Oops - missed yesterday

Yesterday started out well - egg and cheese on toast (sandwich) with ketchup of course :-) I did discover that a whole sandwich is too much (although it was so yummy, so I did finish it) and so next time I decide to have this for breakfast, I will haved one slice of bread and half the cheese. Lunch was vegetable soup and yogurt. Then, we had a busy day and by the time we got home for dinner, it was late and so we decided to have something fast and easy - it was pizza. Yummy, but not exactly healthy (although it does have parts of all four food groups :-) We did go for a walk, so that was something. Today was Fast Sunday and so no meals 'til supper. We decided to eat leftovers and so I had mashed potatoes and baked beans and an egg on toast. Not too bad I think. We like to have a little dessert on this day and so today we had low cal chocolate pudding. :-) Not exactly fabulous, but I love chocolate, so it's all good. :-)

Not as good as I could have been

Today, at home, I did very well with my eating. For breakfast, I had granola with milk and orange juice. Since we ate breakfast so late, I didn't have a snack. Lunch was half a package of Kraft Dinner with ketchup of course. :-) After a hard day's work (I mowed the back and front lawn today), we went for a date night out. We went to Swiss Chalet and I was still good re: the eating. First, we ordered the spring rolls for an appetizer (we shared it) and then I ordered the chicken quesadilla with a salad. As soon as it was delivered, I could tell that I wouldn't be able to eat all of it and so I asked the girl right away to bring me a doggie bag and I put half the quesadilla into it right away. So, I figure that I was still not doing too bad. Then, Mike asked me if I wanted to bring something with us to the movies to eat. I really should have said 'no', but I didn't. We shared peanut butter cups and Starbursts and I checked out the calories and fat content and it wasn't too bad. But still, I shouldn't have eaten them. I found afterwards that I wasn't feeling so well - I think that I ate too much sugar with eating the Starbursts - I am not really a candy person, so I think that between it being sugar and my body not being used to it, my body was probably just rebelling. Then, we had to do a lot of work when we got home (garbage, recycle, compost, bring a bed from Jennifer's old room to outside, measure rooms for painting) and so I wanted something to eat just to wind down. I chose a low cal chocolate pudding and a freezie. So, all in all, not TOO bad a day, but I must stay on track a bit better in the future.

Feeling like eating healthy

Well, today was another good day. I printed the two pictures of me today - side by side. I got the photo back of me with my weight lost and although you can't tell a difference in my legs, the upper part of my body looks great. Mike says it's hard to do it (make the picture with weight loss) in such a short time so that is probably why there is little difference in the bottom, but at least I look really good on the top (with the weight loss) and it's enough (or it was today) to spur me on not to eat more than I should. Tonight, we took Colin and Caleb to McDonald's - we knew we were going there and so had looked up the nutritional information online before we went. I do not feel like eating hamburgers these days - so I checked out their chicken and their grilled chicken classic sandwich was really good for calories and fat. I had never had one before and was pleasantly surprised that it tasted very yummy. The price of one, with tax, was about $5. so it's not as cheap as the double cheeseburger I normally get, but it's healthier and tasty and even tastes healthy. Breakfast was late and I had Shreddies, milk, orange juice and half a bagel with cream cheese, lunch - dagwood sandwich, snack - banana, supper - the chicken sandwich. We didn't get our walk in today as we were tidying up the house and then had date night with the boys. But tomorrow, hopefully, the weather will hold up and we will get a walk in. Mike also fixed the bikes yesterday and so we can start using them as well which I am really looking forward to it.

Not bad at all :-)

With much trepidation, I got on the scales today and much to my surprise, and delight, I had only gained one pound. Yippee! :-) It really gave me motivation to be good today. I had Life cereal with raisins, milk and orange juice for breakfast. Lunch was a dagwood sandwich (half a sub bun with miracle whip, honey ham, salami, tomato, cucumber, red onion, cheese, pickled beets), snack - crispy mini rice cakes, supper - oregano chicken (chicken with onions, red and green peppers, lemon, oregano) with mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, and mixed vegetables. I also was able to find a site to send in my photo today (Mike took a photo of me wearing jogging pants and a t-shirt) and hope to get an answer in three days to show me what I will look like when I lose the weight that I have set as my goal. I am really looking forward to getting it and hope that by putting up both photos, I will be even more motivated to stay on track.

Back at it again!

Well, it's been ages since I last wrote - and I'm scared to check out the scales. I knew that things would not be good during report card writing time, but unfortunately, then came the rest of the end of the year stuff. So, tomorrow, I have to stand on the scale again - I'm going to be really mad at myself if I have put on all the weight that I worked so hard to take off in the previous two months. Anyway, although we have all sorts of things happening in the next two weeks and it would be easy to say 'let's get serious after that', we decided to start back at it today. So, this morning, I ate Select cereal with milk, for lunch, I ate a tuna sandwich with pickled beets, snack was yogurt and fruit and supper was barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I was talking with Mike about how much better I feel after just one day of eating healthy. Mike says he even notices how his skin feels better when he eats better. I had my picture taken with some friends at the end of school and I couldn't believe how big I looked. It's weird how I don't see myself like that - I rarely look in the mirror - so, this was a good wake-up call. I think that I will get Mike to make a photo of one of the shots that I can put on the fridge so I am reminded of what I look like. I have heard of sites on the net, too, where you can put in a photo of yourself and then it will take pounds off the photo so that you can see what you will look like when you lose weight. I think that having that on the fridge, too, will keep me positive. :-)

It's been a few days

I just realized last night that I hadn't written in here for a few days - I was doing so well, too. :-) I think the problem is that right now I am focused on report cards and not much else is occupying my mind. I have been eating healthy, though, which is unusual for this time of year. I tend to get stressed when I am doing report cards and usually don't take care of my body. I was thinking about that this morning and I don't want to put on weight after working so hard to take it off. So, today I went to the grocery store and bought some low calories treats: 100 calories chocolate bars, 100 calorie chocolate covered granola bars, and some low calorie rice cakes (flavoured, of course). I will allow myself to have one each day of the chocolate bars (I can't do without chocolate at this time of year :-) In fact, I almost went up to the grocery store at 10pm last night as I was craving some chocolate - I had worked for 2 1/2 hours on collating my marks and was stressed at the end of it. I will continue to weigh myself each morning to make sure that I am not putting on weight. I will not worry if I don't take any off in these next two weeks, though.

Away for the weekend.....

This past weekend I went to my mom's to visit with her - Krystal came with me with Alexander and I brought Colin and Caleb with me. I debated whether I should bring food with me to make sure I kept within my boundaries, but I decided against it. For lunch the first day, I had a grilled cheese sandwich with half a can of tomato soup (it was Heinz - I am not a fan - it will be Campbell's from now on). :-) So far so good. Then, we went to Warren's daughter's place for the afternoon and ended up eating there for dinner. The only thing was that she ordered pizza - not exactly on my eating plan. I had a slice of pizza, a piece of garlic bread and some caesar salad. Then, still feeling a bit in need of more, I had another slice of pizza. Half way through eating it, I felt full. But being at someone else's place (and them paying for it), I didn't feel like I could just leave it (or take it home), so I ate the rest of the slice. In hindsight, I should have just not eaten the second slice and had something else (like a piece of fruit or a yogurt) when I got home. Another lesson learned. On Sunday, I was really good. Had a half a fried egg sandwich with a small yogurt for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, a bagel with cream cheese for a snack and bbq chicken, potato salad and tossed salad for supper. So, all in all, not a bad weekend, I think. :-) I did get in a long walk when we walked over to the ice cream store. And no, I did NOT have an ice-cream even though Krystal had the nerve to order a two scooper of chocolate peanut butter. :-)

Not much to report....

Today, I was stressed from the morning class and so, when my teaching partner said she was going to go out for lunch, I said I was going with her. I didn't even know where she was going - I didn't care if it was McDonald's - I know it's not a good idea to eat out of frustration - but, it didn't seem to matter today. Luckily for me, we ended up at Subway and I got a 12" cold cut combo (of which I ate half). I need to figure out a way to not take out my frustrations with 'bad for me' food. I'm a little worried about going to my mom's this weekend - I am going to take snacks with me for the trip up there, but feel that I should just eat whatever Mom is offering. I will have to watch my portion size and perhaps that will be enough to keep myself within the boundaries I have set for myself. Menu today: breakfast - Miniwheats, lunch - cold cut sub, snacks - yogurt, trail mix bar, supper - chicken, mashed potatoes, Italian vegetable bake. That was a delicious way to get my vegs: green beans, green peppers, tomatoes, onions and zucchini with spices and lemon juice - very, very yummy!

