Thursday:

Hi Everyone -

This morning I enjoyed yet another new breakfast creation! I am very happy that I went to Trader Joe's last night after working out... it has certainly helped to have some food in the house!

Last night I picked up a container of Trader Joe's plain Greek yogurt. I had not tried the TJ's brand of Greek Yogurt yet - but I had heard from other bloggers (thanks Kath!) that it is quite good. I have to also say that I do not like plain yogurt - but I eat it anyway!

So, this morning I put half a cup of the yogurt in my to go container to start with. I topped it with a drizzle of honey, a dash of cinnamon spice, a palm-ful of granola and some amazing fresh raspberries!! All of the toppings also came from Trader Joe's (but not from last night's shop except for the raspberries - which are amazing!!!)

I ate this creation at 8:30 this morning. The yogurt itself only measured in at between 60 - 80 calories and 12 grams of protein (awesome!) and with the toppings I'm sure it added another 100 calories at least. But that is still a very low cal breakfast for me.

I am pleased that it kept me full until 11am. At that time I had my small banana and a teaspoon of peanut butter with it. This is one of the most satisfying snacks in the world. Super yummy. It's noon now, and I am getting ready to go for a walk. I will certainly be ready for lunch in half an hour - but I am not dying of starvation, which is great.

My lunch choices are still slim at home - and I did not have time to make a tuna sandwich, which is what I really wanted for lunch today. Booo! Tonight I will definitely prepare lunch ahead of time, so I will not be forced to buy another cup of soup at the caf. Luckily today they are serving chicken and vegetable soup, which is usually good. It will go well with the English muffin and clementine I have packed!

I will be back in a bit...

The remainder of Wednesday...

Hi All-

Well, I'm not sure if there will be any photos tonight and that is too bad - because that is what makes the posts fun! But my photo web tool is seriously acting up - and I can't seem to get the pictures uploaded - UGH!

Anyhow, so the waffles did the trick - I did not get hungry again until about 11:35 this morning... not too bad considering I ate them at 8:30. At that point I ate a few almonds, and they definitely held me over for the hour I had to go before lunch time. The waffles are definitely one of my new favorite options for breakfast - it's always good to mix it up! However, I am hoping that next week (when I get back on track and start getting up at a normal time again!) I will be back to making my daily bowl of AM Oates :) I miss them!

Ok - finally! Here is a picture of the waffles!


And here are the almonds I had as my pre-lunch snack:

Ok, so the pictures are still acting weird - but at least they are here!
The not so good news is that I forgot my camera as I was running to lunch. I had such a busy day today, so much going on - so I definitely didn't have the blog on my mind the whole day - shame on me!
But for lunch I had a cup of soup (our "small" size in the caf) and the soup of the day was a lean beef and veggie soup with just a bit of rice in it. I wish that it had been barley because that would have been awesome - but the rice wasn't too bad either. It was spicy, too which I loved. Apparently eating spicy foods will fill you up quicker than eating bland foods... I read that in a study somewhere recently... but I can't tell you where. If I remember, I'll post it! The soup came with a small whole grain roll (about half the size of your palm) which I ate plain (yay - no butter for me!). I also enjoyed yet another amazing clementine! They are really making my lunches so perfect these days - I am so glad that they are in season once again!


This picture is from the other day - but I just had to add some sort of image for lunch today!

I have to say my lunch was pretty good today. I hardly ever eat beef, so I think I probably scored some extra iron and protein that I would normally miss out on. It was very lean, so there wasn't too much added fat - but the sodium content could be another story all together. I won't go there for now!

When I got back to my desk, I had my post lunch treat - a piece of Dove dark chocolate. I love these little pieces of dark chocolate. Tomorrow I will examine and give you a basic calorie / nutrition break down on a single piece of the chocolate. But I know that I did it once - and I think it came out to about 35 calories for one piece.... I hope I am right about that - because that would be great for a piece of oh so good chocolate! Totally worth it, in my book!

I had my afternoon snack at 3:15 today. It was another awesome vanilla Chobani and peanut butter puffs. It is the most perfect snack in the world. I am not sure - but I think I have to thank Jenna from Eat live run - I am pretty sure I remember reading about this snack back in the day, I just can't believe it's taken me this long to finally try the creation myself!



This snack kept me going until Ben and I ate dinner which was around 8pm tonight! I had such a busy day at work - and then after work, too. I made it to the gym - yippee! It was a lot of fun. Ben and I did weights for the first twenty minutes.... then I went downstairs to run (and break in my new running shoes!) Because it was the first day I was running (or wearing at all) the new shoes, I only ran 1.5 miles today. But the shoes did well! I heart them for sure. After the short run, I went back up to the third floor of our gym and did the bike for ten hard minutes - and then some stretching to warm down. It was a good visit to the gym.

After the gym, I stopped by Trader Joe's and left Ben in charge of ordering dinner. At TJs I picked up some whole wheat English muffins, TJs Greek yogurt, carrots, milk, bananas, pot stickers, raspberries (I cannot wait to have them for breakfast tomorrow!) and some other things that I can't remember right now!

