Days 73 and 74

Day 73

Hello readers!  Today I had my go-to breakfast to start off my day.  And a few sips of coffee, but not a full one.  My sister-in-law (Bethany) emailed me to say that she tried my amazing go-to breakfast:

subject: mmmmmm

email: just tried your english muffin with pb and banana... so good!!!! yum best easiest breakfast ever!! xoxo

Need I say more?  Go try it!  Then post a comment! And email me!  I'll post your rave reviews!  We can start a WWEMw/PB&B fan club!  Total group membership: 3 (and counting).

For lunch, I threw some chicken nuggets in a salad.  If you're going to eat nuggets, you might as well throw them on some romaine, right??

During the day, I snacked on 1 cheese stick and 1 cup non-fat plain yogurt chock full of fresh blueberries and 1/4 cup granola.  Extremely tasty.  Go try that too.  

For dinner I went back to my planned list for the week and cooked up from steak salad.  I bought the steak already cut up at the grocery store and broiled it in the oven.  I probably over cooked it, but I never said I was Betty Crocker - I'm still learning!  Also in the steak salad was corn, red beans, and lettuce.  It just now occurred tome that I forgot to add tomato.  Whoops!!  

As a dressing I made a mix using Evoo, Red Wine vinegar, and sweet relish! 

Last time I made this salad, it was much prettier.  And I added a lot more veggies. 

 

For dessert I ate 1 chewy mocha brownie cookie.  Bet you forgot about those!?  They're still kickin in the freezer!!

Day 74

I started my day with my.... GO TO BREAKFAST!!! What a surprise!!!!! I bet you had NO idea! 

Seriously - try it.  Write to me about it.  You're welcome. 

I got to work early enough to get a skinny caramel mach. before my 9am meeting.  Smart choice for a smart woman.  

Lunch today was some leftover steak salad.  Hooray for eating leftovers!  My only regret was not bringing my own silverware to work, because cutting little cubes of steak with a plastic knife does not a good time make. 

Today I had a "go to snack," compliments of Chef MJ.  I also ate one apple and one cheese stick.  Are you sensing a pattern yet?


For dinner, we replaced the eggplant/kale/penne dish with the definition of a pot luck dinner - we used all the fresh veggies we had in the fridge (corn, broccoli and snap peas) and added whole wheat pasta and chopped up 2 veggie burgers (1 each).  I added some low fat mozzarella cheese to mine and MJ added tomato sauce to his.  A true mishmosh of food.  Here is the final result:

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 66

My first day without a meal plan.  On the agenda is to clear out our fridge of food that we acquired over the week.  I hate when leftovers go to waste.  

Breakfast: Fat-free plain yogurt with blueberries and granola
I certainly missed plain yogurt.  Sorry I've skipped you so many days my dear friend yogurt!  The blueberries and granola were a fantastic addition to the yogurt.  This would probably make a better snack than breakfast because I was pretty hungry shortly after breakfast.  Mental note to keep yogurt as a snack instead of a breakfast.  

Snack 1: 1 cheese stick. 
Pathetic, I know, but that's what I packed.

Lunch: pulled chicken sandwich with onions and green peppers on a whole wheat roll- just like yesterday
Today's lunch was just as good as yesterdays, and just like yesterday, someone again asked me where I bought my sandwich.  And, just like yesterday, I didn't have a camera to take a picture.  Sorry I've failed you. 
 

Snack 2: 1 huge, unhealthy cookie. 
I couldn't help it.  I was in the mall after work and passed the cookie stand.  I gave in to my cookie cravings and purchased $3 of unhealthiness.  I almost felt bad with each bite, but it was so good.  I don't even want to look up how many calories it was because I'm positive it's a number larger than I could ever imagine.

After my ridiculous snack, I went to the gym to a zumba class.  According to my fitbit, I walked 17,077 steps today!!!!  That puts my old record of 15,000 steps to shame!  I also burned 2,410 calories, which I think makes up for the cookie, but probably not.  

When I got back from the gym, I was famished and ate another cheese stick before dinner.   

Dinner
For dinner we cooked up a ton of the leftovers we had in the house: green pepper, scallions, onions, snap peas and spinach.  We sauteed the veggies and served them with whole wheat pasta.  I topped mine with mozzarella cheese, and MJ topped his with the Jack Daniels chicken.  We were both really happy with our meal.

Dessert - because I make the rules now!
I firmly believe that dessert should be a regular part of the daily meal plan!  Tonight for dessert, MJ and I split a VitaMuffin Top.  I would have had my own if I didn't scarf down a deliciously horrible cookie earlier today! 

Week 4, Saturday LAST DAY! (Day 65)

Holy cow, here we are.  The last day of the 28 day meal plans... only took 9 weeks!

