course, then a chicken veg soup...FH had chili in a bread bowl which was quite tasty...then we both had the beef tenderloin. Again, it's not Angus beef but it tasted good. We skipped dessert that night and didn't even attempt the wine. :)

All in all, we have absolutely no complaints about the food. For the most part everything tasted quite good, and the stuff that wasn't good wasn't bad either...just not our taste. I was able to eat perfectly healthy when I wanted to and didn't feel deprived or like anything was missing. They make a real effort to include local cuisine while still catering to North Americans and Europeans alike. We heard people complaining about the food and just could not figure out why. When vacationing outside of your home country, just embrace what is offered to you! Especially when they have gone above and beyond to make it tasty and offer such a variety. Besides, the vacation shouldn't really be all about the food now should it?!

Catching Up with Me

I think all of those long days have now caught up with me. By bedtime last night I was exhausted and then wound up sleeping WAY in this morning. FH didn't have to work (lucky bugger) so I didn't have to get up extra early and still wound up sleeping through my own alarm for over an hour. Nutty. Must have needed it.

I'm feeling soft and squishy this morning. Funny, because I didn't feel that way throughout the whole vacation...or most of yesterday for that matter. By last night I was starting to feel it though and today my belly is actually a bit distended. I guess a combo of the bad eating and lack of water, topped by the overkill on fresh produce and water yesterday. Probably takes a few days for my poor body to get used to healthy living again.

Day one back on track was a little harder than I thought it would be. The evening snackies got to me a bit. I did stick with just some trail mix, but ate far more than I should have....at least it wasn't the Easter Creme Egg I have hiding in the pantry! hehe. I'm saving that for a treat when I've earned it. (oh Lord, give me strength!)

Due to the sleeping in this morning, I plan to head out shortly for a walk around the neighborhood since I didn't have my early workout. It's freaking gorgeous and sunny out there...clear blue skies....who cares if it's cold when the sun is shining like this! I think I'll do some yoga when I get back....and then tell FH supper will be late so I can hit the gym right after work. I want to run a little extra hard today and get some extra strength training in.

Vacation pics and post tonight, I promise!

Today's eats....

- coffeeeeee w/ demerara & skim
- Country Harvest sunflower flax toast w/ almond butter & honey, 1/2 Gala apple
- snack plate: deli turkey wrapped around dill pickles, few olives, baby carrots, rice Krisps, hummus
- other 1/2 apple, light cheddar
- leftover lemon/dijon/dill chicken breast & brown rice on spinach salad
- tea & Kashi granola bar
- Activia ff yogurt w/ fresh berries if still snacky

Return to the Menu

almost forgot!

Today's eats....

- Activia fat free vanilla yogurt w/ strawberries & All Bran sprinkle
- Country Harvest sunflower flax toast w/ almond butter & honey
- coffeeeeeeee w/ demerara & skim (I sooo missed my brown sugar!)
- small Dempsters Ancient Grains tortilla w/ hummus, deli turkey, spinach & tomatoes
- baby carrots w/ extra hummus
- grapes w/ light cheddar
- lemon/dill/dijon grilled chicken breasts, steamed green beans, rice w/ sauteed spinach & garlic in EVOO
- tea & Kashi granola bar

It's been a whole week already?

Hola! We have returned! (hmmmmm....I sound awfully excited about that...but really wish we were still there....) Fun, sun, sand. Yep, could use some more of that. I'll have to win the lottery and invent a teleporter. :)

I promise to get my photos uploaded in the next day or two and put up a proper full report on my other blog to tell you all about it. In short, Punta Cana was great and we totally loved our resort (thanks Lex!). We didn't do much outside of the resort, but it was just what we needed. My plans for a bit of activity went straight out the window...hehe...but the eating was pretty decent (salad every day!) and the drinks weren't tooooooo bad (coconut milk counts as a fruit right?). I tried to turn my brain off and not think too much about what I was taking in, but it's ingrained in me and I just couldn't help it all the time. Slightly frustrating when you are trying to have a mindless good time! :)

We had a long day getting home on Saturday and had decided to just stay in vacation mode for the remainder of the weekend. No cooking, no cleaning, no unpacking. Just chilling. We picked up pizza on the way home from the airport and loaded up on snacks for a cozy movie night. Chips, chocolates, candies oh my. Honestly, we ate worse for the last two days than we did the whole trip! It was actually great that the resort didn't offer much in the way of treat-type snacks....I stuck totally to three meals a day and that was it. Of course, we totally made up for that when we got home. haha.

Back to the routine today though! Did a HUGE grocery shop yesterday afternoon...stocked up on lots of veggies, fruits, meats, breads, etc. No junk. FH has decided to get back on his diet now too (funny how being in a bathing suit for a week can kickstart your motivation...hehe) so it will be extra easy for me to get right back on the track I was riding before our vacay. Already went to the gym this morning....took it slightly easy, but was happy that I was able to just jump right back into my treadmill running without much difficulty. Tomorrow I'll step it back up to my usual routine and intensity. I'm aiming to include yoga every day as well because I was quite enjoying that extra stretch.

Weight was only up 2.4 pounds when I weighed in this morning, so that's a good sign. Hopefully that is mostly water (seriously didn't drink anywhere near enough while we were gone) and maybe a few ounces of Cheetos stuck in there that I can work off easily with a few solid OP days. Last time I gained on vacation it didn't fully show up until the following week so I'm hoping to head that off at the pass. I still have my great motivation that was so strong before I left and for that I am soooooo thankful.

So, back to work for me. 4766 emails I sorted through this morning and now it's time to start dealing with the 100 that weren't junk. Bloody spam. Thanks to all of my new followers that took on my challenge!! Welcome! I hope you all enjoyed my goofy "ghost-posts" while I was gone. I just couldn't leave you hanging. :)