Oh, it’s one of "Those" Days!
Do you ever have mornings like this?! I woke up at 5:30 when The Husband got home from work (yeah for only 1 more day of working nights!) a 1/2 hour before my alarm. I had planned on sleeping in a little til 6:00 since I was up working until 1130 last night – dooooh! No problem….my early start to my day turned into being early, then, late.
I got ready, packed up all my stuff, walked out the door and realized I forgot to feed our super cute cat that adopted us – so I quickly set my stuff down, fed the cat and left.
In the car I realize I forgot my Magic Bullet and need it for my smoothie…..drove back to the house, grabbed it, picked up my co-worker and headed into work (yeah for carpooling!) Get to work to make my smoothie and realize I forgot the top to my magic bullet – the important part needed to blend – AHHHH! Luckily my co-worker saved the day and let me use the kitchen blender – phew!
Good start, right…….Breakfast was awesome however, once, I did ACTUALLY get it made up. I started with a fabulous berry smoothie.
1 c ff milk
1/2 c ff greek yogurt
splash of pure vanilla extract
1/2 c frozen raspberries
handful of fresh blueberries
I was sooooo excited that the Jump Start Diet called for Almond Butter today – I have seriously been missing my nut butters! Is it possible to have nut butter withdrawals?! I had 1 Tbsp freshly ground organic almond butter from Whole Foods with 1 Tbsp of Organic Apricot Preserves on a Thomas Double Fiber English Muffin.
It was soooooo GOOD! I rounded everything out with some half caf and my Nathan Bottle of water! A total liquid breakfast…..
My quick summary recap for yesterday:
2,826 Calories Burned
12,880 Steps Taken
~ 1,460+/- Calories Consumed
Today is going to be a good day, today is going to be a good day…..this is my mantra today 
It isgoing to be a super busy day, but, I am hoping to get out for a lunchtime stroll but not sure – may have to save my workouts for tonight…..catch you later today or tonight!
Happy Thursday All!!!
A Quick & Healthy Greek Salad
Tonight I have to do things in reverse home. I carpooled home with my co-worker – yeah for one step towards being better to Earth. I whipped up a quick dinner, then, I will finish up another project for work before working out. Then, read/relax……I am pretty tired tonight though so not sure how much reading/relaxing is going to happen.
This afternoon my snack was two more of the 80 calorie Pesto Pizzettas – so good, but, seriously a serving should be more than two!
Here is the Quick & Healthy Greek Salad I whipped today for my Jump Start dinner – I changed it up a bit to make it more how I like it.
4 oz grilled chicken (threw a breast on the grill with a little garlic salt & freshly ground pepper)
3 cups chopped organic romaine lettuce (the best lettuce ever!)
1 cup chopped english cucumber
1 c fabulous cherry tomatoes, halved
4 black olives, halved
2 Tbsp fat free feta (it’s not as strong as the lowfat & full fat & I like that about it!)
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
This was one tasty salad – I am not much of a Greek food fan, but, I found myself digging this salad. I got so much chewing pleasure out of it. 
I also whipped up yet another soup while dinner was cooking for tomorrow – yeah! Can’t wait to try it.
Tonight’s workout is back to 10 minutes of stretching & body weight exercises. I am definitely looking forward to it.
*Shoulder Rolls
* Side Bend
* Lower-Back Mobility
* Dynamic Lateral Lunge Stretch
* Torso Rotation
My Fun Blog news is that I am now featured on the Blog Top List too! You can click the link on the right to “Vote for Me!” by going under the “Check my Blog out on….” spot or by clicking HERE. Yeah!
Have a great night all!
I won A Furochic!!!!
Woohooo ~ I won another contest!!! I seriously need to play the lotto this week for sure! I am soooo excited in case you couldn’t tell. You can check out what I won by clicking HERE. Thanks so much La Fuji Mama – I can’t wait to get my Furochic and I will definitely take pictures to show it off! I can’t wait to use my new furochic wrap & be greener!!!
I just got back from an amazing 4 mile chatting walk with my co-worker. I LOVE how time flies when you don’t stop talking the whole way. Poor her – I had some caffeine today so I am sure she was just trying to keep up with my words.
