The Truth Of Tuesday Night

Let's just get down to numbers shall we?

It's a bit later than usual and the hot tub is calling my name!

Last week: 255.50 lbs

This week: 254.25 lbs

That is a loss of 1.25 lbs!

Yippee Skippy for me!

I had hoped for more...my week was going pretty well until about Thursday.  Then my foot trouble kicked in.  My foot pain also caused some knee pain and it has put me off of exercise until things are healed up.  My feet feel fantastic now, the orthotics worked wonders.  The knee was feeling better tonight and I was able to walk to my meeting.  I am hoping I am good to walk on the treadmill tomorrow night at least.  I think I will leave running until Friday.

Here's to another good week for me and everyone else trying!

Weekend Wrap Up!

Well, I was able to find time to blog tonight.

I am off the treadmill for a few days.  My foot is really bothering me and I have to get that all fixed up before I go at it again.  I was so disappointed.  I had gotten myself back on track, the scales at home are showing a good loss.  But on Friday...I finally had enough with the foot pain.  I had to go to work and "whine" to my boss.

For those of you who don't know...I work at an office that makes Custom Foot Orthoses, so it is VERY silly for me to have sore feet!  My boss quickly cast me for the orthotics and worked REALLY hard to have them for me before we went home that day.  It's usually a 3 week turn around time...but for a stellar employee, such as myself, same day service!

They need some adjusting, so I haven't gotten a chance to use them yet.

So, I thought I would give a quick garden update.

It's doing SO well this year.  I had a big problem with it, that you can read about on my other blog, here!

I have 5 plants and they are LOADED with fruit!

This haul I passed off to the neigbour!
Last batch went to the daycare

Romaine Lettuce....almost done!

Green Peppers

Carrots

Second last hill of potatoes
(sniff sniff)

I hope if you have a garden it grew well for you this year.

If you live around me and feel like a tomato...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE just stop and grab a couple...I mean it!

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

Ok, so I know you might be getting tired of this title, but what can I say?

It represents what Tuesday means to me.  It's "Judgement Day"...the day where I see either how well or poor I have done.

I have said it a couple times over the last week.

HOLIDAYS ARE HARD!!!!

I let myself get off track and am just now getting back on.

I knew I would not see great results on the scale as I hadn't really tried my hardest until about Sunday.

I vouched that starting Monday, I would cut back on sweets and stuff and monitor what I ate and exercise more.

With no further hesitations...

Last week: 255.50 lbs
This week: 255.50 lbs

Thank goodness!  I suspect my couple days of staying focused is what made this happen.

On a brighter note...today I had 6 people compliment me on my weight loss so far.

Firstly, one of Abby's daycare teachers told me how amazing I look!  What a great way to start your day and it's not the first time she has said this!  It's fantastic to hear that from someone, especially when you can't see the changes yourself.

Then tonight, I left the house early enough to walk with some of my TOPS group members.  They too said they saw me walking down the road and had to wonder for a moment if it was me and how good I was looking.

THEN,

on my way out of the church tonight, one more member told me I was looking thinner.  She drove by as the group of us was out walking and she wasn't 100% sure if I was with them because she couldn't tell if it was me or not.

Compliments are a funny thing!  I love giving them and it makes me feel so great.  I don't know how to receive them well though.  I am getting better at it and now say "thanks...I am working really hard at it"

I will also admit that I am not one to GIVE compliments.  Partly I think because I just assume everyone reacts the same way I do....with that in mind, why would I not think that it would make their day for someone to notice the changes in them.

So, tell ya what....if you know someone working to lose weight...tell them they look good if you notice!

I also said I would start tracking food and do a food diary...instead I will just quickly breakdown calories in vs. calories out.

Calories In: 1444
Calories Out: 164
Results: 396 under

Until next time,

Amy

Goal Review

On July 9th, I set myself a mini goal.

It was to lose 30lbs by Christmas.

Since I made that goal, I haven't actually reviewed how I was doing at all.

So that is what I did tonight.

Let's see shall we?

July 4: 263.25 lbs
August 14: 255.50 lbs

That is a loss of 7.75 lbs.

It's not too bad, but I was hoping to lose 2lbs a week, which means I am about 3 lbs behind.

This is back to my week of focus.  Holidays are all over for everyone.  The treadmill has been dusted off.  Fruit has been bought and lunch made.

