On Friday I met with a personal trainer at my gym.  Um, turns out that all they wanted to do was “sell” me the personal trainer program.  The minimum purchase was $99 for three sessions, but she pointed out that since my goal is to lose 30 pounds the best option for me was their 36 session plan, which only cost $1100!  No thanks.

I ended up getting my 50 minute treadmill workout done though.  And that was the end of my structured exercise for the weekend.

I am normally not a list maker, but I did want to get several things accomplished over the weekend.

• call insurance about my glucose test strips
• put old cabinets that have been in our basement for years unused on freecycle.org
• pick up contacts
• check for summer clothes in the attic
• clean house
• clean basement area by downstairs fridge
• reorganize kitchen stuff (i.e., casserole dishes, pots, pans, etc.)
• wash windows and screens

I am happy to say that I accomplished everything but picking up my contacts – they closed by the time I got there.  Not bad!  I don’t mind cleaning, but I have to be in the mood for it, and luckily Friday was the day.  It had been a while since I wiped down the baseboards, wiped down the ceiling fans, move the furniture to vacuum, etc.

I guess the only good thing about a small house is that it only took me 3 hours to do everything.

We did a lot of grilling over the weekend:

  Pork roast on Friday Night.

BBQ Chicken Thighs on Saturday Night:

Don’t underestimate the deliciousness of hot sauce on corn!

Tony made me breakfast:

We ordered out for Chinese Sunday night – beef and broccoli with pork bbq fried rice – no onions.

Long time readers know I don’t bake very much, other than bread and pizza.   Strawberries were on sale so I knew I would be making some sort of dessert for Memorial Day.  I found this recipe and I am so happy – this dessert was stunning!  Although I have to say that it was 50/50 on liking the basil in the ice cream.  I think it made the dessert!

My strawberries were really sweet so I only added 1 tablespoon to the whole bottom layer.  And who knew ritz crackers, brown sugar and almonds would make such a great topping?!

I actually made this on Sunday and just left it out and served it room temperature.  Love how juicy the strawberries got after this came out of the oven.

I’ll definitely make this one again!  We had my Mom, SIL, nephew and his girlfriend over.  We decided on a taco fiesta!  Marinated flank steak and chicken – I also made crockpot refried beans, a black bean and corn salad and had way too much food – but my policy has always been “better to have too much than not enough.”

It was the perfect ending to a nice long weekend.  I did have my WI yesterday – guess what’s back?

Yep, I gained a pound this past week.  I can attribute it to not working out Saturday, Sunday and Monday – as well as some few extra licks and tastes since I didn’t blog over the weekend.  It’s all good – I’ll get back on track.   And thanks for the dozen people who emailed me to ask if I was okay since I didn’t blog since Friday – I appreciate your concern, but just needed to unplug.

So here is today’s Inspirational Diet video – make it a great day!  

My manners are awful.    So the winner of the Do Life Visor goes to:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: 0 Max:  25 Result: 24

24.  Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips onMay 18, 2012 at 3:21 am said:Edit

Your burrito sounds so good, though I prefer eggs for dinner. I may have to give this a try.

Congrats Brianne!  Send me an email at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com with your mailing address.

This is going to be a super quick post – I leave in 10 minutes to meet a personal trainer!  Erica had the bright idea that my gym might have a free initial evaluation, and they do!

I went to the fitness center before work yesterday – did the same routine as Tuesday, except this time I did each machine 3 reps of 15.  It took me 45 minutes to get through them all.

I forgot my camera so my breakfast and lunch pics are courtesy of my smart phone.  Breakfast was a breakfast burrito – 2 tablespoons refried beans, 1 flour tortilla, 1 egg with spinach and a piece of bacon with fuji apples on the side.

I have this blog to thank for my lunch – so good!  I had leftover steak and wasn’t sure what to do with it – this thai steak salad is delicious – they only thing I added to the sauce was some sriracha.  I also used shirataki tofu noodles.  I thought it would be weird eating those cold, but it was delicious!  That’s how Mary’s version turned out.

This was my version:

It was light and refreshing.  I also did a 50 minute walk/run before lunch – it was hot out – near 90, but luckily it was breezy.  Just wish my face didn’t get so red!

I know, the wallpaper in my office bathroom is still super creepy.

