Going to miss the Y

This morning, I had a packet of pumpkin spice oatmeal, topped with 1/2 a large red delicious apple (chopped), 1 tbsp chunky peanut butter and cinnamon sprinkled on top. At first, I wasn’t sure if this would fill me up, but after 2 cups of coffee with soymilk (not pictured), I was perfectly content!

Once my food and drink settled, I headed off to the Y for a morning Yoga class…I am so going to miss the Y after this week, whatever will I do? It’s so close to my home and I love all the classes and workout equipment they have, but right now it’s just not in our budget, it costs $60/month just for one person, eek!

Yoga was an hour long and we did lots of stretches and some moves that really challenged my upper body and core. I haven’t done much strength training or ab work this week because the yoga and cycling classes have left my upper body and abs pretty worked out, haha. Not a bad thing though.

When I got home, I was very ready for lunch, so I made a salad (romaine) topped with some turkey bacon bits (so cool), a chopped up mozzarella cheese stick, and 1 tbsp light ranch dressing. Then I did some tuna (made with 1 tbsp hummus) open face on….wait for it…an Arnold’s whole wheat…SANDWICH THIN! I finally freaking found these when I went to another Kroger. I really might start lobbying my husband to start shopping at this location.

I loved the texture of the sandwich thin and it worked great for this meal and I can’t wait to use it for other things too. I also love how there are 8 in the bag for $2.99, that’s not too bad!

A little while after lunch, I was feeling the need for something else, so I chomped on the other half of my apple from this morning. These are my favorite apples, they are so crunchy, juicy and filling. Red delicious all the way!

Just got back from walking the doggie our 2.4 mile / 1 hour route and I think I’ve worn her out, haha. It’s such a beautiful day here today, 57 degrees! But tomorrow it starts getting cold again, glad I took the opportunity 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

Hooked on cycling!

Before we had lunch with my parents late yesterday afternoon, I took Suzie for a 1 hour walk around the neighborhoods; I drove it in my car this morning and turns out it’s 2.4 miles total, cool! This is kind of slow for me, 2.4 miles in 1 hour, but stopping with a dog every few blocks does that to ya 😉

I was kind of disappointed at Backyard Burger yesterday…I had been talking myself up to eating the waffle fries and when we got there, we found out they don’t have them anymore 😦

But I took it as a sign and just ordered the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich (chicken sandwich with pineapple on top) and a side salad with a little bit of ranch dressing. It was still really good and afterwards, I kind of felt better that I didn’t get fries after all. Sometimes it just works out!

After lunch, we went and ran some errands stopping at the vet, grocery store, and a few other places. When we got home, I did some household stuff and then got ready to go to the Y to take another cycling class at 6:30! I think I’m hooked.

This class was a little more challenging, I think it was the instructor, but I hung with it, and pedaled myself crazy for an hour! It was an awesome workout and I hope to get a couple more classes in before my temporary Y membership is over.

When I got home, I took a nice warm shower, put on some comfy clothes, checked emails, etc. before settling down to do some dinner. I started things off with a small glass of Rose wine from my mama:

Then I made myself a veggie burger with a laughing cow cheese wedge & ketchup on Arnold’s double fiber bread (last two pieces) with some carrots & hummus and brussels sprouts on the side. I love it when half of my plate is full of veggies, don’t you? 🙂 I also got to use one of my new Christmas plates the hubby gave me, yay!

A couple hours later, while staring at reruns of “Intervention” on A&E (it’s addicting, pun not intended), I ate the last piece of banana bread, which I heated up in the microwave for 15 seconds, yum. I also had an Adora calcium supplement because I was a little low on dairy for the day.

Hope everyone had a great Monday…I can’t believe it’s almost 2009!

What’s this?

Blogging on the actual day? Unheard of! Hahaha…

Breakfast this morning was two slices of Arnold double fiber wheat bread (toasted) topped with 1 tbsp peanut butter and 1 tbsp strawberry preserves. I also had a nice juicy orange all sliced up too. Hooray for Vitamin C, am I right?!

Here’s another view + the coffee (with chocolate peppermint stick) I drank with it…

I watched a few episodes of “Scream Queens” on VH1, they were having a marathon this morning and it was neat to see the winner, I didn’t catch the show when it was new. Then I got up and did some dishes and laundry and caught up on some magazines that have been sitting around for a while. I got a subscription to “Health” for Christmas, so I’m excited about getting that one soon 🙂

Mid-morning, I had some mixed nuts to hold me over…we’re having a late lunch with my parents at Backyard Burger! Here’s an interesting tidbit…did you know that the waffle fries actually have fewer calories than the baked potato and the cup of chili?! Who would’ve thunk? That’s why it is so important to look up the info when it’s available.

