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! :-)