Today was mostly a day of getting ready for tomorrow.  We are having a lot of family over for a picnic.  It is supposed to be very hot and it will be a great day to chill at the pool.  Looking forward to it– hoping I don’t go too crazy.  We shall see.

Today I went to the awesome picnic at Rick’s co-worker’s house later in the day.  I did go over my calories for the day, but I didn’t go over the calories I earned back for doing exercise.  And I actually really held it together given that the food at this picnic is so good and I really wanted to get up and keep eating.  But I stopped myself.  And I also passed on dessert because tomorrow I want to be able to have an ice cream cone or cupcake.  What is huge for me is not letting every single fun event become an excuse to completely over eat.  In the past, that is what I would do… just eat as much of whatever I want.  This week I have kept it in check better than I ever have.  I have been to two different picnics where I have either stayed within my calories or gone over but not too bad.  Then last night for my anniversary dinner I didn’t go nearly as over as I thought I was going to.  Tomorrow I am sure I will go over– and I am ok with that.  Especially because I have kept it in check really well this week despite everything I have had going on.  I also don’t want to stay on track all of the time as I know I will not keep with this new lifestyle long term if I don’t indulge every once in a while.  With that said– I need to stay semi within range as I know we are leaving for vacation in a week and that is going to really be a challenge.  My concern is that in the past I have gone on vacation for a week and I am never able to get back into the swing of things when I get back.  Inevitably, I gain back any weight I have lost.  So far I have lost more weight than any previous attempt in the last several years– and I can feel that this time is different.  I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

Today my husband and I celebrated our anniversary and went out for a nice dinner.  We had a great time and I didn’t go nearly as crazy as I thought I would.   I actually didn’t go over all of the calories I had earned back for the exercise I did today.   In terms of my normal daily calories, I did go over those.

I went golfing again and had a great time– plus I get the benefit of all the exercise.   This weekend we have 2 picnics, one at a friend’s house and the other at my house.   I really want to keep it in check so I have a good weigh in on Monday morning.   Especially because next weekend we leave for vacation for the week and that will be a tough week to stay on track.

I didn’t get a chance to blog last night because by the time I got home from the picnic I was tired and went to bed shortly thereafter.  I will say that I did GREAT at the picnic.  I didn’t go over and I actually ate some dinner before I went so I didn’t go crazy at the picnic.  I was SO happy.  It was a huge win especially because I know I have a big weekend coming up.

Then tonight my husband and I went golfing then grabbed some sushi for dinner.  I went a very little over my daily calorie intake, but I had gotten so much exercise today (I wasn’t in the office at all, I spent the whole day in two different courthouses and then walked 9 holes of golf) that even going a little bit over, I was way under the extra calories I had earned from exercise for the day.

Tomorrow night my husband and I are going to go out for our anniversary.  We have been married for 9 years– we have been together for over 16 years… we don’t really spend enough time celebrating what a great relationship we have but tomorrow night we are going to go to our favorite restaurant.  Tomorrow if I go over, even way over, I don’t care.  I am so excited because next year we are going to go on a big ten year wedding anniversary trip.  I am not sure what we are going to do–  but I know I will weigh much less than I do right now and I also know that I will be more comfortable in my own skin.  And it will be a great trip.

As for this coming weekend… I will deal with it when I get there… but I am hoping to keep everything in check given what I know will be quite a night tomorrow.

Over the next 5 days, I have a lot of hurdles in the way that could really impact my week.  It went from not much going on this week, to a ton going on this week.  Tomorrow night I have a huge picnic to attend for Rotary.  I am going to try and eat dinner before I go so I am not hungry and don’t eat there.  Because if I go hungry it will really throw me off and I know I will go over.  Then on Friday, my husband and I are going to go out for our anniversary (which is actually today– 9 years!) at our favorite restaurant in town.  Because that is a special night, I want to plan that out and allow that to be my night where I go over.  Then on Saturday afternoon we have another picnic to go to.  I will need careful planning for that day.  The food at that picnic is amazing!  I am not sure yet how I am going to do it.  Then on Sunday we have a bunch of family coming over our house for another picnic.  The good thing about that picnic is that I can carefully control what we are eating (chicken and veggie kebobs and broccoli slaw)– so I am confident I can stay on track that day.  My date with the grey box should be interesting on Monday.  So far yesterday and today have been good days.  I am hoping that I keep it up for tomorrow and Thursday as well (although I am not worried about Thursday, I am very concerned about tomorrow’s picnic).

Regarding tomorrow’s strategy, I think I am going to bring dinner with me to work and heat it up right before I leave so I can eat before I go to the picnic.  Hopefully that will keep me from eating a bunch of food I should not.  It is just so hard when so many good things are staring me in the face.  Because I have so much going on this week, for tonight, I am just going to focus on what I am going to do tomorrow— I will worry about Friday and the weekend when they come!

My next big goal in terms of weight loss is to get to 175.  I have not been at or below that number since right before I got pregnant with my daughter.  Given that she is now 4 and 1/2, that means I have not weighed that in 5 and 1/2 years!  Way too long.  I can’t believe that I am already thinking about that number as a realistic goal.  So exciting…. and to think of what my goal will be when I finally get there!  I know I can do this.

