1. Planning a healthy and inexpensive lunch with a friend – then time to go to Wal Mart and figure out a new iPod carrying plan for working out!

2. Walking again!

3. Planning menus and grocery list for next week

4. Working – listening to music, moving forward with what I need to accomplish!

So…to fuel all that…

Breakfast:

whole wheat english muffin, egg, lowfat cheese, mandarin orange fruit cup (juice drained – ugh! I hate the juice in fruit cups!)

Lunch:

lean cuisine, veggies

Dinner:

Not sure yet – we are probably going out.  Maybe Mexican!

Exercise: Walk 1 – 1/2 hours!!

And….my facial is tomorrow~ my first one ever~ my first reward for 10 pounds lost!!

Wow.

Oh, and my knee doesn’t hurt! But I’m going to ice it anyway, just in case.

I am way excited! Like way!!

Did I celebrate the goal, and deal healthily with my crisis by doing something healthy (I think a walk or swim would have helped tremendously), or did I go to the grocery store and purchase a bag on Turtle Chex Mix and eat the whole damn thing?

That’s right – I took option 2.

And what did I learn?

Option two does not feel so good.  Not even while I was eating it. I felt guilty, stupid, sick, annoyed, let down and disappointed in myself.  Now, I can’t undo that but I can and will learn from it.

My lesson: It is all mental. It is all up to me.  Allowing outside negative influences to bring me down does nothing to strengthen me.  And most of all - it feels like CRAP and I want to feel good!

I have learned in the last few months that I can really motivate myself to do things by imagining how it will FEEL when it’s done.  (Read Lynn Grabhorn’s “Excuse Me, Your LIFE Is Waiting!” for more on this…awesome!)  So now that I have wallowed in how it feels to choose an unhealthy response, I can choose something different and feel something different next time.

Eating today:

Breakfast: Milk, ww english muffin, peanut butter, banana

Lunch: Lean cuisine, salad

Dinner: (Turkey) sausage and peppers pasta

Exercise: My clothes are packed and in the car for my trip to the gym – dropping the kids off and hubby is cooking dinner, which should be ready when I get home!

BUT

this as of morning I have officially lost 10.8 pounds!!!!!

YAY ME!!! Time for my first reward – although seeing that number on the scale this morning was a HUGE REWARD!!

More in a bit – I have to get the kids out the door!!

I am finishing up my healthy lunch as I type this, defying all recommendations to EAT when you eat and not do anything else.  That doesn’t work for me – the more I pay attention to food, the more I want!

Eating today:

Breakfast: WW english muffin, peanut butter, milk, fruit cup

Lunch – Lean Cuisine (with 2x the usual veggies), cucumber salad (cucumbers sliced very thin, onions sliced very thin, hot red pepper, rice vinegar)

Dinner – Mexican Pizza – vegetarian meal – ww crust, salsa, black beans, shredded cheese, red onion, tomatoes

WATER, Lemon Water after dinner tonight

Weigh loss: 8.2 pounds

GO ME!

Exercise – WATP 3 mile or the gym

My husband is out of town tomorrow night so I will have to work out at home, so maybe the gym would be a good thing tonight. I was up with the little one last night (nosebleed again) so getting up early this morning didn’t happen.

Sigh.

But – just because it didn’t happen today doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow!

I just have to talk myself into it – HOW BAD DO I WANT IT??? RED BIKINI RED BIKINI RED BIKINI!!!!

“IT” being working (and giving 100%), being a mom (giving 100%), being a wife, friend, daughter and sister (giving 100%) and being good to me (100%).

Sometimes, something has to go.  Last week, well, it was everything!

Except friend. I was good at that!

At my conference, I actually did pretty well – MUCH better than I used to do when I traveled. I learned a lot about being healthy and traveling.  I didn’t take or buy a bunch of junk food.  I didn’t eat the hotel breakfast or the conference breakfast just because it was there, and I didn’t care what anyone thought about me bringing my peanut butter and english muffin and banana!

The biggest obstacle for me following my plan was that, in order to save expenses, I had to car pool.

Which meant I ate where everyone else ate.

And no one wanted to drive me to the gym to work out.

And for some reason, when this particular group of work friends gets together, there is much drinking and merriment.

So…the rundown of tips.

1. Come as prepared as possible to eat your usual breakfast – I took english muffins, peanut butter, and fruit.  My friends thought that was hysterical until they saw the lame-ass continental breakfast, both at the hotel and the conference. Then they were begging for my peanut butter! Which I generously shared and acted only a little smug about.  Starting your day with your usual breakfast sets you up for success and healthy choices for the rest of the day.

