Lunch on Tuesday at Tonic at Quigley’s Pharmacy

A group of five of us headed to Tonic at Quigley’s Pharmacy. K and K had discovered it on Monday and raved about their tatter tots. It is a newly opened restaurant and they are still in the process of getting their liquor license.

We arrived a little after noon, and had to wait for a short while for a table. Most tables seat four, and there are only a few that seat more. We had a booth, and the hostess added a chair for us on the end.

I decided on a Taco Salad with grilled chicken on it. It was very tasty, although the portion of lettuce was more the size of a side salad, and not an entrée salad. They were generous with the cheese, chicken and tomatoes, yet stingy with the lettuce. The dressing was something like cilantro lime vinaigrette and had a little kick to it. I asked for it and the sour cream on the side. Yummy, but I knew I’d be hungry later.

B also shared one of her tatter tots with me. They were fried, and oh so good. I sometimes do tots at my house, but we always bake them. Enjoy the photos of the tatter tots with the sandwich on the side.

I did not count points on Monday or Tuesday. It’s sometimes just to hard to do, so I tried to eat sensibly and just enjoy my lunches out.

I only had two little bites of the fried tortilla bowl. One of those could be my entire daily allowance of points.

Bagels, Pastries, Croissants, Cookies and Muffins OH MY

Tuesday morning, again a platter of pastries.

Afternoon breaks had a better choice of either cookies or fruit. I was good and choose the fruit. I asked if the cookies were good, but I think the consensus was they weren’t worth the points.

Monday’s Lunch choices

On Monday I took the metro to Foggy Bottom and had to walk 8 blocks to our GWU Summer Publishing Institute. I arrived early to a platter of pastries, bagels and croissants. Very tempting, but I resisted. I had drunk a slim-fast shake in my car on the way to the metro.

We had a morning break, and I did see a lonely chocolate croissant on the platter calling my name. I had to have it, but I mostly just ate the chocolate out of it, and threw away the rest of the croissant.

For our lunch break we headed to the GWU Marvin Center which has several choices for lunch, but much to our dismay only Wendy’s and a pizza place were open. We decided instead to go to Lindy’s Red Lion which is well known for their burgers.

I forgot to take a picture before I started eating but guess which lunch entrée I picked?

A. Chicken sandwich with French fries
B. Burger with fried onion rings
C. Salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side

Visit me at BigBonedBlog.com

Hello! Please visit my full site at www.bigbonedblog.com

I set up my domain first before logging into WordPress, so it will be hard to maintain both sites. BigBonedBlog.com has all my available postings and photos.

BigBonedBlog.com is about the wild wacky world of weight loss. This is a blog about my weight loss journey, tips, recipes, etc. It’s my funny, sometimes sarcastic take on excess weight and my non diet weight loss secrets.

This is a project for a GWU grad school class on Electronic Publishing. I’m wrapping up my 2nd and final year, yeah!

I’ve gained about 20 pounds since starting grad school…YIKES! Since I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I’m trying to get back on track and loose those extra pounds (+ a few more).

I’m currently using the Weight Watchers Program and working out at Curves. I’ll share with you some of my ups and downs, plus a few tips along the way.

Enjoy and thanks for looking!

Eat Better America Reminder Ring

I received this in the mail this week. I had registered a few weeks ago at eatbetteramerica.com after seeing the URL on a box of Fiber One cereal that I eat with my yogurt. I love marketing and thought this was very cleaver!

When I signed up they mentioned something about sending coupons and such, but this was a surprise, a Reminder Ring, made of the same plastic/rubber that all those support bracelets are made of. It gives instructions about how to wear including, “Say some vows, place on ring finger. Glance at ring for support when near fried foods.” Ingenious.

They also list other items not to forget my favorite of which are don’t forget:

1. that elevators are optional.
2. that health club memberships are more valuable than clean plate memberships.
3. that size doesn’t matter, unless you’re talking about portions.

However, I disagree with this one which says, “that it’s humanly possible to only eat one piece of pizza.”

Their site is pretty nifty too with recipes and advice from experts. Personally I won’t wear the ring, but I will hang it up in my cubicle at work for those high stress moments when I want to run for the vending machine.

Light Taco Layer Dip

This is great for family get togethers and parties. I’m taking it to a neighbor’s tonight. My mom gave me the recipe, but often makes it with the full fat ingredients.

I lightened it up by using Light sour cream, 98% fat free refried beans and 2% milk shredded cheese. Serve with tortilla chips, but we like the Tostitos Scoops for less mess. My mom sometimes adds sliced black olives too, but I left them out. You can use a round pie plate to layer, or a 9×13 casserole dish like I did for tonight.

Measurement	Ingredient	Points Value
1 pkg	Taco Seasoning Mix (McCormick 30% less sodium)	0
15 oz can	98% Fat Free Refried Beans	7
16 oz container	Light Sour Cream	15
8oz pkg	Shredded lettuce	0
8oz pkg	Ready Pac Pico De Gallo	0
4 oz	Kraft 2% Milk Mexican Four Cheese Finely Shredded	8
	GRAND TOTAL:	30

Mix the sour cream and taco seasoning mix together in a medium size bowl. Put to the side. Layer as follows in your dish. Spread the beans on the bottom, top with the sour cream and taco seasoning mixture. Sprinkle the pico de gallo on top, then scatter shredded lettuce, followed by the cheese.

Work out hard so I can party and eat more later

I did go back to Boot Camp this morning and the regular instructor was back. She started out with a story of her caramel waffle cone something or other Dairy Queen Blizzard that was 1000 calories, so she needed to work out hard to burn that off, and we would too. She then asked us to speak up if we had any special conditions or injuries, but no one mentioned anything and I wasn’t about to say, “I’m fat and generally out of shape, and last week I had DOMS from the camp.”

