The words flow like butta

What drives my oatmeal passion?
I go wild without my daily ration.
Decadent bites of warm gooey goo.
You warm me through and through.
Sweet bowl you deserve recognition.
Each bite makes me swoon with submission.
Never leave me, creamy, dreamy mush.
You're so good it makes me blush.

Ladies, I clearly love oatmeal. I have a hearty bowl of it no less than five times a week for breakfast. Heck, sometimes I even have it for lunch. I've baked with it too and I even use it in my healthy pancake recipe. It's a huge part of my life! If you're not hip, get hip!

Just some of the benefits of oatmeal:

1. Excellent source of Fiber
2. A great source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants
3. Reduces the risk of heart disease
4. Stabilizes blood glucose levels
5. Normalizes blood pressure
6. Lowers cholesterol
7. Filling and Satisfying (keeps me full for hours)
8. Healthier metabolism
9. Healthy weight control

Needless to say, I think you already know what I had for breakfast. Fruity oats.

• 1/2 cup Irish oats
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 banana, sliced
• frozen peaches and strawberries
• lots of cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• dash salt
• Splenda to taste (or sweetener of choice)

This kept me full all morning. You've gotta love that! I couldn't decide between a wrap and a salad for lunch today so I rebelled and had BOTH. Yeah, that's right. Living on the edge over here! I made a quick (and thin) wrap with a light FlatOut, bread and butter pickles and roast beef. On the side I had a very simple salad of spinach, sweet butter lettuce, cherry tomatoes, spray butter and Asian hot sauce. DELICIOUS!


Our server went down at work soon after I finished my lunch. I tried to amuse myself with my mini Zen garden but I lost interest roughly 1 minute into this "calming" adventure.


Instead, Ann and I decided to take advantage of this forced break and went to hang out at Barnes and Nobles for a bit. We did some SERIOUS research while we were there. We were looking for new moves to try at the gym. We sipped on delicious African Autumn tea and perused a couple of books on strength training for women. I even took notes. HA! We found a couple moves we liked that we hope to try sometime soon. :)


The server was back up by the time we got back to work. We were both BEYOND excited. HA! KIDDING! Back to work it was....

My afternoon snack was the usual. YOGURT! I had a 1/2 cup of Trader Joe's fat free Greek yogurt and crumbled a Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bar into the mix. Yum-yum!


After work it was off the gym for a "poetic" sweat session! ;)

Feel the burn
Move and learn
Sweaty trance
MUST enhance
Size of ass
With super sass
Excuses denied
Muscles cried
Pump and shout
Beauty in and out
Scale confirmation
Is motivation
Jiggle be GONE
Reveal the swan

Ab Machine (cable)
110lb x 25
110lb x 25
110lb x 25
Situps with 8.8lb plate
x20
x20
x20
Floor Crunches
x20
x20
x20
Rotary Torso Ab machine (cable)
30lb x 15
30lb x 15
30lb x 15
Lat Pulldown with V-bar (cable)
70lb x 15
60lb x 15
60lb x 15
High Row machine (plate loaded)
90lb x 15
90lb x 15
90lb x 15
Seated Row machine (cable)
60lb x 15
50lb x 15
50lb x 15
Bent Over Barbell Curls
35lb x 15
35lb x 15
35lb x 15
Dumbbell Row (single handed)
15lb x 15 (per side)
15lb x 15 (per side)
20lb x 15 (per side)
Elliptical - 17 minutes - Interval Training
7 min. - Resistance 8-10
10 min. - Resistance 8-12
217 calories burned

After the gym I hurried home to snuggle with my Mr. I didn't get to see him at all last night. I passed out WAY before he made it home from boy's night. After some cuddle time I started on dinner. Mr. Lovely was begging me for pirogues so I quickly cooked him up a batch with sauteed onions and spicy smoked sausage. While I was prepping his dinner I tossed another slice of the spinach cake from last night into the oven. By the time his pirogues were done my dinner was done too. I had it wit a bit of Food Should Taste Good chips on the side. Easy and delicious! I'm freakin in LOVE with these chips. They were "The Works" variety. SO GOOD!


Since dinner was light I decided to have another bowl of "pumpkin pudding". It was SO good last night. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. Into my pretty little green bowl went a sliced banana, the pumpkin pudding mix, fat free whip and a sprinkle of pomegranate granola. AWE YEAH! I was in heaven! You can find the SUPER EASY recipe for pumpkin pudding on my recipes blog ****HERE****.


Time for more cuddling. Have a great night everyone!

Scared without even knowing it!

This morning started out as any other regular day. I rolled out of bed way later then I should have. And get this, my toilet seat broke and snapped in two and PINCHED my ass.... That woke me right up! UGH! I couldn't help but laugh though! I have the worst luck sometimes.


I got dressed, prettied up, packed up breakfast, lunch, a snack and my gym bag and was out the door. Guess what I saw falling. THE WHITE DEATH that some people lovingly call "snow"! UGH! Disgusting!!! At least it was the pretty kind of snow. The ONLY kind I can somewhat handle! Small little frozen flakes gliding gently and slowly. Dancing in the breeze. However pretty they may be though, I still only like snow in ONE place... A snow globe! HA!


