Planning for a Challenging Weekend.

This past weekend was a long weekend here in BC and it made for me a few challenges.  First of all, it was my husband's birthday weekend which included lunch out the day before his birthday, and Birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant The Keg.  It was also his cousin's 25th Wedding Anniversary party and BBQ.  Then we also had to have birthday cake.    A lot of challenges with a lot of not necessarily good for me food so this is what my plan was, account for everything, get a lot of activity and don't sweat the small stuff!

Saturday morning - as soon as I got up, I got dressed, and grabbed the dog, to my delight my husband decided he wanted to come with us for our walk so the three of us headed out for our 5km walk.   We did our 5km in just over an hour.  Not bad for an early Saturday morning walk with my husband and the dog, without music. 

After we were done our usual Saturday morning chores it was time to take my hubby for his pre birthday lunch.  I knew that I was treating him to lunch  at Ledgeview Golf Course Bar and Grill.  I had been there on Friday for a cheque presentation for work and they are featuring a sandwich that the proceeds get donated back to CBCF so I knew we were going to have lunch there so I could try out the Cranwich, which was absolutely delicious!  It's a  Roast Turkey Sandwich served on Cranberry Bread with a side of Seasoned Fries.  I planned for the Fries, and they were worth the points they took to have them.  They were hands down the best french fries I have ever had!  If you live in the Abbotsford area, you have GOT to TRY them out!  Kevin at the Ledgeview Golf Bar and Grill, truly is a fabulous chef!  Here is the link to their website if you're interested, http://www.ledgeviewgolf.com/blog/?page_id=4537

The Cranwich at Ledgeivew Golf Bar and Grill, you have to have this!

As my husband's cousin Kevin and his wife Judy were holding a 25th Wedding Anniversary Party on my husband's actual birthday, I also took him to dinner on Saturday evening.  For his birthday dinner he chose to go to the Keg,  I looked up the points online before I headed out and I knew that I was going to be going over my daily points allotment, but strangely I was all right with that.  I knew that I had them and although I try not to use the weekly points I figured this weekend, I was going to have to dip in to them.  Birthday dinner at the Keg was great, I made the bet choices I could, including passing on the rice and potato and ordering double steamed veggies instead.

A birthday toast!  Happy Birthday!

Sunday Morning dawned bright and early and away we all went on another 5km walk to start the day, with it being another jam packed day of celebrating I knew I had to get my activity in.  Once again, my hubby joined Angus and I on our walk.  I have to say, I loved having Gary along for our walks, usually he's on a bike ride when we're walking on the weekends but it was great to have him along.  I do have to admit though, I need my music to keep my pace up.  The weekend walks were a little longer than they should have been due to walking without my music.

A man and his dog finishing up a Birthday 5km walk.

On Sunday afternoon Gary and I headed into Langley to Kevin and Judy's place, it was fabulous to be able to celebrate their anniversary with so many family and friends there.  It was wonderful to see Gary's cousins and Aunt and to meet some great new people and say hello to other's we have met over the past several years.   There was  a great selection of food at the BBQ and I had to really keep myself in check.  I made a plan to have a salad before we left for the BBQ so that I wouldn't be overly hungry and I could steer clear of temptation.  Gary brought his iphone with him and with the WW app I was able to track my food right then and there so I would know how I was doing for points.  I knew full well that I would probably have to dip into my weekly points again but all in all I did really well!  I only had to use 3 weekly points towards  a piece of birthday cake.

Birthday Cake on the front deck

On Monday morning as it was a holiday, you probably know how I started my day.  Gary went for his bike ride and Angus and I suited up and headed out to meet Gary where he parks the car for his bike rides.  I decided to do intervals and low and behold Angus was cooperative for the most part.  I decided that instead of using timed intervals, I would use the power poles on the road.  I would run/jog (I never know if I should say I'm running as someone has pointed out previously that I do more walking than running) from one pole to another, walk to the next pole and  I alternated that way for the majority of the road.  I was absolutely thrilled with our time!  We did the 31/2 km's in just over 30 minutes.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354146596  (I forgot to turn my watch off when we got to the car so I'm going by the moving time on the page not the actual time.  Oops)

All in all it was a great weekend, over 14km's were walked including intervals, and I had a plan in place for all of the celebrating that was going to happen.  If there's one thing I've learned so far on this journey is that failing to plan, is planning to fail.  I don't want to fail, so I will always have a plan!

