Meals for the Day - 03/08/08

03/08/08 - Breakfast

Spent the night at a friend’s after our Buffython, so had to put together breakfast from what they had laying around. Was in the mood for something filling, and sweet. She had some “protein nugget” granola style cereal, so I put a serving of that in a bowl, topped it with pineapple and then poured some Kefir over it instead of skim milk. (Milk and pineapple do not mix.) This may be the highest calorie non-vacation breakfast I’ve had since things started.

Breakfast: 369 calories, 4 grams fat, 72 grams carbs, 5 grams fiber, 17 grams protein

03/08/08 - Lunch

It wasn’t long before we realized we were totally snowed in. Apparently, I should not have spent the previous day mocking the “WHITE DEATH” on Twitter. Since we were stuck, they worked on catching up on some cleaning. Wanting to feel useful (but not wanting to feel useful enough to clean) I decided I’d make us all lunch. I found some pork chops in the fridge and gave them the balsamic treatment before pan frying them. To go with it, I made some brown basmati rice, green beans, fresh salads and some fried pinapple since they’d liked the idea from my meal the other night. Nice and hearty for a snowed in day.

Lunch: 542 calories, 16 grams fat, 40 grams carbs, 11.5 grams fiber, 40.5 grams protein

03/08/08 - Snack

Wasn’t really very hungry, but noticed it was after 7pm, so I thought I’d better eat something. Snagged a Zone bar from the cupboard.

Snack: 210 calories, 6 grams fat, 25 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 16 grams protein

03/08/08 - Dinner

When I realized I was only sitting at about 700 net calories for the day and I considered that I was actually trying to increase my calorie intake, I decided I’d better eat a little more food. I’d been craving toast, so I fired up the toaster and cracked a couple of egs into the skillet. I still had fresh pinapple and strawberries in the fridge, so I pulled those out as well. Overall, pretty yummy.

Dinner: 443 calories, 22.5 grams fat, 55 grams carbs, 6.5 grams fiber, 27 grams protein

Daily Total: 1564 calories, 48.5 grams fat, 182 grams carbs, 24 grams fiber, 100.5 grams protein

Exercise: Interestingly I thought today would be a wash. When we got snowed in, I realized there was no way I was going to make it to the gym. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d even make it out of their apartment. Around 3pm the snow plows started making passes, so at 4pm we went out and started the process of digging out my car. Then we had to shovel the parking lot to make a path to the road. All said, I spent a good 45 minutes shoveling. (We were out there much longer since we also helped push a few folks out of snow drifts and I wasn’t always shoveling, so I’m going with a light estimate of 45 minutes.) Calories burned: 430

Net Total: 1564 calories - 430 calories = 1134 calories

A little high on the fat for the day, but when I consider how much protein I got and the fact that I actually ate some butter (11 grams fat) it’s understandable.

Meals for the Day - 03/07/08

03/07/08 - Breakfast

Another Zone bar.

Breakfast: 210 calories, 6 grams fat, 25 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 14 grams protein

03/07/08 - Snack

After I worked out, I needed to run by the grocery for some weekend supplies. As usual, the kids snacked on bananas while I checked out. Was feeling pretty hungry myself, so I ate a “Jazz” apple. First time I’d had that variety. Not as good as my beloved Honey Crisp, but pretty good.

Snack: 80 calories, 0 grams fat, 21 grams carbs, 4 grams fiber, 0 grams

03/07/08 - Lunch

By the time I got home and got the kids to bed, I actually wasn’t all that hungry. I was also planning a night out with my best friend and her sister, so I figured I better to light on the calories to leave space for dinner and late night snacks.

Snack: 290 calories, 8.5 grams fat, 41.5 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 17.5 grams protein

03/07/08 - Appetizer

We ended up hitting P.F. Chang’s for dinner as it was close to their house and we’d had six inches of snow that night with more on the way. Of course it also won out because they list full nutritional info for their entire menu on their web site. (I’m loving companies that do that!) I started off with an order of two of their veggie spring rolls. Oh how I adore spring rolls!

