WIAW #3

WIAW #49 Wine Time

May 082013

Hey there friends! My day is slightly less busy than yesterday (emphasis on slightly) and I’m feeling a bit better about the week ahead. Phew! I think my body was exhausted from the weekend activities and a good night’s sleep has left me feeling rejuvenated. Love when that happens!

Since I’m feeling well-rested and have been able to get some real foods back into my diet after too much beer and fried food over the weekend (what can ‘ya do), I think I might skip the bar after kickball tonight.

Every week, my friends and I play kickball on the National Mall and then head to the bar for a few fun drinking games afterword. Having kickball to look forward to every Wednesday has been a blessing, and I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it is hanging out with your best friends in the middle of the week, but going to the bar afterword is just something I should skip today. I think I spent enough money and calories on beer over the weekend, thankyouverymuch. Yep, so I’ve decided that today I’m going to go for the kickball game only, no matter how hard my friends try to pressure me to go to the bar after. I need my rest!

What would you guys do, go to the bar with all your friends, or take a week off to save money, detox, and rest?

WIAW

Anyway, it’s Wednesday so let’s get into today’s What I Ate Wednesday post! Thanks to Jenn for hosting the linkup

I tried to eat pretty healthily yesterday since I ate a lot of garbage over the weekend (actually it wasn’t that bad- it just seemed like it), so let’s see how I did!

Breakfast

I had a deeeelicious bowl of Multigrain Cheerios with skim milk, half a banana, and blueberries. I absolutely love when we have fresh berries in the house, which unfortunately isn’t very often since they are expensive out of season. These blueberries are so good and I have been enjoying them all week! Yumm

Lunch

While we were in New York this weekend, we stopped at our favorite Greek restaurant, Gyro World, for dinner. While there, I decided to order a Greek salad to eat at work during the week. I finally dove into it yesterday, and man, was it good!

When I first opened the salad, I was a bit overwhelmed by the lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese, grape leaves, and olives that were totally stuffed to the brim of the bowl. However, once I chopped up the ingredients, drizzled on some dressing, and tossed things around a bit, I was able to tackle the giant salad. Yum!! (BTW- I tossed the olives. I’m just not a fan).

I wound up only being able to finish about 2/3 of the salad and took the rest home for later. Score!

Snack #1

At work yesterday, I helped my coworker, Mary, with a project (hi Mary!). To thank me, she gave me a few of her Junior Mints (her favorite candy!) to snack on. The minty chocolaty bites were exactly what I needed after my big salad (plus the minty flavor was definitely necessary after those onions. I also ate a ton of gum yesterday afternoon. Raw onions = stinky breath. Yikes!).

These were totally delicious and reminded me of being in a movie theater, since that’s the only time I would usually eat Junior Mints. So good!

Snack #2

Fabio and I had another three mile run on the agenda yesterday afternoon, so I knew I wouldn’t get around to making dinner until somewhat late (I also got out of work late yesterday, giving me an even later start). To hold my hunger at bay, I snacked on a handful of raw almonds and Mini Babybel cheese. Perfect after-work snack!

Dinner

When we finally got home from our run, I decided to make something quick and easy for dinner. I wound up sauteing some onions and garlic in olive oil before tossing in brussels sprouts and chicken sausage that we picked up recently at Trader Joe’s. Once they were cooked through, I tossed in some tomatoes, spinach, and whole wheat pasta. I made a sort of cheese sauce out of a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, fat free Greek yogurt, and tons of fresh Parmesan. It was deeeelicious! I love meals like this On the side I had the rest of my Greek salad from lunch.

Dinner Drink

To make last night’s dinner a little more “special” than a regular old Tuesday, Fabio decided to open up a bottle of red wine to enjoy with our pasta. This is something we used to do quite frequently, as it makes a normal weekday a little more fun, but we haven’t had much wine in the house lately and have therefore been slacking. Fabio and I talked about how much we like having wine with dinner (it feels so much fancier!) and we decided we’re going to buy a case of some cheap, but good, wine next time we go shopping. Please let me know if you have any recommendations- we aren’t picky!

Snack #3

I mentioned last week that Fabio recently signed us up for the Graze boxes, which sends you healthy snacks once every two weeks. This week’s box arrived last night, and after dinner we decided to try out the “honeycomb crunch” snacks. The “crunch” was quite delicious and Fabio and I really enjoyed trying out this snack (especially with the red wine! It was quite fun!).

