P90X Week 4 begins!

I’ve had some really great workouts over the past three (week 3) weeks, but I am ready to commit to my real week 4 of P90X. I have been successful in walking with Charlie for two miles every day for the past week in addition to some other form of exercise. This makes me happy.

Here's my walking buddy Charlie:

My blog buddy, MacKenzie, has inspired me to take photos of all my meals. What a much easier way to keep track of your food and really thinking about what is going in your mouth if you have to take a picture of it?! Love it. Dr. Oz said today that those who keep a food diary tend to keep their lost weight off longer than those who do not. I am not good with keeping up with my food journals, although I have started them many times.

I have discovered I really love of Special K cereal, especially the fruit and yogurt line. I never get tired of eating this brand! A hot cup of fresh brewed 8 o’clock coffee rounds that out for me. I ate a big red apple for a snack later in the morning because I didn’t have any bananas, except my rotting ones waiting to be baked into a yummy banana nut bread recipe I need to get from sis. This is not low fat by any means, so I will share it when I make it tomorrow. If my sister will give permission, I will share the recipe with all of you. It’s sooooo good!















Today was my day off from teaching summer school, but it didn’t keep me from having to do work for school. So that is already keeping me busy this summer and now fall planning work has begun. Today was busy with lots of housework and laundry because I am going on a trip to Michigan and Chicago to see MacKenzie! Yeah! Lunch was my favorite, and probably not the healthiest choice, but I really wanted it: Campbell's Tomato Soup made with fat free lactose free milk (best find of my dietary life!) and a grilled cheese sandwich made with Publics awesome Chicago deli bread and Colby Jack Cheese. I truly enjoyed eating this while reading some of my current novel on my iPod Touch.














Dinner was better because I was not just making it for myself. I like cooking for others, so this makes me want to put more thought into the preparation. Stephen and I had pork chops seasoned with a nice salt rub, Lipton chicken and broccoli rice, and broiled cherry tomatoes with a dash of sea salt, fresh garlic, and olive oil. Mmm. I had a small glass of wine too …well I saved most of it for later. I still needed to work out.















Yoga X! Phew, I love the stretching. It feels so good.

The Booger is Back!

I have not blogged since leaving for the cruise! But I have been exercising. It was such an exciting time to spend with my Mom, family, and friends. It was the honeymoon Stephen and I never took and a fun celebration of my wonderful Mommy. The Graytrax gang all picked up where we left off as teenagers; what a blast; they were all there in addition to some great family company!

Motivation to stay on P90X started strong on the cruise, with additional trips to the ship’s gym. Kerri and Aunt Marcia were great motivators and workout buddies. The elliptical quickly replaced P90X all together though for the rest of the week. I ate well during the day, but certainly enjoyed my dinner and had a yummy desert every night! No low fat for sure and I enjoyed every bite. This was an expensive trip…so what the heck.

Coming home was a bit sad and anti-climactic. We had been planning this trip in secret for 1 ½ years, and it’s now all over. Exercise was hit or miss for the next two weeks, with some P90X DVDs, running, and walking. I did discover the pool again, my first love! I can knock out 2,000 yards (just over a mile) with no problem. And it has been great in this ungodly hot weather.

So, with all the exercise and what I deem as eating well, I was so very discouraged to finally check the scale only to discover a slight weight gain! How freaking depressing. Now, my exercising does include a lot of use with bands, push up and pull ups, and swimming. I know I am getting stronger because I can tell in how much more energy I have in the pool. Two-thousand yards wasn’t so easy and a bit intimidating early in the summer. I know muscle weighs more, but still, I want to be losing, not gaining.

I have also added a daily two-mile walk with the dog to get in some extra cardio. Is this weight ever going to drop off?

Food: I generally have been eating Special K for breakfast, along with a cup of coffee, and a banana. I have cereal for lunch sometimes because I love it so much and it’s only 250 calories, fills me up, and is satisfying. I have been cooking very well for dinner most nights with such dishes like baked chicken and tomatoes and onions for vegetables. If I snack, it is Special K bars at 90 calories or a Weight Watchers ice cream cup. I am hypoglycemic, so a Special K bar or an apple keeps me going between meals. Surprisingly, I am not bored with this at all and the fiber helps.