Ben ordered Chinese food for tonight because neither of us had the energy to cook tonight. My order was chicken and broccoli and brown rice. I also had two pieces of scallion pancakes - which were amazing!


Well, it's 10:10 and I am done with the blog, and I have programmed the coffee maker to start doing its thing at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that I will be able to wake up bright and early!

I do realize that I still have to blog about my great night out with Stephanie and our dinner at Figgs. It was amazing (as always) and a lot of fun. I will definitely get to the pics and all of that fun stuff tomorrow.

Until then, my bloggies, have a lovely night and a great Thursday morning!!

Wednesday - a new discovery

Hi Everyone -

NO pictures this morning, but I wanted to get started with a really quick post. I'm getting everything back on track today if it's the last thing I do! I was able to get up half an hour earlier than yesterday- so that is an improvement (let's not discuss the fact that I set TWO alarms this morning - one at 6:25 and one at 6:35 and I managed to ignore them and get up at 7:25!)

This morning I made a new (and amazing) discovery!! Thanks to one of my best friends (GILL) I tried Kashi Strawberry and Flax waffles a while back. I bought the box, and the first morning I tried them I prepared two with a little bit of Earth Balance and 2 tablespoons of reduced sugar syrup. I was hungry in a couple of hours - and it was a bit of a struggle to make it to 12pm for lunch.

So today I switched up the preparation a bit! I still had two waffles - but instead of EB and syrup I added a little bit of Teddy Peanut Butter to each piece! (It was just under a table spoon of PB) Wow - not only did it taste amazing - but I can tell the extra substance might be able to keep me going for a while - at least until 12:30 today when I'll be able to have lunch. I'll keep you posted! And later (at lunch or tonight) I will post the pictures - yes, I did remember to take them today!

I took the time to pack my gym bag (which is actually one of the super nice bags from LuluLemon, which I love) and brought it to work with me... that way I can go to the gym straight from work - it's the only way to insure that I will get there! I need to run and do some weights - I can't wait to get started!

OK - I hope everyone is having a good start to their Wednesday! Happy hump day!

Tuesday - not yet back in the swing of things...

Hi Everyone!

Happy Tuesday... for some reason, this is feeling like a really long week to me! But I wanted to get one post up for you today.

SO, this morning (yet again) I was not able to get out of bed at the correct time. What is wrong with me!? I got to work again at 9am.... but I was able to eat breakfast on the run which was a treat! I forgot to take a picture, but I will tell you what I made. It was a Kashi Go Lean protein shake - the vanilla flavor. I was scraping the bottom of the container today, but still had enough to get a great shake and 26 grams of protein! I love this stuff. Two scoops has 220 calories, .5 grams of fat, 33 G carb (ok, so there is a bit of sugar in the mix - but it is cane sugar which makes it a little better!), 7 grams of FIBER and 21 Grams of Protein! The extra protein came from mixing the scoops with skim MILK. (which of course added about 70 calories as well - but still less than a 300 calorie breakfast which is fine on a day that I"m not working out in the morning).

For lunch I had a boca burger sando with whole wheat bread (toasted) and a piece of low fat American cheese (melted via the toaster oven at work!) along with half a cup of spinach on top of the sandwich and a teaspoon of mustard and ketchup. YUM!

After the sando I realized that I needed something else to tide me over until my afternoon snack. Chobani vanilla to the rescue. It was a great day for Greek Yogurt - and I added a few peanut butter Pandas to the top of it. What a treat! This was the best Part II of lunch I have had in a long while.

After lunch I did get outside for a quick ten minutes... it wasn't too cold, and my face needed to see the sun for a few minutes. I hope that I got some vitamin D even though I was only out for such a short time this afternoon! Tomorrow hopefully I will be able to walk at work. Exercise and Sun - you can't beat that combo in December!!

My afternoon snack today was a Blueberry Cliff Zbar. I'm meeting my friend Stephanie for dinner tonight - and we'll probably be eating around 7:30 or 8pm... I'm hoping my snack will be enough to get me to dinner!

I am so excited for dinner tonight! Stephanie and I are going to Figgs on Charles Street and I am sure we will enjoy some sort of amazing Pizza tonight!

Until then, my friends - have a good rest of your Tuesday!

Monday - back to the grind!

Hi Everyone -

Ok, so I've been away for a while! I had a lovely five day "mini-holiday" which was a lot of fun. Thanksgiving was great and the other days were also really fun and relaxing. I did not take pictures of the food I ate over the holiday, which is too bad because there was some great food! Ben and I had Thanksgiving with my family (mom and sister) and we all had a part in preparing food for that day. I did some of the side dishes (green beans, mashed potatoes), my sister did hors d'oeuvres (an awesome spinach dip with Fage Greek yogurt, garlic and water chestnuts!) in a pumpernickel bread bowl and veggies... mom and Ben did the turkey together and my mom made an amazing pumpkin cheese cake for dessert! Wow! Oh, the other things we had are creamed onions, and sweet potatoes that had nutmeg and cinnamon - that was one of my favorite dishes...

