>Day 21–Newsflash: The Internet at Westbury Is Prejudiced Against Blogging

>So I tried to blog this morning, as is my ritual during my planning period, but for some reason the internet at school decided my login page was affiliated with terrorists or something.  It’s usually weird, but this tops them all, since I use that page, oh, I don’t know…10-15 TIMES A WEEK. But I’m not bitter.

Sunday was fun day because Abby came home (!) and class was good at Sugar Grove (!) and I discovered a new favorite entree at Pei Wei (!) so there was excitement all around!  On to the foods:

Breakfast–Cherry Vanilla granola before church.  It was quite the task to drag myself out of bed in the morning, but I survived.  My time management skills, however, did not.

Lunch–Pei Wei with the wife.  I usually get the Mandarin Kung Pao chicken with brown rice, but for some reason I was feeling rebellious so I went with the Mandarin Kung Pao vegetables.  That’s right…just vegetables.  With extra vegetables.  Coupled with the brown rice, it was filling enough I only ate half before I was completely stuffed, and it was delicious.  I also got some vegetable spring rolls, which again are like 110 calories a pop, so the whole meal didn’t set me back too badly, and I have enough left over for um…leftovers.  And I got to eat with Abby, and she’s pretty awesome, so it was a wonderful meal.

Dinner–Wendy’s Spicy Chicken sandwich, medium fries, and a medium frosty.  We had some coupons I wanted to partake of before they expired, and Mens Health recently gave the thumbs up to the SCS, so you could say it was a win-win on both price and healthitude.

Dessert–Um…I got a frosty. Duh.

School today was interesting, but not disastrous food-wise.  Check back tonight for an update on the edible madness!

>Day 20–Motivation

>I guess its about time for me to reveal the real motivation behind most of this stuff.  Aside from wanting to look healthier and feel healthier, my sister Jenna is getting married on March 20th.  In a moment of either brilliance or insanity (I’ll let you know March 21st…) I offered to be the officiant for her wedding.  I really don’t want to be the big fat guy in the tuxedo, so I’m trying to get myself into better shape before I go in for my fitting later this week.  Vanity has its benefits I suppose.

Breakfast–One unfortunate byproduct of Abby being gone is that there isn’t anyone to entertain the cat in the mornings.  At 6 am, I was woken up by London going berserk outside the door to our room.  I stayed in bed for a couple more hours, but it was drifting sleep interspersed with her pathetic cries. When I finally awoke/got out of bed, I decided to treat myself with an omelette. It was two eggs, half of a serrano chile, roasted potatoes, and onions, vegetarian-style.  It was also delicious.

Lunch–Jimmy Johns.  Double turkey, bacon, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, oregano, on whole grain bread with my newfound chip obsession, Food Should Taste Good Jalapeno chips.  They’re amazing, and 12 of them is only a little over 100 calories.

Snack–1/2 cup of Strawberry sorbet.

Exercise–That’s right…bum knee and all.  I walked (not ran, couldn’t) for 15 minutes, lifted some weights, then biked for 10 more.  It was a decent workout, especially since my knee is sore afterwards–I’m glad I didn’t push it any further.

Dinner–Whole grain rotini with onions, green bell pepper, and a single link of andouille sausage, seasoned with garlic and red pepper flakes.  It was amazing, but not overly filling because it’s pasta.

Dessert–Two pieces of bread with some Nutella spread on them.  Now THAT was filling.

Abby comes home tomorrow…and trust me, the masses are rejoicing.

>Day 19–Home Alone!

>Yep.  Abby has abandoned me in Houston so she can go home to meet her new baby cousin.  I wish I could have gone with her, but responsibilities here kept me from being able to go so here I am, left to fend for myself.  The good news is that shortly after Abby left, I managed to sprain/tweak/slightly damage my knee at a WCS soccer game (that I was just watching…sigh…) so I’m immobile and can’t get myself into too much trouble.  The bad news is that I’m immobile.  I hope I can move tomorrow…the Farmers Market/Central Market are calling my name!

Breakfast–Cherry Vanilla granola.  I was giving tests today, so sleeping in was a must.  I didn’t have anything to prepare at school, low-key, it was incredible…

Snack–…and also left me time to get donuts for my class on the way to school.  I planned on sharing and not partaking, but then the students kept talking about how good they were and, well, one thing led to another and two donuts later, I agreed with them.  Fail.  I ate a Fiber One bar afterwards to try to overcome my weakness.

Lunch–Campus Ministry Team…you might kill me more than anything else.  Aside from the stress of the whole situation, we also have terrible food (healthwise) at our meetings so lunch was two pieces of pizza and some chips.

Snack–Kettle corn before the aforementioned soccer match. (We got slaughtered too…it wasn’t pleasant.)

Dinner–Some cajun turkey on whole wheat naan with asian broccoli slaw and fruit salad. It was GLORIOUS.

Dessert–After carefully weighing my options…I went with kettle corn.  I’m sure I’m running this thing into the ground, but its so freaking good I can’t help it.

Assuming I can walk, tomorrow will involve Fusion Tacos and some locally-grown deliciousness.  Until then…

>Day 18–Curse You Open House

>So tonight we had our Spring Semester open house.  We started at 6:30 and didn’t leave until short after 8.  Unfortunately, I didn’t eat dinner beforehand, thinking we might get out earlier.  Completely screwed up my eating schedule in an already messed up day.  Definitely not my finest eating performance.

Breakfast–Cherry Almond granola.  I told you…variety.  It was superb.

Lunch–I expected to have a campus ministry meeting, but thats tomorrow instead.  So since I planned so badly, lunch consisted of some sweet potato chips, a peanut butter sandwich, and some cookies.  Never said it was healthy.

Mid-afternoon snack–2 cups of Kettle corn.  I LOVE kettle corn, and the whole two cups had 140 calories. Score.

Mid-evening snack–Because of the screwed up eating schedule, I had another snack before the open house.  Another cup of kettle corn and half a cup of cherry vanilla granola (VARIETY!) was enough, with the help of some grapes, to tide me over until dinner.

Dinner–100% Taquito!  3 Tacos de Asada (grilled beef, cilantro, and onions in corn tortillas) along with some corn tortillas and pico de gallo on the side was excellent, and should be relatively healthy too.  We usually get chips and salsa, but I decided the tortillas, unfried, would be a better alternative.

That wraps this installment.  I’m afraid pizza is on the menu for tomorrow’s CMT meeting, so I’ll need to pack some sides to help me limit my intake.  Then Abby is leaving me (sadness!) so I’ll be on my own to eat healthy for a couple of days…check back later to see if I survive!

>Day 17–Wednesdays are Long Days

>Between being Hump Day and Science Olympiad, Wednesdays seemingly take forever.  Add in the fact that all of Houston has collectively lost their minds while driving and its easy to see why, at 9 pm, I’m exhausted and about to go to bed.  The good news? Salmon.

Breakfast–Apple cinnamon oatmeal with pomegranate craisins.  I got more granola at the store today, so variety will be introduced soon.  And by variety I mean what I had to eat last week.

Snack–Another Fiber One bar.  They don’t seem to be having much effect other than giving me some energy, so I’m going to spice things up with some kettle corn tomorrow, see if it makes a difference.

Lunch–Beef with broccoli, steamed cauliflower, steamed sugar snap peas, some real craisins, and a Snickers.  The Snickers was actually more of an afternoon snack, but it wasn’t long after lunch (I needed sugar to stay awake…rough day) so I’ll count it here.

Dinner–Sesame-ginger salmon en papillote, or for normal paper, wrapped in parchment paper packets.  It was salmon, with bell peppers and (in my packet) portabello mushrooms and a sesame/soy/ginger/citrus marinade.  It was good, although it needed some sweetness to counter everything out.  Maybe I’ll add some honey next time.  It was a recipe from a woman I’ve never tested before, and honestly her show on Cooking Channel is TERRIBLE, so I’m not surprised it needs tweaking.

Dessert–Half of a brownie from Whole Foods.  It was a great shopping experience: salmon, some cream of tartar for the meringues in the offing, kettle corn, some healthier chips, more naan bread, and then the brownies that Abby was eyeing the other day when we were there.  Half of one was just right, even if it was God knows how many calories.  Worth it.

