Salad Days

I missed breakfast again this morning. I'm going to have to go back to keeping something in the office. That seems the only way to ensure that I will not skip a meal.

I decided on a bigger lunch today, since I have my breakfast calories, too. I got a grilled chicken salad from McDonald's.

I think it's funny that your youth is called your salad days. I know it's because it is at the beginning, but no one calls old age your "dessert days," do they? Anyway, in my salad days, I hated salad. Actually, I hated salad for most of my adult life, too. Once I was 35 or so, I finally figured out why: every salad I'd ever been served or offered had sliced onion in it. I hate raw onion. Once I started picking that out, I found that salads were great!

Now that there are only three of us in the house, I will sometimes make a huge Olive Garden style salad with some of their light salad dressing. I'll pick up a rotisserie to go with it, and everyone is happy. Sometimes my husband and I will skip the chicken and have multiple bowls of salad.

Tonight I'm going to the grocery store to pick up my healthy food for the next few days.

I forgot to take pictures of my food yesterday, but here is the breakdown.

Breakfast: Instant white chocolate caramel cappuccino at the office. 360 calories
Lunch: Rice-a-Roni cheddar broccoli cup. 230 calories
Dinner: Golden Mushroom beef (I made pancakes for Michael and Tori, but I had the lunch I forgot to bring to work). 951 calories

Total: 1541 calories

So I had a day under goal. I think I should make a habit of that, don't you?

Tomorrow, I should be able to finish my current work project by noon. That means I should have time to hit the gym before going home. I already have my workout clothes here in the office, so I have no excuses not to go.

I'm going to win this. I just am.

1307.51 / 0 / 1289.68

Too Busy for My Own Good

I woke up early this morning feeling fully rested. I decided to make the most of the extra time I had. So I started a load of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, woke up my daughter, vacuumed our living room, walked the dogs, and switched the clothes over to the dryer. I was so proud of myself. That is until I was almost to work and realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast or grab the lunch I had planned to take.

This is the day before payday, so I have exactly $2.00 to my name. We have no vending machines near where I work. Luckily, I keep a cappuccino mix and a Rice-A-Roni meal in my desk most of the time for emergencies. They don't actually taste all that great, but they work in a pinch.

Since I didn't have much to eat during the day, I'm allowing myself a higher calorie dinner tonight: pancakes! Pancakes is our usual "nothing to eat in the house" meal. The pancakes themselves are not too high in calories (just 265 calories for three large pancakes). My problem is the butter or margarine. I like my pancakes almost soaked in the stuff. I usually use more calories on the butter than I do on the pancakes. I'm working on that, but for tonight, I should have enough calories to spare.

Here is my food from yesterday.

Breakfast: One mini bagel with fat free cream cheese. 135 calories
Lunch: Boxed mac and cheese with cheese slices and crackers. 830 calories
Dinner: Golden mushroom beef over rice and a Coke Zero. 795 calories

Total: 1760 calories

According to MyFitnessPal, I didn't actually go over because of the calories awarded to me for exercising. I've been trying to decide how to handle this. My armband syncs with MFP to log exercise, and MFP adjusts my calories to account for it. I'm not sure if I should count it or not. I'm leaning towards trying to stay under the 1570 baseline, but not feel too badly if I use up exercise calories--kind of a like a savings account. I don't want to dip into savings, but if I do, I'm not going to stress unless it becomes a regular thing. Does that make sense?

Just two more days until weigh day! I'm very curious to see what the scale says.

1307.51 / 0 / 1289.68

Getting Back on Track

Today I shampooed all the carpet in my house. That's a lot of carpet. We have 3 dogs and 2 cats, so some areas I had to go over multiple times, and those shampooers are heavy. I am already starting to feel the soreness creeping in, so I bet I got a good workout from it, too.

I have a Body Media Body Bug. It's kind of like a FitBit. I've had it for a while, but I let my subscription lapse. I renewed it today, so now I'll be able to account for my sleep, steps, and workouts. I'm still only counting miles actually walked (or ellipticaled--is that a word? Is now.) for this blog.

I get paid on Tuesday, and I'm planning on getting lots of fresh veggies. I've not been eating the veggies like I used to. I can tell a difference in how I feel. I'm sluggish and cranky. That' might just be PMS, though, lol.

If all goes well, I'll be able to finish my work project on Wednesday, which means I won't have to stay late. Back to the gym for me!

Wednesday will also be weigh in day for me. I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm not really expecting a loss because I was off plan for so long and not exercising. But it will be my first month without a binge in a long time. I'm curious if that will show in my weight at all.

By the way, if anyone is actually reading this blog, I'd love for you to leave a comment. Even though I'm doing this blog to help myself work through things, it's sometimes is nice to know I'm not alone out here. Thanks!


1307.51 / 0 / 1289.68

Post Anniversary Report

My anniversary weekend was wonderful! I didn't keep track of calories, but I did not overeat--not even once. I don't just mean that I didn't binge; I didn't overeat. I stopped when I first started to feel full. Also, I didn't obsess over food. Usually on a trip like this, everything would be planned around the meals. Where do we eat? How many restaurants can we squeeze into one trip? How many of my favorite foods can I have? I didn't do that at all. I was so relaxed and happy spending time with Michael, I didn't even notice the food that much. We went to a festival that I know had concession stands right behind where we were sitting, but I couldn't tell you what was being sold. It just wasn't as interesting as talking with my husband and watching the boat races and people.

When we were ready to eat, we tried new places. I'm not usually big on trying new restaurants. What if it's not great? What if we "wasted" a meal on food that was just "okay" when we could have had my favorite meal at this other place? But I didn't do that. Food was just not the focus.

This may seem totally normal to some people, but it is a totally new thing to me. I've spent most of my life avoiding as much interaction with people as I can. Eating is a great way to avoid talking to people. But I didn't feel like that on this trip. It was a revelation. Maybe this is how normal people eat?

This morning we had another birthday breakfast at work. I had a spoonful of apple oatmeal that I brought, half a donuts, one slice of bacon, and a cup of chocolate milk. I also talked to someone new, which is also a big deal for me.

I have to work late until next week, so I haven't been hitting the gym at all. I hope to change that after this work project is finished. I'm still planning to make it to Walden Pond, so I will have to really step up my game.

Mostly, I'm just really proud of myself for this weekend!

1307.51 / 0 / 1289.68 

Went Wandering

Well, I'm back. The good news is I wasn't binging. I wasn't watching my caloric intake, and I did overeat, but I never binged. What kind of damage I did will be seen on October 1st when I weigh. I could go into the "reasons" I went off plan (sinus issues, migraines, etc.) but it comes down to laziness. I didn't "feel" like making the healthy food, so I didn't. I'm not sure how to change that.

Anyway, onward and upward!

This weekend is my anniversary trip. I'm going for 2000 calories a day for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I know I'll be getting in lots of walking, and the hotel has a pool.

I don't have a lot to share today; I just wanted to check in (does anyone even read these) and let you know I will be posting again. I'm back on plan. I will do this.


1307.51 / 0 / 1289.68

Rainy Day Blahs

What is it about a rainy day that makes me want to curl up and sleep. It started raining last night where I live. This made it terribly hard for me to sleep. For one thing, the noise of the rain was distracting. For another, my Great Pyr is afraid of storms, so he kept trying to climb into bed with us. There's just not enough room for that.

After a long, long night, I hit the snooze too many times this morning. In all my rushing to get my morning chores done, I forgot about breakfast entirely. That led to some not great choices at lunch today, but I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

The main thing I want to focus on today is that I finally got some walking done at the gym. I'm one and a half miles closer to Walden! I'm really dragging today, but I wanted to get that out there.


So here is my food from yesterday.

Breakfast: White chocolate cappuccino and grapes because I forgot my breakfast yesterday, too. 418 cal

Lunch: Whole wheat pita stuffed with black beans, hummus, cucumber, and spinach with eggplant patties. 485 cal

Dinner: Burrito made with a whole wheat tortilla, sweet potatoes, black beans, guacamole, and cheese, with a side of salad. I didn't eat the salad; it was too wilted. 426

Snack: Fudge Pop. 40

Daily Total: 1369



Not bad, really, considering my morning routine is all out of whack.

I also went to the gym yesterday. The bank of treadmills was completely empty, so I was worried they still hadn't fixed the power. But everything was running great! So I hopped on for 30 minutes of walking. I was hoping to get two miles in, but I guess that's what happens when you're out of the habit. Hopefully it won't take me long to get back up to a 15 minute mile.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to hear about what a train wreck today has been.


1307.51 / 1.5 / 1289.68

Fast Food Failure? Maybe not...

So yesterday was a frustrating day. Yeah, second one in a row. Sucks. My husband found out that the part he needs for his car isn't one he can install himself. That means the car will definitely be at the shop for a while. The good news is that the patch he did seems to be holding, so we have a little time to prepare for the inevitable. Still aggravating, though.

I was really looking forward to letting off some steam at the gym, not to mention getting some miles in for the blog. After work I walked across the parking lot to the gym. I decided to take a couple of photos since I had told you how dark and creepy my gym was. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but my gym is in a historical building that used to be a movie theater in the 1950s. This is a picture of the ticket booth outside. It's okay during the day, but it's creepy once it gets dark.

Here is inside, from the balcony. You can see where the stage and movie screen used to be. All the weightlifting stuff is down there.

I'm usually in the balcony because that's where all the treadmills and ellipticals are. I didn't take a picture of that because it was full of people. I didn't want to add to the general creepiness of the place by being all stalkery. So what do you think? Creepy?

After I got my pics, I went to the dressing room to change. When I came back out, all the treadmills and ellipticals were empty. What luck, right? Nope. Turns out the circuit that powered that area of the gym blew or something. They were working on it.

Well, I was already there, so while they worked on it I went down to the strength machines and worked my shoulders a little bit. I have horribly weak shoulders. Seriously, it's hard for my to raise my hands above my head. So I did that. Then I went back upstairs to check the treadmills; they still weren't working yet. It's like the universe doesn't want me to get to Walden! I waited some more and tried out a few more machines, but eventually I had to go home. So I did go to the gym as promised, but I didn't get any miles in.

When I got home, everyone was in a bad mood: Michael about the car, my daughter because she had lost her mp3 player, and me because of the gym, the car, and one of our dogs had torn up the living room. Everyone wanted to eat out. We don't eat out too much. They wanted to go Long John Silvers for fish.

Now, I fully intended to get the healthy baked whatever with rice. But the thing is, I hate fish. I hate seafood in general. I always order chicken at seafood restaurants. The one exception is LJS's fish. I actually like it. So I caved. Now usually I would have 3 or 4 pieces of fish (drowned in lemon juice) and about 6 hush-puppies (also drowned in lemon juice). I knew I would be pushing it with my calories, so I only had two pieces of fish and three hush-puppies (and the lemon juice). I thought that if I skipped my fudge pops that evening, I would be under calories. I was wrong. When I got home and logged it, it put me 49 calories over.

Now, the old me would have quit the diet at this point. "Only four days in, and I've already messed up! This is impossible to do!" But last night I was able to look at the positives.

1. I ate much less at LJS than I normally would.
2. My calorie estimate was actually pretty accurate. 
3. I've done well for 3 2/3 days.
4. I've left the past 3 days with at least a few calories to spare.

So I wasn't even tempted to throw in the towel. I didn't have anything else to eat before bed. No fudge pops. Today I will stay under my calorie budget and carry on.

So here's my food from yesterday.

Breakfast: Whole wheat tortilla, two scrambled eggs, and 1/2 an avocado. 320 cal

Snack: Grapes. 29 cal

Lunch: Whole wheat pita stuffed with black beans, hummus, cucumber, and spinach with eggplant patties. 485 cal

Snack: Grapes 27 cal

Dinner: LJS--two fish pieces, three hush-puppies. 754 cal

Daily total: 1619

Bonus! I got 72 ounces of water in yesterday, and I'm still Co-Cola free!!

