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.

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 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

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!

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.

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.