Food Log - Sunday, Aug. 9 through Saturday, Aug. 15

Sunday
Breakfast/lunch
2 1/2 slices french toast (made with delicious cinnamon sugar bread from the farmer's market)
syrup
3 slices of bacon

Snack
Cucumber slices

Dinner
cajun sausage on a roll
dirty rice
asparagus
1 brownie

Snack
1 brownie

Monday
Breakfast
cinnamon roll with icing

Snack
banana

Lunch
1 small sausage
asparagus with bacon
dirty rice

Snack
1 small slice cookie cake

Dinner
2 small halupki
zucchini
1 large brownie

Snack
ice cream

Tuesday
Breakfast
1 thick slice cinnamon bread from the farmer's market

Snack
5 donut holes and 1 boston cream donut

lunch
zucchini
dirty ricce
veggie burger

Snack
banana

Dinner
cabbage and green pepper w/ butter
4 small bites sausage
3 potato and cheddar pierogies

Wednesday
Breakfast
1 thick slice cinnamon bread from the farmer's market

Snack
Banana

Lunch
cabbage and green pepper w/ butter
4 small bites sausage

Snack
8 small white chocolate covered pretzels

Dinner
grilled squash
potato
small piece of steak

Snack
2 chocolate chip cookies

Thursday
Breakfast
honey oat bagel with cream cheese
cappuccino & hot chocolate

Lunch
1 pork eg roll
a little bit of lo mein
1 Chinese donut

Dinner
grilled squash
sugar snack peas
2 small halupki

Hi! Bye!

I have a lot that I want to write about lately but I am lacking the time.

This week has been hard in terms of exercise. I slept in accidentally one day, thereby missing my workout. I had to force myself to get out of bed this morning. I was just so tired. This week at work has been super stressful and I am exhausted. I would have gone to bed early tonight except that my in-laws were in town and only just left at 11 p.m. I hate to say it but I think I am going to choose getting extra sleep over getting in my workout tomorrow morning. I am just feeling so run down! (And I should be going to bed now instead of blogging but I had a friend who is going through some hard times IM me and can't just leave her hanging, so here I am.)

Oh, oh. And speaking of work being stressful... When I am stressed, that is one of the times I am an emotional eater. Sometimes I can resist the urge. But it's hard. Well, it's that time of the month, I think, and that means feeling super snacky on top of that. I could have made better food choices this week. I had a candy bar yesterday AND another today!

And tomorrow is weight and measurements day! Doh! Thanks Mother Nature for packing the need to eat everything in sight and extra bloating into the same week!

Oh, oh. And speaking of food. I think I am going to make a Food Log post at the beginning of each week and then edit that post with my food log for each day. Making a new post for each food log felt like it was cluttering up my blog but I don't want to give up being accountable somewhere for what I am eating somewhere public.

There's more, of course, but for now - bed.

Missed workout, finding a 5K and gardening

I meant to workout this morning. I truly did. However, I am apparently I am not very good setting my alarm in the dark. Last night while fumbling with the clock, I set the alarm for 5:20 p.m. I realized this when I woke up this morning and peeked at the clock and it was 6 a.m. It was too late to get a workout in but I can't say I didn't like the extra sleep. I have been so tired lately. I have been trying to go to bed earlier but I'm not very good at it.

But my husband and I did take the dogs for a walk tonight before dinner!

In running news, my brother wants to come visit and run a 5K race with me. Well, run the same 5k as me anyway. He probably won't run with me as he is a much better runner than I and would hope to finish the first mile in under 6 min.! There's no way I could do that but it would be nice to run a race together even if he is going to smoke me! At least I know I could totally triple jump father than him. Anyway, it is looking like the optimal time to do this would be sometime in July. Now I just have to go about locating a 5K.

Also, I discovered that there is going to be a 5K held at Pennsic (an SCA event) this year to raise money for the Aethelmarc Waterbearers Guild. Here are the details -

Announcing the 1st Annual Aquarithon - a challenging 5K race at Pennsic!!
Benefits the Aethelmarc Waterbearers Guild. "We water everyone!"

