October 11, 2008
· Filed under Dinner, Snack · Tagged Amy's, chocolate, graham crackers, peanut butter, pizza, pumpkin, salad, spin class, spinach
Quick post! Since I’ll be getting up tomorrow, teaching spin, and heading out of town for my friend’s 21st birthday party tomorrow night, I wanted to go ahead and post the rest of today, there’s no telling if there will be time tomorrow. And I’m not gunna lie, I’m pretty excited about the festivities tomorrow night 
So I did bake those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies for the boy this afternoon. I really love to bake, and I don’t do it nearly enough. It was just so soothing and completely occupies my mind for an hour or so. I love how everything is so exact and requires so much care and attention. And when the result is delicious and pretty, it’s all worthwhile. Here’s the ingredient line-up:
And the after:
Okay these things are seriously delicious. My mom and I split one of the finished products to try (just to be sure the boy wasn’t going to get a gross treat) and the general concensus was that I need to make more! I was very proud of myself, and the boy was grateful and I think a bit suprised that I baked 
I hung out with an old friend this afternoon, and I went to run a few errands with him. When I returned home, I snacked on some pb and graham crackers, before getting ready to hang with the boy:
I took my time getting ready (I was in serious need of a bubble bath after a week in the dorm), and then I fixed an Amy’s Pizza (Spinach) for me and mom. My serving:
A little spinach side salad:
Looks like I got my spinach serving for the month Now I really need to get to sleep, I’ve got to be a peppy spin instructor in roughly 9 hours! Night all!
October 10, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast, Lunch · Tagged yogurt, almond butter, banana, Kashi, waffles, pear, turkey, wrap, Oikos, pumpkin, Flat-Out, swiss, baking
Ah, FOUR ENTIRE DAYS of vacation, just to celebrate fall. Pretty spectacular in my opinion. I’m really feeling better today than I have all week, probably because I’ve made up my mind about my plans, and there’s nothing left to angst over. Yay! I woke up about 15 minutes before my alarm this morning (early bedtime again) and after getting ready for class and drinkin some cafe, enjoyed this:
That’s almond butter on there. I know what you’re thinking, “she ditched pb TWO mornings in a row?!” I know I can hardly belive it myself, but I just think almond butter tastes amazing on those Kashi waffles. It was a killer combo this morning, and fueled me all the way until 12:30pm!
I finished up class, packed my car, and upon walking in the door, went to the computer to print out the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe that Meghann used for her Pumpkin bars. I’m making them to take to the boy tonight, since I won’t be with him at his game tomorrow, and least he can enjoy a scrumptous fall dessert. I’ve never made these before, but I know he likes pumpkin pie, and this recipe honestly sounds easy and delicious, so I hoping it works out
After buying my ingredients at the grocery I came home with a nice little appetite. So I rolled up turkey, swiss, tomato, roasted red peppers, and spinach in a Flat-Out Multigrain wrap and chowed down:
That’s the new version of Athenos Garlic and Parsley hummus plopped on my plate there. Pretty good, I’d say. Oh and I also ended up switching that apple for a very ripe Bartlett pear at the end of my meal
I’m about to go test my baking skills in the kitchen and make the brownies, I’m pretty excited, I’ll definitely let you know how they turn out!
Hope everyone’s enjoying their Friday!!
October 10, 2008
· Filed under Thoughtful Thursday · Tagged Thoughtful Thursday
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thursday. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely glad that this week is coming to a close, it has seemed a lot longer than necessary. For today’s “thought” I’ve decided to bring up something that I think has impacted me a lot, not just this week but probably ever since I’ve been involved in relationships. I’m a mind reader. I don’t mean that I have ESP, or anything crazy like that, but I do have the tendency to assume or expect what someone is thinking or will say, before getting their true reaction.
This week I was faced with a dilemma between two groups of people in my life. I realized pretty quickly that I was not basing my decision on what I wanted to do, but rather how I expected everyone else to think and react. Like I’m supposed to know exactly what everyone is thinking all of the time. According to my subconcious, I do. The way I finally remedied this dilemma was simply to look at the situation and say to myself that I was definitely going to feel guilty for missing out on my friend’s birthday, and while disappointing the boy is definitely going to make things a little awkward, it doesn’t compare to the guilt of letting down friends. Nowhere in that sentence do you see the thought process of someone else. I just have to remind myself that assuming someone else’s thought process always leads me down a bad road, because you can never truly know. The one thing I can always be sure of, is where my mind is and what my wants and needs are. It’s important to pay attention to those things, and the rest will fall into place.
Yay for a loooong weekend!
