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CHINESE BARBEQUED PORK
(4 servings)

Reminiscent of the flavor of spare ribs, this glazed pork tenderloin is great served with boy choy stir-fried with a little dark sesame oil, and a hearty bowl of steamed brown rice. Or thinly slice it and serve as an appetizer with some duck sauce. You can find bottled oyster sauce in Asian groceries and large supermarkets.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (1-pound) boneless pork tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat
2 T. honey
2 T. hoisin sauce
2 T. sake or dry white wine
2 t. oyster sauce
2 t. reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 t. Asian (dark) sesame oil

PREPARATION
1. Prick the tenderloin all over with the tip of a knife or tines of a fork. Combine the honey, hoisin sauce, sake or white wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a large zip-close plastic bag; add the pork. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag; turn to coat the pork. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally, at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray the rack of a roasting pan with nonstick spray and place in the pan. Remove the tenderloin from the marinade and place on the roasting rack; discard the marinade. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the tenderloin registers 160 degrees F for medium, around 25-27 minutes. Transfer the tenderloin to a carving board and let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

(Alternately, you can place the tenderloin in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. You won’t get the glazed outer bits this way, but it’s easy to do in the morning, and you come home to a perfectly cooked, tender hunk o’ seasoned meat.)

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
1 serving = 1/4 tenderloin

157 calories
4 g fat
2 g sat fat
67 mg cholesterol
110 mg sodium
3 g carbohydrate
0 g fiber
24 g protein
6 mg calcium

3 WW Points

141.4 LBS this morning. Tanita BF% was 26.4%. Didn’t check Omron, but expect it would be in the 20% range as usual.

I stopped by on the way home from work last night (got off at 9:00 pm, sigh–gotta love those project deadlines) to do the 20 minute run I bailed out on yesterday morning. As expected, I had a lot more energy for it after 5 healthy meals today and some recovery time for my legs from the morning’s squats.

My husband is out of town on a business trip until Wednesday night, so at least I didn’t have to watch him indulge in a bowl of Breyer’s Snickers ice cream again. Actually, I am loving my protein pudding pops so much that I don’t even care that he can have ice cream while I am on a self-enforced ice cream sabbatical. I accidentally discovered something wonderful about the pops yesterday, too–they taste like frozen peanut butter cups if you dip them in all natural peanut butter! I am going to work on making a chocolate peanut butter swirl version for my next batch. I also have a packet of chocolate mint protein powder that MIGHT just make a decent mint choco chip popsicle as well…

Surprisingly enough, Chris was concerned about missing some workouts while he was traveling. I thought he’d welcome the excuse to skip a few P90X sessions, but I guess I underestimated him. I told him to change the order of his workouts a bit this week and take both Plyo X and Yoga X along since he could easily do those without equipment in his hotel room. Even more shocking, he apparently DID Plyo X Tuesday afternoon as soon as he arrived in Tallahassee.

I have to admit that after he told me that on the phone, there was no way I could skip my PM run. If my husband could complete what I consider to be the most horrendous workout in existence while on the road, I could certainly make it through 20 minutes on a treadmill. It would seriously gall me to put a foil star on his calendar while only getting a half star on mine.

I got my bike intervals and LISS recumbent bike done this morning, chugged down 5 cups of water, and ate my planned breakfast. I only had time to do 15 minutes of LISS on the recumbent, so I will fill in tonight with a 30 minute YF Flexibility session. That should include at least 15 minutes of aerobics/calisthenics and 15 minutes of stretching, which, I have to confess, I will need by 9 PM. My legs are starting to stiffen up from the running, lower body workout, and cycling already.

Meals 2-5 are in my lunch bag, and it’s a perfect day for a lunchtime walk.

After over 4 weeks of consistency, I am finally getting that antsy, empty, lean feeling in my gut and diaphragm every morning after my workout and breakfast. This is a feeling I only get when my system switches from normal to fat-burning mode, so I am pretty jazzed. I am also pretty jazzed about how much firmer my arms feel now that some of the jiggle has gone away and the muscles are activated again. Weighing in at under 144 during PMS week is a great sign of progress, too.

PMS carb cravings have been almost zilch so far this week. Adding brown rice to my lunch meal seems to control my carb munchies better than oats or fruit, so I will stick with it for now. Besides, I LOOOOOOVE rice. No other starchy carb even comes close. It’s probably an ancestral thing. I’ve given up on fighting it.

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WORKOUT
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- HIIT Stationary Bike (30 min)
- LISS Recumbent Bike (15 min)
- Walk (15 min)
- YF Flexibility (30 min - PLANNED)