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ENGINEERMOM's Photo Gallery
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Me and C!
Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...
Daddy and new baby K!
K's baby blues
Oct 2012
Popcorn party in Seattle!
In Chicago for Halloween 2012
Christmas 2012
C and K at the zoo
Coming out of the lake during Dilettante - only two more legs to go!
Goofy children
My 387 calorie breakfast! Plenty of protein and fiber - check!
My dad, me, and my dad's riding buddy, Laurie, at lunch during our CENTURY ride, the Hancock Horizontal Hundred, in Findlay, OH!
We averaged 15.7mph!
Lunch walk! It’s snowing!
Pizza night! Thin crust with mashed roasted butternut squash, thinly sliced onion, chicken breast, goat cheese, and black pepper.
Saturday morning run - third fastest time for a 5k on Strava at 32:25!
Posted a photo
Super-sexy morning swim cap look!
I swear, I do actually have hair under the cap and behind the runner’s headband!
Letting the spin class workout gear dry out!
SO EXCITED! They’re finally installing a swimsuit dryer at my gym!
Lunch walk!
21lb in 4 months! Setting all those little 4-lb goals has added up. At 215, I’m only 15lb over my goal weight of 200! I’m 5’9”, with a lean body mass of 150lb, so 200 is a good goal. Here’s to hauling a little less weight up those hills when cycling next summer!
#goals
My lunch is smiling at me! Butternut squash soup (I don’t do salads when it’s cold, so my veggies are HOT!), HB eggs, and toasted sandwich thins with hummus!
#healthyeats
Not feeling 100% this morning, so instead of a 5k Run, I’m going to set out to walk my route, and we’ll just see what happens.
Even on the gray mornings, I love being outside this early in the quiet. That’s a shot of the empty field near the railroad tracks that go to downtown Chicago, along my 5k route
I have not been able to comfortably wear this claddagh that my husband gave me while we were dating since I was pregnant with my son. He’s 9.
Sunday night Game/Appetizer Night! I altered the Pioneer Woman Hot Corn Dip to bring the dairy fat down and veggie content up, and it’s fantastic :)
What I intended to eat: toasted whole grain sandwich thin spread with hummus and 2 sliced HB eggs, plus a diced apple cooked in the microwave. Forgot the thin, coworker gave a packet of oatmeal:
My meal plan for the day finally landed in the calorie ratios I’ve wanted to hit!
Nancy’s welcome-back crew!
(My spin instructor was out for 3 weeks for a knee replacement, today was her first day back)
Nancy’s welcome-back crew!
(My spin instructor was out for 3 weeks for a knee replacement, today was her first day back)
I don’t like salad when it’s cold outside! Solution: baby arugula topped with chicken, hummus, cucumbers, warmed in microwave a bit, then a coconut curry butternut squash soup as a dressing! It actually tastes really good, like a curry with greens and chicken
And that’s with a stumble and fall around 2k!
Hand and knee still a bit beat up from falling during my Thanksgiving 5k.
Yesterday I had a big bowl of beets sprinkled with some walnuts for lunch. Today was a toasted thin topped with avocado, plus a pepper and hummus. I think I’m in veggie recovery mode after a weekend of appetizers and booze!
Salad doesn’t have to mean lettuce! Cold cooked beets with peppers and cucumbers and a bit of Italian dressing. Great start to dinner!
Leftover Chinese chicken in a salad. Dressing: Italian with low-sodium soy sauce and sesame oil! #healthyeats
Homemade roast chicken on a week night! The secret: https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/cast-iron-r
oasted-butterflied-chicken/
Forgot my hard-boiled eggs and kefir at home this morning, so I picked up a chocolate Premier Protein shake at the gym. Rest of breakfast at break time: hummus-topped toasted sandwich thin and sliced cold cooked beets (I love beets!) #healthyeats
Pool is closed for maintenance, guess what I ended up doing?
550 calories: Modified Zuppa Toscana (no bacon or cream, extra kale, less sausage), toasted sandwich thins with hummus and grilled chicken. That’s a full-size plate!
