The Last Week of the Challenge

Well, this is it … the last week of the Biggest Loser Challenge … I didn’t go get weighed today because it’s not really over until Thursday at 9:30pm so I have a few days to play with.  I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately, but honestly, nothing really exciting is happening.

It was Easter weekend plus my birthday so a lot of “food” celebrations going on.  I don’t think I did too badly.  On my birthday I had asked the girls NOT to get me a cake and they respected my wishes.  We did go out for supper at Don Cherry’s Sports Bar and Grill.  I got the grilled chicken burger with cheddar cheese and bacon – I managed to get that into me and about half a dozen fries and I was full.  I saved my calories for that meal because I knew we’d be doing something for my birthday.  I worked all day so I wasn’t home picking.  When I did get home from work, I was famished.  I snacked on carrots, celery and dip until Alyssa also got home from work and then off we went.

Sunday was Easter and it was rough.  My mother usually gets me a Mr Munchy chocolate Easter bunny, but this year she got me a small one, which was perfect!  I stole a couple of chocolate Easter eggs and then we went to my sisters for supper (who, believe it or not, is also doing the challenge!).  She had a huge scoff at her place!  There was potato salad, macaroni salad, glazed ham and dessert.  Her boyfriend chopped some tomato, lettuce and cucumber and put them on the table so I snacked on cucumbers until supper was ready.  I took one scoop of potato salad, a small scoop of macaroni salad (it was the kind made with tomato based sauce rather than mayonnaise), and a few slices of baked ham.  She was cutting the turtle pie dessert and the huge piece she offered me almost made me faint!  I decided I’d cut my own piece 1/4 of the size of the one she cut me!  I just needed a taste, not send my sugar into orbit.

I felt pretty good leaving there … full, but good.  I didn’t overindulge, which was easily doable there, and I was comfortably full.  John and I drove out to his parents for a visit and she made exactly the same supper!  Her’s came with cabbage rolls and broccoli/cauliflower casserole in cheese sauce.  I didn’t have her supper, but I did have a cup of tea and a very tiny piece of ‘never fail’ cake.  She too, wanted to cut me a humungous piece so I asked her if I could cut it myself.  It was just a little something sweet to go with tea.

I got up this morning and jumped on the scale.  Much to my surprise I’m down a couple of pounds – surprisingly enough after that sugar filled weekend I just had.  I had a great day today with my diet.  I had lots of fruit, veggies and I had haddock for supper.  I skipped the broccoli/cheese rice that I made for John and just went with the piece of fish I cooked with tomatoes and a little sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.  It was rather tasty.

I also didn’t want to get weighed today because I’m a little bit stressed.  I have a presentation to do tomorrow in school and I know stress isn’t very helpful when it comes to weight loss so I figured if I waited until the stress was gone, it might also take the pounds away.  Also, I just finished my period so I should be so good to go on Thursday.  I’ll be going in the morning to get myself weighed.  I am pretty confident I didn’t win the money … but I did win a healthy life and I probably added a couple of more years to it!

March Break is Over – Weigh-In Tomorrow

Well, I survived March break – back to the ole routine tomorrow!  I’m kind of glad in a way because now I can get back into the swing of things with regards to my weight loss challenge.  I believe there are only a few weeks left of the competition, but it’s no longer about the money – although, it would be nice – my goal now is to loose another 15-20 lbs before summer.  If I keep loosing 1-2 lbs/week then I will achieve this goal.  Tomorrow is weigh-in and I’m feeling okay about it.  I’ve seen comments about how some people can’t wait for the Biggest Loser competition to be over so they can go indulge in some kind of fattening, fast food.  I will admit it, I’ve thought the same thing – “I can’t wait until I can have a feed of KFC”.  Then I think, “Isn’t that the reason I got like this to begin with?”  I don’t want to be that fast food junky anymore.  I want to continue to eat healthy or it could very well kill me.

