Do you ever have a song that comes on and it just hits a nerve and gets you going?  Today in spin it was Pink’s So What? I didn’t lose my husband and I’m not going to start a fight but I’ve got a brand new attitude and I’m having more fun!  It was awesome.  I needed it too.  I got in bed at 10 last night and didn’t fall asleep until after 2 am.  Yes you read right, 2.  That means I got about 3 hours of sleep-isn’t that awesome?  But! I got up and I went to spin and it was GREAT!

Before class I ate this nanner with PB:

The cutie is for later.

After class I had half of the other half:

Lu saw me eating it and BEGGED for some, so she got half.  That girl LOVES her nanners.

I also made some juice!

I guess I was so excited to drink it that I couldn’t get all of the glass in the picture?  In that was a beet (including greens), half an apple, and a lemon.  That’s a drink that’ll put hair on your chest!

I put a ziplock in the pulp container:

So that I could easily store it for tonight’s dinner:

I’m going to make some veggie burgers and I think that will be a nice addition, plus LESS CLEAN-UP!  It worked really well.

So the goal for today is NO caffeine.  I think that Sencha tea I had yesterday at 11 aided in the insomnia last night.  I may be dragging later but hopefully that means I can get to SLEEP at a reasonable time tonight so that 5:30 is A-OK tomorrow.

I think Lu’s about to do some growing.  She slept 13.5 hours on Friday night, last night she did 12.5 (and we had to wake her up), and then she took a 4 hour nap this afternoon. And then? She went to bed at her normal bedtime of 7 PM.  She’s not acting sick (knock on wood) but she did have some immunizations today, so that could be part of it.

I think, I’ve also grown like a week this weekend-mentally that is.  I’ve gone down this path before but I always get derailed.  I think the blog will really help with this.  I’ve read Victoria Moran’s Fit from Within about 4 times cover to cover and I always try and fail.  I think part of that failure is that a diary is a really important part of the journey and I HATE paper diaries.  I’ve never been good at keeping them up-ever. But! I’m great at blogging, so I think/hope/know it’ll stick this time.

Guess what? My stomach issues? Have resolved themselves.  I think stress does it to me (and dairy).  I’ve been eating sanely and only limiting dairy and I feel 100% better.

My friends didn’t end up being able to stop.  They got a later start to their day then they thought and they had a 6 hour drive ahead of them so we decided it’d be better to visit the next time they were coming through (miss you Callie!).

I decided to make some seriously amazing baked tofu:

To go on some stir fry:

It was great and I ate all of it 🙂

It gave me a chance to use the new knife that my Mom got me for Christmas:

How fun are these veggies?

Now, I’ve got 3 lunches for this week:

I had an incredibly productive day.  I got all my work done, I cleaned out my kitchen drawers, I cleaned the kitchen, did some filing, and put away some odds and ends.  Plus I deep cleaned Lu’s high chair-it needed it!

I also had fun with my munchkin.

Lastly? I had a great eating day.  I ate a lot less than I normally would and I feel 100% satiated.  I call that a success.

Overall, it was a good week.

How’d I do this week?  It’s a learning process and I think I learned a lot this week.

1. Stop putting myself down.  Treat me like I would want others to treat Lucy. I have done so much better  at this this week.  I’m really proud of myself.

2. Eat something green every day. Check!

3. Eat 2 servings of fruit every day. Check!

4. Completely cut out dairy except yogurt. Check! I feel good too!

5. Get back on my bike. Not yet-it was raining this weekend 🙁 but I am on the spin bike!

6. Do something only for me 1 hour each week. Check! After I got done working today, I took some time to just decompress at Peet’s, it was nice.  I still really want a pedicure-hopefully next weekend!

7. Do something with Shaun that doesn’t include me sitting on the computer and him on the XBox or us watching TV for 1 hour each week. Check! We watched The Hangover on Friday night and then this morning while Lu slept (and slept) we just hung out together in bed like we used to before she came. It was really nice.

8. Dress nicely, including putting on make-up, at least 3 times a week. Check!

9. Clean out Lucy’s drawers. I’m getting close to starting this.

10. Clean out and organize the filing cabinet. I started today-YAY!

11. Complete Lucy’s birth book. Not yet.

12. Become a faster walker. If you can speed train for running, you can sure as hell do it for walking. I am still working on this and I have a treadmill workout to help (dork!).

13. Send out thank you notes in a more timely fashion and to everyone that deserves one. I fail at this one this week 🙁 I didn’t do them last weekend, I will do them.  I will do them.  I will do them.

14. Lose 30 pounds or fit comfortably into my size 4-6 clothing. Feed myself healthy food and exercise, trust myself. I think we all know I’m working on this one 😉

15. Save my personal money for a new wardrobe. Check! I was wrong last week, I had over $300 and now I have over $500-YAY!

