Breakfast was whole grain waffles with maple syrup and half a pear (very tasty, but not enough protein, I was hungry before noon)- I’m guessing around 350 calories since I didn’t use butter and had just a tiny bit of syrup.

So around 11:30 my stomach was growling (breakfast was at 7) and I had a brownie leftover from the ones I made yesterday- the brownies are a lowfat recipe from Vegetarian Times with a homemade peanut butter frosting and toasted walnuts. I had a few of Hazel’s alphabet cookies with it and a small glass of skim milk. Probably around 300 calories total.

For lunch Hazel and I went over to my mom’s since we were in her neighborhood after we visited our local farm stand. We had a great lunch of salad with grilled chicken, artichokes, peppers, radishes, goat cheese and cranberries with Wasa toast topped with lox and onions. I had a few slices of cantaloupe with this (about 300 calories with the melon)

Then my mom made me eat some of her fresh peach icecream… She really had to pull my leg to get me to eat it…She added lots of fresh blueberries when I told her to give me a very small portion (150 calories)

And that brings us to dinner. I made a lentil and couscous salad with a fat free balsamic and garlic vinaigrette, zucchini, tomatoes, artichokes, green peppers and onions. We had this with a side of mashed sweet potatoes with garlic chive butter. This meal was incredible (about 550 calories).

That puts me at about 1650 calories for the day which gives me a little room for dessert tonight. I already had a dark chocolate hershey’s kiss and I plan to have a scoop of the green tea frozen yogurt I made last night- looks like the first day of photo journaling has worked out pretty well.

I’m hoping that by doing this I will not only become more intentional about what I eat, but that I will begin to “see” what I am putting into my body each day. Sounds like a pain in the ass doesn’t it? Well, that’s sort of the point. By having to snap a picture of everything I eat, I think I will eat less while eating foods that are better for me. I also hope that by taking pictures I will focus more on preparing meals for myself that are pleasing not only to the palate but to the eye as well. I’m giving myself as long as it takes to get to my goal, and I plan to exercise 4-5 days a week along the way. I’ll post a before picture of myself later this week as a point of comparison (and motivation!).
I got this idea from a few blogs I frequent, most notably the Runner Wife’s Life. The camera is charging as I type and I plan to upload today’s food photos once Hazel is in bed this evening. Let’s hope I can keep this up!