Summer school started up with about 30 students soon after the cruise, but that hasn’t kept me from working out. I am now keeping a personal written diary of my meals and re-measured all of my body for comparison later on. Sometimes it’s nice just to rant when needed. I have also calculated my BMI; hard to admit this, but it was 29.7 a few months ago and it's now 29.2. My next goal is to at least get it down to 25, but ultimately I’d like to see it at 20/21. I was feeling strong at the beginning of the week, but not so much today. Writing this is making me want to exercise right now ...so that’s what I am about to do.

** UPDATE: Ok! Just finished Ab Ripper X and Shoulders and Arms from my P90X DVDs! Day 4/4 for good exercise this week ...almost didn't do it today. It's 11:13pm, so does that still count?! I know it is bad to work out at night, but I am not a morning person, unless I have a job at a gym like in the past and am already there.

Overnight Oats In a Jar

My sister has requested me to post my version of Overnight Oats in a Jar. But before I get started, I must give a shout out to Carrots 'N' Cake, my most very favorite food and health blog, for sharing the recipe in the first place.

I've seen other recipes hosted across the blogosphere, but I've mostly stuck with Carrots 'N' Cake's, but making alterations as I go. Many use an almost empty peanut butter jar as a bowl so that the oatmeal can soak up the remaining peanut buttery yummyness. I sometimes include a tablespoon of reduced fat Jif.

The recipe as it stands now is at 393 calories. I'm still experimenting for other combinations, so I'll keep you posted.

Here's what I had this morning:



Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup multi-grain or old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup Red Mill High Fiber Oat Bran Hot Cereal
- 0.5 Tsp of cinnamon
- 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- >1 Tbsp chopped almonds

Nutritional data: Calories 392.7, Protein: 14g, Fat: 10.6g, Carbs 80.8g.

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate over night. In the morning, you'll have a hearty, cold mixture of yummy goodness. High in protein. A different spin to your usual oatmeal. Serves 1.

I am still thinking of other grains or dried fruits that might be good to use. I tried wheatberries a couple of weeks ago and those weren't so great.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Try SparkPeople's recipe calculator. It's the best!

S-S-Spinach

I'm on a roll this week. Plugging along with my typical list of things to do and looking forward to the weekend. Ryan and I are finally going to the beach on Saturday and my college friend Tom will also be here.

Thursday breakfast featured one of my regular picks, two Nutri-Grain Eggos with apricot preserves. I also paired that with a cup of fresh strawberries and a fourth-cup fresh blueberries. I like this particular menu because it pushes me through lunchtime and never leaves me thinking about having a snack. I'm such a snacker, too.



I tried something new for lunch, Spinach & Tortellini Soup. I grabbed this recipe via my trusty SparkPeople database and I think we're going to keep it in rotation. I've been into spinach this week, with this week's Shrimp Panzanella dinner, and this.

Spinach & Tortellini Soup:

Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 32 oz. box fat free vegetable broth
- 1 package Fresh cheese tortellini
- 2 cans stewed tomoatoes
- 1 bag fresh spinach
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp salt, pinch of pepper
- Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
- Saute garlic in olive oil
- Stir in the broth and tortellini
- Lower heat, add salt & pepper
- Simmer 5 minutes
- Add tomatoes, spinach, & basil
- Simmer until spinach is cooked (about 15 minutes)

When prepping this, I used what I had in my pantry. I had low-sodium chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. I also offset the sodium intake with three cups of water. I included fresh basil from my herb garden, too. My tomatoes were diced, not stewed and I feel like one can was more than plenty. For extra spinach, I used spinach and cheese tortellini from Buitoni. YUM!


I was also pretty hungry after my kick-ass 45-minute run on the elliptical trainer, so I decided to add a turkey sandwich (with mustard and field greens) on multi-grain flatbread.


I should have taken a photo, but my husband also made me a cold iced coffee with nutmeg and cinnamon. He works from home and always makes a coffee after lunch. I am not the world's biggest coffee drinker, but once in a while I do like a cold ice coffee. This week I've developed somewhat of a routine. I'll share tomorrow.

Dinner saw a repeat of Shrimp Panzanella and we traded up some spinach for herb lettuce. We also topped it with a half-tablespoon of BelGioioso parmesan cheese. Absolutely fabulous.