I honestly cannot believe I got through all 28 days and that I actually continued to blog the whole time.  No, I will not be stopping.  Tomorrow will be a leftover day and then I've yet to decide whether I will continue by either:

• repeating days I liked
• repeating days I didn't do right the first time
• using meal plans from the Clean Eating Magazine (available online)
• making my own meal plans
• trying new healthy meals, muffins, cookies, etc. from the rest of the clean eating cookbook

I'm interested to see what you would most like to follow, but ultimately the decision is mine.  I don't want to stop because I've seen such great results by clean eating, I'm afraid that I will make backwards progress if I don't continue to follow some type of meal plan.  

But that will be after a few days of leftovers anyway.  I'll also write another post with things I've learned, the best meals, and the worst meals.

Now without further ado, Week 4, Saturday!


Breakfast: 1 cup quinoa with 1 sliced banana; 1 cup low fat milk
Although I was a fan on quinoa for dinner, I can't say that I'm a fan of quinoa for breakfast.  This kind of reminded me of oatmeal, only very different.  I couldn't stomach the thought of adding a banana into the quinoa, so I ate that separately.  I got though maybeeee half of the quinoa.  I'll try it again another time.

When I got to work I ate one minimini (very tiny) blueberry muffin and one bigbig (very needed) coffee.




Snack 1: 8 multigrain flaxseed crackers, 2 tbsp natural almond butter, 1 apple

Shockingly, I messed up this snack.  Very fitting for the last day, right?  I packed peanut butter without realizing until right now it was supposed to be almond butter.  The peanut butter with the flaxseed crackers was a great combo.  I highly recommend it.

The apple was refreshing and light as always.  I realize that I only really like bites with skin.  I also like apples 1000 times more if they are cold (aka straight out of the refrigerator). 




Lunch: 3 oz shredded lean pork chicken, 1/4 cup onions and 1/4 cup green pepper with 1 tbsp low-sugar bbq sauce on 1 whole wheat sandwich roll; 1/2 cup strawberries.

I looked high and low in my grocery store for a "low-sugar" BBQ sauce to no avail.  I was going to settle for regular bbq sauce when I found this great Jack Daniels pulled chicken (precooked) mix.  The calories for one serving was really low and I knew that 3 oz was going to be way less than what they consider a serving.  Plus it saved me the convenience of having to buy both pulled chicken and a BBQ sauce.  Plus it was delicious.  I microwaved my sandwich when I got to work and when a co-worker saw me eating it she asked if I purchased it!  That's how good it looked!  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at work, or else I would have snapped a photo for you.  If/when I make this sandwich again, I'll be sure to take a picture!

I ate the strawberries with my afternoon snack, mostly because it was easier to package all the fruit together in one container!



Snack 2: 1 oz goat cheese; 1/2 cup blackberries


1) goat cheese is not portable
2) goat cheese is not meant to be ate without crackers
3) I forgoat (pun intended) to pack the goat cheese. 


Instead, I intentionally replaced the blackberries with blueberries and ate them with my strawberries.  Delish!




Dinner: Spinach Salad (2 cups spinach, 3 oz tuna, 1 chopped hardboiled egg, 1/2 cup mandarin oranges and 1 oz chopped walnuts with 1 tbls balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp dijon mustard); 3.4 cup low-fat plain yogurt with 1 tsp honey.

This was a very simple, light, easy meal to put together and a great way to end my 28/65 days of meal plans.  I liked not having to really chop up anything.  MJ doesn't like tuna, so I used some of the Jack Daniels chicken in his salad, which he really enjoyed.  

Here's a picture of my salad without the dressing, which was served on the side.
 

 

As per usual, I forgot to eat the yogurt.  I now have a huge container of yogurt that was supposed to be eaten a number of times this week, and managed to get skipped each time.  I'm not sure why - I really do like yogurt, especially when I have some berries throw in.  I was interested in trying the yogurt with honey as well.  And granola.  These all sound like good ideas for my future meal plans :)

So that's it.  28 days completed.  MJ and I poured minimini glasses of wine as a toast to how far I'd come, even if it did take 9 weeks to get there!

Days 61 - 63

Hello all!  This Saturday I had a huge event for work, which is why I've been exhausted all week and not eating my best.  Here's how the weekend played out, clean eating wise:

DAY 61

For breakfast I had a cup of Blueberry Kefir.  Kefir reminds me of those drinkable yogurts I used to have as a kid.  Gogurt I think it was called. Was there another kind?  Mom feel free to comment if you remember!


I honestly can't remember what I ate for lunch.  I'm 90% sure I had my "go to" snack of almond butter on whole wheat bread, but I can't say for sure.  Sorry :(

For dinner, we had a "kickoff" cocktail hour for the big event.  At the cocktail hour I had some wine, some bites of cheese (I love brie cheese!), 1 beef satay stick, 1 coconut shrimp, 1 mini chicken empanada, and some pita chips with artichoke dip (not very good).  


After the kickoff cocktail hour, we stayed at work until past 11 working to finalize things for the big event.  I ate a twix bar.  It was 100% necessary.  One of those "In case of emergency, break glass" type of things.  You understand, right?  Great, thanks!