I’m not sure how long we’ll continue to get the Graze boxes, but for now they are reasonably priced and fun for us to receive

So there you have it- everything I ate yesterday! Not a bad day all things considered; at least I got a lot of variety and colors going on! Some healthy fats too. Not too shabby.

Daily Activity

As I mentioned earlier, Fabio and I completed a quick three mile run yesterday. I was trying to pick up my pace a bit, but in the end it wasn’t too different than usual. Oh well, next time. It was still a great run!

Question of the day: Do you drink wine? Do you know a lot about it?

WIAW #40: No Show Snow

WIAW 8 Responses »

Mar 062013

When I woke up this morning, I expected to see piles and piles of fresh, white powdery snow on the ground. Instead, this is what I saw:

Hm. Winter wonderland? Not exactly.

Once again it seems that the weathermen in my area hyped up an impending storm by telling us that we would get at least 4-6 inches of snow. Ha! Maybe in some areas of Virginia and Maryland, but not here! Instead I trekked my way into the office while flurries flew rapidly by face and refused to stick to the ground. Hmph.

Oh well, I’m not complaining since I’m pretty much ready for spring anyway. Bring on the warm weather!

Anyway today is Wednesday, so let’s jump into today’s What I Ate Wednesday post!

Yesterday was a little weird for me since I wound up having to drive to Baltimore for a client meeting and then talk to a bunch of undergraduates at my alma mater after work, so my eating schedule was a little off. I also didn’t really want to take pictures of my food in front of my coworkers and fellow speakers, so instead I am showing you what I ate on Monday. Whatever works, right?

Thanks to Jenn for hosting, as always.

This month Jenn is encouraging us to “go green” with lots of veggies, so let’s how I did on Monday, shall we?

Breakfast

For breakfast on Monday I had half a serving of Fiber One 80 calorie chocolate cereal (still loving this!) and half a serving of Multigrain Cheerios with fat free milk. I was out of bananas unfortunately, so this breakfast was less filling than usual, but it was still tasty!

Weight Watchers Points+: 4

Lunch

Lunch included the usual: turkey with American cheese and mustard on a sandwich thin with a side of carrots and hummus. I also threw in some pretzel twists (haven’t seen those in a while) since I didn’t have as many carrots as usual. By the way, my hummus of choice this week has been Sabra’s roasted pine nut flavor. It tastes awesome and has just a little crunch for texture. Love!

Weight Watchers Points+: 11

Snack Part I

Later in the afternoon, I snacked on a delicious crunchy and juicy apple, and sipped on some hot unsweetened green tea. This snack was so tasty and it took the edge off of my hunger. Awesome snack.

Weight Watchers Points+: 0 (woohoo!)

Snack Part II

Tagalong girl scout cookie. Guiltyyyyyyy.

Weight Watchers Points+: 2

Snack Part III

After my workout I snacked on a few raw almonds while prepping dinner. I love keeping raw almonds around and they make an awesome snack. Even though they are high in fat (and Weight Watchers points!) I know they are good for my heart so I don’t feel bad snacking on them in moderation. They’re just so tasty!

Weight Watchers Points+: 2

Dinner

For dinner I had a bowl of my light and creamy chicken and rice soup with a few saltine crackers. Even though this is a super old recipe, it remains a staple in my household and I make it all the time. It’s so delicious and comforting! If you are ever looking for a light and creamy soup, definitely try this one! If you’re not a fan of the brown rice, you could always swap it out and add noodles instead Great dinner!

Weight Watchers Points+: 6

Dessert

You would think I would have been satisfied after all the snacking I did on Monday, but after dinner my sweet tooth called to me (I’m sure you’re shocked) so I had a fat free low-calorie pudding cup with a few chocolate chips sprinkled in for some texture. So tasty!! I wish I had had a banana to eat with this :-/ Oh well, next time!

Weight Watchers Points+: 3

Total Weight Watchers Points+: 28 (2 more than goal)

Looks like I didn’t do so well on the green front, huh? In fact the only green thing I ate on Monday was probably the celery in my soup, which is like 99% water anyway. Fail.

This is probably my favorite part about What I Ate Wednesdays; it allows me to see where I can improve! Now that I see what I’m missing, I’ll try harder to eat more greens this week.

