What I ate: January 8th 2016

It's Friday!!! Yay!!! Today I had another crazy busy work day. I'm just so ready for bed as I'm writing this :). I feel like I ate frequently throughout the day today and I didn't have that point where I was just starving ....which is good :). Instead I ate smaller meals/snacks throughout the day which kept me full and satisfied.

Here is what I had today:

For my breakfast I had 1 cup of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with 1 cup of unsweetened coconut almond milk and half of  sliced .blood orange To drink I had cup of coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water. . Breakfast Cal  Intake: 288

For brunch/lunch I had Ciabatta sandwich with one scrambled  egg and a tbsp of orange marmalade.  To drink I had cup of coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water. Lunch/Brunch Cal Intake: 350

My snack today was a large Red Delicious apple, sliced  and sprinkled with cinnamon and served with a tbsp of peanut butter. To drink I had honey vanilla chamomile tea.  Snack Cal Intake: 201

For dinner I had  turkey salami and pepper jack cheese toasted panini/sandwich with a side of cucumber and tomato slices. To drink I had bottled water. Dinner Cal Intake: 400

 Today's total calorie intake: 1239


And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 7th 2016

Today I had an early start and did quite a lot of things. In the morning I was busy with work and after that I did a lot of house work. I seriously feel tired now while writing this. I woke up pretty early (around 5am) so I've had quite a long day. However tomorrow I still have few things to finish before the weekend so it is gonna be another busy day.

Here is what I had today:

For my breakfast I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with light butter and 1 tbsp of orange marmalade To drink I had cup of coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water. . Breakfast Cal  Intake: 370

For brunch/lunch I had Triple Berry-Banana Smoothie. I blended 1 whole banana, 1 cup of frozen mixed berries (no sugar added) with 1 cup of unsweetened coconut almond milk. Lunch/Brunch Cal Intake: 195

My snack today was a cup of coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and a frosted chocolate cupcake with filling. Snack Cal Intake: 240

For dinner I had the  exactly the same thing I had yesterday since I made extra.  I had  1 cup of Rotini butternut squash and sausage pasta in four cheese tomato pasta sauce. Garnished with sprinkle of Feta cheese crumble and fresh cilantro. To drink I had green tea with ginseng and bottled water. Dinner Cal Intake: 400

 Today's total calorie intake: 1125


And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 6th 2016

Today I had a late start. Regardless though, I decided to make some pasta for dinner and ended up with enough for tomorrow as well probably. Yay leftovers!

Here is what I had today:

For my breakfast I had a toasted banana -peanut butter nine grain bread sandwich. I used 1/2 of a sliced banana and 1tbsp of peanut butter. I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water to drink. Breakfast Cal  Intake: 402

For brunch/lunch I had 1 cup of Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Greek Yogurt topped with 1/2 cup of blueberries. To drink I had bottled water. Brunch Cal Intake: 165

For dinner I had  1 cup of Rotini butternut squash and sausage pasta in four cheese tomato pasta sauce. Garnished with sprinkle of Feta cheese crumble and fresh cilantro. To drink I had green tea with ginseng and bottled water. Dinner Cal Intake: 400

As far as the snacks went, I kind of got too busy to remember to really have one. 

 Today's total calorie intake: 967


And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

Michael Kors Clothing/Fashion Haul

I love holiday shopping!.....well hold on, that is an understatement in it self. I love shopping in general :)), but during holidays there are lots and lots of good deals and promotions and the designers come out with their best it seems. One of those is Michael Kors of course. For some reason my closet is getting full of his pieces, especially dresses and coats the last few years.

I'm not partial to any designer, in fact there are quite a bit of things I dislike and would never buy regardless wether they are designer or not. Similarly there are a lot of things I do like that are not designer .....I guess it depends if it appeals to me or not and wether the quality is there.

MICHAEL Michael Kors Long-Sleeve Animal-Print Dress

The first dress I got was the blue one. I saw it in Michael Kors store and later also at Macy's for a much better deal. When I tried it on, I loved how it fit me. The color was a beautiful  vivid cobalt blue. I don't have many blue pieces in my closet, so I though this is something unexpected in terms of color and print combination. The beautiful animal print also didn't hurt since I never mind standing out  in a crowd anyway and actually am a notorious sucker for animal print to begin with. Well the tasteful, beautifully done kind. The length was on the shorter side but not to extreme and still tasteful ....and worn with tights in colder months or just with bare legs during summer will work great because the dress is made of non-wrinkle stretchy material  that is not to heavy. So you can wear it all year long ....dress it up or down. I feel like this is going to be one of those  go to dresses I will grab for travel since the care is really easy....or for pretty much any occasion since is so versatile. Couple of weeks later I saw the other two colors at Nordstrom and couldn't pass them up. One was in my favorite color sexy red and the other a classic blackish grey and white combo. Mine, mine MINE! I had to have them all! LOL


MICHAEL Michael Kors Satin Trench Coat

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The second thing I got was a satin navy trench coat, also by Michael Kors. I purchased the same coat in a beautiful wine/maroon color earlier and was toying with the idea of getting the navy one too.....after few weeks passed ....and after all the compliments I have received on the wine/maroon one ...I got the navy one as well. I remember when I initially purchased the wine one I was excited but hoping it would be just as beautiful in person. When I got it delivered I busted open the package and when I saw the color ....was exactly what I wanted I was over the moon. In fact it was so much better than I expected. I was running in circles and jumping up and down squishing the coat with joy ...LOL (yeah, I seriously did that). I needed a navy trench coat anyway and was in the market for one and this one was very different. It had a beautiful sheen due to the satin fabric and rich color. It was not plain but more on a dressier side but not crazy over the top and I thought it fit my style perfectly. It was not to heavy but not light either ....kind of mid weight, well constructed and of good quality and excellent fit. 

So there you have it. As of right now I haven't seen anything else that grabbed my interest from Michael Kors but I'm sure that is bound to happen very soon :). 

Happy shopping and take care,

Laila

What I ate: January 5th 2016

Today I woke up pretty early (about 4am) even before my alarm went off. I was still feeling a bit down  from yesterday but I had to prepare for an important phone call which I had in the early part of the morning so I could not really think about anything else. I feel like I ate quite a bit today. I wasn't feeling hungry at all and for the most part had to make myself eat throughout the day. However, when I look at the calories .....i barely had enough.

Here is what I had today:

For my breakfast I had a blueberry bagel with 2 tbsp of light Greek yogurt cream cheese and 2 tbsp of my usual  low sugar black cherry raspberry blood orange jam. I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water to drink. Breakfast Cal  Intake 380

For brunch/lunch I had 2  sliced hard boiled eggs sprinkled with salt and pepper and a whole banana. To drink I had a honey vanilla chamomile tea and bottled water. Brunch Cal Intake 245

For dinner I had toasted Ciabatta smoked salmon open sandwich with tbsp of salmon spread, tbsp of feta cheese crumbles and spinach. To drink I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweeteners and  bottled water. Dinner Cal Intake: 333

For snack I had a Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry Cheesecake Greek yogurt and bottled water.
Snack Cal Intake: 80

 Today's total calorie intake: 1036


And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 4th 2016

So today I feel a bit more emotional and somewhat more tried than usual. I didn't get much sleep last night. There is never a good time to say Goodbye to the ones you care about and  to those that care about you....even when its only temporary. So to be honest I feel somewhat sad today but I'm keeping positive when it comes to my weight loss journey and today I thankfully also seem to be on track, unlike yesterday. I used to be quite an emotional eater, which means feeling sadness like I am today or being upset over something would send me into a crazy sugar/junk food calorie overload binge. I have worked quite hard over the years at keeping myself from doing that. I think understanding yourself and your reactions to different stresses in life makes it easier to control and eventually concur and stop overeating because you finally understand why you do it instead of just mindlessly punishing yourself without much thought. That is why I have always said that one has to deal with what's inside before any changes take place on the outside. I wrote more in depth about that and my weight loss journey and personal struggles in my previous weight loss blog posts so you are welcome to check through those if interested.

I apologize in advance if some of the things I am having are somewhat repetitive but those are the things that I love to eat at the moment  that also keep me on track. Whenever I reduce my daily calorie intake I try to cram as much of food that I like but also the nutritionally healthy food in this small amount of calories. Some days I feel I'm better at it than others ....but it's all about learning as you go. I will be keeping it real everyday on here so if I eat same or similar things few days in a row and than go crazy creative with my food few days after that please don't mind. I kind of go through motions like that with my cooking/eating .....

Here is what I had today:

For breakfast I had a croissant with a pat of light butter and a teaspoon of black cherry raspberry blood orange low sugar jam. To drink I had my usual coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water. Breakfast Cal Intake: 390

For my lunch/brunch I had a cup of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with a cup of  unsweetened  coconut almond milk and 1/4  of a cup of blueberries with a coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Brunch/Lunch Cal Intake: 272

For my snack I had a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and filling. I had not finished drinking my coffee with my lunch/brunch earlier so I had my leftover coffee with the cupcake. Snack Cal Intake: 200

For dinner I had a  baked salmon burger  with a teaspoon of salmon dip and spinach with a side of cucumber and a diet drink. Dinner Cal Intake: 400

 

Today's total calorie intake: 1262


And that was it for today, I feel like I need to have an early night tonight  and give myself time to rest so that I can wake up refreshed and feeling better since I have an important day to tackle tomorrow.
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 3rd 2016

So today my day didn't quite go as planned. A member of my family is going away for about two months tomorrow, I had quite a bit to do during the day because of this and so my meal times where completely off. I went over the 1300 calorie limit by 160 calories or so because I had a pizza night with my family as a Goodbye dinner before they left. I feel  pretty bad about going over 1300 calories but  in reality it isn't as bad as it could have been considering I had pizza. Hopefully tomorrow my meal calorie routine will go back to normal because  nobody is coming or going as far as family and friends go any longer and holidays are behind us so  there will be nothing else going on for a while making it easier for me  to stay on track.

Here is what I had today:

For breakfast I had a croissant with a pat of  light butter and teaspoon of black cherry raspberry blood orange low sugar jam. I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and  bottle of water to drink. Breakfast Cal Intake: 390

I didn't have any lunch since I knew I was going to have pizza later. I also didn't feel that hungry to begin with. Lunch Cal Intake : 0

For dinner I had 2 slices of Pizza Hut Jalapeño rectangular pizza (dinner box), 1  1/2 breadsticks with marinara sauce and 3 cinnamon sticks with icing. I had  bottled water to drink.
Dinner Cal Intake: 1030

I didn't eat anything for my snacks today though I was tempted to have a chocolate chip cookie because  everyone around me was having one after dinner with their coffee but Im glad that I kept strong and didn't give in to the temptation. Instead I only had my coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Snack Cal Intake: 40

Today's total calorie intake: 1460
Weekly weigh in: it doesn't make sense for me to do this week's weigh in since I started 2 days ago, instead my first weigh in will  be posted next Sunday night (January 10th 2016).

And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila