Pledge - the last few days

Sorry for the lack of updating. I had another super unplugged weekend and yesterday was just plain busy.

Unfortunately I have some bad news. I totally let my healthy eating go over the weekend.

Friday started with the normal cereal for breakfast, then a roast beef sandwich on whole what bread and an Honest Tea.

On Friday me and Tom went out to dinner to Erbaluce. I didn't take any photos but we ordered:
- a bottle of Erbaluce wine (of course)
- 2 starters: razor clams and a radicchio salad with burrata cheese and a potato and pistachio dressing
- My entree was spaghetti with lobster oil and sea urchin roe
- We shared the chocolate truffle dessert which was AMAZING

The whole meal was just really really great.

On Saturday this was delivered!!

A box of 100 fresh Island Creek Oysters. Yummmm!

We managed to wait until the next day to crack open some oysters, and for breakfast I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and an orange. Eventually me and Tom went on an adventure to buy food for the brunch party we were having on Sunday. We didn't end up eating again and suddenly it was 5pm and we were both starving. We stopped at TGIF for dinner and I just totally let go.

We ordered mozzarella sticks and potato skins to share, then I ordered the chicken fingers with fries for dinner. I only took a bite or two out of each chicken finger but finished everything else. I seriously felt gross for the rest of the night from this. It really goes to show how eating quality food changes how you feel.

I went out with some friends that night and had a beer and a half, then called it quits for the night.

On Sunday we were up bright and early for the brunch party! On the menu was:

Drinks:
Bloody Mary's with garnish (celery, olives, bleu cheese stuffed olives, slim jims, chorizo and cheddar skewers, lemons and limes)
Mimosas
Screwdrivers
"Manmosas" (hefeweizen instead of champagne)

Food:
Oysters
Eggs to order (omelettes, scrambled, over-easy/medium/fried)
Bacon
Breakfast Potatoes
Toast/English muffins
Clementines

The party was awesome and all the food was great, if I do say so myself :)

Later that night we ordered pizza and some apps. I had a slice of cheese, a few mozzarella sticks and some french fries.

I was feeling pretty down on myself about the weekend. Even though it was really fun, I felt pretty out of control eating wise. I don't know why I just stopped caring, especially at Friday's. On Sunday night I decided I would be back on track Monday and I have been!

I didn't have any real food when I woke up on Monday, so breakfast was a banana with peanut butter.

I wasn't terribly hungry for lunch so I just munched on a slim jim and some whole wheat bread. Strange.

Eventually I went to the store and picked up some food for the week and dinner that night. Me and Tom made turkey burgers from scratch and sweet potato chips! On my burger I had a slice of provolone cheese, tomatoes and pickles and served it on a whole wheat roll. I also had some snap peas and a Lipton green tea on the side. Deeelish!

Yesterday I was back to work and started off the day with cereal and a banana:

Lunch was a turkey and tomato sandwich, chopped veggies, and a clementine.

Dinner was whole wheat pasta with sauce and mozzarella cheese and grapes.

Throughout the day I also snacked on 2 cheese sticks, some olives, and a slim jim. I need to get those things out of my cabinet!!

Pledge - Day 20

Happy belated Valentine's day!

So I'm definitely doing a less perfect job at sticking to the pledge this time around. Still, I'm feeling good about it. Just being conscious of what I'm eating is something new from the last year, and even if I haven't been making perfect choices, I've still been making better ones! So here's day 20...

My train was running so late so I got to work just in time for a meeting. By the time we finished it was pretty late, so I just ate a banana and called that breakfast.

For lunch I really wanted something hot. When it comes to the food court, there really isn't much to get that's both healthy and hot besides soup. I wasn't feeling it so I went for a small side of bake ziti from the pizza place and got grapes from ABP. This may not seem like the best choice, but before the pledge I was eating a huge portion of the baked ziti, plus a garlic roll, plus a diet coke! And can someone just pat me on the back please? It's been 20 days since diet coke!!

Tom decided to make us dinner to celebrate V-day. We started with some wine...

And some oysters!! He bought 4 different kinds and we shucked 'em ourselves with our cool little shuckers.

For the main event, he made lamb chops, fingerling potatoes and spinach. So good!

For dessert we walked down to my favorite ice cream place and got some. I got peanut butter cup with m&ms, but there were hardly any pb cups in it. Bummer! Lucky I still have a few Reeses hearts leftover...

Pledge - Day 18 & 19

I've been sucking at updating...here was day 18 and 19.

Day 18:
Breakfast -- cereal and a banana

Lunch was eaten quickly: a cobb salad from Finagle: lettuce, tomato, onion, hard boiled eggs, avocado and bacon

I was super hungry for dinner and we ordered takeout. I got a vegetable udon noodle stir fry and a sushi roll:

Day 19:

I worked from home in the AM because I had an early call, so breakfast was 2 eggs, a WW sandwich thin, 2 pieces of bacon, and a glass of OJ:

Lunch was the first time I really wasn't in total control. I had a lunch meeting with a hotel catering manager where I was definitely being wined and dined. We ate at the in-house restaurant and he ordered 1 of every appetizer for our very small group of 3. I had a small piece of a chicken quesadilla, a veggie flat bread and a crab cake. For my entree I ordered the Bibb salad which came with dried apricots, cranberries and pecan encrusted goat cheese. I ate about half. I also had a handful of fries. I think I did pretty well considering! No pictures though cause that'd just be weird.

