First up - check out this post on my recipe blog for Melt and enter us both to win a $500 giveaway! You have until November 30th to enter! Go enter the giveaway and then come back here. :-)
Now that you have the prospect of winning $500, I can tell you that I had a crummy week. All around crummy.
I ate bread. Lots of bread. I can't blame Thanksgiving, we don't have the traditional gorge fest so it had nothing to do with that. The 4 day weekend threw me but I wasn't doing too well before that either.
All eating bread does is make you crave more bread. So for the last few days, I wake up telling myself that I am not going to do it and then I find myself with 3 dinner rolls sopping up the leftover spaghetti sauce off my kids' plates. Now I'm going to wake up tomorrow wanting to do the same. I'm hoping that with the routine back to normal (and the dinner rolls gone) that we can get back to gluten free. All I get from the bread is a whopping headache and a gut that feels like it is going to explode.
Weight: Honestly, I didn't even look. I wasn't purposely avoiding, I just didn't care. Yea, not good.
Exercise: Decent. I've been consistently getting in 3 runs/walks a week but the last couple of weeks have been only 2 per week. It's getting cold and a few days have been icy. All in all, it's been a gorgeous fall in Minnesota and I'm thankful that I am still able to run outside at all. My run tonight went well. I'm planning to go out Tuesday and Thursday night this week as well.
Water: Eh. Not as good as I would like. The bread is soaking it all up. :-)
Well, if this were a challenge about maintaining your weight, then I would win, hands down. At the beginning of the week I had some swelling and I gained like 5 lbs. Odd, now it's back down. I was actually hoping it would be down as I felt I did good this week. I tracked and planned. I went off track a couple of times but nothing major. Ok, Mir wants a number, it's still hovering around 220. I'll break in the teens and then hop back up.
One day was kinda funny. I was in the mood to eat something sweet, so I started rummaging through the fridge and cupboards looking for "something". Then realizing that yogurt or fruit were about the sweetest things here, I just gave up. It so helps not to have junk in the house. Oh, I did steal a few spoonfuls of ice cream at some point this week. Ice cream isn't a big trigger for me so I do sometimes keep it in the house for the kids.
Water is continuing to be bad. I've been consistently bad with water the last few weeks. I'm not sure why. hmm... Gotta work on that.
Exercise is still good. We got our first snow so running outside won't be happening much anymore. Too bad as I hate the treadmill. Guess I'll have to get used to it for the winter. The snow should be gone by Tuesday so hopefully I can get a couple of runs in this week before we get more.
End of the year paperwork is creeping up on me so it's getting busy. Plus, I'm super behind in writing up recipes and organizing photos on my other blog so I haven't had time to really focus on this one.
So what are your plans for avoiding the holiday pies?? :-)
I didn't feel like posting this week. I did still plan and keep track, just not on the blog. I tried out a couple of online sites and tried it some different ways but really, I do better with just a notebook on my desk, really. There is something to be said about seeing it in print on the screen that does make it a bit more real but yet, the pen and paper work.
I had a decent week, still ended up eating about 300 - 400 more calories than planned each day. Grr.
Weight: I'm up a pound, I ate weird stuff on Saturday but hopefully the scale won't reflect the junk too bad.
Water: Actually, I had a bad week on water. It had become habit to drink a ton of water but I've slowly been going downhill on that. I have a post it note on my desk reminding me to drink!
Exercise: Pretty much the same. Still running. I can't believe how long I am running! I'm still running pretty darn slow but I'm running for longer and longer each week. I'll work on speed later. I can't go to my weight training class for the next two weeks so I have to do that at home. Shouldn't be a problem.
Let's hope for an awesome week!!
Ok, confession time.
The whole week went great. Really great. Saturday morning I showed a 2 lb. + loss, despite me eating too much on Friday night. Then I lost it. Saturday started good. We has a great morning out in service, then took 3 extra kids to The MN Science Museum and stayed there all day. Then we brought pizza and breadsticks home. And cookies. All of course with gluten.
Sigh. I indulged.
Only because they smelled so good, I wasn't even overly hungry. The stupid thing, is the mentality that, "Oh well, I already had a piece of pizza and a breadstick, I might as well have more. I already had a cookie, I might as well have 2 more." It was like I knew my body was already contaminated with the gluten so I might as well go all out. Ya, I know, it doesn't make sense. I didn't horribly binge or anything but I ate way too much and of course now I feel this brick of gluten in my belly. Plus, the bread cravings are right back now. Normally leftovers don't appeal to me but of course the leftover pizza and breadsticks in the fridge are driving me mad.
Self inflicted torture. That is what this is. I KNEW what would happen. Yet, I did it anyways.
I'm sticking with the 2 lb. loss and hopefully after a couple of days of getting this crap out, we'll be back on track.
