Big Burga

You know those monster burgers that you get in restaurants that you can't even put your mouth around?  Well I made one of those tonight!  It was big and delicious!

Rewind....This morning I woke up bright and early to drive Keefer to class and head back to Chi.  I made us some eggs over easy which I forgot to snap a pic of.  The drive back was much smoother than the drive there.  I listened to the third Twilight book there and back and I'm still only half way.  I'm headed home this weekend for spring break so maybe I'll finish it then.  I was so hungry when I got back and was craving veggies with hummus.  I also had some yogurt and Puffins.

I am trying not to go grocery shopping before spring break so I was digging through my cupboards and fridge and found a Lean Cuisine.  These are always okay but nothing special.  I don't think I'll be buying again anytime soon.

I had my first midterm tonight and it went well.  I love when exams are quick.  I got out early so I could come home and make a real dinner.  My burger.  I sauteed up some kale and made a burger with mustard, ketchup, sauteed mushroom and onion, spinach, tomato and blue cheese on a Slimwich.  It was amazing!

I cannot believe I'm about to watch Jake propose to Vienna on The Bachelor.  ICK!  Okay, I really need to study.

Tara (:

Happy Fat Tuesday!

So unfortunately I didn't get to eat too fat on fat Tuesday.  (Or maybe fortunately, right?)  I was up and off to the hospital this morning.  Before I left I had some cream of wheat, banana and agave.  An english muffin with my new TJ's pb too.  The verdict is still out on Krema's competition. 

I alllllways forget to snap a pic of my lunch while I'm interning however today I just brought my leftover orzo recipe from last night, a fiber bar, celery sticks and a kiwi.  

The day started of rather slow while interning so I decided to pick a fellow intern's brain.  He has a previous degree in exercise physiology and is a personal trainer with a lot of experience, so he knows a lot more than I do about working out.  I told him about my recent challenge.  We talked for a long time and he went into a lot of detail but here's the summary:

• Every single time I go to the gym I do some type of cardio (usually running) and my body is getting "used" to it, therefore it is not as effective.
• Solution: 30 minutes of really pushing myself for cardio 2 days/week.  Eventually I can build up my speed and work up to 45 minutes perhaps even making it to five days a week if I have time.  However, that should be the absolute most cardio I would do and it would be very hard to find time in my schedule to do that in addition to my strength training.  These additions should take place slowly; approximately 2-3 weeks each time I want to add on.  (This isn't saying that cardio/running is not good, just that I need to switch it up a bit more.)  This is also not what I would do if I were to train for a race.
• I am not doing enough strength training during my workouts.  
• Solution:  I received a detailed work out regimen to focus on my strength training.  Each week I should increase by the number of reps or the amount of weight I'm lifting.  I do not want to get "bulky" but he assured me that this would result in fat burning and toning.  I don't think I'll be turning into a body builder any time soon.
• Stop eating carbs 3-4 hours before I go to bed.  (Note:  I did NOT say stop eating carbs all together.)
• Solution:  Stop eating carbs 3-4 hours before I go to bed!  There isn't much of a plan to this. I am always hungry when I get home from class and I am usually in the mood for cereals, bread, bagels or fruit.  ALL CARBS!  Ahhh!  I love carb containing foods and they are SO important in your body but because of how they are digested it really does make sense not to eat them before going to bed.  Tonight I tried to snack on almonds, cottage cheese and hummus with broccoli.  (Pics to follow.)  It was hard but I think I can do it.

I also would love to improve my balance.  I have TERRIBLE balance and the older I get it seems to get worse.  (I can only imagine what it will be like when I'm eighty years old!)  I can do some yoga and balance exercises on my two off days to help improve this!

Because my schedule is always changing and usually pretty busy I don't know if I can stick to this 100% but I am going to try my best and see what works for me and my lifestyle so I can feel the best about myself!

Because I didn't get home from my internship until later, I didn't have time to go work out so I caught up on a few things and made some dinner.  I had a done a Warfarin teaching today at the hospital so I was talking about leafy greens all day.  It got me craving a spinach salad.  I topped mine with onion, tomato, colby jack, dill, and my dressing was a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dill and italian dressing.  It was tasty!  I also had a plop of cottage cheese with pepper and TJ's pesto tortellini topped with tomato sauce.  I hadn't tried TJ's tortellini before and I was very pleasantly surprised.  I will definitely try the other flavors.

After class I knew I was going to make an effort not to eat carbs, hoping my bedtime was in the near future.  Instead I snacked on these!

(and a little bit of cottage cheese too.)

I'm off to bed.  Nighty night!

Tara (:

Productive Thursdays

A busy day with interning and such yesterday made for a lack of pics and a relaxing night with the other interns.  The only thing I snapped a pic of yesterday was my breakfast of cream of wheat, banana and agave.  Coffee too of course.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same lunch as the day before and guacamole for dinner.  Definitely nothing to write home about.  I really think I am going to like interning at the hospital.  I think that I will learn so much there and I already am!

Because I don't have to intern on Thursdays I promised that today would be a very productive day...and it has been!  I finished all my homework.  It feels so good to be caught up on work.  Today I woke up and made myself some coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

I followed that up with some Awake Tazo Tea!

In the midst of doing homework, homework and more homework I grabbed some lunch.  I love grapefruit.  I think I would put them in my top ten fav foods.  I do wish they were easier to eat on the go.

You can see I tried to make a smiley with my grapefruit knife.  Cheesy I know.  I like grapefruit knives so much better than grapefruit spoons.  But perhaps the best part of grapefruit?? Squeezing the fresh juice out at the end.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

I also wanted a bit of protein to hold me over so I snacked on some hummus and carrots.  I like this hummus quartet from TJ's but I think it's probably more worth it to just buy the garlic flavor because that's my fav.  Also, I'm not a fan of the red pepper hummus so I gave all of it to Keefer.

Now I'm off to the gym hopefully to be back in time to prepare a decent dinner.

Ta ta for now!

Tara (:

Ready, Set, GO!

Whether I was ready or not, everything started back up today.  I had to head to the hospital this morning for a class for my internship.  Luckily it didn't last too long and it was interesting to see where I'll be for the next three and a half months!

When my alarm went off this morning I sure wasn't excited about the early rise but once I'm up, I'll like to get a head start on the day.  I began with the chicory coffee Keefer got me and it was DELICIOUS!  Very rich and tasty.  I didn't drink it out of the new cup he got me.  He snuck it in my bag yesterday with a note that said it was only for tea.  Don't you hate when you are drinking tea out of a mug that permanently tastes like coffee??

I am always starving right when I wake up no matter what the time so I was anxious to get some breakfast.  I made some cream of wheat topped with a banana and a bit of agave nectar.  SO GOOD!!!

On the train home I snacked on some mini caramel rice cakes.  I love taking the train instead of driving.  I read a book and relaxed the whole way home on this beautiful, sunny Chicago day.

View on the way home.  Pretty!

When I got home I made some lunch.  I absolutely love TJ's hummus.  It's so fluffy.  I got the quartet so there were four different kinds to try.  The garlic is definitely my favorite.  Not a fan of the roasted red pepper (ickkkk peppers.)  I'll have to save that for Keefer when he comes this weekend.  My salad was simple but yummy! Just a bit of spinach, a small apple, cucumber, tomatoes, colby jack cheese and Italian dressing.

I'm off to work out at the tiny school gym again.

Until tonight....

Tara (: