Weekly Weigh-in

Weight Last Week: 259.0

Weight This Week: 264.6

5.6 pounds GAINED this week

Lowest Weight Recorded: 232.2 on 4/22/12

64.8 pounds lost since June 2010


Still on the rollercoaster...


I went into last week knowing what I needed to do, and I didn't do it. Unfortunately, it continued through the weekend. The only thing I can do turn it around faster than normal and not let my patter of lose, lose, gain, gain continue.

Nashville Food: Rolf & Daughters

Ever since I was clued into the culinary secret that is Rolf & Daughters, located in the Germantown neighborhood of Nashville, by my friend who works as a chef there, I have been dying to go. Until last night, the closest I'd gotten was a beer at the bar and a taste of the bombolino-Italian doughnuts that are filled with a vanilla cream and served alongside a chocolate dipping sauce - both which left a pleasant first taste and an itch to return. Since then, I'd made it my life's mission to get a dinner seat here.

And last night it happened.

Tucked in a corner of the Germantown neighborhood, where industrial meets residential. The space itself is a converted industrial building and many of the rustic and metal elements of the space are showcased.

Even though the menu isn't large, it's hard to choose what to order!

 Milano Mule - Gin based and made with their homemade ginger syrup - spicy and delicious! Also tried the cucumber sour

(L-R, Clockwise) Chicken liver pate, carrot marmalade, cacao; Crostini, whipped ricotta, beets;
Baby octopus, black garlic, pork belly, celeriac, Sourdough, seaweed butter

(L-R, Clockwise) Turnip greens and polenta; Hanger steak, spring onion, swiss chard, olive, rosemary;
Garganelli verde, heritage pork ragout, parmesano; Heritage chicken preserved lemon, confit garlic

(L-R, Clockwise) Even the coffee creamer presentation is awesome; Olive & Sinclair chocolate torte with sea salt;
Vanilla panna cotta with almond cookies; Bambolino-Italian doughnuts with vanilla cream and chocolate dipping sauce

There wasn't one thing that disappointed any of us at the table. Every bite we took was divine and so well crafted. You can certainly drop some money at this place, but every dollar is worth it for the quality of food they deliver.

I hear their menu is coming up for a change with the seasons, so I know it won't be soon enough before I can get back here!

Easy Peasy Breakfast Sandwiches

This post by Jen over at Prior Fat Girl, made me so want to share something I've been doing for a LONG time to make a quick, healthy and filling breakfast that also packs a punch of veggies first thing in the morning - microwave egg sandwiches!

• I spray a normal cereal bowl (about an 8 oz size) with non-stick cooking spray





• Add 2 eggs, dash of milk (non-dairy is ok), salt, and pepper, then mix





• Add a handful of spinach on top (sometimes I throw random veggies in the egg mixture, if I need to use something up)





• Microwave for 2 minutes, flip egg "patty" over in bowl
• Microwave for 1 more minute, remove
• Add egg to bread (toasted if you like) and top with cheese (also optional)





• Wrap in a napkin, to eat it in the car!

In 5 minutes you get a nutritious breakfast, that will stay with you until lunchtime!

You could also top with your favorite low-calorie condiment, add a couple slices of lunch meat or bacon, or even a sausage patty, if you wanted. This morning I added a few dashes of hot sauce.

What are some of your favorite, quick, filling and healthy breakfast ideas?

Weekly Menu Planning

One thing that makes me feel on track and in control is planning out my meals each week. By habit I am a weekly grocery shopper. I enjoy having fresh fruits and vegetables in the house at all times (seriously, if there aren't slightly green bananas on my counter, I'm lost) and by going to the grocery store weekly, it let's me do this.

I've been using The Peaceful Mom's Printable Meal Planning Tools to write down my menus and then hang them on the refrigerator as a reminder. Since I usually go to the grocery store sometime over the weekend, my menus are from Sat-Fri.

I'd like to start sharing my menus on the blog, along with recipes, so those of you reading can get a better idea of what I'm eating. In theory, I try to eat a well balanced diet of as many veggies as possible, fruits, whole grains, carbs high in resistance starch, lean protein, and low-fat dairy.

That being said, here's what I am eating this week.

