Tuesday

Well, I'm back.  I got back from vacation Sunday, but yesterday turned out to be a totally craptacular day and I didn't even think about posting food later in the day - I was too busy being upset.  (It was work related so I'd rather not get into it here.)  Oh well, it happens, moving on.

To answer a question in the comments: I live outside Ft. Lauderdale, so Key Largo is less than 90 minutes from my house.

So, food today.  Things were back to normal, starting with coffee and prunes:

Yesterday I bought food but hadn't gotten food prep done, so this morning I scrambled a couple of eggs with a large tomato:

Lunch was a salad, but with a can of tuna since chicken wasn't grilled.

I had a few grapes mid afternoon (no nuts).

Dinner was turkey chili and sauteed zucchini.  My husband doesn't like vegetables in his chili, so I serve them on the side.

Since I started tracking my food, I've been losing right around 2 pounds a week.  Clearly my diet still has room for improvement - I won't pretend that diet pepsi or popsicles are anything other than a serving of chemicals, but my weight loss has been pretty solid in spite of those items.

I haven't looked in on the other folks since I got back. Are people still posting?  I know for me it seems to make a difference, if for no other reason that it forces me to pause and consider before I eat something.

Ranch dressing

By request:

1/2 c sour cream or greek yogurt
1/2 c mayo or sour cream or greek yogurt
1/2 c milk (I use almond milk)

1/4 tsp each salt & pepper
1/2 tsp each chives, onion powder, garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley flakes

Home again, home again

And we're back from an amazing weekend!  Here's where we went:

We drove down to Key West Friday afternoon, stopping in Islamorada for dinner.  Saturday we woke up at butt crack and boarded a boat for the Dry Tortugas - the trip was a little over 2 hours.  There is no electricity or water on the island - really, island is far too grand a term.  It's 13 acres of rock & sand, with a mostly finished fort on it.

I rate it as tied for the best snorkeling I've done (it's tied with Hanauma Bay Hawaii).  It was just incredible - lots of fish, lots of color, large fish, and a nice variety.  I saw some huge parrot fish:

and a good size barracuda:

plus a lot of other fish.  We ate breakfast and lunch on the boat, then had steamed shrimp and cole slaw at the Half Shell raw Bar in Key West when we got back.

Breakfast Sunday was eggs & some sliced ham at the hotel, lunch was a conch burger at the Cracked Conch Cafe in Marathon, and dinner was vegetable soup at home.

My phone didn't work saturday so I didn't take it and honestly I didn't much think about photgraphing my food.  For the record, we didn't purchase any key lime pie.  Food was okay, not terrible but not as on point as when I'm at home.

So Happy Its Thursday

Half day tomorrow then we're outta here.  Here's where we are going Saturday: Dry Tortugas National Park.

And onto food.

Coffee and prunes.  Then I went to work and ate my turkey meatloaf before I took the picture!  So I took a picture of everything in my lunchbox! :-)

Turkey meatloaf, then for lunch my usual salad (I did add leftover broccoli), and grapes for afternoon snack.  Mid morning I did get hungry and wanted ... something. So I went downstairs and bought a boiled egg.

I totally didn't feel like cooking tonight and luckily dinner was about as non cooking as it could be.  This is going to sound weird but its actually good.  Also, I won't lie, it looks kinda gross. 

I take a couple of chicken sausages (we used chicken kielbasa but you can use whatever kind you prefer) and saute it with a little olive oil and a bag of cole slaw mix - I used the type that includes red cabbage and carrots.  I added a few red pepper flakes and onion powder.  That's it.  Very easy, tasty, and lots of veggies.  We ate an entire bag of slaw mix between the two of us.

I wanted a fudgecicle, but my husband ate the last one!

Not quite what I meant

Sorry if I implied that I wouldn't post again until we got back, I just meant I doubt I would post while we are away!  Today's exciting adventures in food (or not) will be posted this evening.

Have a great day!

Wednesday

Food was back to normal today.  We are going out of town Friday after lunch.  We are going to Key West, then on to the Dry Tortugas Saturday.  We'll be back Sunday.  I doubt I will post until we get back.

