Back into the Swing of Things

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diet, eco-friendly, exercise log, healthy foods, my workout, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan diet, vegan dinner, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

Welcome back to the work week everyone!  It’s always nice to have a holiday weekend but then it’s great to start up daily life again.  I’m a workaholic so you have to bear with that comment.  I guess it is always a healthy mixture of work and play that is the best type of life.

Getting back into the swing of things is the best, the first day back I am always full of energy and filled to the brim with high spirits.  This morning I got the husband awake without any problems and things moved smoother than normal.  We actually got everything ready before we normally have even gotten out of bed.  So the hubster and I got to take the pooch on a short walk together for once.  Hooray!  A short walk in the morning just gets the blood flowing and puts the entire day into perspective.  I think it gets me motivated to do housework early in the morning and the husband wakes up a little easier before leaving the house.

Off with the husband to work and me to the kitchen.  I decided that it was the perfect morning to make some lemon poppyseed muffins with lemon curd spread.  Both were of course vegan and lemony fresh!  Mmmm  I feel sorry for my neighbors because they had to smell the delicious treats coming from our house so early in the morning when they are probably eating cold cereal or oatmeal.  Sorry neighbors!  The muffins are minis – don’t you just love cute, little muffins?  They are cute and you can eat a few of them since they are smaller than a normal muffin.  Best of both worlds…

After completing the dishes, I cleaned the downstairs bathroom and did a little picking up before I started to get some work done.  Around 9AM I realized I had only eaten two small muffins and not breakfast.  So, I warmed up some leftover tofu scramble with fresh basil and two slices of homemade toast with vegemite and vegan butter.  Not the most exciting breakfast but at least it filled me up for the next few hours until lunch.

Lunch time came faster than I had expected.  I decided upon a nice bowl of leftover barbeque beans and a Luna Bar – Lemon Zest – yum!  The groundskeeper was tossing some sort of chemical on the ground in the form of pellets so my sinus were bothering me a bit.  Hence, I did not eat as much as maybe I should done.  In the afternoon I caught up though with two mini lemon poppy seed muffins and a bowl of frozen grapes.  If you haven’t had frozen grapes run to your kitchen freezer now and toss some in – you will not regret it!  Yum!

The afternoon went faster than expected too since it was filled with more writing for work and some planning for household events.  I looked down at the clock and found that the hard working man was about to come home for the evening.  I love it when that happens!  It was very steamy outside and unfortunately the husband did not want to venture out for a good run.  Boo!  It has been way too long since we ran last – I might just head to the gym tomorrow while the husband is at work just to get in a good workout – sweating it out never felt so good!  Undecided though, I guess I am to blame if I don’t get down there during the day.  Ugh, I do so love blaming others….  Darn, this time I can’t though.  Ah, well, might as well get another hobby.  Hehe

Since there was no workout, we went to the store and got some bulk tomatoes, watermelon and other veggies and fruits we needed.  Yum! I love bulk health food!  Saving money is nice whenever it is possible, but I’m not going to purchase 500 units of something that I have no usage for like those brainy people on Extreme Couponing.  How do they do that?

On to supper which I had prepared earlier in the day which just happened to be Yukon Gold White Bean Basil Burgers by Mama Pea.  I didn’t make any hamburger buns today since the husband hasn’t wanted any and they have been going bad before we get to them.  I should replenish the freezer with a batch or two though this week.  He goes off and on for his tastes so I’m sure he will flip pretty soon and I should be prepared just in case.  We placed the burger on a large plate of mixed organic greens with tomato, cucumber and for the husband a little mixed trail mix from Trader Joe’s.  I also had some prepared Japanese Ginger Vinegar Dressing that we sprinkled on the salad.

So, no exercise again tonight.  I’m really getting worried about our laziness lately – well, we have been walking and biking but not enough to count for a good workout to lose weight.  I was shocked to see that I had actually gained (yes, gained) four pounds on our hiking trip.  Seriously?  How does a person do that?  I know I have to work it off but I guess I’m sad at myself for gaining those pounds and fighting the work I have to once again do for it – grrr….

Tonight we are working on the laptops once again and eating a new batch of freshly stove popped popcorn made with coconut oil and freshly ground sea salt.  Yum!

Strawberries ‘N Cream Oatmeal Recipe

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diet, eco-friendly, healthy foods, healthy recipe, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan diet, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan recipe, vegan recipes, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

You’ve read it here before but I’m always saying it, so I’m sure you will read it about a million times again.  Sorry, you can read forward if you would like, I understand.  But, this morning I felt inspired with the strawberries in our fridge that we purchased last night.  Normally when I prepare an oatmeal breakfast I place organic brown sugar to sweet the bland flavor of oatmeal.  It bothers me though that I can’t eat oatmeal without the natural sweetener in it, since I want to reduce the sugar in my diet.  So, I thought, why not try to use the strawberries instead of sugar – yeah, not my favorite but oh the smell!  I ate half but I’m sure my husband is going to love the other half.

5 strawberries

¼ – ½ c almond milk (unsweetened)

½ traditional oatmeal

1 c filtered water

 

Make your oatmeal how you make it everyday.  In a blender, toss in the strawberries and almond milk.  Blend until smooth.  Once the oatmeal is cooked, toss in the strawberry mixture and stir well.  If the mixture is too cold, warm it up a little more.  If the temperature is perfect, simply toss a spoon in and enjoy!

Vegan Hiking & Camping Day 1

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The morning started off very early with my husband angrily telling me to “take a hike”.  Okay so maybe I was pestering him to get out of bed at 5:30AM but still the rudeness!  Lol Thankfully he wasn’t angry long since we were trying to get last minute preparations complete before our long day ahead of us.

Around 6:30AM I was able to con him into getting out of bed and on to our day.  It started off with last minute grooming since showers and other running water were not going to be available for the next 3 days.  Gasp!  Seriously who chose no running water for 3 days?  Oh, wait, that waving finger is pointing at me – oops!

On to the packing of the car and prepping the house with kitty proof living accommodations.  The poor cat had to stay home, but secretly I think she loves to rule the place while we’re gone.  After that a full tank of petrol was needed and an essential trip to Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market for food was necessary.

At Trader Joe’s we purchased 2 packages of Baked Tofu (which can go without refrigeration for a few days- thank goodness!), peanut butter filled pretzels (so addictive), coconut water, and sunflower seed butter with whole grain bagels.  Whole Foods was more of a breakfast run since they have freshly baked scones and muffins that are vegan.  It’s really the only place around that has vegan breakfast options.  It is sad though that the pastries are not made in the store but rather dough is made off premises and shipped to the store location.  Our store only bakes the dough to give off the impression its made “in-house”.  Tricky, tricky!  But, even though the scones are over 500 calories each they are tasty and vegan.  So, just to be safe we purchased 2 scones and 2 muffins.  I was disappointed though since the label on one of the scones stated “sprouted whole grain” but turned out to be Carrot Raisin.  Yuck!  Then I also found a new tea by a company called Argo Tea.  It was green tea and ginger root – 2 of my favorites!  Unfortunately it’s made in America so they added cane sugar – yuck!  Why is it the American company’s believe consumers want sugar in green tea?  Oh well, at least it wasn’t stevia!!

After our shopping run we were off to Pennsylvania, USA.  I had one more trick up my sleeve though thanks to HappyCow.net.  In Erie, PA which our GPS was telling us was the perfect route for our trip, there is a co-op store and restaurant that provide almost an entire menu of vegan food!  It is called, Fresh Horizons Café in the Co-Op Store.  (1341 West 26^th Street, Erie, PA 16508)  We had so many options, we sat in our car drooling over the menu for a good 5-10 minutes.  There was even a separate kids menu that was full of healthy options – not just the normal mac-n-cheese, chicken fingers and etc you see in other restaurants.  I settled upon a baked tofu with basil pesto sandwich while the husband went for the Walnut Lentil Burger on a whole wheat bun.  We ordered the food to-go; I sat in the hot car with the dog and the loyal husband sat inside waiting.  We were a little disgruntled with one employee at the counter.  We asked him how long it usually takes for take-out orders since we were new to the place.  (Not to mention I was sitting outside in a car with over 80’s weather.)  We were told the food was going to get to us so just be patient and wait.  Those were his exact words…  Not the best impression to give new customers, especially ones just inquiring – not being pushy.  We would recommend the restaurant but make sure you have plenty of time since we waited 30 minutes.  The food was fresh, tasty and organic but the to-go packaging was impossible to eat on the go.  We ate in shifts while switching drivers so that we wouldn’t make a mess of the car.  Additionally, check your orders before you leave since they messed up our orders and forgot our side dishes.

