So…I made some. I took various sound bites from train stations and trains around and about and snagged small sections to make the .wav files for my sound bites.

I decided there might be one or two out there who’d like them, so I am posting them here as a .zip file. Enjoy! I just ask that these sounds bites not be used in pay theme packages.

Stempunk Sounds

Click on image for nutrition information

So, here is what I’ve managed to come up with for my meals and snacks at work…I’m watching my sodium levels so I’ve been really happy with what I’ve managed.  For breakfast, I have my Irish oatmeal made with water instead of milk (½ cup), and a ‘fresh fruit mix’ which is strawberries and blackberries that I’ve cut up (½ cup).   Sometimes blueberries or pomegranate seeds will make its way in.  For snacks it’s caramel flavored mini rice cakes – which are surprisingly not bad at all.  And, I’m thrilled that I’ve managed to find a yogurt that is significantly lower in sodium than any of the others and only 20 calories more than Dannon Light and Fit.

Considering it seems you can’t go low sodium and low calorie in the prepared food department (someone explain that?) I figure the trade out of 60 mg of sodium for 20 calories (or approximately 20 minutes strolling with the dogs) is well worth it.  The yogurt is Fage Total 2%.  It comes with little sections on the side holding the fruit that you can then mix in when you eat it.  Today’s option was cherry.  They offer plain, honey,  strawberry, cherry, blueberry and peach in the Total 2% category.  I figure, if I follow this meal plan, and eat significantly smaller portions at home for dinner…I should hit my target without having to stress about it.  This plan, without doing much in the way of exercise, still leaves me about 650 calories for dinner – more, if I actually manage to find time to exercise.

Anyway, so a while back I started using My Food Diary to track my eating thinking maybe I was eating too much fat or carbs or whatever. And, imagine my shock when I was being griped at not for eating too much sodium or fat or carbs…No, of course not. This is Kittie we are talking about here…when is anything ‘normal’ where I’m concerned? No, instead, it was yelling at me for not breaking 900 calories in a day. you read that correctly. I am a 5’7″ (170.18 cm). At the time that I started using My Food Diary, I was closing in on 165 pounds. This was not making me happy. I couldn’t lose weight no matter what I tried.

I was looking at how few calories I was taking in and how much exercise I was doing and it just made no sense to me. And, then I talked to my friend Kate who has been struggling with her own eating disorder for a while now – and, she is one great source of inspiration. I showed her what my diary was saying and she pointed out that my metabolism had just given up the ghost. My body was in starvation mode and was holding on to every calorie it possibly could.

So – I started paying attention to what I was eating, how often I ate – and making sure I got 1200 calories a day. I entered every activity I did, every food I ate…This last week, I have managed to lose 3 pounds and one inch from my hips. I am down to 143 pounds and am making progress toward my goal of 130 pounds.

It is difficult. People make the comment that they wish they had my problem. Really, you don’t. I have to eat more than I am comfortable with in order to LOSE weight. If I exercise, like I did last night doing my yoga, I have to enter the exercise and make sure it doesn’t drop me too low on my calorie table. I had to make and eat a sandwich late last night to make up for the 400 calories I had just burned off.

So why work out? Because I want to be in shape, not just lose weight. And, to be in shape, I have to exercise. Thus, I have to eat even more.

The question burning in my mind, though…the one that echos in times of my greatest frustration is – Am I alone in this? Surely there are others out there who have the same trouble I do.

If you read this, I’d really appreciate if you’d share the link to this post with others and encourage them to pass it on – and comment. I’d really like to know if I am alone in this…or, if there are others out there.

One thing they have instilled in me, though, outside of a strong sense of morals and ethics – and a view of relationships that just doesn’t seem to have much place in today’s world – is an enjoyment of travel and good (make that excellent) food. 

By travel, I mean – we really don’t think much of driving 1.5 hours, 3 hours or even 10 hours to get somewhere if we have an interest enough in going there.  And, there are times when that interest is certainly peaked.  Point in case.  There is a place in Franklin, NC called Frog and Owl.  My folks will make a trip up there mainly because they want to nosh on the excellent food.  Oh, sure, they’ll do other stuff while they are up there; but, the driving force behind the trip is often simply a desire to visit this bistro.

I can honestly say that I have not been – considering I reside on the west coast, such a trip is beyond even my wandering nature (at least until I’m no longer employed and can traipse cross country for no reason other than to have dinner).  However, one of these days, when I visit my family – I am going to have to make an effort to get up there and give them a try. 

Until then, on the recommendation of my foodie parents…if you are ever anywhere remotely near Franklin, NC stop in and visit the Frog and Owl.  I have it on good authority that you will not be disappointed.

Their site is still under construction, so be gentle with them where that’s concerned.

Now, seriously, that’s quite a bit of food.  Though dinner isn’t exactly extravegant, it’s about what I’d eat.  I might have gone for a few more beans/picante – but, the sodium in those items is ridiculous.  What I may wind up doing is grabbing a chicken breast and tossing it in the rotiserrie (sans seasoning) to get my calories up and not slaughter myself on sodium intake.  I kid you not, peeps…eating healthy, avoiding excess sodium, cholesterol and saturated fats – makes finding enough calories in what I eat difficult!  Not because I eat empty calorie foods – but, because what I do eat fills me up, is low in calories and good for you to boot.