Breakfast:

Egg, spinach and roasted red pepper pita pocket

Biggest Loser Oatmeal Pancakes

Carb Lover's Banana Shake

Easy Egg Sandwiches

Lunch:

Black Bean and Veggie Tacos (made up on the fly: flour tortilla, black beans, diced carrots, grilled peppers and onions, avocado, and hot sauce)

Carb Lover's Banana Shake

Carb Lover's Chicken Pita Sandwich

Tuna Salad w/Wasa crackers, carrots and an apple

Carb Lover's Chickpea Chopped Salad

Dinner:

Baked Salmon w/Parmesan topped baked potato and broccoli (inspired by this Carb Lover's recipe)

Crockpot Chickpea pot pie, Deviled Eggs, and Salad (Easter Sunday)

Carb Lover's Grilled Burgers and 3-bean salad

I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from the good ole' Carb Lover's Diet book because their recipes are well-rounded, healthy, easy, and taste good. This is also an odd week because I have things after work three nights this week, plus my friend is in town Wednesday-Friday so I expect more eating out than normal. That is why I only have 3 dinner varieties listed.

Ironman March Challenge Wrap Up

As a reminder, I committed to participate in Caitlin's (from Health Tipping Point) Ironman March Challenge where I will complete the Ironman distances in swimming, biking, and run/walking during the month of March.

I didn't give a Week 4 update, but you can see previous weeks' updates here, here, and here.

The last full week of the challenge, I hit a wall. Well, it actually started out great the first three days with a 1,000 meter swim, 14 mile spin ride, and 2.85 mile run respectively. Monday the 25th was my normal yoga class, then Tuesday I skipped the 6 am spin class I've been trying to make my "normal" class and just figured I would go to the 5 pm one. But then I started the juice cleanse Tuesday morning...

I was so weak by time I left work on Tuesday, there was no way I would make it through a 60 minute spin class. "I'll just go tomorrow," I thought.

Well after only 4 hours of sleep because of hunger induced insomnia (seriously, I was so stupid), I didn't feel like doing much Wednesday either. Then Thursday I missed the 6 am spin again and couldn't find an evening class, so I just went to yoga (my favorite instructor is going to be out for 3 weeks and it was her last class).

So I ended Week 4 with just an additional 1,000 meters of swimming, 14 miles biking, and 2.85 miles running to add to my totals. Not the best week for the challenge, but looking back it's not horrible for this point in my training calendar either.

For the last 3 days of the challenge, I started out at the pool Friday with a 1,200 meter swim, thus completing 4,100 meters this month, a few laps over the 2.4 miles required for the challenge.

Friday after coming home from the pool, I was still in my flip flops and had a little clumsy incident that involved a chunk of skin the size of a quarter being ripped off the top of my big toe on my left foot. So there's that now.

Saturday, I only got 5 miles of biking in. But the good news is I picked up my bike from being tuned up and it's riding great! I just timed the ride way too wrong and I hadn't eaten in several hours and didn't have any energy to do a longer ride. (All excuses I realize.)

Admittedly I have had a very lazy week and weekend, and that carried over to today with the holiday and the crummy weather we have, I didn't get out and do anything today.

So my final challenge totals were:

Swimming: 4,100 meters
Bike: 58 miles
Run/Walk: 19.49

So obviously I didn't complete all of the biking or running totals. After the showing I had the first two weeks, I really had no way to hit the bike totals, but if I hadn't hit that wall this week I should have hit the run totals.

All that to say, I do think the challenge was a success because it helped jump start my triathlon training. I went from swimming and biking very low totals to swimming 1,200 meters at a time and biking 20+ miles a week. So I'm proud of myself for that.

I have 6 weeks until the first race on my calendar this season, and being that it is a mini spring triathlon (200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run), I know I am ready for it and I can start focusing on my 2nd race (TBD), which will be a longer sprint triathlon, and maybe even an Intermediate distance race at the end of the summer.

I can't wait until May 18th and I'm out there again!

Weigh in & Weekly Goals

Weight Last Week: 261.2

Weight This Week: 259.0

2.2 pounds LOST this week

Lowest Weight Recorded: 232.2 on 4/22/12

70.4 pounds lost since June 2010

Second loss in a row. If I can keep it up next week, it will be the longest losing streak I've had in a very long time.

This week was a bit off because of the lack of cardio I did and the juice cleanse. But I managed to stay on track food-wise.

I'm looking forward to getting back on schedule with workouts and continuing my streak of healthy eating. Feeling more motivated than I have in a long time.

The upcoming week isn't without challenges, since I have several after work events planned and a friend in town, I'll be eating out several times this week. My main goal is to make good choices, even if I am eating out with friends.

