Hump day...

Yes it's that time again, it's Hump Day.... let's hope I can get through it, as well as all of you. Please don't mind all the grammatical mistakes I could be making (and I warned all my co-workers not to mind if I pass out at my desk) but I only got 1 hour of sleep last night, and sitting in front of the computer is not going to be a good way to keep me up, so thankfully I have a ton of reports to print, which I have to walk back and forth to pick up and organize, this shall do the trick for the morning part of my day, we'll see how I am feeling mid-day.
Quick recap of my eats last night and this morning and off to pick up my reports I go.

For lunch I had the standard ( and by this I'm serious I have pretty much been eating salads for lunch every day during the week!!!) so I had 1/2 apple and clementine to start and then dug right into a regular veggie loaded salad with some grilled chicken breast. The salad consisted of lettuce, onion, cucumber, carrots, green+orange bell peppers and about 5-8 croutons (which is a big no no for me, but whatever.) I have been addicted to having hummus with my salad, as a dressing, so I used about 1 T. of original hummus, and maybe a tsp of Greek vinaigrette.
Salads are very yummy and I could probably be more creative with them, but I'm not after a long day of work, class, and working out; but I felt super nauseous and bloated after my salad (and it's happened before too) so I proceeded to have some hot cranberry apple tea and enjoy 1 square of dove milk chocolate with it. This brought out my sweet tooth, and I remembered I had a Chocolate Mint Luna bar in my ginormous lunch bag, so I ate about 1/2 of that too.

I felt a little better after all of that. By the way I forgot to mention, I ended up running to Target to get a couple things, and stumbled upon a choco-holics section and bought some mini snickers, dove chocolate (on sale), and twix. Yes I'm the girl at work with the chocolates, and I don't mind people coming to have apiece of two here and there, but don't complain to me after you just ate a piece about how fat you are and blah blah blah.

Anywho, after work I had my Historical Geology Class so of course I made my dinner the night before and it consisted of Maple Glazed Tofu and Channa Masala. It was divine, I wish I had packed up more, I couldn't get enough of it. For dessert I had one more piece of Dove Milk Chocolate square, and a small coffee with 2% milk.

I had an appointment last night with my trainer which went well, I think. I had to give him my food journal...which was pretty good except he commented that I was missing some days (which I know why) and he also said my snacks are way too big (uhmmm I didn't know 1/2 banana, 3 oz. of Chobani-Greek yogurt, and 1-2 T. of protein granola is too much) but so I took that into consideration for my meals today.
Before my work out I snacked on 1/2 of a Super Protein Odwalla bar (which are by far my favorite... and keep me satisfied for a while.) and after my session, while on the cardio machines I had 1 scoop of Mint Choc. Isopure and 12 oz water. I ran to the store quickly to pick up a few items for today's eats, and snacked on a clementine.

I'll updated on my workout at lunch time today, but quickly....

My breakfast this morning consisted of my favorite; OAT BRAN!!!Due to the comments that my trainer had given to me, I'm going to get self conscious on all the foods I eat now (but is it my fault that I list out every ingredient I use?!?!) So, my oat bran consisted of the norm:
1/2 cup Quaker Oat bran with 1.5 cups water
1/2 scoop Mint Choc. Isopure Protein
1-2 T. craisins
4 small strawberries diced and
1/2 peach (diced)

Of course I have my BIG cup of coffee with 1/3 cup skim milk and splenda, as well as a giant cup of Green tea.

Off to work I go, I hope you guys have a splendiforous morning! :o)

crisp and refreshing...

I need to make it a quick one and get back to work, since I lost track of time earlier and chit chatted with a co-worker about Girl Scout Cookies, and then got trumped with a balance in an account since last week... but we all know, I'm always right (okay about 99% of the time) and it was not my fault...or well it was but not entirely because I did my job in the first place...

Anywho like i said earlier, i set out on my walk during lunch (call me crazy) but it was quite nice and refreshing to get out there... even though I'm sick and it's about 25*, with snow on the ground... but I did aout 3 miles in 50 minutes... and enjoyed every step of the way (even the steps where the snow went up to my knees).

