man, i have been busy!

i can't believe it's been a week since i posted on here. there is no way i can remember everything i ate or did since last tuesday. hmmm. let's just say i was good last week up until friday. then friday i went to dinner with alyce, and there was both cream and bacon involved. in fact, there was bacon every day this weekend. all dieting flew to the winds with the arrival of the hippie's college friends for the weekend and my attendance to a children's holiday party. i wasn't as bad as i could have been, but i was definitely not good either. and to tell you the truth--it wasnt' really worth it. some of it was good--mostly the stuff i made myself. but for the most part, i think my body has decided that milk fat is the devil, and that it's a lot happier if i am eating lighter, healthier food. this ia good thing to realize, really. i think it will take me all week to recover from this weekend! well, and today is not much better, since i haven't really prepared. the hippie is in boston with the sam today, so i am just writing today off. i will start keeping track again tomorrow. climbing back on the wagon this time, however, is something i am looking forward to. i am calling that mental progress.

by the way, all that said--the shrimp and grits i made for breakfast yesterday were fabulous! i just don't want anymore chocolate pudding for at least a year. and those oatmeal cream pies? those are nasty now. ew.

monday--not my favorite day

in spite of the greyness and the cold, i was good yesterday. jenn actually invited us over for chili, but i resisted and cooked at home--too much to do before this weekend!!! anyway--here are the stats from cold grey monday:

• breakfast: our most common breakfast: eggs scrambled with thyme, canadian bacon, LS V8, and a cup of tea. i was going to do something else, but we overslept, and this is fast and reliable, so there you go.
• lunch: chicken and three bean soup--i made a big pot on sunday to be lunch for much of this week.
• dinner: chicken fried (no flour) in olive and peanut oil with pepper and old bay, leftover grilled squash and french beans with sweet onions and thyme, sauteed asparagus, and sliced tomatoes with olive oil and fresh basil
• snacks/other: no snacks
• desserts/sweets: no sweets--i think i had a full dose sunday!

activities: more laundry, more cooking. that's it.

another weekend, and a bit of cheating

yes, i gave into the chocolate craving this weekend. in addition to yesterday's cheater's brunch, which we have agreed is the Right Thing, we ate some little chocolate cakes last night. holy CRAP, they were good!!! i am blaming it on hormones. anyway--here's the info for the weekend:

food log for sunday:

• breakfast: cheater's brunch was the same as last weekend--buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup, hash browns, some fruit and 2 pieces of bacon
• lunch: er--we had brunch, so no lunch
• dinner: grilled tuna and shrimp marinated in soy, ginger, and sesame oil, edamame with red peppers and lime, and steamed asparagus
• snacks/other: some almonds i was sort of grazing on in the afternoon
• desserts/sweets: chocolate cake. a little one. i couldn't finish it. oh, and i had a glass of 1% milk with it.

activities: shopping for groceries, cooking and doing laundry all afternoon

food log for saturday:

• breakfast: cheesy scrambled eggs and canadian bacon with LS V8 and tea
• lunch: had lunch at neomonde--chicken stew with eggplant and zucchini, fatoush, and cabbage cooked with onions and spices
• dinner: pan seared cumin crusted pork loin chops and stir-fried veggies (asparagus, patty-pan squash, sweet onions, red peppers)
• snacks/other: no snacks
• desserts/sweets: no desserts either

activities: ran a million errands, cleaned the house up some, made some wire things

food log for friday:

• breakfast: same old thing--eggs scrambled with theym, canadian bacon, LS V8, and a cup of tea. don't get me wrong--i don't get tired of this breakfast--we both like it pretty well.
• lunch: a grilled chicken salad from chick-fil-a--not great, but there was no time for much else. it was the best option available.
• dinner: eric and kylie came--i made london broil, mushrooms and shallots sauteed in red wine and olive oil, grilled yellow squash with sweet onions and thyme, french beans, and garlic mashed potatoes (which i did not eat)
• snacks/other: no snacks
• desserts/sweets: no desserts either

activities: nothing unless you count a lot of running around and cooking!

thursday's half-assery

yesterday was ok for the most part, with the exception of a small cheat. the hippie totally violated protocol and went out before his game night for wings and beer, so i figure my tiny cheat is nothing in comparison. i had a date mamoul, which is this small, date-filled lebanese cookie. i had a cup of tea after dinner last night with my cheater's cookie, and i swear, it felt like the height of decadence.

