Food Vibrations

Breakfast:

*1 Arnold’s Sandwich Thins
*1-2 tbsp Philly Cream Cheese, 1/3 less fat kind
*4 strawberries, thinly sliced
*1/2 a cup cottage cheese

Toast thins, spread cream cheese, add strawberries! So delish.

Lunch:

*Whole wheat, honey and rosemary pizza dough (individual size)
*1/2 a breast chicken, shredded
*two handfuls of baby spinach, cooked down
*2 or 3 tbsp of roasted red pepper sauce

You can guess what I made today! I used this same dough recipe, but I added rosemary this time. It is SO GOOD. I cooked down the spinach before hand, and then spread a little sauce, spinach, and then the chicken and cooked for about 7 minutes at 350, after the dough had baked for about 10 minutes at the same temp.

I made the dough and quartered it, and froze 3 of the 4 mini balls of dough. Each one is still more than one serving, but given that the dough is pretty low calorie, three servings is okay. I think it sounds bigger than it really is, but what do I know. I think three servings of the dough comes out to be 249 calories, so I’m not sweating it.

I’m excited to have three other portions left! Who knows what kind of things I might make. I might just bake it and cut it and half and use it as a flat bread sandwich, or maybe use it for breakfast and put eggs over it, but I’m excited to try things!

Snack:

*Sugar snap peas with tzatziki sauce for dipping.
*Can of V8

I ate this during the VT football game today. I probably wouldn’t even have had dinner because I was still kind of full from the snack and the crazy emotions from the game. As I’ve mentioned, I am a VT alum. And I love football. We played Nebraska today, and were down 15-10 with two minutes left in the game. And we came back to win 16-15. It was INSANE. In two minutes I went from being so upset and distraught, to sitting on the edge of my seat with a huge knot in my stomach, to jumping up and down screaming with adrenaline rushing through my body. And I wasn’t even AT the game. Man was it amazing. Food was the last thing on my mind. But I didn’t want to go without anything so I made myself a lil somethin’.

Dinner:

*Tilapia and roasted red pepper sauce
*1/2 a cup of cottage cheese

Good day.

Listening to: Party in the USA, Miley Cyrus. (Damn it I can't help it. Dumb title, catchy song.)

Thanks, Eminem.

I was at the gym today (GASP! On Saturday, you say?! I know, I know. I can't believe it either. I'm claiming temporary insanity.) and was doing my thing on the elliptical. My original plan was to get into the cardiovascular section, which means going for 32 minutes. As I was about halfway through the 31st minute, my workout playlist changed to 'Til I Collapse, by Eminem.

No matter what workout I'm doing, time of day, gym equipment, whatever, this song motivates the lead out of me. Lead, shit, crap, lethargy, all of the above! This happens every time. How can you just stop your workout when Eminem tells you:

"Cause sometimes you just feel tired.
You feel weak and when you feel weak you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse."

So I kept going until I hit 40 minutes! I mean, the song is only what, four minutes long? - but I had the motivation from the song to keep me going! YAH!

And now that means I worked out four days this week - Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I always aim for four days. Any more is the sugar free icing on the angel food cake.

And now this, for no reason at all:

Just because.

One of my favorite songs is Come Downstairs and Say Hello, by Guster. It starts off slow and dreamy and light, and gradually builds a beat and it drives and drives and finishes fast and upbeat and happy. And the lyrics are to die for, for anyone looking for motivation or to have their thoughts laid out in a song.

I started listening to Guster my freshman year of college, and this was one of those songs, and it wasn't until my junior year of college that I actually took notice of the lyrics and what they meant. From then on Come Downstairs and Say Hello has been my anthem for everything. And actually, I do hide in my room pretty much every day so it fits in a literal sense as well.

Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes
Right in tune with dark side of the moon
Someone, someone could tell me
Where I belong
Be calm, be brave, it'll be okay

No more messing around and living underground
And new year's resolutions
By this time next year I won't be here

I turn on MTV, the volume's down
Lips move, they say
It'll be okay

To tell you the truth, I've said it before
Tomorrow I start in a new direction
One last time these words from me
I'm never saying them again

and I shut the light
and listen as my watch unwinds

To tell you the truth, I've said it before
Tomorrow I start in a new direction
I know I've been half-asleep
I'm never doing that again

I look straight at what's coming ahead
and soon its going to change in a new direction
Every night as I'm falling asleep
These words repeating in my head

Voices calling from a yellow road
To come downstairs and say hello
Don't be shy, just say hello

To tell you the truth, I've said it before
Tomorrow I start in a new direction
I know I've been half-asleep
I'm never doing that again

I look straight at what's coming ahead
and soon its going to change in a new direction
Every night as I'm falling asleep
These words repeated in my head

PS

I forgot to mention a couple of things.

To add to breakfast: I had a cup of black coffee this morning. Not exactly a huge oversight, but, ya know, I'm putting it all up here!

Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but I just remembered it after blog-reading, many of which mention The Biggest Loser:

I applied to be on that show. Hah. It must have been in 2006 sometime. I filled out the application, waiting until the last second to fill out the contact information for the references or friends or whatever - that was my least favorite part. I didn't tell the people I chose that I listed them and their contact information, I think I was too ashamed. And I made a little video of myself and put it on a DVD and shipped it off, terrified. It was one of those situations where you desperately claw at the mailbox opening after you put it in, trying to take it back. I didn't actually do that, but I thought about it.

Of course, nothing happened with it.

In the end I'm glad it didn't get anywhere. I am meant to do this on my own. And not have to wear a sports bra and spandex shorts AND weigh myself in front of an entire nation...

Which Came First...

