I'm Planning a Binge.

Okee Dokee.

So, I have just got to share this with you all.  I'm not sure if I'll regret it, but I'm planning a little binge.  I've never done it before.  Well, I've never done it with this degree of planning, though I definitely have eaten this way in the past.  And now that I think about it, I don't think it actually will qualify as a binge, but it's at least a planned break in my diet.

You all know that I'm a freak of nature when it comes to my eating plan.  I'll stick to it come hell or high water, and refuse even the greatest holiday temptation or the sweetest offer of non sugar free gum.  I've lost two pounds since being on vacation, and I'm pretty damn proud of that.  I'll be doing a post later on losing weight (or simply maintaining it) while traveling.

Anyhoo.  I should back up and explain WHY I feel the need to do this.

I used to work at the most awesome place ever.  In high school, I worked at TCBY.  If you don't know what that is, I'm really sorry.  It stands for "The Country's Best Yogurt."  And that's the damn truth.  I worked there for a few years, and it was delicious.  I seriously hope some of you know what TCBY is, because I'd hate to be alone in my obsession with their yogurt.  So.  I've been craving and craving and craving it.  I'm not normally a sweets person.  I don't go nuts over ice cream usually (though I do have my favorites:  Mint Chocolate Chip or Coffee Ice Cream... yum!  Oh!  Or Peppermint.  That's the greatest thing ever.)  But because I used to work there, I figure there's also some kind of wiring in my brain that associates it with happy feelings.

So for the past six weeks I can't stop thinking about White Chocolate Mousse.  With mini chocolate chips.  And Golden Vanilla with chopped peanuts.

Here's the trouble:  a) My diet involves no dairy or sugar.  (Well, shit.)  b) There aren't any TCBY's in Denver or Milwaukee.  Except... at the airport.  YAY for the airport!

So I'm actually asking my parents to drop me off at the airport an HOUR early.  This, so I can go to the TCBY, order something fabulous and sit and eat it really slowly and savor the experience.  And then, I still will have time to order another flavor if I want to.  I'm serious about this, people.  I'll be sharing pictures.

Many of you are probably thinking I'm insane, and that's okay.  We all know I'm a lunatic.  But you're probably like, "Umm, Jenn?  A half cup of low fat yogurt is NOT a binge, and it's barely a cheat, mmmkay?"  Yes, I know.  It's simply a huge break from my very specific diet plan.  It's just a big deal to me.

...But you guys?  It doesn't end there.  'Cause I can't stop thinking about Taco Bell.

So, of course, I've decided that I want to go get Taco Bell with Dan when I get home.  I want a bean burrito with no onion, a cheese quesadilla  and a crunch wrap and a super bell grande nacho deluxe or whatever it's called.  Now we'll see if I have the guts to follow through with the Taco Bell idea when I actually get home, or if I'll feel satisfied and guilty enough over the yogurt to not do it.

I know, I know, I shouldn't feel "guilty" over something like that.  But, I will.  I mean, it's been a vacation full of compliments and my head is huge now, especially 'cause you all are so damn sweet and supportive.  But I still am not to my goal.  I'm still overweight.  I just happen to carry my weight fairly well, and I'm blessed with decent proportions.  But I know how I feel and that the beginnings of muscle definition I have in my legs and the smaller waist I'm enjoying are only whispers of what I'm capable of.  I know I have more fat to lose, and I'll be more comfortable at that smaller size.  I still can't fit into those size 8's. :)

But then again, they say it's "okay" to cheat.  And I feel like it's sort of a reward for my hard work, and it's food I miss.  But, on the other hand, they also say you should have NON food rewards.  Well, I shop my face off and totally have no self control when it comes to just buying what I feel like I want to wear or getting a pedicure if I want one.  I'm a spoiled brat.  So, I just get confused and right now I want to stop writing about this because I'm sure you're confused too.

My point is:  I want TCBY and Taco Bell. 

So!  I wanted to update you all with my nuttiness and see if you have ever planned a binge.  Yeah, I guess this is only counting as a pseudo-binge if I do the Taco Bell thing, but dammit, I REALLY want to.

Mmmm, Taco Bell.

~Jenn

Shove a baguette in my pants.

