June 8, 2008

Relaxing Sunday

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch | Tags: , , , , , , |
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Hey guys! Another late post! This has been a calm, quiet weekend. I woke around 11 and decided against the gym in favor of brunch – I was starving! I did want to run to the gym to do a weigh-in. I’m interested to see if the surgery and recovery will cause me to lose or gain weight. If I lose weight, I just hope I don’t lose muscle! On the way to NYSC, I ran into Eva outside Banana Republic! Of course, we had to go in and peruse. :) We met up with Peter when he came downstairs. It was such a serendipitous meeting!

At my weigh in, I lost a lb! It was nice to see the scale move after maintaining for a while. I’m officially down to 167 lbs. 21 lbs down, 24-34 lbs to go!

Peter and I went to a new place for brunch, Alexandra. I started out with my favorite, iced coffee with fancy frothed milk:

Then we split a fruit bowl, I had about half:

Then for an entree, I got the spinach and goat cheese omelette:

Potato wedges on the side. I ate all the potatoes, and half the omelette (plus a couple bites of Peter’s eggs benedict).

After brunch, we walked around a while in the heat for a while until Peter started getting grouchy for want of a milkshake. We finally found a Baskin Robbins, where P got the largest Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake in existence. It was the size of a Double Gulp. I snapped this pic:

TOO CUTE! (He did not drink this whole thing, thank goodness.) I got a small cup of mint chip and forgot to take a pic until a few bites in because I was scowling about Peter’s jug of milkshake:

I ate about 3/4ths of this. Brunch was estimated at 800 calories.

After that I got a manicure and pedicure (Galapa-ghost on my nails, and Strawberry Margarita on my toes) and a massage. The massage was P’s idea – and a good one too! I’m starting to get really nervous about tomorrow and that really calmed me down.

Not sure what the plan for tonight is. Probably more keeping it calm. :) Maybe a workout, but I’m on the fence about that – we’ve done ALOT of walking today. See ya guys!

 

June 7, 2008

Good Brunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch | Tags: , , , |
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Hey guys!  I can’t believe I’m just getting my brunch post up!  I’ve really been trying to take the pressure off this weekend, which meant waking up leisurely, heading to the gym on my own time, then enjoying a calm outdoor brunch with Peter.  I’ve really been enjoying our calm QT together. :)

As I said, I woke up around 10:30 and was at the gym by noon.  It really took some prodding from both P and myself to get me there, but P was adamant about me having a workout.  And he was right – a hard workout and then brunch is one of my favorite pleasures in life.  I’m so lucky to have such a great support system!  Before I left for the gym I had half an Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin with a tbsp almond butter:

Pre Workout Snack was 174 calories, 21g carbs, 8g fat, and 7g protein.

At the gym I did Cardio Smorgas: treadmill with weight, Elliptical, Step mill, jogging on treadmill.  I tried to do the Cardio Wave, but it was malfunctioning.  That’s the problem with that thing -about every third time I want to use it, it’s broken!  Really annoying.  Cardio smorgas=479 calories burned.

After some cleaning up (myself and the apt), Peter and I headed to brunch.  We wanted to try a new place, so after a quick search we ended up with Good.  After a quick walk, we were settled at an outdoor table for a sunny brunch. :)

I started out with an iced coffee:

That’s P’s arm and Polo shirt! :)   Then we started out with a bread basket.  We’re both suckers for carbs – and these were totally worth it!.

Two spotted big guys were Lemon Blueberry Bread, on opposite sides was the Savory Cheddar Cornbread, and hiding down below were Warm Buttermilk Biscuits.  There was also The Best Pear Pecan Crumbcake:

Which really was the best Pear Pecan Crumbcake I’ve ever had!  All of these breads were amazing – loved the lemon blueberry, and the cheddar cornbread, and the biscuits were the perfect biscuit consistency and taste.  Just amazing!  I had 1/3 the crumbcake, 1/2 of each of a piece of the other three breads.

