My tapeworm tells me what to do

My mystery tapeworm is still with me. Seriously, I’ve eaten so much the past few days. Maybe it’s because I’ve come down with a cold? Doesn’t the old adage go, “Starve a fever, feed a cold?” If so, then I’m doing everything right!

Last night for dinner I had what seemed like a HUGE meal, but in reality wasn’t as humongoid as I’d thought. I baked a chicken breast (put Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce on halfway through baking) and the remainder of my Alexia sweet potato fries (probably a serving and a half, if not two!), made a salad with mixed greens, feta and Drew’s Lemon Tahini Goddess dressing, and then had a carrot and a celery stalk dipped in white bean hummus. It seemed like a massive amount of food, but I was still hungry. I topped it off with a homemade chocolate chip cookie and cut myself off for the rest of the night. At least it was relatively healthy, though, right? Lots of veggies, anyways…

I’ve spent my last several workouts becoming more focused on weights and I think that might be a contributing factor concerning my constant starvation. Makes sense, right? My metabolism should be spiking, thus burning more calories, thus making me hungry? True or not, I like the sound of it. Anyways, I noticed this morning that I have little muscle lines on the OUTSIDE of my arms now! They’re pretty indiscernible, but if you look closely you can see them. I’m so excited! Also, people keep noticing I’ve lost weight! There is seriously no bigger motivator than having people notice all the hard work you’ve been doing, at least for me.

Tonight’s going to be a night off from the gym. I keep telling myself that I SHOULD go since normally I’d be at volleyball on a Thursday night (the Playoffs start tonight and we have yet another bye week since we’re #1 in our division!), but I’m so run down from this cold that I just don’t think I can do it. Instead, I think I’ll be heading to the East End Food Co-Op since I’ve been jonesing to go there for a few days now. I plan on getting some more unsalted cashew butter, maybe some bulk goodies, mayyyybe some more sweet potato fries, and maybe a special treat or two. I’m really considering making Red Lentil-Peanut Soup for dinner, but I can’t remember how many red and green lentils I have left at home from a previous (and delish) lentil soup recipe. Also, I only have about ½ cup of yogurt left after this morning’s breakfast. Perhaps I’ll make due with a more one-person-appropriate half recipe.

That’s pretty much the extent of my plans for the evening. Ideally, I’d like to get to Target to buy a new large envelope for my 2009 pay stubs and insurance info, etc., but I try to avoid going to Monroeville unless I’m going to the gym… and we’ve already discovered that’s probably not gonna happen tonight. So maybe I’ll just hang out at home and relax a bit.

Enjoy the warm-ish weather, Pittsburghers!

runnin on empty... NOT!

I’ve seemingly developed a tapeworm the past few days. I’ve seriously been so hungry, no matter what I eat or how often! The past few days I’ve been eating my newest creation for lunch – BURRACOS! Ok, they might really just be burritos (I’m a little fuzzy on my Mexican food terminology), but I think the term Burracos is pretty sweet. They’re a mixture of black beans and lean turkey meat, Greek yogurt, reduced fat “Mexican blend” cheese (Kraft), and TJ’s tortillas. Yummm! To make them more transportable, I’ve been wrapping them in the tortillas, then wrapping them in foil and putting them in a plastic container. Works pretty well! In theory, they should be really filling… but in reality I could totally eat a village after I eat a Burraco. In other new products, I branched out and tried both the TJ’s low sodium butternut squash soup and the vegan split pea soup. The butternut squash was sadly a terrible disappointment – very runny and unflavorful and ultimately too watery. The split pea soup, on the other hand, was pretty fab-u. It was chunky, vegan, fat free, and had only 100 calories per 1 cup serving. The sodium (as with any soup) was pretty high (570 mg, 24% RDV), but it had 3 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein per serving. It was super yummy and I expected that the combination of a Burraco with 1 cup of the soup would tide me over for a few hours… but no. So I caved in and ate ½ cup fresh strawberries and about 7 pretzels dipped in unsalted cashew butter. I’m hoping to remain satiated until at least 4!
 
Ooh, and good news! My garage door finally works! It was heavenly today – I went outside, pushed a button, and the door went up. I got in the car, backed out, pushed another button FROM THE COMFORT OF MY CAR and the door closed. Just as it should. It was glo-rious! For probably the first time since I’ve bought the house, everything is in working order. I expect this to last until probably tomorrow, when undoubtedly something else will break.
 
In the middle of the night a few nights ago, I mysteriously took a small chunk out of my face… I have no idea how it happened and I have vague memories of it hurting and my face bleeding, but my nails aren’t that sharp. How on earth did it happen? Now I have this red mark just under my nose that looks like either a pimple or a bloody booger until you look closely and see the layers of dermis underneath the redness. Sometimes I’m just so awesome I amaze myself.
 
I’m excited to go to the gym tonight since I took last night off. I’ve been doing a lot of weights and mat work and I definitely notice a difference in the way I feel. Also, I’ve noticed that walking on a steep incline burns nearly as many calories (sometimes more!) than running, so that’s pretty interesting.
 
I’m gonna get up from my desk before I scarf down my fruit snacks I’ve reserved for pre-gym fuel. I really need to get rid of this tapeworm!