My Wednesday

Good Afternoon! I had an AWESOME dinner last night. Its amazing to me how much my mindset has changed in a week and a half! I believe I had mentioned before that I had been on this new lifestyle plan for a while but in the past few months I had been struggling and doing the on again off again thing. It just goes to show how getting into a routine can really affect how we perceive things. Well, my on again off again started about 2 months ago where I started cheating "here and there". Then it got to where I was on the plan 2 days, off 5 days a week. Then it went to..you guessed it..where I was completely off the plan and off the hook! I was eating everything that I had been depriving myself of while on the plan, the whole time justifying it by thinking "I've got to go ahead and eat this because I'm starting my diet again soon." I ate my way right through about 4-6 weeks like that. I'm talking candy bars, movie theatre popcorn (one of my weaknesses) and countless pints of Ben and Jerry's. Heather and I were on a try a new flavor every couple days kick! At that point my mindset was that I just "couldn't" get back on the plan, that my mind just wasn't in it yet.. That's what I was thinking because that's what I was telling myself. I couldn't stand the thought of eating that healthy meal for dinner when all I was thinking about was pizza and icecream. Now, here I am 6 weeks later and my mind is in the completely opposite direction. Now i'm thinking about healthy food. After a certain amount of time eating well, you actually start to crave healthy food..go figure. Now, I'm not thinking about how can I "take a day off" and enjoy everything I've been missing. Instead, I'm thinking how can I incorporate what I'm craving into my plan by making a healthy version of it or substituting something else?
But with this new line of thinking also comes worries. Like right now, I'm a bit apprehensive about this baby shower that I have to go to on Sunday. I'm co-hosting it with my Aunt and in going over the menu, I'm seeing less than healthy choices. There will be a cake of course. The rest of the menu consists of chicken wings, potatoe salad, pasta salad, Mexican dip and sub sandwiches. Usually I would be like "ok, i'll just take the day off from dieting." Not this time. Instead I'm planning ahead. I'm going to eat breakfast before hand and I'm going to show up with not only the pasta salad I agreed to bring, but also a healthy option like a tossed salad or a veggie tray. I'll eat light and go home and enjoy a good dinner. But this social event WAS a worry for me. It's one of those times you encounter while on your plan where you go "crap, how am I going to eat at that?" Just keep in mind that we always have choices. We can choose to give in because its easier, or we can choose to take the few extra steps to help us make better choices. I'll let you know on Monday how I did.

Okay..I had something else in mind for this post today but I got sidetracked so it will wait for tomorrow. Like I said my dinner was SPECTACULAR last night. I roasted a bone-in, with skin, chicken breast seasoned with Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper. I paired it with roasted garlic and olive oil couscous and Mediterranean vegetables. Yes, I ate the skin on my chicken. I really prefer the bone in chicken for the flavor and if it fits into my day then I'm having it. I have been looking online to find accurate calorie information for the bone-in/with skin chicken. I found 2 sites today whose calorie counts were just about exactly the same so I'm using 56 calories per oz. If anyone knows that to be wrong, please let me know. I also don't understand if that's counting the bone in the weight or not. For now, until I find differently I will count the weight "with bone" and determine the calories that way. The Mediterranean veggies are a frozen mixture that we get from a home delivery food service. It consists of zuchinni, yellow squash, onions, peppers, carrots and green beans all seasoned and herbed up to be really yummy! And they cook fast. I use them as a side dish, or sometimes I add some chicken strips and honey teriaki marinade right at the end of cooking and eat them over brown rice as a stir fry.

Okay..here's my food from yesterday:

Breakfast:
1 whole egg (2 points, 70 calories)
Light, multgrain english muffin (1 point, 100 calories)
1 Turkey Sausage patty (1 point, 60 calories)

Lunch:
Morning Star Farms Garden Veggie Patty (2 points, 110 calories)
Lite wheat bun (1 point, 80 calories)
1 tsp. mustard (0, 0)
1 tbsp. ketchup (0 points, 15 calories)
1/2 cup lettuce (0 points, 5 calories)
1 slice tomatoe (0 points, 5 calories)
1 cup grapes (1 point, 90 calories)

Afternoon snack: None..got too busy cleaning the house and before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner.

Dinner:
7 oz. (weight with bone) chicken breast with skin (8 points, 392 calories)
1/2 cup couscous (2 points, 110 calories)
1 1/2 cups Mediterranean veggies (2 points, 75 calories)

Totals for Day: 20 points, 1,112 calories, 67.6 oz. water