Monday Holiday

Today is a holiday from work, well not entirely. I have spent part of the day preparing for trial tomorrow and doing legal research. I spent the other part of the day shopping because my clothes are pretty beat up right now. I did not find any clothes to buy but I did purchase shoes (my constant downfall). Since I already have 100+ pairs of shoes, I am certain that was not helpful in the long run. I also worked out this morning. I am probably certifiable because I got up at 4 am (my normal workout time) and went to the apartment gym. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, a 20 minute jog, five minutes of cool down, and my strength training work. Then I came back to the apartment and drank coffee and ate oatmeal. My standard weekday meal in other words. Clearly not normal but if I don't go to the gym super early I just will not workout. I had some very unexciting lean pockets for lunch somewhere along the way and yogurt with frozen blueberries.

Dinner was hash browns with green bell peppers and onions. I also had an egg (it was supposed to be an egg over easy but clearly that did not work) and some of the left over risotto. I am still not a huge fan of the risotto but at least it has broccoli in it. Oh and here is your cat picture for the day.

She actually stayed in that position for about five minute while I took photos, silly cat. I am going to go and drink a glass of pumpkin soy milk for desert and watch "Border Wars" on TV, more amusing if you live near the border. Then I am off to bed because tomorrow is going to be a very long day for me.

Sunday, sunday

I failed entirely again to photograph any food except for dinner. Then again it was all my standard fare, I am trying to change it up but I always fall back on spinach and veggie burgers. I did go to Starbucks this morning as you can see by exhibit A.

That would be a skinny cinnamon dolce latte which I drank while helping my friend study for the Bar Exam. I expect that will be a regular occurrence for the next month until she actually takes the exam. Fingers crossed that it goes well at the end of February. I will admit that I prefer non-skinny starbucks drinks but they are not really in the dietary plan so skinny it is for the foreseeable future (admittedly I go to Starbucks about once every three months at this point). So, I spent two hours at the coffee shop and came home and finished up my laundry. Then I took a nap, I do love weekends. This was followed by dinner which is below.

That is two super old Boca Burgers (i.e. they have been in my freezer for at least 6 months, Broccoli Cheese risotto (not my favorite) onions, honey mustard, light cheese, light mayo, and spinach. It was not my best effort but at least there were veggies involved in the process. The burgers were 90 calories each but I had forgotten that I really don't like that flavor (perhaps that explains why they have been in my freezer for so long) and the risotto was a little bit fake tasting. Perhaps tomorrow's food will be better.

Saturday dinner

I made a random cake type thing for dinner tonight. Basically sweet potato puree, chia seeds, oats, almond meal, light soy milk, cinnamon, and maple syrup for sweetness. I topped it with greek yogurt and a sprinkle of granola. It was okay but could have used more cooking time. I also had some red bliss potatoes but I failed to photograph those, and a big glass of water.

I am probably going to have some decaf coffee tonight which I will no doubt fail to photograph because I will forget about it. I thought you would like to see a picture of my other cat in the same cat bed which is where they both like to sleep. She is not a snugly cat but she does like to keep an eye on me when I am at the kitchen table.

Ah, Pizza

I have been craving pizza for the last week and I decided to make it lunch today. I had a personal frozen pizza but I did doctor it up a little bit by adding a half cup of spinach on top so that I would get in some dark leafy greens for the day. It was extremely tasty and I think that I will not need any pizza for a long time now. I am trying to work things into my diet that I really want so I do not go crazy but I am balancing them with healthy food wherever possible. Hence the spinach and also the big glass of water that I had with lunch.

I love that pink glass, it was two bucks at Target and you put it in the freezer and get it icy cold which is great. I need a new one because it is beginning to fall apart. Oh, and here is your sleeping cat picture for the day.

This is my older cat, she is sleeping next to my computer which is where she stays whenever I am surfing the web or working on projects on my laptop.

Thursday and Friday Dinner

This was dinner Thursday night. Sticky rice and low fat beef stir fry. This is the remains of the stir fry from the night before and it was extremely tasty and will probably make an appearance this coming week.

Dinner on Friday was beans, low fat cheese, onions, and small red potatoes. I am ridiculously addicted to black beans, I probably have 8-10 cans in my pantry right now. The potatoes are replacing bread for me at this point since I do not keep bread in my house. It was very filling and my version of a quick meal.

Well at least I worked out

I was up later than I should have been last night and ended up being in no mood to workout today. However, I hauled myself out of bed at 4 am, and went to my apartment's gym. The walk in the freezing cold to the gym was not fun apparently it was like 20 something degrees at 4 am. Once I was there, I some how talked myself into 45 minutes on the elliptical machine and another 15 minutes on the bike. I also managed to get in all my strength training moves for the day once I got to work. I have not had 900 cups of coffee today (which is probably proof that exercise will wake you up more than coffee). I am making a simple dinner tonight, frozen stir fry with some extra broccoli in it.

