Mono Hits. Diet and Exercise Take Backseat.

I know, I know. I’m holding my head in shame as I write this blog entry. Despite my promises to keep writing, I’ve obviously taken a hiatus.

The reason?

Mono. Can you believe it? Who gets mono after college? Well, apparently I do.

Because I’ve basically been laid up for the past several months, I haven’t been doing much of anything, let alone writing, however my mother let me know that her friends are requesting more blog updates, so I’m going to do my best to come up with interesting things to say when my life is anything but interesting right now.

The doctor has halted all working out and contact sports until March. MARCH! Therefore I have not been working out at all and to add insult to injury, I had to drop out of my recreational volleyball and dodge ball leagues since I could rupture my spleen if it gets bumped around.

Because I have the kind of metabolism that basically requires regular exercise to prevent weight gain, I’ve had to be really careful with my calories. I’ve experienced absolutely no diminished appetite, which is one of the side effects of mono, but for some reason decided not to be one of my side effects. I was looking forward to an easy diet since I wouldn’t want to eat anyway, but it’s not the case. I guess this proves further that nothing comes easy for me on this weight loss journey.

Because I’m not burning any calories due to my doctor’s orders to basically sit on my ass and do nothing for another month, I’m coming up with creative, low-calorie meals. It serves about 3 dainty ladies or 2 dudes. Here’s my favorite. Enjoy!

Low-Cal Mexican Lettuce Wraps

Marinade
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
as much salt as you need

Chop up 1 bell pepper (I like orange or red), 1/2 big red onion, 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash into fajita-like strips. Marinate them in the marinade for about 15 mins.

Sautee all the veggies and marinade until they're as done as you like. I like them pretty well caramelized.

Warm up a can of plain black beans that have been rinsed and drained.

Assemble your wraps. I make wraps out of iceberg lettuce to give a nice crunch. Add black beans and veggies and top with low-fat sour cream and or low-fat cheese and a nice salsa.