Lessons

Last week and over the weekend, I learned some pretty important lessons. On Thursday night, I was feeling pretty lazy, and didn’t feel like preparing a lunch for Friday. When Friday came around, I was tired, and all I wanted was junk food. So I decided to have a cheat day. I started off the day with a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and an egg white veggie sandwich – not too bad. Then, as lunch rolled around, I was in a rush, and quickly ordered a tuna sandwich from a deli with chips. Normally, I would NEVER get a tuna sandwich from anywhere if I didn’t make it myself (too risky), but here I was, on a no meat Friday of Lent, and in a bind. Hey, it’s a cheat day, why not right? I ended up feeling sick to my stomach all night, and basically ALL WEEKEND.

Lesson One: PLAN AHEAD! Even if I didn’t FEEL like making lunch, I should have taken the 10 minutes to do so. Not taking the time to plan ahead basically cost me the whole weekend, and gave me the excuse to eat like crap all day on Friday. I could have even taken 2 minutes to look through the freezer and pick out a vegetarian frozen meal, but apparently I was too lazy to do that too. Lesson learned.

Lesson Two: No excuses! Even though I didn’t plan ahead, it really shouldn’t have given me the excuse to eat like crap the entire day. A mayonnaise filled tuna sandwich? CHIPS? Really?! The second that tuna hit my stomach, I knew I made a mistake.

I ended up going to see The Strokes at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, and after a few servings of Emetrol (anti-nausea medicine), ginger ale, and a slice of pizza, I ended up having a great time at the concert! (Thank God) But my stomach wasn’t right for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday I was a waste of life. I sat on the couch and munched on pretzels and ginger ale until Walter and I went to a friend’s house to watch final four basketball. I didn’t do a bracket this year, so I didn’t even know who was playing! I was feeling better, so I managed to eat some cheese and crackers, roast pork, and baked ziti. I usually don’t do dessert, but there were mini red velvet cupcakes that looked amazing, so I had one – it was great!

Sunday I was also a waste. I hung around the house, cleaning, and took Molly for a walk. I ate a breakfast sandwich, soup, and some pork, mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts for dinner. I finally felt better last night!

This morning, I finally got to try the mango Chobani yogurt! When I bought the mango and pineapple flavors, I didn’t realize they were both 2%. I haven’t tried 2% yet either, so it was a total new experience for me! Sadly, the mango was just OK. The yogurt was tooooo thick (thanks 2%!) I am used to Dannon Light n Fit, and I just recently started with greek yogurt, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of the texture. I was also hoping for more of a mango flavor, but it was basically plain yogurt with mango pieces mixed in. I made a yogurt bowl with banana, Bear Naked granola, and some Kashi Go Lean cereal.

Funny enough, I didn’t prepare a lunch for today either!!! I went to boil some chicken breasts to make another buffalo chicken salad, when I realized I bought chicken thighs by mistake, and ran out of lettuce! I will probably run to the grocery store during lunch to pick up those items, and make a salad from their awesome salad bar! Alright, time to buckle down and finish off this dreary Monday!

Two new recipes

With my 2011 goals in full effect, i wanted to share the two recipes i cooked last week! The first meal I made was spaghetti squash, which I didn't make from a recipe, but it was a "new" thing I haven't made in forever! I baked the spaghetti squash, and made a sauce with a can of diced tomatoes and ground turkey for protein. I made sauteed mushrooms and onions on the side, which I ended up mixing right in when I had this as leftovers! I ate half the squash, and froze the other half for a quick meal later. (The picture stinks!)

For my next meal, I made  crockpot dish from the book Walter got me for Christmas. It is called Chicken Provencal, and in the mix is boneless skinless chicken thighs, red and yellow peppers, red onion, crushed tomatoes, orange peel, and spices. I know you are probably thinking dark meat chicken?! She is supposed to be in a diet! But i compared the nutrition lables, and the dark meat had about 40 more calories, and about 5 more grams of fat. When i took the chicken out of the package, i cut all of the excess fat off that i could, which ended up being a lot! To me, the extra fat and calories are worth it because chicken breast is usually too dry for me, and i don't enjoy eating it. The chicken in this meal ended up staying moist the whole week I ate it! Here it is all in the crock pot before cooking...

Here it is finished! With a salad on the side...

And here it is over a salad for lunch! I did this twice and loved it! I ended up having this for 3 dinners and 2 lunches. I loved it and would make it a million times! It took 3-4 hours on high, or i think 7-9 hours on low. If anyone is interested, i can post the recipe.

Some other notable meals I made this week were yogurt with granola and pears:

and a breakfast sandwich on a ciabatta roll with egg, provolone, tomato, basil, and balsamic vinegar.

I am about to make my first recipe for this week, which is grilled shrimp with avacado and orange salad. Wish me luck!

Weigh in #5

I am up 1.5 lbs. BOOOOO! Its from getting sick over Christmas, and then going to Florida and eating out for so many meals. 

Total weight loss: 4 pounds

Weight Loss Remaining: 46 pounds

But I am going to get back into the swing of things and get that weight off!!!

On Monday night a friend and I went to dinner and a movie. We went to Chevy's, and then to see Black Swan! Chevy's has a dinner and a movie deal where you can buy movie tickets at the restaurant for $8 instead of $11 - pretty  good deal!I had Sangria, chips, salsa, and guac, and we split some fajitas. Well let me just say this: Next time, NO sangria, and I am staying on my diet from now on when I go out! The meal didn't agree with me, and i spent Monday night and all of Tuesday sick as a dog! But on a positive note, the movie was great! If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you go - its pretty twisted, but a great movie.

If you haven't heard, NJ got ANOTHER snow storm last night, and after getting 8-12 inches, I am working from home (don't worry - I am writing this on my lunch break!) This allowed me to make a pretty nice breakfast!

I threw a Chiobani strawberry yogurt, 1/4 cup kashi go lean cereal, 1/2 a clementine, and 1/4 pear and mango. I sliced another 1/4 pear and mango to have on the side. SO GOOD! I am also planning on making a crock pot meal during lunch for dinner! More on that to come...

Bleh.

Molly, Walter, and I are all sick. Thats right, I said Molly... she can't stop sneezing, which is so cute, but I do feel bad for her. Needless to say, i didn't go to the gym yesterday, i came home and crashed on the couch all night to try and get better. And Molly joined me. She is such a mush when she's sick.

Breakfast was a coffee, raspberry yogurt and granola...

Snack: 2 clementines.
Lunch: Soup and salad. I drove allll the way to shop rite in the rain, to get chicken noodle soup, and do they have it? No. So I choose vegetable instead...
Dinner: More soup. French Onion. With low fat cheese. And some multigrain chips and hummus.


Today, theres a hurricane out. I guess am avoiding getting ready to drive to work in this hot mess by writing this post when I am supposed to be getting ready for work! Have a great day!