Daily Activity: On Monday I ran two miles with Fabio and Jack as part of our half marathon training. It was a pretty good run, but our pace was still pretty slow, despite my efforts to speed it up a bit. I don’t know if this was just because it was a cold and dark Monday night (ugh) or if we were just slacking. Who knows! I have another run on schedule for tonight so I will definitely try to be speedier!

Daily Activity Points Earned: 2

All in all not a great day health-wise, but it could have been worse and everything tasted delicious! There’s always room for improvement!

Question of the day: Do the weathermen get snow reports wrong where you live??

WIAW #38: And a fun trip!

WIAW 21 Responses »

Feb 202013

Guess where I’m going??

These pictures are from my two previous trips to Punta Cana

Yep, in just eight short weeks I will be in the beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with six of my closest girlfriends. We talked about the trip briefly a few weeks ago, but then I thought plans kind of fizzled out and I didn’t know if we were still planning to go. Then yesterday my friends brought it up again and we decided to take the plunge!

The six of us will be in Punta Cana from Thursday, April 18, through Monday, April 22. Hoooray!

The best part is that since we used one of my favorite websites, CheapCaribbean.com, we were able to score a great deal and the whole trip is only going to cost me $820. That includes the hotel, airfare, transportation to the hotel, food, and beverages during the entire trip. Awesome, right??

If you couldn’t tell, I’m a wee bit excited…especially since three of the girls who will be coming on the trip live in NYC and I don’t get to see them that often. I can’t imagine anything better than spending four days in the sun with my besties!

Anyway, I should probably stop rubbing my upcoming trip in your face so let’s move on to today’s What I Ate Wednesday post!

This month Jenn is encouraging us to “Love our veggies” and I think I did a pretty good job yesterday! Here’s what I was eating…

Breakfast

Would you look at that? A new breakfast combo Although I am still loving my Fiber One and Fruitful O’s cereal combo, I did pick up a few new-to-me items at the grocery store this weekend and I have been enjoying them all week.

For breakfast yesterday I had a toasted cinnamon raisin English muffin with Cinnamon Laughing Cow cream cheese. Holy deliciousness, this combo was awesome. Unfortunately the cinnamon raisin English muffins don’t have as much fiber as the ones I usually get, so I was feeling hungry for lunch earlier than usual. I didn’t mind too much though because it was worth it for the taste!! Yummm.

On the side I had a banana (that looks like it got into a fight!) and some fresh blueberries and blackberries. Awesome breakfast.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 5

Lunch

Lunch yesterday was pretty typical for me. I had turkey breast, American cheese, and mustard on a sandwich thin. On the side I had baby carrots and hummus. Same old, same old. I don’t mind one bit though since this lunch is so delicious and filling. I am always satisfied after eating this combo

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 8

Snack #1

Even though my lunch filled me up, my sweet tooth has been ravaging lately (probably due to all the free candy that’s been laying around at work) and I wound up eating one of these chocolatey Weight Watchers cookies that I made over the weekend. It was delicious and exactly what I was craving after lunch. Yum! I’m hoping to share the recipe with you guys tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 2

Snack #2

At around 4:30 I started feeling hungry again so I ate a delicious Honey Crisp apple. That’s definitely the best kind of apple, in my opinion! I could eat a million of these.

Weight Watchers Points Plus : 0

Dinner

For dinner I had some spaghetti squash topped with tomato sauce and chicken sausage. The chicken sausage was “basil and herb” flavored and it was so good. I am a huge fan of chicken sausage since it’s so easy to cook and is only 2 Weight Watchers points + per sausage. De-lish.

After I snapped this picture I topped the whole thing with some shredded mozzarella cheese and put it under the broiler for a few seconds to melt. Omg this dinner was so good. Spaghetti squash is an amazing, amazing veggie, I tell ‘ya.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 6

Dessert

Ahhh, Girl Scout cookies. How I love/hate them. Between the Tagalong and Dosi-do cookies that my sister gave me over the weekend, I couldn’t resist heading into the kitchen after dinner yesterday to munch on a few of these peanut-buttery treats. They are so good and even though I only get to enjoy them once a year, I am thinking about taking them to work to get them out of my apartment. I’m all for supporting my sister’s Girl Scouts Troop, but when it comes to actually having the cookies around I’m not sure it’s a good idea. They are just so tasty (and fattening) and my self-control wavers every time I see the box. Heeeeeelp! Haha!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 5

Daily Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 26 (on target!)