I can't wait.  It might be too late for the scales this Tuesday, but I will be happy with a small loss, but next Tuesday?  Watch out!  Maybe I can do another 5 pounder!!

It's THURSDAY!

Let me tell ya, that first week back from holidays is the WORST!

Especially when you husband is still off and you are not!

This week has dragged on F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!!!!

Plus, all of my good intentions for food have gone downhill this week!

I have decided to forgo the food diary details for the rest of the week and focus on it again for Monday!  I know, that is not really the attitude to have, but that does not mean I am giving up and pigging out this week, I just want to report on a week that has me real focused without the distractions of holidays in there.

I tried a new recipe tonight for lunches.

I have looked and looked at this recipe on Pinterest for quite some time, but never went further than the picture. But today, in my attempt to make a healthy lunch each day, I thought I would try it, as it would give me an alternative for protein without TONS of calories.

I was a little nervous, because I intended to make my own changes for this. I am not usually very good at that....subbing in my own things and have it turn out, but I would say it was not too bad.

Here are my changes and some photos of the Mini Chicken Pot Pies I made:

First off, gather your ingredients (I forgot a few things, like cheese and eggs, but you get the idea).  The original had you cooking your own chicken and using only chicken broth, plus some veggies.  I instead bought a cooked chicken from the grocery store and also wanted to add some Cream of Chicken soup

I chopped up all the chicken and almost had enough...I ended up with about 10 oz.

I lightly cooked some onion in a little bit of margarine and mixed together 1/2 cup of Cream of Chicken Soup and 1/2 cup of Chicken Broth.  I combined the mixture with my chicken and then added that to my frying pan with onions.  I let that simmer away for about 5 minutes and let it cool.    I also sprinkled in some garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and fresh pepper.

I then grated some Light old chedder and added it to the chicken mixture once it was good and cool.

I then mixed up the biscuit mixture.  It consisted of 1/2 cup bisquick, I substituted the 2 eggs with egg substitute.  Two reasons for this...one, I had it in the fridge and have never used it before, so I wanted to know how it would work out.  Second....using it allowed me to cut out about 120 calories, which would make up for the added calories by using the Cream of Chicken soup.   Add 1/2 milk too.  I again also added a bit of garlic powder, onion powder and thyme.

Once they were assembled and baked, as per the original recipe, they looked like this:

They smelled really good while cooking and I had to sample the one that fell apart when it came out of the oven...not bad...I forgot to add salt and I felt they did need a little bit.  They did not come out of the pan too easily, but that's ok.  I am hoping they will freeze well.

If my math is correct, each one is 114 calories. Perfect for my lunch budget and it's something different!

As for lunch today, well, why don't we take a quick peek at to what I took:

I have a couple pepperoni sticks, some almonds, cheese string, grapes, pretzels, mini rice cakes, cucumber and dip.

This is my "breakfast" dish.  It has a Fibre 1 bar, greek yogurt, 2 peaches and a chocolate pudding.  The pudding was for lunch, but it didn't fit in the lunch dish...not that it really matters when you eat it....the result is still the same.  I did not end up eating the peaches....but I need to start...they will spoil soon!

So, what was in your lunch?  Any recipes you want to share for an awesome little lunch?

Until next time,

Amy

Wicked Wednesday

Today was great....not necessarily from a nutritional point of view, but from a fun family day it was!

It was my usual day off from work today but it was also my husband's last week of holidays so we decided to take advantage of our last day together mid-week.

We surprised the kids by taking them to the Toronto Zoo.  The kids had NO idea where we were headed and Hayden didn't figure it out until we got to the gate.  We were there for when the zoo opened at 9:30 and finally left at 3:30.

Let me tell ya.....I was very lucky that my feet carried me to the van.

While I could have probably done better with my eating plan for the day, here is the breakdown anyway:

Breakfast:  (1385 calories)

• Bacon Belt
• Lemon Cranberry Muffin
• 7 timbits
• 1/2 Cappuccino

Lunch:  (1140 calories)

• Bacon Cheeseburger
• Medium Fries
• Small Sprite
• 2 Juices

Dinner:  (531 calories)

• 1 1/2 toasted tomato sandwich
• nachos and salsa

Exercise:  (1460 calories)

• 6 hours of walking

In summary:

Calories In:  3235

Calories Out: 1460

Over by 99 calories 

I don't feel too bad about this...I actually think it probably evened it self out better than that, but I guessed with the calories for some items and I always try to guess on the high side.

So there you have it...hoping for a PERFECT day tomorrow!

Until next time,

Amy

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

And today's food diary!

Well, it was my first meeting and weigh in since before we went to Ottawa and holidays started.  I was a bit apprehensive about it....being pretty sure I was going to be up.  Part of me contemplated not even going and working hard for a week, but I put on my big girl panties, hiked them up to my armpits and took off for the meeting.

I got out of the house early enough to meet up with the ladies who walk around the block before the meeting, so that was a nice change.

The reason I was pretty sure I was up (aside from my lack of exercise and over abundance of food) was that we bought ourselves a set of scales for home.  Up until now, we didn't own a set.  I bought a Weight Watchers Brand for this reason..I had bought a set for a contest prize and the member who won them said they were pretty much bang on to the scales at TOPS.

So, I weighted myself just before I walked down and they read 258.50 lbs.  I wasn't surprised, but disappointed in myself none the less.

So officially...totals for this week:

Last weigh in: (July 31) - 255.75 lbs
This week: 255.50 lbs

Yeppers!  That is a LOSS!  I will take that quarter of a pound thank you very much!

That means, the scales at home are off by about 3 lbs.  Now that I know that, I can use it as a judge to how my week is going.

As for the food diary....there is a lot of food on it, but small quantities.  I'm still pretty excited about my lunch container and the food I packed in it, that I can barely contain myself until it's time to eat it. (which is an oddity...I hate breakfast and lunches..or rather ones that are not prepared and eaten at home....I am NOT a sandwich girl!)

This is my breakfast container.  I have a Greek yogurt (90 calories) , bar (100 calories)  and the fixings for a mini bagel egg sandwich.  I has some liquid egg in the fridge.  Each 1/4 serving is 30 calories. I put one serving in muffin cups and baked them in the oven.  I left one out and froze the other 7.  I am not sure how they will be after they come out of the freezer.   I also found these cute little mini bagels that are 100 calories.  They are smaller but still give you the satisfaction of the thick chewy bagel. With a thin slice of cheese (60 calories), the whole mini sandwich would be 190 calories.  I ended up passing on the egg...it was a southwest blend with peppers, etc. and in the end I just couldn't do it.  Perhaps with the plain egg.

In total: 340 calories

Now for the lunch part, working left from right:

• 60 grams of Honey Maple Turkey Breast - 68 calories
• 1 light Mini Babybel Cheese - 50 calories
• 25g Almonds - 150 calories
• 1/2 cup grapes - 31 calories
• 1/2 cup raspberries - 32 calories
• 1/2 cup cucumber - 8 calories
• Veggie Dip - 40 calories
• 12 mini rice cakes - 90 calories

In total: 521 calories

I had a toasted tomato sandwich and some more almonds when I got home instead of dinner with the family.

• Sandwich, including bread, butter and tomato - 267 calories
• Almonds - 300 calories

In total: 567 calories

Then after I got home, I had another mini dinner.

• 1 light Mini Babybel Cheese - 50 calories
• 1/2 cup grapes - 31 calories
• 9 pita crackers - 120 calories
• 2 pepperoni sticks - 140 calories

In total: 341 calories

The total intake for the day: 1769 calories

Calories burned: 128 calories

Net loss: 35 calories

All in all, not a bad holiday or day!

Back On Track - Sorta!

So, I vowed today I would get back on track!

Then it turns out to be one of those days that goes to hell in a hand basket.

I made a great attempt, really I did!

I packed my lunch on Sunday...all excited to use my new lunch dishes and try a couple new snacks.  It looked healthy and appealing!  I couldn't wait for lunch actually!

Let me show you around:

(From left to right)

• left over ham steak
• pretzels
• Fibre 1 bar
• grapes
• raspberries
• cucumber
• dip
• greek yogurt
• babybel cheese
• crystal light

This actually is both breakfast and lunch.  The yogurt and bar for breakfast and the rest for lunch.

It was about 640 calories, which is about what I like to have each day for both meals.  That leaves me with about 1000 calories for dinner.  It's the meal I most enjoy each day, so I try to make sure I can.

However today, it was not enough.  I was hungry by 2.  My plan, to go home and have a toasted tomato sandwich.

That is what I did.  I had 2 slices of light bread with a couple slices of tomato to tie me over for dinner.  Brian wasn't going to be home, so I could have what I wanted.

Dinner was pasta with plain tomato sauce and with some Parmesan cheese, totaled in at about 784 calories.

I was about right on track.  From there though, it went all downhill

Abby wasn't quite herself at bedtime and I got her tucked in finally at 7:30.  I jumped in the tub and she just cried in bed that her tummy hurt.

I got out and had a little cuddle with her on the couch.  She was just drifting off when I put her back to bed.  She woke up right away, saying she was going to be sick.  So, she ran to the bathroom and was indeed sick (this is a very common thing for her, so don't feel too bad for her...just feel bad for me, as it's normally Brian's job to clean up, but he wasn't home)

I brought her back for another little cuddle and hoped to get her back to bed by 8:30 so I could go for my intended run.

NO LUCK!  Brian came home closer to 9 and she finally allowed us to tuck her in about 9:30.

I didn't really stop eating either...I had another bar, some of Brian's left over french fries and just now, a good handful of candy!

ARG!  

It really is so hard to get back on track!

Lunch is made again for tomorrow and I packed more food.  I need to fill myself enough to last until about 8:30.  I try not to eat dinner on Tuesday nights before my weigh in.  I never used to bother with this, just ate with the family, but started feeling full and bloated and thought I would try this method instead.  It's a hard adjustment.

I am very ashamed to say, I was over my calorie intake by a whopping 773 calories!!!!!

I had already told myself today, I will do another posted food diary to make myself accountable and get back on track!  What a way to start!

Kick me now people!

Tomorrow I will do better!

Until next time,

Amy

Holiday Failure!

Ok, I will just admit it right now!

The past 2 weeks have not been my best!

I have been on holidays and I think I took it a bit too literal!

I was on vacation from work....not everything else....but somehow, that memo didn't get passed on!

This past week was my worst.  I didn't watch what I ate at all, NOR did I exercise.  We went on a family vacation to Ottawa (you can read about it here) and that meant 2 days of eating out.  I don't however think that would be the root of my problem.  We only ate about twice a day there and were SO busy with museums and swimming that I suspect it evened itself out.  It was the days before and after that have been my downfall.  I finally purchased myself a scale for home and if I go with the belief that it weighs the same as the one at my meeting, I am up about 3-4 pounds! (as I hang my head in shame!)

It's amazing how fast you can get off track!  I was getting to the point where I didn't crave sweets so much, didn't feel so hungry all the time and looked forward to the treadmill.  The reverse is now the complete truth!

I wanted chocolate so bad today I ate chocolate chips! (wasn't the RIGHT chocolate, btw!)

I am looking forward to Monday.  That is the day I will be back on track for sure.  I'm back to work and my food intake will be limited to healthy options.  I even bought myself some new lunch containers, with little dividers, etc.  I will also be back on the treadmill, sweating buckets and cursing myself for the week off!

If you have fallen "off the wagon", why don't you join me on Monday and get yourself back on track!

On a side note, my garden is doing well, see?

This was last week, early in the week.  Potatoes are ready, carrots are little but still good to cook.  Tomatoes were starting and beans were just finished.

When I got home from Ottawa, this is what I got to pick:

Holy tomatoes Batman!  There are still a couple I can pick in another day or so and about 4 more just starting to turn.  To think...I am the only one that eats them too!

Until next time,

Amy

Freedom!

Today I did something that was both frightening and liberating!

I went through my closet and got rid of all of the clothes that are too big.

I have always heard you should do this, but in the past, that has always been too scary!

My reasoning....clothes are expensive and what if I put the weight back on....I will NEED those!

Guess that is the point of getting rid of them right?  If your clothes don't quite fit, you have two options:

1. spend a small fortune to buy more
2. work hard until the clothes feel comfy again

After I cleaned out the closet and bagged it all up...I went RIGHT to the computer to list them.  I knew if I put it off, that it would never get done.

I had a reply within half an hour and at that point, there was no turning back and I was committed!

It's going to be nice to not have those items taking up space!