I finally decided to do it: almonds in my cereal. I've done almonds in yogurt, oatmeal, plain, etc. but never on cereal because I thought the consistency would be strange. It wasn't! I'm a big mixer so in this little concoction was Fiber One Honey Clusters, Original Puffins, about a tablespoon of almonds, strawberries, and 1% milk. This bowl of "cereal" is much more dynamic than your average Raisin Bran breakfast. It has carbs, protein, healthy fat, and a ton of fiber. It kept me full at least through class and my workout. I might try this more often.

My foot was still achy from my Tuesday run, so I didn't dare go for a jog again. I did 32 minutes on the elliptical and then walked on an incline on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I felt like such an old fogie. What 22-year-old is too sore to run on a normal basis? Lame. I also spent about 5 minutes just stretching my right Achilles tendon. A little trick before you work out is to pinch up and down your Achilles tendon to get the blood flowing all the way through your leg. This minimizes soreness and makes for a quicker start into your workout.

Lunch was so tasty. I had mozzarella, chicken breast, and marinara sauce, so I made a panini (obsessed, I know). I also had an apple. The second picture is supposed to display the gooey melted cheese but it just looks like I'm a bad photographer. Know this, I'm not!

Snack was almonds at work... woo hoo; something new and different for me!! Coffee not pictured but c'mon, we all know I had it. I was informed by mother dearest that I was on my own for dinner. Sweet. Fine. Wegman's will never leave you lonely. So I got the Philadelphia roll sushi. Soo good! The best sushi I had was in Bel Air (or thereabouts) in Maryland on a lovely December day last year. It. Was. So. Good. Wegman's is good for a substitute but until I have the Maryland one, I'll be searching for a filler. I had some leftover asparagus and green beans and a pear for "dessert." Just a few more days of no sweets... think I can do it? I'm going to.

This week has been so hectic! I'm happy it's finally Thursday and definitely ready for the weekend. Although I'm letting go for a lot this weekend, I still have a ton of stuff to do. Updating my blog was my...hmm... not first priority. So sorry about the delay.

Tuesday I woke up early and went for a run. Two days later and my foot is killing me. Not smart. I don't know why other than I just haven't been devoted to my rehab in a while. So I'm getting a little better but still not so much. I have a ton of exercises I should probably be doing right now actually... oh well. It's hard to take your shoes and socks off at work to do rehab. Anyway, about 4.5 miles on Tuesday, again with no headphones, again with no breakfast. I could feel the energy draining about 3 miles in. My legs were lagging. It was also raining, though, and that never helps anything. If any of you have had surgery before, or tendonitis, you know when the weather gets bad, so do your joints. All the aches and pains come back full throttle. It's not enjoyable.

I got home and made a bowl of Puffins and Fiber One. Yes, not that exciting but I was hungry and just wanted a big bowl of cereal. Not pictured is my delicious cup of coffee I chugged before class. An hour in I was so exhausted I could have used more. If I don't enough sleep Sunday night, I'm messed up all week. It's awful, but true. So I sat in class eyes glazed over. Nice.

Lunch was my last avocado and chicken lunch meat with light mayo for at least a day! Ha. It's so good though...hits the spot. I had it with an apple and almonds. Oops, forgot the almonds, but I'm guessing by now, you know what they look like.

I get done with class around 5:00 and had a hair appointment. It never fails to rain when I get my hair cut. Seriously, never. For the past 4 years I cannot even think of a time where it didn't. I love getting my hair washed and head massaged. I could get my hair cut every day! They offered me coffee and showed me to the cream and sugar. Obviously I was thinking Oh yes... free coffee! They didn't have any more stirrers! I had to shake my coffee (no lid, mind you). It was a horrible idea from the start but for some reason, I acted upon it. Smart, Jessie.

After my appointment, I went home lighter without the hair. I made a snack of some leftover mozzarella and pizza sauce on the butterfly crackers. Nice little quick salty fix.

Dinner was gooood. We had the Wegman's rotisserie barbecue chicken with a sweet potato, asparagus, and a pretzel roll. this easy dinner hit the spot. I usually don't eat skin on chicken but every once in a while it's so good. All the flavor (thus fat) is in the skin of the chicken, which is why it's usually prepared boneless/skinless. Still, it was good, and for $4.00, a good deal.

An apple and peanut butter as a late night snack. Still, no sweets! This is a record for me!

