Friday fun!

Fridays mark the beginning of my work week.  I work in a bar Friday through Monday until I find a REAL job, so while everyone else can't wait for Friday to come, I dread it.

BREAKFAST:

The usual yummy coffee with Splenda with Fiber, and Fat Free Reddi Whip.  My coffee was French Toast flavored, and SOOOO out of this world!!  It's so comforting in the morning to wake up and have a nice hot cup of coffee.  Especially because the usual nice weather here in San Diego has been kind of poopy:(

My morning routine consists of coffee combined with taking my vitamins and feeding Cat, the stray that we have kind of adopted.  This black cat started coming around our backyard a few months ago so we tried to domesticate her but she was miserable living in the house.  Instead, we adopted another black cat named Kitty.  Every morning Kitty goes to the back down and meows until I open the door where Cat is always on the other side waiting for breakfast.  It's the cutest thing ever!

So, for breakfast I had that Odwalla Strawberry Protein Monster I bought the other day.  Five stars!  Tasted just like Strawberry milk (which I love, but my lactose intolerant self does not).  I put it in my zoo pals to go cups with sippy lid.  Boyfriend always makes fun of me but I love eating some things with products made for little kids.  I think it's fun and puts a smile on my face.

Bought this adorable hat at Victoria's Secret to wear to work.  Whenever the Padres are playing at home (which they are both Friday and Saturday) I have to wear Padres clothes and I love wearing hats because I don't have to do my hair which also a bonus because it's WAY TOO LONG but I don't have the heart to cut it!

LUNCH:

For the first time in a long time I was actually home to make a spinach salad which has been on my food plan three times this week only to be nixed because I wasn't home to make it.  It was HUGE and very filling!!  I need to eat more salads because its fun coming up with different combinations of components to throw into them. 

I threw some Mori-Nu Silken Lite Firm Tofu into a frying pan with some olive oil spray, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper.  I cooked it until it was burnt and then threw in on top of a bed of spinach, red pepper, Veggie Pirate's Booty (shout out to my friend Jess for the idea), and some Cedar's Garlic Lover's Hommus (favorite hommus ever) mixed with some lemon juice to give it more of a watery, dressing texture.  It turned out better then I ever imagined!!  I meant to throw in a hard boiled egg white, but I couldn't wait to dig in it that I totally forgot!

tofu + red pepper + booty + hommus and lemon juice + spinach

SNACK:

On-the-go Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds 100 Calorie Pack.  I have a bunch of snacks in my car: 100 calorie packs, dried fruit, various granola bars.  This is great when you get the munchies as you drive by an In-N-Out Burger.  Keeps me from stopping somewhere to grab something unhealthy or something that I have no clue what is in it.




DINNER:

Totally forgot to take a picture of dinner tonight.  I was in the middle of cleaning the house and getting ready for work so dinner was an open face sandwich with: Oroweat 100% Whole Wheat Light Bread (40 calories a slice!), Alfalfa sprouts, 2 slices tomato, and Trader Joe's Santorini Style Egg White Salad.  This egg salad is incredible!!  A serving size is 1/2 the container and is only 70 calories!!!  Even if you gorge and eat the whole container, there is no guilt because that's only 140 calories.  Must buy more when I go through all the food I have jam packed in my fridge!  Poor Boyfriend couldn't go grocery shopping because my food is taking up the entire fridge.  Sorry honey!

SNACK:

I stopped by Borders before work to kill some time because I had to get downtown early to find a parking space because there is a Padres game tonight.  I got large ice tea and munched on Sea's Gift Sweet Seaweed Snack.  This is one of my favorite low calorie treats.  It's sweet, obviously, and has some toasted sesame seeds mixed in with the seaweed.  A must try!

EXERCISE:

My right hip is still hurting because I failed to stretch yesterday:(  Work out was limited to some ab and minimal leg work.  I hope it feels better tomorrow.  I've really been getting into running and I already miss it!

Well, off to work!  Should be busy tonight because of the Padres game.  GO PADRES!

Berries and Injuries

BREAKFAST:

Blackberries are 2 for $4 at Ralph's so I thought I'd have a berry breakfast today!!!  I told myself no more fresh produce until I finished what I had, but I just couldn't say no!!!  I weight all my food on a scale to get accurate serving sizes.  Measuring cups lie!  I got this scale at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for $15 (utilizing their amazing $5 off coupons).  It was quite a shock the first time I actually weighed a serving size of chicken...so tiny :( However, this is the best way to get an accurate measurement of what you are eating.

This coupled with a cup of coffee, some Splenda with Fiber, and Fat Free Reddi Whip was a great start to my day!


LUNCH:

Running around again trying to get my life in order so I was PLANNING on having a spinach tofu salad for lunch however life got in the way of my plans once again so I opted for a quick yummy squid salad from Whole Foods. I could live off of this stuff!!!  The chewy texture is fun to eat:) 

SNACKS:

Stopped by Starbucks to get some work done on my laptop.  I usually don't go here because I have an amazing coffee maker at home and my own fat-free, sugar free goodies to add to my coffee which saves me both the calories and dough.  However, I needed an Internet connection so Starbucks prevailed.  I decided to get something that I can't get at home so I got a Venti Iced Passion Tea with two Equal.  No calories and very refreshing!  It's got a berry type flavor and I love the color!!  This drink hit the spot!

