Tuesday

B eggs/avocado coffee/half&half
L salad with chicken, evo & coco aminos
D spaghetti squash with marinara, ground turkey, feta crumbles; Brussels sprouts
S apple, sweet potato

I could go for that buffet too! Seafood galore for me as well. Thank you for the pot roast tips!

I hope you feel some peace regarding the upcoming stressor. Fwiw, I eat chocolate and crunchy snacks fairly regularly, and I have every intention of continuing to do so. I think as long as portions are in check, it's fine. But I know that for some, it can lead to binges, so best to be avoided in that case.

Sundove - I never would've thought to cook meatloaf in the slow cooker, but I'll give that a go! I so easily fall into a pattern of not eating beef, but, probably due to my anemia tendencies, I feel better when I have it somewhat regularly--once a week is enough. So I'm thinking of things I could cook and then freeze to have on hand. I wonder if meatloaf would still taste good after being frozen, hmm...

TUES
B: leftover pasta dish.
L: coffee shop food - decaf latte and a muffin
D: mixed nuts
Calories = 1399
Exercise = dvd

Not the healthiest eating day. A friend wanted to meet at the coffee shop. I ran out of time to eat beforehand, so I ate there. Their only food options were pastries. I'd been expecting them to have a sandwich option, but they were all out.

WED
B: last of the leftover pasta dish.
L: hard boiled egg, cheddar cheese.
D: ice cream.
Calories = 1099
Exercise = dvd + over 10,000 steps

Eek, no veg the past couple of days other than the artichokes in my pasta dish. I guess the beans in that could be considered a veg too, but I usually don't think of them as that.

The ice cream was how I bribed myself to do the coding assignment that I didn't even want to attempt. It went pretty well! The coding. The ice cream went fabulously.

If I eat again, I'll have broccoli with butter. I'm not at all hungry though, so I'm probably done for the day.

Flower I hope things smooth out for you. If only broccoli could be engineered to soothe our feelings, i could get behind GMO.

Chunkahlunkah Good for you for working your plan to include the coding treat

Wed went south in Costco, where I needed to buy a car vacuum for bird feeders. There were few samples, but the one lethal one included Dave's bread. There was underlying anxiety about a looming long drive in rush hour yada yada yada. I did walk out of the store with broccoli, no bread. So there's that! Accounting-wise, the samples were followed by a slice of pizza because samples there always make me hungrier. I also sampled from the brownies I made for my hair guy, had 2 protein bars, and a fried chicken leg at WF hot bar, and a vegan ginger cookie. I could have done a lot worse, but did not want anything else. I felt overfull by night time when I got home. Next time I'll plan out my meals--I need to make this front & center when days are full.

Thurs
B coffee, splash of protein shake, last of the half half and second cup with just 2% milk. eggs/avocado
L will be salad with chicken, evoo, coco aminos
D will be spaghetti with turkey chili, broccoli, carrots
S will be apple, sweet potato

I have it in my head to bake ginger cookies for Sat's boat trip, to prevent seasickness. I don't usually get seasick, but it is a ritual I love, and something to share with others. On the other hand, I could just make some ginger tea and avoid the temptation.

Hello lovely ladies and lovely lurkers!

THURS
B: Two slices of whole wheat toast, topped with natural pb and half a serving of nutella. Tea with milk.
L: Broccoli with butter, parmesan, and lemon juice.
D: I'm not sure where we're going after class tonight. Most likely, I'll be having a beer and a slice of pizza.
Calories =
Exercise = dvd.
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I think ginger cookies sound like such a nice treat for that day! Would making a very small batch help? That way there's only enough for everyone to have 1 or 2, so there's not a surplus to snack on at home? A cookie with a thermos of ginger tea sounds nice to me but maybe you'd find that ginger overkill.

Chunkahlunkah Nice lunch, girl! What fun to have a weekly night out. Thanks for the ginger idea! You can't eat too much ginger on a boat . I bought some crystallized ginger too, today.

Flower, I saw pop chips in our local Safeway-- larger bags, 2 flavors.

I'm glad today is winding down. It was emotionally draining.

Not sure why I didnt post yesterday. The food was okay.

