Hungry Hungry Hippo!

Wasn't that a great game?? Well that's what I'm like today. Right after breakfast I walked over to D&D with Beth to fetch a coffee for my boss and ordered 2 jelly munchkins to treat myself for being so good lately...well apparently you can only order a minimum of four (way to encourage unhealthy eating D&D) so I ordered four with the intention of eating 2 and either trying to give away the other 2 or throwing them out...well if you know me at all I'm sure you can guess what happened...I ate all four. Sorry about the no lunch pictures today, had to go home for lunch because I forgot my clothes and forgot to bring my phone to photograph my delicious lunch of leftover turkey tacos. YUM! Now you would think that after my little munchkin transgression this morning I would have learned my lesson and stuck with the food I brought, but nope! Someone brought in a brick of delicious looking cheese and a box of Ritz crackers and left them in the kitchen. Luckily I managed to stop myself after 2 slices of cheese and 2 Ritz crackers...but swinging back by the office of the coworker who I told you has a bucketload of candy? Yes, I grabbed two mini snickers bars. And now I'm eating an apple...I must be stopped! Truly, this is it until dinner. I have to exercise some self control here.

This Elephant Always Forgets

Howdy peeps! You know the drill this week, oatmeal for breakfast ;) I sort of ran out of craisins today except for maybe ten little stragglers so I threw those in and compensated by adding in a spoonful of pumpkin butter and my usual handful of almonds. Banana and coffee on the side as usual :)

Since I missed it last night AGAIN because I'm a bad blogger...I had a mini bagel with veggie cream cheese before the gym last night and a delicious smoothie for after the gym. In my smoothie went 1/2 cup of strawberries, 1/2 cup of blueberries, 2 heaping spoonfuls of greek yogurt, 1/2 scoop of strawberry protein powder and a splash of water and splenda. Yummy :) Speaking of the gym, my goal last night had been to do a spin class, followed by a 3 mile run, and finishing with legs and shoulders...however, the Thursday night spin class is the hardest class I take so by the end of the class I was TIRED. So I decided to skip the run and add some abs to my workout instead. I was still at the gym for 2 hours so I feel good about skipping the run :) And by the way, my quads are burning today. But that's a good thing!

I have to go home for lunch today because I stupidly forgot my clothes for work tonight at the lox, ugh. Luckily it's not pouring anymore so I should be able to make it to my house and back in my lunch hour. See you after lunch!

Calorie Counts:
Oatmeal - 350
Banana - 100
Coffee - 60
Total - 510

Jelly Belly Temptation...

What a crazy day! I have been swamped at work today and it's been super stressful, unfortunately that stress manifested into me eating 2 handfuls of jelly bellys (not pictured) while I was dealing with some IT issues. Though I do have quite the gym session scheduled tonight...spin class, 3 mile run, abs, and some weight lifting for legs and shoulders. Busy night! I had a snack of carrot sticks at 11, which was a little late, but like I said, it's been a crazy day!

For lunch I had one of my favs, jumbalaya! I love love love this dish. It's a crockpot recipe and is oh so delish and freezes well. Basically it's chicken, turkey sausage, brown rice, and some chopped veggies and spices. There was a chili tasting here at work today which I thankfully managed to avoid, but it was really hard not to sample. But I stayed the course and enjoyed my jumbalaya. I also had my usual apple for dessert.

Calorie Counts:
Jumbalaya - 350
Apple - 100
Jelly Bellys - 100?
Carrots - 50
Total - 600

Robbed by Cheaters and Rain

Good morning readers! Yes, I said readers...as in I have TWO followers now :) YAY! Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of last night's dinner with Jay (sorry, am still new to this photographing everything I eat thing) but we had turkey tacos. I had an orange while I was cooking to try to curb my appetite and stick to two tacos only. I did manage to eat only two tacos even though Jay encouraged me to eat a third (thanks for trying to sabotage me, Jay) however, I was still really hungry after dinner so I cooked up some popcorn. Still all in all a reasonable dinner. After dinner we headed over to what is fast becoming my local haunt, Hugh O'Neills for a little sports and entertainment trivia. Between Jay and I, I was really sure we would win easily. Boy was I wrong. We did really really awesome, but somehow still got beaten. We surmised that the winners were sitting in the back and probably cheated because there is no way that we should have lost. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Anyhoo, I will post my dinner calorie counts now:

