It is something that is much needed.

I need to get my head back on my shoulders.

Not sure when, or if, I’ll be back.

Breakfast

Moving on to today- I’m jumping back on the wagon and getting it together. Well, start that with breakfast- which is the same thing I’ve been having all week- Cheerios/Fiber One mix, light soy milk, banana, yogurt and an apple. Minus the yogurt flavor being different everyday. Today I thought I’d mix it up just a little and nix the Fiber One cereal in todays bowl:

Instead I had: 1.5c Cheerios, 1c light soy milk, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, less than 1tbsp flax and 1 thinly sliced banana. I loved the protein powder mixed in because it made the milk kind of thick and maybe milkshake like would be a good way to describe it. You can see I had a Cherry Vanilla yogurt and apple along with it.

Snack

My snacks have not been doing it for me. I’m always hungry. Maybe its because I’m running around school all day. Today in gym I opted out of playing touch football (too many immature boys in my gym class) and walked the track for the class period. I walked a mile- 4 times around. When we got back in I ate the Kashi bar I brought around 9:30AM.

The Lara bar I had around 11:30AM. New flavor for me. I always smell a new bar before eating it (weird?). I don’t exactly know how to describe the smell or the flavor. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing. I would eat it again.

Lunch

I knew exactly what I wanted for lunch today. Not sure why I wanted what I did, but I did.

Breakfast for lunch! I scrambled 1/2c All Whites with S&P and hot sauce for dipping, toasted 2 slices of light wheat bread topped with 1tbso SF grape jam and a small bunch of grapes.

Then having breakfast (for lunch) just didn’t seem complete without cereal, so since I didn’t this morning, I had 1/2c Fiber One with 1/2c light soy milk and the last little bunch of grapes because I noticed the first bunch was starting to go and I didn’t want the same fate for the rest.

Snack

I ended up taking a nap after lunch and internet surfing. It was a much needed 1.5 hours. Then however, I woke up with craving. Darn cravings. I usually “give in” to them because I know if I don’t- it’ll result in a binge of more than just what I was craving. So this was consumed:

A bowl of Cheerios with light soy milk and I may have eaten peanut butter straight out of the jar and had a second bowl of cereal.

When my mom arrived home I headed up to the store to pick a few things. Saturday my gym is holding a bake sale to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I originally wanted to participate in the 10k walk, but couldn’t find anyone to join me. So I decided I was going to contribute still by baking for the sale. I’m making chocolate cupcakes and I haven’t decided to make either a cream cheese frosting or a buttercream frosting.

I hit the gym afterwards and let me tell you- tonights workout felt good. Maybe because of my indulgence last night and the lack of any workout as well, but it felt good. I did 65 minutes on the elliptical and did 30 minutes on the treadmill alternating speeds to walking/jogging/sprinting all on various incline levels.

When I got back it was really late& I completely wasn’t up to having an actual dinner, so instead after my shower I had a strawberry-banana yogurt w/2tbsp classic granola &an apple:

Now I am heading to bed. It is past my bed time.

I baked cupcakes last night as well. They are vanilla cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, which actually came out as more of a glaze, but who cares- its peanut butter! Going to be enjoying one of them later on today. It is my mothers boyfriends birthday (today) and like me, his favorite food is peanut butter.

Here is the recipes if anyone is interested:

Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 9

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup skim milk

Mix wet. Mix dry. Mix wet & dry. Divide into pan. Bake at 375* for about 10-15 minutes.

Peanut Butter Frosting (which is more of a glaze)

1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon peanut butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk
1 teaspoon skim milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon butter

Mix all ingredients together. Store in freezer overnight.

According to the Calorie Count Plus Recipe Analysis (I’m loving this tool) each cupcakes clocks in at only about 188 calories with the frosting!

Breakfast

Onto todays eats! I woke up this morning: 1) earlier than needed- don’t you despise internal alarm clocks? 2) craving toast. Whaaaat!? I made it anyway to have with my coffee.

Lightly toasted two slices of light wheat bread and topped with 1tbsp SF grape jam. I made my real breakfast sometime after this: oatmeal!

I used:

• 1/3c oats
• 1/2c light soy milk + water
• 1tbsp egg whites + flax
• 1 banana
• topped with: 1/4c cranberry pecan granola

I decided to get “adventurous” today and add some egg whites to my oatmeal. Not bad. I’m glad it didn’t change the flavor, which was my biggest concern, but it did change the texture. It binded the oats together more than normal, so instead of creamy, runny oats they were creamy, thick oats. If that make sense.

Snack

I brought along one of my new Luna bars today for a snack- the Chai Tea flavor.

I didn’t know what to expect for the flavor with this seeing as I’ve never had chai tea before. However, the bar was delicious I must say!

Lunch

I knew I needed something light for lunch because I had to hit the gym early today because we were going out for dinner and I wasn’t sure if I’d have time later that night.

A bowl of cereal was my choice. Kashi Honey Sunshine and light soy milk. I had a handful of grapes too, but my camera wasn’t near so no picture! At the gym I only got in 65 minutes on the elliptical, but it was a nice sweaty workout as usual.

Dinner

While getting ready to head out to Chili’s for dinner I snacked on a light string cheese to help hold me over (and quite my SCREAMING stomach).

I didn’t get to take pictures of my dinner (or dessert) because of the people I was with. I felt it would of been way to awkward so I nixed the idea. I ordered the Chicken Fajita Pita with steamed broccoli in place of the fries. It was delicious. Here is an internet picture:

Only my second time every having it. I snagged ONE of my little brothers fries and had the cherries and oranges from my Mothers drink.

We came back to the house and had: vanilla cupcakes with peanut butter frosting/glaze! Holy mother of cupcakes. They were the most amazing tasting cupcakes ever. I swear to you! I’ll get a picture sometime tomorrow of the leftover ones to share the appeal.

Workout #2 !?

Seeing as it wasn’t extremely late after we ate and hung out for a bit, I headed back to the gym for some light walking. I hit the treadmill for an hour walk at 3.5MPH on a 5.0 incline while reading my book. The treadmill is a great place to read. I got through 10 chapters and a nice hour long workout.

Snack

I had a bowl of Cheerios with light soy milk before heading to bed, well because I was hungry. Pretty simple explanation. Sorry for the lack of pictures today- I didn’t take one of this either.

Breakfast

I was hungry this morning upon waking. This is a very normal occurrence for me. I actually was a tiny bit hungry when I lied down in bed and debated having an apple of something, but then I was out. However, I had that apple this morning!

Along with 2 slices double fiber wheat bread topped with 1tbsp FF cottage cheese, 1tbsp SF raspberry preserves and a just shy of 1tbsp flax. Followed by my delicious cereal bowl:

In the bowl: 1c Kashi GoLean, 1c light soy milk and 1 what-felt-like-an-abnormally-large banana. Maybe it was just too early, but this banana seemed to be huge.

Snack

At school today I was signed up to donate blood. Being a good person. I have one type of O blood too so it benefits alot of people. This morning I figured I should pack a snack that would boost my blood sugar level for after donating, so I packed a bag of trail mix:

That included PB chips and M&Ms. Also brought along a Cool Mint Chocolate Clif bar.

Another new bar! Taste thoughts? It was good. I found the mint flavor a tad bit.. maybe strong would be the word. Not sure how to describe it. I just don’t know if I’ll buy it again.

Lunch

I came home and was craving that fish again, so I toasted up two slices of light wheat bread, cooked a cajun blackened fish fillet and made a fish sandwich!

It was delicious. Along side I had a huge, crisp pear.

I had a bowl of Cheerios with light soy milk a little while afterwards.

Baking

After lunch I searched for a recipe for two very ripe bananas that have been sitting in my kitchen. I finally decided to use this recipe from Tina’s site Carrots ‘N’ Cake. I made a few changes of my own: omitting the butterscotch chips- due to not having any, adding 2tbsp flax- for extra fiber and I used almond extract instead of vanilla seeing as we have none.

