As much as I am a Broncos fan, I do have [...]]]> How did it get to be Monday already?  I do feel good and rested,  th0ugh.  My sleep has been good lately.  Taking magnesium at night has helped my insomnia so much!  Plus happy dreams with my 2 favorite teams moving forward in the playoffs.

As much as I am a Broncos fan, I do have to go on record that I am not that wild about Tim Tebow.  I don’t see him as the long-term answer at quarterback, but then you just never know.  He seems like a nice enough guy and I hope I am wrong about his skillz.   That said – come on and beat the Patriots and Bellicheat!

Today was a non gym day, so it was just riding the trainer and a nice breakfast.

This is apple cranberry topping on coconut flour waffles.  Good stuff.

I don’t think I mentioned yesterday, but I had a good weekend food wise, and I was really happy about that.  I was within my calorie range (which I did bump up a couple hundred calories to compensate for the weekend *if I wanted*) and got in a lot of exercise.  Funny how I actually can be really focused if I put my mind to it.  I do it in other areas in my life quite regularly, but my eating is the area I struggle with until I get in a zone.

Lunchtime. This is sauteed pototao and sausage.  This sausage is really lean, so it is hard to count calories for, but I do  use venison sausage calories in Livestrong and call it good enough.

Plus blueberries!  They are in big packages in the grocery store this week and pretty good price.  I love blueberries.   I remember last year they came into our stores in the winter as well.  I’ll take it!

I had an almond milk latte in the afternoon along with one of my chocolate cookies.

These have about 120 calories each (by the size I made them) and really hit the spot.

The day went by pretty fast.  Always good when work goes fast, isn’t it? I find it interesting in the clinics that I have been doing that a lot of people are coming in to get checked out before starting Medifast. I didn’t know that people actually took the suggestion to talk with a physician before starting any program (be it food or exercise)! It also surprised me a little bit that it is Medifast that I keep hearing about.  Of course, it is only a small sampling of the visits in a day that I do, but I did notice that trend.  Usually I hear more about Weight Watchers.

After finishing up, I cooked up a quick dinner.  I had a taco redux.  Turkey cooked with taco seasoning on top of tortilla chips with some sour cream (the real stuff, not fat free).

Now it is out with my hubby tonight for some tasty coffee!

Love the free Wifi – and catching up on blogs.  No Pinterest tonight!! 

Tomorrow is the review on Wheat Belly, which I got done in between messing around on Pinterest and the football games this weekend  :mrgreen:

I got my butt up and went [...]]]> Yay the weekend!  We also are getting some warmer temperatures as well. I think we will be in the low 40s on Saturday.  Heat wave!   I am noticing the days getting longer.  Lighter a little later and not so dark on my way to the gym this morning.

I got my butt up and went today since I didn’t yesterday. Not terribly crowded. I think I found the sweet spot time, which is 7 am.

I did these as supersets to work up more of a sweat since I have lightened up the weights.  I burned through my pre-workout protein quaff pretty quick.

I came home to make the 5-minute flax waffle with blueberries.

I tried to eat this slow, but breakfast is one of those things I tend to wolf down because I am hungry.  Even when I have something pre-workout.

I cheered on the Broncos with my mug:

I have a feeling it is going to be an ugly game this weekend…

I had a hard time getting started with work today.  Friday-itis big time. There was a lot to do, though, so that helped.  I had my lap girl with me.

This is how she crams herself onto my lap since I have the laptop on there as well.  You wouldn’t think that was comfortable, but she will stay there the entire time I am working until I move her.  At least she is warm 

John made up some clam chowder last night, so that was on the menu for lunch. He uses this recipe, but subbed milk for cream:

Of course, I added a few dashes of hot sauce!  Delicious. Thanks John!

So, this weekend will be my first real challenge.  Normally I am pretty relaxed eating wise on weekends.  Like a lot of us, I guess.  I have my 90/10 plan in place.  I get 3.5 meals/snacks to have fun with and I used one up on Wednesday.  I know I am having a pizza wrap tomorrow as my winning football dinner and then Sunday morning is the typical bagel day (the original Bagel Day).  That leaves 1 snack to think about, probably a cookie with a latte or something.  I know I can not nibble my way through the weekend if I put my mind to it.  Wish me luck.

John made up lattes as well.  I love a man who cooks and makes me coffee.  Yep, I am lucky!

We don’t always eat the same foods, but we always have a latte in the afternoon in the winter.

Dinner tonight?  An omelet with some sausage cooked in.  We found our grocery store carries some local meats and this sausage was made in Saratoga and is really, really good.  It’s actually surprisingly lean, too.

I spread it with a Laughing Cow wedge.  This was really good, too.  Might have to make some sausage gravy, which I haven’t had in eons!

We are going to have a relaxing night tonight.  I have these set out for a snack:

Funny, I did not use flash for this picture (I never do for food shots), but it sure looks like I did.  It’s the overhead light in the kitchen that did that.