Must be Winds-day again...
Blustery day, but so beautiful to run in fresh snow! Love, love Lake County Forest Preserves.
The benefits of children old enough to be truly helpful (9 and 6). They assembled, fluffed, and decorated the tree themselves. I helped with the lights near the top (5’ tree, 4’ kid), putting on the bow, and maybe 6 of the ornaments. #BeforeAndAfter
Keeping these kids active in winter just got a little more entertaining- Ultimate Ninjas in Libertyville, IL! Those are my two clinging for dear life to the warp wall.
My method of avoiding the inevitable office sweets. I love peppermint, and making this tea plus bringing in fresh fruit has kept me mostly out of the candy and cookies.
Cream soup? Nope! Blended a baked potato with onion cooked in a tiny bit of bacon fat! Non-dairy creaminess with lots of kale.
Made toasted coconut marshmallows for my FIL for Christmas! He loves them, and they don’t sell them in the stores. Quite easy, with a Kitchenaid. I love simple gifts that make people smile.
! That might even be too cold for *me*!
Bonus of running in snow - much better visibility before dawn when everything is white!
Gym is closed due to water damage from a burst pipe. Can’t run 2 days in a row (knee), so bundled up in snow pants and gear for a 2-mile walk in -1F!
My Reynaud’s-afflicted husband outside for a 1-mike walk in single-digit temps. Heated gloves under massive mittens, bib snow pants, boots rated to -40F, wool socks, and we kept moving! No bad weather, only bad clothes!
Friday night pizza night! I didn’t want white flour pizza crust, so I used 2 of these (4 halves), topped with carmelized onions and goat cheese. Perfect serving size, much better than all that crust when all I really want is the goat cheese :)
Turkey breakfast sausage patties (100 cal each) and pecan scones for breakfasts all week, and Morroccan turkey meatloaf prepped for dinner tomorrow!
Using the Flat Belly cookbooks as a springboard, here’s this week’s dinner menu plan. Note that in our house with 2 young kids, every dinner also always includes fresh fruit, and this is what goes on the table, not necessarily what I personally eat at that meal.
Roasted carrots, green beans, roasted baby potatoes, and Spinach Steak Roulade from the Flat Belly Diet cookbook (not following, just like the recipes).
Last night’s dinner - Morroccan Turkey Meatloaf (which I loved, DH wasn’t a fan) with just a bit of a chicken gravy flavored with Worcester sauce, lemon, and honey, broccoli, and a baked sweet potato. Sauce sounds weird, but went well
This weather is crazy! I’m in a T-shirt! And tonight’s low is 16F!
Starving when I got home after getting the kids. This really hit the spot!
Breakfast: turkey sausage and pecan scone. Tasty!
Breakfast: turkey sausage and pecan scone. Tasty!
It looked potentially quite slippery outside, so I walked laps in our shop for my lunch walk! The guys are used to it by now :)
Hard to believe it’s supposed to snow tonight. I’m in a T-shirt!
Real-life weight loss - after-holiday salt-laden water bump and drop!
Trying on dresses for SIL’s wedding - I’m only 1 size larger than before I had kids! Getting there :)
Ended up picking the upper left (navy) dress :) #nonscalegoals
Quiche Lorraine and the weirdest smoothie yet - pineapple, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, and celery. But all I can taste is sweet celery!
Holy buckets, I’m COLD! Final destination in last pic!
Mixing cultures - navy bean soup with southern collard greens. The easiest way I’ve found to eat the greens is with chopsticks!
Felt good to get out there and RUN!
Breakfast! Oatmeal with almond milk and strawberries, homemade turkey sausage. I eat the overnight oats as a cold cereal.
105-mile bike ride...and SP can’t handle it! (Made me enter the total time in 2 separate entries)
High fiber smoothie! PB2 powder, cocoa powder, rinsed/drained black beans, almond milk, 1t sugar
Snack dinner on the deck last night! Grilled chicken, pepper and cucumber sticks, cheese and crackers, hummus and olives. Great weather!
