What did you eat today?

[Anelia]

1. protein shake
2. fatty chicken (in fact: hen's) soup with vermicelli - 3 dishes
3. small apple, small pear, walnuts
4. chicken with mushrooms and cheese
5. curd and walnuts

[Reesha]

atlantic salmon with sauteed spinach and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner.

I had three slices of whole wheat toast this morning toast is a serious weakness of mine!

[Owlie]

There is nothing wrong with toast. Enjoy the toast.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the only way that I can make oatmeal a workout-friendly breakfast is to put so much peanut butter in it that it becomes akin to eating peanut butter out of the jar, except without the guilty pleasure. And there's a bowl full of it.

B: Oatmeal with almonds and dried cherries.
28 minutes on the trainer doing resistance intervals. And now I know that my side still isn't up to doing that.
S: 3 fun-size Snickers bars.
L: Mac and cheese with broccoli.
S: Apple with peanut butter and caramel sauce (I alternated the two); tortilla chips and salsa
D: Turkey soup
Reese's cup, another Snickers.

See what oatmeal does to me?

[Catrin]

Owlie, is that steel-cut oats or regular oatmeal? I find the only way I can stomach rolled oats is with LOTS of peanut butter. With steel-cut I can limit that to 1 teaspoon of PB, or a couple (5) almonds or walnuts and a few blueberries and skim milk. Yum!

You might want to consider pairing the oatmeal with more protein, perhaps a couple of scrambled egg whites or a slice or two of turkey bacon? It may just be my body and blood sugar issues but I do much better the rest of the day with something like this for breakfast. PB does have protein of course, but not all that much...

[Catrin]

B: Steel-cut oats with 1 tsp almond butter (blech), scrambled egg whites, skim milk, coffee

S: apple

1 hour on the trainer

L: a bit of brown rice with left-over crawfish etoufee, skim milk

S: apple

D: roasted skinless chicken breast with roasted carrots and broccoli, brown rice, skim milk

[Crankin]

I ate way too much yesterday. Breakfast was fine, 2 egg omelette with cheese and salsa, 3 slices turkey bacon, 2 skim milk cappuccinos

then I went to my monthly peer consultation group meeting, where I had more coffee, 2 very small scallion scones, about half a cup of wheat berry salad, and mostly the fruit off of the top of some pastry thing.

came home and ate 3/4 of a Luna Bar before a 20 mile ride. It was freezing out, about 33, and riding in the cold makes me ravenous. When I got home I finished the Luna Bar, had a whole wheat deli flat and a piece of low fat Havarti cheese

went out to dinner for my anniversary at a very nice restaurant in Newton, that I've been wanting to go to for , oh, 15 years. I had a salad with pears and walnuts and wild sea bass on a bed of pureed butternut squash, with more pieces of squash around it. Also had one roll and butter and we drank about 3/4 of a bottle of red wine. We shared an apple crisp with sour cream sorbet on top. I guess it's OK, since not too many people reach 32 years of marriage, but, still.

[Reesha]

Congratulations on your anniversary. 32 years is a real accomplishment I bet it doesn't feel that long!

I met with my new personal trainer this morning and he set me up on a nutrition plan for the next six weeks. I'm pretty smart and never really eat much junk, but it's so nice to have a human being tell me what to do. There's just TOO much conventional wisdom out there sometimes. Zach is a cyclist too- a Cat 1 mountain bike racer, but a personal trainer by profession.

Here's what he's having me do to reach my 15-20 lb weight loss by April.

He wants me to do one of two things:
eat 5 300-400 calorie meals per day OR eat 3 400-500 calorie meals + 2 200-300 calorie snacks. I'm aiming for about 1800-2000 calories per day.

He wants my protein intake to be between 100-150 grams per day.
I should only be get 25 grams of carbohydrates per meal/snack, so ideally about 150 grams per day total.
Fat he was a little nebulous on, but based on what he said (quality fats from olive oil and nuts, seeds, and fish) it will probably be on the low end.