After a lot of fun, eating, exercise and reading, today was back to the grind. Ugh! It was so hard to get up this morning. Ben was once again a life savor - up so much earlier than I was, he put started the coffee, thank goodness! If it wasn't for my cup of coffee, I never would have gotten started this morning.

So, I got to work a little later than normal and ended up having breakfast around 9am. I felt the need for some protein, and luckily I had a Pure Protein bar in my bag.

It was the S'mores flavor, and it was good! It kept me going until 12:30 this afternoon when I finally stopped to have lunch.


I had a few errands to run at lunch, and ended up going out to get a salad while I was out and about. It is strange to have a car at work again - and it was so much fun to actually have a productive lunch hour!

The salad I ended up with was fantastic. I do not know what was wrong with my camera at lunch - the photograph is definitely not the best. Sorry guys!

But here is the basic idea of what was in the salad.... broccoli, red pepper, roasted red pepper, orange pepper, cucumbers, carrots, artichoke heart, lettuce, mushrooms, chick peas, sunflower seeds (just a couple) and for a dressing I drizzled a touch of olive oil and then added a bit of balsamic vinegar. Along with the salad, I had a piece of fresh (and so soft!) pita bread - that was also fantastic!


I am guessing that my lunch might not have had enough protein in it.... but it was still amazing. I could not find a good protein item at the salad bar today (especially since I rarely eat cheese). A couple of hours later I was ready for a snack.... I had a fun sized Snickers bar (yikes!) and an amazing clementine.



Wow, the clementine was soo amazing! I really have enjoyed these for the last week (my mom had a ton waiting for us when we got home for Thanksgiving - thanks Mom!)

About an hour later (around 3:30 this afternoon) I did enjoy my second snack... a few almonds.

I find it so hard to get back on track with healthy eating after a holiday!
Today I was rushed in the morning, and it kind of threw me off for the rest of the day. I did not have enough time to pack a lunch, and plan out what I was going to eat for the day. Even though it looks like I've eaten a lot today - I think most of the things I had to eat were a pretty good choice...

I had to work late tonight, and got home after 6pm. Today is my 2 year anniversary with Ben (yay!) and he made us an amazing dinner to celebrate! We had salmon, whole wheat pasta, and spinach for dinner and it was fantastic!


I really enjoyed dinner tonight. Ben makes salmon soo well. I always enjoy how he prepares it and what he pairs it with for dinner.

So, it's Monday and I've finished my blog for the evening. I'm so hoping to get back on track with eating, exercise and the blog this week! Hope everyone is getting back to work, school, life without too much trouble today. Happy December 1st everyone!

A little more inspired...

Is it really Sunday night already??

Well, I went to the gym this afternoon and ran 3 1/2 miles!! It took me a while, but I did it and I am so glad that I did - it felt great and I still feel awesome now, four hours later. It certainly helped to watch the Patriots game while I was running.

After running I did weights for 25 minutes (leg press, calf exercises and arms). When I got home I ate a small banana right away. After showering and looking around the kitchen for a while, I finally came up with a brilliant idea! I made a boca burger sandwich on two pieces of Trader Joe's fiber Whole Wheat bread. I put the pieces of bread in the toaster oven and melted one piece of low fat American cheese on one side. With a little bit of ketchup and mustard the sandwich was amazing! The picture leaves a bit to be desired, but still - here it is:



Thankfully my other afternoon activity was just as exciting - picking Ben up from the Airport. Yay! He was actually half an hour early - and I was early, too since I used the Massport website to check on his arrival time. Sweet!

On our way home we stopped at Whole Foods where Ben got a "salad" for dinner and I got a piece of pizza - that turned out to be really big (and a great Whole Foods bargain for 2.25!) Ben helped me finish the pizza - it was really good!



To celebrate Ben's home coming I stopped by Bread and Chocolate to see Steve.... and pick up two cupcakes to enjoy later tonight!! I can't wait to enjoy a little bit of each of them!


Well, I'm going to say good night for now. I'll be posting something tomorrow - but I can't promise that it will be too interesting, since I don't have a clue what is for lunch or dinner tomorrow!

Enjoy what remains of the weekend!

Uninspired, yet again

Hi All -

Well, this is a struggle today! What did I have for breakfast? A bowl of cereal. 3/4 cup of Kashi Vive and a top layer of EnviroKidz Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, with Silk Light Vanilla Soy milk.


For the second day in a row, my coffee didn't taste all that great. I think I've been making it too strong for the 1% milk I've been adding to it... but I'm missing my coffee. I might have to swing by Starbucks to get a latte later today.

Well, I have no idea what I will be having for lunch - but I'm hoping to be inspired to make something that can be popped into the toaster oven

I will definitely be going to the gym for a run and some weights. I wish I could run outside, but the temps are still hovering at about 30 degrees and the wind is so strong. No running for me outside this morning!

Hopefully I will return later today with some truly inspired ideas for lunch and dinner. I am keeping my fingers crossed!