Just finished a cup of chai tea, now it’s time to walk the doggie which will probably be long since it’s in the 50’s out there and sunny right now 🙂

After our late lunch, I think I’ll head to the Y and maybe take another cycling class…my upper body and abs are so sore from yoga yesterday that I don’t think I need to do any strength training right now!

Hope you all have a great day!

Not really Sunday

Yesterday didn’t really feel like a normal Sunday because I didn’t have to go back to work the next day. I can’t believe I have another entire week off, usual vacation flies by but this one is going slow and steady so far, yippee!

For breakfast, I had a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal with 1 cup of vanilla soymilk, 1/2 a large red delicious apple, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I think the cinnamon really added something special, it’s amazing what you can do with spices without adding calories!

Then I made myself a cup of coffee + chocolate peppermint stick in a new Christmas mug from the set of Christmas dishes my sweet husband gave me as a gift! I’m so glad to have some now.

After church, I knew I wanted to eat a light lunch because I was heading to a yoga class at the Y. So I ate a Larabar (ginger snap) and a lite yogurt.

The yoga class was really challenging, the instructor had us doing some hand stands (some of which I couldn’t accomplish) and lots of twists and stretches. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical afterwards and then I was spent!

For a snack, I had the other half of my apple from this morning, 1/2 an orange leftover from Christmas and 1 tbsp peanut butter.

This was a great snack, I think the fruits really help rehydrate me and the apple + PB combo has great staying power. After my snack, I took a nice hot bath with a cup of green tea. I’ve been doing that combo a lot lately, which has been fun.

I took the dog for another long walk because the weather still rules! She’s happy too, I’m sure 🙂

Then before dinner, I broke open another Christmas gift, this one from my mama! I only had one (4 oz) glass, so proud of myself!

I started off dinner with a romaine salad + turkey bacon bits (cool!), parmesan cheese and 1 tbsp light ranch dressing…

Then, since it was cooling off outside, I had this can of Progresso soup (had coupons and it was on sale this week)…

It really was zesty and pretty filling, I only wish it had more chicken, that’s all 😉

For dessert, I had a slice of the mini banana bread loaf that is now almost gone too!

Then I decided it would be even better with some chocolate soymilk, so I broke into this which I picked up from Whole foods the other day 😉 I overuse smilies, I’m sorry…

I hit the sack around 8:30 and didn’t get out of bed until 8:00 this morning! I must’ve needed it so I’m glad that I got quality sleep.

Almost caught up now!

My boy lost :(

You all know how much I love the UFC and I have my favorite fighters, hahaha…after a very disheartening Chuck Liddell loss in September, I was really looking forward to seeing my boy Forrest Griffin (UFC light heavyweight champion) defeat the guy that knocked Chuck out. Unfortunately, my boy lost 😦 And is now the former champion. But it was still a good night….

For breakfast, I had two Special K waffles topped with peanut butter & syrup with a side of turkey sausage…

Then a big mug of coffee with some WestSoy chocolate peppermint stick for “creamer”… a little something I saw at Whole Foods and remembered reading about on Jenna‘s blog a while back!

For lunch, I had a leftover turkey + ham sandwich on Arnold’s double fiber bread with hummus and mustard; plus a side of baby carrots & hummus. This lunch ruled!

I took the doggie on an hour long walk because the weather was lovely again 🙂 This and a few other short walks were my only exercise as I was very sore from the day before at the Y, so I decided to take it easy. I also took a two hour nap! Then later on, I had some snacks to hold me over until dinner.

One, big juicy orange (I love it when these are in season…I got 8 lbs for $3!)…

And some honey roasted peanuts…

We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, where we watch the UFC pay per views every month, and I really wanted to try something different this time.

I ordered the naked tenders wrap (with Carribean Jerk sauce) and a side salad with ranch. It was almost the same thing I usually get (naked tenders + salad) but with a twist (or a wrap, haha)!

