Committed

I have been really busy.  I turned 35 this weekend.  I will now be checking the 35-45 box.  Its taking some getting used to.  The weekend was an interesting combination of meltdowns and celebrating. It also included a 3600-calorie day!!

I didn’t post at 3fc at all over the weekend, so now I have to make up for it.  I don’t have pics for everything, but I will post whatever pics I have.  So, here goes, in reverse chronological order.

Today’s Food:

• Breakfast:  Morning O’s with Oat milk
• Lunch:  Amy’s Tofu Scramble
• Snacks:  Jicama, mini sweet peppers, 4 pieces hard candy, heirloom tomato with salt
• Dinner part 1:  shrimp cocktail and leftover grilled veggies with balsamic
• Dinner part 2: Egg wrap (3 scrambled eggs wrapped in whole wheat tortilla)
• Dessert:  1/2 acorn squash with cinnamon and maple syrup

Yesterday (birthday, part 1 ~ part 2 is coming next weekend with a trip to the Napa Valley!):

• Breakfast:  Morning O’s with oat milk
• Lunch:  half portion of cobb salad with no blue cheese
• Snack:  2 Ghiradelli Intense Dark chocolate squares
• Dinner:  roasted dungeness crab, roasted potatoes, fresh bread with butter, piece of hub’s fried fish
• Dessert:  peanut butter flavored frozen yogurt (aka, “froyo” ~ its what the kids these days are calling it) with crushed reeses peanut butter cups and chocolate sprinkles on top.  Wish I had taken a pic of this beauty.

Half cobb salad…

My roasted crab and potatoes….

Hubby’s fish & chips….

Saturday….

• Breakfast:  Morning O’s with oat milk
• Lunch:  Pasta Pomodoro Verdure with Shrimp, a few peices of bread with olive oil and vinegar
• Dinner:  heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella, salt and fresh thai basil
• Dessert:  a few bites of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies

Verdure….

The table at Pasta Pomodoro (incl bread, hubby’s pasta dish, etc.)….

Here are my fitday summaries for each day….

Today:

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,626 Fat 47.2 421 27 % Saturated 9.1 81 5 % Polyunsaturated 7.9 70 5 % Monounsaturated 17.5 156 10 % Carbohydrate 204.3 788 51 % Dietary Fiber 48.4 Protein 85.0 335 22 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 27 %) Carbs ( 51 %) Protein ( 22 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Sunday:

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 3,579 Fat 182.3 1,622 45 % Saturated 51.5 458 13 % Polyunsaturated 40.5 359 10 % Monounsaturated 49.1 436 12 % Carbohydrate 346.4 1,389 39 % Dietary Fiber 22.8 Protein 144.9 587 16 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 45 %) Carbs ( 39 %) Protein ( 16 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Saturday

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,799 Fat 44.3 392 26 % Saturated 18.2 161 11 % Polyunsaturated 3.8 34 2 % Monounsaturated 16.4 145 10 % Carbohydrate 226.2 886 59 % Dietary Fiber 16.3 Protein 53.6 217 14 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 26 %) Carbs ( 59 %) Protein ( 14 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Today’s breakfast was toast with earth balance and a Good Belly.  (ick ~ way too sweet!)  But I love those happy faces!

My lunch / snack bag….  Amy’s Stir Fry Noodles, Jicama, Tomatoes, Coconut pudding

I was seriously hungry when I got home, so I snacked on some soy chips, pretzel slims, and rice cakes.  About 400 calories worth!  :-\

When I finally mustered the energy to cook dinner, I wasn’t that hungry anymore so I just “pan-grilled” some veggies, including the white eggplant I got from Whole Foods earlier this week.

It was delicous.  Somewhat meatier than a purple eggplant and not even one hint of bitterness.

I’m off to go plan my weekend!

Fitday….

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,555 Fat 46.9 417 27 % Saturated 7.9 70 4 % Polyunsaturated 8.6 76 5 % Monounsaturated 18.1 160 10 % Carbohydrate 251.3 986 63 % Dietary Fiber 36.0 Protein 42.5 159 10 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 27 %) Carbs ( 63 %) Protein ( 10 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

I didn’t post yesterday so I have 2 days worth going up today!  Yesterday first. Sorry some of the pics are fuzzy.

The funny thing about Thursday was that I thought I did ok on the calories considering my green monster smoothie was super caloric.  But just a few minutes ago I realized I accidentally “forgot” to account for nearly 300 calories.  This is why I take pictures!

Breakfast was a green monster that I was smart enough to pre-assemble the night before to make it instantly ready for blending in the morning.

Before…

After….