Next we took a needed puppy stop in Jamestown, PA.  We found one of the rest stops along the way and boy are we glad we did.  It was gorgeous~!  The view was amazing and there was plenty of picnic tables and dog walking grass.  We stayed for an extra 10 minutes just to take in the views.  Apparently the river has a rich history of being frozen over and immigrants moved away from NYC to this location to “harvest” ice.  I was thinking about moving there merely for the view!  The dog really loved the area too which is always a plus.

Finally, after about 5 hours or so on the road we managed to hit the Allegheny National Forest.  All of a sudden you start to see mountains approach (okay so maybe really large hills but to a Midwest girl it’s mountains) and its one of the most gorgeous things.  It’s not until you get to a natural setting like the forest that you really feel the sheer power of God’s power and ability – we are not in charge but rather small brings on this big earth.  It puts everything into perspective once again.

By this time it was around 2PM and we decided to find a plot for our camp and pay our $10.00 rental fee for 2 nights.  Putting up our tent was easy, thank goodness since it was raining very hard by the time we were finished.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a large tent but when you have to put it up or take it down a simple small tent is the best way to go.  We were finished in about 20 minutes or less, considering it was our first time doing it outdoors that is a good time.  Afterwards we wanted to go test out my husband’s anniversary present from me, a Garmin Oregon 450t Hiking GPS.  I had to have it ordered and shipped in one-day just for our trip.

Thankfully we had a dog backpack that I rigged for our pooch.  She’s a little dainty so we didn’t want her to walk the entire time we were hiking; she would never had made it.  She loves to go places though so the backpack was the best option.  We looked for a “child carrier” or a “canine carrier” but our stores had neither so we had to make our own.  Ah well, it was cheaper and caused no harm.  Our GPS gave us the straight route to the geocache and we were off.  We were a little worried though since the route was extremely steep at times and we had to do some major climbing in pouring rain.  We actually were never lost thanks to the GPS but we did take about 3 hours to go about 2 miles – and it was extreme hiking almost to the point of climbing!  At times we were not sure if we were going to make it out or not.  Finally we got tired of the rain since the entire time we couldn’t see in front of us and gave up for the night.  It was starting to get dark and we had never been to the area so I’m sure it wasn’t safe for us to go out on this adventure.  Plus, did I mention there is almost no cellular reception in the mountains?  Yikes!

Finally back at camp our hiking boots were soaked all the way through, our clothes were muddy and full of water and we were really tired.  (The pooch was A-Okay!)  Amazingly our spirits were not down, just our motivation to do much.  My brother in law had made it to camp and put up his own tent (on a small declined area hill – tisk tisk).  He had already started his grill and was making his dinner for himself.  We decided to hurry and toss on some warm, dry clothes and get to the dinner making also.

Vegan Camping Dinner #1:  Vegan Chickenless patties on the grill, corn on the cob, an apple and some mustard flavored pretzels.  We made the meal outside under umbrellas and took the food inside one of the tents since it was still raining hard!  Nothing special but very tasty when you just did three hours of hiking in extreme rain and had worked off all your energy.  The Bro-in-law even loved the chickenless patties that he ate 1.5 of them on top of his sausage he had brought himself.  Haha  He’s a carnivore but he decided to eat our vegan food instead.  (sorry, I was so wet I forgot to take a photo of our dinner…)

A little chat and then we were off to our own tents.

 

Slight Stumble But With Cookies

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Rolling out of bed was a bit easier today, mainly due to the sunshine streaming through the windows.  It wasn’t bad to wake up to a handsome man either.  I just knew today was going to be better than yesterday.

Even though I stumbled down the stairs after falling over the cat, who believed her newest nesting spot is the top of the stairs in the dark, I kept positive.  For the husband I prepared another simple breakfast of oatmeal mixed with a little cinnamon.  I then topped it with a glob of Trader Joes’ Sunflower Seed Butter and a Cinnamon Banana Scramble patty( recipe from the delightful Edible Perspective Website).  Off to work I sent him with a bottle of coconut milk and his leftover bento lunch.  He said that it was the perfect breakfast and very filling so I guess the job was done.  For me, I ate a banana with 1.5 cups of coffee and started to work.  After about two hours, I made myself a bowl of traditional oatmeal, a little cinnamon, 1 tbsp Wheat Germ, 1 tbsp Chiaseeds and 2 tsp brown sugar.  It was enough food to fill me until around 11.  (Sorry no photo since I don’t know how to post a photo from flickr)

My morning was full of working on a health article for a client and catching up on some news articles.  It was not a busy morning but at least I jumped back into work and got to use my brain.  Around 11, I remembered that my lovely man broke apart the watermelon last night and placed it into some Tupperware for snacking.  Hooray! I love watermelon!!!  It’s the perfect gift and I couldn’t resist eating it as a snack.  I ate about two cups full of watermelon by myself.  Yum!

