Sunday, February 8, 2015

Days 25-35 - Busy Bee!

I've been quite a busy bee. Because of everything I have going on, I have not been doing well at keeping up with my blogging! This might have to become a weekly blog instead of daily. I have also been neglecting my Twitter feed except the daily updates there with a link to my food diary. Which, by the way, if you've been paying attention to that this week, ugh.

This past week I was away from home for 6 of the 7 days. 3.5 days of that was for work, 1 night for dog training class, and 1.5 days traveling to see family and my non-blood sisters for a fun weekend. So, as you might imagine, I had a little streak of some no-so-good food days. But, I still lost .2 pounds this week! It's nice to have that happen so I know it's okay for me to have an indulgent week, just as long as I get back on track starting tomorrow.

This week's menu is planned and will go as such:
Monday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Soup
Dinner: Vegetable Lasagna

Tuesday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Leftover Lasagna
Dinner: Quinoa Enchilada Bake (this is a new dish I'm trying this week)

Wednesday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Leftover Quinoa Enchilada Bake
Dinner: Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

Thursday
Breakfast: Yogurt and Toast
Lunch: TBD (traveling for work)
Dinner: Protein shake and Vitatop (during travel to/from dog training classes)

Friday
Breakfast: Yogurt
Lunch: Kale salad
Dinner: Cauliflower crust pizza

Saturday and Sunday: TBD

I'll be updating the food matrix on my fridge tonight before bed, so I will be able to stay on track this week. The only traveling day for me this week is Thursday, but since I have to head to dog training classes that night, I'll just have a protein shake and Vitatop for dinner, and that will leave me the majority of the day's calories for lunch. That means I should be able to find something no matter where I end up eating.

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I neglect you and this blog. I appreciate knowing there is support out there when I do post, and when I see you in person. So far I am 6 pounds down, and have not (yet) had a week where I cumulatively gained weight instead of losing.

The big goal for this upcoming week is to get back into exercising. I want to do 15-20 minutes of yoga 4 times this week, plus 15-20 minutes of light cardio on 3 days. I need just a little something to get me going, and then I can gradually bump that up and challenge myself more as I get stronger.

Well, if I don't talk to you for another week, have a good one!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Day 24 - Not Much to Say

I don't have much to say today. I had meetings all day at work, and take a look back at yesterday's post to see why today was a sad day on top of that. I was hoping I would be okay today around 4 pm, but I did get a little teary at that time, and am still very sad for what had to happen today.

On my way home from my meetings, I really wanted to stop for fast food to comfort myself, but instead I came home, had healthy(ish) tacos and guacamole instead. I am indulging in some vodka tonight to pay a toast to the late Bandit the dog, but other than that I'm pretty on track for the calorie count for the day. I was a little under the past two days, so I feel okay about going over a bit today.

I'll write more tomorrow, but for now I'm just going to drown my sadness with comedies on the DVR, and probably go to bed early.

Peace out, girlie scouts!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Days 18-23 - Catching Up!

Whew! I've missed writing, but it has been a CUH-RAZY week, and it's not really letting up until next weekend. Work has been nuts with lots of meetings and presentations and conferences coming up. Home has been crazy with keep things in order, cleaning, organizing, laundry, etc.

But, all of this is a good kind of busy. I really love my job, and really love what I have going on at home, and REALLY loving my hobby of dog training once a week. I'm loving the dog training so much that in fact, it will become a more regular hobby in a couple months! More about that at a later date (Mom, I'll fill you in before I post on the blog, no worries :))

So, how's the healthy eating going with all that? Really well, actually. I've lost a total of 5 pounds, and even with a really indulgent food day on Sunday, I've managed to maintain that loss.

I'm lucky that my wonderful husband is starting to go along with the healthy eating, and I'm happy to report that we have found multiple meals that we can both eat and be happy with, and I don't have to fix a second side! I'm also learning to cook just enough for each of us to have a healthy portion so we don't overeat as much and don't have leftovers that are hard to keep track of.

Tomorrow brings a long day at work with a retreat with our Board of Directors. It will be a 10-12 hour day including travel, and I'll have both lunch and dinner provided, so I hope there's something that will keep me satisfied and still be able to stay within my calorie count, or close to it. While I know I will be tired after tomorrow, I'm actually a little happy that I'll be busy and focused all day on work. I'm happy because something very sad is happening tomorrow, and I should be busy enough that I won't get emotional in the middle of a meeting.

Tomorrow at 4 pm, my family's last family dog is going to a better place. Bandit has been with our family for over 10 years, and has been a wonderful addition. Her goofy tricks, looks and attitude are always enough to brighten my day. It will be very odd to visit my parents in a couple weeks and not have her greet me with a big smile and by showing me her belly. I'll miss her sitting up like a big girl to get her 8pm Greenie, and I'll miss her sliding across the kitchen floor to retrieve her stuffed squirrel. I will really miss Bandi, but she's been in a lot of pain lately due to kidney and bladder issues, and it's time to end her suffering. She's led a full life, and we can't be selfish and keep her alive just to keep bringing us smiles and laugh. I will miss her, but am very thankful that has been such a big part of our family.

Here's one of my favorite pictures of Bandit to make you smile, and for me to smile when I look back through this blog. (Sorry Megan and Mom if this made you cry, I was crying while writing it, too).

Now I'll sign off for tonight, and hopefully have enough energy to write tomorrow. Thanks for reading!


Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Days 16 & 17 - Whoops!

I totally forgot to blog last night. I got busy doing some work, and went to bed without even thinking of the blog! So, let's start with a recap there.

