30-Day Plan: Day 30

August 4, 20162 Comments

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve made it to the “end” of my 30-day commitment to myself! It hasn’t been as “perfect” as I had originally thought it would be but it has absolutely given me the kick-start I needed to get back into a healthier, more nutritious lifestyle! In reflecting on the past month, I wanted to share what I thought went well and what I think I still need to work on.

What went well….

I kept track of all my food and points in my food diary every single day (not just on the blog, but I actually have a notebook where I write down everything).
I researched lower-points options and looked up points before eating some things to make a conscious and informed decision about whether or not I truly wanted to have it
I was active at least 3-4 days a week
I drank way more water than I had been
I stopped eating sugary cereal (and don’t really miss it) and started my day off with a protein-loaded breakfast
I cut back on sugar
I really cut back on carbs
I are way more vegetables
I planned ahead for events that I knew would have many food temtpations
I packed my own food when I went on vacations so I’d have some healthy options
I meal planned and prepped food so I’d have something healthy on hand
I tried new foods and new ways of preparing certain foods
I attended my Weight Watchers meetings
I didn’t let the number on the scale discourage me when it went up
I allowed myself to have some treats without feeling too guilty
I felt encouraged, determined, motivated, positive, confident, and happy 99% of the time!

What I will continue to work on….

Seek more healthy recipes so I can eat a variety of healthy food
Continue to cut back on sugar
Plan ahead for treats – look up the points before having them instead of waiting until after
Try new foods and recipes
Obtain a healthy balance between treating myself and eating healthy
Establish more challenging workout routines (maybe start running again?)
Build healthy habits so that they come more naturally and don’t require so much conscious work and effort
Track every single day in my food journal

With that being said, here’s how Day 30 looks:

Breakfast: I finally found a granola that is not too high in points! A friend of mine suggested this Nature’s Path peanut butter granola and 1/2 cup (which is more than enough per serving!) is only 5 points (not bad at all!) I mixed in 1/3 cup Source vanilla yogurt for a delicious and satisfying breakfast (and a nice change from bacon & eggs!)

Since we are leaving town tomorrow, I had a long to-do list today to get ready to go. I started by tidying up the house, doing dishes, and sweeping the floors. After just those minor tasks though I was feeling really sluggish and tired (maybe not enough energy from my breakfast or maybe it’s the crazy humidity?) I drank some more water and took a quick social media/ TV break.

Lunch: For lunch I ate my usual grilled turkey burger, sautéed vegetables (in a bit of EVOO) and a sprinkle of feta cheese. The veggies were nice and fresh (I just bought them yesterday at the market) and were so good! I topped lunch off with some more water and big slice of juicy watermelon.

After lunch, I had to tackle a job that I had been dreading, and that my husband and I have both put off for months – cleaning out our SUV! While away last weekend, I noticed that the filth and dirt inside had reached an all-new high and I just couldn’t take it anymore, so even though it was 37 degrees with the humidity today (eek!) I lugged my cleaning supplies out to the garage and got busy! An hour later, I was sweating like crazy but at least we have a nice clean ride ready to go when we set out again tomorrow! Plus, I am sure I earned at least a few activity points completing this task!

After that job, I came inside and took another social media/water break (drinking water has made all the difference – I rarely drink anything else now, except coffee and a diet pop once in awhile as a treat!) Then I got to work cooking and prepping some food my husband and I plan to take on the road with us. I grilled turkey burgers (we’ll also take lean hamburgers), cooked a pack of turkey bacon, and cooked a container of bow-tie pasta to make a pasta salad with. Then I chopped red/yellow/green peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and red onions and packed them all in individual containers that will fit easily into our big cooler. I also plan on taking: eggs, yogurt, granola, lettuce, salad dressing, feta cheese, coffee, cream, mini rice cakes, and a pre-bought meat & cheese tray (as a little treat). We’ll probably eat a couple meals in restaurants as well and may have to re-stock on groceries next week, but this will definitely help us to save some cash while on the road and will help me continue with my weight loss goals!

After all that food prep, I decided to take another little break (I love the slow-moving days of summer!) so made myself a coffee (with cream) and sat down to check social media and watch some more TV. Oh, I should also mention that I started another book – Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and it’s really interesting so far! I am really going to miss all the free time for reading when school goes back in!

Dinner: For dinner, my husband and I ate leftovers out of the fridge. He had hotdogs while I had some boneless, skinless chicken breast and made one of my taco salads with light Italian dressing. My salad and chicken came to a total of about 8 points.

Workout: We had another softball game tonight (we lost by just a few runs). It was still pretty hot out so it wasn’t hard to work up a sweat! This earned me about 6 activity points.

Snack: When we got home from softball my husband I were both really hungry! I wanted something filling and satisfying so decided to have another 1/2 cup of peanut butter granola and 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt – it totally hit the spot and filled me up! Plus, I guzzled a bunch more water.

Well guys, that’s it! It’s the end of my 30 days! I still can’t believe I actually stuck to this (and blogged about every single day!) I weighed myself this morning and I was down another couple pounds so I’m estimating that I lost about 10 lbs over the last 30 days! I am really happy with that result seeing as in the past it would have taken me months to lose that much! I have already noticed that my clothes are fitting better and I’ve already had to buy a few items in a size smaller! My energy levels haven’t changed much but I think that has more to do with the lazy days of summer than anything (hopefully when I get back to work, I will feel the effects of better nutrition when it comes to having more energy!) The biggest transformation though has definitely been on the inside. I am so proud of myself for doing this and for seeing it through to the “end”. I feel more confident and motivated knowing that if I can do it for 30 days, I can keep on doing it until this becomes habit. I know it will never be “perfect” but that’s not what I am striving for. I am striving for doing better. I want to be mindful about how I am treating my body, how I am nourishing it, and how I am challenging it. I know that that will take work and effort on my part. But I think the biggest, most important thing to remember at the end of all this is that everything happens one day at a time. As I have mentioned in previous posts, in the past I always fell victim to the “all or nothing” mentality. I’d always let one bad meal become a bad day, which would become a bad week, bad month, etc. I thought if I couldn’t eat “perfectly” I might as well throw it all away and just not do anything about it. Clearly, that was not working for me.