It was a good workout mix of both cardio and strength training, again with several stations for different movements. It was more balanced between upper and lower body though, where last weeks was lower body primarily. When things got too difficult for me, I just modified my movements or slowed down. I’m not in too much pain today, and hopefully won’t be in pain tomorrow.

I did wear my pedometer today, and did about 4,000 steps in class alone.

I have a tough week ahead of me starting tonight. A neighbor invited us to a party, and there will be food, and lots of it I’m sure. I’m bringing a taco layer dip, but I lightened it up a bit. Recipe will follow shortly along with a photo.  I also decided to make a low point key lime pie for dessert.

On Monday and Tuesday we have the GWU Summer Publishing Institute at the DC campus. They are providing pastries in the morning and possibly lunch for both days, and a reception on Tuesday evening with food. I’ll try to plan ahead and eat breakfast before I go, and will take one or two healthy snacks with me so I don’t indulge. I love pastries, so it will be hard.

Then next weekend is my grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary and we are going out to eat. My family and eating go hand in hand, and it will be hard to watch what I eat. When I’m around them I tend to overindulge. I will be the official photographer, so maybe I can burn off a few calories taking photos.

Grilling Chicken and Fish during the summer

Tonight we grilled out. I thawed some Omaha Steak burgers (6 points each) and put some frozen Trader Joe’s chicken on the grill. Husband and I had a burger, and the daughter had chicken. We used Martin’s Potato Rolls and Kraft Fat Free Cheese for a total of 8 points for each burger. They were yummy!

We grilled out on Wednesday night too, and just had chicken. I season the frozen breasts and thighs with olive oil and use Emeril’s Original Essence Spice or Emeril’s Chicken Rub (see photo). It’s yummy plus my three year old loves it. She eats the dark meat and I eat the white meat. You can also use non-stick cooking spray. We always put aluminum foil on our grill when we do chicken or fish.

I also picked up some seasoned salmon and seasoned mahi mahi fish at Trader Joe’s. We’ll grill out one of those on Saturday or Sunday.

Tomorrow I head back to the gym, and will attempt to do the Boot Camp workout again. Wish me luck. I’ll remember to wear my pedometer to class tomorrow.

I logged a little over 11,600 steps yesterday and 10,700 steps today. I walked during lunch yesterday and did a step class at the gym. Today I just took a walk after lunch, but ended up putting a lot more steps on my pedometer at home. I’ve been running around crazy tonight.

Horoscopes and weekly weigh in

Wednesday 6-20-07

The horoscope calendar on my refrigerator for Tuesday began with, “You can do it and furthermore, others are likely to like how you do it.” Another one I receive weekly by email from Free Will Astrology started, “We’re almost halfway through 2007. Let’s take inventory of how well you’re capitalizing on this year’s unique opportunities.”

I had a good day yesterday. Walked during lunch, worked out at the gym and logged over 12,000 steps on my pedometer. But I gained 2 pounds this week. I’m hypothesizing that it’s due to all the muscles I built up, and the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. That’s the best scenario.

The other thought, is that I ate too much on Father’s day. I had pizza and desserts (plural, more than one). I was still within my points allowance though for the week using my extra 35 points, so who knows.

Today was my last day of Weight Watchers at work, so I’m going to be weighing myself at home on Wednesday mornings, and posting my losses or gains on here. I also think my leader fudged my number a little, I think I really gained 2.2 pounds.

So I’m thinking happy thoughts for the upcoming week. I know I can do it and this blog is my unique opportunity.

And hey, I recovered from my workout on Saturday enough to do a Cardio Mix class for an hour on Tuesday. It was pretty fast paced, but I kept up. Let’s see if I can do another aerobic class tomorrow.

The pain and agony of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

I have Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), and I’ve never felt pain like this before. Even after having a C-section, this pain is much worse. From ivillage

Microscopic tearing of muscle fibers appears to be the culprit that causes DOMS, although scientists aren’t exactly sure why your muscles have this delayed reaction. The amount of tearing depends on how hard and how long you’ve exercised and what type of exercise you did. The soreness is generally at its worst within the first two days after an extra effort workout and subsides within a few days.

Saturday after Boot Camp I could at least walk and move around. It hurt then, but on Sunday morning, I could barely move. I also didn’t sleep well that night because every time I turned, I felt pain.

Walking was somewhat manageable, but the stairs in my home, impossible. I fixed a Father’s Day breakfast for my husband and had laundry to do. I took ibuprofen all day and tried to rest, but we headed to my grandparent’s house to see my grandfather later that day.

I can say that today was somewhat better with my movement, but after sitting at my desk for several hours, and then getting up to retrieve something from the printer, now that was miserable. I walked like an old lady.

After browsing several sites about DOMS, they say it may last anywhere from 3 to 7 days, with days one and two being the worst. Some sites recommended taking an aspirin or ibuprofen, but some voted against it. Oh well, too late.  Also, I discovered that the pain is not due to lactic acid buildup.

A few also mentioned taking Vitamin C may help, but pretty much I have to get back up on the horse and work out again. All that work and pain, but my ass is still the same size. The power of positive thinking; my mantra shall be “Muscles burn fat. Pain is good. Butt and thighs will shrink.”

I did go back to the gym today, but only for a short 30 minute walk on the treadmill. I don’t know if I can do the boot camp every Saturday. Maybe I’ll aim for every other Saturday? We did warm up and stretch afterwards, I guess my body’s just not used to that intensity.

I need a massage too.