Sheesh - when will I stop learning? :-)

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

Still learning

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

More learning!

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

Mad at myself!

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

A little less motivated :-(

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

Delicious meal tonight :-)

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

Learning along the way

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