What do I eat from here?

These past couple weeks have been absolutely craziness!

The Highlights

• last Tuesday (August 31) I went to my endo appointment and he confirmed my suspicions that my strain of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto's.
• Army Bro got married in Manteo, NC (just outside Nags Head) over Labor Day weekend, so future sis-in-law is now Sis-in-law!
• I turned 30
• Baby Bro proposed to his girlfriend today. I now have a new future Sis-in-Law! 
• I spent a majority of my day off at DMV getting my license renewed (to the tune of $617!)

I guess it's really been the past week, week and half. Still. I'm glad it's the weekend, not that I'm stopping any.

It's been a busy one! With it all I've been mulling over the fate of this here blog. I enjoy doing this, it's kinda like therapy for me, but it feels sorta directionless. Sure, I'm trying to lose weight, but there's so much more going on!

I am still trying to figure out what sort of food objects my body is happiest on. I know what my mouth likes . . .

• chocolate
• coke (translastion: soda)
• chocolate milkshakes
• fast food french-fries
• Lays potato chip

But that's not what's best for me (or my waistline). And I will freely admit to having indulged multiple times in the past month. Especially coke.
The coke fiasco has been bad enough that I had a migrane (started out as a stress headache) from Saturday afternoon through Tuesday evening. How did I finally get ride of it? While I was grocery shopping I picked up a 20oz Dr. Pepper and slammed it down my throat on my way to pick up my Italian from the pool.
Unfortunately, I've not really cut back on my soda intake this week while at work.
But the headache through the ArmyBro's wedding weekend (maybe it was more alcohol than I'm used to drinking contributed slightly? But an almost permanent hangover, that sleep won't knock out? Naaaah) has cleared one thing up in my head quite clearly. Coke . . . soda . . . pop . . . whatever you want to call it has GOT to go.
I thought I had kicked the habit earlier this year. I guess it's one that I need to stay away from a little bit longer.
The other strange thing about the headache was that I normally am soda-free on the weekends. The reason I indulge during the week is that it's sitting in the fridge at work calling. "Em, Em. Come drink us. You know you want one. Come on. Just one won't hurt. You can pour us into a smaller cup and pretend like you're not drinking as much. Just one, come on Em."
Then two or three of them end: up from my hand into the recycling bin by the end of the day. Some days more. It's a rare day, recently, that it's less. (Ugh . . . the craving for a soda has kicked in now! Fortunately we don't have any in the house.)

To be honest with you, I'm tired of writing these types of posts. I'm tired of trying to figure out what my eating pattern looks . . . what my healthy eating pattern looks like.
Though if I were truly honest with myself, my search has truly been half-hearted. I go full speed ahead into something and it lasts 2 . . . 2 1/2 weeks, then I get bored, overwhelmed or just simply lazy and move onto the next thing. Or revert back to my old habits.

HOWEVER, my dabbling in various forms of eating has led me to this knowledge of myself (and that's what life is right? A journey of figuring one's self out?) :

My body likes fats. It operates better on a fattier diet. It's not big on grains though.

Reading that, going primal or paleo sounds like the best way to go. For me the pure amount of meat I ate was overwhelming. And I missed legumes. I grew up more flexitarian than anything, if I had to put a label on it. Mom traded meat out for beans and that sort of thing. She went through a mercifully short tofu phase. None of us really liked it. I just remember it tasting like huge chunks of peanut butter. I think Mom made a stir fry or something with it. 

So I'm thinking, based on what I know about myself and the way my body works.

• fat is good
• soy is out
• gluten is out
• grains may be phased out or at least minimized
• too much meat is overwhelming
• no meat is not an option as I don't do soy. (Is there another option to meat besides soy?)
• soda needs to go
• sugar needs to say bye-bye-bye.

The Italian and I have joined back on Weight Watchers. We're doing the online version, but it still really helps. I don't know when he decided, but on the way home from Manteo, NC, my Italian informed me that he was not eating sweets anymore.

