Days 67 - 70

Dear Readers,
I'm so sorry that I haven't been blogging!  I was about two days behind when computer mouse stopped clicking, and the apple store needed to borrow it for a while to fix her up.  She's back and working, and now I have a lot of food to share with you!  I'll try to do a quick synopsis since I have so many days to cover!  Unfortunately I have no pictures to share.  I'm so sorry, I'll do better next time!

DAY 67

For breakfast I had a half cup a kefir.  Clearly that means I was starving by the time I got to work, so I purchased an egg and cheese sandwich.  It was on white bread, and I can't remember the last time I ate white bread.  I tried to pick off the extra pieces/crust and only eat the egg-y and cheese-y parts.  Along with this white bread sandwich came a huge coffee.  

For lunch I ate the leftover Jack Daniels pulled chicken with brown rice.   


I ate a lot of snacks throughout the day, including:

• 5 multigrain flaxseed crackers with peanut butter
• 50 calorie blueberry yogurt
• cheese stick
• apple

For dinner, we went on a double date with our friends the Paternos.  I had edamame, 1 vegetable dumpling and delicious sushi.  We also had some tasty martinis and a few beers.

Overall, I did a good job eating up some of the leftovers we had in the house, but shouldn't have purchased breakfast AND dinner.  

DAY 68

For breakfast today, I had a whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter.  I couldn't have my "go to" breakfast because we were out of bananas.  

I met my fairy blog mother  for lunch and we shared a Chopt Salad, which as you remember is super low cal and also great for sharing!

For my snack I ate a Twix.  It was one of those days.  You know what I mean. 

For my other snack, I had a cheese stick.  Much better option.


After work I went to an African Dance class, and set a new "fitbit high score" with 18,482 steps!  Take that twix bar!  


After the gym I had a little bit of a smoothie that MJ made and then we ordered in some dinner.  I had some trout with a butternut squash and wheat berry risotto.  Delish!  Pretty sure it's not healthy though.

For dessert I had a VitaMuffin Top and loved it.

DAY 69

Tonight we had a big banquet for work, and I was hosting a pot-luck dinner before the banquet for some coworkers.  This meant that MJ and I needed to pre-workout in anticipation for the night to come.  We went for a run (about 3.3 miles) and ended at our favorite bagel place as usual.  This will surely become a once a weekend habit, weather permitting!  At the bagel place I got a whole wheat bagel (scooped out) with low fat cream cheese, lox, tomatoes and onions. 

The only other snack I had during the day was a "go to" almond butter slice. 


Then I made an epic amount of pasta.  For the pot luck, I was making pasta, some one was bringing different sauces, another person was bringing garlic bread, someone else was bringing bruchetta, someone else mini hot dogs and some baked cheese dish, others brought desserts, and of course all the men who were not domestically inclined brought alcohol.  

I think it's safe to say that this was definitely my "night off" of my clean eating meal plan.  I wasn't too too bad though!

However, I did set a new new world record in my own fitbit stats!   After running in the morning and dancing at the banquet, I put in 19,861 steps! And the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!

DAY 70

Today for breakfast I had a little 50 cal yogurt and a half of a banana.  Then MJ and I ran some errands (AKA to the apple store to bring my poor little laptop in to get fixed!)  We also stopped at Costco and I had a few free samples - turkey bacon, tuna, and apple juice!  Don't you just love free sample day at a food store?!  I mean they stuff they have is always so random but you can't help but try it, right?


For lunch we had pasta and turkey meatballs.  I mean I have a TON of pasta left over and hate to see it go to waste.  YES, I did call the local homeless shelter and unfortunately they can't accept cooked food.  


In the afternoon we had some cantaloupe and mini cheese quiches.  Also we had some brownies.  Also a caramel machiatto from starbucks.  I forgot to say a skinny one.  Shoot.

For dinner we went out to eat with the Jordans.  I had 2 little slices of bread and 1 cup of mushroom/barley soup (with 2 saltine crackers).  For my main dish, I had cod with green beans almondine and rice pilaf.  


For dessert I had 2 bites of dark chocolate with mint in it.  Totally unnecessary.  Man I was not good at all this weekend.  This is not going to go well tomorrow on that scale. 

Day 8

I got on the scale today.  I hadn't been weighing myself all week and I think I'm down at least 2 pounds.  I say at least 2 because I didn't really record my starting weight, so I'm trying to remember the last weight that I saw.  I'm please with this success and vow not to weigh myself again until next Monday morning.


Today (and this week really) I'm not following their meal plan because we're traveling and I won't be able to follow their full days until likely this Friday, and it's only Monday.    So I've created my own meal plan...


Breakfast: 2 egg whites, mushrooms, 2 tablespoons low fat cheese
I opted for this breakfast because I wanted to use up the stuff we already had around the house.  I've definitely going to make an effort to use up leftovers from now on - following their food plan to a T will be a waste of food and money.  You don't control me, clean eating editors!  


Snack 1: approximately 1.5 ounces smoked salmon, 2 whole wheat crackers
What better way to use up the remaining smoked salmon that I opened yesterday than to eat the rest of it today?  I cut yesterday's snack in half and left out the avocado.  It was delish and I'm pleased with my selection.


And then we left on our road trip up to see our newly engaged friends.  Estimated time in the car: 12 hours.  
Number of hours away from home: 48
Before we left I packed a huge beach bag full of non-perishable snacks portioned out in the correct "snack" sized bags.  I packed whole wheat crackers, granola, clementines, bananas, apples, whole wheat bread, almond butter, etc. And almond butter cookies (half came with me, half went to the freezer).  I also timed our trip so that I would be eating lunch in the car so I would have something more substantive to eat to prevent me from snacking too much.


Lunch: 2 ounces deli turkey breast, 1 slice tomato, 1/4 avocado on 2 slices of whole wheat bread
Another great use of leftovers - I finished up all the turkey and avocado that we had, and then cut up the rest of the tomato as a bonus snack in the car.  I wrapped each half of the sandwich separately and tried to space out the distance in the car so I had something good and filling waiting for me to eat.


Snack 2: 1 apple, cut up veggies (carrots and peppers) with homemade hummus 
I somehow only snacked on one apple in the car!  6 hours and only 1 apple consumed!  I am thrilled, because I know it's going to be hard to continue eating healthy when we arrive at our friend's house.  


Much to my delight, when we did arrive, my friend made us some homemade hummus and cut up some fresh veggies for us.  This was a nice treat and a great snack to welcome us.  And it was yummy.


Dinner: pizza.
Sigh.  My avoidance of greasy, fattening, unhealthy foods came to a crashing halt tonight.  Our friends insisted on taking us to the best pizza place in town.  When I inquired about healthier options, I was told there really weren't any.  So pizza it is.  Luckily the pizza was thin crust so each piece was smaller than a usual slice of pizza, but probably no healthier.  I'm hoping that I saved enough calories that this dinner didn't totally kill what I've been working for.  But I am trying to live a normal life and normal people eat pizza.  When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.  When life hands you pizza, eat it (in moderation).  

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.