June 14, 2008

Movie Night

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Snack | Tags: |
[4] Comments 

Hey guys! It felt sooooo good to get dressed and leave the apt for the first time since the surgery! I’m definitely ready for my bed soon, but it was great to get out into the night air. Peter had secretly been wanting to see the Sex and the City movie since it came out, so we went to see a 7 PM showing on 42nd st. I like to go to theaters downtown within walking distance, but it was raining and P prefers the larger screens uptown, so we hopped in a cab. Before we left we went to the Balducci’s next and got some waters and snacks. Since I had a large brunch and a lunch/dinner combo, I wasn’t very hungry. I got a small bag of Grand Pop’s Best Kettle Corn:

This was a new buy, and I really liked it: the perfect amount of salty and sweet – and not sickly sweet or sticky either. Definitely will be a repeat buy. I had almost the whole bag (P helped some). Snack was 204 calories, 39g carbs, 4g fat, and 3g protein.

P liked the movie, although about 5 min in I thought he was having ‘movie goer’s remorse,’ when he leaned over and said, “Uh, yeah, this is a little too girly.” Haha! He liked it overall though, so it was a success.

When we got home, I had a coconut bar as a treat:

These coconut bars are not the same ones I have in the work freezer. These ones are Edy’s and not as good. I’ll have to remember that when I need to restock! Snack was 120 calories, 3g fat, and 3g protein.

I’m headed to bed soon. P’s assignment for the rest of the weekend is to get the new domain up and running, so hopefully that will be good to go soon!

 

June 13, 2008

Tastless Lunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , , , |
[4] Comments 

I know this lunch must have tasted good, but I am so swollen and congested today that I can’t really taste anything. The textures were really great, though – so I guess that’s the best I can do right now. :( I made a sandwich on toasted Euro rye bread with the last black bean burger from Veganomicon; a Light Laughing Cow wedge, some delicious CSA spinach, and some great mustard. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: mustards, sauces, jams and jellies are worth their weight in gold. They’re totally worth the extra $$ for something great. So here’s my sandwich:

I also had a coconut bar:

I took a little bite out of the corner. :)   Lunch was 519 calories, 90g carbs, 6g fat, and 30g protein.

I did end up going up on the roof, but after 15 min, I started feeling really sickly.  Maybe the sun was draining my energy?  Have a great Friday afternoon, guys!

 

June 10, 2008

Blog-tastic

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner, Snack | Tags: , , |
[6] Comments 

Hey guys,

I’ve spent the better part of today working on getting my new domain (www.winningfriendswithsalad.com) up and running on wordpress.org. Then I enlisted P to help me the second he walked through the door. We’re 85% done – I’ll be glad when this thing is up and running, probably tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. The majority of stuff is done, just alot of clean-up. Thank goodness for my ‘technical adviser’ – I’d be lost without him!

This afternoon I kind of lost track of my calories, but it’s just as well. That breakfast really filled me up – I had very little appetite for the rest of the day. At some point I had some garden vegetable crackers with 2 wedges of Laughing Cow:

And later I had some coconut pudding:

When P came in, he ordered dinner for the two of us. He ordered a grilled cheese and cooked spinach for me:

Plus a vanilla milkshake:

P said he got me the spinach because he said he knew I was ‘missing my vegetables’. :)

He’s right about that one – I’ll be happy to get back to normal eating! Night all.

 

June 9, 2008

Greetings from My Couch!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner, Lunch | Tags: , , , , |
[11] Comments 

Surgery went excellent!  Thank you all for your kind words.  Seriously, the best possible outcome I could have asked for: medium-mild pain, and huge results already.  Let me backtrack:

I did not sleep well at all last night!  I kept waking up on the hour, completely restless.  Worked to my advantage in the end because I was really afraid I would sleep through my call time – but of course, waking up at 7:30 was no problem.  A quick shower and final apt inventory later, we hopped in a cab to the hospital.