Being good! :-)

I knew we were going to go to Dairy Queen tonight so I checked the nutrition info on their food and ended up getting a cheeseburger and salad. They were yummy and not bad in calories, etc. and I was full after eating them. I also wanted a granola bar this afternoon, but I wasn't hungry and so I didn't have one. I hope to get better at not eating things just because. Menu for today: breakfast - oatmeal, lunch - pizza (homemade with cheese, pepperoni, red peppers), snack - pineapple, tangerine, supper as listed above. I drank my eight glasses of water and we took an hour long walk with the boys this evening. Tomorrow, I am going to have to do my strength exercises - it's going to be hard to get motivated, but it has to be done as I am taking the boys to Nana's on the weekend and won't be able to get to them then. I think that I am going to have to remind myself that it will only take 30 minutes to do.

Eating out - sort of.

Tonight, I went up to Terri-Ann's to help look after the boys for the afternoon/evening. Someone was supposed to bring dinner, but for some reason, none showed up. Terri-Ann suggested we use the roast beef that was left over from Sunday. There were no potatoes and so James suggested stuffing. Peas were on the menu for vegetables. While dinner was yummy, the stuffing was 160 calories for 1/2 a cup. But, rather than worry about it, I ate the half cup of stuffing and half cup of peas and took home the package/can of those foods and added them to my menu for tonight. I am happy to say that I was able to still stay within my calories, etc. for the day. I was hungry during the day, but after dinner I was fine. I wanted to have a snack when I got home and so checked out how may calories, etc. I had left for the day. I had 124 calories and checked out the granola bars and chips ahoy thinsations. The granola bar was 150 calories and the thinsations were 100 calories. I debated what I should do because I really wanted the granola bar. I thought to myself "It's only 26 calories over my limit." Then, I thought that that wasn't the right attitude to have. I needed to stay within my limit - so I did. And the thinsations with a little milk were delicious! :-) Menu for today: breakfast - cheese and egg on toast and orange juice, lunch - chili over potato, snacks - pineapple, yogurt, fruit salad, supper I already mentioned. I am wondering if I was hungry because the potato wasn't that big and didn't stay with me for very long. It seems that bagels/breads stay with me longer. Something to keep in mind for the future.

Still hung up on food!

I am really enjoying using sparkpeople - it's great being able to put in what I eat and have the program tell me how many calories, etc. I have used. And almost all days I am totally within my limits. But, the thing I am also finding is that, even if I am not hungry, I want to eat all that I am allowed to eat that day. I plan ahead what I will eat each day (it works better for me that way) and so I know what I am allowed to eat for that day. Today, for instance, I still have half a cup of pineapple left over to eat today. I am full right now from supper (Mike and I eat late when he is working) and yet I still want to eat that pineapple - not now, but I will eat it later. I just love to eat and if I have it on the menu, I want to eat it. I know that I should eat to live rather than live to eat, but it's hard to change years and years of eating style overnight. I did do something today that I thought really worked well - I put my snacks (pineapple and fruit salad - half a cup each) into containers earlier today so that when I was ready to eat them, all I had to do was go into the fridge and it was ready to eat. So, still learning. Menu for today: breakfast - pancakes, strawberries and milk, lunch - pita with chicken, tomatoes and cucumbers, green peppers with dip, snacks - fruit salad, pineapple, supper - macaroni with spaghetti sauce and green peppers topped with shredded cheese. Supper was really yummy with the green peppers added in there - added a lovely flavour to the meal. I also added turkey meatballs to it. They didn't taste as yummy as beef meatballs, but they have less than half the fat and they were good. I would be fine without any meat, but Mike likes his meatballs with his pasta.

A delicious dinner tonight - my tongue is still watering! :-)

Today was a good day - I stayed within my limits, I did a fifteen minute walk with Mike, I drank my eight cups of water, and now I am writing in my blog. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a winning streak with my 'other goals'. Lunch was a BLT on a bagel. I decided to make it a BELT (like Tim Horton's) - bacon (chicken), egg, lettuce and tomato and cheese. It was delicious! But, I knew from the other day, that a whole one would be too much all at once. So, I ate half at lunch time and then the other half two hours later. It was so much better that way - I didn't feel overly full and yet I didn't feel hungry later on. Supper was so yummy, too - it was tortillas filled with steak, green peppers, onions, cheese and salsa. I got to have two six inch tortillas and I loved it. The dinner on Sparkpeople called for 2 ounces of meat and I decided on 4 ounces, but I really could have done with just 2 ounces, I think. Next time, I will try 3 ounces and see if that's still too much. But, another meal to go into my favourites list. :-)

Getting back on track!

I didn't get my exercise in today (had a lazy day which is rare and very much appreciated), but I did drink 8 glasses of water today and am now writing in this blog. I really need to focus on achieving these three goals each day. I did really well for the first little while and then seemed to peter out. I really feel much better drinking my eight glasses of water and also exercising each day (even if it's only ten minutes on the days that I don't do a thirty minute workout). I was thinking about how it's hard for me to do my strength exercises on Friday - so maybe I will do them on Saturdays. I am so tired by Friday that I often don't feel up to doing my strength exercises and so I just don't do them. But, I know from this past week (and not doing them) that it makes a difference when I don't do them. I start doing report cards in two weeks, and so maybe that half hour of doing exercises will be a perfect break and also might perhaps give me more energy to do those report cards. I will try and do that for a couple of weeks or so and see how that works. Today's menu: breakfast - shreddies with strawberries and milk, half a bagel with cream cheese, lunch - chicken bacon, tomato and lettuce toasted sandwich, snack - tangerine, apricot and orange bread, supper - barbecued chicken, carrots, corn, jacket potato with salsa. The salsa was so yummy on the potatoes, so I will definitely have that one again.

Small things amuse small minds? :-)

Today, as I was coming home from school, I just wanted to stop and get a pizza and a chocolate cake (it's been a long week at school). I am pleased to say that I did not stop and get those items. One of the factors is that I gained a pound this week. I was annoyed and it easily could have led me to say 'forget it' and cheat. But, again, I am pleased to say that I didn't say that, either. I really feel that if I don't get serious this time, there may not be a next time (that I will lose the weight). And I really do need/want to lose the weight. Tonight (to the small things now), I was making up my menus for the following week and I found myself getting excited about being able to have lots of fruit/granola/vegs for snacks. Very sad, eh? :-) I am happy about being able to eat smaller meals and have lots of fruit - I really love fruit and love so many different kinds, that it's easy to not get bored with the same old, same old. I can't say the same for vegetables - I do like green/red peppers or cucumbers with low cal dressing to dip in, but there's not much else (other than tomatoes in a salad). I do enjoy searching for low cal desserts that I can have once a month. Now, if they would only make a low cal lemon meringue pie. :-)

Eating out does not help :-)

I ate out last Thursday with my friend, Donna. I ate out on Monday at lunch with my teaching partner, Brandy. I ate out with Jennifer tonight. Eating out is yummy (East Side Marios twice and Swiss Chalet once), but it wreaks havoc with my eating plan. And trying to come up with how many calories I have eaten is impossible. I checked on the Swiss Chalet site and they don't list information on all their menu items. I only had salad, bread sticks and a little pasta or soup when I ate out, but still, I would have liked to have known how many calories, etc. I was taking in. I don't eat out that often and when I do eat at McDonald's with Colin, I can make sure to keep my eating there within my allowance. I am trying to eat out less often - one, so that I don't blow my calorie, etc., allowance and two, so that we can continue to save money for our cruise. So, although I might not be able to keep track of what I eat when I eat out, I am keeping pretty good track of everything that goes into my mouth. One thing that happened yesterday that annoyed me (about myself) is that I didn't measure what I was eating when I was at Krystal's. We had a yummy meal of penne alfredo with chicken, onions and green peppers. I came home and entered the information and wow, was it ever more than I thought. I have been measuring everything I eat (made from home) and this time I didn't. If I had checked out the info prior to eating, I know I would have eaten less. One more lesson learned. :-)

