Starting the thread a bit ahead (though not much!) so I can get my plan for tomorrow down:

B - Oatmeal w/ protein powder, cinnamon
S - WW tortilla w/ turkey, laughing cow, veggies
L - Leftovers: Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Sausage penne w/ red sauce
S - Greek yogurt w/ raspberries
S - Popcown
D - Grilled pineapple-marinated chicken skewers, whole grain blend (it has baby garbanzos, lentils, quinoa, and Israeli couscous...yum!), and a side salad
S - Roasted vanilla cinnamon pineapple w/ NSA Ice Cream

E - 30 min yoga, 60 min elliptical

Had a good weekend foodwise, though not personal wise (my partner's grandpa is in the hospital, had surgery yesterday and today, and will be going into some sort of assisted care at this point, so there is a lot to handle). I seem to have injured my good knee in some way, but I think it'll hold out and is just a little sore.

We keep joking that everything that can go wrong IS going wrong...our car also broke down, so it is at the dealer getting a $1500 repair...work is super crazy, and we still don't have a house!! So I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by it all. Still, I'm awfully proud to have had a mostly OP weekend, with all of this going on.

On the plus side, my parents were kind enough to loan me a car to go grocery shopping at Costco and Trader Joes, and we got to go to our favorite butcher shop while celebrating the 4th, so we are stocked with 3 weeks worth of wonderful quality meat, this week's veggies, staples, and everything else we might need. I love going to this butcher because a good number of their meats are preseasoned/marinated, then frozen in the marinade...this means making the protein for my meal is literally as simple as defrost and grill or bake...and the marinades are SO incredible tasting. And they have house-made chicken sausage, too, which is delicious. So our freezer is full.

That's the update from this front. How did we all do over the holiday weekend?

I did great over the weekend, but then weekends are almost always easier than weekdays for me. Friday came in 200 calories low, Saturday 100 calories low, and today 200 low again. So far the scale is not rewarding my good behavior however. I guess if I don't see some progress soon, I'm going to have to look at dropping my weekday calories a little further.

I also have some great super low cal dinners and lunches planned this week . For dinner, this week our menu includes Chicken with Fennel, Figs, and Bacon; Moroccan Chickpea Chili with Chicken; and Crustless Quiche with Smoked Salmon and Dill (each meal will last two nights). For lunch, I'm having Chicken with Creole Veggies and Cabbage Noodles with Ham (each meal lasts at least four days). Dinner tonight was pan-seared tilapia with cilantro butter and the best beans I have ever had. I got them at the farmers' market and they are so good I just blanched them and ate them with a little sea salt--it would have been a travesty to eat them any other way. Not only are my menus fully planned, but I even have three days' worth of lunches and two days' worth of dinners already prepared--I love heading into the week with a head start.

Now let's just hope I can stick to the plan!

You guys are giving me such great menu ideas (Jessica, too!) And thank you for posting the recipes in the recipe thread. I tend to stay in the same boring food rut, but now I'm inspired to get ingredients and try some of these awesome sounding meals!

Yesterday came right in where I wanted it, food and exercise-wise. I'll go to the gym and then get groceries first thing, so the meal plan is subject to change, but here's what I'm thinking:

M1: Egg, egg whites, oatmeal
M2: Protein shake w/frozen blueberries
M3: LC wrap, chicken, veggies, dab of hummus
M4: Wasa crackers, LC lite cheese
M5: Greek yogurt, cherries
M6: Baby greens, LF dressing, salmon, strawberries

Exercise: 30 min bike, 30 min elliptical, chest workout

All right, sounds like you folks have a great handle on the week ahead.

My week is all planned out as well. Though my food won't be quite as interesting. But that's okay. I LOVE what I'm eating nontheless.

This weekend was the sum of my life. Half of it was horrible and half of it was wonderful.

Saturday was just horrendous. My plans kept getting derailed (first Friday and then Saturday) due to the weather and I was just plain old angry and frustrated about it. So what did I do - eat. It started off with overeating healthy foods and turned into hitting Baskin & Robbins by the end of the night.

Sunday, just as frustrated with the weather and my plans AGAIN being derailed, but instead of turning to food in the negative, I stuck to plan even stronger. Came in under my calories and even went for an additional walk late at night.

Looking for a good week ahead. Because boy oh boy will the upcoming weekend be anything but good. We are going away for the weekend and staying at friends . There will be none of "my" food there and lots and lots of totally and completely "off" foods there. Breakfast - lunch - dinner and everything in between. I will have no control over the menu. There literally won't be one good food choice. Grrrrr. I can't think of that now. Will think about it later in the week.

I need to do produce shopping as I'm out of everything. Waiting til a little bit later to hit the stores. They need to replenish from the long holiday weekend, so that I can.

Have a super day everyone.

Long weekends are REALLY tough. So it's back to basics Monday here. Boy, does that sound trite!

I need to go peruse the recipe thread...but cooking seems to get me in trouble!