Dinner was quick – Tony and I split a steak, I made mashed potatoes and grilled up some zucchini.  I love grilled zucchini – I like it when it’s still a bit crunchy on the sides but soft in the middle.  Kinda like me.

Does anyone else have today off?  I am running late – I’ll post an inspirational video later on today – make it a great day!

Note taken.

I did have time to do my 30 minute Classical Stretch – this one was called “feet and knees” and I swear at least 20 minutes was in the plie position – my quads were really burning by the end!  But my Achilles heel felt amazing afterwards. 

I hit the ground running when I got to work – didn’t even have time for a picture, but turns out you’ve seen my breakfast parfait before.

It was a gorgeous day – 70 degrees, sunny skies.  I ended up biking for only 45 minutes – my quads were not happy with the bike ride after the stretches!  So much so that half way through the ride I had to get off my bike and stretch in the grass.  Yep, I am klassy like that.

Don’t you love how my fingernail is in the shot!  This made me laugh when I saw it.

Lunch was a turkey wrap on lavish bread – 2 ounces of turkey, 3/4 ounce swiss cheese, 1 tablespoon buffalo wild wing sauce, baby spinach.  All wrapped up in a nice little package.  With carrot fries and watermelon and strawberries on the side.  A delicious lunch!

The dip is fat free Greek dressing – it’s Maplewood Farms brand and really tasty.

But by mid-afternoon, I was starving.  My bosses chip stash kept calling me “Eat me Biz – you know you love honey mustard pretzels!”  But I had a better idea – I had an apple with a teaspoon of peanut butter and that did the trick.   I actually thought of my inspirational video yesterday – on how the runner must have trained hard to get to where he was – thank you inspiration!

And Debbi – this picture is for you, to let you know that I do keep hot sauce at my desk at all times.

You can tell that the weather is getting summer like because my dinner plate looks just like a summer cook out – cheddar brat, corn on the cob and some of my leftover crock pot baked beans.  The corn was just okay.  And for the record, that’s not too much mustard.

Now our inspiration video today – just be warned that you may need a piece of kleenex nearby, and you might not want to watch this at work.  Tony and I first saw this a couple years ago, and I am pretty sure both our eyes were weepy by the end.

It’s long – in two videos, but it is worth the watch!

Tony and I thank our lucky stars that both our kids were healthy growing up!

Stats for Wednesday:

• 1310 calories, 1524 calories after eating 1/4 cup of peanuts while watching t.v.
• 39 fat, 180 carbs, 23 fiber and 70 protein
• 30 minutes stretch before work
• 45 minute bike ride
• average blood sugar 143

Make it a great day!  I am off to the gym.

I love scones.  The first time I ever had one was at Starbucks.  It was a cinnamon chip one and if you’ve not had one, they are delicious!  But they also around 500 calories.  And back in the day, it wasn’t unusual for me to have this as my “pre-breakfast” treat for the train ride to work.

I had bananas that needed to be used up.  Do you think mine are ripe enough?

I put in “banana” in Tastespotting and I found this recipe for roasted banana scones.  Holla!

Look at how pretty they are!

I liked the fact that there was only 4 tablespoons of sugar (2 tablespoons white, 2 tablespoons brown) and the only thing I did differently was not roast the bananas because obviously mine were near rotten.  I also left off the drizzle topping, so each one of mine comes in at 353 calories.

I think I did something wrong.  Long time readers will know I am not much of a baker, but I thought I measured everything well.  She described her dough as “wet and shaggy” – I would describe mine as just wet.  In fact, when I took the dough out of the freezer after 30 minutes, I simply ran my pizza wheel through the dough so I could separate them after baking.  Breakfast comes in at 428 calories, 13 fat, 62 carbs, 3.3 fiber and 14 protein.

I add an egg with spinach on the side for some extra protein.  Um, I wouldn’t consider my version a scone.  It tasted more like a muffin – tasty, but I’ll have to go back to the drawing board on that one.  Or have the woman who made the original version send me a dozen.

My blood sugar was only 155 when I wanted to work out, so a 50 minute walk was all I could do.  Weird thing.  I am walking along this well traveled road, and all of a sudden I look down and see this in the grass.

It was literally about 5 feet from the edge of the road.  It had a zipper around it, and when I opened it up, this is what I found:

How weird is that??  Veronica, I just left it – but I thought of you when I found it!  Isn’t that completely random?