Orange - 100
Tacos - 400
Popcorn - 100
Total - 600

For breakfast this morning I had the same thing as yesterday (sorry for the lack of variety in my food this week, tomorrow is shopping day and I only shop every two weeks so by the end of the second week I'm repeating things like crazy) which was oatmeal with 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder, craisins, and a handful of slivered almonds. As a side note to this, I walked into my apartment last night to find that my roof was leaking and the container of oatmeal that I left on the counter was soaked on the bottom...I estimate I lost about 3 or 4 bowls of oatmeal :( Damn rain! Oh well, it could be worse...it could be snow! See you for lunch.

Calorie counts:

Oatmeal - 400
Banana - 100
Coffee - 60
Total - 560

Leftovers Again???

So very pleased with my hunger today (or lack thereof). Usually by 10am I am ravenous and counting the minutes until lunch, but not so today! However, at 10:30 I did eat my snack of carrot sticks just to tie me over until lunch.

Lunch today was leftover turkey meatballs and whole wheat pasta with spinach. I actually really like this leftover rather than fresh because I like my pasta really mushy (unlike my oatmeal). I am getting a little sick of it though since this is my third time having it in the last week so thankfully this was the last container of it :) Apple on the side for dessert.

Calorie Counts:
Carrots - 50
Meatballs & Pasta - 450
Apple - 100
Total - 600

Successful Oatmeal Cooking!

Oatmeal for breakfast today. I figured out the secret to not having the oatmeal boil over, aside from using a bigger bowl. Not cooking it so long. I took 30 seconds off the cook time (right before it was about to bubble over) and it worked. I don't really like my oats mushy anyway, so it worked out well. In the oatmeal is 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1/4 cup of craisins, and a handful of slivered almonds. It was very good! On the side I had my usual cup of coffee, and of course, a banana.

Calorie counts:
Oatmeal - 400
Coffee - 60
Banana - 100
Total - 560

Update on my giving up artificial sweeteners thing. I need some suggestions as to natural sweeteners to use (have heard good things about agave, anyone have any thoughts on that?) because I really can't drink unsweetened coffee :(

Sunday Recap

Sunday was a lazy day! For breakfast I had 2 bowls of cheerios (not pictured) and for lunch the leftover 2 slices of Bertuccis pizza from the night before.

Dinner was a chicken breast roasted in garlic tomatoes, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. I made a batch of the chicken breasts to eat all week, so you will be seeing those a lot ;)

S

Saturday Recap and Shutter Island

Saturday morning's breakfast was a bowl of Special K with Red Berries and vanilla soymilk (I enjoy the Soy Dream brand, it has the most protein and I don't have to refrigerate it until I've opened it, which is a bonus since I don't drink enough milk so it often goes bad before I can finish it all).

Saturday lunch was small because I knew I was going out to dinner and a movie with Jay Saturday night, so I just ate a banana and a Fiber One bar and headed to work at the Lox.

Dinner was one of my favorites...Bertuccis! Their rolls and olive oil are the best around (except Olive Garden has the best bread, but they don't give you oil so they lose major points there, oil is really a selling point). I ordered my usual of the individual Margarita pizza, which I ate 2 slices of. For dessert we ordered the Chocolate Budino, which is basically just chocolate mousse with whipped cream.

For the movie we went to see Shutter Island. I had read the book and didn't care for it, so I only went to see the movie because Jay really wanted to see it. Yes I'm a sweetheart :) The movie was just ok, I think I would have really liked it if I hadn't read the book and didn't already know what was going to happen going in. Not a movie I'm going to get on DVD.

Friday Night Overindulgence

So I'm a bad food blogger :( I have been on hiatus since Friday and for that I apologize :( Let's just say it's been a really crazy rollercoaster of a week. Anyway, I did take some pictures of my eats over the last 5 days and what I don't have pictures of, I will describe so that you can imagine them ;) We will start with Friday night. Went out to eat to Joe's American Bar & Grill Friday night with my friend Jimmy. It's definitely one of our favorite places. I started with the bread of course, smeared with butter on every surface of the bread. (Note the title of this post says overindulgence...because I overindulged like I was never going to eat again).


