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A Full Morning

February 20, 2010 by

Morning everyone!

I went to be so full last night and I’m not sure why. I had a great run yesterday morning (4.5 miles on the treadmill) then had the following calories throughout the day…

  • 1 cup Cherrios with blueberries and milk – 150 calories
  • 1 tall skinny vanilla latte – 90 calories
  • 1 1/2 cups minestrone soup with a small breadstick – 300 calories
  • 3 mini snickers – 120
  • 1 Luna Bar – 180
  • 3 small pieces of cheese pizza – 400
  • Total Calories = 1,240 (give or take 100 calories)

That’s more than 300 calories less than what I was aiming for – 1,600 calories per day. The only thing I can think of is that the pizza (albeit small squares) made me super full because of the cheese…

Hmm..still puzzling to me. Anyway, this morning when I woke up, I was STILL full. I usually don’t like like to eat when I’m full. However, we have a very busy morning (and day) planned. I opted for a small breakfast of about 4 oz of nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of peanut butter…

Plus about 1 teaspoon of walnuts on top for added crunch and MUFA…

So total, I probably had about 200 calories for breakfast. Now, I’m incredibly full.

The rest of the day is booked – haircuts (not mine), cleaning, shopping, and other errands. With so much running around, maybe I’ll feel hungry by dinnertime!

Gotta run – have a great day!

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Give It Up

February 17, 2010 by

Today is Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent in the Christian faith. Lent is also a time of sacrifice. When I was growing up and attending Catholic school, this meant giving up something that you love – usually a food item. Even after leaving Catholic school, I would still continue to give up something during lent – most of the time it was food-related, like chips or cookies. One time I gave up gossiping and that was very hard considering I was in my sorority-girl phase. 

So what do I give up this year?

This year, I toyed with the idea of giving up chips – after all, I do love chips. I also thought about giving up French fries – something I love, but I really don’t eat them very much. So it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice. Instead, I decided to give up Starbucks’ Mocha Frappuccinos! That’s right, for the next 40 days (or until Easter Sunday) I will not have a single Starbucks blended coffee drink – yikes, I can hardly believe it myself.

After discussing my semi-addiction to frappuccinos with Anne this weekend, I decided that giving them up was not only a great Lenten sacrifice, but also a necessity if I wanted to reduce excess spending. It’s going to be a looong 40 days.

Also in Lenten tradition, Ash Wednesday means a day of fasting and no meat. Seeing as I didn’t eat very much for most of the day (a Luna bar and a 1/2 PBJ sandwich) dinner was my main meal of the day…

Instead of our planned cheese ravioli, Scott and I got take out at Go Roma. I had an awesome veggie panini with red peppers, onions, fresh basil, and goat cheese, plus some fries on the side. Hmm…maybe I should have give up fries for Lent 😉

For all of you Fitbloggin attendees, remember to sign up for the 5K run on Saturday morning. I’ll be there, will you?

Gotta run – Psych just started. I have been sooo Psych-deprived!

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Snow, Pizza, and a Hint

February 9, 2010 by

It snowed the ENTIRE day today here in Chicago. Much like the rest of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, we are under a winter storm warning until tomorrow morning. I’m still hoping for a snow day 🙂 My office did let us out at 2:30 PM which was great. The roads and traffic were not too bad, thankfully. 

I had originally planned on making turkey burgers for dinner, but had a change of plans at the last minute. Our favorite local Italian cafe was running a “snow day special” – buy one get one free pizzas or pastas. We ended up getting the equivalent of a small pizza and a family size pasta for just $10. Now that’s my kind of snow day deal.

I haven’t had their pizza in sooo long due to our restaurant diet. It was a welcome change from our usual weekday meals. Our pizza included huge slices of pepperoni, red bell peppers, and spinach, all on whole grain crust – it was awesome. We also ordered the country-style rigatoni, which was made with Italian sausage and mushrooms, all in a light garlic cream sauce..

Again – soo good! Although, any meal that I don’t have to cook is a good meal.

Despite the huge amounts of snow, I was surprised to get a special package delivered to the house tonight. Through all of the snow and darkness, I could just barely make out a huge object and red lights sitting in front of our driveway. At first I thought it was a snow plow, but no – it was UPS! Oh how Brown makes me smile! The very reliable UPS man delivered a huge box of Hint water – all for me!

