Author Archives: Emily

Weight Gain 4000, Beefcake!!!

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It’s no secret that I’ve gained weight since moving to Buffalo.  And as I mentioned yesterday, most of my pants no longer fit.  Most of my button up tops don’t fit either, but Adam is so thrilled about my ginormous boobs that I’m not allowed to complain about that issue.  It is time to face the facts stats though:

  1. I’ve gained almost 15lbs in the year since we’ve moved.
  2. I’ve gone up not one, but two pants sizes.

15lbs in a year is a lot in general, but on my small frame it’s a LOT.  While I’m still in the middle of the healthy bmi range for my height this is not a weight at which my body is happy.  I don’t look or feel the way I think I “should” at almost 25-years old.

While I’m not happy about the weight gain, I am a lot more zen than I would have ever expected to be.  For someone who struggled with body image issues growing up, I’ve faced a large weight gain with a shocking amount of maturity and humor.  Adam and I are able to laugh about it in a way that is hilarious rather than toxic.  I’m not beating myself up or feeling ashamed or embarrassed. 

I know that “fat talk” is an issue for a lot of people so I wish I was able to explain more clearly why I’m able to take this in stride.  I would love to be able to give my readers tips to having a healthy attitude about weight gain, but honestly I’m not sure what they’d be.  There are a couple of (seemingly contrary) factors that have made this easier for me –

  • Gaining weight this year was inevitable.  When we lived in NYC I could walk everywhere.  And as a teacher in a difficult school I was on my feet for 7hours a day.  I was moving a minimum of 6miles everyday even before exercise.  Since we moved to Buffalo in August, there have been 4months where I was trying to move as little as possible because of my surgery and/or injury.  Going from one extreme to the other – energizer bunny to high intensity couch potato – there was no way my weight wasn’t going to fluctuate in the transition.
  • Gaining weight this year was in my own hands, it was the direct result of my own choices.  It’s a lot harder to accept something if you feel like it’s been done to you.  When there’s a sense of “why me?” it can be hard to move forward.  Even though being relegated to the couch was out of my control, I choose not to do pilates or yoga.  I choose to have poor sleep habits.  And you know what, I ate a TON of jalapeno nachos, and they were damn tasty!

I’m also trying to look at the positives; just because my literal glass shouldn’t be filled so often doesn’t mean I can’t be a glass-half-full girl figuratively.  I will never take running for granted again.  I know that my husband truly does love me (and find me attractive) at any many sizes.  I now know that I am the type of person who can gain so weight without acting like the whole world is ending.  I have a goal to work towards.  It always kind of irritated me that there was no reward for being hot and staying hot.  Now that I have weight to lose maybe someday I can be a success story in a fitness magazine!

I’m not going to make some grand plan for weight loss.  I’m going to Boston this weekend and there’s no way I’m not eating chowder and bubble tea.  I would like to eat more cleanly in generally because it makes me feel better, but Vegan Month in June will be an easy start to that.  I am betting that as I slowly work back into running and working out regularly the weight will gradually drop off.  I will stay zen.

Have you ever gained or lost a significant amount of weight?  How did it affect you emotionally?

Hitting the Desert

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Rub your eyes and grab some coffee, it’s Monday!  I can’t believe that in a week I’ll start 5x per week summer school and Mondays will actually mean something to me again.  We are making the most of the end of freedom and heading to Boston to visit our best friends later this week.

Breakfast this morning was a simple yogurt bowl; Stonyfield Fat Free Plain with raspberries and a little bit of clover creme honey.

The spoon went all Moses and parted the Raspberry Sea to lead the honey across.

Berry tasty, I love summer produce.

I’ve got to get dressed and head to the hospital for my last session of volunteering.  Now that I have a real person schedule (and we’re moving across town) it doesn’t fit any more.  I might be back to do some work with a dietician though, we’ll see.

Be on the lookout later for a post discussing the pants issue.

Successful Sunday

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Finally, some productivity!  Actually doing something today was a nice change from Saturday’s pace.  Although I did sleep in still 🙂

Lunch was very, very orange.  An everything Bagel Thin with extra sharp cheddar and a honey tangerine.

With a serving of Guylian chocolate shells for dessert.

Followed by a run.  In today’s workout one bad turn deserved another; I ended up running further than planned once I realized how stupid it was to have gone without sunblock.  I really do have to stick to my pace plan and up my time gradually, but it did feel great.

  • 5minutes walking
  • 10minutes jogging
  • 5minutes walking
  • 3minutes jogging
  • 3minutes jogging

2.6miles in 26minutes.

