Day 134 - The Lost Years

I am 38 years old, and while I am probably in the best shape of my life... I am still, well.... 38 years old. I think I look good for my age, but I often think (ruefully) about how great I could have looked if I'd paid more attention to diet and exercise in my 20's and early 30's!!!

Of course it's too late to go back, but I spent much of those years hiding in baggy clothes, and I get disappointed with myself when I think about it! Of course, as my husband pointed out, things happen for a reason, and had I been little miss hard-body in my 20's my whole life might have turned out differently.... I might be a washed up playboy bunny now instead of a successful business woman! ha!

I'm still a little sore from all that dancing on Saturday night (CRAZY), but I got out for a nice easy 40 minute run last night anyway... which made me feel a lot better. This week, instead of going to 1600 calories everyday, I am going to eat 1600 on exercise days, and stay at 1500 on rest days and see how that goes. Didn't do too great yesterday, I was under 1400!!! I thought I was eating a LOT... my dinner plate was PILED HIGH with food.... and I was stuffed!

Day 133 - Breathing A BIG Sigh of Relief

This past weekend was a huge success! I pretty much ate what I wanted for two meals (dinner at the wedding and breakfast the following morning), I tried to practice "intuitive eating", e.g. stopping when I was full, but I know I overate at both meals. The rest of the weekend, I tried to reduce my calories just slightly, but pretty much ate normally. On Saturday I did an hour of weight training at the gym followed by a 10km run.

At the wedding, I skipped the appetizers during cocktail hour and for dinner I had:
- a whole wheat dinner roll with butter
- a cup of sweet pea and basil soup with "truffle oil rain"
- chili and honey seared quail wing with a slice of chorizo on a bed of cheesy polenta (wow yum!)
- a "melt in your mouth" beef tenderloin (ate about half of a 10oz?? portion and gave the rest to my husband) served with scalloped potatoes and a few roasted veggies.
- a chocolate mousse cake in the shape of a small pyramid with a creme brule filling
- three glasses of red wine
(I skipped the midnight dessert buffet)
Estimate Calories for the wedding dinner and drinks: 1925

For breakfast on Sunday I had:
- two eggs, over easy
- four slices bacon
- pan fried style homefries
- 2 slices rye toast (1 with jam, one dipped in my egg yolks)
- 2 blueberry pancakes with sugar free syrup (I was only able to eat one)
- small slice each cantaloupe and watermelon
Estimate Calories for breakfast: 1214

I weighed myself this morning and I was 127.2! Only up 0.4lbs from Saturday morning! I was so happy to see that I can enjoy a weekend like that once in a while and not have to stress over it! I'm sure all the exercise Saturday helped. Over the course of the day I ate 2642, but I burned 835!

As promised, here is a picture of me in my dress, taken by my husband in the hotel room right before the ceremony. It's not the best picture, and I might find a better one, once all our friends start posting their pictures from the wedding on facebook...


One funny thing, I can run a half marathon no problem, but a couple of hours of dancing in high heels and my knees are a wreck! I ended up having to take Sunday off from running because I was so sore...

Day 130 - Scary Weekend Ahead...

So far, I think I have been doing very well with maintenance. I've been increasing my calories slowly, and still lost last week, and am up about 1 pound this week. I feel good, although I haven't been exercising as much this week... Earlier in the week, I was recovering from the half marathon, and then I came down with a cold! The most I could manage yesterday was 35 minutes on the elliptical at home... I just felt really stuffed up and couldn't bring myself to get out for a run.

I have a big weekend ahead, eating-wise. On Saturday night I am going to a wedding, and I am wearing my new dress (I'll post some pictures of me wearing it on Monday), so there will be lots of food at the wedding (and alcohol) and then we are staying over at the hotel where the reception is, and going out for breakfast on Sunday morning.

My plan is to simply eat what I'm served at the wedding, and try to make a somewhat healthy choice at breakfast. I will just cut back slightly at all my other meals to compensate, and get in a run both Saturday and Sunday. The important thing is that I don't want to have to go back to "diet mode" next week.... I just want to get through the weekend with no damage and continue on with "maintenance"...

I ate good yesterday, and with my 35 minutes on the elliptal I was surpised to be up 0.8lbs today from yesterday...shrug... maybe it has something to do with my cold (my head it so congested, it does feel about a pound heavier!!)...

