Banana donuts and the 30 Day Shred
I participate in an alternate work schedule at my office, so every other week, I get a Friday off. I use it as a day to get a lot of errands done so Steven and I can have a relaxing weekend. Yesterday, I ran 5 miles, went to the dentist*, went shopping for a suit (FAIL), picked up a DVD (more on that below) and went grocery shopping (at 2 different stores) all before 1 pm!
Then I came home, ate lunch, walked Data, got the mail, read blogs… and passed out on the couch for an hour and a half. Oops!
Anyway, I decided to surprise Steven by getting up early and making him some of those banana donuts** different people (Meghann and Mica) in the blogosphere have been making. Here’s the recipe, which I halved, making six donuts.
One minor problem with the recipe – it calls for egg whites, and I started mixing everything up before I remembered we used the rest of the eggs for Thursday night’s dinner. I had a little mini-panic and contemplated giving up and pouring the batter into the trash, then decided to improvise by using an extra tablespoon and a half of oil. Not the healthiest alternative, but it worked. The only other way I altered the recipe was by putting in a tad of banana extract flavoring.
I really wanted them to look like donuts, so I put all of the batter into a large plastic bag, then cut off the edge of the bag and squeezed the batter through to shape into donuts.
They look kind of “donut-y!”
I am estimating that one has approximately 200 calories.
I had to jump on the treadmill and run my 5 miles before I could try one. I was a bit worried they wouldn’t taste that good, but Steven LOVED them! He even took a couple to work so I could live up to my reputation as the wife who bakes things (formerly, “the wife who bakes cookies“). And I tried one after my shower – I LOVED them too! They make a very good breakfast, and are not too sweet.
I picked up Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD while running my errands. I’ve been reading a lot of health and fitness blogs lately and I think about 50% of them are using this DVD to work out at home! I can’t wait to try it today, with Steven!
*I am SO EXCITED to have dental insurance now. I love going to the dentist. I hadn’t been since September of 2002. A lot has changed since then! Now they can take photos of your teeth inside your mouth and show it to you!
**I AM THE BONANA KING!!! If you have time, and a sense of humor, spend the 6+ minutes to watch this ridiculously silly video.
Friday Question #59
Would you rather see a movie in the theater on opening weekend when there are big crowds, or wait and go after it’s been out awhile and the theater is more empty? Or, would you rather wait for it to release on DVD and watch it in your home?
I get really excited about some movies, and feel like I have to see them the weekend they come out – The Dark Knight, Iron Man, the Star Wars movies, and last weekend, Watchmen. It’s kind of fun to sit in the crowded theater, with a bunch of people, watching a movie. There is a different vibe then when the theater is empty.
Steven and I saw Taken a few weeks after it came out. We saw it on a Friday night. BIG MISTAKE. I think every mom in our neighborhood was dropping off 4 or 5 teenagers at the theater. Ugh, they were everywhere. The actual theater we sat in was fairly empty, but two teenage girls texted and gossiped throughout the entire duration of the previews. I don’t know who was more pissed off, me or the guy in front of me, who looked like he was going to get up a few times to go smack them. I warned Steven I might do the same.
Oops. That story was kind of unrelated. Anyway, I really enjoy the “full house” theater for some movies, but not all. And if I go opening weekend, I have to get there early to get the seat I want*. When we went to see The Dark Knight we had to sit in front… HUGE bummer.
*And I have to see the trailers! That is one of my favorite parts of seeing a movie – adding new movies to my “to see” list.
Learning to give the benefit of the doubt
When did I become so cynical?
I loved sizzle’s post last week about how someone double-parked her, and she left a note on their car, and they actually left an apology letter on hers. I felt like sizzle wrote that post directly to me, like she was saying, “Wake up Kim! You aren’t perfect either! Give people the benefit of the doubt!”
You see, I’ve become quite… fed up with human interaction in public spaces lately. It’s mostly in the morning and evenings, on my walks from the train station to work. I know I walk faster than most, and I don’t expect people to go my speed, but I do expect them to get the HECK out of my way.