Today I'm hitting the gym again. Let's hope they have the treadmills working.

1307.51 / .5 / 1291.18 

The First Hard Day

Yesterday was the first really tough day I've had since starting this blog. As I was leaving work to head to the gym, my husband texted to let me know he was having car trouble. He'd made it home but needed a part. So I skipped the gym and went home so Michael could use my car for the part.

Car trouble really stresses me out. Michael and I have very different work schedules, so he has to leave the house 2 hours before I do. During the summer, it's not impossible for us to carpool, but during the school year, I take my daughter to school after Michael leaves. Having one car out of commission meant I would have to get up at 4:30, take him to work, come back, take our daughter to school, go to work, take a late lunch to pick him up at the factory where he works, drop him off somewhere to chill for a couple of hours so I could finish my workday, then when that was done, pick him up, pick up our daughter, and go home. I'm stressed just typing it!!

While Michael went to look for the part, I had all kinds of worst case scenarios going through my head. Before I even realized what I was doing, I had grabbed a package of Saltines and shoved one in my mouth. Then my daughter said, "Umm, Mom, not to bug you, but eating when you're stressed isn't the best thing."

I said, "But it's already in my mouth." I hadn't bitten it yet, just shoved the whole thing in there.

She said, "Give it to Valentine." That's my little dog.

I did it, too. I gave him the cracker rather than eating it. I was really proud of myself. Granted, I needed her help to even make me aware that I was doing it, but I did stop myself from what could have turned into a full blown binge.

As it turned out, Michael had to order the part, but he was able to do a patch job so he could get to work this morning. I still woke up early so I could go pick him up if he ended up stranded, so this is going to be a long day. I'm still determined to make it to the gym, though.

So here's yesterdays meals, with my binge avoided.

Breakfast: Whole wheat tortilla, two scrambled eggs, and 1/2 an avocado. 320 cal

Lunch: Whole wheat pita stuffed with black beans, hummus, cucumber, and spinach with three eggplant patties.485 cal

Snack: Grapes. 26 cal

Dinner: Half a serving of kielbasa and rutabaga soup with a double serving of salad. The salad was so good, I had another serving later. 578

Snack: Two fudge pops. 80 cal


Daily total:  1489 calories

Also, I haven't had a Coke since last Friday. That's four straight days drinking only water! I haven't had the withdrawal issues I've had other times I'd given up soda, no headaches or grouchiness. I really love Coca-Cola, but I just can't afford the calories on a daily basis, and if they are in the house, I'm going to drink them. I may still have one occasionally (like when I eat out), but I'm never keeping them in the house again.

1307.51 / .5 / 1296.68 

Weekend Success

I stayed under my calorie limit all weekend!! Even during my daughter's birthday dinner I was able to resist overeating. I made a huge mocha cake for her, but since I don't particularly like cake, I was able to have a 40 calorie fudge pop and not feel like I was missing out.

Here are my foods for Saturday:

Breakfast: A breakfast burrito made from two scrambled eggs and a whole wheat tortilla; two tablespoons of guacamole made with whipped salad dressing, and one banana. 428 cal

Lunch: Half a whole wheat pita (I like Joseph's) stuffed with two tablespoons hummus, black beans, cucumber, and spinach; 1/2 a cup of large curd cottage cheese. 252 cal

Dinner: This is what the birthday girl picked out! Tuna burger with lettuce, tomato, and avocado sauce. I had enough calories for two of them. The rest of the family had pasta salad with it, but I passed. 807 cal

Snack: Two fudge pops. 80 cal

Total for Saturday: 1567 cal

Then for Sunday:

Breakfast: An egg burrito like yesterdays; half of a paw paw. 345 cal

Lunch: Half a Joseph's pita like yesterday; three small eggplant patties. 314 cal

Dinner: Tofu tikka masala; two cups rice. 724 cal

Snack: Two fudge pops. 80 cal

Total for Sunday: 1463 cals

There's just no way to photograph a fudge pop with out it looking...well, you know.