I'm Addcited to Watermelon!

Next was lunch and I filled an entire adult plate with mixed organic greens.  I topped with about two tbsp Carrot, Mint, & Raisin Salad and 1 serving of Tofurky deli slices.  Still hungry I was bad and went ahead to slice an apple and have 1 tbsp sunflower seed butter with it as a snack right after lunch.  Oops!  I love sunflower and/or peanut butter but the fat content is rather high and I’m trying to reduce my fat intake since I’m addicted to the foods with high amounts of it.  At least I ended with just 1 tbsp and not more.  *happy dance*

Boring Tofurky Salad

After lunch I had to get some more work done.  Along with a much needed nap (still very low of energy due to TOM), I napped and then got some housework done.  I’ve been very lazy when it comes to housework lately so I’ve been feeling rather guilty.  Thankfully the husband hasn’t mentioned anything about it so I guess my miniscule amount of work done has been enough for this last week.  Why is it that when you get back from vacation it is so hard to jump into old schedules?  It’s harder to come back than to leave.

Nap Time

Darling Husband Man came home and he was having some shoulder pain.  Not sure if it’s just his old age (not really but he is a few hours older than me) or he slept on his arm wrong.  He has worried about it the entire day so he didn’t want to do any exercise at all to inflame or irritate it anymore.  Poor husband!  He took his shower and then I put some “old man cream” on him.  I think the stuff is called “ICY HOT” or something like that – my sister and I used to tease my father with called it “old man cream” so the name stuck.  Unfortunately if it doesn’t work, I think we need to make a call to the doctor since it has been bothering him lately – hopefully it isn’t anything too serious.

After creaming the man up, I washed my hands and then made dinner.  We have a delightful homemade tomato sauce (recipe from 30 Minute Vegan Cookbook) and transportation pasta from World Market.  Alongside I had grilled asparagus, cherry tomatoes, leftover Carrot, Mint, & Raisin salad and some homemade garlic bread (on homemade rye bread).  It was a lot of food and we were satisfied with the meal but wished the tomato sauce wasn’t as sweet – the husband of course loved the sweetness.  I ended up not eating the pasta and munching on the garlic bread (2 small slices) and the salad with tomatoes.

30 Minute Vegan Cookbook

If making a full homemade meal wasn’t enough, the husband looked a little hungry still so I decided that it was high time I made some more cookies for him.  Big Gigantoid Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies are now filling the air with a delicious scent now.  Two cookies down for both of us (we made them smaller this time) and I think we are both satisfied.  I find pasta never fills me up so I tend to bypass it for other things that will that content usually less calories.

For the rest of the night, I plan on relaxing with the family.  My goal for tomorrow is to finally get some exercise in – even if it does rain like the weatherman is threatening.

I've Set My Goal

Vegan Detox Go

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Traveling is one of my all-time favorite hobbies, besides food, of course.  So, when my husband agreed to going to Niagara Falls, Canada two weekends ago and Michigan, USA last weekend, I was thrilled.  A few years ago, it would have been easy to go from travel mode to home front mode but now it does take a little more effort as a health conscious vegan family.

Now that we are finally home for a few weeks our bodies are slightly out of line.  I’m talking about that dreaded feeling of low energy, slight constipation (sorry it’s the truth), low motivation and so on.  I could go on and on but I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about…  Unfortunately, the backfire of traveling doesn’t end right when you get home.  So as a general rule, I’m taking this week to really get my butt motivated and back into the swing of working out and eating healthy vegan food.  I’m in “detox” mode I guess one could say – but really I’m just eating fresh clean food that is vegan.

