Step by step

February 18, 2009February 6, 201516 Comments

I tried to step it up this morning at the gym with my arm weights on the step + Stairmaster routine (thanks for all your suggestions last week!) by increasing the weights and switching from the “fat burner” to the “speed intervals” setting. It worked a little bit, but I think I need to up the Stairmaster level even more next time. Stats: 1 hour and 11 minutes, 378 calories, average heart rate 120, max 151.

My breakfast titles are getting longer and longer. Today, I had peanut butter chocolate strawberry cheesecake ice cream oatmeal:

Along with 3/4 cup of the oatmeal mxture and the usual crumbled graham sticks and 1/3 cup cream cheese icing, I added 1 tsp peanut butter and one chopped square of the Lindt chocolate hazelnut bar I got from blogger secret cupid 🙂

I obviously don’t need to tell you how good it tasted.

On the side I had 1/2 an orange and soymilky black tea (very soymilky — probably 1/2 cup because there was more left in the carton than I expected):

Lunch and snacks today should be nearly identical to what I ate yesterday, but I’ll be back tonight with an update, as usual. In the meantime, go enter the BSI!

Happy Wed-nes-day!

Plans may go awry …

February 17, 2009February 6, 201518 Comments

… but not today!! Today was a rare day in that I was able to stick more or less to the food plan. As much as I love all the free food and exciting flavors that I typically encounter at work, I have to admit that, once in a while, I enjoy eating a reasonable amount of healthy food and having legitimate room for a real dinner when I get home.

In addition to the soup and yogurt that I had for lunch around 12:30, I also packed an orange that I ate mid-morning:

And since it wouldn’t be interesting if there were absolutely no meal interlopers, my coworker Jennifer shared her leftover Moroccan food of couscous and veggies. I had about 1/2 cup after my soup (which was actually not as foul as I had expected; the overnight must have given it time to mellow) and before my yogurt:

And then Jessica released her private stash of Valentine’s Day chocolates to the office. I broke the chocolate ice, of course:

I chose one (well actually, I chose four but put three in my empty tissue box for “safekeeping”) to eat for dessert. Dark chocolate with praline cream filling, mmmmm:

Afternoon snack happened around 3:30. My packed “Christmas” snack baggies of grapes and red pepper:

And at 4, this yummy bar that came from Tina in my V-day scavenger hunt prize pack:

This bar was very minty and very chocolatey (one of my favorite combos!), but despite its deliciousness, it did nada for my hunger. I was ravenous when I got home! Obviously, I had to make a three-part dinner.

I heated my last piece of pumpkin kibbi and steamed the rest of my asparagus:

Part three was pumpkin-apple pie yogurt which I made by heating 2/3 cup pumpkin, mixing it with 1/4 cup yogurt and the holy trinity of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger), and topping it with a baby apple that I chopped and sauteed in canola and water until browned:

Mmm, such a comforting and satisfying meal! I am about to indulge in a dainty little dessert of my dark chocolate pomegranate truffle that came from Brandi as part of my BSI: Spinach prize and some Italian cookie crumbles I brought home from our Valentine’s lunch at work on Friday:

Ahhhh, I just had a bite of the truffle … AMAZING!! Thanks, Brandi!

I’m off to attempt a repeat last night’s successful tea and reading in bed … though tonight’s reading may be more of the blog variety since I haven’t had a chance to read any all day! What’s your bedtime routine?

Also, you must go visit Beadie for the scoop on this week’s BSI and the amazing one-of-a-kind prize she is offering!

It’s time …

February 17, 2009February 6, 201511 Comments

Reading in bed last night was glorious … and I managed to turn the lights out at 8pm!! I got up at 5am today raring to go :-D. Gym was the 45-minute treadmill run again. I felt less tired doing it than I have before … yet I burned more calories. Go figure. Stats: 1 hour and 2 minutes, 524 calories, average heart rate 145, max 179.