Tonight I had some quiet time to wrap up some blogging and other odds and ends while Ryan hit the Lake Shore Path for some rollerblading. And, of course, Siggi's was there to end the evening. I chat so much about Siggi's, I should really blog about it. Hmmm....

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,399
Fat goal 32-57: 32
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 194
Protein goal 60-128: 92

Until tomorrow xx

Call It a Comeback

There was NO way I was going to repeat Tuesday again, so today's efforts were much more focused and back on track. With some Cherrios with a fourth-cup blueberries and some watermelon, I checked off a bunch of my weekly list this morning.
I also reacquainted myself with my elliptical trainer before lunch and it was great! I'm slowly becoming obsessed with sweating my brains out. After meeting with my uncle over the weekend, a self-proclaimed fanatic about working out, I got a glimpse of what it's like to LOVE exercise. My uncle loves the pain and much prefers when his muscles are aching. For me, I like sweating and knowing I kicked my butt into some serious cardio gear all in the name of feeling good. I don't want to look like a body builder and I don't need to be a size 2. I just want to be at a healthy weight and a healthy size.

Come lunch time, we resorted to Rising Moon's Asiago, Pesto and Pine Nut Ravioli, as I prepped some additional meals later today. Ryan and I have tried several of Rising Moon's ravioli selections and they're pretty yummy and healthy! With some mixed greens with cherry tomatoes and cherries, Tuesday's lunch was pretty filling and fantastic.




I was in a race to get everything ready for dinner, as Ryan and I had a movie date. Sound Opinions was hosting Dazed and Confused at the Music Box Theatre and we are big fans of the WBEZ show hosted by music experts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. And I absolutely love the movie and saw it opening weekend waaaay back when I was a sophomore in high school in 1993. To my surprise, Ryan had never seen it. Seriously, GASP!

Anyhow, dinner featured one of our growing favorites, Shrimp Panzanella, which I took from an old issue of Eating Well magazine. It's a lovely dish (Panzanella is another fancy word to describe "Italian bread-and-tomato salad"), with plenty of herbs and veggies. Serve on mixed greens (we typically use spinach) and enjoy. The croutons are homemade as well and the dish is only 291 calories and loaded with 21 grams of protein.


One of the things I love and appreciate about Eating Well is that they list the nutritional data. Real Simple also has an index listed in the back of their magazine, too.

Shrimp Panzanella:

- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
- 4 cups 1/2-inch crusty multigrain bread cubes, preferably day-old
- 1 pound coarsely chopped peeled cooked shrimp (see Note)
- 4 large ripe but firm tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 2 large green, red and/or yellow bell peppers, diced
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 cup sliced pitted Kalamata olives, plus 1/4 cup olive brine
- 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 4 cups mixed salad greens

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Mash garlic into the oil with a fork to infuse it with flavor; discard the garlic. Stir bread cubes into the oil until lightly coated. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until very crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

3. Combine shrimp, tomatoes, bell peppers, parsley, chives, olives and olive brine, vinegar, thyme and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Let stand for at least 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

4. Toss the croutons with the shrimp mixture and serve the salad over greens.

The movie was awesome! I laugh out loud at much of it and can still quote several lines. Matthew McConaughey's character is so skeezy and hilarious, he has some of the best one-liners! Ryan loved it, too. But I have to tell ya, movie snacks are mighty tempting. Thankfully I planned ahead and brought Ryan and I some Kashi bars (Honey & Almond Flax) and a Wild Berry Fruit Strip (Archer Farms) and we both split a water. The Music Box Theatre, too, is an awesome Art Deco theater. It was a FAB night out!


My new snack BFF, Siggi's Vanilla Yogurt, capped the evening perfectly. My totals are back in order, too.

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,420
Fat goal 32-57: 33
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 207
Protein goal 60-128: 82

See ya Thursday!

Tuesday Fail

Well, Tuesday got off to a decent start ... I guess. I had good intentions of it being a productive and healthy day. But quite honestly, it must be hormones or something because this week has been a tad off.