A lot of people have asked about my weight loss... what I'm doing, eating, etc. I'll straight up tell you guys that I hate working out. I have a gym membership and I love Zumba, and I used to go twice a week. I will be full on honest and admit I haven't been to the gym in over six weeks. Part of that was because of a chest cold, and part of that was because I was traveling. But still, I haven't gone, and my $80/month membership is just laughing in my face because of it.

I tried the healthy balanced diet plus working out thing. I was losing around 1 pound a week or so. My diet was excellent, no more than 1600 calories a day, and I was working out for around an hour four times a week with aerobic exercise and weight training (I had a personal trainer.) I got sick and tired of putting in so much work and not seeing results.

See? This is me pretending to be all riled up about working out, but really my face just looks all pissed off:



I've tried lots of diets:

Cabbage soup (several times)
6 Week Body Makeover (really worked for my parents)
Atkins
Calorie restriction
Pineapple Diet (I have no idea, just heard pineapple burned calories and so I ate a ton of it.)
Raw Diet
Weight Watchers

I've always been too cheap to shell out cash for anything like Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig or Slimfast. I'm glad though... I probably wouldn't have had success with those either. I also haven't tried Kimkins or the Master Cleanse.

Sidenote: I've heard of some really crazy ones, and a reader once told me about the "Diet Coke and crackers" diet. I might be interested in that, 'cause I love both of those things. If you know what it is, I might be crazy enough to try it. Then I'll tell you guys how it goes. Seriously.


My recent weight loss (214-192 in 40 days) was pretty much strictly because of my eating plan. I did Zumba for the beginning of that timeframe, once or twice a week, but that was about it. My body reacts very specifically to what I eat. I lost 50 pounds the first go-round with Atkins. I didn't work out a single day at ALL, and I lost a load of weight:





My body hates carbs. I'll clarify by saying I LOVE carbs... as Sean said tonight on The Biggest Loser, I want to take a cupcake and rub it all over my body. Not so much cupcakes, actually, but I'd take a bath in pasta, pour fries on my head and shove a baguette in my pants. I love bread, potatoes and pasta so much that I didn't even notice I was ballooning up to 225 pounds because I was too busy making moon eyes at the bread sticks at Olive Garden. That's part of why I was so successful with the Atkins diet.

What I do now includes only eating bread related carbs in the morning. I do NOT eat potatoes, bread or pasta anymore during the day or evening. That means I eat:

Breakfast: Either a Nature's Valley granola bar, or a packet of oatmeal. With that I have a Dannon Light and Fit (or cheapo equivalent, as long as it's 80 calories) and coffee or Diet Coke.
Lunch: I do some kind of protein (usually a can of water packed tuna) with lots of veggies mixed in. Through the day I drink water, coffee, Diet Coke depending on the day. (Always around 50 oz water in the evenings faithfully.)
Dinner: Meat and veggies (ie: grilled kabobs with veggies and meat or spaghetti squash with canned tomatoes and a Parmesan cheese) or I'll just do a huge salad. And salad means leafy greens (not iceberg) with veggies and sometimes chicken with a light vinaigrette dressing. It does NOT mean croutons, ranch and a crapton of cheese.

There ya have it... that's my spiffyriffic weight loss plan, and it steadily drops 2-3 pounds a week for me. I've been slacking the last 30 days or so but I'm back on with a dirty vengeance and already can feel a huge difference!

So! Don't forget to tell me what the Diet Coke and Crackers diet is. I love all things cracker. Please, share the info.

Also if you have a favorite diet, or you've tried a crazy one, I wanna hear about that too.


~Jenn

Crash Diet Memories

So I've been thinking lately of all the different types of diets I've been on. Not all of them were crash diets, but I've been on quite a few.

Diets I've tried:
Cabbage soup diet (at least three times)
Raw diet
Low calorie diet
Atkins (Lost 50 pounds, gained it back plus 15)

Haven't tried:
Baby food diet
Cookie diet
Wine and cheese diet
Beer and pizza diet

Ha!

So I'm curious, what diets have you tried, what worked or didn't work? What was your favorite?

Atkins was definitely my favorite. Def, definitely. K-Mart sucks.

A Week In Food - Part I

So, I'm in love with this UK show called "You Are What You Eat."



