Day 53

Insomnia seems to get the best of me these nights!  Ughhh…I need to learn how to still my mind.  I think tiredness makes me want to eat!  Thankfully I did some really good yoga tonight which did tucker me out…all except my mind anyways.   

B’Fast- Green apple, cottage cheese, coffee with stevia and vanilla almond milk

Snack- Edamame peas

Lunch- Turkey bread, sliced apples, brie cheese on ciabatta bread with coconut water. 

Dinner-  Burger Night!  New Wednesday night tradition.  Had a burger with blue cheese and mushrooms, a smaller side of French fries, a garlic pickle, and a bite of cold slaw.  I over did it last week with a dessert and a cocktail so I took it easy this time and opted out of dessert and traded the alcohol for water.   

Day 52

This month is flying by!  I can't believe we are almost into May.  Today was pretty typical but ended with another yoga class.  Today I did a higher level yoga and it was awesome! My back felt great.  I was even able to do a head stand and back bend.  Yeah for progress!  Unfortunately I dont think I will be ready for triathlons this summer but plan on doing a 5K run in June.  

B'Fast- Coffee with stevia and almond milk

Snack- All-natural iced tea and peanut butter/chocolate square

Lunch- Portobello mushroom burger with pesto, basil, on a sprouted wheat bun and tortilla chips. 

Dinner- A bowl of pasta and turkey meat tomato sauce with parm cheese

Day 51

What a day! Thank God for good food to keep my energy level up! I am very thankful that I was able to go back to a great restorative yoga class tonight. I wasn't very hungry today.

~Food Journal for today~

B'Fast- Coffee with stevia and vanilla almond milk, yogurt

Snack- My fav Peanut butter/Chocolate bar from the health food store with a coconut water.

Lunch- Steamed brown rice with seared tempah and mushrooms and a side salad.

Dinner- Sundried tomato, fresh mozz, and basil Ravioli with some butter and parm cheese (sorry...know its fat but there was no tomato sauce at the house and I was hungry!) :)

Day 50

Another gorgeous day today!  I can feel summer coming and its making me happy.  My friend left today which was sad.  But I’m ready to get back on track starting tomorrow with yoga and my diet.  The health food store is doing a cleanse program starting in mid-May and I’m thinking about doing it.  I’m a little nervous because I think the 8 day commitment could be a real challenge, but I think it will be a big benefit.  Its 3 meals a day and then a fresh juice every morning. 

B’Fast- Cherry yogurt

Lunch- I was starving!  Had a salad with beets, greens, cherry tomatoes, baby corn, avocados, these little sesame crunchies,

crumpled cheese, and a little Caesar dressing on the side.  I also tried a new organic Acai juice drink.  It was pretty good!

Dinner- Chinese food take out and my aunt and uncle’s house.  I wasn’t very hungry so it was easy to control what went into my mouth.  Had some sesame shrimp, sweet and sour chicken (both fried), broccoli, and veggie shumai.     

Day 49

Spent a long day driving around and doing site seeing stuff with my friend so I’ll admit it wasn’t a very active day.  I was totally okay with that though because I laughed enough with my friend to last me at least till the summer.  Sometimes I think that laughter is better than exercise!  :)  My aunt did say that she thinks I look the best I’ve ever looked.  She said that I look healthy and thin.  What a compliment!  It felt good.  I still think I have a ways to go but I’m happy with the progress and slow changes I’ve made recently.       

~Food Journal~

B'Fast- Iced Cafe Latte with 3 Raw sugars

Lunch- We went out to lunch at this great little cafe up the street.  1/2 bowl vegetarian chilli with dollop of sour cream and cheddar, veggie cutlet with lettuce, tomato, thin slice of fresh mozzarella on Tuscan bread.  Perfect! 

Dinner- Out to dinner again.  Had a warm roll with sundried tomato/olive oil/butter, meatball appetizer (such a creative dish: 4 medium sized meatballs each made differently- 1 wrapped in seaweed salad, one with a cranberry dressing (tasted like Thanksgiving!), one Swedish, and one with tomato sauce and freshly grated parm cheese), 2 slices of meat loaf for main entre with small side of mac-n-cheese, and for dessert- a small cheese cake dessert with raspberry sauce.  I was soo full that I still woke up this morning feeling it! My friend is leaving tomorrow so then its back to reality and eating healthier!

