Day 71

So I'm trying something new this week.  Instead of picking out a set day everyday, I picked out 6 dinners that I plan on making, and listed them here.  Now each day I'll pick a dinner and blog about how it goes!

Monday Morning Weigh In:
I was dreading this morning's weigh in.  Mostly because I know how bad I was this past weekend.  I was not surprised to see the number went back up 3 pounds.  However, my percent body fat went down about 5%.  I guess this means I'm actually gaining muscle!  Once I realized this I was no longer sad to be back at 5 pounds from my end goal. 

Today for breakfast I had my go-to englishmuffin/pb/banana with 3/4 cups of milk.

For lunch I had a salad with lettuce, chickpeas, cucumbers, tuna, tomatoes, broccoli, and some cheese.  I used a little balsamic vinaigrette. 

For snacks, I had 2 cheese sticks, some granola, a SKINNY caramel machiatto from starbucks, a little "whoopie pie" also from starbucks, and some smoothie that MJ made after work.

For dinner, I really wanted to make the Eggplant, Kale and Penne (since we still have so much left over pasta) but the grocery store is still not carrying eggplant!  I guess it's out of season?

I skipped ahead and made a Maple Soy Salmon, found in the "summer bbq" section of the best of clean eating cookbook.  Now I know I often make fun of the clean eating editors, but this recipe is a simple hit: marinate salmon in 1 tbsp pure maple syrup and 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce.  Grill.  Eat.  So easy.  Thanks editors!  

Since it is not warm out, I broiled the salmon instead of grilling it, and served it with brown rice and edamame.

The only change I would make would be to marinate the fish longer and use the extra soy-syrup as a sauce (we just used soy sauce alone).  

For dessert I had - you guessed it - a vitamuffin top.  Yum!

Week 4, Sunday (Day 64)

Monday Morning Weigh In:

I lost another half pound this week.  That means I'm only 2 pounds away from my goal weight.  I'm also 2 days away from finishing the meal plans in the book.  

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 chopped apple, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup low-fat milk; 3 egg whites

This morning's breakfast was pretty good.  I ate the apple as a whole apple instead of spending time chopping it up.  The oatmeal was decent with the cinnamon.  I upped the milk to 3/4 cups and instead of 3 egg whites had 1 hard boiled eggwhite.  Very filling.
  
Snack 1: 2 tbls natural almond butter, 1 whole wheat English muffin

This was a nice twist on my normal "go to" breakfast.  I think I like peanut butter on an English muffin better than almond butter on an English muffin, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Lunch: 1/2 cup edamame, 3/4 cup wild rice; 1/2 cup blueberries with 3/4 cup yogurt

I vote this meal in the "strange" category.  When I went to prepare this lunch in the morning, I was disappointed to see that MJ selected a package of edamame that expired the week before.  I could see that the edamames were brown and slimy inside.  I ran to the grocery store and went right to the customer service desk.  They let me replace the edamames, but all the fresh packages were expired or dated today (I advised the customer service lady to take the bad edamame off the shelves) and so I had to get frozen edamames.  This only required a little more effort on my part in the morning, but I definitely like the ease of using the fresh, shelled edamames.

Instead of wild rice, I used microwavable frozen brown rice.  Way easier since I had to spend more time with the edamame.  I threw in some soy sauce as well to add some flavor to  my otherwise boring lunch.  


I never got around to eating the yogurt or blueberries.  Whoops.


Snack 2: 1 sliced banana with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter wrapped in 1 whole wheat tortilla; 1 handful unsalted almonds

Another snack similar to my "go to" breakfast and lunch, but different.  This was a pretty good snack, but could definitely use a big cup of milk!  


I also had 1 mini Reese's Peanut butter cup.

And a free iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts (SO MUCH BETTER THAN STARBUCKS!)

And 2 beers at happy hour.

Dinner: 3 oz grilled pork chop (replaced with chicken thighs), 1 cup torn romaine lettuce and 1/2 cup chopped cucumbers with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tsp evoo; 1 cup cooked black beans; 1/2 cup cooked quinoa

MJ and I don't eat pork, so we replaced the pork with some chicken thighs.  I ended up broiling the thighs so they would cook fasted.  We also didn't have any black beans, so we used a can of chickpeas instead, which went well with the "salad" side dish.

This was my first time making quinoa.  My mom warned me to rinse the quinoa a few times before I cooked it to get off the "yucky" taste.  Rinsing quinoa is kinda tricky because it is so small!  I need a strainer with smaller holes!  Mom also suggested throwing fresh, raw garlic bulbs into the water while the quinoa was cooking to give it some added flavor.  I think the final result turned out very successful!

 

Looks good right!??!?! It was super filling and I would definitely make this meal or some combination of this meal again!     


The only negative thing was the amount of dishes I used making this meal.  Good thing the rule in our house is whoever cooks doesn't have to do dishes!  Thank you, Michael Jordan.

Also, I didn't go to the gym today, but Mr. Fitbit says I walked 12,419 steps (5.35 miles) and burned 2,152 calories!


Also, I now have over 3,000 blog hits!  Thank you for reading my blog!!! Maybe one day my blog hits will surpass my fitbit steps.... maybe...

Days 20 and 21

I was off of the meal plans this weekend because I had a lot of leftovers to eat.  I was also conducting interviews all weekend, so I was not home for any meal except dinner.

DAY 20

On Friday night I threw all of my "to go" snacks into a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY bag.  It is not my birthday, not even close.  I just needed a good sized bag to carry all my snacks.  The unintended effect of using a happy birthday bag is that I was really happy when I saw it.  Perhaps subconsciously my brain associated birthdays with good things and so my snacks became good things.


For breakfast Saturday morning I had a whole wheat English muffin with natural peanut butter and a gulp of milk.  I would have had more than just a gulp of milk, but that's all that MJ left for me in the gallon.  I sent him out to buy more.  


When I arrived at the office for interviews, I saw that my team had brought a coffee pot, donuts and munchkins.  Sigh.  When they passed around the donuts, I declined and took out my apple.    Throughout the course of the interviews, I ate:
• 1 low-fat cheese stick
• 1 apple
• 10 snap peas with 2 oz hummus
• 1 whole wheat cracker with spreadable cheese
• 1 cup of coffee (half and half, no sugar)
• 1 almond butter cookie
• 1 glass orange juice
• 4 munchkins


I just found the Dunkin Donuts Nutritional Information and discovered that I ate 215 calories of munchkins.  Oh nooooo!  I had no idea they were that bad for you.  But I am SO glad I didn't have a full donut.  Those things are horrible! And delicious.  But horrible.  

For lunch, I made a salad with red leaf lettuce, white beans, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cup edamame and 1 hard boiled egg.  The salad was actually very filling and I wasn't even able to finish it.   In the future I would add balsamic vinegar and tomatoes.  My coworkers complimented my salad and my snack bag.  The person who brought the donuts indicated that he would bring healthier snacks for me the next day.


When I got back home I made tilapia with sauteed broccoli and part-skim mozzarella cheese.   The meal was really easy and I had a lot of broccoli left over, so I wasn't hungry enough to eat any carbs.  Which is good because I had 4 munchkins.  

DAY 21

Today was another day of interviews.  For breakfast I cooked up 2 egg whites with mushrooms, low-fat cheddar cheese, 1/2 whole wheat English muffin; 6 ounces orange juice.  I still had that half of an English muffin left over from the time the Clean Eating editors only let me eat half of one.  I love mushrooms and wish they were in more of the meals.  


When I arrived at the interviews, my coworker presented me with a container of sliced strawberries he brought for my healthier alternative to donuts.  I was very appreciative.   During the interviews I ate:
• some sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup granola
• 10 snap peas with 2 oz hummus
• 100 calorie bag of cheese
• 2 cups coffee (with half and half and 1 splenda each) 
• 2 munchkins (95 calories).
I didn't know yet that the munchkins were that bad for me since I just looked them up now, but luckily I picked less than 100 calories worth of fat.  


For lunch, I had a veggie burger with low-fat mozzarella cheese, 1/2 avocado and lettuce on whole wheat bread.  This made one of my coworkers question whether I was a vegetarian.  I'm not, but I really enjoy veggie burgers.  


Now for the bad part of my day.  Superbowl Sunday. 
We went to MJ's friend's house for the game.  I knew there would be a lot of unhealthy choices there, so I made my all-natural guacamole, which was devoured by the group by the end of the 1st quarter.  I personally ate:
• about 15 blue chips and guacamole, with a little bit of a bean dip
• crab dip served on 3 little toasted bread slices
• 2 beef sliders (no buns) with roasted onions and 1 scoop of mashed potatoes
• 2 brownies
• 1/2 piece of funfetti cake
• 1 light beer (No one noticed I only had one beer the entire game, and I didn't even finish it!)


Sigh.  I was doing well till the brownies came out.  I probably should have passed on dessert but I didn't want to.  Maybe I was rewarding myself for 3 weeks of eating healthy.  Or maybe I was celebrating the Packers' victory.  Or I just really, really, really love chocolate.  I felt bad until one of MJ's friend picked up the remaining tray of brownies and ate them like a slice of pizza.  Always good to keep someone around who will eat more than your daily serving of calories in one sitting.

Week 2, Monday (Day 17)

Breakfast: 1 whole wheat English muffin with 2 TBLS peanut butter, 1 banana
This is one of my favorite breakfasts.  I used to eat this before I let a cookbook tell me what to eat.  I am pleased.


Snack 1: 4 whole wheat crackers, 1 oz low fat cheddar cheese
My only complaint here is that I bought shredded cheese (for last week's meal plan), so shredded cheese is not that easy to eat on a cracker.  The thought crossed my mind to microwave the cheese and make some "nachos" but I was too lazy.  


Lunch: Tofu & Edamame salad (5 oz sauteed firm Tofu, 2 cups romaine lettuce, 1/2 sliced red bell pepper, 1/2 cup edamame, 1 oz low-fat jalapeno cheese, 3 tbls red wine vinegar and 1 tsp evoo)
Tofu.  I cooked up 5 ounces of tofu last night so they would be ready to eat today.  It tastes like nothing.  I ate lunch with my friend who said it looked like I was eating chicken, but my salad was pretty pathetic.  Despite the pathetic review my salad received, it was very filling.  I was glad that I bought that 1 ounce cheese stick last week because the other half was exactly what I needed today.  The first item I've gotten that's actually been portioned correctly!  I would probably never pack this salad for lunch again, but would consider eating tofu again.  But probably served warm.


Snack 2: 1 apple, 1/2 cup chickpeas
I went to a meeting at 5pm and came face to face with my biggest fear: a plate of soft, delicious looking, fresh, chocolate chip cookies.  They looked so inviting and welcoming and good.  I took out my apple and stared at the cookies as I munched away at my healthy snack.  I owe myself an almond butter cookie for having such great will power!  I never got a chance to eat my chickpeas.  Sorry dudes.  I ate an almond butter cookie as soon as I got home.  I earned it.


Dinner: Farro Risotto with Wild Morels, Asparagus and Truffle Oil; 4 oz grilled chicken.  
If this dinner was a chapter book in elementary school, it would not pass the five-finger-test.  Farro?  Morels? Truffle Oil?  Google time. 

Farro.  Like Pharaoh?  Does this have anything to do with what's currently going on in Egypt?  Google tells me that Farro is something like rice or barley.  Google also tells me that my grocery store doesn't carry Farro.  I check out the recipe and decide barley is the closest substitute.  I call MJ:
"Hey could you pick up some barley on your way home?"
"Ok.. where do I find it?"
"It should be in the rice aisle."
"Oh, not with the lettuce?"
"No... it's like rice, not produce."
Much to my delight/surprise, MJ came home with the barley.  


Morrels. Google tells me these are mushrooms.  I buy two kinds.


Truffle Oil.  I don't need to google this one to know it's not worth buying a whole bottle of oil to use 1/4 teaspoon.  I'll pass.


I created this risotto and it was pretty good.  My only complaint is how much time it too and how many dishes got dirty in the process.  It sure looked pretty though:

Time to prepare for tomorrow's meals!  (What an exciting life I lead....)