DAY 62

Today was the day of the "big event".  In the morning, I wanted my "go to" breakfast, but we didn't have any bananas, so I settled for a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter only.  I also had a huge coffee.


During the day, I only ate 1 granola bar and 1/4 whole wheat bagel.


Next thing I knew it was 6pm and the event was finally over and I was ravenous!  I had some chips and bean dip, and then we went out for Spanish Tapas to celebrate a successful event. 
I had a few bites of the following items:

 

We also order Sangria, and then we went out drinking.  I allowed myself to have beer.  Partly because I knew I had eaten so few carbs that having beer really wouldn't matter, and partly because I just really wanted to, and I make my own rules!

DAY 63

HOOORAY!  For the first time in a LONG time I could sleep in today!  And then, I had absolutely no plans.  Probably the best day ever.  Mr. Jordan and I decided to start our day with a nice run, and then to end at our favorite bagel place (where the owner knows us by name and has 2 waters ready for us as soon as he sees us!)  The run was great - I surely missed the warm weather and I like spending that quality time with MJ.  When we go to the gym together, MJ is in the "big boy" room with all the weights, while I usually just go to a class.  

For brunch at the bagel place I had a whole wheat bagel scooped out with chicken salad, lettuce, tomatoes and onions.  It was delicious.  They use cranberries in their chicken salad so it reminds me of thanksgiving!  

After we ran/walked back home, I check my FITBIT STATS and found that we had taken over 7,000 steps and traveled about 5 miles.   I didn't look at the exact mileage before we left, so that's an approximate guess. 

In the afternoon, I ate a health valley granola bar and a little bit of thai food leftovers.  


Since it's March Madness, and there are few things in life I enjoy more than March Madness, MJ and I made some homemade guacamole and homemade pita chips as a snack to enjoy the basketball games.  Delish!  

homemade guacamole!

homemade pita chips!

For dinner, I made a quick and easy salmon with cauliflower.  Just broiled in the oven for 10 minutes.  We weren't really hungry, so it was the perfect, light dinner to end our relaxing, pleasant day.

 
Only bad part about today was that my basketball team lost.  Time to start rooting for the underdog!!

Days 53, 54 and 55

In order to fight off my problem with leftovers getting lost in my fridge, I interrupted week 4 for a few days of leftovers.  Brace yourself for the boredom (but at least there are pictures!!):

DAY 53

For breakfast I had about a cup of Nature's Path Optimum Blueberry Cereal... or whatever it's called.  


For lunch I had leftovers from Day 50's Lunch.


During the day, I snacked on:

• cheese stick
• 2 whole wheat crackers with peanut butter
• cocoa almonds
• 1 apple

For dinner, I used the leftover chicken (4.5 oz) and made a salad with spinach, grapes, strawberries, pistachios, and some blue cheese.  I topped it off with a little raspberry walnut dressing, which is not very healthy but I used a very minimal amount. 

After dinner I tried out a new healthy breakfast muffin recipe, that I will post about another time.  I know, talk about cliff hanger, right?!?  Just like the girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy - which I highly recommend!!!  

DAY 54

Today for breakfast I had 2 healthy muffins - post coming soon.  


For lunch I made a "healthy taco" using a whole wheat tortilla wrap, veggie burger, black beans, part-skim mozzarella cheese, chopped tomatoes and chopped onions.  It was pretty good, and a nice variety to the usual veggie burger meal.


My snacks today were:

• 1 chewy mocha brownie cookie
• 2 mini muffins
• 1 cheese stick
• cocoa almonds
• handful of grapes

For dinner I decided to re-make Lunch from Day 50 and upgrade it.  This time, I replaced the tofu with shrimp and the green onion with red onions.  Those little changes made a HUGE difference.  I would highly recommend this version of the meal - and it took no time to make!

DAY 55

Sorry for the lack of postings.  I've been unbelievably busy with work and just had a half second to sit down and finish up this post so you can read all about my lovely meals.

Today for breakfast I had a VERY LARGE cup of coffee and 2 healthy muffins.  I think.  I'm so tired I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast.  That is horrible.  I bet I'll find 3000 typos in this post when I re-read it.  Sorry for the severe sleep deprivation.

I snacked on an apple, cheese stick, and cocoa almonds in the morning.  

I ate a really late lunch from Chop't - a salad place that makes yummy salads. I had a salad with shrimp, tomatoes, avocado, pita chips, chick peas and a spa asian dressing (on the side - barely used it).  The nutritional info is the most complicated thing I've ever seen, but I think my salad was about 400 calories.  Which is amazing because I didn't even eat half of it.  Chop't = winner.  Or I = horrible at figuring out their nutritional info and I'm totally wrong and just too tired to figure it out.

I was exhausted all day and my friend Aimee and I were working overtime on this ridiculous project we have for work.  I was dreading when dinner time approached.

But then guess what happened for dinner?!?!!  

You will never believe it!!!

