Day 34 Summary

Thursday September 22, 2016
Total Steps For Day:  11,528  (walking)
Total Calories: 1031   calories 
Weight Loss:  +.2 lbs (-9.6 lbs loss total to date)

Oopsie!  I guess I ate more than I thought last night. I should level back out tomorrow.  Boy, is my cupboard bare!  I'm headed out to the grocery store today.  I just received my notification that my frozen foods shipped today and I'll have those tomorrow, just in the nick of time!

Diet Day 34 Breakfast

Thank heavens the shelf-stable items arrived yesterday afternoon.  I was able to have a Nutrisystem Honey Wheat Bagel and 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese.  I could have had a V8 with that but I forgot. 

I still need to try that bagel with some cream cheese.

Diet Day 34 Morning Snack

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a creature of habit.  I had Dr. Keith's Chocolate Cream protein shake, again.  I had almost no choice because my refrigerator has nothing in it but condiments.

Diet Day 34 Lunch

I'm trying something new for lunch!  Nutrisystem Red Beans and Rice.  This is another MRE meal that heats up literally in one minute.  I had low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised.  The dish included a few pieces of chicken sausage, red beans and rice.  The rice had a nice amount of spice and flavor.  The portion was smallish because rice is fairly high in calories.  I also had some fresh bell peppers and tomatoes.

Diet Day 34 Afternoon Snack

I made it to the grocery store for a few things so I prepared a little open face Toscano salami and tomato sandwich.  I use Dave's Killer Thin sliced "skinny" bread, multi-grain, 70 calories a slice.  I'm not a big bread person so this is plenty of bread for me.  Three thin slices (one never eats Toscano salami sliced thick, YUCK) are only 1/2 ounce.  This made a nice flavorful snack.  The tomatoes are a large cherry tomato from a little "bush" tomato I have in the garden.

Diet Day 34 Dinner

Tonight I'm having a new Nutrisystem entree, the Penne Bolognese with Meat Sauce.  The name is kind of funny because Bolognese IS meat sauce so the name of the dish is"Penne Meat Sauce with Meat Sauce".   

This is a shelf-stable MRE dish.  This new dish gets mixed reviews (only 15 to date).  Some disliked it greatly, others gave it 4 out 5 stars.

I served my pasta with some steamed broccoli because that's what I had handy.  I was going to saute mushrooms but I didn't feel like taking the time.

To be honest, I thought this dish was pretty bad.  The ground meat (and there was a lot of it) had a slightly grainy texture and the sauce was overly thick.  The pasta described as "al dente" on the package has not seen "al dente" for a long while.  I tested the pasta before I heated it to check the texture which was already limp.   I went ahead and heated the package and ate it but I would not buy this again.  If I wanted an Italian type of entree the frozen Stuffed Shells or the Ravioli Formaggio would be my choices.  I'm going to make sure this is off my menu list for next month.

Diet Day 34 Dessert/Snack

I received more of the Nutrisystem Dark Chocolate Nut Bars so I'm having that for dessert.  This is a nice sweet treat at the end of the meal.  I do like this little bar but the one aspect I don't care for is the slightly granular texture of the base filling of the bar.  The chocolate flavor is good, the nuts are good but the inside texture is my least favorite part. 

Diet Day 34 Wrap Up

I'll feel better when I receive all of my Nutrisystem foods so I can get back on track with my regular menu.  The rest of my order is due tomorrow.  I think the lessons of portion control are "sticking" in my brain.  It's always more challenging when you have to cook everything from scratch.  Food prep is time consuming and it always makes sense to me to prepare extra food so some of it can be eaten the next day or frozen for later.  This will require more discipline.  It's easier to stick with portion control when there is only one portion sitting in front of me.   Something to look forward to!