Monday a Go-go

Finally sitting down and relaxing!!!  Feels good to have a cool fan blowing on me and able to write a quick post!

Workout
I did the elliptical today doing 5 minutes forward, 3 minutes backwards for 40 minutes set to level 6.0-7.0. 

After work today I had physical therapy and I had this on the drive there:

Physical therapy went well.  They had me ride the bike for 10 minutes at what felt like the hardest level possible.  Then I did a fair amount of strength/weight training and then I did a ton of balancing and stability exercises.  Like always, I ended with the stem and ice.  I can already tell I will need to ice it again tonight.  I did ask for some new stretches to help with my back because that is what I am assuming caused the lower back pain on the ride Saturday.  I spent about 1 hour 15 minutes in PT.

Got home and didn’t have a whole lot of effort to make a labor intensive dinner.  I snacked on some dried edamame, which I took a photo of, but apparently my camera decided it wanted to eat the photo.   

Dinner
I had marinated some top sirloin during the day with some white balsamic vinegar, red pepper, oregano, lime and a bit of chili pepper.  Then I seared it in a VERY hot pan for a minute a side and then cooked it in the oven at 400 degrees for 7:30 minutes.  This was WAY too long.  It probably could have been cooked for 5 minutes.  I flipped one time in the middle and then I let the meat rest for about 10 minutes.

I also cooked some corn, which is in my photo, but it was TERRIBLE.  I was so surprised.  Neither of us ate our corn.  Hopefully some of the other ears are better that we bought on Saturday.  We checked all of them, so don’t know what happened!

Then I cooked up some quinoa.  I mixed in a combination of fresh herbs–mint, oregano, basil, parsley, chives and rosemary, some balsamic vinegar and some soybean oil.  This turned out pretty boring.

When I was serving up our plates, I thought they looked bland, so I added some fresh sliced tomatoes with a little reduced fat olive oil mayo, S&P (just like my grandma used to always give us in the summer.) 

There are 2 slices of tomatoes with about 1T of mayo total, 1 ear of corn, 4 ounces of steak (I weighed it) and probably at least 1/4 cup of quinoa.

The steak and the tomatoes were the best part of the meal.  The corn went in the trash and the quinoa could have been skipped too.

I hate when meals turn out to be total backfires.  Well, I guess it wasn’t a total backfire, we didn’t have to order takeout.

After dinner, we did abs (number 4 out of my 6 promised to be done by Friday night) and then I started packing up the house.  I got a decent amount taken care of in one of our guest bedrooms and the other guest bedroom is basically a storage room anyway.  Hopefully if I just keep chipping away at the house slowly this move won’t be too terrible.

I am still hungry.  It isn’t a bored hungry.  I simply am still hungry so I am going to go find something to work as my late night snack.  Have a wonderful evening!  Oh yes, and I am going to bed early.  I need to be a little more awake and productive tomorrow!

Like always, Monday’s are Tough

This morning I really really really wanted to hit snooze.  But the thought of being rushed all morning I think is what dragged me out of our cozy bed.  Then I thought to myself–I am on vacation in 5 days!!!  Here is the deal with the vacation coming up Saturday.  We are going to Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic.  It is my mother, Justin and I.  To give you a few details why the three of us are going on vacation together, I would need to explain that my father passed away from colon cancer almost 2.5 years ago.  My parents liked to travel a lot (especially my mother) and since my dad died, she has been unable to really go on any fun, relaxing vacations.  So the decision was made that the three of us would go on a trip together.  I am looking forward to it. She is driving up on Friday evening and we fly out EARLY Saturday morning.  I think the traveling part may be the most interesting.  Justin and I are both light packers.  We like to pack in our backpacks and be carry-on only.  My mother is definitely not a carry-on only packer.  This actually works out in our favor (as long as the luggage arrives) because it means we can pack a ton of suntan lotion and after sun lotion without worrying about those silly 3 ounce restrictions.  The resort we are going to is all inclusive.  This also comes with pluses and minuses.  Love the fact that if I hate something, I don’t have to eat it.  Hate the fact that there is always food and drinks around…..and essentially for free because you paid when you got there.  And breakfast and lunches will be buffet style I am sure.  I should be okay for breakfast–aim for yogurt and oats or yogurt and cereal plus some fruit.  Lunch gets a little diceier.  I tell myself “make a huge salad” but then I see all the yummy other things and I sometimes get persuaded to eat less than ‘healthy’.  Lastly, there is the open bar situation.  Open bar=drinking all day.  Not to levels of real intoxication but over the course of many hours, I definitely can have my share of pina coladas.  Note to self: PACE YOUR SELF.  SELF CONTROL IS ESSENTIAL!  One thing is good, Justin and I always workout when we are on vacation.  The first thing we do every morning is go work out.  This resort has a fitness center with free weights, spin classes, aerobics, etc.  I will be there every morning trying to work off all the rum from the day before.  

I definitely woke up with some sore muscles.  I am okay with that.  It is a good, I worked out really hard, type of soreness.  Last night before I went to bed, I had this:

Half a slice (maybe 1/2 inch thick) of the cranberry orange bread

And a mug maybe 1/4 filled with non-fat kefir (about 1/4 cup). 

I am not sure if I really needed this stuff.  I felt snacky all night for something sweet and Justin did too.  I cut him a slice of the bread and really couldn’t refrain from having some myself.

Breakfast

This morning I was STARVING about 30 minutes before I ate.  I was a bit surprised because I felt like I had eaten so much yesterday, why was I so hungry so early? 

For breakfast I had 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of egg beaters, and less than 1/4 cup of pureed pumpkin.  I microwaved this for 3 minutes on 100%.  Then I added 1T of flax seed, 1 tsp of honey and some of that amazing evil granola.

You will be seeing this exact combination a lot this week because 1.) It was absolutely AWESOME and 2.) I need to finish off that can of pumpkin puree.

AM Snack

I needed to get rid of the last of the edamame (hope it is still good!).  There is maybe 1/2 cup in there.

I am planning on going to the gym over lunch and probably doing the elliptical or something along those lines.  I made need a caffeine pick me up between now and then.

Lunch

I went pretty simple.  Most of my food will be simple this week because I didn’t want to buy a lot of groceries knowing we are going out of town.

I just toasted 2 slices of Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat bread, smeared maybe 1T of hummus on top and then added some spinach.

Hopefully this won’t be as bland as it looks.  I usually like to add a few more ingredients to my sandwiches.

Then I made a side salad.  Spinach, carrots, tomatoes, cucs and I will add some Newman’s light honey mustard (1T) at lunch.

And because I forgot my Kozy Shack pudding, I had to grab what ever Target carried that was similar. Fat Free, 100 calorie chocolate and vanilla pudding.  It will make due.

PM Snack

I am happy to have my Kefir back!! I got non-fat strawberry flavored.  I brought a little cup of kefir and a small peach (it felt perfectly juicy when I picked it up this morning.)

(sorry about the bad photo.  Stupid flash!)

I have physical therapy after work today.  This week is going to be hectic.  I need to remember to get enough sleep because I hate being exhausted at work.

And look at these ADORABLE things I got from FoodBuzz on Friday afternoon.  I think they made my day (weekend?) because I keep looking at them and smiling.  You rock Foodbuzz!

(I deleted my last name for obvious reasons)

All the cards have these adorable backgrounds to them that are of different food related pictures. 

 

Hope everyone’s Monday is going okay….that you are at least awake, moving around and into work (if you have to be).