Breakfast included two Nutri-Grain low-fat Eggo waffles with a teaspoon each of apricot preserves. I also added a cup of watermelon with a fourth-cup of blueberries. I can't believe that after 32 years of living I am finally a fan of watermelon. I always thought it had zero taste and the water-y substance was just so boring. But I'd had some in a fruit salad when I was visiting my parents in Michigan in June. Ryan has also jumped on board ... watermelon and cantaloupe. We never thought we'd see the day.



I headed downtown to meet a friend for lunch at Bistro Pacific, a fabulous Pan-Asian restaurant located inside the Playboy Building. I stuck with my usual maki rolls as I'd been craving sushi as of late: spicy california rolls, spicy tuna rolls, and cucumber rolls. I SO wish I had taken a photo because everything was so beautifully displayed. But once Sarah and I got chatting, lunchtime took over.

As I wait patiently on a few job leads, I am enjoying some of this time off. I opted to spend the rest of the afternoon running a few errands and grabbed a Grande iced skinny vanilla late from Starbucks prior to heading back to my neighborhood. Once I got home, it was 4pm. I was losing interest in attending the free yoga session sponsored by Whole Foods. This is when things started to take a turn for the worse.

Ryan and I had plans to grill some salmon and corn on the cob for dinner, however a few mishaps (the grill was too hot, the fish kept catching on fire ........) led us to a very different place. To make a long, not-so-important story short, the salmon LOOKED beautiful, but the inside didn't exactly cook to perfection.



Ryan stepped in and grabbed some curry turkey burgers that were in the freezer and we had those instead, with some herb-y field greens and our corn on the cob. Everything worked out, but we were both tired from all the meal prep and damage control that we wussed out on our bike plan for the evening and went record shopping instead.



Topping off the evening with some ice cream from Gyood wasn't the best idea either, but at least it's lactose-free, no cholesterol and low fat. Seriously, it's an awesome alternative to your usual high calorie ice cream treats and I love that they're in our neighborhood. But I added Reese's Peanut Butter Cup to the mix and Ryan had a sundae. Bad news all around.

No exercise and dessert. FAIL.

Back at It

Arrrgh! Weekends are rough sometimes. Keeping up with my efforts in logging my calories doesn't always seem to happen. And having family in town and doing the various things families do when visiting a big city always takes over.

So yeah, I didn't count my calories or work out this weekend, however I did make my 5-day schedule, so I think two days off is a-ok. But food-wise I didn't go overboard and kept things lite as possible when eating out, like thai basil chicken on Saturday night dinner. I had a grilled chicken and mixed greens salad with apples, pecans and goat cheese with balsamic vinegarette on the side for Sunday lunch. Sunday dinner also saw some quality lean round burgers on the grill with some grilled corn on the cob as well.

But manic Monday got off to a rough start. I could not get out of bed to save my life. I just felt like meh all day. My meals also saw a lot of repeats, as I'm trying to use up some of my food before it gets bad. Breakfast featured my recent fave, Overnight Oats in a Jar.


Lunch also saw the last of my shrimp gazpacho, plus I added a herby-green salad with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. Sweet cherries, too!


Ryan ruled the grill for dinnertime, whipping up some awesome catfish surfburgers, which we found on sale at Whole Foods last week. We served these burgers on some AWESOME sprouted seven-grain hamburger buns from Cybros and man are they tasty! They only have 130 calories and contain 10 grams of protein. YAY! I had two dill pickles and some mixed greens and mustard with my burger as well. I had to round things out with my dill crab salad on a napa cabbage leaf.


Our exercise of the day was a nice, three-mile trek (45 minutes) along the Lake Shore Running and Bike Path. What a perfect way to end the day, watching the sun set on Lake Michigan. I definitely missed this while living in New York City. Here are some snapshots from our ride.





Ryan, along with my best pal Siggi (Orange & Ginger), and I closed out the evening with some Criminal Minds episodes. My parents are *super* into this show and got me into it, thus I tivoed some reruns so Ryan could get acquainted.

I also went ten calories over my required count. Yikes. Oh well. Better than Friday's totals and better luck on Tuesday.

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,570
Fat goal 32-57: 48
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 218
Protein goal 60-128: 92

Friday!

It's finally the end of the week! Friday morning kicked off with an awesome 90-minute Yoga session at Nature Yoga. I'd been away from my weekly class for two weeks and oh how I missed it. I'm sorta in love with Yoga. I also completed my first five-day exercise week! YAY!