Today was just one of those days. The ones you try to sleep through your alarm and pretend it isn't going off. I tried. I got up and the first thing that happened was I forgot my proxy card to get into the parking garage. No big deal; I can park elsewhere. None of the "regulars" showed up at my class this morning. I must be sucking. Either that or they finally came to their senses about waking up early. I had three women who did show, two of which left early leaving me one-on-one. I loved the one-on-one. The woman could easily verbalize if she couldn't do something or didn't like an exercise. It made for a much better connection. Obviously, this won't be a norm but it was nice. So then I'm out of class and I change back into my uniform. I wore my black yoga pants and when I was trying to get them over my shoe I got caught and fell on the floor. I laughed it off. I walked over to put my bag in a locker and hit my head on a coat rack with no coats. I saw the direction things were going. I threw my gum into the trash can, missed. I opened my gym bag, shampoo had spilled everywhere. Forgot underwear, do that a lot. Forgot one clean sock. So it was a good morning. Class was cancelled! That was phenomenal. I got my work in finished by 10:00. That makes the rest of the day so nice. Oh right, same old same old early morning breakfast: oatmeal, almonds, apple. No coffee til way later! I was proud of myself.

Consequently, I also got great news today: I'm getting my wisdom teeth out! That's not the best part... The best part is that I'm getting them out on my two best friends birthdays!! What luck. That's gonna make for an interesting few days of food entries. Anyway, back to today. Of course, just like yesterday, still no lunch meat. I had to get creative. Not knowing I was making dinner, I made a mini pizza-type thing on my Oatnut bread with a banana. Nothing special but it tasted good, and hit the spot.

After a bunch of errands I had my usual caffeine headache and got my Starbucks with half milk/half my creamer. Delish.

I had two snacks today. One was a bowl of Puffin's cereal (don't be misled by the mini-wheats, I was just finishing the box). Sometimes cereal is really all I crave. I used to eat big bowls of it for dinner all the time.

My other snack was as I was making dinner. I had some leftover mozzarella and I put it on those butterfly crackers everyone knows so well. I added some of the pizza sauce and a thin slice of chicken... yes, I went to the grocery store, again.

Dinner was spectacular. I did everything tonight. I made meatballs subs and broccoli with a salad (avocado, almonds, heirloom tomatoes, cukes, and onion...oh and blue cheese dressing). My subs were good considering I just threw it all together. I was impressed. Melted fresh mozzarella... ummm.... I don't think it gets much better.

An apple and some almonds for "dessert." No sweets stinks, but strangely enough, if all day long I'm under the impression I won't have sweets, I don't crave them so much. Looks like I may win this bet after all. Maybe I should up the terms...

The Bet

Alex doesn't think I can go a week without sweets. Bring it on. This means no:

-On coffees: No drizzles, syrups, or whipped cream
-Ice cream
-Cake
-Brownies
-Cookies
-Candy
-Chocolate

This is going to be rough. I can't even eat the m&m's in my trail mix.

Boy, how excited was I to wake up and endure a day full of studying and errands! Typical breakfast-- you know the drill... Fiber One Honey Clusters, strawberries and skim milk.

I went to the gym for a quick workout because I knew I would be sitting on my toosh most of the day. My gym is really funny. Well, I go to two gyms. The rec center is the funny one. 90% of the people are senior citizens. Picture this: striped tube socks, sweat bands, black Reebok tennis shoes shuffling across the floor, high waisted shorts and old sweat stained tee shirts. They walk around in swooshie pants too... and spend most of their time chatting to one another. One hardcore lady always runs with her shirt off; she is probably over 70 years old. She thinks she is hot shit too, excuse my french. She knows all the oldies are looking at her. She isn't really happy when the young vixen 40 year olds come in and steal her thunder. It always makes me laugh when I picture myself amidst this crowd. I did the elliptical and an ab workout.

In between working out and lunch I grabbed a coffee. I wanted my pumpkin creamer so I mixed a tablespoon of my 1% milk with a tablespoon of the creamer. I know that sounds weird but the creamer is 35 calories per serving (tbsp). So, two servings (which is about how much I use) is 70 calories! That's a lot for just a bit of creamer. I mix the milk (7 calories a tbsp) with the creamer, and it's much more like my typical half and half. That was a good cup.

I studied for a few hours and then was pretty hungry. I got deli sliced turkey and ham from Wegman's a few days ago and used that and some avocado on a sandwich. I'm becoming obsessed. I've been through about 4 avocados this week! I had an apple on the side--big surprise right?

This light lunch allows room for a good snack, so I had a banana with a tbsp of peanut butter and a few chocolate chips. I love this snack. Peanut butter and banana is awesome... peanut butter and chocolate is superb. The combination is heavenly. If you can't tell... I don't often just slop things together. I take time to enjoy every time I eat. I make it an "experience." Yes, its time consuming but it makes me happy.