I’m sad to admit, I’ve developed the habit of bumping into people and not saying anything. Why should I always be the one to have to move out of the way, you know? It’s just that crowded.
Well, the day before sizzle wrote that post, TWO people stepped in front of me in the morning. But you know what was weird? One apologized, and the other said, “excuse me.” I immediately felt guilty for all those times I’ve been so rude, because I was simply assuming the other person is just a jerk.
And on Tuesday, while dining with a friend, a woman apologized to me for bumping into my chair when she left her table. I didn’t even feel it. How polite!
Now, I am not the type to be rude and not say something when it’s due, but I have just spent so much time assuming most of the people downtown were self-centered jerks, that I’ve sort of given up. And decided to be pushy as well.
I’m different in the suburbs, surprisingly (or not?). One day at the theater, I opened the door to leave (the exit only door) and a bunch of people rushed in, bumping into me. Steven wondered why I wasn’t upset. I explained that it was nothing compared to my morning and evening walks downtown, simple as that. He explained that HE was fed up with holding the door for others, letting others go by first, etc., and feeling taken advantage of all the time. I understood – that is how I feel in the city.
Now I am trying to be less judgmental and pushy. I won’t be walked over, but I can at least give people the benefit of the doubt.
It’s hard.
Related: I think Hilly was on the same page with her manners bullet from an older post.
New fashion trend: skin is out?
This article in the paper got me thinking – basically, it says retailers are more likely to listen to customer’s requests for clothing design now, because of the declining economy. Retailers are working hard NOT to turn off any potential customer. And apparently, those customers are requesting… more coverage?
People are asking for “…a decent supply of sleeved shirts or prom dresses that show more fabric than skin.”
“People want to be more comfortable and more covered.”
vs. 
Hmm, I guess I’ll buy that. I don’t want to see my coworkers walking around in a Britney Spears-esque outfit flashing their reproductive organs, and I HAVE seen my fair share of slutty prom dresses! But I can appreciate some muscular legs, a nice neckline or bare arms (apparently, a lot of people are appreciating Michelle Obama’s!) when displayed appropriately.
What would you ask for if the retailers would listen?
I would ask for pants that are the right size at my hips, but not too tight in the butt. And button-down tops that don’t gap because of my (once, *sniff sniff*) mammoth sized breasts. Oh yeah, and how about some longer tops? Thankfully, they’ve picked up on that last one, but the others…?
Yes, I love technology…
I love technology. But I hate how much it can control my mood. Examples:
- My laptop won’t turn on. I’m frustrated*.
- My laptop is frozen. I’m frustrated.
- The internet won’t connect. I’m frustrated.
- The internet is TOO slow. I’m frustrated.
- I forgot to charge my MP3 player. I’m frustrated.
- My heart-monitor watch battery is dead. I’m frustrated.
- The digital photo frame is frozen again. I’m frustrated.
- The universal remote is not working**. I’m frustrated.
- My cell phone won’t make calls. Or allow me to text anyone. Who cares…?
My cell phone decided to die out on me today. It wouldn’t work this morning, and now it won’t turn back on. This is probably the only piece of technology I should actually care about (since it could be useful in the case of an emergency)… but I don’t. I hate talking on the phone, and have a work BlackBerry if I really had to use it for an emergency.
But it made me think – I don’t like how impatient technology has made me become. I want things now now now. I always expect things to work. I get moody when they don’t. Should something inanimate control my moods? Probably not. But they do. That’s something to work on.
Update: Technology hates me. I got home and the garage door opener in my car and the keypad wouldn’t work to let me in the house. Ha. I think that might be because someone was messing around with the fuses though…?
*Frustrated can be interchanged with “pissed off” and “furious” in all of these examples.
**This could possibly be user error.
That dreaded item on the to do list
It seems like every weekend, without fail, there is some item on my to do list I am absolutely dreading. Every fiber in my body resists my completion of the item. Just thinking about doing it makes me feel upset.
It usually isn’t house chores. Yeah, I put those off, but I don’t dread them. I just would rather do something else!
And it isn’t the long runs. I look forward to those long weekend runs, where I can just have some time to myself and focus on my run. Yesterday was my first 7-miler – fun!
This weekend, it was my panel report for work. Today marks my three-month date at my new job. It’s hard to believe the time has passed so quickly!
I was placed in a trainee program when I got this new job, based on my recent graduation (2007) and experience outside of work. As part of the program, I am required to write a panel report and give a presentation of my work quarterly in my first year, and semi-annually in my second year.
My supervisor places high importance on the panel report, and has given me time to work on it while at work. But so far, I haven’t been able to get much done on it there. It’s strange to me – I love to write, and I’ve pulled together all of the facts I need! I just couldn’t concentrate very well on writing something long the last few days.
So I brought it home, even though I didn’t need to. And I put it off, until about 8 pm on Sunday night. But, I did finally work on it and get the bulk of it done. Now I just to need edit it at work.
It’s funny. I always dread these tasks, but feel so much better when they’re close to done!
What have you been dreading on your to do list?
Homemade oatmeal* bars and Silk Spectre II’s hair
Since I’ve been dwelling so much on how much sugar is in all the granola and protein bars I eat, Steven and I decided to make some of our own.
The base has whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oatmeal, eggs, honey, apple butter and vanilla. We split the base so I could add fruit to one half and Steven could add almonds and fruit to his. After you mix it all up, you put it into a pan and bake it in the oven.
I started by adding dried prunes and apricots to mine…
…then decided it need some red, so I threw in some cranberries.
Steven’s bars are the thick ones on the left, mine are on the right.
The “Fruity” bars have about 115 calories per bar.
The “Nutty” bars have about 180 calories** per bar.
The bars have a “healthy” taste to them. They are soft, but a bit chewy. I like that they aren’t very complicated, and were super easy to make. I think I am going to wrap them up in plastic wrap to eat throughout the week.
I keep feeling like I should apologize for dwelling so much on exercise, health, nutrition/food, and body image. But, writing about those things is kind of like therapy for me. It gets redundant, I know. Thanks for sticking around.
*I was going to call them “granola bars,” but they don’t actually have any granola in them. Oatmeal bar sounds like a dessert!
**These bars were higher in calories because we made them thicker and cut them larger.
Side Note: Did anyone else see Watchmen this weekend? Did anyone else wonder how, during the fight scene in the jail, Silk Spectre II could possibly keep her hair out of her face while fighting?
Sweet tooth confirmed
On Thursday afternoon (okay, AND Friday, but this story relates to Thursday), I started feeling a bit snacky. I felt an eating binge coming on. I’m sure it was a result of lack of sleep and avoidance of the work task at hand. I exhausted the remainder of my snack stash at work – a serving of pretzels and a few various granola bars/fruit bars.
Then I decided I wasn’t done, so I grabbed my little coin purse and trekked my way back to the vending machine. I got there and stared at it. The top two rows of the vending machine have salty snacks – mostly chips. And the remaining, I don’t know, five or six rows, are ALL sweets.
I gave up sweets, making it very difficult to find anything I wanted. This is where a normal person would stop the quest and go back to there desk, but I stood there for quite some time and noticed someone else in there, kind of looking at me.
“I can’t decide what I want,” I told him. He didn’t want to use the machine, but seemed curious that I was standing there so long.
“Well, you gotta narrow it down,” he said. “Do you want salty or sweet? Once you decide that, there are other decisions to make. For example, if you choose sweet, then you need to decide if you want something chocolatey. And if you do, will it be nuggety, nutty or fruit-flavored?”
I thought that guy was pretty funny. I realized what I WANTED was M&M’s, but I couldn’t have them, so I went down to the snack shop in our building.
I found the same situation there. More sweets than anything else. My craving for something sweet intensified while I was down there. But I resisted, and grabbed a bag of Gardetto’s.
