Day 91: Taco Tuesday

So I made “healthy” tacos last night! They were SO good – me and Austin both liked them! (the photo isn’t super appetizing… sorry!) Here’s what I did: I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and set a medium-sized pan on the stovetop on medium. Then I sprayed the pan with PAM and chopped up a ¼ cup of onions. I dropped the onions in the pan until they browned, then I added a package of boca soy crumbles (which contains two servings), 2 teaspoons of taco seasoning and ½ tablespoon of taco sauce. I stirred it together and as it cooked I got out a can of El Paso Refried beans (fat free) and heated it in the microwave, and I threw four mission carb balance soft taco size tortillas on a pan and stuck them in the oven. I also measured out 15 grams of fat-free grated mozzarella and 15 grams of fat-free grated cheddar for each of us, one ounce of Guiltless Gourmet tortilla chips and two tablespoons of Pace salsa. Every once in a while I’d add some water (1/4 cup at most) to the boca mixture on the pan and stir.

After a few minutes I removed the tortillas from the oven, spread ¼ tablespoon of taco sauce on each one, and loaded them each up with ¼ of the meat mixture and 1/8 cup of beans. Then I topped it with 30g of the fat free cheeses mixed, plenty of salt, and folded them. Then I ate with chips/salsa – SO GOOD. It really melted well and tasted YUMMY! (Just so you know: it left over LOTS of beans so Austin ate some on the side and we threw out the rest).

Each serving contained two tacos and chips/salsa for a total of 517 calories, 8 fat grams and 84 carbs. So it’s a little high in calories and pretty high in carbs. To cut into that a little bit, next time I’ll only have .5 oz of chips (half serving), 1.5 taco shells, and reduce the cheeses to 10g each rather than 15g each. I think this would still be super satisfying!! These changes will cut out 55 calories, 1 fat gram, 11 carbs in chips; 17 calories, 1 carb in and 55 calories in cheese; and 1 fat gram and 9 carbs in the tortilla (total: 127 calories; 2 fat grams and 21 carbs GONE). So it would be: 390 calories, 6 fat grams and 63 carbs – MUCH more reasonable and again, I think it will be plenty of food!!!!

So before Taco Tuesday commenced I went to the gym and walked another 2 miles (to total 5) and then I did tricep and bicep strength training –nice! I planned to do abs, but I have this weird cramp in my stomach. Like I pulled an ab muscle or something – so weird. Blah. So I left it alone and figured I’d see how I feel tomorrow.

After Taco Tuesday I watched House and The Biggest Loser – and read more of Certain Girls. Almost done! So at the end of the day I had 1,456 calories, 42 fat grams and 202. According to Spark People – walking for 75 minutes at 4 mph burns 338 calories – which takes me down to 1,118 – not bad at all. Here’s what I ate. However, today I woke up weighing 122 – BLAH. And I have this weird pain in my chest. Yes, odd. It’s as though the weird pain in my stomach has traveled north and settled in the center of my chest. It feels tight like I pulled a muscle or something or just strained. I dunno. Sucks though. I took 3 Advil with my breakfast sandwich – we shall see.