Pledge - Day 12

So technically today is the last day of my pledge. I have a couple of thoughts around this that I'll blog about tomorrow, but for now, here was day 12!

I worked from home so breakfast was a change: 2 egg omelette with mozzarella cheese, a banana and half of a roll with peanut butter:

Lunch was tuna with chopped pickles, a whole wheat bagel and a side of grapes and strawberries:

Around 4 I had a clementine and a string cheese for a snack.

Since I worked from home I could go to the gym at 5:30 on the dot! It was so great to get a workout done early. I made a goal to run/walk until I got to 3 miles, running as often as I could. Once again I realized that my ultimate running song is "Fireworks" by Animal Collective. After a few 3 minute running stints I stuck it out for the whole 7 minute song. Gets me every time!!

Blurry

When I got home I made spaghetti squash! I hesitate to make spaghetti squash because it's so hard/scary to cut, but my roommate informed my I could just plop it whole in the microwave for 10 minutes! So I did that and it came out really great. After I cut it I added some pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese to the top and stuck it in the oven on broil. I also had some snap peas on the side. The result:

So good and satisfying!!

"Dessert" was a clementine and now it's time for some TV catch up and bed!

Good night!

Pledge - Day 11

Didn't get a chance to update last night. I wasn't feeling great and just wanted to watch TV and not think about this!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday (cereal and a banana):

Lunch was similar to yesterday (turkey and tomato on a 100% whole wheat bagel, veggies and hummus, a cup of strawberries and grapes):

Snack - string cheese and a clementine:

I started to feel pretty crappy as work ended and actually fell asleep on the train and missed my stop! When I got home I just crawled into my bed to read and let some advil kick in. I suddenly started to get extreme urges for comfort food. It came as a pretty big surprise how strongly I associated feeling badly with eating. I really tried to fight it but I ended up grabbing a handful of cheese sticks and a handful of chocolate chips and eating them quickly. It's so stupid -- like that doesn't make me feel better. Actually it made me feel worse and guilty. I know it wasn't even close to the terrible damage I could have done but it was still upsetting.

I waited about an hour then made a real dinner. I had a bowl of turkey chili with some cheese and tortilla chips crumbled on top.

I'm working from home today so I'm curious to see if that makes eating easier or harder. We shall see!

Pledge - Day 10

I'm very tired so here's a quick Day 10 update!

Breakfast:- Ezekial 4:9 cereal and a banana:

Lunch - low sodium turkey sandwich with tomato on a 100% whole wheat roll, strawberries, string beans & carrots with hummus:

I eat my sandwiches in a funny way -- all around the outside and the last bite is the exact middle. I am a strange human.

Snack -  clementine and popcorn trail mix:

I went to the Beanpot tonight with Tom and his brother....Northeastern beat BU for the first time since 1988!! So awesome.

What was not so awesome were the food choices at TD Garden. I did my homework ahead of time and checked the website to see if I could bring my own food in. No luck. I knew I'd be there from 5-10 pm so I'd have to figure something out. Fried food was pretty much all that was available, but after scouring the whole stadium (and Tom can testify to this!!) I found the healthiest options available. I ended up getting a chicken caesar wrap and a tiny bag of chips.

I took the chicken out of the wrap because it felt gross (even though I'm sure it was fine) so it ended up just being lettuce and parmesan cheese inside of a tortilla. There wasn't even dressing!

Not a perfect option but I'm really proud of myself for not just giving in quickly and ordering chicken fingers and fries like I wanted to. I actually got that same feeling I got at dinner the other night -- I wasn't at the game for the food, I was there for the game! Once I decided internally that whatever I got to eat was just not a big deal I felt a lot better and didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.

Almost forgot, I also had a beer at the game! :)

G'night!

Pledge - Day 9

Today was kind of a weird day food wise. It started off normal with 2 eggs over easy, a whole wheat english muffin, some berries and a glass of 100% orange juice:

I didn't think about lunch until 3 oclock which was strange. I ended up eating 2 string cheeses, 2 hard boiled eggs, raspberries, and 2 clementines:

My friends made a bunch of yummy dips for the superbowl, so to avoid eating them I made a little bowl of guacamole with half an avocado, a chopped tomato, garlic salt, hot sauce and topped with a bit of cheese. I had a small bowl of whole wheat tortilla chips and a Harpoon White IPA with it:

 

During the black out (which made for a hysterical twitter feed) I made some real dinner. I had 3 oz of whole wheat ziti penne with a little parmesan cheese, olive oil and galic, plus a clementine.

I went food shopping today and made turkey chili so expect to see a lot of that this week!