Mel

Hi all,

My long weekend was about 85% OP with food (I was both hoping for better and expecting much worse, given my past history with 4th of July weekends, so I'm taking this as "not too bad"), and 110% OP with exercise - I exercises every day and managed to push myself to run both 4 miles Thurs & Sat. I haven't been running very much for a few months now, so I'm very happy about this. I feel more confident this week, having done fairly well over the weekend. I was doing better at the start of 2008 and lost several pounds, now am sort of floundering, so I'm trying to take stock and keep up my motivation to really try and shave off these last few vanity pounds.

Today's plan:
B - 1/2 c. Kashi GoLean Crunch and 1/3 c. Kashi To Good Friends Cereal (the ends of a box), 1 c. skim milk, coffee
S - sm banana
L - 1/2 oat bran pita w/ 2 oz. chicken, 1/8 avocado, carrot sticks
S - 6 oz. lf yogurt, watermelon, 1 oz. sunflower seeds
gym - NRLW workout + elliptical
post-gym snack - homemade protein muffin if needed - do I have a theater meeting tonight? will need to plan snacks around that if I do...
dinner - leftovers - turkey meatloaf, ratatouille tart

Robin, I always shop on Tuesdays for that reason. Hang in there!

Amanda, I'm jealous of your meat mart! Sounds very tasty.

Have a great week everyone. We can do it! No excuses!

Barbara, are any of those recipes from cooking light? I remember making a crustless smoked salmon quiche from them (but I think it had too much smoked salmon and DH and I ended up throwing most of it out!).

My weekend was half on half off. Friday was good up until dessert, when I had a few too many cookies and mini-cupcakes. Saturday was good overall. Sunday was again good up until dessert -- at least sort of, we went to our cooking group dinner, so the recipes weren't my usual lite fare. I had a piece of each dessert though (blueberry tart, ice cream, and tres leches cake).

Today's plan:
B - bountiful morning cereal, milk, OJ
S - peach
L - salad w/blueberries and bruschetta tomatoes
S - apple, banana, yogurt
D - it *was* going to be chicken burgers, but I forgot to put the meat in the fridge, so I guess it will be something veg instead.
Exercise - 20 min walk with dog (already done), 25 min UBWO

My weekend was good, right up until yesterday's BBQ, and it wasn't awful. I ended up eating two burgers but NO chips, NO cake, NO ice cream. Just burgers and cabbage salad, oh a a pickle or two. They had wonderfully sweet onion slices, which I love on a burger.

Today looks pretty decent too, though exercise is iffy. It's pouring out, and I have a meeting tonight, so no time for the gym (I've been at work since 7).

B - cheerios with 5 walnut halves, 1/2 banana, 1% milk; ww toast w/current jelly,

L - turkey sandwich on WW, with lettuce, tomato, banana peppers

D - left over salmon, veg of some sort

Ss - cottage cheese, berries, apple

Yes, they're all from Cooking Light except for the Cabbage Noodles recipe, which I made up. Also, I've tweaked the Cooking Light recipes quite a bit. I almost always add veggies to any recipe I make. I could be looking at a recipe for chocolate brownies and I'd be thinking to myself, "hmmm, what veggies can I add to this recipe?"

• Chicken with Fennel, Figs, and Bacon is the Cooking Light recipe for Chicken with Pancetta and Figs, but I am using 2 slices of bacon instead of pancetta (the pancetta sold around here has like 1,000 calories an ounce--I don't know why CL uses it), leaving out the olive oil, using chicken breasts instead of thighs (I don't like chicken thighs) and adding fennel to the recipe. I've never made this one before, so I don't know how it will come out. With my changes it should be about 250 calories per serving.
• Moroccan Chickpea Chili with Chicken is the CL recipe for Moroccan Chickpea Chili, except that I increase the celery to 8 oz (a little over 2 cups), increase the carrots to 5 oz (about 1 cup), add 6 oz red pepper (about 1 cup), add 1 lb diced chicken (I am a meataholic, so I don't do vegetarian), replace the vegetable broth with fat free chicken broth (again, I don't do vegetarian), and increase the cinnamon to 1 tsp (we like cinnamon in savory dishes). With all my additions, it works out to six servings (instead of four) at 245 calories each. I made this recipe several times, so I know it comes out fabulous.
• The quiche is the CL recipe for Crustless Smoked Salmon Quiche with Dill. Several of the reviews say that there isn't enough smoked salmon in it (and 2 oz of salmon for the whole thing definitely sounds low to me), so I plan on increasing the salmon to 4 oz. The calories were really low and I have some egg yolks I need to use up, so I'm increasing the eggs from one to two and decreasing the egg whites to 1/4 cup egg beaters. I'm also using light feta instead of Gouda, nonfat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream (I have the yogurt on hand) and adding some roasted red pepper and 1/2 cup edamame. And I'm dividing into only four servings instead of eight. With all my changes, it should be about 225 calories per serving. I haven't made this recipe before either, so I don't know how it will come out.
• The Chicken and Creole Vegetables recipe is the CL recipe for Chicken and Creole Vegetables except that I used all fresh veggies instead of frozen. I also increased the veggies quite a bit. I put in 6 oz diced onion (about 1 cup), 6 oz diced red bell pepper (about 1 cup), 4 oz diced celery (about 1 cup), and 8 oz okra (about 2 cups--I love okra). I also forgot to add the butter at the end. I added some to my leftovers today and I'm not really sure it added anything, so I might just leave it out in the future. And next time I think I'll add mushrooms (mushrooms and okra, what more could you want? ). With all my changes, it comes in at 225 calories per serving (I kept it at four servings). This also came out well. Not my absolute best recipe, but I'd definitely make it again. Next time maybe I'll leave out the butter and add another can of tomatoes (and increase the spices).

