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 #47: In Punta Cana!

WIAW 6 Responses »

Apr 242013

Hi friends! Happy hump day! After getting back from vacation late Monday night and spending all last night unpacking, doing laundry, and rubbing aloe lotion all over my sunburned legs (oh yes), I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. Thank goodness!

I don’t know about you, but there is something nice about getting back into your routine. Vacation is always so fun and leaving is always awful, but coming home, seeing Fabio and Jack, and sleeping in my own bed has been really nice as well. It’s called vacation for a reason after all!

For this week’s What I Ate Wednesday post, allow me to show you all the great things I ate/drank on vacation in Punta Cana!

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the linkup, as usual!

Alriiiight, let’s get this party started (Pink, anyone?).

I want to preface this post by explaining that my friends and I stayed in an all-inclusive resort. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of hotel, everything, including all our food and drinks, was free. We literally did not spend one dime on food, except for the night we went to the Italian restaurant and wanted a nicer bottle of wine. But otherwise, it was all free. Woohoo!

The only downside to this type of resort is that usually the food is not all that great. Although this resort had better food than most all-inclusive places I’ve stayed at, it still relied heavily on a buffet and had very few healthy options. Bummer.

I generally tried to eat as healthy as I could, while still enjoying a few treats along the way (pretty much my motto in life). I think I was pretty successful!

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

Breakfasts

The breakfast buffet at the resort had a ton of choices, but my standard breakfast looked something like this:

An omelet with tomatoes, cheese, onions, green peppers, and ham
Fresh fruit
Whole wheat toast
Some type of “treat” (e.g., small waffle, chocolate muffin, croissant, hash brown, etc.)

There were some cereal and yogurt options that probably would have been fine, but I really liked the omelet station where you could choose your ingredients. Yummmm.

Lunches

The lunch buffet was really good and in addition to a ton of delicious pre-made options, it had a grill where a chef made ready-to-order chicken or pork. The chicken was perfectly marinated and I had it each day for lunch. There was one day where I opted for fresh paella instead of the chicken, which was really good as well.

For my sides I usually chose beans and rice (SO good!) and some combo of veggies. On the particular day pictured above, I had roasted potatoes, carrots, green beans, and cucumbers and tomatoes with balsamic. Sorta random, but that tends to happen to me at buffets. I go a little crazy!

Dinners

The resort had a ton of different restaurants to choose from, and during our stay we ate at the International restaurant (mixed variety of foods), the Mexican restaurant, the Dominican restaurant, and the Italian restaurant.

Up first: International.

This night I ordered a lobster bisque to start (more like lobster soup- it wasn’t very good) and then ordered chicken breast stuffed with shrimp and spinach for my entree. It was served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a few carrots and string beans on the side. It was delicious but rather large and I only ate half of the chicken. You can bet there wasn’t a smidge of mashed potatoes left on my plate though. They were awesome.

Second night: Mexican.

The Mexican restaurant started us out with delicious hot chips served with queso, guacamole, and salsa. YUM!!

For my entree I chose the fajitas which came with a combination of steak, pork, and chicken. I shared this meal with my friend Catrina who ordered the chicken tacos. Everything was delicious!

Third night: Dominican.

I honestly can’t really remember what I ate this night, except that it was grilled chicken on a bed of brown rice. I think there was some seafood in the rice as well. I guess this is what happens when you start off dinner with too many cocktails and some really delicious bread…the appetite for your entree sort of dwindles.

Case in point…

Yep. The bread was that good.

Fourth/last night: Italian.

The food at the Italian restaurant was probably the best we ate all week. Everything tasted phenomenal and I’m so glad we saved it for last. We wound up ordering a plate of fettuccine carbonara for the table to share, and then I ordered shrimp risotto for my appetizer (unpictured- oops!).

For my main meal I chose chicken in sun-dried tomatoes which tasted more like chicken parmesan with regular tomato sauce to me. It was really good, but not as good as the two pastas were.