I also had some yogurt as desert.

Blah

I had a short workout this morning, about 20 minutes and then went back to bed for around 30 minutes because I was tired. I got to bed late last night because I did not get home until around 8 pm and it always takes me awhile to unwind and relax. Today should be better because I get to go home right after work. Breakfast and lunch today were pretty standard (I did have two additional cups of coffee at work because I was both cold and tired). As for dinner, I am a little bit over broccoli given the amount I ate yesterday so I am having my old fall back, black beans with couscous. I prefer my couscous with raisins but there are none in my house so I settled for green bell peppers. I just warmed up the black beans and threw in some spinach because I have a ton of spinach which needs to be eaten before it goes bad, however I added too much pepper.

This is the cooking in process and below is the final result. I mixed in the couscous which was not really the best plan but overall it was tasty if a little bit peppery which was a problem.

I have to say that I am continuing to do a pretty decent job on eating my veggies and getting in a fair amount of green and leafy plants. So overall I am pleased with how my meals are going so far.

Not sure how it got to be Monday so fast

I had an excellent workout this morning, 40 minutes on the elliptical machine, 15 minutes running and 5 minutes of cool down walking. I even managed to do my strength training moves which I have been slacking on for months. The problem with not doing planks for awhile is that you end up being horrible at them. I am working late tonight and may not get around to dealing with food pictures as a result, I will post them when I get home if I feel up to it. Breakfast was my standard oatmeal with raspberries and hazelnut butter along with a splash of light soy milk. I have also had 3 cups of coffee today, a sure sign that it is a Monday. Lunch was my standard salad along with 3 mandarine oranges (I finally restocked on oranges this weekend. Dinner was leftover risotto and pureed broccoli with some butter, reduced fat cheese, onions, and a little bit of chicken stock. Desert was popcorn and a diet soda.

Clearly, the cats took an interest in my dinner.

Sunday again

Somehow it is already sunday evening and I have not accomplished much of anything today. Ah well, at least it was relaxing. My lunch today is below, a veggie burger, spinach, onions, light mayo, mustard, and reduced fat cheese. It is basically a deconstructed burger since I skip the bread. I had popcorn later as a snack but that was not photographed. My breakfast was the same as yesterday and also not photographed.

Then I cleaned for awhile and took a nap before I made dinner. Steamed broccoli with a sprinkling of reduced fat cheese, red potatoes with light sour cream and risotto from a mix which was actually remarkably tasty and easy to make in about 20 minutes flat. I have enough left over for tomorrow night which is important because I am probably not going to get home until around 8:30 pm since I have to go train police officers from 6-8 pm. Tomorrow night is all about fast food and I also have lots of left over broccoli which is a good thing (it is the ingredient of the week in case you were wondering).

After dinner, I made myself desert. Frozen bananas and chocolate hazelnut butter. I just froze the bananas and pureed them in my blender for about 5 minutes and topped with the hazelnut butter. Tasty and I got in my fruit and healthy fats for the day. I have also had a bunch of water today but that almost never gets photographed so you will just have to imagine its existence.

Tomorrow is a really long day so I am going to go get organized for it now and head to bed early so that I can run in the morning at the gym.

Saturday Dinner

This was dinner tonight. I also had yogurt and raspberries for desert. This was the remains of my leftovers from last night's dinner out. I have not had the most productive day but I am in the process of getting my laundry done and at least all of the grocery stopping is finished for the week. I took today off from working out but I am probably going to try and get in some sort of workout tomorrow morning. Anyway, I am off to fold laundry and put another load in the dryer.

Ahh, Saturday

This is lunch today. Green peppers, spinach. baked beans, a tomato, two black bean burgers, light sour cream, and a glass of water. I did not photograph breakfast but it was basically this:

It is my ordinary saturday breakfast. Food yesterday was not very exciting, well except for dinner which I did not photograph. I went out to dinner with my friends and had beef kabobs with a baked potato and bread. I brought about half the meal home and you will probably see it tonight incorporated into dinner. The beans in my meal for lunch are from last night. This morning I ran out to the store and did all my grocery shopping for the week, I think it is fair to say that you will see a lot of broccoli this week. I also got more black beans and spinach because I am kind of addicted to black beans and they were on sale for a dollar a can. Anyway, I am off to clean and do laundry (my apartment is a wreck). I will be back with dinner tonight.