Anyway, here are today's eats:

Coffee and prunes (call me weird, but I really like prunes!)

Breakfast was turkey meatloaf.

Lunch was the oh so exciting salad that I eat for lunch 6 days a week.

Before I left work I ate my grapes:

When I got home I wanted something so I had a bran cracker with egg salad (no mayo)

Dinner was salmon patties, roasted broccoli, and sweet potato fries.  I cannot stand boiled vegetables and I don't much like steamed veggies either.  But roasted? Oh my! ;-)

Then I had a sugar free popsicle.

Now I'm off to brush my teeth.  Kitchen is officially CLOSED,

Nothing to see here

I was home sick yesterday.  I didn't photograph either the noodles or the broth I consumed.

My stomach feels better today, but I still feel like overall poo.  However, I need to go into work today so I am putting my hair in a ponytail and sucking it up.  Ugh.  I expect food to be the regular suspects.

Have a good day - will post later.

Monday

Breakfast: meat loaf made with ground turkey

Lunch: the usual salad

Dinner was a steak, leftover brown rice & quiona, and broccoli

I didn't feel good, I still don't feel good.  Ugh.

sunday

Yesterday was not a good day.  Partly sad about being away from family, but also dealt with some dhrama.  Ugh.

We were going to grill out, but we had a terrible thunderstorm.  Any by then we were both spent.

So, my food for the day ended up looking kinda crappy, and honestly making me feel that way too. 

Sunday breakfast: 2 eggs with salsa, a turkey sausage, and a small biscuit.

Lunch: a bratwurst, red cabbage, saurkraut, cucumber salad.

Sunday dinner: a slice of pizza and a beer.  Uh, hello, wtf!?!?

Yeah, I went along with it.  And paid dearly.  Clearly my digestive system is no longer accustomed to this stuff.

MIA

Sorry about not posting pics yesterday, I wasn't feeling well and ended up going to bed early. :-(

I did take pictures, and I will post them when I get home from work.

The rest of the food

Mid afternoon I had another bran cracker with chicken salad (now all gone).

For dinner I had roasted asparagus, 2 chicken thighs which were cooked in the crock pot with onion, garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar, and 3/4 cup of a sprouted rice & quinoa mix I buy at Costco.  I forgot to take a prior photo, but here is the after.

I had a sugar free fudgecicle.

Saturday so far, and exercise

The dogs woke me up at 6:30, demanding breakfast.  Got up, fed them, then fed myself.  I didn't feel like fixing anything, so I had leftovers: 4 oz baked catfish and roasted broccoli.

The I headed out to do the grocery shopping.  When I got home, I had my cup of coffee with almond milk and 2 prunes.

After that I loaded my food into sparkpeople for the day and did a few things.  Finally I got off my butt, had a bran cracker with 1 ounce of chicken salad, and headed to the gym

After I got home from the gym I got in the pool for a while, grabbed a shower, and then fixed lunch: my usual salad of grilled chicken thigh, cuke, 4 small tomatoes, and homemade ranch.  I had a can of sparkling water to go with it.

I know I mention it sometimes, but I don't track my exercise here.  I do that in sparkpeople, which is where I also track my food.

I have a sedentary desk job, so I set a goal for myself of 360 minutes of activity per week.  My goal is 3 elliptical sessions, 3 sessions of kettlebell swings, and 3 weight training sessions (for that I am currently using "The New Rules of Lifting for Women", which contains 6 months worth of progressive workouts).  The remainder of the minutes are walking, yoga, swimming, riding my mountain bike, etc.

Sadly, this house won't clean itself so I'm signing off!

The rest of Friday food

Dinner, turkey chili (homemade) and roasted green beans.

Then a sugar free fudgecicle for dessert.

Took a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood with the husband, then came home to watch a little tv.  Hub wanted air popped popcorn - I measured out 4 cups for myself.

According to sparkpeople, I ate around 1270 calories for the day.

