the depths of your despair.

I'm the middle of a 12 hour work day (semi-voluntary... long story) wanting to rip my hair out. Twelve hours at a desk job is torture. I'm closing in on hour four and I've probably paced back and forth at least a mile out of sheer boredom.

There aren't nearly enough cat videos on all of the Internet to keep me entertained today.

So to distract me break up the monotony (both of my day at work, and of the theme of my blog) we're going to introduce a new feature: What I Ate!

Before I go any further, you need to know this. I've been stuck at 232.0 for the last two weeks. May was a really shitty month for weight loss. I was completely frustrated wondering how many more miles, how much longer on the elliptical I'd have to torture myself with before the scale became my friend again. I couldn't figure out how weight loss was so easy in the beginning with so little exercise, and now I struggle to lose HALF A POUND running five miles a day. I don't get it.

Over the last few days, I've gotten back to my roots: lettuce. I fuckin love salads which has made my weight loss process SO much easier, but lately I had gotten away from that habit and instead opted for other things (*ahem* that burger I had on Tuesday). I was stunned (STUNNED) this morning to step on the scale and see 229.5 between my toes, because I haven't been to the gym since Tuesday and I was CERTAIN that would reflect on the scale.

Muchos gracias to lettuce, this week's VIP, for kicking my ass into a skinnier shape while still being oh-so-delicious.

I know lettuce in a box is really wasteful (sue me, tree huggers), BUT I LOVE THIS SHIT. Each time I go grocery shopping I pick up two of these boxes and a bag of loose leaf spinach. It stays fresh and crisp for a surprisingly long time (I've pushed it as far as two weeks) plus I love that it's a convenient little package of variety. You can't expect me to know the difference between iceberg and radicchio and all that other farmer shit. I see purple, I see green... perfect, that's all I need to know. I pay $2.00 per box and I can usually make 2-3 salads from it which makes this SUPER SUPER cost efficient.

Greek Salad recipe

• 1/3 box of lettuce
• 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 medium tomato, roughly diced
• 10 olives (I prefer stuffed manzanilla olives)
• onion, cut in rings (optional)
• sprinkle of Feta cheese
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette

Meatless Buffalo Chicken Salad

I know it sounds weird to have "meatless" and "chicken" in the name, but hear me out. I love all the flavors of buffalo chicken wings and did my best to translate that into a salad.

• 1/3 box of lettuce
• 1 medium tomato, roughly diced
• 2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/3 medium onion, roughly chopped
• sprinkle of bleu cheese crumbles
• shot of Frank's Red Hot as a dressing (optional)

What I love about both of these salads is that they clock in around 400 calories each and they're HUGE and easy to make. The majority of the calories comes from the cheeses and dressings but that's also where all the flavor comes from. Do not make the mistake of eliminating the cheeses in an attempt to cut calories, firstly because you won't enjoy these salads as much without, and secondly because your body needs fats to absorb the nutrients you find in vegetables.

To make my salad-creating experience much easier, I always keep a list of certain items on hand: lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives, avocados, black beans, canned corn, celery, and carrots. In addition to this, I have no less than 4 salad dressings (balsamic vinaigrette, Caesar dressing, ranch, bleu cheese) in addition to Frank's Red Hot and apple cider vinegar. Cheeses are super important to me, but I spring for the pricier varieties like Feta, bleu cheese, and fresh Parmesan. Because they have strong, easily identifiable flavors, I find that a little goes a long way which helps in justifying the price and also keeps me from eating too much, thus saving the calories.

I think croutons are disgusting so you'll never find those on my plate, and I prefer to keep meat products out of my salads as much as possible. I do make an exception, though, for fish such as tuna and salmon and shrimp in small quantities.

A final note, and this applies to all foods including salads: if there's something on your plate that does not bring something to the meal in terms of FLAVOR, TEXTURE, or NUTRIENTS, it probably has no business being there at all. Many times, I found myself adding extra toppings such as shredded cheeses (like colbyjack) only to realize that I ate the extra calories without actually receiving anything from the addition of such items.

Damn, now I'm hungry.