Day 129 - When You Get Sick...

When you get sick, it is hard to stay the course with healthy eating and exercising (especially the exercising!). Starting yesterday morning, I began to feel a cold coming on. I guess I got the "back to school" fall cold before my kids even got it!! Even though I wasn't feeling that great, I got out to run yesterday after work, I just did an easy 5km, but when I got home I felt worse than I did on Sunday after I ran the entire half marathon!!

My plan was to run today too, take tomorrow off and run Saturday and Sunday, but I will see how I feel tonight, I might adjust that schedule.

Eating wise, I am doing well. I haven't continued to drop weight this week (at 1500 per day) like I did last week at 1400. I hope that doesn't mean that 1500 is my maintenance level... I was hoping to get higher! I don't think it is, that would mean that all this time I only had a 200 per day deficit? I never would have lost the weight so fast, if that were the case. I suspect that my body had adjusted to the very low calorie intake and is now "hoarding" this extra fuel! What I will do, if I stay the same weight through to Monday, is do a second week at 1500 before I increase again. Honestly, it's no hardship, I feel like I am eating a ton!

Yesterday, I had my oat bran with mashed banana and some mini chocolate chips sprinkled on top... Yum, what a treat. When the kids saw it, they were complaining how unfair it was, so this morning I made some for them too.

Day 128 - My Other Blog

I have a major confession, and all you people who read this blog (all three of you) have to promise to keep this a secret, before you read any further....

.....

Promise?

.....

OK, read on...

Mommy Your Bum Jiggles isn't my only blog. I've been cheating on my other blog. The other blog, is sort of like my alter ego. It is a food blog! Gasp! This one is about eating less, that one is about eating more...LOL, I never claimed that I didn't have "issues"!

My other blog has been on the go since 2007, and I get quite a lot of traffic there (495 subscribers). My other blog readers don't know about THIS blog, and since the other blog is all about decadence and treats, I think I'll keep it that way... I used to post new recipes there almost everyday, but I found it was causing me to gain weight. Now I post less frequently (and I get tons of e-mails from readers asking why). I often cook desserts for my blog and I don't eat them (that can be hard). Sometimes I post healthier recipes, but for the most part when I am eating healthy, I eat a lot of the same things over and over, but that just doesn't make for very good food porn for my other blog.

Here is the link, if anyone is interested, but don't go over there looking for healthy eating inspiration!! Some of it is certainly healthy, but some is decadent too...

Janet is Hungry

Yesterday, I did an hour of weight training at the gym, but I decided to take an additional day of rest from running following my half marathon. I don't have sore muscles, but my legs just feel a little tired. I ate well yesterday, although, it felt like I was eating CONSTANTLY with all those snacks!

The Past Week

I am always impressed when I read people's blogs and they have lost large amounts of weight. I admire their persistence and willpower. But something that REALLY impresses me is when I read about people who have lost weight, and then maintained their loss for a period of time...

I'm not sure that getting one week of maintenance under my belt is really cause for too much celebration, but it does feel like somewhat of an accomplishment to me. In the past I have usually started the upward trend just as soon as I hit my low weight, so I have already exceeded my previous efforts. I cannot remember ever embarking on this quest to increase my calories and figure out my maintenance level as I am doing now... and it has been interesting. I increased 100 calories a day (to 1400) for the first week and I still lost about 2 lbs. So, this week I am increasing another 100 (to 1500). After 4 months in and around 1300 a day, this just feels like a lot of food! I'm nervous, but excited to see how much I am actually able to eat each day to stay around this weight.

So, following my first week in maintenance, here is a recap:

Mood: Tentative.
What I did well: Weighed in everyday and got my increased calories from healthy foods, not junk.
What I could improve: My attitude towards food. It is not bad to eat more if your body needs it!!
Weight: 126.8
Goals for upcoming week: (1) Increase calories to 1500; (2) Weigh each day; (3) Maintain exercise level.
Things to watch out for: Binges. Binges mess up maintenance because I embark on a cycle of binge/calorie deficit/binge/calorie deficit.... and never get to actually eat at maintenance.

