Mr. Gassy...

Well, I won't keep you in suspense. Mr. Stupid Scale won this morning. I resisted grabbing the hammer to show him my "inner demons". Instead I kicked him (delicately) just once and stomped out of the room! HA! I gained 1 pound. What can I say.... It happens. I could try and come up with 10 things to blame it on but what it all boils down to is that womens bodies are crazy. I did nothing wrong. Next week is another week and I'm moving on. I refuse to dwell on it.

On other news, only 36 days until we take off for vacation. Don't even lie! I know you were all dying to know! I have the final countdown playing in my head now. Great! It's an amazingly horrible song. Te-Heeeeee....


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

The traditional, the classic, the wonderful, the wholesome, the usual.

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 wheat bran
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• pinch salt
• Splenda
• (Microwaved and topped with 1 tbs ground flax, 2 tbs sugar free raspberry preserves (Smucker's) and 1 tbs Better N' Peanut Butter.)

Work was busy but not hectic today. I think I had the Friday glow going on though so nothing could get me down. I got a ton of work done and it felt great. I set some new projects up, filed, organized and updated all of my spreadsheets. FASCINATING I KNOW!

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:30pm.

I had the BEST salad for lunch. Spinach + tomato + green pepper + bread & butter pickles + sunflower seeds + Morning Star Farms black bean burger + steamed broccoli + spray butter.


Yes, I use spray butter instead of dressings. I'm a freak. I think it tastes amazing with veggies. It doesn't mask the flavor like dressings do, it accentuates it. I LOVE it and you can think what you will of me but I assure you it's great. I don't use a TON or anything crazy like that. Just a little drizzle. :)

I had to leave the office at 3:30 today to meet Mr. Gas Man at my house and have the meter inspected. ANNOYING! Someone was out less than a month ago to check it but they "have no record" of him ever being at my house. So either they are a disorganized mess at the gas company or I let a strange man (not from the gas company) into my house last time to play in my basement. HEY, he was sporting a bright orange vest and tool belt. He looked the part. UGH!

SNACK (meal #3) at 4:30pm.

While waiting on Mr. Gas Man, I made a quick yogurt mess. To put it simply, it was freakin AMAZING!

• Plain Dannon Greek Yogurt
• Fresh Pineapple
• Fresh Strawberry
• Cinnamon
• Udi's original granola

Uhm, this was seriously tasty. Udi's original granola is by my favorite variety from the flavors that I have sampled. I also loved the fresh pineapple with the plain yogurt. HEAVEN!

Mr. Gassy finally showed up at 5:00 and was in and out in a matter of minutes. YAY! They better document their findings this time!!

I tossed in some laundry while I waited on Nick to get home. I also filled up the French Press with Dulche De Leche flavored coffee. It was a dreary, dull, raining/snowing at the same time MUST have coffee kind of day. (Yeah, I said snowing, I hate Ohio!! It was 80 degrees just last Tuesday!)

SNACK (meal #4) at 6:00.

I also had some pretzels. I love pretzels with coffee!


No more than 3 minutes passed before Nick turned the Wii on after getting home. HA! Oddly enough (shocking even) I'm not complaining. We spent hours bowling, flying, and shooting arrows together. Sadly I suck even at fake bowling. Figures! It was fun though. :)

DINNER (meal #5 at 9:30pm.

I was craving Mexican so I decided to whip up some chicken fajitas. I love this dish because it's full of veggies, healthy and relatively low in calories.

In a large pan with a lid I sauteed some yellow pepper + red pepper + green pepper + onions + mushrooms. I never use olive oil. Weird I know. To me the healthy fats aren't worth the high calories. Instead I used my non-stick pan and added a splash of water. My food never sticks so WHY in the world would I even fathom using oil?


When the veggies were nice and tender (not mushy) I took them out of the pan and tossed in a large chicken breast which I cut into thin strips. I seasoned it with pink salt, black pepper, cayenne and a sprinkle of taco seasoning.


When the chicken was done I tossed the veggies back in to heat them through and dinner was done.


Nick enjoyed his with flour tortillas and I had mine with a FlatOut wrap.


I just had one with some extra veggies and sour cream on the side per the usual.


I would normally add avocado but the one I have at home is not ripe enough yet. I died a little on the inside when I realized this! I did have some spicy hot sauce which made up for it. Sort of.


I have a SERIOUS workout scheduled for tomorrow morning. Lower body, abs and cardio. My "delicate" parts are feeling just fine today so I should be up for a full workout. It's time to get serious!! I still want to lose 10 more pounds before we leave for vacation. Or close to it. Time to puuuuuuuuuuuuush it and RELEASE THE FEROCIOUS BEAST within. Time to build up those sweet-sweet muscles for Summer.


I'm going to go "golf" and "sword fight" now. Have a great night. I LOVE FRIDAY'S!

XOXO
Ildie

The day before the "day"!

I was blinded by a magical phenomenon this morning. The sun! IN MARCH! Can you believe it? I LOVE YOU SUN! I've missed you so much!

Today was another super busy day at work. I transformed into my alter ego, The Stupendously Efficient Working Tornado Woman, and managed to get a lot done. Not everything, but a lot. My office filled with the aromas of smoke and burning flesh. I was typing so fast that my fingers caught fire. FIRE BABY! No time to stop though. Must....keep....working....

I did pause to fuel the brain though.

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

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tbs flax
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbs unsweetened dark cocoa
• 1 tbs sugar free cherry preserves

I also crumbled in half of a homemade protein bar that Annie-Boo baked the other night.


I'm pretty sure that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It's all I think about on my in to work! In an almost creepy, unnatural and obsessive way. YUM!

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:15pm.

I had a sexy little tupperware salad today. Gotta stay classy right?

• Spinach
• Tomato
• Red Bell Pepper
• Bread & Butter Pickles
• Morning Star Farms black bean burger
• Garlic and Sea Salt flavored sprouted sunflower seeds from Kaia Foods
• Red pepper flakes
• Spray Butter

I devoured this. While working of course. Must... Keep.... Moving....

I forced a break today to get some errands done. I ran to the grocery store on a search for Greek Yogurt. I'm ALL OUT. Tragically they had none. I CRY! I did find Thomas's Bagel Thins, FlatOut and a jar of Better N' Peanut Butter though and I snatched those right up. I also ran to Aldi and I loaded up on fresh veggies. You just can't beat their prices!!

SNACK (meal #3) at 4:00pm.

Annie-Boo brought me an Oikos to have today. I LOVE YOU ANN! I had it with a Fuji apple and the other half of Ann's protein bar. CRACK!


We hit the gym after work and I busted out (forced) an hour of cardio.

WORKOUT!

Elliptical Cross Trainer
Interval Training (2 min. sets of levels 6 & 8)
60 minutes total, 5 miles, 689 miles

I kept the levels low because the hip was still a bit funky. It was a LOT better than yesterday though. I still had a good sweat going.

SNACK (meal #4) at 7:00pm.

I made a quick, easy and simple protein shake with unsweetened Almond Breeze and a 1/2 scoop of chocolate whey protein powder. No fruits, no ice and no special additions went into the mix this time. It was still delicious. I chugged it so fast that I forgot to snap a picture but here's the aftermath.


DINNER (meal #5) at 9:00pm.

I tried something new tonight with simple and fresh ingredients. It involved the delicious jar of Bertolli Arrabbiata sauce that I received through the FoodBuzz Tastemakers Program.


They sent me a lovely box of two sauces to try (Arrabbiata and Four Cheese Rosa) and tonight was the perfect night to sample the red sauce. I sauteed some broccoli in spray butter, red pepper flakes, black pepper and sea salt. I topped it with a serving of the Arrabbiata sauce, a slice of Provolone, a Morning Star Farms black bean burger and a sprinkle of parmesan. OMG so good!


First of all the sauce was delicious! It had a clean, bold flavor without too much acidity. It added so much flavor to this simple dinner. Who needs pasta? NOT ME!

Ahhhhh, so GOOD!

Alright my lovelies. Time for bed. TOMORROW IS THE DAY! The glorious day which involves leaving work a half day early, a bold and sassy haircut and shopping and dinner with sis. She's coming over to hang out after our hair adventure and it should be good times. I guess you can call it a pre-Birthday, Birthday gathering.

Tomorrow is also weigh in day. EEEK! SO MUCH GOING ON! CAN YOU STAND IT!?

Be back tomorrow!
HUGS!!!
Ildie