They take these people's entire week's worth of food intake and analyze it. They also put the equivalent on a big table for them to look at in hopes it will scare the crap out of them, or at least embarrass them.

I'm going to do this for my diet. I'm taking the last week, and analyzing it tonight. I will be putting together a table and doing a photo of it tomorrow.

Jenn's Nutritional Information for the Week of 1/27-2/4
Calories = 10,950 (average 1565/day)
Sugar = 476 grams - 247 from fruits/veggies = 229 (average 33g /day) (no more than 50g per day of refined sugars recommended)
Carbohydrates = 1392 grams (average 199 / day) (130 g per day is recommended)
Fat = 310 grams (average 44 / day) (40-50g per day is recommended)
Protein = 650 grams (average 93/day) (84 g recommended)
Sodium = 11614 mg (average 1659/day) (2400 US recommended 1600 UK recommended)
Fiber = 272 grams (average 39/day) (25g per day is recommended)

Overall, I'd say that looks pretty damn good. I could be eating less in the way of carbs, but all of them come from whole grains, brown rice, fruits and veggies.

The calories on here are taking into account pure consumption, not counting the calories I burned off through exercise.

:)

Tomorrow I'll be putting down a full list of what I eat in the same way the show does, ie:

1 large slice chocolate cake
6 large lagers
3 fry ups
4 curries
4 packs of crisps
8 orders of chips

...etc. Except mine won't be bad food, nor will it be British.

And I'll do my best to come up with as close of a visual representation as possible of the food I take in. :)

~J

Food Obsession

Okay, so -- I wanted to post a blog about food obsession. I'm curious to know who else besides me has it.

I'm obsessed with food. Not in the way that I'll sit down and eat the entire contents of my fridge if I'm not on plan, though some people go through that. I've never thought of myself as a binge eater, but I can remember the days when I could order chinese and plow through a pu pu platter, egg drop soup, and an entire order of pad thai. Or order a pizza and eat it all in one sitting. The term "binge eating" never really occurred to me.

I also am not obsessed in the way a bulemic person is, where I eat for the pleasure of it in mass bingeing quantities, and then purge myself so I can do it all again. Nor am I obsessed in the way anorexics can be, limiting myself to a very low number of calories, cutting my food into tiny pieces so it takes longer to eat, and making each meal a ritual.

But, I'm obsessed in probably every other way. I do obsess over the amount of calories I consume. Though it's not my keeping it at 500 calories or less, it's 1400 calories or less. I cringe when I go out to eat because I have no idea how the meal is prepared, and I try to look up nutritional information before I go out so I can choose the lowest calorie option.

I watch movies and television... and I always notice what people are eating. I go to the food court with Dan and watch people and what they order. Skinny people ordering six inch, respectable sub sandwiches, and heavy people ordering pizza, fries, burgers and other "bad" stuff. (Of course, that's not accurate. It's just what I notice when I'm looking through my diet eyes.)

I get really jealous when I see people who are thin, fit, slender, whathaveyou who eat whatever they want. I get jealous when I see people who are on "diets" and have a "cheat day." I get really pissed at Michael Phelps because of his 15,000 calorie diet. Though I'm not jealous of his swimming schedule... just the pure thought of eating all that food and remaining hot makes me think it has to be worth it. It also makes me question whether food and diet can really be 80% of the battle.

I log everything I consume faithfully into my spreadsheets and MyPlate at livestrong.com. I strive for each meal to be as close to 40/30/30 as possible. (40% good carb, 30% fat, 30% protein), or trying to exceed that protein in lieu of fat. I analyze everything I'm eating to make sure it's the healthiest, best option possible. And I do NOT have a "cheat" day. I don't even have a "cheat meal." I don't believe in that. Not right now, at least. I can't have one day of the week where I can eat whatever I want. It'll throw my whole game off balance. And I know when I lost weight on Atkins, I got skinny and thought, "Ooh, good! I can have cheesecake now, I'm hot!" And it all went downhill from there. As far as I see it, for myself, a commitment is a commitment, and I can't achieve my goals without it.

I cook non stop, and have more dishes to wash than I ever thought possible. I struggle to find measuring cups and measuring spoons because I use them every time I make a meal.