MJ COOKED DINNER!!!!

This is a rare occurrence in this household, so praise, thanks, and compliments must be given so that MJ will continue this new trend.

Chef Jordan prepared an feast for us, comprised of scrumptious morsels of chicken mixed with a medley of greens served over steaming brown rice a topped with a glazed orange soy.  

AKA he made asian stir fry.  Chicken.  Veggies.  Rice.  Asian flavoring.

But hey, I didn't have to make dinner so major props to you Michael Jordan!!

After dinner I had some low fat chocolate frozen yogurt and low fat cookie dough ice cream for dessert.  

And a large glass of wine to make the work seem less painful.

Now I think I need to get some sleep, since I'll be losing an hour anyway for daylight savings.  Sigh.  This may call for some more wine.

Also, I'm officially at 2,000 blog views!!  Thank you for reading and keeping me accountable for my clean eating life style.

Week 4, Monday (Day 52)

I'm not feeling well again.  I can't believe it.  I was just sick 2 weeks ago.  What gives?  Also my muscles are SO SORE from yesterday's gym class.  I wanted to go to zumba tonight but couldn't bring myself to get past the soreness to workout again.  Sigh.  


Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 apple chopped, 1/2 banana, 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1 cup low fat milk


My oatmeal overflowed in the microwave.  No better way to start your day than cleaning up a sticky microwave.  Awesome. I didn't bother chopping the apple, but just ate it straight up.  I packed my banana as a morning snack and replaced the milk with a cup of hot coffee to soothe my sore throat.  Yea, I know tea is better.  But coffee TASTES better.  


Snack 1: 1 cup chopped pineapple, 1 handful unsalted almonds
I was not in the mood for pineapple today, so I ate a full banana and 1 handful of Cocoa Almonds!  I bet you forgot about them because it's been so long since I mentioned them.  They are still delicious. I had 9.  


Lunch: Veggie burger (1 veggie patty with 1 oz goat cheese, 1 slice tomato, 1 slice red onion, 1 boston lettuce leaf on a whole wheat roll); 2 plums


I ate 1 plum and decided it wasn't ripe enough or good enough to eat the second.  Fast forward 8 hours, and I give the second plum to my friend Aimee, who informs me that it's extremely sweet and juicy.  Guess I picked the wrong one.  


I was all set to eat my veggie burger, but my MJ's friend texted me to say he was near my office and wanted to meet for lunch.  I agreed, and we went to the best sandwich place ever, where I indulged in 6 inches of yummy grilled chicken with pesto, onions, roasted red peppers and tomatoes.  On a non-wheat roll.  It was just as delicious as I remembered it.  I'm sure the insides of the sandwich meet the "clean eating standards" but the bread certainly does not.  Just call me Cheater Pan, Tinkerbell.


Snack 2: 3/4 cup 1% cottage cheese with 1/2 cup raspberries
I ACTUALLY ATE COTTAGE CHEESE TODAY.  Sound the alarm!  Alert the media! Cottage cheese was consumed today!  I decided to eat less than 3/4 cups of cottage cheese in exchange for a slightly less healthy 2% cottage cheese with strawberries.  I think it was a pretty fair exchange.  In case you're curious, Aimee says it's 3 points on weight watchers.  


Dinner: 1 cup whole wheat spaghetti with 1/2 cup low-sodium tomato sauce. 1/4 cup fresh torn basil leaves, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved), and 1 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella; 3 oz grilled chicken breasts cup into strips
Aimee came over for dinner and I prepared a delicious meal for us.  I changed a lot about the meal plan - for starters, I did not use low sodium tomato sauce or cherry tomatoes, but instead made my own "tomato sauce" using chopped up whole tomatoes, red onion, and spices.  I broiled the chicken, because as I mentioned earlier this week, MJ and I think that broiled chicken is extremely tasty.


I also eliminated the cheese and used 2 different kinds of pasta because I will not conform to pasta norms.  Variety is key!  And so fun!

Mmmmmmmmm! 

Aimee says our dinner was only 7 points - which allowed her to have 5 extra points for dessert, so we went out and got 90 calorie no-fat chocolate frozen yogurt.  This was 19038209 times better than my frozen smoothie dessert.  Apparently every 1/2 cup is 2 WW points.  Good thing I'm not following WW!

I also had 3 cups of tea and complained a lot about my sore throat.  I'm so over being sick.  

Week 3, Tuesday (Day 45)

I actually followed a meal plan today!  And boy did I cheat a lot.  Guess I'm not used to this minimalist "diet". 


Breakfast: 3 tbls hummus on 2 slices of toasted whole-wheat bread; 1/2 grapefruit
I was really hesitant to try this meal.  I mean it's essentially a hummus sandwich with nothing else on it.  And no way am I eating grapefruit.  Disgusting.  I replace the grapefruit with a banana and ate that as I contemplated the awkwardness of a hummus sandwich with nothing else on it.  I ended up eating this nothing sandwich, and it was actually pretty good.  I'd probably like it better with some tomatoes or lettuce on it, but it wasn't as weird as I thought it would be.


