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.