I got back to my Overnight Oats in a Jar recipe (this one is with cranberries and almonds) for breakfast. It's the perfect dish in the morning, for it doesn't leave me too full or weighed down prior to working out. I did add just under a tablespoon of reduced fat Jif peanut butter to the mix, as many of the traditional Overnight Oats in a Jar recipes across the Web suggest storing your mixture in an almost empty peanut butter jar. It does make for a total of 488 calories. Still trying gage if that is an appropriate amount to eat first thing in the morning. Anyhow, upon my return home I grabbed a snack-size Breakstone's cottage cheese and had a nectarine for a snack.





I had a deadline for a press bio due that afternoon, so lunchtime came around 1:30pm. I decided to keep with my shrimp gazpacho leftovers and add some quinoa tabbouleh.




Come dinner, I headed downtown to meet some family for a lovely Italian dinner at Trattoria No. 10. I wish I had taken some photos of the meal I had, for it was presented in such a lovely manner and the taste was equally matched. I snacked on some whole-grain crackers and shared some grilled calamari with fava beans. I also split an arugula and granny smith apple salad with my aunt. My main entree was just as great, ravioli with asparagus and a sun-dried tomato sauce. You could also get your entree in an appetizer size, woo hoo! I wish more restaurants did this.

I ended up going over my totals for today, but not too terribly much.
Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,632
Fat goal 32-57: 52
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 242
Protein goal 60-128: 85

Seafood Smorgasboard

It's almost the weekend, hooray! It's hitting the low 90s in the Windy City and it's supposed to be just as hot this weekend. Gotta love summer, right?

Thursday started off with two slices of Fabulous Flats flatbread toasted with two tablespoons of Ghee with one egg. I am not the world's greatest egg cooker by any means. I'd love to master the sunny side up or over-easy versions. Anyhow, my egg sandwich was mighty tasty, but my white nectarine wasn't as good as your normal fresh nectarine. I think I'll stick to those from now on.


I've been staying in pretty much all week, taking care of various household duties and freelance jobs. After a fantastic 45-minute routine on the elliptical trainer plus my usual 10 sets of 10 dumbbell routines, I decided a needed a break from being inside. I decided to head up to Whole Foods for both lunch and a few groceries. Lunch consisted of my usual Whole Foods drink, 365's Club Soda, a cup of minestrone soup, field greens with veggies and balsamic vinegar, plus a third cup of grilled pineapple and some cucumber and feta salad.

In the late afternoon, I was definitely in the cooking mood. I prepped shrimp gazpacho for dinner. You guys, shrimp gazpacho is INCREDIBLE! It's one of my favorites from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook and it's loaded with protein. Lots of tomatoes, too!


On the side, I had two pieces of whole-wheat baguette and something I like to call "one of my Mom's coolest dishes," both literally and figuratively. Crab dill salad is just store-bought crab-style legs, chopped up into small pieces and mixed with dill, olive oil, and white distilled vinegar. Serve a third cup over a piece of napa cabbage and you have a lovely addition to any cookout or lunch. Tonight, this was my seafood smorgasboard!



I also prepped some kale chips for the weekend. If you've not had kale chips, you haven't had the best potato chip of your entire life. These babies are so much healthier too. All you need is some kale, some cooking spray and some sea salt, pop 'em in the over for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, and voila!



I discovered this beauty of a recipe via Carrots 'N' Cake, one of my favorite health blogs. I am still unsure how these should be stored, for storing them in a plastic ziploc bag for a period of time steals all of the crunch away. Right now, I have them sitting in a bowl on my kitchen counter.

Earlier this week I discovered a recipe for Blackberry Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake via Two Peas and Their Pod and I couldn't ignore it. Lucky for me I had all the ingredients in my pantry already. I opted to try it without the rhubarb this once just to see how it stands. Here's a snapshot of what it looks like prior to cooking.


We'll see how it tastes when Ryan comes back from New York City on Friday evening!

Siggi's Vanilla Yogurt and I ended the evening with this week's Time Out Chicago issue. My totals for Thursday are:

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,494
Fat goal 32-57: 44
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 211
Protein goal 60-128: 74

Leftovers

Well here it is hump day Wednesday and I'm working through the third or so serving in several of my bulk meals for the week. I stayed with the bananas today for a repeat of Monday's breakfast: Nutri-Grain waffles with apricot preserves and bananas. A couple of hours later prior to hitting the elliptical machine for my required 45-minutes, I snacked on a snack-size Breakstone cottage cheese and a pickle.


Today's work out was GREAT! I'm finding it a little easier each day to make it through those 45 minutes. Lately, I've been struggling through the last 15, but today it didn't seem so bad. In fact, I really enjoyed sweating buckets. It feels great to be doing this! Oh yeah, I also completed 10 sets of 10 dumbbell routines.

Lunchtime saw my final helping for cool cucumber soup, and to change things up a bit I added a turkey and greens flatbread sandwich with mustard and 10 cherries. As my Mom always says, cherries have loads of antioxidants.



Dinner also saw my final helping of my turkey chili with black beans and corn (and a nectarine about an hour later). Again, I forgot to photograph it, but tomorrow I'll be making shrimp gazpacho with tomatoes and it is SO SO GOOD! I already prepped some quinoa tabbouleh as a side (ended up having a quarter cup tonight after all the prepping and tasting) and some kale chips tonight (will share soon!). I'll have related photos and links tomorrow, and maybe even a dessert.

Drum roll please ... and here are today's totals. Let me not forget to mention that I had some of Jane's low-carb popcorn after lunch. I have to get into a better routine of including my snacks on each blog post AND sharing my daily totals.

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,343
Fat goal 32-57: 32
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 205
Protein goal 60-128: 82

By the way, Siggi's grapefruit yogurt is a bit tart. I don't think it's one of my favorites. Vanilla is still number one, but I think it's me and blueberry tonight.

Cheers!

Go Green!

This morning I had a job interview, so I decided to load up at breakfast. Can anyone tell me if it's appropriate to have 608 calories at breakfast. Anyhow, it was tasty and well worth. I didn't want to be starving after my 11am interview, forcing me to scrounge for something at a nearby fast food place. So I had my usual Cheerios with fresh blueberries, but indulged in a multi-grain flatbread with Ghee and bananas. I felt really full afterward and ready to take on the day.


Working out would have to wait, since I left at 9:45am this morning to make sure I made it to my location well in advance. It's funny, it always took at least an hour to go anywhere in New York City. It's a bit different in Chicago, traffic post-rush hour is much more easy breezy and I almost always find myself with an extra 30 minutes on my hands. Once the interview was over, I headed over to Starbucks for an iced tall skinny vanilla latte, my favorite. Since I had my meals plan ready for the day, I figured 70 calories wouldn't hurt me.

Lunchtime featured a repeat of yesterday's (July 12) with cool cucumber soup with avocado, but this time I added a herb-lettuce salad, cherry tomatoes, carrots and two tablespoons of roasted red pepper hummus. Totally yummy and satisfying. Green must be the color of the day ... just check out my meal with my placemat. Gotta give a shout out to my beloved alma mater, Michigan State University, too.


Today's workout arrived before dinner, as I headed downtown for *FREE* yoga courtesy of Whole Foods. The hour-long class was first-come first-serve and it filled up pretty quickly. The view, WOW! AMAZING! Doing yoga outside, let alone on a roof of a high-rise with the blue sky completely wide open, it was really lovely. While I didn't burn as many calories as I would with the elliptical trainer, this yoga session was a good break. I will definitely be going back next week!


Dinner also included a repeat of yesterday's dish: turkey chili with corn and black beans. Since Ryan is away in NYC all week for week, I prepared meals that would last me all week. Turkey chili is really tasty and filling. Add in some summer fruit salad and voila, a yummmmy dinner.



And Siggi's Icelandic Yogurt will be joining me again as a late night snack ... last's night vanilla was absolutely perfect. Tonight it's just me and grapefruit.

.. and I don't have to feel too guilty. I did go over three points in my carbs, but met all of my calorie, protein and fat goals for today. WOO!

Challenges

My Mom and sister came to visit Ryan and I last weekend and it was a blast! Definitely one of the best times I've had in Chicago so far. But when it comes to the weekend, juggling different plans with my calorie count can be a bit challenging to say the least. I wuss out.

