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 2, Tuesday (Day 16)

Wow.  I have over 500 hits on this blog.  Thank you for reading!  It has definitely encouraged me to continue on this eating adventure.


I did something that you probably thought I wasn't smart enough to do.  Monday night, I cut up all my veggies for the upcoming three days of meal plans.  Everything.  Every pepper and onion was cut up, measured, and placed in a labeled baggie.  I find that when I'm spending time in the morning chopping up stuff for breakfast, I don't get a chance to fully prepare my snacks and lunches, and I feel rushed.  I don't like feel rushed.  I liked preparing.


Breakfast: 4 egg whites scrambled with 1 slice diced canadian bacon, 1 slice diced tomato, 1/4 cup diced onion, 1/4 cup diced green pepper; 1/2 cup low fat milk
I open the bag labeled "Terrific Tuesday" (thanks, MJ) and pour my pre-cut veggies into the pan.  Easy as pie.  Mmmm pie.  That sounds good.  I replace the bacon with cheese because and egg without cheese is like a burger without ketchup.  Mmm burger.  That sounds good.  I am THRILLED that I get to drink milk today.  That is, until I pour out my 1/2 cup and see how much I really get to drink.   Go ahead and try this at home.  Pour a half cup of milk and tell me how many gulps it takes you to finish.  The answer is 2.  


Snack 1: 2 tablespoons hummus, 10 sugar snap peas; 1/2 avocado
When I ate this snack, I was talking with a co-worker who is trying out her own calorie counting to lose weight for her pending nuptials.  She is allowed to eat 1034 calories a day.  How frickin' unrealistic is that?!  That's definitely not a lifestyle change that could last for any long duration of time.  I'll have to keep tabs on her to see how she's doing.  I take out my sugar snap peas with pride and explain to her that I have 1500 - 1800 calories a day and I'm losing weight. I save my avocado for later because I feel obnoxious enough knowing that my co-working is starving.


Lunch: Sautéed Sole Sandwich with Citrus Slaw
How dare you, editors?!  You say I need to eat a warm fish sandwich on a toasted bun?  Seriously?  While at work?  You suck.  You advertise this as a meal plan for busy cooks, but you are seriously mistaken if you think a busy cook can make a fish sandwich at work.  
I'm mad.  I'm actually furious.  But I'm dedicated to the ski pants cause and I go home for lunch.  I replaced the sole with tilapia and it was SO good.  Almost worth leaving work for lunch.  But the Citrus Slaw (cabbage, carrots, orange, and some weird dressing made from lemon juice, greek yogurt and mustard) was horrible.  Absolutely horrible.  I threw it out and ate the other half of my whole wheat bun with almond butter.  Much better.  Back to work!


Snack 2: 1 pear; 1 oz stilton cheese, 4 whole wheat crackers
For whatever reason unknown to me, I can't bring myself to eat this pear.  I like pears, but I haven't wanted to eat this.  
What is stilton cheese?  I looked around the grocery store for 15 minutes and found no stilton cheese.  I replace it with a 100 calorie pack of cheese, which happens to also weigh 1 ounce.  Win.  


Dinner: 1/2 cup basmati brown rice, 1 cup assorted stir fried vegetables, 3 oz shrimp; sauce: 1 tbls balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp whole-grain mustard
I ignored the sauce and used my own spices to make this meal - which actually turned out tasty and very filling.  MJ and I vote this dinner most filling of all dinner's we've made.  I messed up on the shrimp though:  I weighed out 3 ounces before I cooked them, and they cooked down to two ounces.  It's okay though because it was very, very good.  

Dessert: Celebratory Almond Butter Cookie
MJ and I had some more good news to celebrate, so we each had one almond butter cookie.  I froze them last week and we just warmed them up in the microwave.  Mmmm.  Can I eat a second one MJ?  No?  Alright fine.  Jerk.

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, Wednesday (Day 2)

Because I only did half my shopping on day 1, I realize I don't have enough ingredients to eat my Tuesday meal, so I make the executive decision to go out of order.  


Breakfast: Breakfast Wrap (egg whites, 2 oz swiss cheese, diced scallion, diced tomatoes in a whole wheat tortilla), 1/2 cup red grapes


Yum!  The breakfast wrap was great and very filling.  I felt really pathetic only eating 10 grapes.  My stupid boyfriend bought grapes with seeds so I had to cut those out too.  Note to self: never let him do the shopping.


Snack 1: 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 tbl almond butter


Seriously?  How am I supposed to bring toast to work?  I opt not to toast the bread and pre-spread it with the almond butter to make it easier to travel.  I've never had almond butter before and I have to say that I am a huge fan.  No complaints here.


