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. :-)