Week 1, Sunday (Day 7)

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup low fat milk, 1/2 cup raspberries; 3 egg whites
I was running late this morning, so I didn't have time to make the egg whites for breakfast.  I scarfed down the oatmeal and raspberries and ran out the door.    If I had to rank the breakfasts that I've had this week, Wednesday's breakfast wrap would be #1 and Thursday's cottage cheese/cantaloupe would be #7.  But I don't have to rank them, so I won't.  


Snack 1: 3 ounces smoked salmon, 4 whole wheat crackers, 1/2 avocado
This is by far my favorite snack that I've had so far this week.  It was a lot of food and it was really good.  Some friends I was with even commented that my snack looked so good and they wanted to have some.  Nay, friends, these snacks are for me and me alone.  I didn't bring any extra calories to share with you.


Lunch: 1 cup edamame, 1/2 cup brown rice, 2 plums
I would define this lunch as awkward.  Is edamame and brown rice really a "meal"??  I take two bites and then make the executive decision to add in my missing 3 egg whites from breakfast to make another quasi-"fried" rice meal. Except without any soy sauce or asian flavoring it tastes nothing like fried rice.  Plums are out of season and not available in the grocery store, so I skipped this part of the meal.  It's football sunday - I'm sure I'll make up for it later.  
As I ate my awkward meal, my boyfriend took out every leftover we had and made them into a superlunch.  Beef, chicken, eggplant, rice.  Man it looked good.  Especially compared with my pathetic edamame/egg/rice mixture.  I thanked him for not wasting our leftovers and plowed ahead with my meal. 


Snack 2: 3/4 cup kefir, 1/2 cup sliced red grapes and 1 kiwi
I FOUND KEFIR!!!!!!! It was right in the dairy section next to the yogurt. 

I bought the blueberry flavor - but it also comes in plain and strawberry.  It was SO good!  I would definitely replace every morning that I'm supposed to have a  smoothie with this liquid yogurt.  Again, I skipped the (seeded) grapes and kiwi because I knew I would be tempted by junk food when watching football.


Dinner: Spice Roasted Vegetables; 4 ounces baked chicken
Dinner was supposed to be some awkward root vegetable meal with a minimal amount of chicken.  
Instead, I sat watching football surrounded by many temptations: Tostitos, salsa, guacamole (out of a bag, definitely not homemade), pretzel twists, sunchips, carrots, hummus, and butterfingers.  On a normal sunday, I probably would have finished 13 mini butterfingers and then have 59 chips with salsa.  But not today!  Today I was on good behavior and had a minimal amount of snacks: about 4 carrots with hummus and maybe 5 chips with the not-as-good-as-my-own-guacamole.
For dinner I got a salad from Potbellys.  I checked the calories online when I got home and was really sad to figure out that getting their "Skinny" turkey sandwich, or even their Regular sandwich would have been less calories than the salad.  However, I figured with the upcoming travel this week I'd be eating plenty of turkey sandwiches and I honestly don't think I'm ready to order a turkey sandwich without mayo.  
Then came dessert.  We were offered some type of pudding/oreo mixture and brownies.  Boyfriend swooped in and saved the day, offering to "share" a dessert with me.  This really means that I have one bite and then he eats the rest and everyone is happy.  I promised myself an almond butter cookie when i got home to reward my good behavior for the evening, but I know the reward is really not having the extra cookie calories, so I just wrote this blog and went to bed.  


One week in.  I feel pretty successful and wonder if the scale (or ski pants) will show any change from just this week.  Either way, I'm ready to continue on this journey for week 2.

Week 1, Thursday (Day 4)

Day 4!  I've survived 3 days of starvation and ready to plunder forwards in my meal plan adventure.  I've really decided to make this meal plan a choose your own adventure type book (a personal favorite from when I was a kid).    Since it's not a diet, I feel like I'm entitled to some personal leeway here.  It's not technically cheating because the editors have suggested certain foods for the week, and all my foods are coming from this plan.

Breakfast:  1 cup cubed cantaloupe, 3/4 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup Kashi granola 

Alright today I'm going to do it.  I'm going to eat cottage cheese.  I've named my frickin blog after the food, I should at least try it, right?  I went ahead and bought the single serving size cottage cheese that comes with fruit on the side.  I've selected blueberries because they are a personal favorite yet are completely lacking from this week's meal plan.  Fingers crossed they show up next week.  

