Day 8

It's 6:30pm and I am drinking my second cup of coffee since arriving home from work. What is wrong with me this week?! I felt like I got a decent amount of sleep last night -- I managed to drag myself away from the Olympics pretty early. In fact, my Olympic enthusiasm is starting to wane. I can only watch so many hours of swimming and gymnastics before my brain starts shouting, "Enough! Find something with a plot!" Now I remember why I always shied away from sports in school . . . there's no room for kooky creativity and rule breaking. Especially at the Olympic level . . . I'm pretty sure the rule-breaking is discouraged.

Aside from my unexplained lethargy, life is good. My weigh-in today went well and I am pumped and ready to continue this wacky diet experiment for another week. Also, today was a decidedly fall-like day here in Boston -- breezy and warm with next to no humidity . . . my favorite kind of weather. The tv is telling me this taste-of-September is going to continue tomorrow and Thursday, with perfect 50 degree sleeping weather tonite! Yeeeessss!

Anyway -- on to Tuesday's menu!

Breakfast
Nutrisystem Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Nonfat raspberry yogurt
Apple

My second cup of coffee of the day, in my 'Careful, I'm Hot' office mug . . . watch out, architects!



Nothing like breakfast at my desk!



In keeping with the 'Fall is Coming!' theme of the day, I brought oatmeal for breakfast this morning. After "cooking" in the microwave for 4 minutes (which seemed like a long time to me? for instant oatmeal?) this steamy bowl of apple-cinnamony goodness was ready to go. I liked this more than I like the typical "pouches" of Quaker Instant Oatmeal -- this seemed to be thicker, with real, whole oats and little pieces of apple. Totally satisfying and delicious. I was expecting the oatmeal to keep me full for hours, but surprisingly, my stomach started growling at 11:30. I did eat breakfast a little earlier than usual this morning, but I'd say overall I've been a bit more hungry today than I've been for the past week. I'm gonna blame that on . . . hormones?

Lunch
Nutrisystem Chicken and Pasta in Cacciatore Sauce
Salad w. 1/4 c. cottage cheese



Like I said, I was more than ready for lunch by the time noon rolled around. I was a little worried about the "chicken cacciatore" meal, which was also packaged in the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee container. The sauce looked like it could pose a potential disaster . . . and chicken cacciatore is one of the proud Italian dishes I can actually make. That said -- this was actually really delish! The sauce was really good -- not a trace of Beefaroni to be found! The chicken was excellent, and the little mini rotini were not as mushy as some of the other pasta dishes have been. The perfect filling lunch for a hungry girl!

And its a good thing lunch was satisfying, because after eating Chelsee and I took a walk over to . . . .




The Copley Sq. Farmers Market!!

I loooooove the Farmers Market! It takes place Tuesdays and Fridays in Copley Sq. from May to October . . . and it rocks. The Siena Farms stall is probably my favorite for fresh produce, and Chelsee and I totally loaded up on summertime veggies. (photos courtesy of Chels)

Yours Truly loaded up with goodies . . .

Afternoon Snack
Nonfat peach yogurt
Nectarine


Dinner
Nutrisystem Beef Tacos
Giant Salad
Peach

Please ignore the clutter on my kitchen table . . . that box is full of Desserts.


Mmm . . . awesome salad courtesy of Farmer's Market!

This might look kinda sad, but it wasn't . . . I promise!

More beefy "filling" for the rest of the "taco shells".

Now, in my pre-Nutrisystem days, I never would have made beef tacos for dinner. It wouldn't have even crossed my mind as a possible dinner option. And though my inital reaction to "just add water!" beef taco mix was a scared and skeptical one . . . these "tacos" were pretty spicy and pretty good! I thought I might dip the taco "shells" (chips) into the beef mix instead of topping each tortilla beforehand as the box instructs (because we all know I hate playing by the rules!) . . . but I ended up assembling them one at a time and eating them that way.

My salad, I must note, is made almost entirely of fresh, organic ingredients found at the Farmer's Market. A nice compliment to all this freeze-dried box-food. I had some romaine lettuce in the fridge that I mixed with arugula from the farmer's market, along with some awesome little yellow cherry tomatoes (mmm! sweeet!) and some sliced up bell pepper. Soooo yummy, and I can definitely taste the difference between food that was plucked from the Earth this morning, vs. food that was packaged in a warehouse and then shipped to my front door. Not to knock the magic food -- it is helping me in ways I never thought possible! But still, it was nice to consume something that actually smelled and tasted like it came from nature.

Thanks to my evening caffiene boost, I just forced myself to go to the gym for a little while . . . and I'm feeling slightly less sluggish and generally pleased with myself. So after sweating for a little while, I can now reward myself with . . .

Dessert
Nutrisystem Chocolate CaramelBar


This bar was chewy and chocolate-y and . . . caramel-y . . . everything you want in a CaramelBar. I think I liked the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar better, though . . . something about the caramel flavoring was just a little . . . different?

Ok, I now feel like I have earned the right to veg out a little bit in front of the TV with my book and my giant bottle of cherry flavored seltzer water. Until tomorrow, people!