2. As for conference-provided food – ugh.  The conference provided lunch both days and I skipped it both days. It just wasn’t appetizing.  There were a couple of cute restaurants nearby so we walked there and ate. I was able to make healthier choices – and try new things, Pulled pork with mango salsa – delish! I’ll be recreating that for sure!  But if you are stuck eating the provided food, stay out of the bread basket and the dessert table, and the rest of the meal will probably be fairly healthy.  Usually chicken, a grain and some veggies.  Not awful. Scrape the salt-filled sauce off if you can.

3. Take a laptop and an exercise DVD with you, and decide ahead of time when you’re going to do it.  Or, if the hotel has an exercise facility, USE IT.  The hotel where we stayed had no areas around it that were conducive to walking – and no exercise room – so it kind of sucked. It was very easy to get off track.

4.  Drinking. Sigh.  Alcohol has a lot of calories. Mixers usually have more. I’m not sure if doing shots was really a viable alternative to drinking mixed drinks, but it worked pretty well – and I drank water between drinks so I didn’t get a hangover.  The good thing was that I was the only one who thought to bring food and, by sharing it with everyone, I didn’t have a bunch of stuff in my room, tempting me.  I think the thing to do (not that I did it) is to limit drinking to one night, choose the lowest calories drinks you can, and don’t have a lot of high-calorie snacks around  (Though a little bit of food to mitigate the effects of alcohol on an empty stomach might be called for!)

5.  Take water with you everywhere!!  As far as I’m concerned, water and sleep are the best weight-loss aids around!

6.  Try and go to bed on time!

7.  Give yourself a bit of a break.  It’s NOT easy – no matter where you are.  Do the best you can with what you have, and decide how you will improve next time.
Bottom line – I gained back 3 of my seven pounds, but I lost them in less than a week.  Not all bad, next time I will be more careful with drinking.

Here’s my update:

1. Due to my knee issues, I have decided not to do the Avon Walk.  I will be doing it, or something competitive that requires training, next year.  I am working on my swimming, and strengthening my knee, and losing weight (which will probably help as much as anything).

2. I have lost 7.8 pounds.  I have not exercised seriously in 2 weeks.  Back on tomorrow.  No matter what.

3.  My eating plan has been going well.  I am very pleased with that.  There have been some moments, but I tried the thing where you give in to your craving but in a very limited way…and it actually works! Who knew?  I mean, besides all those experts and stuff!

4.  I am incorporating at least one vegetarian meal and 2 fish meals into the dinner plan for each week.

5. I am also learning to pepare tofu correctly! Thank goodness for the internet!

So back to the exercise…what is my plan?? What is my plan??

I have been waking up earlier so MAYBE I should do the WATP 3 mile at home (saving travel time to and from the gym) in the AM, and swimming or something that I WANT to do in the evening. I know that this would be ideal for me, with my crazy work schedule and family schedule and transportation issues and everything else.  Tomorrow is the first day of school – as good a day as any to start a new plan.

Pasta with Lemon Tomato Sauce and Goat Cheese

1 pound curly pasta (I used whole wheat rotini)

1 TB olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 large tomatoes, stemmed and chopped

Pinch of cayenne pepper; salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp chopped fresh oregano or 2 TB chopped fresh basil

juice of one lemon

goat cheese

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onion in the oil until softened.  Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes bubble vigorously, about 4 minutes.  Season with cayenne, salt, and pepper, toss in the chopped herbs, and cook another minute.  Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.  Drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce, then sprinkle with goat cheese crumbles.

Actually the recipe called for feta but I didn’t have any…so I just crumbled some goat cheese on top and it got all nice and melty without adding a lot of calories.  Also, I threw in fresh oregano, basil, and rosemary, not just one.

1. I emailed everyone I know who is going and told them to BRING WORKOUT CLOTHES!  We have access to a local gym and it’s always more fun to work out with friends!

2. I brought my own breakfast stuff – I brought english muffins, fruit, peanut butter, and we’ll stop and I will get some milk.  I even remembered utensils and cutting board and knife! In retrospect, it might have been easier to get some fruit cups, but this will work!  I WILL NOT EAT the continental breakfast – all those carbs! ARGH!

3. I am resolved to stay away from 2 things at the conference provided lunches – bread and dessert!

Candi suggested that I focus my blogging on challenges and solutions for eating healthy away from home – so that’s what I will be thinking about as I go through my week.

My weight hasn’t dropped as dramatically as I had hoped…but I recounted my progress in healthier living…

1. NO FAST FOOD

2. Very little fried food

3. No sweets

4. VERY LITTLE Diet Coke

5. Whole wheat

6. Fruits! Veggies!

7. Very few sweets (just my treat and I skipped my treat for last week! )

8. Exercise – more than ever!

Progress is a good thing – and the results will catch up with the effort at some point!!