Exhaling

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh, it’s the weekend :-D.

I was up before the crack of dawn this morning for my arms on the step + stairmaster workout — it was 44 degrees by 5:15 am, so I didn’t even need all my extra layers, yay! Stats: 1 hour and 11 minutes, 446 calories, average heart rate 130, max heart rate 165.

Today’s oatmeal blend was the same as yesterday’s: 3/4 cup banana bread crockpot oats, 1/2 cup yogurt, unsweetened shredded coconut, nutmeg, and a tsp of pb:

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Alongside the oats, I had half a broiled grapefruit. If you’ve never tried a broiled grapefruit, you should. I love grapefruits the way they are, but I know lots of people find them a little too sour — and broiling ups the sweetness factor by a million. My motivation for broiling this half grapefruit actually came from the fact that it has been sitting in the fridge where one of my roommates left it nearly a month ago, and I noticed today that it had started to sprout a little bit of fuzz. I knew she’d throw it out anyway, so I rinsed off the fuzz and stuck it in the oven to burn off anything that might kill me. It turned out deliciously:

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Plus soymilky black tea and water:

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I ate my yogurt right before my 2-hour supervision meeting at 10. The mix included 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup fruit salad left from Wednesday’s meeting, cinnamon, cardamom, and a sprinkle of golean crunch:

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img_4755I also had a very special treat waiting for me at the office today: habichuelas con dulce! On Wednesday, Vianni made mention of this phrase, and my ears perked up. “Sweet beans? Beans with sugar? What is habichuelas con dulce??” All the ladies in the office started conferring, and it was decided that Belkis would bring some in for me to sample (notice the two whole cups of sample to the right) since her mom is visiting from the Dominican Republic and cooking up a storm. Habichuelas con dulce is a Dominican dessert drink traditionally prepared for Ash Wednesday. Belkis gave me a brief rundown of the procedure: the drink basically consists of kidney beans blended with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and more. Belkis’ mom also added raisins and batata after the blend, so there was fun textural variety, too.

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I had one cup cold at 11:57 as my lunch appetizer and one cup warm as my lunch dessert at 2:36 :-D. It was a cup of heaven really — kind of like eggnog on steroids!

Sandwiched (time-wise, not literally!) between my habichuelas con dulce, I had more fun with coworker food. The last cup of Nitza’s soup (it got me through 3 meals!):

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And the perfect soup accompaniment: steamed veggies and grilled chicken! Apparently, Mildred and Myrna were thinking of me yesterday — when I wasn’t even AT work — and actually saved their lunch leftovers so I could have them today! The chicken had been so deliciously marinated, and the veggies were some of my favorite to eat steamed: broccoli, carrots, and chayote:

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Myrna and I ran our parents’ group from 1-2:30, and I snacked on a few of our group snacks throughout: some slices of apple and orange … and about 3/4 cup of apple jacks (errr, because I needed more sugar). When was the last time you had apple jacks? I was probably 6 and probably snuck them at some friend’s house when my mom wasn’t looking!

I raced out of the group at 2:30 to get ready for my 3pm visit … but the mom ended up rescheduling for next week! It took me a minute to adjust my plan mentally, and I instinctively ate two massive lollipops (plus two small unpictured hard candies) in the ensuing brain blip:

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I quickly recovered with a new plan (and my second cup of habichuelas dulces) and set to work. At 4, I broke for carrots and 1.5 tbsp hummus:

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At 5, yo salí de la oficina!

I’ve got a group presentation to work on this weekend and a whole slew of errands and tasks to complete … but right now I’m taking a break, thinking about eating dinner, and relaxing on the couch with some Seinfeld. It’s been too long, Jerry! There’ll be time enough for work tomorrow … or there probably won’t be, but I need a little breather! What’s on your weekend list?

Limbs of lead

I woke up with a growling tummy this morning. How is that possible after all I ate yesterday? Empty calories will do it every time, I suppose. I had a giant spoonful (about 1/4 cup) of fruit salad from yesterday’s produce leftovers before heading out for my run around 7.

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I kept the run short — about 2.5 miles — because my legs still feel like lead from the re-introduction of a different strength workout (scroll down to find the “Reach Your Goal 2008 Workout” video here) on Tuesday morning, and I wanted to leave enough time for a thorough stretch with yogadownload’s Gentle Hatha #1. This run was so tedious — my hamstrings just refused to warm up. And I don’t know if my HRM was acting up or if my heart was really going wild at some point along the way, but look at how high it went! Stats: 28 minutes, 212 calories, average heart rate 143, max 216. Coming back in for the yoga (and for breakfast) was a big relief.

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I heated 3/4 cup banana bread crockpot oats and added 1/2 cup yogurt, sprinkles of nutmeg and coconut, and a spoonful of peanut butter.

