December 31

I was doing great. My day was planned, all was well. And then I remembered that my in-laws wanted to have dinner at one of the WORST places to eat for someone who gives half a hoot about nutrition. And that place, dear friends, is O'Charley's. Totally ridiculous (though to be honest, I could've avoided the dessert and roll)!

Breakfast:
green smoothie (200)

Morning snack:
cranberry nut bread (300)
banana (90)

Lunch:
ww pasta and sauce (220)
green smoothie (150)

Dinner:
OCharley's (enough said, yes?)
salad (100)
roll (150)
broccoli (40)
salmon (500)
chocolate macaroon ice cream thing (500)

Evening "snack":
tortilla chips (100)
cranberry walnut bread (150)
pear (80)


Water:
13

Fruits and veg:
15

Total calories:
2580

Exercise:
90 mins Reformer (250)

Weight:
144.4

Nicole--The World’s Largest Breakfast --December 27, 2008

I’m a breakfast person. If there’s one meal I’ll go all out for it’s breakfast. I try to keep it to a minimum, but if left to my own devices I order everything on the menu… bacon, eggs, pancakes, biscuits… if it’s there, I’ll eat it… And so we saw today…

I met a group of high school friends for breakfast at a pancake house and probably demonstrated that I really could eat a linebacker under the table. Of note, the pancake place wasn’t a chain, so everything’s a huge guess on the calorie count.

Breakfast
Two biscuits (500)
A bit of scrambled eggs (100)
*Some people question the term “a bit.” Here it’s defined as about two or three bites as I didn’t really care for the things.
Bacon (150)
Honey (75)
½ chocolate chip and peanut butter pancake (200)
French toast (928)
Hash browns (350)
Butter (80)

Dinner
Crescent roll (170)
Mashed potatoes and gravy (300)
Stuffing (400)

Total calories: 3053

Weight: 72.1kg

December 30--heather

Breakfast:
banana (100)
green smoothie (180)

Morning snack:
almonds (100)
banana (100)

Lunch:
french onion soup (100)
salad (50)
yogurt (150)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (120)
bread w/ apricot jam (100)
pear (80)

Dinner:
steamed broccoli (50)
ww pasta and sauce (250)

Evening snack:
cereal and milk (240)
banana (80)

Water:
9

Fruits and veg:
16

Total calories:
1700

Exercise:
60 min pilates (150)
12 mins elliptical (150)

Weight:
145.8

December 29--heather

I chickened out of going to my street jazz class at the gym today in fear of making a fool of myself, so I skipped it altogether. I had a dentist appt anyhow, and I'd have been cutting it really close. I'm pleased that I stayed at just over 1800 calories, though, and my Reformer class was pretty good.

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Morning snack:
banana (90)
almonds (50)

Lunch:
eggs w/ pico de gallo (160)
tangerine (50)
yogurt (80)
more almonds (50)

Afternoon snack:
banana (80)
green smoothie (200)

Dinner:
cake (250)
veggie fajitas (260)
salad (40)

evening snack:
cereal and milk (250)

Water:
9

Fruits and veg:
17

Total calories:
1810

Exercise:
Reformer (250)

Weight:
145.8

The Day I Heard the Scale Creak: December 26, 2008 – Nicole’s Food Log

So this whole eating like a cow and sitting on my ass thing appears to be working out real well for me. Or not.

The scale worked it’s way up to a number higher than I’ve seen in weeks. Perhaps this means I should stop spending two weeks home for the holidays.

Breakfast
Pumpkin pie (265)

Workout
23 minutes on eliptical (192)
Can I share how much I HATE elipticals? Rowers, treadmills, bikes… all machines I can hang out on forever without getting bored. Elipticals and stairmasters make me want to kill myself within the first five minutes. That said, it was pouring down rain so I sucked it up for as long as I could handle.

Lunch
Mac and cheese (780)
Mayo (40)
Hot dog (40)

Dinner
Four pieces pepperoni and sausage Papa John’s (1400)
Three bread sticks (435)
Cheese sauce* (80)
*NOTE: The cheese sauce itself almost made getting fat worth it! Papa John’s discontinued the stuff in most cities that was once the dipper of choice for Heather and I back during our Papa John’s madness days during college, but it appears to still exist in Dayton. No comment on whether that’s because it’s still the same cheese from 1999.

Total Calories: 3040

December 28--heather

The Music Man is home this week before heading back to school, so I'm back to a mini boot camp diet and exercise week. Not as intense as my summer schedule was since there are no classes Wednesday and Thursday and I only want to do 2 hours per day instead of three, but I'm hoping to drop 2 lbs and jump start my weight loss since I've been lazy and lagging and NOT logging since the middle of October.

Breakfast:
cereal (250)
eggs (150)

Lunch:
eggs with red onion, turkey and arugula (250)
banana (80)

Afternoon snack:
pb choc chip cookies (250)
green smoothie (250)

Dinner:
Ruby Tuesday: steak, broccoli, and mashed cauliflower (450)
oreos (160)
sundae cone-yum (275)

Evening snack:
banana (80)
cake (100)

Water:
13

Fruits and veg:
16

Total calories:
2245

Exercise:
60 min step (500)

December 25 – Nicole’s Food Log, The Christmas Edition

Bring on the holiday madness…

Sigh.

Breakfast
Three biscuits (510)
Margarine (100)

Snack
Two pierogies and a bit of spaghetti-o’s (200)

Dinner
Turkey (60)… no really, I had literally a bite and a half
Two rolls (250)
Margarine (100)
Mac and cheese (900)… note: the mac and cheese is brought out not for me, but for a cousin
Mashed potatoes and gravy (350)
Stuffing… and lots of it (600)

Dessert
Pumpkin pie (265)
Whipped cream (40)

Total calories: 3375

December 27--heather

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)
banana (80)

Lunch:
almonds (50)
tiny banana (60)
tortilla chips and pico (140)
turkey (80)

Afternoon snack:
pizza (580)
green smoothie (200)
2 bananas (160)
popcorn (50)

Dinner:
french onion soup (200)
salad (100)
yogurt (180)

Evening snack:
cake (200)
banana (100)

Water:
12

Fruits and veg:
21

Total calories:
2430

Weight:
145.6 (or 66.2 kilos)

December 26--heather

Yesterday wasn't bad. I don't remember everything but when I was counting up last night, I managed right around 2600 calories. Of course, it helps when I do all the cooking so that I can control the calories!

On another note, I SCORED at the Kroger manager's special again today. I love to buy produce there, and today I actually saved more money than I spent. I spend $96, saved $97, and that includes $19 worth of diapers! Tonight we had a ready-to-heat cheese pizza that I topped with "fajita mix" veggies (cut peppers and onions) and a big ol' salad. Tomorrow we'll have fajitas with pico de gallo. We'll move on to french onion soup and arugala-based salads on Monday (Sunday is dinner with the in-laws). So exciting!

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Morning snack:
sweet potato pie (300)
popcorn (100)

Lunch:
salad with leftover turkey (200)
tortilla chips and pico (200)

afternoon snack:
banana (80)

Dinner:
pizza (580)
salad (30)
yogurt (190)
green smoothie (200)

Water:
8

Fruits and veg:
13

Total calories:
2130

December 24, 2008 – Nicole’s Food Log

So it’s Christmas Eve… Ran around shopping all day which meant by 3 I was starving. Lesson of the day: The more (and the more often) you eat, the more you need to eat. Ordinarily 3 o’clock is not a big deal.

Hungry yes, but not ready to gnaw on an arm.

Nope, eating tons of crap while home means you need to eat more crap, otherwise you’re going to keel over. Good lesson to remember for when I need a detox! Hahaha…

Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs (140)
Bagel (260)
Cream Cheese (30)
Margarine (50)

Dinner
Steak and Shake…
Grilled Cheese (680)
Split order of fries (250)
2/3 chocolate shake (500)

Snack
Wheat Thins (150)
Spreadable cheese (180)

Total Calories: 2240

Finally, a Trip to the Gym!

December 22, 2008 – Nicole’s Food Log

After several days of sloth, I couldn’t handle it anymore and went to the Bally’s up in Englewood (er, Clayton) to try and score two free weeks. Though the manager was kind of ridiculously evil, I got my pass and my visit to the treadmill before I went completely stir crazy.

(Of note: Bally’s is less than impressive and has an aesthetic that reminds me of a larger version of a hotel or apartment complex gym).

But at least I got to move a bit to offset the rest…

Breakfast
1 ½ bagels (390)
Cream Cheese (30)
Margarine (100)

Workout
4.40 miles on treadmill (540 calories burned)

Lunch
Mac and cheese (820)
Hot dog (130)

Dinner
Garlic bread (595)
Marinara (120)
Ravioli (770)

Total calories: 2955

I'm Back...Though Still a Slacker

December 21, 2008 – Nicole’s Food Log

Getting behind is one of those things that I do frequently, but yowsers it’s difficult to dig out of…

So I fell off the face of the earth for the past week because I had this notion that I couldn’t just skip a few days of blogging, that if I was going to hop back on, I had to write up everything I missed and when you’re behind by one day that’s fine, but when one becomes five, it gets overwhelming until you come full circle and finally say “Screw it. We’re starting over again.”

So that’s where we are. I’m back in the DYT for the holidays where I’ve been since Friday night and I have to say this place is a fat trap. It’s wayyyyy too cold to do anything outdoors that’s more strenuous than walking to your car, nobody works out and the combination of holiday eating plus my penchant for foods that can only be found in the Midwest all spells “let’s see if we can pack on a pound for every day I’m home.”

Now I brought a scale with me to assess the damage as I go, but haven’t actually had the nerve to use it. Guess I’ll get on that (literally) tomorrow.