I had big plans to go out Friday night... maybe even out to dinner before. B-U-S-T. I was so bummed! First, I just decided to make my own dinner because if I went out I wanted something light. I got all ready, make up, hair, etc. to learn I was just going to spend the night in. I had an exam in the morning (Saturday... I know, horrible) so I just got ready for it. Of course Susie and Dick bring home sweets Friday night and it's chocolate cake!!!! Ughh.. I have no willpower. And I'll eat it until it's gone!

It was Trader Joe's double chocolate and it is absolutely fantastic. They also bought caramel swirl Edy's slow churn. Night out on the town....or cake an ice cream? You decide...

I'm so hungry right now. It's 8:13 p.m. and I haven't eaten dinner yet! Absurd. It's in the oven. I realized today that I haven't been 100% honest on my blog because in between my healthy snacks and dinners I have nibbles of this and that there. I'm going to try to either catch myself in the act or start owning up to it. I had many nibbles yesterday but I already forget them. I decided to let myself sleep in until 8:00 a.m. yesterday. What a luxury! I had an exam that I needed to study for so I had to get up early anyway...unfortunately.

Breakfast was simple-- Fiber One Honey Clusters with strawberries and 1% milk. I've drank skim a lot recently but am finding it's just not really that tasty. Unless you get "super" skim, which is essentially a thicker version--much better. The problem with this breakfast is the lack of fat. I get protein from the milk, and some from the cereal, tons of fiber and carbohydrates, but no fat to keep me satiated. So in a few hours, I'm already hungry. I got coffee before class. Even though I thought it would be this great idea to buy store coffee and make it myself, it never tastes as good! Maybe I need to invest in a new/better coffee pot.

So I went to the grocery store which conveniently has it's own Starbucks and when the woman asked if I wanted cream I said "just a little." What I got was half a cup of coffee with enough room for about a half cup of cream. She even had an attitude when I asked for more. I hate unfriendly people. Right before me a woman ordered oatmeal and no joke, the clerk threw everything into the bag as if she had an agenda. It was bizarre. The pumpkin creamer + Starbucks coffee was okay. I think Starbucks has too much of it's own bold taste, and wasn't complemented well my the pumpkin. It still tasted good... but something was off. Come to think of it, I think the coffee might have been a little cool. Gross. Anyway, that's entirely too much time spent on my coffee.

I forgot to take a picture of lunch!!! Luckily, I had the same sandwich as Monday, so if you're desperate to see, it's up there. Avocado, turkey, ham, black pepper on Oatnut. No mayo or tomato this time...still delightful. Not as messy. I had an apple with cinnamon too. I didn't have a big lunch because right after class I planned on working out and I didn't want to be heavy. I sailed through my exam and soon enough I was leaving the NOVA campus and on my way home. It was soooo nice outside. For a fall day--wow. Bright sun, slight breeze. It was the perfect day for a run. But... I didn't. Ugh, my foot is killing me! (Figuratively, not so much literally). So I went for a walk. Lame, yes. A good substitute, yes. In the past, this would not have sufficed as a good workout, but I'm listening to my body. The pain in my foot/ankle is getting pretty bad. I'm not talking a small sore. So hopefully it will improve with rehab and lighter workouts but I am really bad at taking it easy.

After my walk I was hungry, so I made one of my favorite snacks: banana with peanut butter and shredded chocolate. I know, I know, it doesn't look that appetizing-- but it is. I had plans to go out to dinner and so I had a few hours to kill. Between the few hours I got hungry again. Big surprise. I just had a corn tortilla with avocado and sour cream. A true treat, right? Ha.

Dinner was at one of my favorites-- Noodles and Company. It's pretty cheap and doesn't feel like "fast food." They also have a section of healthy choices on their menu-- I didn't go that route. Oops. I usually get the Japanese Pan Noodles, which I love, but instead I went with the mushroom stroganoff with extra mushrooms and broccoli. They definitely skimped me. I asked for it instead of meat so I thought they would at least plump it up a bit. Wrong-o. Also, I think they skimped me a bit on the sauce. That's okay in my book, because it was a cream sauce. They call it a "light" cream sauce. I guess it's true advertising.

