I read an article earlier this morning about how keeping a food diary can be very helpful in losing weight. This doesn’t surprise me as I think I’ve had the best success when counting calories and keeping track on the dailyplate.com. Counting calories has worked better for me than counting carbs, which is supposed to be my main focus as a type 2 diabetic. Hmm….

I haven’t been great on the exercise front, though I did do Level 1 of Power Sculpt last night.

I found a recipe for this Mock Beef and Rice Noodle Toss in the copy of La Dolce Vegan my friend Liz gave me. This is the first recipe I’ve tried from this book and I was specifically looking for something quick and easy.

I modified the recipe slightly from the original, using bean threads instead of rice noodles and adding broccoli instead of peas. The broccoli suggested came from Liz (written in the margin) after she had previously tried this dish. I also skipped the cookbook’s recipe for mock beef and just used Trader Joe’s Beef-Less Strips instead.

This dish was a big hit with both of us, but next time I will probably use a rice noodle of some sort. The bean threads were good, just not the best choice. The overall prep couldn’t have been easier - all this dish calls for is some ginger, garlic and red onion cooked up in a bit of sesame oil, the addition of a bit of teriyaki sauce (I used TJ’s Soyaki), the mock beef and broccoli added in, and then everything dumped over the noodles.

Just when I was getting in the swing of things, I had a one-two sucker punch come my way. First, mysterious bug bites that had my leg all swollen and resulted in an ER visit with the special Tetanus Shot bonus. Ouch! About a day later, 2 trips to the dentist resulting in more antibiotics for the never ending story that is my Root Canal Gone Bad. My jaw is finally less swollen (still puffy) and my body seems to be battling the infection, but exercise had to go by the wayside last week as a result.

I did manage to refrain from over indulging during my down time… but it’s sort of hard to indulge when your mouth is killing you and your stomach is trashed from antibiotics, so it isn’t much of an achievement. I’d like to ease back into the swing of things with at least some ab work this week. Maybe I’ll be feeling better enough by the end of the week to rock some cardio ala DDR. Here’s hoping.

I think some other gals are overdue with a fitness report! What have people been doing to get their asses in gear? Has anyone been challenging themselves and if so, where are you with reaching those challenges?

I intended to go food shopping on Monday afternoon since I had taken the day off, but the afternoon came and went and I couldn’t muster the trip. Instead, I did a little mini shop at my local store and went shopping last night. So, here’s the shortened menu for the next few days:

• Quick chicken cacciatore with rice
• Mock beef and rice noodle toss
• Rice bake
• A thrown together soup using veggie stock, shirataki noodles, tofu, veggies, and more.

Last night was a rocking good time and a good day in general. Since I did a 7 mile walk the night before, I deemed it my Day of Rest, so no lifting weights, no cardio blasting, no lunges… Instead I had a good time hanging with good ladies while indulging in eyebrow threading (which was awesome!), then had some menu collaboration down time of ultimate relaxation and joy with Jenn. We decided to go out to dinner, where I was bad [ 2 veggie spring rolls ] but also good [ steamed veggies w/tofu, rice & thai peanut sauce ]. They give you the sauce on the side, which is great. I managed to refrain from dumping all the yummy sauce on my food and instead had a little dip here and there. According to daily plate estimates, even with dining out, I was still within reasonable calorie range for the day!

I’d also grabbed myself a dark chocolate bar with coconut flakes, which sat in my purse all night and was not cracked into nor devoured, despite sensing its dark and delicious presence in the room. I certainly wanted to taste and enjoy it, but instead focused on the reality that I was actually comfortably satiated from my dinner. Why eat something - even chocolate - just for the sake of eating it? As previously mentioned in the blog, I’ve been trying to be more aware of what my stomach / body is actually communicating to me. I might want to taste some chocolate, but even two or three hours after dinner I wasn’t actually hungry or feeling snacky. “Besides,” I told myself, “you already indulged on spring rolls at dinner.” I decided to save it for another time.

It’s odd, because I think I got more enjoyment out of having bought and not eaten the snack than I would have if I’d caved in and chowed down on the thing. I think I’m beginning to develop some sort of perverse thrill out of tempting myself with badness and then denying myself the actual indulgence. Hmmm… well, considering I’m not skipping meals (I’m actually eating more) or agonizing over “treat” type foods when I do eat them, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to chalk it up to being proud for actually having given more weight to my actual needs than to my desires.