I have to say my lunch was not too exciting today. I started off with another 1 cup serving of the Spicy Tomato Soup.
As promised, here is the recipe for this soup with the changes I made. I do have to say if you LOVE tomato soup, you should check out my favorite version that I made by clicking HERE. It’s awesome in the summertime with fresh produce.
Spicy Tomato Soup
Source: Biggest Loser 30-day Jump Start Diet
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped shallots or 1 cup chopped white onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I omitted this and used TJ’s 21 Season Salute)
28 oz chopped fresh plum tomatoes or 1 can (28 oz) plum tomatoes roughly chopped
2 tablespoons low-sodium tomato paste
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups fat-free or 1 % milk
1 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup cooked lentils (I bought the precooked ones form TJ’s)
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro without stems
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat lentils it’s hot but not smoking. Add the shallots and cook for about 3 minutes or just until they’re softened but not browned. Add the cumin, mustard powder, coriander and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Carefully add the tomatoes, tomato paste and garlic. Simmer for 4 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened. Add the milk and the broth, simmer, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes.
Carefully transfer the mixture in batches to a food processor or blender and process or blend until smooth. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the cooked lentils, stirring to incorporate them. Heat the soup through and stir in the cilantro. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.
Makes 4, 1 ¾ cup servings or 7, 1 cup servings
Per 1 ¾ c serving:
230 calories, 13 g protein, 33 g carbs, 15 g sugars, 6 gat fat, 2 g saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 8 g fiber, 210 mg sodium
On the side I had 1/2 a simple 2 oz turkey sandwich turkey sandwich with spicy mustard on 1 slice of Ezekial Bread.
Sadly ~ That’s all the Jump Start Diet gave me today for lunch and my stomach is still grumbling. My afternoon snack while it is yummie I have a feeling is not going to make the grumbling go away. Must……focus…….on…….work……
Here is a cool article that I saw this morning on FatFighterTV – Can you believe how the portions have changed over the past 20 years? Click HERE to Check out portion distortion -
And what day wouldn’t be complete without a GIVEAWAY ALERT!!! Be sure to sign up for this “spicy” giveaway at BlueSkyWorld by clicking HERE.
Stay tuned tonight for a fabulous Salad and workout #2!
Cheesy BK Quesadilla & a 31 cent special tonight!
Happy Hump Day all!! Wasn’t The Biggest Loser awesome last night?! I have two favorite parts ~ the train the trainers had me totally LMAO and then, I absolutely loved how they showed the contestants the way they were doing the first workouts to now. It totally shows you that even when you start doing push-ups and feel like you can’t, if you keep at it, you will get there. I LOVE the twist they threw in next week where America gets to pick who goes to the finale!
Love that show!
Ok, onto breakfast. I have decided today that every breakfast should seriously start with an amazing cheesy, spicy quesadilla like this.
3 Tbsp lowfat monterey jack cheese
1 fabulous handmade chile lime corn tortilla
a sprinkle of crush red pepper flakes
On the side I had an Egg/Egg White Scramble
1 egg
2 egg whites
sea salt
freshly ground red pepper
a few dashes of spicy Tapatio ( my favorite hot sauce!)
To the eggs, I was supposed to add 1/3 cup of salsa but this morning I wasn’t feeling the salsa. I brought it to work with me and I still had not changed my mind…so I guess I saved myself about 10 calories LOL.
I also had 1 cup of the super sweet Watermelon & Cantaloupe that The Husband cut up for us. I LOVE melons and could totally sustain on them, I think
All together with the TJ’s Garlic Chipotle Salsa that I didn’t use, 1/2 calf coffee and my fun new Nathan LOVE bottle
Sorry for the bummer pictures today ~ I think my camera is tired like me!
I am super excited to report an awesome recap for yesterday:
2,998 calories burned (wish I knew I was so close, would’ve worked for 2 more to get to 3K)
15,093 steps taken – yahoo!
1,460+ calories consumed – this was my total before my BLT’s hmmmmm….
