The last meal

I started the real deal diet this morning (again) so last night went to Basil to eat my last supper.

Basil Fries

Bianca- White pizza with roasted garlic and rosemary
Pencil Asparagus with golden beets and jalapeno

Wild mushroom and goat cheese and a marghareta 

Funnel Cakes!

SO SO delicious. I wish I wasn't obsessed with food it would make it much easier to diet.

Swimming!

I have been talking about starting to swim for about a year now. I know it is the best way of exersizing when pregnant and even bought goggles to go. Alas I never went until last night. So only about a year and a half late.. not bad. My friend and I went and did 10 laps and man I felt it after. I actually got a bit seasick from lack of glasses and goggles but hopefully next week I will remember the contacts and goggle combo so I wont feel as nausaus.

 

So summer workouts will be looking like:

 1 night swimming

 1 night yoga

 1 night abs

and maybe I will reintroduce strentgh training

 

Side point, we are having a Simchat Bat for my daughter on Sunday and I bought all this ice cream for the ice cream sundae bar.

Maybe I just wont diet that day.

Day 1 for realzz

Day 1 started off like any other.

I ate:
Banana
Coffee
Chobani
Super healthy lunch:

Grilled chicken with roasted peppers, asparagus, and a yummo beet slaw (purchased from Cedar Market)

 

Dinner on the other hand was a disaster. Its all fun and games when I pack nice healthy food and go to work but once I am home and the kids are around its no eating until they are in bed. I had the great idea to go to Costco so at 8:30 had a frozen yogurt from there because really you can't go wrong for $1.43.

 

Then I got home and was STARVING. So of course in true Teaneck fashion I ordered takeout at 9:30. RocknRoll Sushi made me one Mango roll (spicy mango sauce on a regular california roll) and one Confused Roll (pepper tuna, yellowtail, avocado, with spicy salmon) which I was ok with. But then we ordered Dumplings and Forest Noodles for my husband and Oh man those were delicious. So yeah. Thats what occured yesterday.

 

Rimon

A couple of weeks ago we went to a new kosher resturaunt in Great Neck, NY for my grandmothers birthday. It was AMAZING. So instead of dwelling on the fact that I cannot eat like this again for some time I will post these pics instead.

French Fries (its no joke if they come in a cone)

Nadav's mocktail and personal pizza

Kale Salad, Caesar Salad, Fettucino with Pesto Cream Sauce (YUM)

My Roasted eggplant with pesto, sauce, and cheese and salad.

Obviously I was trying to be healthy and ended up eating way more than my share. There was also soup and dessert not pictured. So overeating at its best!


 

Today is a new day.

So you know that point in weight loss where you finally get to the place where you have the control to do it ?? I think I am there. So today is Day 1. I am back on South Beach but also starting at phase 2 because I don't think I can ever eat eggs again after Phase 1 last time. So today I brought lunch and I will work my hardest for at least 2 weeks.

Starting weight (today): 178.5

So in typical 20lbsdown fashion I need to lose 20 pounds to get to where I was pre-baby. Then 10 more but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Shavuot - 1 month later

A couple of weeks ago it was Shavuot and I made a whole huge menu of "lighter" foods because that holiday can get so super fatnng. On a 3 day holiday I made:
chicken with rice pilaf
roasted peppers
green beans
london broil
roasted onion soup mix potatoes
gefilte fish with tomato sauce
chulent
crunchy pecan cutlets
corn squash loaf
hasselback salami
roasted broccoli
Make your own pizzas
mustard dill salmon
lasagna
roasted asparagus
portabello mushroom quiche
spinach feta quiche
french onion soup
sphaghetti squash quiche
pumpkin craisin muffin

Which when listing seems like a lot but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't bad!

When I served the sphaghetti squash quiche everyone was so excited that it was low fat and low carb and low weight watchers points!

My mother in law originally made this and I just made up my own recipe based on hers:

Asparagus Quiche with a Sphaghetti Squash Crust
1 sphaghetti squash cooked (I just roast and then take out "meat" with a fork)
1 bunch asparagus
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
5 eggs
1 cup milk ( I used whole because it's all I had)
2 cups Natural and Kosher low fat part skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
salt and pepper

Sautee onion with garlic and chopped asparagus. In pan squish the sphaghetti quash into the edges like a crust. Mix eggs milk and salt and pepper and whisk together until mixed. Pour into sphaghetti squash crust and pour asparagus mixture into milk layer. Put another layer of cheese on top and cook at 350 until firm.

It appears low fat kosher cheese exists you just need to look for it! I really wish it was more easily available....

Still Winter over here...

When I got home from work today I was in the mood for soup because oh yes it is 5o degrees and rainy here in NJ. I don't have that much produce in my house but I was able to throw together this yummy mushroom barley soup!

Today was day 2 at work aka day 2 back on track!

Today I ate:

Coffee

4 bites costco muffin

Strawberry Greek Yogurt

Maple dijon salmon roasted broccoli and sesame noodles

2 mini lara bar *cherry pie and apple pie

soup for dinner

I also started the AB challenge yesterday so lets just say I am sore!

Now to fight the ice cream craving that is happening...

Just stab me in the heart America.

So in the land where there is no maternity leave I must go back to work tomorrow. On my last Friday I went out for frozen yogurt with my visiting father and kids. Pecan, cookies and cream, and vanilla with oreos and reeses pieces. I might as well go out with a bang right?

So in preparation for my week of no time to cook and needed to eat healthy I now have in the fridge:

2 pieces maple dijon salmon

2 chicken legs

london broil

sesame noodles

roasted sweet potatoes

roasted broccoli

soy ginger tofu

cut up watermelon 

lasagna

Lets hope that lasts until Wednesday!

Ladies Night

Just when I was doing so well on my weight loss journey I went to the Doghouse 2 nights in a row!

The first night was Ladies/Moms night out and it was certainly fun. Drinking a pitcher of sangria is :
100% my idea of a good time. The eats:

Beef Empanadas with "rocket sauce"

BBQ Brisket Sliders

Ring Ding

We were so so excited for that dessert and it basically tasted like a duncan hines cake that was cut and then refrigerated. Blech. 

Otherwise super yum!

So in weight loss news. Nothing doing because I eat like this.. Oh well tomorrows a new day. Although tomorrow is the dairy eating, calorie consuming holiday of Shavuot sooo probably not.

Goals and Weekly Weigh In

In the past I have done weight watchers and south beach and lost around 20 lbs on each of them. Now as a 10 week postpartum exclusively breastfeeding mom I am not going to portion control or count calories but I am trying to eat healthy and stay away from carbs...

Most of my days over the last two months have been:
-coffee with creamer (I have tried to break this addiction for 6 years and so far not happening)
-nonfat plain greek yogurt with trader joes granola, honey, and berries,
-lunch like below chicken and sauteed veggies
-dinner is usually whatever I can find (chicken patties, chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, pizza)

This chicken was actually really good and I made it again this week for Shabbat!

Asian Inspired Chicken Breasts
2 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
Turmeric
Ground ginger
Curry powder
Honey
Soy sauce

Cover chicken with spices drizzle with soy sauce and honey. Surprisingly yum!

These are the types of food I make now.. no frills and tasty and very diety!

Also Breaking News I weighed in this morning and we are at 178! Now the trick is not to eat full cakes for Shabbat.. fingers crossed that I can control myself.

So we are going to try this again .. right?

So here I am a year and a half later.. one more kid and um 40 more lbs? Wait lets see, I was 149 last time you knew me and yes now I am 179 post baby #2 so thats only 30 more (phew I thought we were in a bad situation or something).

Brief History of past year:
I broke my elbow in half in February of 2014. I gained 10 lbs in lounging around the house weight before I got pregs so I started pregnancy #2 at 158lbs. After gaining 45 lbs total I gave birth to a big baby girl at 8 lbs 9 ounces and have since lost some weight but not much. I know this is a slow process but I do get frustrated from time to time.. I also eat ice cream from time to time too and that is most likely what is slowing this weight loss down. I was much more active this pregnancy so I feel like I am in better shape but last week I took a picture of myself and was just looking huge (at least in my own eyes).

Anyways, in an effort to put more on my plate (2 kids, full time work, gym) and really track my food/ become accountable yet again I am starting this bad boy back up. I now have a real website (!) which means I am taking this seriously. Because I just invested $12 and that is no joke.


Here we go!