The Kim Challenge

Twenty days till my birthday!  Woohoo, this is usually right around the time that I start counting down to me-day.  I must remember to send out an evite when I get back from Chicago next week, and make reservations for my Karaoke Party.  It’s a guilty pleasure really, only there’s no guilt, just pleasure. Obviously based on chosen career path I’m a bit of a ham, so having a room full of my nearest and dearest as well as alchohol and cheesey pop ballads is just about the best thing on earth.  If only I could sing off key everyday.

My office is all drama all the time, yesterday our CEO got fired, which is on not actually publicly or internally known yet, Ijust have my gossip sources.  She deserved it.  So now we have no CEO and soon to be no staff, hmm, well that should be interesting.  I may actually do some work today though, as I’ll be taking tomorrow off for an interview and Friday off to go to Chicago, then I’ll be out of the office till next Wednesday.  So, yeah, I should probably do something.  I’ve worked so hard for so long, but slacking off has really become fairly easy for me to slip into.

Tonight after work I’ll hit the gym for a run and some strength training.  Then I’m meeting up with some girlfriends to scope out a wine bar for my friends birthday.  I won’t be here for the festivities this weekend which stinks but at least I get to be part of the planning committee.

Here’s the food:

Breakfast 12.3.08
Kashi GoLean Crunch with Banana and 1% milk
Coffee with Stevia and half & half

Lunch 12.3.08
Turkey, lettuce, tomato, mustard on flax roll-up
Grapefruit
Banana

It’s about 9:30 am as I write this and I’m still on my couch.  I promise that as soon as I finish I will get off my lazy behind and get to work.  The truth is I woke up last night around 2am and couldn’t full back to sleep till around 5am and that just set off my internal clock.  Alack, the real world calls.

Today after work I’m going to hit up the gym, go for a run and take a pilates class.  I packed some decent sized snackage with my lunch to keep me energized by the time I get to the gym.  The worst feeling in the world is working out when you feel like you’re so hungry you could eat the personal trainer standing in the corner trying to look cool.  But working out on a full stomach is not so hot either, it’s a delicate balance.  At least in my tummy.

I’ve got some errands to get done, as I’m going away for the weekend, come Friday I’ll be in Chicago.  I’m taking sick days, cough, cough, sniffle to cover my little getaway.  But I need to get stuff done before hand and that’s what the next few days will be filled with.  Hmm, Chicago in December.  Long Underwear is sexy right?  Yeah.  That’s how I roll.

Here’s all the food that’s fit to print:

Breakfast 12.2.08

Kashi Go Lean Crunch with Banana and 1% milk
Coffee w/ Stevia and 2 Tbs Half & Half
1/2 cup apple juice

Lunch and Snacks 12.2.08
Flax Seed Lavash Bread w/Turkey, lettuce, tomato, mustard
Banana
Grapefruit
Mixed vegetables
Cascadian Farms Peanut Butter Chip Granola Bar (I love these!)

Dinner 12.2.08
Whole wheat pasta with sauteed peppers, onion and tomato
drizzled with olive oil and fresh Parmesan cheese

Dessert 12.2.08
No Sugar Added Hot Cocoa
Made with 1% Milk
Marshmallows

Well I got up this morning and hit the gym.  I was surprised at how many people were there, I guess there was some Thanksgiving guilt.  As for me, I plan on eating my way through the next few days and probably won’t workout again till Monday.

Bette: Thanks for watching my shows!  I’ve mentioned a few times on here, but was planning on reiterating soon because I’ve been getting a few emails here and there about people concerned with how much I eat.  There are always a few snacks here and there during the day that I don’t photograph/post.  Blogging and photographing everything you eat can lead to some obsessive behavior so to keep myself from being a total looney, I do eat some things that never hit the internet.  Although I do try to make those snacks healthy.  My daily caloric intake never goes below 1400 calories and usually ranges between 1400-2000, sometimes more on the weekends.

I’m not sure how “with it” I’ll be in regard to blogging these next few days as I’ll be on Long Island, but I’ll try to keep up with it all, and I’ll try to remember to take pictures of our Thanksgiving feast on Sunday.

Happy Weekend everyone.

Breakfast 11.28.08
Mulit-grain waffles with organic syrup
Pineapple Chunks
Green Tea

Today is a short day, I leave at 1pm and head over to the gym.  Tonight my friend and I are going out to celebrate my firing.  Woohoo, I believe there may be banana pudding involved.  That’s part of a well-balanced diet, yes?  Since I’m leaving at one I didn’t pack lunch, I instead grabbed a granola bar to snack on pre-run and figure I’ll make myself a real lunch when I get back from the gym.

Suz: You’re welcome; I’m here for all your beet-inspiring needs.  Is there any other root vegetable you need some motivation with?  Thanks for the library hint, I’ve been pretty intimidated by the Brooklyn library system up until now, but I think that may just be my mission for unemployment.

Rene: Can you be my agent, because I think you have more faith in me than she does.

Lara: Yeah, I am a fan of Kashi products in general but the oatmeal packets are lacking.  And, there are these weird orange flecks which sort of make me feel like I’m eating carrot infused oatmeal.

Here’s the food thus far:

Breakfast 11.26.08
Quaker maple & brown sugar: Low Sugar Oatmeal
(better than Kashi, but not in love with this either-I think I just prefer non packaged foods)

POM Cafe au Lait
(wow, I’m a grouch today, but I don’t love this either.  It was given to me as a sample and honestly just doesn’t have a very strong flavor, I poured it out because it wasn’t that good and was pretty high in fat.)

Lunch 11.26.08
Vegetarian Lentil Soup and whole grain bread
I had a wonderful surprise, my friend Becky who is in town for Thanksgiving came by my office today and we ended up grabbing lunch before we went off to our respective destinations; her to her family me to my gym.

Snack 11.26.08
Salsa and baked blue corn chips

Dinner 11.26.08

Stir fry with shrimp (Trader Joe’s General Tso’s Stir fry sauce)
White Rice

Well last night’s dinner consisted of shots and baked potato chips.  Classy.

Today I ran some erands, worked on some writing/editing and networking emails.  I also worked out a budget, which hopefully I can stick to.  I think the hardest part is going to be my food allowance which will basically be $25 a week.  Considering I usually buy a ton of fresh produce and organic foods, this is going to be a hard transition, but one that I’m obviously going to have to make for a while.  I’m on a mission to make the recession as healthy as possible, even if that means subsisting on nothing but beans and vegetable soup!

As for now, I’ve still got some food reserves (and I stocked up on frozen fish last weekend, so I’ll be good on that for a while.) I decided to make today my day off from the gym, but fully plan on hitting it up tomorrow morning.  I have lunch plans with one friend and dinner plans with another, so I’m going to need to get my calorie burn in early.

Here’s the food in review:

Breakfast 11.22.08
2 scrambled eggs
English Muffin with Strawberry Preserves

Lunch 11.22.08
Salad with lettuce tomato, cucumber, beets, avocado, walnuts
tossed in olive oil and vinegar

Dinner 11.22.08
Black bean burger and BBQ sauce on English muffin
Steamed cauliflower