Once again our day begins with coffee. I've thought about leaving it out but my big mug with cream accounts for 60-odd calories and 2 carbs. so it does matter if I have one, two or three mugs.




I waited quite awhile before being awake and hungry enough to want some breakfast. Was on the verge of sauteing some mushrooms for my favorite fritatta when it suddenly occurred to me that not only was there some asparagus left but we had a little package of lox trim in the fridge. Two large fresh eggs, add the boursin cheese (which is almost all used up for awhile, I promise) and voila! A little salty, between the lox and the cheese I didn't need to season the eggs or asparagus at all. Otherwise gorgeous and delish!

Diet cola.

Since we're both working Sundays, Saturday has become chicken dinner night. I had a big slab off the breast, 1/2 cup of broccoli and the usual side salad.


After dinner, tea. I take mine straight up and managed to drink most of the pot.





When I filled out fitday for today I was stunned to have a total of about 850 calories and 14g of carbohydrate. Now I don't usually worry about not eating enough but that's way too little for a big busy person like myself.

Hey! I remember we have that great specialty cheese and fruit in the fridge. I worked out some calculations using fitday and came up with three thin slices of apple (20g), two grapes, 50g of strawberries and a big 80g of honeydew melon which gave me 16g of carbs with 2g of fibre for only 65 calories. Way more carbohydrates that I'd usually have for a snack but my net total for the day is still just 30g and I'm actually under 1,200 calories.

While I did weigh and eat all the fruit on the plate below, the cheese was for both of us and I had a little less than half of it. Guessing I had about 90g (3 ounces) of cheese.

Started great, didn't end so well.

Woke up before seven. Would like to have slept in more but couldn't. Had coffee.

Some time later made a flax bun and more coffee for breakfast. The basic recipe I was taught is 2 tablespoons butter, one egg, 1/4 cup ground flax, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt. I modify it almost every time I make it. I generally use unrefined coconut oil 1/2 and 1/2 with the butter and add either some cheese when I want a savoury version or this morning I added about a tablespoon of chopped walnuts, a teaspoon of cocoa powder and a packet of splenda. It's a little like having a muffin. Certainly as many calories but few carbs.

After going to workout I stopped at home long enough to scarf down the left-over avocado half.


Around 4pm I was wanting something to tide me over until dinner (Doug home at 6:30) so I had a cup of diet pop and about 20g of pork rinds which had been languishing in the snack cupboard so long I was worried that they might be rancid. While not fresh they at least tasted okay.


Was feeling headachy by the time dinner rolled around and I thought it might be lack of food. We each had two hamburger patties (about 100g each before cooking) with cheese and a side salad. I also had eight stalks of asparagus done in the counter-top grill after the patties came out. They were very tasty with no additional oil/butter. Oh, and a dollop of mustard.

Even though I wasn't really hungry after a couple of hours and some pain killers when my headache had gotten worse I had some more diet cola and 10 brazil nuts. Now I know I could have managed without the nuts. I think they were mostly because I was feeling so lousy. In fact I really wanted to eat more and previously would have gladly polished off the bag. Minor improvement I suppose.

fruit and cheese at home

In memory of our vacation Easter weekend and the lovely cheese plate we ordered from room service I visited our local Fromagerie and got some interesting cheeses. Having a big bag of expensive cheese seemed to need some fruit so I bought some strawberries, grapes, a honeydew melon and one apple. Doug is due home any time so I've put a tiny bit of each cheese out and will let him choose from the fruit.
Since I want to get in on the decadence too I've entered in fitday: one grape, one medium strawberry, one melon ball, one apple slice (thin) also 1 cubic inch each of blue and brie cheeses.
While this gives me 35g net carbs I'm still under 1,500 calories for the day.

I did say "everything" so before I decided that I was going to have a little of the cheese plate myself I took a picture of my fingers that I'd just used to clean the gooey cheese off the knife before I stuck them in my mouth. Since there is now a picture of the plate from which I will partake this isn't really necessary but I just wanted folks to know - Seriously! Everything I Eat!

Oh, and earlier I made a cup of decaf - took the picture but almost forgot.

It's a new fridge!

When we bought our home it came with a matching set of excellent appliances. The same appliances that were installed when the building was built. In 1977.

Yesterday we bought a nearly new refrigerator and it was delivered today. Right now it seems a bit empty.


Got up at a reasonable hour to prepare for fridge arrival, had coffee.



Several hours later after all the hullabaloo was over I had brunch of mushroom, green onion and the ubiquitous boursin in a three egg omelet/fritatta thing, with more coffee. Three eggs because there was no meat involved.



By three in the afternoon I was pretty hungry so I had 25g (about an ounce) of brazil nuts and some of Doug's diet pop.


Since Doug is working and I was on my own for dinner tonight I decided on a real treat. I sauted some asparagus (10 spears) then cooked up some shrimp and scallops (70g each before cooking) in a tablespoon of butter with a couple of cloves of garlic. Yum yum yum yum, yum!


In spite of the butter because I only had 2 meals today I'm at 1,261 calories and 29g net carbs for the day. (Who knew scallops had carbs??) So I might just have another little nibble when Doug gets home.

Eating out and at the theatre

Bit tricky today. Had coffee and got ready for physio, needed something to keep me going so grabbed left-overs from yesterday's packed lunch. Two little bits of jicama and a hard boiled egg.