It's not that I go totally gorge out on junk food or that I ignore my diet altogether. It's just that I struggle with keeping up with logging in (and blogging about) my fitness and nutrition accomplishments. Most weekends I don't work out and I don't chart my meal plans. This isn't good. When my Mom and sister were here, Ryan and I did make a pretty tasty meal plan for Friday lunch (chicken panini sandwiches with prosciutto and roasted red pepper, pasta salad and fruit salad), but we ate out three times: Friday night dinner, Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner. Saturday lunch was a bit special, as our neighborhood of Roscoe Village was hosting the first annual Burger Fest. It was AWESOME! And to my surprise, the burgers served were mini burgers, so I didn't feel guilty about indulging in a margherita burger (mozzarella, basil and tomato) and sweet potato fries.



Saturday night also got away from us, as we were both tuckered out from the day at Navy Pier, plus the humidity and summer heat, to grill out for dinner. Plus it started raining. We opted for some tasty thin crust pizza from Frasca.

But here we are again, and it's Monday! I rocked the elliptical for 45 minutes this morning and completed 10 sets of 10-count dumbbell exercises. For breakfast, I had two Nutri-Grain Eggo waffles with one tablespoon of apricot preserves and slices of from one banana.


Lunchtime included cool cucumber with avocado soup, a cup of pasta salad and multi-grain flatbread with a fourth cup part-skim mozzarella cheese. Really tasty and satisfying. I almost didn't add the cheese sandwich, but I was struggling with my protein intake since the soup was so low in calories.


After some errands and a stop at Whole Foods for some more kale, dinner featured one and one-fourth cups of turkey chili with corn and black beans (forgot to take a photo). I originally thought I had logged this on my sparkpeople profile ahead of time, so when I went to check my daily totals (protein, fat, carbs and calories), I thought I was way under for what was required, so I ended up noshing on two over roasted turkey slices, seven cherries, and a small bit of chocolate. To me, it was kind of mish-mash, even though I tried going for things that were healthy and heavy on the protein.

I still might top my night off with some vanilla Siggi's yogurt and a nectarine. I'm such a dessert fanatic. Anyhow, with that, I will make all required totals for today!

Job interview tomorrow! Wish me luck!

ps... I almost forgot! I was showing my Mom how Wii Fit works on Saturday morning and I went through a bunch of exercises and showed her the Body Test. I LOST TWO POUNDS!!!! My first sign that all of this stuff is actually starting to pay off. I'm in between 149 and 150 pounds. Go me!

Plugging Along

Today was a pretty productive days with various odds and ends to complete. Only 48 hours until Steph Dogg and Mom descend upon the Windy City!

Breakfast was a refreshing bowl of Organic Flax Plus Multibran from Nature's Path, with strawberries and organic skim milk.


I made up for yesterday's laziness with a super-kickass performance on the elliptical trainer upstairs. I had various things to take care of this morning, thus my usual morning bike ride disappeared. But man, today's work out truly pushed me to the limit. I was screaming during those last few minutes. I think I sweated more buckets in those 45 minutes than I have in days. The velcroed stomach band also showed results, for I'm gonna get my tummy back in tip-top shape. I concluded today's work out with various dumbbells routines, completing 10 sets of 10 for a total of 100.

With my noon workout, lunch was also pushed back. The hubs and I headed to Whole Foods for a change. There, I had a cup of turkey chili, which was absolutely yummy! I added plenty of color from the salad bar too: edamame succotash, kale and cranberry salad, and a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, red cabbage, and two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. I couldn't resist the lemon-dill tuna. It's definitely one of my Whole Foods faves, so I added a small portion to my salad. And a can of Club Soda completed the menu.



My hubs rocked the grill a second time this week for dinner and it was another scrumptious meal! Ryan prepped catfish surfburgers with corn on the cob. The corn on the cob was, again, to die for with it's parsley (from my herb garden) and butter and garlic mix. Add a herb-green salad and fresh basil (also from my garden) with balsamic vinegar and YUM!


Dessert came before bed, as I ended the evening with some of Siggi's Pomegranate & Passion Fruit yogurt with four strawberries. More on Siggi's tomorrow.

While my calorie count was above Tuesday's total, I still stayed within my required means for Wednesday:

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,503
Fat goal 32-57: 49
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 178
Protein goal 60-128: 108

See you Thursday!