WHAT! 

He tells me this, on my birthday, while I'm talking about the cake that I'm going to make for myself for my birthday the next day (which didn't happen as I was at DMV for half the day). That is definitely going to make it sorta easier. But then it's not because I'll just eat it when I'm not home or out with him. However, not having an allowance anymore will make it easier because I won't have the money to buy the junk food, but when I do get money is that where it will go?

What about the Hashi's diagnosis? What can I eat to help my thyroid defend itself from my immune system? Or distract my immune system from attacking my thyroid?

What do I eat from here?

Random Thoughts

I often have random thoughts pop in my head and sometimes, I'm simply too lazy to put them up on twitter. Or I'm afraid they may be too random or strange. So I decided to create a blog post. Enjoy!

I wonder if it's possible to be vegetarian and still avoid soy and soy products.

Why is it once you decide to record your thoughts they all go away?

I can't believe I forgot to pick up an avocado when we were at the grocery!

Speaking of grocery, I think we're going to be out of fruit by the end of the day. Do you think my Italian will let me go get some more?

How'd we run out of food so fast?

Ugh . . . I can't seem to wake up today. Of course I slept like a rock last night. I didn't move at all. Could that be why my back is stiff?

I need to buy mushrooms this week. Mushrooms and avocados.

My tweetdeck is up! I'd forgotten that was up! YAY!! Time to catch up on the stuff that people are saying I guess.

Why does my Mentions never come up? That's really annoying.

Tweet from SmoothieDrinker: Looking for something to replace your morning coffee? Try putting Maca in a green smoothie. http://bit.ly/9nrp7p - I did that and I was still falling asleep. Maybe I didn't put enough in there? Or maybe it's expired? I do know I'm running low. Am I supposed to keep it in the fridge?

I really need to NOT pull up facebook in the morning. I'm so much more productive when it's not up.

These savory oats look yummy!!

I need to remember to bring my brown bag on Friday so I can load up all my lunch dishes and take them home. (It's REALLY bad! I've got 4 glasses and countless plastic-ware.)

Yoville is annoying but so addictive. <-- Did I spell that right?

Okay, Boss-lady leaving early for lunch is getting really annoying because I know she won't be back until at least 2:30. But she has a shit fit if I'm late back from lunch? So she can interrupt my lunch but I can't interfere with hers? WTF!

Lunch is over . . . but I still want a salad . . . I need to focus and get my pile done so I can get the newspapers knocked out. Focus Em! Focus! Here's the deal. You finish you're pile, you can go make a salad. Deal? Good. Now go work!

What is tempeh anyway? And how do you pronounce it?

I think our copier is dying. It's making the worst squeaking sound every time someone uses it. Or a ROUS is stuck in there.

Why do people call all at once when I'm the only one answering the phones! ACK!! One at a time peoples!

Where is Big Bossman anyway? And why is he not answering his cell phone? BAD BBM!


Stuffed mushrooms sounds good.

I need pizza. I've been craving it since Saturday!

Smack is a strange last name.

A lot of Richmond tweeps have been following me recently. Which is nifty coolness, cause I'm in Richmond!

DOH! I wanted to go down to the Fountain Bookstore during my lunch!

I wonder if it's still raining out.

Okay Focus!! Remember! Yummy salad?

Actually I think I need to eat a monster salad anyway. I think the salad expires tomorrow! EEEK!

How does one de-seed a tomato? Isn't that basically what tomatoes are?

Okay people, you have direct lines. Give your friends and family your direct line and quit sending through the main line! I'm tired of talking to your children!

Do Magic Bullets still require you to plug into the wall? Or are they portable? I want one.

Okay now for real, I've GOT to get back to work. (Yes, this was very distracting, but fun!) I hope you enjoyed a peek inside my brain. Obviously very food oriented today!

Doin' The Happy Dance

This weekend was FABULOUS! My Italian is pretty worn out from getting up early for work all week (not that he wasn't in the first place. He was getting up with me). We've decided to get up at 5 so I can get some sort of movement in before work.