16. Be on top of my budget and update Quicken every 2 weeks. Check!

17. Severely limit my computer and phone time when I’m with Lucy.  On weekdays, I should never use them when she’s awake and on weekends, I should use them sparingly when she’s awake. Check!

18. Get the bird out 4 times a week. Erm, does 2 times count as 4?

19. To appease my husband, never let the gas tank get below 1/2 a tank. Check! Such a pain in my arse.

20. Improve on my photography. I’m working on it.  I got my 50mm lens out and played with it some more.

And, the original 10 in 2010:

1. Take time out every day to simply enjoy my daughter. Check!

2. Try not to look too far forward or lament the past.  Enjoy NOW. Check!

3. Drink more water-at least 70 ounces per day. Check!

4. Use my juicer A LOT. Check!

5. Go to the gym more often than not. Check!

6. Eat healthfully-don’t put anything in my mouth that I wouldn’t feed Lucy. Check!

7. Save money. Check!

8. Run to the top of Waterdog Lake Road, while pushing Lucy, without stopping and back. Working on it.  We were supposed to go today, but the rain had other ideas…

9. Post at least 365 times in 2010.  I can post 3 times a day or skip a day but I want my average to be 1 post per day. Working on it.

10. Fold my laundry when it comes out of the dryer. by Sunday night. This one is ever evolving :)  I think getting the laundry folded by Sunday night every week is a great goal.  I’m not a fold laundry during the week kinda girl and I’ve come to terms with it-good thing I usually only do laundry on Saturday and Sunday.

Actually, a pretty good week if I do say so myself 🙂

How did you do?  We’re past the 2 week mark into the New Year, are you sticking to your goals?

A stir fry is a dish where you cook veggies and proteins at a high heat with very little oil.  It’s similar to sautéing but you use higher heat and don’t normally cover what you’re cooking.  It’s a fast and easy way to make a healthy dinner. *Tip-try to make all the vegetables approximately the same size for uniform cooking.

Ingredients:

-Half an onion, sliced
-10 garlic cloves, chopped
-1 inch of ginger, peeled and chopped
-4 carrots, sliced
-8 small zucchini, sliced
-10 mini peppers, or 2 big peppers, sliced
-~20 mushrooms, quartered
-1/4 cup Bragg’s Amino/Soy Sauce
-1/2 tsp sesame oil
-High heat non-stick spray

Instructions:

-Spray a wok or a big skillet with high heat non-stick spray, turn heat to high.  When pan is hot, add sesame oil, coat bottom of pan.

-Add onions and half of soy sauce/Braggs and cook until glistening.

-Add garlic, ginger, and carrots.

Since carrots take some time to cook, I cover them for about 3 minutes.

-Add the rest of the veggies and soy/Braggs. (I used half Braggs and half soy sauce tonight).

-Cook until just tender.

-Lucy and I had ours with the baked tofu I made.

Lu’s (I added some leftover peas and corn from lunch):

Mine:

Shaun is not a tofu fan so I marinated some shrimp in Braggs and sriracha and cooked those on the side.

Shaun’s plate:

Shaun gave this a 3.5 out of 5 and I agree-it was tasty.  Lu didn’t agree so much.  She ate a few pieces of tofu and then cherry picked the carrots, peas, and rice.  She didn’t care for the mushrooms, peppers, or zucchini. But she tried them and that’s all I can ask 🙂

I had never made this before and man was it easy-and delicious!

Ingredients:

-1 package extra firm tofu
-1/4 cup soy sauce or Bragg’s Amino
-1 TBSP sriracha (optional)

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 400*

-Cut tofu block into 1/2 inch thick slices.

-Lay out on multiple paper towels, cover with more paper towels, and then place something heavy on top to drain for ~10 minutes.

(I use a cutting board and my cast iron dutch oven)

-Marinate pieces in soy sauce and sriracha (optional) mixture for 10-15 minutes, flipping part way through.

Siracha mixture (for me):

Braggs mixture (for Lucy):

-Cover a cookie sheet with foil and then spray the foil with high heat non-stick spray. Place tofu on sheet and pop into the oven.

-Bake for 40 minutes (or until crispy), flipping half way through.

The outside will be nice and crispy and the inside will be soft and yummy.  I seriously loved this stuff.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

That’s how late we kept Lu up tonight 🙁 Two of our very good friends were celebrating their birthday and they requested that Lu come.  She’s a “in bed by 7” kinda girl but we decided to try.  The restaurant was only 5 blocks from home and I was ready to walk back at the first sign of a melt down. She lasted until our entrees came.  Daddy took her for a walk while I ate and then I brought her home.  She was such a good girl and I’m so glad we went.  At first I felt like those people who should have left their kid home but then I realized that everyone wanted us to bring her.  She had a good time, they had a good time, and we had a good time.