I had a rough week – ate a lot of junk food so I’m not expecting much.  I tried to go on a veggie/fruit fast today – but that came to a screeching halt when John and I went for a Sunday drive and stopped at the bakery in Bras D’or.  I bought a tiny bun of wheat bread and had some when I got home.  Oh, that wasn’t the end of it – I made a one egg/one egg white omelet with mushrooms and green peppers in it.  It was delicious.  Then I had a greek yogurt, some fruit, clementines and green tea with a Special K bar.  In the evening, I enjoyed some almonds, walnuts and just a few bbq peanuts.  I wasn’t really munching on anything too bad until Ashley showed up with a huge bag full of mini-easter eggs.  They are my favorite and I have to admit, Easter isn’t my favorite holiday food-wise (well, it is, but not this year).  I could eat enough chocolate to choke a horse!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I actually made some healthy meals this week – I boiled some chicken breasts and used the water to make a chicken noodle soup.  It’s really good.  I just threw some carrots, celery, and chicken in it.  I added some noodles and yum.  Ashley’s friend was here for the week and she absolutely loved it.  With some of the other chicken I made quesadillas.  I used the flat grill and sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray.

Tomorrow, I have hamburger meat thawed in the fridge so I’ll cook up some patties and veggies for me and I’ll add potatoes to John’s.  I might even make him some french fries.  For lunch, I packed fruit, carrots, a little mini peanut butter/jam sandwich with the tiny bun I bought today.  I also packed some yogurt and a Special K bar to have with my tea.

Now, last week, I got weighed first thing in the morning and tomorrow I’ll get weighed after school so I’m not too hopeful.  Also, I weighed myself last night and it wasn’t pretty.  I was up 3 lbs since my weigh-in at the gym Monday morning.  I am only hopeful for the fact I weighed myself on a different scale and at the opposite end of the day.

Weekly Weigh-In – last one before March break

I know today is Tuesday and I don’t normally post on Tuesday, but I was SO tired last night I just crawled into bed and went to sleep.  I didn’t sleep very well last night though – I tossed and turned.  I’m not sure why, I think I’m getting a little burnt out with school, work and running around.  I barely have any time to plan meals and with all this activity going on, I barely had time to get a half decent healthy grocery order.

Yesterday was my weekly weigh-in.  I didn’t really feel much of a difference this week and it showed.  She weighed me but then was unable to locate my tracking sheet.  I knew I was down a little bit because I was into the 168 and not 169 range … lol … I don’t normally keep track of the “point” part of getting weighed because any little thing besides my body could be the reason for a loss or gain if it’s less than a pound – in my opinion.

I jumped on the scale and was 168.2 – after she found my sheet she called me and told me I was down .6 lbs.  I hate being down less than a 1 – it just doesn’t sound like I accomplished anything.  It was that time of the month as well so I wasn’t sure how the scale was going to tip – last month I had a loss during my PMSing – so I don’t think there’s much of an excuse during one’s cycle.

I finally had a few moments tonight to get out and get some groceries.  I felt somewhat relieved about this because I was able to grab some fruit and whole grain bread, Cheerios and these dark chocolate cookies that will go great with my mid-morning tea in school.  I’m feeling pretty optimistic about this week so I hope it shows on the scale.  I am going to get back into the seriousness of this because I’m thinking things at work are going to slow down now and next week is March break.  I’m hoping I can jump into some sort of new routine for the days I’m not going to be in school.  I hope being at home doesn’t make me want to eat all day long – that would suck. I think I’m going to have to consider some kind of plan to keep me busy …

It Was a Rough Week – and It’s Over

It seems like forever since I last logged in and posted a blog entry.  My last one was weigh-in night, Monday – and my 2 and a half pounder gain … ugh … I was also very sick all week with a cold, achy skin and muscles and I was completely drained.  Most people who are sick tend NOT to eat and loose like 3-4 pounds, but I think I’m the opposite because I’m too lazy to write anything down and I eat ‘carelessly’.  I don’t think I’ve written a full day’s meals all week.  I was also too lazy to pack a lunch for school so most days I just grabbed snacks to take with me.  It was a very rough week, to say the least.