When we got home about 4.5 hours later, I had the last piece of pumpkin bread. I’m kind of proud that this little loaf (it was a mini one, literally) lasted an entire week! 🙂

I woke up on Sunday morning hoping Forrest didn’t really lose but he did, dang it! I know he’ll be back though and I’m sort of excited to see who he (and the guy who beat him) will fight next. I’m hooked 😉

The day after

The day after Christmas, I woke up fresh and ready to work off some holiday calories! I am so grateful for access to the YMCA for the next week, I am thinking about writing a card to the department of my company that is responsible for securing that for us 😉

For breakfast, I had a packet of pumpkin spice oatmeal (made with 1/2 cup vanilla soymilk), topped with 1/2 a banana and 1 tbsp peanut butter. YUM!

I headed over to the Y and took a 45-minute cycling (aka spinning) class that was very challenging! I was excited because I had never taken one before and heard so many of you swear by them…I’m hooked! I was so sore the next day though, whew. While I was there I also did some upper body weights 🙂

On my way back home, I stopped at Starbucks and got a grande skinny Cinnamon dolce latte! I’m done with the holiday drinks now, but they were good. This really hit the spot though and I know the protein from the milk was good for my workout recovery 😉

While drinking the coffee, I took the doggie on a nice long walk because the weather these past few days has been insane! I think we ended up hitting 70 degrees on Friday, wow! After dog walking, I went grocery shopping with the hubby which got even more steps in 😉

For lunch, I had a packet of salmon (3 oz.) mixed with 1 tbsp of spicy three pepper hummus (omg, how I’d missed it, it was on sale, yippee!). I had it on Arnold double fiber wheat bread with a side of green beans.

After lunch, I went out on a 2+hour shopping extravaganza, where I picked up some gifts for people we hadn’t exchanged with yet and spent a few of my gift cards, including an awesome $25 card to Whole Foods from my aunt, woo hoo!

While I was there, I picked up an afternoon snack of this drink, which was pretty good (and only 10 calories)…

And my absolute FAVORITE Larabar (that’s right, ginger snap is down to #2)….

This snack was so good and it held me over FOREVER!

Later that day, I headed to a friend’s house for a girl’s night in…she made her awesome (all-veggie) taco soup, which I topped with some 2% cheese, fat free sour cream and tortilla chips. I had two bowls like this 🙂

Then afterward, I broke out another Christmas gift, my Ghiradelli dark chocolate raspberry squares…I only ate one and it was pretty good but I was later disappointed to read some nasty ingredients on the box when I got back home 😦

A few hours later, after watching another movie, I had some of my friends Silk Light Chocolate soymilk because I was hungry and thought some protein might help 🙂

Then when I got home a few hours after that…I had a piece of banana bread because my stomach was grumbly…it’s like “Where’s all the calories you’ve been eating the past few days” haha…

That was it! I felt like it was a really good Friday…I ate pretty well and got some amazing exercise in. After that cycling class, any ounce of guilt I had (which wasn’t much) about eating during christmas literally melted away 🙂

Hope you all are having happy holidays too!

Christmas, cont’d.

I did end up having dinner on Christmas night after all, but I did wait until I truly felt hungry. I heated up some leftover turkey, baked beans and a little mac ‘n cheese 🙂

Then the dessert-monster struck! I had a cup of hot cocoa (fat free/diet) with some mini marshmallows and fat free reddi-whip…

Then a piece of pumpkin bread…

Then 1.5 “Hello Dolly”‘s that I took home from the earlier family celebration. I threw the other half away so I wouldn’t eat it! Luckily, I reached my holiday indulgence comfort factor here and knew that from now on, I wouldn’t feel the urge to eat anymore real sweets like this.

This is the first Christmas that I didn’t weigh myself before and after and I don’t care. My pants still fit and now after a couple of days, I feel great, energetic and less worried about my weight because I know I am in control — not that darn scale! 🙂

Thanks for being so patient with me, I get caught up in doing other stuff and haven’t made time for blogging the past few days. Hopefully I’ll remedy that.

I sent out my blogger secret santa gift on the 27th, I feel terrible, but hopefully the recipient will forgive me and still enjoy their gift. I loved what I got from Melissa and yes, I did receive it girl, thank you 🙂

Be back soon!

Merry Christmas 2008!

For breakfast this morning, I had a packet of Quaker instant oatmeal in PUMPKIN SPICE! YAY! A friend of mine found a box at Walmart and gave it to me as a christmas gift. I know it’s more artificial, but it tastes even better than I expected, I think I liked it better than my pumpkin oats, uh oh…I made it with 1/2 cup of soymilk and topped it with 1/2 a banana and 1 tbsp of peanut butter. I also had some coffee in one of my new Christmas mugs (yay) with Equal and soymilk.

