Yikes. I’m sitting here with Noah tethered to me. He never gets tired. And he pants incessantly. Okay. This post wasn’t supposed to be another ‘debby whines about life with Noah’ post.
So. Four lunches out in one week. It just happened that way. But I decided not to give up and start The Plan a week later. That is not real life. I am doing pretty good with the lunches out so far. Monday my sister and my niece came up, and I had said we could go out to lunch. But they were a little short on time, and so I fixed chicken tacos for them and I had a chicken taco salad. Very light faire indeed. I had all the fixings ready because the day before I had tried Christie’s fish taco recipe, which was fabulous. My first fish tacos! Then, we did go and get frozen yogurt, which was also my idea. No surprise there, eh?
Today I had a planned lunch with a good friend. We chose Tombien, which is a fantastic little mexican restaurant. I went with my friend’s recommendation, and it was really excellent. Seemed like a ‘gourmet’ mexican type thing. The serving size was small, and you could tell they didn’t go overboard on anything. Just a smattering of cheese, a bit of meat, and a bit of beans, with lots of fresh veggies on top. And they had a salsa bar, so we tried a few of those. Although I am not too adventurous. They had pumpkin salsa though, Lori, and I tried a bite of that. Interesting…
But then I went to the gym, and worked out hard on the weights, and went for the first swim of the year! Fantastic! But does anybody remember how hungry you used to get after swimming, as a kid? I sure did. And that’s how I felt today. I don’t particularly remember feeling that way last summer when I was swimming. So I trashed went a wee bit over my calorie allotment. There could have been a bit of stress eating in there as well. But my exercise calories were way up there today. We will see what happens at the end of the week. I am trying to stay off the scale and only weigh in once a week for this challenge. I will start posting my weigh-ins again. I’ll probably post my exercise again, since I am keeping track of it anyways.
Okay, here’s another thing I haven’t told you. My time with Vicky (my personal trainer) is coming to an end. (where do you guys get those faces from? I need to put a very sad face here.) She is getting a ‘real’ job, you know, with benefits and all. And I am happy for her, but sad for me. I think that is one reason I am doing this challenge for myself, because I am a little worried about losing that accountability. I’m glad some of you are joining me in really working on this.
Vickie suggested in the comments adding in tabata intervals to rev up your metabolism. And I totally agree with her. For goodness sakes, its just four minutes. But I just can’t make myself do them most days. I strongly recommend them for the rest of you, though. heh heh.
Well, its dark, and all is quiet here, except for Mr. Monk’s snoring. Meaning, Noah is outside and presumably sleeping (he’s not BARKING.) I took some excedrin, had a nice shower, and am enjoying some decaf coffee and strawberries and yogurt. Here are a few more garden pictures for your enjoyment.
English lilacs.
Bleeding hearts.
Tulips.
And a few food photos. I thought I might share a few more of my meals on The Plan, but I am just not a consistent food photographer. Oh, well.
Custard oats (steel cut oatmeal and a little quinoa, with egg white added at the end) topped with lots of yummy blueberries.
Another 'Lori' inspired meal. Grilled center cut loin pork chop, broccoli, and roasted parsnips. I'm trying to eat two veggies with dinner, and salad or veggies at lunch.
debby weighs in 
Great pictures – those lilacs are scruptious! The blueberries look plump and beautiful!
I love a good Mexican restaurant. We have none near here! And I like your philosophy of not waiting to do your plan because of so many meals out. It’s a blessing to have a rich and full life with friends and outings – not a curse to our food plans!
Leslie! I was over on your blog last night and LOVED your clematis! I’ve tried to grow them before but no luck.
I personally think it is a mistake to get into the ‘how many calories’ did I burn thinking.
I used to just cringe in class when someone would ask how many calories we had burned.
I always felt like if I followed them after class – I would see them pigging out somewhere.
The other one that gets me is when they would walk out of class and walk across the street and into the coffee place. because I am pretty sure they were not getting plain black coffee. . .with that habit – they would have been better off staying home in bed with the covers over their head (and no food under their pillow).
