Food Prep & Picture Day

I still haven't done any cardio today. Whatever germs are in my throat are still there and are not compatible with heavy breathing. So I went to Whole Foods and got my groceries for the week: broccoli, golden beets, asparagus, shrimp, artichokes, lemon, chicken thighs, broccoli rabe, scallops, arugula, and a wall of Fage yogurt. I have lots of grains and beans in my pantry, so I was all set with those.  

This was the cranberry pecan roll I had on my way home. When I got home, my lunch was a piece of pork loin and broccoli stir fried with Braggs, hot sesame oil and 5 spice powder. Lovely and light.  

Afterwards, I cooked the beets, cubed them, and put them in tupperware for the week. I also cooked the 2 artichokes and took out the spikey things from the middle so I can eat them when I want to, I also made a pot of brown rice, and roasted the asparagus. This will give me lots of choices for lunches and dinner this week. I think dinner tonight will be scallops, roasted asparagus and brown rice.

This is the odd dog who tries to shove into small places to be next to people. I was lying on the couch and he was trying to get very close to me, but was really almost pushing me off the sofa.
I will do some upper body work tonight, and at least go for a small walk with the dog (not that dog. That is The Boy's dog. My dog is normal but not nearly as photogenic), but other than that I will take it easy.  I'm just cleaning and doing laundry (hoping the things on the line dry before tonight), and wishing I had more tupperware or zip-lock bags so I could prep the broccoli rabe.  

Stopping When Full

I had breakfast at The Boy's house this morning. He made eggs with avocado over english muffins, and some potatoes with bacon fat (and some bacon.) The bacon is from a farm in vermont and tastes like ham. Usually I eat my whole breakfast. Today, I decided to just see how much breakfast it took for me to be full. It took about 3 pieces of red potato, and then half of my english muffin with egg, and a few bites of the other half. The Boy wanted to know if I was going to finish my breakfast, and I said no, I was full. So we wrapped the english muffin for me to take home (and I forgot to take it home.) We also had super delicious coffee that I had 3 cups of. Coffee is one of my favorite things about waking up in the morning.

Breakfast was at around 9 I think, and I am just now a little bit hungry for lunch, so I'm having a Fage 2% yogurt.

I did my sit ups and side planks this morning. The Boy was in his home office doing some bookkeeping so I went to keep him company and did my exercises while the dog snuffed around my head and tried to figure out what I was doing and how it could benefit him in some way.

I need to get some cardio in today. I took yesterday off from exercising, I felt like I had a cold coming on (which seems to be not coming on hopefully) so I gave myself the day off. Today I might walk outside or do some vinyasa yoga.

I have to do some meal planning for next week, and go to the grocery store and do some food prep (and decide on next week's Grain of The Week. It might be time for brown rice again.)

The One Where Beets & OLP Go Out To Eat on a Rainy Friday

OLP and I set out on this rainy evening for a quick dinner. We figured we'd virtually share our meals with you, since they were so delicious.

We each had a Caesar salad, with white anchovies and some marinated or preserved grape tomatoes. OLP stopped eating her salad when she was full...

I kept picking at mine for a while longer:

OLP got the half servings of gnocchi with broccolini. The waitress said she loved gnocchi, but then patted her belly (which was concave) as if to indicate that either she was pregnant and therefore unable to eat gnocchi for some reason, or as if to say that gnocchi (which is made from potatoes and water and maybe egg) is somehow really fattening. Poor uninformed waitress, missing out on the joys of a reasonable serving of gnocchi for fear that it would make her fat. Or maybe she has some sort of eating disorder and if she started eating it she couldn't stop. Or she's allergic to potatoes. At any rate, it was very good.

This was my half serving of ravioli with ricotta, some hammish sort of thing, green garlic (kind of like mild scallions) and asparagus. The waitress made no remarks or hand motions about my meal.  

A little bit of wine finished off the meal quite well.

I feel just the right amount of full.  

Panera Lunch

The Mediterranian Veggie Sandwich: Zesty Peppadew™ piquant peppers, feta cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and cilantro hummus on our Tomato Basil bread.
Half a sandwich has 310 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber. 
and Chicken Noodle Soup, about 100 calories.  
I skipped the sides (bread, apple or chips) and was asked 3 times by 2 different people if I was sure I didn't want them. 

Lack of Planning

I did not plan well today. I wasn't very hungry for breakfast so I ate some of the remains of a Fage Total Yogurt before I left for work, and just finished the rest of it. I think there was about 3/4 of a tub total, which would be 195 calories, and 15 g. of fat. I also did not bring a lunch. I did bring a bowl and I have some soup here but that is maybe 200 calories, which leaves me about 500 calories below where I normally am after lunch. Not good.

What I think I will do is finish this package of papers I have to mail to the Court, then head to the Post Office and stop at Panera on the way back for a Mediterranean Veggie 1/2 sandwich, and have that with my soup.

Mmmm, bacon fat.

Dinner was at the Boy's last night. He always has a dish of bacon fat on his stove (who doesn't?) which makes cooking there quite tasty. We were making chicken with vegetables, and then some little red potatoes. We decided to turn the potatoes into Patatas con Tres Grasas (which I think means potatoes with three fats in Spanish.)
Here are 2 of the fats: schmaltz (chicken fat) and a little dab of bacon fat:

Potatoes. When they were done cooking, he mixed in some butter with the leftover stuff from the chicken pan and then added that to the potatoes

Chicken, broccoli, grape tomatoes. There might have been a dab of bacon fat added to this dish, too. And then some pesto stirred in at the end.

The finished product, eaten out of the funny dishes with dividers between the different sections. This was the Boy's plate. Mine had the chicken on top of the arugula, and no dressing. The potatoes were just about the tastiest things I've ever eaten.


Meals like that are nice because they seem very decadent, but since they are only eaten once in a blue moon, they are ok. And there is nothing wrong with a little bacon fat.

No walk this morning. I was going to leave early to walk, but it was so nice out we ended up sitting out on the porch drinking coffee and watching the 2 dogs and one cat wander around the yard and listening to the birds.

NSV's

(Non-Scale Victories)

I know that the scale will not go down some weeks, even though good things are happening, and there is still a large quantity of fat covering my body, so I want to keep track of non-scale victories also. Here are a few from today:

• My work pants from today need to be retired as they were rather droopy by the end of the day.  And these were pants that have been too small in the past.  



• I bought new jeans, 1 size smaller, at the Gap today. No more droop there either (why does my bum lose weight? that is where I need padding!) 



• I made sure to incorporate time to do my sit-ups and lift my hand weights before I go out the The Boy's tonight. 

I think dinner is chicken thighs with pesto and vegetables and ciabatta bread. I hope that it is will be ready when I get there. I'm hungry!

