I need to be accountable this week! I'm off to the gym when it opens at 5:30 am for cardio and bi's and tri's and will enter food as the day goes on.

Update: back from the gym, where I did elliptical intervals and seated hammer curls, DB overhead extensions, BB curls, DB lying extensions, double cable curls, and rope pushdowns.

Meal Plan:

M1: LC protein shake
M2: Whole egg, 4 whites, oatmeal
M3: Chili over shredded cabbage
M4: Apple and T natural PB
M5: Salmon and roasted green beans

Well, as usual the weekend was a food disaster.

First an amendment to last Friday:
D - spaghetti and meatballs (500)
S - hot cocoa (200)
Total: 1571

Saturday:
B - raisin bran (200) w/skim milk (86)
L - Boston Market: half chicken carver sandwich (340) with side of sweet potatoes (460?!?!?! ), lemonade (262?)
D - bowl of leftover veggie soup (300), Lean Cuisine Panini (340)
S - Reese's cup (130?)
Total: 2118?
Exercise: none really

Sunday:
B - oatmeal (150) w/raw sugar (30) and cinnamon, glass of skim milk (86)
no lunch, just snacking on CRAP all day
S - sugar cookie dough (150), cookie icing (325), sugar cookies (150), three Tostitos bowl-shaped chips (25) with unknown Mexican-style chicken dip stuff (50), one mini cream puff (60), half a mini brownie (40), one mini cheesecake piece (by mini I mean bite-sized) (37), small piece of peanut brittle (20), pile of grapes (220)
D - "chicken oregatana" (baked chicken thighs w/oregano, breadcrumbs, tomatoes) (don't have the cookbook in front of me but I think it was about 350), fettucine (196), salad (10) w/lf dressing (60)
S - Reese's cup (130), three mini malt balls (30), mini kit-kat (133)
Total: 2252
Exercise: 30-40-min walk (more of a stroll, really)

This explains why I was down to 134 on Friday but am up to 136 today.

I'm getting ready to go for a walk. I had to hunt for my running shoes.
Bad, bad, bad ... nowhere in a definition of successful maintaining does it say ... go ahead and skip so many days of exercising that you forget where you put your shoes.

So .... fitday, every day and walking, every day.

Today:
B~1/ c brown rice and 1/2 c orange peel chicken (about 5 pieces with several pieces of water chestnuts, very little sauce)
L~salad (chicken, dried cranberries, pecans, low fat dressing)
D~shrimp with steamed vegetables (over spinach fettuccine which I'll eat very little of) and a margarita

Tomorrow~run day. I'm going to attempt an extra half mile or more.

Allison - I love the concept of leftover Chinese food for breakfast. It's one of my favorite ethnic foods and I haven't had any for months.....

B - oatmeal w/5 walnut halves, 4 "dried plums" (which I still call prunes!), skim milk, 1/2 bagel, 1 tsp butter,
S - ff latte
L - homemade chili over 1/2 cup rice, 6 oz yogurt
S - hb egg, banana (maybe - I left it at work on Friday, and it's pretty brown!)
D - left over chicken stir-fry or pork ragu, squash

LOL Pat, I think they started calling them "dried plums" so people who have never had them before will be more likely to try them. It's kind of like how I never ate brussels sprouts up until this year because they had such a bad reputation. I actually love them!

Monday so far/plan:
B - raisin bran (200) w/skim milk (86)
S - banana (105)
L - leftover fetuccine (196) and chicken (250)
S - apple (80), hot cocoa (80), yogurt (150)
D (plan) - Thai-style pumpkin soup (150) and green beans (60)
Total (plan) - 1357

Kashi cereal was BOGO at the supermarket last week. Oh joy! Last weekend could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse...but it could have been a lot better. What happened to losing my holiday weight before the holidays? My plan isn't going very well! With my lack of control at social events and boredom eating I'm sabotaging myself...

Monday:
B - 1 c. Kashi TGF Cinna-Raisin Crunch, 1 c. skim milk, small banana, coffee w/ 1 T. h&h
L - Flatout Healthy Grain flatbread, 2 oz. lean deli ham, 2 cups sliced red peppers, carrots, & celery, 1/2 oz. raw almonds
S - 8 oz Publix ff light yogurt, small pear
gym - cardio - oops I'm running a 5K saturday, better train for that!
play rehearsal
snacks to tide me over until dinner - 1/2 oz. raw almonds, fennel salad, have a homemade protein bar if i really really need it
late D - (late b/c my stupid oven is broken, so i told bf I'm coming to his house after rehearsal to cook there) Layered Mexican Casserole (Weight Watchers recipe, 300 cal/serving), "light" upside down apple spiced cake (171 cal/serving)

I have been really struggling with binging lately. Yesterday I really focused on making better choices all day and I am still just having a hard time getting back to a loss level. I need to eat less than before because ds isnt nursing as much and I am not running. Stationary bike doesnt burn as much. So today I am trying to trim each meal a bit.

M1: (I like that notation better!) eggbeater veggie omelet - skipped my normal oatmeal that goes with it. I seemed satisfied and was still able to do my cardio workout.

M2: cottage cheese instead of string cheese, tangerine instead of apple. The cottage cheese works ok when I am home, the tangerine not so much, not as satisfying as an apple by a long shot.

