Well I’m back from my camping trip am and now 12 days into my 30-day plan.  I know some of you are curious to know how I did this weekend and I am going to be honest and say I am feeling mixed emotions about it.  I was doing really well and feeling pretty proud of myself until today – and now I am feeling totally guilty and mad at myself (although trying really hard not to because I know this isn’t about being “perfect” but doing the best I can and I can still get right back on track tomorrow!)

First of all, let me wrap up Friday for you.  I had had all my mealsat home and didn’t head out to the campground until after dinner so I still had 8 daily points left.  I had been feeling so nervous about staying on track this weekend because in the past, camping trips have always been associated with a lot of unhealthy food in my experience.  Sitting around the fire at night is an especially dangerous place because my family loves to snack on junk food at the fire.  Anyway, in an attempt to avoid the chips, I ate some dill pickle cracker chips instead for a total of 6 points (counted and portioned out carefully into a bowl so I would not be tempted to eat the whole bag!). Then a little later on in the evening, someone brought out the stuff for making S’mores.  I decided to have one as a treat and let me tell you, it was worth every bite – so delicious and I was pleasantly surprised after to find out it was only about 4 points! (We use the digestive cookies coated in chocolate and then just roast a marshmallow and stick it in between two of the cookies!  Yum!) All in all, I finished Day 10 at only 32 points and feeling really good about my choices and how I finished my day!

 

Day 11

When I am camping one of my guilty pleasures is sitting in the morning sun sipping coffee and reading (currently: The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen).  I started off Day 11 with a coffee with French-Vanilla cream and enjoyed every single sip (there’s something so relaxing about drinking coffee in the great outdoors!). Here’s how the rest of the day shaped up:

Breakfast:  While everyone else had toast, bacon, and eggs, I skipped the toast and fried one egg and had it with my usual 3 slices of turkey bacon.  Water to drink.  Later, my daughter showed up with a box of Timbits (aka small donut holes from Canadian coffee shop Tim Horton’s). I avoided them at first but later they were just calling my name so loudly (haha).  I limited myself to just one so didn’t feel too badly.  Plus, I had avoided sneaking any of the gummy and sour candies my uncle had bought for the kids!

Workout 1:  While we didn’t do any strenuous exercise this weekend, we did do quite a bit of walking.  Most of it was just strolling casually around the campground or back and forth to the beach, but we did manage to squeeze in one hike.  Seeing as we had my four- and seven-year-old nieces, and my disabled uncle with us, we opted for a short (2km) and easy trail (only very small hills).  We took the pace a little slower than normal too.  So this may not have been a major calorie burner but the scenery was absolutely gorgeous!  The sky was brilliant blue and the sun bounced off all the trees and greenery – it made it seem like we were in an enchanted forest at times!  When all was said and done, I only counted this walk as 2 activity points since the intensity level was extremely low.  That being said, it was wonderful to be out in the woods with my family soaking up nature.

Lunch:  While the rest of the gang had hamburgers and snacks, I stuck with my usual turkey burger, feta cheese, sautéed vegetables and a large slice of watermelon. And of course, more water.  Later, at the beach I snacked on some Quaker Mini Rice Cakes being careful to count my portion which added up to 6 points.  A cheese string was another 3 points.f

Dinner:  I decided to splurge a little at dinner and had some real potatoes!  Mom & Dad grilled them on the barbecue in a little bit of oil and they tasted so amazing – almost like French fries!  With that, I had a piece of marinated steak (about the size of my hand), and my regular sautéed vegetables (but no feta this time).   Dinner came out to about 10 WW points.

Snacks: At the campfire, I decided to stick with my mini rice cakes (dill pickle are so yum!) but did treat myself to a mini can of Diet Coke.  Diet pop is actually 0 points on Weight Watchers, but it’s something I don’t necessarily agree with.  Diet Coke has a lot of aspartame and aspartame is an artificial sweetener.  When your body gets the taste of sugar but doesn’t actually get the sugar in its blood, it makes you crave sugar more.  That’s the problem with diet pop.  But since I was treating myself (and since it is 0 points) I decided to have one.  Fortunately, we were out of supplies for S’mores after the little girls had one each, so I didn’t need to face that temptation again!  I finished the day at about 42 points (which meant I used up another 12 bonus points) and felt pretty good about my choices.

