Hi –

I’m proud to say that I have stuck with the structured meal plan this week 🙂

I have been using the handy “app” of Lose It on the iPhone, which makes tracking what you eat sort of fun. You can also add your exercise to track that as well.

Breakfast – today was supposed to be oatmeal, but since the toast, AB and French jam has been such a hit with my tummy, I stuck with it. 😀

Lunch was left overs from last night – and it was still great. I did decide to bulk up my lunch last night as I was packing it – chopped up cucumber and carrot sticks and packed a few grape tomatoes for good measure, along with the veggie, tofu and brown rice stir fry – yum!!!

LUNCH was pretty today:

I had a small piece of dark chocolate after lunch, too. I went for a short walk after eating, it was very cool by the water and sort of threatening to start raining at any moment. Not exactly a fun walking day – but I am glad that I got outside for a few minutes!

I had my greek yogurt (1/2 cup) for my afternoon snack around 2:30 today.

I got to work at 7:20 this morning – gotta love the good commute days! I left work at 4 and walked into the gym at 5. I really was NOT feeling a workout today, but I was glad that I got myself to the gym even if it was a shorter workout than normal. I ran 1 1/2 miles to warm up and then did 25 minutes of intense weight training! I keep reminding myself that muscles burn more calories than fat, and it will help me be leaner, and a better runner. It is always great to keep your end goals at the front of your mind!

I was really wishing that I had Luna energy moons with me today. (I ate two of them before my workout yesterday, and they really helped boost my energy a bit!) After the gym, I ran over to East Side Market to get a few things for tonight’s dinner. I am so proud of myself this week – I bought a lot of veggies on Monday, and today I pretty much had eaten all of them (with mom’s help of course!!). On my grocery list tonight: fresh basil, three plum tomatoes, broccoli (who would have thought we would already have gone through so much of it!) whole wheat pasta and a red onion. I got all of this for $8 – not too bad on the budget!

Tonight I made a recipe that was in this month’s Runner’s World (I love having a subscription to this magazine!!) It is called a Pasta Bean toss. I love the combo of veggies, onion, garlic, beans and whole wheat pasta! I definitely had a large serving of this meal, and it was good – very filling. I was actually surprised by how satisfying this meal was – I am pretty sure it was mostly thanks to the beans. I garnished it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

The pasta bean dish will be packed for lunch tomorrow, too. I hope you are all having a great week – see you soon!