Snack 1: 2 clementines, 6 oz low-fat greek yogurt
Both of the clementines I brought to work were bad.  What are the odds that happens?  Good thing I have my trusty friend Chobani to keep me company.  Today I tried the blueberry fat free Chobani and it was delicious.  I don't think i'll ever eat the plain kind again.  


Lunch: salmon salad (salmon, red pepper, red onion, romaine, with a dressing made from evoo, balsamic vinegar, and dijon mustard); 1 apple
This meal was originally supposed to be made using the leftovers from the Week 3 Monday dinner.  Well shockingly, I have let 14 days pass between Week 3 Monday and Week 3 Tuesday.  Whoops!  Needless to say, I didn't have any leftover salmon to put in this salad and I definitely wasn't going to make salmon before work started.  So I used smoked salmon - a much easier substitute for a last minute salad.  My salad was just okay.  I'm sure it would have been great with cooked salmon instead of lox.  My bad - can't blame the editors for this one.  


The apple was red and delicious.


Snack 2: 1 cup chopped broccoli with 2 tbls low sodium salsa; 1/2 cup low far milk
Well.  I didn't exactly eat this snack.  Instead I ate some broccoli and meatballs during a meeting.  And a twix bar.  Actually, 4 twix bars.  What can I say, sometimes a girl needs her chocolate and today that girl was me.  And they vending machine only had the king sized twix bar so I had absolutely no choice but to eat all 400 calories worth of chocolately goodness.  While we're on the subject of twix, the kind I got today had a chocolate flavored cookie.  What's that all about?  Bring me back my original cookie, Twix manufacturers!  


Then my friend Aimee came over for dinner.  I insisted that she try a Chewy Mocha Brownie Cookie, Kefir, and an Almond Butter Cookie.  She liked the almond butter cookie the most.  I, of course, had to eat a Chewy Mocha Brownie cookie, too.  But wait, that's not the worst of what I ate today.


Dinner: 12 large broiled shrimp; 1 cup cauliflower sauteed; 1 cup wild rice mixed with 1/2 cup steamed yellow corn
Aimee really wanted to order thai food for dinner, but I insisted we stick to our respective healthy meal plans (clean eating for me, weight watchers for her).  Making this dinner was super easy.  And it yielded a TON of food!  Enjoy that both Aimee and I had leftovers that we plan on eating for lunch tomorrow.  

And then we ate a lot of slow churned half-fat cookie dough ice cream. I totally gained 10 pounds today.  Ugh I must not be this bad tomorrow.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  Chooo Chooo

Day 44 & Michael Pollan's Rules

I'm back home!  Gosh it feels nice to have all my own foods and not have to worry about catching a plane or buying a non-healthy meal.  


For breakfast, jetlag required that I had a cup of coffee (flavored fat-free vanilla creamer, no sugar) and a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter.


For my morning snack I packed a 1/2 cup container of that Nature's Optimum blueberry cereal with a 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries.  Yum!  I probably would have had it for breakfast with milk but MJ drank all the milk while I was gone.  


We didn't have much in terms of food for lunch, so I bought a taco salad from the mexican place by my office.  I'm too embarrassed to tell you what was in it.  I make a vow never to buy it again.  


For dinner I went over to my friend Aimee's house for dinner.  Aimee is the person I have to thank for introducing me to the vodka gimlet and the best breakfast sandwich ever: peanut butter and bananas on a whole wheat english muffin.  


Aimee is following weight watchers, and made us a yummy dinner of chicken, mixed veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers) and cauliflower in some cheese sauce.  The entire meal was less than 4 points on weight watchers!  Aimee and I had a long discussion about the cheesy cauliflower.  It was 0 points for weight watchers.  They come in frozen, personal packages.  We're positive there is nothing natural about the cheese sauce but both agreed it couldn't really be that bad for us if it was 0 points. 


For dessert Aimee served this delicious low-fat chocolate moose tracks frozen yogurt.  I have no idea how many points it was for weight watchers but we really could have eaten the entire container.


Michael Jordan sent me this really interesting article called Food Rules by Michael Pollan.  


Mr. Pollan's rules are:
#11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television
#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't. 
#36 Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
#47 Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
#58 Do all your eating at a table.


I definitely agree with Michael Pollan's rules and will try my best to follow them.  He's definitely right about the junk food - you're not going to see my wasting my time making home made french fries!!

Week 3, Monday (Day 31)

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Breakfast: Egg Sandwich (3 egg whites, 1 slice part-skim mozzarella on a whole wheat English muffin); 1/2 grapefruit
For some reason I just hated this meal.  I know I've liked it in the past but the eggs came out horribly and there were far too many of them for my little English muffin.  And we all know how much I love grapefruit.  Epic fail.