I didn't get any walking in. I can't even count walking the dogs because my dear husband Michael helps walk them on the weekends. I'm not too worried about it, though, because my focus was on making sure that I had everything ready for a successful week of calorie counting. I've got my gym bag with me at work today, so I can make up some miles this evening.

This morning I was rushed getting my breakfast in and getting the dogs walked. I may have set my alarm at 5:30 to make sure I have time to eat. I managed it this morning by taking my burrito in the car with me, but I hate eating in the car.

So the first two days of healthy eating and calorie counting have gone great. The problem is I'm already getting the familiar feeling of resentment that I can't have what I want. I know it's childish. So far, I'm dealing with it by reminding myself that I CAN have whatever I want, but the consequence is that I won't have enough calories for more food later in the day (that or the big flabby body I've been carrying around most of my adult life).

In a couple of weeks I'll be celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary. I've been thinking about what I want to do about that. I don't know where we will go or what we will be doing because my husband is planning to surprise me. That is super fun, but it makes it hard to plan my eating.

My solution is to do what Sean Anderson of Daily Diary of a Winning Loser did when he first started losing weight: add calories and exercise to special days. Sean would add an extra workout and 1000 calories to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll be following his example for those days, and I'm also going to add 500 calories each for Saturday and Sunday of my anniversary weekend. I figure that will allow for an adult beverage and some added snacking, depending on what we end up doing. I'm also going to try to add in a workout, but since I don't know if we will be going away, staying home, going to a hotel, staying in a cabin, etc. I can't plan exactly what. I'm sure there will be some increased walking no matter what we end up doing.

By that time I should have a good two weeks of good habits under my belt, so hopefully staying on track won't be too difficult.

Wish me luck on Week One!!

1307.51 / .5 / 1297.18

Gearing Up for Change

Last night's trip to the carnival wasn't too bad. I was only a little tempted by the food, and the prices were so astronomical that no matter how tempted I was, I doubt I'd have bought anything. I was also able to watch my son rock out on stage! That was fun.

This morning I walked the dogs as usual. I think it's getting a little easier to climb that hill the third time around.

I've planned out all of my meals for the coming week paying close attention to calorie count. I even left room for a couple of snacks! When I start posting on Monday, you'll quickly notice that my breakfast and lunch are the same everyday. Those are the two meals I'm most inclined to skip, so it's just easier if I make them the same. That way there isn't much work or thinking involved with it. I'm picking up my groceries tonight. Tomorrow is Day One of building better eating habits. Wish me luck!

I'll also be posting some measurements soon, so I have a good idea of where I'm starting out. I'm surprised to find that I'm excited about this. I still have such a fear of failure. I really hope I can stick to it. I want to so badly.

Here goes nothing!

1307.51 / .5 / 1297.68

It's Time to Commit

Yesterday, I ended up having to work late, so I was only able to get in half a mile before I had to go home. With my dog walking this morning, that gives me a full mile to add.

I noticed a couple things while I was exercising last night. One was that I really hate my gym. It used to be a movie theater, and it's dark and creepy. It's also geared towards athletes and sports fitness, which can be intimidating. I used to go to a different gym that I liked much better, but my employer pays for most of my gym membership if I go to this one. So paying $5 a month instead of $35? I'll deal with dark and creepy.

The other thing I noticed was my thighs. I have huge elephant thighs. I always knew that. But last night I noticed that with every step on the treadmill, my leg would move forward, and a few seconds later my thigh would catch up, usually as the rest of the leg was going back. I never noticed they move that much. It was freaking me out.

I kept noticing how much my body jiggles the rest of the night. It was the first thing on my mind this morning. I really never noticed this before. I always knew I was huge, but I didn't think I was blubbery.

So I have decided to stop fooling around and start counting calories again. I'm going to actively try to lose weight. This is really scary. I'm already afraid I can't do it. I'm already sure I'm going to fail again. I just want to put it off. I also want to start right now.

As it happens, I'm starting Saturday. There are two reasons for this. We have practically no food in our house right now (except leftover mac and cheese). So by the time I plan the food and buy the food, it will be Saturday.