My vegan “detox” is all about getting nutrients and minerals from natural vegan food sources instead of processed ingredients.  Have you ever noticed how much better you feel after you kick those processed vegan products out the door?  Simply amazing!  God provided us all with such healthy options but many of us haven’t found the true essence of this amazing gift.  In fact, my bestie from Australia hates vegetables and fruits!  Even though I love her, I wish she would eat a little more of these two foods so that she would see the fuel benefits for her body too.  It’s not a hidden secret!  In fact, I was reading an interesting article today that suggested that the written media was actually telling America citizens to cut out meat for a healthier lifestyle way back in the 1970’s!  That’s over 40 years of people not listening to healthy and science experts. Ah, well, I guess I’ll keep trying to convince you Sarah…

As for my plan, I am keeping to fresh foods from the farmer.  Along with nuts and beans, I’m eating healthier than when we left for vacation.  Last night I made a raw vegan collard green rollup that contained sprouted lentils along with some tomato couscous.  It was so filling and healthy for the body.  I’ll post the recipe later.  Then today I have eaten leftovers and fruit the entire day.  I just love the food that has going into my body.

Almost Completely Raw Vegan - Yum!

So have I seen any changes?  Absolutely!  I have lost the extra four pounds I saw when we got home from vacation.  When I returned home and saw these extra pounds had snuck up on me I about threw the weight scale out the window.  Let’s just saw I wasn’t sweet talking the scale for the first few days.  But, I reminded myself that it is about determination and motivation that gets the job done.  So my husband and I got back out there and ran like there was no tomorrow.   Additionally, I have gotten rid of my constipation and am on a “normal schedule”, feel no bloating, and have more energy even with all this heat we have today.

Tonight the husband and I are going to spend some time weight-lifting indoors (which I’m sure I will be in pain tomorrow).  The UV index is considered “very high” today at 8 out of 12 so it’s not safe to run outdoors until the sun goes down.  You are so not going to see my white tosh outside running at 10PM, sorry sooo not going to happen…  Then for dinner I’m thinking a type of dried seaweed sheet rollup with tons of fresh veggies and herbs.  But that’s still in the thinking process right now.

Any suggestions for vegan and/or raw vegan dinners?  I’d love your input!!!

Back in the States with a Green Salad Recipe

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diet, healthy foods, healthy recipe, vegan, vegan diet, vegan dinner, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan recipe, vegan recipes, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

Finally back in the states and hungry for all homemade meals we were tonight.  There is nothing like eating vegan food while out on a vacation but no matter the size of the trip, it is always nice to be back home eating homemade meals.  It was a thrill to try out all these wonderful new entrees from different chefs but there is nothing like a nice green salad when you get home to encourage the stomach to return to its’ normal state.  Here’s something that I whipped together tonight for dinner on this gorgeous 80F/27C night.  It is more filling than it sounds and really pumps the body back up with vitamins.  Hooray!

Green Chopped Chickpea Salad

Serves 6 Hungry People

1 lemon juice + zest

1/4 c olive oil

3 tbsp basil

3 tsp oregano

1 tsp dill

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

7 kalamata olives, diced

1 1/4 c chickpeas, cooked

1/4 c onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2-1 c celery, chopped

1/2 pd tofu, cubed

1/2 cucumber, diced

1 zucchini, diced

Mix the liquids together in a small jar or container.  Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix with the liquid mixture.  Enjoy!

For dinner we also had:

I made homemade Inari Zushi while the husband watched Indy 500 which we missed this year.

Note:  Since I was tired from being on the road, I tossed the dry chickpeas and water in a small crockpot for about 4 hours and let the electricity do the work.  It works beautifully and without all the sodium that comes in the canned type.  Easy Peas’y!!!

Revised Orange Chia Flax Pudding Parfait

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It traveled nicely!

My husband loves breakfast! He could eat it just about any time of the day, which sometimes he does to tell you the truth. Secretly I think it is about the sugar that comes along with breakfast food that allures him so deeply into his favorites but if I am making healthy items, I guess that doesn’t matter right?

So, I tend to spend more hours that I wish to express to anyone on looking for new ideas for breakfast. I can whip together many things such as stir-fries and porridges but the “something new” request always boggles my mind. Thankfully I found this new, exciting recipe from the ever, delightful Singers’ Kitchen online. She had me hooked with chiaseeds but then again I would live at her house with all those delightfully delicious looking photos! I have been making chocolate chiaseed pudding for a while now but I thought it was interesting to try out her parfait idea with real freshly squeezed orange juice. I had some oranges sitting around so why not…

I juiced the oranges as my first step. I love juices but I really do not care for the cleanup process. We have a juicer but it does have a lot of pieces to clean afterwards and it never fails, I always make a mess of the entire kitchen. I’ll be deep cleaning the kitchen a few days after I juiced something and find juice spots on the entire opposite side of the kitchen under the toaster oven or something. How does that even happen?

