Day 24

Breakfast
-Kashi cereal w/ organic 1%

Lunch
-Mixed salad (lettuce carrots black olives light feta garbanzo beans) with pulled rotisserie chicken

Dinner
-Oysters
-French onion soup

Snacks
-truffle Parmesan popcorn that came free with the oysters

Cheats (I'm starting this new section to force myself to write in when I stray from the real food diet!)
-about 3 slices of white bread (came with the soup)
-2 glasses of Cava
-oatmeal and chocolate chip cookie (free during happy hour!)

The free stuff kills me. I totally would not have eaten the popcorn, cookies, or bread had I not gotten it complimentary. I was also kind of annoyed in general because I really didn't even want to go outta begin with. Not only did I stray from "real food" due to Happy Hour amazingness, but I also had my first experience with rotten oysters :-( After squeezing some lemon and a few drops of Tabasco, I popped In my 12th or so oyster and was overcome by a fishy, sour, pungent, taste.

I was so shocked that i gagged and swallowed a piece of it before spitting out the rest. The smell was so overwhelming that we had to ask the waiter to take away the napkin with the discarded oyster. I am so paranoid about food and germs in general, so I insisted we smell all the remaining oysters and we found 3 more rancid ones!!! We told the waiter and the manager came over and removed the oysters from our bill.

WELL, this was a sad, sad experience for me because I'm the kind of person who will never eat oysters again. I love oysters and the whole experience of eating them, but after looking up the various (and some lethal) diseases contracted from eating bad raw oysters... I'm a little bit terrified. Plus- I have been going to this place for years - it is a fancy seafood/steakhouse, and never once got a bad oyster. Just goes to show that you never know.

Obviously I freaked out and googled "I just ate a bad oyster how to prevent food poisoning" which led me to half run half walk to the health food store directly from the bar. I picked up some grape seed extract pills and ginger tea.... Also chugged a glass of organic apple cider vinegar when I got home. Gross. But eased my mind while I waited out the night.

So far I'm feeling fine, but mentally not sure ill be eating raw oysters again... Unless of course I Get them myself and check every single one. Very very sad :(

Today was Day 9 of Insanity - Pure cardio. Hard to believe I've actually committed and stuck to this insane (no pun intended) for nine days in a row! I'm proud :) I like pure cardio because its short - only 35 min including a warm up and cool down but it's crazy crazy cardio.

Day 23

Today was our last mini staycation day before Marvin returned to work :-( Luckily I still have the rest of the week off so I can focus on relaxing, healthy eating, and... Insanity of course!

Breakfast
-Toasted everything bagel (scooped) with cream cheese from Zabar's [I dropped my car off at the VW shop and Zabar's was right across the street so we had to try it

Lunch
-A mix of random healthy treats I bought from Zabar's shop... bulgar wheat salad, carrots, sun-dried tomato and basil hummus, and a few slices of sopresatta

Dinner
-Rotisserie white meat chicken from Chirping Chicken
-Raw green peppers with hummus

Snack
-Piece of dark chocolate w/ sea salt
-Pistachio nuts

Today might have been the most difficult day of Insanity so far. It was a repeat video: Power Cardio & Resistance... but I think it was a combination of having yesterday off + drinking too much at night. 3 minutes in I was dripping sweat, and I had to stop twice because I thought I was going to puke. In the end, I completed the workout... and I took my Day 7 pictures and noticed a slight (emphasis on slight) difference.

Day 22

Monday

Breakfast
-Cereal w/ blueberries

Lunch
-Campbell's light Italian wedding soup

-Half sandwich from Pax: Fresh turkey and cranberry on WW bread

Dinner
-Finally went to The Meatball Shop!!! I didn't take any pictures but I stole some from yelp. TMS is famous in NYC... they are two different locations and all they sell are meatballs! The menu is very simple but delicious... and the place is ALWAYS packed. Like up to 4 hours waits... and its open until 4am every night. Luckily, we went at about 10pm on a Monday night and only waited a few minutes!

These are the kind that I got: Spicy pork with Classic Tomato sauce and Chicken with Spicy Meat sauce

Marvin got a hero: Spicy Pork with Parmesan Cream sauce and Mozzarella cheese

Not my balls but this is what they look like - coms with a crusty piece of bread

Before dinner, we went to the Yelp Drinks kickoff party at Von... this was our favorite drink: The Mission.... Rye with lemon/lime, sugar, bitters, and a splash of ginger ale

Insanity: Today was a Rest Day!!! It couldnt have come at a better time because my... ready for this... HIPS were really sore. I feel like an old lady but I'm glad I got a change to rest.

