Reuniting with Trader Joes and My Apartment!

For the past couple of weeks in an effort to save money, we have spent several nights at my In Laws.. this is very nice on their part to let us crash but usually it is much easier to have a routine of exercising and eating healthy when I sleep at home.

Case in point Sunday was spent lounging around the house and eating leftovers when maybe if I had been home I would have made a salad... But I can't go around blaming things on my inability to make a salad in someone else's house. All I know is that when I am on my routine of going home I do things like make extremely healthy dinners and go to the gym. For example yesterday I ate:

Lunch
2 Garden Burgers on Arnold Sandwich thins w/melted Mozzarella and sliced tomato and Avocado
Dinner 
Garlic Chili Tilapia from TJ's - broiled when I got home (from the Gym!)
Salad w/feta, avocado, tomatoes, cukes, sweet little peppers, EVOO & Mrs. Dash
TJ's Bake at Home Ficelle French Bread- popped in the oven at 375 for 10 minutes and it was heaven.. I know I try to stay away from bread but because it is from TJ's I think its ok... I know.. so not.
Pumpkin ice cream (I know disaster but its in season now so I cant say no!)

And last night I went to a Pilates Mat class at the gym.. I thought I would be ok as I am slowly getting into better shape.. but alas I almost died. Had to keep stopping because my muscles were sooooo out of shape that they just wouldn't stop shaking... I for sure thought I would leave early but I stuck it out! So proud!

Now my abs are super sore which should bode well for my next personal trainer meeting!

Personal Training

Last night I had my first "Kick Off" with my personal trainer at Crunch. I get 2 for free as part of my membership so last night's introductory meeting was a why not kinda situation..

I met with the man and we talked about :
my goals
my lack of flexibility
my lack of exercise for the past lifetime
my lack of motivation to spend hundreds of dollars a month to hire him so he can essentially force me to work out whether I want to or not...
Basically he was very clear that Yoga is not going to make me lose the weight and become in the top physical form that I was clearly destined to be in and that I need something forcing me to push myself physically!
I said that in a perfect world with tons of money maybe that would work but alas we are not in that world sooo I want my free trial and please stop pushing the sales pitch!

So that sucked but at least he stretched out my super sore butt and I get to meet with him for REAL next week and maybe I will see what all the fuss about trainers really is!

Yesterday was an ok eating day:
Breakfast- Coffee
Lunch- Waffle with strawberries and whipped cream!
Snack- Quinoa w/Butternut Squash
Dinner- Same salad with leftover meat inside as previous day this week!

So I think that even though technically I weigh 158 pounds (EEK)
BUT on my own scale at home at least I have lost 5 pounds!

Ha. Maybe I will fit in some yoga today :)

A Nightly Recap!

Today was a great day of leftovers from Shabbat :)

Breakfast- Coffee & Banana
Lunch- Some Quinoa Salad (avocado, tomato, and cucumber w/lemon juice, salt & pepper) asparagus, and a small portion of Scalloped Potatoes (A fantastic kosher recipe is in Kosher by Design for Entertainers- aka the pink one)
Dinner- A salad with lettue, tomato, avocado, cukes, pepper, cut up pieces of leftover french roast from Shabbat with a thrown together dressing of Apple Cider vinegar, EVOO, Garlic Salt, Pepper, and Sugar... along with 2 bowls of Chicken soup with Matza Balls!

Also my gym membership is paying off!
Went to Buff Yoga @ Crunch Gym tonight- Faster paced yoga with weights to make you really sore and sweaty! I will most probably not be able to move tomorrow but its worth it!

The weekend was filled with lots of eating out (too many Starbucks lattes) so I am happy to be eating some more homemade meals this week!

Weekends Dont Count!

It was my birthday over the weekend (yay me.) so I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted yesterday! I went to a wonderful lunch at Cafe Muskat in Queens consisting of:
French Onion Soup
Iced Coffee
Salad w/Haloumi cheese, sweet potatoes, eggplant walnuts (blech) and normal stuff
Caramel cake for Dessert! - Don't worry I only ate 2 bites of the cake with a little ice cream!