Salad-y Goodness

This is my salad. I normally do not like cold food, but I made an exception today because I am trying to have more carbs. It is very good. With little tasty morsels in each bite and nice mix of textures and flavors.

Ingredients:
1 romaine heart chopped small.
2 tsp. olive oil. Salt & Pepper.
1.75 oz. of salmon left over from last night.
1 roasted red pepper, chopped.
6 roasted asparagus spears from last night, chopped.
3/4 cup bulgar wheat.
6 green olives.

Nutrition info: 339 Calories, 17 grams of fat, 38 g. carb., 13 g. protein, 8 grams of fiber.

It's about 100 calories less than my lunches usually are, but I'm meeting a friend at Whole Foods for tea and cakes later, so I'll make it up then.

The One Where I Complain About Pain and Feel Old

My back and leg felt better this morning, but I think I must have hurt my ankle when trying to compensate for the leg pain, because it still hurt this morning. Thankfully my Jane Fonda DVD arrived, so I just braced my ankle and did some low impact aerobics. Can I just say that I am very thankful that the era of wearing thong leotards to do aerobics is over? Thankfully that was also the era of wearying flesh colored tights when doing aerobics, but really, no one needs to see that. (sorry for the overuse of the word "thankful" in that paragraph.)

The workout was a little less complicated than Denise Austin. It had the mambo, the two-step and a bunch of other moves I couldn't really get, but I did my best to follow and at least keep moving my arms and legs to keep my heart rate up. It was a nice half hour workout.

Breakfast was oatmeal, almond butter, molasses and sunflower seeds.

I have a headache, too. It might be allergies, since I'm properly hydrated.

I made a big salad for lunch, which I'll take pictures of soon. And I might venture over to the Gap to see if they have my favorite jeans in a 12. The 14's are starting to droop.

The One That Mentions Digestion, But Only Briefly

So, I went for my massage, which was very nice. The woman is also a reflexologist, so she spent some time on my feet and afterwards told me that she couldn't find any muscular/skeleter reason for my back and leg pain, but she read in my feet that my digestion is congested (which I didn't think it was) and that might be causing referred pain in my back and leg. Interesting. She suggested a detox (and no, they don't sell detox/cleanses there, so she wasn't try to make money) or a cleanse.

I really don't believe in cleanses. I think the body does a good job of taking care of itself it you take care of it. Plus, they just seem kind of gross. But, in the spirit of perhaps having some interesting blog fodder, I'll go to the Health Food Store and at least investigate them.

Anyway, this was dinner: asparagus from the organic farm nearby, and Fire Cracker Salmon from the Make and Take Kitchen. It looks like one of those "diet meals" they always try to tell you to eat in Self Magazine, or show on the Canyon Ranch website, the kind of meal I always looked and said "thanks, but no thanks, that's not enough food for me and it probably doesn't even taste good anyway." But this was exactly what I wanted tonight - the lovely asparagus sprayed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted, and then the sort of spicy salmon, about 6 oz. (there's a piece hidden under that top piece) And a glass of white wine. If rice had been the Grain of the Week, I might have had some, but bulgar didn't seem quite right. I did have a piece of cheese while dinner cooked.



My eating seems to have taken a "lower carb" route, which was not on purpose. I'm just trying to eat what my body is telling me it wants. I'll have oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow, and maybe pasta for dinner to try to even things out for the week. And I'll make some bean dishes this weekend so some lunches can be meat free. And I have a recipe for no-knead bread I want to try, although I'm not ready for an entire loaf of bread to be in the house with me yet, so some of it may have to go to the Boy's house.

The dog needs walking, the coffee needs prepping, some evening yoga needs doing, and the Dawson's Creek needs watching.

Good night! And all my slacker friends who have not been blogging - start posting!! You know who you are! I need things to read in the mornings with my coffee.

Waitin' on the 3:45

I don't know what I felt the need to title this post with a made-up country song name, but since I just scheduled a 3:45 massage, it seemed fitting. Hopefully it will do something to help my leg. At the very least, it is a fitting reward for the 7 point something pounds gone.

Breakfast was 2 eggs with 1/2 zucchini, and 2 small mushrooms, wrapped in a tortilla. Lunch was 1/3 cup of bulgar wheat (this is a great grain if you haven't tried it yet. Very quick to make, and healthy), 1 cup broccoli (chopping all of it ahead of time was a very smart thing to do), and 7 oz (raw weight) of pork loin. Spiced with hot sesame oil, 5 spice, Braggs and salt and pepper. I ate it before I took a picture of it.

Dinner will be something involving roasted asparagus. It might even be warm enough to eat outside.

I left the chocolate chips at home, so they will have to be for dessert.

Now I've got to get a move on if I want to get all my work done by 3:45.

Two Point Two

These are the amazing noodles my dad makes. They are whole wheat shells, carmelized onions, a mix of cheese (chedder, asiago and parmesan) and then cooked until they sort of stick to the pan. Oh, and they have butter and a little sugar in them.  These are not something to be made at home. These are a special Dad Treat. 


This is broccoli. And the Christmas table cloth. 


This was my little bowl. It had some noodles, some broccoli dabbed with a little homemade mayonaise, some pork loin, and a few small beet cubes. I had a second bowl with a few more noodles, more broccoli, and pork. It was just the right amount of food.

I did not get a photo of the ice cream, but it was chocolate. I did not get a photo of the lovely rose wine, but it was delicious - dry and cold.  Nor did I get a photo of the niece who was covered in chocolate or the nephew who was giving my biceps another workout since he likes to be held and bounced. I have to figure out a way to get my triceps done while holding him, but that didn't seem quite safe since it would involve holding him over my head.  

My leg still hurts. My ankle hurts. My foot hurts. And my massage therapist is on vacation. I'm going to do yoga this morning instead of walking and see if that helps.  It feels like if someone could pick me up by my right leg, and give a good shake, it would fix things.  

And the organic farm stand is open! I drove by yesterday and they had asparagus, so I bought a bunch and will have it for dinner tonight.  

And I just weighed myself -  down 2.2 pounds from last week. Happy happy, joy joy.  

Afternoon Report

Home from work and going to my dad's for dinner tonight. I was peckish when I got home, so I had a few bites of ground beef and a small hunk of cheese. Protein fills me up, and will keep me going until I get to my dad's, where there will be lots of healthy and yummy food. 

I feel like sitting around until it is time to go, but these are things I have to do:

• prep coffee for morning -- done 
• make bed  -- done 
• walk the dog - done 
• do ab work  -- done 
• try to fix the painful sciatic nerve shooting pain down my right leg through my leg into my foot. -- did a bunch of down dog and pigeon poses. Pigeon was a lot easier without the large piece of fat that used to get in my way. I was sort of surprised to find it missing, but I don't want it back. So, if you see it, please don't tell it where i am. 
• Buy a bottle of Rose (visualize an accent over the "e") wine for picnic at dad's. I can pretend it's summer, right? 