P and I got to the hospital at 8:30 on the dot, where I did some paperwork and they told me my surgery was scheduled for 10:30.  At 9 AM, they took me back to pre-op, with a kiss from a worried Peter.  There I changed into the most unflattering sack ever.  Luckily I got a bathrobe, which gave it some shape, and I folded up the sleeves as well – hey, I’m 23!  Let’s not add insult to injury.  :)

By 10:15, I started to get antsy.  I had finished every halfway decent magazine in the pre-op waiting room, and I could feel the adrenalin coursing through my body.  I started to pace, which led to jumping jacks, wall push-ups, grapevines, jogging in place, knee kicks, and finally stretching, breathing and meditation.  If you had told me 6 months ago that my biggest source of comfort in a stressful event was EXERCISE, I wouldn’t have believed you.  But it really made me feel better – just to get some energy out.  Despite the looks it got me. :)

They finally called me at 10:50 to talk to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist.  I was on the table by 11:10.  Tears ensued.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room.  I rated my pain on a scale of 1-10 as a 6 – so not too bad! (And I am not one to downplay pain or suffer in silence, as my mother would say.)  I felt like I had been punched in the nose, and my mouth was painfully dry.  After 2 hours of dozing in out of Percoset and Demerol induced sleep, I was discharged.  A quick cab ride and four painful flights of stairs later, I arrived at my new home: the couch.

P was kind enough to been in touch with my parents all day through texts and calls, as well as preparing and tracking all my foods and meds.  He is, as my mom said today, ‘a mother’s dream’.  At the hospital, I had 1c cranberry juice (unpictured).  After settling on the couch, I had 125g oolong tea (unpictured).  About an hour later I had a green tea and a coconut popsicle:

About an hour and a half later I had about 3/4ths of this peach smoothie, ordered in from Bully’s:

And an hour after that, I had 1/3c of light mint chip frozen yogurt (unpictured).

P left to go to the gym, and made a skillful dinner of Annie’s organic mac and cheese when he came
home:

I ate about 1/3rd of this.

As far as results, my nose is definitely swollen, but no black eyes or packing needed!  But it’s visibly straighter and I have more breathing ability in my right side than I’ve had in years – and it’s only going to get better!  Despite being exausted and definitely unanimated – I’m doing alot better than anyone thought I would be at this point.  I’m taking Tylenol with Codeine and and antibiotic, as well as two different nose sprays.  Plus, I heard from the doctor that I can’t excercise for 10 days.  Boo.

Plan for tomorrow is more rest/recovery.  Hopefully the bleeding will stop soon.  Night!

 

June 6, 2008

Lonely Afternoon

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Snack | Tags: |
1 Comment 

The office is empty and I am all alone, boo hoo.  I have to stay til 5 but I am out of here at 4:59!  Lunch was tough today because I don’t have my camera, so I was pouting about it.  I started nibbling on the Shredded Oats, but then I was like, ‘Get it together, Kate.  If you want food, have a meal’.  Only I wasn’t really hungry for anything.  Weird.  I got some nonfat cottage cheese and a container of street blueberries:

And then a little later I had a coconut bar:

I also had some tea and I’m planning on having another snack later.  I just really have no appetite today.  Snacks were 283 calories, 37g carbs, 5g fat and 26g protein.

I’m glad I got what I did though, having snacks of substance is better than having garbage.

This afternoon: gym, then to dinner with the ladies!

 

June 5, 2008

100th Post!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , , |
[7] Comments 

This is my 100th post! Woohoo!  Thank you to all my lovely readers and commenters.  As I told a reader who emailed me recently, this blog as been such a blessing in my life.  Thank you all for being a part of it! :D   Sorry, I’m a cheeseball!

Today is New Product Day, apparently!  After my new cereal discovery this morning (love) I wanted to try more new stuff for lunch.  I ran some errands this afternoon (bank, post office, etc) and found myself outside of the Organic Market!  You know what that means!

After perusing the isles for a while, I decided to try an Amy’s Burrito.  I’ve always wanted to give them a whirl, but was nervous about a whole frozen/microwave thing – I thought they would taste fake.  I tried the Black Bean and Veggies Burrito:

Which turned out like this:

This was sooo tasty and filling!  Great nutritional and ingredients lists too!  Definitely a huge success.  Along with I had some nonfat cottage cheese and street raspberries.  They had blueberries, but these raspberries were speaking to me.

Don’t those raspberries look INCREDIBLE??? Too beautiful to pass up!

All together:

Lunch was 464 calories, 61g carbs, 10g fat, and 35g protein.

While I was at the Organic Market, I picked up a little treat for myself!  It’s kind of humid today, and only going to get more hot (summer in the city, you know).  So I grabbed a box of the Coconut bars to have in the office as an occasional afternoon treat for myself.

