Day Four

There are quite a few things that I'm not doing well with in the new year, and waking up for work is one of them. According to my Sleep Cycle app, I should be waking up around 5:15 or 5:20. According to sanity, no. I not only turned off the app and slept until my emergency clock radio 6 AM wake up call, I snoozed until 6:08. I should probably stop staying up and overdosing on Netflix, but last night I decided to start Coming to America at 10, soooo...(Side note: Subways in 1988...!!!)

Here are today's totals:

Fats: 25 g
Carbs: 250 g
Protein: 55 g
Calories: 1,323 ...but I burned a whopping 42 at physical therapy, giving me a net of 1,280!

aaaaand Ziplocs! wooooooooo!

Oh, yeah, that's another thing I'm not doing well with in 2014...getting to the gym. But it's so collllllld, and I didn't even get done with physical therapy until close to sevvvvveennnn (read in a whiny voice). To make matters worse, I went to Target instead of the gym...but I needed food storage contaaaaainers and extra measuring spoooooons! (I also stood in the cheese aisle like I was sneaking a peek at a peep show).

I'm not going to include individual nutrition facts for any of today's meals. Although miércoles is usually la noche de los tacos, today was el día de las sobras. (Side note: Two new years resolutions I should have: A) Avoid Target at all costs, B) Pick up Duolingo again).

Breakfast: Banana oatmeal bite, standard coffee/almond milk

I popped this in the microwave for 15 seconds and then another 15 seconds and it was much better. The outside was still a little dry because I flubbed up the recipe but...

Lunch: Guacamole quinoa and arugula 

This was actually really good mixed together with arugula and served cold. The reviews on the recipe website were right; this tastes even better the next day because it gives the flavors time to come together. As has become the norm, I was too full to finish it so I probably only ate half. I saved the rest and as has always been the norm, I was hungry again by my "break" at 2 PM. I polished the rest of this off then. Side note: Along with the other flavors, the onion gets even more pungent on Day 2. It's a good idea to have gum on hand, or to have coworkers who have gum on hand who don't want to smell your stank breath (sorry, guys). 

Snack #1 (I worked a longer day today so I needed extra snacks): Bakery on Main Chocolate Almond Granola Bar

These made their way in to work with all of the post-holiday goodies, and I hid one on my desk because I saw that it was vegan! I've been craving chocolate something awful and this granola bar saaaaaaaaved me. It was so good and it's also gluten-free. I definitely need to check out more products from Bakery on Main (I was tempted by their gluten-free granola at Target...but they're also an expensive line). This bar - and I believe the granola as well - had only 140 calories (sure beats the 360 calorie Special K bars I was scarfing down).

Snack #2: Zucchini and Hummus

I hate zucchini. I love hummus. Together, they work. I made sure that I coated each strip of zucchini in a wad of hummus so big that it was all I could taste. 

Dinner: Moroccan bean stew and couscous

Maybe it's not just chocolate I'm craving, but sweets. The cinnamon in this stew gives some, but not enough. I thought that golden raisins would be awesome on top of this, but I don't have any. I threw about two tablespoons of low sugar Craisins in and it helped. You know what I don't like in this? Fennel seeds. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Never again. 

Well, this was short and boring, but I'm going to try to get to bed earlier tonight. Maybe I'll let Sleep Cycle control my morning. Or maybe I'll let a marathon of Freaks & Geeks control my night (if it results in dreams of James Franco, I'll settle for the latter). 

Calories: Zero

Day Three: Part Two

I am really having a hell of a day. Tracking meals is proving to be really, really, really difficult and annoying, which is why I always quit doing it. I've never really been satisfied with the Lose it app and I decided to try Livestrong's MyPlate, but it will NOT save any of the custom recipes I am adding. I continue to have to rely on the nutritional data from the Kickstart plan, but it really seems off. Plus, every meal tracking app always has these wackadoo measurements, like grams and milliliters and kilometers and I'm like 

and like 

So I did the best I could today, but I'm pretty pissed off, so that wasn't very good. Here are today's totals:

Fat: 21 g

Carbs: 201 g

Protein: 40 g

Calories: 1,122 (292 under budget and yes, I know this is low)

Even though I have enough rage to melt ice with my eyes and pound out an hour on the elliptical (yeah, or not), I actually couldn't go to the gym today because I can't exercise after I get my allergy shot. Well, for two hours. Which means I could go now. But I'm not. I still have work to do for tomorrow. Grading research papers > gym? It's like choosing how you want to be tortured.

