Stir Fry Minus Soy

Today was a wonderful day off! I actually decided to get up at pretty much my regular time and get some things done around the house. I ironed, did laundry, washed the bathroom floors, and gave the whole house a vacuum. I also baked up a loaf of cinnamon sweet bread! Unfortunately, given the clean month, this loaf is not for me! Josh’s parents are coming to visit tomorrow night for dinner (they’re vacationing in Hilton Head), so I made the loaf for them.


After the housework was done, I ran out and picked up a coffee and went to the outlets to my favorite store, Banana Republic! The outlet was having an AMAZING sale. I got 5 nice tops/sweaters for $80! When I got home, I ate lunch, napped, started to learn the new Body Step, did my BBBC ab workout from here (3 sets of toe touches, scissors, 45 degree crunches), and then relaxed some more before heading out to teach Body Step.

Eats, Breakfast- hard boiled egg whites, coffee (no pic).

Lunch- Salad of sorts (1/4 cup wheat berries, leftover green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, tomato, little olive oil, and balsamic vinegar), whole wheat bread

…And apple with cinnamon

Snack-1/2 scoop Jay Robb egg white protein, 1 cup milk, 1 banana

Dinner-Stir Fry (ground turkey, mixed veggies, black beans). I stressed a little because I couldn’t use my regular stir fry sauce because it contains soy and too much salt. I added a little hot sauce and no salt added tomato sauce instead

Now its time to cut Josh's hair and take a shower! Maybe later I will have a little more fruit as well ;)

More Tilapia ;)

First off, you guys are SO sweet!! Thank you for all the compliments about the baby shower and my family! A few of you asked some questions so here are the answers:

• Yes! This is my first niece and I am very excited to be an Aunt!!
• The little girl is due at the end of April
• The cake was vanilla with chocolate filling ;)

Today was a coffee day ;). I knew there would be multiple cups consumed! But the good news is, due to some extra work hours over the last week, I get to take tomorrow off…HOORAY! So today went a little something like this- work, abs workout based on this again (I did three sets of 30 crunches, 20 pikes, 30 flutter kicks), OSG BBBC Challenge Day 4 (3 sets of tricep dips-30, 25, 25), body pump, dinner, relaxing!

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that we are into Clean Week #2. Things are going well so far! My body feels fabulous from all these clean eats!!

For breakfast, I had hard boiled egg whites and coffee (no pic).

For lunch, another salad (yes, I know I need a change ;)) with romaine, carrots, celery, black beans, tomato, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. I also had a blueberry chobani and some no sugar added applesauce.

Snack 1, Non-fat cappuccino (very necessary!). Snack 2, Apple with Peanut butter and a piece of homemade whole wheat bread (no pic)

Dinner was tilapia, green beans, wheat berries

And a second serving of green beans!

This was my first experience with wheat berries and I cooked them based on Kath's directions. I also had another half an apple after din din.

For those of you who asked, here is a pic of Frank getting his bath! Excuse the face, he truly loves it ;).

Whats your favorite new product you've tried this year??

Baby Shower/Lots of Coffee/Little Cheating

Hi guys! Sorry I have not done much commenting this weekend- it has been a busy one! Both today and yesterday, I got up at 3 am to catch planes! Phew....I am ready for bed. Below are some pics from my sisters baby shower and a summary of my MOSTLY clean eating! I did cheat and had a little cake at my sisters shower, I felt I had to help celebrate the baby/thought it looked yummy ;).

The tables (pink rose centerpieces, a little "Its a girl confetti" favors- little babies feet soap and candy- york peppermint patties and pink Hershey's kisses that say "Its a girl!")

The gift table:

My preggers sister:

Preggers & Me:

The Preggers Family:

Preggers & To be Grammy (aka my mama)

Cake (homemade by one of the guests):

The food- course 1 salads (I ate mine and my cousin's ;))

Pasta course (not pictured, I didn't eat any but heard it was awesome)

Main course (choice of chicken, fish, pork...I got the chicken and scrapped off the sauce and breading and had only a few bites, I ate all my veggies):

The Cake (aka my cheat, I split this with my Aunt):

My mom's side of the family (back row: My Grandma, Me, My mom, Sister, Aunt, front row: Cousin, Aunt, Aunt):

The shower went SO well! My sister got lots of awesome stuff! Can't wait to meet the new baby girl :)

Here is a quick summary of my weekend and eats.

