First of all, I’d like to introduce you to my best little kitty friend. Ivy Lou has been with me since the end of July, and is a very sweet, and vocal Maine Coon that I adopted from a local shelter. She’s about 7 ye
ars old and is small for a Maine Coon, just 7 pounds. 🙂
Yesterday was my first real challenge since I started dieting a week ago. I went out to dinner with friends. We often go out mid-week on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and play team trivia over dinner and drinks. Because I knew I was going out, I did a little more exercise–45 minutes on the treadmill and 30 squats. Breakfast was light, just oatmeal. Lunch was leftover mustard chicken and rice, with a quarter cup of guacamole on the side as it needed a little fat. That sounds strange, but I’ve been reading a lot about how best to lose weight and having some fat in the diet helps with metabolism and keeps you satisfied. The chicken itself has very little fat, because it’s basically just marinated in mustard and then baked. I served it with plain boiled brown rice, no added fat, so the avocado added flavor, fiber and fat. Good fat!
I usually drink wine but decided to try something different. My friend Jen swears by her vodka, soda and splash of cranberry juice and said it doesn’t give her as much heartburn as wine. So I had one. It’s ok. But I just don’t enjoy vodka the way I do a delicious glass of wine, so for my second drink, I had a glass of buttery chardonnay and was much happier. I also drank a lot of water before and after my meal, to help dilute the alcohol and just had the two drinks. Dinner was a caesar salad, no cheese, or croutons, light dressing and grilled shrimp. It was really good! Today is starting off with scrambled eggs, then a trip to the gym for a date with the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and more squats. Tomorrow morning is my first weigh-in, and I haven’t weighed myself since I started this a week ago, which has been hard. I’m used to the daily, depressing climb onto the scale. LOL Hoping to be down at least a few pounds tomorrow. I feel less puffy, so hopefully that’s a good sign.
Here’s the recipe for the mustard chicken. It’s super easy, low fat, and delicious. My friend Stephanie gave me her recipe and raved about it. You just mix together about a cup of mustard. She used a blend of three, whole grain, gray poupon dijon, and a basic plain yellow. I only had gray poupon, so that’s what I used. The key is to marinate the chicken in the mustard, about a pound, per cup of mustard. Really slather it on so fully coated and let it soak for an hour. Then plop each piece, still coated well, on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, until fully cooked through. Enjoy! 🙂