I no longer eat the following: White bread, refined sugar, baked goods, ice cream, white noodles, white rice (except for sushi on occasion), regular soda, fast food, fries, any milk other than 1% or skim, chips.

I scoff haughtily at the line I see at the drive through, thinking "Those people are eating so badly" even though myself, I was doing the same thing less than three months ago.

The food obsession can make me feel exhausted, pathetic, desperate, and hopeless sometimes. Other times it makes me feel happy, in control and successful. Sometimes it makes me feel downright full of myself.

I look forward to the ever-balanced day where food is just food. When food is merely fuel, and I mix the types to make the best, ultimate, premium fuel for my premium, muscle building, fat burning furnace of a body.

~J

Frickin' Delicious Hamburgers

Also known as "Meat Patties," which sounds disgusting... these hamburgers rocked our faces off.



I served these on Natural Ovens Better Wheat Buns:
Serving Size: 1 Bun

Calories 170
Total Fat 2.5g
Saturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 140mg
Total Carbohydrate 30g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Sugars 5g
Protein 7g

Meat Patties:
1/2 cup oatmeal or oat bran
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute (I forgot this, but they came out fine)
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp ground mustard (omitted for mine)
1 tsp dried or 1 tbsp fresh minced onion
1/2 tsp salt (omitted for mine)
1/4 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 lb extra-lean ground beef or ground turkey (7% fat)

Mix the first 9 ingredients. Add ground meat and mix well. Shape into four patties. Cook in the microwave, in the conventional oven, or on the grill.

Conventional Oven:
Preheat to 425 degrees. Arrange patties on a baking pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes.

Microwave Oven: Arrange meat patties in a circle, on a microwave-safe dish, leaving the center empty. Cover with wax paper and cook on high for 7-8 minutes, rotating 1/4 turn halfway through cooking time.

Grill: Cook over hot coals, turning once, until done. *I used my George Forman. Because I forgot the egg, it was super juicy and didn't stick together 100%, so I just sprayed the grill with nonstick cooking spray and it was fine. They were delicious and I saved a bit of calories too! :)

Nutritional Info:
(makes 4 servings)
222 calories
9g fat
3g saturated fat
71mg cholesterol
127mg sodium
9g carbohydrate
1g dietary fiber
2g sugar
26g protein


With these kinds of nutrition numbers... you just can't beat a delicious, juicy, healthy burger with the kind of staying power that hungry guys (and girls) need! :)




Oh, and don't forget a nice salad! :)

Rolled Chicken and Asparagus

I had forgotten how much I love sweet potatoes. My Mom digs them and I can't even remember the last time I had one!

Sweet Potatoes, Baked
2 sweet potatoes (medium, similar size and shape)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cinnamon
Butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Clean off the sweet potatoes, then pierce with a fork or knife in several places. Cut off the ends and brush a bit of olive oil on the tops. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 30-45 minutes or until soft.



When finished, cut open the top of the sweet potatoes with a slit, and push the sides of the potato in (wearing oven mitts) until the insides come out the top. Top with butter, cinnamon, or any spices of your choosing. Salt, pepper, nutmeg, etc are good as well.



Rolled Chicken and Asparagus
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
24-30 asparagus spears (tough ends removed)

2 tbsp lemon juice (I used juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon)
6 green onions, chopped (omitted for my recipe)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
*I also added Ms. Dash chicken seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or turn down oven to 350 degrees if you're already baking sweet potatoes). Cut chicken into 8 or 10 strips, each about 1x5 inches long.



Wrap each strip around 2 or 3 uncooked asparagus spears. Fasten with toothpicks. Place in a covered baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. (I did a cookie sheet.) Sprinkle with lemon juice, onions and spices.



Bake for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove toothpicks. Serve hot or refrigerate until chilled and serve cold.





Makes 4 servings

Nutritional Info:

Rolled Chicken and Asparagus:
151 calories
2g fat
82mg sodium
6g carbohydrate
3g dietary fiber
2g sugar
28g protien

Sweet Potato:
103 Calories
0g fat
41mg Sodium
541mg Potassium
24mg Total Carbohydrate
4g Dietary Fiber
20g Sugars
2g Protein
Vitamin A 384%
Vitamin C 33%
Vitamin B 120%

This is going to be a great snack for me (the leftovers.) My trainer says that every time I put something in my mouth, she wants it to be one complex carb and protein.

