June 12, 2008

Lazy Days

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch | Tags: , , , |
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Hey guys,

Yesterday was the first day since I started the blog that I’ve gone an entire day without posting.  I kept meaning to, but I was tired all day long and I figured I shouldn’t push myself to do things because I think I ’should’ or because I ‘have’ to. I read this article in Body + Soul yesterday about perfectionism and how women put all these unnecessary, self-imposed requirements on themselves that only cause harm in the long run.  I know I won’t lose my readers due to one day of no posting, so why shouldn’t I skip it so I can rest?  The world won’t end, and life will go on.

Yesterday I spent the day dozing and lying around on the couch, as per the norm this week.  I started off the day with a bowl of banana creme muesli, made with 1/2c oatmeal, 1/2c nonfat vanilla yogurt, large banana, and a tbsp of flax:

A little while after that I had a cup of nonfat cottage cheese plus 2/3c of Pumpkin Spice Granola (softened, so I could eat it):

Then I got a treat in the form of more get well gifts!  Balloons from my parents (replacement balloons from the original ones the company accidentally sent which said ‘Happy Birthday!’:

Plus a gift basket from my co-workers:

So sweet of them!

A little bit later I had a PB & J on some whole wheat chollah:

And later, I had some mint fro yo:

When P came home, he brought M&M’s, gummy worms, and jelly beans – grr!  I had my share of each of those.

This morning, I started out with snacking on some M&M’s, I’m afraid to admit!  But for lunch, I got one of the veggie wraps from Bully’s:

I’ve eaten half of this so far.  Plus I got fruit dish which I’ve had a few bites from, and these french fries, which I’ve had about 10 of:

I like my fries crispy, and these are more doughy.  Not great.

So that’s what I’ve been up to (plus a few random scoops of coconut sorbet thrown in there)!  Eating junk and watching alot of tv.  I’m starting to get a little restless..I think I need to cool it with the junk, and start back with my usual eating.  Filling my body full of junk when it’s sick is the opposite of what I need to do.  I’ve just been giving into comfort foods a little too much.

Today is CSA day, so P’s leaving work early to pick that up.  Expect to see a new bounty tonight!

 

May 27, 2008

The Quintessential Dinner

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

Hey guys! My sunburn kicked in full force this afternoon, and I could barely move, let alone go to the gym. :( Two days in a row without the gym is unheard of for me, so I’m a little bummed. Although I feel that I’m at a place with my lifestyle where two days sans gym doesn’t equal ‘falling off the wagon’ or a huge failure on my part. I’m secure enough in myself and my dedication to my health that I know two days don’t define me. I hope I’m feeling better tomorrow – I’m definitely ready to be back in the workout groove!
Peter slept the day away, with an early early early morning flight and no sleep last night. So I cleaned the apartment and caught up on magazines – definitely a restful holiday. At some point in the afternoon I went out and got some snacks for us. I had a Luna bar:

And then a bit later I had a whole wheat tortilla with a tbsp almond butter:

Snacks were 450 calories, 57g carbs, 20g fat, and 19g protein.

For Peter’s welcome back dinner, we went to a reader-recommended restaurant, Quintessence.  Many thanks to Margherita for the thoughtful recommendation!  (Hi Margherita!)  Quintessence is located in the east village in a tiny little space on a tiny little street.  Very sweet.  To start, P and I split the chip and dip platter:

This was ’spicy tomato-cilantro salsa, dairy-free sour cream and guacamole served with home-made corn chips and flax crackers’. The crackers were good, and the guacamole was great!  For an entree, I had the Scallion Roll:

I had two of the four rolls.  These were ‘light yet satisfying nori rolls filled with scalion creme cheese, avocado, bell pepper, cucumber, caramelized onion, tomato and sprouts.’ These were really tasty – I’m going to have the other two rolls for lunch tomorrow.  And for dessert, P and I split the dessert platter:

From top left, clockwise: Chocolate Pecan Pudding Cake, Coconut Banana Creme Pie, Chia Seed Pudding, and Lemon Yam Cake.  They all sounded delicious, but both P and I were really disappointed – none of them were that good!  The best one was the Lemon Yam Cake, and even that wasn’t great.  P was so disappointed that he stopped for a Cookies and Cream milkshake on the way home (which I stole a few sips from). :)

I’m estimating dinner at 600 calories. Well, I’ve certainly had a restful holiday – I hope you have too!  Night!

 

May 25, 2008

Sunny Brunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch | Tags: , |
[5] Comments 

Hey guys!  Today is the most unbelievably beautiful day! I want to post this quick so I can get back outside.  I woke up early this morning and debated the gym.  I decided to take today as my rest day.  I get one rest day a week (barring illness or injury), and I don’t usually like to take it on Sunday because that means I have no room for error for the rest of the week.  However, I walked around ALOT yesterday and by the end of the day, my hips and feet were hurting!  Not that I won’t walk around today (I definitely will) but I don’t need to stress my body even more by going to the gym.

So that decided, I looked towards food – I woke up STARVING! My friend Eva and I had plans for brunch, but I couldn’t wait for her to wake up (it was still early) – so I made myself a brunch of two flax waffles, two tbsp PB, and a banana:

YUM! This is the first time in a long time I’ve had waffles – and I’ve never had a waffle sandwich before!  It was awesome.  Brunch was 462 calories, 55g carbs, 24g fat, and 14g protein.

I enjoyed brunch with some sun and magazines (finished Self, on to Cosmopolitan) on the roof!  This time I remembered my camera for you guys:

Swoon.  I can’t wait to get back out there!  This afternoon I’m headed to the park with some friends.  Have a great day everyone!

 

May 24, 2008

Rooftop Lunch

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

Boy, I am a menace to Banana Republic.  I live right across the street from one and go there a couple times a week (I probably only buy something one every two or three weeks though – I just like to keep my eye on the sale rack).  Since 90% of my clothes are too big on me now, I basically have had to start my wardrobe over from scratch.  I’m doing this slowly because I still have weight to lose.  I know from past experience what size I’ll end up being, and I figure I can have things tailored if something really gets too big on me.  The most important thing to me is dressing the body I have right now. When I wear my old baggy stuff, it’s a downer because I look like I’m swimming in my clothes, but more importantly, I’m thinking, ‘wow, this used to be tight – man I was heavy!’ and that’s depressing.  But when I wear my new, slim fitting clothes, I’m like, ‘alright, keep it going, Kate!’  Anyway, I did quite the damage today: a pair of shoes, three tops, two pairs of shorts, and a skirt.  Plus, I walked out with a Banana Republic card, which considering how much I shop there, only makes sense: discounts, free tailoring, free online shipping, heads up on sales and private sales – plus you get discounts at Gap and Old Navy.  My mother thinks this was a huge mistake on behalf of Banana Republic. :P (Or a huge win, depending on how you look at it!)

After shopping I headed up to the rooftop of our building! for lunch and magazines.  Here’s my lunch in my portable dish on the way up to the roof:

A serving of Goddess Garbanzos plus two whole wheat pitas with a Laughing Cow wedge.  Lunch was 390 calories, 59g carbs, 10g fat, and 14g protein.

The roof was beautiful!  I was going to snap a picture of the skyline for you guys, but I forgot my camera in the apt.  Next time.  This was the first time I’ve gone up there to relax and I’ll definitely be up again.  It was so calm and peaceful and it was nice to get some sun and air!  But – I am so behind on my magazines!  I’m still not finished with Self, and I have Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, and Lucky to go!  Grr!

When I came back down I had a snack of 2 oz hemp milk, 32g of Trader Joe Country Pumpkin Spice Granola and 108g 0% greek yogurt:

Kind of a random combo, I think – but it was good.  Snack was 212 calories, 28g carbs, 5g fat, and14g protein.

Hope you’re having a great Saturday!

 

May 12, 2008

Just One of Those Days…

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

Today has been one of those days where nothing really has gone like I wanted it to. When I got home, I had what I thought would be a Pre Workout Snack, so I made one with carbs and protein, which is the most effective pre-workout snack in my experience. Well, I wasn’t really thinking clearly, because my snack was similar to my lunch and didn’t give me the fruits and veggies I so desperately needed. Grr… And then I realized I couldn’t workout because my clothes were still in the laundry. Sigh. Cocoa banana scone with a tbsp cashew-macadamia butter. Pre-workout Snack was 228 calories, 29g carbs, 12g fat, 6g protein.

So I knew I wanted tons of veggies for dinner tonight, and Peter wanted to go out, so we went to a Thai place near us called Pad Thai. Clever name, right? Once there, we each had a summer roll.

Summer rolls are great because they’re just like a spring roll or an egg roll, minus the deep frying egg and plus tons more veggies. I LOVE spring rolls, but summer rolls are a good healthy sub. For an entree, I had steamed veggies with tofu.

That’s soy sauce on the left and peanut satay on the right. More veggies hiding under the lettuce leaf:

They had tons of different types of veggies, so that was good, but it was a little flavorless. I had all the veggies, none of the rice, and about of tbsp of each of the sauces. Dinner is estimated at 268 calories, 43g carbs, 14g fat, and 13g protein.

I forgot my pre-haircut picture at work. :( So you’ll have to wait til tomorrow for it – ooh the suspense. My amazing boyfriend volunteered to go to the grocery store for vegetables (this never happens), so I’m off to read the new Shape and pretend this day wasn’t so yucky. Minus the haircut. :)

 

May 11, 2008

Girls Brunch Out

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

Hey guys – sorry for the late post, I’ve been up and around all day. I woke up this morning around 8:00, hit snooze on my internal clock and woke back up at 9:00. I decided not to fight it and got up. I goofed around for a while on the Internet here and there, wished my mom happy mother’s day (Hi Mommy!), and tried to work out some of my upcoming surgery details. After my small dinner last night, I was hungry as soon as I woke up. I wasn’t sure of my plans for the day, so I decided to have a snack so I didn’t make any bad decisions. I had a cocoa banana scone with a tbsp of nonfat vanilla yogurt to help me start the day:

Snack was 145 calories, 27g carbs, 4g fat, and 4g protein.

While I was eating my snack, I debated the gym: gym or no gym? gym or no gym? I finally decided gym. I feel like whenever there is a question between gym or no gym – you should choose gym. I always feel better for it – and all that time spent debating could be time spent getting it done. Plus, I was kind of in the mood for it, so why not? I did a Cardio Smorgasboard – Elliptical, Treadmill with weights, Stepmill, and Wave. Cardio Smorgas = 433 calories burned.

Got back, showered, changed and met my old roommate Eva for brunch and manicures. We went to a really cute restaurant called The Mermaid Inn. Our wonderful and hilarious waiter (Hi Brett!!) gave us tons of info about how the food was prepped, so I feel really confident in my nutritional analysis of this meal. We dined alfresco because it was such a gorgeous day! To start, Eva and I each had a slice of cinnamon raisin bread with strawberry butter. Eva snatched her slice before I could take the picture, but here are the remaining two:

I had the thinner slice up top. Then for entrees, I had a Gruyere and Zucchini Frittata:

I had all of the greens, which were surprisingly spicy!, and 3/4 of the frittata, which was also very good. Eva had a Cobb salad, which wasn’t too pleasing to the eye, but very tasty she said.

My brunch came out to 566 calories, 22g carbs, 39g fat (!), and 32g protein. Much more reasonable brunch than yesterday, so I was pleased.

After some more girl chat and manicures (I got a beige nude color called Vanilla-zeula), we parted ways and I headed to my apt to pick up my mail. I have 4 new magazines to read, yay! On my way back to Peter’s, I snacked on a Chocolate Peppermint Stick Luna Bar while in the subway:

Snack was 180 calories, 26g carbs, 5g fat, and 9g protein. This is definitely my favorite of the Luna bars that I’ve tried, but I love anything that combines chocolate and mint, swoon.

The plan for the evening is to bake cookies for Ira and Martha, the sweet couple who found my wallet, clean the apt, and hit the drugstore. Have a great Sunday evening everyone!

 

April 30, 2008

Yogurt and Shoes

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

During lunch today, Sarah and I ventured to Rockefeller Center to pick up the last pair of size 8 navy with white piping flats that Banana Republic carries in the city. I don’t usually leave the office during lunch, so this was quite the adventure, especially because:

1) I live across the street from a BR. I spotted these shoes yesterday and wanted to buy them then, but for some reason their 9 was HUGE – and they didn’t have any smaller sizes. So having to travel 35 blocks and 2 avenues to go to a store that is across the street is annoying.

2) I don’t really like crowded tight spaces. Good idea to move to New York, right? Rockefeller Center gives me the heebie jeebies. Times Square is a nightmare. Macy’s at Christmas gives me a straight up panic attack. (not really.)

2) I have been a size 9 in shoes since the 8th grade and suddenly I’m down an entire size? Either my feet shrunk from losing weight OR Banana Republic shoes run large. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Despite this, we managed there and back and I even got the shoes at a huge discount. Score!

Anyway, somehow I made it through to the end of the day without breaking into my afternoon snack. When I got home, I had my planned snack: vanilla yogurt with a tablespoon of almond butter and one of the billion magazines I subscribe to:

Snack is 185 calories, 20 grams carbs, 9 grams fat, 4 grams protein.

Tonight the plan is to head to the Gallery Bar with Rita, Bryan, and Sabrina to look at art. There will also be free booze, but I think I’ll stick to a mocktail. Pilates on the reformer at 7:30 tomorrow morning!