I'm Tired

The story of my life these days can be summed up pretty easily: I'm tired. It's just how I'm feeling all the time. Anyway that being said I don't have anything new and exciting to tell you guys so I'll just stick to the basics. Here's what I ate today:

11:00am: Costco Falafel Balls, Cucumbers, Tomato, and Hummus
** Very delicious lunch or breakfast or whatever. I used Sabra hummus which is soooo good. You can buy it in most grocery stores. I just used the original flavor but all the other ones are great too. Roaster Red Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato, Garlic, etc.

4:15pm: Frozen Yogurt
** Since I had to move out of my beloved little home in Little Italy I've had to find some new fro yo spots. I've been to a lot in San Diego and I still think Yogurtland is #1. Some have come pretty close but none of the others are quite as delicious, cheap, and just overall perfect. Today I went to Del Mar Swirls. For the most part is was great. Good flavors (not as many as Yogurtland) and not too expensive. My only real complaint was the cups. I like my frozen yogurt cups to be a little bit wider. Like not so much tall but wider in circumference. Does that make sense? See if it's wider I can put all 3 of my flavors (I usually get 3) next to each other and mix them when and how I want to. BUT with the taller cups I pretty much have to put all the flavors on top of each other and then I'm just eating each one on its own. SO anyhow.. that was the only issue. Otherwise I was quite happy. My flavor combo today was: plain tart (always,) espresso, and cookies & cream. And chocolate sprinkles on top. YUM.

7:30pm: Roasted Vegetable Wrap w/ Baba Ganoush
** This tasty dinner was courtesy of my home away from home - Trader Joe's. They have a great selection of wraps, sandwiches, salads, etc. Some are better than others when it comes to calories. This one was 390 calories - kind of high on the fat - 12g - which is why it ends up being 8 pts. But anyway - it was very good and pretty filling I think.

It's now 9:30 or so and I was thinking about having another snack before bed but to be honest I'm just too tired to go all the way downstairs and deal with that. Maybe my exhaustion will be good for my diet. OR maybe these are just the early signs of swine flu. Can we do something about this whole thing please? I mean swine flu, really? It sounds terrible and kind of disgusting actually.

Anyway... that's all for me today. It's way past my bedtime.

Yummy Foods

Last night as I was driving home from work I got a surprise invite to sushi for dinner. It's 100% impossible for me to turn down sushi especially when it's being paid for by my wonderful mother. So anyway, we went to a little local spot near our house where the sushi chef knows us all by name. That's always the best way to go. No menus anywhere in sight. We hardly have to say a word before our guy starts preparing a huge plate of sashimi for us. The fish was fresh and delicious. I know we had some Toro (tuna belly,) Yellowtail, Octopus, and then a few others that I didn't know the names of but was instructed to eat without asking any questions. Everything was great. This really isn't the type of place where you'd order any fancy schmancy rolls. You're not gonna get a gigantic dynamite roll where the rice and heavy mayo sauce outweigh any actual fish. I did at one point request just a simple spicy tuna roll and he reluctantly made it for me. It was also quite delicious. 

Anyway the point of that whole sushi story was to explain the reason why when I weighed myself this morning and was up another .5 lbs I didn't panic. As I've mentioned before I always always always retain water after eating lots of sodium aka sushi. So in conclusion - no big deal. Ready to have a good day!

Breakfast: Starbucks Spinach, Roasted Tomato, Feta, and Egg Wrap

** My little sister works at Starbucks and she brings homes stuff from there all the time. Not all locations have this one but I highly highly recommend it when you can find it. It's a great low cal, on the go, breakfast choice. Only 240 calories - 5 WW pts. And very yummy.

Lunch: Rum Jungle Acai Bowl

** I haven't had one of these in a long time and I totally forgot how great it is. Acai was all the rage a little while ago. It's high in antioxidants and supposed to have all kinds of health benefits. The bowl is made with: acai berry smoothie, mixed berries, banana, granola, and topped with a little bit of honey. I've been trying to look up the nutrition info for these bowls but I couldn't really find anything exact. From what I read my guess is the bowl has around 400-500 calories. Seems a little bit high but for a full meal that is still really good for you I think it's fine. You shouldn't really compare this to fro yo but for some reason I kind of feel like I need to. You eat it out of a cup and it's cold and covered in toppings. And delicious. It's higher in calories but it can totally be eaten as a meal whereas fro yo - eh not so much. Anyway it's super good and I'm glad I rediscovered it. 