So now, after the last 30 days, I can honestly say I am excited and very motivated to keep going! I’ve seen nothing but positive results this past month and if I am being perfectly honest, it really hasn’t been that hard (after all, I did indulge several times in the last 30 days!) More importantly, I know if I keep working at it, one day at a time, I will establish healthy routines that will be good for me mind, body, and soul. That’s the ultimate goal.

30 days complete! I DID IT!

30-Day Plan: Day 29

August 3, 20162 Comments

First of all, I can’t believe it is the second last day of my 30-day plan! Tomorrow marks the “end” of this journey but it is by no means truly the end. In fact, I feel like I am just getting started on my path back to a healthier lifestyle – this thirty days was just the kick-start I needed to introduce some healthy habits back into my daily life. I’ve already started considering news goals. I really like the idea of a small commitment (like 30 days) because it makes things feel much more attainable. If there is no “end” it feels overwhelming and like I will never make it. That being said, as I already mentioned this so-called end isn’t really an end. I know that the habits I am trying to develop now need to stick around for life if I want to remain healthy and maintain a healthy weight. But I also know that what’s key for me in being successful is taking it one day and one step at a time. Here’s how Day 29 has gone:

Breakfast: I only had one slice of turkey bacon left this morning so I decided to make two eggs and have a bit of vanilla yogurt on the side with it. I ended up not really eating the second egg though, so my breakfast was a total of only 4 points.

I only ate about half of these eggs

After breakfast, I met a friend of mine at a local coffee shop where I ordered a coffee with a caramel shot and then added 2 tbsp of cream. I have no idea how many points this would be but I am approximating it to be about 5 points which is what my cream at home comes out to. I had planned on visiting with my friend for about an hour and then hitting Power Yoga at the gym, but I really should have known better because whenever me and this friend get together we just can’t stop talking! Sure enough 2.5 hours later, we realized what time it was and said our goodbyes – fortunately no parking ticket for me even though the meter had run out an hour previous!

After our coffee date, I headed to the public library to return some books and check out some new ones. Here’s a snap of the books I plan on reading over the next few weeks before school goes back in!

Hope I can finish all these before school goes back!

Lunch: After the library, I was starving so I zipped home to grab something to eat. When I got there, I realized that my plan to just live off whatever was in the fridge for the next couple days, was not really a wise one – there really wasn’t much in there! I was too hungry to go and do groceries at this point though so grabbed for the only thing available – a leftover hotdog (I checked later and couldn’t believe that one hotdog is 8 points!) It’s also super hot and humid again today (we’re actually under a heat warning) so I had a 1/2 cup of chocolate frozen yogurt. Not a healthy lunch at all! This totally happened though because I did not plan carefully and should have gotten groceries yesterday so I would have had something healthy prepared for today. Plus, I waited much too long to eat and was ravenous so just grabbed whatever was the fastest and most easily available! Ahh, it happens.

After lunch, I headed to Walmart to stock up on some healthy eats. My husband and I are already planning to pack groceries when we go on our trip and to do as much of our own cooking as possible (as I mentioned in a previous post this is easier on the pocket and the waistline so it’s a win-win!) I grabbed some more turkey bacon, turkey burgers, fresh salmon, eggs, rice cakes, coffee, some deli meat, buns, and diet pop. After, I swung by the market and got fresh produce – mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, sweet potatoes, and watermelon. Now we are stocked up and will be able to eat healthfully!

Dinner: After picking up my son at the beach, we headed home. Once again, I didn’t have anything planned for dinner (oops!) For some reason, this hot weather makes me crave a nice, deli sandwich so we threw those together for dinner. On mine I had a bit of deli meat (pepperoni and ham), cheddar cheese, 1 tbsp light mayo and some mustard. Even though this doesn’t seem like much it adds up to about 10 points (ugh!) Of course, this didn’t fill me up so I just had another 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt (I swear I could just live off frozen yogurt in this weather!!! But at least it’s not ice cream!) Dinner came to about a total of 14 points.

Stupid high in points but it hit the spot!

It’s so hot that I want all the frozen yogurt!!

It’s now early evening and I am over my points for today and haven’t done any physical activity. I missed my class at the gym and it’s so hot outside. I could do a workout in my basement but honestly after a busy afternoon of running around, I am feeling like I just want to take it easy this evening. Plus I have that stack of new books to get through! Haha. If it cools off early enough though, I may try to take my dog for a walk. Otherwise, I will have to use some of my “bonus” points for the ones I went over today. I am okay with that though. Although I am not sure if I will be able to resist more frozen yogurt seeing as I feel like I could eat the whole tub right now!

Well, tomorrow marks the last day of my 30-day plan! I am unsure yet whether I will immediately start another 30-day plan or wait until I am back from my holiday – we are leaving town for 10 days and although we will pack healthy food there will still be a lot of temptations! We are hitting a friend’s cottage for the weekend, Toronto for three days (where we will catch three Blue Jays games!!!) and then a long weekend of camping with my family! I definitely plan on enjoying my vacation and indulging but also don’t want to go crazy either and erase all the hard work I have done over the last month! It’s all about achieving a healthy balance – something I am still working on.

