This morning was ROUGH. I was so tired from staying up until 11:00 last night... REALLY!? 11:00 is too late for me? At this point, yes. And, to top it off, I was starving when I woke up, and I tried to wait to eat in the morning but ended up scarfing down breakfast at 6:00 a.m.

As you can tell, I made a whole wheat wrap with a whole banana, a tbsp of peanut butter and a drizzle of honey. This kept me full for about 4 hours until my tum started grumbling. I really believe pb and banana is one of the best combinations possible.Mmm mmm. I must say though, I was more excited about my coffee this morning. I just got a new sugar free creamer. Yum.
I had a snack at around 10:00... Fage Greek yogurt, sliced strawberries, blueberries, some flax seeds and another drizzle of honey. This was a good pre-work out snack and it kept me fueled through my boot camp styled jump and pump class. After my class, I had to rush home and make a quick lunch. I finally strayed away from the BLTs. I made a small ham, avocado and mayo sammy on light style oatmeal bread with some grapes and then rushed off to my dermatologist appointment. My boot camp class must have been pretty strenuous because by the time I got home from my appointment, I was hungry (and sleepy) again! I had some hickory smoked almonds and another coffee... oops...

I took a "kick butt cardio" class tonight before dinner. I do not feel like my butt was kicked but it was a high energy class and an alright work out. I prefer to do a little more but it's getting boring in the gym so I was glad to take something. I got some good ideas from the girl... and I went to the library today so I have a ton of stuff to look at for ideas!!
Dinner was balsamic chicken with peppers served with mashed potatoes and broccoli.. yum! I loved the peppers. The chicken could have had more flavor but I guess it was advertised as healthy so I'm satisfied with it. After dinner I finished off the Edy's Butterfinger slow churn. Hopefully I won't get any hungrier tonight... keep your fingers crossed. Alright, I'm pooped... keep it gangsta.




....OOPS.... I had a diet soda, which as always, made me crave MORE food. Plus, I'm hungry. So I'll admit... I had a 1/2 of banana, tbsp of peanutbutter and fluff, 2 hershey kisses and two entertaining quartet crackers...I am still at around 2000 calories so, although this isn't ideal, I'm not ruined for the day!! Goodnight... for real this time!

For any of you foodies out there, check out this website. I think I'm in love.

More of the same today. I'm sorry I'm a creature of habit... I know that makes following my blogs a little boring from time to time. Breakfast was a TEENY bit different. I used vanilla yogurt on my waffles because we were out of Greek and cottage cheese. It was an okay substitute but it will not be my go-to. I'm excited to try the Fage yogurt on crepes... or maybe even regular pancakes. I think I will be making those soon. Can you tell I'm trying to like blueberries? I think they're great in muffins, coffee cakes, even smoothies, but on their own, I could do without. But, with all their propsed benefits (plus I like the color), I decided to force feed myself.

Lunch was more of the same. I won't even tell you in hopes you can guess what this is!

I forgot a picture of my mid-afternoon snack but it was a Kashi Crunchy bar with a tablespoon of creamy peanutbutter. Mmm... what a good choice! (Plus some Dunkin Coffee... I caved.) Alex visited a few weeks ago and we found what may be the best Dunkin ever. I get it every so often and it's so worth it. Although, I only like it when I use my own creamer. For some reason, I don't like theirs--weird, I know.

I got home from work at around 7:25 and was absolutely starving! Susie tried to have dinner ready by the time I got there but because of a recipe disappearing on the web, she had to improvise. I couldn't wait to eat so I had some Fage Greek Yogurt with honey and some flax seeds. It kept my growling stomach at bay until the main event.

Dinner was fantastic. I found this recipe on the Cooking Light website. It's a creamy rich tasting pasta dish which even has BACON in it but it's way more decadant than it's nutritional value would seem. We had asparagus on the side, so it's so far so good for eating healthy even with the parents back from vaca. I almost saved some for lunch but decided it's a better dinner than lunch...maybe this weekend?