M3: 90% of a leancuisine (ds ate some), leftover stirfried asparagus with a little vinaigrette, redpepper strips, 2 lowfat nilla wafers.

random crap usually off of the kid's plates - 7 bunny crackers (like goldfish), 1 prune, rest of dd's yogurt ~ 1/4 cup plain with ~ 1/2 t sugar.

Playgroup is coming up...this is always hard. My weekly food fest.

Trying to recover from the trauma of last week, apple pancakes from the Original Pancake House were involved...(mmmmm)

B: 2 Kashi waffles, 1 with natural peanut butter, 1 with apricot preserves

S - 8 oz strawberries

L - leftover meatloaf on whole grain bread with a smear of low fat mayo and organic ketchup

S - 100 calories of no sugar added cocoa

S - orange

S - cut up veggies - sugar snap peas, carrots, grape tomatoes, red pepper strip

D - home-made chili with spicy chicken sausage, 1 sourdough roll

The day definitely needed more veggies - salad tomorrow!

Ennay - love your new avatar - cute kids!

Thanks Pat, I thought it was time for a new one!

Playgroup -ugh - 3 big cookies, ~ 1 oz cheese, about 10 kashi crackers, grapes and tangerines.

Edit - oh yes this is exercise accountability too! 60 min on stationery bike this morning, yoga tonight.

M5 - Hummus sandwich (light bread, hummus, laughing cow, tomatoes, spinach)

M6 - Vegetable soup, chicken breast, 2 bites pizza

Overall not too bad considering the playgroup, I still came in at my old target which I havent been able to do, even if I didnt get down to my new target.

ANOTHER halloween party for dd tomorrow - god help me.

Monday edits:
S - slice of ww toast (100) w/jelly (40), leftover potatoes (60) and broccoli (10) w/a teeny bit of cheese (5), 3 mini malt balls (30) and a mini almond joy (90)
Total: 1692
Exercise: none

Tuesday so far/plan:
B: raisin bran (200) w/skim milk (86)
S: apple (80)
L: leftover soup (150), slice of ww bread (100)
S: banana (105), yogurt (150)
D (plan): ??? I have a recipe for a pesto made from spinach but I don't remember the calorie count and it's in an old cookbook. Might end up just being pasta with sauce instead. How did I manage to use up all my recipes for the week and it's only Tuesday? I guess I usually make the ones that serve 6-8 and this week I did the ones that serve 4. Random estimate for dinner: 450?
Total (plan): 1321
Exercise (plan): 30 mins elliptical or treadmill

ennay, yes, adorable kids! Would something like chewing gum help when there is candy around? Maybe you wouldn't want to chew the candy if you've already got something going...

Monday edits:
exercise - ran 3 miles, walked 3 miles
skipped the homemade protein bar and fennel salad, all other eating as planned

I was actually quite proud of myself. I had OP food if I needed it, but waited to eat it until I really got hungry, and managed to just hold off until my later than usual dinner. See, I don't need to tell myself that I "have" to eat. I can wait and see if I'm really hungry for it. 1471 cals for the day.

Tuesday:
B - 1 c. Kashi TGF Cinna-Raisin Crunch, 1 c. skim milk, small banana, coffee w/ 1 T. h&h
L - Flatout Healthy Grain flatbread, 2 oz. lean deli ham, 2 cups sliced red peppers, carrots, & celery, 1/2 oz. raw almonds
S - 8 oz Publix ff light yogurt, small pear
gym - first priority is weightlifting & strength, and then some cardio
D/beer brewing club w/ some friends - a friend is cooking and she usually cooks healthily, but if she doesn't I have leftover Layered Mexican Chicken from last night (made it at BF's house, brought it to work, to bring home tonight...) so I have plenty of OP food (also have more almonds, homemade protein bar, and fennel salad that will all be in the cooler in my car - I'm just a walking grocery store of OP food today)

Crud - I had forgotten the oz of nuts I ate and then before bed I gave in to a chocolate fix and ate 1 oz dark chocolate chips.

Rest day today exercise wise

Breakfast - eggbeater, onion, tomato, spinach, mushroom, lf cheese omelet

So...if it wasnt enough of a challenge - my ds only wants to eat the food off my plate....which would be ok, except at his last appt the doc said he was a little concerned about his weight being too low - I think its crap, but I do need to make sure he gets enough fat for brain development. So not only do I have whole milk in the house now (I dont drink milk, but whole milk causes berries and cream or cream in coffee cravings) I am trying to make him a real egg and full fat cheese omelet and put it on my plate with my omelet and try to convince him it is my eggbeater omelet. Little bugger still likes mine better. Adding avocado to the plate for him, trying not to eat it all. He would eat only grapes and carrots if I let him.

candy is not usually a temptation for me but some baked goods are. The party today is a "spooky food" lunch, probably hotdogs and baked goods. For me parties are still my big issue. I can see that being the case with dd already, she thinks playgroup is just one giant buffet and doesnt play, she just eats.

I made relatively healthy spooky food to bring...gravestone muffins. They are low sugar whole wheat/corn/blueberry muffins. Use yellow cornmeal and frozen blueberries, but thaw the blueberries in the microwave until they are hot and then mash them slightly to release most of their juice, then mix thoroughly in the batter...the batter turns grey-green. Bake in mini loaf pans, but only fill up 1/3 so they stay flat.