food log for 10/20:

• breakfast: 1 poached egg with black beans and pico de gallo, LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: leftover fauxitas and black beans with guacamole and pico de gallo--all the people in the kitchen at my office nuking their lean cuisines were quite jealous!
• dinner: from neonomde, an artichoke stuffed with shredded beef and tomatoes, broccoli sauteed with red peppers in olive oil and lemon, and stewed cabbage and onions
• snacks/other: still cna't seen to remember these
• desserts/sweets: the aforementioned date mamoul

activities: not so much--i was feeling really run down last night for some reason--i spent an evening on the couch with my knitting.

wednesday--back to cooking

this morning the hippie told me my jeans, the ones i LOVE that used to be a little on the tight side, were getting too loose in the ass. this is HUGE, people. he claims he is now bereft of my ghetto booty. he's not of course. i mean, like i told him, i started with enough ass for j-lo and at least two younger sisters. so really--all he's losing is some little sister's amount of ass. the j-lo i am sure, will remain. anyway. the bottom line is--progress!!! here's what i ate yesterday:

• breakfast: same old thing: two eggs scrambled with thyme, canadian bacon, LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: had to go out due to not cooking tuesday night. went to neomonde and had chicken kabobs, eggplant, and okra stewed with tomatoes--YUM!
• dinner: made fauxitas with spicy black beans, guacamole, and pico de gallo
• snacks/other: bad--i forgot these again--i was so busy at work it never even occurred to me to eat them.
• desserts/sweets: nothing.

activities: dance class #2! did some foxtrotting and started learning to rhumba for an hour.

i got to eat food cooked by someone else!

jenn invited us over for dinner last night, and in fact, had made food that we could actually eat. it was AWESOME. of course, this screwed my lunch plan for today, but i got over that pretty fast. here's yesterday's food log:

• breakfast: standard fare: two scrambled eggs with thyme, 2 pieces of canadian bacon, a small glass of LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: turkey chili (it's SO chili season!)
• dinner: jenn's fabulous roasted pork loin with rosemary, garlic, and olive oil with roasted zucchini and onions, and a fabulous salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• snacks/other: ignored those--too busy working
• desserts/sweets: nada

activities: who has time for these lately! i worked till 6:10, ate dinner, and had an 8pm conference call from jenn's house. i knitted for about 10 minutes after that, if that counts. :)

eating out on monday

today we shall call Not Prepared Day. this means we ate out for both lunch and dinner. however, it does NOT mean we were very bad--it means we ate greek and mediterranean food--it's amazing how healthy you can eat when you go to those types of places. i had every intention of cooking dinner, but by the time i finished work, got to the grocery store and got home, it was already 8:40pm. just too late! so we went out. anyway, without further ado, here's the food log:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with LF cheddar cheese and cracked black pepper and a cup of tea
• lunch: went to taverna nikos in durham with the hippie. had a chicken souvlaki w/o the pita and split some sauteed greens with the hippie.
• dinner: went to neomonde (LATE!) and had some chicken stewed with tomatoes and lemon, some okra and eggplant, some cabbage and onion with spicy peppers and bulgar wheat (the only cheat here), and some fatoush--YUM
• snacks/other: totally forgot my snacks again
• desserts/sweets: none of these of course

activities: not so much. i can still barely walk from all the squatting on sunday!!!

weekends are tough

ok--so we cheated. we went out for sunday brunch, threw the whole diet to the wind, and cheated. i can't say i really regret it so much--i was good for the whole rest of the weekend, after all. and damn--a girl just needs a pancake every once in a while...

for sunday:

• breakfast: buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup, soome fruit, a few hashbrowns (actual potatoes! *gasp*), and 2 pieces of glorious bacon
• lunch: breakfast WAS lunch
• dinner: leftover mediterranean shellfish stew and 4 bites of the hippie's leftover turkey chili
• snacks/other: no snacks--who could eat snacks after that big ol' brunch!
• desserts/sweets: i think my whole brunch could be put under this category--when we finished brunch, the waitress actually asked us if we wanted dessert!!! we said no.