Day 48

Alas!  Forgive me for my absence the past couple days, a friend has been visiting from California and we have been busy busy busy along with my hectic work schedule.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to catch a yoga class since Tuesday but plan on getting back on track next week (my friend Jen and I said we would try to go 5 days in a row). 

Food Journal 
B'Fast- Coffee with vanilla almond milk and stevia, then bagel day at work.  Had a flagel with butter. 
Snack- Carrot sticks, cherry yogurt, 1/2 English muffin pizza (made it with the kids)
Lunch- Having eaten a big b'fast/snack I wasn't hungry for lunch so passed
Dinner- Came home from work with an appetite so I had a left over chicken cutlet with a little sauce and cheese.  The fam went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant and I'll admit it, I was stuffed when I left :).  For appetizer we split: baked clams, a mesclun green salad, garlic knots, and fried calamari.  I tried not to go overboard...hahahahhaha..I then (yes...thenn) split a lasagna dish with my mom.  Despite a swollen stomach and a MAJOR food hangover we split tiramisu and a cannoli for dessert along with red wine.     

Day 47

Woke up this morning feeling DEAD tired but my body felt great.  I was surprised after the work out I had last night!  Now to get that appetite in control! 

I’m starting to really enjoy my morning commute early as strange as that sounds.  There is NO traffic and I get to see the sunrise and the ocean along the way before arriving at school.  Ahhh…its so easy to miss the little beautiful things when you let yourself get engulfed by the negatives that come with stress.  I was inspired by a this quote today:

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure – or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success”.

In a food sense…Ok…granted I’m not going to double my rate of failure by making the same bad food choices but it reminds me that it takes years of messing up and figuring it out until you can figure out how it all works (and of course gain some sense of control and education!). 

B’Fast- Organic cherry toaster tarts, strawberry yogurt, a few carrot sticks.

Snack- Organic green apple, peanut butter/chocolate square from health food store

Lunch- Pad Thai noodles with tofu, peanuts, lime, brown rice with a side salad (lettuce, cabbage, carrots, sesame seeds, dressing).  I was totally stuffed so didn’t eat much salad. 

Dinner- Ended up going again to the $5 burger night again this week.  Got a turkey burger with Swiss, small order of fries, and a bite of cold slaw.  Went for a walk around town to work it off then ended up meeting up with some others afterwards and had a small rum and coke and 3/4 of a piece of chocolate lava cake. 

Day 46

FOOD!  That’s all that has been on my mind today!  Not so much the cravings but more so just hungry.  I’m actually a little embarrassed that I ate so much today and now have to blog about it, but at least it wasn’t a day full of super sized meals from Mickey D’s. 

I ended my day with an hour and a half of intense yoga.  Tonight was a big mile stone for me because I was able to challenge myself in a higher level yoga class without pain unlike the past with my back problems.  I even did a head stand unassisted.  SO EXCITING!  Yoga has been my saving grace!  Just in the past month I have seen a huge improvement in my back and hips, its truly amazing! 

B'Fast- Annie's bunny fruit snacks, organic cherry toaster tarts, b'day party at school so I splurged and had 1/2 piece of cake and a few sips of orange soda before tossing it.  

Snack- Eggs with rice and beans and avocado, peanut butter chocolate bar

Lunch- Sandwich with sprouts, avocado, cheddar cheese, and “special sauce” from the health food store.  I think the special sauce is some kind of tahini sauce.  

Dinner- Roasted chicken with asparagus.  Thankfully my sister-in-law to be in a local farmer and dropped by tons of fresh asparagus this evening.  Yummmm.  I drizzled the asparagus with olive oil and seasoned it with sea salt before broiling it for a few minutes.   

Day 45

Super busy and stressful day but it ended with the usual yoga session…..ahhhh!  If you don’t do yoga, you should!  Now that I am paying more attention to my body, I have noticed that I have an appetite when feeling emotional.  I had to remind myself that the knot in my stomach was not hunger so I shouldn’t eat!    