**Ok, if you've been reading all this, I should tell you. I wrote the above this morning and never got around to finishing it. Now, it's 7:30 pm, I just finished my run for Brad's challenge AND, I just started my period.
Hmmm...
I hate to place blame on why I indulged in pizza this time and not before on the time of the month but I'm wondering if it's related. Sure, I've seen somewhat patterns before but never anything definitive. Usually, I'm having my period and I'll say something stupid like, "I'm having my period, it's okay to have the cookie." Yea, excuse. But this time, I didn't forsee that time of the month approaching (I never keep track) and I honestly didn't know WHAT came over me.
Moral of the long winded annoying story, I need to keep track and try to recognize it if it happens again.
Weight: I'm sticking with Saturday morning's weight of minus 2 lbs.
Exercise: Very good, keeping up with Brad's challenge. It's getting tougher and everytime I think I'm done and can go no further, I find strength and get through the next workout. I'm amazed. I still have my Monday night weight class and am trying to do more during the week of real exercise.
Water: Good up until this weekend. Operation flush and hydration continues tomorrow.
Book: I've been learning more and more about going gluten free and finding it easier and easier. *cough cough* except for the above pizza incident.
I know that my weight skyrockets during my period, like 4 pound gain type of thing so I'm not weighing myself until Saturday. Plan, plan, plan and I'll have success. Pizza is NOT planned this week.
Here is this weeks menu plan. I might switch days for things though.
I'm tired. This week has lasted forever and I'm so ready to get some sleep this weekend! I ate good yesterday, not great. I nixed the salad and ate too much meat and honey mustard. It was quick so it worked. I was headed out the door to a class after dinner so I estimated on the quesadillas and rice. Hopefully I estimated high.
Thursday Eats:
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Zucchini cheese soup - 185
Ham and Turkey - 250
Honey mustard - 60
Apple - 100
Quesadilla - 250
Southwest Rice and Beans - 250
Total = 1520
Fridays Plan:
Eggs, corn tortillas, beans, salsa - 325
Yogurt - 100
Zucchini cheese soup - 185
Southwest Rice & Beans with chicken - 300
Apple - 100
Garlic Chicken - 200
Gluten free fruit stuffing - 150
Butternut squash - 80
Total = 1440
Wow! I stuck to the plan perfectly today! I didn't add or subtract anything. Amazing. I did alter the calories a bit based on the weight of the potato and how much the soup turned out to be. Pretty darn close estimates though.
Wednesday Eats:
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Ratatouille Polenta Bake - 450
Salad - 150
Steak - 180
Potato w/sour cream - 150
Zucchini Cheese Soup - 185
Total = 1540
Thursday Plan:
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Zucchini cheese soup - 185
Ham and Turkey - 150
Honey mustard - 30
Salad - 125
Quesadilla - 200
Southwest Rice and Beans - 250
Total = 1365
I stayed on track again today. Woohoo! The Ratatouille Polenta Bake was awesome! It was like a veggie lasagna almost. My brother thought it needed meat but I thought it was perfect! Then I made a pumpkin mousse this afternoon. Holy cow was this good! Trust me, ditch the pumpkin pie in Thanksgiving and make this. I doubled the recipe and split it into 6 servings. I ate 2 of them. I had one, then went for a run and then indulged in another. 108 calories per serving, it will be okay. :-)
Tuesday Eats
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Pear fruit crisps - 40
Taco chili - 180
Salad - 150
Cheese - 100
Ratatouille Polenta Bake - 300
Pumpkin Mousse - 216
Total = 1411
I have kinda a big dinner planned, I might not eat the potato, we'll see how the rest of the day goes. Big lunch too. There are 3 portions of the Ratatouille left and while I'll try to just eat two, I know that there is a good chance I'll just scarf the other so I might as well plan for it.
Wednesday Plan:
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Ratatouille Polenta Bake - 450
Salad - 150
Steak - 180
Potato w/sour cream - 175
Zucchini Cheese Soup - 125
Total = 1505
Yesterday went well. I didn't end up making quinoa last night as it turned out to be just me home. Plus there were tons of taco chili leftovers. 180 calories a cup and very filling. Nice.
Tonight I'm planning a new recipe, I haven't figured out the calories yet. I'm looking forward to another good day!
Monday Eats:
Eggs, Corn Tortillas, Cheese - 325
Leftover omelet from kids - 125
Yogurt - 100
Taco Chili - 180
Pecans - 150
Grapes - 50
Salad - 150
Taco Chili w/sour cream- 225
Peach fruit crisps - 30
String cheese - 80
Total = 1415
Tuesday Plan:
Eggs, corn tortillas, cheese - 325
Yogurt - 100
Pear fruit crisps - 40
Taco chili - 180
Salad - 150
Ratatouille Polenta Bake - 400
Popcorn or smoothie - 100 - 150
Total = 1295 - 1345