Sorry for the awful picture!!

Finally, on our last day, we had lunch at the airport and I chose Wendy’s. It was a hungover-sunburned-sad-that-we-have-to-go-home kind of day, and Wendy’s seemed like the only solution.

At least it tasted good!

What we drank

At the beginning of our trip, we mostly drank gin & tonics. While they’re not my favorite drinks, they got the job done. After the first day we switched to rum and cokes since (duh) the Caribbean is known for its rum.

We also drank a lot of Mama Juana shots, which are made up of honey, red wine, and rum (woah). During the day we’d sip on a few beers or daiquiri drinks, but we didn’t go too wild and mostly just had a ton of water. We were saving our strength for the evening! Haha!

Question of the day: What do you eat at buffets?

WIAW #46: Pre-trip Jitters

WIAW 6 Responses »

Apr 172013

Hey kiddos! I am super busy today trying to get everything ready for my trip to Punta Cana tomorrow, so let’s make today’s What I Ate Wednesday quick!

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the linkup

Here’s a little snapshot of what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast

Nothin’ new here. Just a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios with skim milk and a banana. I’m sure one of these days I’ll get tired of this breakfast, but seeing how I just bought a box of this cereal from Costco (!) it might be a while haha.

Lunch

For lunch yesterday I had a taco salad leftover from Monday night’s dinner. On Monday evening I made two huge taco salads for dinner, and when I was assembling them I just made two more for Tuesday’s lunch! Super easy! The salads had ground turkey, onions, black beans, tomatoes, cheese, tortilla chips, and a “dressing” that I made by combining plain nonfat Greek yogurt with some salsa. Yummmm! Oh, and of course there was spinach and romaine lettuce, but I bet you could have guessed that

Snack

Ugh someone refilled the candy bowl at work and I couldn’t resist. Yum.

Dinner

Last night I had to run a few more errands before my trip tomorrow (you know, important things like getting a pedicure and a spray tan) so I didn’t get home until somewhat late. Fabio was a gem and offered to cook me dinner, which came at the price of not being super healthy. Oh well, I’ll take the opportunity not to cook any time! Fabio made us cheeseburgers (mine was on a sandwich thin), homemade french fries, and sauteed spinach. Yummm!

And there you have it folks, everything I ate yesterday! Woohoo! Not a bad day of eats if you ask me And now I’m off to finish some things up before I leave. Hoooorayyyy! I’ll be back on Tuesday but I have a couple posts lined up to keep you guys occupied Have a good rest of your week!

Question of the day: What candy tempts you the most? Chocolate is my nemesis!

WIAW #42

WIAW 18 Responses »

Mar 202013

Happy first day of spring! Does it actually feel like spring anywhere out there? I don’t know how the weather is where you guys are, but today is wiiiindy and cold in the Nation’s capital.

Oh, also, it might snow tonight. And again on Monday. Awesome. Guess that groundhog was pretty inaccurate when he said warm weather was on his way, huh? Oh well, I’m sure it’ll warm up eventually. Right? Right?? Right????

Anyway, things are super crazy around here (seriously, I know I said that last week, but it’s so much worse now) so I apologize if my posts seem to be lacking a little bit this week. Just to give you a little snapshot of what I’ve been dealing with, let me explain that on Monday night I stayed at work until 8:00 pm, then yesterday I came in at 7:45 am (waaay earlier than usual) and I didn’t leave work until after 9:30 pm. Seriously! 9:30!

By the time I sat down to eat dinner, it was almost 10:30 and time for bed. Quite annoying. Hopefully things should slow down later this week and I’ll be back to normal. Cross your fingers!

Ok, ok. Enough whining. It’s Wednesday so let’s get into today’s What I Ate Wednesday post! Thanks to Jenn for always hosting the linkup.

So, let’s check out what I ate yesterday during my super busy day at work, shall we?

Breakfast

Yummmm I love this breakfast. In my bowl I had 1/2 a serving of Multigrain Cheerios and 1/2 a serving of Fiber One Chocolate Cereal with skim milk. So delicious! I actually ran out of the Fiber One cereal after I poured this bowl, so it looks like I’ll be switching it up for a little while. What cereal should I try next? Anyone have a good suggestion for a cereal they love?

I also had a banana on the side

Lunch

I’m sure you guys are shocked by this combo Yes, for lunch I had turkey on a sandwich thin with American cheese and mustard. I also had carrots and hummus on the side. I swear I do eat other things for lunch, especially leftovers from dinner, but I guess that doesn’t usually happen on Tuesdays when I take these photos haha! Still a great lunch in my book.

Snack I

We had a few clients come into the office yesterday afternoon and there was some fruit salad leftover from their meeting. Woohoo! I happily enjoyed a big bowl of it for an afternoon snack and it was great Free food? Yes please! The fresh pineapple was particularly delicious. Yummmm.

Dinner

Since I didn’t start cooking dinner until after 10:00 pm, I definitely wanted something fast and filling. On the one hand, I was tempted to just have a bowl of cereal or something simple since I was exhausted from the day and didn’t feel like doing a thing.

On the other hand, I was really hungry and knew I would regret not eating a proper dinner if I just went with cereal; so I found a compromise! I wound up cooking a sweet potato in the microwave. Hooray for dinner in 4.5 minutes!

I mixed the insides of the sweet potato with some black beans, a wedge of laughing cow cheese, and some hot peppers that I had in the fridge. A little salt and pepper and it was good to go! This dinner is so good and I love it every time! Plus I got full after only eating half, so I had the other half for lunch today. This is such a great, fast dinner!

Snack II

I’ve been trying to cut down on the amount of sweets I’ve been eating lately because I felt like I was having dessert way too often and it was becoming less of a “special occasion” and more like and “every day (or even every meal) occasion.”

Obviously I can’t turn off my sweet tooth completely, so I’ve been munching on these delicious Sunsweet Prunes whenever a craving hits. I know they look gross, but they taste like big raisins and I love the mushy ones. Seriously, I know it sounds weird but they are soo good! I highly recommend them!

And that’s it! That’s what I ate on Tuesday. It wasn’t the best selection of foods obviously, especially since there was not a green veggie in sight, but sometimes when you are busy busy busy there’s only so much you can do. It could have been much worse for sure!

Weight Watchers

You may have noticed that I did not list the Weight Watchers points for any of my meals yesterday. The simple reason is because I was too busy to track the points, but the more complicated reason is because I feel like once I have been on Weight Watchers for a while, I start to mentally keep track of what’s ok to eat and what’s not, and I don’t really need the program anymore. I lost the few pounds that crept on late last year, and am (relatively) happy with my body right now, so I’ve been thinking of canceling my WW subscription.

The only problem with this is that if I’m not tracking every day, it’s a slippery slope back to splurging or eating too much. This is actually why I had to rejoin WW in the first place; because I feel like without the accountability of tracking it’s too easy to eat a little too much of this and a little too much of that.

I’m not going to cancel my membership just now, but I might soon if I continue to “forget” to use the tracker. What do you guys think?

Question of the day: How do you keep yourself from slipping back into old (and bad) habits?

Also, what’s your favorite cereal?

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 #35

WIAW 9 Responses »

Jan 302013

Hello there people!! I hope everyone is enjoying this warm weather we are experiencing! It has certainly made me one happy camper and my runs yesterday morning and today have been awesome because of it! This morning during my run I was literally grinning like an idiot the entire time. I didn’t even need a jacket! Love that!

Wooah, hello there sleepy eyes

Anyway, I’ll be sure to enjoy this weather while it lasts because this evening it’s supposed to be windy, rainy, and cold again. Ugh! DC weather I hate you.