Anywho, my blood sugar dropped like a stone – I literally walked into my office and grabbed a can of regular root beer and drank half of it (24 grams of sugar!) and I tested my blood sugar and it was only 62 – after the pop!  So I am lucky that my one and only picture of lunch turned out good.

100 calorie bun, 3 ounces of sliced pork leftover from our roast over the weekend, 1/3 cup of skinny cole slaw, 1/2 a serving of sweet potato chips, TWO pickles and watermelon.  It looks like a picnic lunch!  This whole plate is 486 calories, 19 fat, 53 carbs, 5.6 fiber and 24 protein.

Traffic was backed up on my way home, I didn’t get home until nearly six o’clock.  But dinner was a quickie!  My store sells these thin steaks all the time, but I never picked one up before.  But now that Tony isn’t into thick meat (insert joke here!) anymore, I thought these would make good steak sandwiches.  I ended up using only two of the three slices, so each sammie only had .2 pounds of meat (around 150 calories).

The big calorie bust was the bread, but it’s a local bakery bread in Chicago, Gonnella Bread, and its worth the 220 calories.  I simply sauteed mushrooms and red pepper in about a teaspoon of butter.  Then I chopped up the meat into strips, just salt and peppered them, and cooked the meat for literally a minute or two tops.  Once I took the meat out, I added about 1/2 a cup of beef broth to the pan for a little pan juice.

I had 1/3 of a bag of Grab Bag potato chips on the side, dinner comes in at 549 calories, 18 fat, 62 carbs, 5.4 fiber and 38 protein.  This dinner literally came together in about 15 minutes.

Stats for Tuesday:

• 1463 calories, 51 fat, 179 carbs, 12 fiber and 78 protein
• 40 minute weights before work
• 50 minute walk at lunch
• average blood sugar 117

And now our Inspirational Diet video of the day!  Make it a great day!

Here is a tip for any diabetics out there, or if you know someone who tests their blood sugar.  I recently discovered that Walgreen’s brand test strips with insurance won’t ever cost more than $15.  The tip?  Have your doctor write that you test your blood sugar 8 times a day.  You get way more test strips for the same money – I normally test mine 4 times a day, so it’s like getting twice as many test strips for the same price.

My blood sugar was a perfect 230 before lunch.  It was cool – around 58 degrees.

I walked across the street from my office to a giant church called Willowcreek.  They have a lot of land and not a lot of car traffic.  They have this one long road and I decided to run some sprints to shake it up.  I don’t know if you can see the markers with the white tips on either side of the road – they were about 25 feet apart.  I would run one, then walk one, and I did that for 25 minutes.  With the warm up and cool down, it was a quick 50 minute workout.

So I grilled up some shrimp when I cooked our meat the other night for lunch.  Um, note to self.  Don’t bring unpeeled shrimp to work – it was super messy getting the shells off, I should have taken the shells off at home.

I made a side salad of edamame (sp?), cucumber, yellow pepper, cilantro, lime, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil.  It sat for a good 24 hours so I thought the flavors would have melded by the time lunch came around.  It was actually quite tasteless.  And since I was at work I didn’t have anything to add to it.  And yes, I have a random pickle on my plate – a co-worker bought hot & spicy Vlasic pickles and almost died eating them, so she brought them to me.  I don’t know where people get the idea that I like spicy shit. 

The cup in my salad is actually cocktail sauce for dipping.  Lunch came in at 444 calories, 16 fat, 28 carbs, 5.2 fiber and 49 protein.  The watermelon in the back was my dessert.

Over the weekend I made a pot of pasta sauce – each batch comes out differently because you never know who sweet or tart the tomatoes are going to be.  This batch?  Super tart!  Tony gave me the idea a long time ago to add carrots to a sauce to bring it around. 

I bought this pasta over the weekend – actually cheaper than Barilla!

While I could eat regular spaghetti or cork screw pasta, Tony loves egg noodles – these held onto the sauce really well too.  My plate: 1 cup baby spinach on the bottom, 1 cup of cooked pasta, 1/2 cup of sauce and 1 link of Italian sausage – 550 calories, 20 fat, 69 carbs, 11 fiber and 23 protein.

Thanks for all the comments on my first Inspirational Diet weigh in!  I think I just needed something else to focus on to make myself more mindful.  No snacks again at work or at home!