Sundove your Tuesday food sounds delicious. I never heard of cocoa amino. I bought some coconut amino. It's made from coconut flower and has a sweet taste. Its divine in stir fry. What does cocoa amino taste like? Chocolaty Braggs?
I hear ya! I would bow to the GMOs if they made low carb vegetables a comfort food.
Re ginger cookies for the boat, They are some of my favorites. I always used to add extra ginger. Wishing you with your decision between ginger tea or ginger cookies. Do you like ginger brew/beer (non alcoholic)? I used to melt chocolate and dip crystallized ginger in it. then let it harden on wax paper or parchment. Okay, back to reality.
Congrats on not getting the bread at Costco. That's great. Those samples at costco, For me, its something I would never otherwise eat. And it feels calorie free.... while I am eating it. Later in the day I have taster's remorse I go there for spring mix and eat their samples. Every three weeks I get raw chicken. And yes, today was emotionally draining. Honestly, it has been that way for me for about 11 days. oh, and re: seeing larger bags of popchips at safeway, the company supersized all the grocery store popchip bags that was the beauty of the private label bags they did for TJs. They were 3 oz bags. May they RIP

Chunkahlunkah I think it was smart to bribe yourself to do the coding assignment. You got ice cream reward at the end. Maybe its a good idea to have some high carb, low calorie days. You DID keep your calories in check both Tuesday and Wednesday. Hope you had a good time going out on Thursday night. oh, and see you at the seafood buffet table in the hereafter I might want some carrot cake for dessert.

Okay, so today the calories were as planned. I kept trying to buy baked cheese bites instead of Bamba at trader Joe's. But the price of the little bag of baked cheese bites is more than twice the cost of Bamba. So I went with the 1 dollar, high carb, high calories bag of bamba. I really do want to switch to baked cheese bites.Hopefully someday soon.
B: coffee and peaches 350
S: Bamba 480
L salad 280
D ground Chicken with carrot puree, feta, onions cooked cabbage and chili spices. 310
1420 if I had gotten the cheese bites the calories would have been 1280 and much lower carbs for the day

Hope you have a great Friday.

Flower Your dinner sounds so good! If the Bamba is something you really enjoy, maybe those extra calories are worth it, just a little longer trajectory to get to your goal. If you're enjoying the indulgence along the way, maybe it's easier to sustain. I find those baked cheese bites to be a little on the 'tastes too good' end of the spectrum. I always want to keep eating them, after the bag is empty. Kind of like Costco samples I can eat a day's calories worth of samples in 15 minutes and still feel unsatisfied. I think those foods are designed that way. Aminos were coco--cocoa was a typo.

I have heard of ginger beer but never tried it. I'm not a fan of sparkling beverages and try as I might, have never acquired a taste for beer. Wine is fine but I'd rather ingest my sugar in the form of sweets In Costco, they had samples of a power shot that was pretty good. Ginger, cayenne, pineapple juice...I might concoct a ginger beverage without the fruit juice. Was thinking to try savory baked thing too--not sure if that's would be appealing--ginger crackers? I used to rub fresh ginger and garlic on (skinless) chicken. Choc dipped ginger sounds really good! The nice thing about a boat trip is that just standing and shifting muscle tension to accommodate to the boat's rocking is a great workout. I won't worry about calories, other than to stick to my packed lunch and something gingery if absolutely necessary. I've realized that the draw of making ginger snaps from scratch is mainly nostalgia. I'll make them since I have the ingredients ready.

Chunkahlinkah Wondering if your weekends provide an opportunity for respite, or a different set of things to get done? Hopefully a little of the former.

Yesterday was good until I bought some trial --you guessed it---ginger snaps. This is what happens when I get emotionally invested in something edible I'm noticing that as it gets darker, I'm thinking of comfort food and feeling nostalgic too.

