Day 9

Well today was a busy day! I got up early and had a bowl of Fiber One Honey Clusters with some unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, fantastic as always.  Then I got ready and headed out on my adventure to Trader Joe’s!  Check out how that went here.

I got a lot of great stuff that I can’t wait to try, and I was going to go to Whole Foods too, but traffic is ridiculous around here right now due to a lot of simultaneous road construction (bad planning) so I had to skip it.  My fridge and my freezer are officially jam packed full of food (oh and my pantry too!) so expect lots of recipes and pretty pictures over the course of this next week.

Lunch was an EAS protein shake that I grabbed to take with me since I knew I’d be on the road and didn’t want to be tempted by any drive-thrus.

After I went home to unpack my goodies I rushed over for my second day of physical therapy (I hit major traffic AGAIN and was late).  Boy oh boy is my physical therapist kicking my but.  My abs were still sore from the core exercises from Wednesday and we did more for almost the entire session today.  I was soooo happy when it was time for my electro-stimulation and ice!  However, after just two sessions, even though I may be sore, I can already notice a difference in how I carry myself and my clothes feel a bit looser (although that could be the 3lbs I lost last week).  I am bummed though, my walking has been going so well that I was hoping that I could bump it up to jogging-even for short intervals- since I’m trying to do the Couch to 5k plan.  But my therapist gave me a firm NO on that, and I had a feeling she would since my bone graft hasn’t completely set yet, I thought the impact might be too much.  Oh well, she says maybe by mid-May, so for now I’ll just keep up my walking.

I had planned to make the curry chicken tenders that I got at Trader Joe’s for dinner tonight along with some steamed veggies and quinoa, unfortunately my boyfriend called and said that he was tied up at work and wouldn’t be home until around 11pm so I decided to postpone that for another night.  So I’m being boring and just having leftover veggie frittata from last night (sorry guys).  But tomorrow I’m going to a BBQ (my first social test since starting this challenge, lets see how I do) so I promise to post lots of pictures of yummy food.

I also found a recipe for zero carb ( well 0.9g of carbs) Cheetos that I’m DYING to try.  So I’ll keep you guys updated on how that goes 🙂

Anyways, hope you had/are having a great Friday!

Larabars

Oh how I love Larabars.  They are a nice break from my usual protein bars, and oh so delicious!  I’ve only had the opportunity to try two of the flavors so far, but Apple Pie is by far my favorite!

The biggest thing I love about Larabars, is that pretty much all of them are made with 6 ingredients or less and they are all natural.  The Apple Pie Larabar for example contains dates, almonds, unsweetened apple pieces, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon.  And I have to say it tastes JUST like a piece of apple pie.  I’ve contemplated warming one up in the microwave to get that hot apple pie feel, but I’m not sure what it would do to the consistency of the bar.  Nutrition wise its not too bad either, most of the Larabars are 200 calories or less, the Apple Pie one is 180 calories with 10g of fat (however 9g of that is healthy unsaturated fats from the nuts) as well as 5g of fiber and 4g of protein.

Do you eat Larabars? If so what’s your favorite flavor?

Ewww…

(image found via Losing It )

My Trader Joe’s Adventure

I told you guys yesterday that I was taking a trip (although it felt more like a sabbatical) out to Trader Joe’s.  Normally the trip takes about 45 minutes in each direction, however, due to some major traffic congestion (due to some poorly planned construction) it took twice as long to get there.  Because of the traffic I had to skip the second part of my trip to Whole Foods in order to ensure that I had enough time to get back and unload everything before heading to Day 2 of physical therapy.

So Whole Foods will have to be a separate trip (maybe I can get my boyfriend to tag along!).

I did however, get QUITE the haul from Trader Joe’s, I love the place I really do its like shopping in the Promised Land, EVERYTHING is good.

So here’s what I got:

Some yummy Greek yogurt (vanilla and honey) and Egg White Only Egg Salad!

Some marinated artichoke hearts and yummy almond butter!!!

Some new salad dressings to try and some honey (since I'm officially trying to give up refined sugars)

A rack of lamb, I KNOW my boyfriend is going to love this!

Look at all that green! Some baby spinach, a cucumber and some avocados

Some roast beef, light swiss cheese and some panchetta

Some faux beef strips for stir frying and some soy chorizo

Some yummy red quinoa, some turkey jerky for munching and my FAVORITE apple pie Larabars!!!

Some healthy, pre-made chicken dinners for lazy nights

Some pre-mixed veggies for stir frying (really cuts down on prep time)

Some yummy protein! Curry chicken (I'm sooo making that tonight!) and some Korean BBQ style sesame beef

Look at all the yummy berries! The picture really doesn't do them justice

This was THE find of the trip, I LOVE pizza, but since I'm on a low carb diet I can't really enjoy it. But these babies have less than 8g net carbs per serving! NOMNOMNOM

Quite a trip huh?  All this food and it was CHEAPER than my average grocery trip!!!