Saturday:

• Up at 3 am, took 2 planes to get to Connecticut. On the way, I ate two apples and had a cappuccino with skim milk and a little sugar
• Lunch at shower
• Dinner out- large house salad with olive oil and vinegar and a side of broccoli)
• Dessert-fruit

Sunday:

• Up at 3 am, took 2 planes to get back to South Carolina. On the way I had (shockingly) two apples.
• When I got home, I had a few slices of homemade wheat bread and then went for an awesome 6 mile run. I also did yesterday's (2 sets of lunges, 2 sets of squats) and today's (3 sets of planks) activities for the Oh She Glows Bikini Body Boot Camp.
• Lunch was a Jay Robb Egg White protein shake with 1 cup 1% milk, 1 banana.
• Next, I went food shopping and had some coffee with skim milk.
• Snack was grapes and a few other nibbles of veggies while baking/cooking (another loaf of Whole Wheat bread, Granola, Snack bars for Josh, hard boiled eggs for the week)
• Tons of Laundry
• Frank bath (picture to come)
• Out to dinner with Josh and his friend Jeremy (who is in visiting from PA). We went to East Bay Deli and I got the salad bar (mixed greens, broccoli, carrots, chickpeas, hard boiled egg whites, mixed fruit, baby corn, olive oil, vinegar)

Ok, my eyes are closing :) I promise to do more commenting tomorrow! How was your weekend?

King Street Grille

Happy, happy Friday! I am so thrilled this week is over! After work today, I decided to shorten my workout to a half hour (my tummy had been bothering me all day :(). I went for a 2.5 mile run and then came home to do my workout for the Oh She Glows Bikini Body Bootcamp challenge- 3 sets of push-ups (each set was 10 full range push ups on my toes, 10 on my knees) and then a bundle of abs exercises from here.

Onto the days eats! Breakfast- Egg whites, Coffee.

Lunch: Yogurt, apple, carrots/celery, PB


Snack: Two pieces of homemade bread and walnuts

Din Din: Salad at King Street Grille (sorry the pic is dark!!) with romaine, black beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, hard boiled egg- very yum!

Sort of a light day of eats. I am about to do some snacking ;)

I'm headed out to Connecticut tomorrow for my sisters baby shower!! I won't be posting all day but will be back on Sunday! What are you up to this weekend?

As Clean As I Could Be!

Today moved at a different pace than the rest of my week (the change was welcomed!). Work was semi slow, as I was up to date on most of my projects and there was no rush, rush to get things done! After work, I got huge at Body Pump and ran a mile on the treadmill. Josh’s friend Jeremy is in town visiting us for the weekend (and looking to potentially move down to SC!!!). To celebrate his arrival, we went out to dinner. The thought of going out to dinner tonight totally scared me! How will I eat clean if I go out to eat? I thought back to MizFits post the other day on Clean Eating and thought I would take her advice on eating out:

“Back in the proverbial day (when I was a personal trainer) Id often tell my clients not to even bother picking up a menu when they went out to eat.

In response to the inevitable look of perplexednessment I’d respond that if it wasnt a cheat meal/treat meal then their order was really quite simple:

grilled/steamed/poached (you get the idea. depends on the restaurant) fish/chicken/lean beef, steamed veggies (baked potato if they choose with everything on the side) and a salad.”

Josh and his friend wanted to go to Mexican. I thought of my biggest downfall (chips and salsa) and thought ok, I can make it through this! I am happy to report I did not have even 1 chip! For dinner I ordered chicken breast with rice (and it came with a mini salad). Unfortunately, I don't think the chicken or the rice was cooked using a "clean" method, but I felt it was the best I could do! I ate about half (sorry for no pic- I went right to the restaurant from the gym....yes, sexy in workout clothes haha).

As for my other meals, breakfast was the usual apple/PB with coffee (no pic).