Day 20/21... Insanity Day 5/6

Its been a great weekend but I'm off all this week for Winter Break. Yay :)

Saturday

Breakfast
-Egg whites, turkey and swiss on a whole wheat wrap
-Iced coffee with milk

Lunch
-Grilled chicken with arugula pesto, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella (from Healthalicious)
-Side salad with apple cider vinaigrette

Snack
-Smoothie (blueberries, banana, strawberries & nonfat frozen yogurt)

After my lunch and snack I had some major stomach issues... it was definitely not fun and had to take some pills just to be able to go out :(

Dinner
-I went out and my stomach was feeling better. Dinner was sort of a hodgepodge of things... nothing healthy really, but, I just picked at everyone else's dishes so I didn't feel too bad. We went to Cienfuego and Death & Co in the East Village... same owner, one is a speakeasy and the other a Latin American styled tapas place. They are both known for amazing cocktails and creative "gourmet" small dishes. We shared:

-Albondigas (chicken meatballs in a spicy sauce with tostones)
-Crispy pork belly with kale
-Lobster roll sliders with brown butter mayonnaise

I also had some great cocktails.

Lighting at Cienfuego

My first drink - some sort of concoction of rum, ginger,  lemon, lime and bitters

Second drink... another rum base with mint, lime, and bitters floating on top

crispy pork belly w/ kale at Death & Co

Saturday was "Pure Cardio" for Insanity. Marvin did it with me! I was really embarrassed at first but then I realized we both looked pretty ridiculous sweating and jumping around in my living room. This was our first time working out together and it was great. I also measured my waist, hips, thighs and arms.. I'm not really losing weight but the Insanity guide says you may gain weight the first week or 2 due to muscle gain. Looking forward to tracking!

Sunday

Brunch
-2 Eggs over medium, bacon, WW toast, hashbrowns (I wound up not eating the eggs because they were too runny and only half the hashbrowns)

Dinner (Marvin cooked for me!)
-Shake n Bake pork loin
-Salad

Today was Day 6 of Insanity! Repeat of Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Definitely the hardest one, and it was TOUGH after a night of drinking. But I did it and feel so good.

19.4 Recovery!

How happy was I yesterday when I found out the Insanity workout was called "Cardio Recovery." I have been soooo sore and it was amazing to spend 35 min in deep stretches and breathing activities. But don't be fooled, I still sweat like crazy and has to take breaks from being so out of breath. Today Marvin is going to do "Pure Cardio" with me. I'm embarrassed to do it in front of him but since he's usually here 3 days a week then I'm just gonna have to fugue it out!

On another note my valentines flowers (Lillie's and tulips) have bloomed and they are gorgeous!!


Breakfast
-skim chai (Starbucks)
-3 hard boiled eggs no yolk

Snacks
-coffee
-KIND bar

Lunch
-last of the pasta leftovers

Dinner (out)
-Cobb salad (pictured)
-a few chips w/ guac

Drinks
-2 champagne cocktails (champ w/ blood orange purée)
-1 glass of white wine

Snack
-2 samoa cookies

Vday - 18.3

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
-Emily Bronte

Happy Valentine's Day! That is one of my favorite quotes, and reminds me most of Marvin. Unfortunately I do not get to spend tonight with my valentine because he has class.... But my special delivery at work was more than enough to make me smile :)

I cheated a little today because I got some Valentines day treats BUT I gave away a delicious looking Red Velvet cupcake that one of my students gave me.... So.... Success!

Breakfast
-3 hard boiled eggs no yolk
-Clementine
-reduced fat string cheese
-2 coffees

Treat 1 - oatmeal walnut cookie

Lunch
-Last night leftovers
-Clementine

Treat 2 - Iced coffee w/ milk & sugar

Treat 3 - Raspberry yogurt covered pretzels

Dinner
-"Sizzling salmon platter" from Healthalicious w/ green beans and sweet potato mash
-Clementine

That's it! Not too bad right? And today was Day 3 of Insanity: Power Cardio. Today wasn't as tiring as yesterday BUT I am super sore and it was really hard for me to do some of the moves. Also there are these crazy variety of push-ups and I can't even do a "real" push-up to begin with (I do the girlie ones on my knees). So I had to modify a bunch of the moves - hope its still working - however I still sweat like crazy and got an amazing workout. Honestly I have to strip down immediately when it's over because I'm soaked. Insanity! ;-)

Day 17 - Insanity Day 2

I don't know if I should number the blogs by real food days or insanity days! Lets call today 17.2 :D

Breakfast
-Nonfat plain Greek yogurt w/ honey and blueberries

Lunch
-Last night leftovers (WW pasta, chicken sausage, beans, roasted yellow peppers in tomato sauce)
-Celery sticks

Snacks
-LARAbar
-popcorn, raisin, chocolate chip mix
-blackberries
-clementine

Dinner
-Leftovers again (pic)
-carrot sticks

Insanity Day 2 (plyometric cardio circuit)
Today was ROUGH. I had to take a lot of breaks for water and a breather, but I sweated my ass off and am already feeling sore. Because its interval training, the 45 minutes fly by... But this is definitely the hardest non-sport workout I ever did.
I think one of the hardest parts for me is going to be the 6 days on, 1 day off schedule. It's a little scary for me to do this intense of a workout 6 days in a row, but right now I'm feeling really motivated so we'll see.