Day 87
Well ladies and gents its almost over. The 90 days is coming to an end. Yes I haven’t written in over a month but there has been a lot going on. Let me recap:
Twice Baked Potatoes: Justin has mastered this
Take a medium size Idaho potato and put it in the oven for an hour at 425, right on the rack, don’t cover it in oil or wrap it in tin foil just right on the rack. Once cooked (you know it is cooked when you can easily stick a fork in and pull it out) cut a small potion of the top off (small enough so the top portion can be like a potato skin you find at TGI Fridays). Then take a spoon and dig out all the insides and put into a bowl. Leave a small amount on the edges of the skin so that it does not fall apart when stuffing it back in. In the bowl add 1 ½ oz sharp cheddar cheese, a little bit of milk and combine mix until smooth. If you are not on the P90X diet you can add sour cream or cream cheese to make it extra silky smooth. Justin likes to add broccoli and spinach to his to give it some extra pizzazz but I just like the cheddar cheese. Once mixed stuff the potato with the mixture and top with the small piece you originally cut off. Put back in the oven on top of tin foil (to prevent the mixture from dripping in your oven) and bake for another 10 minutes. Deeeeelicious! Haha it took him about 10 tries to master this but in the end it all worked out!
Kuwait
I tried my best to stick to this diet but when all a country offers is tandoori chicken and rice you kind of get tired of it. For breakfast EVERY morning I had wheat (or brown toast as the natives call it) with PB, an egg white omelet with turkey and tomato and a bowl of carrots. Carrots for breakfast you ask? Yes, fresh vegetables are rare in Kuwait, obviously because its surrounded by the desert, so I had to take what I could get. Lunch was always a hit and miss. Sometimes we would eat at the officers club on the Kuwait Navy base but I only ate the tandoori chicken, pitas and sometimes they had a salad. Dairy was another thing that was always interesting. Their milk was definitely not 1% or 2%. i asked for it one day at the officers club and he laughed at me and handed it over. I took one sip and gagged immediately. It has the thickness of buttermilk but it was sour. Needless to say I never asked for a glass of milk again. For dinner we would try different places. The first night we had Indian, this was the staple in Kuwait, Indian restaurants everywhere. But what was interesting was they served everything from Chinese to “American” food. I put quotes around American food because they considered American food just steak. Pepper steak, fried steak, mushroom steak, it kind of reminded me of the scene in Forest Gump with Forest and Bubba and Bubba talking about the different kinds of shrimp. Another night we had TGI Fridays which was awful because all they had on the menu was salad, hamburgers and fried shrimp. Really?!? When it was my night to choose I chose a sushi restaurant, which was good, but a little pricey. The last night we went to an Italian place which was very good. We went with one of the Kuwaiti officers and he took us to a chocolate bar. He said in America everyone goes to bars to meet people, well since Kuwait it a dry country they do not have bars so they came up with chocolate bars, where all they serve is desert. If I were not on this diet this place would have been amazing. I ate the fruit from the chocolate fondue everyone got. Needless to say I was proud of my will power but disappointed I did not get a chocolate sundae. All in all I did well, I did not get my servings in that I needed but I ate healthy.
Telluride Colorado
One of my good friends recently got married in Telluride Colorado. It just so happened to be on the second to last weekend of our diet so Justin and I were going in with a determination to keep to our diet but knew we were on vacation and it would be hard and that we would keep an open mind about it. Besides, the amount of food we didn’t get would be made up by our drinking (whoops). The first night we were good, mainly because we did not have dinner. Our friend held a cocktail hour at her house to welcome everyone to Telluride so we munched on crackers and vegetables. For breakfast every morning we made eggs and bacon. I opted out of the bacon and had a bowl of cereal with dried cranberries. The second night we were on our own for dinner so our group went to a Mexican restaurant. I ate fish tacos with corn tortillas (much better for you than flour) and Justin had an array of meat tacos with corn tortillas. The fattiest thing I ate was the guacamole, but avocados are considered a fat in the P90X diet book so I took it as a good thing ;) the third night was the rehearsal dinner which was at a sushi restaurant. The appetizers were amazing, probably the best appetizers I’ve ever eaten, and everyone in our group agreed. They had tofu wontons, mini fish tacos, all kinds of sushi rolls, edamame and calamari (I didn’t have the calamari but I heard it was good). Then came dinner, by the time we sat down we were stuffed but we ate it all anyway. Dinner was served family style and we were served blacked chicken and tofu, fried rice, coconut soup, some kind of fish that had a funny name and some kind of meat that had a funny name that I can not remember. I opted out of the friend rice and meat but everything else was good. Needless to say I was stuffed!! The night of the wedding was a sit down dinner. I need to make a note here that Telluride Colorado is b-e-a-utiful, and her wedding ceremony over looked the town and the mountains, it was breath taking…really. Haha I don’t know if it’s the altitude that took my breath away or the scenery. Either way. Before I go into dinner I have to talk about the appetizers, we were served ahi tuna with mango salsa, bison with peppers and onions on a cristini and tomato and mozzarella with olive oil and balsamic dressing. All three were so good. I could not get enough of the bison on cristini. Bison is probably not on the list of lean meat but I didn’t care at this point once I had one I was hooked. For dinner I chose the sea bass and Justin chose the 14 oz steak. I know right!! 14 oz is almost a pound of meat. Sea bass was served with a sweet potato puree and an avocado salsa. I'm not a fan of sweet potato so I took a bite and gave the rest to Justin. I cheated on the desert, I had to try the wedding cake, who goes to a wedding and does not try the wedding cake?!! It was nice and moist with some kind of strawberry mousse in the middle. One piece was enough, because after all the food I had before it took me awhile to get through the one piece.
So it is coming to an end. And I am thankful. I would never want to be a professional athlete, ok maybe I would if I were to be a football or baseball player but that clearly would never happen, but to be on a strict diet takes dedication. I am happy I did this though. I know what is good for me and how much I should be having. I used to eat the whole plate because it was there and I thought I was hungry but now I know when to stop.
I hope you readers got something from this blog. I know it was helpful for me to write what I eat and how I feel to get me through these 90 days. But now what?? You know the answer…five guys :) As Tony Horton would say, “Do your best, and forget the rest”
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Phase 3 has Begun!
Day 56
So the 3rd phase began yesterday. Here is what the new diet looks like for the next 5 weeks.
2 servings protein
1 servings dairy
2 servings fruit
2 servings veggies
3 serving carb
1 serving fat
3 servings snack
2 condiments
Justin and I wanted to get an idea of what our daily diet would be like so we planned on having carbs in the morning and save our protein till dinner. Both of us are cutting our protein in half so we had to get used to not having them throughout the day. For breakfast we made whole wheat blueberry pancakes. With a side of strawberries this was an excellent breakfast. Again I think I am adopting whole wheat pancakes after the 90 days. For dinner we planned on making fish tacos with grilled veggie focaccias. I took zucchini and yellow squash and sliced them horizontally so they were long strips as apposed to small circles, this way it would be easier to grill. I made a honey chile glaze by sautéing ½ cup of shallots in apple cider vinegar. Once cooked I added 2/3 cups honey, and ¼ cup sherry vinegar and stirred, then added ½ tsp chile powder, ¼ tsp ground cumin, salt and vinegar to taste and 1 ½ cup chicken broth. I brought this to a boil and then let it simmer till it reduced to half. We used this as the glaze for the fish and veggies.
I have never cooked fish on a skillet before, I always either broiled them or put them in tin foil and cooked them in the oven. I had 3 batches of fish, luckily, because I completely butchered the first round to the point I had to throw it away, I figured mush would not be edible. Come to find out I need a thick piece of fish if I plan on sautéing them because if not they will just fall apart when you flip them. So if you have thin pieces of fish (like tilapia) I recommend broiling them.
For the taco itself we used corn tortillas (3 total=1 serving of carb). The whole wheat tortillas (1 total=1 serving of carb) were too big, more like a burrito size and when we can only have so many carbs we figured corn tortillas would be more filling and give us more. I made a black bean and corn salsa (mixture of black beans, corn, red pepper, yellow pepper and red onion). Since fish tacos are supposed to have a sour cream sauce I made a variation of plain yogurt, red win vinegar and fresh dill (similar to the Greek tzatziki spread). It gave it that cool refreshing taste you get from the sour cream sauce. For the grilled veggie focaccia, I took the bread slices and topped them with feta cheese and let melt. I then topped them with the grilled zucchini and yellow squash. All in all it was a good meal.
I am going to have to say goodbye to the protein shakes and turkey bacon in the morning. That’s gonna be a change after almost 60 days of them. I guess I can still have the shake just without the scoop of protein.
I head out of the country this week so eating this diet is going to be interesting in a foreign country. I am going to have to pack a lot of protein bars and just hope the country has a lot of fruit and veggies to serve. More to come on that one…
So the 3rd phase began yesterday. Here is what the new diet looks like for the next 5 weeks.
2 servings protein
1 servings dairy
2 servings fruit
2 servings veggies
3 serving carb
1 serving fat
3 servings snack
2 condiments
Justin and I wanted to get an idea of what our daily diet would be like so we planned on having carbs in the morning and save our protein till dinner. Both of us are cutting our protein in half so we had to get used to not having them throughout the day. For breakfast we made whole wheat blueberry pancakes. With a side of strawberries this was an excellent breakfast. Again I think I am adopting whole wheat pancakes after the 90 days. For dinner we planned on making fish tacos with grilled veggie focaccias. I took zucchini and yellow squash and sliced them horizontally so they were long strips as apposed to small circles, this way it would be easier to grill. I made a honey chile glaze by sautéing ½ cup of shallots in apple cider vinegar. Once cooked I added 2/3 cups honey, and ¼ cup sherry vinegar and stirred, then added ½ tsp chile powder, ¼ tsp ground cumin, salt and vinegar to taste and 1 ½ cup chicken broth. I brought this to a boil and then let it simmer till it reduced to half. We used this as the glaze for the fish and veggies.
I have never cooked fish on a skillet before, I always either broiled them or put them in tin foil and cooked them in the oven. I had 3 batches of fish, luckily, because I completely butchered the first round to the point I had to throw it away, I figured mush would not be edible. Come to find out I need a thick piece of fish if I plan on sautéing them because if not they will just fall apart when you flip them. So if you have thin pieces of fish (like tilapia) I recommend broiling them.
For the taco itself we used corn tortillas (3 total=1 serving of carb). The whole wheat tortillas (1 total=1 serving of carb) were too big, more like a burrito size and when we can only have so many carbs we figured corn tortillas would be more filling and give us more. I made a black bean and corn salsa (mixture of black beans, corn, red pepper, yellow pepper and red onion). Since fish tacos are supposed to have a sour cream sauce I made a variation of plain yogurt, red win vinegar and fresh dill (similar to the Greek tzatziki spread). It gave it that cool refreshing taste you get from the sour cream sauce. For the grilled veggie focaccia, I took the bread slices and topped them with feta cheese and let melt. I then topped them with the grilled zucchini and yellow squash. All in all it was a good meal.