As a snack, about an hour before my walk, I had a medium banana with 1/2 TBSP. of Natural PB.

After my walk, I was getting a little hungry ( which was good news, not only was I able to last the 3 hours, but I started to feel hunger again... which while I was sick, I just stuffed my face... whether I was hungry or not... I ate with my eyes).
So for lunch I packed up a Granny Smith apple and a salad with some Full Circle Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette.

The salad consisted of:
1 TBSP. corn, 1 TBSP. Red Kidney Beans, 1.5 TBSP garbanzo beans, cucumbers, red onion, 2 TBSP tuna in water, 1 slice turkey bacon, and some lettuce (about 1.5 cups), topped off with 1.5 TBSP of dressing, and yummay!!!

It was good, very delicious, I actually wished my bowl was bigger, but oh well to that.

I am off to go get some wild raspberry tea with 1 splenda, and back to work I go. I am really trying hard to stay away from my chocolate box so I dont feel guilty and I can enjoy my snack laetr :-)

See ya'll later after my study session.

xxox

falling off...slowly...

Hey guys!

Sorry I know I didn't come back yesterday so that almost 2 days worth of stuff I owe you, not to mention the recipes. Anyways this has to be a quick post because I need to go brush my teeth get dressed and head to the gym for my last appt. with my trainer. I'm kind of happy, but sad at the same time. If they make me a great deal who knows, maybe today wont be the last day, but I will just have to be more determined about working out..no excuses, and perhaps getting a normal sleeping schedule too! Anyways it's been a long day and I will re-cap after my workout, as well as post some pictures too.

For breakfast I had my cup of joe with 1/8 hot skim milk and 1 tsp of fat free hazelnut (don't ask why I did this), to pair up with that I had an Aunt Millie's Whole Grain EM with 1/2 tbsp of PB and 1/2 tbsp of Light 3 berry preserves. I also sliced a small banana on top of the. It was divine and kept me full for only 2 hours!!!!! :-(

Thankfully, I brought some grapes (about a cup) and had my protein shake (1scoop Isopure Vanilla, with 12 oz. of water) as a snack.

That didn't hold me down either, and it's starting to bother me that I keep getting hungry every 2.5-3 hours, even though I know you should eat every 3 hours, I'm starting to get a little irritated with it all. Anyways I got home and finished off the Baked Sour Cream and Cheddar Lay's (there was only about 1 serving in there) and I made a salad with gazrbanzo beans, red kidnery beans, fat free Medi. feta, lettuce, carrots, red onion, and 1 hard boiled egg. topped it off with some croutons and my all time fav. dressing, Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette.

Ofcourse I needed something sweet after wards so I filled about 1/2 cup of Kashi Crunch+Fiber One Frosted Mini Wheats, and had about 1/2 cup of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. I am stuffed like a turtle right now...and probably shouldn't have eaten so much, but I'm going to try and get to the gym a little early today and do some sprints as a warm-up before seeing my trainer! erghh... I know I won't walk out of there very happy, nor will he be very happy to see me, so it's going to be quite the workout hour...

Hope you all are having a splendid Friday Morning/ Afternoon, and I will see ya'll later tongiht!

P.S. Melissa, I'm sorry I have not tried your oatmeal yet, I am hoping to try it tomorrow for breakfast and hopefully it holds me over through my Economics class, but I will definitely let you know how it goes... I've been super duper excited to try it. As for the Unsweetened Almond milk, I got it at Whole Foods (it was on sale 2 for 4), but it's not in the refrigerated section. I have seen it at Meijer's (which I don't know if you guys have that out in Penn.) or any local grocery store. Let me know if you find it, Goodluck!!!

for all the time you bake, you should be spending that time in the gym

Yup that's what my trainer said to me yesterday. Of course, teasing in a way, but he's right.
I have been baking a lot... and my mom thinks that there's a crush for someone (one of those old ideas). I don't know who it could possibly be, but I've had a lot on my mind and cooking/baking helps me relax and have fun, which in turn helps clear my head of any worries going on. It's my personal time to be creative and go outside the box, get out of the 8-5 desk job thinking and just have fun, kind of like a little kid at a park, after a long day of school.
Back to what the trainer said, If he thinks I should be in the gym more and less baking...I'll take a week or so off and see how much he misses the cookies and baked goodies that I bring him...mwahahahaha.... Yes I'm trying to get my trainer FAT!!! but he wants to gain weight, atleast I'm keeping most of the goodies/cookies healthy.