Here was my shopping list (with yesterday's purchases combined):

low sodium turkey breast
tomato
string beans
spaghetti squash
avocado
carrots
bananas
clementines
strawberries
grapes
100% whole wheat pasta
100% whole wheat bagels

And here is the meal plan for the week:

Lunch:
- turkey sandwich
- tuna salad
- chilli

Dinners:
- chili
- baked spaghetti squash
- eggs
- pasta with kale and sausage

Lunch is packed and I'm ready for tomorrow! Catch ya then :)

Pledge - Day 8

I didn't get a chance to update last night, so here's day 8. I was a little bit more relaxed with the pledge yesterday. I was totally getting that pull of weekend eating and did my best to deal with the urges.

Breakfast was a 2-egg omelette with part skim mozzarella cheese, a clementine, and half a 100% WW roll with peanut butter:

For lunch Tom and I went to Pemberton Farm & Gardens. The place is a big specialty food store with tons of beer and wine! It was cool to go but definitely made me hungry. We bought sandwiches from the deli to go. I got turkey, avocado, sprouts, brie cheese, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat bread. It was delicious!!

I also had some fruit on the side:

At the market I picked up some South African biltong!!! I've been looking for this stuff in the US for 3 years and finally found some! It was pricey ($8 for about 8 small pieces) but sooo worth it. Biltong is similar to beef jerky but is a bit tougher and comes mostly in spicy flavors. I had a few pieces over the day:

I also had a cheese stick and a dark chocolate hershey kiss while watching Top Chef season 1!

For dinner I was really craving sushi. I know white rice isn't technically pledge friendly but I decided to ease up and go for it anyway. We went to Avana Sushi -- a tiny hole in the wall in Chinatown. The place is so funny -- it's actually inside a cell phone store and is made up of a sushi bar and a few folding tables. Still, the 4.5 stars on yelp drew me in and we decided to try it out. We ended up ordering edamame and a TON of sushi. It was SO good!

Yum. When we got home I had a little bit of Ben & Jerry's greek frozen yogurt in banana peanut butter. It was REALLY good!!

So not a perfect day all around but not terrible either. I definitely made better choices all around than I would have if I had not taken the pledge, so that's a win!

Pledge - Day 7

It is 1:20 am and I am updating like a champ! Luckily I start all of my posts during the day so not much to add here...

I had the urge to say I was more than halfway done with the pledge but that's not really the case, is it? The whole reason I'm doing this is to readopt this lifestyle (or something close to it) permanently. The 12 day challenge is just a jump start, but it doesn't end really.

I woke up hungry today, so I packed a bunch of snacks for work. Since it's healthy snacks I'm not too concerned, but sometimes I wonder if packing snacks is what makes me eat them (not hunger). Something to think about. With this challenge I feel like I've suddenly become aware of my hunger levels and fullness levels. No idea where this awareness has been for the past year. Last night as I ate my chili I really thought, "am I satisfied now?" and stopped once I was. Big changes!

Day 7 started off with the same breakfast as per usual:

For lunch I had more baked ziti and grapes:

Around 3 I was hungry again so I had carrots, stringbeans and hummus:

And then at 5 I randomly wanted something sweet so I dug into the popcorn-trail mix I brought (terrible picture):

Dinner was my leftover chili over quinoa topped with a little cheese and avocado. I had 2 clementines on the side.

I ate this pretty fast and when I was putting the food back the cheese sticks were calling my name so I grabbed one.

  

Later on I went out with the girls and had one beer (Sam Alpine Spring) and stuck to water for the rest of the night.

Hoping to get to the gym tomorrow and enjoy a relaxing Saturday :)

Friday Five

Figured I'd take a little break from Pledge updating and do a random Friday Five!

5 Things I'm Excited About:
1. My trip to Europe in April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. We are potentially changing venues for my September event and I'm excited to do visits and food tastings!
3. SUMMER! Seafood, beach, beer fests, warm weather!
4. Feeling better physically from the Pledge
5. It's Friday and it's the weekend!

5 Recipes/Food I want to make:
1. Sweet potato fries
2. Homemade lobster!
3. Mashed potatoes with my new immersion blender
4. Stuffed spaghetti squash (http://www.sweettoothsweetlife.com/2011/04/25/sensational-stuffed-spaghetti-squash/)
5. Bread! Any kind, just from scratch.

5 Things You May or May Not Know About Me:
1. I have a 55-stitch scar on my head like Harry Potter!
2. I hate coffee and have drunk just 1 or 2 sips in my life
3. My favorite movie is Moulin Rouge
4. At one point I was ranked third in NY State in gymnastics
5. I despise wearing socks/shoes and would prefer to always be barefoot (I tried this in South Africa and lasted about 2 hours..)


5 Random Thoughts:
1. What is with Instagram? I just recently started using the app and there are pictures of 25 year old acquaintances from high school posting photos in their bras in front of mirrors?? What?
2. I'm in a music funk. I'm listening to tunes from 2004 because I don't know what else to do.
3. I can't believe Jimmy Lee Dykes is still holding that kid hostage. I'm so nervous about it and feel so terrible for that little boy :(
4. When is running going to get easier?
5. How freakin' cute is this?