Dinner: 165 calories, 7 grams fat, 21 grams carbs, 1.5 grams fiber, 3.5 grams protein

03/07/08 - Dinner

While I’d normally order Crispy Honey Chicken at P.F. Chang’s, the web site informed me there was 1100 calories in an order of it. That didn’t count the rice. Even if I only ate half (unlikely) I’d be looking at 750 calories by the time I added in some brown rice. That said, I was thrilled to find out my favorite appetizer (Lettuce Wraps) only had 510 calories in it! So, I went ahead and ordered this as my entree and refused to share.

Dinner: 510 calories, 12 grams fat, 68 grams carbs, 5.5 grams fiber, 28 grams protein

03/07/08 - Dessert

Oh how I love a day when I’ve got enough calories left for dessert. We were two episodes into a 7 episode Buffython, and sweet treats were calling. Since my friend and her sister are watching what they eat as well we had angel food cake with strawberries, pineapple and still frozen low fat cool whip. (Which tastes amazingly like ice cream.)

Dessert: 231 calories, 2 grams fat, 49 grams carbs, 4 grams fiber, 4.5 grams protein

Daily Total: 1486 calories, 35.5 grams fat, 225.5 grams carbs, 21 grams fiber, 67.5 grams protein

Exercise: Good work out at the gym today. 20 minutes on the treadmill at anywhere from 8-12% incline, a round of weighs (switched to new muscle groups this week) and then 25 minutes on the elliptical. Total calories burned: 450

Net Total: 1486 calories - 450 calories = 1036calories

Weekly Weigh-in

I gotta tell you, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope this week. After losing 3 pounds on the trip, I seemed to level out for a few days. I’d been watching food pretty closely though (mmm, lots of veggies) and working out regularly though in the hope my body would start cooperating.

And it did!

185.2 pounds this morning, which now puts me at 12 pounds total loss. Woo hoo!

We still have a little more than 3 weeks to go, so I’m hoping I can hit my original goal of 16 pounds. (20 would be nice…) Clothes are certainly starting to fit more loosely. In fact, I can no longer wear my favorite jeans without a belt. Guess this gives me a good excuse to go shopping before SES NY, right?

Meals for the Day - 03/06/08

03/06/08 - Breakfast

Another Zone bar.

Breakfast: 210 calories, 6 grams fat, 25 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 14 grams protein

03/06/08 - Lunch

Man, Thursday lunches are reptetive…but tasty. Same french onion soup and cafe salad with baguette as last time. Once again; no cheese, no croutons.

310 calories, 9 grams fat, 49 grams carbs, 7 grams fiber, 9 grams protein

03/06/08 - Dinner

More experimental chicken. This time I was looking for oven fried chicken but didn’t want to use breadcrumbs. I had some honey mustard pretzles in the cupboard, so I crushed those in my Magic Bullet and decided to use them as coating. Since I’m watching calories I decided I didn’t want to use eggs to seal off the meal. Yellow mustard seemed to match the pretzles, so I used that instead.

The results weren’t bad, but they were missing something. Super juicy chicken, but just not the right flavor. Better luck next time I guess. I paired it with low-cal alfredo sauce and penne plus some steamed baby carrots.

Dinner: 596 calories, 13.5 grams fat, 49 grams carbs, 9 grams fiber, 65 grams protein

03/06/08 - Dessert

All these years I tried to watch it on the pineapple because I assumed it was such a high calorie fruit. I’m still amazed at just how low calorie it is compared to some other fruits (like bananas.) Thus, I’ve been feasting on the sweet yumminess that is fresh pineapple this entire contest period. Tonight, a bowl for dessert.

Dessert: 82 calories, 0 grams fat, 22 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, 1 gram protein

Daily Total: 1198 calories, 28.5 grams fat, 145 grams carbs, 21 grams fiber, 89 grams protein

Exercise: No exercise today. Once again, by the time dinner was wrapped up and kids were in bed, no time for yoga.

Meals for the Day - 03/05/08

03/05/08 - Breakfast

Another Zone bar and an apple. Of course Emmitt ended up stealing half of the apple. (He’s a little apple fiend lately.) Twas ok as I ended up eating half an apple later in the day as a snack. That saved me taking a picture and recalculating the calories for this meal as I broke even.

Breakfast: 240 calories, 6 grams fat, 35.5 grams carbs, 5 grams fiber, 14 grams protein

03/05/08 - Lunch

Mmm, more salad. Same as yesterday (baby spinach, mixed greens, cranberries, apples, strawberries and cheese) but I threw some grilled chicken breast on top to add some protein and make it a bit more filling.