New job - new professional picture!
Another high-fiber smoothie! 0.5c white beans, 1.5c almond milk, 2c frozen strawberries, 1T strawberry jam. Next time add 0.5c cottage cheese for protein!
Dinner last night: Blueberry and almond milk smoothie, grilled chicken, broccoli, cauliflower rice with mayo/mustard/Parmesan, and a single serving of mac and cheese with hot sauce! Lots of biking/running yesterday.
Board game store 1.1 miles from home = easy to motivate my kids to go for a bike ride after school!
Coming home from a 7-mile bike / 4-mile run brick - workout started rainy, ended with this!
Toast with almond butter, egg on 3 slices Canadian bacon, smoothie with blueberries, white beans, and vanilla unsweetened almond milk!
750cal dinner: whole wheat pancakes w/ strawberries and Siggi’s yogurt, frittata (1 egg & 3 whites) w/ broccoli & low-fat sharp cheddar! Lots of protein and fiber works for me :)
60cal evening snack w/ 3g fiber. Air-popped in the microwave!
300cal breakfast w/ 5g fiber: 1/4c dry stone ground cornmeal cooked in water, 2 eggs, 1T grated good Parmesan
We all have different nutritional needs. This morning’s breakfast knocked it out of the park for me! Good macro ratios, plenty of fiber, and enough calories to fully fuel the morning after spin class!
525 calorie lunch! Butternut squash soup, kale salad with chicken
Food prep! Baking turkey sausage patties for breakfasts. #prepfortheweekend
Tomorrow’s workout requires a 4:30 wake-up, so here’s tomorrow’s meals prepped! Bkfst: smoothie w/flaxseed, berries, almond milk (made in AM) plus turkey sausage, lunch: butternut soup & kale salad w/chicken, snack: yogurt, apple, almond butter
Hot sauce and hummus make a tasty salad dressing!
Aldi’s Fit & Active Original flatbread topped with 3 egg whites beaten with 1 egg, turkey sausage, and 1 oz 2% sharp cheddar, paired with a smoothie of unsweetened almond milk and frozen mixed berries
I’d rather run in the rain than 100% humidity. That sucked. Glad I@got out and did 4 miles, but yuck!
I’d rather run in the rain than 100% humidity. That sucked.
Working from home (no school), and 7-year-old didn’t wake up until right after my 9:00 meeting started. So she made her own breakfast - a fried egg and toast, plus milk. This is why I teach my kids how to cook! (She’s standing on a stool at the stove)
Roasted carrots, roast chicken, cold salad of roasted beets and goat cheese drizzled with balsamic reduction, yogurt, apple. Better than the cafeteria!
150 calorie snack: 1 cup sliced beets topped with 1oz goat cheese and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. Healthy doesn’t mean boring or tasteless!
45F, sunny, light wind, trail ride. HR: avg 148, max 180. Squeezed into 2-hour window where kids were at play practice b/c DH is out of town for the weekend, so I can’t do my normal Sunday AM ride!
Divvy-biking along Lake Michigan after attending the Pack Expo in downtown Chicago on Wednesday! Gorgeous weather, felt very cosmopolitan biking in my blazer and slacks!
Cold day, hot food! Leftover baked potato topped with leftover roast chicken, broccoli, and an ounce of sharp cheddar!
Well, I finally did it - went running over my lunch hour! I do have a sort of locker room to change in, but I wasn’t sure how dealing with my hair would go after getting all sweaty... turned out ok!
Lunch!
Aldi flatbread toasted and topped with: leftover sliced FBD Spinach Steak Roulade, mushrooms, and a little Swiss, then baked and topped with greens and balsamic reduction. Dinner 3 nights ago!
Last night’s dinner! Roast pork tenderloin, roasted carrots, mashed sweet potatoes (just boiled with a cinnamon stick, so good), steamed broccoli. Not pictured: roast new potatoes and homemade applesauce with the skins on. It was a cook-tastic evening!
May have been pushing things a wee bit in spin class this morning...