Lunch: Tomato-Tuna Salad (tomato, arugula, red onion, basil, chickpeas, 3 ounces tuna, oil and balsamic vinegar); 1/2 cup sliced strawberries; 3 Ryvita crackers


This was a pretty great salad and much bigger than a salad I would typically make for myself.  I used to only eat tuna if it was swimming in mayo, but it still tasted good with the dressing.  The basil was a nice touch.  Well done, cookbook authors.  Again, I felt silly with my half-cup up fruit that takes up 1/8 of the baggy.  No one seems to notice.  


What is a Ryvita cracker?  Add this to my list of ridiculous foods that I have never heard of.  #1 Kefir, #2 Ryvita crackers.


Snack 2: 8 carrot sticks, 1/4 cup hummus, 4 whole wheat crackers


1/4 of a cup of hummus is actually way more hummus than I thought it would be.  The authors don't specify what kind of hummus, so I go with the pine-nut flavor.  I don't have enough carrots to consume all the hummus so I resort to double dipping.  Good thing I'm not sharing with my coworker today.


I eat some more of those shortbread cookie-like crackers.  I really need to get other ones.


Dinner: Sauteed Halibut with Artichoke Hearts, Cherry Tomatoes and Cannellini Beans; Mixed Berry Crisp with Date Oat Streusel


This is actually the dinner listed for Tuesday but I make up my own rules.  The bean/artichoke/tomato mixture was pretty good.  The grocery store doesn't carry halibut, so we made tilapia instead.  The recipe says I'm supposed to have 4 ounces of fish.  When purchasing the fish, I requested 4 ounce filets from the fishman behind the counter.  He informed me that the fish only come in one size and the scale was only in pounds.  I did the conversion for him and silently cursed stupid people.  


Tonight was supposed to come with dessert, but you can add dried dates to the list of foods I despise.  I was going to make the almond butter chocolate chip cookie recipe from the cookbook, but I got inspired to write this blog instead.  Maybe tomorrow I will finally satisfy my cookie craving.


Today I consumed around 1500 calories.  I went to the gym, so I probably should have eaten more.  I guess if I wake up starving in the middle of the night I can have a grape or two.

Week 1, Monday (Day 1)

I wake up, excited for my new plan and ready to try out these meals.  Each day gives you foods to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks.  Here we go.

Breakfast: Peach Yogurt Smoothie, 4 egg whites, 1 whole-wheat English muffin.

I've never been a smoothie fan, and today was no exception.  I tried to drink half of my smoothie, quit, and elected to go for a Starbucks Vanilla Frappachino instead.  Great, I'm already cheating on my meal plan and it's not even 9am. The egg whites and english muffins are more successful, except I can't possibly finish all my eggs and probably only eat 2 of them.  

My boyfriend gladly finishes my smoothie and eggs.  

I pack up the rest of my day's snacks and head to work.

Snack 1: 1 apple with 1 handful of unsalted almonds, 1/2 cup low-fat Greek Yogurt.

Hard to really go wrong here.  I noisily munch on my apple and hope to not disturb those around me.  I'm pretty shy when it's time for the almonds: I pull out my bag of a measly 12 almonds and hope no one notices.  I almost cry when the girl in the cube next to me takes out a package of almonds that has at least 50 in the bag.  I feel like I'm on candid camera.  I open up my greek yogurt and it's gross.  I cheat and add my afternoon snack (clementine) to the yogurt to mask the taste.  A friend stops by and asks for some clementine.  I kindly oblige, but secretly curse him for eating one of my limited food items for the day.

Lunch: Roasted Red Pepper and Cucumber Tea Sandwich on Pumpernickel Rye, 1 celery stalk, 1 Tbsp natural peanut butter.

I'm embarrassed to eat my sandwich and wait till all my co-workers are away so no one sees me eating an open-face sandwich with cucumbers, roasted red peppers, and spreadable cheese.  I hate celery so I forego that "snack".  Do people really think celery tastes good?  Also, this meal plan was clearly not written for a working woman.  How am I supposed to commute with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter??  Since I don't have any celery as a vehicle for eating the peanut butter, I postpone the peanut butter for my afternoon snack.

Snack 2: 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 sliced nectarine, 8 whole-wheat crackers

Ew.  I will not eat cottage cheese.  Since I already ate my clementine, I decide to coat my whole wheat crackers with peanut butter and call that my snack.  I know right away that I probably didn't buy the crackers intended by the meal plan because they actually taste good - kind of like shortbread cookies.  I'll have to remember to buy some yuckier tasting ones that the cookbook authors would approve.

Dinner: 4 oz baked chicken breast, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, 1 medium sweet potato with 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard.

Despite the small quantity of chicken, I was actually pretty happy with this meal. I seasoned the chicken with some of my favorite spices, and used the mustard on everything.  I was only a little sad when my boyfriend had three times as much chicken as I did.  

I'd call this day a success.  The meal plan says I only had 1549 calories, and that was assuming I ate all their yucky cottage cheese.  All I want is a chocolate chip cookie.