The folks over at Hint were kind enough to send me a few samples of their unsweetened, no calorie, flavored water. As a runner, I absolutely LOVE water. I drink at least 8 – 8oz glasses a day and usually prefer it icy cold. But every now and then, water becomes bland, boring, or just doesn’t seem to be enough for my taste. That’s where Hint can fill this void. It also is a great alternative to my usual diet coke or sweetened coffee drinks. What I also love about Hint water is that it’s made with all-natural ingredients and no sugar.

When I received the packaged, I immediately tore it open and viewed my new flavors. I received 6 of their 10 flavors. All of the bottles were delivered icy cold, no doubt due to the weather. I gave the Mango-Grapefruit a try and was not disappointed. The water had a delicious, but rather strong scent. I expected the actual taste of the water to follow suit, but the mango flavor ended up being very light – just a Hint as a they say. I can really see this being a summer drink for me, either drinking it a alone, or adding it to ice tea or lemonade. Can’t wait to try my next flavor – Raspberry-lime – doesn’t that just sound fantastic? It really makes me wish for summer!

Gotta run for now! See you all tomorrow.

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Stress Eating

February 8, 2010 by

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was working on a huge proposal that, if signed/passed, would leave me with more responsibility and possibly a promotion. Well, since that time, the proposal has gone through several revisions, particularly to the budget.

After all of this waiting – which has actually been over a year – we are having what may be our final call about the proposal tomorrow. This means, we may find out as soon as tomorrow whether or not we have our new “big project” to take on. I will be very disappointed if we don’t get this deal and it’s not just because of the promotion. I have spent so much time on this project that I just want to know either way – I just want to be done with not knowing.

Anyway, enough ranting. Today was not a very good day as far as food goes. I definitely went over my self-imposed 1,600 calorie limit. I find that when I’m stressed, especially about work, I tend to eat more and more often. Running or exercising in general usually helps curb the desire to eat. But when I’m at the office, it’s not like I can hop on the treadmill or even take a walk outside in the winter.

Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do to stop stress eating?

I won’t get into all of the details of what I ate today, but let’s just say I had my fair share of sweets. Thank goodness dinner ended up being pretty healthy to balance things out…

I was able to get home a little earlier than normal so I whipped up some turkey tacos made with green and yellow peppers. Instead of eating actual tacos in a tortilla, I decided to skip the tortillas (which can add quite a few calories on their own) and have some chips and salsa instead.

Chicago is expecting another big winter storm. Although it will be nothing like what our mid-Atlantic friends experienced the last few days, we are still expected to get 10-14 inches in the next 36 hours. My office actually has a secured, internal web site where staff can check from home to see if the office is closed before they leave. Many times, I have rushed to my computer hoping to see that magic phrase – Our offices are closed due to inclement weather – kind of like being in school again 🙂 However, in my 8 years of working there, they’ve only closed the office once, so I’m not holding my breath for tomorrow – although it would be really nice to have an extra day to study.

And speaking of studying, I’m off to do just that! Have a good night.

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Super Goal Sunday and Big Easy Irony

February 7, 2010 by

Hey All!

This weekend, I planned to accomplish several things, including:

  1. Study for my CPT exam
  2. Run
  3. Shop for groceries
  4. Clean
  5. Study some more

It’s funny that I accomplished all of those things, and more, in just one day! So, I am calling today my personal, Super Goal Sunday! I started the morning with a sweaty run on the t-mill (I’ve got to get that heat turned down – ugh!). I am sooo looking forward to running outside in Orlando in a few weeks. The treadmill is really starting to get old.

Breakfast was a super energizing bowl of Trader Joe’s Greek yogurt with a dollop of all-natural peanut butter and a few walnuts…

Breakfast was followed by a little lot of grocery shopping! I can’t believe I spent more than $80 on groceries – guess that’s what happens when you have two growing kids and a husband who is training for the Chicago triathlon.

