What day is it? My schedule is all messed up LOL! I actually did not have to work yesterday, which was a real surprise and my first 3 day weekend in a long, long time!

I did stay up too late last night watching Drew Brees break Dan Marino’s record!  What a good person to be the record holder now.  It’s refreshing. Love d’em Saints! (Tom Brady better just keep his hands off this record next week).  I went to be after midnight and I was thinking I would sleep in and go to the gym later.  Nope, my eyes popped open at 6:15.  Ugh. So, off to the gym.

Lower weights with higher reps today.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell Squat	4 sets of 10 with 45# bar	Lower Body
Close grip Lat Pull Down	3 sets of 12 at 40#	Back
Stiff-legged Dead Lifts	3 sets of 12 with 50# bar	Hamstrings and back
Decline sit ups	3 sets of 10	Core
Barbell Chest Press	3 sets of 10 at 50#	Chest
Bent Lateral Raise	3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs	Shoulder
Alternating Stationary Side Lunge	3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs	Lower body
Overhead Press	3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs	Triceps

The gym was kind of empty today.  I bet it won’t be next week!

After some treadmill walking, I headed home for breakfast. I am changing things up a bit and going for more carbs at  lunch versus breakfast. I have been getting too hungry after lunch (but before latte time), even with protein, so I am going to try this and see what happens.

Breakfast today? A 2 egg omelet with some extra egg whites with broccoli sauteed in coconut oil. Topped with laughing cow.

It still takes a bit for me to be used to a savory breakfast at home. Not that I eat overly sweet breakfasts, but they usually don’t include sauteed vegetables.

I have not had any cookies since Christmas.  On that evening, I all of the sudden said “I do not want another cookie, period.”  I had probably at least a dozen cookies that day during the day.  Nobody really needs to eat a dozen cookies.  I don’t regret it because they tasted really good, but I hit the wall and that was enough.  Took a while to hit that wall, though LOL  (See what I mean about still being able to pack it away?). Sugar switch off.  Yesterday I ate very little sugar at all.

After a busy work morning, I made up my lunch.  I swapped out for what would be a normal breakfast:

The banana bread breakfast pudding.  Topped with peanut flour (for protein) and jam.

This actually worked pretty well because it kept me nice and full.  Something about a warm meal.  My lunches usually are not hot.  I will think about continuing this trend for a while.  Or I need to eat more soup.

Afternoon latte!

It is cold and rainy out, too.  Weird. Rain in December.  Last year was piles of snow.  This year? Rain.  Maybe that will mean a milder winter? Please???

I finished up work in pretty good time today.  It is so nice to have it finished and not have to do any later.  I was so in the mood for chicken.  I haven’t had chicken breast in a while.  It’s either been chicken thighs or we have had ham up to our eyeballs from this weekend.

Straight up meal assembly tonight 😀  It tasted really good, too.  That is 4 ounces of chicken.  A lot of people ask how much meat I eat with meals when I have it.  Lunch is usually 3 ounces, dinner 4.

It’s an icky weather night.  A good night for staying in and reading.  I have to practice guitar and work on my lesson plan for my tutoring tomorrow, but that won’t take long.  I have a snack portioned out for later:

These are butter toffee cashews.  They were in my stocking   I measured out a serving.  This piddly amount is 180 calories, which is so annoying to me sometimes.  I could just nibble that much alone while pouring out a separate serving!  Nuts are tricky things, but oh so good.

It sure feels good to get back into a more normal eating routine.

Question:  Do you prefer savory or sweet breakfasts?

I took a complete rest day today.  I think that was a good idea.  I got up a little later than normal and started doing some work while I had coffee (lookin’ good!).

I have to laugh at the death grip on this coffee cup, too.  No one would be able to pry it out of my hands!

After John got up, I made some breakfast.  A good hearty bowl of Wheatena done banana custard style.  Topped with honey and PB.

Very good.  Felt good to have a nice fiber breakfast as well.

I tell you, some years are better than others in terms of the sugar monster.  It’s not nibbler this year, but something bigger LOL!  This one needs a name as he is quite the beast.

Years ago, I had cut sugar out completely after working through “The Sugar Addict’s Recovery Program.”  I really do think I was addicted to sugar and white things.  I even went so far that year as to have a pumpkin pie made with no sugar at all.  I do have to say that was too far.  Ick.

I have now come to where I know what sugar level I can have and be fine with, and I have crossed that line this week (which Helen noted).  While I love Christmas and all its associated goodies, there is a lot to be said for my normal way of eating and how good I feel when I do that.

Lunch was getting back to more super foods – this baked sweet potato was topped with laughing cow, sauteed broccoli, and a little BBQ chicken.  I liked it, too!

Job #2 was totally dead during the day.  I did make more cookies this afternoon and had a couple with my latte.

These are my favorite cookie – nutmeg logs!  I make them one time per year, and maybe that makes them taste special or something, because they are rare.  I actually was thinking how I really don’t make cookies at all except at Christmas.  Like Shelley said yesterday, I will be kind of glad to be done with the sweet things.

In typical fashion, a whole bunch of work got batched over right before dinner.  Guess who will be working tonight?  You all get gold stars for guessing me!  The nice thing is, I only have half a day tomorrow and no work on Christmas!  Yay!

I reached in the freezer for a quick dinner and came up with shrimp poppers and a red pear.

I wasn’t feeling the veggies for dinner.  Sometimes it is just hard for me to do veggies at more than one meal.

Now I must get back to work.  I’ll be posting a quick hot 100 update on Christmas Eve, and then made preparations for dinner hosting.  Have a super night!