June 8, 2008

Relaxing Sunday

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

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!

 

May 31, 2008

Columbia University Alumni Reunion, Day 1

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

Hey all! Peter is still out partying the night away, but I’m home to do a quick post and then off to bed. This afternoon did not go as I would have hoped, in that I got stuck dawdling around the house, and then had to power errands run. I managed to get in a little cardio and weights at the gym, but not as much as I would have liked. It definitely would have put me in a better frame of mind if I had a good, hard workout under my belt before a party – but it was good enough. Cardio and weights = 300 calories burned.

FYI, I didn’t have a snack before my workout because my lunch was so heavy. I made the right call about that- I didn’t need one. My lunch held me through til dinner.

The agenda for tonight was dinner at Robert Emmett’s and then Casino Night at the Nokia Theater. So here’s the place cards at dinner:

I didn’t know this until I got to the reuinion: apparently Columbia University is made up of different branches: one is Columbia College, one is FU, the engineering school where P graduated from, and a couple others I don’t know the names of. So a bunch of the stuff tonight had ‘Columbia College’ written on it, which really tripped me up! My dad went to Columbia too, and actually graduated from Columbia College, so go figure. Every time P and my dad get together, all they talk about is Columbia. It’s nice that they have something in common. :)

Service at this resturaunt was TERRIBLE. But they had an open bar, so P was happy. :) I had a club soda and lime with dinner (sitting out the first round strategy). I started off with salad:

Sorry the photo was a bit blurry, I was trying to be discreet. Nothing special about this salad. For an entree, the choices were ravioli, chicken, or fish. I went with fish, which was a white fish. I think I made the right choice.

I don’t even think the fish was bathed in butter, so woohoo! I ate all the fish and veggies and none of the rice. Then for dessert, they had tirimisu:

This was good. Looking back, I don’t know if I should have finished this (which I did). Half would have been sufficient.

After dinner, we went to the Casino Night. Here’s me getting ready to play blackjack:

Everyone was given 1500 Columbia dollars to start with. P and I both cashed in 500 at the first blackjack table that looked ‘lucky’, whatever that means. Well, it turned out to be lucky! Peter’s pretty good, and our dealer didn’t know there was a 500 bet maximum, so within 20 min, we made over 15,000! Here are some pictures of the table:

On the left is P sticking the red card into the back of the deck. Right is the dealer shuffling.

With the Columbia dollars, you can buy Columbia gear: bags, cups, mugs, etc. As soon as I walked through the casino door and saw the spread, I knew what I wanted: a Columbia sweatshirt! (It should be noted that this was the most expensive item, of course.) Well, after 20 min at our lucky table, that baby was mine! Here’s me in my new favorite sweatshirt:

:)

Anyway, back to food. Here was the spread at the casino night:

To the right there is a huge veggie basket, with a pretty good variety of items. Unfortunately, my sweet tooth was on overdrive, so I mostly stuck to this:

I sampled all of these. Possibly twice. Soo good.

I also had a club soda and vodka at the Casino night to get my mojo flowing. :P

So that was the first event of the reunion. Definitely a splurge for me, but I didn’t do any permanent damage. I’m not going to attempt a calorie count, but I know it was over my needs. Since I kind of let myself eat whatever I wanted today, I’m going to have to be a little stricter with myself tomorrow. Two days in a row of poor eating will leave a very sad Kate on the third day. Tomorrow the plan is to hit the gym first thing in the AM, bake treats for the BBQ, attend the BBQ, and then attend the Columbia reunion, day 2: dinner and dancing under the stars. It’s going to be a loooong day – I better get some sleep!

 

May 29, 2008

Mix It Up Sally

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

I think one of the biggest reasons why I’ve been successful with weight loss this time around, and not in any of my previous attempts, is my new-found ability to change up my strategies. I used to think that if a certain strategy worked in the past, that’s the only strategy that will ever work for me. I remember for 6 months during Freshman year in college I worked out for 60 min on the elliptical at 6 AM. Not that it’s a bad workout schedule, but there was no room for flexibility. If I was sick, or had a late night studying (or partying) or whatever, it didn’t matter – I had to be at the gym at 6 AM for 60 min on the elliptical. I remember one time the gym was closed unexpectedly and I freaked out. It was that rigidness that made it impossible to keep up. It wasn’t a lifestyle – it was a schedule, and a rigorous one at that.

I bring this up because lately I’ve been getting crazy hungry after work because I’ve been waiting until after I work out to eat dinner. But by the time I get home from the gym, I ’ve lost my appetite and end up eating just to eat, which prevents me from trying new things or having fun with my meals. So I switched things up today in order to stay happy and satisfied all afternoon and evening. I had a small snack at the office, then another snack, dinner, then had my workout snack, then worked out. MUCH better! Here’s the breakdown:

Towards the end of the workday, my stomach began to growl. So I had about 7 raw cashews:

Snack was 55 calories, 3g carbs, 4g fat, and 2g protein.  That held me over.