Today was okay. I went into my temp job this morning only to find out that due to various developments, they didn’t really have any substantial work for me to do. Before I left at noon I was perusing cnn.com, and came across this article about why we eat too much and how to control it. I’ve (as I’m sure all of us who are trying to lose weight have) heard it before, but it had the added bonus of SCIENCE!

(It’s funny that Hadley (over here) had a science-related post today too – I love when motivational articles or posts have actual science and/or biological facts to back them up. They appeal to both the cheesy and the geeky sides of me. With their powers combined, they have me hook line and sinker.)

Anyway, in the article, the first two reasons for overeating are a lack of sleep and high stress levels. Who didn’t get enough sleep last night?? Ooh!! OOHH! ME! PICK ME! I didn’t! And what about stress? Every day my mom becomes more and more frantic about my family getting here (she doesn’t admit it but I know she wants to impress them too…where do you think I get it from?) and it’s rubbing off on me and my already precariously high levels of anxiety surrounding this trip and the state of my life. If stress levels were the Oscars, I’d be Katharine Hepburn.

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I had packed my gym stuff and brought it with me to work, but since I was off at noon I went home and ate lunch first. It really was a sincere move – I wanted to have some sustenance in me before I worked out. And I still ate the healthy lunch I had packed for myself. But then I just didn’t go to the gym. I was tired, and home, and to put it plainly: lazy.

And then, I wanted to just EAT. My dad was making himself a cheeseburger and I just…I didn’t want the cheeseburger necessarily, but I just wanted to eat a LOT of whatever I wanted. I just wanted to consume.

Thankfully I didn’t, and I controlled myself, but the feelings were there. I went to Target later (my other splurging problem area) and only got the thing I went for – NERD ALERT – Breathe Right Strips. But at one point I had sunglasses and a DVD in my hands, but I put them back in an equally sad and empowering moment. Heh. Though I may consider aviator glasses and the 4th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia essential life items, I really know better.

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So I don’t know if that article helped or harmed me. And it doesn't even confine itself to food either, but things, glorious things! Target is King of Things. Oh what? My point? It is...would I have reacted like I did with the desire to consume had I not read about natural responses to emotions I’m experiencing? Did it essentially provide me with How To Guide? Or because I read the article, was I able to understand that my actions were a result of being overtired and stressed, so I knew better than to give in? Chew on THAT, Socrates.

So no gym today. I’m not happy about it, and I don’t have a good excuse. I could have, I should have. But at least I kept my eating healthy and in check:

Breakfast:

*Arnold’s sandwich thins, toasted w/ a tbsp peanut butter
*Strawberries (maybe 10 of them?)

Lunch:

*Carrots and sugar snap peas with sabra individual hummus packet
*Arnold’s sandwich thin and between 1 and 2 tbsps peanut butter
*V8

Snack:

*Glass of milk
*About 2/3 of a cup of toasted garbanzo beans (chick peas!)

Dinner:

*Steamed broccoli, chicken, roasted red pepper sauce.

I took from the jar of roasted red peppers for the sauce this time. I didn’t feel like doing the whole roasting thing. I put about one and a half peppers into the food processor, along with two Laughing Cow Light cheese wedges, and a sprinkling of garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I really like it! The LCL cheese blended and incorporated nicely (for once in its life!) and makes the sauce taste creamier and more sinful than it really is. After that I just threw the broccoli, chicken (half a breast, in chunks, cooked in just pam in a skillet) and sauce into a deliciously delicious bowl.

And I have so much leftover sauce it’s redonkulous. Gonna have to get creative this week.

I'm not together but I'm getting there

Busy day today! I scored a little temping action, just for today and tomorrow. So I was off and running reeeeal early this morning. The office was okay. I was sitting all day, staring at an Excel spreadsheet. Except when things got REAL CRAZY and I started using the copier! Basically I was sitting all day. Good thing when I left this morning I was also armed with my gym stuff!

Yay me! I planned ahead and actually did it. Because I wouldn’t put it past me to bring my stuff and go through the trouble of getting it ready, taking it with me, and then go straight home anyway. But not this time! Nope, I went right to the gym from “work”. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill. Either 8 or 10 of it was jogging. Haha, I can’t remember how many intervals I did. I like how I can’t remember what I did four hours ago. Maybe instead of fishoil caplets I should take ginko biloba.

Breakfast:

*Egg subst. with salsa (I think I’m starting to get over my addiction to this)
*Half a cup of cottage cheese

Lunch:

*Carrots, sugar snap peas and an individual Sabra hummus thing
*Sandwich: arnold’s sandwich thins, cucumber, laughing cow light cheese wedge, baby spinach.
*V8

I actually ended up eating only half the sandwich at the time, and saved the other half for the drive home. I wanted to get a little something in me before I went to the gym.

Dinner: (as inspired by janetha b’s meals and moves! She always eats this so I wanted to try it)

*Mix of garbanzo beans, chicken, cottage cheese and a little sprinkling of ranch mix.

It was pretty good! And filling, definitely.

(There is only a week and a half before my family – that family – gets here. Mehhhhh I’m already nervous. Even though I’m doing great and sticking to it and whatever else, I just…egghhhhh. Do you just have that person/people in your life that even though you know you shouldn’t let them, they just push your buttons or make you feel bad about yourself? Sweet sassy molassy, I am gonna need some validation that week. HA!)

Listening to: John Mayer's Continuum album. You ever rediscover an album? I've had it since it came out and listened to it a million times, and have even been lucky enough to see some of it performed live by the man himself. But I'm sitting here listening to it in its entirety, and...*siighhhh*. Me likey. No it won't all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good