Eating for stress - but still within the limits :-)

Wow - what a busy week! Krystal and Alexander were here all this week as Jesse got sick and Krystal wanted to keep Alexander away from him so he didn't get sick. Krystal ended up getting sick and so Mike took care of them during the day and in the evening, I took my turn. I did, however, still do well on my eating plan. :-) However, the weather did not co-operate very well (rain, rain, rain) and so I didn't get much exercise in this week, and even my yoga class had to be missed this week due to a Kindergarten Conference I attended. But, I still lost weight (down 7 pounds now (yay me :-) I made a yummy dinner tonight and the best part was the new side order I cooked up (with Mike's help). It was called Rotini with steamed vegetables - it was made from rotini, broccoli, carrots, peas, potatoes, olive oil, salt and parsley. I wasn't fussed with the potatoes being with the pasta, but the fact that I liked it with only the olive oil and parsley and salt as the 'cover' really was incredulous to me - it was absolutely yummy! I was really leery about whether I would like this dish due to it not having much of a sauce - I was very pleasantly surprised. Mike and I both agreed that next time we would just use the rotini without the potato. I am enjoying some of these new recipes from sparkpeople.com. This morning, breakfast was peanut butter on one slice of toast, yogurt and milk, lunch - turkey burger, snack - granola bar, raspberries, sorbet and supper I have already mentioned. I didn't get my water in today (got some, but not the whole 8 glasses). I find that not having my water bottle at home really makes a difference in whether I get my 8 glasses in each day. I think that I need to make a trip to the store and get another water bottle for home.

Thinking done today

Today, on my way up to Colin's for our date night, I was a bit hungry (I had been that way all day) and so I had to make a decision about what to do. I had two choices: don't do anything and hope that Terri-Ann had dinner ready when I got up there, or two: stop at Tim Horton's and get a hot chocolate. I really thought about this one and was pleased that I did. I weighed the pros and cons and decided that I would stop and get one. As it turned out, Terri-Ann did have dinner ready (and a yummy one it was, too) and so I could have foregone the hot chocolate, but I didn't know that it was going to be ready and so I didn't feel bad when I got there. The dinner (black bean casserole) was so yummy that I had a small second helping. I was a bit hungry and so I decided to have a little more. What I should have done was had about half of the little more (I am still a bit full three hours later). So, a pretty good day in that I did think this time about one thing - and in the future, if I feel hungry after I have eaten, I think I will wait a half hour and see if I am still hungry. I am sure that if I had done that tonight, I wouldn't have eaten any more (although it was so yummy, I am sure I would have wanted to. :-) Breakfast today was mini wheats, lunch - tuna sandwich and cucumbers with dressing, snacks - orange, crackers with jam. I am not sure why I was so hungry - I think that the meals were enough food - maybe my body just requires more food on some days. I will have to see if I can see a pattern if I have another 'hungry' day.

Sheesh - when will I stop learning? :-)

Yesterday, I went to a Kindergarten conference with some colleagues from school. There was a light dinner served and so I made sure not to eat any snacks during the day so that I could use the calories, etc., for the dinner. I had a little bit of tossed salad, pasta salad, a bun (without butter) and a piece of chicken. Then, I had some fruit (yummy pineapple), strawberries, but then I had some goodies - I figured that it would be okay to have a little.....yeah, right......I ended up having two cookies, and then a couple of little, tiny, desserts (a couple of mouthfuls each). First of all, I didn't need that many desserts - and second, it was way too much sugar and my body was not happy and let me know. I didn't mind having a little treat (after all, I did leave room for one), but I should have stopped at one. In the future, I will have to make a choice and make it a good one -one that will make it worth the calories, etc. So, again, no guilt feelings, but a little annoyance at myself. That's okay, though - I'm still on a learning curve. :-)
Menu for today: breakfast - egg and cheese toasted sandwich, lunch - pita, hummus, pineapple, snacks - apple, granola bar, supper - beef fajitas. The fajitas had sirloin steak, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, grilled green peppers and onions, sour cream and salsa. I am looking forward to having this supper again - it was so yummy!

Still learning

Well, last night, after I wrote my blog, I goofed again! I still had some calories, etc. left over from the day and so I had some sorbet - which was fine - and yummy. BUT, then, I still had some more calories, etc., left over and so, even though I wasn't hungry, I had some cheese crackers and some yogurt. Again, it was like, even though I didn't need it, since there was some calories, etc., available, I 'needed' to eat something to make up the difference. I was annoyed again after I ate the snacks since I wasn't hungry and I really feel that I should eat snacks after dinner only if I am hungry. It's way better if I don't eat anything after dinner, but to eat after dinner when I wasn't hungry, wasn't very bright, I'm afraid. So, again, I don't beat myself about it, but I hope to learn from it. I had some calories, etc., available to me tonight, but I didn't succumb, so that's one day staying in control, and that's all I can do - take one day at a time. Oh, and I lost another pound - yay me! :-)

More learning!

A lovely day of meals today: breakfast - mini wheats with milk, orange juice, yogurt, lunch - pita, hummus, pretzels, tangerine (which was yummy), supper - barbecued chicken, rice with tomatoes, salsa and onions. I need to make sure that I read the day's menu at the beginning of the day and then again as I am making the meals. :-) When it came to getting supper ready tonight, I realized that I was supposed to make some corn bread for today, so we missed out on having that for dinner. I was also supposed to put cheese on our dinner and forgot that. The dinner was really good, but it would have tasted even better with the cheese on top. I checked out my 'other goals' this week, and I did not do too well. I thought about that and have made sure that I did them all today: drank 8 glasses of water, got 10 minutes of cardio in, and wrote in my blog (doing right now). Mike is getting up half an hour early every day when he is working so that we can go for a walk every day - I really am grateful for this as it's not fun going for a walk by myself (and I like the time to just chat as well). :-)

Mad at myself!

I went with Colin to McDonald's last night - it was our regular 'date night' - I love these nights. :-) Anyway, I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he said 'cheese hamburger, fries, ketchup and orange drink'. I ordered a double cheeseburger for myself which I had put into my eating plan and it worked with the calories and carbs and fat and protein in my day (I couldn't believe how many calories and fat there were - 460 calories and 23 grams of fat - yuck!). Colin dug into his double cheeseburger and so did I. When he was almost done that, he said he was full. I asked him if he wanted his fries later and he said 'no'. I didn't know what to do - I hated to waste them, but I knew that reheated fries are not great so taking them home didn't seem like an option. I thought it would be a waste to throw them out since I had paid for them. So, what did I do? I ate them - and looking back on it, it seems like it wasn't a very bright thing to do. I seem to have a lot of problems not finishing food I have paid for or throwing out food that I have paid for. And the fries were cold and too salty so they didn't even taste that good. Anyway, another lesson learned: just throw them away - I've paid for them anyway, so whether they go down to my tummy or into the garbage really doesn't matter. And if it goes down into my tummy, it adds fat and calories that I don't need or want - especially right now. I don't feel guilty about it (guilt is a wasted emotion), but I am annoyed with myself for doing it. But, I also realize that I am learning on this journey and as long as I don't do that again, then that's okay. Today's menu: breakfast - apple cinnamon oatmeal, milk, lunch - barbecued chicken, spiced potatoes, green beans, snacks - yogurt, ritz cheese crackers, peaches, supper - turkey burger, tossed salad with low-cal french dressing. That has become one of my favourites - it's so yummy, it doesn't even need any fixings.

A little less motivated :-(

I'm not sure why, but I felt a little less motivated to stay on my eating plan today. I didn't give in - maybe it's cuz it's at that three week mark and I often find that's the time I 'fall off' when I am starting on a new goal. They say it takes three weeks to make a habit, but for me it is always longer. I am also finding that I am not liking so many bagels/bread/pitas, etc, in my diet without the accompanying fruit - I just love my fruit and would rather have that than so much bread. So, I am going to eat more fruit, less bread, and customize my eating plan a little more. I really liked the eating plan on weight watcher's and so I might incorporate more of that plan into this plan. I do like some of the special meals they suggest on sparkpeople.com and so I will continue to use the program, but will just adjust it to suit my eating habits a bit more - taking care, of course, to keep within the guidelines set by the site. I even get to eat a double cheeseburger with Colin tomorrow night at McDonald's on our date night. I factored that in to tomorrow's meal plan and it works as long as I just have the cheeseburger and milk and nothing else. Today's menu was: breakfast - oatmeal, snack - yogurt, lunch - egg salad on a bagel, snack - pineapple, half a bagel with jam, supper - spaghetti topped with chicken, tomatoes, green pepper and cheese. It was quite a lovely supper and I think I will make that choice again.

