Let's do This!

For all the wrong reasons!

Wedding is in 17 days. I am in the low 160s or high 150s (i dunno I'm not weighing myself until next wed). I want to drop some crazy weight. Ryan said he will carry me around at the wedding if I weigh in the 140s. I clarified that 149.9 counts as 140s. I didn't clarify the weight of the dress, but I think that doesn't count a how much I weigh. SOOOO, here's the food diary.

Wednesday
Bfast
1c skim milk
1c Kashi go lean crunch
Lunch
1.5 c young tender spinach (i know dirty right?)
1/4 green pepper
1/4 tomato
4 oz balsamic chicken
2 tbsp feta
3 tbsp olice oil and balsamic

Snacks
2 tbsp cashews (I know so not wave one, but 25 cents in the dispenser at work and SO good)
1c cucumber slices

Dinner
Chicken En Papilote w Vegetables
1/2c green beans with 2 tbsp of Feta

Snack
1.5 c skim milk
chai tea (again not wave one bc of the sugar, BUT it's my reward for doing an otherwise on plan day)

Exercise-1 hour of 6 man vball.

BMI

And I just checked on three BMI sites, that mean I now officially have an healthy BMI!!!!

Really?!?

That's what I said!

When I got on the scale this morning.

152.5--> seriously have not seen that for at least 6 years.

Loosing too fast?

It's hard for me to worry too much.

Good Sonoma Day, survived a major challenge-going out to PnL and no drinking or eating. Yay me.

Bfast .5c egg whites

Lunch-Steak and Blue Cheese Wrap

Snack-.5c cherry tomatoes, 1 cuke

Dinner-Mediteranean Pork Chops, Quinoa, spinach (out of broccoli)

Snack-string cheese

Exercise-1.5 mi run with Ginger

Mixed

Exercrsing on Wave 1 sure is effective. Too effective? I weighed in at 158.7 on Saturday morning, Today (6 days later) I weighed in at 153.9. Identical weigh in conditions. 4.8 lbs in six days. I feel good, and have not had any dizziness or extreme tiredness. I know what Weight Watchers would tell me. Well, I can only assume this won't keep up, and it's just the 'getting back on the wagon" spurt (was that an appropriate use of quotes?). Ryan says 3-4 lbs fluctuation a week is normal. Meh. Apparently I just can't be happy.

Last night was super productive, de-labeled about 30 bottles! 60 down, 160 to go!

When my alarm went off this morning I was having a dream that I was in the living room, and Ryan was getting up to get a snack out of the kitchen. He asked me if I wanted any Chocolate ice cream. I was about to say yes and then it was time to exercise. L A M E.

Day Off?

I am so pumped for everyone to be in town. But I feel like there is so much stuff I want to do to the house before they get here. I am probably treading down an unwise path and doing the big projects that none are likely to notice, instead of starting with the easy stuff. But oh well, they know I'm messy.

Bfast-.5c egg whites (not until 11am arrgh)

Lunch-Steak and Blue Cheese Wrap-not as good as yesterday, maybe bc i wolfed it down at 2pm

Snack- 1 cuke

Dinner- Mediterranean Pork Chops, Broccoli w Almonds and hot Pepper, Quinoa pilaf, 2 glasses of white wine

Exercise-4 mi jog w Zito (7:30am baby), photo shoot of a 4week old and her 14mo sister, 2.5y sister and 5 y brother, rearranging the garage and bookcases .

Ryan helped me in the kitchen a bit which was very nice, since this is a kinda do a bunch at once meal (especially since I started in the wrong order). I'm also pumped I got the Photo Session done in 1 hour. The garage looks GREAT, just need to get the couch outta there and the bicycles hung. Dinner was good, but the pork was waaaay overcooked. My oven doesn't keep an even temp AND I have now confirmed the meat thermometer is broken :(

I'm off to scrub the labels off at least a dozen wine bottles then my day will be complete!

Blah for Hump Day

Today was a good Sonoma Day. That's about all I can say for it. I am grumpy, disappointed with how work went without me there, which makes me want to just get out on my own, which makes me think about how hard and impossible that's gunna be. Blergh. Shower/B'ette weekend cannot come soon enough.

Bfast 1/2c egg whites

Lunch steak and blue cheese wrap - first time i've ever had this, so delicious, ryan liked it too

Snacks 1 cuke, .5c yellow pepper strips

Dinner Chicken En Papilotte, the best Wednesday night dinner ever-wrapped it up yesterday at lunch and left directions for Ryan to bake so it would be ready when I got home, super nice bc I have 25 min between getting home and leaving for vball. Unfortunately he got stuck at work and vball was canceled, but it works in theory

Exercise Vball was canceled, so none to speak of, I should have just gone running when I was already up at 7am, but instead I turned off the alarm and rolled over to some very creepy dreams

Helpers a dime sized piece of chocolate and advil PM, as well as an ambitious remodel of our filing system which I undertook to solve the crankies. What kind of idiot starts Wave 1 on period week?

Sibling Day

Tons of Fun! Got tons done too-exercise, conf call, dog park, bookstore, washed 1 dog, bought wedding shoes, got draino, finished grocery shopping, cooked two meals, de-labeled 2 dozen bottles w Mike's help!


Bfast- .5c egg whites

Lunch-Chicken en Papilotte With Vegetables, glass of white wine

Snack- 28 peanuts, .5c tomatoes

Dinner-Flank Steak w Broccoli and Feta 3 glass of red wine consumed in the d4 hours around dinner.

Evening Snack- Laughing Cow Cheese Circle.

Exercise-Ran 3 mi with Ging, cold water bath, the knees are doing well

Well Lookie Here

Something new! Me posting.

I have been holding steady weight wise in the high-mid 150s. So that's really nice as I have not at all considered myself to be dieting, watching or anything. In fact I have been just living, drinking more than is probably necessary, and eating out with friends and family frequently. But now the high-mid 150s are feeling chunky to me and I yearn for single digit pants (besides my work pants, which are worn at my belly button, so I feel it doesn't quite count). I did buy a stop gap size 10 jeans.

So last week I went back on Wave 1, but with Ryan's Bday (2 dinners out) and Mother's Day it was a no go. But try, try and try again. Or there is no try only do. So I am trying to recommit myself to the Wave 1 hardcore-ness. To that end I have made the fun, exciting calendar below! FYI, since the last time I did Wave 1 I have been promoted to Managing a Brand New Studio, and it is v e r y s l o w . Therefore lost of free time! Well I can't seem to get a readable copy of my calendar in here, but you can see it's prettiness at least.



So hopefully I can take some of my learnings from last Wave 1 and do it happier, easier, cheaper. Said learnings: don't halve and third recipes, just eat it multiple times. It is not the end of the world when I take a diversion, every day is a clean slate. Buy Minced Garlic! And most importantly, if it is evening time and I am cranky and hungry, just take a Advil PM and get in bed with a book.

Yesterday was good...

Bfast: Glass of FF milk

Lunch: Black Bean Wrap with 2 slices of turkey, 1c of romaine on a whole wheat pita

Snacks: 28 peanuts, 1.5c of roasted veg medley (a little too much portion wise, but meh)

Dinner: Easy Balsamic Chicken, roasted veg medley

Snack: 3 weird crackers-Wheat Thin's new product (I was depressed bc I just paid for the groceries-meh)

Helpers: Advil PM and Sigrid Unsdet's Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wife. Zito in bed cuddling with me (I so got busted by Ryan)

Exercise: I did not, had Left knee Pain though, puzzling.


As you can see by the schedule, today is Sibling Day, so there will be some alcohol consumption. I will enjoy this and just try not to eat because of it.

Jerk

Dear Junkies,
I am a jerk. I am blogging from the hospital. Ryan was right.
~The PABJ

Weekend Warrioress

Dear Junkies,

I should have gone shopping on Thursday or Friday, because by Friday evening there was not meat or leafy greens in my house. You just can't do Sonoma without one or the other. Long story short I had a Sonoma in the morning and afternoon, crazy funness in the evening on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday night we went over to hotel Newsome for drinks and tv. As often happens at the hotel, we ended up drinking, ordering a midnight pizza and spending the night. SO that was fun, they have a very comfortable guest bed.
Saturday had lots of eating excitement, from gelato to softball players!
There's a great gelato place at my mall and I have heard rumors of a Cracked Black Pepper and Olive Oil flavor. So whenever I am out and about in the mall I stop by to see if they have it. Finally, last Thursday the nice man working there said, come back on Saturday and I will make it for you. This was very exciting as it is apparently a flavor everyone likes to taste and no one likes to eat. So I got a small of it and it was so good! I also got a small take home size to share with Ryan. It is my new number two favorite, Mediterranean Sea Salt and Carmel still trumps. But that was exciting.
Saturday evening we went to a fundraiser for a and 18U highly competitive, country traveling girls' softball league. It was a poker tournament with an hour of open bar, open chex mix, baked chicken fingers and meatballs (there was other stuff but this is what I ate). It was so much fun! I won a couple hands and had 3 free glasses of wine! Woot Woot. After that we went to the Nickle and I sung two Karaoke songs!
Ryan and I had Sunday off together! The special occasion was getting registered for the wedding and picking out wedding bands. This was tough work, but worked out ok once we got some good guidance. Food-wise I was pretty much Sonoma friendly. Kashi cereal and FF for milk for bfast, and 9oz sirloin with steamed veggies and two pieces of 7 grain bread with butter for dinner. Of course there was the 1/2c Pepper and olive oil gelato.
It's now Monday morning and I am planning my grocery list, hopefully I can get going quickly because Ryan is "Basically positive I have an appendicitis". Sheesh.
~The PABJ

Back up to Speed

Dear Junkies,
This week started with a big fat shopping trip and fun evening of cooking. I was just in a cooking mood, and looking forward to lunch at our place with a girlfriend. Also I finished up the Wave 2 recipes this week, which felt like an accomplishment (artificial possibly). In addition to a nice social, very long lunch I also have made some purchases that have pleased me to no end. I bought a size 8 Tahari dress from Von Maur. Not only does the size thrill me, but the price was amazing! Original price of $150, I paid $39 with tax! Yay! I got a nice work shirt from Penney's for $10 after tax and it is a SMALL. I am in disbelief and of course will buy more next time I am at work b/c it is so freaking comfortable and elegant looking. Additionally, Friday morning saw my lowest weigh in yet at 156.4! That officially in the mid- 150s! SO here's with the eating!

Monday
Kashi Go Lean and FF Milk

Spinach Salad topped with 3 c Chicken breast and leftover Vegetable Medley from the Chile Ginger Beef and Asian Vegetable Medley Night
1/2 a cucumber

Chile Mint Burger on Pita Bread-good
2 tbsp Cuke Sauce
1 squares 86% Dark Chocolate

Tuesday
FF yogurt with Blueberries and a splash of Kashi

Turkey Garbanzo Bean Soup
Spinach Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette
Cuke Sauce with Carrots
15 Almonds

Pork Chops with Rosemary-delicious, simple
Brussel Sprouts with Prosciutto-love, love, love
2 oz of Prosciutto-you gotta eat while you cook sometimes!
2 squares 86% Dark Chocolate

This was my day off and my girlfriend Cindy came over with a bottle of wine and we ate and talked and drank and repeated.

Wednesday
Skipped bfast, bad me

1/2 serving Turkey Sausage Garbanzo Bean Soup with Pasta
1 whole wheat pita with Black Bean Dip
1 serving Greek Pizza-very good, we couldn't find the boboli crust, but I loved the whole wheat crust we did find!
1/2 bottle Chardonnay (La Crema)

1 serving Greek Pizza
1 cheese wheelette
2 servings pizza crust (the pack comes with 2! brushed with olive oil and garlic)
2 glasses Pinot Noir

Thursday
Kashi and FF Milk

Wild Rice Salad with Chicken
1/2c cherry tomatoes
1/2c baby carrots

3 slices of fancy cheese stolen from parent's refrigerator
2 small Whole Wheat Pitas
(I was absolutely starving this afternoon, so I ate, shrug, what else to do?)

Turkey Sausage Garbanzo Bean Soup with Pasta
Spinach with Standard Vinaigrette
2 cups Pinot Noir
1 cheese wheelette
1/4c quinoa
15 Almonds

Friday
Kashi and FF Milk

Wild Rice Salad with Chicken
Plum

1/2c Snow Peas
24 peanuts & 5 almonds

Dinner hasn't happened yet, but I look forward to it. My anticipation is largely because I have no idea what I will eat.

~The PABJ

Weekend of Fun

Dear Junkies,
Apologies, I understand that many of you have been seriously incapacitated due to my lack of blogging, I even hear that one of my followers has fallen ill. Here we go with Katsup!

The super fun Bridal weekend started with a record breaking weigh in! Hello 157.8 pounds! Whee heee. But it was also a bit sad since I did anticipate tipping the scales a bit as a result of the weekend's packed schedule and eating out being necessary.

The weekend was hugely successful on all fronts. Despite eating myself to discomfort twice, and drinking far more than necessary (I mean we toasted my dress 3 times) I only gained a pound! A list of accomplishments.

Went on a walk with the MIL
Ordered a small plate and split a soup at my fav restaurant (and was so stuffed)
Purchased wedding dress!!!!!
And veil!
Ordered invitations!
purchased bride's maids' dresses
Controlled myself with the chips at a Mexican restaurant.
Stayed mostly away from tempura at the Sushi place.
Did not partake in the pizza ordered to myself (there was no stopping me with the cheese sticks though)

So I was really happy with the amount of food I ate. I did not attempt to 'Sonoma Eat Out' I kinda think that's boring and not something I will ever do. It will sometimes happen, like when I go out for steak, but otherwise I think eating out just needs to be hedonistic.

~The PJBA

Week in Review

Dear Junkies,

After my marathon grocery shopping on Sunday, I was ready for an awesome Sonoma week (week = Su-Th). That's what happened! Failing to plan is planning to fail and all that jazz. Also working everyday this week in off peak season helps a ton. I even made lunch for Ryan twice this week! Other fabulous things are happening as well, Ryan is becoming more amenable to doing the dishes. The amount of nagging I have to do is decreasing, and the length of time dirty dishes sit out is shorter! Last night he even covered and put away the leftovers!

I am preparing for house guests (as you can tell by today's copious updating) and will not eat home prepared much at all this weekend. I'm not really looking forward to that, because I think it will mean me gaining some weight, and i am oh so hapy in the 150s. But Ruth will be with me, so maybe she will guide me to goodness.

Here's what I've been eating.

Tuesday

1/2c Grape Nuts + 1/2 FF Milk

Spinach Salad with 3 oz pork chop, 1 tbsp Gorgonzola and red wine vinaigrette
6 oz FF plain yogurt
1/2c blueberries

Sicilian Tuna Steak-Ryan's Wave 1 fave, revisited
1/2 c strawberries

1 glass blush wine-finally gone, also used this for the tuna (instead of a dry white), smelled awful, tasted just fine

1"x1" flat squar of 80% dark chocolate--YUMMY!

Wednesday

1/2c grape nuts 1/2c ff milk

Greens with Beans and Artichoke-very good, first time have Great Norther Beans, they were very tasty
3/4c Raspberry Mush-so I experimented with purchasing frozen raspberries. I just bought em then kept them in the fridge until I wanted them, at which point I had a water mush on my hands. I'm not one to give up at set backs, so I rinsed of the berry paste and put 3/4 c into a baggie for me and one for Ryan. It was horrid. Tart and gross and a wretched texture.

piece of string cheese-FULL FAT, it has been literally YEARS since I have had full fat string cheese, what a joy!
1c broccoli florets

Grilled Morrocan Pork Tenderloin Kabobs-I really had my shit together here people, since the recipe called for a 1-2 hour marinade, and I get home at 7:20pm I started the DAY BEFORE making and starting the marinade, then called Ryan 30 min before I left work for him to start soaking the kabob sticks! This was terrific. Ryan says possibly his new favorite
Tunisian Carrot Salad-I couldn't find Harissa Sauce and was not even considering spending an hour to make something that is a small ingredient in a side dish, I might not have a life with all the wedding planning but I do have a job and high sleep requirements! So I used hot Chile paste instead. This was good, I love carrots
Steamed Brown rice-I barely burnt the rice! It was pretty good, like Chinese Buffet at 3pm good, which is certainly a step up for me! Also I added a dab of olive oil and salt n pepper.

Shared a bottle of wine with Ryan Castle Rock Pinot Noir-we gave this to friends for their housewarming because it looked good, and I am relieved to say I was right! A bit more than my normal price point, but worth it.

Thursday

1 slice bread w 1 tbsp Peanut butter
1/2c straberries

Sonoma Express Wrap featured above
1/2 a Granny Smith apple-left over from barley night
1 string cheese-mmmmmm

Ditto on last night's dinner, pictured below!

Waste

Dear Junkies,
One of the things I was worried about when I first started my Sonoma shopping was food waste. You are eating such a variety of food, and there's a limit to what you can do in terms of buying smaller portions. Now, there is obviously a base amount of waste that is going to happen, whether it's because your cilantro gets pushed to the back corner and you think it's lost or the strawberries were riper than they looked, you just can't eat EVERYTHING you buy, especially when you are eating more fresh and less frozen.
My fears were for naught, I have been pleasantly surprised in the waste department. I think this is due to two things: I am only buying food to eat for a specific meal/snack, we are not eating meals that don't involve produce (goodbye skillet sensations, good pasta and tuna helper). For 30 days, we have thrown away 1/2 a bunch of parsley, 1/2 a cuke, a lot of anchovies, a bit of cilantro and some mushrooms. I'd say that's pretty good, because for a person that cooks for 1.5 (1 for lunch and two for dinner) how do you finish a whole bunch of parsley?