Daily Activity: Yesterday I ran a mile with Jack and then completed a Jillian Michaels DVD working out my hamstrings, back, and biceps.

Daily Activity Points Earned: 4

Question of the day: If you could go on vacation anywhere with your best friends, where would you go?

Originally my friends and I were going to go to Coachella in Los Angeles, but a few conflicts arose and we decided the beach would be more fun and more manageable. BTW we are selling our Coachella tickets so if anyone is interested in buying them let me know!

WIAW #34 and Wanelo

WIAW 19 Responses »

Jan 232013

Hey there people!

First of all, thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday’s post! A lot of you had questions about the green sweater I was wearing to brunch, pictured below.

I actually got this sweater for $28 from new-to-me website called Chicnova (check it out- they have some cute and cheapish stuff!). You can buy the sweater here. The more important thing to tell you guys is how I found the sweater on this amazing website called Wanelo.

Have you guys heard of this? Wanelo is basically like Pinterest for products. You can pin things you want and when you hover over the picture, you can see where the product is from and how much it costs. It’s a very dangerous website because I wind up wanting everything I see, especially since they have a lot of cute stuff for reasonable prices. It’s a great website but can be detrimental to your wallet; don’t say I didn’t warn you! Haha!

Ok so it’s Wednesday already (love having a four-day work week!) so you know what that means…it’s time for this week’s What I Ate Wednesday!

Thank you Jenn, as always, for hosting a fun blogger linkup where we can all talk about the yummy food we’ve been eating So, here’s what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast

For breakfast I enjoyed half a serving of Fiber One Original cereal and half a serving of Fruity O’s (a Trader Joe’s brand of cereal). I’d never tried Fruity O’s before, but Fabio’s dad gave them to us a while back and I figured I might as well try them out now. I was pleasantly surprised by their taste and texture! I was expecting fruit-flavored cheerios but instead they reminded me more of Fruit Loops. Awesome! Unfortunately this week we are out of bananas and fresh berries, so I went without Served with fat free milk, of course.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Lunch

For lunch I had a small cup of Butternut Squash Soup from Trader Joe’s with a few oyster crackers on top. Delish!! On the side I had a massive plate of roasted veggies, leftover from the ones I made over the weekend. In the mix was sweet potato, regular potato, carrots, and brussels sprouts. I am loving these roasted veggies right now since they are healthy, delicious, and comforting Yum!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 8

Snack

Some ~~generous~~ terrible person loaded up the candy bowl at work with Valentine’s Day treats (come on, it’s not even February yet!). I have a hard time saying no to a) free food and b) chocolate, so I ate one of these Reese’s hearts and two Hershey kisses. They were delicious, and I don’t regret them one bit.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 2

Dinner

Although this dinner might not look so fantastic (hello, weird runny tomato sauce…) it tasted delicious! I grilled a boneless, skinless chicken breast on the George Foreman and then topped it with a bit of tomato sauce and part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese. This had all the taste of chicken parmesan but with a lot fewer calories and fat since I skipped the fried breading. It was so delicious, and I will definitely be making this again. Talk about easy! On the side were more roasted veggies because I just can’t get enough!! In the mix I had potatoes, carrots, and brussels sprouts (I left out the sweet potatoes this time). So good.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 9

Dessert

For dessert I had one of the “healthy” brownies that I made last week with a can of pumpkin and No-Pudge brownie mix. Since I made them a week ago they started to getting a little hard, but after a quick nuke in the microwave and a tiny bit of Better ‘N Peanut Butter spread on top I was a happy camper. Such a delicious dessert!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Daily Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 27 ( over by 1 ..I blame the Reese’s)

Daily Activity Points Earned: 7

Daily Activity: I am so, so happy to be back to my normal workouts! The swelling in my ankle is 99% gone and my foot is no longer black and blue. More importantly, I have more mobility than I did before and I have been able to complete most of the ankle exercises I was having trouble with last week. And I have no more ankle pain. THANK GOD!!

That being said, this has been a tough week to get back into my running (with my ankle brace on, of course). Check out these temps!!Brrrr!! Luckily I haven’t let these freezing temps stop me and I ran a glorious (albeit, cold) two miles yesterday. Then I completed a Jillian Michael’s workout DVD that had my upper body burning. I can definitely feel it this morning in my shoulders and trcipes. Oww!