I open the package and try to resist the urge to vomit.  I quickly take 6 bites of cantaloupe.  
*****Shout out to my awesome boyfriend who conquered the cantaloupe dissection for me this morning, like a knight slaying a dragon for his princess. ****

Ok back to the curdled milk in front of me.  Am I really going to eat this?  I'm a brave 20-something, I'm better than this.  

First bite.  

Omg I like cottage cheese.  No, like is a strong word.  I don't mind cottage cheese.  It actually tastes like cheese.  Who woulda thunk?  But why, producers of the cottage cheese and fruit package, do you think cheese goes with blueberries?  What an awful combination.  Sounds like something a pregnant woman would request, and that is certainly not me.  No sir.  

Despite the fact that I don't mind the cottage cheese, it's still a weird sensation to eat this clumpy cheese product, so I only get through half.  No cinnamon.  What is that supposed to go on?  Cinnamon and cheese sounds much, much worse than blueberries and cheese.  What is wrong with you people?

Oh and that Kashi granola?  Forgot to buy it.  Maybe that will be on my 6th shopping trip.  

Snack 1: 1 low-fat string cheese, 1 orange (clementine), 1 oz tuna (borrowed from Friday)

Hooray for a snack that doesn't make me self-conscious when I eat it at work!  Well, except for the tuna, which I left out.  How can you bring 1 oz of tuna to work anyway?  The smell is not worth the effort or the lack of substance from 1 bite of tuna.  Minus the tuna, kudos to you Clean Eating editors!

Lunch: Curried Carrot Soup; 1 handful of unsalted almonds

WHAT?  You have GOT to be kidding me?  Now you want me to make SOUP?  On a Thursday?  I refuse.  Who has time for that?  Fooled me once, shame on you, fooled me twice shame on me.  Not this time, editors, today I will eat your left over Caponata Sandwich since you had me make too much yesterday.  HA!  Take that!

The sandwich was good.  

Snack 2: 1 cup edamame, 1 kiwi

A full cup of edamame is a TON of food.  Really puts Monday's almond bag to shame.  My bag of edamame is like a very, very well-endowed man, and my almonds are like a toddler.  You get the picture.  And you can imagine how cocky I am with my bag of edamame, since size does matter.  It literally takes me over and hour to eat this edamame at work.  Good thing my boss never walked by (he'd probably be jealous at the size of my edamame).  

Kiwi?  Nope.  That's on the "I never finished the grocery shopping" list.  Replacement?  1/2 avocado.  Because my produce is going bad!!  I sent the other half of the avocado with my boyfriend to work.  Along with a bag of red peppers, an apple, a banana, a clementine, and tomato wedges.  Yes, I am jealous that he gets more snacks in one day than I get for the week.  

Dinner: Shrimp with Zucchini and Couscous; Egg Custard with Fresh Peaches (Friday's dinner)

TRICKED YOU!  We really went out to eat.  Let's be honest - no one stays home for dinner for 28 days in a row.  The reality of this meal plan is that I need to be able to live a normal life.  Tonight it was necessary to go out to dinner, so we did.  But we were still good.  Here's what I really ate:

Dinner for Real: Applebees' 550 Calorie Teriyaki Shrimp Pasta

Applebees has this fabulous new menu of all 550 calorie (or less) items.  I insisted this be the restaurant we went to because I knew I could still have a low-cal dinner.  I  selected the Teriyaki Shrimp Pasta and my boyfriend went with the Grilled Dijon Chicken and Portabellos.

Applebees' 550 Calorie Menu

I liked the shrimp dish, but I wish the veggies were cooked.  My boyfriend said his chicken dish was also good.  I also "splurged" and got an Applebees Skinny Bee Margarita - only 100 Calories!  It really tastes the same as my ever-loved "fat" margarita, and I didn't feel bad drinking it either!

So today I learned that I can eat cottage cheese and I can eat out - and drink out - and still eat well.  I hope that I can find more restaurants that also have skinny options.  And I hope that I don't gag next time I see cottage cheese.