Freezing indeed

It is about 33 degrees today and running over to the gym was very cold. However, coming back from the gym with wet hair from sweating was much much worse. I did what I like to think of as a mini gym triathlon, 15 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the stationary bike, and 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was a good workout and I think it made up for wednesday when I only managed 30 minutes at the gym. I need to do some kind of stretching tonight because I am sore (probably because this is the first week in a while that I have been able to really workout). I did not photograph breakfast or lunch because they were the same as yesterday. I made my self a green smoothie for dinner.

I also had some fat free refried beans and popcorn.The smoothie had milk, spinach, agave syrup, yogurt, a few pieced of frozen mango and a banana in it. It was more than filling enough for dinner. The fact I made a smoothie on a freezing cold day probably suggests I am a little bit crazy on some level.

Hump Day

I did not make it to bed until 10 pm last night because of how late I got home on Tuesday. So, I did a shorter workout this morning because I was really tired (about 40 minutes, 35 minutes elliptical and 5 minutes doing sit ups), I may try and fit some more working out in later on tonight. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, oatmeal with raspberries and coffee. I did not bother photographing it as a result. However I managed to photograph my lunch salad which is the same as yesterday, so in a way you have seen all of my meals for the last two days.

I pondered what I was making for dinner this morning and ended up deciding to make a black bean soup with arugula, onions, light sour cream, and mushrooms. I threw a few slightly stale tortilla strips on top to give the dish some crunch. I also made my way through two ginormous glasses of water with the meal.

I also made some popcorn for desert (fortunately there is no more chocolate in the house). I do love popcorn and since it is better than the alternatives you will probably be seeing it a fair amount in my diet.


I am actually pretty pleased with the variety of my dinners for the week, it is much better than what I normally manage to do in the past. Apparently documenting my meals photographically is actually useful for my diet. Now I just need to vary my workouts but I have a plan for that which I am going to put into action this weekend. I am also going to try to do some real meal planning this weekend about what I am going to cook for next week rather than throwing items into my cart when I go to the grocery store. I am trying to make sure that a different vegetable is central to every week of dinners rather than meat as part of my attempt to cut down on the amount of meat that I am eating. I am going to try to go to bed early tonight and have a hard workout in the morning to make up for my easy workout today. It is supposed to be freezing tomorrow morning for around here (only in the single digits) and I am not looking forward to the run over to the apartment gym. We will see how it goes.

Long Day's Journey into Night

I knew today was going to be a longer than normal day because I had to work until at least 7 pm. So I decided to make sure my breakfast was a little more filling and I actually managed to take a picture of it. Two cups of coffee and oatmeal with hazelnut butter and raspberries. I even managed to photograph it this morning before I left for work. I am trying to finish the raspberries before they go bad because they usually only last for two or three days in my fridge before they become really moldy.

Once I got to work, I drank a ton of water to make up for the coffee and because I have been really lax about drinking my eight cups everyday. I had about two of the below giant cups over the course of the morning. In case you were wondering that is a giant cup of water and not mountain dew, it is just a mountain dew container that I got in an office competition about a year ago (I do not remember what the competition was for, just that I won the cup).

I did not photograph lunch because I had a conference call at lunch and worked through it. I had a banana, a tangerine, and a cranberry walnut salad. I did not have time to finish the salad because of the conference call. I had stuck the banana in my lunch bag because I wanted to make sure that I got an extra snack in since I knew that I would be working late and not eating until well after my normal dinner time.    

Above is my dinner, well there was also some chocolate and popcorn but that did not get photographed. This is a deconstructed hamburger (i.e. no bun and no cheese). Two veggie burgers, arugula lettuce, onion, light mayo, and honey mustard. I inhaled this when I finally made it home at 8 o'clock. It had the benefit of only taking 5 minutes to make once I walked in the door. I was starving since I usually eat dinner no later than 6 pm. This is why I keep veggie burgers in my freezer, they are healthy and fast. This is also why I work out in the mornings so I do not have to deal with the gym at night when I am tired. I managed 15 minutes on the stationary bike and 45 minutes on the eliptical machine and I feel like I am slowly getting back to my routine after having been sick on and off for the month of December.

Monday oh how I do not like you

I did not photograph my food this morning (hey it was 5:15 am in my defense) 1.5 cups of coffee, 1 cup of water, and a bowl of oatmeal with milk and a little syrup for sweetness. Lunch was a premade salad, diet Dr. Pepper, and 3 tangerines. Clearly I failed to photograph the tangerines, on the plus side they were very tasty.There was also some additional water consumed at work along the way which was also not photographed, then again it was not that exciting. I generally eat the same thing everyday for breakfast and lunch (unless I go out to eat) which means I am going to mostly focus on posting my dinner meals which should be more interesting.

