Taster Thursday

Seriously, I love you guys!  I can’t say it enough how lucky I am to have such supportive readers  

All thank you’s and good feelings aside, as I told you yesterday, Thursday = weigh in day for me.

Last week was 161.  This week was 162. 

Meh.  I know it happens and I’m not upset about it.  It gives me a chance to look back on the week and realize things:

1. I baked everyday this weekend.  Friday was cookies and brownies.  Saturday was cake.  And more cake (at babysitting and at home).  Sunday was decorating the cake.  So there was batter.  There was also the finished baked goods.  And frosting.  And then more finished baked goods.

2. Not only did I bake, but I also over-indulged on Friday night.  Besides the cookie dough & cookies, I had 4 (yes – 4) pieces of pizza at our friend’s house.  Plus brownies and ice cream. 

I knew I overdid it this week, so I’m just thankful it was only up 1 pound! 

So that’s that and moving on….

 

Eats

Breakfast was a bit of a splurge this morning.  But worth it Having to do with this little guy:

Oaaaaaaats!!!!..in a jar (I just felt like singing that)

Mixture:

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats + 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• Cinnamon
• 1 scoop cocoa powder + 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1 tbsp pumpkin cream cheese (mmm frosting on the cake)

Yes.  Mocha oats in a jar today.  Yes.  Please and thank you.

This kept me nice and full for a good 4 hours.  Until I got hungry at work and snacked on a handful of grapes:

And came home at about 1:30 to some lunchie.  Leftover chicken gumbo soup from work last night:

Along with leftover seasoned ground turkey topped with ketchup.  Tasted like meatloaf!

I then made a quick decision to hit up the heaven of all heavenly places for a quick return and a stroll around the heavens. 

Source

My family has a completely pathetic and rather large small obsession with Costco.  Signs your family loves Costco too much just enough:

• You shop there at least twice per week. 
• Go there specifically to eat dinner (or lunch) at the food court. 
• If they sold breakfast, you’d probably be there for breakfast too
• Your dad takes lunch breaks to head to Costco. 
• Your hometown Costco knows your family by name. 
• They also make comments if they haven’t seen you in more than a week.  (They obviously miss our happy faces)
• While on vacation your family seeks out the local Costco to stock up on goods.  And eat there for meals.
• You know the price for most Costco products off the top of your head
• You also know that most their prices end in .99 cents.  Mark-down prices end in .97 cents.  And an * sign in the upper right hand corner means the items is discontinued and not being restocked.
• Your little sister was featured in the December issue of the Costco Connection (that should link directly to the page.  Or use the drop down link to IBC page 87 if anyone’s interested).

Wow.  Did I just embarrass my family a little bit?

Anyways, as I was saying.  I love Costco.  And go there when I’m bored.  Or want samples.  Today was definitely a good sample day.  Too bad my hands were full (with workout pants, broccoli, and a soda.  I didn’t grab a cart) so I couldn’t snag pictures but I had:

• 2 small slivers of some pita bread pizza thing (a road show item)
• Bite of canneloni
• Sliver of veggie burger marinated in teriyaki sauce
• 2 bites of a waffle drizzled in agave
• Madras lentil meal (love this stuff)
• 1 black bean chip
• Sliver of cheese

I think that was it.  But anyways – a lot. 

Work dinner was delicious.  I think they’re on a new menu rotation in the cafeteria (which I’m excited about).  And Thursdays = my favorite soup day. 

Chicken tortilla soup!

And sauteed cabbage & apples dish.  I had 2 bowls worth.  It was SO GOOD.

And once at home, I had another huge bowl of frozen fruit with about 1 Tbsp worth of almond butter.

Same picture as last night.  But same lookin’ bowl.

 

Workout?

Meh.  Nothing.  Except for a 25 minute walk downtown and back at babysitting.  But I really can’t count that.  My knees were giving me trouble today.  And I went to Costco instead of doing weights/abs.  So there’s my excuse of the day.

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My first weight loss post

The title pretty much says it all.  I really just received complete support from all of you, and that means so much!  Of course, I’ll still be blogging just like normal (although lately, it’s been more sporadic than not), but there will be occasional talk/updates about weigh-ins, my workouts, progress updates, etc.  You’ll probably also be seeing less desserts/sweets and more portioned out meals. 

First things first:

1. Of course, I still 100% absolutely believe in loving yourself for who you are.  That’s extremely important.  No matter what size, you are beautiful and wonderful.  But as I explained here, this is why I’m doing this.