Here is what I ate yesterday (I am still playing around with the best time/meal to add in my extra calories and yesterday I added to my lunch and had an afternoon snack):

Day 126 - Half Marathon Success!!

I'm the one in pink and my daughter is on the far right
I did it! I finished my first half marathon in 2:04:16!! A way better time than I was even hoping for (my goal was 2:10!)... but the "race magic" kicked in! At the end when I was expecting to be pretty tired, there were crowds cheering us on, and a marching band along the race course, and I got all goosebumpy and I just gave 'er! I sprinted the last 1/2 kilometer, and I felt great!

Diane asked me to talk a little about my nutrition before and after the race. I'm no expert, but a lot of people (in my view) go overboard with the carbo-loading before big races. It's important to make sure you have enough fuel to get you through, but in my experience, if I eat a lot more food than what I am used to, it can lead to a bad tummy during the run, and that is just not a pleasant feeling.

On Saturday evening before the race, I ate a dinner that was higher in calories than normal, but not that much bigger in volume. I had ricotta and spinach ravioli with primavera sauce, with a side salad and two slices of whole wheat baguette with roasted mashed garlic spread on them. I drank lots of water throughout the day Saturday.

Sunday morning I got up about 2.5 hours before the race to eat a good breakfast. I needed time for it to settle before the run. I had a big bowl of oatbran with a mashed banana, peanut butter and honey with half a grapefruit and 2 cups of coffee.

During the race I only drank water and an electrolyte replacement drink (not gatorade - blech!). The one I buy doesn't have sugar, it is just powdered crystals that you dump into your water bottle.

After the race, they give out tons of free snacks - bagels, orange wedges and bananas. I wasn't actually feeling hungry, so I had only an orange wedge and decided to wait for my lunch to eat more. My office building was close by, so we were able to go grab a quick shower before we headed down to the pub where our husbands/kids were waiting.

For lunch, on Susan's advice I didn't go crazy. I ordered a Beef Boxty with a side salad. That is a large potato pancake folded "omelet style" around some hearty beef stew. It was a perfect post race meal! I estimated that my lunch ran about 800-1000 calories(?). I burned through about 1350 in the race (according to my garmin heartrate monitor).

For dinner I ate lighter, grilled chicken breast with steamed bokchoy, carrots and baked potato with salsa and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert! If I was running a 10km (and I am signed up for two in October!), I would still do the really big breakfast before the race, but I wouldn't eat such a big lunch after... I'd maybe just snack on a really yummy granola bar or muffin after the race, before my normal lunch.

Also, I wanted to report that I have lost a bit more weight this past week, even though I am officially on "maintenance", so I am upping my calories again this week to 1500 per day (although I ate significantly more than that both Saturday and Sunday because of my race). I weighed 126.8 this morning... that will even back out though - a half marathon burns a lot and results in some fluid loss too...

Oh - and I had a request for some progress pictures. I will post some this week, I have been having trouble finding some "honest" before pics, because I guess I became very adept and avoiding the camera, or making sure I was always the one BEHIND it, whenever I was bigger....

Day 123 - Half Marathon

Well the culmination of 4 months of training is nearly upon me.... I run in my first half marathon on Sunday...

This week has been a challenge for me because, as part of a half-marathon training program you are supposed to "taper" in the week leading up to your race. That means you run less so that you are fresh and rested on race day. So, I only ran 7km on Sunday, 6 on Tuesday, 10 on Wednesday, and I'll try for a nice easy/slow 5 today. Monday, yesterday and tomorrow will be total rest days from exercise. These breaks are nice, but since this was also the first week that I have been trying to increase calories in maintenance the combination of more food AND less exercise has been making me nervous.

Once my race is over next week, I can run whenever I want, so all will be good!

I am going out to lunch after the race, and I am looking forward to relaxing and pretty much ordering what I want. A half marathon burns about 1200 calories at my weight and since I'm at maintenance now, I can eat most of those back...(1400+1200= 2600...that is going to be fun!!)

Yesterday was a good day eating wise, I made it 1400 (thanks to an evening snack) and I made a delicious dinner (pictured below).

Day 122 - The Dryer is No Longer My Enemy

When I was 40 pounds heavier, I used to wear the same jeans until they were grungy, just to avoid having to wash them and put them in the dryer. I would hang nearly all my clothes to dry, for fear that they would get smaller and be uncomfortably tight. I can't tell you how many times I had to go out to buy "bigger" clothes only to have them no longer fit me once they went through the wash. If my husband did laundry and put some of my clothes in the dryer (even if the tag told him to) I would freak out on him... like it was HIS fault that I was growing out of my clothes.

This is one of the things that I really love about being thin. I can put my clothes in the dryer - almost all of it. Most of my clothes actually fit me BETTER when they are freshed washed, and my jeans get loose after a few wears, and I have to put them in the dryer just to shrink em back up again! I have some favorites that are now too big that I put in the dryer HOPING that they will come out smaller, so I don't have to discard them...

I actually took a picture of my lunch yesterday because..... I ate something different that usual (SHOCKER)! I had smoked salmon and cream cheese on a bagel (yum!)... pictured with green pepper sticks, a yoghurt, a peach and a blueberry bran vitatop with some green tea.



yeah, I know.... I didn't make it to 1400 again... I should have put real peanut butter in my oats instead of PB2, that would have done the trick! Next time!!

Day 121 - It's Hard Eating More

Yeah, I know... I bet nobody feels sorry for me!

I sat down last night after I got home from doing weights at the gym and my 6km run to input all my food into Calorie King, and I realized I had come up short again for calories for the day. Even after adding a half a banana extra to my breakfast and the other half to my lunch, and having a third pork souvlaki skewer at dinner (where I would have normally only had 2) and extra brussel sprouts. So, even though I wasn't really hungry, I made some popcorn to bring myself over 1400.

I commented to my husband how hard it is eating more, and he laughed at me. He noted that when I am "off the wagon", I have absolutely NO trouble eating more... TONS and TONS more. He is absolutely right, I am an all or nothing sort of person. It's really easy to eat tons of food if you aren't paying attention, but when you are being mindful to eat healthy things, it's a little harder (I can only eat so many brussel sprouts before I get a tummy ache!). I don't really want to increase my meals TOO much, because frankly, they satisfy me now, and I don't want to increase my appetite too much. I could snack, but I have always found that snacks just leave me wanting more, and so I generally avoid them.

My personal trainer suggested a few things for me to try: (1) switch from some of my light products e.g. from light laughing cow to regular, or from fat free sour cream to light, etc; (2)Add nuts and/or dried fruit to my morning oatmeal; (3) Eat a piece of dark chocolate with one of my meals; or, (4) Drink a glass of wine with dinner. All these things will increase my calories without resulting in a ton more food, volume-wise, so my appetite will hopefully not increase and make me hungry all the time...

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Day 120 - Weight Loss by the Numbers

So, I have decided to increase my calories to 1400 per day. I know this doesn't seem like a big increase, and I know I will have to increase even more, but I want to take it slow (because I am a Nervous Nellie!!) Yesterday, I tried adding in an afternoon snack because that is usually the time when I am hungriest... right after I get home from work at about 4:30pm with the kids while we are waiting for my husband to get home for dinner at about 6:30pm. Sometimes that can be a really LONG 2 hours!! Today I am going to try just adding some calories to my breakfast and lunch, and see which I prefer (eventually I will probably be able to do both!)...

Just for the fun of it, I have compiled some interesting statistics from my weightloss journey...

# of days to reach goal weight: 118
# of pounds lost: 40.8
# of calories on average I ate each day: 1467
# of calories on average I burned each day through exercise: 373
# of days that I ate over 2000 calories: 8
# of days that I ate over 5000 calories: 1
# of laughing cow cheese wedges eaten: 129
# of grapefruits eaten: 57
# of hours spent rambling to poor husband about dieting: countless!

I am going to try weighing myself every morning (for now) but I will continue to report my weight here only once per week.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Day 119 - Maintenance is a SCARY place

Try to guess the first emotion I felt when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw that I was below maintenance weight.

Was it Elation? Triumph? Happiness? Relief?

No. No. No. No.

Fear. I felt fear.

What now? I've lost the weight. I don't want to lose more. I want to hover in and around 130lbs for good.

How do I do that? Obviously, I need to eat more, or I will continue to lose. But how much more? More of what? More of the same stuff, or should I add in treats? Should I start eating snacks, or make my meals bigger? Should I continue to avoid "trigger foods"? Or should I let myself indulge a little? How often should I weigh myself? How much should I let my weight fluctuate? What should be my trigger to go back to a calorie deficit?

YIKES. I really don't know what to do now. I've lost weight so many times before I am total PRO. But I am completely green and untested when it comes to maintenance.

Let the fun begin...

Day 116 - Coffee and Tea and Club Soda

Those are the only things I drink (well besides water). I usually drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning, then I have a big mug (or two) of green tea with my lunch, I have a club soda with my dinner and a decaf coffee after my dinner. I drink water between my meals and during my drive back and forth to work. I try to never drink my calories.

I like my coffee with just the tiniest splash of skim milk. Truly, it is a ridiculously small amount that I like. I've tried drinking it black, but find it a little harsh, so I take a spot of milk (I've measured and it's about 1/2 tbsp per large mug). I don't bother logging this, I know there are a small amount of calories in it, but it really doesn't seem to be hurting my weight-loss efforts... so "shrug".

The reason I am telling this story, is because right now (on Friday morning), I have sitting on my desk a large coffee from Tim Horton's that has double cream. I won't be drinking it...

Each Friday one of my co-workers stops on his way to work and buys two coffees, one for me and one for himself. About a year ago when he started bringing me this treat, I told him that I "took milk" in my coffee. After a few weeks, I found I just didn't like the taste of the coffee, so I asked him one day, if it was milk, or cream... he said he ordered a "double". At Tim Horton's that gets you two CREAMS! So I asked (very nicely) if he could get me single milk next time, because I am watching my weight (that was a mistake to mention my weight). He made some sort of a caustic/sarcastic remark about "dieting", and that it was stupid to deprive myself. I assured him that I actually prefer the TASTE of milk in my coffee (which is absolutely the truth) and he said "whatever!".

I still get the coffee every single Friday morning, but I am almost 95% sure, it still has double cream (not milk). I really don't want to be ungrateful, he buys this for me, and it is very nice. But I usually dump it down the sink in the kitchen and re-fill the cardboard cup with coffee from our office machine (and put in my 1/2 tbsp of skim milk)...

Don't know what to do about that, but I will probably just go on wasting a perfectly good cup of coffee because I'm too much of a chicken/wimp/pansy to say anything again and invite a whole bunch of nasty comments about "dieting"...

Here is my chow from yesterday (I've started having my daily toasted avocado, tomato, laughing cow sandwich on rye bread - delish! and less calories than the sandwich thins I've been having!):

Day 115 - Powerless to Stop Making Mistakes

You know how it feels when you KNOW you are going down the wrong path but you just can't seem to do anything about it?

That's how I feel right now about reaching my goal weight.

Let me explain. My goal weight is 130. Last week I was hovering right around 130 and then one day (when I was being sneaky and weighing myself on a NON-weigh in day) the scale dipped to 129.6 and then one morning to 128.0!! Woo Hoo. BUT, I didn't post about it. It wasn't my official weigh-in day (that was supposed to be Monday), so I decided to wait... I stayed on my reduced calorie intake thinking that since I was going away for the weekend eating in restaurants, it wouldn't be a good time to start increasing.

So then I had a pretty awful weekend eating wise. So, I skipped my weigh-in. I reasoned that I just want to get the extra water retention and bloating under control and THEN I'd weigh myself... (anyone else hearing warning bells going off yet??)...

Since I've been home, I am back on track (which is one good thing at least), but I still haven't weighed myself... I just want to undo the damage first. I feel OK now. The bloating is almost gone. My clothes still fit.... what's my problem? When do I get officially switch to maintenance?

Here is what I ate yesterday. Also did a 7km run (about 40 minutes at a good pace).

Day 114 - Foods that Save Me!

I know that I publish my food diary almost every day, so you can for the most part see exactly what I eat. But I thought that today, instead of the food diary, I would include a list of some of the things that help me survive dieting without feeling deprived. I will preface this list by saying that I KNOW my diet isn't 100% perfect. Some of the things I eat aren't the most healthy or natural (e.g. with artificial sweeteners). BUT, this works for me, and I believe that I balance those things with many things that ARE healthy and natural...

So here is my list (not in any particular order):

1. Unsweetened Almond Milk. I buy the Almond Breeze brand. At 40 calories per cup, it is less than half the calories of skim milk, and I enjoy the taste more. I use this on my cold cereal, and I use it to cook my hot cereal. Because it is thicker than skim milk, it is also good in baking or for making things like french toast or bread puddings.

2. Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges. The ones I buy are 45 calories for 2. What a great way to have your cheese without breaking the calorie bank! I use one wedge almost everyday in my sandwich (which I toast in the toaster oven until the cheese is all melty). I also love these wedges on Ryvita Crisps for a snack, and I've been known to put them on my hamburgers when I don't have calorie room for cheddar or swiss cheese.

3. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light. This has 35 calories for 10 grams (2 tsp). I love this! It took some getting used to on toast - I guess it has a higher water content, so it makes the toast a little soggier than real butter or margarine does. But it's worth it to me to be able to enjoy my toast (once a week every Sunday morning). I also use 5 grams on my corn on the cob (real butter flavour for only 18 calories!). Sometimes I add 5 grams to steamed veggies, or to steamed rice.

4. Becel, Spray Butter. I'm sure there is nothing nutritionally redeeming about this, but I often add a few squirts and some salt to my steamed veggies. It is also good sprayed on plain air popped popcorn (and it gives the salt something to stick to).

5. Grapefruit. I could never start my day without half a grapefruit. It doesn't matter how expensive it gets off-season. Grapefruit is a must.

6. Splenda. Yes, splenda. I don't have any trouble with headaches or any of those things that some people report. I use a combination of splenda and molasses (2 tsp) in my morning hot cereal. Sometimes I sprinkle some on my grapefruit, if its a tart one.

7. Kozy Shack Tapioca Pudding (or Rice Pudding): I just love these, and they are my "go to" after dinner treat. The tapioca has 90 calories (my fave) and the rice has 70.

8. Angel Food Cake: This is a weekend treat in our house. A 30 gram slice (about 1/8 of a whole cake) has around 75 calories! I buy the chocolate flavour and top it with fat free vanilla ice cream. Or the vanilla flavour and top it with fruit, jam, cool whip... you name it!

9. Weight Watcher Whole Wheat Bagels: I love bagels! My toppings of choice are (1) Peanut Butter and Banana (2) Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge and Mashed Avocado (3) Light Cream Cheese (alone or with smoked salmon). I wouldn't eat a regular bagel (too big and too many calories). The Weight Watchers ones, at 150 calories, allow me to enjoy them. In the beginning I found them very small... but now they are normal to me and the others are HUGE.

10. My CSA Delivery. I know this isn't stictly one food, but my weekly organic farm deliveries are invaluable. The deliveries force us to eat lots of veggies, so nothing goes to waste, and we've tried new veggies that I had never thought to try before (e.g. fiddleheads, garlic scapes, purple potatoes, golden beets, lemon cucumbers etc etc).

11. Peanut Butter. I used to consider this "off limits" when I was losing weight. But I have learned a lot over the years, and I can't make my favorite things off-limits because it will lead to excess! So I portion it out, and eat it only once or twice a week. If I have a craving for peanut butter, I just decide to have it for lunch the next day (I can usually wait that long to have some)... FYI - I don't buy natural... I get the regular stuff, but since I eat (at most) 2 tbsp a week, I don't worry about the added sugar.

12. Fig Newtons: Although I've been on a "Tapioca for dessert" streak for a while, I used to LOVE having 2 Fig Newtons for dessert everynight (90 calories), and since I tend to be "faddish" with my eating, I know they'll come back into favour soon (hmmmm... maybe tonight they'll make a reappearance).

13. Kellogg's Guardian Cereal: This is my absolute favorite cold breakfast cereal. The original maple flavour has 110 calories per serving, and I usually double it, for 220 calories plus 40 calories worth of almond milk. It's filling and delicious!

14. All the other stuff I couldn't live without: Cream of Wheat, Oatbran, Bananas, fresh fruit, yoghurt, avocados, beets, brussel sprouts, granola bars....

Writing this post has made me hungry....

Day 113 - Mixed Success

I had an amazing time in Montreal with my girlfriends, but I have to report mixed success on the eating front. I did really well for the first two days, I ate light made good choices and stopped eating when I was full... BUT, the last evening, I sort of decided to reward myself by ordering what I wanted, and I ate WAY too much. I crumbled when the bread basket came, and I ordered grilled octopus and rack of lamb. I had three drinks and THEN we all went out for a midnight dessert at a Crepe Restaurant. I had a nutella and banana crepe with vanilla ice cream. It was one of the best things I've ever eaten, so even now I'm having trouble mustering up much guilt about it...

Yesterday on the drive home, we stopped at McDonald's and I had a McChicken Meal... I guess I was just feeling pretty far off track so I shrugged my shoulders and said "oh well".

When I got home at about 3pm, I met up with a friend to do my 20km training run. It took 2 hours and 13 minutes, and I felt terrible! There is a reason why runner's are careful with their diets... ugh! I had stomack cramps and indigestion the entire way and I really felt like I was going to throw up...

The run burned about 1400 calories, but then we didn't have any food at home and my husband and I went out for burritos for dinner...

Anyway, water under the bridge. I'm back on track today, but I'm holding off a few days for my weigh-in, because I feel really bloated and icky...

Day 110 - Off to Montreal

Well I am off today to Montreal for the bachelorette party. I won't be able to post until Tuesday (which will be my weigh in day instead of Monday).

Here is my plan for the weekend:

Saturday
1. Wake up EARLY and run 7km - (check)
2. Eat my normal breakfast before we leave - (check)
3. Pick a healthy lunch wherever the girls decide to go (e.g. salad with no dressing, sandwich with mustard etc) - (check)
4. Dinner - I don't know where we are going yet, but I will apply my healthy choices (e.g. fish or chicken, grilled not fried, tomato sauce not cream etc) - (check - had seaweed salad and sushi)
5. Wine with dinner, beer at bar (just 1) and DANCE DANCE DANCE to burn calories!) - (check)

Sunday
1. Continental Breakfast included with Hotel (try to pick fruit and cereal OR fruit and toast) don't eat more than I would eat at home.).(check - fruit with bagel and peanut butter)
2. Lunch at LaRonde (amusement park). This could be tough (lots of unhealthy stuff), but I noticed there is a Subway. I'll try for Subway, or a grilled chicken burger etc wherever the girls want to go (I will bring a fruit in my purse).).(check - grilled chicken burger... they grilled my chicken in the deepfryer, but that was NOT my fault)
3. Dinner on Saturday (I already chose from the on-line menu): Appetizer of Grilled Octopus and Main Course of Grilled Salmon with vegetables and potato. IF everyone else is having dessert I'll order ice cream or sorbet, if not, I'll just get coffee.) - (not good - had rack of lamb and mojito and dessert and bread)

Monday
1. Continental Breakfast (repeat above) - (check)
2. Lunch. If on the road home pick something less than 500 calories, if at home eat regular. (not good - McDonalds had about 800 calories)
3. Afternoon, meet up with my friend to get in my 20km training run - (check)
4. Pick Husband up at airport (he's in New York City getting into trouble with the boys) and then stop for dinner (Subway?) and then pick up kids from the Grandparents - (not good had burrito - 815 calories)

Tuesday
1. Weigh in and hope for the best!! (not good - too scared)
2. Spend three hours trying to calculate the calories on all of the above. (check - even though I knew it would be bad)
3. Write my blog (and hopefully it won't be a post full of "confessions") (sigh)

Wish me luck!! And have a great long weekend everyone!!

Day 109 - Excited to Wear This Dress

First off... no this isn't a picture of me (I wish). But I have just ordered this exact dress to wear to a wedding I am attending in September. I ordered it in a slate grey colour. I am very excited about it... I want to also wear it to my company Christmas Pary in early December. This will be added incentive to maintain my new weight!!

Isn't that a pretty dress? It's got a tiny waist and a pencil skirt... this is a dress I never would have been able to pull off (even with my spanx) before I lost this weight!!

I have to shop for some new shoes that hide my toes since my toe nails are all falling off from running (which is a small price to pay to fit in this dress!) and a new bra, because the back is low cut.

I am just so excited! I might even try to style my hair like the picture (but it could be a disaster)...