Lunch: Blueberry Chobani and leftover stuffed potato filling with a sweet potato

Snack: No sugar added dried papaya from a bin at WFs (very yummy)

All in all- I felt I did PRETTY well today. I actually selected this week to start my challenge because I thought this would be a tough weekend eats-wise. With Josh's friend visiting, I knew they'd want to eat out. Also, on Saturday, I am headed to my sisters baby shower in CT! Hopefully I can handle all of the challenges of the weekend! How do you avoid going overboard at restaurants?

Running in the Rain

Are you thrilled that it is Wednesday night already? I am super excited. This week seems to be crawling a little bit. I think I need to learn to appreciate week days more! My day went a little something like this: Work, lots of cleaning/laundry, and thennnnn it was time for my run. One problem- it had just started really raining. I was bummed! I thought of my options: go run at the gym, do a video at home, hmmm. And then I thought to myself- in life, there are always excuses to not do what you want-soooo why not just go for it? So I did! I ran five miles in the rain! I took a gorgeous picture of myself soaking wet haha:


Onto the eats!

Breakfast: Hard boiled egg whites, coffee (no pic….its pretty much pitch black out (5:45 am) when I eat breakfast so the pics I take aren’t coming out well!)

Lunch: Little mish mosh of sorts.Carrots/Celery and an Apple (aka Itzy’s version of Crack):
PB (to dip the carrots, celery and apple in-yummmmmm):

Applesauce:

I also had the usual yogurt (no pic).

Afternoon Snack: Coffee with skim milk ( I was falling asleep at work!), a banana, and the white of a hard boiled egg:

Dinner: Big salad with romaine, carrots, tomato, brussels, chicken, walnuts (thank you for the suggestion Diana!)

I really appreciate all of your comments on the clean eating!! You are like the best cheerleaders EVER! I also am in debt to all of you nutritionists/dietitians out there who are providing amazing advice on things like how to get more fat into my clean diet. PLEASE keep the feedback coming. Good/Bad/Ugly- I want to hear it ! And if I don’t like it, I will just delete your comment ;) Just kidding….

OK, Lost time. Yahhhh! Wish it was on every night. I will probably have a little snacky at some point ;)

Stuffed Potatoes and Lack of Fat

Hey buds! How are you doing? I am doing well! It was another quick work day- very busy! After work, I ran a few errands, gave the Frankster a bath (I will take pics of his next bath for those of you who requested them!), taught Body Attack (it was FABULOUS) and then got to work on dinner. Here are the days eats:

Breakfast: Apple & PB and coffee (I ALWAYS eat breakfast, but it is never anything huge…I just can’t handle something big in the morning!No pic)

Lunch: Bowl of Veggies (Brussels, Carrots, Celery, Tomatoes)

Oikos (did everyone see Hangry Pants Chobani vs. Oikos video? Hilarious)

Apple (shocking):

Afternoon snacky: another Jay Robb Protein shake. Today it was 1 cup milk, ½ scoop powder, ½ banana (I ate the other half of the banana)

I had my first MAJOR craving for some fake food today. All the way home from Body Attack I was dreaming of unclean foods. I think the craving came from the fact that I didn't have enough fat in my diet today. To compensate, I ate a whole hard boiled egg when I got home (yolk and all). Then I had a piece of homemade wheat bread:

Din Din was stuffed potatoes. I did have to use a can of processed tomato sauce, but it has no added salt and not too many preservatives

I got one more question about my cleaning eating that I figured I would post. Sabrina asked, “How are your hunger levels and energy levels now that you are eating even more clean?”

Honestly, the first day I was a little more hungry than usual, but I think this was because my body was adjusting to my eats. Since then, I have been feeling great! Clean eating allows you to eat more (quantity wise) and the food you’re eating is made up of lots of great stuff like fiber, vitamins, and lean protein! Energy wise- I feel wonderful! I don’t feel as sluggish as I usually do and don’t feel as dependent on my morning coffee.

Fun link- MizFit posted about clean eating today and even gave me a shout out!

Have a wonderful night!!

Egg Filled Day

Today seemed to fly by for me! My day went a little like this- work, teach Body Step, clean up more boxes (we're ALMOST done), din din, and now its almost shower time!

As for my clean meals today:

For breakfast, I had hard boiled egg whites and coffee (no pic).

