HUGE Breakfast

Oh my – another HUGE breakfast!! 650 calories – eeks!!! But I won’t eat again until lunchtime, and I’m meeting a friend for salads, so I’ll keep lunch modest. Dinner tonight is salmon burgers and salads, so I should be able to easily keep it to 400 or less.

Sidebar: Came down at 5am this morning to TWO MORE HUGE ROACHES on the ceilings of our two living rooms. We started having roach problems in early June (the big, long black ones people like to call Palmetto bugs to avoid that they are really just roaches). I called Terminix after a few weeks of screaming and they went away. A month later, I said “You know, we haven’t had a roach sighting in a long time!” The very next morning: roach in the kitchen. Terminix returned. No roaches for another month. Well, guess what? It’s been a month and that’s THREE in less than 12 hours. Husband hates dealing with them, although I no longer scream. He just hates the process of hunting them down. But he did a great job with last night’s (yes it’s very small in the photo, but the ones this morning were huge. And you probably think it’s funny that I grabbed the camera, but now that I’m photographing all my food, it’s always within reach!):

Back to food : )
So after husband dealt with the roaches this morning, I had a Kashi bar:

Workout was 40 minutes elliptical + 15 minutes upper body lifting. Only 380 calories this morning because we were running late. I’ll try to get in a long walk this evening.

Breakfast was HUGE! By accident again, but I got in all of my food groups! And many of them were SuperFoods:

Grain: Oats, 1/2 of Kashi bar
Fruit: Banana, Blueberries, Kiwi, Peach (frozen)
Vegetables: Pumpkin!
Meat: Egg, flax, 1/2 serving for Kashi bar
Dairy: Milk, yogurt

Pancake Report:
The Diva Pancake gets an A+ for flavor but I get a B- for technique. I forgot the cooking spray, so it partly burned on the bottom (really just browned nicely) and it wasn’t quite done in the middle. I used to make these all the time last winter, but I think adding the pumpkin threw me off a little. I need to brush up on my skills! I topped it with a little maple syrup:

In the pan:

On the plate:

I also made the most perfect smoothie this morning.

• Frozen blueberries (1/2 C)
• Frozen peaches and kiwi (3/4 C)
• Small banana
• 3.5 oz plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 tbsp flax seeds

All together:

I’m very full and satisfied. It was the perfect balance of flavors. I used a real egg in the pancake instead of egg whites, which might be why it was denser than the ones I made last winter. But I used up the last of my pumpkin so I’ll have to wait until this weekend to try it again when I can get some more!!

I think I decided I’m going to try to “Eat for Health” but ballpark calories at each meal. Knowing breakfast (plus the 1/2 Kashi bar I get as a “free” snack) is 650 gives me a target for the day. I know dinner is around 400-500. That leaves about 600-700 for lunch and snacks. Seems like an easy enough way to do it. Although I’m having a big salad for lunch and I’ll have NO IDEA how many calories are in it. I guess I’ll ballpark with food groups as well.

Maybe my new strategy is just Option D: Ballpark both methods

A BIG shout out to Kirsten from Calorie King for being one of my first real readers!!!!