For an entree, I got the scramble of the day with peppers and Fontina cheese with asparagus and avocado, with greens on the side.

I ate all of the greens, none of the bread, and half of the scramble with half the avocado.  I’m estimating brunch at 750 calories.

At brunch, P and I made a list of all our pre-surgery to-do’s and to-buy’s.  So far we’ve hit up Duane Reade, the grocery store and done alot of apt cleaning.  For tonight, P has a meeting at 6 and then I think he wants to see SATC.  I’ll happily oblige!  Hope you’re having a great Saturday!

 

June 3, 2008

Around Town Afternoon

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , , , , |
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Jeesh, I think I walked almost 3 miles this afternoon! I had to go get a blood test for my upcoming surgery. I found a lab a few blocks away and headed there during lunch. Well, when I got to the location, there was no lab to be found! Then I looked closer at the address and realized it was on the EAST side, not the WEST side. I guess since I’m always on the west side, I just assumed it was over here. To make matters worse, it was really east. Like as east as you can go. But since I needed the test results ASAP, I had no choice but to walk there and back. Ah well. A little walking never hurt anyone. I knew lunch was going to be scattered, so before I left I had my sandwich: chickpea cutlet with laughing cow wedge, mustard, and spinach on rye bread:

Yum, so good. My last cutlet this batch. :(

I had a new Luna bar while walking, Berry Almond:

This was good, but stained my fingers, boo. Lunch was 544 calories, 74g carbs, 14g fat, and 30g protein.

I hate getting blood taken, but this was pretty painless – I was in and out! On the walk back, I got a treat:

Looking back, this was kind of hard on my stomach. I would have been better off with an iced tea or iced water even!

The plan for this afternoon is to clean my fridge! The first CSA bounty arrives on Thurs and I have a way overpacked and overcrowded fridge, with lots of expired products, I’m sure. My new goal is to be more cautious about using what I have and not superfluously buying groceries! Plus gym and a snack – I’m due for some fruits and veggies. TTFN!

 

May 25, 2008

Quite a Day

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , |
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Hey all! This afternoon was quite the experience! I had a great time seeing my friends, and it was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day, which really helped my spirits. The plan was for Eva and I to meet up, and then us to meet up with our friends Rita and Bryan (Hi guys!) to walk around the park. Eva lives waaaay up town so while I was waiting for her to arrive, I got myself a treat:

Swoon. When Eva arrived, I treated her to one :) and then we made our way to the park. After meeting up with Rita and Bryan (and their dog, Gonzo), we decided to get some food. Eva spotted Mary Ann’s and I could hear their margaritas calling my name. :) Here’s Eva and I waiting to order:

And Rita and Bryan on the other side of the table:

For lunch/dinner/whatever it was, I had a margarita:

Yum. Their margaritas are the best. I also had a vegetarian omelette with one egg, two egg whites, and all sorts of veggies with some cheese on top:

Really great. (I didn’t eat any of the rice.) I’m estimating lunch at 600 calories.

After lunch, I wanted to show Eva the Pure Food and Takeaway, and guess who was sitting out front eating vegan food? Owen Wilson and Woody Harrleson! So to make a long story short, Owen and I are running away together and this will be my last blog entry. See ya!

Just kidding. :)

 

May 24, 2008

My Kind of Saturday

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch | Tags: , , , , , |
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Hey all! Sorry for the late post, I’ve been taking it easy this morning. Well, last night was both a success and not-a-success (’failure’ is too harsh). At the bar, I expected Jeff and I to have two rounds of drinks – standard, right? I cleverly (or so I thought) sat out the first round, opting for a club soda with lime, intending to get my vodka soda the next round. Well, the bar we were at was doing table service, and our server was SOOOOOO slow. After the first round Jeff ordered fried calamari, which I can take or leave, so no real sacrifice there – but since the server never came back for our second round of drinks, we decided just to call it a night. So when I got home I realized I had a good 150~ calories to spare. Well, I dug into the chocolate chip bag and ended up snacking on 1/2c. Grr. It was totally emotional – by the end of it, I didn’t want any more, but the bag was almost done and I just wanted it out of the house, so I kept eating. Midnight Snack was 431 calories, 50g carbs, 26g fat, and 6g protein. On the flip side, if I had the cocktail during the first round, I might have eaten the calamari, gone to the bar for a second drink, and eaten the chocolate chips when I got home. So I don’t know – what do you think I should have done?

Anyway, despite my late night slip up, I had a good weigh in this morning at the gym. Even though I’m still maintaining at 168 lbs, I lost an inch around my waist and an inch around my hips. I’ve only recently (within the past two months) started measuring myself. When I first started losing, I was losing a couple lbs a week, so it was a big difference. But now that I have less weight to lose and are incorporating weight training, measuring has become more integral to keeping me seeing results. As we all know, muscle weighs more than fat, so it’s important for me to see that even though the scale is the same, I am getting smaller. Anyway, today I worked with weights, did some matwork, walked the track, and did a Podfitness workout on the Elliptical. Before I got started I had a new flavor of Luna Bar: Chai Tea:

Kind of a weird flavor for a bar. It tasted exactly like Chai Tea – but not necessarily in a good way. Meh, it was okay. Pre Workout Snack was 180 calories, 25g carbs, 5g fat, and 10g protein.

Workout was good – not much to report there. I had planned to go swimming, but when I went to change I realized I forgot my goggles, and by that time it was 12:30 PM, so I just wanted to get started with the day. Elliptical and Weights = 501 calories burned.

On my walk home, I got myself a treat:

Swoon. (Obviously this was full when I got it.) When I got home I made myself a brunch of an Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin with 2 tbsp almond butter and a banana:

Yum. Brunch was 448 calories, 67g carbs, 18g fat, and 15g protein.

Not sure what the day holds – I have it all to myself! I may lay out and read a bunch of magazines. I also have a 20% off card for Banana Republic. Hmm…what decadent options! Have a great Saturday!

 

May 15, 2008

Whoops!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , |
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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 15, 2008

Indecisive Lunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , |
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That’s what today was – I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to have! Because of my short night last night, I had to buy lunch again today, grr. I can’t wait til I tonight when I can have enough time to relax and do some things around the apt, maybe try a new recipe, and think thoughtfully about my lunch! It’s been a grab-and-go situation too often this week.

I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to have, and went through all the different options: sandwich? soup? pizza splurge? sushi again? That wasn’t working, so I tried a new angle. I thought about how I wanted to feel AFTER my lunch: light, not weighed down, energized, and like I’ve given my body the nutrients it needs. I knew right then that I should load up on some fruits and veggies!

I went to Guy and Gallard and got a salad (can you believe this is the SMALL size?) Salad contains: spinach, carrots, corn, tomatoes, red peppers, and broccoli, along with some fat free raspberry vinaigrette that I ended up not using.

Along side it I got some street blueberries that were AWESOME, and a cup of fat free cottage cheese:

When eating things like this, I use the layer method: one layer blueberries, one layer cottage cheese, etc, to ensure that I get a little bit of each in every bite. This combo was awesome. Definitely better than expected.

All together:

Amazing. Lunch was 308 calories, 46g carbs, 2g fat, and 33g protein.

Whoops, too small. I was hoping the cottage cheese would be more caloric. Well, my colleagues and I are going out for DD’s Free Iced Coffee so maybe I’ll get something then (not from DD, though! :P )

 

May 14, 2008

Sushi Samba

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Hey guys, quick post because I have to get to bed early so I can wake up for my 7 AM pilates class. I got out of work really late tonight, and went to Modell’s to get a bathing suit and swim goggles. I’ve been thinking about adding swimming to my workouts for a while, and I think I’ll kick it off this weekend! I’m really pleased that I’ve been expanding my workout routines – it’s really been very satisfying! My lunch was definitely too small – before I left work I had an iced coffee and a new flavor of Luna Bar: Chocolate Raspberry.

It was good, but not great – I could definitely taste both the chocolate and the raspberry, which I wasn’t expecting. Still, it could have been better. Snack was 190 calories, 27g carbs, 5g fat, and 9g protein.

When I got finally got back, I only had time for one thing: cook dinner or go to the gym. P told me to go to the gym (he knows how I get minus gym time :) ) so he ordered in sushi while I worked out. I did the Cardio Smorgasboard again, and I had an amazing workout! Awesome calorie burn! Cardio Smorgas = 558 calories burned.

Before I worked out, I had an Ezekiel English Muffin Cinnamon Raisin with a tbsp Almond Butter:

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

The blog has allowed me to analyze my eating, and I’ve realized how often we eat out! I feel like that might be a product of New York – there’s always a new, delicious restaurant to try! I feel like I make good choice 90% of the time, so it’s okay. Let me know your thoughts…

For dinner, I had a bowl of miso (a great starter to fill up on) plus 2 salmon rolls, 4 tuna rolls, and 4 spinach rolls, and edamame.

Dinner was 387 calories, 50g carbs, 8g fat, and 31g protein.

Night all!

 

May 13, 2008

Mind Over Matter

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , |
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Well, I did have an iced coffee today, and this one tasted fabulous and did not anger my stomach.

Unfortunately, I ate my yogurt/Ezekiel Cereal snack at work today (Snack was 215 calories, 44g carbs, 1g fat, and 11g protein) which was a bad idea. I don’t know what it is but as soon as I get home, I need some food. I don’t know if its ingrained from years of after-school snacks, but as soon as I walk through the door, my stomach (and/or brain?) triggers, and I head straight to the kitchen. Usually that’s when I time my afternoon snack, but that yogurt and cereal were staring at me all afternoon, so I dove in about 4 PM. When I got home I had a Z Bar, which was a first time purchase for me:

I thought these things would be good, but man, this guy was delicious! Oh – you’ll notice that as much as possible I will no longer be taking pictures of things in my hands – my mother informs me she finds it unappetizing. :P Anyway, Pre Workout Snack was 130 calories, 24g carbs, 4g fat, and 3g protein.

Then I spent the most pointless two hours in my apt. First I couldn’t find my heart rate monitor. So I looked. For an hour. I finally find it pushed way under the couch. Then I’m walking out the down and my IPod dies, so I go charge it. Spend 15 minutes looking for the cord. Then I find it:

And:

Somehow I think she was involved with both the HRM and the cord:

Don’t let the eyes fool you.

Anyway, by the time I left the apt, I was a little annoyed. I even debated not going because I felt like I was in too foul a mood to have a good workout. And then I decided to myself, ‘You know what, I’m going to have an awesome workout today.’ And I did – I was pouring sweat and got up to a HR of 179! It always shocks me how much of life is mental. It’s like Lloyd Dobbler said, ‘How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood?’ Not hard at all. I did the cardio smorgas again: treadmill with weights, elliptical, wave, and stepmill. Cardio= 448 burned.

For dinner, I had wanted to use this honey goat cheese that Peter bought, and started out planning a pasta dish, but when it got down to it, I realized I’d rather have a salad. So I switched it up! This is a Baked Goat Cheese and Balsamic Salad:

  • 1 oz goat cheese rolled in breadcrumbs and baked in the oven for 6 min at 425 degrees
  • 92g spinach
  • 64g broccoli
  • 29g tomato
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 109g carrot
  • 89g yellow squash grilled in pan with a little oil/butter, pepper and salt
  • balsamic vinegar to taste

Very tasty, although I wish the breadcrumbs would have stayed on better. Dinner was 198 calories, 30g carbs, 4g fat, and 11g protein. I feel awesome! I loooove a mountain of veggies!