Breakfast was more strawberry cheesecake ice cream oatmeal. I had about 2/3 cup heated with 1/2 cup cream cheese icing on the side and cinnamon and two crumbled graham sticks sprinkled on top:

I’m out of fresh strawberries, so I had 1/2 cup grapes on the side and a giant mug of spicy cinnamon peanut butter hot chocolate:

The hot chocolate contained 1 cup water, 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp sugar in the raw, 1 tsp peanut butter, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper … oh, and a sugar cookie sleigh ride tea bag 🙂

Yummmmmmmmm! So now that I’ve checked exercise and chocolate off the list, I think I’m ready to face the new week. To work I go!

High to lowwwwww

February 16, 2009February 6, 201512 Comments

Lunch was out. of. this. world.:

I had 1/2 grapefruit; 1/2 thinly sliced apple, part of which got cinnamon and part of which went into this:

Looking at that picture right now kind of makes me want to eat my computer. I had an open-faced sandwich on 1/3 toasted sun-dried tomato bagel with cheddar and jack cheese slices, thin apple slices, and a toasted Morningstar black bean burger (I found the lone burger at the bottom of the freezer when I was cleaning it, and I swear angels started to sing). Once assembled, I broiled the whole sandwich for 3 minutes so it could melt together. Ahhhhh, give me another one right now!

Dessert was a small handful of chopped grapes (I’ve been grape-crazy lately … prob because they’re so cheap right now!) with healthy cream cheese icing, a crumbled graham stick, cinnamon, and an Earl Grey Biscotti Bite:

I needed a snack around 3:30, so I had soymilky Tazo chai:

And the other half of my grapefruit with a heaping tsp of peanut butter:

My friend Ting was headed back to Providence this afternoon, so I met her for a little pre-drive snack around 4:45 at Bar Toto. She ordered a Margherita pizza, so I had a slice of that:

The pizza was decent, but it looked prettier than it tasted. See the grill marks?

We were both feeling anxious about returning to real life, so we decided a stroll through CVS was in order. For the past eight and a half years that I’ve lived in New York, CVS has always made me feel better when I’m stressed or homesick. I can walk into any CVS, and it just feels so familiar! Do you have places like that? I used an ExtraCare coupon for shampoo, and that helped as well. Because I know CVS really does care extra :-).

Ting set off for good ol’ RI, and I set off for my apartment. I’m kind of appetite-less, which is weird — again, maybe the end-of-weekend-caused stress — so I made a quick little mess for my official dinner:

The mess had 1 cup pumpkin, 1/4 cup soymilk, 1/4 kashi golean crunch, 1 chopped prune, 1 chopped date, 1 tsp peanut butter, and a sprinkle of cinnamon:

It was good, but my tastebuds are tired or something. Weird, I know! I guess I’m just feeling mopey because I’ve had such a lovely weekend full of perfect friends, things checked off my to-do list, healthy and unhealthy delicious food, good workouts … and I don’t want it to end! So I’m going to go put on cozy pjs, make up a mug of sugar cookie tea, and read (for pleasure!) in bed — something I haven’t done in ages! Maybe it will make me feel more ready for tomorrow …

Sleep tight!

Party in a bowl

February 16, 2009February 6, 201513 Comments

First, thank you to the Professional Vegan for guest-posting this morning! It freed me up to get a good chunk of work done :-).

Rewinding to last night, I was in a munchy mood when I got home:

My baby sampler plate consisted of apple butter, a prune, peanut butter, and a date … the combo of textures and tastes was an exciting mouth adventure :-).

Pre-sampler, my wild night out was a success. Ting, Jem, and I parked ourselves on the couch and watched the Sunday night lineup on Showtime. Who knew such shows existed?? I wish I had cable … though I’m normally in bed by 9pm so I doubt I’d actually get around to watching it. Ting and I also had a little non-food photo shoot … which we probably haven’t done since we were 16!

I got to bed a little bit after 12 and slept until 7:30, plthhhhh. So need to hunt down an eye mask for sleeping!

Since today’s a holiday for me, I made a bowl of party oats. Invitees to the party included 1/2 cup strawberry cheesecake ice cream oats mixed with 1/3 cup homemade apple butter:

Healthy cream cheese frosting (1/4 cup nonfat yogurt + 1/4 cup nonfat ricotta, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, coconut, chopped dates, unsweetened shredded coconut):