• Starting at Troll, 7pm, on Middle Sunday (Aug 2nd).
• $10 donation - t-shirt guaranteed if you register, extras available on race day till I run out. Register by emailing me at oushi@hotmail.com subject: Aquarithon. Include name, gender, camp, and t-shirt size.
• The prizes: To be determined, but we'll have them for fastest male, fastest female, and fastest under 16. There's also a prize for most creative garb-like runners cover-up, and most determined runner.
• The rules: Stay on the course. Respect the cars, pedestrians, children, merchants, etc. No booze or drugs on the course *please*. NO RAIN DATE. If it rains, we still run!! 100% of proceeds go to the waterbearing fund.

The most difficult aspects of this would be the heat and garb-like running clothes cover-up. I don't deal with overheating well. It makes me physically ill. Now, I would think they would have water stations set up but I would need to worry about getting well-hydrated before the race and staying well-hydrated at Pennsic is fairly difficult already due to the heat. As to the garb, I don't know what I would do as a cover-up as I don't generally run in shorts because my thighs rub together and that's uncomfortable. And I really don't want to add more layers in that heat.

I am seriously considering the Pennsic 5K. Unfortunately, I don't think there is anyone in my household who would run it with me.

In gardening news, my little bell pepper is getting bigger and bigger and I can see where 9 little cucumbers are starting! And my new squash and zucchini plants and looking pretty perky.

Food Log
Breakfast
2 pumpkin-carrot muffins

Snack
1 nectarine
light vanilla yogurt with blackberries, blueberries and organic granola

Lunch
1/2 cheeseburger from Applebee's
broccoli and sugar snap peas

Snack
Twix (I gave in to the chocolate craving.)

Dinner
Homemade Amish noodles with sauteed veggies (broccoli, asparagas, brussel sprouts, green pepper, zucchini, carrot) with a little margarine and shredded sharp cheese

Dessert
malt balls
Italian ice

Food Log

Breakfast
2 slices wheat toast w/ pb and honey

Snack
trail mix, nuts and raisins

Lunch
1/2 grilled chicken wrap from Friendly's
light vanilla yogurt with blackberries and strawberries and organic granola

Dinner
sun dried tomato polenta
broccoli and snap peas sauted with minced garlic
slow-cooked pork loin

Dessert
piece of shoo-fly pie

Snack
2 caramel cream candies

The garden

My garden has grown so much in the past two weeks! Look at how much the plants have grown since I last posted photos of them! (The photos that I posted in my blog on 6/11 were taken on 6/7, 2 weeks ago exactly. )

My garden! Oh, how it has grown!

Main garden area, rearranged - cabbage (back left), brussel sprouts (back), strawberries (front left), peppers (middle right), new squash and zucchini (center and front right)

The garden overflow area, the cucumber with the rest of the squash and zucchini

Cucumber blossom

Cabbage

Strawberry

Brussel sprout

The multi-colored pepper.

One of the newest additions - a yellow squash!


My first little baby pepper. Look at how much he has grown! The time goes so fast when they are tiny. ::tear::

Food Log
Breakfast
2 eggs and 1 egg white fried
cheese
2 slices wheat toast with butter
4 slices cinnapie from Papa John's

Snack
a handful of animal crackers

Dinner (Friendly's)
1/2 grilled chicken wrap
loaded waffle fries
happy ending sundae

Snack
dark chocolate covered raisins

Farmer's market and food log

Today's farmer's market haul -
a carrot
a cucumber
a green pepper
a head of lettuce
2 bunches of broccoli
a quart of brussel sprouts
a bunch of asparagus
whole wheat couscous
cajun seasoning
organic maple granola
mixed lentils
a blueberry danish for my husband
a mini shoofly pie

We also still have 3 zucchini, a cabbage and sugar snap peas from the Wednesday farmer's market.

Mmmm, veggies!