2. If any of this is trigger stuff for you – please don’t read it.  Also, if it’s getting to be "too much” or typical stereotypical blog/weight-related talk – please let me know!  It can be easy to get caught up and make it sound like a weight journal.

 

I don’t usually like to talk numbers, but for this purpose, I will.  Two weeks ago, I stepped on the scale (eek) to get my starting weight.

Start (Jan. 13): 163

(The only full body shot I have of myself recently.  One of my many running skirt photo ops).

2nd WI on Jan. 20: 161

Tomorrow marks my third weigh-in, so we shall see!

 

Eats

I won’t be posting my daily eats everyday, as I just don’t have time for that!  But will for today :

 

Breakfast – yogurt + pumpkin.  Blueberries, pom seeds, Quaker corn bran cereal, scoop of pumpkin butter:

Big ol’ bowl thanks to the volumizing pumpkin!

+ 3 cups coffee with stevia & almond milk

Snack – fruit at work (there were apple slices too ).  + a small scoop of peanut butter!

Lunch @ 1:30 – extra lean ground turkey (BOGO this week!) with sauteed veggies seasoned in soy sauce & garlic salt.  Topped with tomato basil feta cheese, fat free sour cream, & mango cranberry salsa.

This was deeeeeeelicious.

Dessert – sugar free jello (artificial and crap-filled?  Yes.  But it satisfied my sweet tooth).

Dinner @ 6:30 (at work) – a plate of brown mush Creole seasoned pea dish (peas, mushrooms, green beans, hardboiled egg, seasoning).  Potatoes Anna (not sure exactly – but it was sliced up delicious tasting potatoes).  And succotash (corn, lima beans, and lots of oil).  This was actually a very delicious dinner!  Dinner at work is hard because sometimes there’s too many options, sometimes it’s all red meat/fish.  They also post the calories information, but I’m not sure how accurate it all is.  Or if the portion sizes are correct.

+ half of a corn bread muffin (spontaneous grab! Whoops).

& a few bites of a peach crisp.

Snackage at home tonight included frozen fruit with almond butter:

And hot cocoa (my one hot chocolate for the week!) made with 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 packet of splenda, water, and a splash of almond milk:

 

So there you go with today’s eats.  I’m trying to focus on a few changes:

• Smaller/extravagant breakfasts.  My breakfasts easily add up to too many calories with all the nut butters, cream cheeses, cereals, etc.  Delicious, but a little too much.
• Less random spoonfuls of nut butter.  Difficult.  But a work in progress.
• Less desserts/sweets.  Of course I’m still going to enjoy them!  Heck, you didn’t see the cream-cheese nutella brownies last night.  But you did see the cookies, brownies and ice cream enjoyed this weekend I’m just tying to make it more of a few times per week thing.  Rather than a multiple times per day thing.

 

Workout

I’ve been trying to take the baby on walks whenever I’m at work.  It adds a little something to the day!  And honestly?  I’ve been counting it as my workout.  With my injury, I’m trying to take it easy.  And I don’t have much other time in the day to exercise.  It’s better than nothing!

• 5 minutes of ab plank work
• Push-ups 3 x15
• 3 mile walk in 51 minutes (avg. pace: 17 minutes)

Adios!!  And thank goodness tomorrow is Thursday!

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Word to the Wise

This post contains important information you should keep in mind on a daily basis.   Things that work well, and that don’t work well.  Very important stuff, you know.

Such as the fact that cupcakes taste wonderful mixed into yogurt messes the next morning.  Just scrape off the huge mound of frosting, eat that (if desired), and mix the crumbled (sweet potato) muffin cupcake into said yogurt.

Another tip?  Don’t splurge on Fage yogurt on sale if you’ve been living off of plain yogurt, and wish to continue to do so.  O. M. G. I want my Greek yogurt back please.

Word to the wise – don’t microwave veggie corn dogs (or regular corn dogs for that matter).  So much better baked in the oven.

Also, hummus doesn’t taste bad with a corn dog.  But ketchup and mustard taste better.

I was just in a hurry.  And hungry.

 

If you ever want a little giggle, I suggest trying this:

However you need a baby to do so.  And I don’t suggest finding a random one off the streets.

A tip we all know and I’m sure have failed upon – don’t over cinnamon your dishes.

 

When given the opportunity to sleep in and have the morning off, make sure you have a good and delicious breakfast.

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 3/4 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• Cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice
• Pumpkin ~1/2-3/4 cup worth
• Maple syrup

Toppings:

• Pumpkin butter
• Pumpkin cream cheese (all out *sniff sniff*)
• Plain yogurt (which I ate around – I actually wasn’t feeling it)

This made a huge bowl with only 1/4 cup oats!  The wheat bran and pumpkin really bulks it up (tip #….8?  9?).