Preppy Lunch

My lunch is sort of preppy colored today, with the pink and green. But it is also delicious and filling!

The New York Times has 2 good articles today:

The Importance of Strong Muscles

There are two aspects to healthy muscles: endurance and strength, said Robert H. Fitts, an exercise physiologist at Marquette University and chairman of the biology department there. To maintain endurance, you should engage in activities that pump blood to the muscles, like walking. For strength, you need to lift weights, concentrating on what Professor Fitts calls the antigravity muscles, those of the back and legs. And, he adds, you should also maintain arm strength.

The most effective way to stimulate muscles is with a system known as progressive resistance. This approach can take about three hours a week and includes days, once a week or so, when you lift weights so heavy that you can do only three to five repetitions before your muscles are too tired to lift again.

Other days are devoted to moderate resistance, with weights you can lift 8 to 10 times. And then you should have some light days, with weights you can lift 12 to 15 times before your muscles tire.

That is an interesting approach. I might have to get some lighter weights, and some heavier ones.

The other article is on the affect of waist size on health. All the more reason to keep track of  measurements along with weight.

Food and Money

So, I'm reading Half-Assed, The Weight Loss Memoir and in it she talks about the similarities between spending money and gaining fat. She compares being overweight to being overdrawn in her checking account. I thought about this as I prepared my lunch and tracked my calories, wondering if it was weird to be tracking calories, realizing my lunch was only 200 calories and then going back in the kitchen, getting more things, going back to the computer to enter the amounts until lunch was around 450 calories.

But, it isn't weird, anymore than it is weird for me to track all of my spending in my Quickbooks account to make sure I don't get overdrawn. It is good to look at my checkbook balance before going into Lululemon, and to set a budget for myself and to exercise self control over my purchases. And it is good for me to set a budget for my food, and exercise self control and be pleasently surprised when a meal that seems large turns out to be less than I thought (it's like finding a shirt on sale at Lululemon and then getting another $10 off when you point out that a hem has come undone, which you can fix yourself.)

I used to live in complete avoidance of money. I didn't track anything, I left my bills in the mailbox for days (fine, maybe weeks) at a time until I was sure they were all late and then I would take them out and pay them with anxiety and a bad attitude. Finally, I realized I needed to grow up and practice gratitude around my bills. After all, wasn't I lucky for the education I got from my student loans? and my car came in handy, right? and if the credit card companies hadn't loaned me money to open my law practice I wouldn't have it, would I? So, I totally changed my feelings about money, which in turn changed my actions about money.

It's the same with food and exercise. For a long time I just borrowed calories from the next day, the next week, the next month. And now, the tracking and keeping them within my range and making sure I'm burning enough calories each day seem remarkably easy and I'm wondering what the heck took me so long to get here. In the past when I was fit, I had a little chart that I tracked everything on (walk, sit ups, upper body, lower body, weight, etc.) I know that is what works for me.

Exercise: 55 minutes walking at World's End.
Breakfast: oatmeal with almond butter and molassas and sunflower seeds.
Lunch: 2 cups chopped broccoli, 4.5 oz. shrimp, 1 tsp oil, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, 1/2 cup bulgar wheat, 16 Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chips.
Snack: Fage Yogurt with strawberry.

Total: 932 calories. Which leaves me between 558 and 908 calories for dinner at my Dad's tonight. I'll try to get some photos of the food.

Tired and Hungry

6:20 p.m. Tonight is a that I would normally eat way too much. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm cranky. But I came home and ate the artichoke that was in my fridge to stave off the hunger so that I could make a clear decision about dinner. And, I'm having a glass of wine, which is also helping stave off the hunger.

I bought a food scale today. So I weighed out the shrimp for my fajitas, and I cut the zucchini, mushrooms and onion, and I measured one teaspoon of oil into the pan and then I dutifully entered everything into Sparkpeople (including the wine, allowing for another glass) assuming it would just be tons of calories, but it is still within my range. So I guess even though I sometimes want to just eat without having to track every blessed thing, tracking is good because it shows me that sometimes what I want to eat is what is actually good and appropriate to eat. (And the food scale just informed me that 6 oz. of frozen shrimp = 3 7/8 oz. of actual shrimp. That is good to know.) And tracking is necessary right now. And tracking is doing good things for me.

---

Ok, these fajitas are awesome. There is no avocado, no cheese, just a dab of Fage Yogurt but they are so tasty. And so filling and so many vegetables. And now I am neither hungry nor cranky. But I am still tired and since OLP is making me walk tomorrow, too, I will go to bed early.

---

Aw, man, I just found out that I am missing Taco Night at the Boy's house. His neighbor, Young Kevin, and his girlfriend and his brother are going over for tacos. But I am too tired and not prepared and made him promise that he would give me advance notice of the next Taco Night so that I can be there to meet The Girlfriend. There is always a lot of drama with Young Kevin and his girlfriend.

I bought Pasta Queen's book, Half-Assed at Barnes and Noble and can't wait to start reading it.

And I'm not really going to bed at 7:30 p.m. I just happen to be in bed at this hour to read my new book.

mmm, scallops

I just ate my lunch. Due to my early rising, I ate breakfast early, and was hungry for lunch earlier, and now my lunch is gone. It was very yummy. It was more scallops, a romaine heart chopped small (there are few things I hate more than gigantic pieces of lettuce), 1 tsp. olive oil, 1/2 cup of bulgar wheat, and a few green olives and some salt and pepper. According to Sparkpeople, it was 433 calories, 7 grams of fat, 7 grams of fiber. That is usually what my lunches are.  I should have brought a second yogurt, since I think I will be hungry later. But, I will pick one up when I run out in a few minutes to see if the local printer can make me some new envelopes, since I seem to have run out of my printed-letterhead envelopes. How professional! 

I think I am going to buy a food scale, since I really am estimating my meat intake.  I divide the total weight by the small piece, but I would like to be precise until I can eyeball it myself.  

I am noticing my stomach muscles in the mirror now, the sides near the ribs. I guess those planks are working.  Of course, there is still the layer of fat covering everything, but when that fat is gone, there will be some lovely definition.  My arms are coming along more slowly. I've been measuring them and they aren't really getting smaller, whereas the torso and legs are going down.  

But I guess this counting calories and purposeful moving and lifting and squating and crunching and biking and planning and measuring really does work. 

6:40 and 610

The lowdown:
Walk : 55 minutes with OLP.
Tricep dips: 10?
Push-ups on a low bench: 5, then 5 1/2 at the next bench. This has to improve.
Mountain Climbers: 3 or 4.
Dogs seen: 7 or so.

I usually walk at 7 after a leisurly breakfast and coffee in my PJs. But this morning I was meeting Jess at 6:40, so I had to get up earlier (which I didn't) but I did grab all my workout clothes on my way down stairs and put them on while I was still half asleep. Then I had 1 cup of coffee and 1/2 my oatmeal before I left for the walk. It was at a new park, which is always nice to find, and there were other people so it wasn't scary.