I also tried thinkThin 100 Calorie Chocolate Raspberry bites for a little mid day snack.  I was excited to try this because chocolate and raspberry are my two favorites.  So the verdict: they are okay.  Not great, not terrible, just okay.  Pretty small, but I wasn't expecting too much for 100 calories.  I liked the fiber and protein stats however, but this was definitely not a snack that made me feel satisfied.  I was hungry about 30 minutes after I ate it.

DINNER:

Dinner was totally unplanned yet again!!!  I swear my dinners are usually more structured:)  I had dinner with my friend Matt at an amazing sushi restaurant in San Diego, Ebisu Sushi Bar.  It was REALLY good but REALLY pricey!!  I tried to be good and stick to the sashimi however I was a bit bad and had a lot more sake then I planned on having.  Oh well...it was fun!!! I brought my camera to take some pictures but the sake distracted me from my task.

EXERCISE:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STRETCH BEFORE YOU EXERCISE.  I always do...except for today, and in the middle of mile one of my little 5k  my hip started to hurt.  Instead of doing the smart thing and stopping I did the rest of the 5k at various speeds.  NOT A GOOD IDEA EITHER.  My hip is still killing me and this might put me out of commission as far as cardio goes for the rest of the week :( 

And here I go...

FIRST BLOG EVA!!!  I really hope that by carefully tracking what I am putting into my body and how I feel, I can get more attuned to the various effects that different foods have on my body.

I usually plan what I am going to eat the night before so I can get a general idea of what I need to prepare for the next day.  However, life usually gets in the way and about half the time I have to make modifications. This is totally okay so long as I keep track of the changes and make alterations for the rest of the day if required. 

BREAKFAST:

Started out the day with an oh so yummy little shake!  I made it in my amazing Magic Bullet!!  I love this thing.  I use it for a bunch of different salads: egg, tuna, chicken and it makes yummy milkshakes.  I have an itty bitty kitchen right now so I have to keep my appliances to a minimum and the MB is compact and useful for so many things!!!

100 g strawberries + 1/2 container 0% Fage yogurt + Jay Robb Chocolate Egg White Protein Powder + 1/2 cup Silk Vanilla Light Soy milk

The Fage Greek yogurt is all the rage right now.  I hate yogurt!  It tastes like sour milk, but I try sneak it into some of my foods sometimes because it has high protein and low calories.

I've also recently jumped on the protein supplement bandwagon hence the  Jay Robb Protein Powder.  I was finding it a very difficult to keep my calories down while still getting the protein I needed to repair my muscles due to the weight training.  I always talked smack about protein powders and bars.  I love food too much to waste my calories on liquid or some grainy bar.  However, I had to cave because the calorie to protein ratio of some of these products are sick!  I'm still experimenting with different types so I haven't settled on one yet....work in progress.  My goal is to find one with the highest protein and fiber content, with the least amount of calories and sugar.  Easy right??  I'll keep you updated.

LUNCH:

I was PLANNING on eating some slices of 98% fat free honey ham and a bunch of asparagus but I was running around doing errands so lunch consisted of a Peanut Butter Crunch Full Bar. OMG these things are soooo tasty and really do fill you up!!!  I've seen them at stores for a few months now, but like I just mentioned,  I am very apprehensive about getting my calories from bars.  However, busy life and hunger pains have made me expand my horizons a bit. 

The package says to eat one bar with a glass of water 30 minutes before you eat.  This will fill you up a bit therefore when you do finally eat you will eat less and be "completely satisfied."  I know it's not really intended as a meal replacer but it has 4 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein therefore that would totally be an acceptable lunch in my book.  Anyway, I decided if I ate it and was still hungry a little later I would have some fruit or a small salad.  So, I had the bar with a diet coke (loves me some fake sugar) and wouldn't you know it totally worked!  I ate it around 1:30 and didn't feel hungry at all until around 5.

DINNER:

No pictures of dinner because it's too awful to document...LOL.  But it was totally planned!!!  I watched 500 Days of Summer (cutest movie!!!) with my friend Erin for girls movie night which we have not done in FOREVER so I knew that I was going to gorge on snacks but I was okay with that.  I almost never do this so it's okay to be bad once in awhile!!!  We had Bird's Nests from Trader Joe's (sooo good), and Trader Joe's mini pizzas, some reduced fat cheddar cheese and goat cheese, and some pretzel flats.  I also might have had two or three glasses of red wine:) 

Trader Joe's is one of my favorite grocery stores.  They have so much fun food and they are VERY reasonably priced.  I will NOT however buy their produce unless I'm going to use it THAT day.  Every time I buy veggies or fruit from there it goes bad within 2 or 3 days :(  Whole Foods is also amazing of course but they are SO overpriced.  I'll go there for things that I can't get anywhere else but it's amazing how the same items in WF are $2-$3 cheaper at Ralph's.

Speaking of Ralph's...I picked up a few new items to try today!  Odwalla has a new STRAWBERRY Protein Monster!  So excited to try it.  It's only 160 calories a serving (which the chocolate and vanilla are around 200 I think), and has 13 grams of protein.  In my quest for have yogurt in my diet even though I hate it I found a 90 calorie Light Smoothie from Yoplait that I'm going to try for breakfast one day this week.  It's Strawberry-Banana (caught on to the strawberry theme there?  LOVE em!), with 3 grams of Fiber and 6 grams of Protein!  Fiber Crips from Quaker also caught my attention...review to follow as well later on this week.  I LOVE ALL THESE NEW PROTEIN AND FIBER PRODUCTS!!!!