Saturday he decided to sleep in. The poor man still woke up at 8. I got up an hour later, fed the cats and closed the door to our room to let him sleep. Or so I thought. Apparently he laid in bed for 4 hours trying to go back to sleep . . . it didn't happen. (I probably should have put Moulin Rouge in for him. That would have knocked him right out!)

We had to get all of our chores done Saturday, since we were spending Sunday at my folk's. Grocery shopping, laundry, cat box scrubbing (thankfully just a once a month chore. My Italian (Lord, bless him) cleans out the box every other day) and other various things. I'd vacuumed Friday morning since we had poker at the house on Friday night (another reason we slept in).

Sunday we got up raced off to church and while my Italian stayed for Grace Cafe (once a month our church has a meal after church) and the pinewood derby I raced out to pick up Baby Bro & Dad's birthday presents. Then it was back home to pack up the van (seriously! Going to my parents with my Italian, since his surgery, is an adventure).

Manual wheelchair . . . check
Accoutrement to wheelchair . . . check
Presents . . . check
2 sticks of butter Mom asked me to bring . . . I'll grab them in a minute
Husband . . . check
Off we go!

Yeah. I forgot the butter. No worries though because Mom sent Dad to the store for ice right after we got there, so he picked up butter too. Phew! Crisis averted.

Future sister-in-law and . . .

wait for it

ARMY BRO!

arrived next!

I haven't seen him since Christmas. It was SO SO SO! good to see him. He's on leave for a week. Tomorrow bright and early he and future sister-in-law (I'm really gonna have to find a new name for her) are headed down to North Carolina to do wedding stuff for a couple days only to turn around to head back to Virginia to meet with the guy who is marrying them for marriage counseling. (That's kind of hard to do when you're on opposite coasts).

Army Bro flies back on Saturday I think. I'm hoping to get to see him on Friday for lunch. That would be fabulous.

Once he flies back to California, he won't be back until Labor Day weekend. He's almost literally flying in to get married. He'll fly in Friday, Baby Bro will pick him up and they'll go down to NC with the other groomsmen for a bachelor party. Saturday is the rehersal and rehearsal dinner. He gets married Sunday and flies back to California on Monday.

A whirl-wind wedding weekend!

In other news . . .

My Italian is LOVING his job. He told me "It fits well with my OCD" one evening when we were driving home from work. I quite literally had to stop the car and pull over I was laughing so hard! He is so happy too.

We're still ironing out the kinks of transportation, but we're getting there.

Picking him up in the afternoon . . . SUCKS!

It takes me 20 minutes to get from his work to mine in the morning. 45 to get from mine to his in the afternoon! Eeewww!

I still want to move over there though. Next summer . . . Hopefully . . .

OH! Speaking of weddings (Yes, I'm a little ADD). I did mention that I wanted to be under 200 lbs for my brother's wedding right? Well, we're a month away and I weight 210 lbs. (Solid. No point anything.)

Needless to say, I'm getting a little nervous about it.

The bridesmaids' dresses have come in and future sister-in-law is dropping mine off at my parents' on Tuesday. So Saturday I'll be able to try it on and see how it fits.

AND

Go shopping with Mom for a rehearsal dinner dress and shoes for both dresses (as well as a pair of black flats for work and more sheets for our bed.)

It's been great! I've gotten to see my parents three (will be) weekends in a row! That NEVER happens. It's not like we're that far away, but its far enough away that when I do go up there, I want to be there all day long.

(Which reminds me, maybe I can get up there early on Saturday and Mom and I can go blackberry picking! YUM! I heart blackberries)

Okay, I've got 15 minutes left in my lunch. I need to go make my salad and food my self . . . er . . . umm . . . feed myself?

Romaine lettuce, carrots, almonds (maybe), grape tomatoes and pepperonis.

Okay seriously . . . Off I go!