For Christmas lunch at my husband’s aunt’s house, I had ham, green beans, corn, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce and a roll. I went back for seconds (not pictured) because I was hungry (it was a good 5 hours between breakfast and lunch, eek) and I had another 1/2 of a deviled egg, a small boiled potato with ketchup, just a spoonful more of corn and green beans, another 1/2 slice of cranberry sauce, and most of another roll (all but two bites). Then I finally decided I’d had enough.

For dessert, I had my very first “Hello Dolly”, I’m usually not a huge coconut fan but this was amazing (on the right) and of course, I had to have a slice of Aunt Joan’s famous chocolate pie (left)…I look forward to it every year, it’s the only time I have it. I ate the meringue topping and chocolate filling but not the crust to save a few calories 😉

I was STUFFED when we left and I’m still not hungry for anything, but I’m drinking lots of water as we speak (or write/read, whatever, haha). I took the doggie for a nice 40 minute walk when we got home because I needed it too!

Let’s just say I cannot wait to check out the Y-M-C-A tomorrow! Still, I don’t feel guilty, I quite enjoyed the holiday but I’m ready to get back to “normal” and for God sakes no more rice krispie treats, hahaha.

Love you guys, hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Attack of the rice krispie treats!

I woke up Wednesday morning, Christmas Eve, feeling really good about how well I had done so far with keeping up with exercise and not eating too much. I knew it wasn’t over yet, however. I had been craving Rice Krispie treats, specifically the ones from Starbucks (haha), but everytime I went they did not have them, so I took it upon myself to make some for my family for Christmas, thinking I would have 1 or 2 in the process…more on that later!

Breakfast was two Special K waffles topped with chocolate hazelnut spread and 1/2 a medium banana and served with turkey sausage (all lightly drizzled in sugar free syrup):

I went out to do some last minute shopping (for two hours!) and got a grande coffee light frappuccino in the process — it was 60 degrees that day!

In the middle of making cookies, deviled eggs and other stuff, I had a PB&J on Arnold double fiber bread. I should’ve had a more substantial lunch looking back. I think this came back to bite me later…

See this…times two.

When we got to my parents’ house, I had just a taste of chardonnay, then they opened another bottle so I had two more like this one below over the course of a couple hours.

For dinner, I had turkey, baked beans, green beans, two delived eggs, and just a little bit of my aunt’s homemade baked mac ‘n cheese. I should’ve filled up more on veggies and protein too, looking back…

Dessert # 1, my dad’s chocolate chip cookies…

Dessert # 2…times 2!

When we got home, I was hungry again because I had eaten more sweets than actual food over the day, so I had 1/2 a ham sandwich with mustard.

Then I think I had one more rice krispie treat before finally calling it a night, brushing my teeth and going to bed.

I wasn’t sure whether to put this on Wednesday or Thursday but since this is the killer rice krispie post…I woke up at 3:30 a.m. STARVING and instead of getting something decent, I had 4 more rice krispie treats, ahhhh!

I suppose the good news is that now this craving is out of my system. If I even see another rice krispie treat, I think I might hurl, haha…

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Eve! As usual our family blessed us more than we expected and we are so grateful for all we have been given, especially for the birth of our Savior!

Tuesday before Christmas (so far)

Tuesday’s breakfast was chocolately-banana-PB oats. I cooked 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup soymilk and added 1/4 tbsp unsweetened cooca powder, then I sliced a medium banana and added half to the bowl and topped it with a tbsp of peanut butter.

I had a doctor’s appointment that morning so afterward, I treated myself to a tall nonfat peppermint mocha twist from Starbucks (gotta love gift cards!)…

For lunch, I had a small side salad with romaine, cucumbers, parmesan and 1 tbsp light ranch and a veggie burger with laughing cow cheese & ketchup on Arnold double fiber bread.

Dessert was a small piece of pumpkin bread.

Dinner was a can of vegetarian chili and a slice of bread toasted with a mozzarella cheese stick melted on top, YUM!

I found myself wanting something sweet after dinner, so I had another Adora calcium supplement!

After dinner, we went and played volleyball for another 2.5 hours! These past couple of weeks have been intense, but again I was glad to get some exercise in. I also did some shopping during the day so I’m sure that counts too 😉

At v-ball one of our friends gave us a little ziploc bag of her version of “Reindeer Chow” uh oh…this one was different, it had some sort of peanut butter cereal in it and did not have m&m’s, but I liked it just as much as the other! I ate all of it, thank goodness it was just that one bag.