Menu Wave 2

2 eggs over easy with one piece of toast

My favorite salad! for lunch

1c broccoli florets
1 cheddar cheese wheel

Wild Mushroom Barley Risotto-to DIE for! Scratched my pasta & creaminess itch. I had no idea how to measure 3/4 oz, so I just put a bunch in. I was waaaay to excited to take a pic of this one.
Baby Greens with Apples, Walnuts and Lemon Vinaigrette-really liked this dressing

~The PABJ

Weekend (Grocery Shopping) Warrior

Dear Junkies,

Sunday morning greets me and we are at our lowest refridgerator level since Sonoma started. It used to be that every two weeks we would get down to eating really random things like me taking a packets of tuna to work with carrots and a slice of cheese. So it obviously wasn't nearly that bad. But it was a weirdo eating day. And I did my grocery shopping on a Sunday, all three places. Sometimes crowds make me hate people, even babies, especially when I am hungry (lets be honest I even hate skinny and money when I am hungry), so that was L A M E. Aldi's was terribly busy, Wal-Mart was CRAMMED with idiots who think it's necessary to bring their husband and 4-6 small children with them grocery shopping, and Hen House was empty, it usually is in my neighborhood.

Menu Wave 2

1/2c egg whites & 1 piece of toast

Leftover Asian Vegetable Medley

CiopinnoSeafood en Papilotte-this was so good, but bland. the scallops were excellent

I have been feeling that bland thing more and more lately. I am also going through my spice rack at about 20x my normal amount! It's crazy to me. So back to the bland thing, pre-sonoma Jess liked bland food & spicy food, but it was good because of the yummy butter/salt/creamy combos. Now the butter/salt/creamy is gone baby gone. So now I'm left with spicy. Which is fine, but a little limiting in terms of a YAY meal.

~The PABJ

Celebration

Dearest Junkies,
This past Saturday was time for a reward! After I did so well at the party on Friday (and received some ego boosting compliments) I was ready to eat some regular food. I had a Sonoma bfast and lunch, skipped the snacks, then we went to Spin for dinner and to watch the KU vs K State game. It was so enjoyable, and I did hold back a bit compared to how I have eaten there in the past. So, very nice.




Menu Wave 2

2 eggs over easy with 1 piece of toast (I am still trying to figure out the correct amount of food when I eat real eggs, this was too much)

Mixed Greens with Turkey & Blue Cheese-this will surely become a staple for me

6" pizza with eggplant and portobellas-definitely more grains than I needed for the night, but a very reasonable size
Tomato Basil Soup-this came with my pizza, I shared with Ryan, had about 1/4c it was good, but was blandish
1/2 carafe of wine-this is the problem with this place, a glass of wine is $5, and the carafe is $9, so it's fiscally irresponsible NOT to get the carafe, luckily we were there for about 4 hours, so it really spread out the consumption

What I didn't get-gelato (ryan did) and the awesome pita and hummus appetizer we usually eat

KU won in overtime by one point.

~The PABJ

Party Tonight

Dear Junkies,

One of my good friends is celebrating his 30th Birthday tonight with a 'small' house party. For any of you that know my friends the Los, you know there's no small in their vocabulary, they do everything big. Drinking, dancing, playing-this couple's wedding literally got kicked out of the reception venue with a full dance floor of their 200+ guests. So I have tried to prepare for this evening, I worked out this morning (also needed because of the cake last night), am saving all my snacks for this evening, and am bringing Black Bean dip and Whole Wheat Pitas to the party. My friend Sandra ALWAYS has veggies at her parties which is nice, so hopefully I can stick mainly to those two things--unless there is an incredible exception. The plan is to eat more than I probably need to, but to stick to Wave 2 foods. We will see!

Wave 2
1/2c eggs white and a piece of toast (eggs whites are significantly less filling than the whole egg)

Mixed Greens with Turkey & Blue Cheese-Love, love, love this!

2 celery sticks w 2 tbsp PB

Chile Ginger Beef & Asian Vegetable Medley-underwhelmed by this, not very much spice to it.

Black Bean Dip and Whole Wheat Pita-I'd say I had 1/4 c Dip and 3 mini Pitas, the party enjoyed it as well

3 baby Red Bull Vodkas- 1 shot Vodka & 3 shots Red Bull over 3.4 hours :)

I am very proud of myself, definitively a successful evening.

~Jess

Un Sonoma Day

Dear Junkies,

I had a crazy eating day today. I have no idea how to 'name' it. Here's how it went

9:30-Cake tasting, I would say I had the equivalent of two 2"x1"x1.5" pieces

At this point a serious tummy ache ensued. I was like going into shock. It has been quite sometime since I've had non-fruit sugar.

Drank lots of water, helped tummy.

Tummy started to get a bit better

11:45-Cake tasting. I would say I had about the equivalent of a 1"x1"x1" cake here.

More tummy aches, not as bad as the first time.

2:30- 6 oz petite sirloin, steamed broccoli and snow peas

Big headache!

4:30 handful of peanuts

6:45- a tinie bit more cake, about two small bites

Tummy ache and headache are back.

So it's pretty strange for my body to reject sugar like that. Sonoma you are changing me.

Too much tummy ache, and not particularly hungry, so didn't make dinner.

~The PJBA

My Food Death

Dear Junkies,

I will always give out my email address to a business I like. Or a business I had a couple glasses of wine at. The result is that about 20% of my emails are food/drink related. Before I got engaged and joined PWG as a vendor about 50% of my emails were food/drink related. This is not easy. It stinks but I just immediately delete my favorite pizza company, Houlihan's (best happy hour), the two places I get tea emails from, Lukas Liquors (triple trouble there wine bar with eats + best liquor selection AND I'm a member of their 'Elite' Wino club), the Ribs place with 'character' that Ruth introduced me to, Natalie McLean's wine updates, incredible offers from the KC area Originals alliance, Wine.com, woot.wine.com, my favorite Italian place and the other pizza place that just opened, lets you bring the dogs, has gelato, GREAT wine and we only got to go to 3 times before my food death. So, reading (deleting) my emails is a total bummer lately.

In some ways it hasn't been a food death. I am trying new things, cooking at unprecedented levels, having good food. But it just feels like there's food that you think about, and go on special shopping trips for and measure out and cook, and there's food that you go out to eat when you are hungry. I have certainly heard the eating out Sonoma style argument. But picking something because it fits your diet (or making special requests to make it fit) is not the same as going out to eat and picking what you want with your health/portion control as a consideration. So over all-death.

Now, Sonoma diet, you have lost me 10 pounds, and I don't want to be ungrateful. But, it's not all fun weigh ins. Some days it feels like poop. It's hard to go out, I feel like I stick out like the lady wearing a yellow suit at Obama's State of the Union address 1. But photo sessions are upon me in just 6 weeks, and I have work to do.

Menu Wave 2
2 eggs sunny side up (over easy, is there a difference?)
1 slice of toast for egg dipping-my menu says to have pb on the toast, but I like to dip better, had PB a little later

1.5 mile run .5 mile walk

Chicken Salad
Spinach
1 Pita

1c strawberries
plain yogurt

tilapia w pepper n salt n olive oil
spinach with roasted garlic balsamic dressing
1c strawberries

~Tah Dah
Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

PS-tomorrow Mom and I go to two different places to taste cake, and lunch will be out.

yay!

Dear Junkies,

This morning was magical! I am in a new decade after 10 days of hovering .4-2 lbs over the new decade mark.

I got to see my new studio today. Everything is so nice and clean and organized! And it won't be too busy there at all, which will really help me stay on a healthier eating schedule. Plus we are right next to the store office and water fountains, so I will have quick/easy access to the fridge and microwave as well as water. So all of that is very nice as long as I don't get bored out of my skull.

I had a nice little treat today in the form of an after lunch dessert. I met with a DJ for the wedding at Starbucks and got a small non fat hot chocolate. Sure I could of had tea, but they use cheesy tea there, and what I really wanted what a hot chocolate. SO I had it and did not explode.

Today's Menu
Wave 2

2 pieces of whole wheat toast with two tbsps of PB-super duper yummy, ate at 8:30 and 11:15 I suddenly "give me food now crashed" I kinda suspected that would happen with all that bread

snack-FF plain yogurt (barf a licious) and 1 c strawberries (delicious)

Chicken Salad w spinach and pita-Chicken salad was good but i but up the apple to small, I got a new type of pitas this time and they were much less card boardy than last time's brand.

snack-2 Laughing Cow wedges and 1c of red pepper strips

Lentil Soup
Squash relish
spinach with sun dried tomatoes and vinaigrette
Herbed pork tenderloin
1 glass Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc

So I mixed up today's dinner from mostly yesterday leftovers, but meat from day before yesterday for a little variety. I figure this is an ok mix since I just switched meat for meat. Does that sound right to you fellow Sonomaer(s)?

