Tuna fish remix

So sometimes, I make kits for lunch. Because somethings cant be put together until you eat them to avoid, soggy, stale or just plain weirdness. Today I made tuna kits for CJ and I.
Tuna Fish Remix Kit:
Tupperware #1: Tuna, chopped onions, chopped cucumbers, black pepper, small dollop of mayo (small people, this isnt tuna soup)
Tupperware #2: Slices of tomato, cucumber and onion
Tupperware #3: Mixure of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and kosher salt
Small baggie: 2 slices whole grain bread

Directions--> When you are ready to eat place tuna on bread. Add balsamic mix to tomatoes and cukes and shake.

Perfect Lunch.

This moring we did egg sandwiches with ezekiel english muffins pepperjack cheese and fried tomatoes.

I had a snack of sliced bananas and peanut butter, which is super filling by the way.

I went to the gym this afternoon and kicked butt on the eliptical doing 2 1/5 miles (thats huge for me!) at an avg heart rate of 155. Go me.
PS. the scale has not moved but I am not detered.

Craigslist crazy

I would like to start off and say that I really do love craigslist, I have bought some great items from the site, we practically furnished CJ's old apartment with stuff from there. However, that was craigslist Boston, now I am contending with craigslist DC, a whole new breed of craigslisters. These lovely folks are an interesting bunch.
Example One: Looking for apatments - We emailed several people regarding apartments and most replied to us in a timely manor except for this one Lady. We emailed her on Jan 2, to which she replied right away. Perfect. She said "hey you can see the place on Jan 3rd just let me know what time" To which we promptly replied back figuring she would send another email with the property address.

Nope. Nothing. We assumed that someone had contacted her before us and took the apartment.

3 weeks later, I get an email from her, telling me that she found a possible renter last night but if they didnt pass the credit check that she would call us to view the apartment.

What?!? Was she serious?

Example Two: I had mentioned that I was selling my bike on craigslist ealier this week, well I got two calls the night I posted it (sunday). The first girl called and said that she really wants the bike but could I hold it till Wednesday as that is the ealiest she can come by ....oh and I need to bring it to her at the train station because she has no "wheels". The next call was another girl who said she could come get it right now. Being a good and just person I told girl #2 that girl #1 called first and I am holding it for her, should she not want it would you like me to contact you again. Girl #2 says great!

Well yesterday was wednesday (I have been holding this bike since sunday) and I am to meet girl #1 at the train station at 6pm.
4:50pm I get a text - Girl #1: Um, so how many gears does that bike have?
Me (annoyed cause I know where this is going): It is single gear (did I mention the bike is like 50 years old and there are pictures of it in the craigslist ad)
Girl #1: Oh I have a hill to pedal on near my house so I am going to need more than one gear, sorry I cant take it.
Me (pissed, cause I have dragged this bike into the back of my car at 6:30am that morning so I wouldnt be late to the train for the girl with no F*ing wheels): Thats not a problem, Good Luck with your search!

So I email girl#2 to tell her the bike is available, her reply -
Girl #2: I just bought a bike last night, sorry.

Damn damn damn.

Lunch Time

I am eating the best lunch ever. Well so far anyway. Its leftovers day. I make a roast last friday, and had a small extra piece that I packed away in tupperwar along with some some black beans and salsa. This morning CJ and I had scrabbled eggs with pepperjack cheese and tomatoes. We didnt eat all of it so I packed that up in a tupperware bowl and called it egg snack. I didnt manage to eat "egg snack" ealier today so after an intense workout, I put it all on the same plate and made it lunch.

I went to the gym today, and worked on the elliptical harder than I normally do, my avg heart rate was 157. I hope it was because my body is getting stronger but it could have been that I had a good mix on my ipod.

We move in 6 days, CJ has been packed since last week. Most of my stuff is still in boxes but some of it is out and nowhere near being sorted or packed. I have to get the motivation to do that this week so I dont have a mountain of work for the weekend.

No weight loss challenge and no bike.

So we didnt make it for the weight loss challenge, but we are waitlisted. Meanwhile the exercising still continues. CJ and I did not make good food choices tonight. We ordered pizza, only cheese but we ate it all. I hadnt had a guilty pleasure in a while so I guess this one was ok. Back to normal tomorrow morning. I think maybe egg white omelets and toast. I am returning my Vibram five's this week, I think they are too tight so I am going to go up one more size.

So I am selling my bike. I believe it to be a 1960's Columbia Roadster. I love it but I never ride my bike anymore so It makes sense to get rid of it. I am just bummed to see my baby go.

I have a few buyers for it. I hope it goes to a good home.

Top 100 Culinary Blogs - YUM!

I found this link on one of my favorite blogs Carrots"N"Cake and it had more great food blogs. Check it out, with blog links on just about anything food related  - Top 100 Culinary Blogs.

We woke up a half hour ago. Yes, that would make it 4:30am! I want to be at work at 6am to sign up for the weight loss challenge. Its a 4 month ordeal much like the biggest loser. But they only allow 20 two person teams to register so I want to get there early to make sure I get in. (the gym and registration open at 6am today)

Breakfast today is our new favorite thing: Cream of buckwheat cereal. With a little honey, its simply stellar.

Drunken Beans

Tonight I made drunken beans. I used refried black beans, garlic, jalapeno peppers,chopped turkey bacon and a dos equis beer. Mix it all up and you have drunken beans. It didnt look awesome but boy o boy did it taste good! CJ and I also ate basic chicken tacos with it.

For breakfast we has cream of buckwheat with blueberries, strawberries and honey. This stuff makes you very full. We also split an ezekiel sprouted grain english muffin.