Here are some extra rules he gave me:
Glycemic carbs should come early-- grains, fruits. By dinner I should be getting carbs from veggies alone.
Lots of veggies and water all day long
Plan meals and snacks around workouts (this week I'm doing 6 hours low intensity cardio, 2 days of weight training and one low intensity 30 minute fasted workout)
No late night snacks/ minimal alcohol

I felt a little sorry for him that he ate the same thing every day during the winter, but I figure he must not like to cook very much and he's a national level mountain bike racer.

Anyway, I've got like a pound and a half of atlantic salmon in the fridge (we recently discovered we can buy fish at cost through James' workplace), so that will keep me well covered over the next couple days. I'm excited! I hope I can stick to the plan well this week

[Owlie]

Owlie, is that steel-cut oats or regular oatmeal? I find the only way I can stomach rolled oats is with LOTS of peanut butter. With steel-cut I can limit that to 1 teaspoon of PB, or a couple (5) almonds or walnuts and a few blueberries and skim milk. Yum!

You might want to consider pairing the oatmeal with more protein, perhaps a couple of scrambled egg whites or a slice or two of turkey bacon? It may just be my body and blood sugar issues but I do much better the rest of the day with something like this for breakfast. PB does have protein of course, but not all that much...

Steel-cut. I hate rolled oats, except the way DBF makes them, and even then, I'm not eating them pre-workout! I'm finding that I need fat and protein before a ride (or trainer workout), and all the fiber in oatmeal just sucks everything up. If I'm not riding/spending quality time with my trainer, oatmeal with almonds and dried cherries is fine.

[Owlie]

B: Cereal w/ 1%, almonds
S: 1 fun-size Snickers bar, more almonds
41-minute trainer workout
L: Small bowl of turkey soup
S: Another Snickers bar, black tea with milk and sugar, a couple of shortbread cookies
D: Veggie (bamboo shoots, baby corn, green bell pepper, onion, carrot, broccoli, snow peas) and chicken stir-fry over brown rice.

I'm getting red meat cravings. Thanks, ovaries.

[Crankin]

2 buttermilk waffles with dried cranberries and walnuts, an orange, coffee

tuna and wheat berry salad

20 mile ride, Luna Bar after

ground lamb with veggies, in a slightly Moroccan flavored sauce, ww cous cous

2 pieces dark chocolate

[Anelia]

There's my menu today. Usually I like simle things but doday I had lots of different things. I will change this.

[Crankin]

yesterday:
plain non fat Greek yogurt, blueberries, cranberries, almonds, piece of ww toast with soy nut butter, V-8, coffee

chicken salad w/mayo, strawberries

Luna Bar

home made chicken Cesar salad with oil and vinegar dressing and a whole wheat roll, 2 pieces dark chocolate

[Owlie]

Yesterday was bad:
B: Bottled coffee thing (a boil advisory in the student union meant that I didn't get my coffee ), a doughnut.
L: Philly cheesesteak and a Dr. Pepper
S: Tea, almonds, a couple shortbread cookies
D: Brown rice, leftover stir fry.

[Anelia]

B: boiled eggs, ham, cheese, tomatoe
L: yoghurt and muesli (pre-ride)
S: milk (after ride)
D: baked lamb ribs, lamb soup, cabbage and carrots salad

[Crankin]

yesterday:
egg white omelette with low fat cheddar and salsa, strawberries, coffee
nuts and cranberries
salad with chicken, ham, cheese

Luna Bar
ww deli flat and hummus when I got home

vegetarian chili with soy crumble sausage, cannelloni, hominy, poblano pepper, chipolte sauce, veg. broth

Today:
2 eggs over easy, 2 slices turkey bacon, 3 pieces Machengo cheese, half a grapefruit, coffee

chicken salad with some nuts thrown in, half an apple

slice of low fat Havarti

Arctic Char with pepper jelly/Dijon mustard sauce, whole wheat Israeli cous cous, salad, half a glass of red wine, 2 pieces dark chocolate