Cheers to tomorrow,
~The PJWBA

Dear Junkies,
There have been some bumps of my cooking adventure. Lots of them are due to the unavailability of ingredients in my home or a poor understanding of cooking terms.
I suspect today's issue was due to one of my old nemeses, math. There was a point when I was good at math, even enjoyed it a bit. Then I got more into photography and into the part of Math that included words instead of numbers or single letters, and it's just been downhill from there. Four years of art school didn't help with my math skills that much either.
Here what I am getting at. The image to your left is supposed to be of Hearty Lentil SOUP. The result of my efforts was not a soup at all. I blame math and Guttersen. Why make half of my meal for 6 people and half of my meal for 4? She regularly throws in 8 or 12 in there as well. I would wager that if she did a market survey of her following she would find out that it's mostly couples or singles. But it tasted fine.

I also had a new discovery on the cooking front. Roasting cumin smells like the boy's locker room! Almost instantly my kitchen was turned into a locker room at the end of football season (I know I went in there on a dare once). Cumin doesn't smell at all like that if you use it in a pan or oven. Very curious.

Here's today's Menu

1/2c Grape Nuts 1/2c Skim Milk

1 Baby Bel Cheese Wheel

Sonoma Express Wrap-2 oz Pork Chop, 1c spinach, 3 halved Cherry tomatoes, 1 tsp parm (freshly crumbled), 1 tsp Roasted Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette
1c Quinoa Pilaf

Hearty Lentil Soup(ish)-pretty good
Fish with Zucchini Relish-Ryan really liked the relish, I really liked the fish (tilapia)
Spinach with Roasted Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette
2 glasses Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc

~The PABJ

The Honeymoon is Over

Dear Junkies,
I have definitely lost my perky excitement for the lifestyle change. This is probably due to a combination of factors: the natural decline in interest, the severe decline in weight loss, the negative emotions of menstruation, the expense, the drastically cut back social life, the less drinking.
It just seems so hard to socialize without eating and drinking in the mix. Even Ryan feels bored with our eat a nice home cooked dinner and watch Hulu/Movies every night. There's just no excitement. Now obviously Sonoma lets you drink, and it's a healthy amount of drinking, but it's not the same as what I have been doing.
As one of my friends in weight loss put it, "I guess it took awhile to gain all the weight, so it's not going to go away quickly." It sure was a whole hell of a lot more fun gaining it though.
So besides controlled drinking the other thing I am not doing very well is sticking exactly to the diet. For instance I have had grape nuts every morning of Wave 2, instead of mixing it up like the planned menu does. Also I am repeating days to use up the food.

At this point I am going to try to recapture some of my enthusiasm and be more by the book. I won't be exactly by the book because I just can waste that much food. But less freestyling.

I haven't dreamed about eating for quite sometime, that's got to be a good sign.

Here's the DL on yesterday.

1/2c grape nuts 1/2c skim milk

1/2c Serrano Shrimp
1.5c Spinach
1/2c Cherry Tomatoes
1 small Whole Wheat Pita
1/2c Cantaloupe

Herbed Pork Tenderloin-I got a really nice cut this time, it seems hard to find one of these though
Roasted Garlic Spinach Balsamic Salad-HyVee didn't have Escarole and the Produce Guy couldn't recommend anything similar, so I just used all Spinach. I didn't get the benefit of wasting all that time roasting the garlic though. It didn't taste garlic-y enough to me. Anways, the Balsamic was very yummy.
Cantaloupe

2 tbsp peanut butter 3 stalks of celery. Two stalks is certainly not enough to get the right ratio with that much PB, and I am obviously not giving up anything with the word butter in it that I'm allowed to have.

~The PABJ

Double Days

Dear Junkies,
I had the same thing two days in a row so, I figured I would just blog once. This is my favorite meal so far, by a lot.

On Friday I made the beautiful creation you see to the side. It's Serrano Shrimp and Southwestern Grain Medley. It is so delicious! I think I undercooked the rice. I made it in the microwave because I didn't properly read the rice cooking instructions, and to be honest, I usually mess up rice anyways. Unless Uncle Ben puts it in a boil bag for me I tend to always have crunchy rice. So this rice was crunchy, but I really liked the textural difference in there. Ryan even liked the dish and ate it with the beans!

Friday was a nice day and I took the doggies on a run, then had an oh-so boring training class with work and was home in time to eat at a much more usual hour than usual. Saturday was crazy busy at work and I regret not bringing a snack in addition to my food because I was starving by the time I left around 5:30m. Anways here's my days.

Wave 2

Friday
1/2c grape nuts 1/2c milk (I was eating 1c of each, but that just seemed like way to much food, so I experimented today with cutting back and it was just fine)

Sonoma Salad with Tomato and Feta-I used goat cheese instead because that's what I had. the tomatoes in this were so sweet and delicious, just like the bag said! Hooray for truth in advertising
1/8 of a cantaloupe (I think I ate more than I should of about 1c instead of 1/2c)
1 small whole wheat pita

Serrano Shrimp-oh so very delicious, but I really need to purchase gloves for cutting these with, my fingers are still a little stingy when I touch my eyes.
Southwestern Grain Medley-this might be better than pasta
side spinach salad
1/8 a cantaloupe

1c baby carrots & laughing cow wedge-this cheese is much better with something vs alone like in Wave 1

1.5 mile run .5 mile walk

handful of peanuts (not on the plan)

Saturday
The same thing, minus the overlarge portions of cantaloupe and the peanuts and exercise. Plus White table wine.

Catch-Up

Dear Junkies,

Yesterday I was a complete mess. Just an emotional wreck so I didn't post anything about the day before. The day before was pretty fun. I followed Sonoma all morning and afternoon and then took a planned dinner break since we had KU tickets and it's something we do about once a year and due to time constraints pretty impossible to find reasonable food. So anyways, my eating got very out of control, I had a little more to drink than I planned (I am definitely not adjusted to drinking on a Sonoma tummy yet) and woke up really disappointed with myself, a little hung over, tired and crazy emotional. So that's just going to be the end of that because I am done thinking about it.

At work yesterday it was SO SLOW. I had three appointments in the morning and NOTHING after lunch. But you know what, I didn't think about going to get gelato (heh, blogger thinks that work is misspelled and suggests fellatio) or cookies or anything, so there's something positive.

So food yesterday

Menu
Wave 2

1c grape nuts 1c fat free milk (is this really how much cereal I am supposed to be eating, it seems like way too much)

2c zucchini leftovers-so good, no microwaving necessary
2 slices leftover pork loin

Cod with Summer Vegetables en Papillote - the recipe called for Haddock, too expensive and Cod was reccommended for similar fat content and it was on sale. This dish seemed prety bland to me. The Cod was delicious, the veggies just seemed lack luster. Ryan put hot sauce on his, I just added some salt. Meh.

Wave 2 Day 1

Dear Junkies,
As you can tell by my prolificness (which dictionary.com does say is a word) I am off today.

I am currently making the monstrosity you see to the right. It looks disgusting. Yes I could have taken a prettier picture of it, or waited for it to be cooked. But I am an artist, I interpret. What I am interpreting right now is yuk. Guttersen hasn't steered me too wrong so far, so we will see.

Well it was good. I think it's definitely an I'm in the mood for it thing. I froze about half of it. The house smells amazing from it though.

On to dinner. My awesome friend Shauna came over before dinner and we watched some tv then started cooking. It was so much more fun cooking with a friend. The time really flew by AND there was less work. We made quiona pilaf (notice the enticing steam coming off of in in the image. Yea, that's right I went to photo school!) We also had Latin Spiced Pork Tenderloin & Roasted Zucchini. The Roasted Zucchini turned into less of a roast and more of a steam since I only have 1 pan for the oven and the pork was using it. It was all really good and I have enough food left for another full dinner for me, and quiona to use in a couple days when my book tells me to eat it.

I got the quiona from Whole Foods and it was bargainful. Ruthie was right again! I do have to say that Whole Foods is a bit wacky. Everytime I got there random people start talking to me passionately about something. I mostly just like to talk to myself when I grocery shop, so I find this disturbing. On the other hand, maybe they think they can talk to me since I am clearly crazy and talking to myself. I don't know what it is about grocery stores that make me talk under my breath to myself.

