Work/Play in NOLA!

About a month ago I had the privilege of joining some of my colleagues in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Southwestern Social Sciences Association (SSSA). I was about 27 weeks along in my pregnancy and thankfully not feeling nearly as exhausted as I generally do now at nearly 32 weeks!

After teaching all day on a Thursday I headed to the airport and caught my flight to NOLA via Dallas (of course, because all of my travel includes a stop in Dallas). I got in and to my hotel around 10pm and promptly went to sleep. The next morning I presented a paper with one of my colleagues who is the director of the gerontology center at our university. Our presentation went well and while our session wasn't well attended those of us who were there had a great time.

After the session there was a lot of food to be sampled! We started with the hotel buffet which was outstanding, especially since I didn't have to pay. After brunch I rested and napped until dinner. It seemed like a wasted day but I was so exhausted that I really needed that down time. For dinner we got together and headed to Red Fish Grill a few blocks away on the edge of the French Quarter along Bourban Street. Thankfully someone thought to make a reservation as the place was packed. I thoroughly enjoyed some BBQ Oysters and chicken. For dessert I had the chocolate bread pudding and I just about died from the deliciousness of it! I am not a huge bread pudding fan but this was absolutely amazing. Of course, I ate it so quickly that I didn't get a picture but here is a picture from some random site that does it justice: Red Fish Grill Bread Pudding.

That was it for Friday. On Saturday morning there were more presentations and more buffet followed by a tour of New Orleans. I opted for the open top, hop on hop off, style tour and it was okay. I was a little disappointed in the tour guide quality and some of the other passengers but it was okay. We did go by a lot of the major sites which was nice. First up, the Superdome:

This next picture was taken while driving down some street (I really should have paid better attention or blogged about this less than a month after the fact). The reason for the picture is because my grandmother's maiden name is Nadeau, not a name you see all that often unless you are in a French speaking part of the world!

The tour also went by Mardi Gras World which is where the house all of the Mardi Gras floats. I originally wanted to go in and take a tour but decided that since the door was open and we were able to get a sneak peak that I would save my money and buy beignets instead.

These next pictures are heading into the French Quarter and being that it was a Saturday before a holiday (Easter being the next day) it was super crowded in the Quarter. This church is said to have been an inspiration for Walt Disney and one of the Disney castles which means that I have now seen two of his inspirational castles!

The tour officially ended at this cemetery so we decided to walk around, I think it would have been much more interesting had we had a tour guide or something to tell us what we were looking at! It was also getting pretty darn hot and humid and my feet were really beginning to swell so we set off in search of nourishment, AKA Beignets!

When we were in DC for the inauguration I had some beignets at a Cajun restaurant and was sorely disappointed, were they really just not as good as I remembered them being or was it just that restaurant? Thankfully it was just that restaurant. The beignets at Cafe Du Monde did not disappoint and I ended up coming home with two boxes of mix so that I could make some for the husband.






















By the time we got back to the hotel I was ready to crash! I wish I would have thought to stop and grab some food to take back to the hotel room with me but since I didn't I ended up going out one more time. This time I went right across the street to a little dive that served Po'Boys and ordered the fried shrimp Po'Boy. This picture does not do it justice, the sandwich was as big as my head and there was probably a pound of fried shrimp on it. It was very tasty and hit the spot. I think I ate maybe half of it and a few of the delicious onion rings. Unfortunately, while pregnant, I've found that I don't have as much room in my stomach for huge portions which is both good and also very, very sad!

Overall I had a great trip to New Orleans but I was not sad to get home and back on the ground. I am thankful that all of my air travel is done until after baby comes!

Back From a Blogging Hiatus

I'm back! No, I'm not back as a part of a New Years Resolution but because I finally have some energy back! Here's the brief update on what's been going on.

In mid-July we took a trip to the East Coast to visit friends and some historical sites. We made it to Annapolis (and the Naval Academy), Baltimore for an Orioles game, Gettysburg, Penn State (The husbands alma mater), and DC for a great day of sight seeing and a Nationals game. It was quite the whirlwind but so worth it!

We were home for about 3 weeks before we hit up the West coast with a trip to San Fran and a Giants game, a visit with my parents in NorCal before heading to Denver for a Sociology conference and to get the Rockies checked off our list. It was another great trip but it wiped me out and by the time we got home it was time to get ready for the school year.