Be sure to try out multiple pumpkin butters for a legit pumpkin season experience.  This one is good and very pumpkin tasty.  Sweet (not too sweet), but not too “spicy.”  I like it a lot.

 

I’ll admit, one of the things that attracted me to this is the fact that it says only 15 calories per Tbsp.  Which is quite a bit less than other brands.  I’m not going to let calories from keeping me from buying pumpkin butter, but I was impressed that this brand seemed to not use as much sugar.

Until I looked at the carbohydrate and grams of sugar per serving. 

1 g. carbohydrates = 4 calories

10 g. carbohydrates = 40 calories

40 calories > 15 calories.

15 calories?  Pshhhh.  Don’t think so!!  I don’t really care though – 30% Vitamin A per serving? Yeehaww.  Although that might be false as well!

So, I suggest really looking at the label (if you care about that stuff).  But it’s still delicious.  And why on earth would they put serving sizes in ounces and grams?  Who really measures or estimates servings in ounces?  Sorry – but tablespoons work better in my book!

If you see the word maple next to the word scone, then I suggest purchasing.

But I do advise not eating the whole thing.  I snacked on half while researching internships.

If you forget to take a picture of your lunch, the can doesn’t do it justice.  Although I didn’t really like it anyways.

If you really aren’t hungry or feeling well, listen to your body!  Don’t try and force down almonds just because you feel your lunch needs more “substance.”

And next time remember not to purchase said almonds if you’re not prepared to go through half the container in a week.

 

Remember to get the “Turkey with gravy and dressing” next time they offer it again at work (most likely in 3 weeks).  Because it was delicious. 

And next time remember to take a picture before devouring.

 

Peanut flour mixed with water is divine (divine?  really?) for dipping apple slices into.  And if you have no peanut flour then go buy some.  At TJ’s.  And if you don’t live close to a TJ’s, then drive as far as it takes to get it.  That needs to be my Tip#1.  Because it really is the most important.

Tip: add salt and a bit of maple syrup to the mix.  You’ll thank me.

Another tip: next time honeycrisp apples are .99 cents/lb at the grocery store, buy more.  Much much more.

 

Another suggestion?  Stop blogging and blog-reading and get to work on internship researching so you’re not as stressed out.  It might help.

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Saturday vs Sunday

Or the post also known as: “I completely passed out on Saturday night before posting and had to combine 2 days worth of eats.” DUN DUN DUN!!! It’s on! Which long day of eats is more delicious?

But first, I have to say…I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I seriously can’t stop eating!Friday night I just wanted to eat eat eat! Definitely wasn’t hungry – but I sure was munchy! I just went with the flow and knew my body was craving something. Obviously, if I let myself eat every single time I want to – I would balloon (I could eat almost all the time). But with recently upping my mileage, and perhaps exhaustion from work – I know my body needs fuel. I’ve even been waking up in the middle of the night hungry!

Midnight cereal.

I can’t fall asleep when I’m hungry. Ever. No matter what.

Now onto the battle.

Saturday’s Breakfast:

I was starving when I awoke at 5:00 am! Scratched out my original plan for a small breakfast! And went with a yogurt mess instead.

• Plain yogurt mixed with cinnamon
• Honeydew (so so so so juicy & sweet!!)
• Kashi Golean
• Strawberry jam (RIP. I need a jam detox)
• Scoops of nut butter
• Drizzle of maple syrup

Mmmm maple syrup.

All mixed up!

My 8:45 am breakfast went unpictured since the lighting in the caff is awful at that time. But it looked the same as this one:

Cottage cheese + canteloupe and oats + eggs.

vs.

Sunday Breakfast:

Unlike Saturday, I was completely not hungry Sunday morning. My breakfast was still yogurt & cereal, but on a much smaller level.

And my 8:45 am breakfast snack of cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, and the iced top of a bran/carrot/ginger(?) muffin.

Saturday Lunch:

Lunch was small, yet rich. Mushroom bisque soup (SOUPer creamy. ha) along with vegetable ratatouille.

I only managed half the soup before calling it a day.

vs.

Sunday Lunch:

Orange glazed chicken, broccoli with garlic butter sauce, and turkey meat sauce which I topped the broccoli with. And also ate a bunch on the side. Kind of like soup.

And a small side salad with blue cheese, olives, & craisins.

Saturday snacks:

English muffin around 2:30.

Along with a fatty slice of watermelon.

