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!

holding back August 19, 2008

i was definitely held back from eating the chili that i brought because of lack of can opener. the one i was going to buy was $15 and i realized that would have been just silly to spend when i could get a frozen entree for about a quarter of that and bring my can opener tomorrow. i decided to be adventurous and try an amy’s frozen entree. but really, i normally would never go for the enchiladas. however, i liked the vegetables on the ingredient list so i decided to give it a shot.

they were fantastic. so very very tasty but lots of sodium. i really need to cut back on the frozen food. they also kept me full for hours.

i couldn’t even eat dessert until around 230. i packed an uncle eddie’s vegan cookie that i wasn’t about to let go to waste.

around 445 i started to get hungry again so i had my luna bar. this also counts as pre-workout snack.

speaking of workout, on tap tonight is 30 minute prep-for-bootcamp spin followed by bootcamp with kettlebells.

the tofu experiment August 11, 2008

but first can i just say how crap it is to live on the west coast and have all the results of the olympics ruined for me because espn.com is my homepage? i don’t see anything until 3 hours after everyone on the east coast has already seen it. grrrr.

on the plus side, i’m officially back in the game. i went to spin and pedaled hard after work and i have plans to do the same thing tomorrow. i ate the lunch that i packed for myself and felt satisfied with my food all day and didn’t spend so much as an extra dime. basically, this will be my routine until something (ahem, A NEW JOB) dares to disrupt it. one can only hope…

after working out i wasn’t even hungry right away which is a miracle. i ventured into the kitchen to tackle the tofu but not before i put a load of towels in to wash and cleaned the kitchen a little. by the time i found kath’s bbq tofu recipe and was ready to press the tofu i started to get munchy. of course, the kashi h2h was sitting right in front of me so i dug in for a handful and decided it would taste much better with soymilk, even just a little bit. so i had a mug of h2h as an appetizer

then i pressed the tofu. it was an interesting process because i just ran out of paper towels so i had to use napkins that are substantially thinner (not to mention ones that say ‘happy new year’ on them) to drain the moisture. kath’s recipe called for a heavy cutting board for 20 minutes but i got impatient so i did this

there’s actually blocks of tofu under there

so i waited until 8, not even sure what time i put the blocks under the weight but 8 seemed like the right time to move them to the pan. here they are before i stuck ‘em in the oven

they were pretty juicy and thick which i’m pretty sure is the opposite of what they were supposed to be. but whatever, i wanted dinner so i put them in anyway. while the tofu was baking i poured myself a glass of wine

and sauteed some zucchini and mushrooms in a canola oil blend instead of olive oil because supposedly olive oil isn’t safe to cook with above certain temperatures. since i’m not sure i played it safe and went with the canola for the veggies. i think i went a little overboard on the oil but i drained the excess before i ate them

when i took the tofu out after the prescribed 20 minutes the blocks still looked mushy so i cut each block in half to get 4 pieces and put them back in for another 10 minutes. when i took them out i decided they were done

to prove it, i even ate one. on a toasted english muffin with an extra smear of bbq sauce and some spinach (but i didn’t add the greens ’til after i took the photo)

the verdict: meh. possibly feh. definitey not bad but not life-altering by any stretch of the imagination. pretty decent for my first go round. next time i think i’ll buy extra-firm tofu and actually marinate it after it’s been pressed for longer than 20 minutes. and slice the chunks properly before i put it in the oven the first time. also i’d like to make my own bbq sauce like kath did because the one i used had HFCS! no bueno. i’ll be on the hunt for HFCS-free ketchup…

for dessert i had an uncle eddie’s

and i’m spent. i wonder how long i can stay up watching the olympics before i pass out?

