Lunching with friends

I went out for lunch yesterday with a couple of friends from my Aquafit class here in Cairns.  I checked out the menu ahead of time to see what I might like to order and might fit in with my eating plan.  I also decided to take along a take-away contrainer to put half of the meal in to bring home.  I told Mike that I was not going to have an iced chocolate, but rather I would just drink water.

Welllllllll, this is what really happened.....I ordered the chicken sandwich which came on a nice bun along with tomato, avocado, cheese and lettuce with satay sauce (tick)....I put half of the sandwich into a take-away container as soon as it came to the table (tick)......then, I drank my iced chocolate which I had ordered (hmmm).  Was it yummy?  YES!!!  Do I feel guilty for ordering it?  NO!!!  Should I have ordered it?  Good question....Maybe I shouldn't have ordered it since I am trying to lose weight, but would I order it when I am on maintenance in my heath journey...yes.  So not sure there is a right answer here, but I won't feel guilty about this one. 😀

Ugh!

So, yesterday, Mike and I were going for a walk and, on the way, we stopped at some bakeries to check out what they had for sale.  We want to have a little treat to celebrate Mike's birthday later this week.  Anyway, we went into one bakery and saw some interesting goodies and told the server we'd be back later.  After walking around a bit more, I told Mike that I felt bad at going into that one bakery to check things out and then not buying anything and that we could buy one 'hedgehog' and share it.  After eating it at home (it was okay tasting), I thought about our purchase and said to Mike that we need to do better in the future at NOT buying goodies like we did today.  In Mike's defense, he did, at first, say we shouldn't buy it when I suggested it, but gave in quickly.  So, we both have agreed to be more strong-willed in the future.

A good thing we have decided on, though, is that we are going to just buy one small treat each for Mike's birthday instead of a whole mud cake and 2 litres of ice-cream like we would have done in the past.  We also agreed to buy just a single 600ml bottle of pop to go with the treat instead of buying a 1.25ml bottle of pop even though the smaller bottle of pop is more expensive.  We are making small positive steps in our journey to good health.  I will celebrate these small steps! 😀

A new way of thinking

Well, I have decided not to worry about putting in my food eaten, exercise or number of steps walked each day into this blog.  I am already inputting that info into SparkPeople.com, so there's really no reason to do it again on here.  SparkPeople keeps track of what I have eaten along with the number of calories, carbs, fat and protein I have consumed each day.  I can also track which exercises I have done each day along with the number of calories burned and number of steps walked.  So, I will just use this blog to note things I am hearing on the podcasts I listen to as I walk back and forth to/from the gym each day.

Today's message was 'you can't do this on your own, so find someone who can support you on your journey to good health'.  Thankfully, I have Mike's support and he has mine.  I have also made friends at this gym here in Cairns and they make it enjoyable and not so much of a task.  When I am in Hervey Bay, I have friends at Aquafit.  I am thankful for all the support I have.

Two days' worth

So, yesterday, I kept within my calorie limit and I also stayed under my fat, carb and protein limits - although I didn't eat enough fats and protein according to SparkPeople - I'm okay with that, though, as I wasn't far from the limits and I ate quite healthy.  Breakfast was pancakes with strawberry sauce, 1/2 a serving of yogurt and OJ; lunch was 1/2 a tuna sandwich and a cup of homemade tomato and lentil soup; dinner was a 10” chicken, hummus and veggie wrap and 1 1/2 cups of milk; snacks were 2 mandarins and 1/2 c grapes.  One thing that Mike and I did find, though, was that there was too much chicken for the size of the wrap and so, next time, we will eat half of the suggested amount and add a salad to the meal.  I did my Body Balance class - it's hard in some areas of it, but I love it and I am getting better at it.  I love it when I can do something in a class which I couldn't do before!  I also got over my 10,000 steps yesterday. 👍🏻

Yesterday, I walked my 40 minutes to the gym and while walking, I listened to my podcast on my iPod.  It's called 'Half-size Me' and the host, Heather, interviews people who have been successful at weight loss and asks them how they did it.  I really enjoy listening to the people she has on - they are quite inspiring!  I learned yesterday that even though one pound of muscle and one pound of fat weigh the same, muscle is denser than fat so it will take up less space in your body.  So, if I am not losing weight at some point, but my clothes are fitting better, it just may be that my body is gaining more muscle.