And canned green beans + pasta sauce + parm cheese at around 4:45.

I’m a big fan of canned green beans lately. And pasta sauce. Win win!

And an Asian pear I got from Farmers ($1/lb!! Deal).

My temporary new roommate also brought apple strudel and said to help myself. She asked for it!!

I picked at a whole piece throughout the afternoon.

vs.

Sunday Snacks:

I came home, ate a giant slice of watermelon like looked exactly like Saturday’s (scroll up, or just here’s a reminder:)

And then CRASHED for a good 1 1/2 hours. I’ve gotten 7 hours of sleep combined in the past 2 nights on top of my 8 hour a day exhausting job. I’m looking forward to sleep tonight!

I awoke to have a pre-run snack of toast with PB & vanilla-pear butter.

And yes more apple strudel.

No more! It looks good, but honestly doesn’t taste that good. Not sweet enough for me 😉

Saturday Dinner:

I ended up hitting up Woodstocks for pizza with a couple friends. Normally I wouldn’t spend money, especially since I just bought dinner at Farmer’s this week. But I really really needed to get out of the house and be social.

Since the table ordered pepperoni, I got a personal half “Garlic Bird” and half “BBQ Bird” on wheat. With light cheese. But it was of course still super cheesy 😉 Exactly why I got light cheese – they layer that stuff on!! I totally didn’t expect them to do half & half on a personal, but they did! 😀

I had half of this personal, and 1 slice of a pesto veggie. Funny stury -we still had the old people’s number up from the table before us, and they accidentally re-made their pizza and gave it to us. We told them, but they couldn’t take it back. And we were left with a free half meat lovers-half pesto veggie pizza!

Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a funny story. But since the whole table seemed to be scared of veggies, I got free pizza from it.

I was trying to save room for the delicious cinnabread, which my friend got to go, but we never broke into 😦 Ahh well.

We then continued to redbox, where they decided to rent Wolfman. Which I think I slept through half of, thank goodness. It was beyond awful. And I swear, the graphics were from the 80s. I half expected Michael Jackson to jump out and rock his Thriller dance any second. My friends also convinced me to have a glass of wine, which I think aided in the sleep.  Okay, not much convincing was involved.

vs.

Sunday Dinner:

Leftover pizza!! 1 BBQ & 1 garlic slice (which I took a bite out of to taste it cold) toasted in the toaster oven.

I’ve never toasted up leftover pizza before, but it was A-MAZING. Seriously, better than last night. Slightly crispy, warm, and still ooey gooey!

Plus a veggie pesto piece eaten cold while the other two were toasting up.

So in short story, the exact same dinner I had last night.

I could’ve had a glass of wine to make the nights even, but opted for hot chocolate instead.

My days were similar, my days were different. But which day’s eats look better to you? Even though they are super similar.  Not gonna lie.

PS: Run was awesome 🙂 My Garmin never located satellites, so I just ran for time.

Time: 50:13
Est. Distance: 5.25-5.5 miles

And I ran the ENTIRE time. I’m so happy to be back and running normally again. I thank my lucky stars everyday 😀

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Shoulder Sleeping

I really wanted to make some sort of pancakes or french toast this morning – something that takes longer to make since it’s my morning off of work and running! However, I had this suuuuper ripe honeydew melon to use up, so decided to put together a yogurt mess!

• 1 container vanilla light yogurt
• 1/4 large honeydew melon
• New fiber plus cinnamon cereal
• 2 scoops of maple PB
• Strawberry jam

This was the most delicious, most ripe, most amazingly juicy honeydew I’ve ever had in my life! Hence why I didn’t eat it in the honeydew bowl – it was just too juicy! 😉

I debated going on a short run, but ended up just doing 20 minutes of weights and ab work. I’ve really been slacking on any type of strength since I’ve been running more. It’s awful!

Watermelon eaten (x2) while deciding what to have for lunch.

I toasted an English muffin and topped it with mango chutney, 2 fried eggs, and some cheese. Then toasted it for a bit longer!

Mmmm gooey yolk.

This was soooo good. The sweet chutney + savory garlicy eggs were heaven in muh mouth.

Then I set off for work (remember my weekends do not = freedom!) where I tried to get the baby to sleep.

Success. On my shoulder.

Precious 🙂 Although she woke up moments after this was taken. She wouldn’t sleep unless it was on me!

Holding babies works up an appetite 😉 I grabbed a nectarine & a couple pretzel sticks before heading out the door on an errand.

And picked up one of these at the market next to the UPS store. Splurge!  The $1.34 this cost (it was on sale) could be spent towards an actual meal.  But I treated myself.

