Monday 12.14.09

Usually my weekdays are pretty straightforward... recently it has been not so.

TE has been working at one place in the early morning and he goes to the office in the afternoon/evening-- I get to ride in with him (which is great) but because of that we have been rushing around more than is typical in the mornings and yesterday we did not have time for breakfast/lunch prep...

Monday- 1733 calories (+63)

Breakfast- 540 calories
Ordered at our favorite local coffee shop/bakery
1 medium coffee
2T whole milk (no skim options) - 20c
1 ham, egg and cheese croissant - estimated 450c
1 Russian tea cookie (oh my, I am glad I am too intimidated to make these- that would be dangerous given how much I love them)- 70c

Snack- 80 calories
Green chai tea
Christmas cookie (sugar type with rainbow sprinkles) - 80c

Lunch- 485 calories
1c Special K Red berries cereal- 120c
1/4c Fiber one cereal- 30c
0.5oz slivered almonds- 85c
1c Skim milk - 90c
Kashi crackers- 65c
1 blood orange- 45c
1/2 apple- 50c

Snacks- 390 calories
1 Fiber one granola bar, chocolate- 150c
1 dark snickers bar- 240c (I know!!! Where did this come from? I was food shopping and was starving- I needed something to keep my spending in check- it was this or a 280 calorie bag of chips... it did fill me up and I will say that I do not need to eat another one for a long time.... good choice I think)

Dinner- 238c
Fiber one English muffin- 100c
2tsp whipped cream cheese- 30c
1T whitefish salad- 50c
1/2c sliced cucumbers- 8c

Batter from the beaters of the Pear Upside Down cake I made for TE's work bake off- 50c ?! that should not even count :) but I know, I know....

This cake is sooo not CR, but it looked goooood! Photo coming soon- be sure to check back :)
Mel made it too- she inspired me!

Weekend Edition

Saturday- 1723 calories (+53)

Breakfast- 508 calories
1/2 piece of toast- 50c
1tsp Brummel and Brown yogurt butter- 25c
1/2c tomato sauce- 70c
2 eggs, poached- 160c
5oz spinach, steamed- 33c
1/2T olive oil- 50c
Pumpkin oatmeal cookie- 90c
2c Coffee
1/3c Skim milk- 30c

Snack/lunch - 290 calories
Pumpkin oatmeal cookie- 90c
Grilled cheese:
1 piece of oat bran bread- 100c
1 slice reduced fat pepper jack cheese- 50c
2tsp Brummel and Brown- 50c

Party Food-255 calories
6oz Wine- 150c
Date with bacon- 100c
Cracker- 5c

Dinner- 670 calories
1/2 Cuban panini- ~420c
French fries (again!?)- 250c

Sunday- 2046 calories (+376)

Breakfast- 436 calories
Multigrain oatmeal (1/2c dry)- 140c
1/4 of a medium apple- 25c
2T dried cranberries- 70c
1T Maple syrup- 100c
1T skim milk- 11
2c Coffee
1/3c skim milk- 30
0.5oz Chopped pecans- 100

Lunch- 705 calories

Post run meal-- it took us 1.5hrs to make it out of the small town where we ran a 5k -- the roads were not used to accommodating 5000 extra people (plus spectators!) so it took a while and we were huuuungry- not a good factor for planning meals- I did feel though that this choice was a better one over the Ruben I was eying :)

Everything bagel- 300c
3T scallion cream cheese- 135c
1T smoked whitefish salad ~50
2 slices tomato- 5c
1 slice onion
1/2 bag sour cream and cheddar ruffles- 150c
1 Lindt chocolate- 70c

Party food/Dinner*- 915 calories
12oz Wine- 305c
3 Pinwheels ~50c each
3 Artichoke phyllo cups (total guess) ~100c each-- I will be getting this recipe for you readers from Heidi, they were amazing :) I had to stop myself at 3!
1 chocolate truffle- 70c
3 small Sugar cookies- ~90c

*It is amazing how quickly party food calories add up- I felt I was really restraining myself from eating more- but with alcohol the calories quickly go up.


So much for reigning it in this weekend... At least it was fun!

Friday 12.11.09

Well today was more typical than yesterday. Still need to work in more veggies to help get back on track... tomorrow?!

Friday- 2095 calories (+425)

Breakfast- 240 calories
1 pack of high fiber Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal pack- 140c
1 serving of dried fruit/almond mix- 100c
White berry blossom tea

Snack- 225 calories
Coffee 12oz
Skim milk 1/3c- 30cal
Cherry Pie Lara bar- 190c

Lunch- 580 calories
2 slices oat bran bread - 200c
1T Peanut butter- 100c
1T reduced sugar blueberry jelly- 50c
1 small banana- 90
1oz Kashi crackers- 130c

Leaving me 600 calories for dinner!

Which was not enough- considering that it was the first night of Hanukkah and I had to eat some fried foods...

Dinner- 1050c
French fries- 270c
Burger (6oz)- 420c
1/2 Bun- 120c
Ketchup- 50c
Mustard- 3c
Lettuce
Tomato- 6c
American cheese- 100c
Red wine- 3oz- 80c

I plan to make up the difference this weekend.... even though I have 3 holiday parties to attend... this should be interesting.

Thursday 12.10.09

So there was this one time (at band camp), dietitian LR and I were sitting and discussing how my habits had changed since entering the study and things/meals I did not eat anymore. I don't remember all of my answers (a good idea for another post)- but I do remember listing two things I missed:

1) cake (I have since remedied my portion control when it comes to cake) and
2) drinking wine and snacking (cheese and crackers?) instead of dinner

LR thought that cake was easier to incorporate into a healthy diet (and I agree) and was not too enthusiastic about the wine as dinner option (understandably). So for today's edition of yesterday's foods, LR you may want to look away... No, I am not proud. But in the effort of keeping this blog real and honest- this is what I ate...

Thursday - 1460 calories

Breakfast: 50 calories

Coffee- 2c Skim milk 1/2c
*Not typical, I usually eat breakfast..

Lunch- 420calories
2 Slices oatbran bread - 200c
1T peanut butter- 100c
1T reduced sugar blueberry jelly- 50c
1/2 oz Wheat thins- 70c

Dinner- 990 calories (!!)
Red wine- a bit more than half of a bottle (!!) estimated 500mL- 430c
Cheese: 330 calories
~1oz Havarti
~1oz Cheddar
~1oz Brie
Crackers, about 5- 70 calories
Sliced French bread- ~2oz- 160c
Chicken sausage- 100calories

What happens if....

...you gain 4+lbs when you are in the CALERIE study?

1) They politely suggest that you go back on packaged food- beginning with lunches only. And you agree. It is a good idea. You have one meal you don't have to think about and it provides nice structure to the day.
I was surprised at how far you can stretch 475 calories. The packaged lunch was 1-300 calorie frozen entree (amy's burrito, a lean cuisine, or a kashi meal), salsa added 25 calories-


1-100 calorie salad (bean and tomato, lentils and feta, or orzo - not pictured), and 75 calories of either string beans or broccoli (that is A LOT of veg).


I spread it out all afternoon and I did not need a snack on most days, freeing up a lot of calories for dinner/pre-dinner snacking. I vowed to continue the frozen vegetable addition into my daily meals, but I have yet to actually do it.... I have, however, cut down on my alcohol drinking calories.

2) You feel VERY guilty about the slip in compliance. And it is a major slip- because this is real weight. That means 14,000 extra calories! Ouch. I hope they were worth it...

3) Finally, you get down to it and realize that you only have 2mo (or the rest of your life) left, and slip-ups are a normal part of life- so you get back up on the horse.

To do that, I am utilizing my blogging audience. I am going back to my daily recording (boring) blog posts. I need some additional accountability. I also need some of my own self-imposed structure. I need to know that I will be able to do this for myself when the dietitians and counselors are gone and it is just me. I need to find out how this diet will work for me. For my health. For the long haul.

I guess you can say this has been a long time coming. I have been in an eating/diet/recording funk for a while now. It was easier before to keep things under control though because of a number of stress related reasons-- but now my body has adapted to my high stress level and I am normally hungry.
So now I have to adapt.
I have the tools, I can do it!
I hope! :)