Here is my heart rate from running one mile and doing the DVD (the other mile was completed before work and I didn’t feel like putting on the heart rate monitor).

Not bad for a freezing cold Tuesday, right??

Question of the day: Do you prefer to shop online or in the stores?

I generally like to shop in stores so I know how things will fit me when I get home, but I rarely have time! I can’t even remember the last time I went to the mall to shop around. Shopping online is so much easier and websites like Wanelo make it way too tempting!

WIAW #33 & Potential Half Marathon Decisions

WIAW 9 Responses »

Jan 162013

Hello, hello! Is this week over yet? Between the freezing cold rain we’ve been having for the past couple of days and the fact that it’s dark when I get to work and dark when I leave from work, I’m feeling a bit gloomy over here. I know there’s some disease where you get depressed in the winter…maybe I have a slight case of that? Haha who knows but I am ready for some warmer and sunnier weather!

Speaking of warmer weather, I am thinking that I might choose to run the half marathon in St. Michael’s in mid-May, when the weather should be beautiful! Thank you all for your helpful comments on yesterday’s post about half marathons. You guys had some terrific advice! The biggest takeaway that I got from your comments is to run somewhere fun, because running a half marathon is no easy feat.

With that in mind, I am thinking I might run the race in St. Michael’s so I can have some gorgeous views of the water while I’m running.

Pictures from the last time I visited St. Michael’s

I even talked to Fabio about getting someone to watch Jack that weekend so we could make a little vacation out of it? I would absolutely love to spend a weekend in the quaint little island of St. Michael’s, so as of right now that race is my top choice. I’m still deciding though, so if you have any other suggestions for half marathons in DC/MD/VA, or even somewhere within driving distance of those, please share

Anyway, enough half marathon talk, let’s get to today’s What I Ate Wednesday!

Thank you Jenn for hosting the linkup, as usual

I love being able to see what other bloggers are eating without any negative comparison or judgement. It’s such a fun tradition each week!

So without further ado, here’s what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast

For breakfast yesterday I had 1/2 cup of Fiber One original cereal with some fresh blueberries and skim milk. I also had a disgustingly under-ripe banana which I threw away after eating about half of it (it was way too firm and tasted gross).

Fabio has been buying our produce from an Asian supermarket near his job since it’s about half the price of produce at the regular grocery store, but unfortunately hardly any of the produce is ripe when we actually get it home. This banana was the most ripe out of the bunch, if you can believe that, and it was still inedible. I should have just waited for it to ripen up a bit, but I love bananas and was too impatient. Woops! Next time.

BTW I noticed this picture is almost identical to last week’s picture. I guess I’m in a bit of a rut with breakfast? Oh well, it’s delicious!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Lunch

This lunch is also almost identical to last week’s photo too, and I have to admit I have been eating this practically every single day. Oops! But I am still not tired of this combo of a sandwich thin with reduced-sodium turkey, reduced-fat American cheese, and mustard. On the side are some baby carrots and hummus, per usual. I know it’s kind of boring but I love it, and I get so excited to eat this lunch every day! Haha.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 9

Snack

For a mid-day snack I ate a tasty little clementine I love having these around in the winter since they are perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up. These ones have seeds in them, but I don’t really mind!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 0

Dinner

After work I had to go all the way over to the University of Maryland in College Park (about 45 mins from work and an hour from home) for a meeting with some undergrad students. I was there until around 8:00 p.m. but luckily the meeting coordinator brought in some food from Potbelly’s for us to eat during the meeting.

I chose the chicken salad salad over any of the subs and I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was for only 9 WW P+! So good! I will have to remember this salad in the future. I ate half during the meeting (although it’s never easy to eat a salad while you are talking in a meeting) and I ate the other half when I got home around 9:00. At that point I added a veggie burger into the mix since I had already eaten all the chicken out but was still a bit hungry It was a great dinner, especially considering they easily could have ordered from Domino’s, Chipotle, or somewhere equally diet-ruining.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 11

Dessert

After the salad my sweet tooth was hankering for some dessert, so I had one of the fudgy brownies that I told you guys about on Monday. They are holding up really well and are actually less “pumpkiny” now that they’ve firmed up a bit. They still don’t taste like real full-fat brownies, but they are a tasty treat for only 3 WW P+!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 3

Daily Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 27 ( over by 1 )

Daily Activity Points Earned: 1

Daily Activity: Since I still can’t do any high-impact workouts because of my ankle, my workouts have unfortunately been pretty limited. One thing I am really enjoying is using my kettlebells that I got for Christmas to complete a few workouts while watching TV. Using the kettlebells really pumps up my heart-rate without requiring me to jump around and risk messing up my ankle more.