Day 8

Today was a pretty laid back day, it was gorgeous outside again….around 80 degrees, so its a shame that I was feeling lazy and skipped my walk today in favor of a book.

Breakfast was an EAS chocolate protein shake (only good when they are cold btw, otherwise they have a chalky aftertaste).

Lunch was light since I wasn’t very hungry, just half a thin bun with some almond butter.

Dinner was delicious!!!!  I made a veggie frittata with pretty much every vegetable I had in the fridge.

Pre-heat the oven to 400

You can make this fritatta as veggie filled as you want, but I’ll give you what I used:

Half a bag of baby spinach, sautéed until it shrivels up a bit.

1 whole small tomato, chopped into cubes and sautéed.

1/4 of a bell pepper (I used red because it gave the fritatta a nice color), chopped and sautéed.

I cup of mushrooms (I used baby bellas), chopped and sautéed.

1 clove of garlic, minced and sautéed (I sautéed it at the same time as the bell pepper and mushrooms).

1 piece of multi-grain bread.

8 eggs (4 of those eggs are egg whites only)

1/2 cup of low-fat shredded mozzarella cheese

dash of salt, pepper, oregano and thyme

While the oven is pre-heating, chop all your vegetables and set aside.

I sautéed the spinach first in a little EVOO until it wilted down, then I removed from the pan and set aside.

I followed the same step with the tomato and set aside with the spinach.

I sautéed the bell pepper, garlic and mushrooms at the same time, and removed the pan from the heat and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl I beat together 4 whole eggs and 4 egg whites and added the salt, pepper, oregano and thyme.

I added the spinach and tomato in layers to the skillet with the bell pepper, garlic and mushroom in it.

I cut the piece of whole wheat bread into small cubes and added that on top of the veggies.

I then poured the egg mixture on top, and topped with the shredded cheese.

Cook on a burner over medium heat until the edges begin to set, then put the skillet in the oven for 10-15minutes until the eggs are fluffy and the cheese has melted and begun to brown.

It was soo good!

Fresh out of the oven!

Look at all those veggies!

Hope everyone had a good day, I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow for some healthy goodies!!!

Shopping!

Tomorrow is payday and I’m heading out to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods to stock up on some healthy treats.  Both are about an hour away from my apartment which is too bad, but it makes it like a road-trip=FUN!

I’ll make sure to post lots of pictures of the goodies tomorrow night.

So, does anyone have any suggestions?  Favorite items from either of these locations…or even a favorite healthy food in general that you recommend?

Day 7

Sorry that this update is a little late, yesterday was a bit hectic (wrapping up house sitting and my first day of physical therapy).

Physical therapy is going to be great, my therapist is really nice and because I already knew how to do kegels, she said I was ahead of the curve (kegels for spinal surgery rehab who knew?).  A bonus to therapy is not only are we going to work on my flexibility that I lost from the spinal fusion, but they are going to work me out twice a week- so that’s bonus exercise on top of what I’m already doing.

Like I said they have me doing kegel exercises to strengthen my pelvic floor, and while I do that I am simultaneously supposed to knit together my ab muscles, pulling them towards my spine, while I try to move the muscles around my sanctum (by the tail bone) up and down along my spine.  It sounds complicated and it kind of is, and boy did it make my abs HURT!  My therapist told me that after doing these exercises for a couple of weeks, not only can we expect my core to be stronger (which will protect my spine), but my pants will fit better too (or as she put it, “no more muffin top”).

Anyways, on the food front yesterday I kept things pretty basic:

Breakfast:  EAS Protein Bar

Lunch:  turkey sandwich with mustard on my beloved Earthgrains thin buns! (nomnomnom)

After therapy I was kind of hungry so I had an individual serving of low fat cottage cheese (only 90 calories, yum).

And for dinner my boyfriend decided to cook tonight and made beef stir fry which was delicious!!!

Today also marked the end of week 1 of my challenge, and you know what that means…WEIGH IN!!!!

I was pretty nervous stepping on the scale, but I wasn’t disappointed:  203.2 so I lost 3lbs! YAY!!!!  That also means that I’m even closer to ONEDERLAND!!! Its so close I can taste it!  Maybe next week?

I’m going to try and upload before pics and full measurements today and tomorrow, whenever my boyfriend’s around to help 🙂

How is everyone’s week going so far?  Any setbacks or challenges?

Day 6

Today was much better!

