Still making good choices

I have now completed 8 days of making good choices.  There have been challenges, but I met them. I'm feeling pretty good about myself.  Yesterday I ate lunch at Outback Steakhouse at the NARFE meeting, but I still controlled the calories and ate 1279 total for the day.  I said NO to the bread when the waitress tried to put it on the table. I did NO exercise yesterday, though.  Well, some days are like that.  Still, I was rewarded this morning with a two pound weight loss.  I'm sure that was water weight that had been retained from the high sodium in the restaurant meals from the two days before, but it was nice to see 267.5 on the scale this morning.

Today I will go to the gym to lift weights and take a walk.  That is our usual routine on M-W-F.  15 minutes of lifting light/moderate weights and a slow walk of 30 minutes burns up 180 calories.  Not a lot, but I'll take it.

I have already programmed today's calories into Lose It!  Because tonight is Shabbat, my dinner calories are HIGH.  They are going to be 934, which is the majority of my day.  Here's how that happens:
Happy Hour shot of Whiskey   97
Challah Roll and Smart Balance Margarine  300
Sweet Wine for Kiddush, 2 ounces,  93
Cincinnati Chili Casserole, Diabetic Living, 1 cup serving,  344
Salad with grape tomatoes and carrots, 100

It's amazing how fast that can add up.  I could eat half the roll and half the margarine and save 150 calories. I could skip the Happy Hour whiskey.  I could leave out the grape tomatoes from the salad because they are 60 of the 100 calories.  But I won't.  I am making this a conscious choice to enjoy my Shabbat dinner.

When I plan in advance, I can see what's happening at dinner and make adjustments.  I am making two big adjustments to compensate.  First, I slept in until 8 a.m.  It's now 9:30 and I have not had breakfast yet.  I'm not hungry either, so since we are leaving the house at 12:30 to go work at the library from 1-4, I realized that I could probably just save 200 calories by skipping breakfast.  I don't normally skip breakfast, but I usually eat around 8 a.m. when I get up at 7.  At this point, I can eat lunch at 11:30 instead.  For lunch I will eat a can of tuna and a can of green beans, 210 calories total.  Then for my snacks I will have the usual banana, an orange, and two sugar free Popsicles for a total of 197 calories.  I'm going to have the orange between 4 p.m., when we leave the library, and 4:30, when we get to the gym. I know I won't have the energy to exercise this afternoon if I've only eaten 210 calories all day at that point.  I'm hoping the orange will give me just enough of a sugar boost to get me through the exercise and on to dinner. 

It's not optimum to have the majority of the day's calories at dinner, but Friday night often turns out that way for me.  There is always challah and wine, and there is often whiskey.  I'm really not going to give those up!

There are many challenges coming up this next week.  Here are the highlights:
Saturday night dinner at home, but entertaining friends, so there are appetizers and dessert.
Sunday checking into Old Key West at WDW for one night.  Dinner at Olivia's at the resort.
Monday  at Magic Kingdom.  Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern for the first time.  Dinner at Denny's.
Tuesday dinner at friends.  They showed us the menu.  Full of fat and carbs and all yummy!!
Wednesday FINALLY all meals at home!
Thursday also all meals at home!
Then next Friday we drive to an Indian Casino/Resort in Miami for one night before boarding the MSC Divina next Saturday for a seven night cruise.  OY!  Such fun!  So much food!