I’ve also still been wearing my Nike Fuel pedometer and I make sure to reach my goal every day, even if it means getting off the metro one stop early and walking a little further to get home. Yesterday I took 10,325 steps and walked 4.3 miles (which is 63 more steps and .1 more mile than last Tuesday). So even though these workouts aren’t great, at least I am trying to stay active while letting my ankle mend.

Question of the Day: What workouts do you do when you are injured? What about when you are short on time or don’t have a lot of space to work out?

WIAW #14: YOLO

WIAW 16 Responses »

Aug 012012

Hey kiddos! Sorry for the late post today. Work has been super busy! I didn’t even get to take a lunch break today, and actually wound up getting mustard on the paper I was editing. Apparently scarfing down a sandwich and marking up a document do not bode well together. Woopsie!

Anyway, I will just pop in with a quick What I Ate Wednesday post for today, and then I’ll be back tomorrow with a recipe and a workout update for you all. I know you’re dying to hear about my personal training session and how bootcamp is going! Plus I finally went to the dentist yesterday, so I’ll tell you how that went to! Oh the joys of teeth cleaning

For now though, enjoy viewing my eats from yesterday!

And, as always, a big thanks goes out to Jenn for hosting the link up

What I ate on Tuesday:

1. For breakfast, I had a whole wheat English muffin topped with natural peanut butter, half a banana, and a sprinkle of chia seeds. I also ate the rest of the banana plain, but forgot to take a picture of it. Woops! But, you’ve all seen half bananas before right? Yeah, they’re not that pretty anyway. Moving on…

2. For lunch I had the usual. A turkey sandwich with reduced-fat American cheese and mustard on a flax seed sandwich thin. On the side I had some raw almonds (Best Snack Ever) and pretzel twists. For “dessert” I had yogurt-covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s (omg) and baby peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s (omg x2). Just sayin’.

3/4. For dinner I was planning to make something at home using my tomatoes, broccoli, avocados, and/or lettuce that is all going bad. However, around 4 p.m. I got a text from my friend Megan asking if I wanted to go to happy hour for her birthday, which was yesterday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!!). Um let me think…yes!! The bar we went to had $2 beers and half price burgers. Such a good deal! I opted for a Michelob Ultra (95 calories) and a turkey burger made with mangos and apples. It was delicious! The portion size was too big for me though, so I only ate about half the burger before I got full. I was planning to take the rest home for leftovers, but leftover burgers and fries are ~~freaky~~ never that good anyway. See ya’ lata’ turkey burger.

And that’s it! That’s what I ate yesterday There were definitely NOT enough fruits and veggies, but sometimes you have to give in to those unexpected nights out with your friends and work around your original plans. Otherwise, a healthy lifestyle isn’t sustainable. Right? At least, that’s what I tell myself as I am indulging on some delicious french fries

And now I am going to the gym twice today to work it off. Ha! Oh well, you only live once! YOLO!

WIAW #6

WIAW 3 Responses »

Jun 062012

Hello everyone! I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday. I definitely woke up this morning expecting it to be Thursday, and I was actually relieved to remember that it was Wednesday because that meant I had an extra day to complete my assignments at work (I have a big project due on Thursday and Friday). What kind of convoluted thinking is that? Being happy that Friday is further away than I thought? Sheesh this job is making me crazy.

Anyway, one great part about Wednesday is that it means it’s time for another What I Ate Wednesday post! Today’s post depicts every little morsel that entered my mouth yesterday. Unfortunately, Jenn (the creator of WIAW) wants us to focus on sensible summer snacking this month, and yesterday I happened to be way too busy at work to even think about a snack :-/ However, I do have this post which talks about how I handle snacking at the office, so you can read that post for more information. Hopefully next week I will remember to eat more snacks (which is better for my metabolism anyway!). So, without further ado, here’s this week’s WIAW post!

