Days Thirteen and Fourteen: This Isn't Getting Easier

Sigh. Avoiding animal products is really, really hard to do when you're dining out. And since much of my weekend has consisted of going out to eat, I've had a hard time keeping up this diet. And since much of my week was filled with social activities, I've had a hard time avoiding adult beverages. Maybe there is a silver lining in my recent diagnosis of fibromyalgia - the medicine I started taking only allows me to tolerate a few drinks, so I can't throw them back and drink my day's calories away. Honestly, the way I feel makes it easier for me to learn towards total teetotalism. 

Anyway, my eating and drinking habits have put me slightly over my daily goals, proving that if I could just get my butt into the gym, I'd be right on the mark. Unfortunately, the pain I've been in doesn't exactly make me want to be very active. I know I'd feel better if I did something, but it's hard to get into that mindset when I'd rather throw myself a Netflix pity party and lay in bed. I have off tomorrow, so maybe I can start the week off right. Here's how I did on Friday:

Friday, January 17

Totals	1,387	208	32	37	1,095	62
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	-187	-58	8	23	1,205	-17
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I'm beginning to think that all oatmeal is a waste of calories. It never keeps me full like people claim it should, even when I fancy it up like this. I got this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie because I couldn't find the Hungry Girl recipe I used to use. This cooks 1 serving, and it's pretty easy. The following goes into the pot: 1 cup of almond milk, some salt (does anyone even measure salt?), 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling), 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used imitation and it was fine, although now that I'm an adult, I should probably buy the real stuff).

This looks vomitty

While that was cooking on the stovetop, I tried the blog's "melted banana trick" to sweeten up my oatmeal and add some more volume. I just sliced up a banana with another 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract and let it get melty and gooey and then added it to the oatmeal while it finished cooking.

You know what would make this better? BUTTER.

I forget how long this took to cook altogether, but just let it boil and then watch it until it gets to the desired consistency. When it finished, I threw in about a tablespoon of golden raisins and sprinkled some cinnamon on top.

This is actually better than it looks...but not that good

Like I said, this was decent, but not worth the 381 calories. Next time (Tuesday, probably) I make this, I will probably omit the banana. It didn't add any flavor or volume that was worth its weight in calories. 

Lunch: Whole Foods Quinoa Salad

Remember how I was excited to find this because I thought it was the same quinoa salad that I had at Pita Grill? (man, I'm also plugging them so much, they should sponsor me, too).

Well, I was WRONG.

This was gross. A serving size was like two tablespoons, so I think this was meant to go on top of something rather than be eaten by itself. Granted I did eat it a day after its "use by" date, but I don't think that explains the funky chemical taste in this salad. I think I managed to eat 8 tablespoons for lunch, at 80 calories.

Snacks: Random crackers at my parents' house

I had plans with the girls on Friday night, and since we were staying at Jen's house and Jen lives around the corner from my parents, I decided that fate was telling me to bring my laundry to good old mom and dad's before dinner. When I got there after work, no one was home, but I could smell szekely goulash in the slow cooker, which is my favorite Hungarian dish and one of my favorite, period. Not fair! This smell, combined with my measly 8 tablespoons of quinoa for lunch, had me digging through the pantry for a vegan-friendly snack in a carnivorous household. I settled on some crackers and some dill Triscuits, which I realize are crackers, too. I was famished. 7:00 couldn't come soon enough. Especially when my parents started eating the delicious pork and sauerkraut in front of me and offering me some.

Dinner: Vegetable Pad Thai and Champs

It was finally dinner time!!! We headed to Yummy Sushi to celebrate Jen's and Kayln's belated birthdays and eat our faces off. We ordered edamame for the table, which is obviously safe, and I went with the vegetable pad thai because I didn't think sushi vegetable rolls would fill me up, especially if I was drinking the champagne we brought with us. 

When the vegetable pad thai came, I couldn't shovel it into my mouth fast enough. It was so good. And then I realized: Holy shiitake mushrooms, pad thai has eggs in it. Nonononononono!!!!! I attempted to pick the eggs out, but because they were cooked with the noodles, the pieces were so small it was nearly impossible. I did the best I could, but after my realization, I didn't eat much more. :( 

I'm very proud to say that when we got back to Jen's, I was able to resist the chocolate Junior's cheesecake she surprised us with. I did not resist a glass of white white. Small victories! (?)

Saturday, January 18

Another day that wouldn't have been so bad with exercise: 

Totals	1,657	239	18	56	1,455	38
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	-457	-89	22	4	845	7
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Breakfast: Randoms

I had to take my car in for service at the dealership, so I had to wake up pretty early at Jen's and make the trek pretty much all the way across the state (seriously). Luckily, the dealership is down the street from Steve and Eric's house, so when they told me it was going to take two hours, Steve so kindly agreed to pick me up. We were roasting Eric that night, so we had decided to work on our material during the day so I could avoid driving all the way home and coming all the way back. Of course, as soon as Steve pulled up the car was ready 90 minutes ahead of schedule (not complaining!). Steve, Briele, and I decided to go to Shore Good Pancake House for breakfast and I immediately started thinking about what I'd be able to eat there. In the meantime, I ate a banana that was in my car.

I settled for a random mix of vegan-friendly options: black coffee with Splenda (which I will no longer be using, by the way), grits (which I requested be made with water and not milk), home fries (which were hopefully safe, but for all I know were cooked in butter or bacon grease), and wheat toast (which I requested without butter).

Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Carbs!

I had some strawberry jam on the one slice of toast I ate, which made my teeth hurt because I'm not used to sugar. I finished the grits and maybe a third of the home fries. I was full and happy, but I felt deprived because Shore Good's omelettes and pancakes come in so many delicious and wonderful varieties. 

After a late breakfast, we sat around for a while and then I went to go run some errands, so we skipped lunch. By 5:00, I was totally ready for all-you-can-eat Mongolian grill. 

Dinner: Mongolian grill

The nondescript Mongolian grill (PJ Lee's) we went to had "vegan friendly" painted on their window, so I knew I was safe! Our dinner started with soup and rice (I chose vegetable and brown) and then I packed my bowl with sprouts, vegetables, tofu, and noodles and added Mongolian and barbecue sauces. After it was cooked, I topped it with peanut sauce and sesame seeds.

I could barely finish all of my food and then could only guess at my caloric intake. I chose a "Mongolian Bbq Bowl" on My Fitness Pal at 512 calories. In retrospect, I could have ditched the rice and used less noodles and avoided the peanut sauce altogether. This was very good and filling though, and I was pretty much set for the night.

The Roast: You need drinks at a roast, so I had two Pacifico and then AJ had to show up with Natty Boh, and how was I to resist the PBR of Baltimore? Luckily I resisted any late night snacks, although Eric did (accidentally) trick me into another slip up when he told me try this awesome guacamole, and then told me it was Greek yogurt guac. :/ I barely had a bite, so I'll get over it.

More about today and tomorrow...probably on Monday.

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.