Weekend What-Nots

I'm going to tell you what NOT to do with your weekend eating. Don't do what Tammy did this weekend. :)

I decided to take the weekend off from calorie counting. Wasn't feeling too tired or stressed or anything like that. I was, and am, feeling pretty good actually. While I fully advocate calorie counting, because with 39 lbs. lost, I am proof that IT WORKS, it does get a little tedious sometimes and I decided to let it go and forget about it until Monday morning. However, I do not recommend this if you're looking for a big loss that week, lol.

I said I wasn't going to mention Dwayne anymore in regards to my weekend eating, but apparently I lied, lol. The reason I want to mention him tonight is because it's POSITIVE as far as he's concerned. He offered me good choices, and I chose the bad ones. But he at least deserves the credit for TRYING to provide me with some healthy options, all on his own, with no input from me. I'm proud of him for caring. :)

Dwayne called me Friday afternoon and said he was getting off early and he'd be at my house around 3:30pm. Uh oh. I didn't have anything planned for dinner that he would eat. I had already decided that this was going to be an easy breezy weekend, so I texted him and asked if he wanted to go out to dinner at a restaurant. I had about 400 calories left for the day (once you've counted them for 4 months, it just kind of automatically happens in your head, even though I didn't write anything down). He said he wanted to grill out at the house and he'd stop and pick something up. I said okay, and didn't even ask him what he was getting....didn't care...it was my carefree weekend.

When he got here, he was so excited and proud of himself for thinking about me. Granted, they weren't ALL healthy options (he still had to eat, too), but there WERE some options specifically for me. He brought in a 4 pack of N.Y. strip steaks that were absolutely gorgeous. Also, for me he said, some boneless skinless chicken breasts. I told him I'd rather have steak....that it had been a while. He also brought in a Caesar salad kit (he thinks this is "healthy", and it's the only veggies he eats, because he can handle lettuce as long as you smother it in parmesan cheese, crunchy croutons, and fattening Caesar dressing, lol). I had a bowl of salad. Then he very proudly presented me with a bag of raw pre-cut veggies...broccoli, carrots & cauliflower. He said, "Look baby! It says that you can steam them right in the bag!" I thanked him profusely, and then proceeded to eat 1/2 the bag raw....with a side of ranch dressing. Doh! Then he pulled out a mini loaf of french bread. He was proud because it was a "mini" loaf....and not the 3 ft. long one he usually gets. I ate 4 slices. Then he pulled out 6 ears of fresh corn and a small bowl of watermelon. I don't usually eat corn on the cob because it gets stuck in my teeth and drives me nuts. So I passed on that, and we grilled up 2 ears for him. I ate about 1/2 c. of watermelon, he did the same, and then we threw it away because it's out of season now and just didn't taste very good.

All in all, I'd say my honey bunny did pretty damn good. I'm glad he's paying such close attention to my (usually) healthier eating choices these days, even though I never try to push any of it on him. That really makes me happy. :)

I also decided to ease off on the exercise this week. I walked 6 miles a day most days last week, and while it helped me reach a nearly 5 lb loss, my hip and leg joints were in some serious pain. I kept thinking about Diane at "Fit to the Finish" all last week while I was out pushing myself at the park. She did a post a little while ago asking if you could sustain the exercise that you're doing. Is what you're doing now to lose the weight, something you can continue, and are willing to continue to do once you reach maintenance? With the pain of my hip and leg joints grinding with every step, my answer to that was an emphathic "NO!". So this week I'm going easier on the exercise.

I walked 3 miles on Friday and that was it for the day. On to Saturday....I had a banana and then headed to the park. I walked 3.5 miles and came back home. I was in so, so much pain....after only 3.5 miles!!! I was talking to Dwayne about it and he asked me when my rest day was. Rest day? What's that? lol I told him I was on my 8th day straight of walking and he told me not to do any on Sunday. So I didn't walk today....I thought about it all day, and I really wanted to run out to the park 4 or 5 different times, but I didn't. I've had one whole day with no exercise.

Back to Saturday's eating....when I got back from the park I did some things around the house, and then around 11:30, I made a sandwich with 2 scrambled eggs & lite mayo on multi-grain sourdough bread from the Publix bakery. It was fantastic. A couple of hours later I ate a 3 oz piece of steak from the night before. We had a birthday cookout to go to with the family at the park, and I was asked to make potato salad (Mom's recipe) and baked mac 'n' chz (Grandma's recipe). So I did. I ate a cup of the potato salad after I got it made, before we ever made it out the door (taste-testing, of course). At the park, I ate a hamburger w/ a slice of tomato, ketchup & mustard. I ate a hot dog w/ ketchup & mustard. And I ate a handful of chips & another cup of potato salad. By the time all that food hit my stomach, I was so full I thought I was going to die. I was truly miserable for the first time since I started this blog in June. OMG. I was happy...had a great day w/ family & Dwayne...but physically miserable. We came back home and I laid on the couch and cussed myself for a couple of hours until it started digesting and I could finally breathe again while sitting upright.