Once I got out of work, I ran some errands including getting a polish change (to Galapa-ghost, a peachy-white) and hitting the drugstore. I had a new Lunabar along the way: Cookies n’ Cream Delight:

Snack was 180 calories, 26g carbs, 5g fat, and 10g protein.  This was a good flavor!  I am LOVING my quest for Luna bar flavors.  It makes snacking so fun! :)   (Love the deli flowers in the background!)

Once I got back home, I decided to have dinner! And because it was earlier in the evening, I had the energy to try a new recipe! I made black bean burgers from Veganomicon, served on a Ezekiel hamburger bun (seriously the best bun in the history of the world – go and buy some today!  You will not be sorry) alongside some blackberries and ketchup for dipping:

Even though I loved loved loved this burger, I realized after the fact that I messed up the proportions of the recipe.  Oh well.  Mine was still delicious (and actually less caloric!).  Dinner was 428 calories, 79g carbs, 3g fat, and 29g protein.  I have one of these burgers left…this will definitely be a repeat recipe.

So the last part of my switchup was my workout!  A few hrs after dinner I had a slice Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread with a tbsp PB:

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

At the gym, I did half my workout on the step mill, but got bored.  So I got off.  Switching it up again!  Who says I can only do the stepmill?  It’s a big gym – I can do whatever I feel like!  So I finished up with treadmill with weights, Cardio Wave, and elliptical.  Cardio Smorgas = 458 calories burned.

So now I’m home and feeling great.  The plan worked!….for today.  Who knows if it will work tomorrow?  But I do know that my ability to adapt to my changing needs that will keep me healthy for years to come. :)

 

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 24, 2008

My Kind of Saturday

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

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 22, 2008

Smoked Salmon Tortilla

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

Well I had another victory against the office goodies this afternoon, wahoo! It’s funny – for months they didn’t bother me, and now I’m back under their spell. Just goes to show you – weight loss is an ongoing battle! It definitely knows how to humble you. I also succeeded at the going away party! On the way there I had my pre workout snack: a new flavor of Luna Bar, Nutz Over Chocolate.

It was great! Luna is definitely my favorite type of bar. (Excuse my desperate need for a fresh manicure!) Pre Workout Snack was 180 calories, 24g carbs, 5g fat, and 10g protein.

At the bar I had my club soda and lime as planned. I didn’t miss a beat with the rest of my coworkers who were drinking and no one even noticed that I didn’t take a shot with the rest of the gang. Definitely a success!

Afterwards I headed over to CP to hit up some cardio. I really couldn’t keep focused on cardio today! I must have worked on every type of cardio machine – twice! Plus I ran the track and used free weights, did mat work – people must have thought I was crazy! After that I swam for a good 30 min. I loved it! Cardio Smorgas = 483 Calories Burned.

When I got home I made a quick dinner of smoked salmon, feta, tomatoes, capers, and spinach on a whole wheat tortilla.

I also had some frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries heated up over some 0% Fage with a little unsweetened coconut.

Dinner was 507 calories, 64g carbs, 17g fat, and 27g protein.

I’m really pleased with myself today – I did a good job meeting my goals! On my walk over to CP I noticed an exciting sign a few blocks from my apt:

If that’s not something sweet to dream about, I don’t know what is! Night!

 

May 17, 2008

Nero Brunch

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

Hey all! Brunch is my FAVORITE time of the week – I used to think there was nothing better than a good brunch. Now I know something better: a hard workout and THEN a great brunch! I woke up at 10 AM this morning to hit up the gym. I had some Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin toast with a tbsp of Almond Butter before I left:

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

At the gym I did the Cardio Smorgasboard again: Treadmill with weights, Cardio Wave, Stepmill and Elliptical. It was a really great workout – I’ve just incorporated weight training into my routine, and I’ve really seen a difference in my arm definition. However, I weigh in on Saturdays, and this is the second week in a row that I’ve maintained. I did have a splurge on Thursday, but Peter thinks that my building muscle is the cause of maintaining this week. I also take my measurements on Saturdays, so I know I’ve lost inches, but I’m ready to see the scale MOVE again. On a side note, I’m looking to work on my lower abs. Does anyone know any specific moves to work this area? Cardio smorgas = 493 calories burned.

P and I went to a new place for brunch called Nero’s. The only table available outside was on a slant, boo – so we ended up eating inside, next to the open front area. It was a really cool interior though, I had to take a picture:

None of these pictures are coming out too well, boo. There were stained glass windows right behind us that cast a blue light on everything.