Now its lunch that I cheated a little, see I bought these new shoes - Vibram Five Fingers and didnt eat lunch till about 2pm. By this time I am starving so i went to trader joes and bought a Barb B Q chicken wrap. I mean I could have done worse. Wait.....I actually did....I was alone most of the afternnon and while watching a movie ate an entire bag of whole foods buttered popcorn. I need to get better about eating out of boredom.

Anyway back to my cool shoes. So CJ has a pair of Vibram Five Finger Shoes - KSO's. I bought the Sprint one's today at City Sports in Bethesda, MD.

I am kinda on the fence about them. They are said to be the best thing for your feet as they are the closest thing to walking barefoot. They work to build up the muscles in your feet and help balance and what not. They make my toes feel funny and a little snug but I would reading a few other blogs and they mention similar issues. All these blogs say that the "snugness" passes in a few days with use. So thats what I am hoping for. I will keep you posted on how these Vibrams work for me.

I survived the week!

Thursday was not a gym day. My legs were really sore and I couldnt bring myself to go. However, I made good food choices. This is how it went:
Breakfast: I made this beautiful parfaits with greek yogurt, honey, berries and flax cereal. I thought they were good, CJ was a good sport and ate his but he told me that he prefers "warm breakfast"

Lunch: Grilled chicken with sauted spinach and mushrooms
Snack: Strawberrys, string cheese
Dinner: The most wonderful shrimp with veggies. CJ and I were fighting over leftovers for lunch. Lucky him, I let him win.

(these grey foggy pictures make me crazy but thats the best my blackberry can do right now. I am in the market for a new phone. Hopefully that will take better photos)

Friday faired well on both the gym and the food front. We ate like kings for breakfast with 3 eggwhite omelettes (CJ will not give up the yolk so I made his with) I added diced tomatoes and pepperjack cheese, a side of Ezekiel Bread (my super favorite) and some sliced turkey breast.

Lunch was salsa mixed with black beans and 8 grilled shrimp.
Snack: sunflower seeds and some string cheese.
I managed to put down 40 oz of water, I am trying to drink 64oz but I can't seem to get there yet.

I hit the gym today, lifting weights and doing cardio for about 28 min with an average heart rate of 140.

Dinner was the best of all, I bought a shoulder roast from Wholefoods and a shitake mushroom ginger marinade. I browned the roast in a shallow skillet and then poured the mushroom ginger sauce over it plus a little beef broth and let that cook on low for a little over an hour. When it was done I sliced it thin and placed it over butter lettuce and topped it off with black beans and salsa mix. CJ thinks its his favorite meal so far.

Day Three

Its day three.


Yes I know I missed day two, let me give you the run down of yesterday and then I will update you on today.

Lets see how did my day start:

Breakfast: Berry smoothie made with greek yogurt and honey
Lunch: the remaining south west chicken from last night
Dinner: Salmon and mixed veggies, a slice of Ezekiel break (flourless, and really yummy)

I went to the gym and weighed in – I am down a pound from 144 to 143. It’s a start.

I did the elliptical for 24 minutes with an average heart rate of 155.

Today, CJ and I got up early for breakfast burritos. It was full out cooking this morning sautéed garlic and spinach scrambled egg whites (ok I used two yellows, but only for color), diced tomatoes and pepperjack cheese on a corn tortilla.

Lunch was almond basil tomatoes sauce to which I added the left over diced mixed veggies, and 10 shrimp (5 each).

Dinner tonight is set to be two pork loins, 5 oz each and steamed green beans (the real ones where you cut the ends off)

I have an Emeril Steamer, which has to be one of the best kitchen appliances I own. You just fill this thing with water

And it steams like a dream. I do my carrots, broccoli, tunips, radishes, everything that you can steam. The green beans with go in this tonight and the pork chops with go into my hamiton beach (forman style) grill. That thing is very old. I am actually in the market for a new one and would be happy to take suggestions on what you think are the best grills out there.



I went to the gym again today, I did some interval training on the treadmill, alternating walking and jogging. The elliptical has been giving my knees some trouble so I wanted to change it up today. Its really not so much my knees but the area right above my knees – is that a muscle, I have no idea. Anyhow, I wanted to give it a little rest so treadmill it was.

My average heart rate was a little lower this time around, about 136. My friend K. says that I should be between 60 and 80 percent of my max heart rate.

How do you find your max heart rate? Easy, take 220 and subtract you age from it.

Ta-Da!

Oh I almost forgot, I had a guilty pleasure today. It’s free pastry day every Wednesday at work. I ate a corner of a scone. I know, I had healthier snacks but I really wanted it. It was just a bit larger than a golf ball. So I am not perfect.

What we do to be healthy...

Today I spent $300 on groceries. Yup $300.




I have been reading this book called Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. It has some very interesting concepts in it. Jillian’s approach to food was simple but based on some reviews from Amazon and my friend K.’s experience (she was the one who recommended this book) the concept really works.

The book goes into great scientific detail but here it is in a nutshell:
If it has a mother or grows from the ground, its ok to eat. Stay away from processed poison!

That’s it. Jillian puts up a good argument for organics and I buy what I can without going broke, but I buy most of my stuff from the local grocery stores.
I started her meal plan today, hence the $300 grocery bill.

Day one:
Breakfast – 3 egg whites, fried tomatoes, one med grapefruit.
Lunch – Southwest chicken (basically, chicken breast, black beans, tomatoes, lime, so on and so forth)
Dinner – Halibut, and roasted eggplant, red and green peppers and onions
Snack – handful of walnuts

I didn’t go to the gym today because of the holiday, my work gym is closed.

Oh and well, I had half a chocolate covered caramel, Yeah I know….but I needed a little sweet.

On to day two!