Moving on…

This week has been super busy at work and yesterday evening I had an event with some students from the University of Maryland and didn’t get home until around 8:00ish. Needless to say things have been a tad bit crazy over here, so I apologize for any shorter than usual posts. Things should hopefully slow down soon! (Edited to add: I just typed up this whole post and then WordPress deleted most of it, so I’m trying again. Ugh)

That being said, let’s jump right into today’s What I Ate Wednesday post!

Thank you Jenn as usual for hosting the linkup

Also I should disclose that instead of highlighting Tuesday’s eats as usual, I’m showing you what I ate on Monday. This is simply because I knew I had that meeting last night and 1) I didn’t know what I’d be having for dinner, but it probably wouldn’t be very healthy and 2) more importantly, I didn’t think I’d have an opportunity to break out my camera and snap a picture of it (I wound up having a skinny turkey sandwich from Potpelly’s -not too bad- but definitely didn’t get a chance to take a picture!)

So, you’re getting Monday’s eats instead of Tuesday’s. Not that you care. But, whatever. Here’s what I ate!

Breakfast

For breakfast I had half a serving of Fiber One Original cereal and half a serving of Fruitful O’s from Trader Joe’s, along with some skim milk and a banana. If you haven’t tried the Fruitful O’s before I definitely recommend them; they are like healthier Fruit Loops and I love their taste! I was also super excited to have fresh fruit again after missing them last week. Nothing is better than a ripe and delicious banana!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Lunch

For lunch I had some leftover turkey chili that I made a little while ago and a slice of the rosemary bread that Fabio bought me over the weekend. I enjoyed dipping the bread into the chili so it soaked up all the spicy flavors. Delish. Leftovers for the win! On the side I had a crunchy and delicious Honey Crisp apple.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 8

Dinner

For dinner I had a quinoa veggie burger that I pulled out of the freezer a couple of days ago. Although the consistency of the burger didn’t hold up too well after being defrosted (it sort of fell apart when I was cooking it) the flavor was delicious and I really enjoyed this dinner! I topped the “burger” with some reduced fat mozzarella cheese and ate it on a sandwich thin. On the side I had some roasted veggies (broccoli, carrots, and potatoes). Great dinner!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 9

Dessert

For dessert I had a Jell-0 pudding cup that I bought on impulse while grocery shopping over the weekend. They were sugar free and only 2 Weight Watchers Points+, so I thought I’d try them out. Oh. My. Gosh. They are so good.

I think what I like best about them is that it takes me a while to eat them and they are so rich and chocolately that I feel like I’m getting a huge dessert for only 2 WWP+. I threw a couple of chocolate chips in there (white and semi-sweet) for some texture. These are delicious and I’ll have to make sure to keep them stocked in my fridge for the future!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 3

Daily Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 24

Daily Activity: On Monday I ran two miles (one in the morning and one in the evening) and completed a Jillian Michaels’ workout DVD that worked my upper body. I am loving these DVDs and my shoulders are still feeling it. Ouch.

Daily Activity Points Earned: 5

Question of the day: Do you take leftovers to lunch? If so, what’s your favorite food to take?

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 #32 & Goals for 2013

Random, WIAW 13 Responses »

Jan 092013

Hello there! Happy Wednesday I am in a great mood for some reason today (maybe because it’s already hump day and I have some awesome weekend plans?! Maybe it’s also because of the huge cup of tea I just drank? Hm. Maybe. Lol.) But I apologize in advance if I seem overly-cheery. Although on second thought, what’s wrong with that?

But since it is a hump day and all, you know what that means…it’s time for What I Ate Wednesday!

Yayy! Thank you Jenn for hosting such a fun blogger linkup every week so that we can all get together and talk about food. Because, who doesn’t like talking about food, right?