Today, as I did my walk to and from the gym, I learned the importance of MAKING time to exercise every day, even if only for 20 minutes.  Heather said to write down what we are doing for every half hour of the day to see how we are spending our days and see where we can fit in that 20 minutes of exercise.  She said that often we don't realise where we can get that time when we feel so busy, but that we CAN find and make that time.  I thought about this in relation to when I am in Canada - I am going to have to MAKE the time when I am there somehow and maybe if I just think that I only need to find 20 minutes each day, I can make that work.  I certainly do not want to go backwards after I have been working so hard.

Today, I walked over my 10,000 steps and did an hour of Aquafit.  Breakfast was ‘Overnight Oats' which consisted of 1/2 c rolled oats, 1/2 c milk, 2 tbsp applesauce, a pinch of cinnamon and 1 tsp of honey.  I put it in the fridge overnight to let the oats soak up the milk.  It was okay, but not sure I would make it again - I think that I would prefer to make it up as hot oatmeal.  Lunch was a ham, cheese and veggie sandwich with a cup of homemade tomato and lentil soup.  I only had one snack today and it was 2 mandarins.  We went to the ‘Cock and Bull’ restaurant for dinner tonight and shared a ‘bangers and mash and veggies’ meal and I only had half a sausage and brought the other half back home for Mike to have for lunch tomorrow.

Wow.......it's been so long

I just finished reading the previous posts on this blog - it was an interesting read.  It's annoying that I didn't keep going on it since I was doing so well, but that's kind of the way it's been in my life other than when I was around forty and lost over 30lbs.  I was thinking yesterday that if I had kept it up then, I would now be back to my weight when I got married.  However, there isn't really any sense in moping about it.

So, it begins again and this time I am determined to make it the last time.  We started again on our 'get healthy and fit' journey on August 6th this year and we are doing so well thus far.  We are eating healthy (3 meals and two snacks a day) making sure we keep within calorie, carbs, protein and fat limits.  I have set exercise goals as well - walking at least 10,000 steps a day and taking classes every day at the gym here in Cairns (Aquafit, Body Pump and Body Balance).  Before we left home to come to Cairns this time, I had lost 11lbs and seem to be losing still (based on how my clothes are fitting).  I am looking forward to getting back home in three weeks to see the results on the scale.

The biggesst hurdle I have found over the past eight years with losing weight is when I go back to Canada I tend to eat junk and also not exercise.  I am going to have to figure out how to work around that.  I still want to have my Canadian treats (Timmies' Boston Cream donut, Dairy Queen's Peanut Buster Parfait, etc), but it's definitely going to have to be one of each treat per visit.  I'm not sure how I can fit in the exercise, but if I can at least get in my 10,000 steps each day, I will be happy.

When I have been walking back and forth to the gym while here in Cairns, I have been listening to weight-loss/healthy eating/lifestyle podcasts and they have been enlightening.  Right now, I am listening to one called 'Half-Size Me' - the host, Heather, talks with someone each podcast who has lost weight and asks them about their journey.  I am learning a lot and plan to write a little each day about what hit me that day in the podcasts I am listening to.

Today is Sunday and here in Cairns we miss our morning snack and lunch so our meals are way less calories than normal, but I will still record what we ate and also how many steps I did today.  Breakfast - 2 pancakes (120 grams) with 20mls of homemade strawberry syrup (so yummy) and 1/2 cup of orange juice, Afternoon snack - 20ml peanut butter on 2 Cruskits and half banana, Supper - 2 small Chicken, Hummus and Veggie Wraps, salad with 20ml 1,000 Island salad dressing.  When we eat at home, I always drink 11/2c of milk.

I'm down - yippee :-)

I weighed myself on Monday morning and the scale said that I have lost two pounds - that's exciting! :-) It appears that exercise is the key. :-) Mike and I found we were on a plateau and the only thing missing was the exercise - I guess there is only so much weight you can lose by healthy eating. We now have been doing some kind of exercise every day, but Sunday. We are walking 3km in 30 minutes - quite fast and we work up quite a sweat. We are aiming to walk 3.5km in 30 minutes. We also sometimes bike ride - 6km in 35 minutes - we are aiming for 6km in 30 minutes. It's exciting to see the numbers going down on the scales - it really motivates me and spurs me on. We have also been tweaking our eating plan using sparkpeople.com and that is helping a lot - it seems that for the past few days, we can stay within our calorie range and also have a little treat at the end of the day (low cal pudding) which we enjoy.

