Back in Action

As I've said many times before, so sorry for the delay in posting. Aside from being busy, I seem to have either caught a bug or at least become deeply affected by allergy season.

I don't want to bombard you with (just over) a weeks worth of catch up all at once, so I'll try to break it down. Most of the days only cover the food anyway, so while nothing terribly exciting, at least it should be a quicker recap than usual.

I also want to apologize not only to my readers, but the companies I have promised reviews and/or giveaways to. I will still be getting on those ASAP.

And I haven't forgotten to finish my trip recap either. Phew, I really am behind. But you know me, I always get back on track eventually.

So without further ado, let's start with last Saturday & Sunday:

August 7

Workout:

-35 min elliptical

Can't believe I woke up BEFORE 8 am on a Saturday. Especially after drinking (not copious amounts, but still more than 1 or 2) + going to sleep late-ish (1:30ish maybe?). I'm a trooper ;).

-The hugest smoothie/protein shake I've made in a looooong while, if ever (packet of starbucks via instant coffee mixed with water, 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder, half of a large banana, a sprinkle of guar gum, a sprinkle of xanthan gum, ice)




Holy thickening agents, Batman. That guar & xanthan really do their job well. My drink expanded from taking up somewhere between 1/3-1/2 of the blender to almost filling it. I had 3 full glasses, when usually I only have one.

-a couple bites of leftover salmon & zucchini kabob (no good as leftovers, taste tested it and then tossed it)
-a lil leftover rice
-gf crackers + roasted red pepper hummus
-water



I don't really like to eat fish more than a day after it was prepared. This would have been borderline, but my Mom put it in her mini fridge in her room and somehow it froze! Yuck. I'm surprised I attempted to eat it at all.

-leftover fish from last nite
-leftover creamed corn from last nite
-grapes
-water



I'm almost positive the fish was halibut, not red snapper like they said. It was just too thick and hearty to be snapper. Hmmm.

-single serving bag of parmesan & herb baked lays
-large unsweetened iced tea with a tiny splash of sweet tea on top




Not a fan of the chips. I wouldn't get that flavor again I don't think, but I always like to try the new ones. Plus, I was really hungry and knew dinner wouldn't be ready for awhiiile.

-veggie lasagna I made
-side salad (organic spinach topped with organic olive oil & organic balsamic)
-water




The lasagna didn't turn out that great (stupid supposed-to-cook in oven noodles), but I still ate my serving and then some. Hey, it wasn't ready 'til 10 pm. I wasn't about to start over with something new.

-all natural vanilla bean ice cream with raspberries & half of a sliiiightly heated chocolate vitamuffin



Diiiivine.

Body Bugg Stats:

Calories Burned: 2,430
Steps Taken: 12,069

August 8

-egg white omelet with lox, herby cream cheese, spinach, & tomato
-side of cheese grits
-side of veggie sausage
-whole wheat toast with strawberry butter
-coffee with chocolate stevia
-water







Only had about half of everything, but I came home an hour or two later & finished the rest with some agua. I also put maple syrup on the second veggie sausage. My faaaaaaaave. It just goes so good together!



-half of a luna protein bar (choc pb)





Still not my fave bar, but this flavor was much more to my liking than their cookie dough flavor (which I didn't even finish)

Workout:

-10 min treadmill warm up
-about 45 minutes weights etc (abs & shoulders)
-5 min treadmill cool down

-half of a Kashi spinach & mushroom pizza with extra pizza sauce (aka 1.5 servings)
-salad (organic spinach, homemade honey mustard, crumbled honey goat cheese, tiny bit of black pepper)
-water




MMMMMM. My Dad didn't believe me that you can make honey mustard by mixing honey & mustard, LOL. Um, duh! :). LOVE this dinner. So easy and simple, but sooo good. Kashi spinach & mushroom pizza FTW.

-1/2 of a warmed chocolate vitamuffin with raspberries over 1/2 a cup of natural vanilla bean ice cream
-water





Body Bugg Stats:

Calories Burned: 2,451
Steps Taken: 11,086

xo,
Amanda

Suitcase Dog

July 20

Workout:

-35 min elliptical

-breakfast wrap (2 egg whites, slice of american cheese, pesto in an ezekiel tortilla)
-iced coffee via







-cherries
-sunflower seed butter, raw cashew butter, & superfruit jam in an ezekiel tortilla
-protein cookie
-creme brulee flavored black coffee
-water




So good. Nut butter and good jam never gets old. Nut butter never gets old, period. Even that protein cookie tasted extra good this time.

-grande iced soy latte



Hadn't planned on a 'Bux run or I wouldn't have had that coffee above, but I was out running an errand and it was next door, and well...how could I pass it up? C'mon. Of course, the one time I wanted to add cinnamon they didn't have any out, but whatevs. Still Delish.

-vegan tofu curry egg roll



-part of a veggie plate (cornbread dressing, yellow squash casserole, corn, black eyed peas, broccoli rice cheesy casserole, green beans)
-blackberry spinach side salad sans bacon (spinach, feta, tomato, mushroom, blackberry in a blackberry vinaigrette)
-a bite or two of corn bread & about 1/3 of a whole wheat roll
-water




I asked for turnip greens, but they don't have them anymore and subbed for corn without asking me (it was a delivery order). Meh. At least the corn was good, but not as nutritious! The green beans were gross too. And I don't know how I ended up with the rice casserole, but it's so good :-P.

Look how sad Mr. Buster Brown is that we're going on vaca soon. Awwwww.




Poor guy (and poor red-eyed Chloe kittie too). Sorry you had to be subjected to my Dad's underwear, but Buster was too cute and pathetic not to share. My lil boy :(.

