motivated! September 4, 2008

i’ve come up with a new plan. i would rather take extra time planning my meals and workout schedule for the day ahead than taking time to upload pictures of every last morsel i consume. so i’ll post each day’s plan and post pictures of interesting, original or particularly photogenic food throughout the day as i see fit. hopefully this will work, it seems like a plan i can stick to so i’m excited about it… at least for now.

4 September 2008
breakfast
overnight oats
-1/2c. oats
-3/4c. almond milk
-vanilla + cinnamon
-1/2 frozen/thawed mashed banana
-1tbsp. slivered almonds
-1 spoonful AB
-drizzle SF maple
smoothie to-go
-1c. almond milk
-1 frozen banana
-handful frozen strawberries
-2oz. vemma (mangosteen supplement)
-1/2tbsp. flax oil
lunch
about 1c. butternut squash soup
yellow bell pepper slices
1/4c. homemade salsa (for dipping)
1 string cheese
possibly a takeout salad?
1 uncle eddie’s vegan chocolate chip walnut cookie
pre-workout snack
lemon larabar
verve! energy drink with mangosteen
dinner
kashi entree – black bean mango
toasted ezekiel english muffin
dessert
1 wei of chocolate piece

workout
jazzercise @ 545p (x2?)… i gotta get ready for my workshop so maybe i’ll stick it out for two classes tonight. we’ll see how i feel after one.

i like being productive and having organized plans! and clean workout clothes

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…

struggling August 7, 2008

i have been in a foul mood lately. i have been taking pictures of my food but i’ve been too lazy and unmotivated to post anything. i haven’t worked out since last wednesday and i suspect the lack of physical activity has only further encouraged my being to continue festering in this funk i’ve been in since i got back from vacation. it only occurred to me last night when i was running around after the baby and laughing hysterically that i was missing out on my daily dose of endorphins and thats why i can’t be happy about anything. i’m pretty moody in general but working out regularly will at least take the edge off. i want to go to jazzercise today and test my theory. plus i’m getting fat again…
on to the food. the past is the past so i don’t want to bother posting the old pictures but i admit that i’m having trouble sticking to veganism. i never set out to be perfect but i think if i had more access to the right products and ingredients i could be a lot more successful.
anyway, breakfast today was a frozen cherry/soymilk smoothie with a teaspoon of flax oil

and a nectarine x 2

today i’m smiling because i really bonded with my godson last night. he’s two kinds of crazy! all i needed to do this whole time was stoop to his level… who knew?

i had breakfast, too :) June 11, 2008

breakfast was yet another modified version of the purple power smoothie. i wanted a smaller one, only about 6oz. of liquid and i was trying to figure out a way to take the milk out while still having enough substance in the drink. solution: applesauce! it worked. today’s power smoothie looked like this:

i know, totally unappetizing. but i like it because it packs all of my vitamins, nutrients and nutritional supplements into 225 calories. which means i had room for 1c. kashi go lean with 1/2c. of soymilk and 1tbsp. of pecans.

and i’m actually still satisfied nearly 3 hours later. kashi is pretty good for that, i love the balance of carbs, fiber and protein. i added the pecans for fat and voila! the perfect power breakfast.

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!

purple power smoothie June 9, 2008

i am back to my AM swimming regimen as of this morning. breakfast part one/pre-workout snack was a smoothie. i basically threw some stuff in the blender and got this:

it was good but i plan on modifying it for flavor and calorie content tomorrow. it consisted of 3/4c. of light vanilla soymilk, 1/4c. of egg whites (for protein), 1/2 a frozen banana, 1/2c. of frozen cherries, 1tbsp. of powdered greens (for fiber) and 1tbsp. of flax oil (for good fat). i love that i was able to squeeze all of those nutrients into a delicious frozen drinkable breakfast, go me. tomorrow i think i want to add nonfat vanilla yogurt as part of the 1c. total liquid dimension (so 1/4c. of egg whites, 1/4c. of yogurt and 1/2c. of soymilk) and 2oz. of vemma mangosteen supplement. i also want to just use cherries for the fruit, the greens mix better with tart fruit than sweet banana i think. and good lord, 1/2tbsp. of flax oil is plenty! a whole tablespoon sets me back 120 calories! i’ll take sixty and 7 grams of good fat, thank you very much. we’ll see how it comes out tomorrow, i can’t wait to try it!

breakfast part two was 1/2c. of cottage cheese with 1oz. of pecans and a drizzle of honey.

AND my fresh fruit summer staple:

JUICY CANTALOUPE! it’s my ultra fav, i can’t get enough!

weekend June 2, 2008

saturday morning i had a smoothie before working out. i put a cup of nonfat milk with half a frozen banana and a cup of frozen peaches. it was so think and frozen, like a milkshake! of course i added the customary 1/2tbsp. of flax oil, too. total was 253 calories. i drank it on the way to my saturday morning jazzercise super-workout.

the rest of my food choices were kind of a blur because i just grazed a lot. i tend to do that on weekends… i’m not super proud of it but i’ll be reevaluating my habits and tweaking what i can for maximum energy and weight loss until the big beach vacation (BBV) in july. i really want to look my very best, of course, but i also want to win the $100
here are some food highlights from the weekend so i can catch up:
i made the hungry girl peanut butter fudge with pumpkin and it was delicious! i’ll definitely make it again. it was a big hit at home with the fam, too. i had three squares with coffee and toast.

salad for lunch before we hit the road to grandma’s:

at my cousin’s baby shower i had a lot of fruit and some bites of pretty much everything else except the pasta salad and the slaw dishes.
this tuna salad was my favorite and i paired it with some cantaloupe wedges:

really yummy cake for dessert (loaded with sugar, i’m sure):

an artfully sliced strawberry:

breakfast sunday: an over-easy egg on toast with some laughing cow spread.

chicken taco for lunch with grandma’s highly caloric cheesy frijoles

some more baby shower cake :/

and i’m spent.