Category Archives: caffeine

Caffeine free week review

Happy new week!  I am glad to restart caffeine today, but more on that later.  I was up bright and early and it was so nice outside.  Mid 60s and perfect for a morning walk.  I decided I need to make sure I cross train more and don’t bike all the time.  I have already met my goal of 400 miles this month a few days early with yesterday’s ride.  Yay!

After my walk, I made up some brekkie.

Cream of wheat with egg whites whisked in topped with a sauteed banana and coconut butter.  I sauteed the nana in some butter-flavored cooking spray and cinnamon.

I really liked this a lot.  Not overly sweet, but just right for me.  Plus a few cups of coffee!  I received some coffee from the a foodbuzz tastermaker program.

Oh cruel fate for this to have arrived on Thursday of my no caffeine week. I need to make an iced coffee drink with this on the blog, but today was straight up!  I brewed up the chocolate truffle flavor and it was a strong flavor!

Speaking of caffeine, the week without was not really what I was expecting.  I thought I was going to get ferocious headaches, but I did not even get a single one. Pretty amazing, eh?  I did find myself really tired the first few days, actually needing a nap on Monday.  Thank goodness I work at home or I would have had to do under-the-desk napping.

I was not cranky at all, which was good.  I also found my sleep to be pretty much the same at night.  I think the magnesium does much, much more for me than doing without caffeine.

I will try to stick with a decaf regimen for evening coffee and with afternoon as well if I can.  Since I roast my own coffee, it is good quality decaf that I buy and it is really fresh.  I guess that is one reason my week went so well other than my lame Panera Bread decaf yesterday.

I worked fast and furious this morning and was ready for my lunch break. When in doubt – have eggs!  Scrambled with a cubed laughing cow wedge.

These blueberries are so good.  I picked them almost a week and a half ago and they are still super fresh. Only about 1.5 pounds remaining.  I keep meaning to make something with them, but they just end up going straight into my mouth!

We got some needed rain today, which ushered in cooler temps.  It just feels so good to breath real air with a real breeze.  Not fake AC air with a fan.  Know what I mean?

John made me up an almond milk latte today and I noshed on a GF chocolate chip cookie.

I was sent this recipe  by reader (hi Katy!) made with coconut flour and I tried it out.  I will share on Thursday.  They are not low calorie, but very satisfying little bites as full fat items often are.

Time for dinner!

We had these Nature’s Place apple chicken sausages along with some sauteed brussel sprouts.  Well, I had sprouts, John did not. :mrgreen:

We went out shopping for a bit.  I was in the mood to shop, but couldn’t find anything I wanted.  Funny how it always works out that way.  However, we did stop for a quick coffee.

Yep – decaf!  I am noshing on some dried pineapple right now.  It’s hard to stick to a serving of those things.

John is leaving tomorrow for a few days, so Pixie and I get to cut loose and par-tay!  Except for having to keep an eye on the business *and* work my own job.  Maybe just getting through the next few days is enough.  At least I have my caffeine back 😀

Friday Fun day!

Yay – the weekend is here!  Today went by really fast, too.

I actually slept in until 7:15 – which is pretty late for me.  I moseyed on down to the gym, where I did my workout:

  • Chin up:  2
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85 pounds
  • Widegrip lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 70 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Static lunge:  3 sets of 10 with 25 pound plate
  • Prone Cuban snatch:  3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells.
  • Incline reverse crunch: 3 sets of 10.

Then just zoned out walking on the treadmill for 1/2 hour.  A little easier day today, since I ran yesterday.

Came home and had some oats with fresh pumpkin, protein powder and blackberry jam!

brekkie1211

Then sat and relaxed and chatted with John.  Sometimes I really have to make myself relax.  I always feel like I have to go, go, go.  Need to remember that down time is just as important as up time!  It’s very difficult for me to just do nothing.  Some of that is just my inner energy and some of it is spillover from working a production-based job.

I hung around the house the rest of the morning and made some more granola.  I’ll post the recipe this weekend some time.

Lunch was a wrap made with laughing cow, pear slices, and chicken.  Heated up in the X-box.  With brussel sprouts for lunch!

lunch1211

I wanted a warm filling lunch, as I was headed out shopping and didn’t want to be tempted at the mall.

I was hoping that the stores wouldn’t be so crowded on a weekday, but it was pretty crowded!   Eeeek!  I could almost feel the flu germs around. 😯  I actually rocked on the shopping.  I got all of my purchasing done – so no more stores for me for the rest of the year – put your hands together everybody!

I really, really wanted a hot pretzel.  They smelled so good, but I declined.  Instead, I took a break for some sustenance:

bux1211

Caffeine and I are partners for life, forever and ever, amen.

Got home right around dinner time.  I am almost embarrassed to show my photo of dinner – can you say rut?  I know you readers have never seen so many salads on this blog than you have in the past few weeks!

din1211

That’s tea in the mug.  It is cold and windy out and I needed something warm!  It’s an almond cookie tea that I got at Sensibiliteas a couple weeks ago.

Ornament of the day:

orn1211

This is another ornament I made this year.  The first one, actually, I think.  I used this pattern with a bit of editing (my globe is bigger than the one in the pattern).  I have been having fun doing these. 🙂

Question:  How is your holiday shopping coming along?

Stay tuned on Monday – I have a giveaway coming up!

No caffeine woes

Got up this morning and decided on a jog/walk combo.  No weight lifting this week as it is my rest period.  I’ll be biking tomorrow, so a wog seemed like a nice change.  Did 3 miles this way.

Came back to banana chocolate oats!  These were good.  I haven’t had the banana oat bran in a while.

brekkie2

I have my mammogram Friday, and since it is my first and they want a baseline, I was told no caffeine for 72 hours prior.  Waaaahhhhh!!!   I usually drink decaf at night, but never in the morning.  So, made some decaf that we got at the store.  It just isn’t really good decaf.  I should have gotten decaf green beans and roasted them myself.

I cannot stay awake to save my life today.  No headache, though, thank goodness.

Lunch was a yummy combo of 1/2 cup pumpkin, vanilla chobani greek yogurt and Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.  Great combo!

lunch3

I have been having a hard time even keeping my eyes open this afternoon.  Do you ever get like that where you physically can’t keep your eyelids open?  I need a couple toothpicks or something.

Afternoon latte was decaf 🙁

latte

John drizzled a little chocolate syrup on it – yay!

But the side snack was good:

bread

Pumpkin bread that I made the other day!  With 1/2 whole wheat flour.

I had someone email me asking about how I stay in control with food.  Well, the truth is – I don’t always.  I struggle sometimes (sometimes a lot).  I quite often have to ask John to put things out of reach for me if I find myself continually snacking on something.  I’m still not sure why that is, and I don’t really know if there is an answer to it.  I kind of have a feeling that my body genetically wants to be heavy (obesity gene) and it tells me to eat more than I need to be eating in order to gain weight back.  That’s the reason I don’t trust intuitive eating for me, at least at this point.

Dinner was a quick egg sandwich on an arnold thin with a laughing cow wedge.  My meals have been so easy lately – they are probably boring you LOL!

dinner4

Snack tonight is more decaf tea and a clementine.  My tag was a little easier to understand today and seems appropriate 🙂

tag1

Thanks Mr. Lincoln!

And on one last note, Pixie is doing better.  She is still tender on her feet, and I feel bad watching her try to knead, because she keeps starting and stopping because it hurts.  She is a happy convalescent, though – check out this face:

happy

Dont’ forget to check in for the challenge if you haven’t done so!