Snack 1: 1 oz raw, unsalted cashews
Fail again.  If you peeked ahead, you'll see that the editors have me eating cashews the same day as they have me eating cashew butter.  I'm cashewed out and say no way.


Lunch: 1 whole-wheat wrap with 2 tbsp unsalted natural cashew butter and 1 small sliced banana, 3/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt with 1/2 cup blueberries
I was going to just replace the cashew butter with almond butter since I'm such a  huge fan of almond butter now, but I decided to be brave and try it out.  The first lick was horrible.  I didn't like the taste or the aftertaste.  I went ahead and put it on the wrap and it was actually a good meal.  I was shocked because this "lunch" sounds more like a breakfast or a snack.  I ended up eating my yogurt and blueberries hours later because the lunch was actually a pretty filling lunch.


Snack 2: 3/4 cup low-fat greek yogurt, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 cup sliced strawberries
Alright what's the deal?  Two cashew meals in one day and two yogurt meals in one day?  Despite the fact that chocolate and strawberries sound delicious, I eat a hardboiled egg with 2 RyKrisp crackers.  Sue me.


Dinner: 5 oz baked salmon, 10 spears steamed asparagus, 1 medium baked sweet potato.
MJ made dinner!  This is such a user friendly meal I couldn't resist putting him in charge.  He baked everything in the oven.  When it was done we decided to whip up some orange glaze (from Day 11) and it was delicious!  And then MJ did dinner.  He's definitely a keeper. 


I forgot to say that my parents sent me chocolate for Valentines Day.  Yesterday I brought them over to a friend's place and we ate some of them.  I had three, which adds up to 140 calories.  Totally worth it.  Happy Valentine's Day!




Fitbit Stats: I didn't do that well in fitbit stats today because I was being so productive at work.  Doesn't it suck that the more productive you are mentally the less you are able to be "productive" physically?  I ended up doing a workout video on demand because I had practically no steps in my day.  My end totals were 2170 Calories burned, 8641 steps taken (4.26 miles) and 94% sleep efficiency.  The jury is still out on whether that's legit.

Week 3, Sunday (Day 30)

Today I had more readers in Canada than I did in the United States.  Perhaps I should start using more Canadian friendly language, eh?  
We've also expanded to Israel.  Shalom.


Breakfast: Strawberry, Chocolate Shake; 1 banana
Although Michael Jordan is not the weight gaining king, he is the reigning smoothie making champion of the household and was nice enough to whip up a yummy smoothie for me before work.  I saved my banana for a later snack, but Probably would have liked it more in the smoothie with strawberries for a snack. Oh well, you live and you learn.


Snack 1: 1 cup chopped cooked butternut squash, 1 tbsp chopped walnuts, 1/2 tsp sucanat, dash of cinnamon
Hmm.  I bought this butternut squash like you told me to, but it's not cooked.  And you're not telling me how to cook it.  I check the index.  There are two other butternut squash references in this Clean Eating cookbook.  One for a soup and one for a side dish.  Perfect.  It says bake the pieces in the oven for 30 minutes, turning half way.  Done.  But why do I have to put so much effort in to find that on my own?  Come on editors.


But YAY delicious snack.  The butternut squash was yummy and sweet with the sugar and cinnamon.  The walnuts were a nice touch.  I will definitely be adding this to my favorites list.  


Lunch: 5 whole wheat crackers dipped in leftover Spicy Black Bean Hummus (from Day 29); 1 cup low-sodium lentil soup; 1 orange
This is one of the few times where you actually eat your leftovers, and I am thrilled that I don't have 16 extra servings of bean dip sitting in my fridge.  Kudos, Editors.  
I find the thought of lentil soup slightly repulsive, so I picked a different type of low-sodium soup (chicken noodle) that was only 70 calories.  I will have to explore the healthy aisle of the grocery store to see if they have better, natural, healthy options.
My clementine had seeds, but you can't win em all, eh?


Snack 2: Mini Yogurt Parfait (8 oz low-fat greek yogurt, 1/2 sliced banana, 3/4 cup Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Original cereal)
This snack was very fun to make - and it came out pretty so I took a picture!

 Once again, I replaced the Shredded Wheat cereal with the Nature's Path Optimum cereal and swapped out the banana for some blueberries.  I mean, I already ate a banana for breakfast.  Two in one day is kind of overkill.  If I make this again I will try to get the layers of yogurt, fruit and cereal more evenly.


Dinner: 4 oz broiled cod (replaced with tilapia), 1 cup summer squash or zucchini, steamed; 1 white potato, sliced and baked

I have to be honest when I say this dish was prettier than it tasted.  Not that it tasted bad, but it was just regular old plain Jane in terms of flavor.  I used ketchup but MJ said it didn't really need anything.  What a sweet guy.  And a liar.  I did really enjoy the "potato chips" and will probably make them again.  As per usual, the meal plan didn't tell me a temperature for the potatoes or how long they needed to bake.  As per usual, I figured it out on my own.  Next time I would probably use one yellow squash and one green zucchini for more color.  Overall, a pretty successful day in the eating world.