Dwayne left around 8pm and I asked my niece Carla (I call her Ladybug), who lives next door to me, if she wanted to come over and spend the night with Scarlette and I. We had a great time....she asked me 150,000 questions, as all inquisitive little 4-year olds do, and I gave her 150,000 answers. We decided to go shopping today. She kept saying how much she LOVED my fall decorations sitting around the house, so I told her we'd go out and find something for her bedroom today. We started at the Dollar Tree, and we ended up spending about $20 in there. She bought something for her, and for me, and for her grandma (Noni), and something else for her, and for her Mom, and another thing for her, and something for her little brother Cyress, and a few more things for her, and then we left. She was very, very happy and the smile on her face and her sweet laughter ringing in my ears was worth every single dollar. :)

I asked her where she'd like to go for lunch and in 2 seconds flat she exclaimed, "Chinese!!!". What can I say? It was my carefree eating weekend and the kid loves Chinese. Why not??!! So we ate at the Chinese buffet. One thing that I can say is that before I started trying to lose weight, I never ate any less than 2 plates at a buffet, Chinese or otherwise. Now, without even thinking about it, I ate one plate and that's it. Still....way too many calories in that one plate, and we won't even talk about the sodium. Good Lord. But we ate it and enjoyed each other's company...it was a great lunch with my little Ladybug.

After lunch, we went to Wal-mart. Mom had given me some money to pick up some more school clothes for Carla, and I had to pick up a few grocery items. So we got her 7 or 8 new things and then headed to the food section. In the spirit of Fall's arrival, I decided to try a new vegetable this week, so I bought a bag of parsnips. They look kind of like white carrots. I'll be making a big pot of soup tomorrow and throwing them in. I think I'll make Vegetable Beef. I don't have any ground chicken or ground turkey in my freezer right now, so I think I'll use a pack of the 93% lean ground beef that I have. I'm just not a big fan of veggie soup unless there's SOME kind of meat in it.

We got back home and showed Noni all of our purchases and then I came back home to play with Scarlette. I spent a couple of hours clipping coupons this afternoon and then took an hour and a half nap. I laid down too late, because when I woke up at 6:45p, I was starving to death and didn't have anything planned or cooked for dinner. This is another one of the dangers of a carefree eating weekend...no preparation! I decided I'd run out to Larry's Giant Subs and finish off my retarded eating with an 8" Italian sub. When I got there, they were closed. Now what? From the parking lot I was sitting in, I could look around and see about 5 different fast food restaurants. I don't know what's up with me, but as I mentioned in a post a few days ago, I think I am just OVER the fast food thing. It just doesn't sound good anymore....not even my all-time favorite, Krystal's.

Even after starting with the weight loss, I was still eating at Krystal's a good bit, and was just counting the calories in my daily 1500. They are a horrible caloric value. It takes about 5-6 of those little things to fill me up, and 6 of them are like 960 calories!!!! I think I got tired of wasting my calories that way....and also got tired of being a slave to those stupid little sodium-filled boxes of evil...and realized tonight I haven't eaten a Krystal in about a month. Awesome!!!! I can't believe it's been that long, but I'm proud of myself.

Anyhoo, not wanting fast food, I went on down to Publix and decided to get a 12" Italian sub there. I was going to finish off the weekend eating with a bang! They cut it in half, and wrapped up each half separately. I ate half of it in the car on the way home....starving! When I got home, I looked over at the other half, stopped to ask myself if I was still hungry, and I wasn't. Normally, I'm not a big fan of wasting food....but in a case like this, when it's an unhealthy, calorie-laden choice to start with, I decided to go ahead and throw it away so I wouldn't eat it later. And that's what I did. It's in the trash. That's another thing I wouldn't have done in the past. I would have eaten all of it at once, or at the very least, thrown it in the frig and came back in a couple of hours and finished it off. So even during my carefree weekend, I still saw a couple of small glimpses of progress. :)

I'm ready to make the next 4 days great ones with the eating and the exercise. I think I may have actually needed that day of rest from the exercise. As of right now, my lower back, my knees, my feet, and my joints do NOT hurt. What a blessing. I've got a pot of soup going on the stove right now. This will be lunches for Shane and I for the next couple of days. It's one of Pam's recipes and can be found on her food blog, "Lobster and Fishsticks". It's called Spicy Creamy Zucchini Soup. After she posted that recipe, she added another one where she turned the soup into a gravy and added chicken to it. That's what I'm doing. I've made it before and it is incredibly delicious. I just LOVE IT!!

Before I sign off I wanted to let you know about a couple of new bloggers in our little community. The first one is named Shaleen and I've added her to my blogroll. Her brand spanking new blog is called "The Very Long Journey....Diary of a Food Addict". Shaleen emailed me a few weeks ago and told me that she reads my blog every day. She said she finds it inspirational and wanted to lose some weight herself. Then she emailed me a few days ago and told me that she finally took the leap! She's made The Decision to get the weight off, and also decided to start her own blog in hopes of finding the same encouragement and support that I have. I hope you'll pop in and give her a warm welcome.

The second girl I want to tell you about is especially close to my heart. Her name is Billie and she's my rommate Shane's girlfriend. She's been following my blog for quite a while now. She's praised my losses along the way, and also made little comments like, "I'm just not dedicated and motivated enough to get the weight off". Well not anymore!! Billie also took the leap. She started losing a couple of weeks ago and has lost 8.5 lbs already!! She just set her blog up this weekend and I hope that you all will swing by her blog also and say hello. :) Her blog is called "Let The Skinny ME Out". Welcome to Blogland ladies!! Keeping a blog and posting often will help you with the accountability factor with your new healthy lifestyles. It also helps to know you're not alone on this journey. We're all in this together, we'll all claim our own victories in this battle!! Hope everyone has a week full of good choices. Onward!!

Quote For the Day:

"You may delay, but time will not." -Benjamin Franklin