May 2008

I don’t know where the time went today, but it flew by and I didn’t even start my elliptical workout until 11:00PM tonight. I guess waking up at 1:00PM probably has something to do with it lol. Luckily I got my walk in before it started to downpour; that would have been awful if we got stuck in that. It may have even traumatized hubby for life and then he’d never go on a walk with me again! LOL The storm only lasted for a few minutes, but it was fast and furious. It knocked down a small tree in our driveway that landed just a few feet away from the car. Phew! Close call.

After our walk to the post office — which was closed — I came home and drank the other half of the smoothie I made yesterday. Being it was still in the blender pitcher in the fridge, I added a few more ice cubes and a few drops of Stevia, then popped it back on the blender for a minute. It was awesome! The Stevia gave it a nice sweet boost. It looks like smoothies are going to be my #1 post-walk or post-workout summer snack/meal. They are so refreshing and they fill me up for quite awhile. I never thought I could be satisfied ‘drinking’ a meal, but I really enjoy smoothies now. Mmm, mmm!!

I did strength training right before our late 9:00PM dinner and worked up an appetite. Dinner was as DELICIOUS as it was BEAUTIFUL! I don’t think I’ve made a prettier salad. I almost didn’t want to eat it lol. But I did of course!

I found a box of Tostada bowls in Walmart one day when I was stalking the spice aisle for low-sodium seasonings I could use. They were 180 calories each bowl, but only 5mg sodium and hardly any saturated fat, so I thought they’d make a nice salad and they did.

I made 3 of them; 2 with beef and taco spices and 1 with turkey breast and salt-free spices. I totally forgot to defrost my ground turkey breast, so I used turkey breast cutlets that I had in the fridge instead; same difference I suppose. hehe

I started by cooking 4oz turkey breast (120 cal) that I sliced into little strips in a nonstick pan with cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder. While the meat cooked I filled the bowls with 3 cups (84g) mixed leafy greens (Bibb, romaine lettuce, 15 cal). Then the building of the taco salad from heaven ensued: the turkey breast, 40g fresh Haas avocado (70 cal), ¼ cup no salt added pinto beans (55 cal), 1.5 oz shredded Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese (90 cal), 1 plum tomato (15 cal), and 30g red onions (15 cal). I made a creamy dressing out of: 50g Fage Total 20% yogurt (40 cal), 2 TBSP Ken’s Steakhouse lite vidalia onion dressing (80 cal), and a few Tablespoons red wine vinegar (10 cal). For just 690 calories, this was so incredible and filling, I almost couldn’t finish it! Wow, it was just magnificent!!

The taco bowl wasn’t as big as I thought it would be when I took them out of the box, so when I put the lettuce in, it pretty much filled it up. I didn’t know how I was going to fit everything in it, but I found a way I guess. Once the bowl was broken it was easier to eat it. I didn’t really want to break the bowl, but I did and enjoyed every last bit of it. YUMMY! I am definitely going to make this again sometime in the future. My husband was crazy about it too. This would be excellent with vegetarian chili, chicken, lean beef, or even just beans. I definitely want to get the true taco experience and try lean beef someday.

A little while later I had my yogurt sundae, which was really good but half a serving doesn’t give you very much. Oh well, I had plenty of ice cream this week, I’m certainly not deprived LOL.

So it was almost 11:00PM and being we woke up so late, I didn’t get to do my elliptical yet. Ugh! So I headed downstairs to get in the 60 minutes of cardio I had planned today. I finished it all too! I was soaked with sweat from head to toe. My face was as red as a lobster. I was working it HARD! I think harder than ever. I wanted to see what the BodyBugg would say after an hour straight of intense cardio. These are my results:

Went to sleep at 4:35AM
BodyBugg reset at 12:00AM
Woke up at 1:00PM
4:32AM: 453 calories burned
1:41PM: 1167 calories burned
3:03 (before walk): 1308 calories burned
4:15PM (after walk): 1722 calories burned
6:17PM: 1917 calories burned
6:53PM: 1976 calories burned
10:37PM: 2408 calories burned
End of day: 2851 calories burned

The 3:00PM bar is when we took our walk to town and the last bar is when I was using my elliptical. According to BodyBugg I took more steps on my walk to town and burned just about the same calories, which I know is not right. On our walk to town it’s about 1.4 miles each way and we usually do that in about 40-60 minutes, depending on how much time we spend frolicking in town. So tonight I did intervals on my elliptical for 60 minutes, only stopping for a rest twice, but I paused the timer. I did 8.4 miles worth on highest resistance, changing up my speed every so often. I was going at it really hard; my entire shirt was covered in sweat — pretty mental picture, I know!

Now, when we walk to town, the only real effort is going back home because it’s uphill, but my husband and I can still maintain a conversation and I hardly break a sweat unless it’s really warm out. My forehead gets a little sweaty, but nothing major. So when we got home from the walk BodyBugg reported 401 calories burned within that hour period. After my elliptical session it reported less than 450 calories burned since the last time I checked around 10:30PM. Yeah, definitely not accurate and I know this from past elliptical sessions, but it still drives me crazy lol. Especially when I am putting a lot of effort into something and it acts like I was casually strolling through the park or something. I really want to know what I’m burning from my elliptical, but I don’t think I’ll ever find out from BodyBugg. You have to wonder how many people use it as a guideline and aren’t getting everything they burn and think they have to eat much less than they do. Of course it’s only a guideline and not the final say in anything, but it’s a bit disappointing. Oh and the price keeps going down, down, down! Someone told me they bought theirs on sale for $169! I’m telling ya, it will be marked down to $19.95 by the end of the year. lol It’s a neat little gadget though and I love gadgets. I’m sure I’ll buy something else that’s “bigger and better” soon. I’m really addicted to the stats and trying to find out what’s going on inside of me. But when it comes down to it, my own experience and overall feeling is my most reliable guide.

I weighed in at 223.8 lbs today; more than 2.5 lbs less than yesterday. So if I were depending solely on the BodyBugg to predict my gains and losses, I’d be very confused lol.

So after my midnight romp on the hamster wheel, I took a shower and ate lunch well after midnight lol! I’ve been craving tuna on crackers lately, not sure why. I used to eat it on Ritz crackers, but they are a major no-no now. Not because of the calories, but because they contain enriched flour, high fructose corn syrup AND hydrogenated oil. So being I rarely do anything on a small scale, I planned the biggest cracker in the pantry with tuna:

1 100% whole wheat unsalted Matzoh cracker (crisp bread — 110 cal) made like a pizza with 1 plum tomato (15 cal) and ¼ cup (56g) Bumble Bee low sodium tuna mixed with 2 TBSP Hellmann’s Canola mayo (90 cal). I sprinkled black pepper over the top of it and ate it along side 98g fresh peach (38 cal) and 14g Snyder’s unsalted mini pretzels (55 cal). The tuna “pizza” was awesome! So big and sooo yummy! It was an excellent post-elliptical meal for just 378 calories. The Matzoh cracker was a great bread replacement too. It takes awhile to eat, so you feel like you’re getting much more than you actually are. Unfortunately the peach wasn’t as good as the rest of the plate; it was VERY bitter and tasted awful! Probably because they’re out of season, but I ate it anyway.

I’ve only eaten 1598 out of my 2100 calorie menu today. I don’t know why I’m not as hungry as usual, but the past 2 days my appetite has been uncharacteristically tame. Weird. I’m probably still overstuffed from all the “free days” I had in the past week lol. Or maybe I’m just zeroing in on the best food choices that satisfy me? Perhaps. Most likely just a phase though. My hungry phases just happen to last longer than my not-so-hungry phases. *giggles*

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