On to the food…

Breakfast

2 Biscuits (340) Margarine (100) Scrambled eggs (180)

Lunch

Two Skyline coneys (700)
½ order of Fries (250)

*Yeah, so Skyline has no nutritional value, but I do dump 60% of the cheese off… and, more to the point, they’re YUMMY GOODNESS. For those not from Ohio, Cincinnati chili is so fabulous you can actually go online and buy party packs to be shipped to you so you can recreate it for all your friends. And not only is there no Skyline in Colorado, but when you go to the grocery store and ask for hot dog chili sauce they look at you like you’re crazy…

Dinner

Lipton Fettucine (500)

Workout

Yeah, right…

Total Calories: 2070… gosh, that coulda been worse… oh wait… I forgot the cookies…

Post Lunch Snack

Three peanut butter cookies (600?)Two cups milk (160)

New total Calories: 2830… That’s better.

Nikki, Where Are You?

Here I am, boring these people with my good eating, then my junk eating, and I haven't heard from you. I'm leaving town tomorrow and can't update until 12/25, where are ya?

Dec 17--Two More Sleeps!

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Baking tasting:
cookie (225)
caraway cumin, and corainder crackers (50)
almonds (100)

Lunch:
egg (70)
toast (90)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (300)
ccc crackers (150)

Dinner:
banana chips (75)
salad w/ lentils (100)
cookie and a half (300)

Water:
14

Fruits and veg:
10

Exercise:
Reformer (250)

Total calories:
1710

Weight:
144.0

December 16--Baking is My Undoing

Also known as, "the day I decided not to care". Yeah.

Breakfast:
banana (100)
cereal and milk (250)

Lunch:
cranberry pecan bars (450)
eggs (140)
rolls (300)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (300)
cranberry pecan bars--uhm, ok. no more of these. really. (500)

Dinner:
plantains (200)
taco style lentils and rice (650)
cranberry pecan bars--I'm REALLY done now... (200)
popcorn (200)

Fruits and veg:
11

Water:
10

Total calories:
3290

weight:
144.0

December 15--The Whole Stack

So a while ago, Nikki wrote about how I "inspired" her to work up to the whole stack on the seated leg press. I'm the girl at the gym who only takes classes because I'm far too lazy to hit the treadmill (and have bad knees), but last night I was upstairs waiting for my Pilates Reformer class, so I sat down and tried it. I started at 220 because I haven't done it in years, and found it fairly easy to pump out 2 sets of 16 reps. Moved it up to 260 and did 1 set of 16 reps, but stopped because a) I was heading into Reformer, and single leg work on that puppy is harder than any stack of weights and b) did I mention I have bad knees?

The whole stack on that machine was 400 lbs, and I'd say I probably max out around 360 these days. One day in the middle of the week (when I come off of my 5 day cardio binge, I don't do cardio on Wednesday and Thursday), I'll give it a shot. But for a first time back, 260 isn't half bad.

Breakfast:
banana (100)
cereal and milk (250)

Lunch:
2 eggs, scrambled (140)
yogurt (80)
pear (80)
1/2 kids' cheeseburger--told you i've been starving lately (300)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (150)

Dinner:
pancakes and maple syrup (400)
sausage (180)
naan with peanut butter (200)
banana (100)

Water:
13

Fruits and veg:
11

Exercise:
reformer (150)

Total Calories:
1980

December 14--6 Days Until WDW

Madness. I was doing amazingly until dinner. My in-laws have all the crap food (worse than junk food, it's literally just crap. You'll see below) you could ever indulge in, and I was so hungry that I ate it. They don't have any real food, so I should've just ordered something more substantial for dinner. However, they picked O'Charley's which is among the worst available. I should've just packed my own food from home, and probably will next time. Case in point, even though I just ate more than a ridiculous amount of food, my father-in-law's DINNER had more calories than my entire day, and that's totally ok with them. Sigh. No wonder I had to teach the Music Man to eat and enjoy veggies!

Breakfast:
banana (80)
cereal and milk (250)

Lunch:
ww pasta and sauce (200)
pear (70)
banana (90)
Dale and Thomas popcorn (75)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (225)
buckeye candy (75)

Dinner:
broccoli soup (200)
onion rings (150)
steak and broccoli (520)
taffy (25)
Oreos (320)
Zebra cake (160)
cookie (130)
rolls (300)
popcorn (100)

Fruits and veg:
13

Water:
15

Exercise:
step (425)

Total calories:
3280

Weight:
142.8 (for today, that will likely not be the case tomorow)

December 13, 2008 -- Nicole's Food Log

Breakfast
Pancakes (590)
Syrup (100)

Workout
2500m on rower (133 calories burned)
2.25 miles on treadmill (270 calories burned)

Dinner
Two pieces papa john's (600)
Five pierogies (300)
Margarine (60)

Total calories: 1650

Weight: 70.8

December 13-The 7 Days Before WDW

Got a good workout in today with an hour of step and an hour of weights. I'm JAZZED for this week, because the music man doesn't have lessons, so I can hit the gym every night, woohoo!

I think this week will be:
Sunday-step
Monday-kickboxing and Reformer
Tuesday-pilates mat
Wednesday-weights and step
Thursday-pilates mat and legs RT
Friday-boot camp (maybe, we leave that day for WDW)

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Post-workout snack:
banana (90)
raw crackers (25)

Lunch:
sweet potato w/ sour cream and chili powder (195)
pear (80)

Afternoon snack:
banana (90)
Dale and Thomas popcorn (150)

Dinner:
ww pasta and sauce (350)
salad (50)

Evening snack:
green smoothie (225)
cereal and milk (250)

Water:
12

Fruits and veg:
16

Exercise:
step (450)
weights (250)

Total Calories:
1755

All Good Things Must Come to an End

December 12, 2008 -- Nicole's Food Log

So today was a bad bad food day, but man was it yummy...

In other news, I decided I wanted to return to trying to train for a half marathon again. Haven't picked a date, so think I'm gonna take the training a bit easier this time. (Tried this earlier in the fall and it went better than I thought, but stopped when I realized that I was too broke to fly out to Vegas for the fool thing. Did get up to just over six miles, though...)

On to the gluttony...

Breakfast
Toaster strudel (200)

Lunch (at the caf)
Grilled cheese (350)
Fries (175)
Spaghetti (200)
Sauce (50)
Parmesan (40)
Hot fudge Fro yo (250)

Workout
2.25 miles on treadmill (272 calories burned)
18 minutes on stationary bike (102 calories burned)

(Completely forgot how f-ing miserable incline days were... think I was supposed to go for five miles or so, but wanted to die after two and a quarter)

Dinner
Two woodchucks (450)
Pepperoni rolls (1800)

Total calories: 3515

Weight: 69.9kg (Familiar huh? You won't be seeing that tomorrow!)

December 12

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Lunch:
white chocolate (75)
baked polenta (150)
pumpkin bread (125)
yogurt (80)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (425)

Dinner:
chicken, sweet potatoes, and green beans (750)
cookies--doh (450)
Random snacking, popcorn mostly (200)

Fruits and veg:
13

Water:
12

Exercise:
boot camp (400)

Total calories:
2405

Weight:
143.6 woohoo!

December 11

Breakfast:
banana (90)
cereal (250)
orange (50)

Lunch:
dahl and naan (300)
yogurt (80)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (250)

Dinner:
baked polenta (300)
salad (40)
chocolate (210)
dry cereal (50)

Fruits and veg:
14

Water:
13

Exercise:
pilates mat (150)
Abs, Legs, and Glutes--30 mins (150)

Total Calories:
1620

December 11, 2008 -- Nicole's Food Log

Ok, not to be obsessed with the scale or anything, but after the previous babbling blog, I thought I'd share that I'm still under 70kg. Happy day.

Anyhow, nothing exciting to report, so here's the food...

Breakfast
3/4 chocolate banana Smoothie (113)

Lunch
Budget Gourmet Fettucine (300)
Pretzel Bites (260)

Workout
3.40 miles on treadmill (408 calories burned)

Dinner
Mac and cheese with tuna and mayo (910)

Total calories: 1583

Weight: 69.9kg

69 Baby!!!

December 10, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

Ok, first off, get your head out of the gutter.

That said ... I woke up this morning and nearly did a dance of joy when my scale said 69.9kg.

Happy day!!! I'm under 70!!!

Granted, I intended to drop under 70 on Thanksgiving which was a full two weeks ago, but whateva.

So here's why 70 is special...

A year ago I made a dumb bet. I'm more than a little competitive and found myself betting someone that I could (in the spirit of sport) cut from 75kg down to 70.

In about 12 days.

Now by athletic standards, that's not a big cut. Hell, I think I've seen people do it in a couple days (record goes to a guy way smaller than I who did 13kg in eight days), but for a rookie it was dumb. Suffice it to say, first I procrastinated, then I got cocky. I figured I had the weight to lose so if I just buckled down and worked my ass off I could lose the weight legitimately, no tricks needed.

Kinda. After procrastinating, I was down to about nine days and with a low cal diet and two hours in the gym a day, I was looking good, but not that good. So with five days left I gave in to the fact that I was going to have to drip off the last three kilos. And thus I began a schedule of water-loading for several days that left me peeing truly every half hour. I always scoffed at the notion that drinking water makes you eat less 'cause I drink a lot and that's soooo not true.

Uh, when you drink two gallons it is. If for no other reason than the fact that you're too damn bloated to eat. Anyhow, the cycle of stupidity continued up to 36 hours before where the liquid and food consumption stopped. Food I could handle, but no water? Painful. By weigh in day I was on a plane thinking I was going to gag on my own tongue. With a couple hours left I was up by half a kilo which I figured I could sweat off in a sauna.

But this is me and anything that can go wrong will. Cause guess what? There was no sauna. Hell... so after cycling and trying to turn my bathroom into a steam room, I had two options. The first being give up, admit that self torture is lame and that I suck at it... OR (did we mention I can't stand losing?) option b... let someone else beat it out of me. So I borrowed plastics and sweats and let a friend of mine run and bike me to death.

This wasn't really bright either because while people who are used to it adapt, my body started screaming ''What the hell did I do to you???'' It was upset. And thirsty and hungry and reallllllly mad. (And did I mention that all my calculations DID NOT take into account what happens when your body's way of rebelling is to stop pooping??? Shit's heavy people.)

In the end, the half kilo came off... I won, though it would be debated forever that I used a non-approved staff member to conduct the weigh-in.

Meanwhile ... whereas I thought I could run right out and grab a burger, I quickly realized that my stomach was very very hostile and I became terrified of eating anything for fear it would revolt.

But most of all, I learned that I couldn't fathom what it would be like to do that over and over again ... all year long, tournament after tournament with about half the body fat to play with.

Insane. And, suffice it to say, Beijing excluded, I haven't seen a number on the scale under 70 since 2004.

And seeing it without starving, suffering or dressing in plastic is all the better.

That said, I started my staycation (the trendy new term for going on vacation in your house) today. Breakfast was ok, then I worked out and promptly got sucked into work drama that kept me occupied til dinner which was bad bad bad, but whatever... I'm just happy to introduce my scale to the 60s... even if it jumps back up tomorrow.

Breakfast
2 slices Orowheat toast (180)
Margarine (60)
Egg (70)

Workout
2500m row (132 calories burned)
32 minutes on stationary bike (192 calories burned)

Dinner
Mac and cheese (1280)
Turkey dog (70)

Total calories: 1660

Weight: 69.9kg

December 10

We're nine days out from the start of our second trip to WDW, and I'm starting to stress. There is food to cook and freeze for Christmas morning, the whole house to deep clean, packing everyone, etc. This is about the point that I start to flip out a little. That said, here's the food.

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (230)
banana (90)
pear (80)
pumpkin bread (130)

Lunch:
raw crackers (100)
banana (100)
sweet potato pie filling (320)
yogurt (80)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (180)

Dinner:
dahl (150)
naan (420)
banana

Water:
10

Fruits and veg:
13

Exercise:
Weights (250)

Weight:
144.2

Total calories:
1970

Not The Most Productive of Days

December 9, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

Days like today you realize how much the little things add up. I avoid snacks exactly for this reason 'cause lo and behold my day is over and I managed to kill damn near 500 calories that I hadn't planned to ... for no real reason. Now the French fries I wouldn't take back ('cause HELLO! Who DOESN'T love a good fry???), but the Dunkin Doughnuts?

That was just dumb.

Oh... and before you people start in on me for the fries... I don't want to hear it. They're salty and fatty and made (minimally) from potatoes which are two steps away from being starch Satan.

And you know what? I love them and could care less.

Now here's where the foodies of the world introduce me to sweet potato fries. Nope, I like sweet potatoes straight up, but as fries? No flavor. I've tried twice. Once at a lunch at Phantom Canyon and once in the OTC caf. The OTC fries were definitely better as they were more baked and thus more potatoey, but still... nope.

Figured I'd save people the typing.

So on to the food...

Breakfast

Two slices Orowheat toast (180)

Margarine (60)

Egg (70)

Snack

Three Munchkins (225)

*Hell, unlike most of my eating which is intentionally bad, I just grabbed three of the fool things during a meeting break. Whoops!

Lunch

Budget Gourmet Beef Mac (280)

Small McD's fries (250)

*This was another accident that came as a result of nibbling off my coworkers!

Dinner
Grape Uncrustable (210)
*Love these things!

Workout note... Was one of those days. I'm on vacation (uhhhh, kinda... the judo equivalent I suppose) starting tomorrow and so not only didn't I get to leave for a lunch workout, I didn't leave at all until 7something at which point I realized the OTC gym was closed and I didn't have a gym ID for 24 Hour. Realized on the way home I could've borrowed a bike in eddie's dojo, but by that point said screw it. Hence my sandwich dinner to compensate.

Total Calories: 1275

Weight: 70.3kg

December 9

Breakfast:
banana (80)
cereal and milk (230)

Lunch:
sweet potato pie (320)
pb & j (220)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (180)
lemon bread (200)
banana (100)

Dinner:
tacos (470)
small chocolate dipped cone--thanks DQ (340)
sweet potato pie filling (100)
banana (90)

Fruits and veg:
15

Water:
12

Total calories:
2330

Weight:
144.2

December 8--heather

After yesterday's post on how I couldn't remember the last time we had meat, I looked back through my logs and realized I haven't had any this month at all, and haven't cooked it at home since November 25 (when technically the Music man cooked it, not me). Because I was a vegetarian for 13 years, it doesn't seem strange to me, but it is strange to realize that we haven't had it, cock my head, and think when the last time was.

Breakfast:
banana (80)
cereal and milk (230)

Lunch:
banana (90)
ww pasta and sauce (250)
pb bread (150)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (220)

Dinner:
sweet bean lettuce wraps (180)
pumpkin bread (125)
banana (100)
pear (80)


Water:
9

Fruits and veg:
16

Exercise:
kickboxing (400)
Reformer (150)

Total calories:
1370

Weight:
144.4 (amazingly steady, that weight of mine)

December 8, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

Breakfast
Biscuit (360)
Margarine (90)
Egg (70)

Lunch
Frozen mac and cheese (300)

Workout
2500m row (133 calories burned)
55 minutes on stationary bike (270 calories burned)

Dinner
Spaghetti (600)
Vodka sauce (120)
Parmesan (50)
EVOO (120)

Total Calories (1710)

Weight: 70.9kg

The Best Burger on Earth

December 7, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

I had the best of intentions for today... until i ended up at Blue Star with Jess for dinner. One of my favorite restaurants, Blue Star features a rotating menu and... drumroll please... half-price bottles of wine on Sundays. The home of fabulous food, Blue Star's menu includes such quirks this time as potato pancakes with caviar and maca gnocchi and cheese (which Heather will be pleased to know involves squash). But best of all, they have the best melt-in-your-mouth cheeseburger on earth... complete with yummy smoked applewood bacon.

Thought I'd at least throw the above out as a prelude to the following...

Lunch
Budget gourmet Fettucine Alfredo (300)
Soft pretzel cheese bites (320)

Workout
2500m on rower (132)
40 minutes on stationary bike (180)

Dinner
1/2 bottle of chardonnay
Bread with EVOO and hummus
bacon Cheeseburger
Fries
1/3 of a corleone
(yummy goodness!!! it's homemade vanilla ice cream rolled in honey, cinnamon and various other stuff)
1/2 chocolate pumpkin parfait thing
(amazingly tiny... probably double the size of a sot glass... and not sure what all was involved, but there was pumpkin bread, brownie, some kind of pumpkin whipped cream meets mousse... divine...)

Another good food day, right? Well, at least it was one hell of a dinner!

Weight: 70.5kg

December 6, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

Breakfast
Pancakes (590)
Syrup (100)

Lunch
Chicken Pot Pie (300)

Workout
2.85 miles on treadmill (335 calories burned)
30 minutes on stationary bike (152 calories burned)

Dinner
Mac and Cheese (1280)
Turkey dog (70)

Total calories: 2290

Weight: 70.5kg

December 7 (already??!)

I wish I had words for why I'm so stinking hungry these days, but I don't. So here's the log, still eating good food and increasing my plant food. In fact, I can't remember the last time I made meat at home, probably at least two weeks. The family doesn't miss it, and we eat it when we're out some, so it's not like it's "gone" from the diet. Apparently I'm raising flexatarians. :)

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (230)
banana (90)
pear (80)

Lunch:
homemade pizza (350)
pineapple (25)
banana (90)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (200)

Dinner:
ww pasta and sauce (400)
pumpkin bread (150)
salad (50)
esther Price (75)

Evening snack:
cereal and milk

Water:
11

Fruits and veg:
15

exercise:
60 min step (400)

Total calories:
1990

Weight:
144.4

No Gym=Unhappy Mommy=Skipping "Healing"

Confession; I skipped the first half of my inner healing class, Elijah House, today. To go to the gym. This week was crazy. The kids slept through Monday's kickboxing, so I only got Reformer in. Zumba was canceled Tuesday. Wednesday I just did weights before Elijah House, Thursday I had Pilates before small group, and yesterday I had to skip boot camp for MOPS (sigh). Then I was supposed to skip weights and step for Elijah House? I just couldn't do it. I went to step and left before weights, but at least I got step and abs in! Tomorrow I get to go to dual step (or tri-step, or quad step, whatever Amber wants to do), and I'm excited!

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (230)
banana (100)

Lunch:
green smoothie (250)
pineapple (50)
lentils (200)
salad (60)
yogurt (170)

Afternoon snack:
banana (100)

Dinner:
white chocolate (50)
homemade pizza (350)
pumpkin bread (250)
banana (90)
Esther Price chocolate (75)

Water:
11

Fruits and veg:
15

Exercise:
step (530 calories burned)

Total calories:
1970

Weight:
144.4

December 5-Walt Disney's Birthday

Yesterday was an OK, but radically busy, day. Last night the Music Man and I had parent's night out where we dropped our three kids off at church for three hours and headed out. We went to Seasons 52 (amazing) and then hit the mall for a while. Seasons 52 is all aobut fresh food, no butter, cream, or deep fryers in the place. No soda either. I love all of that. All the entrees have less than 475 calories, and that's great too. Unless you're like me and eat half an appetizer, a salad, an entree, and two dessert shots. The way they control calories is through portion control, not using less caloric ingredients. My Greek salad had 312 calories, and it wasn't exactly dinner sized! The flat bread was literally the thinnest crust I've ever seen on anything, almost lacy around the edges. The grouper was amazing, and the mayan veggies underneath were great. The desserts were heavenly, though 300 calories for what was literally a shot glass is outlandish. And wait, they said no cream in the place, but there was real whipped cream on top (and I know the taste of hydrogenated oil, um, Cool Whip). Interesting. The damage was HUGE.

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (230)

MOPS:
fruit (50)
pastry (made by yours truly) (350)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (260)
buckeye candy (courtesty of Aunt Kay) (80)
raw crackers (50)
cereal (250)

Dinner:
Seasons 52 (1450)
lemon bread (200)

Water:
10

Fruits and veggies:
10

Exercise:
none

Total calories:
2920

Weight:
144.4

I'm Alive, Honest

December 5, 2008 - Nicole's Food Log

This week's been a bit stressful... combine that with socialization and it's bad bad bad...

Probably the greatest damage was done the day I got into a hard core feud and my coworkers decided to make me feel better by bringing me little ceasar's. Yup, felt way better after half a pizza and some crazy bread...