I am going to have to say goodbye to the protein shakes and turkey bacon in the morning. That’s gonna be a change after almost 60 days of them. I guess I can still have the shake just without the scoop of protein.
I head out of the country this week so eating this diet is going to be interesting in a foreign country. I am going to have to pack a lot of protein bars and just hope the country has a lot of fruit and veggies to serve. More to come on that one…
Friday, July 2, 2010
A New Approach
Day 52
As you can see, I am not writing this blog everyday as I had originally planned. Its hard to write every single day and when you don’t write every single day its hard to remember what you had to eat 3 days ago. So here is my new approach. I am going to write when I cook something new or when I have something to say about P90X. Last night I cooked homemade pizza. Well semi-homemade. The whole wheat crust was store bought. The last time I attempted to make pizza dough it did not go well, thank god Justin will eat anything, but I knew he was not a fan, nor was I. And to think of making whole wheat crust was just absurd, I do have a recipe and maybe one night over a weekend when I have the time I will attempt to make it, but store bought it the way to go for now. For the pizza sauce I took whole tomatoes in a can…by the way…are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?? The reason I ask is we were watching Top Chef (our favorite show) and they said tomato was a fruit but in our nutrition book it says it’s a vegetable…so which one is it?? Anyway, I put those in a blender. Meanwhile I cooked some onions and garlic in sherry wine vinegar till they were translucent and I added the blended tomatoes. Added spices like red pepper flakes, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and I happen to have a spice called pizza seasoning, so I thought why not? Let that simmer for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile I chopped very thin yellow peppers, red onion and mushrooms. And for protein I cooked up some turkey bacon and chopped ham and turkey. Needless to say this was a SUPREME pizza in every aspect. Once the sauce was simmered I put it in the blender to get all the chucks smooth. Put the sauce on first then added the protein, then topped with the veggies then topped with a mixture or cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheese. Baked in the oven at 450° for 13 minutes. Not gonna tut my own horn but it was pretty damn good. Filling too!
We are going into our 3rd phase next week, last leg of the race as they would say. I was looking in the nutrition book and basically I am going to starve myself the next 5 weeks. I am cutting my protein in half, taking away 1 dairy and only adding 1 carb. They say this is the endurance maximizer “athletes diet” but I am not seeing it, I feel like I wont have much energy at all to go get maximum endurance, but we will see. 5 more weeks wooohooo!!!!
As you can see, I am not writing this blog everyday as I had originally planned. Its hard to write every single day and when you don’t write every single day its hard to remember what you had to eat 3 days ago. So here is my new approach. I am going to write when I cook something new or when I have something to say about P90X. Last night I cooked homemade pizza. Well semi-homemade. The whole wheat crust was store bought. The last time I attempted to make pizza dough it did not go well, thank god Justin will eat anything, but I knew he was not a fan, nor was I. And to think of making whole wheat crust was just absurd, I do have a recipe and maybe one night over a weekend when I have the time I will attempt to make it, but store bought it the way to go for now. For the pizza sauce I took whole tomatoes in a can…by the way…are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?? The reason I ask is we were watching Top Chef (our favorite show) and they said tomato was a fruit but in our nutrition book it says it’s a vegetable…so which one is it?? Anyway, I put those in a blender. Meanwhile I cooked some onions and garlic in sherry wine vinegar till they were translucent and I added the blended tomatoes. Added spices like red pepper flakes, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and I happen to have a spice called pizza seasoning, so I thought why not? Let that simmer for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile I chopped very thin yellow peppers, red onion and mushrooms. And for protein I cooked up some turkey bacon and chopped ham and turkey. Needless to say this was a SUPREME pizza in every aspect. Once the sauce was simmered I put it in the blender to get all the chucks smooth. Put the sauce on first then added the protein, then topped with the veggies then topped with a mixture or cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheese. Baked in the oven at 450° for 13 minutes. Not gonna tut my own horn but it was pretty damn good. Filling too!
We are going into our 3rd phase next week, last leg of the race as they would say. I was looking in the nutrition book and basically I am going to starve myself the next 5 weeks. I am cutting my protein in half, taking away 1 dairy and only adding 1 carb. They say this is the endurance maximizer “athletes diet” but I am not seeing it, I feel like I wont have much energy at all to go get maximum endurance, but we will see. 5 more weeks wooohooo!!!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
HALF WAY!
Day 31-35
Only day I can remember out of these 5 days is my sisters baby shower. I explained to Justin on day 1 that this day would be the only day I cheat on the diet. If I am cooking for 25 people you better believe I am eating the food I am cooking. really though, the only things outside the diet were spinach dip, meatball wontons, pulled pork and the cookies and mousse for dessert. Haha I guess that’s a lot but it was all worth it. We had a lot of leftovers I had to let other people take because unfortunately I could not eat round 2.
Day 36-39
I was down south this week for work, Gulfport and New Orleans. Although it was not easy to keep up with the diet, I managed. But when on this diet let me tell you a few things about New Orleans.
1) Unless you are familiar with the area and know where to eat, New Orleans is not a place to be when doing P90X. Everywhere I went all the food was fried fried fried. Fried catfish, fried chicken, fried shrimp. The only things to get were either a chicken salad or ribs. And yes ribs are not the best thing to get but when I needed protein those were the only “safe” option, you can only handle chicken breasts so many times.
2) Hurricanes are also not an option when doing P90X, but when you are New Orleans you gotta have one, or so I am told. So I substituted my snack and fruit for one (kinda makes up for one right?) Let me tell you, its like fruit punch on steroids. Too many of those and you are gonna wake up with the biggest headache.
Day 40
Ahhh finally back to my routine…well almost. It was the USA game vs Slovenia game so I knew I would be drinking beer, Tony can only control my workouts and eating, he will not control my drinking. Plus its World Cup time…enough said. We had people over for the game so we prepared a huge breakfast. We made whole wheat pancakes, and to be honest I really like them. I will probably substitute them even after the 90 days are up. We also made scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage (we couldn’t eat this but we also couldn’t feed everyone turkey bacon over hot sausage patties).
For lunch/dinner I had a chicken salad with feta, tomatoes, pecans, cucumbers and carrots with a vinaigrette dressing. Delicious, but not satisfying after all the drinking. All I wanted was a burger and fries….need that grease to soak up all the alcohol.
Day 41
We made whole wheat pancakes again; on the side I had a serving of ham and a protein shake.
We were going out to dinner for my sister birthday so I knew I wanted to save most of my servings for dinner so for lunch all I had was a snack of string cheese. Needless to say I was starving come dinner time.
For dinner we went to a greek/Mediterranean tapas place. Justin and I ordered a bunch of things. For appetizers we had a tzatziki spread and side salads. For dinner we shared steamed mussels, spare rib (fat taken off) with mashed potatoes and veal with polenta. Aside from the mashed potatoes and polenta the meal was within our diet.
Day 42
Today was fathers day and we went to brunch in the city at Tabards Inn. They say this is the best place to get brunch but after our experience I think everyone in the group highly disagrees. My dad ordered homemade donuts and whipped cream for the table, I sat on my hands when they arrived. Not only did they look delicious covered in sugar but they were fresh. I just bit my lip and sipped my mimosa. For my meal I had hanger steak, pouched eggs and home potatoes. Aside from waiting an hr to get our food, when it arrived my steak was cooked medium well to well and my eggs and home potatoes were cold. For the price I paid it was not worth it. Needless to say I will not be going back.
For dinner we had a leftover chicken and whole wheat pasta concoction that Justin made while I was away. Just needed to add a little more sauce and it was good. J
Day 43
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
For lunch I had a turkey sandwich with cheese and mustard. Boring yes but simple. Side of carrots for my vegetable.
For dinner I made lemon and garlic baked chicken. And Justin made the red pepper soup. For our dairy and carb we attempted to make the tzatziki spread with pita bread. In this spread was 2 cups of greek yogurt, 2 diced cucumbers (seeded), 1 tbsp fresh dill, 1 tbsp fresh mint, 1 tsp pepper, a dash of sea salt and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar. We got this recipe from a healthy eating magazine and when we ate it, we agreed that something was missing. After looking over other recipes on the web, all of them had sour cream. We determined that after the 90 days we are going to try it with sour cream and see if that was the something missing.
Day 44
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of water (out of milk) …blend…delicious
Whole wheat bagel with pb.
For lunch I had a salad with turkey, carrots and celery. Side of the tzatziki spread (no pitas) to get my serving of dairy. During the afternoon I went to my go to snack of string cheese.
For dinner we had the leftover red pepper soup and grilled cheese with turkey bacon sandwiches.
Day 45 (HALF WAY!!! WOOOHOOO)
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of water (out of milk) …blend…delicious
Whole wheat toast with pb
For lunch another turkey sandwich with cheese and added turkey bacon to kick it up a notch. And a cup of the red pepper soup.
For dinner Justin made chicken stir fry. He wanted to make it with brown rice but after I told him it takes about 50 minutes to cook he opted for whole wheat pasta. Since I did not have my snack for the day I had an all fruit popsicle…YUM!
Its bad to say but I am counting down the days till P90X is over. Its not that I hate it, I don’t, I like the workouts, I just cant stand planning what I eat everyday and making sure I get all my servings in. I know it’s supposed to be the way to eat when working out at a high level but it’s strenuous at times. Let me list off the top 5 foods I am looking forward to eating (in moderation of course)
1) Five guys burger and fries…you better believe this is where I am going to lunch August 9th
2) spare ribs with homemade bbq sauce – spare ribs are fatty so I have restrained from eating them)
3) Ice-cream…specifically Ben and jerry’s half baked…its in my freezer right now just staring at me.
4) any appetizer at a restaurant besides a salad.
5) Papa johns pizza
I have realized how bad these things are for you while doing P90X but that’s the important part right, realizing that then having it in moderation and not every week?? That’s my take on it anyways.
Only day I can remember out of these 5 days is my sisters baby shower. I explained to Justin on day 1 that this day would be the only day I cheat on the diet. If I am cooking for 25 people you better believe I am eating the food I am cooking. really though, the only things outside the diet were spinach dip, meatball wontons, pulled pork and the cookies and mousse for dessert. Haha I guess that’s a lot but it was all worth it. We had a lot of leftovers I had to let other people take because unfortunately I could not eat round 2.
Day 36-39
I was down south this week for work, Gulfport and New Orleans. Although it was not easy to keep up with the diet, I managed. But when on this diet let me tell you a few things about New Orleans.
1) Unless you are familiar with the area and know where to eat, New Orleans is not a place to be when doing P90X. Everywhere I went all the food was fried fried fried. Fried catfish, fried chicken, fried shrimp. The only things to get were either a chicken salad or ribs. And yes ribs are not the best thing to get but when I needed protein those were the only “safe” option, you can only handle chicken breasts so many times.
2) Hurricanes are also not an option when doing P90X, but when you are New Orleans you gotta have one, or so I am told. So I substituted my snack and fruit for one (kinda makes up for one right?) Let me tell you, its like fruit punch on steroids. Too many of those and you are gonna wake up with the biggest headache.
Day 40
Ahhh finally back to my routine…well almost. It was the USA game vs Slovenia game so I knew I would be drinking beer, Tony can only control my workouts and eating, he will not control my drinking. Plus its World Cup time…enough said. We had people over for the game so we prepared a huge breakfast. We made whole wheat pancakes, and to be honest I really like them. I will probably substitute them even after the 90 days are up. We also made scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage (we couldn’t eat this but we also couldn’t feed everyone turkey bacon over hot sausage patties).
For lunch/dinner I had a chicken salad with feta, tomatoes, pecans, cucumbers and carrots with a vinaigrette dressing. Delicious, but not satisfying after all the drinking. All I wanted was a burger and fries….need that grease to soak up all the alcohol.
Day 41
We made whole wheat pancakes again; on the side I had a serving of ham and a protein shake.
We were going out to dinner for my sister birthday so I knew I wanted to save most of my servings for dinner so for lunch all I had was a snack of string cheese. Needless to say I was starving come dinner time.
For dinner we went to a greek/Mediterranean tapas place. Justin and I ordered a bunch of things. For appetizers we had a tzatziki spread and side salads. For dinner we shared steamed mussels, spare rib (fat taken off) with mashed potatoes and veal with polenta. Aside from the mashed potatoes and polenta the meal was within our diet.
Day 42
Today was fathers day and we went to brunch in the city at Tabards Inn. They say this is the best place to get brunch but after our experience I think everyone in the group highly disagrees. My dad ordered homemade donuts and whipped cream for the table, I sat on my hands when they arrived. Not only did they look delicious covered in sugar but they were fresh. I just bit my lip and sipped my mimosa. For my meal I had hanger steak, pouched eggs and home potatoes. Aside from waiting an hr to get our food, when it arrived my steak was cooked medium well to well and my eggs and home potatoes were cold. For the price I paid it was not worth it. Needless to say I will not be going back.
For dinner we had a leftover chicken and whole wheat pasta concoction that Justin made while I was away. Just needed to add a little more sauce and it was good. J
Day 43
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
For lunch I had a turkey sandwich with cheese and mustard. Boring yes but simple. Side of carrots for my vegetable.
For dinner I made lemon and garlic baked chicken. And Justin made the red pepper soup. For our dairy and carb we attempted to make the tzatziki spread with pita bread. In this spread was 2 cups of greek yogurt, 2 diced cucumbers (seeded), 1 tbsp fresh dill, 1 tbsp fresh mint, 1 tsp pepper, a dash of sea salt and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar. We got this recipe from a healthy eating magazine and when we ate it, we agreed that something was missing. After looking over other recipes on the web, all of them had sour cream. We determined that after the 90 days we are going to try it with sour cream and see if that was the something missing.
Day 44
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of water (out of milk) …blend…delicious
Whole wheat bagel with pb.
For lunch I had a salad with turkey, carrots and celery. Side of the tzatziki spread (no pitas) to get my serving of dairy. During the afternoon I went to my go to snack of string cheese.
For dinner we had the leftover red pepper soup and grilled cheese with turkey bacon sandwiches.
Day 45 (HALF WAY!!! WOOOHOOO)
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of water (out of milk) …blend…delicious
Whole wheat toast with pb
For lunch another turkey sandwich with cheese and added turkey bacon to kick it up a notch. And a cup of the red pepper soup.
For dinner Justin made chicken stir fry. He wanted to make it with brown rice but after I told him it takes about 50 minutes to cook he opted for whole wheat pasta. Since I did not have my snack for the day I had an all fruit popsicle…YUM!
Its bad to say but I am counting down the days till P90X is over. Its not that I hate it, I don’t, I like the workouts, I just cant stand planning what I eat everyday and making sure I get all my servings in. I know it’s supposed to be the way to eat when working out at a high level but it’s strenuous at times. Let me list off the top 5 foods I am looking forward to eating (in moderation of course)
1) Five guys burger and fries…you better believe this is where I am going to lunch August 9th
2) spare ribs with homemade bbq sauce – spare ribs are fatty so I have restrained from eating them)
3) Ice-cream…specifically Ben and jerry’s half baked…its in my freezer right now just staring at me.
4) any appetizer at a restaurant besides a salad.
5) Papa johns pizza
I have realized how bad these things are for you while doing P90X but that’s the important part right, realizing that then having it in moderation and not every week?? That’s my take on it anyways.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Bring on an extra serving of carbs!!
Day 23-28
Yea I was a slacker last week, no blog, but also no interesting recipes so you didn’t miss much.
Day 29
First day of 2 carbs. I know right, only 2 carbs?! This whole time I thought I was getting 3 but nope just 2. Justin can have 3, lucky, but not me, guess I will have to wait another 30 days for one more carb.
Here is what the new diet looks like for the next 30 days:
PROTEINS 4
DAIRY 2
FRUITS 1
VEGETABLES 2
FATS 1
CARBS 2
SNACKS 3
CONDIMENTS 1…we all know I get 2
So really the only difference is one less protein and one more carb.
Of course normal routine in the morning, protein shake with turkey bacon but now I add a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. 1 tbsp of pb is considered part of a snack, so I thought that was doable on my bagel, and it was delicious. I should invest in some whole wheat English muffins then have myself an egg mcmuffin in the morning…mmm…that sounds good ill have that.
Actually had a normal sandwich for lunch, with a normal amount of meat, not like the ones I’ve had the past couple of weeks that just overpower the bread and fall out the sides. Just mustard, ham and cheese. Yes nothing extravagant but still delicious. Along side had 12 kettle flavored rice cakes (considered a snack). These rice cakes were deeeelicious. Sweet and crunchy, just the thing to go along with a sandwich, it did make me miss chips though. I used to put salt and vinegar chips in my sandwich, don’t knock it till you try it. I stuck my nose up at it when Justin did it for the first time, but I took a bite and never looked back. Of course had carrots to go along, I am starting to be called the carrot girl at work since I have carrots almost everyday for lunch.
For dinner we had left over turkey burgers (bunless :( for me) with turkey bacon and I heated up the V8 can to have tomato soup, Justin just shook his head.
I didnt feel like I have more energy but maybe it just takes times for your body to adapt. Well see…
Day 30
Cant believe it has been 30 days, well I guess I can since I literally count down the days till this is over. Not that I hate it, but it’s annoying to be honest. Annoying to “watch” what you eat and have to plan everything out. I am always asked “what’s after P90X” and the first thing I say is “Five guys”. Its true…
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Side of turkey bacon and whole wheat bagel with pb.
For lunch I just had a ceasar salad because I was going to the Nationals game and I knew I would be drinking and eating at the ballpark.
Boy was I wrong. Note to self: don’t plan on eating healthy when going to a baseball game. Justin and I walked around the entire stadium and found 3 places with chicken sandwiches…all which were sold out. So we were left with only hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, chili, or fried chicken….we opted for a pretzel and called it a night.
One thing is for sure though; I woke up this morning with a headache and was so weak for my workout. Goes to show your body is not happy when you miss that much protein, vegetables and carbs…
Yea I was a slacker last week, no blog, but also no interesting recipes so you didn’t miss much.
Day 29
First day of 2 carbs. I know right, only 2 carbs?! This whole time I thought I was getting 3 but nope just 2. Justin can have 3, lucky, but not me, guess I will have to wait another 30 days for one more carb.
Here is what the new diet looks like for the next 30 days:
PROTEINS 4
DAIRY 2
FRUITS 1
VEGETABLES 2
FATS 1
CARBS 2
SNACKS 3
CONDIMENTS 1…we all know I get 2
So really the only difference is one less protein and one more carb.
Of course normal routine in the morning, protein shake with turkey bacon but now I add a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. 1 tbsp of pb is considered part of a snack, so I thought that was doable on my bagel, and it was delicious. I should invest in some whole wheat English muffins then have myself an egg mcmuffin in the morning…mmm…that sounds good ill have that.
Actually had a normal sandwich for lunch, with a normal amount of meat, not like the ones I’ve had the past couple of weeks that just overpower the bread and fall out the sides. Just mustard, ham and cheese. Yes nothing extravagant but still delicious. Along side had 12 kettle flavored rice cakes (considered a snack). These rice cakes were deeeelicious. Sweet and crunchy, just the thing to go along with a sandwich, it did make me miss chips though. I used to put salt and vinegar chips in my sandwich, don’t knock it till you try it. I stuck my nose up at it when Justin did it for the first time, but I took a bite and never looked back. Of course had carrots to go along, I am starting to be called the carrot girl at work since I have carrots almost everyday for lunch.
For dinner we had left over turkey burgers (bunless :( for me) with turkey bacon and I heated up the V8 can to have tomato soup, Justin just shook his head.
I didnt feel like I have more energy but maybe it just takes times for your body to adapt. Well see…
Day 30
Cant believe it has been 30 days, well I guess I can since I literally count down the days till this is over. Not that I hate it, but it’s annoying to be honest. Annoying to “watch” what you eat and have to plan everything out. I am always asked “what’s after P90X” and the first thing I say is “Five guys”. Its true…
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Side of turkey bacon and whole wheat bagel with pb.
For lunch I just had a ceasar salad because I was going to the Nationals game and I knew I would be drinking and eating at the ballpark.
Boy was I wrong. Note to self: don’t plan on eating healthy when going to a baseball game. Justin and I walked around the entire stadium and found 3 places with chicken sandwiches…all which were sold out. So we were left with only hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, chili, or fried chicken….we opted for a pretzel and called it a night.
One thing is for sure though; I woke up this morning with a headache and was so weak for my workout. Goes to show your body is not happy when you miss that much protein, vegetables and carbs…
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
It was just one frito...
Day 18
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
For lunch I had a homemade lunchable. Yup that’s right a lunchable, deluxe too. You remember those, the infamous classic Oscar Myer lunchable; with crackers, turkey, Capri-sun, cheese, squeezable mustard and a mint. Now a days though there are veggies, a cookie, a candy bar, pizza makings, its insane how much they have changed. Kids these days are so spoiled J the crackers were my carb, the 6 oz of turkey gave me my protein and my mustard was obviously the condiment. Yes I received multiple eye brow raises from the guys at work but hey it was just as delicious as I remember when I was 10. Along side I had carrots (frozen…do NOT recommend these, but my co worker and I are on a pranking spree, and this is how he got me back) and cucumbers.
Justin made dinner as I was busy in the yard weeding, I am not sure there is anything worse than yard work…wait scratch that…painting. He made chicken on the foreman, butternut squash soup and peas. Chicken was a bit dry, but that’s what the foreman does, it sucks all the fat out and leaves you with literally just the meat.
Day 19
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
Went out to lunch today and we went to a bar since the people I was with wanted fried food and beer for lunch, great I thought this is going to be interesting. I ended up having a chicken and lettuce wrap with a side salad. The waiter never gave me my dressing so after asking for the 4th time he offered me a beer on the house, I never thought there would be a day where I would turn down a free beer…until today. My friends looked at me in shock and I just shook my head and buried my chin further into my chest as a sighed.
It was Friday and Justin and I were feeling very lethargic after work (shocking I know) so we made chicken Caesar salad for dinner.