It shows though that I have been to the gym yet again, which I'm so proud of myself, because it was hard going there when it was so freezing out and I had just gotten out of my History of Geology class; we did get out early though, so I had no excuse but to go to the gym.

Quick recap of the rest of my eats after lunch and my work out, and then I should be posting up my breakfast after I eat it.
For lunch I had a salad with 2 tbsp garbanzo beans, 1.5 tbsp red kidney beans, 1 tbsp sweet corn, some onions, a little bit of rotini, carrots, lettuce, and topped off with a tbsp of fat free medi. blend feta cheese (YUMM!) I had some light olive oil vinaigrette with that, and a red orange.

Later I snacked on some ginger snaps (about 15-20), with some red zinger raspberry tea (with 1 splenda). I also had the piece of 60% cocoa espresso chocolate(Ghiardelli) that my co-worker Karen gave me on Monday.

I got out of work and headed straight to class (which is literally a 5 min. drive w/o traffic). When I got there I had my Lara Bar (Cinnamon roll) which was delicioso...but it definitely didnt satisfy me so I went and got a veggie burger and ate that during our 10 min. break..I ate only the bottom half of the bun with pickles, tomatoes, onions, mustard, and ketchup. It was alright.

About 30 minutes later we got out of class and I headed to the gym, again without a plan of what I was going to work on. I did 15 minute stair master set on intervals. then I did some abs (if you want to know what kind just let me know and I'll be glad to share), I also did 3 sets of 16 lunges (with a medicine ball), side abs with a medicine ball. and3 sets of 15 squats on the bosu ball with 8 lb. weights in each hand.
Hopefully during the work day I can look up a plan of what to do when I get to the gym... I already have a couple things in mind.

After my work out I had 1 scoop of vanilla Isopure with 12 oz. of water, and about a cup of grapes. Once I got home and showered I was still feeling a little hungry so I had half of the mini blueberry-oatmeal-applesauce muffin. (I know I need to post the recipes)...

I hope you al had a good Tuesday, mine was decent until right befor eI headed to bed I heard some bad news for one of my friends, so I'll be praying and keeping my fingers crossed for him, and that everything works out for his family.

Breathe in...Breathe out...and relax

Maybe Yoga sounds like a good idea for me tonight. It's been quite the stressful and long morning, and feel like today should just be over already.

Sorry for such a short post, but I still have a few things to finish up and about 2 hours to do them so I don't have to stay later, and I can go work out all this stress and anger out!!

I definitely could not wait for lunch, I was thinking of taking an early one, but stuck it out until 1 to go with a couple friends; I did, however, snack on a cup of fresh diced pineapple with 2 cups of coffee with 1 tbsp fat free hazelnut creamer.
Last night I made some 'Beef' Stew, and I was actually kind of nervous that I might not like it since I wasn't sure how faux beef tastes, and well it's just been an interesting 10 days with trying everything completely new, but I am actually enjoying everything I am making. I am loving this 30 day challenge, it has definitely opened up my eyes to new recipes and cultures, and varieties of healthier cooking/baking. It has taught me one lesson so far, plan ahead with all meals otherwise...whether you're dieting or just trying to maintain a healthy weight, you will splurge if you barge into the house starving and nothing planned ahead. (I know this is all probably not making sense, but I'm trying to type what comes to mind, and will edit it later tonight).
So for lunch I had one clementine with 1/2 whole wheat Naan, and 1.5 cups of 'Beef' Stew (I'll post the recipe once I get home). It filled me up just right which I'm so happy about, but I did have half of my Peanut Butter Chocolate Luna cookie and 2 more cups of coffee with 1tbsp of fat free hazelnut creamer.

