First day of eating a bit lighter...

ACCOMPLISHED! I am posting my pics in reverse tonight, sorry, but the main point is I stuck to the deal with myself to cut my portions in half and eat lighter.
Sean and I went for a run/ bike ( I ran, he rode his bike) up Temescal Canyon this afternoon. Before we left I had tea and an orange, fruit serving #2 of the day. The run was about 1 mile total. We parked at the top and ran/biked down hill to the beach and then turned around and ran/biked back up hill to the car. I have never ran uphill before so this was quite challenging. It was great for me but not so much for Sean, he needs new gears and breaks- yikes! I burned 160 calories in 20 min, not bad but I would have loved to do it more than once, oh well next time Sean will just have to run with me :) Before the run I needed a snack so I had 1/4 of a Carrot Cake Cliff Bar. I really wanted 1/2 of it but Sean said he would eat 1/4 if I ate 1/4 just to see if that would do the trick....and it did!

Later in the day I didn't do too much, I applied for Financial Aid, registered for my first class ( I chose Phsyc 1) and caught up on some blogs. Sounds like everyone had a great NYE. Lunch today was simple and delicious: leftover Pork and beans with a sprinkle of 2% cheese and Red Leaf Lettuce all wrapped up in a WW tortilla with more red leaf on the side, a 1/2 a tomato, and a few rounds of Sweet Potato. Very tasty!

For dinner it was between 2 leftovers- Roasted Pork with Grapes or Pork and Beans. I opted for the Roasted Pork. I heated 3 medallions on the stove with the grapes and some Sesame Ginger Sauce I had in the fridge to change it up a bit. It was very tasty but I couldn't finish it all. On the side I had the last of the leftover brown rice and green beans, a few rounds of Sweet Potato and a Persian cucumber.

Since tonight is Saturday and Sean and I have not had a "date" night in a while, we thought it would be fun to walk to the movies near our house- probably about a 2 miles there and back. We saw The Spirit. It was OK, I liked 300 better. It was a bit too similar to Sin City for my liking, but fun anyways. I packed some homemade popcorn so I could control the amount and calories I snacked on. I ate both these sandwich bags- 120 calories.
Here I am before we left- sorry for the fogginess- I am documenting my size so I can look back in 2 weeks to see the improvements!!

My dinner:

My afternoon snack:

Very yummy tea!

Mid morning snack:

Lunchies:

I am excited to see how tomorrow goes. I have to admit I am VERY hungry right now but I am going to try to not have a snack seeing that I am watching my intake. I will fill up on some more tea and then go straight to bed so I can wake to a BIG -well not really- breakfast!!!!!!

Goodnight blog land

C

Half the breakfast for half the intake

So I am so sad to say I have gained 5 pounds . . . . I am not sure if this weight gain started in Spain or if the Holidays have put me over the edge or if the stress of starting school is making me eat more. All I know is this has got to STOP! My sister has recently lost 45 lbs ( she just had a baby) and I asked her how she managed that in just 3 months. She told me she just eats half of what she really wants, "hmmmm" I thought to myself. I guess I was justifying eating such large portions because they are so healthy. But since my way of eating is clearly not working, I have decided to eat smaller portions. This will be hard for me to do because I am a 3 meal a day girl. I have noticed that lately I have been snacking too and probably too much.

So here is my plan:

Eat a smaller Breakfast -I don't need more than 1 serving of fruit here like lately

Eat 1/2 the snack I would usually have- ie half a bar

Eat 1/2 the lunch

Eat 1/2 the afternoon snack

Eat 1/2 the dinner portion

No alcohol- for 2 weeks

No refined sugar

No white wheat- only whole wheat -I usually only have whole wheat but this will be a test.

I am excited to try this and hope it doesn't make me crazy! It seems pretty doable.

Today I started with:

1/2 Oatmeal, 1 cup water (no milk added at all), 1 shot of frozen blueberries, 1/2 banana mashed, 1/2 shot Bare naked Fruit and Nut granola, ( Sean bought this for me, it's not my fave but this morning I really enjoyed it) 1/2 Mixed berry non fat yogurt and 2 cups of coffee with a splash of skim milk. along side I gulped a full glass of water to fill me up. So far my plan worked out and I feel very satisfied and hope to loose this extra weight that has snuck on.

Today I am applying for financial aid and studying for my test. I want to go to the beach for a run but we will see, I might end up doing yoga at home instead or maybe both! See ya'll for lunch!

C

Dinner with babies

Tonight was so much fun! I really enjoy my little dinner parties we've been hosting lately. On the tonight's Menu:
Sean's Slow Roasted Pork and Beans with lots of garlic and lots of spice atop Frito's, with lettuce and cheese. Biscuits on the side with Beer.
I only had one glass. Beer usually goes hard with a hearty meal like tonight!

For my plate is made a healthier substitute; instead of Frito's is used left over brown rice and twice as much lettuce with only a couple of chips and 2% cheese.I couldn't resist a taste of a Biscuit- oops! I have a no oil recipe for biscuits that I am dying to try, but tonight was full fat and delicious!

The entertainment of the evening....introducing...Naomi!!!

I'm sad they are returning to Sonoma tomorrow, but they will be back in April so I have something to look forward to :)

Now I am off to do dishes and watch Walk the Line. Sean and I love this movie, but fell asleep watching it last night so the second half is our bedtime story.

C

Indian food goes great with a mani pedi

This morning I was planning on running 'round the neighborhood but Sean was a bit worried about me running by myself- understandably. My sister called earlier to invite me to yoga at my moms gym in Calabasas so I decided to go ahead and take full advantage of the free day pass at the gym and go an 2 hours early to get a REAL workout. It has been so long since I have seen the inside of a gym, I had to cancel my membership when Sean and I moved in together because it was too far to go to West Hollywood for a workout. To bad too because I loved loved loved my old gym; Crunch Fitness. I will have to find a new gym soon. The yoga at my moms gym is so-so compared to Crunch classes. Much slower pace and much less intense. I do like going for the stretching and core strengthening so I was looking forward to it anyways. Before I left I had a 2-part breakfast:
small Red Delicious apple with tbsp of Almond Butter

And this weeks usual: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup Quaker Squares, sliced banana, 1/2 shot raisins, 1 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk-yummy combo!

Then I hit the gym pretty hard with 15 min Elliptical, 15 min running on treadmill, 15 walking on treadmill at incline of 3, cool down 5 min. I burned 400 cal! I did arms too. 3 sets of seated row machine, 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of a chest push machine ( I don't know what it's proper name is sorry) and 3 sets of a chest pull machine. I was happily surprised to see a very full gym, every machine was being put to good "new years resolution to loose weight" use :) Then I did the hour and a half yoga practice which was better than I remember. It was still slow but I wore my Polar F6 and calculated my calories burned in the session and I was surprised to see I burned 150 calories. Not bad for a non-power yoga class. I felt great and I hope to keep it up!

For lunch my family all went out to Indian buffet lunch!!! I had my usual little bowl of Daal - it looks much bigger in this pic.

Here is my plate: Potato and cauliflower curry with peas, 2 pieces of Tandoori Chicken, and salad with a dollop of Rita, Mango Chutney, and Green Chutney. I couldn't finish my potatoes but I went back for seconds on the salad and Daal.

After lunchies my sister took me to get a mani/pedi!! Lucky little sister huh? I love enjoying my manicures now because when I am working it won't last a day. On my way home I developed a hunger headache so I grabbed my emergency Cliff bar in my purse and stopped at Starbucks for a treat!
I ordered a Venti -ya you heard me- Skinny Vanilla Latte. And man did I enjoy it!

We are having my sister, her hubby and my niece over for dinner tonight so I'll be posting our eats and drinks later!

C

I am so STUFFED...

After my Chinese food lunch I was full, then later at home was still fine, a bit hungover but fine. A couple hours later I felt a bit of a headache and could not tell if it was from caffeine withdrawal, (no coffee today), my hangover, or hunger so I drank a Diet Coke and had a small snack a bit later.
I had 3 or 4 tbsp of hummus, a WW Pita, 2 Persian cucumbers, 1 cup baby carrots, and good handful of raw french green beans, -I love raw green beans I always eat a few raw if I'm cooking with them but I was too lazy to dirty any more dishes so I just ate them raw. Good and crunchy! This was more like a meal but I have been craving veggies so it really hit the spot!

Sean and I did as planned we lounged around most of the day. It was rather cold in the house so I made my favorite non caffeinated tea:

Then later we snuggled up to watch our Netflix of Annie Hall-so cute I highly recommend this movie to those that have not seen it. We popped some organic pop corn with no butter and 120 cal per serving. I had about 1/3 of the bowl (less than 1 serving). Love pop corn it's a guilt free snack!