Here is a picture of my dinner last night, a grilled veggie wrap with roasted garlic, avocado and laughing cow. Those are "lemon cucumbers" sliced in the background, I got them with my farm delivery and they were round (took me some searching on the internet to figure out what they were!). Yum!

Day 108 - Crap-tastic Lunch

Well, I went out for lunch yesterday with my parents and my aunt and uncle that I haven't seen since my wedding (unavoidable - I couldn't possibly say NO).

And I REALLY REALLY did TRY to be good, I swear. I promise. Cross my heart. I totally THOUGHT I was making the BEST menu choice possible...

I ordered the EXACT same thing that I did the day before (but at a different restaurant). The grilled vegetarian sandwich on foccacia with salad and no dressing. WELL... this time, it was NOT healthy, I could tell! It was very greasy (I think the vegetables were fried, not grilled). Also there was pesto spread on the foccacia... it was delish though! Crappy AND fantastic. Crap-tastic!

I was a little upset, I tried so hard to order good stuff, but it can be a real crap shoot sometimes. I think I need to learn to start asking more questions in restaurants... How are the vegetables cooked? Is there oil or anything spread on the bread?

I tried to figure out the calories as best I could and then I had a very light dinner to help compensate. I went for a run last night (10km), and weighed myself this morning.. no damage done... (phew! I feel like I dodged a bullet!)

Now I have two days of clean eating before the bachelorette party in Montreal...

Day 107 - One Meal at a Time and August Recap

Yesterday, I wrote about how frustrated (and stressed) I was about the unavoidable "diet land mines" that just seem to keep cropping up. After I wrote that post, I took a deep breath and told myself I'd get through it ONE meal at a time. Everytime I do well, that's one meal under my belt and one less chance to start a major week long binge.

So, I think I did very well. At the Italian restaurant I ordered a Grilled Vegetarian Sandwich on Foccaccia with a side salad. I had the salad with no dressing, and I took some of the extra cheese off the sandwich. For dinner at bookclub, I was very happy to see my girlfriend served "make your own Pizzas". She had small store bought pizza crusts that we could make up from a spread of veggies, meat and cheese and then she baked them for us. I made mine vegetarian and had only a sprinkle of cheese. She served fruit salad and nanaimo bars for dessert and I skipped the nanaimo bars! Yay me. I got through all that (and I weighed myself this morning... no damage done).

So now I feel like I still have a clean slate to tackle lunch out today (with my aunt and uncle from out of town... and the big bachorette party weekend).

I also want to post my August recap:

Daily Average Calories Consumed: 1394 calories
Daily Average Exercise Minutes: 52 minutes
Daily Average Calories Burned: 426 calories
Weight Lost in August: 11 pounds

Here is my little chart to compare my calorie requirements (red bar = BMR + Exercise) to my calorie intake (green bar). I only went over my calories requirements once (in the days surrounding my birthday). Overall, a very good month I'd say...

Day 106 - Frustrated with Unavoidable Splurges

I get so completely frustrated when unavoidable events derail my eating regime. I'll give you two examples from this week coming up...

On Tuesday (today), I have been invited to a lunch meeting for a colleague that is retiring soon. So, I have to eat my lunch out in an Italian Restaurant that has very few (if any) options that would come close in calories to what I usually eat at lunch... Then, Tuesday evening (the very same day) I have my monthly bookclub meeting. This means that I can't compensate for lunch with a lighter dinner, because I will be a guest in somebody's home with no control over the menu!!

If that wasn't bad enough...this weekend coming up, I am heading to Montreal for the Bachelorette Party of a good friend. This will mean, two lunches, two dinners and two breakfasts in restaurants, and I can't go to a bachelorette party and get away with not drinking (I don't want to be a party pooper)...sigh. How will I survive that?

I am only 1.4 pounds from my goal weight, and with these unavoidable events all packed into one week what are the chances I will get to my goal weight by Monday???

Chances are low, I'd say.

It just frustrates me SO MUCH, because to be truthful, I would much rather eat my own food at home...

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of my dinner last night. Huevos Rancheros (comes to 420 very yummy calories). I had an appointment with my personal trainer at 6:30, so I had to eat my dinner early, before the family (I made spaghetti for them).





Steamed brussel sprouts might seem like an odd thing to eat on the side with some Huevos Rancheros, but I really love me some brussel sprouts!