Aaaand speaking of cute little boy pup pups...lookie who came to work today!!




Clide! Awww. I love dogs so much. *heart heart heart* Makes me want another puppy lol. So cute.

Buuut, I am also already sooo sad to leave Bella while I'm on vaca :(. My heart......



Body Bugg Stats:

Calories Burned: 2,703
Steps Taken: 12,236

xo,
Amanda

Happy Hour(s)

July 16

-bowl of gluten free cinnamon chex cereal with almond milk



Workout:

-treadmill for 23 minutes (about half jogging, half walking)

-strawberries
-cherries & blueberries
-iced coffee via




Fairly soon after...

-side salad (organic mixed greens, sweet peppers, grape tomatoes, honey mustard)
-water




Forgot my salad dressing. Again. My Dad found a random honey mustard for me. It was all natural and pretty tasty, it worked.

-champagne, pomegranate liquor, and orange juice cocktail
-shrimp cocktail
-ahi tuna appetizer with wasabi and salad greens
-2 vodka sodas with a splash of cran
-water
-half of a chilean seabass with 1 shrimp on top
-sauteed garlic spinach
-glass of moscato (I asked for sparkling wine, but whatever)
-water
-at least 1/2 of a marg (I didn't order it, but I don't like wasted alchy! lol)






Ate pretty natural, just drank a lot of booze. My bad. A "quick" happy hour turned into over 3 hours (hence the long, long list). Yeahhh.

Then, we went to pick up my asthma medicines using my new insurance. They kept saying the card didn't have the right info, even though it's the only card I have. So frustrating. They were closing, but eventually figured out a way to give them to me for something like $170. Still insane (they're supposed to be $35 each with insurance) instead of the $300+ they originally insisted we pay. Hopefully we can figure out why the $170 though. I realize there are deductibles, especially since this is my first time using the new insurance, but we thought mine was $50. Whatever. It's irritating and I kind of wanted to be able to breathe, so you know. Nothing important or anything, but..:-P

When we got home I started to heat up a vegan egg roll, but riiight when the oven was almost fully preheated I decided, false alarm, I was no longer hungry. Phew.

Still jogged in place for awhile to get the rest of my steps & cals in. Just made it!

Body Bugg Stats:

Calories Burned: 2,323
Steps Taken: 10,916

xo,
Amanda

Pants on the Ground

July 13

Workout:

-5 min treadmill jogging (warm up)
-about 30 min weights? Didn't keep track. Arms & legs.
-about 10 min stretching
-5 min treadmill walking (cool down)

I did hammer squats on this machine for the first time. I thought they were going to be miserable, but um, can you say obsessed? I was so sore RIGHT AWAY, even before I finished my third (and even second, really) set, but I LOVED them! Feel the buuurn, baby. It was great. Looking forward to doing those again. I just love arms & legs day, what can I say?

-chocolate cherry protein shake (chocolate protein powder, almond milk, 10 frozen cherries, a little bit of hemp seeds, a little ice)



It's so weird: Every time I make a protein shake and taste it I think it's so gross, but if I leave it alone to melt a little it becomes delish. I still prefer banana as my fruit/sweetener, but we were out. Cherries are pretty good in protein shakes, just not my faaave. I also meant to have a nectarine on the side, but forgot.

-grande soy latte



-half of a salmon/feta/roasted red pepper pinwheel
-half of a corn on the cob
-fruit (cherries/organic strawberries/blueberries/raspberries)
-broccoli with hummus





I ate this at diff times over the course of the whole afternoon.

-sample of organic merlot @ Central Market

-single serve bowl of chicken "pho"




Central Market had this single-serving portion. I wouldn't call it real pho. It was OK, but a little too bland. I added hot sauce and a dash of soy. It needed jalapenos (and more bean sprouts and more basil). They gave a random red chili and green chili pepper, but all the pho I've ever had used sliced jalapeno. *shrug* I really wish it came with shrimp or even beef (in general, but also because the chicken was dry), but alas. There wasn't much meat anyway, so it doesn't matter much. I almost got this shrimp in peanut sauce noodle dish, but it had dyes/chemicals like yellow 5 in it. Ugh, why? So unnecessary. No thank you. At least the faux-Pho had pretty clean ingredients. It was also comforting, but still light. Just what I needed. It was one of those meals where you feel sick and tired and you know you need to eat, but nothing in particular sounds good. I just knew I didn't want to cook, lol.

-egg roll with honey flavored goat cheese, extra honey, and a few white chocolate chips and a few dark chocolate chips
-a cut up nectarine
-a few cut up organic strawberries



-herba tussin tea with honey & lemon



Body Bugg Stats:

Calories Burned: 2,420
Steps Taken: 10,039

I haven't weighed myself in a few days or maybe even a week *gasp*, but at last glance I weighed the same if not more than I have lately. HOWEVER, my fave pair of pj pants are literally falling off of me to the point where I almost can't wear them anymore, even tied. Hopefully that means I'm building muscle or at least changing my shape or something (for the better, ha). :-P. We'll seeee...my normal jeans have been loose for awhile, but they're stretchy, so that doesn't necessarily say much.

Random Pics of the Day:

Wanna see one reason I'm lovin' pencil skirts? They make me feel rather large on the whole but...

They give me a booooty :-P. Oh yeah. Haha.
got that pendant at a craft show, thought it was pretty cool
Flowerssss. The bouqet I got was so big it filled up 2 of my fave vases. Gotta love it. Two-toned flowers are my faves. Preferably tulips, but these work too!

xo,
Amanda