I had the oats with my soymilky black tea and a flower because I was trying to channel the breakfast romance that Miss Banana Cabana conjurs every morning with her breakfast arrangements:

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(But I don’t think my arrangement had quite the same effect as hers, somehow.)

I was in the mood for more of a mess, so I splattered the pb from my spoon all over the oats to shake things up:

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Speaking of crockpot oats, Abbie at Foods That Fit is working on putting together a blogger cookbook! Imagine: all the recipes that you want to try from all over the internet compiled neatly in one simple location. Check out her cookbook post (that just happens to include my recipe for crockpot oats in the sample photo :-D) for more details about how you can contribute AND get your hands on a copy for free!

I left at 10 to head up to Hunter for the day. I usually have class on Thursdays, but it was cancelled today for Common Day. Hunter does this a few times every year with lectures and workshops on a single theme (today’s theme was racism) from 11am to 7pm. Ummmm, 11am to 7pm?? The other girls in my program and I lasted until 2. Hopefully they still let us graduate .

Before leaving the apartment this morning, I threw together a bunch of random things that I hoped would get me through the afternoon. (If I’m not eating during lectures, I usually end up sleeping.) At 11, I had a snack baggie with carrots from yesterday and a tbsp of peanut butter:

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At 12, I had my last two stuffed kale leaves:

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At 12:07, I had 1/2 cup yogurt with chopped banana, chopped pear, cardamom, nutmeg, and a sprinkle of kashi golean crunch:

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At 12:16, I had another cup of fruit salad:

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I was trying to pace myself, but the minutes were passing at the speed of years, and I had nothing to distract me from my bag o’ food and minimal hunger pangs. I took a little break from eating and then had my first-ever Kraft LiveActive bar at 12:52:

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The bar was fine — it was very berry-y and chocolate-y and tasted like a candy bar — but I doubt I’d buy these again. I only got them in the first place because I had a coupon, and I’d really rather have a piece of real food than a bar any day! But, I can’t deny that bars are good in a pinch, never go bad, and have decent mouth-entertainment value … for about 49 seconds.

After the bar, I took a 15 minute nap in my chair. Until I realized the speaker was calling on a girl directly behind me and the entire auditorium had swiveled in my direction. Awesome. That woke me up for the last 10 minutes. Falling asleep was hard work and made me hungry, so I dug around for my one remaining snack:

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Like I said, we busted out of there as soon as the talk was over at 2 (no small breakout groups for us!) … and again, I hope they’ll still let us graduate! I’m now home and resting my aching hamstrings. I really do feel like I’ve been dragging solid blocks of lead around all day. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired.

[Another giveaway alert: Chocolate-Covered Vegan Katie has some incomprehensibly amazing loot up for grabs. You really should not miss this one!]

Have you ever skipped out on something “mandatory” because you just couldn’t take it anymore?

Run for your doughnut

I spent the morning wrestling with this crazy orange. Well, maybe I only spent 9.34 minutes wrestling with it, but it was enough to make me late for my visit. The darn skin was on so tight and by the time I got it all off, it was past the time when I needed to leave. So I took the orange with me at 10:47 and inhaled it as I speed-walked from the office to the visit, causing me to arrive at the apartment with frozen solid orange-fingers. The offensive fruit:

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I got back to the office at 12:17 and sat down for lunch at 12:41 with all the ladies. (Yeah, I’m totally ballparking all these exact times.) Lunch today was the lunch I had packed for yesterday and forgone in favor of tacos and Inginia’s spaghetti. Four stuffed kale leaves (cold) and half of a baked sweet potato (hot):

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I also enjoyed a bite of Belkis’ colorful and delicious tuna salad:

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And a little over a cup of Mildred’s chicken noodle soup:

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Plus a leaf or two of Inginia’s steamed kale because I can’t get enough, apparently:

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Lunch dessert was another 1/2 cup yogurt with chopped strawberries, chopped banana, and a sprinkle of kashi golean crunch:

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Ummmm, did I just say lunch dessert? I meant lunch part … 7? (I’ve lost count.) Because this was actually lunch dessert:

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Mmmmmhmmmm, just look at that raspberry filling:

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I’ve been saving that guy in my tissue box since Rosalie gave it to me last week, and there are still more where it came from! Looooove chocolate filled with things like that. It’s like a cadbury egg (my favorite candy) … except that it’s a square and dark chocolate and fruity instead of, hmmm, yellow?

3:30 snack was a bag of air:

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Oh, whoops, did I say air? I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight. I meant to say a bag full of chocolate-drizzled Quaker mini delights:

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They may as well have been air, though. They tasted fine, but my tummy had no clue whatsoever that it had just been fed. Luckily I went into another session at 4, so I didn’t have the chance to pour a candy jar down my throat or do something equally productive.