Anyway, even though this place had an all you can drink brunch (!), I decided to stick with my other brunch drink love, iced coffee. I’ve had too many poor decisions made under the influence of booze these days.

Peter and I split a fruit bowl to start:

I had half of this. This fruit was amazing! The most flavorful cantaloupe I’ve had in a long while. And then I had the blueberry pancakes. I was really craving these – so I had em!

I had a few forkfuls of syrup, but these really didn’t need anything. Breakfast was 600 calories, 89g carbs, 22g fat, and 15g protein.

And to close, here’s me with my new purse. Have a great day!

 

May 16, 2008

About Last Night…

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

Well, I haven’t had a splurge like that in a long time.  I have to say, I’m not happy about it.  Most of the overboard calories from this last night came from nibbling on Peter’s food.  I had way too much wine and not enough dinner – prompting major snacking later on.  On the plus side, I did enjoy my evening with Eva eating outside in a cute Italian place in the Village. It means alot to me to be able to incorporate aspects of my former unhealthy life into my healthy life.  I don’t overeat often, and dinner was worth it, – if I had eaten more of my entree and less of my wine.  On the other hand, the late night snacking was not worth it.  I ate because I wanted to, and not because I needed the nourishment.  That is the reason why I gained the weight in the first place.  I woke up this morning feeling uncomfortable and upset with myself.  I never feel that way when I treat my body with respect.  So, yes, it happened, and I wasn’t pleased – but the only thing to do is eat healthy today, exercise a little bit longer, go to sleep, and do the same thing tomorrow.  This is the first time in a long time I’ve gone SO much over my target calorie range – it’s disappointing, especially because the day started off so well.  Anyway, moving on…

I had red, white and blue oatmeal this morning, and got the proportions wrong, so it was a little too watery for my tastes:

Breakfast was 261 calories, 47g carbs, 5g fat, and 11g protein.

 

May 12, 2008

Making the Best of the Worst

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

The more I think about it, the more I believe that succeeding in weight loss (and life in general) is determed by how well you can prepare for, and deal with the unexpected. Your refrigerator broke – what now? You forgot your lunch – what now? You’re at a birthday party and everyone and their mother is insisting you have cake- what now? If you can find a way to be healthy in a difficult situation, then you can find a way to be healthy in every situation. Ergo, weight loss and a healthy life.

My ‘what now’ situation happened this afternoon. The plan was to have my Clif bar on the way to Bumble and Bumble, spend 1.5 hrs at the salon for my cut, meet up with Peter, pick up lunch and be back in the office by 3. Well, my cut ran long (although it looks beautiful – I’ll show you the results tonight!) and I didn’t get back to the office until 4:15. No time to get lunch. So what now? My choices: starve or scrounge. I chose scrounge. I grabbed a whole wheat bagel out of the freezer (leftover from my company’s Breakfast Day) – gave it about 1.5 tbsp of almond butter, and there’s lunch.

Sure, my body is screaming for a piece of fruit or some veggies right now – but I made the best of a bad situation: the most nutritous meal I could find with the resources I had available. And that’s all you can do. Lunch is 333 calories, 43g carbs, 14g fat, and 13g protein.

 

May 8, 2008

Reinvention!

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

Hey all!

Not only was the Butterfinger Muesli delicious, it was filling! It was a good 4-5 hrs before I started thinking about lunch. Last night, I took out a serving of ED&BV’s Cocoa Coconut chili for lunch, without realizing I was having chocolate in my breakfast. Oh well, it’s just a chocolate kind of day, I guess. I made this chili a few weeks ago and have about 5 servings in the freezer. I liked this as a soup, but I wanted to give it a little twist for lunch. So I made it into a burrito! I drained a little of the liquid from the chili, put it on a tortilla and heated it for 3 min. Before:

After:

You could add Fage as sour cream, spinach or a little cheese to make it more burrito-like. Three things: I wish I had access to an oven to make this, it would have been crispier; I am terrible at folding burritos to keep them together, so I had to use a fork and knife, boo; and I wish I had drained more of the soupy stuff – it was very hard to eat. Even so, it was delicious, especially for something throw together at the last minute! I liked this reinvention better than the original I think.

On the side I had some sumo-strawberries:

All together:

Delicious. It’s been a caloric day so far, though. Lunch was 616 calories, 106g carbs, 16g fat, and 23g protein. I think since starting the blog, I’ve been more concerned with the creativity of my meals and less about the calorie count – although I’m always very concerned with the nutritional value. I’ve still been staying within my calorie range, I just have been eating my calories in an off-balance way (a lot during the day, and less at night). Although, I have been feeling very satiated with my meals lately, so maybe this is how my body wants to fed. But I do feel that I need to create a balance between creativity and calorie value in order to reach my weight loss goals.

Have a great afternoon!

 

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