Went from physio to meet Doug at the appliance store where we picked out a gently used refrigerator which should be delivered tomorrow or Saturday. I scooted back home for a very quick bite of lunch: tuna salad made with a tablespoon of chopped walnuts and about 20ml of mayo, half an avocado and a handful of celery sticks.

Back out again to meet up at the bank for some changes in our accounts and household insurance then home again for a quick rest and a coffee before heading out again (this time by bus) to the cinema to see Grindhouse.

At the mall adjacent the theatre we each enjoyed a couple of "skewers" of marinated souvlaki meat (one each portion of pork and chicken) with a little, maybe a quarter cup, of tzatziki sauce on the side. Yum.

Because the movie ran over three hours we had along a little box of munchies. I had three radishes, a couple more stalks of celery and another hard boiled egg. We also picked up sodas a bag of sugar-free Werthers candies and a protein bar each before heading in to the cinema marathon. What with crack-downs on recording equipment/piracy in the theatre I took the picture of our snacks on a mall bench and the empty Atkins bar wrapper once home. A minor cheat I suppose but I was nervous enough whipping out the camera in the little greek place. Luckily the first shot worked and nobody really noticed.

but wait, there's more

30ml of coffee cream with half a can of diet root-beer for a sweet treat that's kinda like a root beer float. Fitday puts it at just 60 calories and 2g of carb. Yum.

this week Tuesday is Friday

because my work week started on Sunday and I've taken Wednesday and Thursday as holidays. This morning breakfast was coffee and bacon and eggs (2 each).

My day at work was one of those days where everything is weird. Not necessarily bad just peculiar and somewhat uncomfortable. After trying to explain something to a crazy person on the phone for 10 minutes I poured some coffee to sip while I continued to work. Luckily I finished it and had my cup put away by the time the hardhat fell off the shelf above the monitor and nearly beaned me.

When it was time for a real break all I had were four brazil nuts and more coffee.

Lunch was a couple of slices of roast beef, four slices of salami (Freybe's Hungarian) and 35g of sharp cheddar cheese. Also three large radishes, about 30g of jicama sticks and five or six celery sticks. I had brought more but saved it for my break later on.

Salami and cheese, eek give me mints, now give me more. (Six in all)

For my afternoon break I polished off the rest of the brazil nuts (3) three more slices of salami and about 20g of swiss cheese.

Dinner was Sunday's roast pork heated up with a little gravy made by blitzing the juice from the slow cooker in the blender with 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum. Broccoli and the usual side salad. I bought new Umbra appetizer sized plates today to help make meals a) look bigger and b) maybe look more appetizing.
Fitday totals for today 1,582 calories and 26 net g. of carbs.

day seven - that wasn't so hard

Breakfast was coffee and flax cereal again. Just to lazy this morning to make eggs.

Still feel like I'm fighting a cold, so had an echinacea lozenge.My morning break was coffee (forgot to put cream in I was so dopey this morning!), half of my ounce of cheddar and three brazil nuts.

Lunch was chicken salad with a few capers, 3 rather large radishes, about 40g of jicama and a handful (five?) of celery sticks. Missed not having jell-o or yogourt so had a few more of the brazil nuts I had brought for a snack.

When I came upstairs from the lunchroom I discovered Barry had made a lovely big pot of tea. So I had a little cup.

At various times during the afternoon I had three of these tiny strong mints.

Since I was going to physio right after work (which has more in common with an hour at the gym than lying back getting ultrasound) I had the rest of the cheese and nuts and a little more black coffee.

By the time I got back from physiotherapy I was sore and exhausted. Luckily I still had an hour before Doug got home from work so I eventually threw together a salad and chucked a couple of basa filets into the saute pan with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Usually I make some kind of sauce but wasn't into it today. Instead I just melted in the last tablespoon of boursin cheese that we'd been enjoying for the last week and poured it over the fish. I also had about 1/2 cup of broccoli but scarfed it down before I remembered to take the picture. Guess it had to happen eventually but I was kind of surprised that I got all the way to the end of the first week before it did.

Fitday puts my calories for the day at 1,732 and 26 net grams of carbs. Have to be more stingy with the brazil nuts.

day six

Slept in a bit this morning and felt a little rushed getting ready for work. Started with coffee.





Made a fritatta for us, 4 eggs, a big handful of spinach, 4 mushrooms, the bits of celery root left over from last night and four tablespoons of boursin. Doug warmed up some sausages and we each had half the fritatta and 2 sausages.



Picked up a few things on the way to work (bribes for staff incl.) as well as a "Grande Americano" at that coffee shop because my usual place is closed on Sundays.






Break time at work had a hard boiled egg and 40g of brazil nuts. Oh, and I bought water because I forgot to bring some from home.






Best and easiest dinner tonight. Slow cooker garlic studded pork roast. I throw a big slice of onion half a carrot and some celery trimmings into the slow cooker. Poke holes in a pork roast and bury pieces of garlic cloves all around and about. Threw in a handful of jicama chunks instead of potatoes. A good pinch of herbs de provence and some salt leave on high setting for the five hours while we're away at work and voila! Dinner. Also salad. If I haven't mentioned already our usual salad is a handful of greens (varies with season/sales) four slices of cucumber and half a medium tomato with 15ml of dressing (also varies).


Probably could've done with just the diet coke, but had some calories and carbs left for the day so went ahead and had the last 125ml of plain yogourt sweetened with Torani sugar-free caramel syrup.