Stats for Monday:

• 1337 calories, 39 fat, 162 carbs, 22 fiber and 93 protein
• 30 minutes Classical Stretch (before work when a deer walked through my back yard and scared the crap out of me!)
• 50 minute walk/sprint at lunch
• average blood sugar 137

And now for today’s inspirational video.  Make it a great day!

Friday night Tony and I sat outside and grilled.  It was so perfect, we love this time of year before the mosquitos and bugs are out.  Our dog loves it too – although our neighbors cottonwood tree is shedding and Ed is covered in it!

Tony enjoyed a nice cigar – here is his serious face.

We did a grilled pork roast and foil potatoes – love that they cook at the same time.

Saturday Hannah and I ran some errands before she went to work.  Tony and I didn’t head to the grocery store until nearly 4:00!  I redeemed myself from the last time I used the smoker.  The coals were just right and this chicken turned out delicious – juicy, tender – I used apple wood chips and this was delicious!  So disaster last time . . .

To deliciousness this time . . .

Tony made me one of his awesome breakfasts – his eggs are always so fluffy – and check out the size of those strawberries!

Hannah didn’t have to work at all yesterday so we decided to go thrifting and bowling.  I bought a super cute purse – only $3.63 cents!  I love that I can put my camera in there if I wanted to.

When we got to Pinstripes, we discovered that they were all booked up with birthday parties.   It was super busy because I guess they have a pretty big Sunday brunch.  So we ended up just having lunch there.  We split their pear and gorgonzola salad and a small bites pepperoni pizza – perfect!

And then we walked around the mall.  I even texted Helen to tell her I was at a DSW and didn’t buy anything!  

I didn’t even buy anything at one of my favorite stores – Sur La Table.  I could literally spend hours in that store.

I did like that cutting board, but not with a $40 price tag!  It was fun hanging with you Hannah!

For dinner last night I made crockpot bourbon baked beans and a grilled boston roast.  I followed this recipe for the baked beans, except I added 1/3 pound of ground been and 1/3 pound of ground pork, added at the last hour.  I of course added hot sauce to my plate. 

I also soaked my beans in a jar overnight – they quadrupled in size!

This is only a cup of beans, but they kind of ran all over my plate!

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for.  How did I do on my first week of The Inspirational Diet?

Last week I was:

Today?

So what did I do differently last week?  I simply was mindful.  Mindful when I would reach for something while cooking to put in my mouth and stop myself.  Mindful to not snack – even over the weekend!  Pushing myself harder during my exercises.  It’s working, that’s all that matters, right?

So here is our inspirational video of the day today.  Make it a great day!

The time included a 5 minute warm up.  My goal is to up the mileage so that I can run shorter distances faster – ultimate goal?  A sub 30 minute 5k.

Breakfast was another breakfast parfait – the wonderful folks at Chobani sent me a case of yogurt – score!

My fruit yesterday was strawberries and apples with 1/4 cup of granola in between.

Even though I had done a total of 60 minutes on the treadmill including my cool down, I still wanted to get out at lunch and stretch my legs, so I went on a quick 35 minute walk.

I had all the broth leftover from the delicious mussels Tony made for me for mother’s day.   I was trying to figure out what to make with that delicious spicy broth and I decided to make black bean soup.  Holy smokes – this was delicious – don’t let the pictures fool you.  I followed this recipe (no onions!) and then just added in the broth at the end.

If I didn’t know the mussels had simmered in the broth I don’t think I could have identified the flavor, because it was subtle, but the heat was just perfect.

So remember how Tony was pulling his hair out when our Explorer got towed for repairs a couple weeks ago?

Because Tony is great at maintaining cars, our cars are both almost 12 years old.  He took matters into his own hands (best car negotiator I’ve ever met!) and when I got home this was in the driveway.

Woop!  I new car – its a 2012 Ford Fusion – it is so quiet and fast!  We have a two mile road that takes us to the main road.  The speed limit is 40 mph.  This morning I looked down and I was driving 60 mph without even realizing it!  Thanks for taking care of that Tony!   I loves ya babe.

So we celebrated with dinner out.  I’ve had a jones for wings for a long time.  Well, that and beer.  It was $2 Sam Adams light night!

The sauce?  Buffalo Calliente!  Melissa, you would have loved these!   They did have a pineapple habanero sauce, but it was too sweet for me – luckily I asked for that on the side.

