I just realized that I haven’t had a day off of work (except weekends) since President’s Day. That may not seem like a long stretch to some, but to me it feels like an eternity. I am so looking forward to Memorial Day I can hardly even put it into words. And shock of all shocks, I think my husband might have that entire weekend off with me. He usually works weekends, so we haven’t had a day off together since sometime in mid-March. I have to come up with something for us to do. Our last getaway of any type was in September when we went to Vegas. I’ve realized that I go too long without doing anything really fun. I mean, we do fun “things”, but we hardly ever take a weekend and just go somewhere relaxing. So my new goal is to find us someplace to go within a short driving distance where we can just have some “us” time.

As far as the diet thing is going….I kind of feel like crap. It’s my TOM, so I’m already feeling really fat and bloated. I’ve decided to move my weigh in day to Saturday or Sunday, because I know I’ll still be bloated by the time Friday gets here. Also, the husband has military this weekend, so he’ll be gone from tomorrow morning through Sunday evening, so that will give me a really good opportunity to stay on plan and make up some lost ground from last weekend. I hate it when he’s gone, but I tend to do much better on the diet front when I have some alone time.

I know I do this to myself, but for some reason weekends make it so hard for me to stay on track. I’m a creature of habit, and during the week I have my routine and everything is fine. But once that weekend hits, and something is a little out of the ordinary, I feel like I just forget everything I’ve told myself in the past. Does this happen to anyone else? It’s the same for me with holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc.

Anyway, my mom came up on Saturday and we BBQ’d burgers for dinner and had baked beans and too many chips. My mom loves making breakfast, so we had waffles yesterday morning. That kind of did it for me though. I never eat big breakfasts and after eating that I was just like “ugh” for the rest of the morning. I did make one good decision though. We went on a walk and I felt a ton better after that. I didn’t feel like I had the breakfast just sitting in the bottom of my stomach. Then last night we had a birthday party to go to. The dinner wasn’t too bad….we had kabobs with shrimp and chicken and veggies, so that wasn’t too much of a disaster. But I have about the biggest sweet tooth in the world, so I indulged in some cake and ice cream.

I wouldn’t consider this weekend a success, but I’m bound and determined to make it up this week. I don’t weigh in until Friday, so I have four full days to make up for 2 days of letting my guard down. I can definitely do this. I was really down about myself yesterday evening (along with being bloated and just feeling gross), and I even considered not writing on here anymore. I hate writing about failures! But I know we all have those days, so I’m just going to let it go and move on. I hope everyone else had a better weekend than me!

I had my second weigh in this morning (since starting the blog) and there was no change. Not even 1/2 pound. And I’m actually pretty darn happy about that. I was really bracing myself for at least a 1 pound gain. I’m just not happy with the way I did this week, and I think I’m a very lucky girl that I didn’t actually gain any weight. Looking back on the week with the buffet and the not working out, I probably deserved to gain a little, but luckily I didn’t. I think the reason for this was because most of the time I did well. I never snack during the day, because I don’t allow myself to bring anything to work worth snacking on. Then I’d get home and have dinner and then usually a little something for dessert and that was pretty  much it.

Don’t get me wrong. I want the scale to go in the right direction, but I definitely have to work a little harder to make that happen. This weekend is going to be yet another challenge. My mom and her SO are coming into town this weekend, and we’re planning on BBQing on Saturday. Which really doesn’t have to be that bad. I’m going to have a burger like everyone else, but I’m definitely going to be aware of what’s going into my mouth throughout the rest of the day (and weekend). And my mom loves to go on walks, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that at some point. I’m actually really excited to see her, and it doesn’t have to all be about food.

I hope everyone else had a good week and has an even better weekend!

So we did end up going to the buffet at the casino last night. I think the thing that really bothered me was that it was just OK. I wasn’t like “Oh my gosh, this is the best meal and I just want to sit here and enjoy it”. It was kind of like “this food is just eh, but I might as well eat it since I paid for it.” I think that’s what irritated me the most. I pretty much ate the salmon, some salad, roasted potatoes, and a dinner roll. Oh yeah and some apple crisp for dessert, which was by far the best part of the meal. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if I’m going to go a little off track for something, I’d rather it be something where afterwards I can be like “Wow, that was SOOO worth the splurge” and unfortunately this just wasn’t. Then to top off the night we ended up losing $40 at the casino. Ouch. But I have to say, it was nice going out with the husband and just hanging out together.