So anyways I had a great day off, but you will notice I missed bfast again and didn't eat all of my lunch. I need to get back on getting my metabolism going in the morning and doing what guttersen says. I have been maintaining my weight but not loosing for like 5 days. I know, I know, hard to loose when you are riding the crimson tide, but my wacko eating schedule is not helping I imagine.



Today's Menu
Wave 2 Day 1

Bfast
missed that whoops

Snacks
28 peanuts
1 Laughing Cow Light Mini Cheese Wheel-I prefer the Light to the full fat version
1 very small organic/whole wheat/save the Earth type cookie (sample at whole foods)

Exercise
2 mile job w dogs

Lunch
1 bowl Tangy Black Bean Soup
1/2c strawberries! Oh Strawberried I missed you!

Dinner
Latin Spiced Pork Tenderloin-good, I wish the flavor got more to the middle though.
Quiona Pilaf-Fantabulous, Shauna even thinks her adorable 4 year old might eat it!
Roasted Zucchini-came out great with my stovetop modification, nice and crispy
1 glass of pinot grigio

Ship Shaping Up

Dear Junkies,
Ok I have blogged about it and am now putting yesterday's unpleasantness behind me. Wave 2 officially starts today and I am pumped for dinner tonight. I am even having a girlfriend over to enjoy it with us. Then we will go to a free class at Archiver's about writing pretty on wedding stuff.

To start Wave 2 off right I am going on a run with one or both of the babies. I'm not sure yet how brave i am considering it's still snowy-ish outside. We will see. I definitely think at least 2 miles are in order.

~The PABJ

An Addendum!

It was really pretty nice out for a run, I probably didn't even need my long underwear. Didn't have to take gloves at all, which allowed me to take both doggies. Zito busted open his foot again though. I don't know what to do with that dog sometimes. Anyways, we made it 2 miles + 1/2 mi cool down. Very nice. hopefully the doggies will be extra good today for me. Off to grocery shop for day 1 of Wave 2.

Boo Hiss!

Dear Junkies,
I fell into some old habits today. First of all I woke up and cared too much about the number, especially since I am retaining water like my name is Hoover. So I know it's bad weight loss karma to weigh yourself everyday, it just makes me so happy when the news is good, of course the reverse devastates me. Secondly, I let consumption try to be my solution for a million little annoyances. I'll just put a list out there to get it off my chest.

1. Apparently my new under eye concealer is giving me a rash with slight swelling. When I showed Ryan he said, (gasp with horrified expression) 'Are you sure you want to go out in public with that.' That being my face I can only assume. He apologized.
2. Zito nailed me in the face, two awesome scratches on my chin, slight scabbing.
3. I am having helacious cramps. Worst I've had in at least 12 months.
4. The restaurant we planned on going to at the casino didn't open until 4 (we got there at 1:30) and after we waited to eat we found out that 3 months ago they cut back their menu-translation the only vegetables on it now are deep fried or iceberg lettuce.
5. This didn't happen yesterday, but I can't get the damn underline off!

So there were several trials. I guess I should be zen and say something positive about each of those things now. Sephora takes returns, I love Zito, at least I'm not preggo, they still have their huge margarita there, I got the underline off.

Anyways, here's my Menu

Wave ? Day 13

1/2c egg whites

Laugh Cow Light Herb Cheese Spread Wedge

2 cosmos (feeling sorry for myself at the casino waiting for food to open)

Mushroom Hamburger. I skipped the bun & got iceberg lettuce with balsamic instead of fries etc. I refuse to call what they gave me a salad, but we've already been over that.-It was the best thing I could figure out on the menu

1 onion ring (Ryan's)

Naked PopCorn (at Leap Year the movie, I don't recommend the movie) approx 4c-Disappointed with my meal eating

Half of a whole Wheat Wrap-Angry Eating, did not make me feel better

Overall the day was a bust. Especially lame since Ryan and I rarely get a day free together. But what can you do?

~The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

Spicay!

Dear Junkies,
Today was a totally weird eating day. I slept in until and about 10:30 and wasn't hungry at all when I woke up. So no bfast, a weird lunch-ish thing and a super yummy dinner. More on the Menu below.

Szechuan Shrimp was dinner and is pictured to the side. You might notice a lack of shrimp in my image. That's because they were buried under all the mushrooms I hand picked out of Ryan's plate. What a baby!

Good news on the Ryan front I got him to do almost every dish from tonight's dinner. Thus the me picking out all his mushrooms for him as a reward. Dishes have been a sore spot between Ryan and I since we began living together. And even more so as I have been putting so much more time and effort into cooking I feel like he should do the clean up. He feels more like doing the dishes sometimes, but not ever in a time frame that suits me.

I had my first wedding nightmare last night. You know how I feel about using that word, but this was terrible. Basically, it was the wedding day and I had as much done as I do now. I didn't know what dress I was going to wear, seating charts, flowers, cake, all undone. Ugh, at least I woke up. Funny thing, I saw my Mom today and the first thing she said was that she couldn't sleep last night worrying about wedding stuff. So here we go.

The Day's Menu
Wave 1 Day 12

1 celery stick with 1 tbsp left over yogurt cucumber dip

1 tbsp peanut butter on a slice of whole grain bread

1/2 c grape tomatoes & 1 mini wheel Babybel cheese

Szechuan Shrimp-minus the pea pods, I somehow missed those on the list. I used the water instead of Sherry. This was so good. About the top of the heat level I can do, even hot enough to swell Ryan's lips just a bit. It had a nice sweetness to it, I think possibly from the Sesame Oil. Next time I will use more green onions on the top.

~The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

Celebration

Dear Junkies,
So last night I celebrated my end of Wave 1 (although I still have food for two wave 1 dinners, so I might extend it a bit more), my new jobness and my weight loss to date. I fit into a shirt I bought last year, but have never been able to fit in it. It was one of those 'I'm going to loose some weight soon' purchases. The picture is of said shirt of me feeling amazing!

So, for the celebration, we went out to eat with some friends and I picked a restaurant where I knew it would be easy peasy to stick to wave 1. But I forgot about the fresh, warm bread they serve with delicious, soft, butter. Oh friends it was terrible. They brought our drinks, then set down the temptation. I looked at it. The draft in the room was just right and I could smell the butter. I could smell butter! Ryan realized I was staring at the bread Adan moved it away from me. But it was too late. There was one itty bitty piece of the loaf, like literally the diameter of tablespoon and the thickness of a Hallmark envelope with card inside. So I had that piece with butter on it. I made it last almost till the salads came, several bites of heaven.
After that it was pretty easy going. I had the house salad, just avoided the carrots and had oil and balsamic on the side, and only ate about half. Then someone had a piece of bread, but it wasn't cut all the way through and there was a little bit left at the bottom after they got their piece, so I had that piece too. Then Ryan took the bread away. Luckily he and I were sitting diagonal from each other so I really couldn't reach it.
I had an 8 oz top sirloin with steamed vegetables. the steak was delicious, I really love this restaurant because they know medium rare means that no part of the steak (besides outside) should be brown, just pink and red for this girl! The veggies were good, fresh and cooked to proper tender crispness, but I have to say they lacked the seasoning that Sonoma has.
I even made my glass of wine last about 1/3 of the way through the main course. I in no way intend to lead you to believe that I only had one glass of wine. I had 2 at home before we left (over the course of two hours), and three at the restaurant. It was a celebration! But I did really stretch out that one glass!
So after all of that we went home to celebrate some more and at some point the boys ordered cheese sticks and pizza from my favorite place. Luckily, again, I was asleep by this point, the delivery didn't even wake me up.

So today's menu

Wave 1 Day 12

1/2c Egg Whites

Spinach & Lentil Salad-I'm not a huge fan of this, edible for sure

1/2 c grape tomatoes
1/2 cuke sliced

1 Laughing Cow Mini Babybel Cheese round

Salad w oil n vinegar
8 ox top sirloin steak
steamed veggies
3 tablespoons of bread

5 glasses of wine!

So I had a great time, stayed on the plan pretty much food wise, and could have drank more but didn't! And since it is now tomorrow I can tell you that I am holding steady weight wise!

Freestyle

Dear JJs,
What a weird ass day it has been. A super dense fog covered the city for most of the day and I have been in a lackluster mood, despite several good things that have happened today. Lost weight since yesterday, unexpected lunch visit from Mom, a new TShirt and tattoo for the KU game, got a raise, got a promotion, still just feel blah-ish. So it' was clearly dementors. I mean fog in Olathe, the only bodies of water are at the pools at our mega big High Schools.

The good news! All of these causes to commiserate/celebrate only resulted in some extra broccoli and one cheese wheel. Also I went to a dive bar and didn't partake in the deep dish pizza that our table ordered OR let my hunny buy me a drink.

Last night all my dreams were about alcohol. That is to say they were about college/sorority life. Specifically the part that happens in between the learning. That's a tough one. The dreams were really fun though, we played lots of board games.