Day 20
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
For dinner I convinced Justin to fire up the grill for turkey burgers, he was not pleased but gave in. I told him although they are turkey burgers they still need to go on the grill because the smoky taste the grill gives will give them more flavor, I think that’s what made him agree. To make the turkey burgers I combined: ground turkey, bread crumbs, chopped green onions, old bay, hot sauce, worchestire sauce and chopped jalapenos. To make it extra spicy we put pepper jack cheese on top and had turkey bacon to get the last serving of protein we needed. They were not bad, definitely much better than veggie burgers. We did not use the sandwich thins instead we had wheat buns. Along side we had baked beans and peas. Not the combo I want with a burger but it sufficed.
Day 21
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
4 slices of turkey bacon…OD on turkey bacon huh?? Well I figured since we were going to a bbq that afternoon I was not sure how much protein I would be getting. And it was a good thing I had those extra pieces because I ended up having to share my burger and had only a couple pieces of chicken. I got enough veggies though. And I have to admit and Justin will never let me live this down but I had 1…yes that’s right 1…bbq frito. I could not resist, I love bbq fritos and when they are just sitting right in front of me temptation just took over.
Day 22
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Turkey sandwich on wheat with mustard and an apple for lunch. I Spent the day golfing so I missed out on my snack and protein bar.
For dinner we ate steak with broccoli, squash and a salad. Needless to say I got my servings of veggies and then some. My sister was not happy we did not have steak and fries, which she had every right to be because on Sundays my parents have us over and we usually either have steak and fries or bbq chicken with baked beans and macaroni salad. Justin and I definitely threw in a wrench with this new diet. I told her 60 more days until we can go back to fries and ketchup (sigh).
Since I didn’t have my snack during the day we went to get ice cream and frozen yogurt. But for some reason sugar free, fat free ice cream just didn’t hit the spot like cookies and cream or cookie dough ice cream used too…
One more week of only having only 1 carb! In 6 days we will be able to eat 3. I know what you are thinking, what’s the big deal about carbs?? Well carbs give you energy to work out. Not in the same way that protein does. Protein just goes through your system where carbs sit there unless you burn them off, which in turn gives you the energy you need to do intense workouts. This is the reason I believe atkins and south beach diet are the way they are, they cut out the carbs because if you do not exercise on a daily basis having a lot of carbs will make you gain weight. This is the reason coaches tell you to eat spaghetti or “load up on carbs” the night before a big game, or any game. You need that energy the carbs provide. This tells me 2 things about P90X…(1) the workouts are about to get a lot more intense in phase 2 and (2) for people who are looking to lose weight phase (1) is the right way to go, cutting carbs (but not all) makes you lose weight but finding the balance between what your body is capable of doing and the right amount of nutrients it needs to do those things is tricky. If you are an active person you needs those carbs to be able to do workouts to the best of your ability. I am just thankful I can have a sandwich for lunch and garlic bread for dinner :)
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
For lunch I had a homemade lunchable. Yup that’s right a lunchable, deluxe too. You remember those, the infamous classic Oscar Myer lunchable; with crackers, turkey, Capri-sun, cheese, squeezable mustard and a mint. Now a days though there are veggies, a cookie, a candy bar, pizza makings, its insane how much they have changed. Kids these days are so spoiled J the crackers were my carb, the 6 oz of turkey gave me my protein and my mustard was obviously the condiment. Yes I received multiple eye brow raises from the guys at work but hey it was just as delicious as I remember when I was 10. Along side I had carrots (frozen…do NOT recommend these, but my co worker and I are on a pranking spree, and this is how he got me back) and cucumbers.
Justin made dinner as I was busy in the yard weeding, I am not sure there is anything worse than yard work…wait scratch that…painting. He made chicken on the foreman, butternut squash soup and peas. Chicken was a bit dry, but that’s what the foreman does, it sucks all the fat out and leaves you with literally just the meat.
Day 19
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
Went out to lunch today and we went to a bar since the people I was with wanted fried food and beer for lunch, great I thought this is going to be interesting. I ended up having a chicken and lettuce wrap with a side salad. The waiter never gave me my dressing so after asking for the 4th time he offered me a beer on the house, I never thought there would be a day where I would turn down a free beer…until today. My friends looked at me in shock and I just shook my head and buried my chin further into my chest as a sighed.
It was Friday and Justin and I were feeling very lethargic after work (shocking I know) so we made chicken Caesar salad for dinner.
Day 20
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
For dinner I convinced Justin to fire up the grill for turkey burgers, he was not pleased but gave in. I told him although they are turkey burgers they still need to go on the grill because the smoky taste the grill gives will give them more flavor, I think that’s what made him agree. To make the turkey burgers I combined: ground turkey, bread crumbs, chopped green onions, old bay, hot sauce, worchestire sauce and chopped jalapenos. To make it extra spicy we put pepper jack cheese on top and had turkey bacon to get the last serving of protein we needed. They were not bad, definitely much better than veggie burgers. We did not use the sandwich thins instead we had wheat buns. Along side we had baked beans and peas. Not the combo I want with a burger but it sufficed.
Day 21
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
4 slices of turkey bacon…OD on turkey bacon huh?? Well I figured since we were going to a bbq that afternoon I was not sure how much protein I would be getting. And it was a good thing I had those extra pieces because I ended up having to share my burger and had only a couple pieces of chicken. I got enough veggies though. And I have to admit and Justin will never let me live this down but I had 1…yes that’s right 1…bbq frito. I could not resist, I love bbq fritos and when they are just sitting right in front of me temptation just took over.
Day 22
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Turkey sandwich on wheat with mustard and an apple for lunch. I Spent the day golfing so I missed out on my snack and protein bar.
For dinner we ate steak with broccoli, squash and a salad. Needless to say I got my servings of veggies and then some. My sister was not happy we did not have steak and fries, which she had every right to be because on Sundays my parents have us over and we usually either have steak and fries or bbq chicken with baked beans and macaroni salad. Justin and I definitely threw in a wrench with this new diet. I told her 60 more days until we can go back to fries and ketchup (sigh).
Since I didn’t have my snack during the day we went to get ice cream and frozen yogurt. But for some reason sugar free, fat free ice cream just didn’t hit the spot like cookies and cream or cookie dough ice cream used too…
One more week of only having only 1 carb! In 6 days we will be able to eat 3. I know what you are thinking, what’s the big deal about carbs?? Well carbs give you energy to work out. Not in the same way that protein does. Protein just goes through your system where carbs sit there unless you burn them off, which in turn gives you the energy you need to do intense workouts. This is the reason I believe atkins and south beach diet are the way they are, they cut out the carbs because if you do not exercise on a daily basis having a lot of carbs will make you gain weight. This is the reason coaches tell you to eat spaghetti or “load up on carbs” the night before a big game, or any game. You need that energy the carbs provide. This tells me 2 things about P90X…(1) the workouts are about to get a lot more intense in phase 2 and (2) for people who are looking to lose weight phase (1) is the right way to go, cutting carbs (but not all) makes you lose weight but finding the balance between what your body is capable of doing and the right amount of nutrients it needs to do those things is tricky. If you are an active person you needs those carbs to be able to do workouts to the best of your ability. I am just thankful I can have a sandwich for lunch and garlic bread for dinner :)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 16
Day 16
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
We had no turkey or ham and the only protein we had was turkey bacon. So I had a BL, well more commonly known as a BLT, but I am not a fan of tomato unless it is chopped or in the form of salsa so a BL is what I have. 2 slices of wheat bread, 4 slices of turkey bacon (which is 2 servings of protein) with a little but of light mayo for my condiment. Along side I had a cup of cucumbers and a cup of carrots. None cooked veggies are the hardest thing to eat, especially without any dips or dressings. Just not much flavor going on…
We had things to do after work so we didn’t get home till late so we did a repeat of last nights dinner
Day 17
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
Another one of those meat packed sandwiches for lunch. I cut this sandwich in half and my mouth barely fits over it (seriously), the guys at work make fun of me because I literally have to take 2 bites to get through it! Cup of the red pepper soup to go with. Which was still so delicious the 3rd time around. Even spicier too.
For dinner I made beef and broccoli stir fry. I took ¼ cup soy sauce and heated this in a sauté pan. Added half a red onion and chopped garlic until tender. Then added sliced flank steak and cooked for about 5 minutes (depending on how red you want the center). In a bowl a combined 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sesame oil and minced ginger. I added this to the meat mixture and continued to cook for another 3 minutes. Lastly, I added cooked broccoli and let that sit for another 5 on low heat. I poured all this over soba noodles and my stir fry was complete. It was delicious. The meat was a little chewy because it’s a lean meat but you gotta deal with what you got…or in my case what you can eat.
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
We had no turkey or ham and the only protein we had was turkey bacon. So I had a BL, well more commonly known as a BLT, but I am not a fan of tomato unless it is chopped or in the form of salsa so a BL is what I have. 2 slices of wheat bread, 4 slices of turkey bacon (which is 2 servings of protein) with a little but of light mayo for my condiment. Along side I had a cup of cucumbers and a cup of carrots. None cooked veggies are the hardest thing to eat, especially without any dips or dressings. Just not much flavor going on…
We had things to do after work so we didn’t get home till late so we did a repeat of last nights dinner
Day 17
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon
Another one of those meat packed sandwiches for lunch. I cut this sandwich in half and my mouth barely fits over it (seriously), the guys at work make fun of me because I literally have to take 2 bites to get through it! Cup of the red pepper soup to go with. Which was still so delicious the 3rd time around. Even spicier too.
For dinner I made beef and broccoli stir fry. I took ¼ cup soy sauce and heated this in a sauté pan. Added half a red onion and chopped garlic until tender. Then added sliced flank steak and cooked for about 5 minutes (depending on how red you want the center). In a bowl a combined 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sesame oil and minced ginger. I added this to the meat mixture and continued to cook for another 3 minutes. Lastly, I added cooked broccoli and let that sit for another 5 on low heat. I poured all this over soba noodles and my stir fry was complete. It was delicious. The meat was a little chewy because it’s a lean meat but you gotta deal with what you got…or in my case what you can eat.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Case of the Mondays
Day 15:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon…is there such thing as sugar free syrup?? But then again, whats the point? Syrup is good because its sweet, and don’t give me that Vermont crap I want the stuff that’s bad for you but oh so good.
Pita pocket for lunch. It’s hard to stuff a pita pocket with 6 oz of meet, cheese and lettuce. It broke half way through making it so I settled for a just meat sandwich. Side of carrots and cucumbers to go along.
I worked out after work today, call it the case of the Mondays but when my alarm went off at 5 am I was like haha heck no, I need an extra hr of sleep. But I definitely regretted it coming home knowing I still needed to work out. And I was so tired after working out and running the dogs cooking a meal was the last thing I wanted to do. I don’t call this laziness I call it dead tired. I put 2 chicken breasts on George, cut up some lettuce and some feta cheese, tossed the chicken in and added 2 tbs of ceasar dressing and dinner was served. I counted ceasar dressing as my condiment and fat for the day. Along side was a cup of the red pepper soup Justin made last night to get my last serving of veggies. And 20 minutes later I was on the couch barely able to move. To reward myself I had a bowl of fat free/sugar free frozen yogurt. You call that a reward?? Nope but it’s the closest thing for the next 75 days.
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon…is there such thing as sugar free syrup?? But then again, whats the point? Syrup is good because its sweet, and don’t give me that Vermont crap I want the stuff that’s bad for you but oh so good.
Pita pocket for lunch. It’s hard to stuff a pita pocket with 6 oz of meet, cheese and lettuce. It broke half way through making it so I settled for a just meat sandwich. Side of carrots and cucumbers to go along.
I worked out after work today, call it the case of the Mondays but when my alarm went off at 5 am I was like haha heck no, I need an extra hr of sleep. But I definitely regretted it coming home knowing I still needed to work out. And I was so tired after working out and running the dogs cooking a meal was the last thing I wanted to do. I don’t call this laziness I call it dead tired. I put 2 chicken breasts on George, cut up some lettuce and some feta cheese, tossed the chicken in and added 2 tbs of ceasar dressing and dinner was served. I counted ceasar dressing as my condiment and fat for the day. Along side was a cup of the red pepper soup Justin made last night to get my last serving of veggies. And 20 minutes later I was on the couch barely able to move. To reward myself I had a bowl of fat free/sugar free frozen yogurt. You call that a reward?? Nope but it’s the closest thing for the next 75 days.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Laziness...
Yup laziness just took over the past few days. I made sure I got my protein and veggies in before dinner because the last thing I wanted to do after work was to think about cooking and then to proceed to cook it. Yea yea I know, but no worries I still got all my servings in :)
Day 11:
Ok not going to lie, I dont remember what I had for lunch for dinner this day, whoops but thats what you get when I dont blog. So lets skip to day 12
Day 12:
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup milk, 1 cup fruit...blend...delicious
For lunch I had another one of those sandwiches where the meat is just overflowing the bread, well pita. Turkey and ham piled high with cheese and little mustard. Along side I had some rice cakes, a yogurt, and a cup of sliced cucumbers. Rice cakes were quite delicious...with the hint of blueberry, a nice snack...also very high in fiber.
For dinner all i needed was a protein and a vegetable. I looked in the cabinet and laziness (again) took over. We had V8 cans so I decided to take that plunge. I was determined to just chug the whole thing but in about 2 gulps I could feel that it was cold and I gagged. I put the rest in a bowl and put it in the microwave, Justin thinks its weird but I told him it was just like tomato soup.
Day 13:
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup milk, 1 cup fruit...blend...delicious
Today was a big day, I had people over for dinner and by the request of my brother in law he wanted lots of carbs and sweets. Awesome, 2 things I cant have right now! So with that request I made sure I had plenty of meat and veggies. And shish kabobs did the trick. For desert I made homemade icecream sandwiches...let me tell you how hard it was NOT to eat one of those. I settled for frozen yogurt (sigh). I will be making them again on day 91 though :)
Day 14:
Went to brunch with a few of my friends and thought it might be hard to order egg whites, turkey bacon and a protein shake, but after looking over the menu I settled for a steak salad. A serving of protein and a serving of vegetables. Delicious, but once I got home I was still so hungry so I made a protein shake and had some rice cakes.
Justin made dinner tonight. He made a red pepper soup. In this soup was 2 cups white wine, an onion, 5 roasted red peppers, 2 cups celery, garlic, 2 tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 cups chicken broth, jalapeno pepper, pepper and ground cumin. He heated this on the stove and simmered for 25 minutes. Once cooked through he put it all in the blender to make it smooth. I gave it 2 thumbs up, it had a bit of a kick but still surprisingly very good! We had fish to go with this, he broiled this with some lemon juice and fresh rosemary, a little bland but thats what happens with tilapia, you need to give it a lot of loving in order to get anything from it.
So now that my 4 day stint of being lazy is over I am gonna go decide what to make for lunch tomorrow. 2 weeks in and with only 2 weeks left of this high protein diet I think I can manage through. I cant wait till week 5..carbs here I come! I am already planning what pizza I am going to make (with whole wheat crust of course).
Day 11:
Ok not going to lie, I dont remember what I had for lunch for dinner this day, whoops but thats what you get when I dont blog. So lets skip to day 12
Day 12:
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup milk, 1 cup fruit...blend...delicious
For lunch I had another one of those sandwiches where the meat is just overflowing the bread, well pita. Turkey and ham piled high with cheese and little mustard. Along side I had some rice cakes, a yogurt, and a cup of sliced cucumbers. Rice cakes were quite delicious...with the hint of blueberry, a nice snack...also very high in fiber.
For dinner all i needed was a protein and a vegetable. I looked in the cabinet and laziness (again) took over. We had V8 cans so I decided to take that plunge. I was determined to just chug the whole thing but in about 2 gulps I could feel that it was cold and I gagged. I put the rest in a bowl and put it in the microwave, Justin thinks its weird but I told him it was just like tomato soup.
Day 13:
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup milk, 1 cup fruit...blend...delicious
Today was a big day, I had people over for dinner and by the request of my brother in law he wanted lots of carbs and sweets. Awesome, 2 things I cant have right now! So with that request I made sure I had plenty of meat and veggies. And shish kabobs did the trick. For desert I made homemade icecream sandwiches...let me tell you how hard it was NOT to eat one of those. I settled for frozen yogurt (sigh). I will be making them again on day 91 though :)
Day 14:
Went to brunch with a few of my friends and thought it might be hard to order egg whites, turkey bacon and a protein shake, but after looking over the menu I settled for a steak salad. A serving of protein and a serving of vegetables. Delicious, but once I got home I was still so hungry so I made a protein shake and had some rice cakes.
Justin made dinner tonight. He made a red pepper soup. In this soup was 2 cups white wine, an onion, 5 roasted red peppers, 2 cups celery, garlic, 2 tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 cups chicken broth, jalapeno pepper, pepper and ground cumin. He heated this on the stove and simmered for 25 minutes. Once cooked through he put it all in the blender to make it smooth. I gave it 2 thumbs up, it had a bit of a kick but still surprisingly very good! We had fish to go with this, he broiled this with some lemon juice and fresh rosemary, a little bland but thats what happens with tilapia, you need to give it a lot of loving in order to get anything from it.
So now that my 4 day stint of being lazy is over I am gonna go decide what to make for lunch tomorrow. 2 weeks in and with only 2 weeks left of this high protein diet I think I can manage through. I cant wait till week 5..carbs here I come! I am already planning what pizza I am going to make (with whole wheat crust of course).
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Goal: Becoming the next Morimoto
Day 9:
Well one thing is for sure, having a high protein diet does not work if you are sick. I could not keep anything down, sorry if that is TMI but I don’t really know how else to say it. The only thing I could have was a protein shake, anything I had to chew was not going well. I think it was because I was dehydrated, I drank water all day and around 3 I felt better so I then proceeded to do my workout, which sucked because I had no energy but my thought process was, I don’t want to get to day 90 and say I did 89. I will half ass it and make it up with another round of cardio or something. But after my workout I was able to get down a protein bar and keep it down. Thank god.
For dinner, we used the left over sauce from last night, covered some chicken breasts with it and baked it in the oven for 45 minutes. Cut up some veggies sautéed them in a pan and made some garlic bread out of a whole wheat pita. I used ½ tbls olive oil instead of butter on the pita then sprinkled garlic salt over it. This will be my fat for the day.
Needless to say I did not get my full servings of protein or veggies for the day but c’est la vie.
Day 10:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon…still wishing I had syrup…
For lunch I had leftover a chicken breast and a cup of carrots. Boring yes but I just didn’t have the effort to make something extravagant.
For dinner I had sushi!! Now, minus the white rice, sushi is very easy to keep within this diet. I had spicy tuna with edamamba. This took care of the protein and the veggie needed for dinner. The white rice was my carb and fat for the day. Mmmmm deeeelicious.
I am determined to become a master chef at making sushi. I bought this cheap sushi maker at a food convention. Yes that’s right I attend food conventions, don’t judge. But what I need is one of those mats where you stuff and roll and there you go, sushi is made.
Note to self: watch more infomercials.
Well one thing is for sure, having a high protein diet does not work if you are sick. I could not keep anything down, sorry if that is TMI but I don’t really know how else to say it. The only thing I could have was a protein shake, anything I had to chew was not going well. I think it was because I was dehydrated, I drank water all day and around 3 I felt better so I then proceeded to do my workout, which sucked because I had no energy but my thought process was, I don’t want to get to day 90 and say I did 89. I will half ass it and make it up with another round of cardio or something. But after my workout I was able to get down a protein bar and keep it down. Thank god.
For dinner, we used the left over sauce from last night, covered some chicken breasts with it and baked it in the oven for 45 minutes. Cut up some veggies sautéed them in a pan and made some garlic bread out of a whole wheat pita. I used ½ tbls olive oil instead of butter on the pita then sprinkled garlic salt over it. This will be my fat for the day.
Needless to say I did not get my full servings of protein or veggies for the day but c’est la vie.
Day 10:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
2 slices of turkey bacon…still wishing I had syrup…
For lunch I had leftover a chicken breast and a cup of carrots. Boring yes but I just didn’t have the effort to make something extravagant.
For dinner I had sushi!! Now, minus the white rice, sushi is very easy to keep within this diet. I had spicy tuna with edamamba. This took care of the protein and the veggie needed for dinner. The white rice was my carb and fat for the day. Mmmmm deeeelicious.
I am determined to become a master chef at making sushi. I bought this cheap sushi maker at a food convention. Yes that’s right I attend food conventions, don’t judge. But what I need is one of those mats where you stuff and roll and there you go, sushi is made.
Note to self: watch more infomercials.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Veggie Burger?? Nope Veggie Patty
Day 7:
I had a soccer game today so I knew I couldnt have milk or the turkey bacon before the game. I dont think that would have sat well during the game so I just had a protein shake with water after my workout but before my game.
Protein shake: 1 scoop of protein, cup of fruit, cup water...blend...not as delicious but still good.
After my game Justin made an egg white omelet. He says the trick to cooking an egg white omelet is to beat the egg whites for a bit, almost till they are frothy, this makes it easier to cook and flip. He added cheese and turkey bacon, but add whatever you want to this..veggies...ham...turkey..whatev floats your boat. 6 egg whites = 1 protein. so needless to say this was a huge omelet but after my game I knew I needed it.
For dinner we had our first veggies burger. I wanted it on the grill but Justin refused, his reasoning was he didnt want to waste the coal and time to cook just 2 veggie burgers, I agreed with him so we brought out George. Along side we had squash with sauteed onions and pepper jack cheese. This squash side is one of the best! Compliments from my momma, you take an onion and cut it so you have thin pieces. I sauteed that in veggie stock and let it cook for about 10 minutes. I continued to add the stock because unlike olive oil it does not stick to your food so you need to continue to add the stock to prevent the onion from scorching. Cut the yellow squash into halves or quarters, depending on the size, add these in and continue to cook covered for 7-8 minutes, until they are soft. Add 2 oz pepper jack cheese, now before my P90X days I would add so much pepper jack cheese because I loved the heat, but now I am reduced to 2 oz...one serving of dairy for each of us (sigh). With the burgers we added turkey bacon, feta cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. We used these buns called sandwich thins, I guess their purpose in life is to go with veggie or turkey burgers, well it did its job.
We had a discussion at dinner about how they shouldnt call veggie burgers a burger, it should be called a veggie patty. It just doesnt live up the hype of a nice juicy burger..so for now on its veggie patty. I gotta say for my first veggie patty it was good, I would have it again but its a catch 22, I know its good for you but it makes me want a five guys burger so bad! It also doesnt help that I just watched Paula Dean cook burgers 5 different ways...
Day 8:
AHHH back to my old routine : )
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup fruit, 1 cup milk..blend..delicous
2 slices of turkey bacon
For lunch I made a chef salad, I dont think I will ever get sick of a salad, I will let you know though after day 60 how I feel about salads.
Fish again for dinner. The thing I like about a bland fish is all you have to do is add a delicious sauce and you would never know it was a boring fish, its delicious, cheap and also one of the best proteins you can have. For the sauce we made a honey-chile sauce. Sauteed half a shallot in veggie stock till translucent, added fat free chicken broth and honey as well as chili powder and ground cumin. Waited till that reduced to half, put it in a food processor added some fresh cilantro and walaaa, a spicy yet sweet sauce. For the veggie we had peas. Broiled the fish for 7 minutes and 20 minutes later we had dinner.
Annnnnnd for dessert we had frozen yogurt. Nice treat to end a case of the Mondays.
I had a soccer game today so I knew I couldnt have milk or the turkey bacon before the game. I dont think that would have sat well during the game so I just had a protein shake with water after my workout but before my game.
Protein shake: 1 scoop of protein, cup of fruit, cup water...blend...not as delicious but still good.
After my game Justin made an egg white omelet. He says the trick to cooking an egg white omelet is to beat the egg whites for a bit, almost till they are frothy, this makes it easier to cook and flip. He added cheese and turkey bacon, but add whatever you want to this..veggies...ham...turkey..whatev floats your boat. 6 egg whites = 1 protein. so needless to say this was a huge omelet but after my game I knew I needed it.
For dinner we had our first veggies burger. I wanted it on the grill but Justin refused, his reasoning was he didnt want to waste the coal and time to cook just 2 veggie burgers, I agreed with him so we brought out George. Along side we had squash with sauteed onions and pepper jack cheese. This squash side is one of the best! Compliments from my momma, you take an onion and cut it so you have thin pieces. I sauteed that in veggie stock and let it cook for about 10 minutes. I continued to add the stock because unlike olive oil it does not stick to your food so you need to continue to add the stock to prevent the onion from scorching. Cut the yellow squash into halves or quarters, depending on the size, add these in and continue to cook covered for 7-8 minutes, until they are soft. Add 2 oz pepper jack cheese, now before my P90X days I would add so much pepper jack cheese because I loved the heat, but now I am reduced to 2 oz...one serving of dairy for each of us (sigh). With the burgers we added turkey bacon, feta cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. We used these buns called sandwich thins, I guess their purpose in life is to go with veggie or turkey burgers, well it did its job.
We had a discussion at dinner about how they shouldnt call veggie burgers a burger, it should be called a veggie patty. It just doesnt live up the hype of a nice juicy burger..so for now on its veggie patty. I gotta say for my first veggie patty it was good, I would have it again but its a catch 22, I know its good for you but it makes me want a five guys burger so bad! It also doesnt help that I just watched Paula Dean cook burgers 5 different ways...
Day 8:
AHHH back to my old routine : )
Protein shake: 1 scoop protein, 1 cup fruit, 1 cup milk..blend..delicous
2 slices of turkey bacon
For lunch I made a chef salad, I dont think I will ever get sick of a salad, I will let you know though after day 60 how I feel about salads.
Fish again for dinner. The thing I like about a bland fish is all you have to do is add a delicious sauce and you would never know it was a boring fish, its delicious, cheap and also one of the best proteins you can have. For the sauce we made a honey-chile sauce. Sauteed half a shallot in veggie stock till translucent, added fat free chicken broth and honey as well as chili powder and ground cumin. Waited till that reduced to half, put it in a food processor added some fresh cilantro and walaaa, a spicy yet sweet sauce. For the veggie we had peas. Broiled the fish for 7 minutes and 20 minutes later we had dinner.
Annnnnnd for dessert we had frozen yogurt. Nice treat to end a case of the Mondays.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Day 5
Day 5:
Protein shake: scoop of protein, cup of milk, cup of fruit...blend...delicous.
2 slices of turkey bacon - I wrap them in a paper towel and cook them in the microwave for a min 30.
I did well at lunch. I ordered a turkey sandwich with a side salad. Yes it was hard sitting next to french fries but I powered through it.
Dinner we wanted to keep it simple so thats what we did. We put some seasoning on some steaks (no salt) and put them in a shallow pan and broiled them. I know who has doesnt have steaks on the grill, it was raining and again simple. Also to light Justins grill I feel like you need to have a permit or something, so many steps and the oven takes pushing a button...you decide. I had to opt out on the carb since I had the sandwich for lunch, so no baked potato for me. We steamed some frozen veggies (low sodium) and 15 minutes later we had dinner.
Day 6:
My first Saturday...my first day off. My routine was thrown waaaaaay out of whack. When I slept in till 830, yes thats my sleeping in, sad I know (sigh), I wasnt hungry at all. I just got up and went out the door. I realized at 1100 I had not had a thing to eat so I grabbed a protein bar and banked on the fact that lucnh was going to be a big one. And indeed it was, pita bread with turkey, ham, feta cheese, lettuce and mustard...it looked like one of those sandwiches when you are at the store and you see the clerk piling on the meat and you say to him light on the meat...yea one of those. Along with that I had my protein shake. A lot of handle in one setting but it was not bad. All I had left on my diet was 2 veggies and 2 proteins. I can see why they say a routine is good to have because having that lunch then realizing I still had 2 more servings of protein left was a lot to take in.
Side note: soy nuts with almonds and cranberries, delicious snack. We got this little combo at COSTCO and it was a nice grab...and all very good for you.
Dinner we had taco salad, well without doritos or taco seasning. Soooo I guess just dry chicken salad...hmm. Anywho, we used ground chicken and cooked that with a little chicken broth (low sodium), to give it some flavor since we didnt use the taco seasoning, cut up some veggies added some shredded cheese and there we go, dinner was served. Since we had a condiment left we used russian dressing...the best dressing for taco salad is western dressing but I grabbed the wrong one...as shocking as it sounds you should have heard my reaction to my first bite when I realized it was not western.
We were talking at dinner saying that we can have good food just need to have minor modifications (i.e. no doritos or taco seaoning) and with the right portions, its brought a little light on the mere fact that I have 83 days left...
Protein shake: scoop of protein, cup of milk, cup of fruit...blend...delicous.
2 slices of turkey bacon - I wrap them in a paper towel and cook them in the microwave for a min 30.
I did well at lunch. I ordered a turkey sandwich with a side salad. Yes it was hard sitting next to french fries but I powered through it.
Dinner we wanted to keep it simple so thats what we did. We put some seasoning on some steaks (no salt) and put them in a shallow pan and broiled them. I know who has doesnt have steaks on the grill, it was raining and again simple. Also to light Justins grill I feel like you need to have a permit or something, so many steps and the oven takes pushing a button...you decide. I had to opt out on the carb since I had the sandwich for lunch, so no baked potato for me. We steamed some frozen veggies (low sodium) and 15 minutes later we had dinner.
Day 6:
My first Saturday...my first day off. My routine was thrown waaaaaay out of whack. When I slept in till 830, yes thats my sleeping in, sad I know (sigh), I wasnt hungry at all. I just got up and went out the door. I realized at 1100 I had not had a thing to eat so I grabbed a protein bar and banked on the fact that lucnh was going to be a big one. And indeed it was, pita bread with turkey, ham, feta cheese, lettuce and mustard...it looked like one of those sandwiches when you are at the store and you see the clerk piling on the meat and you say to him light on the meat...yea one of those. Along with that I had my protein shake. A lot of handle in one setting but it was not bad. All I had left on my diet was 2 veggies and 2 proteins. I can see why they say a routine is good to have because having that lunch then realizing I still had 2 more servings of protein left was a lot to take in.
Side note: soy nuts with almonds and cranberries, delicious snack. We got this little combo at COSTCO and it was a nice grab...and all very good for you.
Dinner we had taco salad, well without doritos or taco seasning. Soooo I guess just dry chicken salad...hmm. Anywho, we used ground chicken and cooked that with a little chicken broth (low sodium), to give it some flavor since we didnt use the taco seasoning, cut up some veggies added some shredded cheese and there we go, dinner was served. Since we had a condiment left we used russian dressing...the best dressing for taco salad is western dressing but I grabbed the wrong one...as shocking as it sounds you should have heard my reaction to my first bite when I realized it was not western.
We were talking at dinner saying that we can have good food just need to have minor modifications (i.e. no doritos or taco seaoning) and with the right portions, its brought a little light on the mere fact that I have 83 days left...
Friday, May 14, 2010
Everyone is a critic
The "pâté" was actually really good with the goat cheese and crackers. Nice little combo. Celery sticks though, thank goodness they are crunchy because raw celery offers nothing. Cooked celery on the other hand, can really change up a recipe, like chicken noodle soup or thanksgiving stuffing, I need to make a note to cook something with that in the near future.
I got off the hook last night for making dinner. Justin made it : ) only thing I added was how long to broil fish. He got a recipe from the P90X book and made some variations to it because not everyone is going to have fresh herbs laying around, unless you are like my mom and grows them out back, but we do not. The recipe was for a pesto sauce, what’s in pesto you ask? Well it mainly consists of pine nuts, lots of fresh basil, white wine, little bit lemon juice, and garlic. We had about half of that, so he combined almonds, dried basil (note: dried herbs tend to be stronger than fresh herbs so they say for every tbls of fresh is the same as 1 tsp of dry, taste may be a little different which is why its always best to use fresh but not everyone has a garden), white wine, lemon juice and garlic. He put all that in the food processor and waaala, a sauce for the fish. He broiled the fish for about 11 minutes, they were pretty thick so it took a little longer. While those cooked he took the leftover veggies from last night and added one more red and green pepper in order to get our serving of veggies. To cook these he added some white wine vinegar to the pan…an excellent healthy subsistute to olive oil. But who has white wine vinegar right?? Well Lexie and I were making a crazy dish one night and one of the recipes called for the vinegar, have I used it since? No, but now that I know it’s a healthy alternative; it went straight to the front of the cabinet. I also believe that vinegar will help with our recovery. The reason I believe this is because in college during preseason my teammate and I would take 2 shots of vingar the night in between the fitness test and the beep test, we believed this helped with our recovery and it seemed to work because we passed but who really knows. Anywho, the vinegar gave the veggies a nice bite to it with the tanginess of the vinegar and the sweetness of the wine. If you do not have white wine vinegar cook with regular wine or go back to vegetable stock. Anything liquid is a better substitute for olive oil.