I should have put my coffee in a thermos since it was cold by the time I got home, as was the rest of my oatmeal. It does feel good to have my walk done sooner in the morning.

I'm at 610 minutes of exercise so far this month. My goal is 1600.

Sunday Night Blues and Greens

For some reason the Sunday Night Blues showed up around noon today. The SNB's are that melancholy that settles in on Sunday night for no real reason. When my brother and his Japanese friends had their band they even had a song called "Sunday Night Blues." I guess the SNB's are an international phenomenon.

Anyway, they settled on me and I spent the day being rather sedate and reading other people's blogs. Finally, I got up to start making dinner since I was getting hungry. I prepped the big bunch of broccoli, putting 2 of the stalks in the fridge all chopped, and keeping one out for dinner. Then I took one of the pork loin chops (I think it was 7 oz.) and sliced it thinly. I stir-fried the broccoli in a little oil with garlic and crushed red pepper, then added the pork and cooked it for a few minutes. I sprinkled it all with 5 Spice powder and ate it. It was very good, and filled up my bowl twice so I felt like I was getting a lot of food (which I was, even though most of it was broccoli.) I ate it with chop sticks.  I thought that in the past I probably would have made rice to go with it, but it didn't need rice at all. It just tasted very clean and fresh.   And then I had an artichoke. I think I have made up for my lack of vegetables yesterday.

Whole dinner: 533 calories. My percentage of fat calories was 30% today, which is just right. My protein intake was 40% (it's supposed to be 15%) and carbs were 28%, supposed to be 55%. Oh well, I'll keep an eye on things and I'm sure it will balance out over the course of a week.

Yoga Journal has a new Evening Yoga Video that I might do before bed.

The very pretty white and blue bowl was one of the ones I bought at the open studios yesterday.

Errand and Chore Day

Today was Sunday Errand and Chore Day, which is one of my favorite days. I love homemaking. I did 4 loads of laundry and hung all the clothes and sheets out on the line to dry. I took all the trash and recycling to the landfill, then went to the grocery store and came home and cleaned the kitchen to get ready for prepping lunch for next week.

This is what I bought on my trip to Whole Foods today (if you click on the picture, it will get big):


Top row bag of bulgar wheat (Grain of the Week), bag of brown rice, mushrooms, whole wheat tortillas, OJ.
Next row: romaine hearts, broccoli rabe (with semisweet chocolate chips under them), almond butter.
Next row: eggplant, 3 small zucchini, broccoli, small cabbage, pound of bay scallops, 4 boneless pork loin chops,
Bottom row: 4 2% Fage yogurt with Peach or strawberry.

This will see me well through the week. I've cooked some of the bulgar already. It will be the grain base for lunches. And I've eaten some of the scallops. I froze 3 of the pork loin in individual wrappers, so I can pull them out the night before I want to eat them. I have to cook some of the broccoli or eggplant or something tonight.

I have not exercised today. And I may not. I even took a little nap. I have been tracking my meals on Sparkpeople today, though, since I almost fell into the Trap of Endless Picking At Things - oatmeal for breakfast, a Fage 2% yogurt, 1 cup of bulgar wheat with a few tablespoons of taco filling, 6 oz. of scallops, then a few semisweet chocolate chips to send the message to my mouth that meals were over until dinner.

It feels nice to give myself the day off from walking or biking or lifting things for no purpose other than building muscle. But what I did do was lots of trips up and down the stairs, lots of trips outside hanging clothes, taking them down, folding them, making the bed - doing all the things I need to have done so that I can do all my exercising the other days of the week and not worry about lunches or clean clothes or dishes or dinners.

I like to have lots of fitness/weight loss blogs in my RSS reader. Here are 2 new ones I found today: Mr. and Mrs. Get Fit, and The ELFF Diet, which stands for Eat Less Fatty Food. I always get a few good ideas from other people's blogs.

Tacos and Pizza and Fat, Oh My!

A rather large percentage of my calories yesterday came from fat. I tracked everything on Sparkpeople, and my calories were within my range, but the percentage from fat was a bit skewed. This came from the eggs that the Boy cooked me in the morning (he adds more butter than I do) and the ground beef tacos I made for lunch, and the pizza I had for dinner. I was almost not going to track my food because the tacos made me nervous but then I figured I should, since knowledge is power.

The tacos kept me full until we had dinner at my mom's at 6:30. It was Open Studios in their neighborhood, and my mom's house was open for showing her paintings and drawings, and the rest of us had spent a bunch of time down the street buying pottery so we were all to tired to cook and ordered pizza. I had 2 pieces. That was just the right amount. And when I went to the Boy's house later in the evening, he was eating the leftover Chinese food which smelled tasty, but since I'd had dinner already I didn't have any.

This morning I had oatmeal, and I'm going to try to eat more vegetables today and just watch my fat intake. A bike ride or woods walk will take place, and some house cleaning and food prep, too.

The Boy wanted to see the Blog this morning, so I took him on a skimming tour of it. He doesn't really need to see what my actual weight is, or read about some of my food issues.

We were talking about exercise and he was explaining to me the various "exercises" he does during his plumbing day. For instance he was under a jacuzzi tub on his back working on some tubes, but there was something sharp under his back so he was essentially in bridge pose for quite a while with his arms up working. Then when he has to shimmy in and out of crawl spaces he is in a low plank pose and moving. Or when lowering him self up and down out of some weird space at his friends house 30 times in a day, he got quite a few triceps dips in. All that without even meaning to exercise.

Dinner last night was: 3 pieces of eel sushi, 3 pieces of spicy tuna, a small lettuce wrap, some seaweed salad and some veggies & chicken over crunchy noodles. Just a bit of each thing, and I was a little hungry later but when I thought about it I was more mouth-hungry than stomach-hungry so I just said to myself "yes, that food was very yummy, but you had enough to fill you up. You can have it again some time, but not now."

It's gray and cold, and I'm driving my sister up to our mom's today with her babe, but I am going to go for a walk shortly, since the rain seems to be holding off for now.

And Tonight's Challenge Is...

Chinese food! The Boy is home and I'm bringing him dinner on my way to his house.  I gave him a few suggestions of what I wanted (seaweed salad and the chicken-lettuce things) but left it up to him to choose the rest since sometimes it's just nice when someone else decides things. And then I'll decide what to eat.

It looks like rain again tomorrow, but I know I'll find some time to exercise. And, this morning I added a whole bunch of random workout DVDs to my Netflix queue so I'll be giving my review of Jane Fonda's Complete Workout (circa 1989), and a few by Gilad, of Bodies in Motion fame. I used to do those workouts in high school so it will be a nice trip down memory lane.