Delicious meal tonight :-)

I seem to have gotten a little away from what this blog is for (well partly what it's for) and that is to keep a record of what I am eating each day. So, today I will tell you what I had today. Breakfast - cheerios with raspberries in milk, lunch - red bean salad over rice with peas, snack - half a bagel with cream cheese and scoops with salsa, supper - chicken with spaghetti, peas and carrots. When I served up this meal, I thought it looked like it was too much and yet it was within my calories, etc. It was too much (yes, I ate it all anyway) and I knew afterwards that I should have taken half of it and eaten it for lunch tomorrow. I do that when I go to restaurants with friends - I order a meal and ask for a takeaway container and put half in right away (or sometimes just put half aside and put it in a container later). That is what I should have done today and in the future I will to do that. I am learning a lot as I am on this journey and one of the things I am learning is that sometimes I have to do something once before I learn a better way to do it (like tonight). I also made sure to get in my ten minutes of cardio tonight - Mike and I walked to the grocery store at Krystal's to pick up some things that were on sale. I find that by keeping my goals in my thoughts, I can often find a way to reach my goals. Even like entering this blog tonight - I made sure to stay downstairs to write it rather than taking my laptop up to my room and laying down in bed to enter it. I have found that once I get into bed, I am quite tired and therefore have found myself not entering a blog each night. Also I am finding that sometimes at school I am forgetting to either fill my water bottle in the morning, or refill it at lunch time. I think that I am going to go to Walmart this week and buy another bottle and keep two at school. I will fill both in the morning and leave them on my desk - that way they are a constant reminder to drink and I don't have to worry about running out of time to refill one or forgetting to do it until I am back with the kids and have no time to run out and fill it. I weigh in tomorrow to find out how much I have lost in total this month and to find out if I have won the Tim Horton's card for this month (whoever loses the most weight in the month between myself and Jessica at school gets a Timmy's card from the other). I have yet to win it so it would be nice if it was my turn this month. :-)

Learning along the way

Tonight we had a yummy dinner - it was with potatoes (my favourite vegetable :-) It was cooked in the microwave and topped with kidney beans, salsa, green peppers and cheese. We weren't sure how many potatoes to cook since ours were small compared to the serving that was suggested in our menu plan. So we made two small ones for me and two large ones for Mike. The meal was so delicious that, even though both of us thought that it was too much for us to eat, we finished the lot. I learned two things from this meal: 1) I have a hard time not finishing my plate - I hate the idea of wasting food - so I need to figure amounts out (serving size) so that I can eat all of the meal and not feel overly full like I did tonight, and 2) we figured that we should have had three potatoes between us instead of four: I could have taken one of the large potatoes instead of two small ones and Mike could have taken one large and one small potato instead of two large ones. This journey is really interesting - and exciting, too - Mike even mentioned tonight that even he is excited about this plan - I think he really enjoys the fact that he is always full, but is losing weight. He also mentioned tonight that he actually enjoyed the meal tonight even though it was meatless. He grew up in a meat and potatoes family and when I started cooking less meat meals he was not very happy (but, he put up with it). I am glad that he is liking these meals as it's way better for us to eat less meat and more beans, etc.

Finding it hard to remember to blog lately

I made this goal to blog daily when I began this new 'get healthy' program - and I was successful for the first couple of weeks - lately, I haven't either been remembering to enter it or I have been way too tired. I want to really put forth a greater effort to write here because I think it's important to. I feel I am getting the hang of finding ways to keep within my allottment of calories, carbs, fat and protein. The hardest part seems to be keeping my fat up and my carb down. What can I day? I'm a carbs girl! :-) I have learned to play around with the things I eat if my meals add up to more than they should. For instance, at breakfast, they tend to give me more than I can comfortably eat - so, I will take some of that breakfast portion and have it for a snack a couple of hours after breakfast. That way I am still getting in my calories, etc, and don't have to worry about having two snacks listed for the day. The one thing that bothers me, though, is that I don't know if I am getting in enough fruit. I love fruit and feel it's important to get a few servings a day. It is often listed at breakfast and for one snack, but not so much during the rest of the day. I like to have at least three a day, so I am trying to fit an extra one in without going over my calories, etc. One thing that shocked me is how many calories and carbs there are in a banana - they suggest to eat half a banana, but who eats half a banana - they would go yucky :-) So, when they suggest a banana, I have a whole one and just cut down somewhere else. I have become much more aware of the calories, etc. in foods - even to the point where I was checking that info on my friend's lunch food the other day. :-) It's good to be aware, but at the same time, I need to make sure that I don't go crazy over all this stuff. Moderation in all things is a good saying to go by. Having said that, I am hoping that when I get on the scales this morning, that I am down five pounds so that I can buy a chocolate bar when I walk up to the store this morning. :-)

How fast time goes!

I can't believe how long it's been since I did a blog and I had planned on doing one every day. Some of the days I was too tired and on Monday I was sick, so that's my excuse. :-) I am pleased to report that I have lost another pound - for a total of four pounds lost so far. :-) I am finding that I can keep up with the menu plan and quite enjoy working out what to eat and recording it. I won't go back and tell you what I have eaten for the past five days. But for today: breakfast - bagel and cream cheese, lunch - egg salad in a pita, green peppers with french dressing, supper - sweet and sour meatballs over rice. Mike and I bought some raspberry sorbet earlier this week and it's a lovely low cal treat - we just have half a cup and it's just enough to satisfy a sweet tooth. I don't think I would want to get used to having some every night, but it's nice once in a while. The exercise hasn't gone according to plan this week. Monday, after yoga, I threw up so there went the strength training. Yesterday, Mike and I did do our ten minute walk. Tonight, however, the weather was not co-operating and so we didn't get in our walk or our strength training (we were both too tired to do it once we got home from Krystal's). We are planning on taking our ten minute walk tomorrow night and hopefully will get back on track starting on Friday.

Only a little hungry

Today I still felt a little hungry, but not as hungry as yesterday. I had a similar meal plan to yesterday, but it seemed to go a little better. I did add an extra fruit today (two pineapple rings) and perhaps that was just enough to make it so it wasn't as bad as yesterday. And I saved my yogurt for after our walk tonight - that helps a bit since it's nice to have something after exercising. Normally, I think it would work better to take our walk before dinner, but I stayed at school late tonight and so by the time I got home, it was 6pm and by the time we got finished with making dinner and eating it, it was 7:30pm. I got my 2 litres of water in today - I found that by carrying it around with me in the classroom rather than keeping it on my desk, it was visible to me and so I drank more. I am rarely at my desk during the day, so bringing it to where I usually am in the classroom made it easier for me to get my water down. Mike and I had a good walk today - 2.2 miles - but now I feel too tired and too strained to do my strength workout. So, I am going to have to do it tomorrow - which is okay since I won't be doing my next workout until Monday so I will still have two days in between my workouts. It's hard on Fridays to get up the energy to do so much exercising, but finding 30 minutes on a Saturday should be workable. Menu today: breakfast - waffles, maple syrup, milk, orange juice, strawberries, lunch - turkey and tomato on a bagel with mustard, pretzels, snacks - pretzels, pineapple, yogurt, supper - pork tenderloin, rice, mixed vegetables. We added half a tablespoon of soy sauce to the rice to make it more tasty since I'm not fussed on plain rice, but I think we needed to add the full tablespoon, so next time, we'll do that and see how it tastes. I decided today that I am going to give myself a treat when I lose five pounds - I think that will help me to keep on track when I am feeling a little hungry. They say that you shouldn't treat yourself to food, but I am going to anyway. :-) I am going to allow myself to have a chocolate bar at that first goal. When I get to ten pounds loss, I am going to get my nails done. I will have to think about what I will do at fifteen pounds.

still hungry today

I really don't like the hungry feeling I am getting - it's been three days now. I wonder if I am eating less calories than I was when I was eating like Weight Watchers. I will give it a little while longer since my body will take some time to get used to this amount of food. I do like eating healthy - I think it's good for the body and the mind. :-) I haven't been eating as much fruit as I would like - for instance, today I only had strawberries for breakfast and in my yogurt and an apple for one of my snacks. I would like to fit in more fruit in the day. I really like fruit and I am sure that I can fit it in somewhere. I didn't get my ten minutes of cardio in today (one of my goals is to do at least ten minutes of cardio a day), but I won't beat myself up about it. It's hard to fit in on Thursdays as I have homework club and then go straight up to Terri-Ann's for my date night with Colin. Perhaps I could walk at lunch time since it's only for ten minutes - hey, that's a good idea. :-) Today's menu: breakfast - 2 pancakes, strawberries, maple syrup, milk, lunch - turkey on a bagel with tomatoes, snacks - strawberry yogurt, jam on crackers, supper - ham, rice with tomatoes and kidney beans, corn, milk.

