Jen vs. the Grill

Last night, I wanted to start cooking again and I planned to make some marinated grilled chicken, steamed veggies, and rice. I was hoping to wait for Blake to get home and put him in charge of the grilling, but I was getting too hungry, so I decided to tackle the grill alone. I have virtually no idea how to use it other than the limited times I've watched Blake make our dinner, so I knew it would be a challenge.

It went pretty well though. Except that I didn't think to spray Pam on the grill grates first and the chicken stuck to it a bit. But everything wound up being very tasty. Tonight I'm going to make some turkey cutlets with summer veggie risotto. Yay.

I'm on a gym streak this week. I'm trying to do really well this week because I go out of town next week for several weeks in a row. The hotel we're staying at has a really nice gym though, with several treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and even free weights. Above average for a hotel gym. I'm hoping to wake up early and do about 15 minutes of cardio followed by 20-30 minutes of yoga or lifting. After work, I'll head back to the gym to get in another 45 minutes of cardio. I want to try to continue my workout routines and also try to eat healthy...which is super hard when you have to eat out three meals a day. I'm going to try to have a salad with grilled chicken for either lunch or dinner every day. I'm also gong to try to limit my dessert intake to just the one big (free) dinner out that we have weekly. If I need a chocolate fix, I'll buy some dark chocolate peanut chews and have one or two squares as a snack. Breakfast is free at the hotel, so I plan to have a few hard boiled egg whites and a bowl of cereal in the morning; I also usually grab a piece of fruit from the buffet and have it as a mid-morning snack.

This all sounds awesome in theory, but only time will tell if it actually works out. Its success is partially contingent on the amount of times we go to Bourbon Street to drown our sorrows in copious booze. Which I would really like to avoid. If i can get through a month in New Orleans and maintain or even lose a little weight, I would be thrilled. It will be August though, so I could potentially just sweat out 15 pounds walking from the hotel to the car in the morning. Gross.

Well, this concludes a lovely morning of procrastination for me, so it's time to buckle down and get some work done today. Peace out.