Here's my breakdown of the day -

Breakfast: Green Apple Oatmeal

Yes, leftovers from Sunday's breakfast. These are way better fresh. Oatmeal gets weird in the fridge and everything I save in plastic containers ends up tasting like dishwasher detergent. 

I also had my standard coffee (after a struggle with the Keurig, which only happens at the worst times) and almond milk.

Lunch: Hummus and Sun-Dried Tomato Wrap with leftover curried tomato lentil soup

I put this together last night and I was actually excited for lunch!

I made my first successful hummus by Ninja-ing a can of rinsed garbanzo beans, a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of tahini, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, some salt, and water (I just eyeballed it until the consistency looked right). 

Look at me resisting the cupcakes in the background

Then I spread about 1/4 cup of hummus onto a Trader Joe's Middle Eastern flatbread and topped it with about 2 tablespoons of Trader Joe's sun dried tomatoes (they come in a bag, not a jar) and and sprinkled some pea shoots on top (the recipe called for sprouts, but I couldn't find them anywhere). This was really, really good and I'll probably have it again later in the week, or maybe even as a higher-calorie snack. I felt absolutely stuffed after eating this with the stew/soup, but I have to admit that I was pretty hungry soon after. 

I varied the recipe a little (with the pea shoots and the flatbread instead of a whole wheat tortilla), but the original nutritional facts are:

Calories: 242

Fat: 6.9 g

Sat Fat: 1 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Protein: 10.9 g

Carbs: 38.7 g

Sugar: 5 g

Fiber: 8.2 g

Sodium: 569 mg

Snacks: 

This is what I wanted:

I told you we love to eat

 And this is what I had:

A cup of pomegranate berry green tea and 6 grape tomatoes. 18 calories. Blah. This won't fly tomorrow. 

Dinner: Guacamole Quinoa and some crappy salad

I was craving tacos, so I did the best I could. Plus my avocado is ripening faster than my stomach starts growling, so time is running out. 

This recipe called for 3 cups of cooked quinoa - please be advised that 1 cup of dry quinoa = 3 cups of cooked quinoa before you go mixing things together and having to throw them away like I did. 

While that was cooking (also quite successfully, for the first time ever. I'm terrible at cooking grains), I mashed up the avocado with 3 tablespoons of lime juice, a garlic clove, and some salt. Then I added a diced tomato (recipe called for Roma; TJ's had beefsteak, so I used beefsteak). I also use the term "diced" loosely. The things I cut up are whatever shape they turn out to be; it's no wonder I haven't needed stitches yet because I SUCK when it comes to knives (I thought I would improve if I had brand new ones; nope). I also threw in about 1/4 cup of "diced" red onion (which always means there will be one huge strip of onion somewhere in the mix), 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, and about 1/4 cup of "chopped" fresh cilantro. 

I omitted the called-for 1/2 jalapeno pepper. If you know me, you know I've had a lot of difficulty with using jalapeno peppers and having eyes lately. For about a week, I was pretty sure that my contact lenses were actually tiny slices of jalapeno. I also left out 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne for obvious reasons. 

Then I mixed it all together and portioned it out (4 portions). Note the giant hunk of tomato and the aforementioned huge strip of onion.

Thoughts: 

1) Why can't I melt cheese on top of this?

2) This might taste really awesome in a taco shell, like a taco substitute (I'm used to eating tacos once a week, which is probably why I got so fat).

3) No, legitimately, I'd cut back on the lime juice and maybe the cumin. I'd also maybe add a little salt (I never say that) and garlic (I always say that).

I was still hungry so I threw together some crap salad with a cup of arugula, about 1/4 of English peas, 5 grape tomatoes, and some pea shoots. I "drizzled" this with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. I say "drizzled" because it was swimming in vinegar. I legit choked this down because I inhaled vinegar fumes with every bite, which induced a cough attack. 

I packed my leftover quinoa in divided lunchbox packs with arugula on the side. I actualy think it would be good served cold, all mixed together. I'll let you know tomorrow! 

I don't have nutrition facts for this meal because I had to enter each ingredient separately, which was a huge enough PITA (it's an acronym; I don't mean the bread).

And finally, I have to make a plug here. I am in love with a guy named Joe and he is a trader. All of this cooking has forced me to run my dishwasher basically every day and this stuff cleans nasty couscous-crusted cutlery better than anything I've ever used: 

Hey Trader Joe's, want to sponsor me or endorse me or something? Side note: I'm still open to Three Buck Chuck once a week.