They do have the most delicious bread, crusty on the outside but soft and warm on the inside...mmmmm heaven :)

My entree was the special, filet tips in a mushroom sauce glaze with mashed potatoes and carrots and string beans. I must say I was a little disappointed with the filet tips, they are usually much better than this. I only ate less than half of the mashed potatoes because while they are good, I only like to waste calories on fattening foods I love (like the butter smeared bread). I ate all the string beans but don't like cooked carrots at all unless they are in a stew, so I left those on my plate.

We chose the apple pie with vanilla ice cream for the dessert...that is Jimmy looking super excited about the apple pie. I typically like the apple crisp when there are no good dessert specials, but he think the apple crisp there is not that great, so he was happy about the change to pie. It was quite delicious.

To finish the meal I decided to order a cup of espresso...which Jimmy tried, made a face and put down immediately. I know espresso isn't for everyone, but I really love it on occasion. After half the cup was gone I mixed in a little of the leftover ice cream from the pie but even the ice cream couldn't overpower the bitterness of the espresso. MMMMM good :) What a delicious meal :)

Weight Watchers and Meatball Crisis Averted

Lunch today was the rest of the mediterranean chicken from yesterday (I told y'all I was original), an apple, and for dessert a Deep Chocolate VitaTop. During my lunch hour today I went with my friend Beth to her Weight Watchers meeting. I had always been a little curious about those meetings and yes, they are just as touchy-feely as you imagine if you've never been to one. They give out stickers like in kindegarten when you spelled your name right. As Beth and I were discussing on our way back to work, it amazes me how much people DON'T know about nutrition and how to live a healthy lifestyle. To me it's common sense, but then again, I was raised on a farm and have never been adverse to vegetables. But also as Beth says, the group environment keeps her motivated and I can see how that would be a good thing for many people. I'm not a joiner, so it's not really my scene but it was good to just go and see what a meeting was like. That aside, Beth had originally tempted me to go by offering a meatball sub from Sal's (which are truly out of this world) and I was reluctant to go with her for fear I couldn't resist the deliciousness that awaited me at Sal's and stick to my original plan of leftover mediterranean chicken for lunch. Luckily my hemming and hawing convinced her to eat the lunch she brought as well and we avoided Sal's altogether. But I must confess, I was more than a little disappointed when she drove right by Sal's instead of pulling in. Crisis averted though! I'm sure there is a least 1,000 calories in one of those subs.

Two things to finish off this post. I have decided that starting tomorrow I am going to try eliminating all artificial sweeteners from my life. I have read in several places that artificial sweetners can trick your body into thinking you're taking in sugar but when you don't actually get it, you crave it. This would explain my raging sugar cravings on a daily basis, so I'm going to test the theory and try to stick to my no artificial sweetener rule for one week.

Also, I ordered two books on Amazon today to further my journey to a healthier lifestyle. The first is "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan. I have heard really great things about this book from pretty much every other food blog I read so I'm going to give it a shot. I also ordered "The Healthy Slow Cooker" by Judith Finlayson since I am all about one pot dishes and I need some new slow cooker ideas. I did find a Pineapple Chicken slow cooker recipe that I am very excited to try. I will be doing that at some point this weekend so be on the lookout for it. See you for dinner!

Calorie Counts:
Meditteranean Chicken - 360
Apple - 100
VitaTop - 100
Total - 560

Oatmeal Take Two

Because I'm sooo original, I am having the exact same breakfast as yesterday only with my favorite chobani flavor, pineapple, and with my entire oatmeal portion in tact because I learned my lesson from yesterday and used a bigger bowl. The oatmeal has pumpkin butter in it again today and even though I know it's not really the season for pumpkin, I eat it year round because it's just that good. I actually buy it locally from a company called the jellymaker's daughter. Best pumpkin butter I've ever had, and it only has 5 ingredients, all of which are natural :)

I'm going to be perfectly honest here, and say those blasphemous words that will make every fellow food blogger and health enthusiast gasp in shock...I don't love oatmeal. I like the things I stir into it, but as for oatmeal itself, eh. I will say it does fill me up in the morning like nothing else, but I wish I could learn to love it. I know they say eat foods you like so that you don't feel deprived and can stick with it in the long term. But let's be honest. Foods I can stick with in the long term contain cookies, candy, cheese, and bananas. In that order. Since I know that does not consitute a healthy breakfast, I will stick with the oatmeal and stir in some cookie pieces or chocolate chips into my oatmeal tomorrow ;)

I also had a cup of coffee...as much as I try to give up coffee, I always come right back to it...