I’m going to crash…hopefully snacks will get me through the day tomorrow, and then you’ll get to hear about our Open House and how Abby and I went to dinner afterwards and ate unhealthy stuff!  Looking forward to it…

>Day 16–Sweet Sixteen, but Without the Sweets

>Today was actually a rousing food success.  Ate good stuff start to finish, worked out for a bit, drank a liter of water (and counting)…I feel good.  Which probably means tomorrow will be disastrous.  Yay for feelings of dread…

Breakfast–Cinnamon spice oatmeal with dried cherries.  I know instant oatmeal from a package isn’t the healthiest choice, but I don’t need to add sugar (I buy lower sugar anyways) nor do I need to think about what I’m doing.  Boil and pour…easy as, well, oatmeal.

Snack–Yep. Mid-morning snack. Booyah metabolism, booyah.  I had a Fiber One bar, and it was scrumptious.

Lunch–Spicy Thai Chili tuna on a bed of greens, cucumbers, and shredded carrots with crackers and another tangelo.  True to form, I wore the tangelo juice around the rest of the day.  I need a bib.

Snack–One, yes one, spoonful of my homemade chocolate/marshmallow fluff mousse.  It was delicious and gave a sugar boost for…

Exercise–Lifted weights, biked 10 minutes, ran 10 minutes.   The biking 10 minutes may seem lame, but as I get into better shape, it takes longer for my heart rate to get up to acceptable levels.  Therefore, my friend the exercise bike decided to help by increasing resistance haphazardly and without real warning.  I rode my “bike” through what felt like wallpaper glue, and now my legs hurt.

Dinner–Jimmy Johns, the best sandwiches ever.  I had a double portion of turkey, bacon, lettuce, onions, oregano, and cucumber, all on 7-grain whole wheat bread with these awesome sweet potato-corn chips.  Satisfying meal all the way around.

Dessert is a no go, since I’m trying to watch my girlish figure.  I may make chocolate meringues tomorrow though…light, airy, and 28 calories a pop.  Bring it on baking.

>Day 15–A Case of the Mondays

>Having willpower is like breathing…you don’t realize you’re lacking it until it’s too late.  That was the thought running through my head as I stood in the Randall’s parking lot this after, holding the ingredients to  complete my dinner of leftovers and smelling the amazing smell of Jax Grille across the street.  For those not from Houston, Jax is food your mom would make if she owned a restaurant and had a menu longer than most books of the Bible.  The enticing aroma of grilled meats came wafting through the rain and for a brief moment visions of fried okra and buffalo burgers came dancing into my head.  I was able to hold strong and get in my car to drive away, but Jax may be on the menu for tomorrow.  Fair warning dear reader(s).

Breakfast–Apple Cinnamon oatmeal.  I had a dream that I got up early, had plenty of time to make breakfast and get ready, and then I actually woke up and saw I almost overslept. Oops.

Lunch–Potato and Kale soup, as well as a Twix.  After devouring said candy, I looked at the nutritional information (yes, I realize I did those backwards) and was taken aback at what a moron I am.  Twix is bad for a diet.

Snack–Tangelo anyone?  The good news is that it tasted delicious.  The bad news is that I’m going to be finding juice drops all over the place as long as we live here.  That was the most explosive citrus I’ve dealt with in a long time.

Dinner–Leftover taco soup with some grilled naan bread and roasted garlic.  Garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, in foil, for an hour…wow.  It was delicious!

Dessert–While its wildly unnecessary, especially with my Twix disaster earlier, I have no doubt my sweet tooth with get the better of me later on.  I bought a Green & Blacks dark chocolate candy bar the other day and may grab a square or two of that.

Tomorrow begins the first day of my attempt to fix our lunch health disaster.  I may go with tuna and fruit to save some stress.  I’m still under 240, but I’ve plateaued, and that’s not good.  I’m going to ramp up the fiber tomorrow and add some snacks, see if that helps.

>Day 14–Two Weeks Down, A Lifetime to Go

>Woke up this morning to some bad news: Penny Wilson, a dear friend and child of God has gone to be home with Him.  She had been battling cancer, and while I’m comforted that she is no longer suffering and in paradise, the world is a lot dimmer without her light in it.  She will certainly be missed.