So off to work I went, on the usual highway route doing the usual speeds and was at work in less then 15 minutes. In a sleep deprived daze I read some emails, sorted through some paper work and then decided to go have breakfast with a nice big cup of caffeine crack. I get back to my desk and an email pops up. It's from a coworker and the subject line just said "Driving". OH SNAP! It said that he saw several accidents and cars that slid off the road on the way to work this morning due to icy spots. I immediately became nauseated! I did 60-65 all the way to work on BALD crappy tires because I had no idea there were slick spots everywhere. About an hour later Nick sends me an instant message asking me how my drive was? We take the same highway to work and he hit slick spots as soon as he got on and could barely control his car. He turned around and went back home to put his winter tires on and didn't even make it in to work today! He has a brand new all wheel drive Mitsubishi! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE LOL? It's a freaking miracle I made it in to work without sliding I tell you. A MIRACLE! I should have been FREAKING OUT and SCARED while driving and I didn't even know it. EEEEEEK!

Moving on..... Breakfast was delicious!

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup coffee (I needed more crack)
• 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder (stirred in at the end)
• 1 banana, sliced
• dash cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• splenda to taste
• a little sprinkle of chai seeds

The coffee tasted so good too. Probably because I was not only tired, but FREEZING! I hate the office on Monday mornings. It takes hours for the building to warm up!


By the way, the arm is feeling "okay". It's sore and swollen but by no means as tender as it was last night when I DESPERATELY TRIED TO SLEEP but couldn't!! It was a long night for sure, which is why I'm so exhausted today.

Lunch consisted of a turkey wrap with spring mix lettuce, tomatoes and spicy brown mustard.


On the side I had a golden delicious apple, the rest of the tomato and some red pepper slices. Good stuff!


On our break today I ran to Home Depot to buy the obviously MUCH needed new toilet seat. HA! Yeah, it wasn't a very exciting lunch. :)

For my afternoon snack I enjoyed some red grapes and raw almonds. I love this combo!


The gym session today was not what it should have been but I gave it my best. My arm prohibited me from doing the usual back exercises so we hopped on the ellipticals instead and did a VIGOROUS 30 minute uphill session. Man!! That thing had me sweating and breathing hard in no time. It was a good workout though and I burned 330 calories. YEAH!

When I got home Nick immediately installed the new toilet seat. YAY! I took a nice, long and relaxing bath. I think it just made me more sleepy though. I checked the mail after my bath and look what was waiting for me.... YAY! The lovely people at 18Rabbits sent me four granola bars to sample. They look and sound delicious! I can't want to try them.


I was still feeling a bit chilled so I made a quick cup of snickerdoodle coffee with cream, fat free whip and a dash of cinnamon. Mm, it warmed me right up.


I wasn't up for cooking tonight so I grabbed the last of the leftover chili from last week out of the freezer. They tasted just as good as they did last week. YUM! I topped my bowl with some fat free cheddar cheese and a scoop of plain Oikos yogurt.


I also enjoyed a serving of chips on the side. I received some coupons from the lovely people at Food Should Taste Good about two weeks ago and I finally picked up a few bags to try. Tonight I tried The Works variety.


I liked them. They were crunchy, flavorful and tasted really good with the chili. I give them a VERY solid 8 out 10!

Now I'm going to cuddle with the Mr. and this little furry fellow.

Goodnight!

Positives vs Negatives

Well....this morning sucked! I'm down only a half a pound! Nowhere near what I was hoping for. So lets discuss the positives and the negatives shall we? Let's look DEEP inside my fragile mind and unstable self to sort out perhaps what the hot heck is going on here!


It bumed me out and I was in a mad rage all the way to work. Ann can atest to this. I called her and vented during my entire ride in. Might I add, we work together. NO MATTER. I couldn't wait until I got to work!

Positives...

• Physically, I feel great.
• I enjoy working out, most of the time. :)
• I've lost an official 25.6 lb in 110 days. (AWESOME)
• I enjoy the healthy foods I eat.
• My clothes are starting to fit better! (Fanny pack is almost gone. NO LIE!)
• I have more energy!
• I'm much more active!
• My mood overall has gotten much more positive. (Remember, eat good to feel good!)

Negatives...

• I obsess about everything I eat. (I weigh everything. Is that creepy?)
• I NEVER allow myself cheat meals or splurges.
• I can't enjoy a beer or a glass of wine without serious guilt. (No matter what I say about it in my blog.)
• I stress out when I don't lose weight.
• I then read over my food and workout journal to see what I did wrong (or different), even though I know I did nothing wrong!!
• Half of the clothes in my closet still don't fit. (I've lost weight before and hung on to all of my "small" clothes. Refusing to let the past go was a BAD plan!)
• I'm freaking OUT about Thanksgiving and will probably not fully enjoy myself now because of no loss.
• Blah Blah Blah......

Oh I could just go on and on. I shant bore you though. Apologies! This was just a rough morning. I was convinced that I had lost weight. For some reason my dormant psychic powers tend to be spot on about weight loss. Not this time! Because I'm incapable of not doing something about it, I plan to perhaps revamp the workout schedule a bit. If I don't do something, it will drive me mad. MAD I TELL YOU!