Anyway, that will be paired with some decaf coffee tonight.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

I couldn’t get myself [...]]]> Almost to the end of the week. This week has seemed long to me.  It was also so cold yesterday, as you saw from my photo.  I could not stay warm all day!  My mother and I went out for coffee last night as well to no avail at keeping warm.

I couldn’t get myself to go in the cold to the gym this morning and since I would have had to search in the dark for my gym clothes, I decided to stay at home and ride the trainer.  But first was breakfast:

Banana bread pudding with peanut flour and jam.  Unfortunately, I think I overcooked it because it was a little dry.  Don’t you hate it when you make a regular item and it doesn’t come out right?

I ate within my calories yesterday, and my indulgent meal was breakfast out where I had a blueberry scone (no bagel).  It was really good, too!  I have been on plan since Sunday, which is good for me and really helping it sink in that I am working hard at it again.  Once I get past this weekend, I will feel like I have got this down again.  It’s really amazing what just cutting out my nibbles and snacks has done.  I was getting a bit careless with it.  I was hungry before lunch, though, and instead of a bunch of nuts or chips, I had a hardboiled egg:

With a pinch of salt.  I haven’t had a hardboiled egg like this in ages!

Lunch time and I wanted something warm.  It is cold again today, but 30 degrees, so a bit warmer than yesterday.  I mixed some cooked ham into that sweet potato soup so that it flavored it up more.

Pixie was all puffed up from the cold.  She has been wanting a lap big time, but some days it is too hard to work with her there.  So, she watched from afar and nodded off:

I did hop on the trainer for 15 minutes in the early afternoon, which I found is a great way to get just warmed up enough.  Our house is very old and kind of drafty, so we can’t keep the heat up too high or we would never be able to pay for it.  We did get a new furnace and new windows, which really helps, but it doesn’t help poor insulation.

Something else that helps?  Latte!

I drank this while watching the snow come down.

Just a little dusting.

Colorful plate for dinner today:

BBQ pork, fingerling potatoes and broccoli.  Tasty.

I have been wanting to snack a little more today.  Possibly from the wheat yesterday with my scone?  Who knows.  I do have a review of Wheat Belly coming up.  I have not nibbled much, though, which is a big victory.  Old habits really do die hard.

John had kettle corn tonight, and while that would be good, I stuck to my plan and had some yummy clementines, which are sitting next to me as I write this post.

Although I did have to taste test the kettle corn!

I will leave you with the fun little meme going around Facebook to find the song that was #1 on the day you were born and find a youtube video.  Mine was Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel.  I like that song!  I actually like S&G a lot.

Now that tune has been going through my head for the afternoon. To heck with Mrs. Robinson, here’s to me!! 

My schedule is all flippitty-flopped this week.  Is it the same for any of you?

The snow kept me home Monday, so I didn’t [...]]]> I am glad you all liked the 2010 recap.  I have enjoyed reading about them on other blogs as well.  I find those posts so much more interesting than resolution posts.

My schedule is all flippitty-flopped this week.  Is it the same for any of you?

The snow kept me home Monday, so I didn’t lift.  Instead I went yesterday.  That meant today was not a lifting day.    I decided to hit the bike trainer this morning instead.  I rode for 16 miles today after having a protein drink.  All I could think about during the ride was a bagel, too.  It is Wednesday after all!   I showered before we left the house, which was really weird. Normally I am all scuzzed out on Wednesday for breakfast after working out.  And here I thought no men hit on me because John was with me…

We stopped at North Country Cafe and I had a wheat bagel with coffee (egg nog flavor).

Those are coffee beans in big candy jars.  How cute.

Work is also weird this week.  It is light, so that means there is very little morning work and I am having to work evenings to get in my lines.  One would think I could be more productive with those free morning hours, but that is not the case for some reason.

One thing that is not topsy turvy this week is my eating.  I am really focused this week.  Getting on the scale the day after Christmas raised an eyebrow… Okay, it raised both eyebrows.  I know what to do.  No freak outs, just get back to routine.

Now that I have said that, I will show you my odd lunch

I didn’t realize until after I plated it that all the food was in slices.  That is a Balance Bar.  I wanted protein, but could not decide what to have and didn’t feel like cooking up the pork that was thawed out.

I am doing some reading during the down time.  I am working through the WGAD by Geneen Roth.  I hate to say that I am not really liking it all that much so far and I am about halfway done.  I’ll review more once I finish.

Snack time!

It looks like my latte is in Morse code.  What would it say, I wonder?

I won the football picks again this week.  Poor John.  He doesn’t complain very much when he loses.  I, on the other hand, gripe and moan about it and feel very competitive.  I think we can see who is the better person in this relationship at times

So that meant dinner!  I chose to go back to Rock Hill.

Our table had lovely decorations.

Check out all the books available to read here.

I really wanted some soup, but they were out of the kind I wanted.  So  I had a havarti grilled cheese sandwich.  Rock Hill does the best bread.

Yum.  Will have to try to win again this weekend

Time to work tonight.  Sigh…  At least I can work in my PJs.