So today is going to be a different story. I’m off to a good start and I plan to stick like glue to my plan today, since tomorrow is weigh in day. I’m kind of freaked out because of the buffet (plus a few other indiscretions), but I said I’d weigh tomorrow and that’s what I’m going to do. It’s all about being accountable, right? And if I don’t like what I see, then I need to make some changes before the next weigh in.

Well, yesterday turned out pretty average. The husband and I went to lunch and we actually made a good decision by going to Subway. Luckily that is the closest chain restaurant to my work and since I only have 30 minutes for lunch it’s pretty much where we have to go. I had a 6″ turkey w/ no cheese, mustard, light mayo and veggies. It was pretty good, but honestly, I’ve never been a huge Subway fan. After work I went and visited my friend and saw her new 10 week old baby. So adorable! Almost makes me want to have one of my own…..almost. So we visited for a bit, meanwhile the husband picked up Papa Murphy’s for us, which was fine except he got the regular hawaiian instead of the de-lite version. Ugh. So I ended up having 2 pieces of that and was really, really full. The thing I didn’t realize was that when looking at their nutritional information they go by 1/10 of a pizza instead of 1/8. Have you ever tried cutting a pizza into 10ths? It just doesn’t work as well. So anyway, we did that and then hit Dairy Queen for ice cream…..again.

I’m setting 2 goals for myself right now. #1. The next time he suggests going to DQ, I’m going to recommend we go to McDonald’s instead, so I can get their vanilla cone, which is only about 150 cals. #2. I am going to start a work out program either walking on the treadmill or through our neighborhood. Just because my dog’s toe is broken doesn’t mean mine is and I can go for walks by myself. I just really want to see some sort of result on my Friday weigh in, but at this point I’m getting really nervous about it.

Update: Someone brought in Krispie Kremes (my absolute downfall) to work this morning and I stayed away! Luckily they were downstairs and my office is upstairs, but it still took some effort. Small steps!

So finally I was able to control my snacking throughout the night. Thank goodness. I got home and decided to make tacos for dinner. I did end up eating 2 tacos, but they were pretty small. Then that was it….no more eating for the rest of the evening. This is a milestone for me. Usually I manage to find something in the house to snack on. I’ve been making better choices lately about what I buy at the grocery store, and I’ve been staying away from the snack food. Because if there’s anything in the house for me to just grab and eat, I will.

So, I would consider yesterday a pretty successful day. Tonight I’m going to visit a friend and her new baby after work, so it might be a “eating out” type of night. Maybe we’ll either get Port of Subs or Papa Murphy’s….either way I can make it work. Tomorrow might be a different story. I’ve been promising the husband forever that we could go to the casino for their buffet. I’m going to have to make good choices that night, because with weigh in day sneaking up on Friday that’s cutting things a little too close for me. Just thinking about a buffet kind of freaks me out. I mean, what kind of “healthy” choices can you make at a buffet?? Oh Lord, I’m going to have to think about this….

I would love to be able to come back on Monday and write and write about how well I did this weekend, but alas, that’s not happening today. I wouldn’t say I did badly, since it was a major improvement over last weekend, but I certainly don’t have anything to rave about. I think the thing I’m most disappointed in is the fact that I didn’t start an exercise routine this weekend. That has to happen, because I’m not going to be on the right track until I start getting some exercise. I did a lot of cleaning and some yardwork, but I certainly didn’t work up a sweat. I can’t even use the excuse that I was too busy, because that certainly wasn’t the case.

My eating wasn’t really on track either. I know a lot of people have this problem, and I’m no exception: I do great until about 6pm and then it seems like the wheels fall off. For example, on Saturday morning I had All Bran cereal with fat free milk for breakfast, a lean cuisine for lunch, and then for dinner I made a tater tot casserole. Granted, not the best choice of meal, but I always think if I can just have a small portion then I will be fine. Well, how often does that happen? Not often. Sunday was pretty much the same situation. But what’s past is past and I need to look forward to how well I’m going to do this week. I weigh in on Friday morning, so that gives me 4 whole days to do my best and see what I can accomplish. I don’t really care how much I lose this week as long as it’s something.