You know what happens when you make food for kids, right? You eat bites of what they’re eating for your meal 😉

Scooby-doo mac & cheese made with smart balance margarine and soymilk. WOW. Best mac & cheese I’ve ever made. Seriously.  I might have had something to do with the 4 tbsp of smart balance I used.

Carrots & TONS of guac. Which looks completely gross.

1 morningstar “chicken nugget.”

And then an actual bowl of actual food. Shredded chicken breast with guac and feta cheese. Odd looking. Odd sounding. But quite delicious.

Hmm I really had no carbs to balance out the meal…..

Oh – perfect.

I have no shame in admitting I ate off the top part with frosting. I might be 4 years old.

Once I got home I devoured some more. This container used to be full of watermelon.

Be 4 years old like me and use your imagination.

I also remembered I got a mini pie sample last night at Farmer’s! Even though I already had multiple desserts today (a few bites of ice cream went unpictured as I was serving it up for the kiddo), samples and tasters don’t count as real food. It’s a fact.

Perfect bite 🙂

I haven’t had such a munchy day like today’s in a while.  But that’s okay.

Getting ready to drop soon, and have to prepare for my 5:00 am morning! I always get the coffee and my uniform ready to go 😉

Goodnight all! And I hope you had a fun Friday night. What’d you all do?!

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Live Your Life

I love this shirt. LIVE. YOUR. LIFE. Do it. Now.

Only do it forwards – not backwards like this picture states. Or do it backwards. Whichever makes you happiest.

I like to have a smaller light breakfast before a run so I don’t cramp up.

Whole wheat english muffin – 1/2 with berry cream cheese. 1/2 with maple PB & vanilla-pear butta.

I then set out on a 5-6 miler. Super great run. Why? Well, since you asked – let me tell you.

• I didn’t walk once. Nope. Not once. Except for stopping at stop lights, this was the first and farthest I’ve ran without any walk breaks since my injury. Amaze.
• It was pretty speedy. Not Speedy Gonzales, exactly. But kind of. Maybe more like his half-brother type of speedy.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 54:45
Avg pace: 9:07 (darn – so close to the 8 minutes!)

• Mile 1: 8:50
• Mile 2: 8:46
• Mile 3: 9:16
• Mile 4: 9:11
• Mile 5: 9:00
• Mile 6: 9:41

So I like the idea of negative splits and all. But honestly, like I mentioned before – there are hills and inclines all over where I live. The first mile I usually run is also slightly downhill, making my first mile normally faster than the rest. Therefore, negative splits and I – we’re just not that compatible. But I try.

I came back and was superbly hungry. But I didn’t want to eat lunch until after I showered. So I cut up some….

And had an overflowing bowl of…

Did you know watermelon sprinkled with salt is quite delicious?

After showering, doing my hurr, and getting into some clothing, I nuked up some sort of Kashi meal. Sweet & sour chicken to be exact. Not my faves, but it was in the freezer saying “Use me up!” So I listened.

Plus some carrot fries on the side 40 minutes later. They took that long to cook.

I struggled about 10 minutes to get the remaining ketchup out of this bottle. I think a re-designing of the ketchup bottle is in order.

Some homemade iced coffee for “dessert.” While scanning and clipping coupons from the weekly grocery ads of course.

I’ve decided I need to start wearing a bib.

I have Thursday and Fridays off from my hospital job. So I suppose it’s technically my “weekend.” However I still nanny. Hello 2 jobs!

At least today we made cupcakes!

Red velvet cupcakes – the Sprinkles (store in LA) mix. Frosting? I had more than my fair share.

Sprinkles!!!

I took one…

And cut it in half…

I had already had SO much frosting and some batter while baking.

Carrots & apples consumed while they were baking. Nothing in comparison of course.

I requested to get off in time to go to Farmers Market. Then I sat around for a bit waiting to hear from my friend when and if she could go to Farmers (while I also snacked on another bowl of watermelon). Finally I decided to just GO. Get out of the house and do it! I got one of my favorite meals at Farmers – chicken teriyaki! Drowning (I mean probably 1/2 cup’s worth) in teriyaki sauce. Plus some random white and pink sauce I wanted to try out.

Yes – there’s rice under there!

About 2 cup’s worth of white rice. This meal doesn’t skimp for $6.

Stuffed and satisfied, I wandered more of Farmer’s and had a few samples (a couple almonds, pita & hummus, and a multitude of delicious peaches). Before stopping in Yogurt Creations for a small bit of dessert.