Eating your feelings

So, pretty normal day around here so far. Breakfast was this week's usual of oats, a turkey burger with mustard, and a diet pepsi.

Lunch was SOS (same old salad) and green tea.

In the afternoon I walked downstairs with a friend to get a soda and bought a sugar cookie.  We ate downstairs and I didn't have my phone with me (he wanted to talk).  So, 1 sugar cookie approx 2 inch diameter, not photographed.

I went back to my desk and ate my grapes, but no nuts.

I served out the nuts, ate the grapes, and realized I was full. 

This afternoon I was feeling down and I had to stop by the grocery store on the way home.  I really wanted .. maybe some cheese? I was looking for a party in my mouth.  I bought what I stopped for, came home, and took a nap.  I was tired and a nap is a better cure than food!

Dinner coming soon, after pool time!  I'm off!

Snack and dinner

For afternoon snack, I had 2 oz chicken salad on a bran cracker, about a cup of grapes, 1 piece of chocolate, and lemonade made with stevia.

For dinner I had 6 oz baked catfish (I weighed it) coated with seasoned flour, sweet potato fries, and roasted broccoli.  We have certainly been eating a lot of sweet potatoes!  Thats unusual, but I bought a bag and they needed to be used up.

I will have a popsicle later.  Per sparkpeople, I'm at around 1100 calories for the day.  If I feel hungry I will eat an extra ounce or two of catfish.

Breakfast, then lunch

Breakfast was 2 eggs with salsa, oats, and unsweet tea.

Lunch was the usual: grilled chicken thigh, cucumber, tomatoes, and homemade ranch.

I drink water throughout the day.

Coffee, and a picture from my morning walk!

First, coffee and 2 prunes. 

After I packed my husband's lunch and loaded the dish washer, I took a nice walk around the neighborhood - its really nice outside.

Orchids don't need soil to grow, so people will just set them in a tree and let them do their thing.  I think its really neat looking to see the tree trunk "blooming" with the orchids!

Observations after a week of photographing my food

In no particular order:

1.  I won't be quitting my day job to become a food stylist!  There are blogs out there that make food look amazing.  This isn't one of them.  I photograph my food with my cheap LG not smart phone.  It works, but especially in my house (due to the lighting) my food doesn't look very appetizing.  Luckily it tatstes good!

2.  We are pretty much all creatures of habit.  Of the participants, our eating habits run the spectrum (it's been really cool to me to see what other folks eat).  But we all tend to eat the same things frequently.  Have you ever read a diet book that included example menus? They have different foods for every meal of every day.  I thought people actually ate like that!  Reading blogs, I've realized they don't because they don't have the time or money to cook like that either!  Pre-cooking on the weekend and or using leftovers for lunch saves time and money.

3.  We all eat differently.  Well, duh. But its been interesting to see how differently.  444 Dad eats Wheat Thins and peanuts - 2 things I could never keep in my house (for more than 5 minutes!).  I keep my bran crispbread crackers and raw tree nuts, because neither are trigger foods for me.  In order to be successful, you need to figure out foods that work for you - then stick to them! 

In the week we've been doing this, I've lost right around 3 pounds - not too shabby.  I haven't drastically altered the way I eat, but having to photograph my food has kept me from taking little nibbles in the kitchen, and forced me to stop & think before I eat something in the evening.  Not huge changes, but small changes that have made a huge difference.

I have loved Allan's challenge so far - I think it was a great idea!

No food yet today, but pics coming soon!

Wednesday food

Breakfast, grilled turkey burger with salsa, 1/8 c dry (served cooked) oats, and diet pepsi.

Then coffee and 2 prunes.

Lunch: 4 small tomatoes, mixed greens, and a grilled chicken thigh with 2 T homemade ranch. No cucumber today.

Snack: a cup of grapes and 12 almonds.

For dinner we had a baked pork chop with bread crumbs & spices, about 1/3 of a large baked sweet potato, and roasted green beans.

I had forgotten to brew tea, so I made lemonade with lemon juice, water, and a packet of stevia.

I plan to have a popsicle later as well.

And I'm headed out for an evening walk with the dogs!