I had a diet soda before dinner--bad idea. Diet soda is sweetened by artificial sugars, which have been linked to causing sweet cravings. When you drink a diet soda, your mind isn't satisfied by the fake sugar, and thus craves real sugar. It also may be because diet soda is so sweet, that you just want more of the feeling. True sugar releases endorphins. Fake sugar, does not. So what can turn into a small nibble of a cookie here or a spoonful of ice cream can lead to a binge. I've tried drinking less diet soda, but when I do... this sweet attack always occurs. I dove right into a bag of candy at home and had a couple Dove Chocolates. Knowing full well what I was about to embark on, I tried tricking myself and I made a caramel apple. No, this wasn't exactly what I wanted, but the apple kept me chewing long enough for the true craving to pass. And long enough for me to regain control of the situation. I know this probably sounds crazy for all you completely normal eaters out there, but like I said, I've struggled some in the past, and it's really important for me to keep my habits in check.

Success... sort of. I'm getting better as I keep posting. I feel bad posting a lie, so I just don't. Time to go. Happy Wednesday!

Well... today was supposed to be productive, and I can't say I failed miserably. Even though I had a ton of time today, it seemed to slip away. This usually seems the case but I've been hoping to just get a chance to relax and take my time getting back into the swing of the week. Nope. Monday mornings are always early, and this one was no different. Jump and Pump at 6:00 a.m. It's impressive people come. Well... they used to. This week I only had 2 participants, and one was late. It was really chilly out, and my boss told me numbers drop drastically when it's cold. He might have just been saying this to not bruise my ego... but I'm choosing to believe it's the weather. Before the class I had my apple, and after I practically scarfed down my oatmeal and almonds. Oatmeal becomes so much more appealing when it's cold outside. It almost tastes like an indulgence...okay that's a bit of a stretch but a big bowl of warm gooey sweet stuff is usually pretty easy to put down. The almonds add a nice crunch and nutty flavor. Good combo, in my book.

Just like clockwork, 7:00 came around and I actually resisted coffee!!! (Until 7:45) I gave in and decided it was worth it. I have to drink coffee to survive my nutrition class because my teacher is just the most worthless professor I have ever had. That's another story. Right after class I headed to the gym and as promised, I took it easy. My bad ankle/foot has been super sore lately and I stopped doing rehab months ago. Oops. Yeah. Bad. Don't ever stop doing rehab. Your body only gets older with age. Obviously, right? But seriously, it's not going to get any easier for me. I was told I have the knees of a 30 year old when I was 19. That's dimming the future a little. So I only did the elliptical for 30 minutes... and not hard. I just blazed through it at an easy pace. I spent a lot of time stretching. When you're super active, it's easy to neglect stretching but it felt oh-so-good. By then, it was lunch time. We didn't have any bread or lunch meat so I made a grocery store stop. (Three in 18 hours I think). I got my favorite bread of all time which I usually neglect because it's 120 calories a slice. I usually would recommend about 70-90 calories per slice, but this bread is just so good. It's Arnold's Oatnut. I've been a fan for about 6 years but haven't had it forever. I only used one slice for my sandwich because it's a pretty big piece. I had deli sliced ham and turkey and put avocado and tomato. I used avocado instead of cheese/mayo as a healthy fat alternative. Grapes on the side. Yummy sandwich. Okay grapes.

A few hours into errands and whatnot, I got hungry and went into the cabinets for my roasted, salted trader joe's almonds. MISSING. My parents ate them all. It was a sad day. Susie did buy more trail mix though. It's alright... not my favorite. It's called Wake Up, or something like that, because it has chocolate covered espresso beans. It's good, not great. It did keep me satisfied until dinner though, and that is a feat, so I'll give it credit. So then, I needed more coffee and I didn't want to leave the house but we had no fresh stuff. I made another grocery trip and got pumpkin coffee and a pumpkin spice creamer. The coffee wasn't good! I think it was like the bottom of the barrel leftover type thing. The creamer is delicious and now I realize why pumpkin coffee from Dunkin is so good. The creamer is PACKED with sugar. But it's one tablespoon and honestly, it's not going to break the bank so I go for it.

I don't often say this. Dinner stunk. I was super excited for my first try at ratatouille. Let me first inform you: I didn't make it. Susie did (no offense, you're usually a good cook!). It was a flavorless blend of egg plant, zucchini, squash, onions, basil, and tomato. This sounds right up my alley. I had to drown it in Parmesan for it to be okay. And this was the "main dish." We had it with quinoa, which is really good! I've never had it before. It's a nuttier rice-type dish known for it's high levels of protein. We had really good cinnamon raisin rolls with a salad on the side. The main dish lacked but everything else was alright. Overall....not the best dinner ever.

To make up for the lackluster dinner I cleaned out the cookie dough ice cream. Yum. Ice cream can never harm. This I know. It's the way to my heart. Just ask someone who knows :)

Until next time....