Jan. 22: How long before it's official?

Tomorrow it will be one week since I stopped eating meat.  I've noticed a few differences during this week.

1.)  It seems easier to say "no thanks" to food if I choose to now.  I feel like I have willpower again.

2.)  I don't feel guilty when I say "yes" to food.  I went to a party yesterday and had cake and enjoyed every bite without guilt because the rest of my day was moderate in calories.

3.) It's way easier to keep my calories lower when I don't eat meat.

4.) It makes it way tougher to find a drive-thru to hit.  The only thing I can think of that I could eat in the car would be a bean burrito from Taco Bell, which, when compared to an Angus Bacon Burger with Cheddar and fries, seems like a pretty reasonable choice.  In fact, I ate at home all week except for work functions.

I wonder how long before I can officially call myself a vegetarian?  Two weeks?  A month?  It seems sort of premature to do it right now.  I can tell you though, I have no craving whatsoever for meat, which, while it really surprises me, makes life much easier.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day - wish me luck!

Jan. 18: Another Day in Paradise...

And yet another day on the veggie wagon - woohoo! 

I really hope this helps the weight loss battle.  I am feeling better digestively today, thank goodness!  My gosh - that was pretty rough.

Today's Eats:

~ WW English muffin, natural pb ~

~ FF yogurt, protein powder, blueberries, granola ~

~ baked veggie rotini w/ spinach and mushrooms, tomato sauce ~

~ quiche w/ spinach, cheddar and mushrooms ~

No soda pop and no excess sugar today!  I'm especially pleased with that because two people brought in donuts and one brought in cookies.  All I had was one donut hole and felt perfectly content with that.  BIG CHANGE!  Being broke and having no money for junk food helps, but I realized by eating vegetarian, it rules out a lot of things - trips through McDonald's drive thru for example.  Unless I feel like french fries are a reasonable lunch, there just aren't too many "eat-in-the-car" options.

I'm staying off the scale for a week - not easy since I tend to be a daily weigher-inner!

Happy Tuesday - one day closer to the weekend~

Jan. 17: Day 2 in Veggieworld

A successful day 2 today!!! Even with the company buying dinner I stuck to a plan - hooray!

I've had so much trouble getting on the wagon of any kind of food plan that I'm thrilled to get through day 2.  I know, 2 days isn't long to stick with something but for the way things have been going for me lately, it is a cause worthy of celebration!

Today's Eats:

~ whole wheat English muffin w/ natural pb, skim milk
~ fat free yogurt w/ protein powder, blueberries, granola
~ egg salad sandwich on whole wheat, baked potato chips
~ eggplant Parmesan (no pasta), half a roll

When I look at this, I see that I need to up the actual fruits and veggies.  My original lunch was a veggie pasta dish but when I learned dinner was Italian food, I wasn't dying for it twice in one day.

My tummy is rebelling a little bit, however.  I spent a bit more time, ahem, (tmi alert) in the bathroom than usual today.  I hope this part goes away soon - or perhaps it is my key to weight loss success!

Jan. 16: New Plan...Again

Yet again, I have a new plan of action.

First of all, I'm sorry that I'm sucking so much at blogging.  While I realize that blogging has been a key to success for me up until now, I've had a lot on my plate lately and it's been hard to put my personal stuff aside and concentrate on  this.

Years ago (15 to be exact) I had been a vegetarian for 5 years.  I was at my all-time healthiest and most fit with very little effort whatsoever.  I'm sure that maintaining at age 41 vs. maintaining at age 25 will not be quite as carefree, but I'm ready to try anything.

For many reasons, I've been toying with becoming a vegetarian again.

~ The Environment ~

~  Health ~

~ Animal Welfare ~

~ Weight Loss ~

~ Economic Reasons ~

Not necessarily in that order.

So this week's meal plan is a little different and I have photographic evidence of it.  Because my 10 year old daughter is an athlete and not a vegetarian, I did some prep for her including meat.  We'll see how things go - we as a family will have several vegetarian days a week, but I'm not going to insist she follow my lead.

Oh, by the way, before we get into the week's meal plan, I didn't lose this week but I didn't gain either.  Considering Thursday's (or should I call it Cookieday's?) fiasco, I'm content with that.

Our nicely prepped eats for the week:

I bought a package of tart shells at the grocery store today to make life easier - I'm going to work on making my own for next time.  With the shells, I made wee little spinach quiches for me and beef pot pies from leftover beef stew for the little one.

I made a big batch of baked rigatoni (vegetarian) which we enjoyed today with garlic bread.  (recipe below)

For quick sandwiches I made devilled egg salad (recipe for this as well). I haven't made it yet, but I'm going to finish off this evening by making a broccoli cauliflower salad.  I have some chicken breast made for my daughter and she can eat the other stuff as side dishes.  I have to limit the eggs for my daughter, as she is mildly allergic.

Baked Rigatoni



2 cups of cooked whole wheat pasta

1/2 a container of low fat cottage cheese

1 package of chopped spinach (thawed)

Finely chopped mushroom, onion and garlic to taste

1 can of pasta sauce

Shredded cheese of choice

1 egg (optional)

Olive oil

Parmesan or Romano cheese

In a large baking dish, coat the sides lightly with olive oil for an easier clean up.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375*F

On the stove top, saute all the veggies until lightly browned and fragrant.

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, shredded cheese, and egg, if using.

After all is prepared, mix everything but the Parmesan in the baking dish.  Bake at 375* for 45 minutes.  Top with the grated Parmesan or Romano and return to the oven, heat turned off, for 10 more minutes.  Serve while hot and delicious.

Devilled Egg Salad

6 eggs, hard boiled

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp light mayo

seasoning salt to taste

Chop the hard boiled eggs and add the other ingredients.  Stir lightly with a fork to mix.  Spread on bakery fresh buns or bread and top with lettuce and tomato.