Does having a salad for dessert count as cheating?

And does the mozzarella on the salad make a difference?

Last night I managed 42 minutes on the Wii Fit, 30 of it on the island cycle (basically stepping up and down on the board). It made me really wish I wasn't so afraid to ride a bike. I didn't learn to ride until I was 18 and then only rode in Vermont. The last time I was on a bike was back in Burlington, VT and I was TERRIFIED! That's what over 10 years of not riding will do (and time in Boston where I've known many people hit while riding). Maybe when the weather gets warmer I'll look into bringing my bike down to the nice path by the water, or riding around the river. It's going to be getting my bike there and back though that will be the challenge!

On the food front, I forgot my lunch again. Feh! It's the last of the potato soup and really needs to be eaten. I've had soup every day since I made a big batch of broth when I came home from England. I tend to make a large batch so we can have soup for several meals so in the past week I've only made three soups: vegetable bean, potato leek, and lentil. The lentil probably has one more meal left, that is unless Spouse finishes it off today. I'm at a loss as to what to make next. Maybe a garlic soup?

With the soups we've been having bread, salad, usually with fresh mozzarella, and the occasional bit it broccoli. I still need to train Spouse in bread baking as it would make it much easier for me to prep things and just leave it to rise when I go to work and have him kneed, shape and bake during the day. However, since I haven't managed that yet (he has been ever so helpful by cleaning the kitchen during the day though!) I'll be mixing the dough tonight from the sponge I made up last night. The full day of ripening should do wonderful things for the flavour!

Exercise

I really have a hard time making the time for exercise. The one time I was able to lose weight without some sort of diet was when I was unemployed and made a point of walking for an hour a day. This time I'm not exercising just to lose weight, but more importantly to get stronger.

Fortunately I have the Wii Fit now which makes moving my body around like a dork actually enjoyable (I do like long walks too, but it's too cold now for that). I've managed two 30 minute sessions on it this week and am shooting for a total of four. Eventually I'd like to be able to do it every day, but it always feels like it takes too much time (although what else I'd do with that 30 minutes I don't know.)

Remember me?

I had a good breakfast this morning. My doc reminded me that I really should eat breakfast every day. She said it was okay if I couldn't face more food to just have fruit. Now I just need to remember that I do in fact have fruit in the house!. Brekkies today was scrambled eggs with the broccoli left over from dinner and a bit of parmesan (less than 1/2 oz), plus tea with soy milk. I even remembered to take my enormous multivitamin that I need to bite into thirds to get down.

Lunch will be the leftover potato leek soup (which I didn't have last night because I was full from the starters) and a Tofurkey and spinach sandwich with Branston pickle on homemade bread.

Oops

All that crowing about how I was going to walk more and yesterday I only did the mile to Central. But we had a nice homemade dinner last night of Quorn (for me, chicken for Spouse) with mushrooms, onions and spinach in a white wine and cream sauce over brown rice, with steamed broccoli on the side. I made far too much rice and Spouse didn't even finish his portion.

Lunch today will be frozen food. I bought it a couple of weeks ago to shove in the freezer in case I really needed it, and I think my schedule will be too tight today to contemplate a better lunch.

Having trouble drinking water today. My stomach is a little upset and water just doesn't feel right. Unfortunately there's no fizzy water in the vending machine, so I'll probably go for ginger ale.

Bad blogger

I've been so bad about putting anything here lately. I've been following other people's progress, which has been inspiring, but neglecting to log my own. Perhaps I'm just afraid to see in print the days I slack, overeat or over drink?

For the past two days (yes, two whole days) I've increased the walking part of my evening commute. Previously I had been walking to Central Square in Cambridge to take the T home, which comes out to one mile from my office. Last week I tried going a bit further to see how awful it would be, and it was actually not a bad walk at all!, So now my basic goal (rainstorms and heavy grocery days aside) is to walk from the office to Kendal Square by way of Central, which works out to 2.3 miles. I am allowed to stop (such as for groceries) but I must do that 2+ miles before getting on the T to go home. Then it's only the piddly 1/2 mile from the T stop to home.

Breakfast:
toast with peanut butter, tea with soy milk, water

Hey, I lost weight!

I cheated though: I got sick. Now I'm on antibiotics that have appetite suppression as a side-effect (the only positive side effect). I had been trying to get more walking in, but this weekend I was so ill I hardly moved, let alone left the house. But after looking at some recent photos today, I'm just horrified.


Yes, I am just bloody huge.

Here's hoping the warmer weather will inspire healthier meals (it usually does) and the desire for long walks. And that the four pounds I've lost stay off when I come off the meds next week!

Bad me!

I am naughty for not posting, but I'll try to get back at it.

Yesterday I took my first steps (ha!) toward walking my way into fitness. I walked for 30 minutes at lunch while listening to an old radio show I'd downloaded. The result: big blister on my toe! It's got a bandaid on it so I will not be deterred from today's walking. Since I have a meeting to go to 12-1:30, I'll be walking after work.

Yesterday I also started some warmer weather breakfasts. I bought three different bags of organic frozen fruit, plus placed three bananas in the freezer before they went off. So yesterday was a mango, banana and pineapple smoothie made with Greek yogurt and soy milk and a scant teaspoon (if that) of honey. Yesterday's tea was lighter on sugar as well. Today's smoothie was pineapple and banana with even less honey (mainly because it wasn't coming out of the squeeze bottle) and lacked only a touch of coconut to make it a total tropical explosion. I have some unsweetened coconut too, so may try that tomorrow.

I managed to keep from big snacking yesterday somewhat. My post-walk lunch was a salad with sesame dressing (about 2T?) and a hard boiled egg. There was some leftover food from noon service and I managed to avoid the olives, feta, hummus and crackers in favour of the grape tomatoes, which were really sweet. Pre-class much was veggie sushi and post-section dinner was cod and leeks with a couple tiny, 1" potatoes. I paid WAY too much for that small amount of food, but cod isn't really sustainable, so I'll just call that guilt money. Oh, and 2 pints.

Today's lunch is provided at the meeting, so I don't know quite what it will be yet. I'm hoping for a snack-feasting dinner though.

Ugh. Lunch was a Greek salad wrap. I HATE wraps as it's like someone smeared out paste in a circle, let it dry then rolled some salad up in it and let it soak through again. I ate about 1/4 of it, then picked out and ate the filling with my fingers. And then I had the included crisps and cookie. There were two cookies included but I traded my second one for some Advil.

Fruit!

Breakfast was grapes and an English muffin with butter and jam. Tea was unsweetened, unlightened as all the milk is spoiled. I poured the beginnings of tofu into my tea to discover that and then checked the cow milk and that was off too.

Spring has Sprung

The weather is getting warmer and it just cries out for long walks to be taken (yes, weather cries out to me.) We went for a walk down to the water on Friday and then out for a pub meal, which was just wonderful (the walk, not the meal. The meal was just okay.) Spouse went out hiking on Saturday while I stayed home and did grading and then went down the pub for a bit. We decided that walks would be our things, and, even better, it's getting to be the time of the year for Snack-feasting!

Our first official snack-feast meal was last night. Snack-feasting for us is when we lay out a table full of what one might consider appetisers (bread, garlic oil and caprese salad feature prominently) and then munch our way through in an unhurried fashion. Last night's feast was gingered asparagus, pan-roasted sprouts with garlic and pine nuts, steamed artichoke with dijonaisse dipping, tomato and mozzarella, olives, bread and garlic-herb oil. I somehow managed to drink an entire bottle of wine over the course of the evening though. V Bad!

This morning the snack-feasting continued with us having grapefruit, papaya and veggie sausage on home-made English muffins. A rather huge meal, but at least we won't be snacking on junk all day!

