Dec. 11: Sunny Saturday

Well, the funds are exhausted.  We have had a whirlwind weekend of shopping.  The nice thing about this is that we are shopping for others.  My girls and I are participating in a work project where we have adopted a family.  We have had the most fun ever shopping for this family we don't know and hoping that they are happy on Christmas morning.  It has been more satisfying than any holiday shopping I have ever done.

We also did a big grocery stock-up that has me looking forward to every meal of the week!  I got some great deals on meat this week and have wonderful things brewing for the menu!

Saturday: Roasted chicken, whole grain bread and green beans
Sunday: Upside-down nachos
Monday: Chicken cacciatore, whole wheat pasta
Tuesday: Leftover Buffet
Wednesday: Grilled chicken pizza
Thursday: Vegetable beef soup
Friday: Grilled chicken Caesar salad

How good does that stuff sound?  I can't wait to eat it all!

Leftover Buffet, if not previously defined, is how I get rid of leftovers in our house.  All the leftovers go on the kitchen counter and we grab a plate and dish out a bit of this and a bit of that.  Then we take turns using the microwave to nuke it and enjoy our favorites.  The kids seem to find leftovers much more palatable when served this way and it makes for a super-easy evening.

Right now, the grilled chicken roasting in the kitchen is so tantalizing that I just want to grab a hot drumstick out of the oven!

During this holiday season please remember how blessed you are to have the delicious food you are eating (or trying to resist eating.)  Remember our less fortunate brothers and sisters, not only at the Christmas season, but throughout the year.

Dec. 11: Off-Plan Hangover

Nah, not that kind of hangover - I don't drink.  But I feel about like that poor polar bear after my off-plan meal last night.

My off-plan meal was in the plan - Friday night, going out with the girlies and having dinner and dessert.  I feel like I ate with complete reckless abandon.  It didn't feel like that much at the time but this morning I feel vaguely queasy, I slept in a awkward position and my back hurts and it feels like I just got run over by a truck.  That'll teach me.

We had Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches - I got a small - and french fries - how I love french fries.  Later we had this delicious lemon coffee cake my oldest daughter made.  That kid can bake!  (Much to my dismay at times!)  We also enjoyed some dark chocolate truffles.  Orgasmic dark chocolate truffles.  Those have been rehomed to the freezer, since making the creamy filling rock hard defeats the delicious purpose of them.

This feels like confession.  I never used to feel guilty after an off-plan meal.  It must be the adjustment - this is the first full week I've managed to stick to my plan (well, mostly sticking to the plan.)

Onward to happy thoughts.  At least today this makes me feel motivated to make deliciously healthy decisions.  After I have some toast I am off to the grocery store to make some fabulous food choices for the week.  I just got paid a nice bonus from work so I'm excited to be able to get some great stuff without counting pennies.

I feel good that I managed, despite all of the temptations around me, to stay the course this week and eat properly 90% of the time.  I wasn't perfect, but I stayed accountable, which is apparently vital for me, and I was way better than I had been before.  I'm awaiting tomorrow's weigh-in and measuring with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I'll be bummed if everything stayed the same.  On the other hand, I know I haven't been as strict as my be necessary and I'm smart enough to realize that will affect the outcome.  I'm far less stressed by not expecting complete perfection of myself, which is a lesson that may allow me to stick with the plan for the long haul.

Dec. 8: Spilling the Soup

Today I realized that I have a talent not everyone possesses.  It's hard to be humble about this one, so I'll just put it out there.

I can turn anything into an excuse for eating a cheeseburger.

This morning I got up and dutifully packed my lunch.  I did my hair (better hair day today) and my makeup and got dressed in something OTHER than that blue uniform shirt.  I packed a healthy lunch of vegetable soup.

At 1:00 I finally got a chance to eat my lunch.  Then I realized that my beloved vegetable soup had spilled all over my lunch bag.  Since I did not have the urge to slurp it out f the bottom of my bag, I gleefully went to the closest restaurant (McDonald's) and devoured my favorite junk meal, an Angus burger and fries.

Over the totals of the week, I'm still okay.  I'm still in diet numbers.  Today, however, my totals are:

Calories:  2221

Carbs: 222

Fat: 105

Protein: 104

Sigh.  Yeah, McDonald's isn't doing my fat rolls any favors, unless keeping the rolls rolling is considered a positive thing.  And I lied.... I did love it.

Today was a better day for back pain.  I functioned all day long on only two ibuprofen, which is nearly record setting for me.  I really miss the gym.  I was enjoying the heavy lifting so much, particularly the results.  This weekend, I'm going to research some exercise options that won't aggravate my back.

Have a great evening!

Dec.7: TMI Tuesday

"Tuesday is a day of the week occurring after Monday and before Wednesday."

I was at a loss for a specific topic today.  I wanted to come up with something catchy, like "Tequila Tuesday", but since I don't drink I figured that would be silly.  When I googled Tuesday, I got the above definition, which I thought was funny in a warped, Daisy-ish kind of way.  Following, if you make it to the end, you will find the TMI portion of this post.

Onward to accountability.

I ate exactly the same thing I had yesterday, minus the thrice-damned tarts.

Calories:  1334
Carbs: 150
Fat: 42
Protein: 97

I love it - pretty close to a perfect breakdown.  Maybe another 15 grams or so of protein, but I'm really pleased.

In case you are wondering what my menu consists of, here it is, good, bad and ugly-ish.