I am definitely on a caffein kick, but if you know me well, it takes a whole lot more than just coffee to wake me up...thats what 9 years of coffee drinking does to you. I've had a headache since Saturday and it's been on and off, and the coffee is kind of putting it away, but I'm hoping the workout tonight will get rid of it, since I'll be able to sweat out the toxins out of my body...or some of them, and get the feel good high! haha

I hope you all have a great rest of the afternoon, with whatever your plans are, and I will see ya'll later tonight after dinner. :o)

Talking but not walkin'

So as you know from my previous post I said I'm back and planning to stay. Okay I have to get serious this time. I'm gonna make this a quick post because I'm super tired today, it was quite the busy day at work (well atleast in the morning) and I was there at 7:30. That is a shocker to everyone because well I'm usually the one walking in 30 minutes late, not early. Anyways so I'm going to do a quick recap on what I ate (sorry no pictures yet) and my workout and call it a night. I'll be back in the morning hopefully make it in early for work and post up my breakfast and what's going on.

Breakfast consisted of an egg sunny side down with some tomatoes and green onion, along with that I had a medium banana, one slice of Healthy Life Whole Wheat bread with 1/2 tbsp. of organic PB and 1/2 tbsp of Light 3-Berry preserves. I also had my ritual 2 cups of joe with 1/3 cup of skim milk, and one splenda.
Since I always bring in some kidn of treats (that I bake myself) to work, a co-worker (Karen) brought me a cookie (store bought) and wanted me to try it. It was okay, but totally tasted like it was just a regular cookie of the shelf.( it was chocolate chip). So I had that throughout my day when I had a sweet tooth.

3 hours later I snacked on a cup of diced pineapple and 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese.

Around lunch time, which was about 2 hours later (I usually go and run some errands) I had half of my pink orange (they are YUMMO!!!!), and once I got back (which was about 3 hours after my snack)I finished the orange and I also had 8 medium shrimp (sauteed-night before- with some lemon juice and garlic salt) and a salad filled with corn, carrots, cherry tomatoes, green leaf lettuce, 1 tbsp of fat free medi. feta, and 1 tbsp of light olive oil vinaigrette (I believe I may have a picture in an ealrier post).

I waited for that to digest but had a horrible sweet tooth that wouldnt go away so about an hour later I had 2 small squeres of dark chocolate with some hot peach tea (with one splenda) and that did it just right. Actually who am I kidding I couldv'e scarfed the entire dark chocolate bar, but knew I would regret it later in the day so I controlled myself.

After work I went over to the gym (and yes I actually wasn't too tired or lazy not to go) and I had a decent work out. I must say I don't like the start of the New Year at the gym because everyone and their mother join the gym and it's just so crowded I feel like I can't get a good workout there. Anyways I did the stair climber for about 15 minutes. That made me sweat like a maniac, but I loved it. I did 2 sets of 50 sit ups, 2 sets of side abs(similar to a bicycle crunch/sit up), and 2 sets of 30 leg raises/lifts. (I should take photos once I get my caera, or seach for pictures on the internet of what I'm talking abotu exactly. After that I went to peek into the lifting area part of the gym and it was packed, so instead I did a 30 minute run (speed set at 9 minutes a mile). It was intense and a nice burn and sweat. I could have done a better workout but I'm proud that I went to the gym and won't worry too much about it.

After my workout I had a medium green apple with a protein shake that consisted of 4 oz. skim milk and 8 oz. water mixed with 1 scoop dutch chocolate Isopure mix. It was delish and actually satisfied me well enough, that is until I got to my moms where she had food everywhere. So after my 1.5 hour drive over ther (stupid snow) I had about 1/3 cup of couscous (with mushrooms) and 2 drumsticks (boiled, out of the chicken soup). I had my sweet tooth yet again so I had a cup of coffee with about 1/8-1/4 cup of whole milk (couldn't really tell ) and one splenda. I also found some walnut/preserves cake (I don't know what it is really but it is deliciousness in your mouth, and tastes a million times better when it's warmed up with vanilla ice cream. My aunt's boyfriend makes it, so maybe I can ask him for the recipe and I'll be sure to take a picture soon). It wasn't the healthiest thing around but I did take a sliver of it and it did hit the spot a little, but I knew if I had more I'd only REGRET REGRET REGRET!

I know this blog isn't that great without photos so I'll try to steal my sisters or order one online ASAP, when Im not maxed out on my credit cards anymore.

I hope you all had a great first day back at work, school or whatever your plans were for the day. Goodnight and I will see you all tomorrow!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's FRIDAY!!! and another snowy day in the Chicagoland area. It's nice to have snow around for Christmas this year, but we are still 4/5 days away from Christmas (depending on when you celebrate), so who knows what will happen. They're predicting more snow tomorrow, maybe Sunday and then Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday too :-)
This morning wasn't too fun, walking out with so much snow out there, and my poor dad was still sleeping, not knowing that i had actually snowed so much (sorry I'm not exactly sure how much, but they are saying at least a foot by the end of today!!!) So I attempted to shovel before breaking a sweat, which I wouldn't mind if I wasn't going to work, but I ended up waking him up to do the snow plowing, because I did try to start it, but no luck chuck, so it was nice and I am soooo thankful he was here to do it. I got to work 15 minutes late because it was soo slippery I was scared to drive over 20 mph, but there as definitely not many people out on the road with companies and schools closing for the day; unfortunately not my company.

When I got to work I sat down and relaxed a little, but also tried to get things done since we are only open for 4 hours on Fridays and well I had to be a back up for another co-worker since she requested the day off. I actually don't mind it because it makes my day fly by so much faster.

For breakfast I had an Aunt Millie's whole grain English Muffin, a medium banana, coffee with 2 tsp creamer and 1 splenda, and some Raspberry Zinger tea. 1/2 of the EM was with 1/2 tbsp peanut butter and slices of my medium banana, while the other half was with abotu 2 tsp of light canola butter and 2 tsp light three berry preserves.

I got hungry again around 11:15/11:30 so I snacked on the 2 Clementines I brought along with me.

I got to leave work around 12:30ish and got home by 1:00 so I heated up about 3/4 cup, left over, Annie's real Cheddar Mac N' Cheese. I grilled about 3 oz of chicken to eat along with it. I had about a tbsp of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce with the chicken.

And to keep me nice and toasty, and to satisfy my sweet tooth, I had about 3 peanut M&M's and a white chocolate craisin cookie (yes the ones from Saturday), I am slowly sipping on some Ovaltine, made with about 2/3 cup skim milk and 2 tbsp Ovaltine, topped off with some cool whip whipped cream. Yumm yumm in my tummy!

There's so much to do and so little time to get it all done, so I must go and I'll post pictures soon.

Enjoy your Friday, for those who are home...keep toasty and go have some snowball fights out there... and those of you at work...it's almost done and then you are free!!

One day down... 3.5 more to go

It's nice to be home on this super chilly night, however, I must say I didn't want to leave work (shocker, I know), but that's only because I didn't want to go out into the cold weather (it went up to about 12*degrees). Work felt like forever, but it was nice and kind of quiet since a lot of people didn't show up today, I think the cold scared them off, so I feel like a trooper making it in...even though I was 15 minutes late!
Ahh.. one day down 3.5 more to go (the office is only open 8-12 on Fridays! I know..lucky me and most people who work there!)
I have a pretty low key week, except for Thursday night, there is an unofficial company Christmas Party going on at a local bar, that I will be attending after I workout, for a little bit. Hope everyone had a good Monday, and is nice and toasty for the evening!