Today was my first freestyle dinner. I was going to make Szechuan Shrimp tonight, but Ryan at out and I didn't want to make the super spicy dish w/o him there to clean up anything I couldn't handle, and enjoy it. Just worked off the Wave 1 ok list and my 50%/50% plate rule. I hope I did good.

Anyways, here is today's freestyle menu

Wave 1 Day 11
1/2 c egg whites

1 tbsp Peanut Butter w Celery Sticks
1 Babybel mini cheese wheel

Lentil Salad-I substituted chicken with pork, since i had the latter and not the former

a pork chop, salted and peppered then cooked in a pan
Broccoli and Roasted Red Peppers with Goat Cheese-I had to try this again since Ruthie said it's her favorite. I made some changes of course. Last time I made this the broccoli burned and didn't cook enough so I cooked at about 3 or 4 on my stove top dial. I skipped the olives as well. I also added an extra 1/8-1/4c of broccoli, you know, to celebrate. I really liked it much better than last time. Next time I will cut back significantly on the lemon juice.

ANOTHER cheese wheel--party time! And I think I will go have a glass of wine. We only have white and bluch wine in the house (through no fault of my own) and I know red is the best, so I will obviously have two glasses of blush to reach the benefit level of one of red.

~The pasta addicted Bread Junkie.

PS-Also, I got my invite to the 10 year HS reunion today. It's $65 per person AND there's only heavy hours'devours and open bar. First, that's a ton of money for bar food (it's at a local bar), AND it's not technically an open bar if you are paying. It's open if someone else is paying. On the other hand I'm sure it has taken immense effort and time to arrange, and I'm glad that didn't fall on my shoulders.

Hello Junkies!,
To the left you see my favorite pic so far, the food is still cooking, so we will see how that turns out, but it is Sicilian Tuna Steak. I know what you're thinking. Italian food with no pasta OR cheese. Yea that's what I am thinking too. Gutterson! Where's my 20% of the plate of grains? I am very hungry right now, had a late day at work, so having a very late dinner (it's already 8:30p).

The high of yesterday definitely wore off when I stepped on the scale this morning. My first day of weigh gain is upon me. I literally growled when I saw the number-blah for 160.9 lbs. My first thought was that pasta testing and Margarita was catching up with me, it is also possible that my body is preparing me for a moody, uncomfortable week by making me moody about my weight gain. Oh well, at least the period cloud has a silver lining when it's over.

Back from dinner. Very nice. Ryan said it's his favorite so far. I even found myself thinking about the food a little differently. My first bite thought was 'wow that mint is really nice and surprising' I sound like a regular foodie! The next few bites I was really thankful for the mint because I added a little extra chili flakes to suit the fiance. I will not being doing that again, he can get his extra chili on top, I ad to take a break for mouth relaxing from the chili. I was hungry afterward, but I realized this morning that I forgot to eat the side salad.

Speaking of side salad. I object to something being called a side salad if it's just spinach with dressing. That should be called spinach with dressing. My thinking says at least two toppings to be a salad.

Today's Menu Wave 1 Day 9
1/4c egg whites & 1 mushroom chopped

1/2 a whole wheat pita, 4 oz chicken breast, 1 c mixed greens and 1/4c cucumber yogurt

1 cucumber sliced & 1/2c grape tomatoes

Sicilian Tuna Steak

2 cups of tea, mate vana rooibos chai in the morn and white jasmine at night

Hello Junkies,
How do you feel about being JJs? Jessica junkies? There must be all of one other person reading this besides me, so possibly not plural. To the side you see Easy Balsamic Chicken adn my new and improved Roasted Vegetable Medley.

My good mood from this morning has continued throughout the day, there's nothing like a little number on the scale to make me happy. Despite the inital start up costs the Sonoma Diet has been surprisingly easy on the bank account as well, since I'm not going out and eating/drinking with friends.

I have been rethinking my rewards schedule. I really need rewards, as you might have noticed from the puzzle, and massage planing etc. My inital rewards schedule was a reward for the end of each wave and a reward for the the beginning of each new (lower) decade of pounds. But now the rewards are coming too fast. Tomorrow is day 10 of Wave 1, but I am extending it until day 12 to get some more meals in since we have done seconds a couple times. So at any rate, new reward schedule is needed..
End of wave 1/first decade will be a trip to the casino with my cousin for his Bday! Whee, that will be fun and I will def say goodbye to Wave 1 with a glas of vino. We will see what else.

Today was a good day, except I left the stove on from 9:15ish to 2:30ish, Whoops.
I also had another meat finding issue, this time I couldn't find Halibut, it's not a huge deal since I can rearrange the schedule a bit, but any ideas for a Halibut substitute? Is any Basa/Catfish type thing ok?

Wave 1 Day 9
1/2c Egg Whites & glass of tea

4 cuke slices w Laughing Cow Light Herb Cheese SPread

Chicken Pita w Cucumber Yogurt Sauce-is there not end to the delicious Sauces? I left out the mint because I didn't have any.

Easy Balsamic Chicken-this had been marinating for about 48 hours, but tasted the same as the stuff that only marinated for 1 hour
Roasted Vegetable Medley-My best oven roasting experience thus far. I premixed the water, oil and herbs and found the result much more pleasant (no crispy roasted herbs in your mouth poking you) I also did the vegetables a bit different than suggested, extra cauliflower, some broccoli and less green peppers, (I'm kinda sick of this particular super food at the moment). Next time I will put the green beans in a little later, they didn't need as much time as the cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts. BTW how awesomoe are brussel sprouts, they get quite the bad rap.

~The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

Woot Woot!

Hello Junkies!
As you already know I got pasta last night. Although I did scrupulously stick to the 1/2c cooked, I also 'tested for firmness' a little more than I had too. That in addition to the Margarita (which I still feel was a good decision, especially a homemade one by me) and extra peanuts I had, left me feeling a little worried as I fell asleep last night. I also blame my trepidation on Tolstoy, Anna/Vronsky and Levin/Kitty have finally gotten what they want (ie alcohol and pasta for me), but you can just tell things are too good to be true. Anyways, I got on the scale this morning, post pee, dressed like God made me and Tah Dah! It looks like I will be saying goodbye to the 160s tomorrow morning (fingers crossed)! Just .4 lbs to go and I am outta there! No dreams last night.
~The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

Dreaming Night 7 & Day 8

Sorry Folks, no picture today!
The night's dream's were basically event less food wise. I was in High School taking pics for the school yearbook of the Plaza lights and the lights were already off and Ruth pricked her finger on a needle. So a little of your basic school struggle dream with Sleeping Beauty thrown in there. Don't worry I warned Ruth.

Today was my first day of Wave 1 where I had a pretty active day at work, 6 sessions in three hours, all 24 months or younger subjects, so lots of chasing, and I only worked a half day. So I was definitely hungry when I got off work, even though I had had my lunch and snack already. I added in some extra peanuts to tide me over. But around 10pm I realized I never ate dinner, so that explains a bit.

I shopped at Whole Foods for the first time for tonight's dinner, mainly to get my meat there and they were out of Pork Tenderloin! Then I went to the Wal Mart grocery across the street and they were out too! Then I called 2 other grocery stores and found a place with it. Who knew it would be so hard. At any rate, I didn't totally buy into Whole Foods in any new way. I think it's a good store for the 'weird stuff' and prepared foods and loose tea, but that's about it.

Then I tried on wedding dresses and had a great time. It was probably a combo of being 7lbs less and at a nice store with better gowns, but what fun!

We also had a little dinner get together with the parents tonight. I had a Margarita and it was delicious. What's that you say? Not on Wave 1? Well very true, but I made the decision at the beginning to go for a lifestyle change, and there is no lifestyle where I'm not having A drink when family comes over, at least not one I want to live. So I feel good about that decision.

Wave 1 day 8 Menu

Whoops! Forgot Bfast

Asparagus Salad-I skipped the lemon this time and liked it better

Pork Tenderloin w Vegetables Ratatouille-really delicious, wasn't very pretty looking though
1/2c Barilla Plus rotini-Yay for pasta, and for my for only having that amount cooked!

11 almonds
1 Babybel cheese round
28 peanuts

One Week Down

Fellow Junkies!
Today is the end of week 1 and I am still on the wagon. As of this morning I am down 5 lbs. Today was my first day off work (besides Day 1) on the plan and it went really well. The hanging out around the house eating has always been an obstacle for me, but I wasn't too hungry and also had a glass of tea.

No exciting dreams last night, but I am having Mom and Dad over for dinner tomorrow night, so there's some fun.

Wave 1 Day 6 Menu

1/2 c Egg Whites, 1/4 c Mushrooms -this is my current fav bfast

Asparagus Salad-again didn't grill, but used a pan, I really liked it, tomorrow I will eat it w/o lemon juice, I know it would be a millions better on the grill.