Oh and for my local San Diegoans... I think Rum Jungle is probs the best spot for an Acai Bowl. They have 2 locations - one in PB and one in Sorrento Valley. Aside from the bowls they make great smoothies, sandwiches, wraps, salads, etc. Definitely check it out! CLICK HERE for their menu and location info.

Well so far that's been it for me today. After writing this long winded post I am pretty much starving. The 2 Chalupa meal from Taco Bell is screaming my name but I'm going to resist and find something healthy - or at least healthier than Taco Bell - to have for dinner. 

Fun at Costco

Thanks to my wonderful friend who has been successfully dieting with me since I began this little journey I have made some great food finds recently that I would love to share with you guys.
They all come from the one and only..... COSTCO! Yay!! We all love Costco, right? I mean who doesn't love coming home with toilet paper to last you a year? Or a bottle of ketchup big enough to kill someone? And obvi we only go on a Saturday or Sunday, right? Um hello... Samples!! What fun. But dieters beware: just because you may not be "counting" that tiny little bite of burrito which was followed by a little bite of a pancake covered in syrup which was followed by a cracker covered in goat cheese.... does not mean that your ass isn't counting it too. Let me tell you something - it is.
Ok back to the food. I've always been a fan of Costco for dieting. You can buy a lot of good healthy food for less. And since you're buying so much of it you'll have it for longer which means no excuses about not having any healthy food at home for longer too. My go-to's there are: Lean Cuisines (obvi,) frozen chicken breast, egg beaters (freeze the ones you're not using and swap them out into the fridge so you'll always have them - thanks lauren), frozen fish fillets, Cedarlane Lowfat Beans, Rice, & Cheese Frozen Burritos (5 pts each - good late night food,) and there are more but of course I'm blogging on a pretty tight schedule these days so I don't have as much time to go through it all. BUT my new items are quite delicious and very worthy of my precious blogging time. So here:
Asian Cucumber Salad
** 1 pt per serving - which I think is around 1 cup approx. It's super low in calories so I wouldn't worry about this one. Great snack on it's own or also as a side to a full meal. Maybe grill some terriyaki chicken and throw it over the salad? Or have it as a side with your TJ's shrimp potstickers? Possibilities are endless here.
Tricolor Chickpea Salad
** I think this one is a little bit more. Maybe 2 pts for 1 cup. A good filling salad. Goes well with the falafel balls below!
VeggiePatch Falafel Chickpea Balls
**1 pt each and totally delicious. Just heat them up in the microwave and eat. Put them on a salad or buy some Flatout Pita Wraps (90 cals each) or Western Alternative Pitas and make yourself a little sandwich.
Mmmm I'm getting hungry just thinking about all that yummy food. So all 3 are premade foods and are all basically ready to eat. Can't go wrong.
Well there you have my mini Costco guide. Hope you liked it!

Oh and about me... well last Thursday I hit a very exciting goal... 10 lbs!! Hooray!!! I am so so happy about it but need to keep it going! I had a pretty indulgent weekend so when I finally weighed myself this morning being up .5 lbs was not too shocking. But to be honest I expected a lot worse. Half a pound is nothing! So I'm back on track this week eating well and trying to make it to the gym.

My birthday is coming up soon so I think that could be my next goal point to make it to. Right now I would like to say 5 lbs by May 24 - but that may be tough. We're getting to one of those plateau phases where I am going to really need to push hard to lose more. Sigh... life is tough. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for checking in again! Hope everyone is staying healthy!! See you soon =)

Oh my gosh I almost forgot something super important. Everyone must go out and buy the new Hungry Girl Cookbook!! It is full of really great recipes and guess what?? They are ALL under 200 calories! Can you believe it? She is pretty great. CLICK HERE if you want to order one from online. Or you can get off your ass and go buy one in the stores. =)

Happy Holidays!

Things are still on track for the most part. I am still down around 8-8.5lbs. I haven't had the best last few days which means I'm not really losing anything but just maintaining. I'm getting pretty antsy to hit the 10 pound mark though so I need to step it up here soon.
Tomorrow night is the fist night of Passover and we'll be hosting a Seder at my house. For those who don't know - Passover is the one where we don't eat bread for a week. It's basically like going on a low carb diet. After tomorrow I should be pretty good diet wise. I'll spend the week eating some - not too much, matzah, lots of veggies, eggs, lean meat, etc. For the diet that goes over pretty well. Tomorrow night though may be a tough one. When my mom cooks and everyone gets together it's easy to over eat and over drink. But whatevs, it's a holiday and I say I'm allowed.