We decided to go out for a bike ride tonight.  Probably around 10 miles and it felt [...]]]> I wanted to give myself time to get rested up, but maybe my body is telling me that it is okay to get back into the exercise!   I slept for almost 8 hours again last night, felt great!

We decided to go out for a bike ride tonight.  Probably around 10 miles and it felt pretty good!  I love my bike (I know you are tired of hearing that!!).

I am working on getting used to being back into calorie reduction mode now.  It is easier without all the heavy duty workouts, as I am not totally ravenous now.   This is a more comfortable ‘zone’ for me than the training, since I have spent so long in this place

So, breakfast included my yummy protein pancakes with cafe au lait.

Got to work early, since I didn’t do a workout.  Amazing how that adds a couple hours of productivity to my morning.  Or other productivity, I should say (exercise is being productive after all).

I wanted a good Super Foods hit for lunch, so I made a pumpkin protein smoothie:

Frothy!

• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 6 oz 1 % milk
• 1 scoop (26 g) Natural vanilla protein powder
• dash of cinnamon
• 2 tsp almond butter

Plus a side of these babies:

I just love to pop blueberries.

I am really trying to kick the bar habit, but it’s hard when they are so easy! John really likes having them around, so the temptation is always there.  I could ask for these to be moved as well, but you should see the top of the cupboards where I have him put tempting foods.  It’s getting full LOL!  Right now the top of the cupboard is holding coconut M&Ms (evil), dark chocolate chips, and SunChips.

So my snack was the beloved latte and a Special K protein bar.

I haven’t really decided if I like these so much or not.  They are sugary sweet, so part of that is not as appealing.  I want more flavor instead of just sweetness.  And the feel fuller longer?  Not!

Dinner was a hot mess.  I had plans to have a korma stirfry.  I was sauteing some broccoli in coconut oil, had precooked chicken breast cut up and some whole wheat couscous all ready to be thrown in for a stirfry.  Got the jar of korma sauce out of the fridge and it had mold in it!  Ewwww!  So, plan B – I grabbed the bottle of Country Bob‘s sauce and used that instead.  Everyone into the pan!

Messy looking, but quite good.  I was hankering for the Indian flavor, but enjoyed this.  Dinner disaster averted!

After the bike ride, I had 1/2 of a lowfat chocolate chip bar that John made.  Not sure if he is going to part with the recipe or not.  They aren’t quite what we were looking for.  Not bad, though:

Tomorrow I am going to start lifting again – Stage 3 of NROLW!  Yay!!  I can’t believe how I am looking forward to hitting the weights tomorrow (I am a nerd!)

Question:  What do you do if troublesome food is in the house, even if it is healthy food?

I took today off from exercising [...]]]> I really ate well this weekend! Well…. I still have to get through this evening, but I have a snack all planned out.
Weekends really are hard, which is funny since I work from home – you would think that weekends aren’t any different than the rest of the week!

I took today off from exercising as part of my plan. Although I did go and stroll for about 25 minutes to enjoy the nice weather today. No hardcore cardio. Rest days really are difficult! Not sure why, but I have that urge to exercise. I guess I could have worse problems than that LOL!

I was doing some reading, and did you know that by federal law, calorie counts are allowed to have a 20% window of variance on them and still be considered accurate? I got thinking about that with energy bars. How do they make all flavors of Larabars or Balance bars have the same amount of calories? Well, they probably aren’t quite.
And on top of that, there is a 10% margin of error allowed – so your item could potentially be 30% higher in calories than you think. Cause do you think the company is going to put the higher variance on the label or the lower? Hmmmmmm? Just some food for thought.

Went for a jog this morning:Distance: [...]]]> So – I managed to only eat a bite of the peach cobbler yesterday. It was quite tasty, but I have to say that I don’t have the desire to eat anymore (at least at this point). So, yay for me on that. I did eat on plan yesterday.

Went for a jog this morning:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 34:27
Pace: 11:29 per mile.

A wee bit slower for whatever reason. My first mile was faster than the other 2, still trying to figure that one out.

DH wants to bike ride today, so guess I get in some extra cardio! We are biking downtown to see a new art exhibit and then have some coffee. Of course, this will be between football games. Go Broncos!

Oh, and a new look for the blog. Wanted to change things up a bit.

Hannah rain coming in today, periods of showers, so I did not get a jog in this morning. I will try later if it [...]]]> So, focusing on being on plan today. Despite the fact that John is making a peach cobbler! Eeek! But, just because he makes it doesn’t mean I have to eat it.

Hannah rain coming in today, periods of showers, so I did not get a jog in this morning. I will try later if it passes through quickly, or just do a DVD.

Chest and back muscles pretty sore today from yesterday’s workout. The scale also has not budged since Wed. I didn’t even get a downward bump from donating blood yesterday. I said that I expected this due to the increased strength training, so it isn’t a surprise, but it is still a bit bothersome. I figure water retention for a couple of weeks before the scale moves downward again. How to make the emotional mind accept that is another trick all together. Food has been pretty good since Monday.