Speaking of which, here is one of the snacks I had today. Grapes and fat free cottage cheese:



~J

Chicken Breasts in Mushroom Sauce

Deeeelicious! If you like juicy chicken and mushrooms, this one is for you.

Chicken Breasts in Mushroom Sauce
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped green onion (omitted for mine)
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tbs dry sherry or water (I used water)
1 tsp instant chicken bouillon (low sodium!)
1/4 tsp salt (omitted for mine)
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute mushrooms and onion in a skillet that has been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray.



Meanwhile, mix flour and water in a covered container and shake well to prevent lumps. Add to mushrooms along with next five ingredients. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened.



Arrange chicken in a 9x9 baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Pour mushroom sauce over chicken and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.



Voila!

Nutrition Analysis:
170 calories
2g fat
152mg sodium
8g carbohydrate
1g dietary fiber
3g sugar
29g protein


I served mine with a nice salad:



And notice the portion size - this is a side plate. :)



Here are my leftovers:



My trainer gave me a great idea to scramble eggs with spinach and put them in a container for breakfasts through the week. I took her advice and it looks great. I did 2 whole eggs and 6 egg whites. :)



Also I got these really cool tupperware containers (tupperware.com) - they expand, so you can have a container to fit whatever kind of leftovers you've got! :)~ Plus, they're in bright, fun colors.



Also, this is what I had for lunch:



2 slices of flax fiber bread, turkey, lettuce, light mayo, mustard, reduced fat Swiss cheese and some fat free cottage cheese with paprika on top. Yum!


~J

Footie Pajamas and Food.

It was so cold yesterday I just couldn't get warm. I was wearing socks, footie pajamas, pants over the footie pajamas, a shirt under and a jacket over the footie pajamas.

Yeah.



I had a nice sandwich and soup:



And this morning tried to emulate the uber healthy morning breakfast I see on all of your health blogs... oatmeal, flaxseed, banana and almond butter. I didn't have any walnuts. ;)




So, what else is new? Today I will be buying a new battery for my car.

I think the cold brings out my car problems. Grrrrr! >:(


J

Dessert - Organic Yogurt

With a dash of muesli and some ground up flaxseed (3 tsp) as well as fresh bluebs!


I found out that your body doesn't digest flaxseed as is, so you have to grind it up. I love any excuse to use my mortar and pestle. :)~

Quick Lasanga

Yum! The Italian in me was really happy about this. :)~

Quick Lasagna
3 cups low-fat cottage cheese or low-fat Ricotta cheese (I used cottage cheese)
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (I used 2 tablespoons by mistake, but I love garlic so it was great.)
4 cups spaghetti sauce (less than 4 grams fat per 4 ounces)
3/4 pound uncooked lasagna noodles (12 noodles) -- ((I used whole grain noodles))

1 cup (4 ounces) grated, reduced fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix cottage cheese, parsley, and garlic.


Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Layer in this order: 4 noodles, 1/2 cheese mixture, 1/2 mozzarella, 1 cup sauce, 4 noodles, 1/2 cheese mixture, 1/2 mozzarella, 1 cup sauce, 4 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Increase baking time by 15 minutes if it has been refrigerated (if you made it the day before or something.)



Makes 12 servings.

Nutrient Analysis:
218 calories
5g fat
2g saturated fat
28g carbohydrate
2g dietary fiber
6g sugar
15g protein


I served this with a nice salad and put some sliced strawberries on top. :)

Hmmm... Confession.

Though you're probably expecting some awesome confession like "I ate three bags of chips last night" or "I made out with my ex boyfriend" or "I do heroin"...

It's really going to be about the fact that I let the scale run my life.

I weighed in at 217.8 this morning. I feel much, much, MUCH happier than I did yesterday. Yesterday I was sulking and pouting and pissed off because I felt like this wasn't working.

And who knows? Maybe it will.

I e-mailed my personal trainer and she was really responsive; we're going to review my diet and exercise and make sure I'm doing what I should be doing to drop the weight.

Woo-hoo!

~J

Corn Bread Taco Bake

Okay, so I was going to make lasagna for dinner tonight, but apparently I relied too heavily on the "shopping list" from the book, because it didn't include lasagna noodles, even though the recipe calls for them. I'm sure I should have been smart enough to remember "duh, I need noodles" but I was working from the list.

So, I'm making the ungodly Corn Bread Taco Bake for dinner. This is a recipe I got from Dan's sister Christina; ever since she made this for dinner one night when we were over, Dan's been begging me to make it. (How she stays soooo beautiful and thin while eating this kind of food, I'll never know and will be eternally jealous.) :)~

It's totally unhealthy. I calculated 514 calories per serving, and that's with substituting ground turkey for the ground beef and organic corn for regular.

So, here's the recipe and photos.

Corn Bread Taco Bake

Prep 20 minutes / Bake 25 minutes

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I used ground lean turkey)

1 can whole kernel corn, drained (I used organic canned corn)
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (omitted for my recipe)
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 package (8.5 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 can (2.8 oz) french-fried onions, divided
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Stir in the corn, tomato sauce, water, green peppers and taco seasoning. Mix well. Spoon into a greased 2-quart baking dish.



Prepare corn bread mix according to package directions for corn bread. Stir in half of the onions. Spread over beef mixture.



Bake, uncovered, at 400 for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and remaining onions. Bake 3-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and a toothpick inserted into corn bread layer comes out clean. (Corn bread will be golden brown.)



Makes 6 servings.

Each serving = 514 calories (when prepared my way) :)~

My serving (These are the small sandwich sized plates, by the way):


Dan's serving (plus another plate):


Because this is a pretty darn unhealthy dish, I had a nice salad:


Here are the portions compared:


Did I mention Dan was REALLY happy to have this? He's asked for it for his birthday. :)~



~Jenn

Who puts the "Work" in Workout?

Okay. So this little blog entry is dedicated to the "work" in workout.

My Dad tells me that he can see that I work hard on the machines at the gym instead of just leisurely sailing through my 30 minutes. I was on the bike next to another girl today at the gym and she got on about 5 minutes after I did. In 30 minutes I burned 165 calories on the bike, and that was with my not breathing very heavily, just sweating a bit and my legs being pretty sore (from yesterday specifically). I looked over at her screen (does anyone else do this? I'm so bad.) -- and she had burned 70 calories in 30 minutes.

So why is that? There are people who get next to me on a machine and they really bust their butts and kick my bootie on calorie burning. What's the "correct" amount of exertion? I try to keep my heart rate between 150-180 (a wide range, I know) - and I guess I know also that when you're heavier, you burn calories quicker while working out. (Is that right? Oops, maybe that's not right.)

I guess I don't really know what my question is.

But I should say that spending my 30 minutes on a stationary bike is NOT my favorite. I spend 30 minutes on an elliptical and burn around 300 calories. I much prefer the elliptical, but I went at 5:15 and all of them were taken. That's nuts. There are about 20 ellipticals at my gym. I just need to go at 7 or at 3. ;)~

By the by, I'm starting to get really frustrated with my weight loss. I'm so used to seeing the dramatic weight loss numbers on the scale with Atkins, that this eating healthy + working out = almost no change in the scale. I'm sticking around 1200 calories a day, sometimes a tiny bit more, and it's starting to piss me off.

I do not have patience.

And as a little visual picture, here is my calorie chart for the last 10 days.




~J

Chicken Breasts Florentine

Dan gobbled this chicken right up, even though it was on a bed of spinach!

Chicken Breasts Florentine
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fat-free milk
3/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt (omitted for my recipe)
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 packages (10 oz each) frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed

1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips (I didn't cut mine up)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Shake flour with milk in a covered container to prevent lumps. Mix flour mixture with chicken broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Take off heat and stir in parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.



Mix spinach with 1/2 of the sauce and spread in a 9x13 baking pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange chicken over spinach. Pour remainder of sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg. (I also sprinkled more pepper on mine, and forgot to cut it into strips.)





Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.


I served this with a nice side salad (left the organic pea and bean spouts off of Dan's, but put them on mine) and wheat rolls. :)~




Makes 6 servings

Nutrient Info:
164 calories
2g fat
205 mg sodium
6g carbohydrate
2g dietary fiber
1g sugar
29 g protien


~J