For dinner I went with the same thing I had yesterday: vegetable udon stir fry and brown rice. I love those noodles.

I promise to be better about updating!!

Pledge - Day 17

A quick day 17 update since I didn't have a chance to do it last night.

Breakfast was ezekial cereal and a banana. I forgot to take the picture until it was almost gone.

Lunch was leftover turkey chili, carrots and hummus, and grapes:

Snack was a reeses peanut butter heart... these are the best.

I skipped dinner because I was at the beanpot again and wasn't hungry. When I got home it was late so I had two cheese sticks and a vitamin water. Back to work and will update later.

Pledge - Days 14, 15, and 16

I used the big storm that hit the northeast as an opportunity to unplug and relax a little. I tried to stick to eating well over the last few days and didn't do too terribly.

On Friday my office was closed. I had breakfast from Tom's couch (2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, english muffin and an orange):

And lunch in the same spot (turkey sandwich, grapes, popcorn trail mix):

I had some raspberries with nutella and a couple of drinks for dinner. Pretty balanced, huh?

On Saturday I woke up really hungry so I had a bunch of eggs, bacon, berries and half an english muffin. WE didn't eat until pretty late so I skipped lunch. For dinner I was really craving fries and decided to go with it. We ordered takeout so I just got fries and had a turkey sandwich on the side. And they were awesome.

On Sunday I finally left the house to go out to brunch. I ordered a bloody mary and the margarita pizza. I ate about half of this.

Later Tom and  I were supposed to go to a concert in Providence but didn't check to see if it got canceled until we got there. It was. Oops! We decided to stick with our dinner plans since we were there anyway. We went to Providence Oyster Bar for some seafood. I ordered an awesome cocktail and of course we started with some oysters:

For my entree I ordered the cioppino (mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, crab meat and swordfish in an amazing broth):

The weekend was nowhere near perfect eating wise, but that's okay. I'm 100% back on track today and excited for a healthy week.

Pledge - Day 13

This was such a long day. It took me TWO HOURS to get home, which is just beyond ridiculous since it's only 4 miles between work and my house. The heavy traffic is no doubt caused by people panicking over the potential storm tomorrow. I don't know why a storm that might be happening tomorrow would cause such a gridlock, but it did.

Anyway, breakfast today was a toasted bagel with peanut butter and a banana:

Lunch was a bowl of chili, some raw veggies, grapes and strawberries:

When I got home after my long commute I was very hungry so I had a clementine and a string cheese:

And dinner was the other half of my spaghetti squash with sauce and cheese, plus a 100% WW bagel thin with some real butter:

And a beer to celebrate working from home tomorrow!

Thoughts on the 12 Day Pledge

So my 12 day pledge is over. I imagined when I started this I would feel a sense of relief today, but I actually feel quite the opposite.

For the first time in a long time I feel excited about getting my life back on the healthy track. I feel invigorated, and just plain good! I feel proud of myself and actually feel like I can do this! YAY!

Blogging my food everyday really helped and is something I'm going to try to keep up for as long as I can, so get ready for more ugly cereal pictures! My plan is to continue to abide by the pledge, but be a bit more lenient on one meal during the week. Exploring restaurants and trying new food is still a big part of who I am and something I want to continue to be part of my lifestyle. I still want to go out to eat but really need to prioritize when it's worth splurging a bit. I'm going to try to follow this 2 out of 4 rule. When I go out to eat I can pick 2 splurges -- either bread, appetizer, side (french fries) or drinks. If I want fries and cocktails, I'll skip the bread and appetizers. It's a pretty realistic way to make sure I'm not going completely out of control when I eat out.

As for exercise, my goal was to work out 5 times and I missed it by 1. Exercising more regularly definitely needs to be a priority. Even a 30 minute walk will help me feel energized.

A nice surprise from the pledge is that I lost 5.5 pounds! I wasn't planning on this but weighed myself on day 1 and today just to see. I was pleasantly surprised and am thrilled that I did this without measuring, counting or obsessing over anything. I just tried to pick the right quality food and eat normal human amounts of it. Go me.

I can't believe I've gone 12 days without drinking diet coke. It honestly wasn't that bad except when other people were drinking around me. I've never smoked a cigarette but I feel like someone trying to quit smoking! When I was out to eat at Border Cafe my mouth was watering to take a sip of my friend's diet coke, but I knew that one sip would lead to a downward spiral. I know diet coke is not good for my brain or body and there's no reason to drink it -- it doesn't fill me up and costs money (unlike tap water)!

So here's my plan: I'm turning the 12 day pledge into the 30 day pledge (18 extra days). I think that taking this in small increments will help me from becoming overwhelmed, plus will give me lots of opportunities to reflect and change up as needed.

I'm going to follow the general rules from the pledge outlined here, but am going to allow for once-a-week splurges (this does not mean an all day free for all).

Goals for the 18 day pledge:
- Blog my food every day
- Continue to eat most meals at home
- Exercise 7+ times

That's it folks, will be back later for a Day 13 update!