I hardly ever “schedule” a day to weigh in. I just kind of get up, get ready to get in the shower and think “hmm, might as well weigh in”. So I jumped on the scale this morning, and I wasn’t pleased with what I saw: 177.5. I haven’t weighed in about a month and last time I did I was about 173. So I’ve gained. I can’t say that I’m surprised. Before this week I hadn’t been doing well at all. I was pretty much eating whatever I could get my hands on and definitely NOT making good decisions. But that’s OK, because I am determined to head in the right direction from now on. My next weigh in day will be in one week….next Friday, and hopefully I’ll have a more warm and fuzzy feeling about it than I did today.

Last night’s menu was OK. We ended up getting a Papa Murphy’s de-lite Hawaiian pizza and I limited myself to 2 pieces. I think it helped that we were watching “Sweeney Todd” and let’s just say there’s a lot of blood involved. After that I had about 3/4 cup of Dreyer’s slow churned light ice cream. My mistake was eating all of it when it had been in the freezer for awhile and wasn’t that great. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all freezer burned or anything, but I shoudn’t have finished it. I feel like I ate all of it just because it was there in front of me. I have no idea what we’re doing for dinner tonight. I better come up with something to make, or else I’m going to get “talked into” going out to dinner. (We hardly ever cook on Fridays). 

One more thing….my goal for next week is to come up with a workout routine. I feel like I will be more successful at watching what I eat if I’m working out as well. The two seem to go hand in hand with me. Everyone have a great weekend! 

No, not about food…..for once. I feel bad that I’m at work and my poor dog is home by herself with a broken toe. It may not sound that bad, but she broke it completely through. Ouch. She’s so cute with her little cast though. I can’t wait to get home and take care of her! Okay, enough of that….I know not everyone is a dog person

So, everything went pretty much according to plan last night. We had the turkey spaghetti for dinner, and even though I didn’t measure (I despise that) it was a pretty smallish portion. The other unfortunate thing about my dog breaking her toe is that I’m losing my walking partner.

Now I’ll probably have to get up on that dreaded treadmill, or start walking by myself. I’ve got to figure something out, because I have to have some sort of exercise routine. I used to jog on the treadmill, but absolutely hated it, so I stopped. I don’t think anyone should be subject to a workout that they hate. First of all, life is too short to do something we hate, and secondly if I hate my workout, chances are pretty good I won’t stick to it. So maybe I’ll just throw on my iPod and start walking outside by myself until Charlie is better.

Don’t you hate it when you get up to go to work and it feels like it will be a day not unlike every other day? Then you get a wrench thrown into your day and it pretty much falls apart? That may be an exaggeration, but it’s been quite the day so far and it isn’t even noon. So, around 9:30 this morning the place I take my dog for daycare calls. (Yes, my dog goes to daycare once a week). Anyway, she says Charlie hurt her foot pretty bad and can I come get her and take her to the vet? Ugh. Luckily my vet is awesome and they’re going to keep her until I get off work, and it doesn’t look too serious so they’re just going to dope her up for a bit and keep her off of it. Okay, so now that that drama is over I can write about how I’m doing. Yesterday was pretty good….I only had 2 slip ups. First of all, my weakness is cookies…..pretty much any type of cookie (unless it has raisins). Unfortunately we had some Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies (the ones you break apart and bake) in the fridge that I made awhile ago. My husband promised he’d take them to work, but I got home yesterday and there they sat. So I had one. I mean, it could be worse….I could’ve eaten the last 4 but didn’t. Then we had the tacos for dinner, and I did have the tortilla, but I did only have ONE turkey taco, which is completely unheard of for me. The only other hiccup is that we had some Tostitos hanging around and they were sitting on the counter and I couldn’t keep my hand out of the bag. But I got it together, realized what I was doing and put them away. I would say it was probably a 7 out of a 10 day for me. Today should be better. We’re having spaghetti with ground turkey for dinner, and instead of my absolutely favorite garlic bread, we’re having reduced fat crescent rolls (which are surprisingly good). Well, back to work (and worrying about my poor puppy).