Catch-up (Friday 10 - Monday 13 December 2010)

Catch-up summary:  Well, this past weekend was an interesting experiment. I was spot-on until Friday night.  I made some good choices, some not so good choices, but on both counts ended up going over calories during the weekend and doing some unexamined grazing from about 4:30-7:00 p.m. on Sunday. *sigh* So I decided to modify the calorie budget to target 1/2 pound loss per week (which gives me about 200 more calories per day to work with), and we'll see how that works.  Just because I have a budget for them doesn't mean I have to eat them.

Friday 10 December

Breakfast:  Express breakfast - flax toast, almond butter, sugar-free jam, usual coffee...ZZZZOOOM!

Lunch:  Mandarin orange, pecans (1/4 cup + 1/8 cup), 2 oz beef, steak sauce.

Snack:  8 oz. roasted veggies from Whole Foods.

And this, which was 105 calories for the whole bag!
"Raw - Organic - Vegan - Kosher"
Yes, but do they do windows?


Other, not shown: Tiny slice of bread and salmon spread, 2 slices apple, 2 slices pear at Whole Foods.  2 Tbsp chia seeds.  4 oz. of a mocha drink that I misread the label about - one serving would be fine post-workout, but not for general use.

Dinner:  I went out to eat before going to see the new(ish) Harry Potter 7 Part 1!  Woot!  The salad and bunless burger were fine (and soooo tasty), but I really didn't need the sweet potato fries.

With no exercise, I was 591 (or so) calories over budget.

Saturday 11 December

Breakfast as shown + 2 eggs with cheese + 1.5 slices bacon + more coffee.

Lunch:  Webkinz cooking show special - green salad with chopped fried chicken, most of the skin removed.

And some grapes!

Meat doggies snack mid-afternoon.  I also had some peanuts and almonds.

Harry's Hoffbrau for dinner - my tray is in the front, and the huge plate is flanked by veggies.  (Definitely not Plate Method!)  Mr. H&H ate 3/4 of my potatoes and 1/2 of my stuffing, I did a pretty good job demolishing the rest.  The turkey leg itself was mostly bone and those cartilage spears, but it sure looks impressive, in a sort of Primal way, doesn't it?

[Tuesday - The paper bag is a cookie we got to share.  We each took a little nibble, and went "Ugh - too stuffed!"  The nearly whole leftover cookie is still sitting untouched in my car.  It's probably stale, so I'll toss it when I get home.]

Over calorie budget 1002 calories today.  A pitiful but better-than-nothing 10 minutes of stationary biking didn't do much.

Sunday 12 December

Breakfast:  1/2 cup each sausage gravy with spinach.

Usual toast x2 and lots of coffee. Good news:  The donuts did not call me.

I got in a nice 3-mile walk + jog this morning.  It felt good, even though I am still not feeling like going super hard yet.

Lunch: Pippin apple and cheddar cheese.  I love this combo!

I also had some grapes.

And some peanuts.

And a leftover chocolate chip pancake.

We went to a birthday party later, and the best part was the "Super Ninja Scavenger Hunt," a nature walk where the kids had to find different things during different segments of the walk.  Nicely organized, and fun for everyone!

I did well at the party; there was Hawaiian kalua pork and chicken strips and I had some.  I tried a bite of cake but it was too sweet-tasting for me.  I would rather have had a bite of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but my kids didn't leave any of that on their plates. :-)

The rest of the day I didn't track and didn't photo.  I know I went over.

Obviously, I need to tweak this system, at least the fool-my-brain part.  I've seen this pattern before, where I'm spot-on during the week (more controlled environment) and then go rather gonzo on the weekend.

Monday 13 December

Breakfast:  Sausage gravy, usual toast, usual coffee x2.

Lunch:  Aaah, sanity.  Progresso Chicken Barley soup (80 calories), green salad with rice wine vinegar, 1 apple.

And some pecans.  (Effective budget move: Using plain rice wine vinegar on the salad meant I had some calories to eat pecans!)

Workout:  Nothing strenuous, did a 1.9 mile walk-and-talk after eating lunch today.

Snack:  Teriyaki turkey jerky and walnuts.

Dinner:  4 oz. steak with sauce, grilled pumpkin with butter/canola spread.

8 oz of non-fat milk

One delicious pear!

With my exercise, my net calories were 1,969, which was within my new budget of 2,040.  I never felt deprived.  The carbs were a little higher percent of calories (28%), but still not too bad (149.2 total, with 24.1 fiber and 75.2 sugar, most likely from the fruit, milk, and pumpkin).  I was happy to also log a "no sugar added" day; those feel good to me.