Day 2 - So Far, So Good

After my post yesterday, I tried to mentally "record" the many food decisions that I was faced with today. It started with breakfast when I toasted my bread in the cafeteria. "I saw the apple cinnamon crumb cakes all beautifully wrapped up in a bowl; I wondered how much the chocolate chip cookies were; I noticed they started adding hummus to the refrigerated case; I thought the type of flavored coffee they made for the day sounded yummy; I looked to see what the salad was for lunch today; the dept admin brought in banana bread and carrot cupcakes and told everyone to come and enjoy." All of this while I simply used the cafeteria toaster!!!

Around 9 am, I realized that I forgot to eat the side of hazelnuts that I brought with me. Around 11 am, I started thinking about my lunch, but managed to keep working hard on my projects, so I wouldn't eat it too early. After lunch, I reached for my desk drawer to have a 100 calorie dark chocolate bar, but I was out! I dug in my change purse for coins (since I never keep cash on me) with the thought that I would check the cafeteria vending machine for a hershey's dark chocolate bar (none available). I realized that I would just go without chocolate today. Then, around 3 pm, someone decided to buy 12 boxes of different kinds of ice cream bars, and the entire marketing department went to get one.

I'm sure there were more food decisions today, but man -- I am tired just thinking (and typing) about it. Amazing that I made it through unscathed:


BREAKFAST (7:30 am)

Banana Ricotta Hazelnut Toast:

½ banana
1 slice whole grain toasted bread
¼ cup low fat ricotta cheese
2 TBSP whole hazelnuts
Dash cinnamon


LUNCH (12:00 pm)

Baja Bean Salad with Whole Grain Tortilla Chips:

1 plum tomato chopped, 1 cup chopped cucumber, and 1/4 cup salsa
1 serving whole grain tortilla chips
1/2 cup kidney beans
1/4 cup Wholly guacamole
Dash cumin




SNACK (3:00 pm)

Apple, Gouda, and Chocolate Peanut Butter:

1 cup apple slices
No whole grain
1 Babybel gouda cheese
2 TBSP Justin's chocolate peanut butter
Dash cinnamon


I had my dark chocolate when I got home from a Dr. appt around 6:30.


DINNER (7:30 pm)

Cranberry Chickpea Orzo Salad:

1 cup sauteed spinach, 3/4 cup chopped zucchini, and 1/4 cup dried cranberries sweetened with apple juice
1/2 cup whole grain orzo pasta
1/2 cup organic chickpeas
2 TBSP slivered almonds
Dash red wine vinegar and dried parsley

Yes, I know the cranberries were technically a "no-no" since you're supposed to have only veggies for your lunch and dinner meals. BUT WHATEVER! Did you see the crazy day I had, and the yummy goodies I could have eaten?

Day 12 - Down Another Pound!

Those 3+ pounds are gone, and I'm down another pound. Hoorah! That is now a total loss of 12.5 lbs. I am so excited.

BREAKFAST (8:30 am):

Banana Ricotta Hazelnut Toast:

1 slice whole grain toasted bread, topped with:
¼ cup low fat ricotta cheese
½ banana
2 TBSP whole hazelnuts
Sprinkled with cloves

I had my daily dark chocolate around 11 am. Wow, I didn't make it very long into the day before I had chocolate, huh?

LUNCH (1:00 pm):

Turkey Almond Pita:

½ cup fresh spinach and 1 chopped plum tomato
½ whole grain pita
3 oz roasted turkey breast
1 TBSP raw natural almond butter
Dash balsamic vinegar


SNACK (4:30 pm):

Minneola Almond Twist:

Wedges from 1 medium Minneola
½ cup non-fat cottage cheese
2 TBSP slivered almonds
Dash dried basil


DINNER (8:00 pm):

Avocado Crab Dip with Whole Grain Tortilla Chips:

(I made this one up myself!)

½ cup celery sticks, ½ cup all-natural salsa, 1/4 cup shredded carrots, 1/4 cup sliced red bell pepper, ½ cup chopped cucumber
1 serving whole grain tortilla chips
3 oz lump crab meat
½ of a medium avocado
Lime juice and chopped cilantro

Day 28 - Classic Favorites

It was nice to take the day off from my diet yesterday. For date night, my husband and I were originally planning to visit this gourmet hot dog restaurant that is supposed to be a pretty awesome place. However, it was too crowded when we arrived, so we ended up eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant instead. I still found myself ordering foods that fit into the puzzle pieces of the Cinch! diet. I think my brain is trained to eat this way forever! We split chips w/ salsa & guacamole for our appetizer, and I had spicy green lentils with tomatoes & onion, stir fry bok choy with garlic and lime juice, and jasmine rice for dinner (with a sangria of course!). Everything was really yummy. I was proud of myself because I had never tried lentils (beans) or bok choy (veggie) before. It was nice to try something new.