You can also see I decided to make 6 regular-sized muffins instead of mini muffins. Except it was more like 5 regular-sized muffins and 1 half-regular-sized. According to Calorie Count Plus Recipe Analysis, using a yield of 5, they come about to about 130 calories with 1.5g fat, 2.4g fiber and 2.7g protein.

Of course a taste test was needed, so I ate the half-sized muffin. Soooo gooood! Slightly crunchy on the outside and moist and gooey (but fully cooked) on the inside.

Pre-Workout

Before heading to the gym I had the last slice of double fiber bread with 1tbsp FF cottage cheese with s&p.

I didn’t do much at the gym due to a time limit and not too so great mood, but I did 65 minutes on the elliptical.

Dinner

Repeat of last night. Salad with lots of hot sauce and seasonings topped with 2tbsp FF cottage cheese.

Sorry again for such lame eating.

Snack

I was craving ice cream, although I was really cold, but I had it anyway.

Topped with 1/4c cranberry pecan granola was 1/2c FF vanilla ice cream.

Then later I had some emotional eating going on. It included: a bowl of Cheerios with light soy milk, a multi-grain rice cake and two pre-portioned baggies of trail mix.. This wasn’t as bad as it could of been. I easily could of gone back for more ice cream, or dug into the mini bag of Famous Amos cookies I have or the new package of Oreos sitting in the kitchen. I don’t feel too bad about it either, which is good.

Breakfast

This mornings eats did not hold me over very well. No clue why, but here they are anyway:

An apple, double fiber bread with 1tbsp SF raspberry preserves & less than 1/4c FF plain yogurt with cinnamon. Not pictured: apple, handful of grapes and 8 almonds.

Cereal: 1c Kashi GoLean, 1c light soy milk, banana, 1tbsp flax.

Snack

Like I mentioned breakfast did not keep me full. I was feeling empty and hungry about an hour earlier than my usual time. I filled up with water and held off however then had these:

A pre-sliced package of apples from one of the vending machines at school (yes, I kept the wrapper just so I could take a picture when I got home). With them I had a 1oz bag of almonds that I forgot to picture this morning.

Second snack was another new bar:

A Dulche de Leche Luna bar. My thoughts? It was.. okay. It tasted similar to many other Luna bars. I realized today that most of them all have the same flavor. This one was different in appearance though. Instead of the bottem being coated with the “frosting”, it was on top.

Lunch

Wrap time! Last one for some time though. This was my last Flat Out wrap.

Just the usual: 1tbsp FF cream cheese, 1tbsp hot salsa, spring mix salad. With the last of the grapes and some baby carrots on the side.

Afterwards I had a peach yogurt with 2tbsp granola. Yum! A nap came shortly after this seeing as I am exhausted and wanted to rest up for the gym.

Pre-Workout

Before I hit the gym, I did a quick grocerry trip to pick up a few things: bananas, salad, bread, etc. When I got home I needed something quick to eat so I had 1/2 a banana and a 1/2 serving of almonds (although not all pictured).

I arrived at the gym almost a whole hour later than I normally would and was just not feeling it in the first place (before I even got there!) so I stuck to 65 minutes on the elliptical and a 15 minute walk on the treadmill at a 4.0 MPH speed on a 5.0 incline.

Dinner

Boring. Boring. Boring. Sorry for such boring-ness in my dinner but I get pretty lazy.

Salad mixture topped with 2tbsp FF cottage cheese, hot sauce, seasonings and baby carrots on the side. Definitely more than pictured of the carrots was eaten, but I was hungry and not waiting to take a picture.

Snack

After dinner I was still a bit hungry so I had a snack before I hit the sack.

I toasted to slices light wheat breads (40 calories each) topped with 1tbsp SF raspberry preserves (on each) and sliced the other 1/2 of my banana on top. Mmmm..

Breakfast

This mornings eats were in 3 parts. I usually never have all my breakfast at once. First started with 1/2c FF plain yogurt with 1/4c apple cinnamon granola.

I had a small-ish apple after this (part two), but didn’t feel the need for a picture because I’m pretty positive everyone here knows what an apple looks like.

