.



This week has been crazy! With a little over a week left before classes start, most students have wrapped up their summer internships and are enjoying the last few drops of precious Vancouver sunshine. As for me? 12 hour work days which seemed to have materialized out of no-where! Balancing two jobs is crazy and exhausting but I feel so accomplished!

As a result of my unexpected hectic schedule, gym time has been eradicated from my daily routine. To compensate, I've been trying to eat, wholesome, quality, low-cal meals.

This morning started off with a bowl of fresh strawberries, blueberries and an chocolate-cinnamon breakfast cookie. I forgot to take a picture but it was sooo good I made the same thing for breakfast tomorrow so I'll post a picture then!

Until then here's a picture of last night's dinner to compensate :P


.
I was so excited when I saw whole wheat pancake mix from Superstore! I knew I couldn't wait until the morning to make them so I made blueberry pancakes for dinner last night drizzled with blueberry syrup. (No sugar added!) Mmmmmm. They were so good. I used 1/4 cup of pancake mix with 1/4 vanilla almond milk and 1/8 cup egg whites. The key ingredient was of course the blueberries! Oh my goodness, they were so plump and sweet and when heated in the pancake batter popped in little -gasms of flavor in your mouth. I added a liberal amount (1 cup!) and topped with fresh blueberries. Yuuuuuum.



Lunch today looks cruddy but was super filling and yummy. I had about 1.5 cups of leftover rice I wanted to finish so I added 2 cups of boiled spinach and 1 whole can of flaked light tuna mixed with 1.5 tablespoons of light miracle whip. (Only 15 calories per tbsp and better than the regular stuff!) My stomach started grumbling around 11 am and I munched away at this stuff for an hour while typing at my computer.

For an afternoon snack - I had my first Larabar!



After reading so many positive reviews about them on other blogs I have to say I was a little dissapointed. At 240 calories, 1 serving felt soo small. I had planned to have half before work and half after (as I would a clif bar) but the measly half bar serving didn't do anything to satiate my rumbling tummy! I ended up eating the whole thing and wishing I had brought my normal clif bar (seems so much bigger at 250 calories) the taste was also just so-so. While I appreciate the all-naturalness of these date-based fruit bars, I've had much better all natural fruit bars which were a lot more filling. I still have two more Larabars to get through so I hope the other flavors will be a little bit more redeeming.

I didn't get home until 8:15 and even though I was hungry, knew I didn't want a big meal right before bed. A big bowl of spinach was what I was craving!




It really hit the spot with a light pinch of salt.

Not pictured here:

- plum for a morning snack, eaten at 10am
- mystery cookie which found its way into my mouth after work (it was in tupperware outside work with an "eat me" sign! how could I refuse?)
- a gazillion cups of tea (all-caffeinated of course) , and an after-lunch coffee

Total Calorie Estimate

Breakfast: 350
AM Snack: 50
Lunch: 400
Coffee with sweetener: 50
PM Snack: 240
Dinner: 100
Mystery Cookie: 150 (??)

Total: 1340


Now my stomach is growling which means it's time for bed! I can't wait for my breakfast cookie tomorrow! :D