Happy Friday! 

The Early Bird

Those are the little birds that live above my front door. I keep hearing them chirp, so this morning after my bike ride I stood on a bench to take a peek. I took a photo without a flash so I didn't hurt their little bird eyes. They didn't make a noise while I was up there (only for a minute, the bench was not very good for standing), but their mom or dad was flying around getting very annoyed because I was holding up breakfast.

What does this have to do with fitness? Well, it is these little birdies and their 176 friends who sing to me each morning starting at around 5 a.m. about how beautiful the day is and how I really should get up and have coffee and wake up so that I can come join them. So, I do and they are right.

Lunch was chicken and cuban black beans and about 1/4 cup of farro (what was left in the pot.)

The Mystery That Keeps Me Moving

How can the same bike ride feel so different just 3 days apart? My ride on Tuesday was miserable. I felt like one of those elephants on a tricycle at the circus (or are those bears?) trying to get myself up the hills and swearing the whole way and hoping the police officers on duty at the road work sites didn't think I was mutting f*ck under my breath at them.

And today I set out on the same ride, thinking it might be marginally better, and it was so much better. It was the exact same route, the exact same bike but I felt so much stronger and even happier by the end of it. I just kept thinking "this is a really nice ride." And it really was.

The only think I did differently was to leave the fleece vest at home. I think on the last ride the back of my neck was overly heated and that made me uncomfortable (I get very hot when I exercise). I left it at home today knowing it would be a little chilly to start but much better for the rest of the ride. There is one spot on this ride where the temperature in my body shifts upward and I push my sleeves up, or take my jacket or long sleeve shirt off. I noticed it last year, that every single time I rode I would stop in front of this one house and start to disrobe, it's rather strange, but sort of interesting, too.

Breakfast was eggs in a tortilla. I don't know what lunch is yet.

Dawson's Creek & Sushi

I have a strange love for bad teen television. (I think it stems from my fond memories of watching 90210) So I spent the early part of this evening watching the first year of Dawson's Creek and doing sit ups and waiting for the Boy to call and say that he was done plumbing and that we were going for dinner. Alas, that call never came. And when I finally called him at 7:15, he was still on the Cape filling a jacuzzi tub to check it for leaks. (You must always add 3 hours to regular time to get Plumbing Time.)

So, no dinner together, and then there I was faced with having to leave Dawson and Joey and Jen and Pacey and go cook something, or calling someone to bring me dinner. So I called the nice people with the sushi and they will bring me some soon. There will be eel, spicy tuna, some seaweed salad and some steamed shumai. In the past, there would have been some crispy crunchy roll things with shrimp or vegetables. But, not tonight. And I will not miss them.

--

Later:

The sushi arrived and is lovely. It took a while to get here, and I'm eating dinner at almost 9pm, but it was good to just sit with my hunger and realize it would not harm me. And when the food came, I was still able to eat it slowly and really enjoy it. Now I'm done and not hungry, but not completely full. Just the right amount of full. I think it's tea time and then bed time.

Second Lunch

So, I ended up eating the steak part of my lunch at 11 or so, which kept me full through my client meeting at 1pm. Now it's a little after 2:30 and I'm eating the farro and curry part of lunch. And some carrot sticks. And a baby snickers square.

I put my hands on my hips this morning while I was standing at my desk, and the nice little cushions that are usually there to support my hands had shrunk. It might be my pants, but it might also be that my kidney insulation is getting smaller.

Tonight might be a challenge as far as dinner. The Boy is doing plumbing for some friends on the Cape, which means he gets home a little later, and I'm going over there which might mean stopping and getting Chinese food for him on the way to his house since he'll be tired and hungry. But, we usually get seaweed salad, the chicken that wraps in the lettuce and some dumpling things, which is all pretty good, especially since he likes the dumplings that I don't really like so I don't eat them. I'll have to be sure to have a snack when i get home from work so that I'm not famished which will cause me to order noodley things or fried things which would not really be what I wanted in the long run.

And now that it's sunny out, I can get in a late afternoon walk with the dog. And I can stop at whole foods to get some 2% Fage yogurt.

When In Doubt - Grapevine!!

It was raining this morning, and in keeping with the spirit of mixing up my workouts, I decided to try out the aerobics section of my Denise Austin Personal Training System DVD. (Yes, that is Jane Fonda, but since she was the first aerobicizer, I figured I'd put her picture up.)

Anyway, the workout started off fine with some marching in place and high steps, but then she moved into this very confusing routine of chasse/kick-step, charleston, "rainbow arms" and kept changing the routine just as I'd gotten used to it.  So, I decided I'd let Denise and her girls do their thing, and I'd do mine. So I grape-vined my little heart out, mixing it up with some heel taps, some kicks, some knee lifts, different arm combinations, jogging in place, a shimmy here and there, the works.  And you know what? I got an awesome workout. My heart rate was up, I was sweating and I felt great. 

After the 25 minutes of aerobics, I did the low intensity arms and lower body, which were still a great workout despite being called "low intensity." It just meant that the arm work was done in the chair or lying down, and the lower body was done on the ground with leg lifts and bridge pose and hamstring curls.  I skipped the abs because I was out of time, but will do those when I get home. 

Now my stomach is growling like crazy. I had 2 small eggs and a bit of avocado in a tortilla for breakfast.  And for lunch I have some carrot sticks, and a steak/farro/curry mixture.  It is a sort of "empty out all the remnants in the fridge for lunch" sort of day. But I might have to eat my lunch right now. Or at least part of it. I wish I had some yogurt.  Or peanut butter with my carrot sticks.

Don't Fear The Fat

If you haven't tried this yogurt yet, you are missing out. I normally do not like yogurt, but this is strained and thicker and not as tart, and it's really yummy. I don't buy nonfat dairy products, I don't think there is a point to eating them, but I do usually buy low fat. Well, I bought this in whole milk because they were out of the 2%. I didn't look at the calories or fat because I figured I had a rough idea of what they were. Then I went to eat it today and saw that the little 7 oz. container had 20 grams of fat. Hmm, that seemed like quite a few. But I ate it - a little before lunch, and the rest before I left work to go to my networking meeting - and it was worth the 20 grams of fat.

Then just for curiosity's sake, I decided to enter my food for the day into Sparkpeople to see what damage I had wrought with that little container. And guess what, I had not wrought any damage. Even with the peanut butter and sunflower seeds in my oatmeal, and the Fage Total yogurt, I'd still had just 45 grams of fat for the day - which is completely in line with the Sparkpeople (and other) guidelines.

And when I went to the event, which was serving wine and cheese and crackers, I was not hungry. I had 1 glass of wine, and 2 crackers with cheese. And I came home and took a brisk walk with the dog and I am still not hungry. So I think those 20 grams of fat did their job quite well by keeping me full.