October 24, 2010

Whoops, I have missed a few days, but it's been going pretty well, so I won't worry about fixing things up. I got on the scales today and it said that I lost a pound and a half. I am cautiously optimistic - I will weigh myself tomorrow and if it's the same, I will be thrilled. When I saw the amount, I smiled from ear to ear and I felt very motivated since I haven't seen that kind of progress for ages. So, we shall see what happens tomorrow.

Breakfast
3/4c Just Right Cereal
1/2c milk
70g yogurt
1/2c orange juice

Lunch
250g pea and ham soup
85g chicken bites
1/8c baked beans

Supper
Asian Grilled Chicken
1/2c basmati rice
1/2c carrots
1/2c corn
1 1/2c milk

Snacks
Chocolate pudding

A pretty good day today

So, we ate well and stayed under the amounts allowed. We also went for a walk which is great - it looked cloudy outside, but usually that doesn't mean rain (or much of it) unless they are quite grey and these ones were light grey. So, we decided to take a chance and go for it. We walked hard because we only had 20 minutes, but it was better than nothing in our minds.

Breakfast
2 pancakes
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup yogurt

Lunch
chicken and tomato sandwich

Supper
2 egg omelette
salad with croutons
1,000 island dressing
1/2c milk

Snacks
165g apricots
granny smith apple
fruit and oat granola bar

oops

Well, I thought today was a good day, but when I input what I ate, it turned out that I had very little left for dinner. Luckily for me, I am not counting tonight's dinner (chicken pesto pasta) or dessert (pavlova) as it was our anniversary dinner - so there was zero calories. :-)

I am really going to have to start inputting my information ahead of time so that I can tweak things. I think part of the problem might be that I am having three snacks on top of my three meals - I will have to take some time tomorrow to check this out.

For today, I ate..........

Breakfast
Smoothie
OJ
Applesauce oatmeal muffin

Lunch
Chicken Noodle Soup

Snacks
fruit and oat granola bar
apricots
banana

Oops - a little off :-)

So, today I thought I was doing well - I had put all my food into the Sparks People program and realized that I had some space to finish up my fruit for today (apricots). Then, I read my list of taco ingredients out to Mike, he reminded me that I had not added the hamburger in - eek! So, after putting that in, I found out that I had gone over by 242 calories, although everything else is within the ranges, so that's a good thing.

Breakfast
2 pancakes
1/2c frozen fruit
1tbsp maple syrup

Lunch
tuna sandwich

Supper
2 tacos

Snack
1/2c orange
165g canned apricots
1/4c yogurt
1 granola bar

We also did a 45 minute bike ride - 6km - which felt good - hard work - but, really nice to be doing it with Mike - having a chance to talk while we biked.

Hopefully, I can find a way to keep within my ranges better as we go along in this 'becoming healthy' journey.

October 18, 2010

So, today I did fairly well although I went over on carbs. This is what I ate today.....

Breakfast:
3/4c Just Right cereal
1/2c milk
1/4c apricot/mango yogurt
1/2c OJ

Lunch
85g penne
1/2 c spaghetti sauce

Supper
2 mini meatloaves
1c mashed potatoes
1/2c peas
1/2c corn

Snacks
8 crackers
1 laughing cow
165g apricots

We did a 40 minute walk today. We were supposed to do our strength exercises, but they didn't get done. That will happen on Wednesday.

Starting again ................

It's been ages since I last wrote in this blog and everything I am reading about today speaks of the importance of writing everything down that I eat and the exercise which I do. I will start all that tomorrow. For this blog, I want to talk about how I am going to keep better track of what I am eating. I also want to have to write down what I do for exercise because that part of my healthy plan has been very lacking lately. Between feeling tired and feeling stressed (from teaching full-time again - if only for five weeks), I find myself slacking off the exercising and Mike is okay with not going as well so he doesn't encourage me to get out and get moving. I know that it will make me feel better and so I want to make a pact with myself (and I will talk it over with Mike) to make sure that I do some kind of exercising every day (but Sunday, my lovely day of rest :-) Having to keep track of my eating and my exercising again will be really helpful, especially since we are going back to Canada in a month. I would really like to be down at least three pounds by then (to 185lbs). It's hard to believe that a few years ago, I was down at 152lbs. and I felt and looked great. I know I can do it - I just need to make that commitment again. I find it easier to lose weight when I have a goal like 'I want to look good for this or that' and right now, there isn't anything like that to spur me on. So, I am just going to make a commitment to eat healthy, exercise, and keep track of both.

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!