Afterwards a trip to the mall with Katie was in order.  I wish I could tell you I was excited about my purchases, but basically I had to buy clothes for summer school because my pants don’t fit.  Woot.  More on that in tomorrow’s post.

The mall trip took longer than anticipated (why the frick are all the pants at BR/J.Crew/Gap so cheap and thin looking right now?!) and it was easy for Adam to talk me into hot bar for dinner.

Grilled broccoli,

wok seared veggies,

vegetarian meatballs = yums,

curried tofu salad,

and chick pea salad.

It turns out I went a little too vegetarian because this wasn’t all that filling.  I ate a cookie dough Balance Bar when I got home to finish filling up.

And I’ve been working on my binder project ever since.  I’m going back to immerse myself in blissful filing, hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Chip On My Shoulder

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Oh man, today bypassed low-key and went straight into ridiculous!  It is a good thing I’ve got plans for tomorrow.  My eats were pretty uninspired too.

Breakfast/lunch/whatever you’d call the first meal of the day at 1pm – Stonyfield Fat Free Key Lime Yogurt, Total cereal, the last of the blueberries.

Holy yuck!  Oh jeez do I apparently dislike this key lime yogurt.  It tasted way too chemically sick-sweet, and I say that as an avid diet soda addict.  Gag me with a spoon! 

Then we went back to bed.  All day.  We only got up at 5:30 because Adam had to eat dinner before he went to work at the hospital.

Leftover crock pot soup.  I also had an everything Bagel Thin with 1oz of extra sharp cheddar.

30seconds in the microwave was too much,

lesson learned, but it still tasted good.

I also had several unphotographed handfuls of chips.  It will be a damn good thing when those are out of the house!

Since we’ve got the opposite of a sleep deficit going we’re actually heading out to do our grocery shopping when Adam gets home at 10.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to handle that level of productivity.

Do you ever have days where you feel completely wiped out?  Do you give in to it or do you have any tips for us?

*****Updated to add – I should have just eaten the damn chips.  Grocery shopping while hungry is never a good idea.  All of my food plans fell through and I ended up buying and eating boneless wings.  What?

No Breakfast, Recap Only

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This actually isn’t a recap AND breakfast post; in order to have eaten breakfast one would have had to gotten up before 11:30.  If it’s not obvious already, I had a bit too much to drink last night. 

We had a great time though; we went out with a couple the husband is friends with from school.  I’m going to keep this short and simple as my pictures are terrible due to the lighting (and I’d like to go eat breakfast!).  Note – I’m not using name because I don’t know them well enough to know if blog exposure is cool with them.

They suggested going to Allen Street Hardware Cafe which ended up being a fabulous idea.  I loved it there and can’t wait to go back.  The beer selection was huge.  Thinking back to a rave post about it from Kath, I ended up ordering a Tusker.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!  Other than Abita Strawberry and Hell or High Watermelon I never really like beer.  I don’t mind it, but it’s usually not my favorite.  Tusker is now added to my top 3 favorites though, it was delicious!  I usually finish my drinks way after everyone else (actually I usually don’t finish because I take so long they get warm) but last night I was ordering a second round before the rest of the group had made a dent in their drinks!

My meal was pretty fantasmic as well.  I went with the Chef Salad which was Mixed greens, roasted beets, red onion, carmelized pecans, goat cheese, and a roasted shallot champagne vinegarette.

Fabulous!  I forgot to ask for dressing on the side but it didn’t even matter because it was so lightly dressed to begin with.  The combination of goat cheese with beets was perfect.

After dinner we moseyed down the street to another bar.  I ordered a diet coke with Cherry Three Olives Vodka.

This was the point where I maybe should have just gone with diet coke.  Actually, everyone was a bit tipsy at this point because our attempt at couples darts took for-ev-er because we all were aiming so poorly!

A good time was had by all though.

The only downfall of the evening is that in my stupor I decided I was starving and I talked Adam into letting me eat a boatload of chips.

Ugh.  Probably the reason my hunger didn’t wake me up earlier this morning.

I should get off the computer and get back to the world though, 12:30 is probably a good time to start the day 😀

Are you a beer drinker?  What are your favorites?

A Beautiful Buffalo Day

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Oh My Lord, it has just been the most beautiful sunny day here!  I finally feels like summer! (As it rightfully should, I mean, it’s almost freaking June!)

The husband ended up getting a ride to school in the AM which is just as well because I got up at 8o’clock in the morning and watched the Grey’s Anatomy finale and cried for 2 hours.  I don’t even like Grey’s Anatomy!  I think it will be a very good thing when I have classes and to-do’s like normal 25 year olds 😀

Amid my girl-fest was breakfast.

