Finally Made It to the Gym!

Yesterday I actually  made it to my gym! I had some other errands to do, so I didn't stay long. But I managed to get one mile closer to Walden. Woo hoo!

My food was under goal, so that was great. My dinner was pretty high in fat with the Hollandaise sauce, but it's not something I make often. Eventually, I'll pay more attention to fat, sodium, and protein. Right now I'm mostly concerned with not binging, not feeding my emotions, staying under 1570 calories, and making exercise a habit. I definitely need more consistency on the last one.

Here is my food from yesterday.

Breakfast: Breakfast bar. 90 calories
Snack: Apple slices. 36 calories
Lunch: Cheddar, almonds, broccoli, and fat free ranch. 287 calories
Snack: Pretzel chips and hummus. 180 calories
Dinner: Chicken croquettes, turnip greens, and sliced tomato with Hollandaise. 856 calories
Snack: (not pictured) Lemon Italian Ice. 60 calories

Total calories: 1509 calories   Under budget!

As you can see in the photo, I also did 1.07 miles on the treadmill. I'm going for 2 miles tonight. There is one thing that bothered me about my workout last night. I wear a Body Media tracker. I'm supposed to get 45 minutes of exercise a day: 30 minutes moderate and 15 minutes vigorous. As much as I tried to push yesterday on that treadmill, I couldn't get up to a vigorous level. See:

That's my workout at 4PM. My normal brisk walking pace is 2.8 mph. I use 3.0 as my baseline on the treadmill, bumping it up to push myself, and going back to 3.0 when I need to. I thought that those high speeds would push me into the yellow, but apparently not. I've never been able to go faster than 3.3. Maybe I just need to build more muscle before I can go fast enough to be vigorous. I don't know. I'll try to stay in the higher speeds tonight and see where that takes me.

Tomorrow is going to be a challenging day for me. My husband's employer is throwing a huge picnic for all the employees and their families. There will be prizes given away, rides, and free concessions of hot dogs, pizza, funnel cakes, nachos, etc. for four hours. I really want to go and just not think about food, but I am committed to staying on track now. So my plan is to have a very low cal breakfast, a low cal dinner, and use the majority of calories at the picnic. I'm going to eat the foods I'd like to eat, but I'm going to eat small portions, track the calories, and not pig out. I'm going to focus instead on spending time with my husband, walking around and people watching, and getting to know his coworkers.

Wish me luck!

1307.51 / 1.07 / 1288.61 

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

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