October 9, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast, Lunch, Snack · Tagged almond butter, banana, broccoli, Clif bar, fruit, guacamole, oatmeal, sandwich
Went home yesterday for lunch, made myself and delightfully filling little concoction:
I found some leftover broccoli in the fridge and decided it would be a nice little addition. Has anyone ever dipped broccoli in guacamole? It’s pretty great.
Got my haircut, which went well. I haven’t talked much about this, but I did lose a significant amount of hair due to my low weight over the past year, and it’s finally thickening up again. My stylist was proud
After therapy, I came home feeling a little better, but also I left with a lot to think about. First, my weight is back up, which I KNOW is a good thing, but it can be scary at times to think that I’ve once again reached my maintenance point. I am determined to keep it here this time, I want my health to remain stable, and I know that’s not possible if my weight continues to fluctuate. I ate dinner with my mom, and we talked more about my weekend plans. My mom is against me going to my friends b-day mainly because she does worry about that environment affecting me, and also because she doesn’t want me to hurt my new relationship. But she really tends to express her opinion too forcefully, and I eventually came back to school pretty confused. I was exhausted after yesterday and went to bed at a nice 9:40pm.
I also had a mini Chocolate Brownie Clif bar before bed. I think all three flavors might be tied right now, more testing is needed to determine results
I awoke this morning to a new little twist on breakfast:
Kashi oatmeal, made with almond butter this morning, instead of my usual peanut butter. I was afraid that I’d miss my peanut butter too much and be disappointed, but the almond butter was truly a nice little addition to the Kashi vanilla-flavored oatmeal packet. Good stuff.
I ended up just telling the boy that my friend was celebrating her birthday instead of telling him that I had decided one way or the other. He of course responded by telling me there was no reason to miss my friends birthday for his game, and that there were others. I still feel bad, and I’m not exactly sure what his feelings are. I just know that whether or not I have a great time with my friends, skipping out on her birthday this weekend would leave me feeling guilty. I just hope I haven’t done damage to the new relationship. We have plans tomorrow night, so hopefully I can talk to him more then.
I hope everyone’s Thursday has been less complicated than mine so far, I’ll be back later with a “Thoughtful” post!
October 8, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast, Snack · Tagged banana, Fage, Greek yogurt, Kashi, Oikos, peanut butter, Puffins, Pure Protein bar, raisins, spin class, waffles, weight training, workout
Happy Hump Day everyone! I’d like to thank everyone for responding to my dilemma, and of course I agree with you all, friends come first, but there are many other extinuating circumstances involved in this week’s decision, I’m just going to try and figure out what I want to do. But I do appreciate having the opportunite to throw something like that out there to you unbiased readers
Yesterday was a lazy day, my roommate and I pretty much lounged, studied some, loungied some more, and grabbed dinner (sandwiches) in the caf. I did make it to bed by 9pm (yay!), and it was glorious. I read until my eyes began to droop at about 9:30pm and slept until spin this morning. Before bedtime I snacked on my last Fage 0%, mini box of raisins, and 1/4 cup of crushed PB Puffins:
Spin was good this morning, except I’m starting to realize that it is near impossible to get my heart rate as high as it normally is during a workout in the morning. Does anyone else find this to be true? And even when I did reach my working level (about 75% of max), once we took a break, it dropped faster than it normally does as well. I guess that my body’s way of rebelling against 5:30am spin class.
I did weights after spin class was over, and then I came back to enjoy breakfast. I think I enjoyed it so much more than usual today because I didn’t have the computer sitting in front of me while trying to eat (sometimes I try to multitask by blog reading during breakfast in the morning, it’s messy). But this morning it was amazing to just savor every bite of this:
You can probably guess what dirty things I did with this combination. Soo good.
I snacked on a Peanut Marshmellow Pure Protein bar during my 10am class, and now I’m about to hit the road and head home today for a haircut at 2pm, and then therapy at 3:30pm. I’m a little nervous about therapy honestly because I’m curious about my weight and also because of my “big” decision about this weekend. I’m sad to admit that it’s unfortunately eating away at my brain at this point, I wish there was an easy fix, but there’s not. Hopefully therapy today will help me clear my head and get things straightened out.
I hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday, I feel like I’ve kind of gotten off track with my posting this week so please forgive me! Hopefully I can be more consistent in the coming days…
October 7, 2008
· Filed under Uncategorized
Yesterday flew by, here are some highlights:
Mainly though, I made a 100 on my Psych Stats test!! Yay!
