BFL - Day 5

Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: June 23, 2007

Day 5 -
Yesterday my meals got messed up a little so I was eating much later than I had intended. This, however, worked out much better than the previous days. I did not feel as hungry in the later afternoon and early evening as I had before. Perhaps because the meals ended up being pretty close together? Or maybe I ended up eating at my normal hungry times?

We are really enjoying this this time around. Last time we didn't have the cookbook and holy cow does it make a difference. Last time our meals were so boring and tasteless - chicken breast and rice, hamburger and bun, salmon and rice, etc. etc. Part of it was we didn't know what we could add to the chicken and the hamburger and the salmon. Was bbq sauce cheating? Ketchup? So we ate these boring and bland meals all day long. This time, though, we got the Eating for Life cookbook and it is WONderful! The meals are fantastic and as I told Cornbread last night, I think they are tastier than what I was normally cooking before. There is FLAVOR to our dinners! And it is nice to see what we can legally add to food to pizzazz it up a bit... like the recipe for the enchiladas called for sour cream. I wouldn't have assumed that we could add sour cream, you know? And cilantro is my new best friend - I always thought I hated it, but I'm loving it now.

I guess the thing I like the most about this way of eating is it is so much more intentional. I have to think about what I'm eating at each meal, not just grab what looks good. I have to plan things out ahead of time so that I'm not just going downstairs and trying to figure it out. We're eating very balanced meals throughout the day - protein, carb and vegetable - and they are good. We're also eating a lot more vegetables and it hasn't been hard to include them. Chop up some peppers and onions and tomatoes to add to our eggs, grab a handful of carrots, add some lettuce to dinner - whatever. Its not like we're eating a garden full of vegetables (which I think is what was always so overwhelming to me about the thought of eating vegetables: that we'd have to eat so many of them), but just adding them to our food in ways that add flavor and crunch and texture. Its good, we're enjoying this - and are amazed at it all at the same time.

I did my cardio workout today. I used the bike again and I kind of like the fact that I can get ready, go downstairs, do the bike for 20 minutes and be done. When I do the stairs it is more like an hour to and hour and fifteen minute process. On Wednesday when I did the bike I went 4.75 miles. Today I went 5.12 miles, so that is a concrete show of improvement, which I like (again, something I don't get at the stairs). As soon as it gets warmer, though, I'm going back to the stairs - theres just something about being outdoors in the solitude in the morning that I love - but not enough to go in the cold:)

Menu -
8am - scrambled eggs, onions peppers, tomatoes in corn tortillas, avacado, some cheese, 2 cups water
11am - apple, 2 oz cheese, 2 cups of water
2pm - shake
4pm - leftover mama's chicken enchilada's, 2 cups water
5:30pm - hamburger, bun, frozen veggies, 2 cups water
9:30pm - bar, 2 cups water