September was full of college football, teaching and organizing small group activities. In October we found out that we are having a baby! I am due around June 28th! Around the end of October I started suffering from morning sickness and am just now coming out of the fog.

At the end of October I took a trip to Portland to celebrate a food friend and her upcoming wedding.

In November my grandfather passed away which left quite a gap in our family, he is greatly missed but we are so glad that he is no longer suffering. Unfortunately I couldn't make it back to California for the funeral but I am thankful that we got to see him in August.

Also in November I took a student to present a paper in Phoenix, so much fun but a little crazy since we presented our research and then I flew to Seattle for a wedding. I was in Washington for about 16 hours and managed to lose my license while there which made getting home exciting!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at home just the two of us and I spent most of the time laying on the couch trying not to throw up. I also got to see my baby and hear its heart beat, it was simply amazing and made it feel so real!

I managed to finish up the semester only canceling one day of classes and then we headed to NorCal to visit my family for the holidays. Tomorrow we head down to SoCal to visit friends and more family. We will get back to Texas just in time for the new year.

Through all of the craziness my eating and running have been terrible. For the last 8 weeks meat has repulsed me and nothin has sounded good. Now that I'm starting to feel better we are planning to meal plan again and eat foods that will nourish the baby and me.

Obviously, I didn't run a marathon at 6 weeks pregnant but I am looking ahead to next year after the baby is born and what my running goals will be. I'm definitely putting a BOB jogging stroller on our registry. For now my plan is walking and swimming now that I'm feeling better.

So, that's what's been going on here!

Daily (b)Log - It's More Than Just Food

This morning began with a big glass of water and a 5 mile run. Marathon training has officially begun! My run felt good and strong, I set out just to do 4 miles but felt good so I ran another half mile and then walked the last half mile. I need to get a new strap for my heart rate monitor, I'd like to see where my heart rate is at while I run.

Once I got home from the run I made some beef bacon, which was pretty good although I prefer the taste of pork bacon, I also cooked up some zucchini and 3 eggs over easy. It totally hit the spot!

Ugh, the rest of the day wasn't as good. I had a horrible case of the munchies. I ended up having a little binge that included 2 Larabars, a burger, fries and a mini blizzard. Oh and 2 cans of diet coke and a large diet coke from dq. I was so wired from the caffeine that I couldn't fall asleep last night. I ended up staying up reading until 1 am.

Ugh, I hate when I can't sleep and although I didn't eat nearly as much as I have in the past I still made some poor choices.

Daily Food (b)Log

Today is Sunday which means lunch out after church. This morning started simply with a huge glass of water, no time for breakfast and I really didn't want to start the day with a Larabar as I like to treat those as a dessert these days.

After church we went to a Mexican place with friends. I have found that Mexican restaurants pose the biggest obstacle to eating paleo! My goal when eating Mexican is to just avoid wheat and eat sensibly. Today I had enchiladas with rice and beans. It was very tasty and totally worth it. I succumbed to the diet dr pepper and had two huge cups of soda. I'm still working on cutting out the soda.

When we got home we cleaned up the house and while I was working on the new curtains for our kitchen I snacked on a Larabar and some watermelon.

For dinner I had another bun less burger and some baby carrots. For a snack I had some pistachios and a coconut milk, strawberry, mango Popsicle that I made. The Popsicle was creamy and amazing! I will definitely be making more as long as berries are in season.

Daily Food (b)Log

Hello again, it's been another great food day. We started the morning with a trip to the farmers market and then the natural grocery store for supplies. I wasn't feeling hungry this morning so I just drank a big cup of water. Around noon we came home and fired up the grill. The husband grilled up some burgers while I set up the fixin's. I had cheese on my burger with a side of pickles and watermelon and of course, these were bun-less burgers.

Our kitchen table was finally ready to be picked up today so we borrowed a friend and his truck and while the boys were out getting my table and chairs my friend and I planned out her new bathroom. I helped her pick flooring and wall color and granite for the counter tops. I can't wait to see it all come together, it's going to look great and really got me thinking about our shower and how I'd like to change it up a little.

Anyway, we hung out for quite awhile and then came home and I wasn't terribly hungry so I just had an apple and a chocolate coconut Larabar.

I ended the night with another bun-less burger. My diet coke consumption was 1 can today and I drank tons of water.

Food (b)Log

I've been feeling a little stuck lately. Summer always seems to be a bit of a challenge for me, I have no real schedule and am on the go a lot and traveling which has historically led to weight gain or at least stall during the summer months. In order to combat the stuck feeling I thought I would blog about what I'm eating for the next week or so. I'm hoping that this will give me the accountability that I need to get moving in the right direction.

So, for breakfast this morning I ate 4 pieces of center cut bacon, two pastured eggs scrambled and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. It was very tasty.

So far my diet coke count for the day is 1 can. Hoping to get this down to 0 soon!

Lunch today was a club salad from Schlotzsky's. It came with black beans (I tried to pick around those), avocado, tomato, lettuce, bacon, ham, egg & feta. I skipped the croutons and side of bread but did use about a tablespoon of ranch dressing. This salad was soo good and so big that I left a lot in the bowl. I drank unsweetened iced tea.

I had a Larabar for an afternoon snack and then leftover pork chops with some guacamole and cheese. I had some unsweetened decaf tea and some Riesling with frozen strawberries.

As a late night snack I had some olives and some more cheese. All in all today was a pretty good day. I'm looking forward to the Farmer's market tomorrow morning where I'll pick up more eggs and fresh veggies.

My Morning Smoothie

I know that when I read blogs I really like seeing what other people eat, maybe it's weird and maybe it's just me but judging by the number of food bloggers in the world I would guess that I'm not alone in this. So, I thought I'd share with you what a typical breakfast looks like for me. Now, I alternate between a smoothie, eggs & bacon, and sometimes a Larabar if I'm in a real hurry. Since it's summertime smoothies have been winning lately :)

I recently purchased a magic bullet and it has taken my smoothie making to a whole new level. Totally worth the money! I generally start each smoothie with frozen fruit (organic of course). On this particular day I used strawberries, blueberries and mango. I have found that I am not a fan of blackberries or raspberries in my smoothie. Blackberries leave yucky seeds and raspberries tend to upset me tummy. I have also used a tropical blend which included banana, strawberry and mango and while I'm not a huge fan of banana in the smoothie this one turned out pretty darn tasty. To add a little additional sweetness to my smoothie I also add a spoonful of crushed pineapple to my smoothies and when I have it I'll add a handful of spinach. With the pineapple added in you really don't taste the spinach, I promise!

 

In addition to my fruit I also add in some fish oil. Now, before you groan about fish burps and what not let me just tell you that high quality fish oil is flavorless. I buy Carlson's fish oil with orange zest, they also have a lemon version. The flavor comes from the orange peel so there is no sugar just a nice citrusy taste and smell. It's pricey but you really do get what you pay for and after having taken cheap fish oil capsules while doing South Beach back in '04 I will gladly pay for my giant bottle.

Now, in order to get things going you are going to need some liquid. If I used fresh fruit I wouldn't need nearly as much liquid but with frozen fruit you want a good amount of liquid. I've use a variety of things for my liquid. Almond milk is ok but I didn't love the flavor combination, I hate yogurt in a smoothie (not sure why but that's my feeling), I've added straight water which is refreshing, lately I've been using this coconut milk. With the pineapple and strawberry and mango it makes for a nice refreshing tropical smoothie. I ran out of my carton coconut milk a week ago and so I opened up a can and just added some water to thin it our and it worked great and was probably significantly cheaper than the carton but since the husband uses this in his coffee I try to keep some on hand.

I put in enough liquid to cover the fruit and other ingredients. I have sometimes had to add more liquid halfway through because it gets stuck but I like my smoothies on the thick side.

Once you've got all of the ingredients in just twist on your blade and pop it in the Magic Bullet and let it go for a few minutes. It doesn't take long! I like to drink mine with a bendy straw straight out of the mixer cup and I'm generally too lazy to put the colorful ring around the top to make it pretty!

There you have it, my morning smoothie.This would make a great night time snack too. Now, this is pretty high in carbs for anyone who is looking to reduce their carbs or for those who are primal but you could use only berries and put in more veggies. I've been thinking cucumber would make and excellent smoothie. I love to have these on a running day to give me the energy to get through a tough run. They are better than a GU and taste so much better too!

Homemade Fruit Leather

I was having a tough time finding grass-fed, organic jerky made with no soy or sugar, so, what's a gal to do? Buy a dehydrator and make your own! Now, I did play around with some recipes for homemade venison jerky but I'm still working on perfecting the recipe, it's not quite ready for prime time so I thought I'd share a simple and tasty sweet treat. I made peach fruit leather and it turned out darn tasty!