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!

woohoo! June 4, 2008

i made it online to finish blogging about my eats today instead of playing catch-up in the morning! i think that merits at least a woohoo, if not a full on hooray…
i made lots of mini-meals today so i felt like i needed to eat more often. i can hardly wait 3 hours before eating again lately so i just make the snack-type mini-meals as low cal as i can. i’m a huge fan of larabars now that i’ve had one and i think it would make a good pre-workout snack (even though yesterday i had it post). today i found myself sneaking on over to AJ’s again but this time i was on a mission for larabars. they don’t carry them! i was sad but determined to find a bar that would be a good snack before my workout. i picked up two clif nectar bars and i was very happy with them. i had the cherry pomegranate before the gym and the chocolate one afterwards.

i ate it without the wrapper, actually.

it was really delicious, but i probably won’t buy the chocolate one again, i’d rather have a tab of dark chocolate for less calories and be just as happy.

small confession to make, i had one very small chocolate chip cookie that my spin instructor baked for us in honor of her birthday. even if it had 200 calories, i burned 448 during her class so i refuse to feel guilty!

a restocked fridge is a happy fridge June 4, 2008

after getting in my long hard sweaty workout and sampling the larabar i felt strong enough to hit up the grocery store on my way home. i needed some basics and i swear, i stuck to them. no picture of the groceries but one of the highlights was the 99 cent cantaloupe! i didn’t have enough time this morning to chop it open but maybe i’ll do it when i get home tonight, although that’s also unlikely. let’s be honest, i’m not really motivated to do anything when i get home after a long day and tonight is going to be a late one. i have spin (hour-long spin, not half-hour prep for boot camp spin) ’til 630 then i have to book it across town to be late (it’s ok, i cleared it with the director) for my volunteer meeting that was set to start at 6 and will run until 8. then i need to stop at my parent’s house (it’s in the same part of town as where the meeting is) to see the baby because he’s been sick and i haven’t had a chance to go over there.
so anyway, i restocked my fridge with my favorite food staples and came up with this for breakfast:

which was also great because it was good on-the-go and i had to be here early today. it’s a flax waffle and a cherry smoothie made with light vanilla soymilk and flax oil. theme for breakfast was flax, clearly.
but backtracking a little bit, dinner was a pita pocket with avocado and two chicken slices with a drizzle of mom’s salsa. perfect and only 221 calories.

i didn’t need any more than that after the snack attack!
p.s. i burned about 662 calories working out according to myfitnesspal.com

snack attack June 4, 2008

i’ll just pick up where i left off because i’m horrible at keeping up with this blogging at night. i mentioned i had hoped i was done snacking yesterday after the trail mix but it wasn’t to be. i really felt like i needed something more substantial and carb-y pre-workout. luckily, there’s also a trader joe’s in the plaza next door to this office building so i made a pit stop before spin class/boot camp. i chose two bars to try, a clif z bar in chocolate chip and a larabar in apple pie. i ate the z bar before spin. probably too soon before working out because i could feel it sitting in my stomach but that’s what i get.

however, it didn’t stop me from getting the munchies immediately afterward. it was a 90 minute workout after all. or maybe i just really wanted to try the larabar and i knew it was sitting in my purse. either way, i ate it. and it was delicious. and it kept me satiated enough to tackle the grocery store. my rule is i’m not allowed to shop for food if i’m hungry.

i was very impressed, i’ll be buying these again in the future. the clif bar i could take or leave.

spinning May 28, 2008

workout tonight was spin class, one of my favorite workouts! the instructor was just a substitute so it wasn’t as much fun as usual BUT still a great calorie-burning fest. i really pushed hard the entire 45 minutes we spent on the bike so myfitnesspal gave me a total burn of 501 calories! woot.
pre-workout i had a sample box of fiber one caramel crunch. i thought the carbs would help me power through the workout and they did! plus it tasted delicious, i’m gonna have to buy some.
1c. of cereal with 1/2c. of milk was a 225 calorie snack.

they tasted a lot like cinnamon toast crunch, i rather enjoyed it. for 9g. of fiber, sign me up!
post workout i went to dinner at a friend’s house because she cooks very healthy dishes and always invites me over after our spin class (she’s the one who introduced me to spin in the first place). it was turkey meatloaf and steamed green beans. very delicious. i also had a glass of red australian wine. no picture, we got chatty and i forgot to bust out the camera.
i can’t believe wednesday is already over! tomorrow i’m going to swim laps in the morning at the aquatic center by my place, i can’t wait! i was seriously bummed, though, when i went over there to scope it out just now and they handed me the new summer hours. adult lap swim for the summer doesn’t start until noon! now i can’t use it as my morning workout like i had planned on. i really wanted to sneak in some extra cardio and i thought i could use a morning workout to energize me and get me going. so tomorrow and friday i can, just not next week or for the rest of the summer
i’ll have to figure something else out. when all else fails, i still have jazzercise