activities: worked out in the yard all afternoon--swept down all the cobwebs on the porch, repotted plants, washed all the porch furniture, weeded flower beds and pots, cut down about 60k saplings, swept the sidewalks, trimmed back all the irises and daffodils, filled all the bird and squirrel feeders, and planted some flowers. i am freakin' sore today!

for saturday:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with thyme, some LS V8, and 2 cups of tea
• lunch: leftover turkey chili, which is way better the next day btw
• dinner: we cooked out with the johnsons: steaks, grilled veggies, and sauteed greens--yum!
• snacks/other: some red pepper, cucumbers and hummus
• desserts/sweets: nada

activities: cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and did 4 loads of laundry--i think heavier housework definitely counts.

friday the 14th

i keep forgetting to eat my snacks. i have had this vague headache all week, and i am starting to wonder if maybe i am letting my blood sugar fall too low or something. hmmmm. perhaps i need to pay a little better attention to that. anyway--here's yesterday's food log:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with chopped green chiles and LF cheddar cheese, two pieces of canadian bacon, 3 oz. LS V8, and a cup of tea. and then another cup of tea--my shit was DRAGGIN'!.
• lunch: leftover chicken and 3-bean soup and a small heirloom tomato salad
• dinner: turkey chili with guacamole and LF cheddar cheese while having an alias-fest over at jason and maggie's house
• snacks/other: like i said--forgot these. i did eat some almonds while driving home from work b/c i was actually feeling a little light-headed from my raging headache
• desserts/sweets: nope, although LORD i wanted some ice cream yesterday!

all in all--i am doing ok. i haven't been weighing, but i can tell a difference in how my clothes are fitting, which is more encouraging than the numbers on the scale to me anyway. if i can just hold out till the 28th, then i get to switch to phase two.

foodstuffs for october 12th and 13th

yesterday was INSANE, and i had no time to post. but i've been good--i really have. :) here's the skinny (heh):

food log for the 13^th:

• breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with thyme, 2 pieces of canadian bacon, half a juice glass of LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: went out with my brother! had a fabulous grilled salmon salad with mixed greens, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• dinner: i made a version of the mediterranean chicken stew, but with scallops and shrimp instead
• snacks/other: utterly forgot to eat snacks today
• desserts/sweets: watched my brother eat 2 small cakes, a hunk of baguette, and a ginormous block of cheese and was not even tempted--go me!

food log for the 12^th:

• breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with thyme, 2 pieces of canadian bacon, half a juice glass of LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: leftover chicken and 3 bean soup
• dinner: chicken sauteed in olive and peanut oil with old bay and cracked pepper, heirloom tomato salad with olive oil and fresh basil, whole fresh artichokes steamed with lemon and thyme and with a lowfat herbed mayo
• snacks/other: forgot the morning snack; afternoon snack was turkey and a slice of jarlsberg lite
• desserts/sweets: no sweets.

activities: dance class! whoo hoo!

half on, half off

yesterday was supposed to be my last day of freedom from SB, but i decided to get back on the wagon early. i think the size 14 skirt has inspired me or somehting. so anyway, this makes yesterday's food log quite a mixed bag. check it out:

• breakfast: a dried cherry scone and a cup of tea
• lunch: a smoked turkey and meunster cheese sandwich on whole grain bread with guacamole and sundried tomato spread.
• dinner: feeling experimental and needing some comfort food, i made a chicken and three bean soup with mushrooms and swiss chard--it was YUMMY!
• snacks/other: no snacks.
• desserts/sweets: used every ounce of willpower to resist going straight to starbucks for an oatmeal raisin cookie. a miracle.

activities: none of these. i am still tired from walking the entire length and breadth of charleston about 75 times this weekend! whew!

eating tour of charleston

so yeah. returned from a weekend in charleston with the pseudo-in-laws. i think i ate my body weight in grits and fried. fried shrimp, fried chicken, fried oysters--mmmmm. not very condusive to weight loss, but YUM. i also had some biscuits, some pie, gravy, ribs, and other tummy terrible things. it was a good weekend, and today is like a bonus day--i had a scone for breakfast, and i am eating a sandwich as we speak. tomorrow, it's back to SB until the 28th. we are going to start back on phase 1 tomorrow morning, and continue it till the last weekend of this month, since that weekend we will have a house full of chocolate pudding eating guys. then we will get on phase 2 and stay on that till thanksgiving at least. the holidays are rough for dieting, but i will try not to go insane.