So even with dinner out and drinks?  My stats weren’t too bad for the day:

• 1929 calories
• 71 fat
• 167 carbs
• 19 fiber
• 99 protein

Exercise:

• Total of 60 minutes on the treadmill before work
• 35 minute walk at lunch

And now for the brave women who shared their big glasses pictures!

I love that Veronica shared this picture of her Mom in big glasses (that’s baby V on her lap!).  She said “my Mom never goes on the internet!”

Next up is blog reader Lisa.  She and Hannah went to the same high school, although Lisa was class of 1992 and Hannah was class of 2010.

Next up is my dear blog friend Shelley.  She’s funny because she said a lot of pictures are of her holding her glasses in pictures – I used to do the same thing.  She’s rocking the hat too!

Then there is me and my twin sister.  Sporting not only our big glasses but turtlenecks with blazers.  Where the fuck were we going in those outfits?  I hope it wasn’t school!

But I have to say . . . the winner of the big glasses goes to . . . RACHEL!  She’s a busy woman who’s working full time while writing her dissertation – glad you took the time to send me this picture Rachel!

Thanks for the brave people who sent me your pictures!

And now, for your Inspirational Diet video of the day.  Basically, the message I got was that it doesn’t matter if you fall down – you can still win!

I probably won’t blog this weekend until my first WI on the Inspirational Diet on Monday!  Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a DO LIFE visor.   I’ll pick a winner on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

I can’t tell you the inspirational videos have stopped me in my tracks SEVERAL times a day.  I was conscious of my after dinner sneaks of food, but I never realized how many licks and tastes were just on auto pilot.  Yesterday I needed to give our dog some aspirin (for his arthritis) and I usually stick them on a piece of cheese – I made one for him and unconsciously reached for a piece of cheese for myself!  I stopped myself though.

I am trying to shake up my carb intake a bit – maybe have it a bit higher one day and the next day a bit lower.  Those of you keeping tabs on Tuesday I had 212 grams of carbs, yesterday I only had 116.

My breakfast parfaits, while delicious, are around 60-70 grams of carbs, so I can’t do those every day.  I decided to try something different for breakfast.

Roast Beef Breakfast Burritos

(one serving: 328 calories, 23 fat, 8 carbs, 3.6 fiber and 22 protein)

1.5 ounces of deli roast beef (for me it was three slices)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup green peppers
1/2 ounce shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 avocado, whipped with a fork
salt and pepper
cilantro
hot sauce

Scramble eggs with green peppers.  To assemble, lay each slice of roast beef on a cutting board.  Divide the egg mixture between the three meats, then roll up like an burrito.  Top with the cheese.  Nuke for 30 seconds.  Top with the avocado, hot sauce and cilantro.

While these don’t look that appetizing, holy yum, this was delicious.  Thanks to my co-worker J for bringing me avocados, it totally made the breakfast.  Well, that and the hot sauce.

I went to check my blood sugar before my bike ride.  Rats.  It was 126.  Perfect, but not enough for a strong workout.  Walking doesn’t make my blood sugar drop, so I reached into my desk drawer to see what I had to boost my walk.  I had totally forgotten I bought these, and even still forgot that Tony had mentioned these to me.  They are Gatorade energy bites.  I ended up eating 3 bites, for 150 calories and 18 grams of carbs.  They were tasty too!

So in keeping with yesterday’s inspirational video – I went on a 50 minute walk – using my arms and legs!

The weather was perfect – low 60′s, no wind.  It makes you appreciate the fact that you can take a walk.    And those Gatorade bites?  Did the trick.  I was walking at a pretty good pace and when I got back my blood sugar was 94.  Nice.

I have Mara  to thank for lunch.  I followed her recipe to the T – and when I figured out the calories, this giant sandwich (using 4 oz. meat, 1 6″ pita, lettuce tomato and 1/2 tablepoon of tzatziki, comes in at 384 calories, 9.3 fat, 40 carbs, 2.5 fiber and 34 protein.  Except I loves me some tzatziki sauce, so I added two more tablespoons for 40 extra calories.  And I had half of a lavish bread, which turns out to be just about the same calories as a 6 inch pita.

Hannah went to Roosevelt yesterday to take her placement tests, drop off her immunization records and get her student I.D.  I thought she’d have lunch down town but with the NATO summit so much was blocked off it wasn’t worth it.  Now she waits to meet with her advisor after her placement tests are assessed to schedule her classes for the fall.  Hannah is a “check it off the list” kind of Type A person (so not me!) so she’s super happy to get those things off her list.