Post-work and pre-run, while still at the office a bit after 5, I made myself a sweet little 400-calorie “snack” (aka dinner). I picked this bar up (along with approximately five others) during a staff meeting last month:

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And I decided that tonight was the perfect night to christen it (with a few embellishments of course). I heated the bar in the microwave for 30 seconds and almost stopped there … but inspiration struck:

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I placed a Hershey’s Kiss from the tissue box on top of the hot banana nut bar and let it melt:

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And then — are you ready? — I swirled about a tbsp of peanut butter into the chocolate:

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It tasted terrible.

JOKE! It was amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing:

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As I walked out at 5:32, I popped a werther’s in my mouth to “fuel” me through the four-block walk to the subway station:

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Kate and I did four miles at The Club. Stats, including an additional 10 minutes of warmup/stretching: 48 minutes, 338 calories, 136 average heart rate, 166 max. Nike still hasn’t brought the post-run fruit buffet back (grrrr), but I did snag about 10 caramel nut brownie mini-lunas (the only flavor I tolerate). At this rate, my mini-Luna stash is going to outlive me — I eat them so infrequently because they taste like chemicals. On the train ride home, Kate and I celebrated Fat Tuesday with half a donut and half an apple each:

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(The girl who took this picture asked where we were visiting from. I replied, “Oh, we actually live here. I just like to take pictures of myself with food …”)

I did not know today was Fat Tuesday or even what Fat Tuesday really was until I read this post about donuts at Bites of the Day. All I knew was that the nurses (of all people) at my agency were enjoying an unusually exciting meeting in the conference room, mere inches from my desk. When I saw them extract a bakery-fresh box of donuts, my eyes kind of turned into donut magnets and did not let the box out of my sight. The nurses all took off for the day before I did, leaving three donuts remaining on the conference room table to go stale overnight, the horror. I had to intervene. I convinced Nydia and Katty that they needed donuts stat, and I kept the third one for myself (or for splitting with Kate after the run). Here’s my sugar-coated fluffy bundle of joy:

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I was home by 8:26 (yay for no subway drama!). I nibbled while prepping tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch and then ate these from the kitchen table centerpiece:

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And that concludes my day as seen through the lens of food :-).

Also, look at this: a free Kashi meal!

And another giveaway alert: go see what Mara’s got for you at What’s For Dinner?!

Are you still awake?

Top o’ the mornin’

Up before the sun as usual, but it came out just in time to light my breakfast:

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There’s a plan afoot for running club tonight, so I kept this morning’s workout heavy on the strength and light on the knees and cardio. I did the workout from Self Magazine’s 2008 “Reach Your Goal” challenge — I think it came out in August because I did it all the time last fall until my body got too used to it — along with 15 minutes on the elliptical’s cross-training program. Stats: 1 hour and 6 minutes, 268 calories, average heart rate 106, max 175.

Breakfast was the rest of yesterday’s custard oatmeal:

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Topped with 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/2 tbsp pb, unsweetened shredded coconut, and 2 crumbled graham sticks:

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And on the side, 1/2 cup “roasted” cantaloupe. Brigitte’s cantaloupe had fallen off of its last leg and was a little sour, so I tried to doctor it with heat, nutmeg, and coconut:

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It almost worked.

With soymilky black tea and water:

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I have a lunch packed (well, really, I left yesterday’s lunch at work since I obviously didn’t need it then :-)), but as you know, anything can happen …

See you after running club tonight!

Did you eat your breakfast by natural or artifical light today?

P.S. Tina at Carrots ‘N’ Cake is doing another photo scavenger hunt. I know from experience (scroll down to the bottom to see the prize) how lucky her winners can be, so make sure you go enter!

It happened again

Monday comes every week, but somehow it always ends up surprising me! Does this happen to you?

daffodil says hi!

daffodil says hi!

Gym this morning was my all-about-the-steps favorite workout :-). And my body seems to have finally picked up on the fact that I increased both my weights and the cardio level! Stats for arms on an aerobics step + 30 minutes StairMaster + jog to gym and back + stretching and abs: 1 hour and 14 minutes, 476 calories, average heart rate 132, max 171.

Breakfast was custard oatmeal:

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I made two portions of this last night because I needed to use some up some dying roommate fruits (strawberries and cantaloupe) and some open pieces of my own fruit (banana and pear). For extra zip, I added nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla extract, and almond extract. To make the two servings, I used 1 egg, 1/4 cup soymilk, 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, and 1/2 cup steel-cut oats. I re-heated half of what I made in the oven this morning while I got ready:

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Today’s toppings included the last tsp peanut butter. There’s little I love more than scraping a pb jar clean!

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Along with a crumbled graham stick, unsweetened shredded coconut, cardamom, and 1/2 cup yogurt:

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Come back this afternoon for another guest post from The Professional Vegan, and I’ll return after class tonight with the rest of today’s food!