I am figuring out what works to keep me full and energized - things with more protein and fat and not as many carbs, in small servings throughout the day. But I still make sure I get enough fiber and vegetables. I want to eat more fruit, but then I start thinking about pesticides and how the fruit travels here from Chili or California or Argentina and I get weirded out and can't buy it. It will be nice when it is really spring and I can have local things (and when the raspberry bushes in my yard start bearing fruit for the season.)

I think that taking out the wine at home, and the english muffins, and the Whole Foods salad/hot food bar lunches have really helped me listen to my body and give it what it wants (and needs.) Those things were the standard response to any kind of hunger, real or imagined, and when I made them no longer an option it forced me to figure out if I was really hungry, and what in fact I was hungry for. And so I'm figuring out that sometimes I'm hungry for cold oatmeal and olives, or whole milk yogurt, or eggs and avocado, or chinese broccoli, or kale or beets or spicy curry or any number of super tasty and healthy things to eat. And sometimes I'm hungry for a little serving of my dad's homemade ice cream, or fried clam bellies on a hot day in the summer with a cold beer, or pizza. And since there is not any "off limit" food, I can eat these things in a serving size that satisfies my hunger without feeling like it will be the last time I eat these things. (Well, except for last week with the pizza, but we're going to try that one again.)

Ok, now I'm hungry. Well my mind is hungry, but my stomach is not. And I am thankful that at least for right now, I can tell the difference.

walking, chicken, farro, blah blah blah

Well, I ate the rest of the oatmeal cold a little later, along with 5 green picholene olives. Salty, Yum! I ended up walking at World's End this morning for an hour, up the big hill again. I can feel my lungs getting stronger.

Varying my workouts in the morning is helping, I think. And I don't decide what I'm doing until I start getting dressed for it. If I tried to decide first, I'd never leave the house, so I just start putting on my shoes and clothes and at some point it hits me.

Lunch is the same as yesterday - chicken thigh, kale and farro. I have more of it for dinner, then it will be gone. I like to eat the same thing over and over until I am tired of it for a while.

This blog is starting to bore me - here is what I ate, here is what I did for exercise, blah blah blah. It's important for me to keep track of what I'm doing (and whatever I'm doing seems to be working) but I'll have to think of some way to make it more interesting for me to write, and for a 7 of my readers to read.

Eating Lunch on International No Diet Day

It's International No Diet Day.  They even give you a list of the Top 10 Reasons to Give up Dieting.  And a bunch of them, including #8 ("DIETS ARE BORING. People on diets talk and think about food and practically nothing else. There's a lot more to life") make sense and I've posted about that. (This blog talks mostly about food, but that's because it is my food blog, not because I am obsessesed with food and talk about nothing else.)   

But the site never actually says what they mean by "diet"? I think they mean food plans that ascribe judgments to food, like "this is bad" or "I'm being good today" or "I'm not supposed to have these."  

As for celebrating the day - does it mean that people will stop making inane comments about what they are eating at a cocktail party and will eat what their body wants without guilt? or does it mean that people will look down on others who are trying to get in shape? Because the first one I can get behind, and the second one, well, I can't see how putting people down who are trying to eat more mindfully and exercise, and lose weight in the process, does anything to advance the cause.

So, I'm celebrating No Diet Day by eating exactly the same as I do every day - what I want to eat, when I am hungry, and in amounts that satisfy me. (Which today happens to be kale, chicken and farro, with a little rogue eggplant mixed in.) And by moving and exercising in ways that maybe make me curse while I'm doing them, but make me feel better all day.

Are you celebrating today? How? Why?

9 Things I Love About Biking (and one thing I hate)

1. Burning 576 Calories in 45 minutes. 
2. Knowing that my metabolism will be higher all day because of the biking. 
3. Being done! with the biking for the day. 
4. The view from Jerusalem Road at 7 a.m. 
5. Knowing my muscles are getting stronger. 
6. Having new bike shoes that make biking a little bit more efficient. 
7. Did I mention the done part? and the 576 calories? 
8. The thought of fitting into my size 10 jeans, and size 8 pants. 
9. Knowing that it can only get easier.

And the thing I'm not so fond of yet: 

1. The actual biking part. 

Early to Rise

I got up at 5:30 this morning, and was rewarded with seeing 2 bunnies in the yard when I took the dog out. And being up earlier meant there was more time for my stomach to adjust to being awake, so I'm eating my oatmeal before my walk.

Nothing else very exciting to report, but in my blog reading this morning I came across these 2 posts that talked about the same thing, emotional eating and getting past it:

It's Not In There, by Scale Junkie

and

Not About Food by Escape from Obesity.

Early to Bed

It's is 8:40 p.m. and I'm posting from my cozy bed. My kitchen is clean. The water and oatmeal are measured for tomorrow's breakfast, the peanut butter/sunflower seeds/molasses mix is in the bowl, and lunch and dinner for tomorrow night is in the fridge. The dog has been walked, the little birds and their babies who live in the eaves of my porch are left in peace for the rest of the night, and all is right with the world.

Dinner was 6 oz. of steak, maybe a cup or a little more of farro, and a big bunch of chinese broccoli, with some teriyaki sauce. It was very yummy. I ate half of it, then walked the dog, ate an artichoke and then ate the rest of the dinner since I was still hungry. That meant I had to make something else for lunch tomorrow so I cooked some chicken thighs and kale and a little left over eggplant and that will be lunch tomorrow. And maybe dinner. We'll see.

Good night.

I Went Biking And It Did Not Suck

I used to love biking. When I was young and carefree and living in California, I didn't have a car so I biked everywhere: work, the grocery store, college, the fabric store, the Folsom Dam. I loved it. I didn't think twice about hopping on my bike and flying away. And I weighed 135 pounds. Then I got a car. I got old. I got real jobs that you couldn't bike to. I got heavy. And biking went from being freedom to being "exercise."

I still have 2 bikes, a road and a mountain. I ride them during the summer and fall. And thanks to the REI sale, I have a sweet new pair of biking shoes. So I put on my shoes today and went for a short ride. 20 minutes, a few hills, no left turns, and 12 minutes into it I sort of even enjoyed it.

I do better when I bike to a destination like the beach, or a walk, or a store, so I'll try to do more of that. And I'll head out on short rides more often and hope the love returns.

What color is your lunch?

I was making my lunch today and as I built it I thought, this is quite monochromatic. So I added in the spicy red pepper spread, and some carrot sticks.  That brightened it up and added more veggies.  This is the red pepper spread, and a cut up Trader Joe's chilie lime chicken burger. 

This is farro and eggplant.  I guess the eggplant could count as purple, except I peeled it.  The farro was cooked in veggie broth, and the eggplant was cubed and sauteed with salt and pepper. It is very yummy. 