This afternoon while Lu was enjoying her papaya yogurt (pureed papaya mixed in with plain whole fat yogurt) I tried something that I got at Whole Foods today.

Coconut milk yogurt. Gena mentioned this yogurt the other day and I had seen it but never tried it.  It was good.  The nutritional make-up is pretty good too.

140 calories, 60 from fat-only 1 gram of protein though and a sort of long ingredient list BUT for someone who can’t have yogurt-this is fantastic.  I really liked it.  I love the quote on the lid.

I got chocolate and mango to try as well.

I had a really great day with Lu today.  She was a very good girl.  She’s getting harder and harder to take pictures of though because she’s always in motion. I feel bad that they only pictures I show are those of her eating but that’s the only time she’s still.  I got some very serious shots today though.

She was coloring.

She LOVES her notebook and crayons.

I didn’t break the camera out tonight at dinner.  I had enough on my plate trying to keep Lu happy.  I did really well though and I feel like I had a great eating day.  I’m proud of myself. 

For dinner I had:

-1/2 grilled artichoke with a few dabs of goddess dressing
-1 fried shrimp
-1/2 a roll
-1 glass of Riesling
-1/3 of my entree-seared sashimi tuna, seasoned sushi rice, and baby spinach in a sesame ginger garlic sauce.  There were these little fried things on it (shoestring yams?) and I had a few of those too.

Very sane eating 🙂 I feel very satiated right now too.  I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. Dinner was delicious as well.  They were cupcakes for the whole table but I left before they came out and I really don’t need or want the dairy. Plus, I’m not missing them 😉

Let’s hope that tomorrow is sane too.

First of all, thank you so much for the thoughtful comments on my earlier post.  It was cathartic to get it out and I felt better after I did but then to come back and see the support was just good for my soul. Thank you.

Many people made the comment that I’m not what I eat.  At first I was like “duh.” and then it hit me “I’m not what I eat.” It was a very powerful realization.  I can be a successful person regardless of what goes into my mouth, hmmm.

I’ve said too many times to count that I want to only put food in my mouth that I would feed Lucy.  I think that’s a first step and I need to focus on that.

I’ve been in therapy on and off since I was 18.  I find it extremely useful.  My last therapist always fired me though and said I didn’t need her and that I was fine.  I’ve gone to her 3 different times and eventually she tells me that I’m okay and that I don’t need to come back.  I think I could still really benefit from therapy and maybe it’s time to find a new therapist.  I’ve tried so many times on my own to become sane about food and it’s never worked. So, that’s Monday’s task-find a new therapist.

I just got back from Whole Foods where I went grocery shopping for the week.  Lu and I had lunch beforehand from the salad bar.

That’s a bed of spinach and mixed greens with black quinoa (yummy), grilled tofu (kinda bland), red peppers, peas, shredded beats, pepitas, 1 small falafel and hummus. Oh and I put a squirt of pomegranate vinaigrette on top.

I also got some Vegan Carrot Ginger Soup:

The base was coconut milk so I made sure not to eat it all.  I actually made sure to assess my fullness throughout the meal and this is where I stopped.

I ate less than half of the soup and brought the rest home for later.

Lu had a good lunch too of falafel, peas, black beans, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, broccoli, hard boiled egg, and cucumber.

We both had a sample of a cherry from Chile-she loved them and had 2 (and begged for more).  I couldn’t bring myself to buy something from Chile-well that’s not true-I do buy avocados, mangos and bananas from Chile.  For some reason I make an exception for those things.  Mangos and bananas I understand-you can’t really get those here but avocados?

She also had some mango samples.  We both had a sample of lemon chicken-and I bought the marinade.  The creator of the marinade was actually there and it was really good with a super short and healthy ingredient list.  We also tasted a small piece of beef with a BBQ marinade-it was good but I thought one bottle was enough.

I’m sitting here 2 hours later and I am still very full and satiated. Yay for that.

Lu has pink eye 🙁 So we are just chilling out at home until her eye drops do their work. No germ spreading here!  She is VERY serious about her food.

I decided to join in on the Cheerios action this morning.  You get a lot of Cheerios for 100 calories!

And, surprisingly, there is no HFCS.  Yes, there’s sugar but no HFCS.

I’ve seen a lot worse.

In looking at the label I was shocked to find that they have a specific serving size for “Children Under 4” 3/4s a cup vs. 1 cup.

Do you think that’s General Mills way of “fighting” childhood obesity?

In fact, according to this article, the FDA has specific rules for labels for foods for children under 4.