The other reason is that festival outside my office all week. I've done so well. I haven't gone out there once. I've looked out the window a lot because the stage is across the street, and in the afternoon the bands come to do their sound checks and whatnot. Well, tonight I have to go. My son is playing as part of a percussion group. My husband, youngest daughter, and I will go to see him and spend a couple of hours looking at the booths. I'm not going to binge while I'm there, but I'll eat something because the concert is at dinner time. We will have dinner at the festival, but I'm going to look for somewhat nutritious offerings. I could do better if I'd had time to plan (or buy groceries). Maybe I can talk them into grabbing something else on the way home. I don't know; we'll see.

So I entered my weight loss goals into www.myfitnesspal.com. I've used lots of food logging sites, but I think theirs is the most user friendly. If you want to friend me there, I'm conniebug76. My starting weight is 290 as of this morning. My goal is to lose 100 pounds. That still puts me on the heavy side according to the charts (I'm 5' 9"), but it's less than I've weighed as an adult. I'll think about losing more as I get closer to that goal.

According to the site, I should eat 1570 calories a day and do 30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week in order to lose 2 pounds a week.

Now that I know what I need to work with, I'm off to plan some meals.

1307.51 / 1 / 1298.18

Mac & Cheese Revelations

Well, I managed to stay away from the funnel cakes across the street and the free community picnic (BBQ, slaw, macaroni salad, green beans with bacon) that started as I was leaving work.

I also walked our three dogs this morning. My property is on the side of a hill and is shaped like a triangle. So the first leg around is relatively level, the second is uphill, and the third is downhill. I do okay walking around with the first two dogs, but by the time I go up that hill the third time, my thighs are screaming, and I am panting and gasping for breath. I'd like to improve there, but at the same time, I'm happy that I can get around twice before that happens.

One of the bloggers (Who Ate My Blog?) I follow for inspiration has started using an app called 2Grand. I thought I'd give it a try and see if I like it. I'm not used to taking pictures of my food, so it took me a couple of days to remember to snap a pic of all my meals and snacks. I finally got everything yesterday, so here is my first complete day of food.

I'm going to do this for a while and see if it helps me stay accountable like this blog does. It also sends me a little reminder to take a photo of my breakfast, and that reminds me to actually have breakfast, something I tend to skip. Since using this, I've eaten breakfast two days in a row! That's a big deal for me.

Last night I made tuna cakes, homemade macaroni and cheese, and sauteed kale and Swiss Chard with onion. I picked up the Swiss chard at the farmers' market in the city where my daughter goes to college. I love big city farmers' markets! We have one in my little town, but there isn't much variety there. It's great for locally grown tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and pole beans, but that's about it. At the city one there was Swiss chard, dozens of varieties of tomatoes, bread, jams, locally pressed olive oil, green beans, goat cheeses, organic pastured meats, and more! I picked up some paw paws. Paw paws!! I don't even know what to do with them, but I'll figure that out later. I also got the Swiss chard and kale. The Swiss chard was so pretty with it's reds, greens, and yellows. It was a nice change from the spinach I usually eat.

I noticed something at dinner last night. This was my first complete meal made for the family since my older two left for school. Instead of three teenagers, I'm cooking for one (and my husband and myself, of course). For the first time in years, we had leftovers. We had a huge amount of mac and cheese left. Mac and cheese is one of my comfort foods, and it's one of the foods I talked about hoarding in a previous blog (you can find that here).

Well, last night I had my serving of mac and cheese (pictured above), which is about a quarter of what I used to get, by the way. When my husband put away the left overs, he showed me the big bowl of mac and cheese we had left and said, "I guess you have lunch for the rest of the week!" Then my 14-year-old looked at me and said, "Can I please take a little out for myself for after school? I really like it the next day." They both just assumed I would eat the whole bowl myself, not all at once, but they didn't think I'd be sharing.

That really hurt. It hurt because they are right; in the past, that would have all been mine. I would have had it for lunch and maybe even dinner for the rest of the week. Heck, there have been times I made a big pot of mac and cheese just for me! I didn't let the kids have any! It made me feel awful that my daughter felt she had to ask for some leftover mac and cheese that way.

