I really meant to take a picture of my breakfast/lunch, but I ate it. Whoops.

Low Fat Chicken Tikka Masala with Cauliflower Basmati Rice

1/4 Trader Joe’s Tikka Masala Sauce

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (cubed)

1 cup cauliflower rice

1) To prepare cauliflower rice, shred fresh cauliflower in food processor (on pulse) or with cheese grater. Put in pan and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes with lid. (DO NOT ADD WATER)

2) Spray sautee pan with cooking spray. Add chicken and cover with 1/4 cup of tikka masala simmer sauce and 1/4 cup water. (You may substitute for 1/4 cup fat free chobani yogurt if you want a creamier texture). Add lid and cook for 10-15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Nutritional info:

Calories: 300, Carbs: 15, Fat: 7, Protein: 42, Fiber: 2, Sugar: 11

I ate mine with a fresh mint, cucumber salad!

PROOF!

This might have been the most amazingly delicious discovery of all time!

Omg, guys, best dinner ever! Spaghetti squash instead of pasta, homemade tomato sauce, spinach, and lobster chunks. Yum! (Taken with Instagram)

Recipe (makes 6 servings)
1 spaghetti squash
2 cups fresh spinach
3 cups favorite tomato sauce (I make mine homemade so I can control the sugar/salt content)
1 cup imitation lobster (flake style)

Directions

1. Cut spaghetti squash in half LENGTHWISE and scoop out seeds and pulp. (You can roast the seeds just like pumpkin seeds! Add a little cinnamon or curry powder for a yummy snack!)
2. Put two halves onto a plate and microwave for 8 - 10 minutes. The squash should be squishy.
3. Run your fork along the inside of the squash to make “strings.” They should come out very easily, if you’re not getting soft, easy pasta-like strings, then you probably need to microwave longer.
4. Put spaghetti squash strings in a pot with the spinach, tomato sauce, and lobster.
5. Cook on low heat until everything is warmed through and the flavors have combined.
6. Season as you like. (I used a little basil and parsley as well as lots of pepper)
7. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info (1 serving)
Calories: 165
Carbs: 28
Fat: 2
Protein: 11
Fiber: 4

A great low-calorie and low-fat comfort food meal to fuel you through the day!

fitnesstreats:

What 100-calorie portions look like
Source: Book “Diet Drama” by Nancy Redd 

Nice! Puts it all into perspective really nicely.

We ran those streets so hard, they didn’t know which way they were going.

Tomorrow I am waking up at 3am and driving to Gaffney, NC to complete the Peach Festival 10k. That’s over 7 miles. It’s the last race for the summer (because it’s so ungodly hot all the time in the South), and I have to do a 10k to submit my time for the Half-Marathon, but…not gonna lie, I’m a little terrified. The most I’ve run so far (or EVER?!) is 5 miles, and it was miserably painful. While I’ll have my running buddy, Angie (see Progress Photos), by my side, the nerves are obviously getting to me, as I CAN’T FALL ASLEEP. GAH!

Cross your fingers for me? Pray I don’t die? Zomg, zomg, death by Peach Festival.

I don’t know what to do. Next week, I have to wear professional, office, business clothes, and none of my skirts and/or pants and/or suits fit, due to severe lapse with my mother who consistently sabotages my every attempt to lose weight. 5 days with her, and I’ve gained 10 lbs, if that’s humanely possible.

Today, I had to face buying some clothes for the office, since I can’t go in naked. I was standing in the store, staring at the sizes and realized that going up a size would banish me back to the land of “plus-sized” clothing and Lane Bryant and a whole SEPARATE section of the store. Now, I’m not judging anyone who has shopped at these places, I shopped at them for many, many years, but when I donated all of my Lane Bryant clothes and stretchy pants and “W” sized clothes last year, I was determined that I would never buy another piece of that clothing again.

I lost my shit. I couldn’t do it. My hands started shaking, I started hyperventilating, and I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed in my car, so afraid of sequestering myself back to that section, to that downhill slide back into morbid obesity and shoulder-padded shrugs and pleated pants.

I ran.

I ran from that store determined to either lose the weight in time to fit in my clothes or go naked, because there was no way in hell that I was going to hand money over to allow those demon clothes back into my closet.

Now, every time I look at a piece of food I feel myself getting nauseous. I feel myself getting anxious and terrified and I can just see myself inflating in front of my eyes. I’ve been so good this week with my points and working out, and I know that I’m on the right track again to getting back to where I need to be…but…I guess I had tricked myself into believe that 5 days of good work was going to put me back into my clothes, that somehow when I walked into GAP, the same size was going to fit me, and I just can’t have a “2” as the first in a double digit number on my pants anymore.

I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t.