I must say he did an excellent job; the sauce over our fish went very well because tilapia being a bland white fish the sauce really added something to it. I gave it two thumbs up.
Today will be a test, I am going out to lunch for one of my coworker’s bday and to order something but also keep it within my diet is going to be tricky…
I have not yet come to terms that this is going to be a lifestyle change but I know it will be. I was at the dog park yesterday and overheard 2 people talking about what they cooked for dinner last night. It’s not eavesdropping if I happen to be throwing the ball in the same area that they were standing. They were talking about cooking with olive oil to make a 3 cheese macaroni and cheese topped with bacon along side fried chicken. If you do not know me, I have a deep fryer in my kitchen, call it my southern roots, but yes I have one and yes I love fried food, specifically French fries. Before I heard this convo I really didn’t put into terms what I am getting myself into. All I know is I hope this blog keeps me motivated to continue to eat healthy, if not I know how a bag of potatoes and 3 cups of oil can work wonders…
I got off the hook last night for making dinner. Justin made it : ) only thing I added was how long to broil fish. He got a recipe from the P90X book and made some variations to it because not everyone is going to have fresh herbs laying around, unless you are like my mom and grows them out back, but we do not. The recipe was for a pesto sauce, what’s in pesto you ask? Well it mainly consists of pine nuts, lots of fresh basil, white wine, little bit lemon juice, and garlic. We had about half of that, so he combined almonds, dried basil (note: dried herbs tend to be stronger than fresh herbs so they say for every tbls of fresh is the same as 1 tsp of dry, taste may be a little different which is why its always best to use fresh but not everyone has a garden), white wine, lemon juice and garlic. He put all that in the food processor and waaala, a sauce for the fish. He broiled the fish for about 11 minutes, they were pretty thick so it took a little longer. While those cooked he took the leftover veggies from last night and added one more red and green pepper in order to get our serving of veggies. To cook these he added some white wine vinegar to the pan…an excellent healthy subsistute to olive oil. But who has white wine vinegar right?? Well Lexie and I were making a crazy dish one night and one of the recipes called for the vinegar, have I used it since? No, but now that I know it’s a healthy alternative; it went straight to the front of the cabinet. I also believe that vinegar will help with our recovery. The reason I believe this is because in college during preseason my teammate and I would take 2 shots of vingar the night in between the fitness test and the beep test, we believed this helped with our recovery and it seemed to work because we passed but who really knows. Anywho, the vinegar gave the veggies a nice bite to it with the tanginess of the vinegar and the sweetness of the wine. If you do not have white wine vinegar cook with regular wine or go back to vegetable stock. Anything liquid is a better substitute for olive oil.
I must say he did an excellent job; the sauce over our fish went very well because tilapia being a bland white fish the sauce really added something to it. I gave it two thumbs up.
Today will be a test, I am going out to lunch for one of my coworker’s bday and to order something but also keep it within my diet is going to be tricky…
I have not yet come to terms that this is going to be a lifestyle change but I know it will be. I was at the dog park yesterday and overheard 2 people talking about what they cooked for dinner last night. It’s not eavesdropping if I happen to be throwing the ball in the same area that they were standing. They were talking about cooking with olive oil to make a 3 cheese macaroni and cheese topped with bacon along side fried chicken. If you do not know me, I have a deep fryer in my kitchen, call it my southern roots, but yes I have one and yes I love fried food, specifically French fries. Before I heard this convo I really didn’t put into terms what I am getting myself into. All I know is I hope this blog keeps me motivated to continue to eat healthy, if not I know how a bag of potatoes and 3 cups of oil can work wonders…
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Lemon or Lime?
Day 3:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Chicken salad: Remember that I cooked 3 breasts last night, we only ate 1 and a half, so I am using the other half to make our chicken salad.
6 oz of chicken, 1/3 cup of celery, 2 tbls Caesar dressing (you should use low fat mayo but we did not have any so I went to the closest thing), ½ tbls mustard, pepper, and celery seed. The book calls for dill but I am not a big fan of dill because it’s too potent, so I used celery seed. Cut up the chicken mix it all up and waaala.
Because I used Caesar dressing I am counting this as my fat…this means no oils for dinner tonight…oh boy. And because I made this the night before the flavors really blended together overnight. It was delicious. Check for another thing I will have again. Along with this I had a cup of carrots. Boring and tasteless yes but I had to get my full serving of veggies in at lunch. And of course I had my string cheese for a snack J
Another thing to add to the list of hard things to do is using the foods you have in your kitchen. We had 2 chicken breasts and a bunch of veggies so what does that call out? Yup, stir fry. Usually you throw a bunch of soy sauce, teriyaki, maybe one of those seasoning packets into the mixture but all that screams fat. So I looked in my fridge found a lime, some garlic and used some honey to make a sauce. One thing I learned at the end is to use more limes, you need a lot of limes when cooking stir fry so you get their real flavor. Unlike last night when I cooked the lemon for 45 minutes with the chicken you really tasted the flavor. Anywho, I marinated the chicken for an hr in the sauce. During that time I chopped my veggies (mushrooms, broccoli and red pepper). And I cooked the broccoli, my friend Lexie makes the best broccoli hands down, living with her brought a lot of interesting yet delicious meals, she adds chopped garlic and some red pepper flakes to her broccoli to give it some extra flavor. Steam for 4 minutes and there you go, cooked delicious broccoli.
Round 2 for brown rice: this time around I cooked it longer and it still did not taste good! I even added some lime juice to give it at least something aaaaaaand nothing. If someone can cook brown rice and actually like it please tell me what to do because I am dumbfounded by this food…
Once the chicken is done marinating, add it to a pan and cook through. Do not add any oil or stock, the juices from the marinade will be enough. Add the veggies once the chicken is cooked and let simmer on low (covered) for about 10 minutes, so the mushrooms and peppers cook.
All in all this was an ok meal. I would attempt it again but with a different sauce or more limes. Justin made the comment that he liked the chicken last night a lot better, unfortunately for stir fry you will not get the moistness you got with the lemon chicken. Baking whole for 45 minutes is much different than in a pan chopped for 10 minutes over the stovetop, or at least from my experience.
Day 4:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Also had 2 slices of turkey bacon...thoughts??? eh…because I can not have bacon its an ok substitute, of course no bacon is real bacon without a little syrup and I could not have that, so although filling it was not satisfying. But a serving of protein so I will take it.
For lunch I wanted to make something around cheese and crackers. My carb for the day will be crackers (you are allowed 12 crackers, I have 8 for lunch so I can have 4 later on if I want them, weird maybe but I like crackers and they are filling so they will make for a nice snack later). I will have 1 oz goat cheese with the crackers. You are probably thinking 1 oz is not enough, but you will be surprised how much it really is. Oh yea, we bought a scale. I think in the beginning its important because I had no idea how much 1 oz of cheese or 3 oz of tuckey really is, its best to make sure at first then you can measure by eye as you become familiar with the weights.
This is where it gets interesting, we had no chicken and no turkey left so I could not go to my traditional salads. So I made tuna…yes chicken of the sea tuna…I mixed it with a couple of pieces of ham to get 2 servings of protein. Note: I will have 4 servings of protein by lunch, leaving only one for dinner. I think it is important to get your protein out of the way during the day because at night you do not really do much after dinner, so having protein throughout the day gives it time to break down and store as energy for your next days workout. Atleast that is what I am told, and it works so I believe it. Back to tuna...i mixed the ham and the tuna with 1 tablespoon of honey mustard so give it a pasty feel. You can make this into tuna salad, by adding celery, apples, pickles, or any kind of veggie you want. But I decided against that because I will have this on top of my crackers and cheese, kinda like a pâté, I have no idea what a pâté really tastes like, but from the texture of the tuna this is what I believe is a pâté. With this I will have a cup of celery sticks and cucumbers.
After all that all I can think of right now (and have to think about) is how I am going to cook my fish tonight…
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Chicken salad: Remember that I cooked 3 breasts last night, we only ate 1 and a half, so I am using the other half to make our chicken salad.
6 oz of chicken, 1/3 cup of celery, 2 tbls Caesar dressing (you should use low fat mayo but we did not have any so I went to the closest thing), ½ tbls mustard, pepper, and celery seed. The book calls for dill but I am not a big fan of dill because it’s too potent, so I used celery seed. Cut up the chicken mix it all up and waaala.
Because I used Caesar dressing I am counting this as my fat…this means no oils for dinner tonight…oh boy. And because I made this the night before the flavors really blended together overnight. It was delicious. Check for another thing I will have again. Along with this I had a cup of carrots. Boring and tasteless yes but I had to get my full serving of veggies in at lunch. And of course I had my string cheese for a snack J
Another thing to add to the list of hard things to do is using the foods you have in your kitchen. We had 2 chicken breasts and a bunch of veggies so what does that call out? Yup, stir fry. Usually you throw a bunch of soy sauce, teriyaki, maybe one of those seasoning packets into the mixture but all that screams fat. So I looked in my fridge found a lime, some garlic and used some honey to make a sauce. One thing I learned at the end is to use more limes, you need a lot of limes when cooking stir fry so you get their real flavor. Unlike last night when I cooked the lemon for 45 minutes with the chicken you really tasted the flavor. Anywho, I marinated the chicken for an hr in the sauce. During that time I chopped my veggies (mushrooms, broccoli and red pepper). And I cooked the broccoli, my friend Lexie makes the best broccoli hands down, living with her brought a lot of interesting yet delicious meals, she adds chopped garlic and some red pepper flakes to her broccoli to give it some extra flavor. Steam for 4 minutes and there you go, cooked delicious broccoli.
Round 2 for brown rice: this time around I cooked it longer and it still did not taste good! I even added some lime juice to give it at least something aaaaaaand nothing. If someone can cook brown rice and actually like it please tell me what to do because I am dumbfounded by this food…
Once the chicken is done marinating, add it to a pan and cook through. Do not add any oil or stock, the juices from the marinade will be enough. Add the veggies once the chicken is cooked and let simmer on low (covered) for about 10 minutes, so the mushrooms and peppers cook.
All in all this was an ok meal. I would attempt it again but with a different sauce or more limes. Justin made the comment that he liked the chicken last night a lot better, unfortunately for stir fry you will not get the moistness you got with the lemon chicken. Baking whole for 45 minutes is much different than in a pan chopped for 10 minutes over the stovetop, or at least from my experience.
Day 4:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk …blend…delicious
Also had 2 slices of turkey bacon...thoughts??? eh…because I can not have bacon its an ok substitute, of course no bacon is real bacon without a little syrup and I could not have that, so although filling it was not satisfying. But a serving of protein so I will take it.
For lunch I wanted to make something around cheese and crackers. My carb for the day will be crackers (you are allowed 12 crackers, I have 8 for lunch so I can have 4 later on if I want them, weird maybe but I like crackers and they are filling so they will make for a nice snack later). I will have 1 oz goat cheese with the crackers. You are probably thinking 1 oz is not enough, but you will be surprised how much it really is. Oh yea, we bought a scale. I think in the beginning its important because I had no idea how much 1 oz of cheese or 3 oz of tuckey really is, its best to make sure at first then you can measure by eye as you become familiar with the weights.