Fri
B coffee, lowfat milk, protein shake, 1 raw ginger cookie for the sake of quality control
L salad with chicken, coco aminos, avoo
D spaghetti, marinara with ground turkey, feta crumbles
S Fuji apple, will have 1 baked cookie

Last night was a lot of fun, but I went over my calorie goal. We went to a beer garden that also has food trucks and a pizzeria. I had 2 slices of pizza and 1 beer. I ended the day at around 1700 calories. I'll need to stay under ~1090 today if I'm going to meet the weekly calorie goal I've set for myself. I should be able to do that. Going forward, I'll aim to keep my weekly running average lower before Thursday so that I have more room for calories that night.

Flower - Ahh, so PopChips are still available but only in large bags? I'll have to see if I can find them. They're not at the grocery store I've been using for my food deliveries. Do you enjoy the taste of the baked cheese bites as much as Bamba?

Sundove - at quality control. I can relate to nostalgia regarding comfort foods as fall and winter roll in. I hope you have a great time tomorrow! Weekends vary for me. I actually was able to keep most of last weekend work-free, which was fantastic! I don't anticipate that happening much though. When I talk to people further along in the program, most tell me they've needed to work every day of the week. Some make it a priority to take one full day off. I'd like to do the latter, but that would require that I'm really disciplined and efficient on all of the other days. That's my goal! I would love one entire day off. I think that's important for my emotional well-being. I've always been the sort of person who needed a regular escape from the grind. It helps me feel more free and like myself. Otherwise, I start to feel suffocated in some artificial system. Not to get too dramatic about it. ETA: What's funny is law school is notorious for a heavy workload, but I was always able to complete my week's work in 5 or 6 days (usually just 5). Law was reading intensive, but the research/writing assignments weren't as time-consuming, so that's where most of the difference comes from. And that was at a top 10 law school, so I'm not comparing it with some guy teaching law out of his garage or something like that.

Sundog yes Re: the baked cheese bites. The bag is too small. I finish them and am ready for the next bag But if the bag were larger it would be calorically prohibitive. And the price would be way too expensive. I hear ya re costco samples. Its the same type of thing. Just like alcoholic with a little glass of wine. I need MORE. But I have trained myself to not consider costco day an excuse to eat a lot. We do not have a lot of samples at our costco. Sometimes there are just 4 sample carts even on a Saturday. There isnt much competition here. Costco is the only big box food store.
Ginger beer has no beer taste. Like you, I do not like beer. But red wine, that's a whole different story Ginger beer is just high test ginger, ginger ale. But you do not like carbonated drinks. And it is that. I do not drink carbonated drinks because they are unhealthy for me. I hear ya re the ginger snaps. It can feel so satisfying to make nostalgic food. I hope you enjoy making and eating them. What is the boat ride? I was imagining a ferry. But now I am not so sure. Because you bring lunch, I hope you have a GREAT time.

Chunkahlunkah Glad you enjoyed your time on Thursday night. I think its important for many people to not feel deprived when we go out. I hope you were able to stay within your projected caloric goal for Friday. You wrote that you went to a food truck. I have seen on the food channel some interesting food trucks in TX. Especially the Austin area. The food looks SO good. You asked if I enjoy the taste of the cheese bites as much as the Bamba. Thats a resounding yes. But the bag is very small. And the cost is more than twice as much. thats why I stick with the bamba. Although today I had vegan Rob 'cheese" puffs. still more expensive than the bamba. But 60 less calories. If you want to find popchips in your area you could do a zip code search https://www.popchips.com/store-locator I preferred trader joe's bbq popchips. They had less sugar. You wrote that you went to law school. Now I remember you writing about that in Diana's thread Did you graduate? If so did you take the bar? I cannot imagine being so ept at scholastic endeavors. I SO admire that. I admire how you are in school now. I know its difficult. And yet you are doing it.