Yuck. What a disappointment. First of all, they weren’t what I wanted. Secondly, I felt super self-conscious eating them at my desk because they are so crunchy (you know what I am talking about diane!). And thirdly, they leave a super nasty after taste in your mouth. And they don’t really have a good “before taste anyway. I hate that I just had to eat something, and picked something that didn’t even hit the spot.
So, I confirmed something about myself – I have a sweet tooth. When I get snacky, I crave sweet treats. You know what I was thinking that day? “M&M’s sound good. Warm, chewy cinnamon rolls sound good. A Deerfield’s Bakery donut sounds good.” I wanted something sweet and soft or sweet and crunchy.
Since I gave up sweets I’ve been having half an orange in the afternoon (along with carrots and celery). I thought now might as well be a good time to eat “closer to the earth” as well. I get so sick of eating processed crackers and bars. And even though I look for processed food without high amounts of sugar in it, it’s hard to find. There’s still a lot of sugar in there.
Most days I am totally fine eating my healthy snacks, but every once in awhile I get these awful urges that I just have to eat, eat, eat! They don’t come that often. But I hate it when they do. I wish I was better at controlling them. I feel awful putting bad things into my body that I don’t really want. Especially because I run so much. Usually that is enough to make me not do it, but not all the time. Ugh, I am blabbing.
I don’t know if I learned anything from all of this, or if I just feel better sharing my guilt here.
Side note: Should I feel guilty that I felt good yesterday when I overheard my cute and skinny coworker confess that she ate one roll of thin mints the day before, and the other roll the next day? Of course, it was immediately followed with “Now I have to work out, like, twice today!”
Friday Question #58
How many hours of sleep do you get a night? How many would you like to get? Do you think the amount of sleep you get has any effect on your weight?
These questions are kind of random and strung together, but let me explain.
Last month, Glamour magazine had this huge article teaser on their cover – “Lose 10 Pounds Just By Sleeping More” (msnbc feature on the article here). When I saw it, I thought “riiiiight.” Then, I read it, and still thought, “riiiiight.” But I’ve heard it before – people who get less sleep are heavier than people who get more sleep.
There are two ways I can relate to this statement, but they are not directly related to that article. One is that in college, I used to take naps because I was so sleep deprived, and when I woke up, still tired, I always thought I was hungry. I almost always ate something. It took a lot of constraint not to. The other happens to me now – I am so tired that I eat, just so the snacking motion will keep me awake.
This has been a really awful week for me, sleep-wise. I’ve been staying awake on the train in the morning, and I think not banking that 1-1.25 hours of sleep is really hurting me. I am so energetic and peppy at work, but when I get on the train to go home, all the energy is gone. And one day this week, I got so pumped up at work in the afternoon that my heart was still beating too fast when I tried to go to bed that night. I didn’t end up falling asleep until 1:00 and still got up at my normal time of 5:15. I was so tired at work the next day that I got delirious and dizzy in the afternoon. So the next day, last night, I skipped my workout and got in bed at 8:30. I feel a little better. A little.
So, to answer my own question, I usually get 6 hours, would love 7 or 8, and think it would help me keep weight off, just because I wouldn’t be eating to try to stay awake.
But really, I am stuck in the schedule I have. It’s funny, a fellow coworker on the Biggest Loser Challenge was complaining to me a few weeks ago about not having time to exercise. So she asked me when I do. And I told her – I spend 1.5 hours on the train, eat dinner right away when I get home, then 1.5 hours exercising… a shower, maybe some blog reading… and that’s my weeknight. Four nights a week. Exercise is important to me; I am not ready to give that up to get more sleep. (Oh, and by the way, I think the coworker was looking for… some validation in my answer to make herself feel less guilty, but she didn’t get it. So starting this Wednesday, she and I will be making weekly visits to the office gym after work. I’ll let you know how it goes!)
If you’re interested, here are some other related articles on the sleep topic: “Importance of Sleep: Six Reasons not to scrimp on sleep,” and “The Steps to a Sleep Diet.”
