Day Eighteen

Ugh. The munchie feeling reared its ugly head today.

Not to disastrous results, thank goodness, but I wasn't as strict with portion control as I have been. It just scares me a little, because I've been doing so well, and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've failed so many times at trying to lose weight, and I'm afraid that my old mindset is lurking behind the corner, waiting to jump on me any minute. I'm probably overanalyzing things...we all have good days and bad days. I think this blog is going to be what holds me together and keeps me on target. I just have to be extra careful about paying attention to what goes into my mouth.

Part of it was due to the fact that Karlee made a batch of chocolate chip cookies today...and temptation is never fun when you're trying to eat healthy. I've been doing really well with it, mostly because even if she has junk food in the house, I don't touch it because, obviously, it's not mine. But when she bakes it's usually to share, which makes it that much harder to resist! But I did. Once the warm cookie smell faded it was much easier! I bought some fat free whipped cream today and stuck it in the freezer, so a bite of that assuaged my sweet tooth somewhat.

On the brighter side of things, I had some delicious food today! For breakfast was a spinach and artichoke frittata, found at Cara's Cravings. It was absolutely AMAZING. I'm serious, everyone needs to go make this right now. I can't even explain how good it is! I didn't have as much spinach as the recipe called for, but it turned out great anyway. Plus I love artichokes, so that was a huge plus! You add greek yogurt to the egg which gives it this wonderful creamy texture. So so good!

Dinner came from Kalyn's Kitchen, (Turkey) Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce. This was so easy, and so tasty too! On the side I had Sweet Potato Frips from Eat Little, Eat Big. An odd combination, perhaps, but delicious all the same! I didn't get anything green in (for shame!) but I just didn't have it in me to make a third thing. Must have a salad tomorrow! Here's dinner:

Gosh I love sweet potatoes! 

I also need to work on a snack to bring to school with me on Tuesday/Thursday, when I don't get home until around 2:30. I looked at the energy/diet bars at Wal-mart today, but most were either high in sugar, fat, or calories. I need something that can't get smushed and doesn't need refrigeration. I suppose nuts are a good idea. Anybody have any others?

Here's today's food:

Breakfast

Slice of spinach & artichoke frittata (1/8) - approx. 135

Morning Star Veggie Sausage - 160

Lunch

Chicken and provolone roll-ups - 350

1/2 cup spinach souffle - 150

Dinner

Turkey Italian sausage w/ fire-roasted tomato & garlic sauce - 305

Sweet potato frips - 100

Snacks

Strawberries w/ fat free whipped cream - 80

Greek Yogurt w/ peaches - 140

Turkey snack bites - 100

6 almonds - 38

Total: 1458

See, I didn't do as badly as I thought I did. But I guess I just felt old habits creeping around. Constant vigilance!

Day Eleven

We're just plugging along here aren't we? Things went very well today, especially considering the fact that I went to Wal-Mart starving and was more tempted than usual by all the sweets they're putting out for the holiday season. But I stayed strong and stuck to my list! I should know better than to go to the grocery store hungry...that's always a bad combination. But I made it through, and have all of my meals planned out until Friday!

I finally made the egg muffins I've been planning to make so I can have them for a quick breakfast on mornings I have class...they turned out well! Here are some pictures:

I used the rest of my container of egg beaters (I should have measured it out, but I spaced out) and 6 eggs, plus spinach, mushrooms, pepperoni, Asiago cheese, hot sauce, pepper, and a dash of Mrs. Dash.

I bought the silicone baking tray specifically for this purpose, and I'm so glad I did! It works great, and absolutely nothing sticks to it! Plus they're shaped like little flowers, so that's pretty awesome.

Otherwise, food was pretty uneventful today, as I didn't have any groceries in the house until lunch time, at which point I was so hungry that I just snacked haphazardly. Okay, not haphazardly, but without much planning. But I did do something new for dinner...warm scallop salad! I was inspired by this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen, but ended up getting small frozen scallops instead of big fresh ones, so I improvised and kind of did my own thing. I had high hopes for it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The frozen scallops were not so tasty, at least not the way I prepared them (I just cooked them in a little olive oil). But it was okay...only now I have a whole bag of scallops I have to figure out what to do with. Anyone have any tips on cooking scallops? Anyways, here is the finished product:

Pretty though, right? My roommate thought the scallops were nuts at first, lol...

It was supposed to be a caesar salad, and I put caesar dressing and parmesan on it, but added the tomatoes and olives out of fear that I wouldn't like the scallops very much. Alas, my fears were confirmed.

So here's how eating went for the rest of the day:

Breakfast

Multigrain Cheerios -110 

Coffee w/ fat-free creamer - 60 (I haven't been including my morning coffee...oops! Must start doing that!!)

Lunch

Light mozzerella string cheese - 70

Turkey pepperoni - 100

1 egg muffin (I had to try one after I finished making them) - 160

Dinner

Salad w/ tomatoes, kalamata olives, tomatoes, scallops, and parmesan - 254

Non-fat Greek yogurt w/ honey - 140

Snacks

2 slim jims - 80

1 serving reduced fat peanut butter - 200 (DANG!!)

Total: 1174

It's really funny how my desire to snack has really decreased over the past few days. I've been pretty good about redirecting myself, or popping a piece of gum. I've got to be careful with the gum though...I've been reading that too much sugar-free gum can mess up your stomach. But in moderation it's a great tool to sastisfy my cravings for something sweet!

Once again, a big huge thank you too all of you wonderful people! Your comments are so encouraging and uplifting! Thanks for keeping me going!