Then there was lunch with friends yesterday in the caf ... complete with grilled cheese and a mocha chip brownie...

And then the trip to Fazoli's for dinner before the TSO Show (waited for 45 minutes at Macaroni Grill before giving up and heading to Fazoli's...)

All awful. And I find it to be ironic that Heather's topic was emotional eating as clearly that was my downfall this week. When you're happy, you eat... when you're pissy you eat. I've never been an ''eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full'' girl. And, frankly, when I'm not eating the house if I'm cranky, I just decide not to eat which apparently also makes me feel better.

Only thing that fixes this at all is pre-packaged food... sounds awful, but if you eat whatever's in front of you, throwing a frozen thing in the microwave means that's all you get unless you make the conscious decision to take another box out and fix something else. Other foods (and trips to restaurants) leave wayyyyy too much ability with which to fluctuate.

Anyhow, that's my rant... Today I bypassed on ordering lunch in with my cohorts (as I guarantee it would've been a pizza sub!) and brought frozen food back out. Not ''Heather healthy'' but it's my attempt to introduce porton control into my crazy little world. while I was at it, i kicked myself briefly for going to the caf instead of the gym yesterday and hopped back on the workout wagon.

here goes:

Breakfast
Apex bar (160)

Lunch
Four Cheese Lean Pocket (280)

Snack
Five premium crackers (60)

Workout
2000m on rower (107 calories burned)
38 minutes on stationary bike (231 calories burned)

Dinner
Mac and cheese (780)
Mayo (80)
Turkey dog (70)

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie (500)
* actually it was a small piece so probably nhere near 500 and really I just ate it because it was the last piece.

Total: 1910

December 4--Get Me Off This Roller Coaster

You know the one, called "emotional eating". Sigh. And next time, don't follow that ride with the mini-coaster called"baked bread and scones all day".

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (225)
2 herb and cheese scones (300)

Lunch:
pb bread (150)
yogurt (110)
raw crackers (50)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (300)
2 eggs (140)
sweet lemon bread (500)

Dinner:
pasta and sauce (200)

Food at Ginger's (sigh):
pumpkin gooey butter cake (500)
chex mix (100)
raspberry tea with honey (30)

Water:
12

Fruits and veg:
9 (thank God for green smoothie, otherwise almost nothing)

Exercise:
1 hour Pilates mat (150)

Total calories:
2605

Weight:
146.2

The Day the Wheels Started to Come Off

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)
raw crackers (75)

Lunch:
peanut butter sandwich (350)
brussel sprouts (100)
CCM's yogurt (he wanted to share) (25)

Afternoon snack:
green and beet smoothie (200)

Dinner:
honey lentils (200)
bread and nutella (150)

This is where the breakdown occurred:
McChicken (340)
Oreo McFlurry (550)

Sigh.

There's something going on in me that's spiritual, and part of eating that tonight was in response to that. I have work to do.




Water:
12

Fruits and veg:
8

Exercise:
1 hour weights (200)

Total calories:
2240

Weight:
146.2

So What Is Moderation?

Lately I've been musing over how hilarious food and diet propaganda is in the health food world. I like to think that we're pretty balanced. You've got vegans who eschew kefir and yogurt but think it's ok to eat margarine and shortening (ick). You've got the raw movement where it's ok to eat nuts and avocados up to 50% of your diet, but nothing heated to more than 115 degrees. You've got the Weston Price folks who say sure, eat as much meat and dairy as you like, so long as it's grass-fed and organic. Then the Maker's Diet, who say that phytates in grains will kill you unless they're soaked out.

Then you have me. I take some from all of those places. I eat meat and dairy in moderation. Prefer baked bread, wholesome from organic grain and made in my own oven. Use my new dehydrator to keep nutrients intact and soak nuts and seeds to activate the sprouts. I guess where I'm going with this is that there are thousands of degrees even with "moderate" diets.

I've noticed that when I eat the SAD, I feel sick. My digestive system all but shuts down, but is back to normal within 48 hours of being back on our diet. I'm really seeking our own nutrition truth, and allowing it to evolve.

Earlier in the year, when I was focused on shedding lots of weight, I ate a high protein, low-fat diet. Now that I'm in a maintenance mode until the end of the year, I'm eating more fats and less protein. I'm ok with that. I know that when it's time to get back to weight loss after Christmas, I'll need to be more strict with myself. Why the break? Other than the fact that it's Christmas and I want an excuse to indulge, after having lost 80 pounds in nine months, I think my brain and my metabolism both need a break. I think after the gluttony that marks Christmas around here I'll be so sick of feeling bad that I'll want to get back on the wagon. Not to mention that the week after the Music Man is home so I can log some serious gym hours!

What you've seen lately is moderation to me. Mostly good stuff, with chocolate mixed in. :)

Smoothie Day

December 1, 2008

Heather should be (kinda) proud... On Black Friday I took advantage of the Kohl's sale and bought a Smoothie maker.

(and yes, I'm 29-years-old and i've never owned a blender... don't say it...)

So this morning I decided to give it a run with a banana chocolate smoothie.

Here's what I learned:

1. I like smoothies Fribble-thick so I halved the milk and tossed in an extra half cup ice.
2. Damn 1 serving is HUGE! Thing filled up a bar glass with a bit leftover.
3. While it was tasty, that's a lotta drink and I couldn't kill the thing before it started to melt.
4. something that thick and that cold takes forever to suck down.
5. Anyone who replies that I should take it in the car with me has never seen snow.
6. While yummy, I probably should've chased it with a hardboiled egg to get some protein to carry me longer than 9:30.
7. I'm disturbed by the notion that you can throw raw eggs into smoothies. uncooked eggs have one place in food... carbonara. That's it.

On to the food log...

Breakfast
3/4 chocolate and banana Smoothie (115)

Snack
Two crackers (24)

Lunch
Four cheese Lean Pocket (280)

Workout
53 minutes on stationary bike (322 calories burned

Dinner
Three servings spaghetti (600)
Vodka sauce (120)
Olive oil (120)
Parmesan (100)
Margarine (30)
Crescent rolls (425)

Total Calories (1714)

Weight: 70.5

December 2

I'm dealing with some drama in my life that's making me not hungry. Not sure if that will translate into eating more calories (just easy ones), or less, but I'm not really worried about it. Nothing too much going on, just internal struggles bubbling to the surface (you can check my personal blog if you care to read). Anyhow, with it being December and therefore crazy busy AND the internal drama AND a month where we're taking a 6 day vacation out of state, I'm a bit out of sorts. It's harder to hang on to whole foods eating and exercise during times of stress, but that's when it's most important!

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (260)
nutella bread (200)

Lunch:
raw crackers (50)
oatmeal walnut burgers (400)
greek yogurt (240)

Afternoon snack:
raw crackers (25)
green smoothie (180)
nutella bread (150)

Dinner:

Esther Price (200)
egg salad w/ red peppers served in lettuce wraps (300)
roasted brussel sprouts (80)
white chocolate (30)
cereal and milk (300)

Water:
11

Fruits and veg:
9

Total Calories:
2415

Weight:
146.2

December 1 Already?

I can't believe that it's already December!

Breakfast:
banana (100)
cereal and milk (275)

Morning snack:
nutella bread (150)

Lunch:
brown rice and broccoli stir fry (100)
raw crackers, pre-dehydration (that means dough) (75)

Afternoon snack:
Green smoothie (275)
banana chips (125)

Dinner:
Oatmeal walnut burgers (150)
salad (20)
yogurt (240)
cracker dough (50)
Esther Price chocolate (75)
cereal and milk (300)

Water:
10

fruits and veg:
12

Exercise:
90 mins reformer (250)

Total calories:
1935

Trying To Return to Normalcy

Breakfast:
Green smoothie (250)
teriyaki almonds (75)

Lunch:
bread and Nutella (450)
ww pasta and sauce (250)
banana (100)
1/4 Jack's burger, no bun (75)
banana chips (250)

Afternoon snack:
banana (100)

Dinner:
broccoli and red pepper stir fry w/ brown rice (200)
nutella bread (150)
cereal and milk (250)

Water:
10

Fruits and veggies:
14

Exercise:
75 mins step (550)

Total Calories:
2050

Pie and Pilates

November 30, 2008 -- Nicole's Food Log

Now, I've attempted Pilates once or twice before. I bought Brooke Siler's book years ago and tried it out a bit and my friend Johanna once used us as guinea pigs when she was working on her certification.

I've always thought it would be fun to hit a class so today I made the most of ''On-Demand'' and tried a 20-minute Pilates video.

Verict?

Yeah, I have no core.

Actually it wasn't too bad (other than me being in pain and looking a fool... to put it nicely!) I learned that I really need to stretch more, but we won't see me hitting a class anytime soon. While it was fun, I don't have the time to set aside an hour in addition to a normal cardio workout.

But I might do the On-Demand stuff again.

As for food, today wasn't bad, but damn I'm IN LOVE with pumpkin pie. I have one piece and am already envisioning making pumpkin bread. Such a bad idea...

But on with the food...

Breakfast
Bagel with margarine and cream cheese (300)

Workout
2.3 miles on treadmill (275 calories burned)
30 minutes on stationary bike (147 calories burned)

Lunch
Budget Gourmet mac and beef (280)
Fat free pudding (100)

Workout
Pilates video (uhhhhh... 50?)

Dinner
Ramen with Parmesan (420)
Pumpkin pie (500)

Total calories: 1600

Weight: 70.6kg

Back to Relative Normal

November 29, 2008 -- Nicole's Food Log

Now there are those (meanspirited Thanksgiving haters) who say you should watch what you eat on a holiday. To that I say ''Why?''

The reality of Thanksgiving is that it's one day and it won't kill you. Now if you have two weekfs of turkey and fixings in your fridge, well, that just might. But the day itself? No.

That said, the weight rebounded a bit today... something i likely undid with my trip to the movie theater, but oh well.

(Oh... and back to my point about Thanksgiving... this is also only valid if you don't have a pumpkin pie in your fridge... sadly I do. And at this point I'm considering eating the rest of it in one fell swoop just to top spreading out the misery, but I digress... on to the log...)

Breakfast
Bagel and a half (315)
Margarine (120)
Cream cheese (30)
2 eggs (140)

Lunch
1 1/2 pieces pumpkin pie (750)

Workout
43 minutes on stationary bike (220 calories burned)

Snack (estimated)
Soft pretzel (370)
Cheese (150)

Dinner
WW Ziti (280)
Two crescent rolls (300)
Margarine (30)

Total calories: 2395

Weight: 70.3kg

Ahem

I *believe* that Nikki left out one small detail below.

When I told her I could press the whole stack (and believe me, I could), that was in response to her telling me I had tree trunk legs. I'm short and strong and flexible, so not at all untrue, but her rendition makes me sound needlessly mean.

And in whose world is a 5'11" female not "talll"?!

That is all.

I Hear Voices

Little confession: I hear voices. Not the kind that warrant a hug me jacket and a trip to the State Hospital. Alas, at least handfuls of lithium could help with that.

No, instead I hear voices of friends, familiy, nemeses.

Ever see the cartoons where the guy has a little angel and a little devil on his shoulders yakking at him? That's kinda what it's like.

So occassionally I feel the urge to reply to some of Heather's comments, but get busy. That said, it's snowing outside and I'm lazy, so here goes...

In one of the early blogs, Heather decided to describe me as something to the effect of ''Talllll, apple-shaped and skinniest legs of anyone she knows.''

Let's clarify a few things: I'm not that tall... it just looks that way from Heather's perch. (haha... ) Actually, I'm around 5'11. Not ridiculously tall, but just big enough that I loathe buying pants and have been known to hand my last $100 over to the folks at The Buckle to find jeans that fit. (Hey... no scoffing! There are no 35 inch jeans at Kohl's people.)

The apple-shaped thing is right on and seems to be a bit of a losing battle as the smallest I've ever been is 137 (freshman and sophomore year at OU) which sounds tiny, but really amounted to be about a size 9 with a pony keg belly, so I'm mildly afraid that the bikini body concept, could be a lost cause. But i'm trying anyway!

As for the leg thing... they're kinda like drumsticks. Joey used to call them chicken legs in high school and that's kinda accurate. They're kinda plump up top and then I have no calves.

But it's this final item that brings me back to hearing voices. So I thought I'd share with Heather that it's been years since we've made a trip to Ping (our fabulous rec center at OU), but I still remember the day when you followed some shot on the bird legs with ''But can they press 300lbs, cause I can do the whole stack.''

And, nearly 10 years later, that's still the voice I hear every time I get on the leg press machine.

At this point I'd like to say that's provided me so much motivation I can plop 300 on that bad boy with the greatest of ease.

Uh yeah, I'd be a liar if I said I'd even put 200 on the damn thing, but it does help me knock out the rest of a set when my legs start to whimper and whine. :o)

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, for that, Heather, I thank you.

(Oh, and some day I really will crank the thing up to 300 at which point i'll youtube you the video. Followed by footage of my trip to the hospital and my subsequent wheelchair! Hahaha...)

The Aftermath (Also Known As The Day I Exploded)

So we came home, and I thought I was going to do ok with being in the car all day. Not so. All I wanted to do was eat junk! It's funny how pervasive junk eating is, when you do it, that's all you want! So here's the shameful list:

Breakfast:
pancakes and sausage (900)?

Lunch:
Hadrees 1/4 lb little thickburger (650)
*shakes head* oatmeal cream pie (410)
animal crackers (200)
fuze drink (180)

Dinner:
ww pasta and sauce (300)
Esther Price chocolates (175)

total:
2815

Weight:
146.2 (oh yes, I knew that was coming)

The Day After

Breakfast
Stuffing (450)

Lunch
Fettucine alfredo (520)
Stuffing (300)

Workout
58 minutes on stationary bike (310 calories burned)

Dinner
skipped it, but ate the following while watching a movie with a friend
Pumpkin pie (500)
Wine (400)

Total calories: 2170

Weight: 71.5kg
(Gosh, way to stick to the American trend of gaining three pounds on one holiday)

Thanksgiving Day... bring on the food

First off, I blew the weight goal... got cocky and ate too much salt Wednesday night when I didn't give proper credence to how much it would make me retain water.

Thus the scale snickered when it popped up with 70.1 on Turkey Day morning. Further, I can't be sure, but I swear I heard it say ''Dumbass.''

Whatever. I'll win the next one.

So I haven't been home for Turkey Day in years as I always have single friends around here to do the holiday with. Not this year... drops in plane ticket prices meant everyone ran home. You'd think this would be good for the diet... You just might be on crack then because all this means is that I was going to fix my faves with no one to split the damage with. On the upside, being home alone wasn't bad at all...

even got a workout in, though you would not believe how packed the gym is at 9 a.m. on Turkey Day. Even better, my friend Becky mentioned her fabulous spin instructor was teaching a 90 minute class at 9 and silly me didn't realize that room would be a packed house before 8!

But I did stay and work out, so that's a bonus, but seriously, only in the Springs...

On to the food... I soooo put heather to shame...

Workout
2000m on rower (104 calories burned)
38 minutes on bike (220 calories burned)

Breakfast
Pancakes (800)

Dinner
Guesstimate... (mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, mac and cheese, turkey dog... shut up, I don't know what to do with actual turkey) ... (3260)
Half piece pumpkin pie (250)
(Not particularly because I'm a good person, but more because i thought I might undergo a stomach rupture)

Total Calories: 4510

Weight: 70.1kg

I. Cannot. Move.

I don't even know how many calories I've eaten, but I'll make a list as best I can remember.

Breakfast:
banana (100)
cereal and milk (250)

Thanksgiving dinner:
turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing
cornbread stuffing, cranberry salad
crudite, cheese (950)
pumpkin roll and apple betty (500)

Assorted snacks afterward (500)

Dinner:
pizza, local (600)
orange (50)
almonds (50)
banana read (200)

Total:
3200

My brother tells me that the average person eats 4500 calories on Thanksgiving day, so I, um, guess we'll say that's not tooooooo terrible? Sure, why not?

I Might Actually Get it Done

November 26 -- Nicole Food Log

Thanksgiving is tomorrow ... which also means my deadline to hit 70kg.

Fortunately, the scale and I resumed a psuedo-functional relationship when it popped up with 70.2. Happy day... we'll see how long this lasts.

Breakfast
Egg McMuffin (290)

(I'm a big EMC fan... for years I used to be a bacon egg and cheese biscuit girl... until I discovered exactly how bad the fat-drenched biscuit is for you. Don't get me wrong, they're still DELICIOUS, but not the most nutritious of items and haven't had one in forever).

Lunch
Four Cheese Lean Pocket (280)

Workout
59 minutes on stationary bike (305 calories burned)

Dinner
3 servings mac and cheese (780)
Mayo (80)
Hot dog (190)

(Note... intended on having tuna, but that didn't work well and the only other thing around was hot dogs... - know. I know)

Total calories (1520)

Weight: 70.2kg

The Day I Added More Food

At no point did I think I would do the unthinkable ... add more food. With just over 24 hours until I said I'd hit 70kg, I realized tonight that I was a bit calorically deficient. Not usually a problem you'll ever see me with which is why I'm not a big snack food person. In my world, little food items don't tide you over until anything... they're just calories to be eaten on top of whatever you'd eat anyway.

But alas, tonight I opted for a snack and heather would be pleased to know that I thought of a banana. which would've been a great choice. Or perhaps some string cheese... a personal fave!

Yeah, none of those were around, but I also didn't have any chocolate, so guess it could be worse.

Interestingly enough my first thought was these pretzels cheese bite things. Thought I could throw a couple in the microwave. Hahahaha... not at 160 calories for, um, two!

To which I thought perhaps I'd underestimated their size. Nope, cracked the box open and each was shorter than my thumb. Now I have ridculously large hands (no really), but those things are smallllll. And y'all have clearly noticed how I get with cheese and carbs. Even at 80 calories apiece, stopping at five would be an achievement.

So... back in the freeze with those, eh?

anyhow, opted for some crispix... my fave cereal! (No, it's not Lucky charms or something else ridiculous.)

Here's the thing... I've always been a calorie label reader. It's never been that I'm uneducated. No, simply that I could give a shit.

So I knew a cup of crispix was 110 calories. I'd just never stopped to pour my cereal into a measuring cup before I put it down my trap. Anyhow, moral of today's story is that a cup of Crispix is kind of a lot. good to know, right?

'Nuff rambling...

Here's the food list...

Breakfast
Two slices Orowheat toast (180)
Egg (70)
Margarine (60)

Snack
Two crackers (24)
(Ok, so two crackers isn't really anything other than grazing food, but for lack of a better term, here's the category it goes into).

Lunch
Two packets Easy Mac (460)

Workout
2.15 miles on treadmill (252)
(Lame on the distance, but I made the mistake of running in a long sleeve shirt and I got to cooking... not workout sweaty, just ovenish... weird, so I gave up)
45 minutes on bike (260)

Dinner
Budget Gourmet Mac and cheese (300)
(Swear I didn't realize I'd eaten mac twice in one day til it was too late!)

Snack
Crispix (110)

Total calories: 1180

Weight: 71.0 kg

November 24 Food Log - Nicole

Ok, so yesterday had itss ups and its downs. Summary... I did well all day and then took my friend Jess out for her birthday dinner. Which was bad, but coulda been worse...

Breakfast
Apex Bar (160)

Snack
Lean pocket Bacon Egg and Cheese (140)

Lunch
Smart Ones Lasagna (300)

Snack
Three crackers (36)

Workout
Ran crazy late in the office, so this didn't happen.

Dinner
Carrabba's... can't find nutrition info... nor do I probably want to, but I did try before I went out...

Bread and olive oil
Manicotti
1/3 Chocolate dessert thing (guesstimate... Jess and I split it and there was still a lot leftover, so maybe only 30%... lol...)

Weight: 71.1

So the scale and I had a fight today. We usually have a pretty good relationship... I keep the diet ok and workout and it responds accordingly. I eat crap and the same occurs.