Multigrain toast w/ natural peanut butter, skim milk
Nonfat yogurt with protein powder, blueberries and granola
Chicken breast w/ 1 cup of veggies (today was green beans)
Crock pot beef/veggie soup with a sprinkle of romano cheese
Microwave popcorn, butter flavor

None of it is "diet food".  I'm not getting the smart-pop, light, air-popped dullness that is "diet" popcorn.  I'm using the popcorn to battle my chip habit.  Salty and crunchy is really my biggest downfall but this time-consuming substitute helps a lot.

The other benefit of popcorn is how much it irritates your co-workers with it's smell. 

"Are you having popcorn again?"
"Why don't you make that at home and just bring it with you?"
"Did you know that everyone in the building can smell that?"
"Wow, that popcorn smells really good."

So, not only does it help with the potato chip issues, it provides some cheap entertainment.

On the "Effort to Look Like a Pin-Up Girl" front, today was a wash.  I had a bad hair day.  My bangs looked weird all day long, I got stressed and rubbed off all my makeup by 10 am, and I wore my hideous blue uniform shirt.

I have this problem with wearing colors.  I have a crazy health issue with sweat.  Not a day goes by that I am not soaked with sweat.  Because of this, I wear very dark colors at all times.  It's localized, only an armpit thing, but it's horrible.  I wear a prescription antiperspirant, but I still have horrible sweat rings under my arms constantly.  When I began taking my current anti-anxiety medication, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that profuse sweating was one of the side effects.  Needless to say, this has helped my sanity but not my sweating issue. (This may be TMI - ooh - a title! TMI Tuesday - editing now!)

I told my boss that I had a medical problem that would be an issue with blue shirts, but of course he would not listen to me - who has a medical issue that prevents them from wearing blue?  Well, within an hour and a half of donning the hideous shirt, I had the horribly unattractive sweat rings in my pits.  I walked into his office and showed him, and, will wonders never cease, I don't have to wear the uniform.  But now, tomorrow when I go in, everyone is going to wonder where my uniform shirts are.  How thoroughly embarrassing.  According to my doctor, the only options left for this are undergoing surgery to have the sweat glands in my armpits removed (but I always picture the sweat squirting out some other, equally unappealing pore of my body) or injecting Botox into my pits.  Yay.  Botulism.  I really want to introduce that into my body.  I don't even eat preservatives, for crying out loud!

So perspiration.  That is the "TMI" in TMI Tuesday.  Ahhhh....I knew I'd come up with a topic.  Stay tuned to next week when we discuss some other horribly embarrassing bodily function!

Thank you for all your warm responses, ladies!  You are really helping me toe the line with my plan (tarts aside.)

Dec. 6: Snowy Monday

Isn't it a nice feeling when you think you have pigged out but then realize it wasn't really that bad?  When I was adding up my food today I had that pleasant surprise......

Until I remembered the TARTS.

Dang.

Despite the tarts, the FOUR tarts, my intake was still within diet numbers.

Calories:  1822
Carbs: 208 (eek)
Fat: 64
Protein: 100

Not great but not nearly as bad as before I got at least one leg up on the wagon. (although the other leg is dangling and dragging in the dirt behind the wagon.)  Geez, I don't know what's wrong with me.  Is there a confused smilie?

On to the weekly meal plan.

On Sunday I cooked a batch of chicken breasts.  I found a really great seasoning that contains no MSG.  It is a brand called Cool Runnings and I found it in the ethnic food aisle.  It's just their multi-purpose seasoning.  I sprinkled it liberally on the chicken breasts and baked them in the oven.  Spicy and delish.  Then I made my lunches for the week.

I packed 4 pieces of Tupperware with the above concoction:  6-6.5 oz chicken breast sliced over 1 cup of frozen veggies.  The veggies are either broccoli or green beans.  I heat this in the microwave at lunch time for about 2.5 minutes and the veggies are perfectly steamed.  YUM.

Today I made a crock pot full of soup.  I'm working really hard to increase my veggies.

Crock Pot Beef and Veggie Soup

1 can of diced tomatoes with olive oil and garlic

1 can f diced potatoes

1 can of mixed veggies

1 pound of extra lean ground beef

Seasoning to taste

(I used Italian seasoning, my Cool Runnings seasoning,

black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder)

1 cup of water

Cook the concoction all day (8-9 hours) on low.  Yummy smelling tasty soup will await you when you get home.  Ballpark calories for this lusciousness on a cold and snowy Monday?  80 calories per cup!

Yep, I relied heavily on the canned goods for convenience today. The goods I chose were not loaded with salt and I was careful to select brands without additives or preservatives. Sure, fresh would be better but I'm a single working mom and sometimes corners are just going to be cut. Period.  As long as I use careful judgement about what corners I'm choosing to cut, convenience can still be part of a healthy lifestyle.

Weekly Menu:

Monday:  Beef and veggie soup
Tuesday: Beef and veggie soup
Wednesday:  Turkey Burgers, sweet potato fries
Thursday: more soup (my daughter will be at dad's tonight or she would rebel against having soup 3X!)
Friday: dinner out with the kids - pizza?

I didn't go nuts on variety this week.  Sometimes when I am trying to get into the swing of dieting I do better when I don't have as much variety.  This seems like one of those weeks.

I got up early today and used hot rollers and the entire array of warpaint on my face.  Sadly, my long-awaited, much-dreaded, work uniform shirts arrived today, so tomorrow and every workday thereafter, I shall be clad in a hideous, unflattering blue shirt.  However, from the chin up, I'll do my best!

Keep warm!  If you are living in a wintery climate, enjoy the beauty of the first snow!

Dec. 6: Quick (but Late) Sunday Update

I'm getting ready for work Monday morning but I didn't get time to update yesterday.

For accountability's sake:

Calories: 1430
Carbs:  113
Fat: 68
Protein: 88

Clearly protein was too low.  I'm very happy with everything else.

Back tonight with eats info!