OH! I forgot the pictures for the last post! I will pull those off my camera soon and repost it with all the loverly pictures. (And maybe some beach ones too?)

MIA Land

Hey!

I know, I disappeared again . . . But it's been good crazy busy! This weekend was full of fabulous food (Greek Festival and Broad Appetit), fantastic friends, family, and OMG I'M GOING TO MELT sun and heat!
Oy vey! It was hot! this weekend!!!
My Italian's horseback therapy was even canceled! He had already planned on not going, so it was nice to hear that they were canceling class as well.

I got the message that they were canceling while I was on my way to Broad Appetit with friends.


Essentially it's a several block long food festival! Restaurants from around the Richmond area came and did samplings of food for $3. I picked up some Pork terderloin w/ fruit chutney from . . . I forget now. Dang it. But it was very good!

Then I went over to Urban Farmhouse and got some of their organic strawberries in a honey yogurt.
Seriously? the picture doesn't do it justice. I almost licked the plate when I was done. Come to think of it . . . I think I did lick the plate. SO INCREDIBLE! Definitely something I'm going to make at home. Strawberries and yogurt with a good amount of honey mixed in. Hrmm . . . it's the perfect dessert. Doesn't stand up in heat too well though. You can see it was already starting to melt some.

After that we went back to the Greek Festival. My Italian and I had been there on Saturday, as had my friends, but we went back because I dropped my Italian off and went to see my cousin who lives a block away. My aunt, her husband, my cousin's brother and his family were there and since I don't see my other cousin and his family very often (his wife was one of my bridesmaids) I wanted to go see them. By the time we got back to the Greek Festival, my Italian was overheated and cranky. So we went home. I hadn't gotten my gyro! grrrrrr!!

My Italian stayed home Sunday because of the heat. So I went with my friends, after Broad Appetit to the Greek Festival and promptly got in line for a gyro. YUM! Oh I can't wait for November when they have the mini-Greek festival. Or I just need to find a good Greek restaurant in Richmond.

Anyone know of a good Greek restaurant around here??

We looked at the market they had. Lots of really pretty . . . expensive . . . stuff. I then stopped for some lo . . . loli . . . crap! What were they called? Anyway. It was blobs of dough fried then heated up in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. YUM! So good.

Needless to say . . . I indulged myself with food this weekend. Lots of food, not so much intentional exercise. I did walk . . . 2 laps around Broad Appetit and lots of walking around the Greek Festival.

After the Greek Festival we were all roasting and feeling ickie. So we stopped at by their house so they could pick up their suits and we returned to our apartment to play in the pool.

Does this make sense to anyone else? It's blistering hot outside and where do we jump in first?

The Hot Tub!

It made perfect sense at the time. Thinking about it now? I'm scratching my head going . . . huh?

Eh . . .

We jumped in the pool next then back in the hot tub . . . just in time for it to start to rain! ERGH!

Once the rain let up, a rainbow showed up. I tried to get a picture of it, but the phone on my camera couldn't grab it. :-(

Back to the apartment we went. Dinner was chicken, quinoa, and a bag of steamer veggies. The guys had the rest of the neopolitan ice cream (the strawberry. I ate all the chocolate and vanilla) and I made Michelle and I some blackberry sorbet . . . at least that's what I'm calling it. I blended frozen blackberries and added a packet of Truvia.

So good! It's also good for killing the ice cream/milkshake cravings I get. That was a bizarre discovery. But good to know.

They went home and my Italian and I collapsed into bed. (After we got the kitchen sorta cleaned up and I packed my bag for the abs class the next day.)

I worked through my lunch Monday and got to Curves about 4:30 for their 5 abs class. So I went ahead and did my work out, then the class started just as I finished the last machine of the circuit. So I got a nice hour long work-out in on Monday, came home, fed my Italian and went for a 30 minute bike ride on my new-to-me road bike!