Cake batter(!!) topped with spiced apple topping and some Reese’s crumbs.

After a bit more wandering, I came home to enjoy some of my yummy wine (in a wine glass from my grandma!)

x2. Remember – Live yo’ life!

I also just enjoyed an egg roll and potsticker that my roommate brought home from her job working the Chinese food stand at Farmers. Live your life – and enjoy good food 😀

How are you living and enjoying your life right now? What’s your favorite current thing about your life that makes you happy?!

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Un-overnight oats

I know what you’re thinking.

“That is one dang big bowl of cereal!”

Oh but there’s yogurt under there don’t ya know. Mixed berry flavor.

Also sprinkled with some peanut flour, for good measure.

I’ve gotten a few curious “Taylor – what exactly is this peanut flour you speak of?” comments.

Well, friends. Please, let me show you. This is (cue drumrolls) peanut flour.

It sounds way more exciting than it looks, I know.

But I told you – it’s almost like peanut flavored protein powder!

Pretty snazzy. $2.99 (or 3.99 – I really can’t remember) at TJs. Go. Run. Buy it now. But leave some for me please.

I ran. However, not to go buy more of this peanut flour (I still have half a bag left, thank you). But I ran nowhere. Just to run. What an odd concept.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 59:22

Some random thoughts and facts about my run:

• Total average was 9:53 per mile. But my first mile was a 8:34 pace. While my my last 2 were 11:06 and 10:68. I got tired. What negative splits?
• My legs were really really tired. Really.
• I stopped by my house around mile 4.5 to grab a drink of Poweraide. I thought it would be easy from there on out. I was wrong.
• My side muscle pain thing is gone. But it still feels tight there while on my running. Maybe I should incorporate ab stretches?

Post run, foam rolling, stretching, and icing (man I have a long itinerary!), nothing in my (weak) food stash looked good. Frozen meal? Bleh. Eggs? Eat that with what side? Cereal? Umm just had that for breakfast. Oatmeal? Hello – I am mucho sweaty and hot. No thanks.

Ooooh that melon looks amazingly refreshing and good. But I’m out of yogurt to go inside the “bowl.”

I’ve heard the rumors that you can make overnight oats in about 20 minutes and decided to try it out! In my overnight 20 minute oats:

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• Peanut flour, cinnamon & squirt of syrup

Topped with 2 scoops of maple PB and some strawberry jam.

I don’t think I soaked the oats long enough – they were still chewy and slighty hard. But I was honestly hungry and had no patience! That’s the benefit of soaking them overnight I guess. You’re not awake to hear the oats taunting you from the fridge “Na na na-na na. Come eat me!!”

(PS: As per my nut butter challenge, I’m done with nut butter for the day now. Hold me to it!)

(PPS: To everyone out there who has yet to eat a melon bowl, or is craving one now –> Get up. Drive (or walk if you’re feeling extra environmentally friendly and green) to the store – hopefully one that has honeydew or canteloupe on sale. And buy a melon. Proceed to come home, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and eat your melon bowl. Preferably filled with yogurt or cottage cheese, nut butter, and jam. Perhaps you may had some cereal or granola for crunch. Please. Just take my advice).

I snacked on some nature’s candy at work.

And some manufactured made candy.

Apparently after drinking this drink I should be able to GO-GO and run around like a super-powered maniac.

Dinner fulfilled my veggie quota for the day week.

In my giant salad:

• Stir-fry veggies
• 2 scrambled egg whites (random add-in)
• Chili beans
• Mango chutney
• Sesame seed dressing

I roasted some cauliflower before realizing I had no room in my stomach for more veggies. So I saved it for a snack later in the night 30 minutes after dinner.

I toss my cauliflower with olive oil, garlic salt (or salt + garlic powder), paprika and sometimes some cumin. It’s also delicious topped with parmesan cheese. Then cook it at 400 F for 25 minutes or so!

I’m now enjoying my 3rd Red Box movie of the week (not pathetic. Just no cable over here), and enjoying a delicious snack. Also known as one of the only things in my cupboard.

Air-popped popcorn tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper. That bowl was once completely full.

Anyone seen the Bounty Hunter? That was my movie of choice tonight. Not sure what to expect though!

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Battle with the air mattress

Today my long day of hospital orientation definitely brought me back to the days of 2 hour long lectures taken back to back all day. As sad as I was to graduate, I do not miss those boring days. Imagine your most boring class dragged on for 7 hours, with a few 15 minute breaks sprinkled in. That was today.

I made sure to prepare breakfast last night as I knew I would be up and at it early this morning.

Overnight oats yummy yummy in my tummy.

