Florida Recap Part I!

Wednesday after work, I got home around 4:30 PM and got finished up packing for the trip!  I knew resources would be limited for healthy eating, so I made sure I left prepared

Flat Out Light wraps with laughing cow cheese wedges & splenda, banana nut protein powder, fiber one (1c. servings), yellow pepper, and baby carrots!

We left for the 15 hour drive to Florida around 5:30PM, when my Mom and younger sister got home from softball practice.  None of us had eaten dinner yet, so we stopped at Sheetz for a quick meal!  I ordered a Chef salad with turkey, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, jalapenos, banana peppers, pickles, and onions with oregano from the MTO menu.

Sheetz Salad.

I also asked the nice lady for some extra veggies on the side and she hooked me up

Tomatoes & green peppers!

I also snagged a bag of Sugar Free Jello Bites in Black Cherry Flavor!  These are so good.  A favorite of mine from Sheetz  

45 calories per bag!

Each serving is 15 calories and has 3g of protein, too!  How is that even possible?  Haha.  There are 3 servings per bag, so that’s an added 9g of protein to my meal!  In addition, I added some whole grains and low fat dairy to round out my Sheetz meal from my provisions stash

Flat Out Light wrap with Sonoma Jack’s Pepperjack cheese wedge + Splenda.

This was made on my lap in the car.  Such class

We drove for about 6 hours and stopped in Virginia somewhere, so my Dad could get a little bit of sleep at a hotel.  I was really groggy at this point, so I don’t remember much, but I do remember that at 5am we were up and at ‘em again!  The hotel did have a continental breakfast that I scanned while my Dad was checking out.  I wasn’t hungry yet, but I didn’t know when we would be stopping so I took some fruit for the road (a banana & apple), a danish for my Mom, a bagel for my sister, and two sugar free syrups that I thought might come in handy

15 calories per tub.

We drove for about 2 more hours until 7:30ish, when we stopped for breakfast.  The family went to McD’s, but they dropped me off at Food Lion right next door before they hit the drive-thru so I could get something to eat!  It was perfectly convenient.

Sugar Free Jello Cups.

There were actually some really great finds here!  Including the above pictured, SF Jello Cups, some light high fiber english muffins, some Fage greek yogurt, a Carrot Cake Clif Bar, raw veggies, and cantaloupe.  We had a cooler in the back that I kept the refrigerated stuff in.

I used the Fage & SF syrup for my breakfast that morning:

Breakfast (note the Mickey D’s bag in the background, ha)

Then I added some Fiber One topping

YUM.

So tasty.  It reminded me of French Toast flavors!

Not much excitement the rest of the way down to Florida!  We stopped again around 12:30 for lunch at Wendy’s.

Salad!

I ordered 2 side salads, a chicken breast, and onion on the side.  I added my own raw bell pepper medley to beef veg up the salad.

Chicken & onion.

I used my english muffins to make a chicken sandwich to eat with my salad.

Chicken sandwich.

When we arrived in Florida, we visited my sister at her “team house”, which wasn’t far from our hotel. 

Ready for dinner!

After visiting with her for awhile, we checked into our hotel, unpacked, and met back up with my sister and her team at “City Walk” in Universal Studios for dinner at Margaritaville!  Jimmy Buffet style dinner was so much fun!

I got the peel n’ eat shrimp:

and a side salad for my meal.  Neither of which were too impressive, but I wasn’t that hungry since the trip down was so sedentary.

The entertainment was pretty great though!  There was a guy who played his guitar and sang throughout the entire meal.  It was a fun experience.  We spent the rest of the night moseying around City Walk checking out shops and sight seeing.  More photos to come!

One Sick Puppy…

Verse of the Day:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

- 1 Peter 3:15

I love this verse!  I feel like so many times, God gives us opportunities to be an example to others, but then when they confront us about our faith and where our love for Him comes from, we’re not ready with an answer.  I think it’s discouraging and frustrating when I miss a perfect chance to be a testimony to someone because my focus is not where it should be.  At the same time, I love that it tells us to “give your reason with gentleness and respect“.  I think it’s also a turn off to non-believers when faith is shoved down their throats.  I feel like the best way to show someone Christ is by example as opposed to handing out those impersonal “tracks” to strangers.  Not that I feel that those types of methods are WRONG, but not nearly as effective in my opinion.  What are your thoughts?

Anyway, I’m sorry for the lack of meal postings lately.  I’ve been sick for the past few days.  It’s just like a massive head cold.  Coughing, congestion, sneezing…you know…all the good stuff.  Monday I actually felt deaf in my right ear.  Fun times.  I’ve basically been eating sporadically throughout the day and not actual meals (other than breakfast). 

Lately, lunches have been comprised of random raw veggies such as sugar snap peas, bell peppers (yellow & orange), broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms.  Today for my vegetable, I packed a spinach salad with mushrooms, peppers, snap peas, and carrots.  For my protein at lunch,  I’ve been packing slices of deli turkey to add to my veggies. 

[source]

Yess, that’s right.  Processed oven roasted turkey in all its glory.

Each protein & veggie lunch needs a carb to keep it company, right? Yes, I think so.  I’ve been packing Flat Out Light wraps & a Sonoma Jack’s Pepperjack cheese wedge that I mix with a packet of Splenda at lunch to create a yummy sweet cream cheese filling for my wrap.

[source]

Upon arrival home from work, I always have some kind of fruit.  Whether its an apple, peach, banana, or berries.  I ALWAYS have one before I change and jump on the bike. 

Last night after biking off about 300 calories, I made myself a snack of some Natural Banana Peanut Butter from Sunland Inc. with some baby carrots for dipping.

[source]

Oh.my.heavens. is this stuff awesome.  I can’t sing this company’s praises enough.  Seriously.  Just wait until the review   Being that I’m sick, it takes a lot of flavor for me to be able to taste ANYTHING, but this stuff made me MMMMMM out loud. 

Post snackage, I got back on the bike to finish watching my online episodes of “What I Like About You”.

[source]

Such a cute show!  Amanda Bynes cracks me up on this show.  After biking, I had some more dinner from a can.

[source]

What better comfort food than chicken noodle soup when you’re sick?  It was perfect.  Yes, I ate the whole can for just 200 calories!  I actually amped it up with a 100 calorie package of broccoli slaw too.  Gotta get that veggie power for the vitamins & minerals to help me recooperate  

For dessert, I had some diet green tea with frozen raspberries, strawberries, & blueberries added from my freezer stash.  It was quite a yummy concoction if I do say so myself   The ginseng is supposed to have “healing power” so I thought maybe it would help with my cold.

And with that, I ended my night watching the Biggest Loser.

Hope you have a great hump day!

Oh yeaH!  And don’t forget to check out IGE for TWO awesome giveaways!  I’m dying to win the TOFU PRESS!