Calorie Counts:
Coffee - 60
Oatmeal - 250
Yogurt - 160
Granola - 120
Banana - 100
Total - 690

On a different note, as I indicated yesterday, my lazy ass could not get the motivation to get out of bed yesterday morning, therefore I am moving yesterday's scheduled workout to today, which is back & biceps with a 3 mile interval run. Then I'm going to pig out on dinner with my friend Jimmy. See you for lunch!

Dinner After the Fact...

So I forgot to snap a picture of this before I ate it last night so what you're seeing here is the leftovers. It is whole wheat penne, organic marinara, spinach, and turkey meatballs (the ShadyBrook Farms kind because the kind you find in the freezer aisle are GROSS). For dessert I had a couple of handfulls of Cadbury Mini Eggs heated up in the microwave. Don't knock it until you try it! Line a bowl with them and heat for 1 min and they will come out crunchy on the outside still but warm and melty on the inside. YUM.

I Also Heart Shaun White

Just because this inspires me...

I Heart Snickers

Dessert from lunch may have been too much...add one more mini snickers bar to this photo and you are looking at what I actually ate. Boo. In my defense though, one of the women I work with sits one door down from me always has a GINORMOUS candy dish full of all my favorites (snickers being the ultimate for me) and it's soooo hard not to devour the entire jar. Lucky for me she leaves early at 3 almost every single day just when my sugar craving is at it's peak and she hides the candy dish...but alas, she always leaves a few pieces out...they are never there in the morning when she comes in and it's usually because of me :(

Calorie Counts:
Vitatop - 100
Snickers bars - 75 (25 calories each)
Total - 175

Me and the Jolly Green Giant Make it Happen!

Lunch today was Chicken Marinara (Green Giant makes a 2 serving microwaveable bag...there are other flavors too but this one is my favorite by far) and an apple. What I really wanted was a Big Mac and a McD's apple pie...but I was good and ate the lunch that I brought :) Yay me! I did splurge a little on dessert though as you will see in my next post :( I only have so much will power.

In other news, in case I hadn't informed any of you, my goal is to be at my target weight by the end of the year. Provided that I reach that goal, my goal for next year is to get certified as a personal trainer. One step at a time though!

Calorie Counts:
Chicken Marinara - 360
Apple - 100
Total - 460

Oatmeal Overboard!

So today's breakfast is a banana, chobani yogurt with granola, and a bowl of oatmeal with protein powder and pumpkin butter. Alas the oatmeal was not meant to be as I didn't put it in a big enough bowl and half of it boiled over :( This is my first time trying the strawberry banana flavor of chobani...it was actually quite good, I have a new second favorite behind pineapple! Side note to that...I finally convinced Jay that greek yogurt was the way to go (he had been eating columbo before...columbo is so 1999). Also loving the banana nut granola from stop n shop...can you tell I like all things banana? Yeah I'm a tad obsessed with banana actually. (As well as cookies, hence the name of the blog ;)

Breakfast calorie counts:
Banana - 100
Oatmeal w/ Protein & PB - 250 originally, but lost half so 125
Yogurt - 160
Granola - 120
Total - 505

I had a workout scheduled this morning for Back & Biceps with a 3 mile run, but got really lazy and reset my alarm. Tomorrow is supposed to be my day off, but thinking I may make today my day off and go after work tomorrow since I'm not working at the mall (I work a second part-time job for those of you who didn't know). We will have to see. More on that later. Have a good day everybody! See you for lunch!

And So It Begins...

Welcome to the inaugural post of The Cookie Battle! I am on a quest to live a healthier life, lose a little weight, and finally win my lifelong battle with delicious cookies. So far they have beaten me every time. I am going to be posting everything I eat and my daily workouts, as well as anything else that is going to help me on my journey to live the healthiest life possible. Hopefully you will join the ride with me! Leave me your comments and share your stories too. Thanks for reading :)