Now... Monday it decided to get smart with me and say "screw you." Because Sunday morning (post-mac / alcohol binge) I weighed 71.1. So Sunday I kept the caloric intake around 1500, went for a good run, rode the bike and how does my friend the scale repay me? By not budging.

Not very nice and if this keeps up we're gonna have words...

It Inches Ever Closer...

Yet another day when I didn't get anything done for my trip. I really think that I'll just toss some laundry together Tuesday, throw it all into a couple of bags, and not worry about it. Then I can wrap gifts while we're there since I don't have anything I HAVE to do in OH on Friday until the evening (giving said gifts). I'm not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda gal, but time is short. So here it is, a pretty good day where I wasn't terribly hungry. That is all.

Breakfast:
2 bananas (200)
pear (80)

Lunch:
grilled trout, steamed veggies (250)
almonds (50)

Afternoon snack:
Green smoothie (210)

Dinner:
almonds (100)
taco salad (200)
green smoothie (70)

Evening snack:
cereal and milk (250)

Fruits and veg:
13

water:
10

Exercise:
kickboxing (350)
reformer (150)

Total calories:
1375

T Minus One

Food for the day before the trip. Be back Sunday (though I may post between not and then)!

Today I made some crackers in my dehydrator and thought they turned out pretty well. If you don't care about the raw thing, you could bake these in the oven, but here's what I did:

Heather's Mostly Raw Pizza Crackers:

1/2 c. almonds
1/4 c. raw flax seeds, soaked overnight (this will yield about 1/2 c.)
1/4 c. sundried tomatoes
2 roasted red peppers (I used jarred)
1 t. garlic, minced
2 T. dried onions or 1/2 t. onion powder
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. salt
2 T sesame seeds, soaked overnight
small handful grens (I used dehydrated collards, but to each her own)

Spread onto teflexx sheets or parchment paper and dry in dehydrator for about 6 hours at 115 degrees, turn over to mesh screens and dry for a couple more hours. I'd imagine in the oven, you would do 350 degrees for 8-10 mins. So tasty!

I plan to make some nut cheese when we get home, woohoo!

Breakfast:
half banana (50)
cereal and milk (250)
almonds (50)

Lunch:
burrito (350)
yogurt (170)
raw dehydrated flax crackers (75)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (210)

Dinner:
carrot cake pancakes (YUUUMMMMM) w/ whipped cream and maple syrup (600)
turkey sausage (110)
more raw crackers (40)
tortilla chips and pico (100)
banana bread (200)


Fruits and veg:
9

Water:
12

Exercise:
Pilates mat (150)

Total calories:
2205

Me in the SADness

In a couple of days, we're heading to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, we all gather at my great aunt's house (and have for as long as I can remember). We only missed one year, where we went for Christmas in 2004 because I felt Hadley was too little to make the trip at a scant three weeks old. Sigh, my babies...

Anyhow, I need to prep my body as best I can for what we'll encounter there. They eat the SAD complete with iceberg lettuce, soda, and pork. We'll obviously choose to avoid as much as we can, but I can't see how we'll totally get around it. I'm working on dehydrating some snacks like raw teriyaki almonds and banana chips, and probably some flax crackers to take along so that we have some whole foods nutrition to snack on between meals. Last time we got back from Ohio, the Music Man's request was to eat all raw for a week. He hasn't realized before that time how different he felt eating a steady stream of junk, but it hit us all pretty hard!

Breakfast:
banana (100)
beet and carrot "hot pink" smoothie (320)

Lunch:
tacos (580)
teriyaki almonds (50)
banana (100)

Dinner:
*There are all estimates since Bugaboo Creek doesn't publish nutrition information. I took data from competing restaurants and made some guesses.

bloomin onion thing (200)
grilled trout, steamed veggies, and wild rice (400)
chocolate toffee cake thing (300)

Evening snack:
banana (100)
almonds (50)

Water:
16

fruits and veg:
14

Exercise:
step (475)

Total calories:
2200

Weight:
143.2

Back on the wagon

November 23 Food Log - Nicole

After yesterday's food and boozefest, decided that I needed to try and return to the world of working out and something that vaguely resembled normal calorie consumption.

The goal was to try and lose about a kilo a week, but with tomorrow being the one week mark from the start of this experiment, I don't see a kilo loss popping up on the scale, but maybe I'll come close.

And for those who don't know me, I'm deadline obsessed. A journalism major in college who still thrives off a looming deadline and the accompanying mania, it's the only way I function. Therefore, I'm opting to break this weight loss thing into a series of deadlines with the first being to hit 70kg by Thanksgiving. Definitely doable as long as I keep the shells and cheese outta the house.

On Thursday I'll explain the significance of 70, but til then, it's food time.

Brunch
Two biscuits (360)
1 egg (70)
Margarine (120)

Workout
3.95 miles on treadmill (483)
22 minutes on stationary bike (112)

Dinner
3 servings spaghetti (600)
Vodka sauce (120)
EVOO (120)
Parmesan (50)

(Before anyone starts talking trash... have you ever tried vodka sauce? Fabulous!!! And not because ... compared to Heather... I'm a lush who adores vodka. No, it's just really good and has a nice kick to it.)

Total Calories: 1440

Weight: 71.1
(Lesson learned... you can probably get away with mac and cheese OR booze OR skipping a work out... not all three. Which I suppose is why I ended up in this sitch in the first place... )

The Mistake that was Probably Worse than the Booze

Ok so this is about to get reallllly ugly. My friends Justin and Andie threw their Birthday Pub Crawl ... six bars on a tour that started at about 4:30.

I intended to go for a run prior to the debauchery; however we all make our choices in life and my decision to spend my day watching OSU trounce Michigan and then go jeans shopping didn't leave time for more productive things.

So, here's the damage...

Breakfast
Two slices Orowheat toast (180)
Margarine (60)
Two eggs scrambled with fat-free cream cheese (200)

Drinking Tour
Old Chicago's
Two 16 oz Woodchucks (480)

Jose Muldoon's
One vodka cranberry (250)
(I usually put these around 200, but our very friendly bartender loaded this one up)
Chips and salsa (250)
(Didn't eat many, but two sips into that drink I knew I had to toss a couple into my stomach to do some absorption damage control)

Tony's
One vodka cranberry (200)
Two pieces of cheese quesadilla with sour cream (450)

Jack Quinn's
12 oz strongbow (180)

Here's where the poor decision making kicked in. (Yeah, I know Heather would say 1000 calories of alcohol was a bad decision already)

My personal cell rings. It's one of the girls from my office calling to tell me that she just went on our site and the domain name has expired. F$@(!

This wouldn't be as big of a deal except I live in a very crazy world where for political reasons there's a list of people who would buy that domain name out from under us just for the entertainment value of saying ''Screw you.''

So I sit in the bar and talk Mon through how to renew it. No luck, system's down or something.

at this point my friends have moved on to the final bar, but now I'm just pissed. I'd been having a great night and now I couldn't stop thinking about the web site. So I went to Thirsty. Hung out with some water and then bid my adieu.

Now I still had another bday party I was supposed to appear at for my friend Jess, but I just wasn't in the mood. so I bailed, figuring no one wants a sulker at a party anyway.

But I was still irritated that I'd had another night shot by my job, so I decided to buy myself a pickmeup. Nope, not a bottle of vodka. That would've been a calorie efficient thing to do. No, I bought Velveeta Shells and Cheese.

Was I actually hungry? Nope.

But here's the damage anyway...

mac and Cheese: 900 calories
Hot dog: 190

Total: 3440

Weight: 70.6kg (watch closely folks as this goes through the roof tomorrow!)

November 21 - Nicole Food Log

Ok, so not only was i a diet slacker, but I worked too late, skipped lunch and didn't work out. Functional, right?

Breakfast
Pop Tart (200)

Snack
Andes Mint (25)

Lunch
Easy Mac (230)

Snack
Two Reese's miniatures (84)

Dinner
Mac and cheese (1280)
Hot dog (190)

Total Calories: 1909

Weight: 70.4kg

We Need to Squash It

I made that squash mac and cheese, and frankly, I was not impressed. First, it didn't taste at all good. The texture was weird and I had to add a ton more spices than what was listed to make it even moderately palatable. Second, the nutrition information is wrong. It says 200 cals per serving, but the pasta alone at 16 oz would be 1600 calories. I emailed the girl who submitted the recipe, and she stands by the information somehow. I entered it into my tracker on Sparkpeople.com, as did a couple of other people and she won't concede that she made a mistake. How weird.

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (250)

Morning "snack":
Panera pineapple upside down mini bundt cake (520)
Seriously, that's ridiculous. 520 wasted calories on an ok cake with a ring of pineapple around the top. It was moderately tasty, but I could've done a lot better things with 520 calories and $2.59. My only excuse was that I had just come from the gym and was feeling a little lightheaded as I waited my turn to buy my sister her requested gift certificate.

Lunch:
banana (100)
tortilla chips and pico de gallo (250)
nutella bread (150)
I had a moment today. First, I felt like I wasted the calories on that blasted cake. Then I had the nutella bread and you know what? It really wasn't that good. It was just a sugar shot. I know that I'm going to have a ledown that triggers a stronger craving for Nutella, but I had a little mind switch. It's just not worth it. It doesn't taste as good as a green smoothie. It doesn't taste as good as a big ol' taco salad or a sweet potato or a perfect, juicy pear. And since it doesn't taste as good and really it's just giving my body something only SLIGHTLY less junky than, say, Doritos, I think I can lay it down. Freedom.

Dinner:
raw, dehydrated teriyaki almonds (150)
homemade banana chips (50)
eggs 210
turkey sausage (135)
apple (60)
banana (100)

Evening snack:
raw teriyaki almonds (50)
blueberry yogurt (170)

water:
13

fruits and veg:
7--sad

total calories:
2095

exercise:
1 hour step (450)

weight:
144.6

The Word of the Day-heather

The word of the day is loved. I'm one of those people (completely opposite of Nikki) who has always maintained just a handful of close friends. I don't so much do superficial relationships, but God is bringing me into other relationships lately that are not so much superficial, but definitely not the dive deep stuff I'm used to. And that's ok.