Today was awesome. It was warm enough so I could wear thongs for shoes. No, not the underwear, Tomorrow night it will start getting cooler again. In the mid 40s. But today was delightful. Window wide open at 11pm. ahhh I am so grateful for these open window nights in the autumn. Saturday is costco day. Last Saturday one of the sample ladies refused to give me a sample. She said she had seen me previously that week. And I was only buying spring mix. I explained to her that it was not I she had seen. But still she refused, I am trying to every day make enough greeting cards so that I will not get slammed during the holiday season when I have to give around 200 as gifts. Then this year I have a whole new enchanted trees collection. Each one of those takes me 45 minutes to make. So I am already busy replenishing my stock. This month I gave around 250 cards. And that's to 3 people. 1 of the people will sell some of the cards. Another person wants to market them to stores where she lives. My net profit is about 7 dollars an hour. So its not wholly lucrative. I just enjoy giving them to people. If I can get my supplies reimbursed, all the better.
food today similar to yesterday. I discovered I cannot have the feta cheese twice a day. Too much inflammation if I do.
Coffee 200
B peaches 200
S Vegan Rob "cheddar" puffs 420
L Salad 280
D Faux stir fry with chicken vegetables and coconut amino. 300
1400

I hope you have a great Saturday.

flower - That's a funny visual! Getting started on your holiday cards early is such a good idea. What is an enchanted trees collection? Are those cards you make? What a cool creative venture! I think a $7 profit per hour is great. How wonderful to get paid for your art! No, I didn't finish law school. I only did one year. (LS is 3 years.) I realized it wasn't what I wanted, and every day I felt like I was falling deeper into debt for a life I didn't really want to live. My school had loan forgiveness, but that would've required that I work in the field for 5 years after graduating. So, in all, it would've been at least 7 more years doing something that I had no joy in and that didn't speak to the questions that drive me. Walking away from it for good was an agonizing choice though, especially since I was doing very well and didn't yet have a clear understanding of what I wanted instead. While I was agonizing over that choice, my mom was diagnosed with ALS. So I went on an extended leave to be her primary caregiver. After her death, I decided life was too short to go back to something that wasn't really fulfilling me. So that's when I officially switched paths. Anyway, I'm happy for you that you got lovely open-window weather! It's not like that here yet, but it has gone from hellishly hot to just uncomfortably hot lately. ETA: Thank you for the PopChips locator--they are near me, yay!! They're at different stores than I use for my deliveries, but I'll stop by in person.
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I finished my calories at 1,001 yesterday, so I made my weekly goal! (Goal = 1400 average for the week.) I'm down about a pound from the last time I weighed to 132.6. I'm losing at a quicker pace than usual and at a higher calorie level than usual. I'm pretty sure this is due to all the walking I'm doing around campus. It's not even that I'm walking that much, so much as for so long, I was walking that little!

FRI
B: Protein smoothie with whey, a frozen banana, water, and 3 oz of milk.
D: Split pea soup.
S: Beer and chips.
Calories = 1,001
Excercise = none

SAT
B: Breakfast sandwich - light English muffin with butter, 1 fried egg, and 2 turkey sausages.
B2: Tea with sugar and milk.
L: Soup with 2 mini meatballs. Mandarin.
D: Marcona almonds, brie, and figs.
S: Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt.
Calories = high 1300's
Exercise = none

I'm making my favorite veg soup today with little meatballs simmering away in the pot. I haven't had this since moving here. It smells so good!

Morning All

Chunkahlunkah Garage law school definitely doesn't fit you I think you will figure out a good-for-you balance in this new endeavor. Maybe a reason to skim? WTG with meeting your calorie goals. That's really fantastic with a varied menu and enjoying a night out.

Flower Yay for those magical warm nights! In your FOOT thongs The cards sound like quite a project and I'm with Chunkahlunkah. If you are paying for your art, way cool! I'll bet they are beautiful.
The boat thing entailed being on a small boat with about 15 other birders & a naturalist. We went out to look at seabirds that are not visible from shore. This time of year is usually calm, but there was a lot of wave energy from a hurricane hundreds of miles to the south, off Baja Calif. We saw a a wonderful variety of birds, some whales and dolphins, flying fish chased by bonita. It was hard to focus binoculars on the birds because of the boat rocking so much. A good workout for the legs to compensate for this motion for 10 hours. A fun day but it sure felt good to step onto terra firma!

I'm glad to start a new month. I'm over my nostalgia food fixations, having learned that the nostalgia is for the context of the food in question, not so much the food itself.