It was my Grandpa's bike and was just a hair to big for me. Since I was meeting Michelle to go riding yesterday, I wanted to get a short ride in on my own to get used to the way it handled and be somewhat comfortable on it. I rode for about 30 minutes (It took me 15 to get the tire pumped up . . . figuring out a new pump is a bitch!) then came home and pooped out.

Yesterday my Italian was at his parent's house for dinner so I picked up a salad from WaWa and ate that while changing to go riding.

We ride out at WestCreek parkway. It's a 6 mile loop that has a hill that has kicked my butt! I made it up this time! **happy dance** We ended up riding 8 miles and my legs were jello (!) afterwards.

OH! I had my appointment with my new endocrinologist, Dr. Wigand!!

I LOVE HIM!

The person who recommended him to me told me that he was larger than life personality wise. She wasn't kidding!

He sorta reminded me of a small giant. My guess is that he is 6 ft (tops) tall. But he has HUGE features and a large (loud) voice. But honestly, the nicest guy. And he talked to me like I knew what he was talking about! He listened to my concerns and addressed them.

I think he and I will do just fine. He took some blood and is testing my thyroid, adrenals, and glucose sensitivity (that's not how he phrased it, but I forget what he called it).

OH! But genius of geniuses . . . I forgot my health insurance card! ARGH! So I told them I would fax it to them when I got to work. Guess what I realized I hadn't done on my way home from work . . .

yea. Didn't fax it. In fact, I still haven't faxed it. Probably should get on that. Ergh . . .

That's pretty much about it . . . after I got back from riding last night I vacuumed and again collapsed into bed. Would you believe me if I told you that getting up for work this morning was REALLY hard? (It was!)

Okay, back to work and sending my health insurance card off. (I can't afford those tests! Yeep! I don't even want to think what the visit costs!)

Food & the Great Pantry Clean-Out

Tonight is looking like it's going to be a kitchen night for me. When we went to the grocery a couple weeks ago we picked up 5 lbs of hamburger meat for my Italian and his (ick!) Hamburger Helper. Well . . . instead of separating it into 1 lb chunks, like I was supposed to, I put all 5 lbs in the freezer.

So you're not supposed to re-freeze meat after it's been thawed (not that I haven't done it before with no problems . . . but that's another story for another day) I am going to make up 5 boxes of Hamburger Helper tonight!

YAY!

Can you sense the sarcasm? Is it thick enough for you?

I'm also going to put my new toy to work . . . (details to follow in a later post). SO EXCITED!

I haven't figured out what's for dinner for me, but my Italian is having some form of Hamburger Helper. I think we have 5 HH, if not, I'm tossing some black beans in a pot to soak and tomorrow night he's having black beans and hamburger meat over rice or quinoa. Maybe I'll toss in some diced tomatoes with it. That sounds yummy to me!

OH! I should have taken a picture of what I made him for dinner last night! Lasagnia noodles and lentils. Over that was a can of black beans and marinara sauce. He said it was good! It was too much so he had some for lunch today and (if he didn't finish it today, which I doubt he did) he'll have it for lunch tomorrow!

Why is he eating such funky conctions? We're playing clean out the pantry of stuff Em isn't eating anymore but got tons of when she was eating it! Ideally I'd like . . . to remember what it is I was going to say . . .

I hate when I do that! I start to write something but someone/thing (like doing actual work at work. HA! What a concept!) distracts me and when I come back to it . . . I don't remember what I was going to say!)

OH! Wait! I do remember! Ideally, I'd like for us to eat our pantry empty, as well as our fridge and freezer.

Why?

I don't know. It's a good thing to do every once in a while, me thinks! We're all out of Jello Pudding and just have two boxes of watermelon jello left.

Yes, I ate all the remaining boxes of Jello pudding by myself. Which if you don't like vanilla and that's all you have, adding a little bit of unsweetened cocoa to makes it taste (and look) like chocolate! Total YUM!!

That's my evil plan right now . . . hopefully it will work!