B’fast- Organic whole wheat natural toaster tart, 2 organic Annie’s bunnies fruit snacks

Snack- 1 piece home made pizza (gluten-free bread with soy cheese and fresh mozz, and sauce)

Lunch- Cashew tofu stir fry with veggies and brown rice 

Dinner- Quinoa with more stir fry (red peppers, broccoli, and greens) and a steamed artichoke.   

Day 44

It feels good getting back into a healthy regime! 

B’Fast- 2 pieces of my famous home made coconut French toast with light maple syrup.

Lunch- Citrus Kambucha, 1.5 packs of Annie’s organic fruit snacks

Snack- Shared some organic nachos, 3 shrimp with cocktail sauce

Dinner- My mom is home= cooking!  Asparagus, spinach with raisons and pine nuts, spinach salad with vinaigrette dressing and parm cheese, 1 chicken sausage 

Day 43

After many hours of sleep last night I was ready to rock and roll this morn!  Ran errands, ate some good food with good company, and  went to yoga.  I did indulge in some food today… 

B’fast- Slept in pretty late but I did wake up at 6:30a STARVING….so I had two kid sized bags of peanut m&ms  (yes, I know…I’m not normal!)

Lunch- 1/2 of a large omelet with egg whites, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese.   I also had coffee and sweet potato fries.  There was a lot of sweet potato fries so I made my bf eat half of em :).

Snack- Indulged in some soft serve while out shopping until I read on the website that it is 610 calories!  So depressing…guess I’m not enjoying that again any time soon!   

Dinner- Met some friends out.  Ended up having eggplant rollatini with tomato sauce and pasta. 

Yes, so far it has been an indulgent weekend.  I want to feel guilty but I’m not because I know that my activity level is a lot higher.  Just need to make healthier choices and less impulsive choices! :)

Day 42

Came home and crashed HARD CORE.  I think I slept a total of 14 hours last night.  That’s what happens when you are a workaholic I guess :).  Plus getting up an hour early makes it a challenge.  Didn’t exercise at all today but my appetite is still in overdrive.  I did alright today  

B’Fast- Fundraiser at school- had a bagel with 1/2 butter and 1/2 cream cheese, and some orange/apple juice

Snack- carrots, a handful of moose munch (aka carmel chocolate pop corn)

Lunch-Kim Chee wrap (cornmeal crusted tofu, toasted cashews, avocado in a spinach wrap) and a handful of corn chips.

 

Dinner- In and out of consciousness and wasn’t in the mood to eat much.  Had some brie cheese with fiber crackers and a cup of almond milk with some chocolate carnation instant breakfast in it.  

Day 41

My appetite is finally catching up with my exercise/activity level.  I’m back to a big appetite which has made it somewhat of a challenge.  I did an hour and a half of yoga tonight.  This was a really challenging class and now I’m sore!  :)  Since I have a decent camera phone I’m going to try to be more intentional about taking pics of my food to post.  

B’Fast- C0ffee with almond milk and two packets of stevia

Snack- 2 hard boiled eggs, coconut mango water

Lunch- A cup of lentils (with some sort of balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing with thinly sliced veggies), cheese quesadilla with sweet potato, sour cream, and a few corn chips. 

Dinner- Home made sautéed (in pesto) portabella mushroom caps with sundried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  Had two helpings…now I feel bloated from all that bread. 

Day 40

That Easter candy keeps getting the best of me!  It’s still in the house…ughh!  Thankfully it will be out of the house pretty soon though because I’m giving it away at school left and right!  Played 40 minutes of basketball with the kid I’m mentoring so I ditched out on yoga tonight.  I was super exhausted. 

~Food Journal~

B’Fast- Coffee with almond milk, left over Easter candy (peanut M&M’s and fun sized Twix)

Snack- Pear, small packet of pretzels

Lunch- Apple, cottage cheese

Dinner- Five dollar burgers tonight at a local restaurant…woohoo!  Turkey burger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese, fries, a few bites of cole slaw and I was stuffed.  Really good.   