I made the directions pretty close to what the original recipe was however I did have to change a few things seeing that the first try didn’t work out and that I wanted to reduce the calories and sugar. Plus, I couldn’t get the original recipe to set up, it was too running.

My changes to the original posted here:

½ c chiaseeds
1 tbsp flaxseed, ground
1 c freshly squeezed orange juice
1 banana, sliced
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

Basically just mix the juice and seeds together in a container. Let it sit for 10 mins in the fridge. Then you layer the OJ pudding with the bananas and strawberry slices. It works great! My husband gave it a silent two thumbs up which is an honor to get.

Calories 296.4 Total Fat 4.5 g Saturated Fat 0.6 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.2 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 5.9 mg Potassium 840.3 mg Total Carbohydrate 64.0 g Dietary Fiber 7.7 g Sugars 26.2 g Protein 4.5 g

So, I added a healthy avocado to spread over a baquette for his bento breakfast.

5/19/11 Weigh Loss Log

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diet, diet log, exercise journal, exercise log, healthy foods, my workout, running, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan diet, vegan dinner, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

Photo:  Travel Pasta from a “gourmet” store called World Market.  It has tomato and spinach in it!  Plus, who could say no to trains, airplanes and cars.  I know I can’t!

There really is a sun! Hooray! I’m thrilled that Mother Nature took a day off from teasing us Northerners and gave us a glimpse of what the sun looks like while shining down on us. The pooch and I really took advantage of the sunshine (mostly cloudy but there were patches of sunshine), and took three walks. She is always more than glad to help in her momma’s need for more exercise. She after all take exercise very seriously by getting plenty of sleep, doing a little stretch yoga after each rest, and of course the walks that she accomplishes daily is more than a normal person would get in a week! Such a good puppy!

I’m proud of myself today. Even though we have scheduled for the day to be off, I managed to motivate myself to go to the gym while my husband was at work in the daytime! Best decision! Have you ever been to the gym in the morning hours before lunchtime? I left around 10AM and it was completely to myself for most of an hour. It was amazing. Hence, I didn’t have to get the treadmill that yells and sounds like the belt is on the last foot. Hooray! I got the brand new treadmill and felt very special. Anything counts when you are working out. I decided that I was wanted to run a 5k in under 30 minutes. For some reason I could have done it last year but since winter I have gotten a little slow. But, I’m slowly working myself back up to it. I ran the entire thing in 32 minutes which is about the pace that I have been running lately. My first mile is a little slower at around 11-12 mins and then I run faster from there to the end. I never really keep a constant speed I guess… But, I was sweating like crazy since it was still rather hot in there since they have not turned on the air yet. Just for fun, I weight myself before I left the house and then when I got back. I had actually lost about 1.5 pounds in water while running and weight-lifting, amazing!

The rest of the day was a bit slower, I got to read a little more of a book and completed the grocery shopping for next week. We go on Thursday’s since it is the one day of the week that is quiet. Nothing really new in the stores but we did purchase another bag of chiaseeds. I’m so proud because I have been keeping to my current goal of eating ½ tbsp flaxseed and 1 tbsp chiaseeds daily. Since I am near empty with our first bag of chiaseeds, I assume I have been doing a great job. Hooray! Happy Dance!

Fuel for Food:
Breakfast: 322 calories
Tried something different today. I keep reading that people use their leftover (almost empty) Peanut Butter jars to make a bowl of oatmeal. So excited I remembered it finally, I made my normal oatmeal minus the brown sugar right in the jar. It was a neat idea but I have to say that it doesn’t really have any flavor. There was less than a tsp in mine and the oatmeal I had to force myself to eat. It just was not worth the effort.
Oatmeal with Chiaseeds, flaxseeds, PB and some coffee on the side
Banana

Snack: None since I was at the gym

Lunch: 310 calories
A little small today since my stomach gets a little irritated after a hard run. I also made a salad but couldn’t eat it.
Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffin
Follow Your Heart Vegan cheese
Tofuky

Snack:
Share an apple with the husband
Japanese Green Tea Pastry

Dinner: 175 calories
The husband’s night for dinner making – he left out some major things like calories, carbs and some more food. I was so hungry afterwards…
Organic Mixed Greens
Boca Burger Spicy Chickenless Patty on BBQ

Snack:
So hungry which is a bad thing at night for me. I tend to snack a lot as a habit if I’m hungry.
Big Gigantoid Crunchy PB Oatmeal Cookie (1/2)
Starburst Jelly Beans
Japanese Green Tea Pastry on way home from store

Grand Total: 1,362 calories eaten

Exercise:
Walk with pooch 3x
Ran 5k in 32 mins
Weight-lifting about 20 mins
Yoga about 5-10 mins

Grand Total: 264 calories burnt off
Daily Total Burned 1,819  Daily Differential -457

How did you do today?