I had some ground beef I needed to use up so I decided to make a low carb Reuben burger.  And since I skipped the carbs on the bun, that meant I could have sweet potato fries!   I have never bought these before, but I had a coupon and thought I would give them a shot.  Not only do they have these spicy sweet potato fries, they have sweet potato tots!  It was a toss up, but I went with the spicy fries.

My burger:  4 oz. ground beef (after cooking), 1/2 cup sauerkraut, 1 tablespoon fat free thousand island dressing (I decided to make a fancy schmear on the plate so I would get a taste on every bite with 1 slice of swiss cheese on the top.  With my serving of fries, dinner comes in at 564 calories, 32 fat, 32 carbs, 5.3 fiber and 35 protein.  And no, 1/2 a cup of sauerkraut on top of my burger isn’t too much.

Don’t forget to send me your big eye glasses (send to mybizzykitchen@gmail.com) to share tomorrow on Flashback Friday!  I only have four, and I KNOW there are a lot more of you out there!

What I did yesterday:

• 1531 calories, 74 fat, 116 carbs, 15 fiber and 100 protein
• 30 minute Classical Stretch (hips, anterior muscles and achilles heel – my heel feels fabulous – and for the record, since starting this program, I haven’t worn my orthotic inserts!)
• 50 minute walk at lunch
• drank 100 ounces of water (happy Jenn )
• no wine. except I drank bloody mary’s with extra Tabasco.  Kidding!

What I didn’t do yesterday:

• I restocked my bosses snack drawer (that is actually kept in my area) and I didn’t eat a single thing (honey mustard pretzel nubs people!) even though she opened two bags already and I could have easily snuck some.  Not that I’ve actually done that, but I am just sayin’. 
• Nothing after dinner, well, except for an orange, but fruit doesn’t count (and my blood sugar was low)

And now we get to the Inspirational Diet daily inspiration.  I promise, after the first few that you’ve probably seen, I do have some obscure ones you haven’t seen, but I love that this guy not only got the weight off, has kept it off and now has a Ben Does Life tour going on.  He pops up in towns to run 5k races.  He’ll be in Chicago on June 2nd near Buckingham Fountain.  http://dolifetour2012.tumblr.com/post/22598205288/chicago-il-saturday-june-2nd.  Because isn’t life all about living and not being on the sidelines?  Maybe this will be the one to get you off the couch and set down the remote.

And because I am feeling so good . . . leave me a comment and tell me what you are going to do today to do life?  I’ll pick a random winner on Monday of a Do Life Visor – just in time for summer!  Me?  I am off to the gym.

Make it a great day!

Yep, the breakfast parfait is back!  Did you miss it?  This time 1/2 cup of strawberries, plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 a banana and 1/3 cup of my granola.  Breakfast comes in at 357 calories, 2.9 fat, 68 carbs, 6 fiber and 18 protein.

One of the ways to make sure that you are a controlled diabetic is to meet with your endocrinologist every three months.  While it may seem excessive, other than making good choices, taking the right amount of insulin, etc., the only way you really know how you are doing is if you know your number.  You are probably like, what number??

Your A1c number is a blood test I take the week before my appointments.  It averages out my blood sugar numbers for the last three months.  Anything under 7 is excellent.  Drum roll please . . .

Mine was 6.5!  This number makes me happy because it proves that having a short lived high blood sugar in order to work out at lunch doesn’t impact my overall health.  Winning! 

I ended up having my lunch I brought the other day when Tony came to pick me up for lunch.  I used 3/4 of the risotto rice, had 2 ounces of shrimp, 1.5 cups of broccoli, 1/2 cup of bean sprouts and 1/4 cup of edamamme – tossed it in 2 tablespoons of stirfry sauce (40 calories for 2 tablespoons) and a splash of sriracha.  Lunch comes in at 453 calories, 7.5 fat, 70 carbs, 8 fiber and 33 protein.

I knew I was going to cook up pork chops, but was wondering what sort of side dish I could make.  I knew I had a cauliflower I never used up, and while I was leaning towards a cauliflower gratin, it was 85 degrees out and it just didn’t seem right.  So I went on Tastespotting, and found that Jenn made cauliflower popcorn.  (of course now I can’t find the link – Jenn – can you give me the right link?)  I was immediately intrigued!

