Mixin' it Up

(You're jealous of my back yard.)

There's a new blog style in town and he likes to wear spurs....(um, vegan, cotton-covered spurs, that is.)

Now that that's over with, I'm telling you that you will be getting more posts from me.
"But whyyyy we hate your updates."
Because I'm in the midst of a dietary experiment.
"A what?"
That isn't a sentence.
"Whatcha doin' with your diet?"
That isn't a good sentence, but I'll take it. I'm eating.
"Uhhh..."
Alright, I'm eating more.
"What for?"
Way to end a sentence in a preposition. (Don't you love that I assume you guys can't speak English?)

Anyhow, I am counting calories. Okay, I always count calories but now I am OCD-style counting calories in hopes to add calories to my diet. I work out for at least and hour five times a week, usually biking in the park. Since starting this, I have lost weight continually. This is not my goal, I just love being active. I have been researching how much I should be eating. I always eat my food pyramid but I often eat very low fat simply because I don't really eat cheese or nuts. I am bringing more into my diet. I found that I was eating about 1,200 fewer calories per day than I needed. That was not good but it completely explained my quick weight loss.

Today I am showing you everything I ate today. (Okay, it was actually yesterday but my laptop got a virus that delayed me.)

Don't worry, I will not make a habit of showing you everything that I eat but I will probably post daily something I made or ate that was interesting. I just want to show you guys a run down of my new diet. Here it goes:
Oatmeal mix included:
1c water
1/2c quick oats+oat bran
Raisins
Chopped apple slice
1/2 Banana
Vanilla
Allspice
Tons O' cinnamon
dollop ff yogurt
homemade maple almond butter

That's vanilla soy milk, btw. I do not drink cow's milk. yuck.
Check out my awesome mug/bowl/cup I got on vacation!
Mmmmmmm
You can see that I enjoyed it.
Then for my bike ride!
And a post-workout snack of:
Fage
Granola
Cantaloupe

Lunch had usually been just a salad so I have been adding to it to add calories and nutrients.
But I can't go too long without a salad, I just love 'em. In the salad went:
a bed of romaine
Red onion
Cucumber
Bell pepper
Marinated Artichoke hearts
Boiled egg (1/2 yolk)
pieces of a veggie burger
Mustard
Agave
Salt for the eggs
Pepper
Do you see that lil delicious sammie? Do you know that that is not spinach but three basil leaves on it? I'm not crazy, basil is just amazing. I want a basil perfume, I swear that would make my day....

(Now, let's take a break to talk iced tea. You see that tea up there. Well, that isn't regular sweet tea. I broke the sweet tea habit last year but this was an accident batch. So what happened was that I forgot my hot black tea, it steeped too long. I was not about to throw this out, I put crystallized ginger in it through the boiling process so it was nice and infused. We all know over-steeped tea makes good sweet tea, right? I'm hoping you knew that. So I added Splenda and stuck it in the fridge. Squirt in some lemon, delicious sugar-free lemon ginger tea.)

Adding just that little sandwich held me over until dinner, really. I usually get really hungry two hours after lunch. I did have this snack:
"But there is raw onion on that plate."
Yeah, Alright, let me explain.....it's a southern thing.
"I'm from Georgia, we would never eat a plate of raw onion."
Think Mississippi. My grandpa on my dad's side used to eat onions like apples. My grandma on my mom's side used to have a dish with sliced onion, tomato, and cucumber at every meal.
"It's still weird."
It's still tasty to me.

And for dinner:
"What's that mush?"
That's not mush, it's hoppin' John.
"Who's hopping?"
We make it for new years and freeze one batch, this is that one batch. It is black eyed peas, bell pepper, onion, rice, and sausage if your Daddy doesn't love you as much as mine does.

You cannot eat Hoppin' John without this:
Nor this:
Mmmmm, hot chow chow.

And then my computer went crazy with a virus and my cries were annoying my father who was diligently trying to fix it so I went to the kitchen to drown my sorrows.
Frozen Yogurt, cantaloupe, 1/2 TJ's dark chocolate bar.

And after all of that, I was still over 900 calories under what I need to maintain weight. Well, That's alright. it's better than 1,200 under, right? yep.

Today has been basically the same except dinner, oh dinner will be a surprise of greatness.

Note: Sugar before bed was not good. I'm pretty sure it was the culprit behind my difficult workout this morning. Stayin' sugar free for now.