Lunch: 458 calories, 10.5 grams fat, 61.5 grams carbs, 13.5 grams fiber, 27.5 grams protein

03/05/08 - Dinner

Whew, sometimes experiements work! This was a good meal. Maybe a littler higher in calories than I’d usually put together, but it was well within my range today, so why not? I coated a chicken breast in some balsamic vinegar (I love that stuff) and a little bit of olive oil, then pan fried it. When that was done cooking, I tossed a cup of fresh diced pineapple into the pan to cook and gather up some of the leftover glaze. I made brown rice and carmelized some sweet onions for the chicken. Finished it off with a package of steamfresh microwave veggies. Corn, asparagus and baby carrots. Yum!

Dinner: 642 calories, 9.5 grams fat, 73 grams carbs, 5 grams fiber, 62 grams protein

Daily Total: 1340 calories, 26 grams fat, 170 grams carbs, 23.5 grams fiber, 103.5 grams protein

Exercise: Another day at the gym. Today, I learned the treadmills will go to 12.5% incline. They may go higher, but I haven’t had the guts to try it yet. Either way, 12.5% really works the muscles. 20 minutes on the treadmill, 25 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes of weights. Total calories burned: 450

Net calories: 1340 calories - 450 calories = 890 calories for the day.

All That Vacation Food…

Oh yes…the vacation food. No way I can get it all posted here and I haven’t had time to hunt info on making a collage…so I’m just going to link you to it.

Here ya go: all my vacation food, including the meal with a face.

Meals for the Day - 03/04/08

03/04/08 - Breakfast

Organic honey nut cheerios and hormone free skim milk. Yum.

Breakfast: 210 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 36 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, 12 grams protein

03/04/08 - Snack

Skipped my usual lunch at Panera today. After two weeks of eating out, I just couldn’t hack any more restaurant food. Instead, I ate a Zone bar and another apple.

Snack: 280 calories, 6 grams fat, 46 grams carbs, 7 grams fiber, 14 grams protein

03/04/08 - Lunch

Didn’t have time to fix much when I got home today, but needed *something* else to eat, so I pulled out another can of Progresso. If only they’d make this stuff with less sodium, it’d be such a good lunch option. Needed some carbs with it (going to take awhile to come off that carb kick) so I had one of my high fiber tortilla on the side.

Lunch: 350 calories, 4.5 grams fat, 58 grams carbs, 17 grams fiber, 21 grams protein

03/04/08 - Dinner

More salad! Baby spinach, mixed baby greens, strawberries, apples, dried cranberries and a pinch of cheese with low fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Dinner: 358 calories, 9 grams fat, 58.5 grams carbs, 13.5 grams fiber, 8.5 grams protein

03/04/08 - Dessert

I brought back a ton of British candy bars for my brother-in-law, who likes to try different foods. One of them was a Cadbury “Curly Whirly” which ended up being this fantastic caramel covered with milk chocolate. It was only 115 calories, so I ate it last night during our Lost marathon. Man I wish they sold those over here, it was awesome!

Dessert: 115 calories

Daily Total: 1313 calories, 21 grams fat, 198.5 grams carbs, 39.5 grams fiber, 55.5 grams protein

Exercise: No gym today. Would like to do some yoga tonight, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Just too beat trying to catch up with email and recover from the trip home. Likely will put kids to bed, curl up with Greg to watch our backlog of missed Lost episodes and then hit the hay.

Meals for the Day - 03/03/08

03/03/08 - Breakfast

Chocolate Peanut Butter Zone bar. Really need to get to the store for some more Kashi…

Breakfast: 200 calories, 7 grams fat, 21 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 14 grams protein

03/03/08 - Snack

Ahh, the little things. We were grocery shopping and the kids always get bananas during check out to keep them occupied. (Healthy, yummy treat.) I was really craving one as well, but in reality, bananas are really high in sugar and carbs, so I went with an apple instead.

Snack: 80 calories, 0 grams fat, 21 grams carbs, 4 grams fiber, 0 grams protein

03/03/08 - Lunch

Mmmm….oh how I missed my spinach salads. Seriously, as much as Italy rocked, the lack of veggies there killed me. Every salad I tried to order was packed with bitter greens (ew) so I eventually gave up. Thus, lunch was a peanut butter and jelly quesadilla and a spinach salad with apples, strawberries and cranberries. Mmmm.

Lunch: 568 calories, 19.5 grams fat, 85 grams carbs, 25.5 grams fiber, 17 grams protein

03/03/08 - Dinner

Did I mention how much I missed my spinach salads while I was gone? Ironically, two days after returning from the world’s greatest pasta, I found myself making homemade spaghetti sauce and whole wheat penne. I paired a small bowl of that with another spinach salad, this one heavy on the strawberries.

Dinner: 410 calories, 7.5 grams fat, 80 grams carbs, 14 grams fiber, 17 grams protein

Daily Total: 1258 calories, 34 grams fat, 207 grams carbs, 46.6 grams fiber, 48 grams protein

Exercise: Man was it good to be back at the gym. Honestly, I think that week of walking so much (10+ miles a day) really kicked me up a notch cardio wise. I ended up doing about 6 minutes on a bike (no treadmills or elliptical free) before finding a free treadmill and doing a bit at 9% incline. Then I popped over to weights before wrapping things up with 25 minutes on the elliptical. It was a good work out…I took it a bit easy because I twisted my knee while hiking in the Cinque Terre and want to give it time to heal up.

45 minutes of cardio, 20 minutes of weights. Total calories burned: 450

Net calories for the day: 1258 - 450 = 808 calories

Home from Vacation Weigh-In

So the official weigh-in after 10 days in London and Italy?

187.

Oh yeah baby…I lost 3 pounds while on vacation in the land of pasta! Let’s hear it for hiking and walking.

That’s 10 pounds total, though Scottie is still ahead of me. Time to get back into calorie counting mode.

I’m Baaaaaaaaaaack…..

I know, I know…you’ve all spent the last eleven days sitting around your monitors trying to stifle sobs of anguish over the lack of photographs of my meals in your RSS feeds. You wondered what you’d do with yourself…how you’d go on.

Ok, ok, so actually, you REALLY wondered if I could stay on the Fat Fighting wagon while in London and Italy.

Now there’s no possible way I could take the time to post day by day breakdowns of everything I ate. (Though I’ll post a collage and link you to everything over at Flickr if you are curious.) There was also no way for me to know what the calorie counts of most things were. That meant I had to use common sense to try and make good food choices. I figure the first two weeks of this contest were good prep time for that.

So how did I do? Well, no official weigh-in until tomorrow morning, so I can’t tell you yet. I didn’t want to look back on my vacation and feel like I’d cheated myself out of enjoying good food, so I went into things with this plan…

1.) Wear my pedometer every day. 10,000 steps = roughly 400 calories burned. (At a normal walking pace for me.) I succeeded on this front. We only had two days that didn’t crack the 15K mark. Most days we cracked 20K and one day we hit 33K.  (That’s about 17 miles if you’re curious.) When all was said and done, we walked somewhere between 100 and 115 miles during our 10 days of vacation. Roughly 30 miles of that was up and down VERY strenuous hills as we trekked through Tuscany and the Cinque Terre.

2.) Only eat until I wasn’t hungry any more. This was a big one for me. I LOVE food. I’m not overweight because I have emotional issues that drive me to eat when I’m sad/happy/mad, I’m overweight because I think food rocks and I want to eat it. :)  Thus, if there’s something super yummy on my plate, I tend to finish it, even if I’m full. That didn’t happen this go round. I’d say I “finished” less than 20% of my meals. I ate less than half of 50% of my meals. The other 30% saw me leaving a decent amount of food on the plate. I ate what sounded good, but I ate much smaller quantities of it than I used to.

Now, I don’t know if I lost weight, but I know I’ve continued to build muscle and lose inches. My calf muscles are like rock now. I’ve already realized it’s time to introduce my favorite jeans (my Calvin Kleins) to Ms. Belt. Why? Because they’re falling down. (I discovered this yesterday while running through Heathrow airport as fast as i could with a backpack on…If you think that might cause a stir, imagine the stir if I hadn’t caught my pants before they actually fell off! And this from jeans that fit just a bit loose when we left for the trip.)

So, while I have a feeling I’m still going to be behind on the weight loss (I’m guessing I lost another pound, maybe a pound and a half and will come in around 188 or 189) I’m losing inches rapidly and may be able to go shopping for a size 14 jeans before SES NY.

Pictures and even some video to come…