1. For breakfast yesterday morning I had an omelet with one egg, one egg white, onions, tomatoes, spinach, and reduced fat cheddar cheese. This breakfast was delicious and kept me full all morning. Win!

2. For lunch, I had some Ledo’s pepperoni pizza leftover from Friday night. Ledo’s is one of my favorite pizza places and I can never turn it down! Plus I love that the slices are really small so it’s easy to control your portion size. These four small pieces allowed me to feel like I was eating something really decadent, without all of the calories. Perfect!

3. When I got home from work, I had a small cup of Naked’s Green Machine juice. This juice is made from fruits like apples, bananas, kiwis, and strawberries (so it tastes awesome) but also has an extra boost from ingredients like broccoli, spinach, wheat grass, and Barley grass. It’s a really delicious drink and I love when I have some on hand (Fabio usually buys it), but it’s important to note that it has a lot of natural sugar (from all the fruit) so you have to be careful not to consume too much of it.

4. For dinner I had another Asian steak salad with mango and avocado. I cannot get enough of this salad. It is so good. If you haven’t tried it yet, I seriously recommend it. It combines so many of my favorite flavors. Yum!

And that’s it! That’s everything I ate yesterday. Upon reflection I am happy that I consumed a lot of veggies, but I probably could have used some additional fiber and calcium. The pizza obviously was not the most nutritious option, but it sure was delicious! And, as I mentioned earlier, I need some extra mid-day snacks to boost my metabolism! Hopefully I’ll have more time next week for munching during work J

Also, a little birdie told me there might just be a giveaway on the blog tomorrow. Come back in the morning to see if the birdie was right!

WIAW #5

WIAW 12 Responses »

May 302012

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! I am starting to notice that every week when I write my WIAW posts I am insanely busy at work. I used to think Thursdays were there really busy days around here, but I guess it depends on what projects I am working on. Anyway, I’ll keep this brief so I can get back to ~~being a slave~~ work.

If you’re new around here, WIAW stands for What I Ate Wednesday and it documents what I ate for a whole day. The idea was started by the ingenious Jenn over at Peas and Crayons and it’s a fun thing to participate in each week so you can keep track of your eating habits. So, without further ado, here’s a compilation of everything I ate yesterday!

1. My morning started out with a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats cereal with fat free milk. This is one of my favorite breakfast cereals because it has a lot of fiber but doesn’t taste like crap. I first bought it when my Fooducate app (everyone needs to download this app!) showed me that it was a better choice than many cereals, and I’ve been buying it ever since! It also fills me up for the entire morning, which I know from experience that a lot of cereals don’t (at least for me). I’ve tried switching up my cereals a bunch of times, but this one always finds its way back onto my shelf. It’s a keeper!

2. For lunch I had another staple for me: turkey breast on a whole wheat sandwich thin with reduced fat American cheese and mustard. I also, not surprisingly, at this with a handful of raw almonds from Trader Joe’s, pretzel twists, and yogurt-covered pretzels for dessert. I know, I know, this is a very boring lunch and I eat it almost every day, but I like it! And that’s all that matters, right?

3. Midway through the afternoon I was feeling hungry again so I munched on a banana. I was happy that I remembered to bring one to work because sometimes if I’m running low on fruit or rushing out the door, I forget. Nom nom nanner

4. I also sipped on half a bottle of All Natural Nantucket Nectars Apple Juice. I didn’t drink the whole bottle because I was saving the rest for later (mostly because there was too much sugar in it for me to consume in one serving), but the juice gave me a quick boost of energy when that end of the day drag started creeping up on me.

5. Apparently I was really tired at work because I also munched on two Hershey kisses. These kind are the air delights, which have more air and less chocolate so they kind of break down when you eat them. They taste pretty similar to the regular ones but are only 200 calories for 11 of them. Yes, I said 11. Who eats 11 Hershey kisses in one sitting anyway?? For two little kisses it’s only about 35 calories, which is not bad at all if it cures my chocolate craving.

6. For dinner I had Chicken Orzo Summer Salad with asparagus, tomatoes, and bell peppers. If you missed this recipe yesterday you should check it out immediately. It. Was. Awesome.