An ordinary day

I found myself a little hungry today - I might add some fruit to the menu even if it doesn't call for it. Interesting little fact I found out today - some fruit are quite high in carbs (like bananas). Not that that would stop me from eating bananas which I love - just something to be aware of depending on how many carbs I have eaten that day. I do love my carbs - I am trying to eat more vegetables, though. I am going to buy some roasted red pepper hummus and eat it with a pita. It sounds yummy and hummus is a good way to get the protein I need while not eating meat. Menu today: breakfast - regular oatmeal, brown sugar, half a bagel, cream cheese, orange juice, lunch - rice, kidney beans, tomatoes, sour cream, snacks - apple, tortilla chips, salsa, supper - chicken, macaroni, spaghetti sauce, green beans. I have to say that I am enjoying these meals - they are delicious and it makes me feel really good that I am keeping within the goals that have been set for me. :-)

Ate too much again - sigh!

I found today that I was satisfied with the amount of food I had at each meal. I did have my snacks between lunch and supper which is the usual. We had leftover turkey tonight, though - and I ate too much - my tummy is still way too full. I am disappointed in myself, actually. I need to make sure that when I feel full, I stop eating - even if it is a yummy turkey dinner. I reflected on what I ate and I could have done without the roast potatoes, which would have cut down a little from my meal. We did go for a walk with Krystal, Jesse and Alexander today - it was about a 30 minute walk and that felt really good. Menu today: breakfast - shreddies, milk, raspberries, lunch - rice, kidney beans, tomato, sour cream, snacks - banana, granola bar, supper - turkey, potatoes, corn, beans, carrots, stuffing, tomato juice, gravy. I also drank my 2 litres of water today. Not much else to report today - just have to weigh in tomorrow to see how much I lost this week. My friend Jessica says she is hoping to lose more than me in her weigh in tonight. I would love to win just one week against her, but every time we have this competition, it seems to spur her on. Oh well, as long as we are both losing weight, it's a good thing, I guess. :-)

What a day - the key is relaxation!

It's been a very relaxing day - first staying in bed on the computer 'til way in the afternoon, then getting a lovely one hour massage, then my first yoga class. Most of the time on the computer today was getting used to the sparkpeople.com site and planning meals for this week. It's such a great site and I can't wait to find out more about what's available there. I didn't get my strength training done today, but I did manage to almost meet my cardio goal for the day. The yoga class was interesting - we did a lot of stretching and yoga moves and then a ten minute relaxing time at the end of the class. It didn't seem like I was getting much of a workout, but my arms and legs are telling me different. I must have really given my body a great workout during that hour. I love the last ten minutes as well - it's hard to truly relax your body, but, believe me, my body was so relaxed, it was hard to get up and get moving at the end of the class. I did get a ten minute walk in today and drink my two litres of water, plus I kept within my calorie and grams of fat goals, so I would say it's been quite a good day in all. Mike has also signed up on sparkpeople.com and he's excited about following the programs he has signed up for. I'm excited that he's excited - hopefully the two of us can lose weight, become fit and stay healthy. :-) Today's menu: breakfast - shreddies, raisins, milk, lunch - egg salad sandwich, green pepper strips, cucumber slices, supper - jacket potato, sour cream, cheese, barbecued chicken, corn.

Easter dinner and I did good :-)

We had the whole family over for Easter dinner today and I kept to my commitment of taking just a little of everything and not overeating. I just checked out my calories, fat, etc. and I went over the calories by only 28 calories, but stayed within the fat grams allowed. I have to say that I am quite proud of myself. I am not feeling overly full like I usually do on these special meals. I ate just enough to feel full and to enjoy all the yummy food that had been prepared. Menu for the day: breakfast - two pancakes, strawberries, maple syrup, lunch - half a turkey, cheese and tomato sandwich, bowl of pea and ham soup, supper - turkey, stuffing, potatoes, carrots, beans, gravy, apple streusel. After supper, we all went for a half hour walk - it was quite cool outside, but I am glad we went - it's good for my exercise program and it was fun walking and talking with Colin along the way. :-) i found a great website yesterday - it's called Sparkpeople.com. There is so much on it that I won't cover it all, but it has a few things that I am using so far and I am hopeful they will help me be successful in my quest to lose weight and 'health up'. I use their food tracker - I load in what I have eaten for the day and the tracker tells me how many calories I have eaten and how many grams of fat as well. I can also track how much exercise I do in a day. I also entered the three goals of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, writing in my journal every day and getting 10 minutes of cardio a day. I can't wait to find out what else there is to do on this site.

A relaxing day and a good day

Well, it was another good day especially since I lost another pound. It was a good feeling seeing the scale go down another notch and I guess seeing a total of three pounds makes me think I can go on another day....or two....or more. :-) Yesterday at school, a student gave me a white chocolate bunny. I was tempted to take it and eat it (after all, how could I give a gift away :-) But in the end, I knew that I had to give it away and so I asked my team partner if she wanted it and she said 'yes'. I was pleased that I did that - and even though I didn't get any exercise yesterday (when I got home from school, I had enough time to make dinner and eat it with Mike before I had to go to my book club - by the time I got home from there, I was too tired to do any exercise), I still felt good about the day. The menu was: breakfast - bagel with light cream cheese, snack - pineapple, lunch - ham and cheese and tomato sandwich, snack - granola bar, supper - linguine with spaghetti sauce. Today, I got my exercise walking with Colin and Caleb to the park. And since Colin wasn't feeling so well, I ended up carrying him part way there and back. The menu today was: breakfast - bagel with light cream cheese, lunch - pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries, snack - crackers wth cheese, granola bar, supper - Kraft Dinner. I am going to check out how to make low fat chocolate pudding - it will have tons of milk and so that's healthy, right? :-)

Where does the time go?

I have missed two days now in recording what I have eaten during those days and my thoughts. But, here I am again - and I will not worry about trying to remember what I ate the past two days - I just know that I have been eating properly. I have not been drinking as much water as I would like. It seems that I am going to have to figure out a way to remember to get in my 2 litres of water every day - I just get so busy at school that I forget - hmmm - will have to think on that one. I did lose two pounds this past week and that's good news. Jessica, my friend from school who is trying to lose weight, too, lost four pounds and since we are in a competition, that's not so good (for me :-) I signed up for the yoga class on Monday night - my friend, Mary, told me today that she has been to the class in the past and loved it -I am really looking forward to it even more now. Today, I ate breakfast late and so didn't feel hungry at lunch time, so I didn't eat any. Breakfast was oatmeal, snacks were angel food cake, banana, raspberry yogurt. Supper was interesting - linguine with grilled vegetables. Eggplant was one of the vegs, but once I cooked it, I couldn't tell it was there. Mind you, I did cut the vegs quite small. The decision is to try the recipe again (it had the vegs with a sauce of lemon juice and balsamic vinegar), but this time, I will follow the exact amounts for the sauce and cook the vegs just before the pasta is ready. That way, the vegs won't be too well cooked. Mike and I went on a walk tonight and I could feel it in my legs. I actually like that feeling cuz it makes me feel as I'm getting a good workout. Let's hope I don't blow it this Easter weekend. :-)

Two for the price of one!