It was also Valentine’s this week.  I went to school for most of the day, then a doctor’s appointment and then I went to work until 7pm.  There was only John home when I got here so I thought it’d be nice to find a place to go eat.  I didn’t really eat anything all day because the plan was to buy the spinach pizza the lunch lady was making so I didn’t bring a lunch – she cancelled the spinach pizza and opted for macaroni and cheese with something else (I forget her side dish) – the mac n cheese was bad enough … I would have blown up like a balloon had I eaten that, so I just ate my apple.  I ran off to work without supper so by the time 7pm rolled around I was famished.

We ended up at Simeon’s Restaurant.  I knew they served salads and stuff so I figured I’d be good.  I read over the menu … but opted for the clubhouse and ceasar salad (instead of fries – a first for me).  I ate the salad first and then dove into the sandwich.  I was full after only half of it.  I left the rest on the plate!  I could not believe that I had no room in my stomach for that whole sandwich.  Once upon a time I could eat the whole clubhouse plus the fries.  It actually felt kind of nice walking out of there not feeling like I had to be carried home.

This is a new week coming up and I’m back into the swing of things, I think.  We’re expecting some nasty weather tomorrow, but I’m working 12-5 so I can only eat what I bring.  The plan is to get up early enough to make a good solid breakfast and then I’ll grab some fruit and vegetables to take with me to work to munch on when I get hungry.  I’m feeling pretty good today.  I’m not feeling bloated at all.  I think it might be a good weigh-in this week.  Fingers crossed …

Eating Well Should Be a Family Thing

Here I am – I don’t really feel like writing and I don’t know why.  I guess I don’t have anything interesting to say tonight.  When you first start something new it’s fun, it’s interesting and you want to share new things with people … but today, it’s old news now … I eat the same foods, at nearly the same time of day.  I found myself not even wanting to write it down today.  My house is full of healthy foods so it’s kind of hard to eat chips when they’re not here, or eat at a fast food joint when we don’t have the money really to do it.

We’re in for quite the huge snow blizzard – not that it’s going to affect any of my plans to walk because I really didn’t have any.  I might venture out and shovel the snow, however.  I think that would make for some great exercise.  Maybe that’s what I’ll do for tomorrow.  I told Ashley we could go sledding, but she’s come down with some bug and she’s not feeling up to par.  When she texted me from school today and told me she felt faint and had pains in her stomach, I got worried.  She often complains of tummy pains.  Her eating habits are horrible – she doesn’t eat before she goes to school and she doesn’t take anything with her.  She said her friend bought her tater tots for lunch and it made her ill.  I got online and started googling celiac and what that was all about.  I thought maybe she’s getting these wicked pains because of something she’s eating.  Some of the symptoms of celiac she has – I was going to buy her some gluten free items on the grocery order but man oh man that stuff is crazy expensive and I’d rather know whether or not I should be getting that for her.  It was $4.99 just for a loaf of bread!  That was on sale!  Then I began thinking maybe she’s lactose intolerant but to try and keep her away from cheese and milk products … I’d have to get THAT proven by at least a dozen doctors before she’d ever accept anything like that.  I truly believe that it’s in her diet.  She did have a slight fever as well as the day went on … so hopefully I’m wrong about the diet thing … but she still doesn’t eat very well.  I’m hoping she’ll start following how I’m eating.

I certainly try and buy enough of the good stuff for everyone to enjoy.  I still buy John sweets and chips – but they’re the chips I don’t like and I keep them in his room.  The sweets I have to hide in the cupboard so I don’t eat them.  I make sure the fridge is full of fruit, vegetables, low fat greek yogurts and cottage cheese.  I’m not the only one who’s eating it either so someone else in this house is also eating quite well.

I’m thinking once the weather starts clearing up, I’m going to get back into walking as well.  For now, I’m off to bed –

 

Middle of the Week Mayhem

It’s the middle of the week – I had a little ‘food meltdown’ last night – omg, I wanted to just eat and eat … I was feeling a binge lurking inside.  I did really well all day with my healthy eating.  I wrote everything down and followed the food guide faithfully, that is, until I got home.

I went for some groceries – healthy ones, of course – but I shopped hungry – not a good plan.  I did have a list and tried to commit to it as much as I could.  Not only for my health, but for the wallet too.  John was looking for a pizza the other day to throw in the oven – I bought him a McCain Bacon Cheeseburger pizza.  It looked SO good, oh my God!  I threw it in the oven when I got home and it smelled phenomenal.  I read the label on the side and I figured if I just had 1/6 of a slice as they described, I wouldn’t be falling off the plan too much.  I had cut it in 4ths then 8ths and I had 1/4 and then half of another one.  I’m not in the mood to do that math, but I was probably a little bit over the 1/6 of the pie.

That wasn’t the hard part … the hard part was the rest of the night.  I wanted chips, chocolate, or any other junk I could think of.  I am SO glad I didn’t BUY that stuff on the grocery order.  I did have my green tea and a small taste of the cinnamon loaf I bought John.  I topped the evening off with Cheerios, and an orange.  It wasn’t a good night.

Today was a new day – I feel terrific – I had a great lunch.  I came home and made homemade chicken nuggets with Planko bread crumbs.  I took a chicken breast and cut it up into pieces.  I made some for me and Alyssa – John ate the leftovers.  I wrapped mine in a tortilla with lettuce and tomato.  I added a dab of ranch salad dressing.  It was SO good!  I wanted another one, but I didn’t.  I did have a few more nuggets and put my plate in the sink.

I ended my evening with my green tea, orange and greek yogurt.  I packed my lunch for tomorrow – tuna wrap with lettuce and tomato.  I also grabbed a plum, an apple and a small cottage cheese.  I haven’t planned supper yet.  I’ll have Cheerios (multi-grain) and blueberries for breakfast.  We’re in for some serious snow this weekend so I think I talked Ashley into going sledding.  The exercise will be fun and I’ll get to hang out with my kids … it’s all good.

Eat Cheap, Eat Smart – weigh-in day

Today I woke up to a ‘snow day’ at school.  The roads were so icy they cancelled school for the kids.  I wasn’t in much of a mood to go either – not too many of the girls were going and I was well ahead of my work so I could afford to miss a day today.  I don’t often miss a full day of class, but today was the day.  I found out only 5 showed up and then they left class at 1:15 break so I didn’t miss much.

Normally, I go for my weigh-in after school – 3pm – but today was different.  The weather was going to get worse so I had to go early.  I got John to drive me after I ate.  I got up late so I had a brunch kind of thing – grilled cheese and my tea.  I also had an orange for my fruit.  I was so nervous going to get weighed today – I wasn’t feeling like I lost a thing so I would have been happy with any kind of loss.

I walked in to Ascendo Fitness and Shauna took me over to the scale.  I removed my shoes, jacket and I got on the scale.  I almost fainted!  I was down another 3.4 lbs!  I was SO excited!  I was shocked .. but excited.  It must be all that junk food that I gave up … all that good stuff I replaced it with.  Since January 2nd, I’m down 13 lbs.  Yay me!  I can only see this getting better and better.  I’m into good habits now – green tea after supper with a very minimal snack.  Tonight it was a plum and some almonds/soy nuts because I didn’t get all my protein in today since I slept in.  I also had a half glass of milk.  I’m getting used to eating breakfast and a not so huge supper.  Last night I made my own oven fries with olive oil, garlic/onion powder and I put them in the oven – I had one potato and I made John some … he loved them … with it, I had roast chicken and peas/carrots.

I have a list written out for tomorrow’s grocery run – I’m on a limited budget this week so I need to stretch the dollar and eat well.  For those of you who say it’s too expensive to eat healthy … I’d like to challenge you on that.  I shop for 4 on a regular basis and 5 every other weekend basis and we don’t make millions, but we are eating well.  If anyone wants tips on how to eat healthy on a strict budget, I’m your girl!  It’s actually more expensive to eat junk food … you know, we haven’t eaten in a hamburger joint since January 1st … my “last fat meal” consisted of a Whopper and fries … my greasy hangover meal … hehe … we save money by staying out of fast food places and I shop smart.  Feel free to send me any of your tips as well … I’d love to learn about your inexpensive meals and snacks …