I started with a bag of frozen organic peaches since it was early March and the farmer's market wasn't open yet. I also used a half cup of unsweetened apple sauce for texture and sweetness.

 First step was to thaw out the peaches (I didn't quite get them all the way thawed since I was impatient). The second step was to put the peaches and apple sauce in my mini chopper and went to town. I ended up with a nice smooth and quite tasty mixture that I would totally feed to a baby if I were to have a baby.



 The next step is to prepare the dehydrator. I found out the hard way that you need to grease the fruit leather insert. I chose to use some coconut oil since I'm paleo and vegetable spray is not so paleo.


 I simply smeared it on with a paper towel. An added bonus was the added flavor of coconut!

 Once the dehydrator was ready I spread the puree into a nice uniform thickness.  Once it was looking all pretty and smooth I put it in the dehydrator, plugged it in and set it on one of the medium temps. It took about 4 hours to fully dehydrate. Since I had multiple trays in at once I stopped it periodically and moved the trays around (I was using plastic wrap on some trays so the air flow wasn't ideal). The result was irregular shaped but very tasty peach fruit leather! It would have been great if it had been all perfectly rectangular or round but that's not what you get with a round dehydrator.

I've heard that you can do this in a regular oven in which case you could get your nice neat shapes. I also experimented with berry's but found the seeds to be a problem. If I do blackberry or raspberry again I'll strain them to get all of the seeds out. I also used made a batch using a "tropical blend" with banana, strawberry, mango and some applesauce and that was darn tasty. For my next batch I'm thinking strawberry and pineapple! I'll let you know how it goes :)

Back to Basics!

After the horror that was April I finally made it through the end of the semester, I finally got a handle on my stomach pain and I finally got back to basics with my eating!

Apparently I had gastritis and the medicine that they put me on finally started working and I haven't had a bit of pain in about a week. The only pain I've had was when I ate some almonds. Apparently, I have a bit of an almond intolerance, I won't be eating anymore almonds!

I did great being back to paleo for about 2 weeks and then the in-laws came to visit. I love having company but it is really hard to eat out so often and stay paleo. I did alright until the weekend and then the chicken fried steak and flour tortillas proved too strong of a pull, I just couldn't resist!

Today we started fresh with our paleo lifestyle. I'm looking forward to feeling like myself again and getting all of the crud out of my system.

A Paleolithic Update

One of my 12 goals for the year was to go paleo, to attempt to eat like a cavewoman. So, how's that working out? Very well, thanks for asking! I have been living a primarily starch-free, dairy-free, legume-free life for over two months and I feel terrific. I also recently gave up soda for the lenten season which means I've cut out artificial sweeteners almost entirely as well. Since the New Year I have lost 13 pounds, my clothes are fitting better and I'm no longer getting the crazy sugar highs and lows.

One of the biggest comments I get from those around me is "so, what do you eat?" Well, a typical day of food starts with a frozen strawberry, pineapple and coconut milk smoothie. Today I put some orange flavored fish oil in it which sounds disgusting but it really has no flavor at all, high quality fish oil is expensive but it doesn't give you the nasty fish burps. For lunch I have a few hard boiled eggs, carrots and celery, an apple with some almond butter, an orange or other fruit and maybe some cashews or a Lara bar. I usually spread my lunch items out over the course of a few hours. For dinner I have a little more variety, last night we had salad with meatloaf. Sometimes we have chicken breasts cooked in bacon grease or perhaps an omelet with veggies and bacon or sausage. All of our food is organic and our meat and eggs are grass-fed and/or free-range. I drink a lot of water and unsweetened iced tea throughout my day and a lot of times I end my day with some dried fruit for a bit of sweetness. So, basically, I eat normal foods that most people eat but I leave out the extra filler.

Some interesting things that I've made recently have been some banana muffins (using almond flour and super sweet bananas), strawberry coconut ice cream, and almond chocolate chip "cookies." It's been fun experimenting with my food again.

I'll be honest, I have eaten some non-paleo foods in the last 2 months including ice cream (my biggest weakness), pizza, and a McD's burger and I do notice a difference. When I eat sugary, dairy laden, gluten-filled foods I feel sick and yucky so I try not to eat them.