Lunch was a carbon copy of yesterday’s lunch…

A reduced fat salami sandwich – only this time I had three-cheese bakery bread. Wow – the bread made all the difference in the world. I swear I could have eaten the whole loaf by itself! Along with my sandwich, I also had a few carrots, some low-fat chips and a juicy naval orange. I have been craving citrus fruits so I bought a bag of oranges today. I just couldn’t wait to dig into them!

After lunch, I cleaned a good portion of the house, then headed off to Barnes and Noble to study. After about an hour of studying, I had a mocha frap, mostly to keep me from dozing (only had 6 hours of sleep last night). I only have about a week left to study before the big test! Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Dinner was Scott’s creation – chicken stir-fry…

Stir-fry is so easy to make and it is relatively healthy, as long as you don’t douse it with sodium-fill soy sauce. Plus, you can add all sorts of yummy and color veggies to it to make it even healthier. 

**Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! On a side note, here’s a bit of irony – Big Easy style.**

The Year of the Big Easy

  • In December 2009, Disney released it’s Princess and the Frog movie, set in New Orleans
  • We will be in Disney World during Mardi Gras
  • We will be staying at the French Quarter
  • The New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl

How’s that for coincidence? 

Ok, I’m off to study a little more before bed. Have a great night!

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Snack-free Saturdays

February 6, 2010 by

Hello everyone!

As most of you know, Saturday is a “no run” day for me. Sometimes I do yoga, but most of the time, Saturdays just end up being a rest day for me. Although I’m still active on Saturdays – running errands, etc. – I definitely don’t burn as many calories as I do when it is a running day. So today, I thought I would try to institute a no-snacking Saturday. Honestly, I have been trying to cut back on snacks altogether, but when I’m also trying to keep to 1,600 calories a day (and not cutting back on my runs) I find that having a snack once or twice a day is almost a must. But on days when I’m not running, I really have no reason to snack, other than the typical excuses, like boredom, habit, etc.

So today, on my first no-snacking Saturday, I started off with a sweet beginning…

I was really in the mood for a pastry of some sort for breakfast. So early this morning, I ran up to Deerfield’s bakery – a local favorite – to peruse their daily breakfast goods. They have so much to choose from that it was hard to decide. What I love about Deerfield’s, aside from the variety of pastries they have, is the fact that they have small bites or mini-size items of donuts, danishes, etc. This way, you can get a few small things to try, instead of buying one big coffee cake. I opted for a mini Cherry danish, which was only about 3/4 the size of a computer mouse…

I savored every bite with a bit of Fairmont Breakfast tea (from a stay at the Fairmont a while back). Ahh…so yummy. After I was finished eating, I realized that I had broken one of my rules of breakfast – to always include protein. I debated on whether to have some Greek yogurt or a spoonful of peanut butter but I really wasn’t hungry. And, I’m really trying to only eat when I’m hungry. So – no protein. 

Lunch was simple – a 1/2 salami an Swiss sandwich on rye with some steamed carrots and a few Reduced Fat Cape Cod chips…

Surprisingly, after having such a small breakfast, this light lunch kept me full all the day to dinner. I guess I really am shrinking my stomach!

For dinner, we opted for On the Border. We haven’t been there in soooo long, but decided to give it a try again since we had a gift card.

After having a dozen tortilla chips and some salsa, Scott and I split the chicken fajitas…

I had two small to medium fajitas, which was just perfect. The fajita meat was really good, better than many fajita chicken meat I’ve had – but Scott’s chicken fajitas are still the best. Hmm…can’t wait for summer grilling season!

When we arrived home, we got the kids in bed, then I cooked an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie for dessert…

Ok, this really wasn’t just ONE cookie – can you tell by the shadow? I actually had 3 very small cookies…

Yeah for me! I did it – I actually got through whole Saturday without snacking! Now, we’ll see if this has any impact on the scale tomorrow 😉

Have a great night everyone.

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An Unexpected Work-at-Home Day

February 1, 2010 by

Hey All!

I worked at home today – with the kids! I hadn’t planned on working at home at all and especially not with the kids. But, when push comes to shove, I do what I have to do.

Before Scott left to teach a class, I hopped on the treadmill for about 45 minutes. We have a separate heating system (electric heat) in our basement where the treadmill is. For some reason it is super hot down there every morning. So, I’m usually a sweaty mess by the time I come upstairs.