Stonyfield Fat-Free French Vanilla Yogurt with Total and blueberries.  Two things: 1. French vanilla yogurt is kind of amazing, it can’t compare to plain Greek, but I think it might be better than plain regular.  2. You will be seeing a lot of Total round these parts as I’m trying to finish it before the end of the month.  More on that below.

I did head to campus around 11 though, so I could hit up the pool for a swim work out.  I did 30lengths in 25minutes and they totally kicked my butt!  I am finding more and more that I really love swimming; it just feels so good!  I push myself to go as fast as I can for 10lengths and then I take a minute to catch my breath.  I only have until June to use the facilities at UB and I’d really like to get in a longer swim if I can next week.

After I de-chlorined I met up with Katie for lunch.  I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture, but we ate on a bench in the sun on Elmwood and it was glorious!  Sadly, the food selection at the Co-op today couldn’t match the company or the setting in quality, but I did my best.

A vegan biscuit, veggies, a stuffed grape leaf, and some coconut curry tempeh.

Thank goodness I bought a Kombucha to drink too or I would have been gnawing my arm off in hunger!

The Divine Grape held me over pretty well, but I did pick up a fun dessert to bring home.

Theo Bread and Chocolate Bar.

I loved this concept!  The packaging is so cute and the bar itself is delicious.  The 70% dark chocolate has that great almost sour flavor and the bread was more like little crunchy pieces.

I had half.

As I mentioned above, I’m trying to kill my box of Blueberry Pomegranate Total before June.  This is because I’m doing a fun food challenge with Allison – June is Vegan Month!  I’ll share more about the challenge later (we’d love for every/anyone to join us!!!) but for now we are asking for help.  We both know the basics of what’s vegan and what isn’t – the Total has milk solids which is why it’s off-limits – but we want to make sure we don’t miss anything.  Allison gave this example: I’m afraid I’m going to miss some 8 syllable ingredient on a list, like “dyrocxybyfliophbianiateratenpous”, eat it, only to find out that the word is just a fancy way to say “milk”.  Mama Pea’s wise advice was to avoid packaged foods as much as possible, which bypasses this issue and is healthier in general.  The problem is that June is also the month in which I’ll have class during lunch time 5 days a week, so no-packaged foods just won’t be realistic.

Do you have any advice/tips/hints for us?

We’re A Crock Pot Family

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I spent a lot of time today on my binder project and I’ve barely made a dent in it; I had a backlog of more than a year!

I’m super excited to get down and dirty cutting and pasting this weekend.

I spent time on other housewifey endeavours too, isn’t she beautiful?

Yes, I am finally a crockpot kitchen kind of lady!  The Cuisinart Slow Cooker CSN Stores kindly sent me to review finally came.  As I mentioned yesterday, I pre-prepped everything so all I had to do today was turn her on.  I felt so 1950’s organizing magazine clippings at the table while dinner simmered away on the countertop.

But before dinner, what about breakfast and lunch?  Breakfast was 1cup of Total with skim milk and blueberries.

And lunch was a roasted veggie bonanza.

Roasted green/wax beans are one of the husband’s favorites now and prior to last month he thought he hated them.  Behold the power of roasting!

He also ended up being a fan of the nut-butter crusted parsnip and carrot fries.

But really, who wouldn’t be?

I also snacked on a random baggie of trail mix,

and handful of dried apricots for dessert.

And then we headed out on a glorious walk!  Since my running sessions have to be so short they are a lot more enjoyable if I incorporate them into other activities.  We walked for 10minutes, ran for 7minutes, and then spent another 25 or so ambling home.  All total we covered 3.43miles.

Dinner, of course, came from the crock pot.

I figured for my first go I’d use a recipe from the booklet that came with it.  Sausage & Lentil Soup with Tortellini, makes 8cups

  • 3/4T evoo
  • 1lb chicken Italian sausage links
  • 8oz mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (we went with sliced)
  • 3/4 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed and drained
  • 8oz chopped yellow onions
  • 8oz carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (skipped)
  • 3/4t basil (skipped)
  • 1 1/2t thyme (skipped)
  • 3/4oz sun-dried tomatoes, slivered (I used extra here, along with s&p to make up for the skipped spices)
  • 4 1/2cups low sodium chicken stock or broth
  • 6oz cheese-filled tortellini, refrigerated

Heat the olive oil in a Cuisinart 12inch Nonstick Skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the sausage in a single layer and brown evenly on all sides, about 10minutes.  Remove and let cool.  Add the mushrooms to the same pan and cook until brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.  When the sausage is cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2inch slices.

