No More Excuses

At first, it was too much snacking, and then my son was sick. Then, I was extremely busy working 2 jobs, and then I was out of groceries. If there is one glaring lesson for my Cinch journey over the past month, it is life will get in the way. My weight hasn't budged in the past month, and I've got to kick it into high gear!

For this upcoming week, I have groceries in my kitchen, and my son is finally feeling better after 2 straight weeks of being sick. I do have a lot of work to do this week, but with some advance planning, I can (and will) keep up with my eating plan. I really miss the gym too, so I plan to get back into my workouts.

Today, I made up my own recipes that follow the plan, and they were all very good!

BREAKFAST (9:30 am)

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal with Apples and Cinnamon:

1 Gala apple, chopped
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
8 oz skim milk
1/8 cup Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips
Dash Vietnamese cinnamon


LUNCH (1:00 pm)

Israeli Salad with Feta Cheese and Rye Bread:

3/4 cup chopped cucumber, 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper, 1 chopped plum tomato
1 slice rye bread, chopped and tossed into the salad
1/4 cup garlic & herb feta cheese
10 olives
Dash lemon juice and balsamic vinegar

I had my daily dark chocolate right after lunch.




SNACK (5:30 pm)

No fruit (because I knew that I'd be tossing in fruit into my salad at dinner)
No whole grain
1 oz cheese
2 TBSP Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter by PB & Co


DINNER (8:00 pm)

Morrocan Chicken Chopped Salad:

1 cup spring salad mix, 1/4 cup shredded carrots, 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper, 1/4 cup steamed butternut squash, 1/8 cup dried cranberries sweetened with apple juice, and 1/8 cup chopped dried apricots
2 TBSP whole grain croutons
3 oz cooked "Smart" chicken breast (no antibiotics or hormones used in raising the chicken)
1 TBSP slivered almonds, plus 1/2 TBSP olive oil for the salad dressing
Vietnamese cinnamon dry rub on the chicken, dash champagne vinegar, dash dried mustard

I was inspired by California Pizza Kitchen's version of this chopped salad, but I deleted the avocado, hard boiled egg, and beets to make the meal fit the Cinch plan. I bought the beets during my shopping trip this weekend, but I realized that this meal had plenty of ingredients already. This salad was DELICIOUS!!

Day 10 - 3 Days Later

I've been MIA...

I spent the entire weekend sick with a terrible respiratory virus that finally made it's way to me. I've never coughed so hard in my life. My husband has had this cold for about a week and a half now. I've been eating zinc lozenges to try and avoid it. My boss swears that if you start eating them before the cold strikes, you might miss it completely. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me.

Last week was so hard with my son starting daycare AND him being sick with this thing at the same time. I just wanted to cuddle with him and take care of him as soon as we got home each evening. He coughed all over me, and we went through boxes of kleenex. It was inevitable. The cold got me too.

So needless to say, I haven't been sticking to my diet. With little to no groceries, we ordered pizza and salad on Friday night and had soup & crackers on Saturday night. On Sunday night, we did have a Cinch-based dinner, the Fiesta Pasta Salad, which was delicious. However, I didn't stick to the plan the entire day, so I am picking up where I left off today. I'm still feeling quite crappy, but I'm going to do my best...


BREAKFAST (8:30 am)

Cranberry Walnut Parfait:

¼ cup dried cranberries, sweetened with apple juice
¼ cup whole oats
6 oz. honey vanilla Greek yogurt
2 TBSP chopped walnuts
Dash Vietnamese cinnamon from Whole Foods (thanks for the recommendation, Laura!)


LUNCH (12:00 pm)

Black and Blue Salad:

1 cup field greens and 1 chopped plum tomato
1 serving Trader Joe’s whole grain crackers
¼ cup reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
10 Kalamatta olives, sliced
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar and dash each basil and oregano




SNACK (5:30 pm)

Cherry Pie Lara Bar
8 oz organic skim milk


DINNER (8:00 pm)

Turkey Pita Pizzalad:

1/2 cup marinara sauce, 1/2 cup field greens, 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 whole grain pita
3 oz. organic ground turkey breast, cooked
Chopped garlic, dash oregano, and dash basil

And I had a serving of Ghiradelli 60% dark chocolate chips as the plant-based fat. I still love that I am allowed to substitute chocolate chips for the fat part of a meal!




Hopefully, tomorrow is another successful day!

Day 20 - Quick Post

Just a quick post for today. I still have to finish packing for our trip tomorrow. I'm going to do my best to stick to my diet while we are in Indiana.

BREAKFAST (8:30 am)

Almond Toast with Berries and Milk:

(I made this one up since I'm trying to use up my berries before they go bad.)

1 cup fresh strawberries and blueberries, combined
1 slice whole grain bread, toasted
8 oz. skim milk
1 TBSP almond butter
Dash cloves for the berries

I also had a cappucino from the work cafeteria for breakfast, but it tasted REALLY sweet. I think it may have had some kind of creamer or sweetener that I wasn't aware of. My taste buds are definitely changing since I have eliminated salt, sugar, and other artificial sweeteners from my diet (with the exception of my vanilla yogurt). I refuse to eat plain yogurt again.

LUNCH (1:00 pm)

Tomato, Olive, and Munster Cheese Pita:

(I made this one up too, so I could use up my tomatoes and olives.)

1/2 cup tomatoes and 2 large romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 whole grain pita
1 slice munster cheese
10 Kalamatta olives
Fresh basil and dried oregano

This was tasty especially as I got to the bottom of the pita where all of my cheese was buried. Yum!



I had 100 calories of dark chocolate around 2:00 pm.

SNACK (5:00 pm)

Peppery Kiwi Almond Crunch:

1 medium kiwi, peeled and sliced
1 slice whole grain bread (omitted)
1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese (I subbed cottage cheese)
2 TBSP slivered almonds (I subbed pecans)
Dash black pepper

DINNER (7:30 pm)

Green Tea Chicken with Avocado Corn Salad:

1 1/2 cups field greens, 1/4 cup chopped red onion, and 1/4 cup fresh salsa
1/2 cup corn, frozen
3 oz cooked chicken
1/4 of a medium avocado
Green tea leaves mixed with pepper, garlic powder, and lemon zest

I thought this meal was quite delicious. The green tea leaves on my chicken were a surprisingly pleasant taste.