I finally took a picture of my ice cream! Be happy! I love this stuff-- it makes staying on track during the day do able. If you can't tell... and if you haven't been reading, I'll say it again: I'M A CREATURE OF HABIT. I like routine, schedule, and knowning what's coming next. In this regard, I'm a great diet planner... but I don't like it when things throw me off. I've been good recently. Tonight we're trying a balsamic chicken recipe which looks really good... so I'll look to that. Oh, and my 7:00 a.m. coffee in approximately 30 minutes and 20 seconds!

Ciao!

PS: Here is my Livestrong report

What a long day. It's weird that I'm done with class for the week and it's only Tuesday! I cannot (and will not) complain! I woke up leisurely at 9:30 today. It felt like heaven...I miss the days of constant sleep in. I'm so accustomed to waking up early now and to not have to felt wonderful. Breakfast was organic cornflakes, fiber one, 1% milk, strawberries and blueberries. I sprinkled a little sugar on top for some flavor to the whole thing. My boyfriend would hate this breakfast because the corn flakes get a little soggy but I thought it was lovely.

After my breakfast I headed out to brave the cold and take a run. I went about 4 miles.

Lunch was the same as yesterday basically. I get into major patterns: half an italian sub roll with 1/4 avocado, tbsp lite mayo, oscar meyer bacon, tomato and cracked black pepper with a side of grapes. I also had a coffee to get me through class. During class, I had a snack of a Kashi TLC Honey Almond Flax bar with a tablespoon of peanutbutter. Sorry for no pics!!

I am very proud of the dinner I made. I grilled chicken on my new grill pan and put some barbecue sauce on it. I made a huge salad of mixed greens, tomato, avocado, onion, egg whites, bacon and blue cheese dressing. This cobb salad was delicious and much lower calorie than one might find in a restaurant. Restaurant salads may have over 1,500 calories!!! That's horrifying when you're trying to make a healthy choice!

During class my teacher made smoothies but I opted for my less nutrition ice cream late night snack instead!!! Life is sweet.

Feel Better Dear!!! Adieu

It's been a weird Monday. In fact, I can't even believe it's still Monday. I've been up since 4:30 so I'm spent. It was strangely warm in Northern VA today. I liked it surprisingly.. enough about that. I had my jump and pump class at 6 a.m. and decided to do most of it with the class because of my indulgent weekend. An hour filled with jump rope, stairs, lifting and the bike later, I had breakfast. It looks absolutely disgusting in this picture, I apologize. It was much better than it appears-- promise! I finished off the greek yogurt and topped it with a honey crisp apple, honey, and flax seeds. Alongside of my coffee, it was a great jump start to the morning.

After my own workout, I went home and did some stuff around the house. Lunch was delicious. I made a BLT on the leftover italiano bread. Bacon, lettuce, tomato, light mayo, avocado and pepper. It was so good! I had a huge fruit salad of grapes, blueberries and strawberries alongside and another coffee a few hours down the road.

Before my night class, I had a good size snack--obviously once I find something I like I repeat it over and over until I'm sick of it and so I did-- whole wheat waffle with peanutbutter and fluff. It kept me full until dinner.

For dinner.. I took the picture but deleted it! I'm so angry! I made a really tasty chicken sausage and peppers sandwich with pepperjack cheese and a baked sweet potato on the side. It was delicious. I still have three more sub rolls to go until I'm done with them all! Ha. I need more sub ideas! Send them my way! Maybe tomorrow I'll do a chicken Parmesan sub. Or barbecue chicken.. that could be good. Whatever the case, I have to keep it interesting!

Dessert will be Edy's Loaded Butterfinger ice cream. Mmm Mmm Mmm... Bliss..

Okay, time for homework, hoorah!

Bonjour.

The weekends are a calorie-BOMB usually, and this one proved no different. In an attempt to keep it real with you, I will share the details of my over indulgent weekend filled with delicious food, wine, and relaxation.