Yesterday I was facebooking (yes, Firefox, that is a verb) with one of my pastor's daughters-in-love as they call them. She asked me something about green smoothie, and I replied with where she could get some ingredients. She replied that I was her inspiration to get back to the gym and get healthier. Now, this is a thin, beautiful woman. And I look like, well, me. I know I've dropped about 80 lbs since the baby was born, but goodness! I see my floppy arms ("lunch ladies" as ElleBee calls them), my puffy hips. I was relating that to my friend Amy, and she hits me with the "two" of this one-two punch in the gut and tells me I've inspired her to lose weight before a big international trip. Aww, I'm feeling the love!

In other news, my dehydrator came today. Right now, I've got almonds, banana chips, collard green chips, and fruit leather going. Woohoo!

Breakfast:
3 small bananas (240)

Lunch:
green smoothie (200)
2 pieces nutella bread (225)
peanut butter (100)
collard green chips (40)

Afternoon snack:
banana (90)
1/2 burger, w/o bun (150)
what is WITH this beef craving?!

Dinner:
nutella bread 250
Seriously, I plan to never buy Nutella again, I have a real problem. Well, unless I walk past it and it calls my name, then maybe, just maybe, I'll purchase another jar of European loveliness.
squash mac and cheese with broccoli (100)
baked sweet potato (260)
freshens yogurt (250)
nutella bread (120)

Water:
15

Fruits and veg:
14

Total calories:
1925

Exercise:
boot camp 350

weight:
144.6

November 20, 2008 - Nicole Food Log

Breakfast
Toast … Orowheat, so that’s something, right? (90)
Margarine… (40)
Egg (70)

Lunch
Um, what didn’t I eat? We went to an Italian buffet… ya know this is gonna be bad… fortunately it wasn’t an alfredo day… And these are my best estimates

Two servings spaghetti (450)
Baked ziti (400)
Pizza (300)
Bread… and lots of it (600)

Workout
35 minutes on stationary bike … sorry, got out of the office late and OTC closes at 7. (217 calories burned)

Dinner
Two Easy Macs (460)
Half hot dog (90)

Total Calories: ummmm, 2500

Weight: 70.4kg

Raw and Dehydrated, Day 1

Sounds like a bad day, no?

No really, I'm just trying to work back up to around 60% raw food, and my dehydrator is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Knowing it was on its way, I bought three bunches of browning bananas to make into banana chips and have almonds soaking for teriyaki almonds. Totally excited, I bought the 9 tray Excalibur. Stay tuned for reviews, I think this will help us eat a great deal more raw food and especially move to raw treats.

For breakfast I had my first monomeal, just three small bananas. My immediate goal is to eat four times per day, one of them being a monomeal, and of course getting back to 60%+ raw.

Oh, and check back tomorrow, I'm making the mac and cheese recipe I posted yesterday for dinner tonight!

Breakfast:
three small bananas (240)

Lunch:
organic yogurt (80)
nutella bread (270)
feta and spinach bread (100)
1/2 child's hamburger (no bun ) 100
I'm really craving beef the few days and think I need to increase my iron intake. I have some nori that I need to add to food!


Afternoon snack:
banana (100)
pear (80)
nutella bread (120)


Dinner:
nutella bread (120)
squash mac and cheese w/ broccoli (325)
coconut macaroons (320)
spinach feta bread (120)

water:
12

fruits and veg:
11

Total calories:
1965

Weight:
145 even

November 19, 2008 Food Log – Nicole

So I showed one of my coworkers my blog yesterday and, just because she’s the meanest person I know besides myself (and maybe Heather!), Monica sends Alyssa into my office to say “Hey, want a carrot?”

I damn near threw her out of my office, but just for some new blogging material I opted to try the carrot.

Not a fan, but it didn’t make me ill, so that’s a bonus. But the things really don’t have any taste. Why eat something with no taste? What fun is that? So I dunked it in dip. That made things better, but I figure I’d need a container of dip to eat 10 baby carrots which would probably offset the whole “healthful” concept of eating carrots in the first place.

Anyhow, I tried… now for my log…

Breakfast
Bacon Egg and Cheese Lean Pocket (140)
(Or, pork, eggs and white flour as Heather calls it!)

Snack
Chips and dip (Only had a couple, so I’d guess it around 175)
And two bites of carrot

Lunch
1 Package of Easy Mac (230)

Workout
3.95 miles on treadmill (444 calories burned)

Dinner
Pancakes (800)
1 cup skim milk (80)

Total: 1425

Weight: 70.8 kg

The Day After-heather

So after yesterday's ridiculous display of gorging on restaurant food, today I again had takeout (leftovers). My new goal is to cut down to eating four times a day (from six). I realized that if I add a couple hundred calories to my meals, I don't feel the need to eat as many snacks. I'd like to give my digestive system a break so that it can work more efficiently at the times I DO eat, with the ultimate goal of eating only three times a day. I'd also like to add one monomeal to my days, like eating just bananas until I'm satisfied (be it one or five).

I feel really, really awful today, almost hung over. I had a brick in my stomach when I woke up, then had some migraine symptoms and nasty nausea around 11 am. I've really got to do better and not eat like that again, it's just not worth the aftereffects (who knew that was a real word? Firefox didn't seem to mind it)!

Breakfast:
cereal and organic milk (250)

Morning snack:
green smoothie (125)

Lunch:
1/2 burger (sans bottom bun) (400)
pear (80)
multi-grain bread, plain, lots (300)
green smoothie (125)

Dinner:
organic yogurt (150)
6" sweet onion teriyaki sub (370)
orange (80)
baked lays (140)

Water:
10

fruits and veg:
10

total calories:
2020

exercise:
60 min weights (200)

weight:
still 145

You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me-heather

I'm hoping that I'm getting punked on my own blog. For reals.

I'll refrain from further comments on the fact that all three of Nikki's meals came out of a box fro the freezer. I'll note that the starchy "vegetable" fried in rancid oil and doused in NaCl as opposed to mineral-loaded Real Salt or Original Crystal Himalayan Salt or even sea salt for goodness sake. And dip? Dip? Dip is normally some mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic, and sparing herbs.

What I'd like you to note is the glaring lack of a SINGLE FRUIT OR VEGETABLE. C'mon, even people who have diets I'd describe as abominable manage to force one or two in there.

So here's what I see:
Breakfast:
pork, white flour, eggs, and cheese product

Snack:
diabetes-inducing sugar levels, even in snack size

Lunch:
white flour, oodles of preservatives

Snack:
starch fried in rancid oil, covered in iodized salt. Bring on the puffiness

Dinner:
same thing eaten for breakfast and lunch, just more white flour and preservatives
"real" cheese, no doubt full of, what else, preservatives!

Now, to be fair, the sauce on both the lunch and dinner combined might equal a half serving of veggies, but I can't be sure.

Not throwing stones because I know I ate junk yesterday myself. I was quite frankly ashamed of my measly 5 servings of fruits and veg. Interestingly, this doesn't make me feel any better!

November 18, 2008 – Nicole Food Log

Having kind of a crazy day, but figured I'd give Heather some blogging fodder with another day that not only includes items that only come in microwavable boxes, but also potato chips from an umarked bag! Muahahaha...

And, we'll note that our friends at Lean Pocket not only make lunch food, but breakfast as well!!! Of note, the Bacon Egg and Cheese Lean Pocket is one of my favorites. I can eat it at my desk and eggs are fabulously filling... heart attack notwithstanding, of course!

Breakfast
Bacon Egg and Cheese Lean Pocket (140)

Snack
Kit Kat Fun Size (80)

Lunch
Smart Ones Baked Ziti (320)

Snack
Chips and dip*

*No clue what the caloric intake is on this. The fine folks at the York, Pa. CVB brought us three ginormous bags of kettle chips that are allegedly indigenous to the region. I dunno about that, but I do know we’re down to bag three and every once in awhile someone will disappear from the office and come back with dip and then it becomes a 10-minute mid-afternoon chip party.

Workout

58 minutes on the stationary bike (360 calories burned)

Dinner
Totino’s pizza (720)
Parmesan cheese (40)

Total Calories: 1300 + chips.

Weight: 70.9kg

Who Thinks Nicole Will Try This?

I don't, but consider it a challenge. Now, you could make this recipe QUITE a bit healthier than posted here, but I'd accept this as a great start! I'll be making my healthier version as soon as I can get my hands on a squash!
200-Calorie Homemade Mac and Cheese!

1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, and diced (about 3 cups)
1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
1 clove of garlic, smashed
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound whole wheat spirals
4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup)
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated (1 ounce)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon olive oil
Olive-oil cooking spray, to grease baking pan

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Combine squash, garlic, stock, and milk in a medium saucepan; bring to a low boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. (Dicing reduced this time to 10 minutes.) Remove from heat.

2. Add noodles; cook until al dente according to package instructions, about 8 minutes. Mash contents of saucepan; stir in nutmeg, cayenne, and salt, and season with black pepper. Stir to combine.

3. Drain pasta, and transfer to a large bowl; stir in squash mixture, cheddar, ricotta, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. (Honestly, you could also stop here. My boyfriend and I ate some of the pasta last night, and we skipped the step of baking it. It was more decadent and creamy as the baked version, but it lacked the crunchy topping. Eliminating the breadcrumb topping will cut half a gram of fat and 11 calories a serving.)

4. Lightly coat a 9-inch square baking dish (4 inches deep) with cooking spray. Transfer noodle mixture to dish.

5. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and oil; sprinkle evenly over noodles.

6. Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil, briefly broil to toast breadcrumb topping. Serve immediately.

Serves 8.

Per serving:
Calories: 200.0
Total Fat: 5.8 g

How to Survive Restaurant Eating ( but just barely)-heather

Late Monday evening, I got a call from a secret shopping service that I use asking if I wanted to do a mystery shop for Longhorn Steakhouse. I hadn't done one for them in about a year, and I can't turn down a free meal, so I said I'd take it. Longhorn doesn't provide nutrition information, so I took my best guess based on similar restaurant food (like Ted's Montana Grill and Ruby Tuesday). Also, for this shop we were required to order an appetizer and dessert. Ugh, you almost had to roll me out of there! I'm green all right, as in nauseous!