Part three: the usual. Cereal: 1c Special K Plus Protein, 1c light soy milk, thinly sliced, very ripe banana. I also mixed in a 1/2c chocolate protein powder. I almost forgot an important part too! Here I am, about to eat my cereal while reading blogs and someone mentioned flax. I had totally forgot I wanted to add it to my cereal. Right away I headed back to the kitchen, cereal bowl in tow and added 1tbsp flax.

Snack

Finally digging into my giant array of new bars I picked out the Banana Nut Bread Clif bar for todays snack. Along with a bag of trail mix.

I really enjoyed the taste of the Clif bar. I didn’t feel like it tasted like banana nut bread, but it did have the banana and nut flavor.

Lunch

I’ve been feeling pretty crappy all day. Darn being a girl. For lunch I opened up a can of chicken noodle soup.

Along side I have a 1/2c FF cottage cheese with 1/2tsp flax, baby carrots and grapes.

Very simple.

Another Snack?

After lunch I had the urge to keep eating just to eat, but I didn’t. Instead I swept and mopped the kitchen floor and put away the rest of my laundry. Then took a nap. I was woken up during my nap about an hour maybe 1.5 hours later by my boy to talk about him hopefully coming over later. After talking I was awake and hungry.

Well, darn hormones. I had 1c Special K Plus Protein with 1c light soy milk and a slice of double fiber wheat bread with 1/2tbsp peanut butter.

Didn’t stop here though. Afterwards I had yet another bowl of cereal. I actually found this a much better option that what I wanted to do and easily could of done- which would be emptying the remaining PB from the jar (about 1″ deep). So, I’m actually proud of myself.

Afterwards, I washed dishes and vacuumed the house. I debated taking a walk then nixed the idea because I decided it is just too hot outside to be going out to walk. I also don’t really enjoy going for walks around the area by myself because it is all so boring.

Dinner

Today I am a bottemless pit. More on that in a second. For dinner I made a huge salad. Used a little over half a package of salad and TWO tomatoes (hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder).

After I had a blueberry yogurt and a couple animal crackers.

Then a sugar cookie…

…then today turned in to “Fat Tuesday”. My one day a week where I always end up eating a ton. It semi-started with the yogurt/animal crackers then I had this:

A multi-grain rice cake topped with 1tbsp PB and 1tbsp SF raspberry preserves… times two. Except the second one has less PB and more preserves. I also ended up eating marshmallow fluff straight out of the container! Still feeling empty I had a bowl of 1c Cheerios and a little over 1/2c light soy milk (all that was left in the container)… times two! AHH! I gave up taking pictures, not because I was “ashamed”, but because I’m lazy and it would of become a hassle to be uploading them all.

Enough complaining now. Last night after blogging, my brother and I set up our board game. During the first round, I snacked on an apple because I was feeling a bit empty and kind of wanted to “munch”. We played 3 rounds: 2 times he won, 1 time I won. It’s all in the luck of the draw with that game. Well, afterwards I was still feeling empty and had slight stomach grumbles so I had a bowl of Special K Plus Protein&soy milk. I hit the sack after this finally because my waking so early finally caught up with me! ..but then there I was. Laying in bed, for a good 30 minutes trying to actually fall asleep and my stomach would not leave me alone. I finally got up and had a multi-grain rice cake with 1tbsp each FF cottage cheese and SF raspberry preserves. Thankfully this settled my stomach and let me sleep.

Breakfast

Moving on from yesterday. I knew this morning I would have plenty of time to make oatmeal for breakfast! Finally a day with time. With one downside however. I wasn’t going to get to eat my oats until 3.5 hours AFTER waking up. Therefor I made a slice of double fiber toast with 1tsp light butter along with an apple to have with my cup of joe this morning.

So I nixed my normal morning cereal to have this delicious bowl of PBB&J oatmeal. I used the “whipping method” from Kath Eats Real Food using: 1/2c oats, 1c + a little extra water with 1 banana & 1tbsp flax mixed in while cooking, topped (then mixed in) with 1tbsp PB and 1 tbsp SF raspberry preserves.

It was yum yum yummy!

