Need Motivation!

I had an unfortunate "incident" on Thursday night in which I cheated for a meal, mostly due to having a super stressy day. Needless to say, the boneless buffalo wings (my kryptonite) were a giant disappointment and I ended up leaving half of them on my plate, completely disgusted with myself.

Teacher training this weekend was truly amazing and I learned so much. We had a great group of students and the teacher was awesome. It did make it very difficult to stay on the straight & narrow with my eating due to having my regular eating and snacking schedule all out of whack. I did ok for breakfasts and snacks but lunch the 2nd day was a little dicey. Dinner the first night was great, I tried the Chipotle Veggie Sausage at Growlers which Creative Loafing put on their list of top 10 vegan dishes in the city. It did not disappoint. However, later on after sitting with Melanie for her tattoo-redo, I cheated on a dessert. We went to the Crepe Cellar and got the crepe with Nutella, strawberries & banana. Honestly, as far as cheaty desserts go, it could have been WAY worse. Crepe is made with a little bit of flour, yes, which is processed. Nutella is chock full of sugar but is one of the most wholesome and natural routes to go for dessert. Plus, it was delicious, and it had fruit, so it was hard to feel bad about it.

Friday night I had a wonderful dinner thanks to planning ahead. Last Wednesday I prepped for this dinner which was going to be a breakfast, but hey. Breakfast for dinner can be delish! I adapted it from a recipe I've had my eye on and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I don't usually measure when I cook so please take these general ingredients, tweak to your liking, and use your common sense for portions!

1 sweet potato
2 red potatoes
1/2 Vidalia onion
mushrooms
kale
garlic
quinoa (about 1/4 cup)
eggs

I roasted the potatoes and onion in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes after tossing them in a bit of olive oil and seasoning. I did this on Wednesday and held in a tupperware container on the counter till I used them on Friday night. I also cooked a few cups of tri-color quinoa for several recipes and held this in the fridge.

Friday night I sauteed a few cloves of garlic, a small handful of mushrooms, and a small handful of red kale. I tossed in a big handful of the roasted potatoes and onions, along with the cooked quinoa.

I poached 2 eggs (you could fry them with minimal olive oil if you're not comfortable with poaching) and placed them on top of my sweet potato & quinoa hash. 'Twas super delish!

Monday came around and my back has been incredibly uncomfortable from the car accident. Physically I'm not feeling anywhere close to myself, and my fridge was empty. The majority of my fresh fruits and veggies have been used, or are on their last leg. I'm supposed to be starting the vegan phase and had zero motivation yesterday to get my ass in gear and plan out some good meals and go shopping. Plus, I had some local goat cheese in the fridge and couldn't bear to see it go to waste. My salad for breakfast was yummy with some mixed greens, strawberries, walnuts, goat cheese, green onions, chia seeds, and the strawberry vinaigrette Melanie & I split from Nourish.

Lunch was definitely an 80/20, or possibly a 70/30. Seared tuna steak with steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes (at a restaurant.... which means the potatoes were loaded with cream and butter...mmmmmmm....cream and butter!). Dinner last night was take out, fresh salad and a crabcake, which I'm sure was bound with mayo and breadcrumbs. Sadly, my willpower failed and I couldn't resist the fresh bread and olive oil with garlic that came with my meal. Yep, totally scarfed down all 3 hunks of warm and crusty bread.

As for the weight... well, I'm not sure what's going on. I must've been having a super light day or the scale was playing tricks on me when I weighed in a week ago at 163.3. I haven't been near there since. I've been hovering around 165 for days without change. Obviously my cheats here & there since last week and my lack of being on my own terms for eating all weekend have thrown everything out of whack to a certain extent. I'm having a very hard time finding the motivation right now to get back on track, so I'm asking you folks to please be supportive and encouraging and help me make the right choices. I'm toying with the idea of just going forward with the juice fast for 5 days or so, especially since my back is keeping me out of commission for anything other than a gentle yoga class. Maybe that is what I need to reaffirm my goals, and I could come out the other end doing vegan for a week or two? Thoughts??

One last note- Nourish put out an amazing menu yesterday and we were so pumped to order! Vegan lasagna and vegan pad thai would have been perfect in my fridge. Alas, it was not to be. Nourish sold out of pre-orders in under 12 hours! I'm sad I won't be enjoying their food for another couple weeks now, but thrilled that a business that is sorely needed in this city is thriving and succeeding. The owner tells me they're searching for a larger kitchen to run their operations out of and hope to find a match this week. Fingers crossed that they are able to weather the pain of growing too quickly, because while it's the best problem to have, it is most definitely still a problem! Congrats to Nourish for filling the void for so many healthy eaters out there and I can't wait for next Monday's menu. I'll be first in line :)