Place the lentils in the ceramic pot of the Cuisinart Slow Cooker.  Add the chopped onions, carrots, garlic, browned mushrooms, basil, and thyme; stir to combine.  Sprinkle the mixture with the slivered sun-dried tomatoes and top with the slices sausages and any accumulated juices.  Add the chicken stock.

Cover and press the On/Off button to turn the unit on.  Set time to 3 hours and press High; once Slow Cooker switches to Warm, set time for 5 hours and press Simmer.  Slow Cooker will automatically switch to Warm when cooking time has elapsed.

Forty-five minutes before serving, reset the temperature to High – if soup is every thick, add up to 2 cups of water.  After 15minutes, add the tortellini.  Cover and cook for an additional 30minutes, until tortellini are tender and cooked. 

Nutritional information per cup:  Calories 312 (31% from fat) – carb. 30g – pro. 24g – fat 11g – sat. fat 3g – chol. 51mg – sod 1015mg – calc 96mg – fiber 6g

My thoughts?  The recipe was good, but certainly not socks rocking; my favorite part was the tortellini.  I do think the nutritional info was pretty stellar though, and I like things with leftovers.  I didn’t really understand having to go back to reset the damn thing multiple times, isn’t the whole point of a slow cooker that you can set it in the morning and walk away?  If I wasn’t a bum I wouldn’t have been able to make this.

Tomorrow I’m going to school with the husband in the morning because my bat wings have a date with the pool and the gossip-center of my brain has a lunch date with Katie 😀 

Do you have a crock pot?  Any major fails you’d like to share from it?

The Binder System

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I will concede in advance that this is a dorktastic activity, But – it is a great way to stay organized and can be a lot of fun.

Magazines are a lot of fun to read, I personally subscribe to more than 5 different ones, but they are also a great wealth of information.  When you read a magazine, there are probably several pages you are interested in; a new workout routine, a tasty recipe, instructions on a fun hairstyle.  There are probably also several pages you barely want to skim; perhaps Cosmo’s 700th installment of “25 Ways to Please Your Man.” 

So how to you keep the articles you find to be helpful while excluding the ones that don’t apply to you?  Tear them out.  Ok, that’s better right off the bat as you no long have a huge stack of magazines taking up space.  But now what do you do with the unorganized stack of loose papers?  Institute a binder system:

I have 3 different binder of magazine clippings.

1. The Recipe Binder

This one I use all the time; truth be told, I actually have two recipe binders because there was some spillover!  The binder includes food and drink recipes, as well as tips for washing veggies or storing produce.

2. The Life Binder

 This Binder System started here.  When I was younger I would read an article about keeping the family schedule organized and even though it didn’t apply to me at the time I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out.  This binder houses party ideas, decorating tips, hair and make-up ideas, as well as how to’s – get a wine stain out of a carpet, unclog a drain, etc.

3. The Healthy Living Binder

This one doesn’t get used nearly enough.  This is the binder where I store all of the strength training cheat sheets that fitness magazines include each month.  I also keep stretching and meditation routines in here.

Starting your own binder system is easy as pie!  And you can customize it in whatever way suits your taste and needs.  However, here are a few of my tips to keep things running smoothly –

  • Tear out pages willy nilly; if something seems like it might be worth saving, there’s no point in leaving it in the magazine to be thrown out, but
  • be a little more discerning about what goes into the binders so you don’t end up with pages and pages of “why did I save that?”
  • Cut out what you are interested in – if a page has a recipe for a meat dish I won’t eat, a recipe for some nasty sounding low-fat cookies, and a recipe for some killer roasted veggies I’m certainly not sticking the whole page down in my binder.  As far as recipe photos are concerned it’s up to you; I often omit the photos to save space, but leaving them in can help you have an idea of what the finished dish should look like.
  • Buy tabs to keep your binders organized and paper protectors to keep the pages safe (this is especially important for the recipe binder!).  I tap or glue my clippings to thick pieces of computer paper and then stick them down inside the page protectors. 
  • Be your own editor.  Using the tabs is step one, most books don’t write up chapters and then throw the material into them at random.  My recipe binder tabs read appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, etc… Within those tabs I keep things further organized by grouping chicken dishes together, or grilled dishes together, etc.  Don’t just fill every page, leave space as you go.

The Binder System is a great way to stay organized, and it’s also pretty cathartic to cut and organize the papers.  Remember to have fun with it!