In addition to eating a different way I've also been trying to get enough sleep. There is no such things as going to bed too early. I'd like to get to a point where I can go to sleep and wake up naturally with no alarm. I managed to do it last night by going to bed around 9:30 and waking up just before 7 this morning. That's a lot of sleep but I must have needed it :)

My next step is to work on the work outs. I've been "training" for my marathon and so my focus has been running and cardio. My next fitness goal is going to be to do a real push up, on my toes and not my knees. I'd also like to do a pull-up some day. I'll still run but I'm going to focus on shorter distances like 5k's and only one half marathon this year.

Life is good!

Living La Vida Paleo

I mentioned on my weight loss page that I began reading about a paleo lifestyle around Halloween this past year and gave it a trial run between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trial was successful and so the husband and I decided to give it a real honest shot after the New Year. Beginning once I was home on the 2nd we cleaned out the non-paleo foods from the pantry and went shopping. Eating paleo means meat, lots of veggies, some fruit, healthy fats and saying no to starches and sugar. The basic idea is to eat like out hunter-gatherer ancestors prior to the agricultural shift. That means no corn, no wheat, no dairy and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. My favorite explanations of the paleo lifestyle comes from Sarah Fragoso of www.everydaypaleo.com. She explains how simple it really is, no counting, no measuring just eating good food and being more active. The first book I read though was from Robb Wolf called The Paleo Solution. In his book Robb explains the science behind the lifestyle and my nerdy side really connected with it.

One of the interesting conundrums about paleo is that cardio is discouraged or at least our traditional notions of what cardio does for your body are discouraged. If you think about it, the hunter-gatherer did much more walking with bursts of all out run-for-your-life moments than running at the same speed for hours on end. She also did more heavy lifting. So, while I really enjoy running I think I'm going to try and shift my exercise focus once the marathon is over. More heavy lifting, less running.

So, how is all of this working out for us? Well, we have managed to eat out about 5 times in the last two weeks while only eating non-paleo foods once and I'm down 9 pounds. I'd say that's pretty darn good. I have energy when I run, which I was concerned about given the decrease in starchy carbs. Overall I feel really good and I haven't struggled with the crazy cravings nearly as much as I thought I would. I have indulged in some dark chocolate once and I made some cookies last night using almond butter and chocolate chips (not strictly paleo but not bad considering my goal is 95%). I plan to keep on keeping on and I'll check in again in a few weeks.

Onion Domes and Faux Finishes

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Today we spent our time walking around Munich taking in the sights and more importantly the food of the city. Munich is often symbolized by the two onion dome tours of Frauenkirche but there is much more to this modern, quaint city.

We awoke this morning pretty late and made our way over to Marienplatz to catch the chiming of the clock tower and the Glockenspiel figures that "joust" daily. I tried to get a video and once I edit it I'll upload it here, it was pretty cute. The clock tower is on the new city hall that appears to be really old. Actually that's a recurring theme in Munich as most of the city was flattened by the war but they decided to try and restore the city rather than level it and try to completely rebuild it.

From Marienplatz we went into St. Peter's Church whic was very beautiful. We then headed to the market area where there is basically a farmers market set up. It was really crowded as it was Saturday afternoon. We ate the German take on a gyro and then I got some fresh strawberries from one of the vendors, they were incredibly tasty.

From the market we headed to St. Anslem's which is a very small little church with BIG character. The church was built by two architect brothers and is basically the design studio of churches. Other church leaders could come and see this church and pick the parts they wanted to add to the construction of their own churches.  It was very busy, alright, it was downright gawdy. It was everything that is wrong with church design! The only cool aspect was the way the ceiling was painted to appear curved even though it was really flat.

Anyway, the next stop was Frauenkirche where we toured the interior and then took a ride up to the top of one of it's spires, the highest spot in the city and a great place for pictures!

After the church we headed to the Residenz. This is where the Bavarian royalty lived until the after the first world war. We took two different tours here, the first was of the treasury which is all of the fancy pretty stuff that was given to the royal family. Lot's of pretty sparkly things in here! Next up was a tour of the 90 or so rooms that make up the museum which is only about half of the Residenz. Again, much was destroyed during the war but they are still working to restore it. It was quite incredible. There was one room that stood out called the reliquery, full of religious relics. They uad what they claimed was John the Baptists skull! A lot of the "relics" were body parts or bone in really ornate cases. Sort of creepy but also cool!