Random Wednesday: Office Biggest Loser, Weigh-ins, Evil Cookies, Thanks, and that Bruise
It looks like I am having another random Wednesday. Maybe I should copy Kevin and start doing “Snippet Wednesdays” if this turns into a habit – I just don’t know if I can promise snippets though!
My Office’s Biggest Loser Challenge Update: Week 6
It’s week 6 of the Biggest Loser Challenge, and I’ve lost 6.56% of my starting weight. I’ve been taking it nice and slow. So even though I am trying to lose weight, I don’t feel like I am living the lifestyle of someone who is trying to lose weight. Does that make any sense? What I am saying is, I DON’T feel like I am on a diet!
Weigh-ins Don’t Work for Everyone
Every Tuesday, the Sun-Times has a Q&A column by Mehmet Oz, M.D. and Michael Roizen, M.D. Apparently we are supposed to be impressed because the first guy is associated with Oprah, and the second guy worked at a prestigious hospital.
Anyway. Today’s first question was about programs that require weekly weigh-ins, and whether they are more successful than programs that don’t.
I found their response interesting – basically, you get out of it what you put into it. If a weekly weigh-in causes you to rethink your efforts and put new vigor into your eating and exercise, that’s good. If a weekly weigh-in causes you to “drown your disappointment in a pint of dark-chocolate ice cream,” that’s bad.
Overall, they said you should be measuring inches, not pounds. I wish I would have measured myself before I started my Office’s Biggest Loser Challenge!
Do you think weekly, private, weigh-ins would work for you?
MyPlate Doesn’t Work for Me
One week on my Office’s Biggest Loser Challenge, I decided I was frustrated (because of a very small gain!) and I signed up for the food diary site, MyPlate. I used it for three days. That was enough. I ate very well those three days, but the headache and constant stress of thinking about food was too much for me. I know that so many people recommend keeping a food diary, but I just can’t do it. It makes me want to rebel.
It was a silly three days, but it helped me get to the point of realizing that my body weight naturally fluctuates and it’s not a big deal.
The Sweet Portion of Lent and Guilt-Ridden Dreams
The Girl Scout Cookies have landed. And they’re everywhere in my office. Let me repeat: I feel relieved to walk by these and not feel tempted by them. Because. They. Are. Everywhere. I. Turn.
My first week of not eating sugary treats went very well. I shared a blueberry muffin with Steven on Sunday and that was it. I think I could have gone the whole day without that muffin, but I could tell he really wanted it.
On Monday night, I had a nightmare that I was gorging on sweets. This tells me I must be serious about it. Sometimes, I have nightmares that I am eating meat and feel very guilty in the dream. Steven has these dreams too. Maybe all vegetarians do? I’ve never craved meat the 8 years I’ve been a vegetarian, but I will have this dream every once in awhile. Well, the sugar dream made me feel the same way – guilty.
I wonder if my sister Christina, who is also a used to be a vegetarian, has had those dreams. Christina, if you are reading this, I also had a dream Monday night that you and Steven and I were at Grandma’s Pete’s old house with the whole fam. The three of us were upset because they were making huge egg mcmuffins, but wouldn’t make them without canadian bacon on them for us. Aunt Linda was making them (of course…). I took one from her and threw a egg on the ceiling and it stuck. I thought dad was going to yell at me, but he laughed. Then we got mad and left!
Thanks Tori!
Tori, thank you for sending me the awesome Thyroid Cancer Awareness wristband. I am going to wear it and tell everyone who asks about it your story and how awesome you are!
(P.S. Data is jealous)
That Nasty Bruise
Thought you’d go a whole week without a fencing post? HA! Not so fast! I was sad not to have fencing class Monday night. Although, it may have hurt if someone hit me in my bruised spot.
The first week of the bruise I thought it was cool. Now I just want it to go away so I can wear a short sleeved shirt and not have to explain to people that I am taking a fencing class (although, it is a good conversation starter!).
Bonus (if you made it this far!)
Has anyone else seen the Terminator Salvation trailer (at bottom of link)? SWEET! Can’t wait for May 21st! I love your potty-mouth Christian Bale!
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