29 days down, 1 to go!

30-Day Plan: Day 24, 25, 26, 27

August 1, 20162 Comments

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!

On the road! My teenaged stepdaughter was driving!

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.

Waterfront walks with my bestie!

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.

Healthy and easy dinner at “home” instead of eating out.

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.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, however I strongly recommend seeing this band live!

We met up with my Mom, Dad and some other family at the concert. Here’s me and my Mama loving the music!

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.

My MIL and hubby.

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!

So many points!!!

We couldn’t keep this kid out of the pool if we tried!

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.

Food court lunch

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.

By the pool

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.

Family by the pool

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!

Everything was worth it for quality time with these three!

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!

30-Day Plan: Day Twenty-Three

July 28, 2016Leave a comment

Well, we are on the road again! We’re staying briefly at my Mom and Dad’s tonight and then headed on our weekend trip with our kids (ages 12 and 17) tomorrow! There are definitely going to be some food challenges this weekend but I’ve planned ahead and hopefully I am prepared for most of them! I can’t believe I am one week away from reaching my 30 days! Here’s what today looked like:

Breakfast: I stuck with what works again this morning so had my usual fried egg and 3 slices of turkey bacon (I keep forgetting to mention, I always drink water with breakfast). After, I sipped my coffee (and cream) while watching morning talk shows and reading. Normally, I like to move pretty slow in the morning but today I had lots to do so it wasn’t long before I was up and getting in the shower to get ready to start my day!

After dropping off my daughter, I zipped out to Walmart to grab some groceries and a few other things for the weekend. I had contemplated whether or not I’d pack food this weekend and finally decided that I may as well. Not only will it help me to stay on track with my 30-day plan, but it will save us some money too! Here’s some of the things I picked up at Walmart: turkey bacon, turkey burgers, mini rice cakes (my alternative to chips), eggs, some Diet Coke (a little treat for me), Pepsi (treat for my hubby and kids), and some small tinfoil containers with lids to pack my veggies in. When I got home, I pre-cooked the turkey bacon and burgers so it’d be easy to heat up while on the road. Then I prepared three of the tin-foil bowls with my diced veggies so they’d also be ready to go. In my cooler, I packed these things along with a few eggs, coffee creamer, yogurt, lettuce, and feta cheese. I also brought along my rice cakes, tortilla strips (in case I want a salad – they add the perfect crunch!), and some almonds to snack on.

Food prep underway!

I pre-portioned all my diced veggies for a quick and easy meal

Lunch: I had to grab lunch on the fly today so I quickly grabbed the leftover sweet potatoes and chicken from my fridge. Admittedly, I kind of over-cooked the potatoes so they weren’t as good as usual and even the chicken wasn’t hitting the spot but I ate it anyway so I wouldn’t be hungry. I had one last piece of watermelon in my fridge so I figured I’d eat it up so it didn’t go bad while we were away but unfortunately it was already losing it’s ripeness. I ate about half of it and tossed the other half. I grabbed a bottle of water and raced out the door to a couple of appointments I had scheduled for this afternoon.

Pretty unsatisfying lunch but it held me over until dinner.

After a very busy afternoon of errands, appointments, and packing we were just about ready to hit the road. Since I wanted something quick for dinner and had pretty much already cleaned out the fridge, I decided to grab something on the road. Before doing this though, I spent some time (while sitting at the hairdresser’s this afternoon!) to scroll through my Weight Watchers app so that I could make an informed choice. I had considered Subway (pretty safe bet for eating healthy if you are careful not to add to many sauces and cheeses), but then decided I wanted something hot, so went to Wendy’s instead. There, I ordered an Ultimate Grilled Chicken sandwich (8 points), a kids’ order of fries (6 points) and a small Diet Coke (0 points) for a total of 14 points. Yes, that’s pretty high for dinner but compared to a lot of things I could have had at a fast-food restaurant it was actually pretty decent! Some of the sandwiches alone are over 20 points! Plus, the burger was a significant size so I knew it’d keep me full long enough.

After our quick dinner, we hit the road and arrived at Mom & Dad’s about 8 p.m tonight. As soon as we got inside, I could smell something baking! It turns out, Mom had just taken fresh banana bread out of the oven! Not that I need to say any more than that, but I don’t ever bake at home so having fresh-baked anything from the oven is a real treat! I had one piece and estimated it to be about 6 points, putting me at a total of 37 points for the day.

Workouts: Unfortunately, I didn’t do any workouts today. I had planned to go to Zumba but then slept in too late and wouldn’t have had time to get all my other errands done. I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not making time for it but also realize that these things happen so not really dwelling on it.

Okay, it’s off to bed I go so that I can be well rested for the weekend’s adventures! I will try to update while we’re gone but if I don’t get a chance then you’ll hear from me on Monday when we get back (including everything we did and everything I ate!) Happy Long Weekend, everyone!

23 days down, 7 days to go!

30-Day Plan: Day Twenty-Two

July 27, 20165 Comments

I am pretty tired tonight but wanted to stay consistent with my daily updates, so here’s a look at Day 22:

Workout 1: I had to be up nice and early today to bring our SUV to the shop for repairs. After dropping it off, I walked the long way home which took me about 30 minutes. Even though it was early and the temperature was only 22 degrees, most of the walk was facing the sun so it still felt pretty hot out! That being said, I had been up for a bit before I took the vehicle in so at least I wasn’t a walking zombie like I sometimes am in the morning! In fact, it felt nice to get out and get some exercise in to start my day.