Breakfast was 1/2 a carton of TJ’s vanilla Greek yogurt, with a teaspoon of all-natural peanut butter and a few walnuts…

I also had the last of the OJ, which was seriously like 2 ounces!!! Why even bother leaving 2 ounces of juice in the carton? I just don’t understand it.

Lunch happened to be leftover homemade fried chicken from Saturday night…

I had two small pieces, although I could have easily eaten more. I paired the chicken with some steamed baby carrots and about a cup of Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar..

Let me tell you, it is REALLY hard to work at home with the kids! At their ages, they demand all of my attention – which is not a bad thing except when I need to work. Fortunately, they both take naps and can be calmed by a Disney show (desperate times call for desperate measures).

While the kids napped then watched a Disney show, I was heads down in a project for work. Between working a little before getting on the treadmill, and working in the afternoon, I was able to finish my project and put in about 3.5 hours at home. Whew – what a day! I was so busy – and HANGRY – that I just had to have a snack – 2 small homemade chocolate chip cookies and a 1/2 cup skim milk. Plus, right before dinner, I was starving and couldn’t wait. Had a small, snack pack of Sunchips too – blah! Oh well, still under 1,600 calories for the day.

In all of my craziness today, I actually found the time to make dinner…

I tried a new Giada recipe for creamy orzo (at least it was new to me). Minus the peas, I thought this dish was really good, although I had to add a bunch of salt and pepper for taste. I’m glad I quartered the recipe because Scott and my son did not like this AT ALL! That’s ok though – Giada will never know. The kids and I also split a turkey burger which is the reason why it looks so small in the picture!!

Now, I have about 200 calories that I could still eat to get to my 1,600 calories a day – I’m thinking a small brownie and a little Breyer’s vanilla – what do ya think? 😉

Restaurant Diet Update

So today, it has been officially 4 weeks since we started our Restaurant Diet, vowing not to spend any of our own money on food outside of the house. So how did we do? We did fantastic!! By having gift cards from Christmas at our disposal, we were able to get our fix of eating out without spending money. So, for the most part, we really weren’t tempted to stray.

That is, until yesterday. That’s right, we decided to end the diet one day early. We contemplated going to Panera for lunch and using the last of our meal gift cards. But Panera just didn’t sound good. So, we opted for the Italian cafe near our house. Kids eat free on Sunday and we actually had a free meal to boot. So, we spent about $14 to feed 2 adults and 2 children – about $3.50 a person. Not bad!

So how much money did we save? Well, we were regularly going out to eat 2-3 times a week with the kids – blowing about $75. Then, between Starbucks, Barnes and Noble cafe, and going out to lunch, Scott and I easily spent another $25 a week, if not more, between the two of us. Overall, we probably saved about $400 by on the Restaurant Diet, which is well worth the effort!

Gotta get to bed. See you all tomorrow!

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Cake-Eater's Remorse

January 30, 2010 by

Well, the 5th birthday party came and went. It was actually fun, especially seeing Mr. C in all of his princely glory. Now, we get to do it all over again tomorrow at one of his friend’s 5th birthday parties.

After the party, we headed home for a little R&R before dinner. Scott cooked (or I should say fried) up some great chicken (Mr. C’s request), plus mashed potatoes and carrots…

I wasn’t super hungry by the time dinner was ready. Probably because of all the spinach dip I ate – blah! All I had for my actual dinner was a small dollop of potatoes, two thin pieces of chicken and carrots – although I was slightly tempted to get more. However, I made up for it with dessert…

I had a 1/2 piece of a brownie with about 1/4 Breyer’s vanilla ice cream. Sooo good! I really should have stopped there, but there was leftover birthday cake in the house. My feelings about birthday cake are as follows – birthday cake is like the large version of a cupcake. And, when it comes to cupcakes, I have little willpower. So, birthday cake in house = eaten birthday cake – get the picture? Sorry, no picture, not really proud of my two dessert night. I am definitely have cake-eater’s remorse.