I did 2 ten minute Sparkpeople videos this morning. One for lower body, and an abs one.  They are a great length, because it's easy to say "just one more" without feeling like you have to commit for 30 or 40 minutes.  I can see muscles emerging from my arms and legs, and feel my hips and glutes firming up when I walk up my stairs. Come on, don't you feel your bum when you walk up the stairs at home to check your progress?  Oh, well, anyway.  

Seeing these results is helping me keep my mind on my goal, and reminding me why I am taking the time to prepare lunches, and be mindful of what I'm eating, and making the time to work out.

Oatmeal Again

I'm having oat meal for breakfast again. I think I have found the right combination: oatmeal, molassas, peanut butter and sunflower seeds. I skipped the butter today, and it was just as tasty. 

I had some Fage 2% yogurt with peach before my walk, well some before and some after.  I was a little sluggish at the end of the walk which may have been either from dehydration or not enough of a pre-walk meal. My stomach is very particular in the morning so it's hard to find something to keep me going  on my walk that doesn't make me want to heave when I think about eating it. That was the nice thing about english muffins, they were perfect. Oh well, they weren't really perfect because they made me be 30 pounds overweight.  

I walked for 50 minutes and I'm going to do the Sparkpeople lower body workout with the hopes that it will help to tone without incapacitating me like Denise Austin did. 

Not An Artichoke

That was dinner. It was not an artichoke. It was a homemade thin crust pizza with the following things on it: half whole wheat/half white crust, pesto, spicy chicken sausage, shrimp, mushroom, a little thinly sliced onions, a few roased red peppers, and a bit of Parmesan cheese. I usually put arugula on it but I was out and the thought of kale on my pizza was not very appealing. Oh, and some crushed red pepper, even though there is some in the sausage. I don't really like too much cheese on my pizza, or tomato sauce. But I missed the greens. And red onions would have been better than white.

I ate too much of it on account of its deliciousness, but then I went for a nice brisk 20 minute walk, which settled my stomach.

Plan for the week:

• keep up the cardio everyday: walking or maybe biking. 
• abs every day
• strength training 3 times 
• yoga 1 day
• continue with portion control 
• plan for healthy dinners on Tuesday & Wed. when I will be out in the evenings
• don't eat so much pizza next time.  

Here is a post on motivation, or lack thereof, from the fit shack.

Here is a nice picture from our walk today that makes me feel all peaceful :
 

Lazy Sunday

Not too lazy, we did manage to get in a 45 minute walk at the park on Driftway with the dogs who found this puddle to jump and play in. Note to self: bring towels when taking the dogs to the park in the rain.  And I did some plank and side plank (inside, not out in the rain.)

We ate well - tacos on Saturday night with some of the grass fed beef from the farm, and a bit of lemon sherbet for dessert. Then he made omelets with pesto for breakfast this morning, and we had the leftover taco fixings over lettuce for lunch.

Now I've got to wash some dishes and think of things for lunch this week. I think that Farro will be the Grain of the Week, and I have some broccoli to cook, along with some cauliflower.

Dinner will maybe be an artichoke and I don't know what else yet.

A Little Rain is Not the End of the World

Went for a walk at World's End. That photo is a few weeks old, it's much more green there now. It was sort of raining at the beginning, but I was prepared with my fleece, and rain coat and gloves. My energy was nice and high throughout the walk thanks to the oatmeal and the fact that I had made sure to have enough water before heading out.

I did the whole route, including going straight up the hill on the way back (which is getting easier each time), for a total time of one hour. It only rained a little, and I was fine.

Then I came home and had lunch (curried chick peas with spicy chicken sausage) and a bit of chocolate.

It is supposed to rain quite hard tomorrow, so I'm glad I was able to get a walk in today. Tomorrow will be yoga, or perhaps some more Denise Austin.

Trying Again to Love Oatmeal

I made oatmeal for breakfast. I really want to love it. But sometime it just grosses me out and doesn't fill me up for long enough. And the thought of adding trail mix or raisins or berries didn't appeal to me. So I decided to just throw a bunch of stuff in it and see what happened.

I started off the with my standard of butter and molasses, but then decided I needed more protein, so I added a tablespoon of peanut butter. I also added about a teaspoon of ground flax seed, and then about a teaspoon of sunflower seeds for a little bit of crunch.

It is quite tasty actually, and I might just be able to love oatmeal after all. This is not an every day breakfast at 450 calories and 25 grams of fat, but it also has 13 grams of protein and 9 grams of fiber, and it should get me through all my morning errands and a walk at World's End.

(ok, I've had about 5 spoonfulls and I'm full already. This might be the type of breakfast that I graze on all morning. Or if I can figure out how to turn it into a bar, I could carry it with me when I go out.)

Little Bites & A Small Rant

We, (Jess: OLP & Stacey: LIF & I), had our weekly marketing meeting tonight. And by marketing I mean wine and tapas, and by meeting I mean sitting on couches and being waited on in a little curtained alcove.

The meal, which left me completely satisfied, consisted of a tiny shrimp taco, which would have preferred being hot, 4 perfect scallops with a tiny servings cucumber salad, and a glass and a half of chardonnay.  (and some yummy bread with white bean spread.) Any restaurant that serves 1/2 glasses of wine, and lets us sit in a little alcove on couches for 3 hours without ever trying to kick us out is a place I will be returning to again and again. And I can't tell you what it is because then you will go there and steal our spot and we will be sad.

I came home and had 7 chocolate chips for dessert. They were just the right thing to end the day. Once again, if there had been english muffins, I probably would have had one. And if there had been wine, I probably would have had a little glass. But since there is neither, I can remain as I am and save 300 or so calories.

One of the things Stacey and I were talking about was how whenever a group of women (besides us) get together around food, the conversation always turns to body image and food, and how "bad" they are for eating, and how "good" they will be tomorrow.

This was something I wrote back in March after I had been to a professional networking event that was filled with these types of women having these types of conversations:

Dear Women at the Cocktail Party

1. You do not need to say "oh, this has no calories, right" [insert nervous laughter] as you eat something.
2. You do not need to say "oh, that's what I should be doing " when there is pilates being shown on the tv.
3. You do not need to say "I will be back on track tomorrow" when you reach for an appetizer.

Just eat the darned thing! If you are hungry, eat! Do not apologize for eating. Do not tell me that your stomach should be flatter. Do not feel bad for eating what you ate. No one cares. No one is keeping track of what you eat.

There is nothing more boring than women talking about food in that way, or apologizing for what they are eating, or talking about being on a diet. It makes me want to scream. We are professional women, networking for business and you are talking about your stomach! For the love of God, just stop it!

You know, I have a lot of issues with my body, I don't like to eat in public settings like that (especially because people want to shake my hand and I don't like to touch people and then pick up food) so I don't. I make sure that I eat ahead of time so that I don't have to worry about what they are serving. Or, if I haven't and I arrive hungry, then I eat. Without apology. Without discussion. Without excuse.

