1993 Reunion...

Thursday Morning:

Breakfast:  Belgian Waffle with butter & flax + protein shake

Since this was Katie's breakfast choice of the day, I thought I'd join in the fun.  These waffles were thick, sweet, savory...and 160 calories for one.  Which isn't BAD, but I knew one (or even 2) of these waffles wasn't going to keep me full for very long.  As much as I love waffles, cereal & English muffins for breakfast, all of them keep me full for about .3 minutes....fail.

So since man can't live on yummy waffles alone, I whipped up this small spinach-cherry protein shake to help 'fill in the gaps'...

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 scoop protein powder
• handful frozen cherries
• handful frozen spinach

Lunch:  Avocado toast with arugula + apple & peanut butter

And even with the added protein shake, I can't even lie that the lunch time bell rang at 11AM yesterday morning!  One more moment longer and I would have gnawed someones arm offJ

I swear there was a mashed 1/2 avocado under that pile of arugula salad (mixed with lime, olive oil & salt) and topped with a drizzle of...swooooon...honey.   

Even the honey was smiling about thisJ

So I had my toast, tried to take a beat and give myself a chance to feel full.  But to be honest, my non-filling breakfast was still wreaking havoc, as my brain was still swirling with ALLOFTHETHINGS I still wanted to inhale after that toast (aka-whatever crunchy & salty snacks I could get my hands on...followed by a sweet snack...and you know what happens from there).  So I took this as a sign that I was still ACTUALLY hungry and cut the 'over snacking' binge-to-come off at the knees with a sensible snack... 

1 spoonful of peanut butter + a drizzle of honey + a sprinkle of cinnamon = tricking my brain into thinking it was eating 12 snacks, given all of those flavors rolled into one!  And it actually worked!  This kept me satisfied for the rest of the afternoon.  Snack crisis = be on your way...you have no powers here!J

Workout #1:  2 mile Walk away the pounds with 7 pound weights (combo-ed my 4+3 pound weightsJ)

Dinner:  Mandarin Orange Chicken + Chicken Su Mai 

This was NOT my original dinner plan, but on learning it was Chinese New Years yesterday, I knew we had to 'celebrate' with the excuse to have this little number for dinnerJ  (I knew Scott wouldn't let this favorite last TOO long in our freezerJ)

We 'filled out' our stir-fry with:

• broccoli
• peppers & onions
• carrots
• water chestnuts
• green onions 

I don't mind the excuse for getting to have a bigger portion since the portion is rounded out with low-cal veggies (and brown rice)J

And in some last minute weirdness, I remembered I had these little chicken shu mai leftovers in the freezer from God knows when, so I thought they'd be a perfect way to round out the meal.  6 for 160 calories is NONE too shabby in the 'Chinese sides' department.  Plus they go freezer to plate in under 3 minutes.

Workout #2:  Zumba

So how's this for a funny story:  I found out one of my good friends from GRADE SCHOOL had joined my gym recently and has been going to Zumba classes on Thursday nights.  So after not seeing her since our 8th grade graduation in 1993, we are back exercising together and sweatin away in Zumba the last couple weeks!  Isn't that awesome??!  Thought it was such a fun & cute way to reunite for something POSITIVE after over 20 YEARS!  She emailed me yesterday saying she was going and it was JUST the motivation I needed to get up & get out, despite the FREEZING temps last night.  Lucky for us, we warmed up in about .4 seconds thanks to our AWESOME teacher, JennaJ  Thanks, ladies<3 nbsp="">

And the only dessert I had for the night was a bottle of water I GUZZLED as soon as I walked in the house.  OK, that's a lie.  I was actually DYING for pineapple and scoured the cabinets thinking we had some rouge can of slices SOMEWHERE.  Sadly, this was not the case, but once I pounded that water I felt a zillion times better.  (oh yeah...I also REALLY wanted a cherry SLURPEE, but didn't think that really matched well with the outside high of 15 at the timeJ)

OK...so remember how yesterday I said this week was going slow??  Well, I totally set myself up since I DO believe yesterday was one of the ABSOLUTE slowest days on record (prob didn't help that I had breakfast before 8am and lunch + snack before noonJ)  The minutes CRAWLED until Scott got home.  So much so that Katie & I were watching one of her shows and I would have SWORN it had to be an hour-long special since I felt like we were watching it for ages.  I looked up at the clock and, I kid you not, it had been on for 23 MINUTES.  Man, that was painful.  Here's hopin today goes quicker:  Starting with some morning Power Yoga & meeting Scott for lunch at Chipotle for our FIRST EVER Chipotle experienceJ hahahahahhahaha  (and nah-I didn't text my friend last night at 10pm asking her what I should order as to not anger the hungry masses and get thrown to the back of the line, along with my indecision & inexperience in Chipotle knowledge.  Nope-that didn't happen at all!)

ANYWAY...I should have LOTS of good stuff to show you guys on Monday and hope you have a GREAT WEEKEND!J