blogging August 30, 2008

i don’t want to blog everything in one post. i’ve decided to spread it out over the course of the week. the good news is my pictures are now uploaded to my computer and they’re ready to be posted. it’s just a matter of me posting them. i’m just not feeling it right now. too much work for a saturday evening during this lazy labor day long weekend.

also, i’ve decided to unofficially participate in chandra’s 6-week weight loss challenge. i’m not going to send my name in but i plan on keeping up with it and making more of a concerted effort to lose weight during the next six weeks.

MIA August 28, 2008

i have food pictures from this weekend, i really do. i only slacked a little. i think i missed photographing 2 meals the entire time i was away. the only problem is i need to upload the pictures to my own laptop before i can post anything. usually i would do it from the work computer but there are too many to weed through. my camera is full of food/vacation pictures all jumbled together. the enormity of the task is making me kinda sick so that’s why i’ve been putting it off. but i solemnly vow to post everything i have, with details, as soon as i feel like sitting down at home and getting it all done in one sitting. because after one sitting i might give up. i was going to do it last night but then a movie came on and i decided to watch that instead. i have been itching to just sit and watch a movie for weeks but my i can’t get my dvd player to work and there are never any good ones on tv (i know because i’ve looked). so last night “no reservations” came on one of my hbo channels that i recently upgraded to get as part of my cable service and i kinda just dropped everything to watch.

kudos to me, though, for working out last night even though i felt like crap from eating too much at lunch. that was one of the meals that didn’t get photographed. it wasn’t bad stuff, just lots of it and i know better by now to scale down the portion sizes.

that’s all i got for now, pictures to come later.

i’ve gone too far August 22, 2008

i would have gone next door to pick up some lettuce for my lettuce wrap idea but my stomach was too hungry and decided it was too far to walk. so i just split this big bowl with dad. i ate about half and gave the rest to him.

and, for good measure, a close-up of all the goodness this bowl of spicy bulgur madness has to offer.

for the record, step class was ok. i was more concerned with getting the steps right than keeping my heart rate up so i’ll need to work on that if i go back but i was sweating the whole time and we finished the class with some killer weightlifting.

today i’m going to bodyfit at 430 for some more killer work with free-weights. immediately afterwards me and my workout buddies have plans to enjoy ladies night at a wine bar nearby. my sisters are invited, too, so i hope they come! it should be a fun night.

kale chip disaster August 22, 2008

my first attempt at making kale chips failed miserably. i don’t think i put enough kale pieces on the cookie sheet because they came out crumbly, like melt-in-your mouth crunchy and not in a good way. also, they were WAAAAAY too salty, it ruined the flavor of the kale. i sprinkled on quite a bit of salt because i was afraid i wouldn’t like kale’s natural flavor. i was wrong.

i’m going to try again soon because i have a ton of kale sitting in the fridge now that i need to use. here’s last nights batch before going into the oven.

and close-up, bathed in salt and olive oil.

fresh out of the oven on my plate along with my chick’n sandwich.

you can totally see the salt concentrations… it makes me gag just looking at how salty they were. my sandwich was good though. it was a chick’n patty on an ezekiel english muffin with a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella (that i couldn’t even taste) and some spicy mustard.

i was probably full after just eating that but i was so disappointed in the kale chip disaster that i craved something creamy and cool and sweet. i compromised by adding a tbsp. and a half of agave nectar to some soy yogurt and pairing it with kashi h2h and slivered almonds. so really it was a trio of things in there, (not counting the agave) not a pair.

friday morning dawned bright and early today. after my shower i was hungry so i dipped into my cantaloupe.

lots of fresh juicy cantaloupe and i ate it all. cantaloupe is my all-time favorite favorite fruit ever. of all time. i love it so much that last statement wasn’t even redundant.

i wasn’t so hungry after all that cantaloupe but i packed some grapes and an almond butter & banana sandwich for mid-morning.

having eaten all of that i should be stuffed. but i’m definitely already hungry for lunch. i’m excited to share something i’ve actually cooked myself with my dad. i had a ton of stuffing left over the other night from the spicy bean stuffed peppers. i brought the filling to work with me today and plan to run next door for some lettuce we can wrap it in for spicy lettuce wraps! i know he’ll love them because they’re really hot and he likes jalapenos.

hot hot hot August 21, 2008

as if it’s not hot enough outside i have to turn up the heat a little by having a leftover spicy bean stuffed pepper for lunch.

whoops, that reminds me that i completely skipped posting breakfast. it was a good one today, too. a fruit smoothie in almond milk with cantaloupe, frozen strawberries, and blood orange sorbetto.