Easy Balsamic Chicken-even balsamic averse fiance liked this one, although I didn't think it was particularly easy, certainly not hard, but easy is a restaurant or microwave
Roasted Vegetable Medley- Good, I will leave out the peppers next time and just eat them raw as an appetizer, I also think I will combine the water, oil and herbs before drizzling over the veggies, following the instructions left me with crispy herbs

I hope things keep going like today! See you next week,

~The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

My Nemesis

Sorry for the visual repetitiveness folks, but last night was leftovers. Here's the Tandoori Chicken and Roasted Eggplant Salad.

Today was hard, due to work constraints I didn't get lunch until about 2 at which point I had a few bites and didn't get to finish it until 5 at which point I had my snack too. The plan had been to save the snack until dinner with the girls (which I missed due to workness) but whatever. So after eating all that I was very hungry and had the snack again, not on the menu. Even after that I was stomach pain-y, headach-y, and overall grouchy and inconsolable. Not only did I go off the plan but I was still starving. We ended up eating dinner at 7:30, and I got halfway through it and was full. This was all especially distressing because this morning I weighed exactly the same amount as I did the day previous. First day without weight loss, fiance keeps pointing out that's better than gaining, does he think he's marrying an idiot, I know that! Sheesh.

So maybe being full was a small success for shrinking the appetite, but eating extra snack wasn't great. The main issue is that this will happen at work again. I think I just need to do a better job of making the time to eat. It's not the best situation to force the issue, but I could have done a better job of grabbing a few bites. At any rate, I probably came out about right calorie and fat wise.

Good news is it's pretty easy not to drink, and trust me today at work would have typically led to more than one glass. I guess it helps to have a greater cause than making up for your day. Although I did get a a puzzle to distract me from my melancholy. It was actually 4 puzzles for $4.99, not only was it a great deal, but Ryan bought it for me.

The Day's Menu

1/2 c Egg Whites and Mushrooms

Salad Nicoisse with Tuna-not a two days in a row kinda thing, which is unfortunate since you can't just buy the ingredients for one serving

Tandoori Chicken-better after marinating for 24 hours even though the recipe says 1-3
Roasted Eggplant Salad-better the first day

Dreaming Night 5

My dreams last night focused on something cryptic my boss said to me yesterday and ice cream. I'm trying not to read ahead to the Wave 2 food list, but suspect that ice cream does not feature-at least not good ice cream, possibly plain or yogurt or something. But anyways, Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory was in my dream and there was a restaurant that served a full menu; apps, salads, soups, main courses, & desserts all made of ice cream. I begged to be taken into the store, but Ryan wouldn't let me.

ABCs Anchovies, Broiling and Capers

Fellow Junkies,
You are destined to see photos of partially eaten meals from me. That's just the way it's going to be. By the time the food is made (this stuff takes like an hour for dinner!) I just want to eat it. I scarf down several bites and good news friends, I remember I am supposed to take it slow. Like a person after serious surgery, a bad break up, or creeping through a laser filled hallway at a museum, I am to go slowly. Luckily taking photos is a perfect break. So there you are, my Roasted Eggplant Salad sans several bites. It was amazing.

All of the food really has been quite good. I mean seriously restaurant quality stuff folks (without the speed, ease and price). I'm continually impressed that, apparently, I am capable of cooking well. It's still to be determined if I am capable of enjoying and looking forward to cooking, I figure I am currently in the honeymoon stage.


I had a couple firsts today:
1. I ate an anchovy. I have inadvertently had them on Caesar salads before, but this was on purpose AND it did not taste the way the ocean smells like they always do at restaurants. I was surprised by how incredibly salty it was. I think my coworkers were mildly surprised that I brought not only tuna but also anchovies to the break room aroma.
2. I broiled. There was smoke, it required a phone a friend, and I think we lost a brave pan, but the results were very juicy.
3. I ate a caper. I have always just looked at them and knew they were wrong for me in the past, despite the fact they are part of my favorite bfast (bagels and lox). So I bought em, used em and ate em. Again surprisingly salty, better after they were rinsed. Maybe I should have done that with the anchovies. Verdict is OK as long as it makes up a VERY small portion of the overall bite.

Today's men was pretty exciting because I got cheese TWICE!

Today's Menu Wave 1 Day 5 (using Day 4 from the book)

1/2 c Real Eggs scrambled on toast

Salad Nicoise with Tuna-good, the dressing and hard broiled eggs reminded me of Deviled Eggs

Tandoori Chicken-very good, I never realize I could like Indian without the creamy Masala type sauce.
Roasted Eggplant Salad-I love Eggplant this was a no brainer

Laughing Cow Cheese and Herb wedge on green peppers (was out of cukes)
28 peanuts

Was down 5 lbs after 4 days this morning-brilliant! But also odd, I have been this weight frequently before (for most of the past summer) and it looks less skinny right now. I am loosing weight from a different place, generally I loose it first from my spare tire, but it is currently disappearing from somewhere else. I sent out a search party this morning to see from where I have lost it, but could not find a place that looked less. Shrug, anyways I like the number!

Dreaming Night 4

I woke up chuckling this morning, you know after the moment of 'what's going on?'you get whne you wake up straight from a deep dream. This dream was proceeded by a lot of average enjoyable stuff. Hanging out with Ruth, playing board games with my parents (always funny). But the end was the piece de resistance, here's a roughly remembered dialogue.

Jess "Well I think two brothers is the perfect amount. But I would have had them in a different order"
Ruth "Yea well it gets more perfect the less I live with them."
Jess "I think that's how family is supposed to work."
Ruth "But that's the whole problem!"
Jess "Huh" (I think we were drinking in the dream)
Ruth "My Mom is going to be Bob's Baby's Mama!"

Cue me waking up, realizing it's a dream and giggling.

Wave 1 Day 4ish

Tah Dah! I have discovered how to put an image in the post. Fantastic.

So you can see my cheese making machine in the Steeler's mug. The book said to use a collander or strainer, but you can see the two I have in back, and they are clearly too big for 1/4c of yougurtsoontobecheese. Especially since my fridge is bursting at the seams in the fridge dept. I looked in the freezer this morn when I got ice out to chill my green beans (what does sitting for up to 28 hours do for them?) and it was so empty and lonely. Not a fudge sicle to be seen, let alone a pre-packaged quick meal to take to work.

Today I was hungryish, but not as bad as Day 2. I have also beeing having the tiredness which I recognize from my jaw wired shut days as a lack of calories. I did some painting on a project I have been working on intermittently for the last several month as a reward to myself. It was nice, but I'm still not totally in the mindset of a reward being non food or alcohol related. At the end of Wave 1 I will cash in my Bday present from fiancee which was an hour long massage, now that's a reward.

Today's Menu
1/2 c Scrambled Real Eggs- still good, but I got hungrier earlier than with the mushrooms

Chicken and Black Bean Wrap with Side Salad & Red Wine Vinaigrette- <3 that Black bean stuff

Dinner from last night-it heated well in the microwave, I think the Pork was actually better tonight

Night 3 Dreams

I had one of those really terrible scary dreams last night, not quite a nightmare because no one I loved died, but very close to the dream 'n' word. But the good news is, before I got to the scary I had to go to the bathroom in a church that was hosting the NCAA Championships and services scary part IS I was at a Mexican restaurant following Sonoma Wave 1 (meaning drinking water and talking a lot and sneaking my snacked that I packed in my purse). SO that's some good news for my upcoming first Wave 1 trial, where I will go to Houlihan's for drinks and appetizers with my girlfriends.

Roller Coaster

Last night I had my dream where I am either a bar or local shipping wench in early 1800s London. We are docked in the dream, so all my time is spent in taverns, but I keep going back to a ship. As you can imagine there's a lot of alcohol in that dream, but good news, no food!

Yesterday's satiety level quickly deteriorated after I left you last night. I went from happy and satisfied to a hungry, angry bear in about 10 minutes. Watching TV didn't help, apparently Arby's, Olive Garden and Apple bee's bought all the spots on all my channels for last night. I suppose that's what you do if you are a restaurant executive getting ready for diet season.

After an hour of complaining I was hungry at every commercial, my fiancee telling me to drink a glass of water, drinking said water, and peeing every 20 minutes, I finally got over it by going to the park with the dogs and having a tablespoon of black bean dip.

So it's almost bedtime and I can safely say today went much better. I pushed lunch back a bit farther and ate it waaaay slower (reading during eating helped me slow down a lot), and saved my snack for after dinner, but ended up not wanting it and just put it in tomorrow's lunch pail.

As you might have noticed I was more than a little stressed about the financial aspect of this endeavor. Today I grocery shopped for the next 4 days and only spent $32, so I am feeling much much better.

Cooking dinner tonight was not too stressful, which is pretty impressive since I was doing 3 different dishes all with varied cook times and more than one step (IE dump pasta in water). I made the full servings of everything so dinner for tomorrow is cooked AND Ryan gets Barley pilaf and grilled chicken for lunch tomorrow! The Barley was really amazing for satisfying my pasta/grain craving.

So tomorrow I am starting some intentional deviations, mostly because all of the recipes are for groups of at least 4, and we are just two here. I'm a little hesitant, I'd feel totally ok if I was replicating a complete day. A couple days I am completely replicating, but tomorrow for instance I am doing day 2 bfast and lunch with day 3 dinner & day 4 snack. But I think it will be ok. Plus with my changes I will actually end up doing 12 days of Wave 1.

Today's Menu
Mushroom Omlette-I was a little too sleepy when I made this and read to use a tbsp instead of a tsp of oil to cook the mushrooms in. At any rate, It was so much food I almost couldn't finish it, luckily by 10 am appointment didn't show up, so I had time to digest.
Steak and Blue Cheese Wrap-AMAZING
Pork Chops-good, I over cooked, the oven temp gauge sucks
Barley Pilaf-GREAT, didn't realize at first it was a recipe for 12 servings not 4, but caught it in time
Broccoli and Red Pepper-My favorite cooked veggie side so far, if only it came with goat cheese

I ended the food portion of today by getting tomorrows lunch packed and starting to make the cheese for a dinner that is TWO NIGHTS away. There's some pretty crazy stuff there. Tomorrow I will post a picture of my cheese making device, since I didn't have any of the stuff the book said to use.

Finally, I have lost 3 lbs as of this morning, evenly split over the two days of the diet. I of course only weigh myself immediately after peeing in the morning, and only completely naked, so I don't have more up to date numbers for you, but I will leave you with that mental picture.

I've been pretty happy with the amount of food I've gotten all day. So that's good because I saw one review dis the amount of food you are given on Wave 1.

I did notice something crazy. As I put down my unfinished dinner plate (to try to take a savoring break) because I was feeling fullish, I found myself thinking of what I wanted to eat next. Even though I had uneaten food in front of me and I was fullish. So clearly I need to beat this mental component.

Also, am I allowed to have tea (unsweetened) or anything? I assume a tic tac is out of the question.

So here's what I had

1/2 Real Eggs scrambled eggs

Romaine w Homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette (not as good as the Greek)
Black Bean Chicken Wrap (the Black Bean dip is amazing, it's really hard for me not to eat it right now, even though I am sated)

Cherry Tomatoes & 28 peanuts

Marinated Grilled Flank Steak (meh, it's snowing so I made it on the stove, seemed a bit over spiced)
Sauteed Broccoli and Roasted Red Peppers with Goat Cheese (1 tbsp didn't seem like enough oil to saute all that food in, maybe it was cooking it too high? Goat Cheese fixes everything)

Not feeling as positive today as I did yesterday. And I think I might have become hungry.
No picture today.

Dreaming-Night One

I remember my dreams every night. It's a bit of a pain, but sometimes provides a little amusement. Last night in my dream I was pouring my homemade Greek Vinaigrette over my favorite Smart Balance Pasta. I was so excited.

I'm really hoping the Barley I got (quiona substitute, although Wal-Mart had a quiona blend I was skeptical) for Day three will help with my grain needs. I've been skipping the toast for breakfast because I would rather starve than see a toast without butter on it.

Off for my first day of Sonoma at work lunch.

Wave 1 Day 1 Eatings

1/2 Real Eggs, scrambled

Greek Salad w Grilled Shrimp -minus radishes & the pita easy on the kalmatas

Chicken en Papillote w Vegetables

11 Almonds

2 tbsp Black Bean Chile -minus the Chipotle Chiles (not on today's menu at all, but I was making it for tomorrow and had to taste, twice)

So I got pretty close to the menu for the day, but it was rough. Here's a rundown

-3 grocery stores visited (Aldi, Wal-Mart, Hen House)
-2.5 hours spent grocery shopping with the nuttos that think we're all going to be snowed in our houses tomorrow
-more money spent on the next three day's food than I usually spend on my half of groceries for two weeks ($140 vs $80)
-1 CutCo injury, minimal blood
-Cried twice (once was the white onions in tomorrow's munch)
-1 temper tantrum
-2 hours cooking
-Enjoyed 4 episodes of Big Bang Theory (thank goodness for laptops)
-Had to eat my words once, I made my own salad dressing, yes it was easy, and good.

So not all bad, unless you're my bank, fiancee or time management skills. Off to make tomorrow's lunch salad. Still having trouble figuring out how this actual cooking 3x a day will work. maybe I should take the next 9 days off to get me through Wave 1

Here's The New Plan

Fellow Addicts,

Here we will encounter what will probably be our first point of dispute-I am going to do the Sonoma diet.

What's that you say?
That diet is completely wrong for me?
It requires loads of cooking, gobs of trips WEEKLY to grocery stores (yes that's stores plural).
It talks to you in hokey language about celebrating food and wants me to measure my plates?

Yes all of these things are true, but here's the deal-It has the highest recommendation that exists in all the land for me, that's right, my own personal Oprah has had huge success with it AND (as you can imagine this really sealed the deal for me) there's WINE in it. Sure not for the first 10 days, but after the last two weeks I've had I can skip the wine for a bit.

And secondly, what's your better option?
Weight Watchers? Been there done that, have successfully lost 15 lbs, but there's more to do.
Slim Fast? All that deprivation makes me too cranky (another hit against Sonoma I suppose)
Ridiculous amounts of exercise? Tried it, got up to 20 mi/wk this summer, but my knees gave up and I only lost one dress size and no weight.

So here we go. I bought the book last night (don't worry, $7 at the Half Price Bookstore I haven't lost all my scruples) and I am presently off to eat my two scrambled eggs (kinda I like the Real Eggs, it's just easier) and go to multiple grocery stores. So yes, 11:13 is a bit late for breakfast, BUT I'm going places!

Sincerely,
The Pasta Addicted Bread Junkie

PS-Here's my first three day shopping list.
Whole Grain Toast
Egg Whites
1/2 fresh shrimp
Garlic x2
1 lemon
1.5 c spinach leaves +2 c
1.5 c romaine
1 med tomato
.5 cucmber med
1/8 c red onion
1-8 c feta cheese
1 large whole wheat pita rounds
olive oil
red wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh mint
Dried oregano
Dried Thyme
1 lb chicken breast
10 oz fresh asparagus
6 oz pea pods
1 c canned artichoke hearts
2 c cherry tomatoes
fresh parsley
1/2 green onions
PARCHMENT PAPER?
almonds
peanuts
ground coriander
ground cumin
canola oil
1/4 c cilantro
15 oz can black beans
lime juice
canned chipotle chile pepper
.5 lb beef flank steak
dried rosemary
dried marojam
paprika
8 c broccoli
1 c bottled roasted bell peppers + 1/4c + 2c
2 oz goat cheese
mushrooms
whole wheat flour tortilla
2 boneless pork chops
sliced almonds (toasted)
2 c quinoa
3c reduced sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 raw bell pepper
1 cucumber
salt
pepper

My Eating MO

1. I think Pasta is the perfect food. I can walk away from it while it cooks (that's right folks I'm not a stirrer), it's delicious to me with the most basic fridge ingredients (garlic & spray butter/margarine) AND it's so filling.
2. After pasta; bread, cheese and butter are my loves. In an effort to downsize me I only use low fat cheeses & fake butters (Smart Balance, I Can't Believe It's not butter)
3. In an effort to downsize spending on food I do all of my shopping at the Wal-Mart grocery (read: she buys the low fake WM brand singles and off brand No Fat parm).
4. In an effort to downsize time spent on food I go grocery shopping once every two weeks, so everything I buy needs to last that long or longer.
5. I never start cooking until after I am hungry, which is weird because I think about food ALL THE TIME.
6. I don't enjoy cooking (possibly see #5), I enjoy eating.
7. Besides knowing I will have breakfast sometime before 11amish, there's nothing remotely regular about when I might be able to get a meal in at work.
8. The main way I reward and comfort myself is through food. I also tend towards the fridge when I'm bored. So we;ve got good times-check, bad times-check, in between-check.

So I think we can see possibility for positive change in most of these areas. Clearly there's no way that anything could be better than spending the least amount of $ possible on food #3; and the only thing possibly better than shopping 2x a month would be shopping less than 2x a month #4; but alas I can admit the shadow of a doubt in my ways in this area too.

OH YEAH!
9. I enjoy wine on every level. Besides your basic S's which any sommelier can tell you about, I enjoy just a glass, just a few glasses, just one glass more, just one glass before we get there, just one more before we leave, just one since we're back home, and too frequently just one too many.