In one of the many dining rooms the ceiling was painted to appear taller than it really was, at first it looks goofy but if you stand in the very middle of the room it totally works! It feels like Disney's Haunted Mansion when the room stretches out. Very cool but also a little weird.

On leaving the Residenz I realized that what I thought was a stone facade was fake, it was a flat wall faux painted to look like it had depth, I did not like this fact, it seemed so fake!

After the Residenz we walked over to the Hof Garten, a little park with lots of people lounging.  We took a break for a bit and enjoyed the sunshine before we were off again. This time we were in search of gelato and internet access since the wifi in our hostel refused to work. We found Eis and a Starbucks with 2 hours of internet for the price of a small iced coffee.

Next stop on our tour of Munich was dinner at the Haufbrohaus. The Haufbrahaus is said to be really touristy but that was fine with us, the band played traditional polka music and everyone sits at long tables with strangers who become friends pretty quick. The beer comes in huge 1 liter mugs, they were ridiculously huge! Even more ridiculous were the people at our table on their 3rd or 4th beer. I have no idea where they put it all! It was good fun eating spätzle and a pretzel singing along with the band.

Since we were only in Munich a short time there were a lot of places that we wanted to try so we left the Hofbrahaus and went over to an upstairs yodel bar where a guy plays according and sings. Everyone was dressed traditionally and the atmosphere was great. Unfortunately it was too crowded for us to get a seat and there was a group of men there for a bachelor party who were being overly friendly even after we told them we were married. So, we left there a little earlier than we really wanted to and headed to our last stop. Der Pschor where it was much more subdued and they served traditional apple strudel and I had the apple fritters which were absutely amazing! I want to go back just for the strudel!

We were exhausted by this time and knew that we uad a long day ahead of us in the morning so we headed back to the hostel for our last night in a dorm room.

Suzie :-)

Thursday, October 01, 2009

I started my day off really well yesterday, right attitude, right food in my office, etc. Then I got sidetracked. I didn't eat a big enough lunch at work and so by the time I got home from the eye doctor at 3:30pm I was starving! I had only eaten 300 calories for the day at that point and it was ridiculous. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was very satisfying but then I ate a quesadilla with way too much cheese in it. Dinner was good and healthy bean enchiladas and dessert was one lemon square at small group. I would have done much better if I had just eaten more while at work or brought a snack for the afternoon between work and the dr.'s. Anyway, I learned my lesson, be prepared and eat more for lunch so that I'm not ravenous when I get home.

Today I've been doing well and am planning to eat some cereal for lunch here pretty soon and I brought an apple for a snack and we are having leftover enchiladas for dinner tonight. It's all planned out and I'm ready to go :)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Today is my last day of work as a nanny! I can't believe that Summer is coming to an end. I start my new job as an administrative assistant on Monday morning and am very much looking forward to a new challenge. I am a little worried about the lack of activity but I'll just have to start running with my team in order to get it up there :)

As for my weight I am holding steady around the 205.2 mark. Not great but not bad considering it's TOM - I used to think that was an excuse but now I know it's real. I have been on plan for the week and drinking tons of water and still gained weight. It's water weight and I'm looking forward to next weeks weigh in to see where I'm really at.

I decided to keep a physical food journal this week so that it is always with me and I won't forget to track something. So far it is helping me to avoid the temptation of the costco hot dog and frozen yogurt! I'm also trying to plan out my entire day in the morning so I know what the day will be like and I won't come home and say "I don't know what to cook, nothing is defrosted, let's just go down to the BBQ place." So far, so good. I will do it! I can do it! I will break into the 190's before the end of September darn it!!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

I have got to stop eating out. It's such a bad habit for both my pocket book and my weight. Since we began the moving process last week I've hardly eaten at home and that just needs to end now that everything is back in order at the apartment. I'm planning to grocery shop tomorrow after church and that should help. I need some of the tasty Trader Joe's frozen meals to help me out on busy days. I also need to purchase more fruit and veggies! My husband would prefer I only go to the store once a month but that's just not practical for weight loss because you need fresh fruit and veggies in the diet. I miss fruit. I am hoping there will be a big fruit tray at the bbq tonight. I would love to chow down on some strawberries and pineapple. I should just buy a stinking pineapple and savor the tartness!