Day 12

Okay, guys, here’s where things get pretty bad.  I’m atrying really hard not to feel too guilty about today but it’s hard.  I just wanted to stay within my points for 30 days but I definitely didn’t do that today.  That’s okay though.  The thing about eating right is you have to make it work for life. And in life, there will be days where we treat ourselves a little too much.   So now I am trying to let it go and focus on getting right back on track tomorrow (which I am feeling very confident about!  In the past, I used to let one bad day turn into a bad week, a bad month, etc…. But I’m already feeling great about getting back on track tomorrow so I’ll be okay!). Here’s what happened today:

Breakfast: I knew at some point this weekend my Mom would make her delicious pancakes for breakfast and I had previously decided that I was going to treat myself to some.  I did limit myself to just one although I did also enjoy two small breakfast sausages and 1/2 cup milk with it.  Now, that probably doesn’t sound too bad.  But I didn’t check the points ahead of time and was astounded to realize that Aunt Jemima’s maple syrup is a whooping 8 points for 3 tbsp!  Plus, I definitely had more than 3 tbsps.  So breakfast this morning was very high but at least pancakes are not something I eat often and it’s okay to treat ourselves once in awhile 🙂  In addition to this, I also had my coffee with French-Vanilla cream whilst enjoying the morning sun and my book.

Workout 1: After breakfast, we headed back to the beach where Mom was kind enough to rent us a pedal boat.  Guys, I had no idea, but pedal boating is an amazing leg workout!  First, my stepson and I headed out with my two little nieces in the back.  We peddled around for about 25 minutes and my legs were shaking by the time we got back to the beach!

Workout 2:  After a little break on the beach, my husband decided he wanted to go pedal boarding, so we headed out again, this time with my stepson and older niece in the back.  We pedalled for about 40 minutes this time and I am not going to lie – by the time we were way out in the lake, my legs were burning.  I was sweating in my life jacket, starting to get hungry, and was so thirsty.  That being said, by the time we made it back, I could barely stand to get out of the darn boat!  My legs were trembling and I was exhausted.  Man, what a workout!

Lunch:  By the time I dragged my sorry self up to the camper, I was dehydrated and ravenous.  Dad was already cooking up hotdogs and the thought of getting up to fix a turkey burger and veggies was too much so I opted to have a hotdog instead.  I also finished off the rest of my Quaker Mini Rice Cakes and a mini Diet Coke.  After I had wolfed that down, I was really wanting to have a second hotdog.  I knew I shouldn’t but when Dad was looking to split one with someone, I happily agreed.  Later, when my niece was busy fussy over her sour candies, I happily polished off the last two for her. Not a great choice but what I learned from this is not to let myself get too exhausted/dehydrated before preparing something to eat!

After lunch, it was time to pack up and head back home so we could make it to our nephews’ birthday dinner tonight.  I’ll admit, by this time I was starting to have that mentality of “well the day is already blown, might as well go all out”.  It’s terrible to think that way and I know it’s something I have to work on.  The other thing about going to someone’s house for dinner is I didn’t know what was going to be served.  Sure, I could have called up my sister-in-law and inquired but I decided just to see what was there and go with it.  Unfortunately, even after a quick nap and a shower, I was still feeling really tired (and hungry) by the time we arrived at their house.

Dinner:  Spaghetti and meat sauce was what was on the menu (which really isn’t that bad of choice!) But the Caesar salad and dinner rolls also looked delicious to me so I had that too (although I tried to keep the salad and spaghetti portions reasonable – at least it was serve yourself!). But then, where the real trouble came in was at dessert.  I knew it was a birthday party and I know my sister-in-law makes awesome birthday cakes (and combined with that “the day is blown already” mentality) I pretty much didn’t even think about whether or not I should have cake, I just said yes.  Well, let me tell you, I’ve never had cake like this.  On my plate, sat a gaint piece of chocolate cake, with chocolate icing, covered in peanut butter M&Ms, and KitKat chocolate bar pieces (3 pieces alone on my slice!). Have I mentioned that I am a huge chocolate lover?!  That cake looked heavenly.  I didn’t even think about how many points it was or how guilty I would feel if I ate it – I just ate it (well, everything except the M&Ms which even I will admit, was a little much!) And if I am being totally honest, by the time, I was half-way done that cake, I was feeling slightly sick and way too full.  But I finished it anyway.

Guys, my points for today was over 100.  It’s incredibly embarrassing for me to even write that on here.  I feel ashamed.  But I want to be completely honest because I know I am only human.  That, and I have to remember that for 11 days before this, I stayed within my points and have been doing so well.  One slip-up out of twelve is not something I should feel guilty about, and not something I am going to beat myself up over.  As I said, I am already feeling motivated to jump right back on track tomorrow and I know that is what is the most important here.

That being said, tomorrow we are headed to my Mom & Dad’s for the week and that will be yet another challenge as there will be lots of visits with family (aka family dinners) and friends (aka invites for lunch and/or dinner out).  Plus, Tuesday is my Mom’s birthday so I know I will be faced with even more dessert.  But I’m going to bring along my own groceries again so I have everything handy to prepare my own, healthier meals if I need to.  I will also continue to track in my food journal (as I did all weekend!) and will ask others for support when I need it (my parents were amazing this weekend and totally didn’t mind if I made my own food and didn’t offer me any of theirs).

So there it is, guys.

12 days down, 18 to go!