Ok so let’s jump to it! Here’s what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast

For breakfast I had 1/2 cup of Fiber One original cereal (measured out for precision, because otherwise I would have eaten way more than this!) with skim milk and blueberries. I also had a banana on the side. This is a new-to-me cereal that I have been trying out and so far, so good! I am also just a huge fan of cereal in general so I’m pretty easy to please. Bring on the cereal!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Lunch

Yesterday’s lunch was pretty typical around these parts. In the mix was regular turkey breast (a new grocery store I went to didn’t have reduced-sodium turkey, womp womp) on a sandwich thin with American cheese and mustard. On the side I had some baby carrots and hummus. BTW I found these cute portable dip containers at The Container Store and I have been using them to bring hummus to work! It’s so much cheaper than buying the individual packs, which is what I used to do. I honestly don’t think there is any snack more delicious and satisfying than carrots and hummus. Seriously. So good.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 9

Snack

Fabio and I have a ton of fresh fruit in the fridge leftover from when his dad came to visit (his dad loves having fresh fruit on hand so we wound up buying a lot!) and we have been trying to use it up all week. I have to admit it’s been really nice to have such a wide variety of fresh fruits available, since usually all I have are apples, bananas, and the occasional clementine when they are in season (I usually only keep berries in the freezer). Unfortunately it’s too expensive for me to have this kind of fruit on hand all the time, so I have to take advantage of it when I can! Awesome snack.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 0

Dinner

For dinner I enjoyed a small piece of steak that we’ve had in the freezer for a while (Fabio took it out of the freezer over the weekend so I could use it to ice my ankle lol so now we had to use it up!). I hardly ever eat steak (or any red meat for that matter) unless I’m out at a restaurant, so it was really nice to enjoy this wholesome meal! On the side I had some potatoes roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. This is definitely my favorite way to eat potatoes! I also had some brussels sprouts and broccoli that I cooked in a skillet with some red onion, olive oil, salt, and pepper. So delicious! I made sure to keep my portions for the steak and potatoes small and really load up the veggies. Such a great dinner!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 9

Dessert

After dinner my sweet tooth was ravaging (psh, what else is new) so I ate a delicious chocolate chip cookie that I made recently. They are made with a secret ingredient that keeps them pretty light in calories, so this cookie made a great sweet snack (hint: it’s similar to this recipe and this recipe). I promise to share the recipe with you guys soon!

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 3

Daily Total Weight Watchers Points Plus: 25

Daily Activity Points Earned: 1

Daily Activity: Since I can’t do any high-impact workouts because of my ankle, I’ve been taking it easy on the workout front. Instead of my usual workout, I did some strength training exercises while watching TV. I worked out my biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest, and abs. (Tonight I’m planning to tackle lower body).

I only gave myself one point for this because it wasn’t a very intense workout. However, I did reach my daily goal on my pedometer (took 10,325 steps, walked 4.2 miles) which at least means I was pretty active during the day and walked around a bit. Better than nothing!

Goals for 2013

Although it’s already the 9th of January, I have yet to talk about any resolutions for 2013. This is mostly because I wanted to make sure that I really thought everything through and didn’t post a bunch of lofty ideas that I knew I could never stick to.

Now that I’ve had some time to think it all over, I am finally ready to write it all out and commit to some aspirations that I will try to accomplish throughout the year. Also, I should point out that these are not so much “resolutions” that I want to stick to, as goals that I want to accomplish. Hopefully by phrasing them this way and setting a firm benchmark for myself, I will be able to measure whether or not I was successful at the end of the year. So, here goes!

1. Add at least $1,500 to my savings account. In terms of finances, I am generally doing fine. I make money, I spend money. I have emergency backup money in case I need it. I’m sitting on a small comfortable little pot, and I don’t generally have to worry about needing money. I’m not in debt, and I’m a lot better off than a lot of people.

That being said, I recently did a little math to see how much I would need to start saving a month if I eventually want to be able to put a down payment on a house. Like, years from now when I’m married. Know what I found out? I’d need to start putting aside $500 a month in order to do that by 2020!

