Day Twenty-Four...Bring on More!

This post should be short and sweet, as nothing particularly interesting happened today except I'm either getting that stomach bug or the prednisone is giving me bubble guts. I'm exhausted so as soon as I finish getting my stuff together for tomorrow, I'm going to bed (tomorrow is Taco Night, so I have a lot to get together).

For breakfast I had my Rawjuvenate smoothie, this time with 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, 3/4 cup sliced strawberries, a teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract, and the usual other stuff. I actually bought K cups yesterday and made a Kona coffee but then I didn't drink most of it. 

For a snack I had a 100-calorie pack of almonds. The 100-calorie packs are for people who are too lazy to portion servings out themselves. Therefore, you pay twice the price for extra packaging/for someone else to portion for you. Yes, I am that lazy person.

For lunch I had leftover vegetable stir fry. I think/hope it was the last container because I'm tired of it. I still have all of that confetti couscous salad to throw out (ugh and some kind of chicken dish I literally made before Christmas. I want to just throw away my whole fridge and start over).

For dinner, I had a vegan burger, which I was dreaming about all day. I made it almost exactly the same way as yesterday, except this time I seasoned it with cumin and used Smart Balance cooking spray instead of EVOO. Sure saved me a lot of calories. 

Sorry for such a ho-hum post today. This is just becoming second nature, so it's no longer interesting. I'm sure I'll eat about 2,000 things tomorrow so that should be a longer post. :)

Totals	1,082	166	29	49	2,710	36
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	118	-16	11	11	-410	9
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Oh, and one of these days when it's above 15 degrees, I'll make it back to the gym.

Days Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three

Guys, I'm in love. We'll get to that later. First, let me recap my hellish Sunday.

Sunday was one of those days where I just couldn't eat. THANKS BEERFEST! (On the plus side, this means I lost any of the beer/illicit andouille sausage weight that I gained on Saturday). 

I ended up driving home around 4 AM because I knew it was going to be a rough morning and I wanted to spend that rough morning in my own bed. I steamed myself in a hot shower for 2 hours (I'm not even kidding. Drinking can after can of ice cold seltzer in a scalding shower really helps). Around 7:00, I decided to heat up a slice of Tofutti pizza for breakfast. I was not patient enough to cook it in the toaster oven for 20 minutes as per the instructions, so I microwaved it and ate it all soggy and weird-like. 

Throughout the day, I drank at least 9 waters (including seltzer) and noshed on some Wheat Thins in bed during my Daria marathon (I mostly kept watching the same episode over and over because I kept falling asleep).

I woke up around 9:00 PM and took all of my supplements, then heated up a cup of TJ's low sodium vegetable broth with 1/2 cup of whole wheat couscous in it. I sprinkled some garlic on top, but it was still pretty bland. But that's exactly what I needed. I am leaning very heavily toward total teetotalism because even though I skipped my dose of Cymbalta on Saturday, beer is still not jiving with me. 

Then My Fitness Pal gave me this warning:

Totals	470	83	16	11	808	17
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	730	67	24	49	1,492	28
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Don't encourage me to go into starvation mode, My Fitness Pal. That weight is basically my goal! Now that I'm toying with the idea of going to the Dominican Republic with Stacey for Easter, I really need to get more vigilant. But I still have 11 weeks to go :)

Now for today!

I had several doctor's appointments, including one with an orthopedist that I had to wait weeks for, so I took off work. I only had time for coffee + almond milk for breakfast before I left. Oh, I did slather my lips with this, too:

Don't look at my gross nails; I just peeled off my gel manicure

Yes, I'm the vegan in the angora sweater with the bacon lip balm.

The appointment took forever. Diagnosis: Hip bursitis (which I could have predicted in November when the pain started) and radiculopathy, which is going to require an MRI and I am terrified. I have to say, I was very impressed with the doctor and the other staff members, though. If anyone needs an ortho in the Central Jersey/Jersey Shore area, hit me up! He and his technician were wonderful. I did have to remove my daith piercing for MORE x-rays and I have yet to get it back in my ear. First world problems grumble grumble grumble. I also turned down a cortisone shot in my hip since I also had to go get 5 shots at the allergist. That was enough.

After the allergist, I barely had time to eat, but I headed to Starbucks. Guess what? Starbucks does not offer any truly vegan products! I got a grande iced coffee with soy milk (since it was a balmy 45 degrees outside) and a Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice salad bowl, which contains honey in its lemon tahini dressing. Oh well. I'm not going to get all bent out of shape about honey. I can't believe I eat this stuff with kale and beets in it. 