I had a protein shake for breakfast. It kept me full til lunch. I took some leftover chicken chili for lunch, but I didn't feel hungry for that by the time 1pm rolled around. So, I had a microwavable taco bowl meal that I'd been storing at my desk. It wasn't that great. I don't really miss those kinds of meals. For dinner, I had spaghetti squash. It's one of my favorite dinners, so I got to fill up and have a good meal. I did well, and felt good going to bed.

Today was another good day, too. For breakfast I had a shake again because I was running late. It was good again. I really don't mind the shakes. For lunch I had a southwest chicken salad from Wal-Mart because I had to run some errands over lunch. It was actually really good! I had some Pretzel Thins on the side for a little crunch. For dinner I made chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, and had a cheesy broccoli pasta for a side dish. It was really yummy. For dessert tonight I had some cinnamon almonds which will tide me over until bedtime.

It's really nice to be back on track, and now I think I'm getting into the swing of things so that I can still have the foods I want, but just be mindful of how much I'm eating and keep my portions in check.

Thanks for hanging in there, and stay tuned on Twitter later for a full recap of my calorie count for the day!

Monday, January 19, 2015

Day 15 - Feeling Better

Yesterday was not great. Look back through the blog yesterday for reasons. But, today I am back on track! For breakfast I had a protein shake. For lunch I had a bagel thin that I split in half and topped with carrots and grape tomatoes. dinner was white chicken chili, and it was pretty good! I added beans in, even though I really dislike beans, but I didn't mind them too much in this chili. For dessert, I had an apple which I topped with some cinnamon and nuked in the microwave for 90 seconds.

I'm 388 calories below my limit for today, which makes up a little from yesterday. I didn't get time to do yoga today because I had to do some work after dinner, and then give my puppy a bath... not a fun task! He gets a haircut on Sunday, but he dug out in the warm weather today and got some really muddy paws.

Tomorrow brings a smoothie for breakfast, maybe chili for lunch (not sure yet), and spaghetti squash for dinner. Anytime there is spaghetti squash, I get excited for dinner!

I will have some more work to do tomorrow after dinner, so I may not get to work out again, but I'm hoping that starting Wednesday morning I can get my butt in gear and start working out in the mornings. I tend to do better that way, and if I get it out of the way, I can do whatever else I want in the evening.

That's it for me tonight. Thanks for the support on Twitter last night and this morning when I had a misstep. I really appreciate it!! Have a great night and fabulous day tomorrow, and I'll type at you later!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Day 14 - Not. Good.

Today was not a good day food-wise. Well, I was okay up until dinner. I had my planned english muffin for breakfast, made a quick, healthy stir-fry for lunch, and had some watermelon for a snack.

I had planned to make white chicken chili for dinner, but as the day went on, I got lazier and lazier. So, I didn't feel like making dinner when 6 pm rolled around. Soooo...... I made a very bad decision and asked my husband to go to Dairy Queen and get me a burger and fries. I full intended to eat the burger without the bun to save on carbs, but once I unwrapped the burger, I just inhaled it. And it was delicious. I ate the whole thing, and my fries. And I didn't stop there, even though I should have. I was craving chocolate, and found a full-size Snickers bar. And I ate it.

Needless to say, I am over my calorie limit for the day. I've been eating 1,500 per day, but today I had 2,000. I have been chugging water all day, so hopefully that will help in the long run, but I'm not excited at the prospect of tomorrow. I bet I will be hungry, and will stay that way most of the day.

I plan to do some yoga tomorrow night, so hopefully that will calm me down a bit and I can successfully get back in the swing of things. But for tonight, I'm going to finish a few more glasses of water, and head to bed after watching some more TV.

I am confident I'll be able to get back into the swing of things, but I haven't yet found a great way to deal with my cravings. I'm hoping that I can find, and get in the routine of eating, enough healthy foods that I start to crave those instead. I guess we'll have to see.

I also have to keep in mind that I knew this was going to be hard going into it, and that's why I set a goal of losing 1 pound per week, and I'm not out to try and starve myself just to lose weight quickly. In the end, I want this to be a lifestyle change, but I do hope I get to keep some days of indulgence like today.

Have a great week, and I'll be back online tomorrow to post!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Day 13 - I Gave In

Weekends are tough for me. I had a big craving today, and I gave in. Today started by sleeping in, so I didn't eat breakfast. Lunch was a brown rice, avocado and tomato salad before heading off to work on some dog training. After dog training, I headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up some framing supplies for a friend's art I have hanging around (well, I will have hanging once I get the framing done :)).

I made it through all of these activities pretty okay. Then, I got hungry after shopping. That's where things went off kilter. At this point, I should mention that today is weigh-in day, and this week I only lost 0.8 of a pound. So, I wasn't feeling so great on my progress. Therefore, when I got hungry after shopping, I was weak and gave into a craving I've been having for Hu Hot-esque food. I wanted noodles and salty, oily sauce sauteed on a big circular grill. Since I was in Des Moines, it was easy for me to give in to the craving and eat dinner at Bang Bang Mongolian Grill. According to the calorie calculations I did, I still did pretty well over all on the day on the calorie count, but I'm hungry again and it's almost bedtime.

I know that there will always be temptations like this, and I need to learn how to eat the foods I crave, but not go overboard. I think I did okay on that tonight, and hopefully tomorrow I won't have cravings since this one has been fulfilled.

I have to do some work from home tomorrow, so I should be able to stay busy and not over-indulge. I plan to make white chicken chili for dinner, will have some type of leftovers for lunch, and probably an english muffin for breakfast. Stay tuned on Twitter later for an update on my calorie count for the day!