Okayyy so that sounds a little scary. And hopefully I’ll get a few promotions in between now and then so it won’t be so bad. But it did shock me into realizing that I need to stop spending so much and start actually saving more than just a comfortable little nest egg. So, by the end of 2013 I hope to have at least $1,500 more saved up. Let’s all please pray to the Gods of Mint.com to help me.

2. Run a half-marathon. While it’s all well and good to say “continue to lose weight” or “continue to work out,” I can’t measure that. I can’t look back in a year and see whether I continued to do something. Of course I want to do those things, but I also want to achieve something more specific. I thought about losing a certain number of pounds, but I don’t really need to do that. Instead, I set a concrete goal for myself to run a half marathon during 2013. Period. In addition to that I will obviously keep eating well and exercising, but this is a big milestone I hope to be able to cross off my list. I’m hoping to complete one around Central Park in NYC with my aunt and uncle, but it’s not set in stone yet (come on New York Road Runners’ Club, get your summer schedule up!!). Wish me luck! And of course, I’ll share all the details with you guys along the way.

3. Get Jack to stop jumping up on people. I realize that this sounds really silly. However, my dog has a lot of energy and he is a big ‘ol loving pooch, so when someone pays a little extra attention to him (either by petting him or talking to him or something) he gets all excited and sometimes jumps up on them. I don’t mind this and neither does Fabio, but that’s because he’s our dog and, like proud parents, we’re a little blind to this.

However, it embarrasses me to no end when we have company over and Jack jumps up on them. He’s gotten much better since we first got him (he used to jump on strangers on the sidewalk. Talk about awkward.) but if guests show him a little too much enthusiasm he will still jump up on them. I really want this to stop, so Fabio and I are going to get serious about training him better. Sure he can sit, lay down, give you a paw, roll over, and crawl; but I need him to stop jumping on people. Sorry if this is a lame goal, but you’d think after having Jack for more than a year we would have this under control by now. Woops.

And that’s it. Really. Other than that things are going perfectly in my life and I don’t want to change anything. Sure, I could say cut back on sugar, worry less, relax more, workout more, etc. but they’re not main priorities in my life right now. As long as I keep on doing what I’m doing for the most part, I’ll be satisfied

Question of the Day: What are your goals/resolutions for 2013?

WIAW#18: Catrina’s Weight Watchers Addition!

WIAW No Responses »

Aug 292012

Hey guys! Today I am jet-setting across the Atlantic Ocean to the fabulous city of Rome, Italy! Woohoo! But I couldn’t miss a WIAW, so here is one of my best friends Catrina to share her eats with you all. Take it away, Treen!

Happy Hump Day everyone!! So first off I want to say two things, one I am SO excited to be a guest blogger!! When Chelsea asked me if I would be interested, I was thrilled and had been secretly crossing my fingers hoping that she would ask me..shh! Secondly, I have never written a blog or pretty much anything without being forced to by some teacher, professor or college application.. that being said I am sorry if any of you are asleep half way thru this post or laugh at my horrible grammar (if Word doesn’t catch it I definitely won’t).

So before I jump into What I ate Wednesday (which I always love reading and figured some type of structure would stop me from running on tangents, wait this is a tangent- oh well!) I figure I should tell you a little about myself. As Chelsea mentioned in her Weight Loss Story, the summer before my senior year at college I started doing Weight Watchers with a friend from home. And I know this isn’t for everyone but it worked great for me! I would say the biggest impact it had on my life/diet as a whole was it taught me to look at the fat content (and the always yummy carbs) in food and not only the calories. Just take a stroll down the snack aisle of your grocery store and you will realize that YES, this cookie is only 100 calories! But wait it has 7 grams of fat, not good. So that summer, and into senior year, I coupled weight watchers with working out 4-5 days a week and a personal trainer 1 night a week. The results were excellent and I was happy and confident with my body and lifestyle.