Also, I have never had shoofly pie!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 slices wheat toast w/ pb

Lunch was at the farmer's market
small egg roll with sweet chili sauce and noodles with steamed veggies and pieces of chicken and beef and shrimp from the Vietnamese place for lunch
a chocolate covered coconut cream from the tea stand for dessert

Snack
dark chocolate covered raisins

Dinner (was ordered out because I ended up taking my husband to the ER this evening because he strained his back helping me with the garden. We didn't get dinner until after 9:30 p.m.!)
chicken parm calzone from Papa John's
3 pieces cinnapie from Papa John's

Weight, measurements and being body positive

Today was my official weight and measurement day.

My weight was pretty much maintained. I was down 0.2 pounds, which is very little obviously. I am fine with this. I'd like to see my weight go down a little bit but only because that will likely mean I am nearing some of my other goals. Or at least I hope that's what it would mean! However, if I am able to make my other goals without losing any weight, I'll be just as happy.

But for some reason my scale said my body fat percentage is up. Well, I'd like to see that go down!

My bust, natural waist and hip measurements were all the same but my belly measurement is down 3/4 an inch! Getting close to that goal!

Tomorrow I am going to goal test and see if I can't run a mile and also see how many push-ups and burpees I can do in a set. Saturdays are going to be goal test days (when possible).

Saturday is also farmer's market day! Love that!

I am feeling pretty body positive lately. I do still have to fight some old demons that want to poison my thinking against myself. But I am done with that kind of thinking. I am trying to banish it and though it haunts me, it is doing so less and less. I have noticed lately that I am starting to have some pretty good definition in my abs and also that my legs are looking pretty darn good. In light of that, you should check out Operation Beautiful over at Healthy Tipping Point! It's inspiring. Read all the wonderful notes from Caitlin's readers.

Food Log
Breakfast
About 2 whole wheat strawberry muffins (they were two I rescued from the Gage mauling but they were no longer quite... whole)
1 slice wheat bread with peanut butter

Snack
low-fat string cheese

Lunch
(We had a cookout at work.)
1 hamburger on a bun w/ lettuce and ketchup
small scoop of pasta salad
3 crackers with cheese and pepperoni
2 small handfuls corn chips with taco dip
1 piece Earthquake Cake

Snack
low-fat string cheese

Dinner
1 2/3 slices heartburner pizza (pepperoni w/ hot sauce)

Dessert
4 small handfuls dark chocolate covered raisins

Whoops, that may have been too many chocolate covered raisins...

I best get back to making doggie collars for my etsy shop!

Running, walking and my poor garden

This morning's exercise was a run on the treadmill - check out my dailymile widget! It actually felt pretty darn good. I didn't feel too fatigued through the workout but my heart was really pumping heard at the end and I did have to push myself. Also, I was soaked in sweat. I burned 350 calories.

I'm a little sad - one of my strawberry plants had a slime mold! It's because we've had so much rain here lately. The only real solution is sunshine and no rain. But of course, we're supposed to get more rain Friday and Saturday. Thankfully a slime mold shouldn't kill the plant. It's just... unsightly and could smother the plant if we don't get it under control.

Thankfully the rest of the garden is looking great.

Tonight my husband and I went to a local street festival. It was huge! And we ate a ton of fair food, which was awesome. We also did a whole lot of walking. We didn't buy anything but I did get a flyer advertising the local roller derby team. Now there would be a great, active hobby! I think I am going to look into it further but I don't know that I have the time to dedicate to it or whether I have the ability. It sounds like fun though.

Lately our dogs have been really restless. I am sure that are getting bored as we haven't been taking them on any walks lately. That needs to change. I am going to start trying to convince my husband to go for walks with me and the dogs a few days a week at least. It would be good for us all! Wish me luck!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 whole wheat strawberry muffins

Snack
2 slices wheat toast with peanut butter

Lunch
I veggie burger with a slice of cheese
sugar snap peas
light vanilla yogurt with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

Snack
dark chocolate covered raisins

Dinner
1/2 spiedie hoagie
1/2 an order of french fries w/ ketchup
1 deep fried Oreo
1/2 pumpkin funnel cake

30 Day Shred//Food Log

So this morning, my alarm when off at 5:20 a.m. I stumbled from my bed, pulling on my workout clothes and sneakers with my eyes half-closed and then busted my butt through Level 1 AND Level 2 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Yes, back to back. I skipped the warm up on Level 2 since I was already a little warm from doing Level 1. You know, just a little. I used light weights (2 lb.) since I was doing both levels and I knew that was going to be a lot of arm work. It was hard work but it also really felt good. I know I really need to step it up when it comes to strength training and this was a good start! And I burned 390 calories. I really like Jillian Michael's workouts (the ones that I have done) because they combine strength training with cardio.

I like 30 Day Shred for the workout but I can't do it day after day because I need more variety than that. But the workouts themselves are fairly well rounded, I think! However, I still think Jillian is really awful at stretching and doesn't stretch nearly enough. Stretching is so important!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 strawberry wheat muffins
1 small banana

Now, I just want to say that I made these muffins last night, using a regular muffin tin that you would use for cupcakes, not a jumbo muffin tin, so the muffins aren't very big. Anyway, regardles of the size they were made with whole wheat flour, lots of strawberries, no oil and no granulated sugar. Very healthy! I used maple syrup and honey as sweeteners and Country Crock instead of butter. I could have also used olive oil, as that is a healthy fat, but I decided to go with the Country Crock because it has so many fewer calories. However, Gage, our male dog, ate almost ALL of the muffins I made last night while we were at work today! I was so upset! he stole them off the kitchen table. Bad boy! He also stole the bananas off the counter, so no more bananas! Boo!

Snack
light vanilla yogurt with strawberries and blackberries

Oh my goodness, slap your grandma! I have never eaten vanilla yogurt before. I thought it was going to be awful and that adding the berries would allow me to maybe stomach it. (I was hoping anyway, since I bought a large container not individual small cups.) I was so wrong! Vanilla yogurt is delicious! I can't believe I never tried it before. I have been missing out!

Lunch
leftover whole wheat couscous from Monday night
leftover sauted vegtables from last night
leftover slow-cooked pork loin from Monday

I have a divided lunch container that I take my lunches in. I put veggies in the big section and meat and carbs/starches in the small sections. I'll have to take a photo of it.

Snack
low-fat string cheese

Dinner
1/2 an order of barbecue boneless chicken wings from Applebee's
1/2 a cheeseburger from Applebee's
3/4 of an order of fries from Applebee's

Dessert
10 dark-chocolate covered raisins

I'll fully admit that dinner was kind of sparked by an emotional need to eat. I had a really horrible day (week) at work and came home to find Gage had eaten all the muffins and made a variety of other messes. I just didn't have it in me to make dinner. I was feeling pretty beat down, so my husband offered to go out and pick up dinner and I let him. Perhaps dinner was not the most healthy but I did try to eat mindfully and when I started to feel full, I stopped eating. That part was good at least because in the past, I would have just powered through it.

I am going to have to workout hard tomorrow morning as we're going to a local street festival, which means... FAIR FOOD. Funnel cakes and fried dough and candy apples, oh my! Okay, so I'm not going to be eating all of that but I am sure that tomorrow's dinner isn't going to be a normal dinner.

I have read in various articles, for example this one entitled How to Eat to Lose Weight -- which I personally think is a really good article -- that eating 5 meals (breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner) a day is important because it helps keep your metabolism up and burning. It also helps keep you from getting too hungry at any point in the day, whichs helps you stick to a healthier eating plan

How many of you eat snacks? What are your favorite snacks?

Food log

Breakfast
2 slices wheat bread w/ peanut butter
1 small banana

Snack
1 nectarine

Lunch
slow-cooked pork loin and whole wheat couscous from dinner last night
stiry-fried cabbage with a little margarine

I did have an afternoon snack planned but I ended up getting too busy at work. Guess I'll save my yogurt with blackberries and strawberries for tomorrow! My lunch was pretty big though (a few ounces of the meat (4-5?), about a cup of the couscous and maybe the same of cabbage), so I didn't start getting hungry until right before dinner, so it was okay.

Dinner
shredded pork (again from last night dinner) mixed with some homemade barbecue sauce and wrapped in a Bisquick crust (SO GOOD... I love Bisquick. I love making little meat (or meat and veggie or meat and cheese or veggie and cheese...) pockets with it) - I had 2 small pockets
brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots and green pepper sauted in a little margarine

Dessert
1 piece blueberry crumb pie from the Amish pie stand at the farmer's market

Looking back at my food log, my lunch and dinner were pretty big. I didn't feel stuffed after either of them but I did feel full. I still need to work on slowing down my eating and enjoying my food so that I am satisfied by eating less.

Post script to my goals post // the garden // food log

I didn't mention any of this in my goals post but... it all probably should have been included. Whoops!

1. If you look to the right of my blog, under my About Me and under my Blog Archive, you'll find my dailymile exercise widget, which will be updated with my latest workout. For example, if you glanced at it today, you'd see that I ran 2.7 miles this morning on the treadmill. It also show the length of my workout and other details. Pretty neat, right? So you'll not only be able to read my food log for the day but if you glance at my widget, you'll also be able to see my workout for the day.

2. I plan to take my measurements once a week on Fridays. I think I am also going to weigh myself on Fridays but I don't plan on posting my weight.

3. As part of my plan, I am trying to drink at least 64 oz. of water daily.

In other news, my garden is really taking off! My cucumber plant and cabbage plant are huge!

Look! My cucumber has flowers!

I simply cannot wait to eat vegetables from my own garden! So excited! Right now my husband and I buy all our vegetables from the local farmer's market -- which I think is awesome, don't get my wrong, I LOVE the farmer's market -- but it will be great to decrease the amount we spend on groceries because we're able to supplement with produce from our own garden. Because we eat a lot of veggies! We tend to eat frozen or fresh vegetables, I've cut out canned vegetables due to the amount of sodium and preservatives in the last few years. Same for fruit, excepting applesauce. And I am actually really happy to report that for the last few weeks ALL of the produce we've eaten has been fresh. Yum!

Soon those little buds will be peppers!

Like this little guy! My first pepper!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 slices wheat toast w/ peanut butter
1 small banana

Snack
low-fat string cheese

Lunch
Veggie burger
Leftover sauted brussel sprouts, zucchini, green pepper and broccoli from Saturday's dinner
stir-fried cabbage with a dab of margerine

Snack
low-fat string cheese
tootsie-pop

Dinner
slow cooked pork loin
steamed artichoke stuffed with garlic w/ butter and parmesan cheese on the side for dipping
whole wheat couscous made with fat-free chicken stock and herbs

Dessert
mini strawberry cobbler (made in a small ramekin)

The cobbler was really easy to make. Sliced strawberries tossed with a little bit of sugar and corn starch, bake until berries start to soften and then toss the topping on (flour, brown sugar, oats, mix in butter/margarine until crumbly) and bake until the topping is done and crisps up a little. To make it a little bit healther I used half whole wheat flour. Okay, so it may have been more of a crisp than a cobbler because I used oats but either way - delicious!

Berries all ready to go in the oven.

Bon appetit!

Food log

Breakfast/lunch (home)
2 eggs and 1 egg white (fried)
2 slices wheat toast w/ margarine
small bowl of strawberries and blackberries

My eggs and toast. Lots of pepper!


Our berries. So good!

Snack (home)
Cucumber spears
low-fat string cheese

Dinner (@ the in-law's)
1 turkey burger with bun, lettuce, ketchup and cheese
2 handfuls plain chips
lettuce with light three cheese ranch dressing

Dessert (home
1 slice blueberry crumb pie from the Amish pie stand at the farmer's market