Day 111

Good things that happened today:

1. I took my 30 minute walk, even though I really didn't want to!
2. I cooked all three meals!
3. I curbed the munchie feeling with gum!
4. I'm posting in the blog two days in a row!

I also discovered one of the reasons why sugar is such an enemy for me. I hadn't thought about it until watching this vlog at The Token Fat Girl. She talks about how even sampling sugary foods leads her down a dark path to more sugar, and I realized it's the same for me. I have a box of 90 calorie fat-free chocolate popsicles in the fridge for a little treat now and then, and so far, I haven't abused them. But I had one after dinner tonight and, about halfway through eating it, I felt this strong urge to go get a second one. It's not the first time that's happened since I've had them in the house. It's like, the sugar high didn't last long enough, and I need another hit. See?? Like drugs! Just taking note of this was enough to drive away the urge to have more. And if I don't have sugar in the first place, the desire for it is less potent than after I've already had some. I think that sugar will always have this effect on me. I know I will never be able to give it up entirely, but I also know that A) it's dangerous to keep it in the house and B) no matter how "healthy" or "low-calorie" the sugary snack is, I will always be tempted to overindulge. It's better to just cut it out entirely.

I bought some apples, mangos, and prunes today, and all three do a really good job of satisfying my sweet tooth. But I found I had the same problem with the prunes, which don't have any added sugar, but are really sweet on their own. So those are going to have to be moderated. The sugar-free gum really helps too. Just gotta keep lots of healthy substitutes handy!

It's just really helpful to see how much of a trigger sugar is for me. It's as if, the minute I have some, I become less able to think objectively...it makes that little evil voice in my head that says, "Have another one, they're only 90 calories, and it will taste really good!" even louder. So I'm going to do what I can to stay away from it and stick to healthy alternatives like fruit.

For dinner tonight, I made a DELICIOUS soup! It's another recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen: Yellow Split-Pea Soup.

It's mmm mmm good!

I can be kind of funny about soups, so this was an experiment...and it really paid off! I couldn't find yellow split-peas, so I just used plain old green ones, and they were delicious! The red pepper flakes gave it a great spicy flavor, and even though I skimped on green peppers and onions (another texture thing I'm weird about), they added a nice flavor too. The recipe called for fennel seed, which I didn't have, but it tasted great all the same. It was a perfect, hearty, filling meal for a cold night.

I know, I know, I was supposed to have black bean soup today...but I didn't realize it needed like five hours to stew, and I didn't start until around 5:30. Oops! So I just swapped it to Friday. I only had to let this simmer for an hour, and it was ready to go.

So go make yourself some soup and stay warm, everybody! Be careful if the roads are icy tomorrow! Love y'alls!

Day 110

Yikes, I didn't realize it had been eight days since my last post! The time really gets away from me sometimes. But I'm here now!

This post was meant for last night, but my homework ended up taking longer than I expected and I was up until 10:30 finishing it. So we're doing a daytime post instead!

First item: So, as expected, my weight did go up a pound when I weighed Friday morning. But it's no big deal...after measuring myself, I've found that the pounds matter less than the feeling that I'm being healthy. The real reward is seeing inches coming off! So I'm going to stick with the program and hopefully there will be some good news on the scale this Friday.

Second item: I finally got around to planning dinners for the week and stocked up on groceries! Here's what's on the menu:

Monday

Cobb Salad (my recipe)

Tuesday (today)

Shrimp with Mustard-Horseradish Sauce

Wednesday

Black Bean Soup

Thursday

Greek Salad

Friday

Yellow Split-Pea Soup

Saturday

Black Bean Burgers

Sunday

Leftovers!

Looks like pretty yummy week, eh? I also have it on my mind to try Susie Bee's tasty-looking Blueberry Banana smoothie sometime this week, so I'll let you know how that goes.

This particular grocery trip was somewhat of an adventure, as I was supposed to buy ham hocks for the split-pea soup. Let's just say I took one look at them and declined. Gross. I think I'm going to try using bacon instead. I know people use ham hocks all the time, but after I looked it up on Wikipedia and started think of them as pig ankles, I couldn't handle it. I would never survive as a vegetarian, but I can sympathize. I don't like being able to visualize the animals I'm eating. Ham hocks actually look like pig ankles. Ew.

Yesterday, I made a delicious Cobb Salad for dinner (and had the leftovers for lunch today). 

Now I know what you're thinking...that doesn't exactly look like the healthiest salad. And I would agree. Bacon is never the healthiest choice - it was definitely a treat. BUT, it's a good hearty meal if you're craving a good hearty meal. It's also low carb and has green things in it and beats a cheeseburger hands down! And it's filling and delicious.

Day Forty-Five

So I finally have food pictures! I got to the grocery store and so I finally got some cooking done. I'm also getting schoolwork done piece by piece. Finished the Shakespeare revision, so now I'm onto the Colonial Lit revision!

Here's what I had for dinner yesterday:

Garbanzo bean soup and Swedish meatballs! Both from Kalyn's Kitchen. It was yummy, but I think I did something wrong with the soup, because it was more like hummus...really thick. But the meatballs turned out great! I used lean everything and put a little cinnamon in which added a nice little something.

Tonight I had baked pesto chicken (also from Kalyn's Kitchen) with asparagus. It was really good, even though I used pesto out of a jar and defrosted the chicken in the microwave. :) But it was so easy to do! You just cover the bottom of the pan with pesto, slap the chicken down, cover the chicken with pesto, and throw it in the oven. Then sprinkle a little mozzerella, broil, and you're done! I'll definitely be able to keep that one memorized.

Only thing is, as you can see below, I made way too much. Guess I'm going to have to bring the leftovers home with me! Or make chicken salad.

Oh yeah! I weighed this morning and I'm down another pound. I didn't do as well with exercise this week as I could have, so I'm going to have to get back on track next week. It's harder to get out now that it's getting colder, but I just have to make myself!

Here's today's food:

Breakfast

Spinach and goat cheese omelette - 226

Veggie sausage links - 80

Coffee - 60

Lunch

Leftover meatballs - 265

Sweet potato fries - 182

Dinner
Baked pesto chicken - 189
Lemon Asparagus - 25

Snacks
1 snow cream stick - 45
2 tbsp fat free whipped cream - 25

Total: 1097 (That's nuts, I felt like I ate a ton today!)

You guys are the coolest! Love y'all!