Fitbit Stats: 1881 calories burned, 6,245 steps taken (2.69 miles traveled).  Boo not getting to 10,000 steps.  I'll have to walk more tomorrow to make up for it. I did figure out how to change my sleep monitor to "sensitive," so instead of sleeping for 7+ hours last night, I apparently only slept for 4 hours and 30 minutes (60% efficiency rate).  I really don't know if this makes sense either, but I was pretty tired today.  Guess I should hit the hay to optimize my sleep!

Week 2, Thursday (Day 22)

I cannot believe I've been eating healthy (relatively) for three weeks now.  I eagerly jump on the scale and see no chance.  Darn.  I blame the Superbowl brownies.  I'm not sure if my lack of weight change is reflective of the whole week or just pigging out at the Superbowl.  At least the number didn't go up, right?


Breakfast: 1 whole wheat tortilla with 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter and 1 sliced banana
I thought this breakfast was going to be strange, but it was actually delicious and very filling.  I think I might even like it better than the English muffin version, but they are both pretty good.  Both would be better if I could have milk!


Snack 1: 1 low-fat string cheese, 1/2 grapefruit
I actually ate grapefruit!  And hated it!  It was so sour - why do people like that?  I ate my string cheese and replaced the grapefruit with an apple when I got home.  That sure was a lot of hype just to hate grapefruit.


Lunch: Turkey Salad (3 slices of deli turkey, salad greens, 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/2 cup white beans, balsamic vinegar, mustard, evoo)
Ugh.  We didn't have any tomatoes left and I ate the white beans over the weekend, so I replaced them with chickpeas.  Which essentially meant I had lettuce, turkey meat, and chickpeas.  Pathetic.  And not tasty.  


Snack 2: 1 cup low fat greek yogurt with 1 tsp pure maple syrup and 1/2 cup blueberries
Yay I finally get to eat blueberries!  For some unknown reason, blueberries have been missing from the meal plan, and I LOVE blueberries.  I didn't even add the maple syrup because the blueberries were sweet enough!  


Between snack 2 and dinner, I did an on demand work out video.  I chose "6 pack in 6 weeks" with Jillian Michaels.  She kicked my butt.  And my abs.  I am definitely going to be sore tomorrow.


Dinner: Turkey Meatballs with whole wheat spaghetti and spinach. 
What a great, filling meal.  The meatball recipe wasn't that different than my family's recipe, but I actually like my family's recipe more, so I would replace that part if I made this again.  I also made the meatballs twice as small as they say to so that each serving felt larger (10 meatballs instead of 5).  The recipe called for some ricotta sauce, but MJ and I decided to just use a little tomato sauce instead.  MJ really enjoyed it and we have plenty of leftovers to eat tomorrow!


Well now I have finally completed 2 weeks of meal plans, even though it took me 3 weeks to do it!  I will probably have another day of left overs tomorrow and then get started with Week 3!

Day 18 (Week 2, Wednesday) and Day 19

MJ informed me that I forgot to mention that while I was eating my mushroom asparagus risotto, he and his friend Michael Vick were eating 12 inch subs from one of my favorite (not healthy) sandwich places.  I tried to block this incident from my memory.  Like the plate full of fresh chocolate chip cookies.  I'm trying to be strong-willed against bad foods.  So far, so good.

DAY 18 - WEEK 2, WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Breakfast Burrito (1 whole wheat tortilla with 4 scrambled egg whites, 1/2 oz cheddar cheese, 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper); 6 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
This is one of my favorite breakfasts, especially since all my veggies were already cut up in my "Wednesday" bag.  But I can't possibly eat 4 egg whites in one sitting, so I cut it down to 2.  Today my wrap totally fell apart but still tasted very good.  I'd probably replace some of the peppers with onions next time.  And what's a "burrito" without some avocado?  I make a mental note to switch this up next time.
There is no way I'm squeezing my own orange juice.  The effort to results ratio is totally not in my favor.  Instead, I bought a small single-size container of all-natural orange juice.  I drank my 6 ounces (aka 3 gulps).  I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the carton.  Glad I didn't buy a full-sized one!


When I got to work, I made the necessary decision anyone facing 6 hours of meetings would do to survive: purchased coffee.  I got the smallest size and used skim milk and splenda.  I don't think the Clean Eating editors sanction the use of splenda, but I thought they would prefer the healthier "sugar" even if it was a substitute.  I wish the coffee shop had that flavored fat-free half and half so I wouldn't have needed any sugar at all.


Snack 1: Chocolate Smoothie (1 cup low fat milk, 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 5 ice cubes); 1 handful of unsalted almonds
I look ahead at breakfast and see that there is no possible way on earth to make a smoothie at work in a blender!!!  I don't know how this could possibly be appropriate, so I improvise.  MJ makes me a "chocolate milk" for breakfast using some milk and chocolate protein powder.  It was very good.  I sure do miss chocolate milk.  I packed a container with plain yogurt and 5 frozen strawberries for work, but it tasted bad by the time I ate it at work (yes, I kept it in the fridge the whole time, Mom) so I threw it out.  Yuck.