I have realized that since I took the day off yesterday that I have 3 more days of the Core plan, which means I will be starting the Fast Forward phase again this coming Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

Today, I found myself eating some of my favorites from the Cinch! book. Since I actually got to sleep in today, I ended up eating only 3 meals instead of 4:

BREAKFAST (12:00 pm)

(Yes, breakfast at noon on a Sunday!)

Banana Ricotta Hazelnut Toast:

1 slice whole grain toasted bread, topped with:
¼ cup low fat ricotta cheese
½ banana
2 TBSP whole hazelnuts
Sprinkled with cloves



LUNCH (4:30 pm)

Mediterranean Broccoli Couscous Platter:

2 cups steamed broccoli
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
3 oz cooked chicken
2 TBSP chopped pecans
Minced garlic and 1 TBSP lemon juice



I ended up eating 2 graham crackers and 100 calories of dark chocolate around 6 pm. Maybe I should have had the mandatory snack after all...

DINNER (8:30 pm)

Smoked Gouda and Grilled Onion Salad:

1 1/2 cups torn romaine lettuce and 1/2 cup sliced onion
1 serving whole grain crackers
1 oz. smoked gouda cheese, cubed
1 TBSP EVOO
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp lemon juice, sprinkled with pepper



This coming week is going to be extremely busy, so I'm probably going to have shorter blog entries. I won't be coming home for lunch tomorrow or Tuesday, so I will need to make sure and have plenty of time in the morning to pack my breakfast, lunch, and snack for each day.

Day 19 - Down Another 1.5 Lbs.

I have now lost 7.5 pounds in almost 3 weeks! In fact, I am 2 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. My son is almost 2 years old, and I’m just now losing all of my baby weight. I suppose it is better than not bouncing back at all.

This is better than any other diet I’ve tried. I’m absolutely going to do another 30 days of this plan. I have a goal to reach by my son's birthday at the end of April.

BREAKFAST (8:00 am)

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal and Blueberries Mixed with Yogurt:

1 cup fresh blueberries
¼ cup whole oats
6 oz vanilla yogurt
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Dash nutmeg

Dark chocolate for breakfast. *drool* It was pretty awesome.


LUNCH (1:00 pm)

Black Bean Tacos with Cilantro Guacamole:

I altered the recipe to 1 full cup of cooked spinach, ¼ cup chopped red onion, and ¼ cup all-natural salsa
2 whole-corn tortillas
½ cup black beans
¼ of a medium avocado
Lime juice and chopped cilantro

I love these bean tacos. They were especially yummy with the fresh salsa. I finally found corn tortillas that don’t break in half when I eat them. They are the 365 brand from Whole Foods. And my avocados were finally ripe… Wouldn’t you know? I’m getting ready to go out of town for 4 days!



I had my daily dark chocolate and chai green tea around 3:00 pm.

DINNER (6:30 pm)

Citrus Salmon Salad:

1 cup field greens and ½ cup each chopped red onion and chopped green beans
½ cup frozen corn, thawed
3 oz cooked salmon
¼ of a medium avocado
1 TBSP red wine vinegar (I used balsamic instead), dashes of dried oregano and basil, as well as juice & zest from a Minneola

This salmon salad was great!



SNACK (9:30 pm)

Vanilla Almond Frozen Banana:
(I halved the whole grain and plant-based fat portions, so I could eat the full recipe.)

1 small banana
1/8 cup whole oats
6 oz vanilla yogurt
1 TBSP chopped peanuts
Dash cinnamon (subbed instead of the vanilla, since my yogurt was already sweetened)

Oh yum, I really liked having my snack later tonight. I had to rearrange my usual 8-12-4-8 eating schedule today since I took a Latin Mix class at the gym tonight. It didn’t start until 7:15 pm, so I needed to eat dinner earlier this evening.

But anyways, back to the banana. I stuck it in the freezer for ½ hour around 9:00 and took it out to enjoy around 9:30 pm. Look how delicious it is:



Tomorrow, I'm planning to make my meals based on whatever ingredients I have in my fridge that need to be used up before going out of town. Should be interesting!