We got home so late last night from Nikki and Ron's that I didn't have time to enter a blog, so I will do yesterday and today in this one blog. Menu: breakfast - angel food cake, peaches, yogurt, lunch - half a sub, snack - hot chocolate, mini rice chips, supper - chicken casserole, potatoes, carrots, peas, french bread. AND then there was dessert: apple and plum cheesecake. I think there's a rule out there that there are no calories in desserts when you are eating at a friend's house. :-) Anyway, I made sure that since we didn't exercise on Friday night, we went for a good walk at Nikki and Ron's. It was even cold, really cold, outside and I still went. I am not a cold weather person at all, but I knew I had to get out and walk. It ended up being not too bad out once we got walking fast. And the time goes by fast when you are talking with a friend. :-) I bought a litre water bottle on the way up to Nikki and Ron's so that I could make sure that I drank at least one litre. I found out that I drink a lot if I have a water bottle beside me all the time. I ended up drinking one litre just while we were playing games. So, although there was a dessert eaten, I did drink one litre of water AND get in a good walk yesterday, so not too bad a day. :-)

Sunday: It was a nice lazy day today. It was General Conference and we decided to stay home and watch it on the computer (internet). Menu: breakfast - angel food cake, yogurt, peaches, lunch - egg and cheese toasted sandwich, supper - barbecued chicken, salads: garden, macaroni, and potato. I was happy about the amount I ate and I didn't eat seconds which I normally would have done in the past. I also drank my one litre of water during the day and another after supper. I am really pleased about that as I am trying really hard to get in my two litres of water each day. I think that this is the first day I have been able to get all two litres in, so I consider that a success. I made my own potato salad and so I'm sure that was a lot less fattening than bought salad. I did buy a macaroni salad, but I think that I will try and find one I can make myself. I did not make my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow, but I do know what I am going to make and most of it I do have to make tomorrow. Oatmeal for breakfast and barbecued chicken toasted sandwich for lunch. I have an apple and orange in my fridge at work and that makes me ready for the day. I will sign up for my yoga class tomorrow and will walk there and back for my exercise. Pretty good start to my week, I think. :-)

Learning more each day!

Last night, after I had written my blog, I decided that, since I hadn't had two snacks yesterday, I would eat one just before bed. I wasn't hungry, but I wasn't full, either. It's kind of a weird and different feeling to be in that place. Anyway, I now realize that I shouldn't have had that granola bar (nutritious, but not necessary to eat). I realize that I should not eat when I am not hungry and especially after dinner. It's best if I don't eat anything after 6pm (at least, that's what I've read), but I don't always get to eat by 6pm with Mike's shift. So, I think the best goal is to decide not to eat after dinner no matter what time we eat. The other thing I did tonight was eat more than I should have. The meal (supper) was at The Keg (a late birthday celebration). We always get the same thing when we go there - Prime Rib Classic - it's so yummy: prime rib (medium well), loaded baked potato and vegetables. Before the main meal, there is a salad and a sourdough bread ball. Mike had just finished up a midnight shift and didn't want to eat his share of the bread. Once we were finished the main meal, and were waiting for dessert, I decided to eat one more piece of the bread. I wasn't hungry, but I have a hard time leaving food behind. It's nothing to do with any childhood situation - it's just that I hate the thought of good food being thrown out. I need to get past that - I feel so full right now - and eating that piece of bread might not have made a huge difference in my fullness, but it would have made some difference. But, more to the point, I just need to remember that I need to 'eat to live' NOT 'live to eat'. A good thing that happened today is that I signed up for a ten week yoga course that will start on April 13th. I am really looking forward to going to that and learning how to do the moves properly with a professional watching me. We have the DVD that shows us how to do it, but I would like someone who knows what they are doing to be able to guide me. Then, I can share that info with Mike. I am hoping that when we learn how to do the yoga moves properly, it will lead to less stress in our lives.

Date night!

Today was a good day for eating, but not for exercising. I am going to have to rethink this exercising on Thursday since I have my date night with Colin on this day. He would love to go for a walk, but he couldn't walk fast enough to get my heart rate going or for me to break a sweat. So, perhaps a walk at lunch time is in order for Thursdays. Now that the weather is better, I could possibly walk outside from 11am - 11:30am and then eat lunch. Anyway, a yummy menu today: breakfast - angel food cake, yogurt, peaches, lunch - dagwood sandwich, snack - grapes, supper - three bean enchiladas. Those were delicious, I thought, although I might try a different sauce for them. I bought a can of enchilada sauce (never tried that before), but next time I might try a packet of it and see if I like that better. The sauce in the can was a bit spicy, but not too spicy for me, but I found that it wasn't that tasty. So, a recipe that is a keeper, but with a little tweaking, would be even better. Mike found a notice up at the grocery store for the yoga class and they have a site online, so I am going to check that out. Hopefully the class on Monday nights hasn't filled up - I hadn't thought of that, but there was a little note at the bottom of the notice that says that classes fill up quickly. Better get to it! :-)

A good walk today!

I was a little bit tired this morning, but managed to get through the day okay. I need to get this posting done so I can get to sleep asap. Menu: breakfast - angel food cake, yogurt, peaches, snack - Special K bar, lunch - dagwood sandwich, snack - mandarines, supper - linguine with fresh tomato based sauce. The meal tonight sounded really good - fresh tomatoes - but, two things made it not so good: first off, I didn't read the whole recipe and missed adding thyme and salt (although I rarely add salt to anything I cook) and, second, neither Mike or I are fussed on hot fresh tomatoes. But, you never know, so I decided to try the recipe. Now, I know we won't be having that one again. Mike woke up early today and so we got to take a walk before he had to go into work. There was a bit of a chill in the air, but once we got going, I actually warmed up. I love walking and made sure that we went at a good pace - I could sure feel it in my legs when we were done. Along the way, we saw a sign in one of the stores in town advertizing a yoga class which is starting April 13th (Monday). The cost is $99. for 10 weeks - a great deal! It didn't say how long each class is, but I am guessing that it will be 45 minutes to an hour. Since I have planned to do yoga twice a week, I don't feel like taking this class is going against my plan to have Monday to relax. And if the weather is nice, I can walk there (I hope to anyway - I can't remember where the class is being held). So, two types of exercising for the price of one. :-) Another little tidbit I learned today: my students were using Skittles to do some math work in class. I checked out the calorie and fat content. I figured that they would be high in calories and would have no fat. Boy, was I wrong: they ARE high in calories, but they also have some fat in them. Just reminded me to not assume that anything is low in fat or has none.

Oh so tired - must fix this sleeping plan :D

I was really tired tonight and so I did not enter a complete posting. There's really not much to add - I would just like to make a proper entry. Menu: breakfast -pancakes, fruit, maple syrup, snack - yogurt with pineapple, lunch - egg salad on a bagel, snack - pineapple, supper - chicken burger, baby potatoes. As I had homework club after school and then went straight to Krystal's place for the evening, I did not get any exercise in. I was thinking about this and have decided that, since the weather is BEGINNING to get halfway decent, I am going to suggest to Krystal that after dinner, we go for a walk. She has mentioned that she would like to get out and take Alexander for walks, so I think this idea will work great for both of us. I am finding myself very tired again and it's because I am not getting to bed at 10pm. It's time to get back to that.

I made it through my first week!