And that concludes today’s WIAW post! As my friends will tell you, it’s a good thing I didn’t decide to write a What I Ate This Weekend post because it would have included a ton of fattening foods like chicken tenders and pizza. Ugh! I’m trying to squeeze a lot more fruits and veggies into my meals since we’ve been back, and last night’s salad definitely helped! Hopefully I can keep the streak going

How do you guys recover from crazy weekends? I’m thinking a detox shake might be in order. You should see all the greens I picked up yesterday. Oy!

WIAW #4

WIAW 1 Response »

May 232012

What a busy week this is turning out to be! Since I am taking work off on Friday to head to the beach, my workload for five days has now been somehow crammed into four. How come no one tells you that in the real world when you take a vacation you still have to get the same amount of work done? What kind of deal is that?? Anyway, as I said, things have been busy around here!

Not too busy for another What I Ate Wednesday post though! Today’s eats are actually what I ate on Monday. I know my WIAW collection usually show my meals from Tuesday, but last night I had dinner with my dad and I knew Mexican food in a poorly-lit restaurant does not photograph well, so I decided to document what I ate on Monday instead. So, enjoy this WIAW!

1. Monday morning as I was getting ready for work, Fabio decided to be the-best-boyfriend-in-the-world by making me breakfast. He made an omelet using 1 egg, 1 egg-white, onions, and chopped tomatoes. On the side he cut up an avocado because, as he says, he “didn’t know if you could cook avocados.” Ha! I would have liked a few veggies thrown in with my omelet, but he was being really sweet and I didn’t want to make any special requests. Beggars can’t be choosers right?

2. For lunch I had the usual: turkey, cheese, and mustard on a sandwich thin, eaten with a small handful of almonds and three pretzel twists (I know, I know, I eat this combo every week. I’m just not sick of it yet!). I did have some yogurt-covered pretzels for dessert, which are tastier than the prunes I usually have. Yum!

3. Later in the day I started getting hungry again, so I snacked on a few Kashi crackers from my snack drawer at work and slurped a huge cup of green tea. It definitely filled me up!

4. For dinner I had a small piece of grilled chicken, some asparagus roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and a sweet potato stuffed with feta, goat cheese, and basil. It was so good!

After reviewing my WIAW collection, I am noticing that Monday was sadly low on the fruits & veggies. Part of this is just because of the day I documented (for example, I have already eaten 3 bananas this week, although none of them were on Monday), but the other part is because when I get busy, fresh fruits & veggies seem to be the first thing to go. I tend to just gravitate towards what is easy, and sometimes reaching in my desk for some crackers is easier than remembering to pack a healthy snack the night before. Hmm…this is something to work on!

To see what else I have happily and hungrily consumed, take a look at the past WIAWs:

WIAW #1

WIAW #2

WIAW #3

And come back later tonight for a new recipe involving one of my favorite summer ingredients…mangoes! Yum!

WIAW #3

WIAW 6 Responses »

May 162012

Hey guys! Welcome to another addition of What I Ate Wednesday! Today’s post features all of the food I ate during the day yesterday. Like every WIAW, I really enjoy being able to see what I ate throughout the whole day right in one place. Sometimes I engage in mindless snacking (don’t we all) and these WIAW posts help me keep that in track. So, without further ado, here is today’s WIAW post!

1. For breakfast I had one egg + one egg white scrambled with spinach and onions, topped with sliced avocado and salsa on a whole wheat English muffin. This breakfast was sooooo good and included more veggies that I usually squeeze in before 7 am. Not a bad start to the day!

2. For lunch I had a leftover slice of my BBQ Goat Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions. The pizza reheated very well and tasted just as great on day two.

3. For a snack at work I had a small handful of raw almonds, three pretzel twists, and three yogurt-covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s. If you haven’t had these yogurt-covered pretzels you MUST try them. They are life changing.

4. Later in the day I had a banana for a snack. This did a good job of holding me over until dinner.

5. For dinner I had fish tacos with Mexican veggie quinoa (recipe to come!).

Overall I feel like this was a pretty healthy day. I totally could have packed more veggies into my meals, which I am trying to work on. I definitely made progress this week by adding spinach and avocado to my breakfast and including steamed broccoli in my quinoa. It’s all about baby steps, people!

So, let me hear from you guys. What are some ways you like to sneak extra veggies into your meals? My mom just gave me a blender this weekend, so I’m hoping I can make some smoothies to get some extra green in my diet. Banana, strawberry, kale smoothie? I’ll test it out!