Day Four 12/31/09

New Year's Eve! Kevin and I have decided to relax our food restrictions today and have some food at one of our favorite happy hour locales, Ham's. We usually share a big plate of their fabulous nachos with tons of cheese and salty chips. I'll probably have a few drinks as well and we've talked of making either pizza or chicken nuggets later tonight.I'm getting out of work early today, at 2:30, first we'll go to the gym and then to the bar. Maybe we'll end up passing on the pizza/nuggets idea, depending on how we feel. I'm not sure my body could process that much food after the reductions of this week!! In preparation for at least the food at the bar, I've cut some calories out of my day today. And did it happily! Here is my breakfast, the normal minus the apple:
I mixed up the fruit a bit as well, I had one cup of fruit - blueberries and pomegranate seeds, with some mixed nuts. I saved a second cup of fruit for later, just in case.




I had a great workout again today on the stairs in the Rawl building. Up and down the stairs, it's grueling but very satisfying. I forgot to take a picture before I ate my lunch (the first time!). Here is the empty dish that held:

2c spinach
10 carrots
4oz chicken
1 tbs bbq sauc

2 creamer
2 beaters
1 bread
1c blueberries & pomegranates
1/4c mixed nuts
2c spinach
4oz chick
10 carrots

We had a delicious time at Ham's for happy hour, as always. I ate half of the nachos above, a zillion calories for sure, Happy NYE!

Later on tonight we had some chicken nuggets from Food Lion, some BBQ and some spicy. YUM! Unfortunately, by the time I remembered the food blog, (alcohol really does lower food inhibitions!!!) all I had left to photograph was the containers!

BACK ON THE WAGON TOMORROW!

Day Three 12/30/09

Day three and still going strong!

The day is off to a good start! I just met with an employee relations representative to talk about my health issues and how I can use various laws to my favor (FMLA, ADA, sick leave, flex, short-term disability, etc) to my favor. Next week I'll meet with a representative from HR to discuss the technicalities. Not too much to do today at work, the campus is empty and so quiet, it's a nice change.


The morning flew by and before I knew it, it was time to workout. It was WAY too cold to head over to the gym during lunch today so I hit the stairs in the Rawl building for thirty minutes. It was every bit as grueling as I could have hoped for, and that was before I slammed my hand into a door frame!



Totals for the day:

2 beaters	60
apple	50
bread	50
banana	100
nuts	170
apple	50
soup	160
1c spinach	7
10 carrots	50
cheese	30
apple	50
bar	140
2c sw pot	360
6 oz chick	165
bbq	90
salad	63
	1595

Day Two 12/29/09

I felt so successful yesterday, I remembered to photograph all of my food and my calorie count ended up way under my goal. Woohoo! Today I am less enthused. I'm recognizing the impracticality of taking out my camera each time I eat - although, as predicted yesterday, it does stop the spontaneous eating...at least so far. Regardless, it's a pain. And a danger to the camera! I almost dropped it in my soup at lunchtime. Whoops! I just got back from the gym and I'm still feeling a little whoozy from the workout, perhaps that's the reason for my pique.

The day started out great: 2 egg beaters, 1 slice of toast (WW & high fiber), a banana, and two cups of java with FF cream. Tasty! Weighing in at a whopping (......):
.....
I'm trying to find food to pair with the apples that will provide some relief from stomach discomfort; I can't eat them alone. Today I tried mixed nuts. So far, so good:


I was ravished after my trip to the gym, 225 calories off during my treadmill hill/walk/run workout. Feets, ankles, knees, etc. feedling good. For lunch I had a can of soup, an apple, and 1/2 cup FF Greek yogurt, the best kind:


For my afternoon snack I'm digging into some baby carrots with laughing cow cheese. This little cheese triangle only has 30 calories and it's so tasty! Unfortunatley, though, the evil work fridge froze my little carrots solid, OUCH! Don't worry folks, they'll thaw in a few:


And for the final work, pre-gym snack:



2 coffee 40
2 beaters 60
1 bread 50
2 banana 200
2 apple 100
nuts 170
1/4 yogurt 60
soup 160
carrots 50
cheese 30
1 c rice 150
2 serv flounder 180
broccoli 50
peas 60

Total: 1360

Day One 12/28/09

Today is a big day, the first day of my new blog entry! Unfortunately, I'm using this moment of blog writing as an excuse to delay a call to an annoying parent who needs a lesson in patience. If I entertain her delusion that her son is truly having an "emergency" (he's not), and that they deserve to be rushed to the top of my to-do list because of their non-emergency, then I'm not helping society in any way. I'm all about lessons, and although this mother may be too old to learn a new lesson from me, I'm not too old to try to offer her one. Now...on to the blog. I'm sure I'll be more inspired in the future!

I've decided to take back the control I always lose during November and December - control of my body, my food, my mood, it all goes on a zipping toboggan ride straight to the gutter about a week before Thanksgiving and now it's that time of the year again when I raise my fists in the air and shout "ENOUGH!". No more eating a dozen cookies at a time! No more lounging around all weekend because it's cold! No more wondering why my clothes look like crap on me!

That said, I'm going to use this forum to create a photo-journal of what I eat each day. This is my attempt at keeping track of how much I eat. Knowing that I have to take a picture of food and post it on my blog will hopefully help me think twice about whether or not I really want to eat it. And if that doesn't do it, then hopefully the process of finding the camera, taking a picture, etc. etc. will do the trick! It's obviously for my own benefit, but if someone out there is interested in taking a peek, you are more than welcome.

Here is breakfast: coffee, 2 egg beaters, one slice of bread, and an apple (I would have had a banana but the apple fell on the floor so...)



Here was my morning snack:


Any my delicious lunch:

Calorie count to follow! To be continued...

Calorie count for the day (including two pm snacks - an apple, below, and a banana I'll eat before the gym) is 830. That leaves 670 calories for dinner. Whoo hoo!


Kevin made me a great dinner: pork tenderloins and brown rice, both seasoned with spices, no sauce! I spritzed a little olive oil on the rice and with some salt it was great. The salad presented a problem - no two tablespoons of dressing were worth the calorie hit, so I used balsamic vinegar and olive oil again, it's a satisfying sub. Eating so simply reminded me of being in Argentina - no sauce, no pre-made food, (except for soup, whoops). Great day!

Here it is:

Tasty salad, spinach only has 7 calories per cup - SEVEN! Add some carrots and vinegar and we're at 80 calories.

We estimate I had 6 oz. of pork loin which would equal roughly 250, plus a cup of rice at 150, that gives me 400 for dinner.

Add that to the rest of the day along with some incidental calories for coffee, tea, vinegar, etc, and we're at right around 1,300 for the day! Just under the goal for the day!

I estimate that I burned around 500-600 calories at the gym today, a great start.

Day one of photo blogging my food -- SUCCESS!

Totals:
2 coffee with 4 cream 40
2 egg beaters 60
1 slice bread 50
2 apple 100
1 banana 100
nuts 170
carrots 50
cheese 30
soup 160
salad 63
1 c rice 150
pork loin 250
TOTAL: