Day 10 Summary

Total Steps For Day:  14,175   (3-walks + work out)
Total Calories:     1068
Weight Loss: -.5 lb (3.9 lbs total, body fat % went up .1 %)

My work outs are getting harder.  I find no difference between my energy on pre-diet days than those now that I'm eating less.  I'm also walking more so that's probably helping my overall fitness.  My weight dropped back down by a half a pound. I'm a slow weight-loser, that's for sure.

Diet Day 10 Breakfast

I chose higher protein foods for today.  I like to eat at least 40 minutes before I workout and I workout early so I chose a quick microwave Nutrisystem Canadian Style Turkey Bacon, Egg and Cheese Muffin.  I microwaved for 1:32 (older microwave) then toasted it at 425F for 3-5 minutes which kept the muffin from being soggy.  It's an extra couple of minutes but well worth it because otherwise it's sort of a gummy, soggy mess.

I think the flavor was fine but all in all I preferred the Turkey Sausage and Egg Muffin.  I was able to see and taste the cheese in today's muffin.  Typically where cheese is added to a Nutrisystem food it's rarely visible or discernible.

I should have, and meant to have either yogurt or cottage cheese with my muffin but I don't like to overeat before a workout and when I got I totally forgot.

You can see the layers of cheese, egg and Canadian bacon (aka ham).

This is the muffin in its frozen state; you can see a little tongue of cheese sticking out, proof that it includes cheese!

Day 10 Morning Snack

I had my morning snack after my workout.  This time I shared a high-protein shake.  Dr Keith Scott-Mumby's Creamy Chocolate.  This is not as dark chocolate as the Nutrisystem version.  If you've researched alternative cancer treatments you may be familiar with Dr Mumby.  He's an alternative medicine guy with a lot of information and opinions about health and nutrition.  His shake uses stevia, not my favorite but I prepared the shake just like the Nutrisystem version and frothed with ice and water it tasted pretty good.  It's packed with a lot of vitamins and minerals too.  I realize I really miss the "shake" snacks so I'll be making this part of my daily snack regime.

Day 10 Lunch

Today I thought I'd try the Nutrisystem Grilled Chicken Sandwich.  Right out of the package I was a little skeptical.  The chicken dwarfed the bun.  The bun is slightly larger than your average "slider" bun.  You can see it while frozen below.  I heated per instructions in the microwave except I skipped the 2nd heating.  Instead I placed it in my convection oven for 2-3 minutes, 350F to crisp up the bread.  I topped mine with lettuce, tomato and red onion.  The flavor was good but for me, the bun was too sweet.  I found this entree with the condiments to be filling.  It would be nice to find a good, locally baked whole wheat, small bun.  I'm sure this will be challenging but I'll let you know if I find anything.  My culinary skills are a little sketchy when it comes to baking but that might be an option.

The red sweet onion added nicely to the flavor.

Day 10 Afternoon Snack - Cashew Nuts

God how I love cashew nuts!  These are probably my favorite nut, which, are not really a nut.  You can read more about cashew nuts here. These nuts are 48% fat and very filling.  By the way, these are raw nuts, NOT roasted, dry or otherwise.  You can have one ounce as your "power fuel".

Raw, 18 whole nuts = 1 ounce

Day 10 Dinner

Tonight I decided to try an enchilada.  Nutrisystem offers a couple of them so I tried the Nutrisystem Polenta and Black Bean With White Meat Chicken.  From the name I assumed that the chicken was inside the enchilada but that's not the case.  One look at the box and I saw the chicken chunks (bits?) are on the side.

I just didn't have much to work with here to try to make it look appealing.  The tortilla is pale and there is not a lot of sauce on the enchilada.  Nothing like my homemade enchiladas.  If I'd had some fresh jalapenos, some slices may have improved the appearance. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted the dish.  The sauce was flavorful and the filling had a solid polenta-flavor but the consistency was like polenta mush.  There were a few black beans in the tortilla as well.  There was a small but adequate portion of chicken on the side.  I'm not sure I'd order this again because it's hard to get past the appearance.

I served this with a side of sliced radicchio with a small amount of balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon olive oil.  Nutrisystem allows up to 3 daily "extras" and the olive oil was my one and only extra for the day.  Vinegar is a limited extra as well although for the life of me I don't know why.  There are few calories, no fats and little sugar.  I'll have to ask a counselor their thought process here.

Day 10 Dessert

I had another walk after dinner and had dessert after the walk.  Dessert tonight is the Nutrisystem Chocolate Brownie Sundae Cup.  It was nice with a rich, chocolate flavor and a good smooth texture. The little dark bits you can see on top are the "brownie" part of the sundae.  I noticed in the reviews that this used to be formulated differently and most liked the old better.  I thought this tasted pretty much like most commercially formulated ice cream.   Speaking of which, I did a quick study comparison between one of my ice cream favorites, Haagen Dazs Rocky Road and the Nutrisystem version.  Take a look at the chart below.  You'll see that the Nutrisystem is more than a half ounce less than the Haagen Dazs but contains more calories, sugar and carbs than the Haagen Dazs.  Nutrisystem does beef up the fiber and protein.  Something to think about when you transition to your own foods.

Bottom line it tasted good after my evening walk.

Today I drank about 58oz water, still didn't make that 64oz goal.  If you include my hot and iced coffee, I'd have aced it.

This wraps up day 10.  Hunger wise or the lack thereof, this is still about the easiest diet I've tried.  I have found eating every 2-3 hours is disruptive. That is why I'm making it as simple as I can, having nuts for the afternoon snack and a shake for my morning snack.  I really need to work on getting all my fresh vegetables in.  Other than my lettuce, tomato and onion on my grilled chicken, and my radicchio with dinner, that's about all I had yesterday.  I'm making a mental note to do better tomorrow.  See you then!