Also I couldn't finish the salad so I ate the leftovers today for lunch!

Dinner was splitting 3 delicious sushi rolls from my favorite sushi place Sushi Metsuyan (Queens, NY)

So I guess I didn't really eat soo much yesterday....Going out to dinner again tonight though! Cant Wait!

Wednesday and Thursday (Clearly forgot to post yesterday)

Wednesday
Breakfast
Coffee/Banana
Lunch
Sweet Potato Soup w/ 2 slices of Trader Joes Bread
latte @ Starbucks - LOVE but can only get sparingly as I am a) POOR b) they give you nothing for $5!
Dinner
Chips and Salsa, White cheddar Puffs, and some cake at a Bacholorette Party

Clearly a horribly unhealthy dinner but I was so busy that I had no time!

Thursday
Breakfast
Coffee/Banana
Lunch
2 Avocado/Pickle Sandwiches on Trader Joes Honey Oat Bread (I love this old school sandwich)
Dinner
Salad with lettuce, cucumbers, avocado, orange pepper, craisins, feta cheese with a random dressing i threw together (Balsamic Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, mayonnaise, ketchup, EVOO- now that I look at the ingredients I am like ICK! but whatever it was good and I knew I had to keep it light after a sandwich lunch!)

Exercise
Virgin Yoga at Crunch on UWS - I tried this class out as I have decided to go back to basics in Yoga because I didn't feel I was getting the most out of my time in class aka focus more on basic moves, phrases, and breathing. It was a great class and I will definitely go again!

Tuesday

Tuesday was another succesful day!

Breakfast

Coffee

Banana

Lunch

Salad w/ romaine lettuce, feta, avocado, tomatos, cukes with some EVOO and Mrs. Dash and 2 pieces of Trader Joe's Honey Grain Bread toasted with smashed avocado on top... ( I get super hungry if I just eat my little salad so its better to eat this then a chocolate bar at 3 pm)

Dinner

Salad with pickles, tomatoes, avocado, cukes, lettuce all chopped w/ lemon juice, EVOO, and Mrs. Dash

Leftover Eggplant Parm (only 2 pieces of eggplant)

And then I made a Sweet potato soup from scratch.. Super easy and its really good!

I was so proud I even took a picture!

Here is my made up recipe:

4 HUGE Sweet potatoes 

1 big onion- chopped

I threw 3 potatoes and the onion into the pot and cooked until soft

I experimented and roasted the other potato with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper and EVOO to see which cooked faster and the pot won.. so I just threw this experiment pan into the pot also and waited until everything was soft.

Chicken Stock- I cooked a small pot of water and put in chicken soup mix bc I didn't have stock on hand.

Immersion-ed everything together and added water to make it less thick... 

Delicious! 

Exercise-

I went to the gym last night. Crunch gym had a Groupon that I purchased back in May and haven't gotten around to using. Last night I tried out Hot Yoga for the first time. I love yoga normally and I think I will stick with that for now because the Heat just makes it harder and more dehydrating...maybe I will get there in the future. But I am pretty sore right now so YAY!

Monday!

I am proud of myself for Monday.. this is why

Breakfast
Coffee- with Peppermint Mocha coffeemate  creamer
Banana
Lunch
Salad with Sesame encrusted tuna (I made it myself from the recipe from Quick and Kosher - next time I will use my grill pan)
Dinner
Eggplant Parmesan
Cauliflower roasted with some seasoned salt and pepper and EVOO
Mini chopped salad consisting of  cucumbers, tomatoes, mini sweet pepper, pickles, avocado, lettuce with lemon juice, EVOO, and Garlic Salt and Pepper.
I was so excited about my dinner I even took a picture!

 And then I had Edy's Pumpkin ice cream with some whipped cream for dessert!

Exercise- 1.5 miles on the bike... I have to get myself back into shape slowly.. it literally felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest.. shameful!