So for all my fellow Chosen Ones - I wish you all Chag Sameach!!! Oh and I'll be sharing some yummy low cal Maztah Brie and Matzah Pizza recipes this week so stay tuned.

And for the rest of you... enjoy your fatty cadbury eggs this week. Just kidding I actually LOVE cadbury eggs. Like I could probably eat them all day. Anyway if you are going to be enjoying any of those delicious and creamy chocolate eggs - please know that you are taking in 170 calories and 6 grams of fat for each one. Which, on it's own, actually isn't too bad. So if you are nothing like me and have any sort of self control, enjoy one egg and then walk away!

Sorry bout the weird Easter tangent. I'm done now. See you soon!

Weekend Dieting - Or not.

My last visit with my good pal, the scale, was on Thursday morning. Still sittin' pretty at -8.5lbs. Well since then let's just say I've been less than perfect when it comes to eating. So I made an executive decision. In order to enjoy my weekend I am NOT going to weigh myself until Monday morning. Sunday will be a good day to make up for any major mishaps that have occurred in the last 48 hours and are still to come today and tonight.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a quick list of what I've been consuming over the last few days....

Kashi Bar
Banana Smoothie
HUGE Chicken Salad
Fro Yo
2 slices of Pizza
More salad
A various assortment of potato chips
Some sort of delicious orzo edamame salad
Etc...

It may not seem that bad, but trust me, it wasn't good. But not to worry, I'll be back on track by tomorrow for sure.

The question now is... will I keep track of how many drinks I have today/tonight? Hmm.. probs not.

Hi everyone! Unfortunately I have been so so busy lately and my poor blog had to suffer. But I'm back in action now. And even though I wasn't able to blog about it - Part 2 of my challenge has still been going on. I had mentioned before that I like to weigh myself everyday despite everyone's warnings against it. Well... my beloved scale was packed away for a few days so I couldn't keep track lately. I'm sure you can imagine the agony I was in. Finally yesterday I was able to unpack it and with much anxiety weigh myself to see the progress I had made since last week. I am very happy to report that I am officially down 8.5 lbs since I first began my diet! Yay me!! Phew... what a huge relief! So that leaves me with only .5 lbs to lose before next Wed. Seems pretty do-able I think. I need to make sure not to do anything disastrous this weekend. If I can make it though that then I should be good to go for Wed.

Here was the menu from yesterday:

9:00am: Handful of Pretzel Sticks

1:00pm: Wahoos Banzai Chicken Bowl
** Wahoos is a great fast food type mexican place. Kind of like Rubios but better I think. Except for my WW staple, Rubios Health Mex Chicken Salad. Mmmmm...
Anyway... The Banzai bowl has grilled veggies, chicken, brown rice, beans, and salsa. It is quite delicious and quite filling as well. I wouldn't go as far to call this a low cal meal. But it has healthy stuff in it and was very high in fiber I'm sure. The bowl itself is rather large and even though my lunch partner could not finish hers I will gladly admit that I got through about 90% of mine.
I think it's good to sometimes eat your biggest meal in the middle of the day rather than for dinner. I know that this is easier said than done but I'm starting to realize that for dieting purposes it really helps. I have also been trying to eat my dinners earlier in the night when I can. I know it's not always possible but it's just good to keep in mind every once in a while.

4:45pm: Yogurtland Frozen Yogurt (w/sprinkles obvi)
** Yeah that's right. You heard me. Fro Yo for dinner. I can't think of anything better.

So that was my whole day yesterday. I know it may seem a little bit strange but my lunch filled me up so I really wasn't too hungry until much much later. And when you get home at 10 it's easy to just get right in bed instead of eating. Well actually that's not really true. In my fantasy world where I can eat whatever I want and not gain any weight, I would have stopped at Taco Bell on my way home and picked up my favorite 2 Chalupa meal to eat as soon as I got home. Sigh... only in my dreams.

Well anyway I am definitely going to try and keep up with posting as often as possible. Especially cause I know you're all DYING to see how I'm doing.
Oh and I should have the workout song list up pretty soon too. Need to get back to working out. Ugh.

Ok I'll see you all soon! I hope not sporadically!

Wait one more thing... I just checked and tomorrow will officially be 1 month from when I first started doing this. Not the blog but the diet, challenge, whatever. 8.5 lbs in 4 weeks - not too bad huh. I wonder how much more I can lose in the next 4. =)