Goals this week:
- Drink at least 75 oz of water a day
- No binge drinking if I do have drinks out this week (no more than 1-2 drinks)
- Follow the menu plan I've planned out
- Do all scheduled workouts

Have a great week!

Day 1.5 - Juice Cleanse/Detox and Final Thoughts

I've been procrastinating on writing up this final post about the cleanse/detox. I don't think I wanted to admit that it didn't seem to help me very much. This post completely resonated with me. Maybe it's because it wasn't long enough - most cleanses last 3 days - but I don't think I could have survived longer than I did.

When we left off I was experiencing hunger induced insomnia. I ended up laying in bed until about 6:30 am before getting up to get ready.

Had my last sweet greens juice when I left the house at 7:15. I was starving. So hungry, I was at the point of nauseousness.

12 oz sweet greens - kale, romaine, cucumber, celery, apple, grapefruit, lemon, and ginger

I met Betsy at my work at 8:00 and immediately followed it up with the wheatgrass shot and smoothie she brought me. Those curbed my hunger until about 11:00.

 Wheatgrass shot - with lemon wedge (not shown)

I had the 'Super Green Salad' with zucchini hummus around 11:30-12:00. It was HUGE and REALLY good, and I so much appreciated eating actual food again.

Super Green Salad - soft mixed greens, sprouts, peppers, celery, carrots and
homemade zucchini hummus with homemade tahini

Why I wanted to do a cleanse

Mostly, I've felt really out of control over the last 4 months. I thought of this as my way to "restart" or "reboot" my healthy eating habits I've so soon forgotten. Admittedly, I have done hardly ANY research into juicing or detox cleanses. I know there are people on both side of the fence. It comes down to the fact I just wanted to experience it for myself.

How I felt after the cleanse

I had normal "pizza and ice cream" cravings immediately following the cleanse. Again, I'm not saying this is everyone's experience, but this was mine. In the days following the cleanse, I've tried to eat as clean as possible avoiding dairy and meat as much as possible for the last few days. That said, my diet has not been 'perfect'. I was craving chocolate and ice cream so much I stopped and got some So Delicious No Sugar Added Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream Wednesday night. For dinner I had black bean and veggie tacos - meat and dairy free. 

I still had low energy Wednesday night and talked myself out of doing any workouts. Was this the cleanses fault? Well, technically it's an excuse. But since I only slept for about 4.5 hours on Tuesday night, my fatigue was real.

I will say the cleanse helped me realize how bad my coffee addiction was. I didn't realize it, but I was probably drinking 4-5 cups of coffee a day, loaded with half and half and sugar. I'm not comfortable with that and I'm happy to say I've cut back to either 1 latte (no sugar added) and 1 cup of black coffee or just up to 2 cups of black coffee a day. This is something I'd prefer to keep going.

The cleanse DID also help me reset my mental approach to what healthy eating should look like - FOR ME. More fresh veggies, fruits, beans & legumes, whole grains, and less meat and dairy. Also, my portions have been noticeably smaller, even if I have been hungry more often (every 2-3 hours instead of 3-5).

I returned to meat and dairy eating yesterday when I had a bowl of chicken tortilla soup and 1 chicken taco at my favorite taco place. Normally I would have the same portion of soup and 2 tacos, and I was stuffed just after 1. So, yes my portions have been smaller.

This morning I had a work breakfast and ordered eggs - first time since the cleanse and I ordered them without the cheese or sour cream. The salsa and veggies gave the eggs plenty of flavor and I didn't even miss them. This is how I hope to continue my lifestyle - cheese and high calorie condiments in moderation.

Will I do it again?

I don't want to say never, but I most likely won't. Don't get me wrong - the juices and salad were quite tasty. Betsy is a hugely talented raw and vegan food chef. Every dish of hers I've had is SO delicious. But - at no fault of her's - I felt like I was starving myself. By my calculations I consumed about 1400 calories on Tuesday. Not enough for my 6'0", 260 lb frame that needs twice that just to exist, nevermind the calories I burn by MOVING and EXERCISING every day. Like I keep saying, this was just MY experience, and other people may have a wholly different one.

I do think there is something to giving your digestive system a break from hard to digest foods (meat, dairy, high fiber beans and legumes). So I would consider a food cleanse, supplemented by cold pressed juices (low on the glycemic index, like ReBoot's) sometime in the future.

All in all I'm really glad to have had the experience. I'm chalking it up to another learning experience for what does and doesn't work for my body. And in the end that's what all of this really is about.