Yay for more jam from Target!

I even chopped up my nectarine last night this morning at 1 a.m. for easy access. Yes 1 a.m. The same time I also mixed in more oil to my maple peanut butter becuase I couldn’t stop thinking about how dry and flaky it was.

I obviously have been having a hard time falling asleep. No offense air mattress.

Actually yes. You should take offense.

I felt like I was betraying this mug by drinking coffee out of it. It looks like a tea type of mug.

How quaint.

I made sure to pack snacks for my break. Am I the only person in the world to get hungry during break time? No one else brought snacks.

I’m sure they were all envious of me crunching my way through Kashi cereal and some cocoa roasted almonds. Plan ahead people.

Lunch was actually pretty awesome! They had many sandwich options, including turkey on a croissant and a roasted veggie one. I chose the veggie and ate outside.  It was so warm out today, and freeeeezing indoors!

It was kinda greasy. But oh well.

Sorry for the odd glare. I also grabbed a couple pieces of fruit (instead of chips) and stashed them in my purse for future consumption 😉 Budget planning my friends.

I went back and snagged a really good peanut butter cookie on second thought.

+ 2 sodas. Oh darn.  Does it help that I drank one 2 hours after the first?

But I did get out on a run! So happy I did 🙂 I don’t know if it was the time of day, that it was still warm out, or what – but it was hard!

Pre-run I had a couple bites of nut butter:

It was one of those runs I felt like I was going pretty fast, but when I looked down at my watch, I was barely going below 10 minute miles. What? I hadn’t even walked yet! I wanted to go 4-5 miles, but ended up stopping at 3 and decided to walk a mile rather than head home right away.

Distance: 3 run + 1 walk = 4
Time: 28:38 for the run; 46:23 for the whole thing.

I got a phone call from a friend during my walk, so I came home and decided to have a snack rather than dinner just in case my friend wanted to grab a bite to eat.

Canteloupe sprinkled with peanut flour.

This melon was super ripe and soft! I got all the way down to the rind!

But then decided to just make dinner soon after.

1 egg + 2 egg whites cooked up with the seasoned potatoes with herb butter sauce (that sounds fancy).

Tupperware the potatoes were stored in. Classy, I know. But it saves dishes.

I topped it with this mango chutney I’ve been using on almost everything.  Costco – will you marry me?

And another bite of chocolate hazelnut butter to kill my after dinner sweet tooth.

Ok ok, I know nut butters are a healthy fat. But there is such thing as too much! I’ve been going crazy with all my delicious nut butters in the cabinet (especially my new maple PB). I really think I’m going to give myself a challenge.

No, I’m not going to deny myself of nut butters completely. But I am going to measure out my portions for a week. And limit myself to 1 serving per day. That can be split up however I want – 1 Tbsp at breakfast, and 1 Tbsp at night. 2 Tbsp all at once or 1 tsp every few hours. Who knows. I’ll just total 2 Tbsp at the end of the day max. It’s expensive, and I think I need a detox from it.

Now I’m tired. Yawn. I have my long 8:30-8:30 day tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep!

Hey air mattress. Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you.

It’s on.

Once I fold my clothes, that is.

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Food Time

Dang, I feel like I’ve been getting down to some serious business in my last two posts.

In JOB RELATED news:

Thank you thank you thank you for all honest opinions regarding the job situation. It’s definitely one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make yet – something that will change the course of my life for the next year (and even years after depending what happens!).

It turns out the hospital job back at school is only part time (25-35 hours a week), so I would definitely have to get another part time job in the morning hours (before 3:00) and/or the weekends.

I didn’t talk about it yesterday, but the job here at home is in a weight loss clinic and it deals with counseling patients, meal planning, and other weight loss related issues. Something that interests me very much – especially considering it pays more than double the hospital job 😉

I have to let the hospital know by the end of this week. And the nutrition counseling/weight loss clinic job won’t let me know if they want to do a 2nd interview until the end of this week/beginning of next. Oy.

Unfortunately, due to financial circumstances, money is tighter than tight right now, so my parents won’t be able to help me out at all if I move. Many of you suggested that option, but that is a no-go.

In FOOD/RUN related news, I thought I would give you a glimpse into my day (not today -a few days ago):

Breakfast was carb-o-licious.

2 Nature’s Path hemp plus waffles topped with 2 T Einstein’s bluberry cream cheese & syrup. I love these waffles. But the maple cinnamon are still my favorite 🙂

My run was tough!! I thought about going on a long run, but really didn’t feel up to it, so I decided on a mid-length run of 7-8 miles. Plus my knee has been really sore since my knee brace-less run on Wednesday. The route I went on today used to be my favorite when I was running a couple years ago, but it’s very very hilly.

I would show you just how hilly, but my Garmin is being dumb (no offense Garmin – I still love you!) and not connecting to my computer.)

Total: 7.12 miles
Time: 1:10

Post-run turkey, laughing cow, mustard on a whole wheat tortilla.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to add nectarine slices?

Snack soon after before heading on errands – Cottage cheese & berries.

Errand food:

(not very good. I swear I tasted coconut?)

At Costco they were sampling cookies vitamin loaded chemical bars from the “Cookie Diet.” Of course since I’m all aboard the weight loss train now, I was down to try a cookie for my next meal.

Please please don’t tell me you believed that. I was just very curious to see what these “cookies” tasted like. Blech. I literally had to spit it out. Cookie? Cookie???? These people should be arrested for calling this a cookie. Poor poor cookies everywhere. Don’t let this guy give you a bad name.

I came home starving for dinna! Peanut butter jelly Sushiiiiiiii time.

Broccoli time.

And soon after – carrot fry time!

The other day I happened to get up and start making carrot fries in the afternoon. My sister asked what I was making.

“Carrots fries,” I say. Duh.

“Oh of course – carrot fries. A totally normal thing to make.” My sister replies.

I guess I forget sometimes not everyone eats carrot fries, oatmeal out of nut butter jars, and pumpkin on a daily basis like bloggers.

Later that night, more snackage continued. With watermelon x2.

And chocolate “ice cream” (almond milk + cocoa powder + ice + xanthan/guar gum) topped with chocolate syrup and a small scoop of Heath Toffee real ice cream.

And yes. This was all in accordance with my weight loss plan 😉

Please insert 3-5 apricots somewhere between the above pictures. I forget when and how much I ate of them.

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Stressful Decisions

Thank you so much for all your support regarding my new changes. Every comment I received was supportive, and many of you even want to keep each other motivated 🙂 Way to go! 🙂

Today has been stressful and I have to get some opinions on this one. Last weekend I had a last minute job interview back in my college town (where I just moved from). The job is perfect – a diet assistant position at a hospital. Exactly what would look amazing on my application for an internship I need to apply to next year. However it only pays $9 an hour. I figured I’d come home with about $1300/month and after some approximations, I figured it would cost me $1500 to live very very frugally. And by frugally I mean no saving, no clothes shopping, and barely any fun money.

I also have another job interview tomorrow for a job here that pays much more. This job would look good on applications, although not nearly as good. I’ve also gotten offered a part-time nannying position. Now I’m stressed for deciding what to do.

Say YES to Job at school:

Pros – Great experience
Live back in my college town with friends (which I LOVE)
Guaranteed job with benefits

Cons – Live almost in poverty
Save nothing
Have to pack up and move within the next week

Say NO to job at school (keep looking at home/hopefully get the job I’m interviewing for tomorrow)

Pros – Don’t have to pay rent (live at home)
Don’t have to pack up and move again
Will make almost double the pay at another job or nannying

Cons – Take a risk and hopefully get the job I’m inteviewing for
Live at home (blah)
Live at home (yes I had to say it again)
Give up great experience at a hospital

Just a sidenote – the other job here at home is still nutrition related, would look good on my application, and includes benefits. I just don’t know 100% if I would get it or not.

So felt I had to share with y’all my dilemna right now. I know it’s my life and my decision, but if you were in my position – What would you choose to do right now? Thoughts?

Moving on to today’s eats:

Breakfast eaten at 10:30 (yes I slept in!)

• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 nectarine
• Blueberries
• 2 figs
• 1/2 cup TJ’s high fiber cereal

I missed my nut butter in this mix!

And 2 mugs of coffee with almond milk and 1 T SF creamer in each mug.

All while checking out half marathon training schedules 😀

Followed by some strength training & Lost watching. I love that about having a weight set in our house – can watch episodes while doing so 😉

Starving for lunch! Turkey + laughing cow + mustard in a whole wheat wrap. Eaten on the go to Costco!

+ 2 apricots on the side.

Snack at around 4:00 while browsing Tar-jay.

Came home to munch on numerous carrots & dressing.

Dinner was Thai flavored noodles over veggies.

And a scrambled egg (unpictured – sorry!).

+ a nibble of my sister’s brownie 😉

I’m feeling a bit hungry now, so I’ll probably go have some melon or strawberry “ice cream” (thick thick strawberry smoothie).

Opinions on the job front please!!

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