a hungry day June 10, 2008

if yesterday was an unexpectedly satisfying day, today i’ve been hungry within an hour or two of eating anything! it’s so frustrating but i’ve got a lot on my mind and i’ve managed to keep myself distracted. it also helps that i drink a lot of water. when we got the sparkletts service i had them set it up right next to my desk

it’s the foolproof way to stay hydrated, i just roll my chair over for refills when i get thirsty (or hungry one hour after eating, grr).

i had a morning snack again today because i’ve been eating breakfast so much earlier than i’m accustomed to now that i swim. today i had what was left of my fat free vanilla yogurt (about 1/2c.) with 1oz. of pecans and the other half of my juicy delicious cantaloupe.

oh yes, and another hungry girl cookie.

lunch after that couldn’t come soon enough… i had a cup of spaghetti squash with 1tbsp. of olive oil and some fresh goat cheese. it is the sun-dried tomato kind i bought at the farmers market.

for dessert i had homemade chocolate mousse. i whipped it up last night with two ripe avocados and cocoa powder. it tastes so rich and decadent and creamy one would never know it is made with avocados. i got the recipe from shape magazine and used sugar-free maple syrup and splenda.

i served about 1/4c. and it was so rich i couldn’t finish it! i’ll have to share it with my friends this week so the rest of the batch doesn’t go bad. sara is lactose intolerant and loves dark chocolate so i hope she likes it!

i got hungry too soon after my indulgent-looking (and tasting) meal but i held off until 330, almost 4, to eat my pre-workout snack, the rest of the Think Organic bar i had a taste of yesterday.

very disappointing. the ingredients are simple like larabars but it sure doesn’t match up in taste. my workout starts in half an hour and my tummy is rumbling. some days are just better than others. *sigh*

the best i can do is hang in there. at least i have my workout and sweet potatoes tonight to look forward to!

a smoothie before swimming June 10, 2008

but first, last night.
pre-workout snack was CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES. i know, so fancy. i would never buy these for myself but they were a gift so i had to eat them (only because i knew it wouldn’t put me over the edge, i got all three for less than 150 calories). and they totally hit the spot.

to be fair, i also had a taste of a new bar but only a small piece and no picture.

post-workout i didn’t have a snack handy except for the rest of the bar and i wasn’t feeling it so i decided to wait ’til dinner. dad grilled chicken with honey chipotle barbecue sauce and it was yummy. i had maybe 2 or 3oz. cut into strips and rolled in a whole wheat tortilla with avocado slices and salsa with a side salad.

i didn’t add up the calories for this one but i do know that i burned about 450 more at spin class and when i woke up this morning i had lost 0.2lbs! haha, it’s a tiny consolation that i’m moving in the right direction.

this morning i went swimming. i pushed myself to go faster than yesterday and i managed to squeeze in two extra lengths in the same amount of time. i beat my 10 lap time by two minutes. i logged 15 minutes and 22 lengths (11 laps). if i could only get there earlier i would have more time to swim… i’m working on it.

pre-workout i had the purple power smoothie. i redid the recipe and now it’s like this:

-1/2c. light vanilla soymilk
-1/4c. egg whites
-1/4c. liquid mangosteen supplement
-1c. frozen cherries
-1tbsp. powdered greens
-1/2tbsp. flax oil

awesome. this is officially my pre-morning workout breakfast/snack. it has 290 calories, 26g carbs, 9g protein and 8g of fat. power smoothie indeed.

and it tastes good, i swear! post-workout i had a flax waffle and a light string cheese to round out breakfast at 450 calories.

great start to a great day! this is totally the calm before the storm but i’m in a great mood about the rest of the week and the adventures it will bring anyway!

ruby tuesday May 28, 2008

i never actually ate there yesterday, but it was a gem of a day the way i did eat. i started out with a lovely breakfast of cream of wheat made with 2/3c. of nonfat milk. i topped it with a 1/2c. of blueberries and 1oz. of toasted walnuts. i didn’t have time to make oats on the stove so the cream of wheat was the instant kind. i was really pleased with the result.

it filled me up on minimal calories (290 total) so i was happy.
four hours later i had my hummus, wasa, avocado concoction with two pluots. i rather enjoy this one and i have lots of avocado and hummus so it will definitely be making another comeback.

i chopped the wasa into cracker slices and covered the avocado with the hummus and dug into it like that. lunch was a total of 342 calories.
four hours and lots of water later, i had a snack of chopped apples with almond butter. this is a new fav.

i guess i wasn’t eating enough calories though, because i was beginning to feel lightheaded. i couldn’t be having that with my workout coming up. so i supplemented with an extra protein snack before i hit the gym.

i had three of these roll-ups and it powered me through a very tough boot-camp workout. the snack totaled 271 calories and i burned 363 calories strength training.
i got to this boot-camp class every tuesday evening for an hour. we do 40 minutes of strength/circuit training with spurts of cardio in between, usually. yesterday it was supersets of biceps, triceps, chest, back, squats, lunges, and planks. then we stretch for 20. i can totally feel it today. i also did 30 minutes of light spinning before class. that was an additional 310 calories burned.
after all of that, i realized i hadn’t gotten nearly enough protein for the day. i came up with a protein rich dinner for not many calories. i call it my turkey-spinach-egg white scramble with cheese.

it was 3 scrambled egg whites with 4oz. of grilled turkey, a handful of organic baby spinach and a 1/4c. of fat-free shredded cheddar. i also had the last two pluots before they went bad, they were very ripe and juicy.
here’s a closeup of the yummy goodness that was my inventive scramble.

this was so light calorically (word?) that i treated myself to a glass of the pomegranate wine i bought at whole foods this weekend and a dark chocolate square.

even with the treat, dinner was only 363 calories.
so you see why i felt pretty good about yesterday, i managed to keep my calories low without going hungry and even saving room for that piece of dark chocolate

a sweet treat May 23, 2008

after the meal/snack i had post-workout i was strongly craving something sweet. i almost never crave ice cream but that’s what my mind kept coming back to. i keep a carton of slow churn in my freezer for this exact reason.

it hit the SPOT! at 161 calories, i’ll take it!

i melted a piece of 70% dark chocolate with a teaspoon of honey to make the drizzle. it froze on top of the ice cream and i had to chew it but for some reason that made it that much more satisfying. i got the honey at the farmer’s market last saturday, it is the seasonal orange blossom kind and absolutely delicious. i can’t wait to make some granola with it. along with the vanilla bean olive oil i also got at the farmer’s market. i love organic stuff and i’m going to start making a trip to the farmer’s market every week for produce. i’ll be there tomorrow morning after my early workout!

i’m working out so early, in fact, that i don’t have time for dinner because i should be in bed already. luckily, i was able to abolish my hunger with the meal/snack + dessert combo. i still went over my calories for the day so i’m gonna have to work on that.