Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 Minutes
Foam Rolling & Stretching 20 Minutes
I love Pinterest! It is no secret that the struggling part of my weight loss journey is diet. FItness is in the bag and I could improve on it immensely if I could just get my food intake under control.
Yesterday I had some noteworthy food and a few non-scale victories, if that is what you want to call them.
I do all of my grocery shopping for the week on Monday. In the recent past I have gotten into a NASTY habit of rewarding myself (for going to the grocery store?) with a candy of my choice. Ok, you got me. A KING SIZE candy bar of my choice, which I scarf down in the car. Ya, that puppy doesn’t even make it home before it is in my stomach. I kept rationalizing that if it was only once a week it was no big deal. But then there are the times that I have to run to the store because we are out of diapers, or some other small thing, and those delicious candy bar’s are staring you in the face at the check out counter where they have been strategically placed.
I actually haven’t “rewarded” myself with a candy bar for a few weeks, but it’s probably because I have been “rewarding” myself with all kinds of foods for the last 3 weeks for something or another.
I went to the store at 2:00 just after Hanna’s nap and I could tell on my way down there that the carrots, hummus, pineapple chobani, and apple that I had for lunch were not going to hold through the entire shopping trip.
I started getting a hankering. For something sweet. The thought would not leave my mind.
“No, Carrie. You have done so good today and if you are hungry it only means that you body needs something, and that something is NOT a candy bar. It will only leave you feeling sick and guilty”
I love when I can have an inner monologue with myself, and it helps even more if I can actually say it out loud so I can hear it (yes, I talk to myself. I am SO NOT crazy. Try it when you have a moment of weakness, it helps).
After talking to myself down about 5 aisles (remember that I have a small child with me so everyone thinks I’m talking to her), I had an idea. Protein bar. Duh! Why have I never thought about this before? They sell them individually and at this point in the day I had only taken in less than 1000 calories, burned 700 calories at the gym, and I could totally afford a delicious protein bar. The only problem is that I wanted a bar that had a LOT of protein in it so it would tide me over until dinner at 5:00. A Luna or Larabar just wasn’t going to cut it. I needed some calories people!
After staring at the protein bars for what seemed like forever I decided on this beauty:
Chocolate Peanut Butter= Pure Heaven. It totally did the trick for curbing my sweet tooth and had a whopping 30 GRAMS of PROTEIN. It was a weight lifting day yesterday and so I was trying to pack a protein punch. It had 280 calories (that’s actually way more than I would normally eat with a bar, but at this point I was using it as a meal replacement) and 7 grams of fat. Not bad at all.
Fabulous discovery #2:
I FINALLY made this amazing recipe:
Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta from Oh She Glows. BEST. VEGAN. PASTA. EVER. I could have eaten an ENTIRE pan full of this stuff, it was that good. I give it 5 out 5 stars.
Go try this recipe, now. It was fast and EASY, and even the hub’s was into it. I still have a little of the sauce in my fridge and I am saving it like its liquid gold.
Fabulous discovery #3
I’m trying to incorporate more salads into my diet and have decided that I am going to be eating them for lunch, but since I don’t want to run to the store several times a week I discovered a great way to store your lettuce so it lasts longer:
This is 3 bags of lettuce stored in glass mason jars. I had heard previously that if you store lettuce in glass it will stay good longer, but I never even thought (until pinterest of course) that you could store them in jars! What a great idea! I’m trying it out this week to see if my lettuce will stay good all the way until my next grocery day.
Now I just need to make sure that the salad stays different and interesting.
What are your favorite salad toppings? Favorite dressing?
Protein Bars: love or hate?
Are you like me and feel like you have to reward yourself for doing everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping?
Tiffany
/ February 28, 2012Asian salads are my fav!- salad mix, chicken, clementine/orange slices, slivered almonds, crispy noodles (sparingly), light asian sesame dressing
Cobb salads are really good too- salad mix, chicken, crispy turkey bacon, hard boiled egg whites, diced tomatoes, homemade or store bought light ranch
I try to add tons of flavor to my salads to keep the hubby happy! If all I served was lettuce & veggies…he’d skip the salad every time.
Kimberly @ Healthy Strides
/ February 28, 2012The lettuce in a jar is a very interesting idea. You could even throw your toppings in and use it as a very ecofriendly to-go container for work. In fact, I might actually do that.
I like a variety of things on salads – this week I did pulled BBQ chicken with corn, red onions, tomatoes, cheese and light ranch dressing. Good. I also like anything with blue cheese, sprouts and walnuts.
Erin
/ February 28, 2012I’m very picky about my protein bars. My favorite are the Peanut Butter Cup Power Crunch bars (14g protein), but I recently discovered Think Thin bars (20g protein) and I like them too…though they have a weird after taste that I don’t care for. Some people really like Quest bars…but I hate them. ;/ I’ve also tried the Oh Yeah! protein bars, but they’re a bit chalky for my tastes.
I have very specific requirements about fat, sugar, and carbs when it comes to protein bars and these are ones that taste good that fall within my guidelines.
Aimee
/ February 29, 2012I love my salads topped with hummus, some type of bean, something sweet like raisins or apple and a little feta or goat cheese. The salad base is usually kale, carrots and peppers. My favorite dressing is simply olive oil massaged into the kale and lemon juice with salt and pepper. The hummus also mixes in nicely as a dressing. Oooh and avocado. How could I forget avocado?!
I don’t generally go for protein bars. I just can’t justify eating that many calories in something so small and compact! I like volume too much.
Although I feel like I deserve a reward for all that I do I don’t usually reward myself for day to day activities. If I could ever get my weight loss on track I would like to reward myself with a new article of clothing for every 5 pounds that I lose.
I might just have to try the lettuce in a jar idea.
Bella
/ February 29, 2012I’ve tried those protein bars before, and they’re good (and fairly large), but they are a LOT of calories. It sounds like you earned plenty in your workout, though, so I’m sure you were fine.
For salads, I love adding sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts for an Asian flare. Or black beans, salsa, and cheese for more of a Mexican salad. Usually with chicken, but I know you’re trying to stay meat-free.