I pondered what I was making for dinner this morning and ended up deciding to make baked black bean falafels based what I saw on the Oh She Glows website. I used a can of black beans, a cup of spinach, some garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs and then rolled them in chia seeds and baked it for 15 minutes. This makes dinner the exciting meal for the day. It was alright but not great (although really filling) and since I just threw some spices in a bowl I have no idea how much of any I used. I am very bad about cooking during the week but I am glad that I actually did, especially since it ended up being a really healthy meal. I had some light mayo as a dipping sauce (did not have a lot of options in my fridge) and a glass of light soymilk.

I am trying to cut back on meat (not entirely eliminate, just cut back) and focus on eating more vegetarian meals with complex grains and vegetables for ethical reasons mostly and because I think it will force me to eat more vegetables so I did not buy any meat this week other than what is in my salads. I have decided that I am going to mostly focus on making sure that I photograph dinner and post it. Also dinner is when I usually end up snacking so hopefully this will cut down on the snacking and force me to eat real meals. Speaking of snacking, I also ate what is posted below.

That would be a chocolate bar which my secret santa sent me. It is dark chocolate and fit within my calories for the day but it was probably not my best idea. Still it was really tasty and dark chocolate is good for you. Yeah. In other news, despite getting horrible sleep last night, I managed a full workout this morning, a 10 minute run (I am easing back into the whole running thing) and 45 minutes on the eliptical machine and five minutes of cool down. I am going to do situps and planks tonight which I have been neglecting recently. I was pleased because I changed up my eliptical workout and felt like it was a lot harder as a result so I do feel like I got a decent workout for the first time in a few weeks since I have been sick (oh and I really bruised my toe a few weeks ago by dropping a can of pumpkin on it, that sucked). So, I am going to go and drink some more water and get ready for tomorrow which is going to be a very long day at work.

Beans and green peppers

This was dinner and my snack today. The popcorn was obviously the snack and dinner was the black beans with onions, green peppers, and some mushrooms. It was tasty and since black beans are one of my favorite things, I devoured everything on the plate. I spent the afternoon wrestling with one of my closets and I need to throw a ton of trash out but I think I am finally ready for the week and all of the major chores are done. I am going to go watch tv with the cats and get ready for start of the week.

How I spent my morning

This is my closet that I organized this morning, it is not perfect yet but I think you can see that it is much improved. I spared the internet the picture of my sports bras, underwear, and regular bras that I also organized. I am also including a picture of my lunch, a chocolate spinach smoothie with banana, light chocolate soy milk, chocolate amazing grass, agave syrup and ice. It is super thick because I used xanthan gum to thicken it and thus saved my self the calories in the yogurt I would usually use for this smoothie. I figure this is about 250 calories and filled with vegetables. I will probably have popcorn for a snack this afternoon and I am contemplating something with veggies for dinner. Anyway, I am off to organize yet another closet that is overflowing with shoes.

Sunday Morning Brunch

This is my idea of a decadent breakfast and I try to save it for Sundays. I had coffee and greek yogurt with raspberries and a spoonful of chocolate hazelnut butter. It is about 400 calories worth of food but it will hold me over until lunch and it tastes great. I am spending today spring cleaning my apartment and getting rid of a lot of junk that I am not using and then I am off to the store to purchase some additional storage devices (lack of storage is a constant problem in a small apartment). Tomorrow is back to the regular routine for the first time since I got really sick and hopefully back to running as well. I will probably try and do some yoga today and stretch but I am not planning any serious cardio until tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will be back later with lunch and what I am making for dinner as well.

Hmm no pictures today

I have been failing the past few days in taking pictures of my food so instead you get a picture of my furry kids. I am going to start again tomorrow which is when I am officially starting on my healthy post holiday eating. I don't really believe in starting New Years Resolutions on New Years Day. Anyway, most of my food has been relatively healthy for the past few days, but it could certainly be better. So, my resolutions this year are pretty basic: 1) Work out more effectively (i.e. put in more effort) 2) Eat more vegetables/green food 3) Eliminate sugar from my diet 4) Limit bread and pasta-this is not because they are bad for you, because they are not, but because they are trigger foods for me I tend to really overeat bread and pasta 5) Run a 5K race 6) Work on lowering my stress level 7) Post on my blog at least 3 times a week Those are my health related resolutions for the year. I am not making losing weight a goal because I think it is more important for me to work on healthy eating and workout habits because I have been really slacking on those for a while. I am also going to limit my shopping (especially shoes) and work on saving more money over the next year for retirement. I have some other goals but those are the big ones for right now.