Between that and various other goings-on from the weekend, church just wasn’t an option.  I know its weird that a Bible teacher and minister doesn’t always go to church, but get over it. It threw off my eating feng shui, and that’s what’s relevant for this post.

Breakfast–Two pieces of whole grain toast with peanut butter.  It was delicious, even if I did feel like a dog trying to get peanut butter out of the corners of my mouth on occasion.

Lunch–We attempted to get 100% Taquito for some healthy, small portioned Mexican food, but the line was chaotic, so we went with Wendy’s instead.  Spicy Chicken sandwich, lettuce only, large fries and a medium frosty (don’t judge) kept me full all afternoon.

Dinner–Lasagna with salad and bread.  I usually don’t eat lasagna because I don’t like cheese, but I was hungry and just scraped most of the “good stuff” off anyways.  I followed it up with a big plate of salad sans dressing, and I went through two liters of water today.  I know I can drink more, but its pretty good from where I was at two weeks ago.

Dessert–Cupcake leftover from Audrey’s baby shower.  Delicious, and relatively small.

I’m really looking forward to my birthday because I swore off soda until then.  Hopefully by then (Feb. 19th for those buying me things) I will have made water a part of my lifestyle to where sodas will be an occasional treat, and the desire for a cherry Dr. Pepper from Sonic won’t have killed me.  We drove by a Sonic tonight and I got twitchy…not a good sign.

I need to eat better at school (like, by bringing my own stuff from home) so that’s the plan for this week.  Thanks for whoever reads this!

>Day 13–The Food Network is Bad for My Health

>Abby had Practice Management this morning, so I was left alone until about two o’clock.  This was perfect time for lazing around, doing chores, watching Man U absolutely destroy Birmingham, catching up on DVR shows, etc.  Unfortunately, because I watched all the DVR shows, when we got to this afternoon I didn’t have anything to watch, which led to channel surfing.  The channel surfing led to cooking shows, which led to a reference to french toast which led to…well, on to the food.

Breakfast–Steel cut oats with a dash of brown sugar and sliced bananas.  It was nice to have a good, hot, cooked breakfast that didn’t involve the word “instant.”  And it was filling.

Lunch–I took some leftovers and turned them into deliciousness.  Broccoli, green beans, brown rice, and some of our leftover chicken breast, with a dash of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and orange juice was an amazing meal.  Coupled with our leftover spring rolls from Pei Wei and I was one very happy Asian food enthusiast.

Exercise–Went to the gym, listened to Matt Chandler, ran for 15 minutes, biked for 10 minutes, and lifted some weights.  Felt good, and Matt Chandler brought the thunder, as usual.

Dinner–Here’s where the french toast came in.  We went to Whole Foods and got a loaf of Challah, which turned into cinnamon french toast.  Instead of eating processed syrup, I took a lemon and some blueberries and made my own.  It was INCREDIBLE, even if Abby didn’t like it.  Great meal, but high calorie count.  The one good thing is that it was so filling, and relatively sweet, so dessert is unnecessary.

I’ll be back tomorrow after church and Life Group, which is going to have some lasagna involved.  Must plan accordingly!

>Day 12–Attack of the Tuna

>Let’s just say my day involved Veggie Tales, Heidi Montag, Brett Favre, Michael Steele, and Debi Mazar. Fridays are weird.

Breakfast–Once again, a banana and 1/2 cup Cherry Vanilla granola.  I’m excited about the weekend because breakfast won’t be rushed for once.

Lunch–There wasn’t a single portion of lunch at school today that was even remotely appetizing, so I brought some Thai Chili Tuna from home and put it on a bed of greens, with some crackers.  It was delicious…tuna is an underused aspect of my diet because Abby claims she doesn’t like it.  Pssh.

Dinner–Taco soup, comprised of ground turkey, garlic, half a poblano pepper, some potatoes, half an onion, some baby carrots and Hot Taco seasoning, courtesy of McCormicks.  Throw in some chicken stock and vegetable stock and I made a LOT of soup and it tasted delicious.  Since Abby is abandoning me for her Practice Management meeting tomorrow, I get to have soup for lunch.  I’m okay with that.

Dessert–Cherry crumble.  You’d best believe its delicious.

I hope I can maintain focus for the weekend…lots of fiber and water should keep me on track!