I have both Shelley and Tony to thank for making me an honest woman.  Here I was saying it had been 8 days since I last had cheese.  Well, they both pointed out that a mere 5 days ago I had a cup of Panera’s broccoli CHEDDAR soup.  So it hasn’t been a full 8 days since I had cheese. . . I lied.  BUT I have to say going from having cheese at nearly every meal to ONCE in 8 days, I think that is still amazing to me I’ve lasted that long.

It was another rise and shine day to hit the gym before work!  I love that my food and workout bag is packed and ready to go – I woke up at 6:30 (snoozed a bit after the alarm!) and was in the car at 6:44!

BEEFstew 012

On tap was arms/abs/cardio.  The strength portion took me 35 minutes and I ended up doing 8 miles on the bike in 35 minutes.  Nice! 

BEEFstew 014

BEEFstew 016

BEEFstew 017

It wasn’t until I was ready to shower that I realized my bag that has my hairbrush, shampoo, etc. was still sitting on the floor NEXT to my packed bag at home – it never made it in the bag!  So my fingers actually “combed” my hair when I put it back in a pony tail, and I have a spare deodorant in my car – whew!  Thank goodness I don’t give a shit what I look like at work!

My pre-workout meal – un-photographed high fiber English muffin with a tablespoon of peanut butter.  I am shocked at how full that keeps me – I didn’t eat my “real” breakfast until 10:30!  More crustless, cheeseless zucchini quiche with grapes and Chobani.

BEEFstew 001

I had planned on hitting up the pool at lunch again, but the little kids were testing in the pool to see if they could graduate to the next level – lots of parents around, so I ended up walking on the treadmill, watching the Chew at a 3.8 mph pace on a 7.0 incline. 

BEEFstew 027

Remember the whole chicken Tony grilled last Friday night – and made me my “cleanse approved” side dish of sweet potatoes, corn and carrots?   I ended up making a chicken vegetable soup with the leftovers – no real recipe, just picked off the chicken and added the cooked veggies with some chicken brother – easy peasy.

BEEFstew 007

On my second to third bite of my soup it had a nice layer of heat to it, and I couldn’t remember adding any crushed red pepper or anything – doh!  I forgot Tony added jalapeno to my veggies – just the right amount of spice.

BEEFstew 030

I ended up buying Tony some gyro meat to make for lunches during the week, only to remember that I didn’t have any pita bread!  If you haven’t tried making pita bread, it’s so easy.  Just mix the dough, let it rest, and then cook a couple minutes a side in a hot cast iron skillet.  I used halfbakedharvest’s recipe – only I halved it to only make 4 pita breads.   Each pita bread comes in at 160 calories, 2.2 fat, 30 carbs, 1.3 fiber and 4.4 protein.  I asked Tony how the pita bread turned out and he said “it was softer than I thought it would be.”  Ah, perfection!

So, I did sneak in a little “white” during my cleanse – I made a roast beef and spinach panini to go with my soup.   Holy cow this sammie was delicious!  Even without the cheese.

BEEFstew 006

The afternoon flew by at work.  Dinner was done the night before – my best beef stew – although without the beer!  I always think that beef stew tastes better after it sits a day or two.  I may have had two tiny biscuits on the side.  I counted the calories though!

BEEFstew 035

Nothing more comforting than a bowl of beef stew.  I actually like the added cinnamon and brown sugar to the beef – it’s subtle but really rounds out the flavors.  And since I didn’t use beer or wine in the stew, I added 6 ounces of mushrooms to the base – they kind of dissolved in the gravy, but seemed to give this an extra beefy flavor.

Stats for the Day:

  • 1699 calories, 189 carbs, 96 protein, 62 fat and 17.2 fiber
  • 32% of calories from fat, 22% of calories from protein and 44% from carbs
  • 35 minute arms/abs for strength
  • 35 minute 8 mile bike ride
  • 40 minute 2.5 mile small hill climb at lunch

I have legs on tap for strength today with cardio.  I rescheduled one of my doctors appointments from Monday to today – I am ashamed to admit it, but it’s been SIX YEARS since I’ve been to the gynecologist – gah!   I guess I am too busy making sure I am taking care of my diabetes, that I kicked the gyno to the curb!   They actually had to pull my file out of storage for my appointment (hanging head!).

Alright, time to get the show on the road – make it a great day!