TODAYS FUN NEWS:
Have you ever wondered what it takes to burn off two slices of pizza? Here is a super cool article that gives you a nice summary ~ click HERE to find out if it’s worth it or not.
I am sharing this next one so I can live vicariously through you all. Tonight from 5-10 PM Baskin Robbins has 31 CENTS A SCOOP!!! Now, if I wasn’t doing the whole Jump Start thing, I’d be all over that – so go out and get your super cheap ice cream today!!! So jealous…..
Today I am heading out for another fantastic walk/gossip session at lunch and I’ll make sure to post that Spicy Tomato Soup recipe you all want by then (hopefully!)
Catch ya on the flip side!
Attack of the Snacks…
Filed under: 30 day Jump Start, Daily Eats, Product Reviews
This afternoon I was completely fighting some sweet cravings and I swear I heard the lovely M&M Gumball Machine Call my name. I couldn’t ignore it, I mean, that would be rude, right? lol….So, I caved, pushed the handle and ended up with this.
Woohoo! It’s my lucky day – jackpot! Not really, but, I thought it would hold me over and I wouldn’t need a snack. That worked until my stomach started growling at 4 PM. I decided to have my original snack (1 c FF Greek Yogurt with 1/2 c strawberries) & sweetened it up a bit with a little Sweet Cactus VEGAN Agave Syrup.
The Sweet Cactus Agave Nectar is my absolute favorite brand. A little goes a long way – I added a 1 teaspoon drizzle to my greek yogurt & it made it makes it sweet like froyo! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it and this is the ONLY brand that is 15 calories per teaspoon – all others have more!
When I got home, I made up my dinner & cooked/packed up a dinner to take to The Husband. While bagging up some of his treats to go with his chicken, watermelon & green beans….
A few fell on my napkin that I couldn’t turn down eating! They were both really tasty & I could easily see eating way more than a serving – danger, danger….must get The Husband to eat them ASAP
Here is the plate ‘o’ grilled chicken I made up for him. He LOVES chicken drumsticks and they are the perfect thing to pack up.
Tonight, I broke out a new for me product and bought the Trader Joe’s Cajun Salmon.
Like I said last night, I am not a huge fan of cooked fish – give me raw sushi anyday!!! But, in an effort to stick to the Jump Start eats, I took one for the team and thew 6 oz on the grill for me to eat.
I really liked the spicy cajun flavor, but, to me, Salmon is super fishy and super oily when cooked. I did manage to eat most of this and shared some with the cat that adopted us. She LOVED it and it made me wish I could love it like her since the health benefits rock for salmon.
I also made up the Jump Start Ranch Style “Spagetti” Marinara. You can get the recipe by clicking HERE and scrolling down to the recipe. I used butternut squash because I thought that was spagetti squash. However, mine didn’t quite turn into spagetti. It was tasty though and I would definitely try to make this again.
I had some fabulous, crunchy, freshly steamed sweet green beans topped with 1 Tbsp of slivered almonds.
All together with my Perrier Fizzy Water.
After dinner, I whipped out workout #2 – Strength & Stretching from the Jump Start.
I used my 5 lb Cow Bells with each exercise:
15 Squats
15 Rear Lunges, each leg
15 Side Lunges, each leg
15 Romanian Deadlifts
15 Plie Squats
Static Stretching – hip flexor, hamstrings, claf glute & innter thighs – Stretching is my favorite part each day!
For dessert, I decided to break out one of the new teas from my “tea swap“, Yogi Stress Relief tea. Sorry Cryssy, but, I thought this tea was really awful lol…..It had a bit too many spices for me but it is nice to be able to try it without buying it.
A couple of Righteous Round Mini Chocolate Chip cookies might have gone unphotographed too along with a small bite of dark chocolate. I do not know what is up with my BLT’s (bites, licks, tastes) today, but, I am definitely making the commitment to have NO BLT’s tomorrow!
Anyone want to join in on the fun?
I am off to enjoy the rest of The Biggest Loser!!! Go Blue, Go Pink, Go Green – go anything BUT brown lol….see you all in the morning!
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