5/18/11 Weight Loss Log

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diet, diet log, exercise journal, exercise log, healthy foods, my workout, running, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan diet, vegan dinner, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

Today I’m feeling better than yesterday, which is actually speaking loads since it was difficult to move yesterday. The sunshine came around for about 20 mins today, which was thrilling! Neighbors were actually sticking their heads out windows and doors in lack of belief in the myth of the shiny bright thing in the sky. It was similar to a movie when all the villagers come out of the darkness and see the light for the first time. Personally I have felt like we were living in that underground water-world movie… can’t remember the name but you basically the people lived in an underground water world. That movie really confused me though, why is it that all the people were surrounded by water but they all looked so dirty? Confusing…

Anyways, the day went pretty well, not busy on the work front but plenty to do on the home front. The last two weeks or so I have been trying to clean up our kitchen and that meant making it as paper-free as possible. That means I took all of our written and printed recipes and have typed them up onto my laptop. My intention is to get everything backed up on an external hard drive but then to also get everything backed up on a memory stick that will exclusive for recipes. It will “green up” our kitchen and also make searching for recipes easier. It’s a win-win situation. It also meant by fingers were getting typing practice like crazy! I should have the strongest fingers in the county.

As for weight loss, the day went pretty well. My ankle hurt a little while running on the treadmill but thank goodness I think it’s just the treadmill. All is good.

Fuel for the Body:
Breakfast: 337 calories
Normal chiaseed/flaxseed oatmeal
Coffee
Banana

Snack: 76 calories
Nutribiotic Vanilla Protein Powder Smoothie

Lunch: 188 calories
Organic Salad with shredded carrots
Trader Joes Organic Baked Tofu – Teriyaki Flavor (yum!)

Snack: Apple & Zico Plain Coconut Water
Dinner: 279 calories
Broccoli florets
Tomato couscous with a little fresh basil
Strawberries
Trader Joes Tempeh with a little ketchup
Roasted Chickpeas with seasoning snack
Kale chip

Snack: 403 calories
A couple starburst jelly beans
Few bites of homemade Big Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter- Oatmeal Cookies

Grand Total: 1,283 calories

Exercise:
Walk with pooch .25miles
Ran on treadmill 4 miles in 43 mins
Stair Climbing Machine 5 mins
Grand Total: 335 calories burnt
Total Burned 1,890 Differential -607

How was your workout today?

5/17/11 Weight Loss Log

Tags

diet, diet log, exercise journal, exercise log, healthy foods, my workout, running, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan diet, vegan dinner, vegan food, vegan menu, vegan recipes, vegan runner, veganism, weight gain, weight loss, weight loss log

Yep, you guessed it, another rainy day.  It was okay though since my “woman’s duties” have been called upon me and there was no way I was going out there to run today.  It’s the one day I give myself the “woman card” for not exercising…  I did get a lot done in the house though that has been getting behind, so I feel as though it was a little successful.  Tomorrow I will try to do more when the pain/irritability is gone. Lol

Fuel Today:

Breakfast:  Yep, same ol thing.  337 calories

Oatmeal with chiaseeds and flaxseeds

Rainforest Caramel Nut Coffee

Deva Vegan Multivitamin and Mineral

Banana

 

Snack:  Apple

 

Lunch:  350 calories

Genki Kitty’s Vegan Chickenless Parmesan with Pasta

 

Snack:  Banana

 

Dinner: 383 calories

Portobella mushroom sandwich on Homemade High Fiber Buns

My own creation of Vegan Fried Okra

A small Organic salad

Snack:

A few Jellybeans

Grand Total: 1,369 calories

Exercise: zero (tears)

Total Burned 1,555   Differential -186

Note:  Normally I am craving sugary things but today I was craving warm squash but at last we didn’t have any.  Darn!  I settled for our planned out dinner of Portobello Burgers.  But, then I went crazy and ate some jelly beans at night time.