Sunday
B omelet with broccoli & cheese, coffee 2% milk, protein shake
L turkey roll ups
S B-up bar, apple
D gr turkey/marinara, TJ low fat feta--thank-you Flower!, broccoli
S sweet potato or fruit

I'm sorry the boat was so rocky, Sundove. How cool to see whales and dolphins! I've never seen them in their natural habitat like that.

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My favorite soup came out as delicious as ever. I made enough for 5 servings, so that'll be in my food diary a lot. I'm glad I don't mind eating the same thing several days in a row. It makes meal prep so easy.

The soup I make is veggies in chicken broth along with diced tomatoes and tomato paste. I then add small meatballs and let them simmer for at least 2 hours. Because of the tomato and seasonings in the soup, the simmering smells so much like when I was growing up and my parents made spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday.

After the meatballs simmered, I also added zucchini and kale. Then when serving I top each bowl with some parmesan. I'd like to have each bowl with crusty bread fresh from the bakery. Maybe after I hit goal.

I bought a beautiful red cabbage, so I might make borscht next! (I get way too excited about soup. ) ETA Nevermind, what am I talking about, that's beets. So eager for soup I am! For red cabbage, I really like this Rachael Ray recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...recipe-1941359

SUN
B: Tea with milk and sugar. I don't usually like tea (or coffee) with sugar but every now and then I crave it like that.
L: Soup with 3 mini meatballs, topped with parmesan.
S: 2 hard-boiled eggs
D: Marcona almonds, brie, figs.
S: Yasso bar
S: mandarin
Calories = mid 1200's
Exercise = 2 mile walk.

Hi all
I was here reading yesterday. But I did not turn on my laptop to write. Posting on the forum at any length from my ipad is too cumbersome. So yesterday I just read.

Chunkahlunkah yes I make the cards. Some take about 15 to make. Others, 45 minutes. I will give as gifts, around 200 during the holiday season alone. Then I will have to figure out an actual holiday card to make. I used to make fancy christmas tree ornaments. So its likely I will use an image from one of those. I had to stop making the ornaments because the only glue that is easy to work with is acetone based. My liver was NOT amused.
I seem to remember now that you talked on Diana's thread about having left law school because law was not a field that you envisioned for your life. Good thing you cut your losses before going even more into debt. Do you have a vision re what you want to do with the new degree you are working toward?
I am sorry that your mom went through such a horrendous illness. And then passed. What a beautiful gift you gave, caring for her. A love that endures through all time. But the passing of a loved one leaves a hole that never fully is filled, IMHO.
The soup you made sounds delicious. Made healthy by kale. I am a fan of cabbage. So that too sounds delicious. Maybe next endeavor will be beets for borscht. Beets are very healthy. When roasted it brings out the sugars. Even when using it for soup. And you were correct that sometimes cabbage is added in to Borscht.

Congrats on meeting your caloric goals for the week !!! AND congrats for the weight loss. you are getting so close to goal.

Sundove ahhh now I get it. The boat was part of the bird watching. I can only imagine how amazing it would be to see dolphins and whales. What an experience it must have been. And keeping your balance while being on the boat sounds like a great exercise. Your breakfast sounds delicious. Congrats for no longer being into the whole nostalgia food thing. I don't think I am over that as well. I grew up on Chinese food. My mother did not like to cook. So sometimes it was Italian food. Mostly Chinese. So I had serious withdrawal from Boston (Cantonese) Chinese food when I left home to be on my own. I tried to make it myself when I moved into my first apartment. But at that tender age, all attempts failed. Now I do not need that fattening stuff. Still I love it when I visit Boston.

Yesterday I felt really good in my clothes. And I had a very odd encounter with someone that left me a bit shaken. The two things combined to choose a very fattening lunch. GF flatbread "fiesta" pizza for one. Made with refried beans and jack cheese. That in itself is not very fattening. But I added cooked onions and blue cheese at the end. Then I broil the top. Its one of my favorite things to eat. Then I slept for three hours, lol.

Of course today I am back on plan. Its cooler out today. So I do not know how odd it would be to wear thongs on my feet I got an awesome pic of the sun yesterday. I wish I could post it. But I do not know how to post photos here. I know I have to get a url for each pic. I just don't know the easiest safest way to do that.

I hope you both have a great remainder of Sunday.