Well, that was the hardest part, I think. Being able to make it through a week of eating healthy and making time to make meals after I have been really slack for so long, takes a lot of willpower. I am not perfect, or rather was not perfect, this week, but I made a lot of headway. I have learned that I am good at making yummy meals (low fat). I am not so good at drinking enough water every day. I am okay at getting exercise every day (made four out of six this past week). I am pretty good at going to sleep at 10pm. This week, I am going to focus on getting at least 6 glasses of water into me each day. I would like to get to 8 glasses each day, but since I was getting only 4 each day in this past week, I think aiming for 6 cups each day is a good place to start. The menu today: breakfast - oatmeal, snack - yogurt, lunch - soup and tuna sandwich, snack - fruit salad, supper - garlic mashed potatoes, Apricot Honey Grilled Chicken, corn and peas. The chicken only took 16 minutes to grill and was moist and yummy. I have made my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. I talked with Char today and when I told her how much fat and calories there were in my pancakes (frozen), she told me about hers - she makes them fresh from a pancake mix and there are way less calories in them and 1/12 the fat. I immediately wrote down the mix on my grocery list - I sure hope I can find them tomorrow (makes my mouth water just thinking of yummy fresh pancakes). I did some more pilates today - I did the same 5 exercises as last week and I am pleased to report that I was able to do better at them this week. It's quite a sight to watch me do them as my stomach muscles are very weak and you must use them to complete the exercises effectively. But, I will persevere and do my next set on Thursday. My goal right now is to do the first five exercises twice each week until I can do them fairly competently. Then, I can move on to the next one. A friend at work and I were competing last year for who could lose the most weight each month. She won every month (she is a big girl and so I figured that she would lose more weight). She wants to start again (she really likes the $5 Timmy's card I gave her each month for winning :-) So, we are doing the weigh-in this week since it's April 1st on Wednesday and the contest is on again. I would like to win at least one month before the end of the school year. :-)

Fast Sunday

As this was Fast Sunday, I did not eat any breakfast or lunch. AND, I made sure to eat a regular dinner. I made glazed ham, roasted potato slices and corn. The potatoes were a disaster, actually. They were to be cut into 1/4 inch slices and dipped in a mix of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. They then had to be baked in the oven for 30 minutes - that was about 10 minutes too long. They should have been taken out at about 20 minutes I think. So, I will try them again tomorrow. I am enjoying these different versions of potatoes that I have been making lately. I love potatoes, but haven't been having them for a while because I didn't know how to make them low fat. Jennifer found this great site called lowfatlifestyle.com and it's got great low fat recipes and there are tons for potatoes. I think that I might have to try every one of them. :-) After dinner, I suggested to Mike that since we had fasted today, we might make a low fat dessert (and have one every Fast Sunday). We made the most delicious Apple Streusel - my mouth was watering as I ate it (it was hard to believe that it was low fat). There are so many low fat dessert recipes on the low fat site and I can't wait to try them all. :-)

A full day, but a good day!

Today was theatre day and we decided to go and eat at The Pickle Barrel. I haven't eaten there in years, so I didn't know what kind of food they served. It turns out that they have quite a few choices of healthy food on their menu. I decided on a wonderfully yummy meal of chicken kabobs, rice, mixed veggies, tzatziki sauce and garlic bread. It also came with a greek salad which I substituted with a garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I love salads (as you know) and this one was very yummy. I ate half the entree and will have the other half for lunch tomorrow. Restaurant portions are always about twice as much as I need to eat, so I am always bringing home doggie bags. :-) Mike has already claimed dibs on the leftovers. :-) Breakfast - cereal, snack - yogurt, lunch (already mentioned), snack - hot chocolate, Supper - glazed ham, potato and peas in a cream sauce, corn. I didn't get my exercise in today as my lovely grandsons came to visit/stay over shortly after I arrived home and shortly after I put them down to sleep, Mike, Krystal, Jesse, and Alexander arrived home from Vancouver. So, four out of six days I exercised this week which is four more than I have been doing, so I feel okay with that. I DO want to make sure that I don't get complacent about missing days of exercising, but I also want to make sure that I don't worry about it if I do miss it (for a good reason).

A good day!

I wasn't hungry today, so I was really happy about that. It was a good day also since I was able to drink more water (about 1 2/3 litres) and I also got my exercise in (30 minutes of yoga). That was really interesting. I was doing fairly well (did the first 5 exercises pretty well, I think). Then, I got to the 6th one and my body just said 'enough'. This exercise really tested my stretching AND balancing. I might think about going to a few yoga classes to make sure that I am doing the exercises right. I saw an ad for one in town the other day - maybe I will phone them to find out how much it costs to attends a few sessions. Todays menu: breakfast - oatmeal, snack - banana, lunch - dagwood sandwich, snack - yogurt and pineapple, supper - ham, mashed potatoes, green beans. Supper was quite yummy: the ham had a brown sugar and mustard glaze on it, the potatoes were made with garlic and mashed with olive oil, milk and parsley, and the beans were cooked with red peppers, basil, lemon and sesame seeds. Yummy! I'm going to my latest theatre show tomorrow and that means lunch out again - I resolve NOT to eat three salads again! :-) I'm not sure where we are going, but I will say that I will be checking out the healthy meals on the menu. Guess that means no french fries with vinegar and ketchup.:-)

Hungry today

It's nice being able to get up a little later each morning (6:30am) now that I am organized the night before. I even get to read a chapter of my book every morning which is a very relaxing way to start my day. Menu for today: breakfast - cereal, snack - pineapple, lunch - spaghetti, bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, snack - banana and Special K bar and slice of low-fat apple bread, supper - lamb chop, potatoes, green beans. I had a brainwave today - I felt so bad about not exercising last night that I decided to go for a walk at lunch. I decided it was too cold to walk outside, so I decided to walk around the school. It went really well and I worked up quite a sweat. I think I pushed it a little too hard, but it felt really good and I think that every Thursday (my date night with Colin) I will do the walking either inside or outside the school. I find that by the time I have put Colin down for the night and get home, I have time to do all the prep stuff for the next day and it's 10pm. Then, I still have to write this blog. So, walking at lunch time will make sure I get my exercise in and that's a good thing. I have found myself hungry today and I'm not sure why. I have eaten well and it seems to have been lots to eat, but I didn't find myself full. Even now, I feel like my tummy is in need of sustenance. I was able to stay the course with my food (even though I took Colin to Dairy Queen for dinner and I didn't even have a craving for a yummy Peanut Buster Parfait :-) I would like to figure out why I was so hungry, though - I will have to see if it's different tomorrow. Maybe my body is just used to (lately) eating as much as it wants and now that it's not getting all that, it's complaining. Hmm, food for thought (no pun intended) :-) I have made it through four days now - doesn't sound like much, but it's all about one day at a time, right? :-)

A little slip

I got to sleep before 11pm last night - actually around 10:30pm, I was snoring. I was able to get up a bit later this morning, even, since everything was ready for today (clothes, food). I was a good girl while eating at school today: breakfast - egg on half a bagel, snack - orange, lunch - dagwood sandwich (turkey, cheese, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, pickled beets), snack - yogurt. THEN, I blew it (a little). I got together with my friend, Bev, who I haven't seen in ages and we decided to go out for supper. I decided earlier in the day that I would make sure to eat something healthy (even though, as I pointed out to my friends at school, eating healthy is more expensive than eating unhealthy food). Welllllllllllllll, Bev suggested we go to one of my favourite restaurants, East Side Marios. Okay, I thought, I can handle this.................well, not too well or rather, not as well as I would have liked to. One hint: my tummy is still full and it's been two hours since we left the restaurant. That's right - I ate too much (drats!). I decided to go with the spaghetti (all you can eat special which included a yummy sounding chocolate decadent cake) and before you gasp, I did not eat the cake and did not intend to eat it! :-) And I only got one portion of spaghetti (actually fettucine) just in case you were thinking that I had pigged out on the pasta. BUT, I did have three salads. Grandma Martin used to call me 'the salad girl' when we went out to eat because I just love a good garden salad and tend to eat more of that than anything else. I only ate half of the fettucine (I will eat the other half tomorrow for lunch) and I had a little bread. BUT, the one thing I have learned is not to beat myself up about a little setback. I DID eat too much salad, but I didn't eat the cake (I gave it to Bev to give it to her husband), so all in all, not TOO much of a setback. NOW, about the exercise: needless to say, I have not done it yet. I am hoping to do a little bit of yoga tonight - I am just waiting for my tummy to feel less full - I might just have to do the yoga even though my tummy feels so heavy (not sure how good that is, to exercise when I'm so full). We didn't have a lot of time tonight since Bev had to get somewhere, but in the future, if I am going out to eat, I think that the best thing to do would be to exercise before I eat. I love these 'me' days I am having. I was home tonight before 7pm. I took a bath and read a great book I am in the middle of. I have 'American Idol' on the tv while I am writing this blog. Breakfast and lunch are sorted. AND I didn't even bring home any schoolwork. It's lovely relaxing and I am hopeful that all these things I am doing (eating well, exercising, relaxing) will help to keep me healthy and happy. :-)