Things started out okay on Saturday. Breakfast was Fiber One Raisin Clusters with almonds for healthy fat and 1% milk. I went to a kick boxing class and got a minimal work out. It was actually a lot easier than I would have liked but I guess it's better than nothing. I had a huge sweet tooth this weekend... you'll see... so for lunch, I wanted peanutbutter and fluff. Of course, we had no bread, so I had to improvise. I used a whole grain eggo waffle and topped it with the PB & F and put it in the toaster oven. The waffle crisped up nicely, the PB oozed through the whole thing and the marshmallow got golden brown. It felt like such a treat. I had a pear too... and I think some coffee in there.



Okay it looks a little burnt but whatever. Here is the climax of my food weekend. Amie and I went into Georgetown for a cupcake and some coffee. WOW. You have to try these babies. It is unbelieveable how good they are. We split a red velvet and a vanilla with chocolate frosting. You know I'm a chocolate junkie but the red velvet was so incredibly delicious. We both got coffee and enjoyed them in the privacy of my car. It felt very much like overeaters anonymous but it was so worth every last calorie. Interestingly enough, the whole Georgetown Cupcake store was over crowded and we were stuck in front of some type-A personality...witch. She was trying to direct traffic in there and here is one of her direct quotes... "SOMEONE (referring to Amie and I) has to be a little more proactive in this clusterf**k. REALLY lady? She was in work out attire and I'm guessing by how tiny she was that the cupcake might be all she was eating that day, so I guess the moodiness could be explained. It's incredible to see how angry people can get in a setting that just gave me such joy. Ha. Sad. But so true. Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures because I was in love with the place.







After the major euphoric sugar high, and a few hours later, I needed some fruit so I made a little salad of grapes, blueberries and strawberries.



For dinner,Amie's dad made lamb burgers on the grill. I've never had them before but they were delicious. He actually grilled an onion right into the patty and I think it was served on 100 calorie Arnold sandwich thins with some rosemary red skin potatoes. Of course, Amie's mom made these round tempting dark chocolate chip cookies so I had half of one... and then the other half, oops! Sorry... I'm no inspiration to anyone. Unless, that is, if you want to let your hair down and live a little!




We went out in Georgetown and split a bottle of wine between a group of us. I loved the veramonte sauvignon blanc wine we had. Only about a glass for me because I was driving so at least I didn't take in TOO TOO many empty calories. By 2 a.m. however, I was starving and got home and starting nibbling. I HATE HATE HATE this habit. If only I snapped a picture I could have stopped myself but I ended up eating a handful of pretzels, couple crackers with peanutbutter, a slice of SALAMI (yeah, I know?) and a laughing cow cheese triangle. This seems innocent enough but it's a horrible habit and still left me unsatisfied. Oh well... Sunday's a new day!



Speaking of Sunday. Here's my food. For breakfast I had some whole grain waffles topped with the Oikos Greek Yogurt, sugar free syrup and blackberries. I had a small decaf coffee and then headed out the door. Amie and I met my good friend Matt in D.C. for lunch at this little hole in the wall restaurant. I ordered a reuben sandwich and ate half of it with a garden salad and a few of Amie's fries. I'm saving the other half for dinner tonight. I got it with the Russian dressing ON THE SIDE because 1. saves a bunch of calories and 2. saves my delightful sandwich from getting soggy. The lovely afternoon ended with a coffee from Starbucks and a lot of grad school homework. This is my break. Isn't it sad that I get enjoyment out of telling you what I eat? It's a nice escape.



Anyway, as usual, I missed my healthy snacks so a few hours into the after noon I find myself eating an apple with honey and some almonds.




Like I said, dinner will be the other half of my sandwich and some baked potato fries. I'm looking forward to it... maybe I'll take a picture for you.


It was good... very good. I had a mini snack attack after dinner but I'll be back on track as of tomorrow, promise! Got to get to my goal.
Au revoir.

These are old but both from the Cooking Light cookbook... rosemary chicken and korean barbecue beef... SOOO GOOD! You cannot even tell they are light. The third is a HUGE chicken dinner at a concert in Alexandria. It was really good too... but a little too buttery!