…the labels for foods for children under 4 cannot show how the amounts of some nutrients correspond to Daily Values – recommended daily intakes. The reason is because Daily Values for some nutrients, such as fat, fiber and sodium, have not been established for children under 4. This is because current dietary recommendations do not specify appropriate levels for young children. FDA has set Daily Values only for vitamins, minerals and protein for this age group because the National Academy of Sciences has established appropriate levels of these nutrients for this age group in the Recommended Dietary Allowances. FDA incorporated those recommendations in the Daily Values.

Wow, you learn something new everyday.

To completely change the subject 🙂 I’ve been doing a ton of thinking lately about my weight.  It is not changing and I’m frustrated. I know that I need to just need to eat less.  I find though that I feel entitled to be satiated at every moment.

I think this stems from 3 things. 

1. Training for the Ironman. When I was training for the Ironman, I had to eat and keep my calories up-it was essential to good training and taking care of my body.

2. Pregnancy and nursing. I followed up eating for an Ironman to eating for a baby.  It’s pretty essential not to be hungry when you’re preggers or nursing. You shouldn’t stuff yourself but you should try to lose weight either.

3. Food Blogs. I read a lot of food blogs and they all give themselves treats almost (if not) everyday. The difference between them and me? None of them are trying to lose 30 pounds.  They are all either right at or maybe just above where they want to be body wise so they can afford to eat a treat (or 2 or 3) everyday.  I can’t.

When I was successful for weight loss there were many times when I thought I was hungry or wanted something else but I didn’t eat it because I was at my calories for the day. You know what? I didn’t die. Maybe I wasn’t completely satiated but I sure as hell didn’t die and I did lost weight.  I need to get back in that mindset again.

Right now I’m trying to net 1500 calories-meaning that if I burn 300 calories that day-I eat 1800 calories for a net of 1500 calories. All too often now, I’ll be at 1500 net calories for the day and I’ll want dessert.  Rather than not having it because I’m at my calorie limit for the day, I’ll just eat it because “I deserve it.” Yeah, that needs to stop and needs to stop now.

When you’re trying to lose weight, do you find yourself hungry?

I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.  The dude on American Idol last night basically made my night AND my day today.  Shaun and I sang that “song” for a good 20 minutes after we were done watching. I don’t care if you’re an AI hater, this guy is classic and you have to check it out.  As Simon Cowell said “I have a horrible feeling that song could be a hit.” Seriously.  Did you see his 62-year old self doing those push-ups?  Impressive.

I got home last night to a package from Goodwill.

I was seriously confused.  Why was Goodwill sending me something?  I got kind of upset that they were wasting trees sending me this big package.  Then, I opened it.

It was a used book from Amazon’ target=_blank>Amazon that my sister got me.  How smart of Goodwill to sell books over Amazon’ target=_blank>Amazon? My sister has been raving about this book. I can’t wait to read it. I love this quote from the book:

"You can’t control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn’t try. You also can’t control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn’t try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her."

I like it already.

Even though I was up way to late singing and dancing to “Pants on the Ground”, I got up this morning and went to Boot Camp.  Another phenomenal class.  And? I only said 1 bad thing to myself and I caught myself halfway through and said “That’s not true, be nice to yourself.” It was a MAJOR breakthrough.

In an effort to get out of the house by 7:20 (per my husband’s request-he likes to be AT work by 7:30), I’ve started doing my make-up in the car once I get to work. I didn’t touch it while driving.  I did, sit in the parking lot this morning and apply.

It worked really well and it got us out of the house by 7:20. Score.

I didn’t use to wear make-up but when I got pregnant, I got bags under my eyes, and they haven’t really ever went away.  So now, I wear make-up.  I guess that means I’m getting older 🙂

Do you wear make-up? If so, what are your essentials?

I’m a Bare Minerals, eye shadow, and mascara kinda girl myself.

This recipe is so easy and delicious. I’ve doubled and tripled it before to freeze ahead and it works really well.  You can use it for tacos, enchiladas, tamales-the possibilities are endless!  It’s based on this recipe from Recipe Zaar, with some modifications.

Ingredients:

-1 lb chicken breast
-1 cup chicken broth
-1 TBSP cumin
-1 tsp chili powder
-2 tsp onion flakes
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

-Place all ingredients in a crock pot, making sure that the spices are incorporated with the chicken broth.

-Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I’m away from the house for 10 hours, so I cook on low for 6 hours and then my crock pot switches to “warm” and it works perfectly.

-Shred meat with a fork and stir it really well to incorporate all the liquid.

-If you freeze it, make sure to include the liquid.

-Serve with all the fixins’-My spread included salsa, guacamole, hot sauce, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese (both dairy and non-dairy), and beans atop corn tortillas.

-Enjoy!

Shaun loves this (even though it’s chicken breast!). He gave it a 4.  Lu loved it too and couldn’t get enough tonight.  It’s so easy and always a hit.