water lillies skirt

anyway, as i ramble on, i am failing to report a small victory. i have not been weighing myself on this go-round on the SB diet--i have just been doing it. however, i can already tell a difference in the fit of my clothes. this weekend, i bought a size 14 skirt, the first in many many years. like i said to the sam, that little number made me want to throw a party! WAY more motivating than the scale ever could be!

what i ate on thursday, october 6th, 2005

yesterday we actually ate dinner out. this is easier than you would think on this diet, but only because most restaurants are pretty flexible about their sides. however--it amazes me how very potato-centric side dishes are in this country. it's weird. why does no one offer any vegetable variety? oh well--this is why i am cooking most meals at home, right? anyway--here's the log from yesterday:

• breakfast: jackie's SB huevos rancheros: leftover black beans with two poached eggs, shredded lowfat cheddar, and pico de gallo, a small glass of LS V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: leftover salmon with white wine and lime and a big garden salad
• dinner: blackened catfish with grilled asparagus and sauteed summer veggies (i ate the broccoli, the zuchini, and the squash--i left out the carrots as they are too sugar-y for phase 1)
• snacks/other: morning snack: a piece of herbed turkey with a slice of jarlsberg lite, afternoon: a little bit of hummus and some cucumber slices and grape tomatoes
• desserts/sweets: nada

activities: scrambled around trying to get ready for the arrival of the pseudo-in-laws--i DEFINITELY burned some calories, although no one could call this activity structured in any way.

wednesday, october 5th

still plugging away at the SB diet. still resisting chocolate. perhaps the fact that we are going to charleston this weekend, and i know all bets will be off, food-wise, is keeping me more on track than usual this week. i AM getting a bit tired of cooking every meal, as i always do. it would be fine if it weren't for this pesky job taking up so much of my time... :)

food log for 10/05/05:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with thyme, two pieces of canadian bacon, half a juice glass of LS V8, and a cup of tea (just like the day before)
• lunch: leftover mediterranean chicken stew and a few almonds
• dinner: faux chicken fajitas^* and spicy black beans with pico de gallo--i was going to make some guacamole to go with this, but my avacados were ROCK HARD--ugh! this is one of the hippie's favorite SB dinners--i keep forgetting beans are OK--i should cook more of those. maybe next week i will make some roasted pork loin with some great northern beans made with onions and chicken broth and sundried tomatoes...hmmm...
• snacks/other: totally forgot my morning snack, afternoon snack was a slice of herbed turkey rolled up with a slice of jarlsberg cheese (low-fat of course)
• desserts/sweets: had an extra cup of tea in the afternoon--i think this counts since it has about 3/4 of a teaspoon of sugar in it

activities: working late, laundry, making dinner, washing dishes, more laundry, and knitting. not a lot of calorie-burning in ther, but man did it make me tired. does bleeding count as an activity?

*consists of chiken breast cut into strips, marinated in lime juice and chili-infused avacado oil, sauteed in a hot hot pan with onion, red pepper, and yellow pepper till the onions start to caramelize--i'll write up a real recipe for this next time i make it

want recipes? just ask, yo.

first a shout out to kara! she's the first non-spam anonymous commenter i have had in DAYS!!! second, i wanted to say, for kara and anyone else who stumbles across this blog, if you want a recipe for anything i write about, just ask. i will be happy to post it (if it's my recipe) or email it to you (if it came from a cookbook). :)

note: i added links to some of the recipes below. these and some other recipes (some healthy, some total fat bombs) can be found in my soon-to-be-reworked online cookbook.

info for october 4th

so far, so good. the diet is going ok, and i am feeling alright with it. it's strange to be cooking every single meal, but really--i need to cook at home more anyway. it has an amusing effect on the hippie i must say--the more i cook, the more he grabs my ass. can't really complain about THAT! :)

anyway, here's what i ate yesterday:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with thyme, two slices of canadian bacon, some low-sodium V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: curried chicken salad^* and chopped up heirloom tomatoes
• dinner: salmon with white wine and lime, and a boatload of stir fried veggies with soy and ginger and garlic
• snacks/other: morning: a slice of smoked turkey rolled up with a slice of jarlsberg lite, afternoon: hummus with grape tomatoes and cucumber, some almonds
• desserts/sweets: still resisting that chocolate stash in my drawer at work

activities: all day i thought i would go for a walk last night, but then i ended up working late, and went to the grocery store, and then home, and cooked dinner, and man--i was done! the best of intentions went the way of the dogs AGAIN! we were in bed before 10.