Day 39

What a day!  I just started today mentoring a student at my school in the morning.  I’ll be honest, it totally sucks getting out of bed at 5 something in the morning but its rejuvenating with less traffic.  The weather was amazing today and we went outside for about 45 minutes of catch.  Needless to say I’m totally exhausted and sore from throwing a ball around…its been so long!  But the sun was out and it felt good to break a sweat before half past 7!  I knew that I was going to be sore so I went to a hour and a half yoga class after work.  Now my body feels like jelly!  Its not even 9pm and my body and mind are ready for bed!  Yeah for productive days!

Breakfast- Coffee with almond milk

Snack- Organic apple, 1.5 plain rice cakes

Lunch- Salad with baby lettuce, beets, tomatoes, sprouts, hard boiled egg, and honey Dijon dressing and a seed cookie with raspberry preserves from the health food store.  

Dinner- Was starving on my way to yoga and stopped for a bbq chicken/blue cheese slice of pizza.  Def not the healthiest choice…yes agreed but it was light on cheese and the chicken was not fried.  When I got home from yoga I was still hungry so I had a piece of breaded chicken and some pasta and spaghetti sauce.  Well deserved after 2.5 hours of working out today!   

Day 39

Back to the grind!  Woke up totally exhausted and with a food hang over…I noticed a spare tire around my waist this morning but its all good…its ok to celebrate once in a while right? :)  No sweat…I ate pretty well and did an hour and half of yoga after work.

~Food Journal~

B’Fast- Had to stop for a Starbuck’s coffee…it was hard gettin up this morning!  Got a non-fat latte with soy milk.  When I got to school I had an apple.

Snack- 2 hard boiled eggs

Lunch- Hungarian mushroom soup, organic greens salad with oranges and almond slices.  

Snack- three left over Snicker candies

Dinner- Leftovers- turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a little mashed potato and a sliver of apple cake. 

Day 38

Happy Easter everyone!  Hope you had a wonderful day.  My holiday was filled with lots of candy and unhealthy food…I’ll admit it!  If I’ve realized anything though through this blog, its that its okay to splurge once in a while (especially when its holiday and vacation time).  In fact their are seasons in our life where we splurge (i.e. Christmas!) and I need to stop beating myself over the head because it does no good.  As long as I am making healthy strides daily and staying active, when a holiday arises I’m not gonna sweat it!  So yes, my day was filled with fats and sugar!

~Food Journal~

Breakfast- eggs, bacon, bagel with butter

Snack- candy candy candy

Lunch- Napped and missed lunch

Dinner- Turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, slice of apple cake and a sliver of canole cake

THE GOOD PART IS THAT I’M TOTALLY MOTIVATED TO GET BACK ON TRACK TOMORROW! 

Day 37

I’m back from an amazing 3+ days in the city.  I ate some amazing (not always healthy though) food and walked millions of miles with a backpack!  Wish I could have documented all the beautiful food consumed. 

Here are some highlights: South African food from this awesome place in Brooklyn my first night there: thin slices of ostrich (actually considered a red meat but very tender and very lean) with farm cheese, grilled calamari in lemon, olive oil, parley, garlic, and white wine, and for the main course- roasted cornish hen with truffled mashed potatoes (this was out of this world!), talapia fish with roasted red potatoes and green beans, bread pudding, mojitos, oh the list goes on.  Lets just say it was the week of great food.     

~Food journal for today~

B’Fast- 1 authentic NY egg bagel with Omega 3 butter substitute (think this butter is made from olive oil?)  and a cup and a half of coffee with 2% milk and sugar.  I love NY bagels!

Lunch- My first experience with Vietnamese food!  I had a veggie wrap (made with rice paper) with Asian noodles, greens, and streamed shrimp.  It came with a peanut sauce.  I also enjoyed a coconut bubble tea. 

Snack- Came home to Easter candy…torture!  I was able to refrain and ate of those little treat-or-treat size Peanut M&Ms and Twix bar

Dinner- Wasn’t feeling too hungry so I had a handful of Sun Chips.  I then realized that that wasn’t going to cut it so I ended up making some fresh juice- carrots, lemon, apple, spinach, flax seed oil, and granules.