Days 16, 17 and 18

After a visit with my doctor I was patted on the back for an upstanding job on my new lifestyle :D

But I am losing more blood somewhere and iron stores are dropping again.  So I've been asked to cut it back on the workouts to every other day - until they can finally find the source of my bleed. 

Kinda sucks after getting into the groove of things, but doc knows best and don't want to be ending up getting iron shots (ouch!!)

Upped my iron supplement. 

Food has been getting a little scarce as we are flat broke.  So I had to revert to eating strange meals to make up for my intake.   Will need to borrow money to get some groceries. 

Day 15

Quick update.  My charger is dead and ipad almost dead too.  Sigh. Hoping I can borrow some money to buy a new one as I don't get paid next until the 21st.

Good day! I ate properly so I feel great!  

I have two carbs left, so going to eat a few chips mmm.  Hope they don't make me sick lol.  Will have some carrot sticks with them.

Okay at 1%. Ciao! 

Day 14 + 2 week stats

Another day I didn't feel too good.  But after eating some chicken soup at lunch was feeling better (not much sleep the night before.

Unfortunately I don't have a recipe to share - but will give a review on something new I tried.

PC brand Vegetable Quinoa.  I picked it up for just under $2 and lost it in the back of my cupboard.  Finally found it last night :) 

It's quite nice :). Not too salty (some people may want to add some low sodium soy sauce).  It had a nice texture and all of the herbs made up for in flavor in the lack of sodium.   I'll be buying this more often :)

Week two Stats

2 lbs down (total of 7 lbs since beginning)

4.5 inches down (total of 11 inches down since beginning)

I'm feeling more energetic - and even more balanced inside health wise (if that makes any sense)

I did have one massive headache the other day but I think that was due to my girl curse coming on.  

I have surgery on the 18th and am unable to take any pain killers (or allergy meds), so an ice pack helped wonders as well as a nap.  

Day 13

Ate well today.  Mostly leftovers today, including a salad from leftover taco meat

3 green of veggies (lettuce, tomato, onion and salsa)

1 red of protein (3/4 warmed taco meat and 1/4 plain Greek yogurt)

1/3 blue finely shredded cheddar

I had an incredible craving for pickles and chocolate today as I'm just about to start my monthly curse (no, that's not a typo).

My salt free pickles were great with as a side with nachos. I used 8 chips, homemade salsa and 1/3 of a blue container of cheddar and zapped em in the microwave.   Happy tummy! 

As for chocolate, I had thought ahead when I bought my last groceries and picked myself up one of those super handy 100 calorie bars :D

Then I found out my husband ate it!!! 

He gets so cranky at me when I complain about him eating treats I buy for myself (even though I bought him three of his own favorite bars).    Well poop on him! 

I scrounged up some change and went across to Macs and found the 70% dark chocolate KitKat bars. 

The nice thing about dark chocolate is it satisfies your cravings with a small amount :D

So the overall bar being 250 calories, each piece has 75! 

I had one piece and was completely satisfied.   Another bonus - hubby HATES dark chocolate ;)

Day 12

I'm at a loss for words today. 

My best friend Sian's stepdaughter - Laura Lee had battled leukemia last year like a champ.  At 19 years of age, she's was a beautiful special needs young woman that always had a smile on her face.  She would bring joy to those who got to know her with her charms. 

She received a stem cell transplant and by the grace of God  - had put her into remission.  But with the lack of an immune system from the chemo she would get sick very easily and was constantly in and out of the hospital. 

A couple of weeks ago, she was admitted with a severe and sudden deadly case of pneumonia.

During this time, they had to put her under a medically induced coma and paralyzation to keep her calm and immobile while they aggressively treated her.   Over the past few days her health kept taking a turn for the worse.

This morning, she was at 100% oxygen but her lung capacity was only at 20% and declining rapidly.    

Sadly, she succumbed to her pneoumonia.  My last call from my friend was to say that the doctors are stopping her life support. 

My thoughts and prayers are with Sian, Dave, Dan, Samuel and Robert as well as Laura Lee's mother and her side of the family.  

On topic, did Pilates and semi ate today. Not very hungry :( 

Day 11

I'm posting this early as I found out I just won tickets for tonight's Premiere of Into The Storm :D

So I'll be at the theatre when I usually post. 

I'll be extremely tempted to eat popcorn because it have never been to the theatre without it.  Eep! 

After staring at my tomatoes I had purchased yesterday I decided to make some fresh tomato soup!  I love the Safeway brand Tomato Basil Bisque, so tried to make my own variation.

Tammy's Garden Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

6 Tomatoes

3 cloves of Garlic, minced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large bay leaf

1 tbsp olive oil

Pinch of sea salt and pepper

1.5 tsp Dried basil (or fresh finely chopped basil)

Pinch of hot pepper flakes (optional)

1 tbsp corn starch mixed with a cup of water

1 tbsp Light Sour Cream (optional)

Place tomatoes into a medium pot and cover with water.  Bring to just a boil then turn off heat.  Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.      Drain water.  Let tomatoes cool, then peel away skin.  Cut out the "core" section from the stem and place into blender.     Purée and set aside. 

Return pot to stove, add olive oil and bay leaf. Once oil is hot, add the garlic and onion and pinch of salt and pepper. Turn down low and cook until onion is translucent. 

Add tomato purée, basil and pepper flakes and water with corn starch.   Bring to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sour cream before serving.

This soup tastes so fresh!  Add more salt to taste if you need to. 

Day 10

Had a better eating day today.  Was able to find a super deal on a flat of tomatoes for under $4 (a huge accomplishment considering I'm on an almost non existent budget) 

So I ended up bringing my prize home thinking of all the possibilities.  And decided on Salsa! 

Who doesn't love salsa?? 

 

Fresh Salsa

3 cups chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 1 cup onion, diced 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice Throw all of these together and store in a container.  I found it easier to just throw them in my food processor and pulse it a few times to mix.

4 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (including seeds) 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper