April 2008

I felt so sluggish all day because Aunt Flo stormed into town and knocked me off my feet. And of course today was a very high calorie/semi-cheat day, so I feel all bloated and didn’t feel like eating. My appetite came around eventually, but I haven’t finished everything on my menu. I’m actually at less than 2500 calories for the day, which is still a lot, but I planned on 3400. I so did not feel like eating an omelet for breakfast, so my first meal of the day was my ½ turkey sandwich snack that I had right after strength training. At least I got a lot of exercise in. I wish I could have completed my menu though!

I did 32 minutes on my elliptical on low/medium resistance; 4 miles, then more later on. It was really cute; my husband exercised with me! Against his will of course lol, but he still huffed and puffed his way through it. He used my Bowflex dumbbells with me first; I do 3 sets of 12 reps. So, we did the first set and he only used a 15 lb weight, the lowest it goes LOL. Which is kind of weird, because he can pick me up and I weigh ~226 lbs. Anyway, we did the first set of 12 and then rested for a few seconds. I was counting aloud and when we started the second set I started counting from 1 again and he’s like: “One?!! !! ” ROFL — he thought we were starting from the beginning again, it was adorable. Then later on I went on my elliptical for another 30 minutes on low/medium resistance for another 4 miles. I was supposed to do high resistance, but Aunt Flo’s arrival didn’t have me feeling 100%.

My husband went on the elliptical on low resistance and I was like, “Ok, do just 1 mile.” So he gets going on and he’s whining and said: “It’s been on 0.1 miles foreverrrrrrr!!!!!” LOL!! I’m like, “You realize I do about 80 of those 0.1 miles a day right?” It was hilarious. He’s not overweight but he’s out of shape and even though I weigh more than him, I can run circles around him now. A year ago, forget it. I could barely walk to our bedroom without needing a break 5 steps up. I’ve come a long way. I’m sure if Dustin keeps up with a little exercise at a time, he’ll get used to it in no time. It happened like that for me. I used to be dead on my feet doing the elliptical for 2 or 3 minutes, but now I can probably do 2 or 3 hours at a time if I really wanted to. hehe Yay me!

I was pretty hungry after all of that exercise so I started with a lovely Caesar salad with tiger shrimp and angel hair pasta on the side:

I toasted 1 slice Martin’s 100% whole wheat potato bread (70 cal) under the broiler on both sides because I was too impatient to dry it out in the oven lol. Then I boiled 1oz whole wheat angel hair pasta (105 cal) and steamed 3oz (before cook) tiger shrimp in a separate pot for just about 2 minutes.

While the pasta finished cooking, I made a 5 cup (140g) bed of Romaine lettuce on my plate; drained the shrimp, cut them into halves to stretch them a bit farther, then topped the lettuce with the shrimp, the “croutons”, 2 TBSP shredded parmesan cheese (40 cal), and the Caesar dressing that I whipped together using:

1 TBSP olive oil (120 cal)
2 tablespoons Hellmann’s Canola mayo (90 cal)
Lemon juice froma fresh lemon (5 cal)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (5 cal)

= 220 calories, 1 serving (makes just over 3 TBSP of dressing)

When the pasta was done, I drained it and added in some fresh chopped parsley, 2 teaspoons olive oil (80 cal), 2 TBSP shredded parmesan cheese (40 cal) and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This was a very sophisticated lunch that hardly took any time or effort for just 675 calories, most of which came from the dressing and olive oil. I would have preferred to grill the shrimp, but we haven’t set up our grill since we moved. Maybe next week. It could have used more dressing, but as calorie dense as it is, I didn’t want to spend more calories on it just for lunch being dinner was going to be off the charts YUMMY!!

Good thing none of our cats are named Garfield because I surely would have had trouble keeping them away from this sensational meal:

I had my mom’s help in the kitchen this time; she made 2 other dishes of like this for my husband and herself while I made mine. I wasn’t feeling well and it was nice to have the extra help again. I’ve been getting spoiled by all the helpers I’ve had this week lol.

I started with the sauce, which was super simple: I browned 4oz ground turkey breast (120 cal) in a small sauce pan along with: 1 minced garlic clove (5 cal), 1 teaspoon olive oil (40 cal), 30g red onions (15 cal), and fresh parsley. When the turkey was cooked, I added in: 1 cup Hunt’s no salt added tomato sauce (80 cal) and 2 TBSP tomato paste (30 cal), then let it simmer slowly while I boiled 2oz whole wheat lasagna noodles (210 cal).

When the noodles were done, I drained them, then began layering the lasagna in my single serving oven dish; noodle, sauce, part of ¼ cup + 2 TBSP fat free ricotta cheese (75 cal), and part of 3oz Price Chopper low fat mozzarella (180 cal) in 2 layers. All of the sauce didn’t fit in, the dish was overflowing as seen in the pic lol. Then I sprinkled 1 TBSP shredded parmesan cheese, dried oregano, and garlic powder over the top and put it into the preheated 450F oven for about 10 minutes.

While it was baking in the oven, I steamed 1 cup Birds Eye broccoli (30 cal) in the microwave and prepared my side salad. I planned to have a Alexia dinner roll with this, but I forgot to get them and substituted a soft Martin’s 100% whole wheat potato roll (80 cal) for it.

WOW!!! This lasagna was AWESOME!!! The fresh parsley tasted so wonderful, I REALLY enjoyed it. It was a very, VERY big portion, but I ate every last bite. It was 1100 calories for the entire meal, but worth it a million times over. I’m sure most people could portion this into 2 separate meals, but for an aggressive appetite like mine, this was just right!

About an hour after dinner I had my Kozy Shack mini Napoleons, but skipped the coffee. I went to have my banana snack and got grossed out by this bump that was on one of them. I don’t know what it was, but it looked like somebody’s home. I threw out the whole bunch and headed for the hot fudge sundae for refuge LOL.

It’s been a crazy day and it’s not quite over yet. Ugh. The next few days are going to be even crazier. Fun! I’ll probably have the pizza on my menu just before bed and then call it a day. Between Aunt Flo and all this yumminess, I’m sure I’ll be up on the scale tomorrow. I feel puffy and overall yucky. Hopefully her stay will be brief. *crosses fingers*

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