I had a snack of pb and graham sticks before heading to workout yesterday afternoon. I went to the healthplex to run on the treadmill, really not knowing what to expect. But I was calm about the whole running situation, I went into it with a nice 5 minute warm-up and then picked up the pace. I paid attention to my heart rate, and just took it at my own level (I wanted to feel GOOD about running!). I think I accomplished my goal of the run being enjoyable, and not forced. I’m no marathoner (yet), but this is definitely a start. Here’s a rough estimate of my work-out:
|
Time
|
Speed
|
|
1-5
|
3.5-4 (warm-up)
|
|
5-10
|
5.6
|
|
10-15
|
5.8
|
|
15-20
|
6.0
|
|
20-25
|
5.5-5.4
|
|
25-30
|
5.6-5.7
|
|
30-35
|
6.0
|
|
35-40
|
5.6
|
|
40-45
|
Cool down
|
That got me a little over four miles according to the machine. I look forward to improving my pace and distance over time. I also did weights before I left the gym for a total workout time of about an hour and a half.
Last night’s dinner was pretty yummy. Chicken sausage, sweet potato, and massive salad:
I also had a Kashi Baked fruit bar while studying before bed
Tuesday AM
This morning I had an English test at 8am, and a French quiz after that, ugh. But I can assure you that breakfast was identical to yesterday morning’s, and just as enjoyable :)
I snacked on this before the beginning of chapel today:
2 flavors down, only chocolate brownie left. I like this one too, I’m just so glad I bought these, they have made the perfect morning snack this week.
Lunch
Lunch was leftover chicken sausage heated in a Joseph’s pita with spinach, red onions, and mustard-tasted like and italian sausage and peppers sandwich, yum:
I also ate a massive apple after this. I don’t really know what is in store for the rest of today, but I’m definitely going to bed by 9pm tonight, because I do NOT want to be another zombie like I was last Wednesday. I need my sleep!
Weekend Dilemma
I’m currently in a bit of a dilemma. Since I transferred schools, most of my very close friends live about 2 hours away at my old university. One of them is turning 21 on Sunday. They’ve decided to have the party Saturday night. So here’s the dilemma: I told the boy weeks ago that I would come to his rugby game this Saturday, knowing that my friend would NOT be 21 until Sunday (so how can she celebrate, right?). Anyways, now I’m gunna look like a jerk if I back out on either side, so I’m debating on what to do. The boy definitely has already told me that it’s fine if I can’t come, but I still would feel bad backing out. UGH, sorry if you read all that and are disinterested, I just needed to vent about my stressful sitch…
Later
October 6, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast, Snack · Tagged banana, Clif bar, coffee, Larabar, oatmeal, peanut butter, splenda, toast, workout
That’s right. I already have weekend plans, and since we don’t have class on the 13th and 14th for a “fall break” (whatever the heck that it) I’m in the process of making plans for those days as well. Is it still Monday?
Last night before hitting the sack at an awesome 9:45pm (that makes me happy), I had my very first Apple Pie Larabar:
Mmm mmm good. This bar was soo good, and I’m sorry to say had a lot more going for it than the PB Cookie one (it’s awesome though). It just had a lot more flavor to it, very cinnamon-y and there were lots of nut chunks throughout. Well played, Larabar.
Monday AM
This morning it was back to the grind, back to the classy dorm room kitchen. Honestly though, I think the oats that I make at school during the week, are the best tasting ones I eat. Probably has something to do with the day after day perfection of my methods:
- 1 packet regular instant oatmeal
- 1 big banana
- 1 pinchful chopped walnuts
- 1 (I swear it’s just one, my pb is runny) spoonful of peanut butter
- piece of WW toast with generous slather of Cinnamon Raisin PB
Yummy, filling breakfast, I thought it deserved a close-up (observe the runniness):
I also tried a little something new in my coffee today: Splenda Flavors for Coffee in French Vanilla. I know that some are against the whole Splenda usage, but at this point, I maybe use 3 packets a day, and I don’t believe it’s enough to kill me, we’ll see. Anyways, these are pretty good, added a nice little zing of flavor to my black coffee, and they also come in Mocha, Hazelnut, and some other flavor I can’t remember.
AM Snack
As I’m here blogging between class and lunch, I just tried my very first mini Clif bar!! I was soo excited when I got these to try, and while they are quite small, they are only 100 calories, and very dense and chewy, so it really is enough to tide you over between meals:
So adorable. And good! I bought this box that had 18 mini bars, each 100 calories, and 3 flavors: Crunch Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Brownie….I wonder what my favorite will be…
I have class again at 1:30, and then I’m free for the rest of the afternoon, so I’m planning on going to the gym and running on the treadmill and doing weights. I’m really trying to enjoy running and make it not as much of a chore, because I eventually would love to try running races (in the future). Any tips for a beginner are appreciated!