Enough self wallowing. Let's move on to breakfast. Which might I add, was a complete and total FAIL! My lovely morning continues I guess.

Here's what I was working with.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup water
• dash cinnamon
• 1 sugar free peach fruit cup
• 2 tbs fat free apricot preserves
• 1 pack Greens Plus orange greensickle superfood

As I was prepping it, it tasted good. Great in fact! The last thing I added to the mix was the packet of Greens Plus Orange Greensickle. Uhm.... It immediately tasted weird. So weird in fact that I was forced to toss the whole bowl out. Now you KNOW I never throw food out! There was no way I was going to eat that though!! I'm sure the Orange mix would have tasted great in lets say a smoothie. However, in HOT oatmeal it just tasted like HOT ORANGE INFUSED GRASSY MUSH! No thanks! I couldn't get over the weird mix of aromas either. Oh this made me SO sad! It looked pretty though. HA!


Thank goodness I had a backup Kashi cherry dark chocolate granola bar in my drawer. WHEW! Breakfast disaster averted! Kashi, you old dog you. LOVE YA!


Lunch went a tad bit more smoothly. I made a quick veggie sandwich with the following.

• 2 slices pumpernickel bread
• 2 servings of garlic hummus
• green bell pepper slices
• English cucumber slices
• Roma tomato slices

YUM! I can't get enough of veggie sandwiches lately! I must admit, I don't think it would be very difficult for me to convert to a vegetarian lifestyle. I do love me some CHICKEN and TURKEY though!! Not sure about this. I'll have to ponder it over! :)

I also shared a can of orange flavored Zevia with Ann. I really like this one. I think it might be my favorite. Not too sweet with a great orange flavor. YUM! :)


For a super duper MINI 20 minute break away from the office today I did two VERY exciting things. I got gas and I picked up a few ingredients needed for dinner tonight. WHOAH, hold back the applause please!


Then it was immediately back to work. It was a very busy day in the office today. For my afternoon snack I decided to try a Banana Nut VitaTop courtesy of the lovely folks over at VitaLicious. I love this Company! All of the products are so dang delicious! And they're only 100 calories, include 15 vitamins and minerals and are packed with fiber! As usual, I brought in two so I could share with Ann and get her thoughts on it as well.


Ann gave it a 7 out of 10. She thought it was a bit dry and the banana flavor could have been stronger. She liked the chocolate ones much better.

I agree with Ann on this one. It gets a solid 7. Though a bit dry, I liked the overall flavor. The chocolate varieties that I've tried thus far were more dense and had a richer texture, which I prefer. This wasn't bad though! Trust me, I've yet to try a bad one!

After work I decided to JUST GO HOME for once. I can't remember the last time I did this. It's either off to the gym Monday-Thursday or off to the grocery store on Friday. Oh it felt SO nice!! However, let me share with you my LAME reason for doing this. The ad for my grocery store runs from Sat.-Sat. and last weeks ad wasn't a very good one! I always come home to the new ad in the mail on Fridays, which isn't available in stores or online until Saturday. I wanted to check it out BEFORE I decided if I should just get shopping over with tonight or hold off until tomorrow. I was hoping for some good Thanksgiving sales. LAME right? Oh my incredibly exciting life just blows my mind sometimes!!

I was right though. The ad for tomorrow was better. YEAH! So I immediately made a nice cup of peppermint coffee and read this to unwind. It was SO nice not having anything to do for about an hour or so. I took FULL advantage!


I also came home to these lovely coupons from the very nice folks at Food Should Taste Good. I plan to use them tomorrow and buy a few bags to try. I've heard good things. I can't wait to sample them. I hope my grocery store carries the brand!


For dinner it was.... twas.... come on guess......

TACO SALAD TIME! DUH!

But first, Nick and I decided to make a quick bottle of SodaStream pop. We decided to try the cranberry-raspberry flavored syrup this time.


1, 2, 3 DONE in seconds. I freakin LOVE this thing! The pop was fizzy, tasty and not too sweet, which is good. Very good! 8 out of 10. I like the orange flavored syrup better though. I'm an orange pop kind of Gal!


Now on to dinner. Here the usual recipe.

• 110 grams (2 servings) Morning Star Farms grounds
• 1/4 cup black beans
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 of the taco seasoning packet
• splalsh of water to keep it all moist

I cooked this for maybe 10 minutes to blend the flavors and then tossed it on top of some chopped romaine, diced tomatoes, one serving of fat free shredded american cheese and 1/2 an avocado. Then topped it all with some sour cream and red pepper flakes. Yep, still good and I still enjoy having this every Friday for dinner.


OH, AND GUESS WHAT? The X'box 360 is back today. G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S!!! We're immediately going to celebrate by watching numerous episodes of my BELOVED Gregory. As in House M.D. OH I'VE MISSED HIM SO! Sexy, scruffy little thing!

Have a great Friday night everyone! Tomorrow is another day and I hope to wake up less moody and more ready to tackle the challenges of another week towards my weight loss goals! :)