Anybody wanna come over for dinner?

The Mental Shift

I've been thinking since this weekend (and my subsequent binge, which I'll talk about in a minute) about this whole paleo adventure I'm on.

Plain and simple, I know I'm on the right track. Physically, my body still thinks I've lost my ever lovin' mind and my mind is trying to figure out what the hell is going on with my body, but I do know I'm on the right track. How do I know when I still feel so wacked out?

Well, my mom forwarded an e-mail she received from my aunt to me about someone in my aunt's church who has a thyroid disorder who's also on synthroid and was doing research and found the gluten aggrevates the thyroid. She went gluten free and is doing far better and is only on synthroid.

Prior to finding the out about the paleo way of eating (I'm tired of calling it the paleo diet.) I was toying with the idea of going gluten free, and was considering getting tested for gluten intolerance. I had read of a lot of people (who also listed a LOT of other things wrong with them that I frankly don't have) deciding to go gluten free. I weeble-wobbled back and forth on the issue. (As I am want to do on most everything. If you haven't figured that out yet.)

When I go to the endo, I'll have him check that, but gluten is out.

I know, I know. Gluten is out anyway on if I'm eating paleo. That's what I'm striving for, but I also have to take it steps at a time while I'm in the midst of it.

I'm still fighting with sugar. Talking with Mom, my plan of attack with that is to have an orange or piece of fruit with breakfast in the morning and that's it for the rest of the day.

Carl's Ice Cream on Saturday was incredible! Since Wednesday or Thursday of last week I began craving something smooth and creamy. Carl's totally hit the spot. I got a chocolate ice cream waffle cone and it was incredible. Better than I remembered. So incredibly yummy! And it was made even better because I went with Mom and my future sister-in-law, K. After Carl's K mentioned she hadn't eaten and wanted a burger. So we went to Sammy T's,

a cute little restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg. I had a bbq sandwich, which was really good. Sweet with just the hint of heat. Very nice.

Monday, was a sugar binge to end all sugar binges. I fell off the wagon feet first and just kept running. How do I feel today? Strangely? Not hungover like people talk about? Though getting up was brutal. I credit that more to going to bed at 11 two nights in a row.

(Going to bed THAT late last night had to do with coming home to my poor husband on the floor after rolling out of his wheelchair 5 hours prior. *sigh* I live in a crazy world. But sssshhhh . . . I wasn't supposed to mention that. )

Now about my title (I actually have a thought out title for once! I know! Go ahead . . . go get your smelling salts. I'll wait.). Since I've started on this paleo adventure I've continued reading the same blogs that I've always been reading. A lot of them vegetarian food blogs that I used as "reasearch" (if you will) when I was considering a more plant based diet (not necessarily vegetarian). As I'm moving away from that I'm finding while I still enjoy reading about their lives, I'm having a harder time connecting with them and reading about what they're eating is actually a distraction! :-( I hate that!

I feel invested in their lives (how crazy is it that these people I've never met, may never meet, but I've spent hours reading and I feel invested in their lives? What??) and I feel guilty unsubscribing to their blogs. But at the same time, I need to look out for my best interests and find blogs that are showcasing recipes or foods that I want to be eating now.

This is the mental shift I'm making. Moving from toying with the paleo diet (I know, I've said this before, but I think maybe I actually might mean it this time? Or I'm getting closer to meaning it?) to actually doing it. My husband is coming around and really supporting me in this which really helps too. He's eating all of the carbs in the house! (ha ha ha!)

No, that's not the mental shift I'm making either. Via blogs I mean. *sigh* The newness of paleo is wearing off. It's not so shiny and new and sparkly anymore (yes, my attention span is that short.), but it still feels right. I think its something I can stick to, something I can raise my children on (though my Italian and I may fight over that point) and something that I can eventually convert my Italian too (?) (ha ha ha ha ha!!!!).