Breakfast: After I got home, I watched TV for an hour or so before making breakfast. I stuck with my usual fried an egg and paired it with 3 slices of turkey bacon. I am not sure what I did differently today but somehow the egg turned out extra fluffy. It was so good! After breakfast, I enjoyed my coffee (and cream) in the sun on the deck while reading (currently: Wild by Nature by Sarah Marquis – pretty good so far!)

Reading on the deck.

After a bit of reading, I was actually starting to feel really tired. I knew if I was going to make it to yoga on time I’d have to leave a bit earlier than normal since I’d be on foot instead of driving. But the thought of walking there didn’t seem appealing at all (for some unexplained reason both of my legs from the hips down to my calves have been achy and sore today even though I haven’t done any kind of major workout…) I was feeling sluggish and sleepy so I opted to take a little nap instead (we have a window A/C installed in our bedroom and I’ve recently replaced our flannel sheets with cool, cotton ones!) I ended up sleeping for about an hour and it was pure bliss! Although I kind of regretted missing yoga, I certainly didn’t feel badly about taking a nap!

Lunch: For some reason when I woke up after my nap, I couldn’t stop thinking about grilled cheese sandwiches. I suddenly had a weird craving for one (more particularly the delicious kind you get in little diners that are made on thick, white bread and toasted to golden perfection!) Unfortunatley, I only had whole-grain bread in the house but even with that I figured out the sandwich would be about 7 WW points. Seven points is pretty high for a simple sandwich and I was worried it wouldn’t fill me up enough but I decided to have it anyway (yum!) After, I had a small bowl of Mini Crispies dill pickle rice cakes.

Not very visually appealing but yummy nonetheless!

Workout 2: After lunch, I decided to tackle a bookshelf in our dining room that’s needed to be re-organized forever! Carrying loads of books up and down the stairs was actually a pretty good workout, plus it felt really good to finally get that job done. Then, the garage finally called to say our vehicle was ready so I walked over to pick it up (another 15 minutes).

Since I had wheels to get me there, I decided to do a quick browse through the mall. I’ve decided that I am going to do an “emoji and hashtag” theme in my classroom this year so I was on the hunt for items for my classroom and I actually found a few things! I also picked up a pretty cute romper at Reitman’s that I did not think I would be able to wear, but it actually looked pretty cute (I’ll post some photos when I wear it, but I’m saving it for our upcoming vacation!)

Picked up a few things for my classroom.

Dinner: After my shopping excursion, I was briefly tempted to stop at the food court for dinner. As I walked by I noticed someone eating a huge, delicious-looking burger. I forced myself not to look at it! Iced cappuccinos from Tim Horton’s were also calling my name but I an happy to say I headed home without giving in to any temptations! When I got home, I prepared some more sweet potato hash (peel and cube potatoes, boil until tender, them pan-fry in olive oil with some garlic, onions, salt & pepper, and parsley). I had a serving of sweet potatoes (4 points), with my regular sautéed vegetables and feta cheese (1 point), and a chicken breast leftover from the other day. By the time my plate was loaded up, I couldn’t believe how much food there was (I’ve been using side plates instead of the full-sized dinner plate). I ate every last bite and it was so delicious and only 8 points in total!

Dessert: After dinner, I fulfilled my sweet craving with 1/2 cup chocolate frozen yogurt.

I didn’t have an evening snack tonight (unless you count the dessert) but I kept myself occupied doing laundry and working on my long-range plans for school. I often find if my mind is distracted I am not as tempted to snack! Tomorrow, we are headed out on our weekend adventure (more about that later, we’ve got a surprise planned for our kids!) I am still contemplating whether or not I am going to pack a cooler so I can eat some of my own food while on the road. We’ll be gone for about 4-5 days total so I am thinking it’d probably be a good idea, especially since the end of my 30-day plan is drawing near ( I need to go out with a bang!) I guess that means a quick trip to the grocery store tomorrow before we head out!

22 days down, 8 days to go!

30-day Plan: Day Twenty-One

July 26, 20162 Comments

Well yesterday may have been a tough one, but today was a lot better for several reasons. First, I didn’t get any headaches or feel hungry or cranky today (win!) Second, I found out that I am going to see my university roommate this Friday! (She’s home from China but we haven’t been able to coincide our schedules and summer travel plans yet – today we figured out we can meet up this weekend! Yay!) And third, I got some awesome results at weigh-in tonight (read on if you want to know… I have to build some suspense!). In the meantime, here’s how today went:

Breakfast: So this makes no sense to me but today I only had a fried egg and 3 slices of turkey bacon for breakfast (no sweet potatoes) and I felt more satisfied when I was done. Then again, today I decided to have my coffee (and cream) right after breakfast. It tasted so good and it was so relaxing to sip on it while I checked out social media feeds and watched morning talk shows. Man, am I ever going to miss these lazy, slow-moving mornings come September!

I’ll admit I wasn’t very active today – normally after breakfast I head out for a walk but since I slept in and lounged around, breakfast today was more like “brunch” and by the time I was done it was 32 degrees outside before the humidity! So I opted not to go. Instead, I did some more work for school – today’s fun: working on my timetable and long-range plans!

I’m going to be very prepared come September!

Lunch: When I drove my daughter to work today (she works at Tim Horton’s) I had a fleeting thought of grabbing a sandwich or a bagel for lunch. Of course, it was just a little mini daydream though. There’s not really many low-points options at Tim Hortons! Lucky for me, the idea passed quickly and instead when I got home I whipped up my chicken taco salad using leftover chicken from yesterday. With it, I had 2 sizeable chunks of sweet and juicy watermelon.

Workout: After lunch, I worked some more on my timetables before I headed to my gentle yoga class. Admittedly, gentle yoga is not much of a physical workout. It doesn’t get my heart rate up and I don’t sweat, but it does feel really good for my body! It’s mostly a series of stretches, a lot of deep breathing, some easy yoga poses, and relaxation exercises. Really, it’s more of a “mental” workout than it is physical but I absolutely love this class either way! After, I feel peaceful, poised, and rejuvenated – really can’t complain!

Dinner: When I left the gym, I started thinking about hamburgers (does that happen to anyone else? I randomly think of food all the time for no apparent reason!) More specifically, I started thinking about hamburgers with buns. It’s been so long since I’ve had one! Plus, I only had about 25 minutes to grab something for dinner before I had to hit my WW meeting. When I got home, I decided that I was going to have a burger for dinner. I hadn’t planned anything else and by this time, I really wanted one. Since I didn’t have enough time to grill one at home, I grabbed my phone and checked local fast food restaurants using my Weight Watchers app. I thought, for sure I could find a fast-food burger that wasn’t that high in points. Well, all I found was a junior burger at Wendy’s for 10 points. And while 10 points for dinner is not too bad, I knew that tiny little burger would not fill me up so I’d have to have something else with it. Before I knew it, I’d be at 15 points which would put me over my points for the day and not leave anything for an evening snack (or the frozen yogurt I was craving). I decided not to have a burger and instead checked my freezer for something to have. Right there on top was a Giuseppie frozen thin-crust, deluxe pizza. Yum. I figured with it being thin-crust it wouldn’t really be that bad so I used my app to check again and discovered that 1/5 of the pizza (and they aren’t very big pizzas) is 7 points. I’d want to eat at least 2 which would mean a total of 14 points, again leaving me no points for snacking later. Finally, after some consideration, I tossed the pizza back in the freezer, and ate my leftover chicken taco salad from lunch. I added a bit more chicken and some extra tortilla strips as I was wanting a little more crunch. Then I had 1/2 cup Chapman’s chocolate frozen yogurt for a total of 11 points for dinner and dessert! Man, am I ever glad I didn’t eat that burger or pizza!

This is the pizza I wanted but decided against.

I had leftover salad instead.

After dinner, I headed to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. Guys, I am a huge advocate of Weight Watchers. For me, it’s mostly about the accountability. Checking in each week, discussing various topics with other people going through the same thing as me – it’s so inspiring. Yes, we weigh-in every week and I am still not entirely sure how I feel about that. I have been reading more about ditching the scale and I have to say I agree with it in some ways. There are so many other ways to tell if your body is changing and getting healthier – how your clothes fit, looking at pictures of yourself, what you can do physically – to name just a few. I’ve read a lot about women who eat clean and lift heavy weights and although the number on the scale is higher than it used to be for them, their body composition has changed entirely and they actually appear way more fit and thin. Here’s an example of what I mean from a fitness blogger I follow on Instagram (@thesweatlife):

She was 145 in first pic, 122 in second pic, and 140 in last pic. This is what people mean when they say “skinny fat”.

Anyway, all that being said, weighing yourself can be good or bad. When you’re down, it’s motivating and satisfying (because as I’ve mentioned before, losing weight is hard), but when you’re up it can be very discouraging and depressing and sometimes even make you want to give up. So I try not to get too hung up by the number on the scale. However, WW does require that you weigh-in once a week, and guys, I am so excited to tell you that at tonight’s weigh-in I was down another 5 lbs! That puts me at 8 lbs gone since I started my 30-day plan, and 15 lbs since I started back at Weight Watchers several months ago! (I figured I was past 10lbs now because I bought a pair of shorts recently and had to get one size smaller than normal!). I am obviously thrilled with this result! It’s funny that it comes the day after I was complaining about how hard it is to lose weight. And after having had so many treats last week while at my parents’ house, I was really not expecting to see such significant results on the scale (that being said, sometimes it takes more than a week to see results – so if you’ve been working hard and haven’t seen the results yet, KEEP GOING, because they will come!

Perfect message for today!

In addition to all that, it’s just been one of those days where I can feel the results of my efforts. You know when you have a “fat” day and just feel big and gross and uncomfortable? Well, I’m actually feeling the opposite of that today! I feel like my weight loss is starting to be noticeable (at least to me) and I felt skinny today! A pretty great feeling!

So the other thing about my WW meeting is that it totally re-inspires me for the coming week. This weekend we are heading out of of town again and I know there will be some food challenges. But my 30-days won’t be up, so I am not throwing in the towel. Instead, I am going to do what I did last time – plan ahead, bring some of my food, save all my “bonus” points, and make the best choices that I can while still enjoying myself!

21 days down, 9 days to go!

30-Day Plan: Day Twenty

July 25, 20162 Comments

First of all, let me say that I can’t believe I only have ten days left to complete my 30-day program! When I started I wasn’t really sure if I’d be able to stick with it, but now twenty days in, I know with confidence that I will have no problem finishing! For those of you who have been following you know the last few weeks haven’t been “perfect” but I have made a lot of changes to my diet, have tracked every single day in my food journal, and most importantly, have made conscious and mindful decisions about what I am going to eat (rather than just eating mindlessly as I did for so long!)

All that being said, I have to be honest and admit that I had another slip-up last night. After I finished my blog entry for the day, I was feeling hungry and wanted a snack. When I looked in the cupboard to see what I could have, I spotted the nearly-empty bag of Miss Vickies Salt and Vinegar chips my daughter had left there over the weekend. I couldn’t resist, I ate them. I just wanted to eat something junky so badly! I felt slightly guilty afterwards but man, those chips were good. I estimated the chips to be about 7 points (there really weren’t a lot left) which put me at 40 total for the day. Ugh.

Out for a walk today

Anyway, in addition to that, today is one of those days where I am feeling a little resentful and bitter that it takes so much work on my part to lose weight. This a feeling I experience often when I’m trying to eat healthy and stay committed to my workouts. I normally try not to compare myself to others but at times I just can’t help but wish I could be one of those people who can eat whatever they want and still maintain a healthy weight. I know, I know, just because some of these people are thin does not necessarily mean they are “healthy”, but I still really wish I could eat a little less healthfully and stay thin. I wish I could eat things like pizza, bread, desserts, and chips and not get fat. But my unfortunate reality is that I can have those things – it just has to be in really, really limited ways. Sigh. I have to accept that my genetic makeup is prone to carrying extra fat and that if I don’t want to be overweight, it will require hard work (at least until I get some healthy habits established, then hopefully it will at least get slightly easier!) But that doesn’t mean I won’t have days where I just resent that fact. A day like today for instance.

Anyway, that little rant is over (although if you can relate it’d be great to hear from you in the comments! I am sure I am not the only person who has ever wished they could eat anything and stay skinny!). Here’s how Day 20 (wow!) has gone so far:

Breakfast: I slept in this morning and didn’t feel that hungry when I woke up so I lounged around for about an hour before I made my fried egg, turkey bacon, and sweet potatoes for breakfast. The weird part is that I actually felt more hungry after I ate (really have no idea why this would be!) Since I was already at 9 points (which is pretty high for breakfast), I decided to just drink some water and see if I could wait it out a bit before eating anything else.

Workout 1: To distract myself from wanting to eat, I decided to head out for a walk with my dog before the rain rolled in. We went to our favourite walking route – a 2.5 km trail around a little lake just a five -minute drive from my house. On the drive over, I was feeling really sluggish and cranky. Despite having protein and carbs at breakfast, I will still feeling a little hangry (hungry + angry = hangry). I didn’t want to go for a walk and only went because I knew it would be good for me. Thankfully, by the time I made it to the lake and got going I felt quite a bit better. Although it was pretty humid there was a nice breeze and getting out to walk felt good again after not having done it for a few days.

Pretty scenes from today’s walk

Snack: When I got home about 40 minutes later, I was craving watermelon really bad (probably a tad dehydrated after my walk) so I ate 2 huge chunks of it and then chugged some cold water. I am super picky when it comes to watermelon (it has to be sweet enough, crisp enough, and cold enough!) but I have discovered recently that the mini watermelons are usually much sweeter and juicier than the large ones! I usually buy one a week and cut it into 4-5 chunks. It’s such a great snack because all fruits are 0 points on Weight Watchers!

My one and only favourite fruit!

Lunch: After having the watermelon, I didn’t feel hungry anymore so I was able to get a few things done around the house before lunch. I even started planning and prepping for school! (Mostly just organizing my computer files, updating my class lists, and working on my timetable but still, I’m a geek, and it was loads of fun!) After driving my daughter to work, I was getting pretty hungry so I warmed up a leftover grilled turkey burger, sautéed my usual vegetables and sprinkled them with feta cheese for an easy, 3-point lunch! Not too long after I ate lunch, I was craving something cold and chocolate so I had 1/2 cup chocolate frozen yogurt.

After lunch, I continued working on my school stuff. By late afternoon, I had a slight headache so I decided to make a coffee since I hadn’t had one yet today. I used my usual 4 tbsp of French-Vanilla cream and sipped my coffee while I finished organizing my files.

Dinner: At lunch time, I had put a whole chicken in the crockpot (I buy the small ones at Walmart – they can feed about 3-4 people). I put about an inch of chicken broth in the bottom of the pot and cooked it on low all day for a nice, juicy chicken for dinner! Before removing it, I sprinkled it with some Montreal Chicken Spice (which I had forgotten to do earlier). On the side, I made my version of a Taco salad – mixed greens, romaine lettuce, green onions, red/yellow/green peppers, a bit of shredded cheddar cheese, light Italian dressing, and broken up Southwestern tortilla strips (I found them near the salad dressing with other “salad toppers” and they add the perfect crunch and flavour to my salad!) My son loves chicken legs and wings so it works out perfectly since I prefer the breast (also I remove the skin before eating it). I estimated my dinner to be about 7 WW points.

It’s now late evening and I am starting to get pretty hungry again. I am thinking I will have some almonds and vanilla yogurt for a snack. I don’t have much planned for the rest of my evening except watching the Jays game, checking out social media, and reading (currently: Wild by Nature by Sarah Marquis). After my snack, I will be at a total of 31 points, with 3 earned activity points, which leaves me at 28 total for the day. Tomorrow is my Weight Watchers meeting and weigh-in! Fingers crossed!

20 days down, 10 to go!

30-Day Plan: Day Nineteen

July 24, 20161 Comment

Last night while scrolling through Instragram, I came across this post from a fitness blogger I follow:

I couldn’t have identified more with what she had to say after the kind of week I’ve had. I especially liked the part where she commented about not killing her workouts, but still doing them and about not eating the best every day but still giving it an effort. That’s definitely how my week went and although I was a little bummed about it, I am certainly not feeling guilty or angry with myself either. As I mentioned in a previous post, had it not been for my 30-day commitment to myself my week likely would have been a lot worse than it was. Sure, I didn’t eat as well as I would have liked and I went above my points several days, but I was still conscious of everything I ate and made efforts to do as well as I possibly could given the circumstances. I think this will be key in my weight loss journey, especially as I struggle to find balance between eating right and treating myself. I have to accept that there will be days where there will be a wrench thrown into my plans and that once in awhile, it’s okay if I just go with it. But then I also have to remember that once I’ve indulged, I have to get right back on track as soon as possible. I have to stay conscious of my choices and make sure I am making mostly right ones. For me, it’s all too easy to slip right back into old, unhealthy habits. Either way, what @mysweatlife had to say really resonated with me and it helps a lot to know that there are others out there leading fit, healthy lifestyles but still struggling with the same challenges as me. Here’s today:

Breakfast: I know I am supposed to have healthy fat, protein, and carbs at every meal so today I added some leftover sweet potato hash to my usual fried egg and turkey bacon (2 slices). The only mistake I made at breakfast was that I forgot to drink my water so after when I headed out to run some errands, I started to get a headache which I am pretty sure was caused by not hydrating.

After breakfast, I went to our local market and picked up some fresh produce – watermelon, peppers, zucchini, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, scallions. I also grabbed a whole chicken (to cook tomorrow in the crock pot) and some more turkey bacon. When I got home, I made a coffee with 4 tbsp of French-Vanilla cream (I really have to start cutting back on the cream!) and sat down to enjoy the Blue Jays game.

Snack: Towards the end of the game, I was feeling like a snack so I munched on Quakers Mini Crispies dill pickle rice cakes for a total of 4 points and drank some more water.

Workout: Although I didn’t have an actual workout today, I did clean my entire house and all that scrubbing, polishing, and mopping did get my heart rate up and a bit of sweat going! Even Weight Watchers acknowledges housework as activity points and my hour or so of cleaning today earned me about 6 of them.

Dinner: After cleaning, my husband grilled up some delicious strip loin steaks for dinner. Although he made me a pretty big one, I only had half and gave the other half to my son. With the steak, we had Caesar salad (made from a kit purchased at Walmart) and I sautéed some mushroom, zucchinis and onions. A very delicious dinner for about 9 WW points.

This evening my husband is watching The Revenant and I’m half-watching (this movie is intense!) while also checking out social media. I just enjoyed 3/4 cup chocolate frozen yogurt and am now at a total of 33 points for the day. With the 6 activity points I earned, that puts me at a total of 27.

This frozen yogurt is a great alternative to ice cream!

Tomorrow I am two-thirds of the way through my 30-day plan! It’s hard to believe I have come this far already. It hasn’t been as “perfect” as I had hoped it would be but it also hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be either. In fact, I am still feeling very proud and excited about the changes I have made since the beginning of this month! Weigh-in was cancelled last week, but I go again on Tuesday and although I know the number on the scale isn’t everything, I am still hoping to see some results!

19 days down, 11 to go!

30-Day Plan: Day Eighteen

July 24, 2016Leave a comment

After a wonderful week visiting with family, I made it back home today and it feels so good to be here! I especially can’t wait to sleep in my own bed tonight! I’m also relieved to be back home because I realized something this week – it’s a lot easier to eat healthy on my own then it is when I am surrounded by other people! The temptations this week definitely caught up with me a little more than I had anticipated but I am not beating myself up over it because I know it could have been a lot worse – and, more importantly, I enjoyed myself! That being said, I had written in yesterday’s post that if I wanted a snack last evening after eating junk all day, I’d likely have almonds and yogurt, or mini rice cakes. Shortly after I wrote that though, my cousin placed a huge pepperoni pizza on the table and invited everyone to have some. Seriously?! Pizza is probably my most favourite food ever. It’s certainly one of my biggest weaknesses (along with chips, cookies, and ice cream!). Once again, that “well I already blew it” mentality kicked in and I grabbed a slice. I chose a small one knowing full well that I shouldn’t have any of the pizza, but then ended up grabbing another two small slices. Ugh. Was the pizza good? Yes. Should I have eaten it considering all the other junk food I’d eaten throughout the day? Certainly not. Having that pizza put me over my “bonus” points for the week which means I once again didn’t stick to my goal of staying within my points for the entire week. Oh well. It is what it is, I am letting it go and moving on. I vowed to myself that I would get back on track today and so far that’s what I have done. Here’s how today went:

Breakfast: I woke up determined to get right back on track after yesterday’s indulgences. I started it off with my usual healthy breakfast – a fried egg, 3 slices of turkey bacon, and a bottle of water.

Breakfast

Lunch: After breakfast, I hung out with Mom for a little while watching home renovation shows before I packed up my bags and loaded up the car. Before leaving, I made myself a quick plate of sautéed veggies and paired it with some cold, leftover chicken from the fridge. Then I made myself a coffee to go (with 4 tbsp of French-Vanilla cream), grabbed a bag of Quaker’s Mini Rice Cakes, filled my water bottle, hugged my parents, and set off for home.

The ride home is about 2 hours. During the ride I sipped my coffee and then after a bit munched on some rice cakes and drank some of my water. Is it just me or does snacking always make the trip go by faster? I used to often stop at gas stations along the way to grab a bag of chips or an ice cream bar – although the rice cakes do contain a lot of sodium, they are definitely a much lower-calorie choice and kept me satisfied for the ride home.

Dinner: For dinner tonight I decided to try a recipe a friend had shared with me for sweet potato hash. Essentially, you just peel and cut sweet potatoes into cubes, boil them until they are soft, drain them, and then pan-fry them with whatever spices, oils, and veggies you like. I did mine with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper, parsley and red onions. I cooked them on medium heat until they were soft and then cranked the heat to brown them and make them crispy! These turned out so good! This will definitely be a new staple in some of my meals as a healthy side dish. With it, I had a turkey burger and my usual sautéed vegetables with a bit of feta cheese.