Breakfast:

cereal and organic milk (250)

Morning snack:
peanut butter bread (200)

Lunch:
organic yogurt (110)
pear (80)
homemade raw almond butter and bread (250)

Afternoon snack:
pear (80)

Dinner:
Here we go, this is all my best guess
multi-grain bread (150)
chicken appetizer (250)
seasonal veggies (150)
1/2 burger with swiss (500)
1/3 chocolate stampede (900)

Total calories:
2920

Exercise:
none, skipped Zumba

Water:
11 cups

Fruits and veg:
(sad) 5

Remind me to never eat again. Ever.

Yesterday....Indigestion Seemed So Far Away-heather

I've never had a Lean Pocket. In doing a little internet search for the ingredients contained therein, I stumbled upon this:

But it’s really not fair to judge Lean Pockets against any other type of food, since they are what they are: specifically, a sort of crust around a bunch of chunks of food swimming in some version of cheese paste. When you’ve chosen to ingest any sort of Lean Pocket, the question is not “Do I like this?” but “Is this reasonably tolerable?”

Wow, doesn't THAT just make you hungry? I mean, who wouldn't want to eat "CHEESE PASTE"? Sweet mercy. I'm guessing that she ate more chemicals in that Pop Tart and Lean Pocket than I eat in a week, even including the non-organic produce!

Here's the list, and even I am overwhelmed at this:
Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese (Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Non-Fat Milk, Modified Food Starch, Ingredient Not In Regular Mozzarella Cheese), Low Fat Cheddar Cheese (Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Vitamin Annatto), Tomato Paste, Margarine (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Palm Oil, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Sugar With Mono- And Diglycerides Added, Artificial Flavor , Soy Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate And Citric Acid [Preservatives] , Artificial Color [Annatto, Turmeric], Vitamin A Palmitate), Contains Less than 2% of: Imitation Mozzarella Cheese (Mozzarella Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Water , Casein, Soybean Soil, Food Starch, Whey, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Lactic Acid, Natural Flavor, Sorbic Acid [as a Preservative], Artificial Color), Sugar, Dried Whey, Seasoning ( Salt, Sugar, Spices, Dehydrated Onion, Dehydrated Romano Cheese [Romano Cheese (Made from Cow's Part Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Sodium Phosphates], Dehydrated Garlic, Parsley Flakes), Modified Food Starch, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil ( With Lecithin, Citric Acid as Preservative), Parmesan Cheese (Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes, Potassium Sorbate), Dried Egg Yolks, Dough Conditioner (Calcium Sulfate, Salt, L-Cysteine Hydrochloride, Garlic Powder, Tricalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Distilled Monoglycerides, May Contain: BHT, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid), Yeast, Salt, Lecithin, Locust Bean Gum, Soy Flour, Dried Egg Whites.


Um, wow. The only things in that list I'd put in my mouth as listed are water and yeast. Wow. Hydrogenated, refined, soy, non-fermented dairy, it's a natural foodie's nightmare! Did I say wow?

Off to eat something in its natural state, like, oh, say, an apple. Daring!

Spinach, What???

November 18, 2008

I’ve got a crappy gag reflex. The pure thought of a lot of things makes my stomach actually do this lurching thing.

As a kid that included mushrooms, lima beans, etc.

As an adult I get to avoid whatever I want, but that ground to a halt when I read Heather’s blog with mention of “tuna cakes” and “spinach coulis.”

Now, I still don’t know what a tuna cake is, but I did dictionary.com the word “coulis.” (Yes, I used dictionary.com as a verb.)

Of note, “coulis” is a word so strange that my dear friends at Microsoft underline it in red because it’s clearly misspelled. Ya know, if Bill Gates doesn’t recognize it, perhaps you shouldn’t be consuming it.

I’m just saying…

Anyhow, dictionary.com says “coulis” is “a sauce made with puréed vegetables or fruit and used as a base or garnish.”

They list raspberry and strawberry as examples.

Those don’t sound too bad, but spinach?

FoodNetwork.com shows raspberry, garlic, tomato / basil and margarita coulises (uh, is that the proper plural?), but no spinach in the top 10. And my computer had a seizure each of the three times I tried to do a spinach coulis search.

I think there’s probably a reason for that.

The Sad, Sad SAD*-heather

Nikki and I hatched this blog idea yesterday. What the heck, right? Inasmuch as she thinks it's so I can get up on my moral high horse that my diet is so far superior to hers (ok, well maybe just a little), really I'm just struggling to hold on to my progress. I still have 20 to 25 lbs. to go to get to my final goal, and I'm a little stuck. I figured a little friendly comparison never hurt anyone.

So what Nikki neglected to tell you, in all her correct assertions, if how different our body types are. I'm 5'2", curvy all over the place and pear-shaped. Voluptuous, if you will. She is t-a-l-l. She'd probably decline to be a fruit because that would be a natural, non-processed food, but if she had to be one, it would be closer to the apple variety. I've never known anyone with legs as slim as hers. I'm muscular and hit 10 hours a week at the gym (give or take) in all sorts of different group ex classes. She has her favorite activities (bike and treadmill, I believe).

So how did we begin? Well, many years ago she and I were in marching band. When she went off to college, I was a senior in high school. We went to the same school for a couple of years. We crammed for econ and watched beauty pageants. She stayed with me one night to make sure my idiotic bulimic self didn't die of a heart attack from ipecac that didn't work. As she would say, "Big fun, good times".

Now that we're both real adults, we don't have tons of time to talk. Figure this will at least keep us in more consistent contact, even if it is in derision!

So yesterday...

Breakfast:
cereal and milk (225)

Morning snack:
pear (80)

Lunch:
salad (150)
squash soup (100)
mini burger (150)

Afternoon snack:
green smoothie (200)
rice cakes (100)

Dinner:
tuna cakes w/ spinach coulis (200)
peanut butter bread (200)
pear (80)

Evening snack:
ghirardelli chocolate squares (180)
cereal (300)

Water:
13 cups

Fruits and veg:
13

Total Calories:
1965

Exercise:
Kickboxing 60 min (500)
Reformer 60 min (175)

Weight:
145 (or 66 kilos), find the calculator here.

*The SAD is an acronym for the Standard American Diet. :)

Welcome to Macaroni Land

November 17, 2008

So my dear friend Heather invited me to partake in her blog. Allegedly this is an exercise of accountability.

I really think Heather’s just looking for someone who makes her diet look way more fabulous than it actually is, so why not invite your friend with the worst eating habits ever to blog about it?

Which brings one to the ultimate question? Why do it?

Well, why not? Maybe writing things down will guilt me into having a better diet. I kinda doubt that on the grounds that I eat wayyyyy too much food in general and no vegetables.

(Note: Heather would say no vegetables. I’d say that I eat potatoes. She… and probably the rest of you… would note that potatoes are a starch. Whatever. They grow in the ground which beats my boxes of mac and cheese.)

Now, before we get to the good stuff (um, the food), let me state that if one were to pick a lifestyle as different from Heather’s as possible, we’d pick mine. From a diet perspective, I live for fast and easy (NO that doesn’t apply to my love life as well!) It’s not that I don’t know HOW to cook, purely that I have very little time and when I do, who wants to cook a whole recipe-based dinner for yourself?

And, while we’re being honest with strangers, the reality is that I’ll eat whatever quantity is in front of me. So the notion of cooking something out of a book and using the rest for leftovers? Doesn’t happen. If I’m going to cook XYZ for four, I’ll have the whole thing eaten before Law and Order.

What else? I travel too much. (By some people’s standards anyway… to put this into perspective, I spent 74 days between March and August on the road, but by other people’s standards, I have more than a few friends who’ve joined the 100k Club).

Surprisingly, this is great for keeping your weight down. Vacations wreak havoc on one’s diet. Work trips? Fabulous. The thing is I work events. You leave your hotel room at 7 or so and come back, um, way later. Usually an event will end anywhere between 8 and 11 that night. Breakfast is whatever the refs have in the hospitality room. Lunch may or may not happen as it’s always at a set time and if you’re running around you don’t get fed. Dinner happens at the beginning and end of an event (for long tournaments), but in the middle? Ha. Right. There’s results to be done, which means you wave goodbye to your staff friends and sit to type. And then you have some wine for dinner. Easier than food to get down quickly and it takes the edge off.

And the longer the event, the worse it gets… A weekend tournament is probably a 1-2 pound weight loss. The first two weeks of the Olympics? Probably closer to 10-12. (Of note, what goes down must eventually come back up and while I lost so much weight in Beijing I considered having the Chinese tailors at the Silk Market fix my falling off pants, after I switched sports I had way more time to eat and put about half that back on in the first three days.)

Which brings me to booze. Heather (referred to herein as “The Good One”) doesn’t drink. I do and won’t give it up for the world. Wagons are things on farms and I’m not a fan of living on one.

That said, I don’t drink outside of social situations. This is primarily because I’m smart enough to comprehend that alcohol is a waste of calories. Let’s not make it worse by having a couple glasses of wine every night.

In fact, my only good health habit is I drink a lot of water and don’t touch pop (uh, soda?) ever. Not usually a fan of the taste and why waste hundreds of calories a day on something for nothing?

Hmmm, that’s me in a nutshell, now on to the good stuff...

I’m coming off a weekend of complete food debauchery… Yeah, where else? Vegas. Suffice it to say, ate way too much food, spent way too much loot and need to return to something normal.

Breakfast
Pop Tart (200)

Lunch
Four Cheese Lean Pocket (300)

Workout
56 Minutes on stationary bike (356 calories burned)

Dinner
Three Servings Mac and Cheese (780)
Tuna (50)
Light Mayo (80)

Total: 1410

Water: A lot. Ummmm, three beer mugs (20 oz each) and two smaller ones (16 or so each), plus whatever I drank while working out.

Weight 71.6 kg

Oh yeah, that’s the other thing. I’ve taken to weighing myself in kilos. Occupational hazard. Or it could just be that I like a number that looks smaller. Take your pick. :o)