Day 1 of the challengeS: thoughts and groceries!~~

The first day of the challengeS went marvelous, I didn't cheat and did not even crave those things that I used to enjoy. There were two reason I think, first because I'm the kind of person who once has set a goal and really believe the goal is good for me, I just do the mental switch and go for it. I didn't realize that until my last trip to Argentina and talked with a Star's friend who lost 50 pounds within a year without sacrifice and he had been fat for 25 years. I asked him how he did and what was the trigger? and he said it was just one day after a meeting with his doctor that told him that:" you can live with a mass of fat around you for the rest of your life or loose that weight now and be healthy." He just got the point, :"I walked out of doc's office and went to a Dr. Cormillot's (a weight loss group like Weight Watcher) office in the next building." From then, he stuck to the diet and began to exercise and lost weight consistently. It was a mental switch in his words. And I thought, this is soooo me.
The other reason was that my belly got worse yesterday and I was tired all day long, I had a weird pain and felt exhaustion. I think it was because I only took one day off after the Big presentation before going back to work and I guess my body needed more than that to release all the accumulated tiredness and stress. I'm glad that I decided to do the challenges in this moment, a moment to recover mentally and physically, a moment to take care of myself properly and not have to stress out about work too much. I'll keep you guys posted about any body/mental evolution that I'll go through this special time.

Okay. Now let's move to groceries. I went to Tj's and WF after my yoga class which was good but I didn't enjoy 100% because of my belly discomfort and tiredness. As you'll see, I loaded up on veggies/fruits. From Tj's

two kinds of tomatoes, multicolor peppers, celery, mushrooms, cucumber, green beans, cauliflower, brocoflower, broccoli slaw, baby spinach x2, mixed greens, alfalfa sprounts and mixed sprouts.
canned diced tomatoes, canned butternut squash, almond breeze, steamed lentils, baby beets, kiwi, strawberries, egg white, oranges, bananas and apples.
From WFsilken tofu x 2, basil, coconut mil and wheat berries.
All the veggies/fruits are organic except cherry tomatoes.
Eating healthy and organic costs $$, here's the receipts.
almost $74 which is not more than what I usually spend.

Final and most important chapter of this long post: food! I did quite well I think.
Breakfast: oat bran is back! I made this bowl with 1/3 c. oat bran, 1/3 c. almond milk, 1/4 c. pumpkin, 1 tbsp flax meal, 1 tbsp PB. And a sliced apple.For AM snack I packed 1 toast (Tj's WW) and BB since I knew I was going to have a late lunch.Lunch: Salad made with a bed of greens, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, 2 baby beets, 1/2 c. steamed lentils and 2 tbsp sesame seeds. Dressing: 1 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp balsamic + salt.I enjoyed every bite of it.
Dessert: pumpkin + wheat berries.I spent the afternoon watching TV, a short nap, leisure reading and then had this fruit plate before going out for a walk with Qiao around the neighbor.Dinner: steamed asparagus with a mashed cauliflower with basil (inspired by Abbie), baked tofu and a gigantic steam corn.Dessert: yogurt? NO!!! Instead I made a pumpkin & tofu pudding with 1/2 c. silken tofu + 2 tbsp pumpkin + cinnamon + pumpkin spice. And a spoon of Dark Chocolate Dream!lovely~~~
It was a great first day, I enjoyed it a lot actually~~~ If every change/challenge can be enjoyable, life would be so much easier! :)

Question: Have you ever experienced mental switch? not necessarily food related.

groceries 2 & failed attempts

Here is the other bag from WF.
Kashi Golean cereal (my favorite), roasted pepper, canned pinto beans, canned palm heart, EnjoyLife granola which was on sale, so I had two. And steel cuts oats. I want to try the original form of oats. And this:
My original idea of to try pizza munchees about reading Juliet's review. But when I saw its nutritional profile which was really high in sodium (300mg), I decided to try this healthier vegetable spring rolls.
I also wanted to try kyle chips, but I studied until 8 (no snack today since I had lunch at 2pm) and it was too late to prepare it, so instead I stir fry it with 1tsp of canola oil and garlic with 2 mushrooms. I also baked half squash, cinnamon and cottage cheese.
Unfortunately nothing of today's dinner was tasty, the spring rolls weren't crispy outside, and the filling wasn't specially tasty either. Stir fry kyle wasn't good either, it's my first time trying kyle, it has a bitter taste which I don't like. Today's squash was so so.... In summary, tonight's dinner and new attempts were total failure.
After dinner, I felt needing something really good to compensate my appetite. So, I made a yogurt/pumpkin parfait. I used this new kind of FF yogurt, which has lower sugar and cal.

I used 1/3 cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1/3 cup of pumpkin, topped with 1/4 granola and 1/3 cup of Golean! mmmmmmmm..........yummy!!!! Now, I'm satisfied.


And another peppermint tea!
Hope everyone is having a good Saturday night!

groceries day!!! yeah~~

As the title says, saturday is my groceries day. I'm always so happy going for groceries.

Well, before that, yesterday's afternoon snack and dinner. Before going to the gym for 25 min of elliptical machine and 30 min abs class I had a pumpkin muffin.
After gym, I went to manicure and feeling like putting some color (usually I go for french style) since it's automn! I arrived home around 7 pm starving, the single muffin at 4 didn't hold me for long. But dinner time is approaching, so I had a small apple and a cup of "beauty drink".
I wasn't sure what to have for dinner but as it is cold outside, I felt having something hot and spicy. So, soup was the right option! I used a package of black pepper sour soup, which is extremely easy, just water and egg. I added more veggies in it to make it healthier! A big bowl of soup and some salmon rice warm salad.


As dessert, another pumpkin muffin and peppermint tea.
This morning I woke up around 8 and had to be ready to leave at 8.45 to go to my yoga class. So, I just need something quick and easy to grab instead of preparing oatmeal. Solution? 2 muffins and 1 heart cookie, usual cup of coffee and the last small apple. It hold me the entire morning. I just finished my lunch at 2pm.
After yoga class, my favorite "date" for weekend. groceries!!! today I "dated" two. My usual one is TJ's and as I had the WH coupon, I went to it as well.
Look! Look! I don't know how I will eat all of them in a week. It was two full bags from each store. (in the photos only 3 bags). I found some new products to try, so later on I will review them.
From left, rice wrap, frozen pineapple, tofu, FT cottage cheese, kyle, orange, fuji apple, zuccini, 2% fage, a new brand of fatfree yogurt from WH, cherry tomatoes, mung bean sprounts, romaine lettuce, baby spinach3 different colors of peppers (I love them, they're so sweet), banana, eggs, squash and butternut squash.
The other bag is in my car, I couldn't bring more, so heavy!!!

Lunch needed to be quick since it was 1.30pm and I still haven't had lunch. I used the other 2 portions of the soup, put some mung bean sprouts and 1 portion of TJ's grilled chicken over 1 serv. of the corn noodles. It made a HUGH serving but delicious!! Dessert was just a cup of "beauty drink" with agave nectar. I am stuffed now!