Workout 1: I hadn’t really planned a workout for today but after dinner my husband needed a hand with the yard work so I offered to help him out. Wow, what a workout! Having been away, our yard hadn’t been mowed in a few weeks so after my husband mowed the backyard I had to rake up all the extra grass and weeds. Our backyard is quite large so my arms were certainly feeling it. Then he started the weed-whacking while I mowed the front yard. It was still pretty warm out so I was sweating pretty good and was quite tired by the time that was done! Finally, we finished cleaning up a few more weeds, sweeping the deck and front step, and tidying up our supplies. All in all, we worked in the yard for about an hour which earned me 6 activity points.

I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of my fur-baby and the new pillow I got for our couch!

Snack: Later on in the evening, my husband I decided to watch a movie (he couldn’t believe I had never seen the Rocky movies so we’ve been watching them – tonight we watched the fifth movie – not as good as the others but still good!) My husband was very sweet and asked me if I would be tempted to eat chips if he had some. I was honest and said yes so he chose to have some pretzels instead (which don’t tempt me as much). It’s this kind of support from loved ones that helps me so much in being successful! I am lucky that my husband has always been so considerate and helpful when I am trying to lose weight. Anyway, I decided to have a 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt – so good! Admittedly, I did steal two of his pretzels but that’s it! Altogether I finished my day at 34 points and earned 6 activity points which brings me back to 28 total. I am definitely happy with that result as I kept the promise to myself to get right back on track today!

18 days down, 12 to go!

30-Day Plan: Day Seventeen

July 22, 201610 Comments

Okay guys, so I am going to come out right and admit right now that I’ve kind of let this little “holiday” get the better of me and have somewhat fallen off track. I say “somewhat” because it hasn’t been totally bad – for one thing, I am still writing absolutely everything I eat in my food journal and counting my Weight Watchers points. I’ve also been trying to do some sort of exercise every day (although haven’t worked out at all yet today). But other than that, little indulgences every day are starting to add up, and unfortunately today was no better. Here’s how Day 17 has shaped up:

First of all, since I was up late last night visiting with girlfriends, Mom didn’t wake me for the 7 a.m walk this morning. It was kind of nice to sleep in though and I was still out of bed just after 8 a.m (Mom had not only myself, but my cousin and his wife and three kids, and my three nieces all staying here last night so it was a little noisy around the house pretty early this morning as all the little humans came to life!)

Breakfast: Since we had so much company, Mom whipped up some of her amazing pancakes this morning. I couldn’t say no. Instead, I had one small one and was careful about how much butter and syrup I put on it. All in all, I figure it came out to about 7-8 WW points and although the meal wasn’t exactly filling or healthy, it certainly was quite delicious!

After breakfast, most of the gang here headed out on a day trip to Quebec while I agreed to stay home and watch my two oldest nieces (7 and 4 years old). Shortly after breakfast, I lathered the girls in sunscreen and we headed out to the first of three parks we’d hit today!

Lunch: After playing at two different parks, I brought the girls home to grab a quick lunch. Mom’s fridge was packed with leftovers so I had some leftover chicken breast and treated myself to some leftover macaroni salad that Mom had served a couple nights earlier (macaroni noodles, diced veggies, diced cheddar cheese, light mayonnaise). I probably shouldn’t have eaten as much as I did but I decided to just finish up what was left in the fridge, which ended up being about a serving and a half.

After lunch, I brought my nieces to a nearby town where they have a movie theatre. Before hitting the movies, the girls wanted to play in the “big park” by the lake. After a little stroll on the boardwalk and checking out the water, I let the girls play for a bit before we packed up again and headed to the movie theatre.

My sweeties by the lake near the park.

Selfies at the park.

Snack: Since I hadn’t planned a healthier snack to sneak into the movies (who hasn’t done that?!), I decided to just go ahead and have some popcorn and diet pop at the theatre. It ended up that there was way too much butter and salt on the popcorn (even for my liking) so if I’m being honest, I really didn’t enjoy the popcorn all that much. But I ate it anyway, mindlessly munching away while we watched the movie. About half way through the bag though, I stopped myself. Eating an unhealthy food that’s not absolutely delicious is just not worth it for me. Instead, I shared a box of Smarties chocolates with my niece and gave her the rest of my popcorn. I also had a Diet Coke – all in all my movie snacks came to about 13 points – eek!

This popcorn wasn't the best but I half of it anyway.

This popcorn wasn’t the best but I ate half of it anyway.

By the time the movie ended and the girls were loaded up, it was getting close to dinner time. Sure enough, as McDonalds came into view my little niece piped up from the backseat, “I’m hungry!” I knew the rest of the family wasn’t going to be home for dinner and the girls and I were having such a fun day together, that I decided to treat them and pulled into McDonalds.

Dinner: I’m not going to lie. At this point, that “might as well go all out now” mentality came into effect a little bit as I contemplated what to have at McDonald’s. I knew I’d already made quite a few unhealthy choices between the pancake, the macaroni salad, the popcorn, and the chocolate. To make things just a teensy bit better, I decided to order a kids meal (smaller portion). I chose the chicken nuggets Kids Meal which came with a mini order of fries and a small Diet Coke for a total of only 9 WW points (not too bad for a fast food meal!)

It’s now early evening and I am already at 46 points for the day. If I am hungry later, I will be sure to have a healthy snack (most likely yogurt and almonds or some rice cakes) since I’m already out of “bonus” points for the week. I’m also heading home tomorrow morning so I plan to get right back on track and start sticking to my 30 daily points again starting first thing tomorrow morning!

17 days down, 13 to go!

Kelly Malley

Inspire. Uplift. Empower.

Tag: WW Canada