Ingredients:  kale, spinach, strawberry tofu, good belly probiotic drink, protein powder, almond milk, banana, applesauce, flax seeds, wheat bran.  [In other words, too much!  I need to cut it down a lot!  I always end up with about twice what I need.]

Check out the happy face opening on the Good Belly juice!  I love it!  But I don’t love the juice.  Its way too sweet.  But its good mixed into a smoothie.

Sorry, no pic of the stuff I packed for lunch.  But I do have a pic of the catered grilled veggies I snacked on at work…..  These veggies helped me stay away from the high-cal catered luncheon food like pasta salad, potato salad, soft rolls with butter, grilled tri-tip….

And, here is a picture of the coconut pudding I’ve been having lately.  This picture really sucks.  It tastes much better than it looks in this photo….

Lunch was Amy’s garden veg lasagna.

Dinner was a seafood louie salad from the deli case at safeway. After I got home I did some serious snacking:  mighty bite cereal, cherries, couple bites of naan bread.

Strange thing lately.  Recently I haven’t really been snacking as much during the day, but a lot at night.  Maybe I need to eat a slightly larger dinner…?

Fitday:

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,875 Fat 74.7 666 35 % Saturated 10.1 90 5 % Polyunsaturated 7.2 62 3 % Monounsaturated 4.1 35 2 % Carbohydrate 256.6 975 52 % Dietary Fiber 51.3 Protein 64.7 241 13 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 35 %) Carbs ( 52 %) Protein ( 13 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

…to the weekend, that is.  :-)  Don’t I wish it was the other (half way to goal)!!

Breakfast today was toast with earth balance, and a DanActive. Sorry, no picture.

Lunch was Cedarlane Eggplant Parm.

Snacks were coconut pudding and jicama.

Tonight when I got home, I got a case of the “snackies”, and had a handful of black olives and then proceeded to make a meal out of “this and that”.

1.  Raw heirloom tomato with salt.

2.  Two corns on the cob with olive oil and salt.

3.  Half of a roasted eggplant.

4.  Smooze fruit ice coconut and mango flavor.

Fitday is below….  I am copying and pasting the whole thing cuz I’m too lazy to write out my whole food journal. 

Food Name Amount Unit Cals Fat (g) Carbs (g) Prot (g) Delete Total 1,286 56.8 168.9 22.2 Smooze Fruit Ice Coconut Mango 1 serving 50 2.5 7.0 0.0 Applesauce (Santa Cruz Organic) 1 serving 50 0.0 12.0 0.0 Eggplant, cooked 0.5 small eggplant 141 8.3 18.0 1.7 Olive oil 1 tablespoon 119 13.5 0.0 0.0 Milton’s Multi Grain Bread 1 slice 2 serving 220 2.0 44.0 10.0 Earth Balance 1 Tbl 1 serving 80 9.0 0.0 0.0 DanActive Yogurt Drink 1 serving 80 1.5 14.0 3.0 Olives, ripe, canned (small-extra large) 7 large 35 3.3 1.9 0.3 Tomatoes, raw 1.25 large whole (3″ dia) 41 0.5 8.9 2.0 Eggplant Parmesan (Cedarlane) 1 serving 320 16.0 32.0 0.0 Coconut Pudding (Potter Family Organics) Single Serve 4 oz /… 1 serving 70 0.0 12.0 4.0 Jicama, raw 1 cup 49 0.1 11.5 0.9 Fig, raw 1 small (1-1/2″ dia) 30 0.1 7.7 0.3 Total 1,286 56.8 168.9 22.2 Calories Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,286 Fat 56.8 505 38 % Saturated 15.5 138 10 % Polyunsaturated 7.5 66 5 % Monounsaturated 18.6 164 12 % Carbohydrate 168.9 661 49 % Dietary Fiber 32.3 Protein 22.2 82 6 % Alcohol 14.0 99 7 % Fat ( 38 %) Carbs ( 49 %) Protein ( 6 %) Alcohol ( 7 %)

Geez, every time I see that sushi from yesterday I just drool.  Yum.  It was such an awesome meal.  Too bad it was so freakin expensive.

Today was another twilight zone kind of eating day.  I think the PMS must be in full effect because I was super emotional today (actually burst into tears this afternoon - so weird!!) and had a weird compulsion to binge.

Breakfast was the usual routine of cereal, oat milk and DanActive.  Sorry no picture.

Here is a pic of today’s lunch bag.  Once again I didn’t eat a lot of it.  I tried the yogurt and didn’t like it.  Forgot to eat the veggies (in favor of all sorts of weirdness). Can I just say that I was so happy to find the Mayan Harvest Bake at Whole Foods?!  It is so delicious and unique, and I haven’t been able to find it at my normal grocery store.