After breakfast, around 11:30, I snacked on a medium banana and a couple Annie's Chocolate bunny grahams (about 15). This held me over until about 1:00 (lunch time), my friend had a meeting around 2:00 so we did a late lunch from 1:00 till 2. For lunch I had about 1.5 cups of my mom's homemade Minestrone (sorry no recipe), a garden salad with about 1 tbsp of garlic hummus and 2 tbsp. light Greek Vinaigrette. I also had about 3 oz. of grilled chicken with that.
Of course, I needed something sweet afterwards so I had the rest of what I packed of the chocolate graham bunnies (about 20 more) and half of a butter cookie that my friend Liz baked, sorry I ate the top half before taking a picture (it was shaped like a snowman;thanks Liz!) and I sipped on hot green tea all day, because it was absolutely freezing at work!

Around 3:30 I got hungry (AGAIN!) and had a cup of diced pineapple and a cup of On the Go: Cafe Mocha (ehh.. I'm not too crazy about it, but it was better than me diving into my box of chocolates at work, and trust me I would not have stopped at just 1, today!) :-)
I also could ave picked at my carrots or yogurt or small McIntosh apple, but I know it wouldn't hit the spot... :-) so why go around the craving, instead of just having a little bit of what you want exactly!

5:30 hit and I was going to go to the gym, however I was getting a little hungry, and honestly did not feel like working out when it's crowded, so instead I drove home! Of course I was sliding, because the roads are still icy from this morning, I heard that it dropped to about -30*degrees last night with the wind chill, and I think that's why I didn't sleep so comfortable and I was so cold last night.

While making dinner I had an Anjou pear and then dinner was 1 medium sweet baked potato and topped off with about 1/4 c. of non-fat cottage cheese and a pinch of brown sugar. I also had Tilapia (made on a dry pan and seasoned with table blend spice and some lemon juice) I sprinkled a little grated Parmesan cheese, and dinner was served.

I know my dinner was a little random but it was what I was craving. I must say I didn't get too crazy with the Tilapia, and I will hopefully spend a little more time making it and add different things, but today's one of those bummy days 9i think it may be the fact that I was only able to sleep about 5 hours last night).

For dessert (yes I know I should watch this, but hey I'm not going to try and avoid eating something and not satisfying my sweet tooth, because I can get really mean and crabby!) I had about 2 peanut M&M's and another one (this time I picked out the smallest cookie I could find in the bag) of the white chocolate chip craisin cookies, and some Hot Cocoa (about 3/4 c. skim milk and 1/3 c. water mixed with 2 tbsp of Ovaltine). I also am sipping on some Hibiscus flower tea with 1 1.5 tsp of Agave Nectar).

Well that's all I have for now, I have to meet my older sister up at my mom's to trade phone batteries, because her phone won't charge and her new one is on the way, and then I'll be hitting up the gym, hopefully there won't be so many people there.

Have a good evening, and I'll post my workout when I get back!!

rumble rumble in the tummy

So much for trying to clean the bathroom, I'm being a bum all morning long. I figured I'll just shower now and go hit up some stores, since it is Sunday and they close early today. Afterwards I might go by my moms and make some homemade pizza, and just take that for lunch tomorrow...but we shall see.
I got super hungry so I opted for lunch instead of a snack.I don't think I took a single break or breath while eating though. I was so hungry, I think because I had a small breakfast. Anyways here it goes... I had an orange to start, 2 slices of Meijer brand whole wheat bread (toasted) with 2 tbsp. garlic hummus, 1/2 tbsp whipped cream cheese, 2 0z. sliced turkey breast, some tomato/cucumber/onion slices and lettuce. It was a yummy yummy sammich! I had a handful (about 25) baked Cheetos, my favorite!!
Now I'm sipping on some yummy warm Raspberry Zinger tea with one splenda.
I think I'm going to get ready and just go shopping, and then do everything else. Just have to wait and find out if a certain someone wants to come with me...keep your fingers crossed for a YES!... and then I'll let you know later when I get done with it all.

enjoy your Sunday..and let's hope the Viking's lose tonight!! im kidding, enjoy Sunday football!