I was skeptical and almost didn’t get them, but then I thought, ‘come on, why not, granny?’  OH.MY.GOODNESS.  These things are heaven on a stick.  Literally.  They are soooooooo good.  The best coconut flavor and a really good nutritional.  I never used to care much about coconut, but in the past 4 months I have just gone coconut CRAZY.  After I let my stomach settle, I had a bar:

If you look closely in the picture, you can see that about 75% of the bar is actually made up of real shredded coconut.  So delicious.  Such a find!  Snack was 90 calories, 16g carbs, 4g fat, and 0g protein.

This afternoon the plan is to pick up my first CSA bounty!  :)   I’ll be sure to snap a photo for you guys.  Then hit the gym.  I think I’m alone for dinner tonight – hopefully I’ll be inspired my new fruits and veggies to make a delicious dinner!

 

May 16, 2008

Back in the Swing

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , |
[3] Comments 

Well, the rest of today has gone well, and I feel back in the swing of things! I got my purse and some new workout clothes – which makes me happy. Peter’s out tonight, which leaves me to be my homebody self around the house.

It felt sooooo amazingly good to be back in the gym today! Before I left I had a slice of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread with a tbsp of pb:

Pre Workout Snack is 175 calories, 21g carbs, 9g fat, and 7g protein.

I accidentally forgot my heart rate monitor at home, so I had to estimate my calorie burn, boo. I did the Cardio Smorgas again: treadmill with weights, Cardio Wave, Stepmill and Elliptical. I’m thinking it was about 400 calories burned.

For dinner tonight, I had an Amy’s Veggie Burger on an Ezekiel bun that I got at WF today, yum! I also had some butternut squash dipped in ketchup. :)

I also had a half cup of 0% greek yogurt with vanilla, unsweetened coconut and chocolate chips – hey, it’s Friday night! :P

Dinner was 575 calories, 89g carbs, 15g fat, and 29g protein.

 

May 15, 2008

Whoops!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , |
[4] Comments 

Excuse this post because I’m a little tipsy! Well, my calm, efficient night turned into a girls night out when I called my friend Eva for shopping and dinner. I wanted to buy this purse, but by the time I got to the shop, it was closed. Boo. So we went to a nearby Italian place and split a bottle of wine and and appetizer. I had two glasses of wine and 2 little stuffed portebello mushrooms.

And second glass:

And the mushrooms:

And when I got home I had a little of the coconut sorbet :P :

Dinner was 332 calories, 30g carbs, 8g fat, and 4g protein.

Whew, this wine is going to my head, night!

****************************

Edited to Add:

I forgot to tell you guys about my afternoon snack.  I got a free DD iced coffe (yum!) and tried a new flavor of Luna Bar: Smores.  Good, but again not as good as their mint/chocolate combo.  I must say, I’m having fun trying all their different flavors.

Snack was 180 calories, 27g carbs, 5g fat, and 10g protein.

Also, about 10 minutes after this post, P came home with tapas, grr.  Way too many nibbles ensued.  ~400 cals.

 

May 7, 2008

Tropical Muesli

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Breakfast | Tags: , , , , |
[10] Comments 

Morning!

So yesterday I bought myself a celebratory skirt and was asked by Miss Julz for pictures. Here we go. I had P try to take some pictures before work, but after the 5th shot, he kept saying things about ‘having to go to work’, ‘being late already’ and how he’s ‘not my personal photo studio’. I also think there was some mention of ’smiling with your eyes’ in there. I make that boy watch way too much ANTM. Anywho, I ended up taking some shots myself, so sorry for the emotastic mirror shot (also please ignore my messy apartment, and my embarrassingly huge stack of magazines).

Moving forward, this morning I sprung out of bed (woo hoo!) and hit the gym for some elliptical.  Before I left I had a piece of Ezekiel 4:9 Cinnamon Raisin Bread and a tbsp of PB:

Pre Workout Snack was 175 calories, 21g carbs, 9g fat, and 7g protein.

I did a 35 minute session, plus walks there and back.  Elliptical plus walk=441 calories burned.

Since discovering my new loves: coconut and muesli, I’ve wanted to combine them in crazy ways.  Today I tried Tropical Muesli, which was 1/2c oatmeal, 1/2c nonfat vanilla yogurt, 1/4c coconut, 1/2 cup papaya, 1/4c almond milk, 1/4c nonfat milk, cinnamon, and vanilla (forgot the flax again, grr!).

This actually wasn’t that great, boo.  The papaya just wasn’t doing it for me.  I think I finally did find the right balance between creamy and watery though.

Breakfast was 416 calories, 65g carbs, 13g fat, and 14g protein.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting!  I hope you continue to do so – reading your comments is such a highlight of my day!