Warning:  Long post ahead.  Four days in one post! 

Well, we finally made it back from our long weekend family get-away and what a wonderful time it was!  I didn’t take many food pictures this weekend but I did document our time with family and friends so I will share some of those!  Also, I will admit right away that I definitely went over my points and indulged quite a bit this weekend but I still made mostly conscious choices and wanted to enjoy our mini vacation to the max!  Here’s a break-down of how things went!

Friday:  Day 24

Breakfast:  We had stayed at my Mom and Dad’s the previous night, so it was easy to have breakfast before hitting the road.  I had an egg and turkey bacon and made a coffee (with cream) for the road.   I consider this a win because normally I would have just hit the road and grabbed a bagel and butter from Tim Horton’s instead.  I am glad I stuck with my healthy plan!

 

Workout 1:  Upon arriving in North Bay, we met up with my first-year university roommate and best friend!   She is home visiting from China and had to drive two hours to meet up with us so I was so thrilled to see her!  We enjoyed a lovely stroll along the waterfront and even got to hear Hedley doing their sound check!

Lunch:  After our hangout at the waterfront, we went out for lunch at Boston Pizza.  I had planned for this meal and had looked forward to indulging:  I decided to have a 1/2 Boston Brute sandwich (toasted panini bread with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and various Italian meats – basically like a pizza sub), a side Caesar salad, and a Diet Coke.  It was delicious, I enjoyed every single bite, and best of all, I got to chat with a long-lost friend!  Lunch was a total of 20 points.

After lunch, we said a goodbye to my friend (such a short but sweet visit!) and headed to the mall to do a bit of shopping.  Then we returned to my husband’s best friend’s place to cook dinner and rest up before the night’s festivities!

Dinner:  We had planned to cook dinner at our friend’s place to both save money and to eat healthier.  My hubby and kids had burgers and macaroni salad while I had one of my grilled turkey burgers, veggies and feta (that I had packed in a cooler and brought with us).   Dinner was 5 points.

After dinner, we walked to the concert venue and stopped at Tim Horton’s along the way.  The others ordered iced cappuccinos and chills (like milkshakes) but I decided just to have a bottle of water.  Another success!

That night we surprised our kids (12 and 17) with tickets to a Hedley concert (for my American readers, Hedley is a pretty famous Canadian pop-rock band).  The concert was amazing and I now have a slight obsession with Hedley going on (especially the super sexy lead singer Jacob Hoggard!) Honestly though, this guy’s voice is so powerful and amazing, and unlike many other bands they actually almost sound better live!   Needless to say we had a blast (despite my son’s little episode of dehydration – a little water and escape from the crowd had him good to go in no time!) After the concert, we walked back to our friend’s place (about a 30-min walk) and then I had to go rescue my parents who had missed their bus back to their campsite!  By this time, it was after midnight and I was literally ravenous.  My hubby had taken the kids out to grab some McDonald’s so I decided to grab some for myself too.  I wolfed down a kids’ McNuggets meal and a Diet Coke which turned out to only be 9 points so not too bad at all.

 

Saturday – Day 25

Brunch:  We slept in the next morning so had brunch at our friend’s house before hitting the road again. I had an egg and turkey bacon with water but also treated myself to a piece of Texas toast and butter! I made my coffee (and cream) for the road though because we had just over an hour’s drive to my in-laws. With my coffee, brunch came to 16 points.

Dinner: On the way to my in-laws we stopped in to say hi to my brother-in-law at his shop and ended up staying there for two hours!  By the time we left, we were all quite hungry!  I could tell my husband really just wanted to grab some fast food so we could get going to his mom’s but I really didn’t want to eat takeout again (too many points!) so we decided to just cook once we got there.   Once we arrived, I warmed up the leftover burgers and decided to just have one of those with everyone else instead of making my usual turkey burger and veggies (I even had a bun!) I tried some of the macaroni salad too but didn’t like it so only ate a few bites (was not going to waste calories on something that wasn’t even that great!) Instead, because it was easy and convenient, I munched on some Quakers mini rice cakes and had a Diet Coke to go with my burger.   Dinner was a total of 17 points.

 

After dinner, we got to hang out in my in-laws backyard which is gorgeous!  My MIL is a gardener and grows all kinds of her own vegetables, fruits, and flowers.  They have a cozy, furnished outdoor living space, and best of all, a beautiful in ground swimming pool!  The weather has been amazing lately so it was a gloriously hot summer evening.  My son and I enjoyed a dip in the pool and then we hung out with the family.  My MIL brought out some chocolate-peanut butter squares for dessert and guys, let me tell you, these things were massive!  I couldn’t resist chocolate though so I cut a tiny piece off and had that instead.

