Wednesday, February 28, 2007

It kind of looked like road kill...

Today is only Wednesday, but it feels like it should be Friday. Work has been tough this week and I'm exhausted, so no gym tonight. The plan is to go to bed early.

I tried to make a new dish of black refried beans, corn, and salsa tonight. Individually, all of these are tasty ingredients. Mixed together and heated in the microwave...makes it look kind of like roadkill. It is super healthy, but not super tasty. The garbage disposal ate most of it and seemed to enjoy it very much.

I'm meeting my friend Mindy for dinner tomorrow. It will be a dining out challenge. We are meeting at a local bar and bars tend to have less then healthy meal choices. I see a side salad in my future....

Good night!

Monday, February 26, 2007

The Verdict

With my new scale in hand, the verdict is in...drum roll please...6 pounds down! We went to visit with Jarrett's family over the weekend, so minor indulgence did occur, but other then that, all went well.

Tonight, I went to the gym and did 45 minutes of cardio on the bike for a total of 21.5 miles and 310 calories. I also made a tasty dinner of beansprouts and Chinese dumplings. Hungry Girl suggested trying beansprouts as a replacement for rice or noodles and I have to say, I approve. I'm going to try boiling them and mixing in spagetti sauce next.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Random Ramblings

So it's Saturday...I'm almost one week into my renewed commitment to eating healthy and exercising. So far, I've done very well. I went to the gym on Monday and Tuesday and rode Frosty on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thursday ended up being a day of rest and work commitments on Saturday will keep me from the gym. I have kept my caloric intake under 1200 calories a day, drank my 8-10 glasses of water, and only missed my multi-vitamin one day. I can tell I've lost some weight, however, our incredibly old scale is telling both Jarrett and myself that we have either gained 6 pounds or lost 4...it depends on what moods it is in. We are planning to shop for a new, more reliable scale this weekend. We are also making a special trip to Trader Joe's, our favorite grocery store. Unfortunately, it is located a fair distance from our house, so we do not get to visit frequently. They have a lot of the hard to find healthy food items our regular store doesn't stock. They also have an AWESOME selection of frozen fish and Asian spices and sauces.

We will also be making a trip to one or both of the local tack stores. Frosty loves to play in the mud and has managed to turn his pretty tail into a dread locked mess of mud and icicles. I plan to spend some time working on cleaning it up on Sunday and then braiding and wrapping his tail until the mud clears up. Luckily, I purchased a heavy-duty sheet for him last month. If you are ever in the market for horse clothing, I recommend Schneiders. They have great prices and the quality is excellent. His sheet kept his body fairly clean but he still managed to get mud all over his face and mane.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Crunch Enhancer??

Welcome to the Crunch Enhancer! My name is Meaghan and I would like you to make yourself cozy and try not to doze off while reading my blog. I'm not much of a writer, but I figured, it's free...why not. If someone out there is actually willing to spend time reading about my rather boring life, then more power to them :)

You may wonder about the title of this blog...Crunch Enhancer. It is a humble tribute to the greatest food scientist of all time, Clark W. Griswold. If you happen to be a National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation fan, you may remember that Clark was nominated as food additive designer of the year for his invention, the Crunch Enhancer. As a fellow food scientist, I tip my hat to his innovative product development skills.

I am a proud mom of three fur kids. My husband and I have two Shetland sheepdog baby girls and our most recent addition to the family, a horse. Our animals are a big part of our lives. I am preparing for my first horse show with my new horse, Frosty. He is a four year old Percheron/Thoroughbred gelding. I promise to post pictures soon.

As part of my prep for the show (April 20-22) I am determined to loose 20 pounds. I joined a gym and I am closely monitoring my diet. I started my work out routine last night. First, 5 minutes of warm-up/stretching, 45-minutes of cardio on the recumbent bike (20.2 miles!), followed by 45-minutes of weights and 5 minutes of cool-down on the stairmaster (15.7 floors). In total, I burned 320 calories.