Lunch- big salad:

Chobani:

Applesauce:

Piece of homemade whole wheat bread:

Before Step, I had an egg white protein shake (1 scoop protein, 1 cup milk, ice). I got this protein from Best Price Nutrition (free shipping!!):

Din din- egg whites cooked with black beans, broccoli, apple:

I also just had a snack of more apple and PB (what can I say- I am an apple addict!).

Hows the weather where you are?

Turkey Meatloaf

Sunday night already? Did you have a good weekend? Mine went well. Today started out with a quick 2.4 mile run and then Body Pump. After, I did tons of errands and housework. Then, finally, some relaxing ;)

Clean eating felt easier today! After my run, I ate an apple and drank some water before heading to pump.

I grabbed a coffee with skim milk and….a lil sugar, to drink during my errands (no picture). When I came home I made up a nice salad with romaine, carrots, tomatoes, black beans, and other leftover veggies (from yesterdays lunch/dinner) for lunch:

I topped my salad with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I ate it with a slice of the whole wheat bread and some applesauce (no pics). For a mid afternoon snack, I went with more apple, strawberries, and peanut butter (no pics).

For dinner tonight, I made up some turkey meatloaf (turkey, onion, whole wheat bread crumbs, organic ketchup (no preservatives no additives, still...processed), garlic, and a little pepper based on a recipe from Kelly O) and steamed chopped brussels (I had about three times the amount of brussels shown here ;).

I also had a few nibbles of homemade granola.

All in all, a pretty clean day! A few people asked me some questions so I figured I'd post the answers here:

Do you feel like it's difficult to have to stay away from one particular item?

I think clean eating was pretty easy this weekend because I was at home (vs. being at work) and able to really prepare my meals/snacks. I think it will be more difficult this week and I will start to miss things like protein/snack bars (not that I normally eat them a TON, but they are nice and easy to grab during work).

What are your thoughts on clean eating (so far)?

So far, I really am enjoying it! It feels so good to put whole/real foods into your body-my tummy is also feeling great and not giving me any problems. In the long run, I think I will adapt a cleaner lifestyle (once this month is over), allowing for foods that are not as "clean" in moderation! I think it is ok to be naughty every once in a while ;)

So is boxed cereal allowed?

I think clean eating will mean different things to different people. The only cereal type foods I am allowing are oats and potentially one other whole wheat/natural cereal (which I haven't had any of yet).

What is your favorite naughty food??

A Cleaner Saturday

First full day of “clean eating” was about 80% successful! What were the challenges?

1. I tried to drink my coffee with just milk and no sugar……yah, I just can’t make that change in 1 day. I am going to try to gradually reduce. I will keep you updated on this.

2. Keeping Josh full! We did a lot of house work today and that makes for one hungry Josh. I also realized that his definition of clean is going to have some deviations from mine. He will probably continue to drink crystal lite, eat cheese, have a few more processed items (granola bars), and have a beer every now and again ;).

Overall though, I thought we did REALLY well today. Can we make it a whole month? We shall see! Pictures of the days eats (minus breakfast- see yesterdays post):

We started our day off with coffee+oats-

For lunch, Josh had chicken, veggies and cheese with a side yogurt and strawberries(not pictured). He also had about two bowls of special K (not pictured):

I had a giant bowl of veggies and an apple with PB. Later on I had some applesauce with walnuts and cinnamon. (I need more protein at lunch! )

Dinner- Tilapia (first dipped in a bowl with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 tablespoons water and then into whole wheat bread crumbs, baked for 8-12 minutes at 375), Sweet Potato, Green Beans:

Snack: Bread! I made Tammy’s Homemade Wheat Bread again. This time, I used 3 tablespoons of honey and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar versus 2 tablespoons of each (cutting back on processed sugar). I had about a slice and a half- yum!

Did you guys have a good day? Ours was great but busy! We sealed our garage floor, went food shopping, did some housework (laundry/ironing), did our taxes, and now its finally movie time (Role Models).

I want to give a shout out to a few bloggers whose posts I really enjoyed reading today:

Great info on HFCS on Olga’s Blog- Healthing It

Sammie from Running with a Recipe received my bread!

Talk to you tomorrow ;)