I had a meltdown this afternoon and the binging ensued.  A few black olives, a handful of rice-chips, a large bowl of cherries, a bit of shrimp cocktail…

At one point in my binge I decided to try one of the two Larabars I bought at Whole Foods.  The first one wasn’t good enough to eat as a “splurge”, so I tucked it away in the fridge.

I was still craving something candy bar-ish, so I tried the second one and hated it.  I literally spent like 10 minutes rinsing the taste out of my mouth.  I think it may have gone rancid.

By the time I slowed down I realized I was full after all.  So then I skipped dinner and had a giant bowl of cereal instead.

Tomorrow is a new day. *Sigh*

Detailed food journal…  Sorry, no can do.  Just can’t face the reality today.

Fitday summary is below….  (not bad calorie-wise, but the nutritional content is shameful!)

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,634 Fat 37.0 330 19 % Saturated 7.9 70 4 % Polyunsaturated 1.2 10 1 % Monounsaturated 4.9 43 3 % Carbohydrate 282.3 1,109 65 % Dietary Fiber 43.2 Protein 64.0 257 15 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 19 %) Carbs ( 65 %) Protein ( 15 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Another bottomless pit day.  I felt like I ate so much today that I just don’t believe Fitday counted those calories right.

Breakfast was a triple-cereal combo.  Morning O’s, High Fiber O’s and Peanut Butter Pows with oat milk and a DanActive yogurt smoothie.

I wasn’t in the mood to be at work so I took a long lunch break and came home for a while around noon.  I wanted to eat something but I wasn’t ready for lunch.

So I had this totally fabulous Shrimp Wonton Soup.  Let me tell you, this was really good and SUPER filling.  Can you believe there’s only 90 (yes, ninety!!!!!) calories?!!!  That is the most bang I’ve gotten for my calorie buck in ages.

A while after I came back to work I got hungry for my “real” lunch (teriyaki bowl).  This is a pic of the contents of my lunch bag.  But I only ate the bowl, a bit of celery and the popcorn. I also had a dried fruit strip and some lifesavers (not pictured).

After work, I stopped by the local whole foods for a few things.  $220 later I came out with some fun stuff, including a white eggplant, some figs, and tonight’s dinner (yum, sushi!) ….

Even though I have mad cravings tonight I managed to stop there.  It was such a great dinner!

And check out this fun stuff I got at Whole Foods!

Ch-ch-ch-CHIA seeds!!  These will be going into my green monster smoothies!  Learn more about Chia seeds here.

White & purple eggplant…  (any ideas on how to use this guy??)

Figs!  Another one I’ve never eaten before but they sure look good!  Any recipe suggestions?

Here is my detailed food journal:

• Breakfast:  triple cereal combo with oat milk, 2 espressos, and a DanActive smoothie
• Snacks:  dried fruit strip, lifesavers, popcorn, couple bites of naan bread, wonton soup
• Lunch:  Teriyaki bowl
• Dinner:  sushi rolls and sashimi

Fitday summary….

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,365 Fat 25.0 224 16 % Saturated 5.0 45 3 % Polyunsaturated 0.3 2 0 % Monounsaturated 0.8 7 1 % Carbohydrate 226.2 906 66 % Dietary Fiber 17.6 Protein 62.1 248 18 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 16 %) Carbs ( 66 %) Protein ( 18 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Too bad the weekend is over.  It really wasn’t long enough!  I wish I could do a 4 day workweek.

Foodwise, today was a good day.  I really loaded up on protein due to the hunger issues yesterday and I wasn’t as hungry today.  Ironically I think I consumed more calories today than yesterday. 

Breakfast was 2 espressos, DanActive, and a scrambled egg wrap with kale and spinach.

At about noon, I gobbled on some black olives, and then I realized that I was really hungry so I had a soy yogurt.

We had a late lunch at Baja Fresh.  I had the grilled Mahi Mahi taco plate.  I only ate a few bites each of the rice & beans.

We then went shopping, and hit some golf balls at the range. Since I had such a late lunch, I ended up eating dinner really late.  I had leftovers from my giant batch of chili that I made last weekend (which, by the way, still has several servings in the freezer!).

Pretty good day!

Food Diary is below….

• Breakfast:  Scrambled Egg, Kale, and Spinach Wrap, 2 espressos, and a DanActive
• Snacks:  black olives, soy yogurt
• Lunch:  Baja Fresh 2 taco plate (mahi mahi tacos, rice, black beans)
• Dinner:  leftover chili with veggy “cheese”
• Dessert:  Smooze Fruit Ice

Fitday Summary is below…

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,644 Fat 67.8 608 35 % Saturated 13.6 123 7 % Polyunsaturated 5.3 47 3 % Monounsaturated 12.4 111 6 % Carbohydrate 199.1 793 46 % Dietary Fiber 47.9 Protein 81.5 322 19 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 35 %) Carbs ( 46 %) Protein ( 19 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

Starting weight (7/5/2009):               212.8

Last week’s weight (8/16/2009):       199.0

This week’s weight (8/23/2009):       195.4

This week’s weight loss / gain:          lost 3.6 pounds

Total weight loss:                               17.4 pounds

For week ending 8/16/09, I had only lost 1 pound.  So for this week I planned to cut my dairy and drink more water.  I didn’t cut dairy entirely, but I consumed very little and it seems to have helped a lot!  This weeks weight loss more than made up for last week’s 1 lb.

I am totally perplexed by this connection because lowfat dairy is supposed to help you lose weight.  Maybe its me, maybe I’m eating the wrong kinds of dairy, or maybe all that “dairy helps you lose weight” marketing is baloney.  Maybe I’ll experiment with different yogurts and cheeses to see if some are easier on me than others.

For this week, I want to just focus on continuing to cook new fun recipes.  Plus I need to come up with something fun to do for my birthday that doesn’t involve binging on over-fattening food.  I really don’t want to un-do all the recent progress.  Maybe a spa day??

Meanwhile, I’m elated that the scale said 195.4 today.  But I can’t help but feel a bit anxious.  This is the lowest weight I’ve been in years, and I have memories of “messing up” past diets around the mid-190s.  Its not that I think I’m going to mess up again, I’m totally committed, but I just want to put as much distance as possible between me and the 190s altogether.  Maybe its just superstition.  Either way, it will be nice when I can put the 190s behind me.

I was insatiable today!!  I really felt genuinely hungry all day.  Maybe PMS?  I’m due for the TOM in about 7-10 days.  That seems a bit far out for cravings, I know, but I’m also super grumpy.  OK, OK, I’m always grumpy.  Anyway, whatever the reason, tomorrow I think I’m going to start the day with eggs hoping it helps.

For those of you in the SF bay area, I’m looking for birthday celebration ideas.  I was thinking maybe going to a fancy restaurant in the city or wine tasting in Napa.  All suggestions are appreciated!!

Breakfast today was a green monster (www.greenmonstermovement.com).

I felt like a bottomless pit today, so I snacked quite a bit. First was a couple bites of a carrot cupcake….

Then I had lunch, which was Black Bean and Espresso Chili with a bit of Veggy “Cheese” substitute (pepper jack flavor, not bad tasting but ingredient list looked scary)…

Later I had some ricecake-y type snacks (no picture).  And then came dinner, which was my old standby:  pan-grilled veggies with balsamic vinegar glaze in a brown rice tortilla wrap.  I changed things up a bit today by adding some eggplant “meatballs”.

And that is it!  Or so I hope.  The hubs is making freshly baked bread as we speak.  I know, what a terd!  Anyway, I hope I have the willpower to stay away.

Detailed Food Diary:

• Breakfast:  Green Monster smoothie (banana, spinach, kale, applesauce, protein powder, wheat bran, oat milk, and a DanActive yogurt drink)
• Snacks:  carrot cupcake with frosting, ricecake snacks
• Lunch:  Black Bean and Espresso Chili with Veggy (fake) Cheese
• Dinner:  Grilled veggie wrap and eggplant meatballs

Fitday summary is below:

Grams Calories %-Cals Calories 1,630 Fat 47.1 421 26 % Saturated 7.7 69 4 % Polyunsaturated 4.1 36 2 % Monounsaturated 6.0 53 3 % Carbohydrate 254.8 982 59 % Dietary Fiber 46.1 Protein 65.9 249 15 % Alcohol 0.0 0 0 %

Fat ( 26 %) Carbs ( 59 %) Protein ( 15 %) Alcohol ( 0 %)

I made another green monster today, and it was delish once again!  The only difference today was that my spinach was starting to look a little bit sad, and I didn’t have any alfalfa sprouts.  Lately I find myself going to the store constantly to refresh my produce.  but its worth it.

Even the hubs tried it today, but he cautiously drank only a few sips.

I was curious about how many calories are in it, and I was shocked to see that the one I made today and on Wednesday were both 424 cals!!  Its really worth it though!  I want to figure out how to get that number down because I want to add some P-butter, which is pretty high-cal.

Also in my next one, I want to try my new good belly juice probiotic drink instead of the yogurt drink.  I’ve really seen a difference in my overall health when I avoid dairy (too bad because I love cheese!).  And, the days I eat the least dairy are the days my scale goes down the most.