Snack

The feeling of not needing a big snack for today occurred to me after finishing my oats. After cleaning up I looked through my “bar basket”.

Although I really want to start trying all my new bars, I opted for a peanut butter Zbar for my snack today. I love the consistency of these bars. They taste like you’re eating cookie dough. :p I had this around 11:45AM. My oatmeal for breakfast lasted me just over 3 hours.

Lunch

By the time I got home around 1:30PM I was hungry for lunch (as I usually am when arriving home). I knew pretty much exactly what I wanted: a wrap! Get used to them.

Todays wrap was a bit different though. The normal 1tbsp FF cream cheese & 1tbsp hot salsa came first then I added my protein inside the wrap using Oscar Mayer Smoked Turkey and Ham (5 pieces each) topped with a good handful (and a half?) of spring mix salad.

Along side I had a super sweet pear. I don’t even remember the last time I had a pear. It was a nice change. I also has a few grapes (not pictured) and snacked on a good serving of baby carrots while assembling my wrap. Then what meal is complete without “dessert”?!

I had a multi-grain rice cake (trying to use these up) topped with 1tbsp SF raspberry preserves & 1tsp flax.

Afterwards I decided to do a little bit more “bar hunting” (last time for a while hopefully- I’m addicted!). This trip was a success. A small success.

I found and bought: a Honey Graham ZBar, Clif Nectar in Lemon, Vanilla & Cashew and Cranberry Apple Cherry Clif bar.

Pre-Workout

Before heading to the gym I had a serving of cinnamon brown sugar almonds.

At the gym I did 65 minutes on the elliptical, which was done with some full force because I ended up doing about a 1/2 miles OVER my usual distance. I hit up the treadmill for a 30 minute walk at a 3.5 speed on a 5.0 incline afterwards. Before and between cardio I did 250 crunches as well.

Dinner

Tonights dinner was quite basic and boring, but SUPER SPICY! Holy cow.

A simple salad with a tomato, seasonings and what I thought wasn’t alot of hot sauce. Oh well. I enjoy my food being spicy. I add hot sauce to pretty much anything that I can add it to. Oh yea, had an apple too.

Snack

Tonights snack was ice cream again! Now however I won’t have any for atleast the next two days. I make a deal with myself and take a break.

You can see it might look a bit strange. I crushed up and stirred in a mini Reese’s Crispy Crunchy Bar into my 1/2c FF vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

Now knowing me, I enjoyed this while doing some blog reading. During this my television is on (to Food Network of course) and the “Go Nuts!” episode of Unwrapped was playing. Here I am, enjoying my ice cream and catching up on everyones day when my ears turned their attention towards the TV a bit more and I hear the words: Lara bar! They “unwrapped” the amazing Lara bars. Thought I’d share this tidbit. Now I’m heading to bed to restart another day tomorrow and back to normal schedule.

Breakfast

I was up early this morning. Way too early for a Sunday morning. The body was saying to get up at 5:30! (Yesterday it wanted up at 4:30!) I fought to get some more sleep, but it was no good (same as yesterday).

I went about my normal morning routine then made my normal breakfast: 1c Special K Plus Protein, 1c light soy milk, sliced banana. All in my adorable new bowl. Isn’t it cute? I found it at Ross last night for only 99 cents, along with a banana tree for $2.99! I found this a good deal considering the only banana trees I’ve been able to find have been $4.99+. Crazy.

Mid-Morning Snack

I piddled around for a little while after breakfast. Mostly surfing the web, listening to music, got the paper, clipped coupons, etc. I started a load of laundry too. Being up so early this morning resulted in a snack mid-morning.

I had an apple, light string cheese and 1/2 serving of vanilla bean almonds. Another 1/4 serving of almonds was eaten after this because I still felt a bit hungry.

A bunch of errands needed to get done today. I needed to do a bit of food shopping for the week to come. My first trip out was pretty unsuccessful and more of just something to do to waste time. I did pick up another super cute bowl at Target though. Only 48 cents!

Lunch

I decided to come home after I wasn’t having any luck with my first trip out of the house. Hunger was setting in too. So I had an extremely early lunch. We’re talking 11:00AM!

Using a multi-grain Flat Out wrap, I made a huge salad wrap. For picture taking purposes a toothpick was needed to keep it shut. On the wrap: 1tbsp FF cream cheese, 1tbsp hot salsa, spring salad mix. Along side was plenty of baby carrots. More then shown were consumed because I tend to snack on them whenever I’m preparing food.

I finished up my laundry afterwards (empty the dryer, fold, put away). Washed the dishes and put away the clean ones. Then it occurred to me that my lunch was lacking in protein. Well…

What a better way to get in some protein than a glass of soy milk and a homemade sugar cookie!

Trip #2 happened shortly after lunch. This trip was WAY more successful than the first. Starting with buy one, get one free salads. I also got a 2lb bag of baby carrots, a bag of red grapes and 2 pears.

Then the second best part of today. KASHI SALE! Cereals were 2/$5 and granola bars 2/$6.

I got two boxes each of the Honey Sunshine and GoLean cereals along with the Peanut Peanut Butter and Honey Almond Flax TLC chewy granola bars. The rest of trip #2s buys:

Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bar, Attune bars – dark chocolate & strawberry (I had a buy one, get one free coupon), Gortons Cajun Blackened Grilled Fillets (I’ve been craving fish lately) and I finally did it: I bought flax! I’ve been putting off buying it for a long time.

Pre-Workout

I knew I need to find time to hit up the gym today, so I did so after trip #2 was done and everything was put away. Before going I had a mini Luna S’mores bar & a good handful of grapes (not pictured).

At the gym I started with a 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill at a speed of 4MPH and 4.0 incline. Some weight machine work came next. I did 2 sets of 12 of the following: seated leg cur, row/rear delt, leg press, tricep press, low row and glute, plus 200 crunches. I hit up my favorite next- the elliptical. For 65 minutes while watching Food Network and HGTV. I’m glad I made the decision to do my weights before cardio because after the elliptical all I was wanting to do was go home, shower and EAT! I was hungry.

Dinner

I came home and did just that. Showered and made me some grub. I chopped up some lettuce leaves and mixed it with the remaining baby spinach I had in the fridge.

Topped with 1 chopped tomato, a few hot banana peppers, 2tsp flax, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The flax added a slightly different taste, but not a drastic one.

Along side I had some more delicious grapes! I haven’t had any in forever, so these are tasting fantastic.

Shopping trip #3 came after dinner. This one was the BOMB! I ended up going to two stores I hadn’t planned on going to and I was almost squealing with delight in both of them. First we’ll get the boring stuff out of the way. At Walmart I picked up the following:

A 3lb bag of apples, soy milk, Oikos greek yogurt, FF vanilla ice cream and a new ice cream scoop. Now more on those two stores I went to unplanned. I’ve mentioned before that whenever I visit the grocery store I always check out the bar isle. It has simply just become habit. Well, these two stores I went specifically for that purpose and did I get lucky! Every single bar I bought tonight is one I’ve never tried (and I didn’t even buy them all- tomorrow I might head back).

JACKPOT! I bought: Luna bars in Chai Tea, Toasted Nuts N’ Cranberry and Dulce de Leche, Lara bar in Lemon, Jocalot bar in Chocolate Orange, Pure Protein Strawberry Shortcake, Clif bar in Cool Mint Chocolate and Maple Nut, Clif Nectar bar in Cherry Pomegranate and Dark Chocolate Walnut  and MoJo bars in  Peanut Butter Pretzel, Mountain Mix and Peanut Butter & Jelly. A total for 13 new bars! I am too exited.

Snack

Enough with that excitement (although it is still entirely brewing inside of me). Seeing as I bought a new ice cream scoop and just happened to buy ice cream, I figured I should “test out” both.

I had a 1/2c ice cream with a sugar cookie crumbled on top and 1tsp SF strawberry syrup drizzled on top.

I’m going to call it a night now (with the blog anyway). I’ve had a super busy, running around day. For the rest of the night, I’m just going to go clean up the kitchen, maybe read some and I told my younger brother I would play the board game SORRY! with him tonight.  Goodnight.