I want people to remember me as the interesting, smart, funny attorney that they met, not the woman who will be starting her diet tomorrow or who wishes her stomach will be flatter. Which person would you rather talk to at a party?

I had a fabulous dinner tonight. And I enjoyed every bite and sip. And will continue to do so with everything I eat for the rest of my life. Without apology, or discussion or excuse.

Lunch in 2 Parts

I brought leftovers for lunch: a few brussel sprouts, some broccoli, a little bit of the noodles from last night, and some of the pork. The nice thing about Ms. Bento is that I can just bring a small amount of each thing. I had a client coming at 1:30, so decided I'd eat around 12. Then she called at 11 and asked if she could come at 11:45 instead. So, I had the pork and noodles at 11, since I was hungry then. And after she left I had the brussels and broccoli. They were lovely. I am figuring out the amounts and kinds of food that I can eat and be satisfied.

ETA:

Didn't finish posting this before I went to Whole Foods when I was hungry later in the afternoon. I got a cappucino and a Fage Yogurt (the yummy Greek yogurt) and walked right past the tasty chicken things in the salad bar.

Ow

My body is in pain. Not a bad pain, but the sort of pain that feels like someone beat you about the arms and legs with a hammer. See, the Denise Austin workout involves super-sets, and very slow lifting, and dead lifts and squats and things. And apparently you are supposed to use 3-5 pound weights, but all I have are my 10 pounders, which might explain the state of things. I walked this morning, a slow, plodding 45 minutes with a hamstring stretch in the middle that made me wince. And some push ups that did not make me wince. I don't like to feel so sluggish when I walk. I will try to do the Denise Austin 2 days a week, and hopefully not feel like this each time.

Dinner At Dad's

Last night was dinner at my dad's, a weekly tradition. The menu was: roast pork, Brussels sprouts in yummy sauce, broccoli, asparagus (which I didn't eat) and this egg noodle dish he makes that has butter and asiago cheese and I think bacon fat, too, and caramelized onions and then he cooks it so it sort of burns on the bottom of the pan and gets all crunchy. It is something I would never cook for myself at home, so it is nice to have a little when I go there. He had set out large dinner plates for us to eat off of, but I like to eat out of small bowls so I got one of those instead.

Oh, and a few pieces of whole wheat baguette with chicken liver pate. It sounds gross but it is so good. I think that has bacon fat in it, too. My dad loves to cook with bacon fat, which you could never tell by looking at him - he is very wiry and weighs less than I do. I think when we are not there he eats mostly bean sprouts and carrots.

Even though I had done my arm workout for the day, my small nephew's favorite activity to be held in someone's lap, so that he is standing and can jump up and down. A rather sturdy 4 mo. weighs quite a bit, especially after 15 minutes of that activity, so I think I got 2 arm workouts in yesterday.

Dessert was, as always, homemade ice cream. Last nights flavor was chocolate. The servings are less than a 1/4 cup I think, maybe right around there. They are served in tiny glasses, with tiny demi tasse spoons which make you savor every bite.

I had brought my Bento lunch jar to show to people, and it ended up being the perfect thing to put a few leftovers in for lunch today.

As for the result of the Denise Austin workout yesterday, the following muscle groups have that lovely ache: shoulders, triceps, abdominals, hamstrings, glutes, and upper back. You can even rent it from Netflix.

Hmm, maybe renting fitness videos from Netflix would be a good way to mix things up. I could try belly dancing then kickboxing then some of the Elle Glam Fitness DVDs....well maybe not those last ones.

I'm having my coffee, thinking about breakfast and hoping that it's not really raining out.

Bento Love!

Here is the little Zojirushi in all his glory!
Look at how his little ears fold down, as the first container emerges.... 

And what do we have here?  Carrots, and peanut butter with a little chocolate piece.  
And the second container is revealed. 

It's curry! And you can see by the condensation on the lid that the stainless steel lining of the jar has kept my curry nice and hot! 



I see a long and glorious future with me and Zojirushi, who is, apparently a Ms. Bento according to the website. Well, whatever she or he is, I love her and will be filling her with tasty morsels for years to come (or until I find something even cuter and abandon her like, well, like something you abandon for something cuter.)  

Diet Girl & Denise Austin Save The Day!

If you have not had the pleasure of reading The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl, set some time aside to do so. She is a hysterical Aussie living in Scotland. She lost literally half her weight, and gained an adorable Scottish Companion in the process. Since you probably don't have time to read all 3 years right now, just go and read Feats of Strength and Stupidity. Trust me.

I did my Denise Austin - 50 minutes of arms, lower body, abs and stretching. Just when you want to start swearing at her and wanting to give her the finger for making you do more hammer curls, she shouts some more encouragement at you and says "Let me see that beautiful smiling face!" or "It's hard, but it's worth it, because you are worth it!" How can you not feel better after that? I certainly feel much better. And at some point in the future you will see my triceps busting out of the back of my arms.

Then I had my 2 eggs for breakfast, when I was finally hungry at 9:30, and some raisins. Lunch is curry, carrots & peanut butter. It was also going to include some seaweed salad I got at the Kam Man Asian Grocery last night, but it looked weird so I just put it back in the fridge.

I'll post some photos later of the cute little bento container I got.

Missing My Morning Motivation

I just went to have more coffee, and found that I had already finished the coffee. That is very sad. It is almost 8 a.m. and I have not had breakfast, nor have I walked. And I don't want to walk. I'm tired of my route. And I don't want breakfast.

What the heck is going on? 

This calls for desperate measures. 

This calls for Denise Austin:  

30 minutes of her sugary sweet voice and retro aerobic moves will help me get my verve back. And I'll be getting a "great rear view!"

More Dining

Amy loves her Bun! 
Jess wants to love her Pad Thai, but it is too spicy. So it gets packed up for Amy's husband. 
Jess loves her Bun! It is not too spicy. It is just right. 
Leanna loves her Pho and tries to pose, and then wonders why her shoulders are lopsided.  

Dining Adventure

Jess (otherwise known as Latey McTardy) and Amy and I went on a dining adventure last night to a Vietnamese Restaurant that I can't remember the name of. This was what we ate (more photos in next post).

This was Shrimp Cake Wrapped Around Sugar Cane Sticks.  How could we resist a description like that?  The sugar cane came with strict instructions from our very helpful waiter that is was not to be eaten, just chewed on.  It was very good. We wrapped it in the accompanying lettuce as shown below: 
This was the Vietnamese Pancake. It looked huge, but was mostly filled with bean sprouts. It also had some slivers of pork in it. I think the pancake was made from sweet potato, as it was very sweet. 
This was my Pho with seafood and some bean curd.  It was perfect and lovely.  
This was the mysterious egg in my Pho.  I ate it, the yolk was a very pale green, and much larger in proportion to the white than a normal egg. We think it was quail.