I was going to make oatmeal this morning, then it occurred to me that mashed (plain) sweet potatoes are pretty similar nutritionally - and tasty with more fiber!
I’ve been really struggling these last few days - unmotivated to exercise, just want to eat sweet, fatty stuff. Random pic of my daughter at circus lessons for smiles.
Italian lentil stew with ground turkey. Warm, hearty, and the perfect lunch for working from home on a snow day!
Hubby and I bundled up to walk a mile in -37F windchill! I’m the one in red. 😆
Yup.
Wrap: Aldi flatbread, chicken, hummus, hot sauce. Red pepper. Quick lunch, busy work day!
Breakfast burrito - Aldi flatbread plus scrambled eggs and pico de Gallo from my workplace’s cafeteria. Yes, please!
Tuna wrap (Aldi flatbread, avocado oil mayo and yellow mustard, lettuce, yogurt dip) homemade broth with frozen veggies, and (not pictured) pineapple!
Just needed a reminder of how far I’ve come on this journey of life. “Before” pic is 1 year before my first triathlon! #BeforeAndAfter
Zucchini brownies - picky child approved! I didn’t even try to hide the zucchini, they’re just that tasty. 😊
I made a recipe! Zucchini brownies. Picky child approved! Not sure how to link, but it’s shared on Spark Recipes!
My 7-year-old made pavlova! (She has a little help with the meringue!) We made everything with half the sugar the recipes call for, and its delicious!
My version of cereal: fresh fruit in the new Quaker Oat “beverage”. Paired with scrambled eggs for protein/fat
Italian pork, normally served over spaghetti. Instead, I mixed in garbanzo beans and made it a stew!
All bundled up, coming in from a 45-minute walk in -20F windchill!
Accidentally vegan - last night, I didn’t want any protein-heavy food with dinner. I wanted carbs and fat: vegan broccoli/kale/mushroom/tomato/carrot curry over cauliflower rice and barley, topped with a whole avocado. I was originally planning to add chicken, but that was just not speaking to me.
Long walk before the weekly shop! Parked in the grocery store lot, then walked over to a park and back.
I bought a Fitbit Charge 3! Mostly I got it to support a step competition at work, and because I can swim with it, and therefore see a clock!
Yup. That was a good spin class!
After So. Many. Months of cold weather, this is lovely! Went running this morning - in shorts and a t-shirt! About to go for a lunch walk - without a jacket!!
Enjoying my hobby!
Christmas 2018
An illustration of calorie density: 2 tablespoons almond butter, 1.75 cups cooked oat bran with 1 tablespoon maple syrup. Both contain the same number of calories! Mixed together: tasty breakfast under 400 cal.
Really appreciate beautiful spaces when out walking over lunch at work after years of working in industrial parks!
Leftover beef/bean enchiladas (corn tortillas for fiber!) topped with avocado, pineapple
Kinda cold for a Chicago-area end-of-May lunch walk! Also, senior homecoming of high school, for fun 😊
Beautiful morning! Nice fast 5K run and some walking
2 crazy kids out on their 12th anniversary at a PTO dance and silent auction! So glad we’re still in good enough shape to dance!
Finally got out with my bike group this year! Gorgeous weather.
Walking around my building at work for a short break, found these beauties!
High school homecoming vs 12-yr wedding anniversary! #BeforeAndAfter
Black bean brownie made with almond butter + this coconut-almond whip = something remarkably reminiscent of an Almond Joy, but with far more nutrition!
Focusing on fiber! 100% whole wheat pita, black beans, strawberries
3.5 mile bike with the kids after school through one of my favorite forest preserves!
All the produce is from our CSA here in IL! Pancakes made with leftover Japanese sweet potato mash (plus egg and almond flour) topped with nonfat plain Greek yogurt and homemade applesauce, plus chicken & cauliflower.
Christmas 08
Because really, what could be more fun than a plastic bowl on your head?
Mr. 1-year-old!
Fall 2008 - 223 lb
Spring 2007 - wedding pic
The little munchkin! Otherwise known as C.
Fall 2004 - about 185 lb
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