Friday again. Where did the week go?

Yet again I did not make breakfast. I had a few dried apricots with my tea and then bought a crappy excuse for a croissant at work.

Huh. Where did Wednesday go?

Well, it's Thursday now, so let's just start in. I ran very late today but somehow made in to work two minutes before start time. Showered, made tea and cooked an asparagus and Smart Bacon omelet this morning, which took a lot of the time, then setting my hair while eating took much more. I would have made it out earlier if I hadn't then spend 10 minutes trying to find my mp3 player that the cat had made off with. The thought of commuting without it was just too ghastly!

I should do a quick recap of what I had yesterday, I suppose. Breakfast was a veggie sausage and tea. Lunch options in the cafeteria were slim so I went for the salad bar even though that was pretty much full of leftovers. One of the leftovers was the couscous from Molly Katzen's visit though, so that made a nice topper on the salad. I broke down and had non-food from the vending machine in the afternoon in the form of a Milky Way. Not satisfying at all. Dinner was pizza and beer and then the last of the jelly beans at home.

Speaking of pizza, I still have store-bought dough at home and will probably make pizza for dinner tonight. We have mushrooms, asparagus and spinach, which should make something reasonably healthy. I need to go shopping soon for more flour to get our bread production back up. The pizza dough I made on Sunday was very nice (I didn't get to taste the finished product) and I thought it might be nice to make some whole wheat dough to keep in the freezer for occasional pizza nights at home.

I'm about halfway through In Defense of Food right now, and while it's not really telling me much that I didn't know in terms of what we should eat, it's still really shocking to see the extent of corruption of our food because of lobbying groups and how our diet has changed because the food we grow is made to be cheap and transportable. It's making me really wish we'd bought a CSA this year, but it may be too late to get one at this point.

Lunch today was quickly gobbled before running up to a video shoot at work. The food place in the lab building has premade salads and I got a spinach and berry salad, using only about a tablespoon of dressing. For dessert - yes, I got dessert - it was chocolate pudding. A fizzy water was consumed over the next hour and a half while I did the shoot.

No pizza for dinner as Freddie made it up for his lunch. He was still full when I got home, so I made red beans and rice for myself.

Hungry? Not?

I wasn't hungry at all again this morning but now that I'm at work I'm thinking I should eat something. Hmmm. Breakfast sandwich time, perhaps?

Still full from Sunday

I made tons of food yesterday and ate too much of it. I'm still full this morning so limited myself to tea for breakfast. Spouse says I feel thinner to him. I though I haven't noticed anything yet.

I made an appointment for my annual exam (nearly a bi-annual at this point!) but can't get in until July. At least that gives me some more time to slim down a bit. I weight about 20 pounds more than the last time I was in and then I was trying to lose weight too! But maybe the writing will help. I've started a private blog that I'm viewing as my therapist. I spill everything, no matter how hard it is (and some of it is hard to put down in print) and just try to let go. It's also good for general bitching when someone annoys me :) And it's probably better than slugging the person or screaming, "SHUT UP!"

Mollie Katzen was doing a cooking demo with tastings and recipes in our cafeteria today. I had a bit of everything (you got a small plate to put a taste of each dish on) and really loved the gingered asparagus most. The black beans in mango sauce were good too, but I think the dish I want to try most (after the asparagus) is couscous with orange and dill. I have a ton of dill left over from co-op last night and would only need to buy an orange. Well, technically I'd need to buy couscous too, but I'm going to try it with quinoa instead.

The rest of lunch was veggie lasagne and green beans.

Dinner was the quinoa dish and sausage over baby spinach and half an artichoke with vegan dijonaisse.

Hooray for Friday!

I have three meetings today, but still, IT'S FRIDAY!!

I forgot to pick up more grapefruit, or even juice yesterday so it was a citrus-free breakfast :( I did have a boiled egg, three slices of Smart Bacon and bread with butter along with my tea. I'm really missing the citrus though so may need to hit the cafeteria before my meetings to get some juice.

The citrus craving got the better of me. I just finished 16oz of red grapefruit juice.

I had lots of water in the morning and during the first two meetings of the day, then gorged myself on macaroni and cheese and roasted sprouts (with more water) for lunch.

Tried breakfast

This morning I made cream of wheat with dried fruit to have in addition to grapefruit and tea. It wasn't that good, but I blame that on my choice of fruit (black mission figs and cherries.) Still, I ate it all and it hasn't killed me yet.

Lunch was a white bean soup and small salad with blue cheese dressing. I've had a decent amount of water today too. Dinner will be boeuf bourguignon (made with seitan), bread and broccoli. An all B meal.

Midweek

Grapefruit and tea again this morning.

I heard an interesting thing on diet books on NPR this morning. Someone has come up with a writer's diet that, apart from the eat-less-exercise-more advise that everyone should follow, suggests writing for 20 minutes every morning to keep yourself on track. I'm such a slug that I don't know if I could manage it since it would mean getting up on time in the mornings! But I've managed to incorporate eating in the morning, even if I haven't had more food lately (and I should get back to having cereal or egg and toast), so perhaps I could manage writing, even if it's only updating my other blog.

Snacked on Smartfood from the vending machine. I really need to make bigger breakfasts to avoid getting so hungry late morning.

Lunch was rice, tarka dahl and salad with Russian dressing. And water.

Dinner was a cocktail, pizza with gorgonzola, carmelized onions and figs. And then a glass of wine.

Back at work

It's 83 degrees in the office. People keep asking how I'm feeling because I took the day off (and two people are still out) and all I can say is, "Sweaty!" I climbed up on the sill to open my window and they just opened the door to the outside, but it's still too hot.

I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I hope I can make it through the day. I've got section tonight too and need to write my notes. Breakfast was grapefruit and tea.

Lunch was a giant honkin' sandwich and water.

Dinner was salmon salad and beer at John Harvard.

Took a Sickie

I was starting to feel really drained, like when you have a fever, yesterday so used it as an excuse to stay home. But since I rolled over in bed yesterday morning and strained my neck (almost as lame an injury as when I threw my back out plugging in an iron) AND somehow screwed up my foot so it feels like the cramp from hell when I try to walk, I feel justified in staying home. And I was still oogie when I sent the email that I'd be out. The neck is starting to feel better now after Freddie gave me massages last night and this morning (and he fixed my film editor!), but the foot is still screwed up. It's been a while since I've had an x-ray though, so maybe I'm just due for some radiation :)

I mad two recipes from Vegetarian Times last night that were fab! One was a red quinoa and beet salad from the Ubuntu restaurant (how could I pass that up) in Napa Valley, and the other was a pasta with asparagus and feta. After we ate the salad, neither of us were hungry for the pasta, so I've been munching it today. There's still leftover beets, quinoa and arugula for more salad too.

Beverages today have so far been limited to tea, of which I drank a whole pot! I'm a bit wired now.

Dinner was leftovers, water and a bit of coffee ice cream

Another long day

I only managed to do 17 minutes of Wii fit today because it was just too yucky and I started crying when Spouse tried to talk to me. PMS Fit. And I have a sensitive tooth today and am in back-to-back meetings again (right now, in fact).

Breakfast was grapefruit, cornbread and tea. Lunch was avocado and cheese sandwich, chips and cookie with water.

Tuesday

I'm still sore from exercise, but managed another 20 minutes this morning. The I had grapefruit and cornbread with tea before dashing off to all-day meetings at work. Oh boy! I think they're feeding us though.

Well we weren't supposed to be fed, but I had to give an impromptu demo during the lunch break, so those of us at the demo got fed. I had a salad with fatty dressing and fizzy water.

Dinner was leftover taco rice thing and beer.