This is where it gets interesting, we had no chicken and no turkey left so I could not go to my traditional salads. So I made tuna…yes chicken of the sea tuna…I mixed it with a couple of pieces of ham to get 2 servings of protein. Note: I will have 4 servings of protein by lunch, leaving only one for dinner. I think it is important to get your protein out of the way during the day because at night you do not really do much after dinner, so having protein throughout the day gives it time to break down and store as energy for your next days workout. Atleast that is what I am told, and it works so I believe it. Back to tuna...i mixed the ham and the tuna with 1 tablespoon of honey mustard so give it a pasty feel. You can make this into tuna salad, by adding celery, apples, pickles, or any kind of veggie you want. But I decided against that because I will have this on top of my crackers and cheese, kinda like a pâté, I have no idea what a pâté really tastes like, but from the texture of the tuna this is what I believe is a pâté. With this I will have a cup of celery sticks and cucumbers.
After all that all I can think of right now (and have to think about) is how I am going to cook my fish tonight…
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Day 2
Day 2:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and 1 yogurt…blend…delicious
Chef salad – 3 oz turkey, 2 cups veggies, sprinkle with feta and goat cheese just to get the taste. Balsamic vinaigrette: balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, pepper, olive oil
Lemon, Honey and garlic chicken breast – 3 breasts about 8 oz each placed in a 8 x 8 cooking dish. Separate bowl mix 2 lemons squeezed, 2 tbls honey, 4 cloves of garlic chopped and a few splashes of worshestire sauce (Next time: add more lemon and honey so there is extra sauce at the end to pour over the chicken.) Pour mixture over the chicken, cover and refrigerate for an hr (turning chicken once).
Preheat oven to 425 and place chicken in a shallow baking/roasting pan and place on rack. Cook for 20 minutes, during this time baste the chicken with the lemon juice.
Once 20 minutes are up, set time for another 25 minutes and continue to cook, do no baste during these 25 mintues.
While chicken is cooking heat can of peas on the stove till it boils then turn to low and let it simmer for 15 more minutes uncovered.
In microwave cook baked potatoes. Poke holes in potato, wrap with a wet paper towel and cook away. Usually the microwave has a button for baked potato, if not I don’t know what to tell you. I never cooked a baked potato in the microwave before tonight, usually its in the oven for an hr, and most of the time i make them they are not cooked. My mom is a master at baked potatoes…as well as everything else in the kitchen but that’s beside the point…microwave worked wonders! In 10 minutes they were cooked all the way through, I added ½ oz of goat cheese to add some flavor and BAM there is my carb for the day. Do not eat your potato with butter, sour cream, salt, bacon…yes I know, seriously? Who doesn’t have a fully loaded baked potato…remember HEALTHY. Uggh I have a feeling I am going to get sick of saying that…
This meal was delicious, the chicken came out so moist and the flavor was right on with the lemon and garlic. i will make this one again.
The P90X nutrition book says I should be having per day:
5 servings protein
2 servings dairy
1 servings fruit
2 servings veggies
1 serving carb
1 serving fat
3 servings snack
1 condiment (but we all know I am doing 2)
I know right? 5 servings of protein is a lot! But this is why it is the fat shredder stage, 1 carb and 1 fat. They say build up on protein because of the exercises. It all comes back full circle I guess, I need the energy in my body so I can get the energy I need for the exercises.
Snacks: I am a chocolate feen, i love dark chocolate milky ways, I have a candy jar on my desk and everyday i have some chocolate for a snack...yes this was before my P90X days...so to compliment that chocolate craving I have a chocolate PB protein bar. I get my chocolate fix and get my serving of protein.
Another snack that I just fell back in love with was string cheese. Remember when your mom would make your lunches for school and when you opened your bag and poured everything out on the table you eyes just lit up when you saw the string cheese...no?? Well mine did, and i have fallen back in love. One string cheese (low fat of course) is a healthy snack to have in between lunch and dinner.
Is it hard? Yes. the workouts kick my ass, but I am used to that because of soccer, but its the heathly eating. its the counting the ounces in a serving, its the planning ahead. I have to know what i am having for lunch so I can plan what I am having for my dinner. But I guess those are the growing pains. When you start something new it will not come natually, it takes time. Tick tock I guess...
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and 1 yogurt…blend…delicious
Chef salad – 3 oz turkey, 2 cups veggies, sprinkle with feta and goat cheese just to get the taste. Balsamic vinaigrette: balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, pepper, olive oil
Lemon, Honey and garlic chicken breast – 3 breasts about 8 oz each placed in a 8 x 8 cooking dish. Separate bowl mix 2 lemons squeezed, 2 tbls honey, 4 cloves of garlic chopped and a few splashes of worshestire sauce (Next time: add more lemon and honey so there is extra sauce at the end to pour over the chicken.) Pour mixture over the chicken, cover and refrigerate for an hr (turning chicken once).
Preheat oven to 425 and place chicken in a shallow baking/roasting pan and place on rack. Cook for 20 minutes, during this time baste the chicken with the lemon juice.
Once 20 minutes are up, set time for another 25 minutes and continue to cook, do no baste during these 25 mintues.
While chicken is cooking heat can of peas on the stove till it boils then turn to low and let it simmer for 15 more minutes uncovered.
In microwave cook baked potatoes. Poke holes in potato, wrap with a wet paper towel and cook away. Usually the microwave has a button for baked potato, if not I don’t know what to tell you. I never cooked a baked potato in the microwave before tonight, usually its in the oven for an hr, and most of the time i make them they are not cooked. My mom is a master at baked potatoes…as well as everything else in the kitchen but that’s beside the point…microwave worked wonders! In 10 minutes they were cooked all the way through, I added ½ oz of goat cheese to add some flavor and BAM there is my carb for the day. Do not eat your potato with butter, sour cream, salt, bacon…yes I know, seriously? Who doesn’t have a fully loaded baked potato…remember HEALTHY. Uggh I have a feeling I am going to get sick of saying that…
This meal was delicious, the chicken came out so moist and the flavor was right on with the lemon and garlic. i will make this one again.
The P90X nutrition book says I should be having per day:
5 servings protein
2 servings dairy
1 servings fruit
2 servings veggies
1 serving carb
1 serving fat
3 servings snack
1 condiment (but we all know I am doing 2)
I know right? 5 servings of protein is a lot! But this is why it is the fat shredder stage, 1 carb and 1 fat. They say build up on protein because of the exercises. It all comes back full circle I guess, I need the energy in my body so I can get the energy I need for the exercises.
Snacks: I am a chocolate feen, i love dark chocolate milky ways, I have a candy jar on my desk and everyday i have some chocolate for a snack...yes this was before my P90X days...so to compliment that chocolate craving I have a chocolate PB protein bar. I get my chocolate fix and get my serving of protein.
Another snack that I just fell back in love with was string cheese. Remember when your mom would make your lunches for school and when you opened your bag and poured everything out on the table you eyes just lit up when you saw the string cheese...no?? Well mine did, and i have fallen back in love. One string cheese (low fat of course) is a healthy snack to have in between lunch and dinner.
Is it hard? Yes. the workouts kick my ass, but I am used to that because of soccer, but its the heathly eating. its the counting the ounces in a serving, its the planning ahead. I have to know what i am having for lunch so I can plan what I am having for my dinner. But I guess those are the growing pains. When you start something new it will not come natually, it takes time. Tick tock I guess...
Day 1
Phase One: PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN
Day 1:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk…blend…delicious
Chef salad: 3 oz turkey, 2 cups veggies, light French dressing
Tilapia: broiled with fresh lemon juice and old bay sprinkled on top, broiled for 7 minutes.
Butternut squash soup: 3 cloves garlic and some onion (supposed to be 2 shallots but we all know shallot is an onion, right?? Cooked in vegetable stock vice olive oil till translucent, add more if it starts to scorch. Olive oil is considered a fat and with the salad dressing I had this afternoon I knew I needed to stay away from the fats and vegetable stock is a healthy alternative. in the pot I added 3 cups squash. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the squash is soft. Blend whats in the pot (garlic and stock included) into a blender or food processor, return to pot and cook till warm through.
Wish the soup had a better consistency/texture but it still tasted good. And boy did it smelt so good in the house, if you want your house to smell delicious cook some butternut squash.
Brown rice. This is horrible. Maybe I didn’t cook it long enough but it was hard and I could barely eat the cup I needed to. Next time: add lemon or lime juice to give it a little kick of flavor
Day 1:
Protein shake: protein scoop, cup of fruit and cup of milk…blend…delicious
Chef salad: 3 oz turkey, 2 cups veggies, light French dressing
Tilapia: broiled with fresh lemon juice and old bay sprinkled on top, broiled for 7 minutes.
Butternut squash soup: 3 cloves garlic and some onion (supposed to be 2 shallots but we all know shallot is an onion, right?? Cooked in vegetable stock vice olive oil till translucent, add more if it starts to scorch. Olive oil is considered a fat and with the salad dressing I had this afternoon I knew I needed to stay away from the fats and vegetable stock is a healthy alternative. in the pot I added 3 cups squash. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the squash is soft. Blend whats in the pot (garlic and stock included) into a blender or food processor, return to pot and cook till warm through.
Wish the soup had a better consistency/texture but it still tasted good. And boy did it smelt so good in the house, if you want your house to smell delicious cook some butternut squash.
Brown rice. This is horrible. Maybe I didn’t cook it long enough but it was hard and I could barely eat the cup I needed to. Next time: add lemon or lime juice to give it a little kick of flavor
So it begins...
Why am I doing this? Boredom? To get fit? I don’t know exactly why I decided to do this. My sister and her boyfriend started and she was talking to me about it one day and how it kicks your ass and really pushes you. Maybe that’s what I need I thought. I am a person who gets motivated about something at the start but if it does not keep my interest I lose motivation and go back to my old routine. The gym for instance, I went for 2 weeks then I grew tired of the guys who pumped iron till their veins were about to explode and the girls who worked out with their hair down…hate that…so I lost motivation and I stopped. I figured this P90X was something that could work. I brought it up to my boyfriend and of course he was on board (he was already a routine gym go-er) and a week later was day 1. I am not here to talk about my workouts because I think there are plenty blogs out there that talks about them and I do not think people want to hear about the pain and suffering I will be going through, I am here to talk about the cooking. You could call me a wanna-be Julie & Julia, but why not blog about how and what I cook as I go through this routine? I figured it would be good for me to write down how I feel about cooking but also give the readers, if there are any, a better/healthier way to cook. Now what I cook may not be “exactly” what is in the P90X nutrition book, but a slight moderation. For instance, I can only have one condiment a day. Really?? You are trying to tell me if I have a chef salad for lunch I either have the condiment for the dressing or wait till dinner and have it with my meal, who has a chef salad without a little bit of dressing or a chicken breast without a little marinade?? This brings up another issue…flavor…right now I think it is hard to have a delicious meal packed with flavor but also keep it healthy, maybe ill learn this along the way. So I am saying this disclaimer now, I will have 2 condiments a day vice 1, mainly because my boyfriend is allowed to have 2 and its just not fair.
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