Tickled pink I am

Sweet Friday you're finally here. I want to wrap my loving arms around you and hold you tight until the end of times. I've missed you so much! I waited patiently for you all week. I wept, I whined and I kicked like a little baby. All that drama is behind us now. You are here, with me, where you belong. Tonight is ours baby! Let us celebrate RIGHT with a toast.


HOLD IT! Let's back up a bit first and start at the beginning shall we?

BREAKFAST (meal #1) at 9:30.

My tasty oats were beckoning me all morning but I found it hard to leave my desk long enough to make them. I finally caved at 9:30 because I was STARVING!

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 wheat bran
• 1 tbs flax
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• pinch salt
• Splenda to taste
• 1 tbs sugar free cherry preserves
• 2 tbs PB2

While consuming this deliciousness, I reflected over my weight loss journey to date. I had another stellar morning with a 1.9 pound loss since last Friday. This officially puts me over 45 pounds total. 45.4 to be exact. INSANE RIGHT? TICKLED PINK I AM, I AM!

How are my others goals going? Well lets check in shall we?

• Drinking a gallon - I suck. This is still not happening. I will try harder next week.
• One coffee a day - Doing good...
• Less starchy carbs - Doing great. Sometimes I barely have any. I never though I would be able to say that. And get this.... I hardly miss it. :-o
• New Recipes - I owned this in the last week. I made a bunch of delicious new things for the first time and loved them all.
• More ab workouts - FAILED. I did manage to get one day in though which is better than nothing.
• 3.5 hours of Cardio a week - GOT IT DONE! And yes, I hated every breathless minute of it.
• Project Tackle Tosca - FAILED! But this is a new week. I will cook something out of her amazing cookbook this week for sure!

Uhm yeah, I think that about covers the bulk of it. Let me know if I left something out. ;)

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:45pm.

I was still a prisoner at my desk. Only taking bathroom breaks and refilling the water to keep the brain and fast moving fingers hydrated and agile. (Gallon mission underway!!)

I had another tasty salad today. Simple ingredients make a better salad in my opinion.

• Romaine
• Cherry tomatoes
• Red and green belle peppers
• 1/2 Avocado
• Sprinkle of sweet curry sunflower seeds
• Drizzle of Spray Butter

DELICIOUS! I kept working while I ate and worked right through break time again. No matter. It was Friday and the end was near. I was going like a MAD MACHINE all day. Getting things done left and right! I was in a zone.

SNACK (meal #3) at 4:15pm.

I refueled my MACHINE self with a tasty yogurt mess. A blend of Oikos, a sliced banana and a sprinkle of cocoa mole sunflower seeds make everything better.


I powered through the last hour at work and got the hot heck out of there at 5:00 on the dot.

THIS IS THE BEST PART OF FRIDAY! It's from this very moment that you're the furthest away from Monday morning. HA! Vicious cycle!

When I got home I did the unthinkable and made an espresso. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! I had two cups today instead of my usual one. Oh I'm so WILD and OUT OF CONTROL!


I enjoyed my steamy, sweet beverage wrapped in a blanket while watching It's Always Sunny Philadelphia. I LOVE the show! Nick and I are watching all the seasons on NetFlix. HILARIOUS!

DINNER (meal #4) at 8:30pm.

I haven't had pasta in for EVER. I needed to remedy this ridiculous situation immediately. Yeah, that's right, I was going to indulge in starchy carbs tonight. I picked this package of Spinach & Chives pasta up at Trader Joe's months ago and decided to finally make it.


I cooked the pasta as directed and tossed my portion with sauteed broccoli, leftover chicken breast from last night, spray butter, cottage cheese, frozen peas, cherry tomatoes, red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.


I fell into a sweet carby trance with each delicious bite. It turned out incredibly delicious! I decided to crack open this bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to enjoy with dinner. YUM YUM!

Time to dive into a few blood thirsty episodes of Dexter. It's getting so good. We're almost done with season two. I love this show so much.

I'll leave you with a little quote....

"It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one's present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason." Latin Proverb Quotes

Trapped

As predicted, the EVIL snow storm arrived late yesterday afternoon and continued to fall ALL night long. When we woke up it looked crazy outside. 5 inches my ass. More like 12+. The decision to skip the gym this morning was not a hard one. I'M TRAPPED! I don't think I could have made it out of the driveway or up our street even if I was crazy enough to try. BAH!

I enjoyed an espresso while staring at the insanity from inside. THIS is about as close as I want to be to the powdery stuff that frozen nightmares are made of.


My espresso was to die for, as usual. I made it with chocolate chip cookie flavored coffee and topped it with fat free whip and cinnamon. It warmed me right up!


BREAKFAST (meal #1) at 9:00am.

Eggs sounded good this morning. NO OATMEAL? GASP! Strange right? Maybe I'll have it later today as a snack. LIVIN ON THE CULINARY EDGE OVER HERE!

To start, I toasted an English muffin and smeared Trader Joe's cilantro jalapeno hummus on each half. I also cooked up 4 egg whites mixed with a handful of chopped up spinach leaves, seasoned with salt & pepper. I topped each English muffin with the eggs and drizzled Sriracha on top.


My breakfast loved me and I loved it right back.

I also had a small handful of grapes on the side and a cup of blood orange & pomegranate tea. Yum-Yum!


After my food settled I decided to workout at home. Nothing major but I didn't want to forgo it all together. I'll probably end up going to the gym tomorrow instead of taking Sunday off like usual. I'm hoping some of this snow melts by then. While I was changing into my gym clothes, Nick geared up to tackle the driveway. It looked insane! I swear we had at least 16 inches or more fall last night!

Nick's Workout....


MY WORKOUT!

Done 2x over
Push ups
x5
Sit ups
x40
Crunches
x40

Done 2x over
Double Leg Raise reverse sit ups
x20
Scissors
x20

Just one set
Plank
30 seconds
Side Plank (right)
15 seconds
Side Plank (left)
15 seconds

Done 2x over
Push ups
x5
Dumbbell Fly
8lb x 30
Dumbbell Press
x30

Done 2x over
Arnold Press (dumbbell)
8lb x 20
Front Raise (dumbbell)
8lb x 20
Side Raise (dumbbell)
8lb x 20

Done 2x over
Bicep Curls (dumbbells)
13lb x 15 (had to hold the 5lb & 8lb dumbbells together, SUCKED)
Hammer Curls (dumbbells)
13lb x 15

I had also planned to get on the bike but decided to continue the "workout" by cleaning the house up a bit. This adventure involved moving furniture, vacuuming, rotating a huge area rug, dusting, decluttering, dishes, laundry folding and bed making. WHEW! By the time Nick was done shoveling, the downstairs looked completely different. I just can't help myself. I LOVE moving things around. It's my inner interior designer wannabe self trying to BUST out.

We were both starving and worn out. Nick heated up some leftovers he scavenged out of the fridge and I made myself a quick salad.

LUNCH (meal #2) at 1:00pm

• Spinach
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup Black beans
• 1/4 cup Cottage Cheese
• Spicy Black Bean Burger (Morning Star Farms)
• Spray Butter
• S+P

This salad was so simple and tasty. It filled me right up and packed roughly 26g of protein. NICE!

After lunch I decided to be a bit naughty and had another espresso. :-O REBEL! I couldn't help it. I was craving it like something crazy. I added 5 drops of chocolate fudge brownie Capella Flavor Drops to the mix this time. Holy yum! Delicious! I love the aroma of these drops. So rich!


Nick recently joined NetFlix and we decided to veg out for a bit and watched Chocolate. No, not the romantic movie with Johnny Depp (though I love that movie a lot and have seen it several times). It was a crazy martial arts movie about an autistic young woman with ridiculous fighting skills. Some of the fight scenes were insane. I love martial arts flicks!!!

By the time the movie was over we were both ready for a snack. He opted for a huge bag of Dandee corn twists and I decided to make oatmeal. You didn't think I would forget did you?

SNACK (meal #3) at 5:00pm.

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1/2 cup water
• tons of cinnamon
• Splenda to taste
• 5 drops of vanilla custard Capella Flavor Drops
• 1 banana, sliced

I topped this creamy goodness with PB2 and a tablespoon of superfruit jam. SERIOUSLY! SO GOOD! It tasted just like a hot peanut butter, banana and jelly sandwich with a hint of sweet vanilla. DROOL!


After lunch we decided to watch another movie. Can you believe I've never seen American Psycho? NUTS! I LOVED every single insane second of it. :)

After movie I started on Dinner. Nick had spaghetti and I decided to make me some tofu and veggies. I'm hooked!

DINNER (meal #4) at 9:00. (only had 4 meals instead of 5 today....)

I marinated the tofu in a mixture of soy, sharp mustard, spicy Thai chili paste and sweet chili sauce. I popped them into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. I wanted them nice and golden crispy.

While the tofu was cooking I sauteed a huge serving of broccoli, cauliflower and pineapple chunks in more soy and sweet chili sauce.


Everything turned out fantastic!! I'm loving tofu lately. I also enjoyed a small whole wheat and flax pita on the side.


Alright my lovelies, it's getting late and I'm going to hang with the Mr. some more before I pass out. Enjoy your Saturday night. See you tomorrow.

XOXO
Ildie