At least I'm back to logging so that I can remember just how bad those fast food meals are :)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Ack!!! I ate nearly 2700 calories yesterday! I couldn't stop eating. I ate lunch and then was still hungry so I ate a peanut butter sandwich and then I really wanted more sweet stuff so I ate a bowl of granola. Then, we went to Chipotle for dinner where nothing is exactly healthy! We had planned on Chipotle and I had already logged it so I knew exactly how many calories I had left but I didn't care, I just kept on eating! I don't know what came over me but I then felt very tired and my tummy was not happy. Too much fiber :)

Today will be better, I have everything pretty well plotted out and I'll be at work most of the day so that should help a bit.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Ugh! I feel so yucky, I have a headache I feel like food is stuck in my throat and my tummy is upset. All because I ate way too much today. Thank goodness I ate fruit with my burger rather than fries!

Today I decided to have Panda Express for lunch since I was out and about. Then, I knew we were going to Claim Jumper for dinner but I wanted a snack before I went so I wouldn't be starving. I should have eaten yogurt with some granola but instead I ate peanut butter toast (2 slices) and still ate my entire Frisco burger. Then to top it all of we went to Golden Spoon afterward!!! If I hadn't eaten the snack I actually would have been within my calorie range but with it I was at just over 2000 which is quite a bit considering I've averaged around 1300 for the last 2-3 weeks. Now I just feel sick and I have a caffeine headache because I don't drink caffeine anymore but had a diet soda anyway. I should have just drank water! Oh well, I need to remember how this feels so I don't do it again!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

I'm feeling so much better today. After yesterdays fiasco, I am back on track. The amazing thing is that I did not go over my calorie goal for the day yesterday. I actually sat on the couch thinking about what terrible food I could eat to make myself feel better. I thought about a pint of Ben and Jerry's, a pack of cookie dough, making brownies, Jack in the Box and many others. I did end up going to Jack in the Box but only after I planned out my eating for the day to make sure it would fit into my goals. It did, so, I went. It was good. Jack did not solve all of my problems but it was tasty and nice not to cook anything. After lunch I went grocery shopping and then came home and cleaned up the house, that made me feel instantly better. I also turned on some tunes and just enjoyed some upbeat music while reading my favorite blogs. It felt very indulgent to take the day off when I have so much to do. But, today I'm making up for it. I've been cruising through the changes and am still hopeful to have a draft to my chair tonight. I don't think he'll read it until next week but at least it will be off my plate.

Oh, and now I'm e-mailing my paper to my husband at the end of each day so that there will always be a copy of the latest draft hanging out in cyberspace.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Overall, this has been a pretty darn good week aside from the sickness and biopsy :) I managed to stay within my points almost everyday and I got in 300 minutes of exercise so I'm excited to see what the scale will say when I weigh in on Wednesday. This weeks weigh-in I was still at 210 but it's "that time of the month" so I know there was a bit of water weight in that number. I'm really hoping to see a drop this week so that I know I'm doing the right things. I feel good, I feel like I'm making healthier choices now I want to be rewarded for all that work!

Anyway, today my dad is coming in for a visit. He called up last night and said "what are you doing this weekend?" when my sister said "not much" he said he'd be here at 9am. He lives 600 miles away! He is flying in his tiny little plane to come and see us and my sister and her kids so that will be fun. I hope he can make it, he's been having hip trouble (broke it in August) and will be having it replaced in a month or so. I'll let you know how it went tomorrow!

Also, I'm so glad that people commented on the wonton wrapper post. I tried butternut squash last night and that would make a yummy ravioli that's super low in calories! I bought lots of veggies and fruit so that I can up my intake of them. I also think I need to cut the soda out again. I gave it up for lent and then after Easter I've gone crazy, the added sodium cannot be helping me out with my weight!

I think that's all I have on my mind right now.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I am in love with wonton wrappers, they have only 20 calories apiece and you can fill them with anything - they make great savory or sweet treats. Today I made pizza poppers with them along with some peanut butter and chocolate treats. So yummy! Next time I'm at Trader Joe's I'm going to get some chocolate Better'n Peanut Butter and see how that tastes.

Tonight I am going to get my butt to the gym and walk/jog for a bit. I don't have cable in my apartment but the gym has TV's in each treadmill. It's a great excuse to go to the gym, although, it's harder to run in there than outside but oh well, at least I'm moving :)

Tomorrow is Friday and that makes me happy, especially since my husband gets to be home all weekend. Only one more home Baseball game to work (he's an SID at Pepperdine University) and then it's Summertime!