I was craving something sweet, probably because I have indulged so much lately, so I had a piece of marzipan form Spain's stash.

After the movie I had some more tea and a chocolate- ahhh what's up with my sweet tooth?????

For dinner I wanted to do something simple because we didn't feel up to much so I made 2 of these: WW tortilla with a tbsp of skim cheese, lettuce, Persian cucumber, tomato, raw tofu, a tbsp of hummus and a splash of Tapatio hot sauce.

This is my plate of 2 wraps, I am not sure why I made 2 but I was oddly needing bulk and then I was super stuffed.

It was all very healthful and low caloric but I am very full. I do feel a bit soft and heavy these days so if anyone has some advice on an extra boost to burn more calories-my running does not seem to be doing enough, I would greatly appreciate it. I was watching the "Half Ton Man" and felt the sudden urge to exercise so Sean did a mini boot camp in our living room for me and I did 3 sets of arm weights, lunges accross the house 5 times, knee thrusts in a push up position and leg lifts. I am pooped but feel better. Tomorrow I am doing a morning run and then yoga with mom and sis!! I haven't practiced in so long I desperately need to find a studio near me! Hope you all have a good night and had a good first day of 2009!

C

Happy New Years!!!!!

Hello 2009! Yesterday I started my day off with this pre run snack: Small Gala with 1/2 tbs of Almond Butter

Sean gets nervous when I run alone so sometimes he joins me on his bike to follow, it's nice and it changes it up a bit from my ipod. But it took a little longest to get out the door and I woke super hungry so I had this also: banana with 1/4 tbs almond butter

I ran for 30 min to TJ's and it wasn't open yet so we waited for 10 min and I tried to keep my heart rate up by jogging in place and doing knee ups -people were starting to stare but I didn't mind:) We walked back because we had grocery's to carry and my total time was 50 min and I burned 333 cal, not bad. We got back and had just 2 hours before we had to leave to check into the Hotel and help my sis with the baby, soooo I had cold cereal again: 1 cup Go Lean, 1 cup Quaker Squares, 1.5 cup skim milk, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 shot almonds, sprinkle of raisins and a cup of coffee.

I packed for the night and got things together in the house so we could leave Ella, poor Ella she has been alone so much lately she seems a bit POed. I was still hungry so had a Fage 0%

I made this WW wrap with leftover pork and lettuce with a side of raw baby carrots to bring to the hotel for a cheaper and healthier lunch.

I also packed these emergency snacks, and a first breakfast for the first day in 2009!

I had this at the hotel

Here is our old timey hotel room and my handsome BF!!! I just love getting dressed up!

Me and my sister and my niece

The favors at the table!! I ended up eating mine shortly after dinner oops!

The first course- some kind of Sweet Potato bread with mushrooms and cheese inside and pickled veggies on the side, odd sounding but very tasty. I had 1 glass of champagne at cocktail hour and one with my dinner not pictured.

My table #10 and the beautiful flowers and my glass of Merlot to go with my dinner.

The salad with feta( I picked it out) and caramelized pears and pecans. I opted for no dressing.

My steak!!! It came with mashed potatoes, carrots and asparagus, I hate about 1/2 the steak and the veggies but left the potatoes and rest of my steak for Sean who polished it off.

Here we are at our table, my goodness the venue was just gorgeous!

The cake!!!

My slice- it was Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! I had 2 bites, and another glass of champagne!!

Getting ready to bring in the New Year

Our noise makers and table of booze!

It was a wonderful night over all and we had a lovely kiss and then went up to bed to sleep off our hangover in our lovely king size bed!

Moving on to New Years day! I woke to my sister's phone call informing me that she and her husband were in the mood for some greasy Chinese at our favorite spot Yang Chow and since we were all in downtown it was perfect. We begrudgingly got out of bed and checked out. I had a banana that I packed and the rest of my emergency snacks as a makeshift breakfast since I ate my cereal I packed yesterday. We ordered Hot and Sour soup- my fave! A plate of Slippery Shrimp-a Yang Chow must! Shrimp fried rice, Baby Bock Choy with mushrooms, and a small brown rice for me!This is my plate, I had seconds of the brown rice and bock choy and we sipped Green Tea.

My fortune:

Now at home with Ella and Sean, the plan for today is to RELAX! We have declared today PJ day so I am super excited for that. Hope everyone had a joyous and safe New Years!!!! I can't wait to catch up and see how ya'll spent yours!

C