Confessions of a Bulk Eater

Breakfast:

Breakfast Attempt 1) oatbran and pumpkin (out of blueberries but had left over pumpkin). Wasn’t bad, but not what I wanted so after 3 bites I threw it out.

Breakfast Attempt 2) yogurt - 120

Lunch: Chickpea and Spinach Curry - 247 pita - 150

Snack: Cool Ranch Doritos - 250

Dinner: 1/2 a pig in the form of pepperoni. No, I probably had a serving which is 10 slices at 130calories. 1 slice cheese, pepperoni, tomato pizza (homemade) - ? 2 slices Swiss cheese - 100, 1 pita - 150

I have no idea what the pizza slice is, but I think I actually did okay.

So, I decided to get on the scale today to see what the damage was. Let’s face it, I haven’t really been watching what I’ve been putting in my mouth over the past few weeks. I mean I’ve tried, but sort of half-assed. Anyway, with much trepidation, I stepped on the scale.

Ladies, it was 200. Not 200 something, not 201… 200!! That is a 4 lb loss since the last time I was on the scale about 2 weeks ago! Now I can see down into Onederland and all you other sisterchicks down there!! HELLLLOOOOOOO!!!!

Made it to the gym this morning…barely. My trainer was 15 minutes late so we had a shortened time today, but that’s okay.

My mom called me this morning and told me she had been laid off. That sucks. Why do companies lay people off right before the holidays? I mean, it’s never a good time, but it’s particularly bad right now. She’ll be okay though. She has been doing marketing over the past few years so she has a TON of contacts. Still hard to hear.

Food today:

Breakfast: oatbran and blueberries - 160

Lunch: UPDATE: 2 slices cheese pizza (big foldy flappy pieces) This was unexpected, but a friend called to tell me he was in town for the day and would I have lunch with him. Plus, he paid so that negates the calories, right? Right?!

Dinner: Tomato Alphabet Soup - 175 Cheesy Cranberry Melts -280

I’m going a little more on calories with the sandwhich, but the soup is low in calories so it evens out. I usually don’t make soup b/c of the kids, but I think my son will be excited about this one because of the alphabet pasta. We’ll see.

My night didn’t go exactly as planned. I went ahead and made the Cheesy Cranberry Melt sandwhich because it sounded good. Yeah, not so much. Could have just done a plain old grilled cheese and been better off. I mean, it was okay but not what I was expecting and for 280 calories I wanted it to be AWESOME!! And then I snacked quiet a bit. I was hungry. I had a piece of cheese while making lunches for everyone and then a small bowl of Frosted Flakes. BUT IT’S OKAY!!

Again, not my recipe or my photo… this is from Cooking Light and it is SO good! It doesn’t make very much (only 3 servings) so I am going to double it tonight so I can make sure there is enough for my lunch tomorrow and the baby’s lunch. I am going to have it with pitas tonight. Last time I put it over rice. YUM!

Yield
3 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups chickpea mixture)

Ingredients
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 1/2 tablespoons bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons red curry powder (such as McCormick)
1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation

Combine onion and ginger in a food processor; pulse until minced.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion mixture, sugar, and curry to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add chickpeas and tomatoes; simmer 2 minutes. Stir in spinach, water, and salt; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts.

Nutritional Information
Calories:247 (15% from fat)
Fat:4g (sat 0.6g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.9g)
Protein:11.1g
Carbohydrate:45g
Fiber:8.4g
Cholesterol:1mg
Iron:5mg
Sodium:857mg
Calcium:194mg

OMG, it is cold out. I don’t think it would feel so cold if it hadn’t rained last night, but now it’s cold and wet so it makes it worse. It was actually colder when I came out of the gym this morning than when I went in. I’m thankful that I have a gym membership because if I had to rely on going outside to get my exercise, it wouldn’t happen. Yes, yes, I’m sort of a wimp when it comes to weather. There is a very small window that I will tolerate. It can’t be too cold (I’m like a reptile, remember… FL native) nor can it be too hot.

Anyway, I made it to the gym again today (yay!) although I never heard my alarm go off. I discovered a few new things about my HR monitor. Number one, if the watch is too far away from the monitor (like when you have long Lurch arms like myself) it won’t read your HR. I thought it was the chest strap at first b/c it had some, er… movement, when I started running and my boobs started flailing around, but then I realized the reason. The machines were still picking up my heart rate so I knew it wasn’t the chest strap. Today, the calories my monitor picked up were greater than the machine ones… by FAR. Yesterday the machines showed more, but not by much. Today my HR monitor showed I had burned about 450k or so after I was through running. The treadmill showed 300k. I think I’ll go with the HR monitor. I think it is because you program your weight, age and gender into the HR monitor and it figures all that out. The treadmill just knows your weight. I’m still trying to figure out all the different ways to use it. As to which one I have, it is the Reebok Personal Trainer XT.

To answer kt’s question “How do you adjust the watch so it works?” My scientific answer is to raise your arm closer to your heart. I noticed it today when I was on the bike and my arms were just down by my side and also while I was walking on the treadmill. While I was running and my arms were raised to normal running level, it worked fine. I’ll have to actually read the instructions for a better answer. I’m not one to do that… I’m more of a do-er.

Calories burned at gym (according to my new toy): 598

Food for today:

breakfast - oatbran and blueberries - 160k

lunch - turkey shepherd’s pie - 300, yogurt - 120

snack - freezer burned lean pocket - 280

dinner UPDATE- chickpea and spinach curry -247 , pita bread - 150, 3 carrots, small 1/2 piece of chocolate cake (it’s hubby’s bday so I split small square with the baby)
Calorie total without the carrots and the chocolate cake is 1257. I’m sure the 3 carrots and the chocolate cake did not put me over 1550, which is my limit. I’m hungry now. Not really hungry, but I want something to eat. That means it’s time to go to bed!

God… if I could only learn to stay ON the wagon.

Whatever was ailing me the other day went away because I was fine yesterday. We had to go to Lakeland to pick up our kids from the in-laws yesterday afternoon. It’s such a shame… both kids were with the in-laws Saturday night and I was down for the count with a stomach-something. And volleyball wasn’t fun. There were too many people there and not enough competition. I hate that.

So, as to my title. Yes, I am crawling my way back on to the wagon today. I dragged myself to the gym this morning. Sports Authority had heart rate monitors on sale Friday morning for $30, so Jake went and bought one for me. I used it this morning. It was pretty cool. I finally know how many calories I actually burned. Plus, the cardio machines automatically pick up the readings so I don’t have to worry about the stupid hand grips and the machine not being able to find my heart rate.

Breakfast: oatbran and 1/2 cup blueberries - 160

Lunch: Spring Vegetable Soup - 70, Stuffed Squash with Lemon-Herb Rice - 168

Snack: Freezer burned Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pocket I found in the freezer at work - 280k

Dinner: UPDATE turkey shepherds pie - 300, maybe 1/4 cup of green bean casserole and same amount of sweet potato casserole (GOODBYE LEFTOVERS!!!)

I don’t know what my calories ended up being, but with the numbers I have it shows 978k. I didn’t make the casseroles we had with dinner so I have no idea what they are. I may be low on calories for today.