Oh wait, I just realized why I had no time to really eat - I wasted a very long time at Target. I had just been thinking about how much happier and cheerful I've been since I went vegan. Typically, I'm the kind of person to scream, kick, and throw things when I'm by myself and pissed off (particularly if I'm driving). However, now that I'm not pumped full of gross meat hormones, I've been very calm. Nevertheless, when I came out of Target and saw that someone had slammed her shopping cart into the side of my (pretty new) car rather than walking three feet to the cart return on the other side of my car, you can bet that I let some F-bombs fly in the parking lot.

Now on to the most amazing meal of today: Dinner. I had been dying to make these vegan burgers for ages and now I just want to live on them. No, I want to live in them. I used a recipe from Vegetarian Times to make 4 burgers. 

Look at the pretty layers!

Into the Ninja went 1/2 cup of cannellini beans, 1/2 cup of black beans, 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots, a cup of coarsely chopped onion, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of chili powder, salt, and pepper. I pulsed the mixture until everything was mixed together but not pureed. I checked to see if it was ready to be molded into patties, but the mixture didn't seem quite sticky enough, so I added some of the liquid from the beans (make sure you reserve this liquid when you drain your beans). 

All mixed up

I let this sit (and set) in the fridge for about 30 minutes and then I formed the mixture into 4 1" patties. I preheated a skillet with a tablespoon of EVOO and then heat the patty for 3 minutes on one side, 3 minutes on the other side, 2 minutes on the first side again, and 2 more minutes on the other side - 5 minutes total per side, if you're worse at math than I am.

I put this on top of a slice of Tofutti American cheese on a TJ's multigrain sandwich thin. It got nice and melty. On the other side of the bun, I put a thick tomato slice, some pickle slices, and a healthy portion of Dijon mustard. I put both sides together and holy (non) cow, I went to heaven. 

The patty getting all oily and steamy

Garnishing this heavenly burger

Meet the new love of my life

Today's totals:

Totals	993	117	46	28	2,473	21
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	207	33	-6	32	-173	24
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Did I mention that I've lost 8 lbs already? (probably). Today when I was getting dressed, I actually looked at myself in the mirror and said out loud, "I love my body." It looks like I can take my fat jeans back to the store since I never even wore them!

Anyway, I've fallen off the smoothie game for the past 3 days, but I've continued with (and upped) the supplements. Time to go wash the Ninja so I can have a smoothie breakfast tomorrow! 

Day Twenty: A quick but late post

I don't know if it's the vegan diet or the garcinia cambogia, but every morning that I get on the scale, I seem to weigh about 1 lb. less. That puts me at 8 lbs. down so far! I can make my stomach flat when I suck it in and my love handles are significantly reduced and almost non-existent (that's what I always notice first). It probably helps that last night, I decided to nap while the dishwasher ran (I needed that damn Ninja again) and when I woke up, I decided that I was tired enough to just go to bed without dinner. So here's how yesterday went: 

Totals	725	123	16	34	1,284	23
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	475	27	24	26	1,016	22
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

This should be a quick post becaue I didn't eat anything new and exciting yesterday and didn't eat much, period.

For breakfast I had the same smoothie + blueberries I had for dinner the night before. Of course when I was in a rush in the morning, it came out so thick it would barely pour from the pitcher. Plus I worried about walking around work with blue lips all day. 

For lunch I had vegatable stir fry leftovers.

I forgot to eat the hummus and celery I had packed for a snack. Then I left it in my car overnight, but it's been so cold, it's probably still good. I did try some delicious Brad's Raw Leafy Kale chips that Nancy brought in and their vegan cheese satisfied my cheese craving (temporarily; I did buy Tofutti cheese and a Tofutti pizza on my way home from work).

I finally had all of the ingredients for the vegan burgers and the satay noodle salad I want to make. I was set on the vegan burgers for dinner, especially because of the tofutti cheese. Alas, the Ninja was dirty again. I was famished so I snacked on a serving of Trader Joe's pretzel flats. Then I deciced to take an hour-long 6 pm nap while the dishwasher ran. I ended up waking up around 7:30 and after 15 groggy minutes out of bed, I decided to forget it and go to bed for the night.

Day Nineteen: JK I'm hungry

As soon as I typed "day nineteen" this popped into my head, of course.

Now that I've relieved my attention deficit, if today's food consumption was ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being filet mignon, lobster tail, and sour cream and chive mashed potatoes and 1 being a rice cake, I'd say it was a bland 3 (rice cake with a schmear of peanut butter?).

I got to sleep in a little today. We had a two hour delay because it's so cold, the salt couldn't even melt the ice in the school parking lot. For breakfast I reheated a serving of pumpkin spice oatmeal - I didn't add anything this time. I remembered to eat before I left for work and took my standard coffee to go.

I had lunch at a normal-ish time (11:27 as opposed to 10:27) and I had my leftover vegetable stir fry from last night's dinner. See what I mean? Ho hum.

For my snack I had three celery stalks and some white bean hummus. That was the high point of the day. Celery! The high point! Pre-lunch I had had 3-4 kernels of caramel popcorn that Erika brought in from her cousin's popcorn company in Chicago, Let's Get Poppin. It was hands-down the best popcorn and quite possibly the best caramel anything I've ever had, but then I started to worry that it might have butter in it. OMG I want more NOWNOWNOW. Oh crap, I looked online. There is butter in it. Now I have to add another day to this experiment. Now I smell caramel in my apartment. I'm suffering from the "am I hungry or am I bored?" dilemma - especially because I'm watching a movie. I have no calories left for snacks. This is how I feel:

I went to Trader Joe's after work to pick up some stuff for this week (I realize that it's Thursday and didn't I just go shopping?). I have a few recipes I want to try from Vegetarian Times: vegan burgers and satay noodle salad (why does everything have to be called a salad?). I was really looking forward to making vegan burgers for dinner.

Well, all of the "soy cheese" at TJ's had casein in it. I was on my way home thinking "where the hell can I buy some Daiya?! Do I have to stop at Stop & Shop on my way home too?! What is a burger without cheese?!" when it hit me: I have to have a friggin' smoothie for dinner.

Nooooooooooooooo. Today was one of those days when all I can think about is dinner. I actually haven't had a day like that in a long time. I really, really, really wanted a cheeseburger.

Well, when I got home, I realized that my Ninja was in the dishwasher...no biggie, right? I opened the dishwasher and then realized that the stuff in the dishwasher was dirty and it wasn't even half full. Being lazy, I decided to run the dishwasher rather than wash the pitcher by hand, which I knew would take at least an hour (we're on, like, almost hour 2 now).

I decided to have a salad to hold me over before dinner. This wouldn't really count as dinner, since the smoothie is supposed to be a meal replacement. I put together 3 cups of baby arugula blend, a half cup of shredded red cabbage, a half cup of shredded carrots, a half cup of cooked whole wheat couscous (big mistake there at 110 calories), a quarter cup of pea shoots, 2 chopped green onions, 5 sliced Cherub (grape) tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar (perfect ratio). I wolfed this down ravenously. Still hungry. I ate a vegan cookie. Still hungry. I preemptively logged in my smoothie (with no extra ingredients) and I have 101 calories left. I'm sitting here trying to watch a movie over the roar of the dishwasher, pondering what I can add to my smoothie to make it tolerable. I did stock up on 19 cent bananas at TJ's, but those have a lot of calories.

I'm also going to make a smoothie for breakfast tomorrow for three reasons: 1) Then I can actually enjoy my dinner tomorrow night, 2) I am proctoring the SAT on Saturday morning and I don't really want Friday night's dinner to "take effect" while I'm there, and 3) I have one midterm exam first thing tomorrow and there are 2 other teachers with me so if this happens, I should be safe:

Sorry for being gross.

Pink cup, pink robe, blue smoothie

Anyway, my smoothie is ready! I don't know if it's because I was super hungry or if it's just that good, but IT'S GOOD! Blueberries are clearly key. This time I mixed the protein, super greens, almond milk AND a teaspoon of imitation vanilla extract, a teaspoon of (real!) almond extract (another factor in this smoothie's awesomeness - I freakin' looooove almond), 3/4 cup of ice and a cup of frozen blueberries (hoping the ice would add extra volume). 

So this is where I am today:

Totals	1,161	200	21	52	1,398	50
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	39	-50	19	8	902	-5
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Not too shabby. I guess it's healthier than eating 750 calories. Well, I'd better go get ready for tomorrow...meaning I'd better get horizontal on the couch and finish this movie that's way too long for a school night.