Snack:  So my in-laws also live down the street from Dairy Queen which we don’t have where I live.  It’s a tradition to go there at least once whenever we’re visiting so we headed down there for a treat!  I had planned for this indulgence too, so I decided to go with the chocolate milkshake.  Only later that night when I looked up the points did I realize it was 37 points!!!  I couldn’t believe it.  I knew it would be a lot of points but I was thinking about 20, not 37!  Anyway, I had already enjoyed it (and it was delicious!) so it was too late.  But I will definitely have to keep this in mind next time we hit Dairy Queen!  Needless to say, when we got back to the house and decided to have a campfire, I was able to convince my kids that the s’mores we had planned on making could wait until the next night!

 

Sunday – Day 26

Breakfast:  We cooked breakfast at my in-laws and I stuck with my usual turkey bacon and egg. (Side note: turkey bacon is so easy to pre-cook and then easily warm up either in the microwave or a stove-top!) I made my coffee (and cream) and enjoyed it on the ride into town for an afternoon of shopping with my daughter!

Lunch:  After a few hours of shopping, we decided to grab lunch at the food court in the mall.  I decided to have Mr. Souvlaki since this is again not something we can get at home and I absolutely love Greek food!  I ordered the chicken souvlaki plate which is basically a chicken souvlaki kebab, tzaztiki sauce, rice, Greek salad, and roasted potatoes. I ate almost all of it except for a bit of the rice and potatoes!  I also had a Diet Pepsi with it (I have been trying not to drink Diet pop but considered it a treat while on holidays, plus it’s 0 WW points).  Lunch came to a total of 18 points.

Snack and Dinner: After more shopping (I bought the cutest, native-inspired dress!) we decided to grab a treat before heading back to my in-laws.  I chose a fat-free frozen yogurt waffle cone from Laura Secord but was a little disappointed when I later found out it was still about 15 points!  However, it was incredibly yummy (probably even more so than the previous night’s milkshake!).  Then we grabbed some groceries to take back to cook for dinner (again, budget- and waist-friendly).  My daughter wanted sausages so we grabbed those and a veggie tray and headed back to my in-laws.  By the time we got back, I was feeling pretty tired again.  Everyone was lounging by the pool and although I had intended to make one of my turkey burgers and veggies for dinner, my father-in-law offered to grill up the sausages and then set it out with the veggie tray and potatoes.  Being tired and having dinner set out in front of me makes it really hard to say no, so I caved here and had a sausage (with bun) for dinner.  I had a few of the carrots and dip and some more rice cakes as well, for a total of about 21 points (ugh!) After dinner, my daughter had busted open the cookies we bought to make s’mores so I had one of those for another 2 points.

After dinner, we hung out in the backyard by the pool, visited with family, and had a lot of good laughs!  Later in the night we had another campfire and this time me and the kids made s’mores.  I had planned on having just one but it was so good that I had a second.  By then, I felt so full and kind of disappointed with myself for indulging so much!  So then, when my daughter brought out a bag of chips a little while later, I snuck a small handful.  Between the s’mores and the chips, I figure I tacked on another 11 points to my day.

Monday – Day 27

Brunch: We slept in once again and then had brunch at my in-laws.  I stuck with my usual egg and turkey bacon but couldn’t resist the Texas toast (I had two slices with butter!) I also made my usual coffee (with cream) for our road trip home.

Lunch:  A few hours later we decided to make a stop for lunch.  To keep it cheap, we hit Wendy’s.  I am not going to lie – I didn’t really put much effort into making a healthy choice this time.  At this point, I had that old, familiar feeling of the weekend is “blown” so what does it matter now?  I ordered a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, small fries, and Diet Coke.  It was quite yummy but I don’t think it’s really worth the 21 points it cost me!  (Yikes!)

After lunch, we hit the road again with another four hours of driving ahead of us!   About halfway through I munched on some mini rice cakes and drank another Diet Pepsi (see how easily that habit creeps back in?!) We didn’t stop for dinner though so by the time we got home I wanted something fast and easy.  My solution?  Hotdogs (of which I had two).  Man, it’s so easy to eat badly when you haven’t planned out your meals!

All in all though despite going way over my points and not really staying on plan this weekend, I did do some things right.  For example, I still tracked all my food and calculated my points (even when they added up to scary realities!) I did make some conscious decisions and cooked at “home” quite a bit which definitely saved me from consuming even more points.  Also, I learned some things:  I learned that meal prepping and planning is essential and that it is way too easy to eat crap if you don’t plan and wait until you are too tired to care before eating.  I learned that DQ milkshakes are delicious but still not sure if they are really worth more points than my regular daily allowance!  And most of all, I learned that it is okay to have a blast of a weekend with your family, indulge in way too many treats, and then get right back to healthy eating – which is exactly what I am going to do tomorrow!

And all this being said, tomorrow is Day 28 which means I only have three more days until my 30-day plan is complete!  Tomorrow is also weigh-in (I’m totally expecting to be up after this weekend) and this coming Friday, my husband and I leave for our annual, kid-free, anniversary vacation!  Can’t wait!

27 days down, 3 to go!