Hope everyone’s having a great Monday! Be back later
October 5, 2008
· Filed under Lunch, Snack · Tagged Clif bar, cottage cheese, fruit, hummus, peach, sandwich, toast, weekend
Lazy Sundays are definitely the best. I’ve pretty much relaxed most of today, minus a quick trip to Target, but I love Target, so I consider that part of the fun. Ooh and I picked up a box of mini Clif bars while I was at Target, I’ve seen them on Sarah’s blog, and I’ve been dying to try these little 100 calorie goodies, I’ll let ya know what I think
As a mid-morning snack, I was dying to spread some of my whipped cottage cheese on a piece of toast, so that’s exactly what I did:
Mmm mmm good. This hit the spot, and fueled through my trip to Target and all.
When I returned home, I knew today was a sandwich day for lunch. I made a classic swiss, ham, and pickle sammie on whole wheat, with obvious sides:
He wanted to pose:
In addition to the extra meat serving at breakfast, my nutritionist also added 1 vegetable, 1 fruit, and 1 fat to my lunch. So two tbsp of hummus, a few more carrots, and an extra apple:
Well, that’s actually a small green apple, and a red pear, but you get the idea.
I believe we have burgers planned for tonight, I of course have my special 98% lean beef set out alongside my family’s 85%…tsk, tsk. They don’t go for the lean stuff, it’s sad. I’ll probably head back to campus a little after dinnertime, I’m sure my roommate is wondering what the heck I’ve been doing all weekend. Now I think I’ll catch up on a few episodes of The Office…Ciao!
October 5, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast · Tagged banana, cinnamon, Fage, oatmeal, peanut butter, pumpkin, raisins, weekend, yogurt
Yes, that’s correct. I went out with the boy and some of his friends last night, and was talked into doing a shot called an “italian car bomb.” It consists of dropping a shot of Bailey’s into half a Guiness and chuggin’ away. NOT my style, but I was peer pressured. Needless to say, I didn’t get in bed until around 2am last night, but that’s okay, because I go to bed sooo early pretty much every night of the week, it was really fun to stay out last night and have a good time.
I woke up pretty early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I drank some coffee and psyched myself up for my first try at pumpkin oatmeal. Sadly, I was just not that impressed. But at least I wasn’t disgusted, which was my biggest fear.
- 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup pure pumpkin
- 1 banana
- 1 mini box of raisins
- 2 spoonfuls pb
- nutmeg and cinnamon
I think I would like pumpkin at a meal other than breakfast, its taste is so similar to sweet potatoes, that I wondered if I was eating dinner more than a few times. I also had another Fage 0% on the side:
I will say that I am nice and full now, and am very pleased with the fact that pumpkin does contain some nice nutrients. So I guess it wasn’t a total loss.
Don’t have very much planned for today, I need to do some much neglected French homework and who knows what else. I’ll try to be back later for some hardcore procrastination.
Hope everyone’s having a wonderful Sunday!
October 4, 2008
· Filed under Breakfast, Snack · Tagged banana, Fage, Kashi, peanut butter, Pure Protein bar, spin class, waffles, weekend, weight training, workout, yogurt
Ah Saturdays. Have I mentioned how much I heart Saturday mornings? No? Well I do. This morning I woke up at 8am in order to prep for 9am spin (another reason I heart Saturdays). I had a pretty delish breakfast, which I should preface by including that my nutritionist upped my meal plan just a bit, because apparently 3 snacks just wasn’t doing the trick. Hey I’m not complaining about having 3 oz. of meat at breakfast (more pb anyone?). I know it’s not great that my weight hasn’t stabilized yet, but at least now I’m not really that afraid of upping calories when needed.
Anyways, I had 2 Kashi Strawberry Flax waffles with Might Maple pb, a container of Fage 0%, and a banana w/ pb:
Instead of creating waffle towers this morning, I just dipped random bites of pb-covered waffle into the Fage. It worked pretty well, I must say.
Spin was tough this morning, our instructor did not neglect to tell us that she ran 6 miles this morning, prior to class. She’s pretty hardcore, obviously. I did weights afterwards, and came home to enjoy my very favorite post-workout treat:
So glad this flavor was brought to my attention via blogland.
By the wayyy…Dinner last night with the boy was INCREDIBLE. He made some seriously impressive steaks, roasted potatoes, and salad that included avocado and blue cheese crumbles! I think he may be a better cook than me, which isn’t saying much, but he is a boy, so it’s impressive I kind of want to make him some sort of pumpkiny-fall treat to thank him, so I’m gunna search for a recipe. He likes pumpkin pie, but I’d rather make him a more treat-like goodie.
Well, I’m taking the rest of today easy, MIGHT work on some French homework, but probably not. I’m such a procrastinator. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