Because I’m clearly insane, after a dinner of chickpeas & cous cous, I decided to go for a walk. I had the place to myself, but did I stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning, give myself a manicure and have a glass of wine? No… instead, I thought of my schedule for tomorrow, thought about what I wanted my exercise to be tonight, and decided to knock that & a chore out of the gate in one shot by going for a walk. I strapped on my backpack, grabbed my iPod and umbrella and out I went into the drizzle, humidity and general sticky warm mess that was this Friday evening.

I won’t bore you with the details of my walk, except to say I’m writing about it to brag like a little snot because I wound up walking 7+ miles at about 4 mph. I also managed to prevent myself from buying two really sexy shades of lipgloss while I was out. I digress. Hot damn that shower felt good when I got home! As soon as I sat down after showering I realized I was hungry and my feet were aching, but at the same time it felt good. Still feels good.

Now I’m going to make myself a little snack, have a cup of tea and put together my menu for next week!

Wednesday:
Dinner: Sizzled tofu with steamed broccoli and sushi rice.
Fitness: This was my “Light Night” so I just did the Pick Your Spot Abs and went for a short walk with the husband.

Thursday:
Dinner: Hodge Podge night (got in too late & too hungry to cook a proper dinner)
Fitness: Biggest Loser Cardio Max Level 1

Today: bonus fitness ~ For some reason was possessed by the need to do the Pick Your Spot Abs this morning before work. Whoo hoo!

So I’ve been pretty good this week, resisting french fries, bringing my lunch, avoiding booze or cookies or mindless snacking, and sticking with working out (even if it is a little bit) all week. I’ve also managed to keep everything logged at the daily plate, which is hella useful.

Last night I busted out the Biggest Loser Cardio Max DVD. This is the first time I’ve actually done the whole thing. The first time I tried it, I became totally winded and thought my heart was going to burst through my chest and did something else instead. This time, although I had to skimp on a few moves by keeping my legs stationary and just moving weighted arms, I made it to the end and found myself sweaty, exhausted, but damn proud of myself. The post-workout shower never felt so good!

I’ve been feeling pretty upbeat, motivated, and generally more energetic, which is great. I haven’t noticed debilitating soreness or aching after working out, but have noticed increased endurance, which is really cool. I don’t feel like I’m denying myself food in any way by paying better attention to my meal portions — actually, I feel less sluggish and bogged down after dinner since I’m not rapidly stuffing myself without actually giving my stomach time to catch up with what I’m putting in it.

Of course, we’ll see how I feel a couple weeks from now when the glitter wears off, ha ha!

I’ve managed a few workouts in the past week. I already mentioned working out with cbasty last Friday, and then Monday I did Power Sculpt. Yesterday I played about 35 minutes of DDR. This weekend cbasty and I will be rocking the DDR again, hopefully for about as long as we can stand to play. I still need to motivate to increase the frequency of my workouts. Some evenings I just can’t muster the will, but hey - three times in the last week plus walking to/from work is more than I was doing two weeks ago.

I really don’t have a concrete menu this week, but I hit up the Produce Junction for lots of fresh veg and have assorted “staple” ingredients to allow me to come up with meals on the fly. Here is a recap of the week so far.

Monday
Dinner: TJ’s Beefless Strips sizzled with garlic and just a bit of TJ’s Soyaki sauce, roasted sesame asparagus and marinated bean salad
Fitness: 30 min. DDR, 10 min abs

Tuesday
Dinner: BBQ Riblets, roasted Brussels Sprouts and TJ’s Multigrain Flax Penne
Fitness: 30 Day Shred Level 1

On the subject of 30 Day Shred - that thing kicks my ass! It is something about the 3-2-1 intervals that is just destructive to my stamina. In case you’re unaware, the workout consists of 3 minutes of strength work immediately followed by 2 minutes of cardio, then you drop to the floor for 1 minute of ab work. You do this for 3 rounds on level 1.

As cbasty previously posted, she and I did a good bit of DDR on Friday night and suffered (well, I did) through level two of Power Sculpt. She felt good afterward, I felt OK and ready to pass the fuck out. Today I took a short walk and then this afternoon I did level two of Power Sculpt again, with the warm up and cool down. My husband claims he will do this DVD with me three times a week until we work up to doing all three levels in one session. So, every other day we should be on the power sculpt train.