The thing is, even before my family made those comments, I was done with the food. I'd had my dinner, and I didn't want any more. I had already planned things for my lunch this week, I didn't feel like I HAD to have that mac and cheese. I'm not saying I won't have any. There was a lot left, and if there is still some in a few days, I may bring some to work. But I don't feel possessive of it like I have in the past. I'm not sure why I feel differently about it now. Maybe it's this blog and how it makes me think about why I'm eating. Maybe it's because my teenage son is gone, so I know the leftovers will actually make it to the next day (hey, I wasn't the only one who claimed food ahead of time while he was in the house. Teenage boys, especially 6' 3" teenage boys, eat an amazing amount of food). Whatever the reason, I feel really good about it. I was able to turn away from homemade mac and cheese. I was able to share. That's a big deal, folks.

Today, I have my little veggie tray in the work fridge, I've already started on my first glass of water, and you know what else? I brought my gym bag to work today!

Maybe I can get another two miles closer to Walden today. It's time to make some distance up. This is going to be a good day!

1307.51 / .5 / 1299.18

Review of Labor Day Weekend

I knew the weekend would be a challenge. With a holiday and a road trip, I was in for a double whammy. What I didn't expect was an emotional eating crisis, but then those are never expected, are they?

We had to deal with a rainstorm for the entire 5 hour car trip. I'm not accustomed to riding in my husband's vehicle, but mine wasn't big enough to carry all my oldest daughter's stuff, plus her, plus me, my husband, and our youngest daughter. I also felt like we left town too late in the day. I was cranky, the rain on the freeway made me crankier, and eventually all the women in the car were nagging my husband about his driving.

 I finally told my husband to pull off at the next exit and wait out the rain. He grumpily did as I asked and pulled into a gas station off the exit. We went in to use the bathroom. I made a beeline straight for the munchies. That's when I realized that more than being worried about the rain, I made him pull over so I could get some food to help me through all the tension in the van. That's not good. I just bought some water, determined not to let my emotions pick my food.

When we all got back in the van, I explained to my husband exactly what was making me nervous about his driving (funny I didn't think to do that before things got so stressful). The girls gave their opinion on the matter, too. Hubby agreed to drive more slowly, and we headed back out. We made it to our hotel with no further trouble! I was really pleased that I had recognized and avoided a potential binge.

Since it was raining, of course, I didn't get to do any swimming. I did make sever trips up the stairs to my daughters 4th floor dorm, though. I'm not counting that in my mileage, since I have no idea what that would work out to.

I didn't do any more exercise the rest off the weekend. Once we got home, I spent my time giving the house a thorough cleaning now that we don't have any in-between-semester kids there.

This morning, I walked half a mile while walking my dogs. I have three of them, but my older two have always walked at least two of them, leaving me with just my little Maltese (honestly, they often walked him, too). Now that my youngest and I are the only ones home in the mornings, I'll be walking all three, so she can concentrate on getting ready for school. My husband will be walking them in the afternoon. I walk them one at a time, and the total for the three walks is just over half a mile.

My big challenge for this week will be lunch at work. Even though I'm not counting calories yet, I am trying to eat healthfully and mindfully. Enter a festival right outside my office. I mean, literally right outside my office.

                        



                       

Yes, that's a concessions stand on the right. That concessions stand is open from noon until late into the night for the festival. Starting tomorrow, the street will be blocked off and filled with vendors, some of whom will be selling food. Right there. Outside my office. There's nothing like a little temptation, is there?

I knew this was coming, so this morning I brought in enough food for lunch the rest of the week. This way I won't be tempted into getting a deep-fried whatever. I also have dinners planned that are a little less healthy than usual. The may seem counter-productive, but my logic is that planned is better than unplanned. Also, a lot of the draw that carnival food brings is that it's not something you get every day. Well, neither are these dinners. So healthy lunch, yummy dinner, and hopefully I'll avoid the carnival fare.

1307.51 / .5 / 1299.68