Ooh my legs (ugh)

So, I got through another day, but not without having a craving for chocolate (I see now why my friend, Nikki, starts her diets on Mondays and finishes on Tuesdays :-) I did not have any chocoate, but I am glad that there wasn't any around - not sure I would have had the willpower to resist. I was also reminded today about how much one has to pee when one drinks so much. :-) It's hard to do that when teaching kindergarten because we get no breaks (recess). Today, I had to use the children's bathroom we have in our classroom (twice!). Menu today: breakfast - pancakes with fruit and milk, snack - orange, lunch - egg salad sandwich, snack - apple, supper - rotini with spaghetti sauce and salad. I really enjoy eating healthy - I just wish chocolate was on that list! After school, I went to Jennifer's and we went grocery shopping together. I forgot my list at home (duh), but I managed to buy enough (I think) to make meals for myself this week. After that, we went for a walk. I really didn't want to go out (I love walking, but I hate the cold and it was really cold tonight), but I finally decided that I needed to bite the bullet and go for the walk. It turned out that, as long as I was walking, I didn't feel the cold (although I did zip up my two jackets to the top, put on my hat and donned mittens). Jennifer found a 21 day walking schedule and she wanted to start it today. So, we started out and I thought it would be an easy walk. After all, we only had to walk for 25 minutes - 4 minutes at a moderate rate, then 30 seconds power walking, repeated four times and then a 5 minute cool down (slow walk). When we got back to Jennifer's place, we had to walk down the stairs to her apartment and I could feel the 'pain' in my legs. I also felt it when I walked down the driveway to the mailbox when I got home. Wow, I didn't think I would feel anything at all since I love to walk and can walk for miles. I guess the little power spurts really worked my legs. So, although they might 'hurt', I feel glad that I got my walk in. Lunch and snacks are also made for tomorrow and breakfast is sorted out, too. I am even ready for bed before 10pm. So, a good day in all and now that it's done and I have 'been good', I feel good and motivated to get through another day. I think that's the key - one day at a time. :-)

I got through my first day!

Wow - my first day - and I have done well! I almost blew it tonight already. Mike was taking longer at getting his list of things done today and I had to get my centres ready at school. It was already 5pm and I was still at school. I almost called him to say "let's go to East Side Marios". After all, he IS going to Vancouver tomorrow and it WAS late. But then, I thought, NO, we will go home. (good girl, aren't I? :-) So, my report for today is a positive one (as long as you don't count my thoughts!). Today's menu was as follows: Breakfast - smoothie, snack - orange, lunch - turkey, cheese, tomato, pickled beets and lettuce sandwich, snack - cherry yogurt, supper - breaded chicken (dipped in yogurt and dijon mustard and then in bread crumbs and sesame seeds), chicken flavoured rice, carrots and peas. I had water to drink throughout the day (that was one thing I forgot to mention earlier - the need to drink 2 litres of water each day. It used to be easy when I wasn't teaching kindergarten - I would drink 1/2 litre from morning 'til lunch and then 1/2 a litre at lunch and then another 1/2 litre in the afternoon and then 1/2 a litre when I exercised after school). Today, I managed to drink 1 litre and so I think that I am going to have to be more conscientious about drinking more during the day at school. I was able to get my lunch together last night and my breakfast as well in preparation for today. Earlier today, I got my lunch for tomorrow ready and now have to get my breakfast organized before I go to bed. Mike and I did some pilates tonight - boy are those exercises hard - especially on the tummy - but, I can see how they are going to be really helpful in getting us back into shape. The exercises were difficult, but we are being smart about it and taking it slowly. I think that for the first little while, we are going to have to take a short walk before doing the exercises so that we get in enough activity for the day. All I want to do right now is lay down and sleep. :-) However, I have some school work to do and so will get on that before hopefully going to bed by 10pm. I didn't do too well on that last night (got to sleep about 11:30pm), but it didn't really count since I really started this plan today (at least that's my take on things. :-)

Exercise (ugh)

Tomorrow I start - so the last part of the plan has to do with exercise. I mean, I love a good walk or a lovely, long hike. But getting the old heart going is another thing. So, from my reading, I have discovered that it's a good idea to do exercise that one is likely to do more than once. I bought a DVD called 'Yoga and Pilates for Dummies' ages ago and I have yet to open the wrapper. Tomorrow, I will break it open! :-) I have done pilates before and I thought it was pretty good. Yoga is something I have wanted to try for years, but haven't given it a shot as of yet. My long-range plan is to do pilates twice a week (Monday and Thursday), yoga twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) and to walk twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday). I know it's important to start off slow so that I don't overwhelm myself. Mike says he will do it along with me which will be great - it's much nicer to do it along with someone else. I keep telling Mike that if I had a dog, I would go for a long walk every night, but he says 'no way' since we travel so much. :-) So, there's the plan for becoming The New Me. Wish me luck!

Eating (one of my favourite things to do! :-)

So, now one of the hardest parts to becoming healthy - an eating plan. My goals here are simple to list, just not simple to do. First off, I know that healthy eating begins with healthy planning. So, my goal is to have a week's worth of meals listed every week - this will require making time to make the list of what to have each week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then making a grocery list from those menu items. The first part is fairly easy as I have already made 4 weeks of menu plans for breakfast and lunch and Mike has made grocery lists using those menu plans. Now, I have to make sure that I have seven days worth of suppers to go along with those plans. With the internet out there, there are so many resources and so that part will be easy. The grocery shopping will be easy, too, as Krystal and I do that every Tuesday when I go to visit with her. I love cooking, so actually WANTING to make healthy meals (which require time and effort to do) won't be difficult. The harder part will be making the time to make them. Supper times will be easier as I will make them when I come home from school. What will be more difficult will be making the time each evening to pre-prepare the breakfast and lunch for the next day. I CAN do it as I have done it before - I just will need to prioritize this part of the plan. I enjoy eating healthy and so that part won't be hard, either. The hardest part of eating healthy is really making the time to prepare the meals - it's much easier to prepare unhealthy foods. I am hoping that since I know the benefits of eating healthy, I will be able to remain motivated to make the time to prepare them each day.

Some plans

So, now some thoughts on how I am going to achieve 'The New Me'. First, I need to make sure that I am getting lots of sleep every night - that will help me feel more energetic and also keep me from getting so many colds (fingers crossed). So, to achieve that, I am planning on having anything I need to do finished by 9:30pm each evening. I would like to be in bed by then to relax a little before closing my eyes at 10pm. Since a lot of my favourite tv shows are on at that time (10pm), I plan on taping them to watch on Friday nights. Also, I plan on cutting down on planning times away from home. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings are now mine to stay at home. Tuesday evenings, I will continue to go to Krystal's to see her, Jesse and especially Alexander. Thursday evenings, I will continue to have 'date night' with Colin and sometimes Caleb. Saturday evenings, I will continue to have Krystal, Jesse, and Alexander over to watch the hockey game (those are fun evenings) and also have Colin and Caleb sleep overnight on that night (to give Terri-Ann one morning to sleep in each week and a date night for her and James). I am hoping that if I slow down a bit and make sure that I keep these evenings free for me, that I will be well rested and that that will help me to focus on my goals.

Wow - it really is happening!

I have always struggled with weight for as long as I can remember. I was never a skinny kid (like my cousin, Cheryl), but I was at an okay weight. Then, when I was 15 years old, I thought I was fat (5'3" and 122lbs) and so I thought I would go on a diet using these pills called 'Ayds'. I don't know how I came to find out about them or how I hid them from my parents, but the idea behind them was that I would eat one piece (looked like a caramel) with a glass of hot water for breakfast and the same for lunch and then eat a normal dinner. I went from 122lbs to 115lbs. and was ecstatic! Needless to say, as soon as I stopped using them, I gained the weight back. I have realized over the years, that that's the problem with any of these quick fix ideas - as soon as you go back to 'normal', you gain all of the weight back. I have tried various diets over the years (Richard Simmons says not to call them 'diets' cuz the first three letters spell out the word 'die' - funny guy. :-) The best that works, at least for me, is to eat sensibly a la Weight Watchers, and so that's the way I plan to lose (and keep off) the pounds that have crept up over the years. Wish me luck! :-)