The grey box was positive this morning.  Another 2.6 pounds down for a total weight loss of 26.6 and a new weight of 198…. under 200!!  It feels so great to finally be below that elusive number.   It felt great to see that number this morning.  I am hoping next week is even better because I don’t have too much going on that should throw me off track.

Tonight I really was looking forward to a treat.  I had wanted one last night but didn’t have enough calories left for the day.  So I had a cherry Italian ice.  I love them– it tastes so good…. especially when I am eating well.  I had really wanted a new chocolate Italian ice (it really tastes like a fudge pop)… but I didn’t have enough calories today so I ate the cherry one.  Hopefully I have enough left tomorrow so I can have one of the chocolate ones.

The anticipation of tomorrow is killing me.  In the two weeks since I have had a date with the grey box, I have had a lot of days that I went over, some quite a bit.  I am hoping for a loss tomorrow… I have been more active than normal over the last two weeks so I am hoping that helps a bit.  Especially on the days that I really went over.  I would love to see a big loss of a few pounds, but I think that is really unrealistic.  I was happy that today I was on track and didn’t go over.  I was even more happy because for dinner I seriously considered having some wine, which would have put me over for the day and I decided not to.  It was really hard, I even had the glass in my hand and put it back.  Sitting here now, I am SO glad that I didn’t give in to the temptation.  Sometimes for me all it takes is saying no to one thing that I really want to get myself back on track.

I have a full work week this week… that always helps keep me on track.  I would like to not go over at all this week, including Wednesday when I have a big rotary picnic to go to…. that will be a challenge.

I am going on a week long vacation in 2 weeks– I am not sure how I am going to manage that, but I am going to try and at least keep everything more in check than I normally do when I go on vacation (like I just did when I went camping).

Until tomorrow…

It is really that time of year.  It is the time of year that all prior diets always fail.  I am not willing to do that this time, but I still went over today.  I had thought we were going to have chicken at a family picnic we went to, and we ended up having pizza.  With this family that never happens– I was so surprised when they said they were ordering pizza.  I hadn’t been super careful leading up to that point because I assumed we would have a healthy dinner… It was impossible to stay on track.  And then I had some cake and a cookie also.  Just a big OVER day.

I am getting nervous about my date with the grey box on Monday morning.  I am not willing to go another week with a “pass” because I feel that could just turn into something bad.  I need to get on it and see where I am.  Although I feel pretty good, I still have had a couple of bad days this week.  I am hoping all of the good days still result in a loss.

On a brighter note, we stayed at my husband’s aunt’s house to watch the big firework show on the Thames River last night.  They were pretty awesome.  As a kid we used to go to them every single year.  We never missed them.  Since having children, I have not watched them in about 7 years.  It was great to be able to see them, see all of the newer fireworks that were cool and especially great to see how much my kids loved them.  Plus, we were able to watch from inside my husband’s aunt’s condo which is right on the water.  The noise wasn’t bad at all so my daughter, who was nervous/scared leading up to the fireworks, wasn’t scared once they started because the booms were not so loud because we watched them from inside.  Although I might have gone over for the day, I still had a GREAT time with family, fireworks and swimming.

SO….. today was an “oh man” day because at the end of it I had to say “Oh man, I went over”.  And not just a little over.  A lot over.  I went out for happy hour with my co-workers, which I haven’t done in quite a while, and as I wrote about the other day, I can’t help myself.  It is how I cope with stress, so I ate and drank too much.  I wish I could pull back in those situations, but it is so hard.  Tomorrow I have a family picnic to go to.  I am going to try, with all of my might, to NOT go over my calories for the day.  I hadn’t planned on today going so badly off track, but it did.  The only thing I can do now is pull myself up and not let it happen tomorrow.  And I know I can do that… I just have to keep telling myself.

Today I was so busy I was low on my calorie intake because I didn’t get to eat during the day like I should have.  I ate a lot for dinner, grilled chicken and baked potatoes… Yum.   But even that wasn’t enough.  Probably not bad considering I went over yesterday.   But I wasn’t able to log my calories for the day because I was too far under.   So I went ahead and had a small snack pack of my kids, which was a small 130 calorie Oreo pack.   It was awesome!   I love Oreos.   And donuts.   I have been craving donuts lately.  I need to build a donut into a day at some point….maybe an Oreo donut!    After the snack, I was able to log in for the day

I have been super stressed out lately, I have a lot going on at work.  Usually I would indulge myself in food to get through the stress.  It felt good last night to have some wine and go a little over on my calories.   It helped me de-stress. But I really need to find another outlet.  I could have used some wine tonight, I have had a really long week.   But I didn’t.  That doesn’t mean I don’t want to though…

I ended up going over tonight at the picnic.  Not too bad, but still over.  With that said I had a great time with the rotary club and it is a great group of people doing great things.   Looking forward to more great things to come.  It makes me feel like I am doing something good in the community in which I live!   And also makes me feel ok for not staying on track today.   Although not an excuse, eating and surrounding myself with good people makes for a great night, especially when I had such a crappy work day.