I do EAT right after a workout – but it is my regular amount of food – not more. And I make sure I always eat protein right after a workout – it is something about metabolism – but I can’t remember what. I usually eat my yogurt or cottage cheese and walnuts right then.
If you TRULY want to drop more pounds – I (personally) think you have to figure out a way to DO quad and tabata work. Or some other REALLY PUSH it work.
Please be careful not to get caught up in the general (just enough to not be a couch potato) level of daily movement and think it is enough to burn calories. It is often enough to maintain – IF the food stays in check. I have seen bloggers and people in real life do this again and again. It is sort of like they make up their MIND to drop more pounds – but then just expect magic. . .
I agree with you about the calorie counting on exercise. That is why I did not say I was going to subtract my calories burned from my calories eaten, even though this book says to do that. That never worked for me in W.W. either. I actually think it is almost easier to lose weight without intense exercise–one thing to concentrate on–and I know quite a few people who have done it. But I also don’t want to do that. Exercise is important to me.
And I agree with that statement at the end ‘ It is sort of like they make up their MIND to drop more pounds – but then just expect magic. . .’ except it is almost a miracle when you make up your mind to lose the weight by eating less and moving more, and then you ACTUALLY do just exactly that.
And I hate to ask, but what exactly do you mean by ‘quad work?’ I know what I think it means, but wonder if you have something else in mind?
And I truly understand the feelings behind losing a trainer. I have had this happen MANY times and it is hard every time. But it is an opportunity to try classes. You have actually done the harder one first. You were able to work out in front of one person with her undivided attention. In class – it is actually EASIER because they are busy doing the exercise themselves and watching the whole class. You are used to the one person – but that is actually a very hard thing for most people.
Great flowers and food pics! Let’s hope that Noah is less barky today. Maybe it is just a puppy thing, as friends have a couple of this type of dogs and they are very, very quiet.
Ahhh, Roxie. You have given me hope!
Glad you are having a good week, eating and exercise-wise. Lunches out happen – this is real life and you are certainly living it! I don’t count the calories I burn during workouts as anything but “insurance” toward my daily intake. I wore a BodyBugg for a while last year and once I saw that I was only burning 300 calories for my workouts – well, that stopped my “I’ve worked out and I can eat” thinking dead in its tracks, lol!
I do remember being starving after swimming…happened to my kids too. The summers that we joined a pool, I could not feed those kids enough!
Tell Noah that his Aunt Shelley says to be good for Mama today. 🙂
Great post, Debby! Things sound more peaceful at your house (Noah…), and you are managing your food quite well, in spite of events that WILL always come up. I love the photos–both food and flowers. We will always need sustenance, in spite of working toward weight loss, so it might as well taste good and look pretty. Color is also so helpful (says me who has a basic black and white blog–for now). We have had a wonderful, warm, colorful spring here–for a change! Have a great day. I love your writing…
I do enjoy having a colorful plate of food. Sometimes I think about it and plan it, and other times not so much.
squats and lunges mainly – weight bearing quad work!
and a woman at Zumba was telling this story and I thought of you immediately. She is teaching herself to run by teaching her dog with her and to run in a straight line (no sniffing). They ran in a 5K this past weekend (after she had been working with him) and it is really helping her pace. She ran the whole thing – no stopping – no walking. She was really please and one the dog GOT it – he is really pleased too.
very glad that you are not falling for the eat and then just burn it off. it breaks my heart when that starts to creep into people’s thought processes. There are very few of us (and I am NOT one of them) who can exercise enough to make up for questionable food.
And it also occured to me that painful as it is to loose your trainer – it will force you to make changes and changes (can) lead to weight loss.
squats and lunges mainly – weight bearing quad work!
That’s the only thing I could think you meant. But then I wondered if there was some other kind of quad work, like four-exercises-in-one or something.
Love the bleeding heart! One of my favorite spring flowers.
I remember the swimming hunger! I think that was a big problem for me training for the triathlon last year – I was so hungry all the time (and I ate, too). I gained weight during training.
I think doing some HIIT would be good for you. It’s like Tabata, but you can work up to the level you need.
I like that HIIT stuff. Sometimes I do it when I am walking.