I know this is stream of conscious, nonsensical bullshit, but I have a cup of spinach staring at me across the counter, taunting me because it knows that I should eat it, that I need to eat my veggie goal today and that 9 points is just an unacceptable total when I’m supposed to be eating 39 but

I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t.

I never thought spinach would make me cry.

Ever since I can remember, I have been addicted to Diet Pepsi.

It all started when I first became aware of calories at age 10, and wondered why on earth I would waste calories on drinks? Excuse me, but if I’m ingesting some of my caloric budget, I better be chewing it! Over the years, I became a diet soda connisseur. I could easily distinguish between Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Dr. Pepper, etc, and I almost immediately identified Diet Pepsi as my preference.

As I grew older and my need for caffeine became more accute, I used Diet Pepsi to wake me up in the morning, keep me going in the afternoon, and to accompany every meal. I preferred an ice-cold canned Diet Pepsi to any other form and would refuse to drink the soda if it reached room temperature (resulting in lots of semi-empty Diet Pepsi cans littering my room throughout college). During my senior year of college, I was up to FIVE Diet Pepsis a day.

I was officially addicted.

Many of my friends, health websites, and news articles deplore diet soda, citing the artificial sweetener as a devilish material. Some claimed it was linked to cancer, other diabetes, but, even stranger, they found that people who drank diet soda weighed more than those who drank regular soda. Whaa?

The most convincing (to me) explaination that I’ve found is that the artificial sugar leaves a sweet taste on the tongue that makes one crave more sweet things (like carbs), even when one isn’t hungry.

Okay, that I can buy. For instance, a lot of times when you don’t eat for awhile, you get bad breath, right? And, when you have that bad breath, it’s like a signal to your body “Please eat eat eat, you are going into keitosis, please eat eat eat!” But, a lot of times, the simple sugars we ingest (like white bread and simple carbs) cause us to have that sensation even when we aren’t actually hungry. Think about when you brush your teeth in the morning. You almost never want to eat when your mouth is minty fresh. Why? Because, you’ve brushed away all those sugars, and you have to rely on your actual stomach to tell you that you’re hungry. So, while this made sense to me, it still wasn’t enough to convince me that I had to give up my Holy Grail of Caffeine. I mean, coffee is HOT. Who wants to drink hot coffee all the time? And it leaves such a bitter after taste in your mouth and….well, carrying a hot drink around just isn’t as easy as throwing a can of Diet Pepsi in your bag. Let’s be real.

I was still addicted.

And then…the strangest thing happened.

As you know, I’ve been doing Weight Watchers (a month this Wednesday!), which has been making me eat more complex carbs, less sugar, and a LOT LESS sodium. And, you know what guys? Fruit is sweet. Really sweet. Fruit is like dessert.

I used to find grapefruits so sour that I couldn’t eat them without adding a little Splenda and now? Wow, they are just perfect balance of sweet and sour. Strawberries? Divinely sweet without any addition.

And, Diet Pepsi?

ZOMG, it is WAAAY to sweet!! I almost can’t believe it. A formula that I have been addicted to my entire life, and now I can’t even stand drinking it. When it enters my mouth, it just tastes thick, syrupy, overly sweet, and completely unappetizing.

What the fudge?

So, my weigh in day at Weight Watchers IS technically Wednesday (though sometimes I have to do it on Tuesdays due to an occasional class conflict), but I was so depressed about my slow progress that I haven’t actually posted anything yet. In any case, It’s time that I fessed up to you. I’m going to try to start posting these weekly, as well as a weekly summary of my workouts (to keep me honest). Would it be helpful for y’all to see food logs or anything like that? Let me know!

Weight Watchers starting weight (04/4/2012): 238.6
04/11/2012: 236.2 (- 2.4)
04/28/2012: 233.4 (- 2.8)
04/24/2012: 232 (-1.2)
Total: -6.4 lbs.

In reality, I shouldn’t be as depressed as I am, because I’m pretty dead-on for the 2lbs a week to be healthy marker. The reason I’m so down on myself, is because that my PLATEAU weight for MONTHS and MONTHS and MONTHS was 223. So, it’s a little depressing to see me crawl towards my PLATEAU WEIGHT before the real weight loss can begin.

However, I promise to try and be more positive. Totry.

I’ve also analyzed my food journal, and I see that, while I’m staying well within my daily allowance, I’m still not eating the amount of fruit and veggies I should be eating every day (5 servings). I love me some fruit, but I know that the emphasis here is on the veggies. While I think they’re delicious, my body (due to my Crohn’s Disease) just can’t handle a full salad in the middle of the day without making me massively ill. Raw veggies just grate and grate on the ulcers in my intestines. I picked up some high veggie soups, some V8 juice, and some vegetables to roast (brussell sprouts and butternut squash, yum), but I welcome any suggestions for quick and easy ways to get in those veggie servings!!

How is your week going?