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.