I started off the day with a yummy chocolate brownie protein bar (it felt so wrong and yet so right to have chocolate for breakfast).

Then I grabbed my iPod and headed out for a walk, I need to get a pedometer (I have no idea how far I walked), I walked for just over an hour around my parents neighborhood.  We had great weather here today and it was nice and sunny so the walk flew by and I felt great afterwards.

Lunch was a Green Monster!!! YUM!

And dinner was wonderful, I found some stuffed chicken breasts in my parent’s freezer, and while most stuffed chicken breasts I’ve seen are breaded and therefore high carb and high cal, but these weren’t.  They were skinless, all white meat chicken breasts stuffed with 3 kinds of cheese and jalapeños (for kick).  They were sooooo yummy and with only 200 calories, 6g of carbs and 34g of protein it was a perfect dinner.  I paired it with the Green Giant Immunity Blend of steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots and bell peppers) and it was probably the best dinner I’ve had since I made stir fry last Monday.  Not that I didn’t like the rest of the food I ate this past week, but this was way up at the top as far as taste goes.

Here’s hoping tomorrow goes just as well 🙂

Do You Cook With Quinoa?

I recently took a trip to Kansas City with my mom and while we were there I was served something I’d never seen before under my seared Ahi Tuna, the menu said it was called Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) and it was DELICIOUS!!!!

Apparently it only used to be available in health food stores, but now its become more mainstream, popping up in local supermarkets (I found it in mine).  Quinoa is usually thought to be a grain, but it is actually a seed.  And what a seed it is.

It is a perfect protein, it provides the body with all nine essential amino acids!  One cup of cooked quinoa contains 8g of protein (more than twice that found in other grains!!!) as well as iron, magnesium, vitamin E, zinc, potassium, fiber, copper, phosphorus, selenium, maganese, magnesium, tryptophan and lignans.  Because of this, studies show that quinoa helps promote digestive health, may prevent certain types of cancer, is full of antioxidants that can help prevent and repair free radical damage and can help with weight loss.

As if all that good stuff wasn’t reason enough to eat quinoa, another reason is that it can eaten as a savory or a sweet item.  For savory mix in your favorite veggies and a protein, and for sweet use it as a breakfast cereal and top with bananas or your other favorite sweet toppings 🙂

So have you cooked with it yet? And if not are you interested in trying it?

I’ll post some yummy quinoa recipes in the future, you can count on it.

Day 5

Today was another blah day, I’m a bit under the weather and its raining outside 😦

I ate an apple for breakfast, but I really didn’t feel like eating it.  It was the same thing with lunch, I had a bit of yogurt and a few slices of deli meat.

I took a nap after that and felt a little better, well enough to eat something for dinner.

I’m house sitting for my parents for the next four days so I packed up a few things to bring over:

Earthgrains Thin Buns

I love, love, LOVE these things!  Only 100 calories, 5g of protein and 4g of fiber!  I’m trying really hard not to eat carbs, but in addition to the tortillas these are a good lower carb solution.

I brought this, and the other ingredients (almond butter, bananas, spinach, almond milk) to make my Green Monster smoothies!

I also brought a few other necessities:  protein bars, a sweet potato (in case I crave sweet potato fries again) and some almonds for snacking.

My parents have everything else I could need:  lean proteins, veggies and fruits, but I wanted to make sure I had my staples so I don’t slip while I’m here.

I kept dinner pretty basic:

Earthgrains thin bun, an egg, reduced fat pepperjack cheese, a slice of turkey and mustard.  It was pretty good, like a breakfast sandwich and the mustard gave it a nice kick.

I start my physical therapy on Wednesday, so I’ll find out my physical limitations then and hopefully some exercises I can do in the meantime while I’m healing.  Until then I’m just trying to walk regularly to keep active.

Several of my friends went and got tattoos today, and the boyfriend has been talking about it for awhile.  I’ve contemplated getting a tattoo since I was about 14 (I’m 27 now) and I have yet to decide what I want, and where I would put it.  I have an 8in scar on my back from my surgery (maybe I’ll get my boyfriend help me take a picture so you guys can see…I need to post my “before” pics anyways) and people keep suggesting getting a tattoo to cover up the scar (but that would be one massive “tramp stamp” and I’m not sure if thats what I want…) but I don’t know…

I’ve always thought tattoos should MEAN something, they should mark something important in ones life.  So perhaps if I can succeed with this challenge, then maybe, just maybe that will be something worth marking.

Anyways, enough of my rambling.  I’m not going to be able to weigh in until Wednesday since I’m house sitting, and its probably for the best anyways since that will be a full 7 days.

I hope you have a good night, and heres hoping I feel better tomorrow