OK, off to bed. Gotta get some rest then hit the t-mill for an extra hard run in the AM. So, how long do I need to run to burn off the calories from a piece of birthday cake? 🙂

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Like Being in College, Except You Get Paid

January 29, 2010 by

Happy Friday! Don’t know about you but I am really ready for the weekend. I stayed up until 12:30 AM last night to finish a project for work. I felt like I was in college/grad school again, playing beat the clock against a mid-term deadline. Back in college, I used to think that all that work and pulling all-nighters wouldn’t be so bad if we got paid for it. Well, now that I AM getting paid for it, I wish I was getting paid MORE! 

Despite only getting about 6 hours of sleep, I had a great run this morning on the treadmill. It really is too cold to run outside here in Chicago – at least in my opinion. Although I complain about running on the treadmill day after day, I really am thankful that I have one.

Breakfast was a hearty bowl of oatmeal, with a tad of brown sugar and a few chopped walnuts…

I had to make a Target and Costco run for things for the party tomorrow, which consumed most of my morning. But I did cash in my Starbucks giftcard for a tall mocha frap. Instead of drinking it right away, I put it in the fridge to stay cold until after lunch…

Since I’m trying to stick to 1,600 calories a day for the next few days, I’ve been really watching my portions. As you can see, I had a 1/2 sandwich made with reduced-fat salami and a 1/2 slice of Swiss, plus a few carrots and chips to balance it out.

While the kids napped, I savored my mocha frap and spent the better part of 2 hours perusing the menus at Disney World. We have been very strategic about our restaurant choices, trying to balance quality food with a fun atmosphere for the kids. You’re probably thinking that every restaurant at Disney provides a fun atmosphere for kids – well, not really. Some do a better job than others. This balancing act also includes trying to split our meals between a la carte menus and buffets. Here’s the catch, most character meals are buffets and most of these get pretty low ratings for food. But, when you have small children, you want to go to character meals to make it more fun for the kids and not just like going out to eat back home.

As I checked out the menus online, which are very accurate by the way, I was contemplating some of the healthier choices for both me and the kids. On the dining plan, the kids have to order off the kid’s menu. And wouldn’t you know it, nearly all of the menus include hot dogs, pizza, chicken fingers, burgers, and mac and cheese. Come on – I know kids are picky but couldn’t you be more original than that? That’s not to say that my kids won’t eat those things because they absolutely will – but twice a day for seven days?? Even my kids would get bored with that. And what is even more strange is that the appetizer for the kids (the kid’s meal includes an appetizer) they can choose from a salad or carrots sticks. I know that those are healthy choices, but how many kids do you know (especially those 5 and under) who eat salads or carrot sticks for an appetizer? It seems like it should be switched, give them something a little more “fun” for an appetizer and give them a healthier choice for the entree.

Anyway, dinner ended up being homemade chicken noodle soup, which tasted really good on a cold day. Before soup, we actually started with a little white cheddar and crackers…

Again, because I’m watching my portions, I had one small cup of soup – about 10 ounces. But it looked really good in my fancy smancy cup…

I’m off to go finish up a few party things before bed. See you all tomorrow!

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All-Natural Chicago Hot Dog Lovin'

January 28, 2010 by

Ok folks, I have to make this quick. I actually have work to do tonight. Yes, it seems that I don’t spend enough time working during the day that I need to work more at night. 

Before I forget, check out my new Bistro Chic post where you’ll learn all about my love for Jane Austen novels and Masterpiece Theatre – he he!

Today was sooo crazy busy at work that I barely had time to go to the bathroom. Not good – at least for my bladder.

Dinner was a makeshift meal of an all-natural, nitrate free hot dog by Vienna Beef. Hey, I gotta get me some Chicago hot dog lovin’ some how!

As you can see, I balanced the meaty hot dog on a double fiber piece of bread with a HUGE portion of broccoli. And I mean huge! I think there were two cups worth of the trees on my plate 🙂

Tomorrow, I’m getting ready for my son’s big Saturday birthday bash. He’s turning the big F-I-V-E and I can hardly believe it! We are all set to make goodie bags and then shop for other party items. This will be my first time hosting a kids’ party. I’m a little nervous I have to admit. Running after 20 kids, mostly 5 and under, is not my idea of a relaxing Saturday. But hey, you only turn 5 once right?

OK, gotta run. Have a wonderful Thursday night!

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