Trying New Things

With Memorial Day just ahead and the idea of actually putting a swimsuit on at the forefront of my mind, I have been frantically trying to reduce my calorie intake. I have been pretty good at keeping up with the running - the gym, not so much. Hey, something is better than nothing, right. So, as a final attempt to shed pounds I am going with calorie trimming. I am still trying to avoid simple carbs (the fistfulls of almond joy pieces I shoved in my mouth last night were an epic failure of this) while upping my intake of vegetables and lean proteins and reducing my consumption of dairy. Now, there are things I still will NOT budge on, for instance morning coffee. I like it with Splenda and half and half. Try to mess with that and I WILL kill you. I also love cheese. I will concede to try to eat lower fat varieties but will not give it up entirely. My happiness is more important to me than the size of my ass (for now, lol). My attempts at breakfast did not pan out well either. I am just not hungry when I wake up. I keep spelt cakes in the office with all natural almond and peanut butters to ward of hunger when it rears its head. Occasionally I bring a banana in with me or some fat free yogurt with rolled oats and chia seeds and fruit juice. I put all that in a mason jar and shake it up. After a while the oats soften and its a pretty satisfying snack. I need to experiment with more flavors - cocoa powder, splenda and almonds come to mind, may some coconut too. YUM! Last nights experiment was with Textured Vegetable Protein or TVP. It is used as a meat substitute. Since I am not a vegetarian I reconstituted mine with beef broth. I have to say it wasn't bad. I mean it didn't taste like meat but it didn't taste gross either and gave a little texture to my meal. I have seen it used as taco filling and with an egg to bind I would bet it would be an ok veggie burger ingredient. I had mine with soy noodles and vegetables (snap peas, carrots and cauliflower) in a jarred yellow curry sauce (Thai Kitchen brand) that I spiced up with a generous dose of sriracha. It was surprisingly good and to date this was the most enjoyable meal I have made with the soy noodles. I am not sure if it is because I am developing a taste for them or because the sauce was really spicy and delicious but whatever the reason, it was a darn good meal and I got to eat a generous portion because the calorie count was so low. Win-Win!