I just feel like I’m constantly stuffing my face – and, yet, look at that.  I’m 225 calories shy of my goal.  I want to lose weight, but still eat enough calories to keep my metabolism alive and kicking. All the while making sure to keep it between the navigational beacons on sodium, cholesterol and saturated fats.  It’s a really hard balancing act.

Thank the good Lord for Kate – my OA sponsor. Honestly don’t know what I’d do without her cheering me on.  BTW, no I’m not in OA and no Kate’s not a real sponsor.  It just feels like it sometimes given how she coaches and encourages me to eat more and to eat healthy.  Cheering me on when I do well, and slapping my hand when I do poorly.

I mentioned, the other day, that I had started using My Food Diary to try and track things and see if it’s overeating or under-performing (thyroid) that is causing my weight gain.

Considering I got yelled at by the site, yesterday, for not eating enough – it could be a completely depressed metabolism.   But!  Something I decided to do, since I’m also being yelled at for way too much sodium – was to check some things out.  Like, most of the time, I make stuff almost 100% from scratch.  So I decided to do a comparison between what we had for dinner last night in its “from scratch” manifestation vs its “quick and easy” manifestation.

From scratch:

Quick:

Colour me shocked.  A difference of over 490mg of sodium.  Wow.  No wonder I prefer it when I cook from scratch.

As for breakfast cereal?  Yeah, I’m pretty much cutting that out and am going back to what I used to eat at Broadwing every morning for breakfast…

Though the fruit changes, the rest stays consistent. Sometimes raisins, sometimes pomegranate, some times nectarines, sometimes peaches…yanno – whatever I felt like that morning.  I don’t put anything else in the oats – just the oats and the fruit.  The oats are soaked in boiling water and then mixed in with the fruit once they are the way I like them done (ie. not mush, but not bits of sand either).

The results:

A girlfriend of mine doesn’t handle carbs well, so she shuddered when she saw this.  For me, carbs have never really been an issue – it’s been fatty foods that I don’t burn well.  So, for someone like me – this is a spectacular breakfast…and, much better so far as sodium intake is compared to a breakfast cereal that has 180mg sodium in one serving.  I’ve considered trying to get used to drinking coffee without the half and half…but, I’m not rushing into that one if it’s not necessary.

However, before I start to panic or get overly concerned, I figured I’d get serious about tracking calories for the first time in my life.  In pursuit of that, I found this awesome site called My Food Diary.   Why this particular site?  Well, the first thing that caught my eye was the large food database they have.  Much larger than most of the other sites I’ve come across.  Then, if they don’t have it listed, you can add it manually.  And the capper for me where food alone was concerned – I can enter my recipes manually, and they will keep it stored with all the nutritional information for me.  Each item in the recipe is most generally already in their database.

Then the thing that made me grin was the excercise lists.  They have anything and everything that can burn calories listed – well, a significant number anyway.  For pity’s sake, they even have shopping, grocery shopping, washing the car, washing the dog, sweeping the floor.  I’m not kidding.  It’s awesome.  So…I figure I will use this site for a month or two.  Use the calorie portion of it to keep an eye on what I’m actually eating and drinking.  And I mean a serious commitment to enter everything. This is a first for me and isn’t easy for me to do – I really hate feeling like I have to monitor every bite that goes into my mouth. But, if it’s what it takes for me to get a handle on this, then that’s what I’ll do, eh?

Wow.  I had one of the best dinners I’ve had in quite some time.  I started out with calamari and a glass of decent Reisling. Then the main course came – pan seared mahi-mahi covered in a crab cream sauce with saffron rice and sauted spinach. 

I am not one for sauted spinach.  I don’t care for it in the least.  However, when I mixed it in with the saffron rice and the cream sauce – wow.  It worked well together and I actually enjoyed sauted spinach for the first time in my life.  The mahi-mahi had a zest and zing to it that awakened the taste buds and made them want to shout for joy.  Every bite was a delight.  Then…as if dinner itself hadn’t been sinful enough. I ordered coffee with chocolate silk cream pie for dessert.

Now, there’s chocolate silk pie and then there’s chocolate silk pie…this one was a little slice of heaven.  I’m pretty sure Zeus is throwing a hissy because someone snagged a sniffer of his best ambrosia to mix in with the pie’s ingredients.  One bite and decadence exploded across my tongue and little dancers leaped through my brain with streamers of exquisite delight shivering through my body.

The coffee was a perfect foil to the rich and creamy pie. By the time I was finished with my meal, I could have faced Hades himself with a smile on my face…much less plow through the traffic between me and my front door.

I will definitely be making Thistle Cafe a regular stop on my dining circuit.

And, Kate, if you cooked, the world would shift on its axis…maybe you should just tell me when you want to come over for dinner one night and avoid a global meltdown?  **ducks and runs for cover**  Seriously, glad a recipe has you interested enough to make eyes at your kitchen **grins**