I did switch it up a bit – I used our deep fryer so they weren’t greasy.  I also made the recipe for two.  Each One Cup Serving:  246 calories, 9 fat, 29 carbs, 4 fiber and 12 protein.

• 2 cups cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• pinch of garlic salt
• pinch of pepper

Heat your fryer or pan of oil to 350.  Mix the eggs with the garlic salt and pepper.  Toss the cauliflower in to coat.  Put bread crumbs in a large zip loc bag and shake until coated.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

I couldn’t believe it when I was downloading my pictures that I never took a picture of dinner!  I must have been hungry.  But I did take a quick picture on my phone to send to my sister.  You can see that I had quite a bit of egg leftover so I think I could have gotten away with just one.

I had a pan sauce with a spicy mustard hot sauce for my pork chop – the chops may look big, but they are only 4 ounces – I pound them really thin.  I used about a tablespoon of the light ranch dressing for dipping my “popcorn.”  This was so good – you really couldn’t even tell it was cauliflower – for those of you with young kids, this may be a way to sneak a veggie in.   Dinner comes in at 534 calories, 18 fat, 38 carbs, 6.6 fiber and 50 protein.

What I did do yesterday:

• 1580 calories, 38 fat, 212 carbs, 23 fiber and 105 protein
• Total of 50 minutes on treadmill, 5k baby!
• awesome doctor appointment (my doctor did tell me that he wished more of his patients were like me!)

What I didn’t do yesterday:

• No snacks at work
• Drank 80 ounces of water
• No wine.    Just shots of Jagermeister.  Kidding! (although that was my shot of choice back In the day).
• No snacks after dinner.  (even though I made Tony some homemade potato chips for a snack for him last night)

Now here is our inspiration video for today.  I will tell you, thinking of this guy, I think I am going to try to bike a little faster today!

Breakfast was two scrambled eggs that I put into half of a leftover red pepper, on the bottom of the pepper is a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce, and 3/4 ounce of cheese on the top – then put under the toaster oven.  With a side of strawberries – this plate is light on calories, but it stuck with me!  274 calories 15 fat, 17 carbs, 4.6 fiber and 17 protein.

Tony was near my office around lunch time.  I never turn down an opportunity to have lunch with my husband!  We went to the Assembly, which hands down has THE BEST burgers and Reuben sandwiches.  I actually thought for a second “my weigh in isn’t until next Monday, so I can work it off before then!”

They cook the food right on the inside of the bar on these grills – the smell is amazing alone.

But I thought of my inspirational video from yesterday and said “Arthur wouldn’t order the Reuben!”  I ended up getting a grilled chicken breast, only I only ate 1/2 of one slice of bread, half of the breast with 1/2 cup of baked beans.  No fries!

Lunch estimate is:  451 calories, 14 fat, 34 carbs, 7.5 fiber and 48 protein.  Thanks for lunch Tony!

I had defrosted a small beef tenderloin and remembered that I bought fresh green beans.  I wondered if I could grill them?  I tossed them raw in about 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked them along with the beef.

I put them in a bowl and splashed them with a bit of white balsamic, lemon juice, lemon zest and more salt and pepper – these were tasty!  My 4 oz of beef, 4 oz of potato and green beans (I added 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil to the calories between the potatoes and green beans) – dinner came in at 459 calories, 27 fat, 27 carbs, 5.7 fiber and 26 protein.  I loves me some rare meat!

While I didn’t get in my lunch time workout, I am happy with day one.

• 1237 calories, 59 fat, 85 carbs (nice!) 17 fiber and 93 protein
• average blood sugar was 162
• 30 minute daily stretch

Things I didn’t do:

1. Didn’t eat any food leftover in the kitchen while I was cleaning up (confession time, I do that a lot!)
2. Didn’t eat any snacks at work.
3. I was a bit hungry in the afternoon but made myself a 50 calorie iced coffee, and that hit the spot.
4. No wine.   I just had vodka.  Kidding!

I have my quarterly diabetes doctor appointment at lunch today, so I am up early to hit the gym.

I loved reading the comments yesterday about my Inspirational Diet.  This next video?  If this doesn’t motivate you to move today, I really don’t know what will.

Make it a great day!