BUT it was senior year so the diet /workout schedule didn’t last very long and it wasn’t until 2012 that I got back on track! Since January I’ve lost about 15+ lbs (was too afraid to weigh myself when I first started so it’s been 15 lbs since I got up the courage) but have managed to enjoy my life/summer as well. Essentially from when I wake up Monday morning to Friday @ 5 pm I am on Weight Watchers. I work out (gym with cardio and weights), have my trainer once a week, and sometimes do insanity (when the gym looks as appealing as eating cooked carrots, and I HATE cooked carrots). If I could give any advice on how to be on Weight Watchers and still live your life, DO NOT touch all those extra points they give you, that will be your beers, shots, and mixed drinks you will inevitably have come happy hour and the weekend.

Okay okay, enough about me… here’s what I ate yesterday (with the WW points in case anyone was interested):

Breakfast: Quaker Instant Oatmeal- Weight Control Banana Bread Oatmeal (with my own additional Cinnamon) and a Sugar-Free Vanilla Coffee from Starbucks. I know Chelsea doesn’t usually include her drinks but with Weight Watchers every point counts and a latte is way more points than a regular coffee so the type of morning wake up counts. Similar to Chelsea’s turkey with mustard on a sandwich thin, this breakfast (weight control oatmeal) will never get old for me. Every morning I love it and can’t get enough of it, so if you asked me next Wednesday it would be there again (they have a few different flavors that are all delish!)—total pts: 1 (coffee) + 4 (oatmeal) =5 (I give myself one for the coffee but really it’s not even that since I use a drop of milk)

At about 11:45, to keep the rumbles out of my tummy (yes, I am 22 and said tummy), I had a banana that is not pictured, since I am pretty sure you all know what a banana looks like—NO POINTS YAY!

Lunch: An over-stuffed whole wheat wrap with cucumbers and fat free ranch dressing to dip. So my original plan was to make a salad this morning but since Angel (my mother who I am still living with, womp womp) has not gone shopping in a while all the lettuce was brown SO I had to wrap it up! Inside: Trader Joe’s red pepper eggplant spread (this was the first time I was using it and damn it was delish), eggplant strings (also from Trader Joe’s, can you tell I love eggplant?), artichoke hearts, fat free feta cheese, grilled chicken and sundried tomatoes. The salad would have included onions and broccoli but it was over-stuffed enough and I ran out of time. – Total pts: 1(2 tbsp of ranch) +2 (wrap) + 3 (grilled chicken) + 1 (fat free feta) + 0 (a little balsamic dressing drizzle, thank you Maple Grove for making this so healthy)= 7 pts

Afternoon snack: today I had a juicy pink lady apple and a fat free string cheese made by WW. These string cheeses are my absolute fav because there are barely any snacks that are only 1 point AND it’s cheese — Total points: 1

Dinner: so at this point I have eaten 13 pts and have 13 left, TOTALLY do-able for dinner and maybe some dessert. I made one of my classics, Shrimp Stir fry with long grain rice (I usually use brown but Angel really has been slacking), broccoli, onions, and zucchini drizzled with classic sir fry sauce. The shrimp I use is Gordon’s Classic Grilled Shrimp (frozen) and I just pop it in the oven for 10 mins. This shrimp really is a hidden gem; it is seasoned perfectly and is healthy for you! — Total points: 5 (1 cup of rice) + 3 (shrimp, 4 oz or 8 pieces) + 1 (1 tbsp of stir fry sauce) = 9 pts

Post-gym dessert: Yes I am one of those bizarre people who work out after dinner; I don’t know it just works better for me. Anyways, after my workout I always want something cold and refreshing which, let’s be honest, is usually some form of ice cream (WW brand) but there was watermelon in the fridge! What a treat! — Total points: ZERO!

Well that’s my WIAW post, hopefully some of you are still awake It’s been so fun creating this today!

Thanks, Treen! That was such a great WIAW, WW edition! If any of you have any questions for this lovely lady above, send me an email and I will pass it along! ChelseaEatsTreats@gmail.com