* note: if you want this recipe to be OK for SB phase 1, leave out the apples and the lime juice and use lowfat sour cream and mayo.

logs for october 3rd

yesterday wasn't too bad--except for bleeding a week early and working late and stuff going wrong at work and things that were late and sucked. *sigh* it's always something. very proud of myself for sticking to my diet on a monday that definitely had its way with me.

here is yesterday's food log:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with lowfat cheddar cheese, two pieces of canadian bacon, about 3 oz, of low-sodium V8, and a cup of tea
• lunch: grilled steak caesar with no croutons
• dinner: mediterranean chicken stew
• snacks/other: morning snack: celery with a wedge of laughing cow lowfat cheese, afternoon snack, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, and hummus
• desserts/sweets: nope

activities: trying to make myself do small things like walk up the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator. i was planning to go to a pilates class last night, but i forgot i had to go pick up jenn and harry at the airport right in the middle of it--class went the way of the dogs.

stuff i ate and did on october second

so the SB diet is easier once you ahve been through it. the first time around, it was so new, and i felt some self-inflicted pressure to try out all these new recipes, so it was just a constant battle for me. i wanted to be all creative AND be cooking every single meal. now i kind of know how to do it--i know what things i normally cook are and are not allowed. i have a big ol' stockpile of things that will work. and i have learned to make extra and bring leftovers for lunch instead of trying to eat a salad EVERY FRIKKIN' DAY. it's better. i am not all that stressed. except for this pesky PMS-y shocolate craving that will NOT LEAVE ME FUCKING ALONE!!!!! but i digress...

food log for 10/02/2005:

• breakfast: two-egg omelet with spinach, mushrooms, and lowfat cheddar cheese with a cup of tea
• lunch: curried chicken salad, bibb lettuce, and heirloom tomatoes with unsweetened iced tea
• dinner: grilled spice-rubbed sirloin and a medley of grilled veggies (asparagus, zuchini, red pepper, and portabella mushrooms)
• snacks/other: morning snack: a piece of rolled turkey rolled up with a slice of jarlsberg lite cheese. afternoon: grape tomatoes, yellow peppers, and cucumbers with hummus
• desserts/sweets: nada.

activities: hard to be too motivated to leave the couch when you have a nasty PMS headache and are almost done with a knitting project at the same time. i sat. needs to change.

something to report

ok--i haven't been updating this since there has been nothing worth writing. however, the hippie and i are going for the hard reset that is the re-starting of the south beach diet. today is day two. i am a huge advocate of this diet, since, unlike every other commercial diet guide i have eer seen, this one never leaves you vitamin deficient or starving. plus--i know it works. last october i lost 10 pounds in two weeks on this diet (plus i was going to the gym), and it has stayed gone, despite by best efforts to become larger than the average barn door.

i will not lie--the first two weeks are hard. and for us this time, it will be 3 weeks, as the first week will be ending with an unexpected and undoubtedly grits-filled weekend in charlston. more on that in the real blog. but i know there will be an interruption, and i want to have two uninterrupted weeks on this hard part. the main reason for this is that it really helps me not to crave sugar, which lately i have WANTED.

anyway--today is day two. here's yesterday's food log:

• breakfast: two eggs scrambled with thyme and a cup of tea with 1 tsp raw sugar (my cheat on this diet) and 1% milk
• lunch: cajun spiced salmon filet and a big salad with olive oil vinaigrette
• dinner: tilapia baked with ginger, sesame oil, and soy with hot sauteed peppers and swiss chard--yum!
• snacks/other: morning snack: a handful of almonds; afternoon snack: a piece of smoked turkey rolled up with a slice of light jarlsberg cheese
• desserts/sweets: none of these--the SB diet allows some sugarless desserts, but i loathe sugar substitutes, so i don't eat 'em.

activities: does shopping for groceries like ALL DAY count?

so--i am back. i am gong to try to start updating every day again, or at least close to it. wish me luck, people!