Part of the change I've noticed is realizing I need stuff for me for all meals. Not just dinner. When we went grocery shopping this week, I picked up stuff for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and my Italian didn't say anything. He even found free range eggs for me! (At least I think they're free range . . . I hope so.) I'm trying to be economical with what I buy, but clean food at the same time. (Though my Italian still doesn't care. "I don't want to live forever" he said at the grocery store while we were discussing meat and what the meat he was looking at ate before it was butchered versus the meat I was picking out for him ate. I think it's time to rent Food, Inc. but I don't think it'll have an effect on him. We'll see.)

So their is a mental shift happening with both of us. Slowly. Slower than I like, but his is following mine.

We're progressing!

A peanut butter weigh in

YUM!! I am totally addicted to peanut butter right now. I have no idea why, but in the past couple weeks I have been craving peanut butter (no, I'm not pregnant. THAT I'm sure of.) I'm almost through my jar of peanut butter I got a couple weeks ago, so now I can move on to totally sugar free peanut butter! YAY!! That's on the grocery list for this week!

I do need to plan out meals for next week before I go grocery shopping this week though. (Why do I keep thinking it's Thursday! Is this week dragging for anyone else?)

OH! And I weighed in last night. Wanna talk about a minor almost heart attack! I got on the scale at WW last night and my leader told me I'd gained 0.4 pounds. (WHAT! AGAIN! WTF!!!! Okay . . . calm down . . . exercise was off last week . . . you did pig out Friday evening and Sunday. Calm down . . . there is reason for this.) I talked to her for a minute about it, then she noticed the scale was blinking and had me get off. She zeroed it out and re-weighed me. VIOLA!! I lost! YAY!!!

1.2 pounds went bye bye!!
(You can't tell I'm happy about that can you?)

Phew . . .

After the meeting, I went to Curves to work out. It was good, I was able to make it around the circuit twice. But my shins don't like butt kicks. They're actually still yelling at me a little bit this morning about that.

I also made the mistake of letting myself get too hungry last night (and this morning). I had a package of brown sugar & cinnamon poptarts, an entire package of corn on the cob steamers (4 mini ears of corn), and a small bag of 100 calorie popcorn. OH! And for dessert I had 1/4 c of the M&M's that Mom sent home with me on Sunday for my Italian. (I figured out his hiding spot!)

When I plugged everything into Spark people, I found out I'd eaten over 850 calories for dinner! (YIKES!!) But for the day I went over, but not too bad.

photo

So I need to up my protein and cut back on my fat and carbs. 

I'm really liking tracking on SparkPeople. I like charts and that sort of thing. This helps me know where I need to focus to find better balance. 

I don't exactly know what this is in WW points, but I guess I should figure that out too. Hrmm! (I'm lazy . . . I don't wanna!!) Maybe I'll do that on my long lunch! Okay, it's almost lunch time. I guess I should at least crank out the work that BBM gave me to do for the day. *sigh*  

(I'm SO unmotivated today! . . . Eh . . . this week! Who am I kidding! I wanna go play outside!)



Edit: YERP! I just finished plugging into WW tracker. 9.5 points over my daily allowance! YIKES! Today is a new day and I'll do better!! (I hope!)

My Bad Food Confessional

No, I didn't get any exercise in. At least not yet.

I am going to plug the Evil Lady's 30 Day Shred in and do that. It's only 20 minutes and hopefully it will wear me out enough that I sleep like a rock. 

Food wise my day, to be honest, was a massive FAIL! I took my thyroid meds right before we left to walk over to the church. When I do that, I'm not supposed to eat for an hour after I take them. Well . . . normally that works. 

Alas . . . habit eating took over and I found myself sitting in the 9 am Sunday School class munching on a mini chocolate donut. Don't even ask how many I ate after class and before the service. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even keep track. 

Weekends are dangerous times for me. Very, very dangerous. 

An even more dangerous place to be in my in-laws. We spent the day over there right after church until the evening. I did pretty well with lunch. I had a can of lentil soup and a few whole grain crackers. I was still a little hungry so I helped myself to a banana and we sat down to play Piss On Your Neighbor and Canasta.

Both very fun games. I was paired up with my Father-in-law for Canasta. We won the first game with the very last card of the last hand. The deck had been frozen from the very beginning and the last card was an 8. Now when the deck is frozen you need 3 matching cards to pick up the deck. My father-in-law had it and we got something like 3000 points in one hand, which put us up over 6000 points. We were playing to 5000, so we won!!! We played 1 more hand which my Italian and mother-in-law won. They beat us pretty badly, but then it was time for dinner, so we didn't have time to finish the game. 

My mother-in-law made sweet & sour pork. So so so good. Dinner, actually, was really quite healthy. Sweet & sour pork, over brown rice with a side salad and a couple rolls. 

My downfall was the candy she set out between my husband and I during the card games. So bad, so very very bad.  Mindless eating. Ugh . . . 

Chocolate, jelly beans, DOTS, Andes Mints . . . yum!

(Edit Note: Actually, I think I eat mindlessly to keep my mouthful so I won't say something that will cause my in-laws to go on a rant. *sigh* Unfortunately it didn't work during dinner. Oh well, there's always the next visit!)

How was your food day?

OH!! In other news . . . !!!

I got the okay from my Italian to buy running shoes! YIPEE!! 

Now I need advice . . . I've not done this before, at least not seriously. 

What running shoes would you recommend to a beginning runner? 

Breakfast . . . To Go!

A few posts back I mentioned Snack Girl's DIY Cereal. Well, after a week and half, I finally have gotten around to making it! And I even took pictures of making it!

You'll have to forgive the over light exposure of the pictures. I probably didn't need the flash.

The only change I made to her recipe was instead of 2 cups of chopped almonds. I used 1 1/2 cups of sliced almonds and 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts.

All of these things by themselves, except maybe the oil, YUM!! But combined . . . Mmmmmm . . . 

You don't want to forget the cooking spray that goes on the aluminum foil covered pan.

Spray the aluminum foil away! 

Mixing the oats and nuts. I used my hands to do this. It was fabulous! 

I decided to use a spatula for the oil and maple syrup.

Then you mix them together.

YUM! Almost done! All mixed together.

Ready to go in the oven! (Which has been pre-heating)

While it baked in the oven for 30 minutes, I put all my dirty dishes in the dishwasher and vegged out watching Top Gear on BBCAmerica. (Yes I am a girl, but I find them hilarious.) OH! And one of the best parts of this whole thing? (At least while its baking?) The smell. YUM! 

Out of the oven and cooling! And it smells FABULOUS!

I'm still waiting for it to cool. Once it cools, I'll add the raisins in and have a bit of it. Some rice milk, and cereal. I'm wondering how greek yogurt would work with it. 

Ooooh!!! Jay Leno is on this Top Gear!! Now see why I love this show??

I did have some Fage the other day, it was mixed with some strawberry jam/preserve/syrup like stuff. SO GOOD! 

I may have to pick some of that up when I go to the grocery. I think it may be a really yummy and easy breakfast. Once I get it all divided up, I can toss it in my new lunch bag.

Isn't it cute? 

It's great because it holds quite a bit of food and there's a pocket in the front where I can stick my eating utensils. 

Okay, I'm starving . . . I'm  calling it cooled and going to enjoy a bit. Or not. My Italian emerged from the office declaring that he was hungry, so I've got dinner warming up in the oven. (His aunt brought us dinner one night this week, but we'd already eaten, so we're eating it today!)

The final product. YUM!!

EVEN BETTER!!  I have enough for a week's worth of lunches with TONS left over!! Yippee!!

The timer just beeped. Time to get dinner on the table for my starving Italian and I. 

Yes, I'm feeling better from this morning. Curves didn't help. Apparently what I needed was a nap and to clean my kitchen.  Huh! Who knew?

Okay, okay! I'm going!!