Robin was talking about cabbage noodles recently and this was one of my favorite dishes as a kid so I decided to see if I could come up with a low cal version. It didn't seem like it should be that hard. I'm still tweaking a bit; the first try had too much pasta and not enough cabbage. I think the final recipe is going to be 1 oz Fiber Gourmet short cuts pasta, 3 oz pre-cooked ham, 2 oz sliced onions, 8 oz thinly sliced cabbage, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tbsp light butter. First I cooked the pasta according to the package directions. Then I sauteed the ham, onions, and cabbage with a little cooking spray, the salt, and pepper. When the cabbage was almost done, I added the noodles and sauteed until everything was just a little brown. Then I added the 1/2 tbsp butter for flavor. This is one serving and about 265 calories. It was very reminiscent of the dish my mom used to make, so I'll definitely make it again.

My plan for tomorrow:

B - Alternative bagel pizza
S - Plums and roasted pineapple
L - Leftovers - pineapple chicken breast, whole grain medley, side salad
S - Popcorn
S - Strawberries and greek yogurt
D - Chicken Chile Colorado served with peppers and onions in low carb tortillas, w/ fat free sour cream.
S - Roasted pineapple w/ NSA Ice Cream

E - 60 min strength
50 min cardio
30 min yoga

Today came in pretty much POP. The Chicken with Fennel, Figs, and Bacon was an unqualified success; we'll definitely be having it again (this week, in fact, since we have leftovers).

Here's how it worked out:
B: FF plain Greek yogurt with High Fiber Cereal and raspberries
S: Fiber One cereal and decaf coffee with FF half and half and SF Torani
L: Chicken and Creole Vegetables, pickles, pickled cauliflower, marinated mushrooms, 2 multigrain chips
S: Oat bran with FF cream cheese
S: Low cal wrap with Bumblebee Tuna Sensations Lemon & Dill, Yogurt Vegetable Salad, donut peach
D: Chicken with Fennel, Figs, and Bacon, green salad with grapefruit, one fig
S: Lemon Angel Food cupcakes with Grapefruit-Strawberry Sauce, 3 chocolate covered espresso beans, decaf tea with FF half and half and SF Torani

It all came in at about 1400 calories. Exercise was just an hour strength training with my trainer. Lots of plyometrics today.

Yesterday started out very well. And ended - not SO very well. On a plain old Monday, no less.

I stupidly thought that I could have just one bite of Kelloggs Apple Jacks cereal that my DD had requested. Well, I should have known better. I wound up eating several handfuls of it. Several. And since I tried to put a halt to it, I switched over to red grapes. And then ate too much of those.
Uch. Whatever. Today is a new day.

No BLT's. No BLT's. No BLT's. No BLT's. No BLT's........

Have a great day everyone.

My day was a gluten free version of Robin's

I must stop the roller coaster! I WILL stop the roller coaster.

On the up side, cardio done, legs lite at lunch. Good workouts yesterday, too, but I would have had to stay on the elliptical all night to make up for the two hours of damage. How $^%&!!! stupid is that?

Mel

Yes on the upside, I too had a good day of exercise. But like you said, or my version of it - big whoopee doo da. I wasted it. I BLEW it. How incredibly $^%&!!! stupid.

Yes, the roller coaster MUST stop. Where in the world did my consistiency go? I want it back. I miss it.

Back to planning! I just got back from a trip home for the 4th/my birthday. My food wasn't great, but it could have been worse. I'm not beating myself up about it. It will be easy to get back on plan because I don't keep most of the food I had back there in my apartment!

However, I am sick. So I have no appetite. Planning may be hard.

B--I'm thinking smoothie, maybe PB toast. If my bread isn't stale.
S-Greek yogurt and fruit
L- Amy's Burrito
S-?
D- Boy is making Chicken Alfredo, and I know it won't be healthy. I'll just eat a small portion.

Amanda--I looked at some of the recipes you posted. can't wait to try them!

E- My C25K got messed up w/me being sick. I did 1 run at home Thursday, the 4th was an off day, and then I got hit with a sinus infection(thanks to my gross little cousins. Love them, but they are basically petri dishes). I probably won't today....hoping to get on track tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.