I did eat the unsalted almonds.  And by unsalted almonds I mean 12 cocoa almonds.  Actually 11.  I let my friend Charlotte try one.  She's the one on the 1034 calorie diet.  I hope that one almond didn't push her over her measly calorie limit.  Charlotte informed me that because she lost two pounds, she is now only allowed to eat 1008 calories.  This cannot be a healthy diet.  I need to start carrying sugary snacks to revive Charlotte when she passes out from malnourishment.


Lunch: French Tuna Salad (green beans, 1 hard boiled egg, sliced radishes, tuna, red onion, red pepper, red leaf lettuce and 1 yukon potato)
This lunch may take the crown for most awkward meal ever.  It was so bad that someone even said to me "what the heck are you eating?!" 
Sigh.
First of all, this salad to forever to prep.  I had to hard boil eggs (BIG shout out to Michael Vick for this guidance on boiling eggs.  Now can you teach MJ how to peel them?!)  I also had to boil a potato.  The cookbook says it would be ready in 15 minutes and it wasn't close.  I let it cook for 25 and the middle was definitely still hard.  I also had to steam the green beans.  Then I had to cut slice and measure everything else.  Huge time commitment.
Second, the dressing had 1239081 ingredient.  It served 4 and only had 1/4 tsp of some ingredients which is a huge pain in my butt.  Essentially the dressing was red wine vinegar and dijon mustard. 
Third, the salad was ridiculous.  It didn't taste good and I only really ate the egg and the tuna.  Huge disappointment.  I ate my cashews early.


Snack 2: 1/2 grapefruit, 15 unsalted raw cashews
Okay I know you're not going to believe me, but I actually brought the grapefruit to work, already cut in half, and brought a spoon.  But I never ate it. I guess I have some mental block.  It's back in my fridge.  I'll probably throw it out soon.


Instead, when I got home I ate some whole wheat bread with almond butter.  When MJ got home, he ate finished the entire container of almond butter.  There go my snacks for the next few days!


Dinner: Boring Chicken, Boring sweet potato, Boring broccoli.
Boring, boring, boring.  Plain, plain, plain.
I purposely picked to eat Wednesday's meal today because I knew I was meeting my friends from high school out for dinner and didn't mind replacing this boring, plain meal.
Instead, we went out for Mexican.  Shocking, right?  I got to the restaurant first - mainly because I like getting to places early, but also because I wanted to really check out the menu and see what non-fried options I had.  While I was waiting, I also googled the calorie contents of Mexican drinks - Margaritas, Sangria, and Beer.  They are all bad.  I drank water.
I ended up ordering a grilled chicken fajita and only eating one of the little tortillas that came with it.  I ate the rest of the grilled chicken and veggies "a la carte," if you will. Oh yea, I ate about 10 chips with salsa.  But I let my friends finish the rest.  No one notice that I wasn't eating the chips or drinking.  Score one for me!


After dinner some co-workers were meeting up for drinks, so I met them for my standard vodka gimlet.  A few other women there were mentioning that they too were trying to watch their weight - one ordered water (cue pregnancy comments) and the other ordered vodka with diet coke.  I told her how fabulous vodka gimlets were and I think she's hooked now.  

DAY 19

Today was another day of leftovers!  My friend invited me over for breakfast.  I call her my Fairy Blog Mother because she told me to start "tweeting" when I made new posts so my "loyal fans" could follow.  I feel like a caveman trying to use twitter.  It's not as easy as Geico.


For breakfast, my fairy blog mother served 1 egg on a toasted whole wheat English muffin with some low-fat cheddar cheese.  It was delicious and I hope to convince her to cook for me more often!   I also had a cup of coffee because she had brewed some Dunkin' Donuts Hazlenut coffee and I couldn't resist the smell of it.  Two coffees in two days?  What's happened to me?!  This time, I only used 1% milk and no sugar (or splenda).  
We headed off to work and I went to a class during gym again.  For lunch I had a veggie burger with low-fat mozzarella cheese, 1/2 avocado and 2 slices red leaf lettuce on whole wheat bread.  So good!  I think veggie burgers are my new favorites.  I bought the morning star kind.  I'll have to check the box and make sure to buy the same kind each time at the store.


For dinner I ate the left over risotto with 3 ounces of shrimp.  It was just the right portion size and was a pretty good combo.  


My snacks today weren't at any particular time, so I saved them for the end.  I ate:
• a handful of cocoa almonds
• 1 low-fat cheese stick
• 2 almond butter cookies.


I know, I know.  What is wrong with me?  I'm not supposed to be eating those! But I went to the gym and I feel justified.  I also really didn't eat that many calories today.  But I'm sure I had more than Charlotte did.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Charlotte.