clearly, i didn’t use ALL of that stuff. but what i did use yielded a perfect 16oz. here it is in my very own homemade go-cup.

i felt like having waffles this morning in addition to all the fruit so i toasted two flax waffles and spread a little smear of almond butter on one and a mashed banana with sugar-free maple on the other.

i ate it sandwich style and it was delicious. here’s breakfast all together.

yes, that is an old cottage cheese container. i like to do my part by reusing.

back to lunch. for dessert i packed 4 caramel tea cookies which is technically 1 and 1/3 serving. and all that was left so i decided just to pack them all.

tonights planned workout: step-circuit. i’m not a huge fan of step classes so we’ll see how this one goes…

en-lazed August 21, 2008

as my dad would call it. i shouldn’t dread blogging as much as i do, and i guess dread isn’t really the correct word to describe it. i just feel like it’s more of a chore than anything. it’s holding me accountable to what i eat and i’m grateful for that so i’m gonna have to come up with a way to make it more fun. obviously, once i get going it’s not so bad and i really have a lot to say. but writing has always held this mixed emotion for me, even though it remains the most eloquent and efficient way i’ve found to express myself just because of my generally perceived superior grasp of the english language (perceived to me at least)…

no more soapbox, i have food to post. i had a z-bar pre-workout yesterday.

but it was like 2 hours pre-workout. i was certainly not properly fueled for spin class yesterday and i found myself worn out after just the warm-up. to be fair, i really hit it hard starting out and didn’t really save any energy for the rest of class so i tried to stick with it as best i could but i wasn’t able to push myself as hard as i would have liked. i was really hungry afterwards, too. i wanted to make good on my promise to cook so i went about it normally but nibbled on a kashi peanut granola bar while everything was being prepped and cooked.

i made spicy bean stuffed bell peppers straight from the recipe on kath’s blog. they were absolutely delicious, i was super happy with the way they came out. they could have used a bit more time in the oven to fully roast the peppers but i mis-read the recipe and sprinkled the cheese on before i put them in initially instead of after the first 20 minutes just to melt it. i like my yellow bell peppers crunchy anyway.

it was hella spicy though. i used hot diced jalapenos (as opposed to medium or mild) and it gave the filling quite a kick. i could only finish one of those suckers and it definitely cleared my sinuses. my mouth was literally on fire after eating this and there is only one dessert in the world that will do after a spicy meal and that’s ice cream. i had 1/2c. of vanilla slow churn with some caramel tea cookies and a drizzle of sugar-free maple.

that settled my mouth and my tummy. and i can’t feel guilty about it because i was down 1.4 pounds this morning!

a simple lunch August 20, 2008

amy’s low sodium chili. i had to add tapatio hot sauce because i got the medium flavor and it wasn’t hot enough for me!

those are wasa crackers on the side. and right now i’m enjoying some mint medley tea to counteract the effects of my spicy meal.

i plan to have a z-bar before i go to spin later and tonight i’m going to cook!

breakfast August 20, 2008

that’s the best i can do right now for a title. today i had kashi h2h with a small banana and almond milk.

i was in a hurry out the door so i ate that quickly at home then had some fruit at the office to supplement. i packed green grapes and a pear.

i was hoping the extra fiber from the fruit would keep me full longer but i think i need to eat it before i have any cereal for that to work. anyway, i’m already hungry and it’s only been 3 hours so i’m going to eat my chili! yes, i remembered the can opener today.

creativity is dead August 20, 2008

just like chivalry. i almost typed chauvinism… oh if only that were true. point being, i’m running out of post titles.

dinner last night was tasty though. i microwaved a frozen vegan chick’n patty and ended up dicing it to roll up into tortillas to make tacos/mini burritos with avocado and salsa.

i used la tortilla factory low carb small whole wheat tortillas. at 50 calories a pop i had two last night with dinner.

the chick’n patty was 100 times better than any soy burger i’ve ever tried. i’ll be sticking to these if i can help it, boca leaves a chemical aftertaste sometimes. though i do want to try the new bruschetta flavor that i can’t find anywhere.

i finally ate the last of my spinach last night with goddess dressing and sunflower seeds to add some non-fat greens to dinner.

and for dessert, the oh-so-addicting ciao bella blood orange sorbetto. i swear there’s crack in it, i can’t stop eating it! i can’t feel too guilty about it though because 1/2c. has only 98 calories. i’m pretty sure i polished off at least a third of the carton. it only comes in little pints so i still didn’t break the calorie bank, so to speak, by indulging a little. with only three ingredients and a fantastic tangy-sweet flavor, this will become my frozen treat fixture.

i desperately need an ice cream scoop.

500 hits! August 19, 2008

woo hoo! i made it to 500 hits