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.