Great week!

Wow that week went by so fast!  There was all sorts of activity, a night out with my co-workers, date night with my husband and a good weigh in.  It's nice to know that I can face challenges and come out ahead!

The week did really go by so quickly.  Monday and Tuesday were super busy at work and on Tuesday I didn't get my mid day walk in, but I made up for that in the evening.  I've discovered that I have to have a contingency plan in place so that I can be successful.  Wednesday was a great day for activity and managing a challenge.  My Boss at work celebrated her 50th birthday last week and as a group a decision was made to take her to a spin class taught my another of our coworkers and then drinks and appy's afterwards.    I didn't feel that I was up for a spin class, I'm getting in shape, but to be perfectly honest, my caboose is still much bigger than the average person's and I don't think I would have had the stamina to keep up.  I decided that instead, while they were at spin class I would go for a power walk and then meet up with them.   So after work, when everyone else headed out for the spin class, I found myself power walking through downtown.  I decided to walk to the restaurant to scope out the parking situation and then back to the office to change and get the actual car.  I did about 3km's in just under 40 minutes which was great.  ( http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344290206 ).

Then for dinner I had scoped out their menu before hand and knew that I was going to order a salad with a grilled chicken breast on it.  I had salad for lunch, so I knew that I needed to get some protein in.  Here's where having a contingency comes into place.  We got the restaurant to find out that their oven had died and that they couldn't serve quite a few of their menu items.  One of the items was what I had chosen for dinner.  I had to change my plan and was a little nervous as I was trying to stay as close to on plan as I could, especially considering that I had weigh in under 48 hours!

Turns out I didn't have anything to be nervous about.  The points I had available for my dinner were 22, and I ended up using 16..  That made me feel great.

It paid off on Friday, when I went to weigh in I was down a pound!  I'm only 2 oz away from having lost 65 pounds.  So yes, those pesky 2oz have shown up again, but that's all right, I'll show them who's boss next week!

Step Count this Week
Saturday 13,545
Sunday   15,141
Monday 12,789
Tuesday 9,862
Wednesday 17,218
Thursday 14,748

Best Laid Plans....

Best laid plans have a way of working, just not perhaps as well as one would like.  I had the opportunity to travel for work this past week.  On Friday I went to Victoria to meet with our new Vancouver Island Run Coordinator and show him and the Victoria Volunteer Coordinator how to use our volunteer software.  I had planned my meals for the day and knew exactly what I was going to eat and where.  I had breakfast at home, and as I was driving and taking the ferry, I packed a lunch and snacks to go with me.  I knew that I wouldn't get a lot of walking in so when I found myself at the ferry terminal with almost an hour before my actual ferry ride, I did what any self respecting lady trying to get fit would do.  I paced around the parking lot :)  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317970131

When I arrived in Nanaimo, it was too late to go for a walk, so I settled in for the night, read over my presentation a couple of times and went to bed fairly early for me on a Friday night.  The result was being wide awake at 4am.  I waited until 6 and then headed out for a walk, 2.5km's in 30 minutes.  I was a happy camper with that! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317970112

The rest of the week, although I tried to plan for it, didn't quite go as well as I had hoped.  I worked on Sunday at a trade show, although I did walk around quite a bit talking to people, I only managed to get in 11,225 steps, and that was with taking the dog for a walk!  Monday didn't fare much better I did get my steps in, but I still feel as though I could have done better.  Tuesday was a disaster, I only managed 9,733 steps, no where near my 12,000 per day goal.  I was a little disheartened as I knew that I would be travelling on Wednesday and Thursday and I wasn't sure what sort of activity I would get.

I put a plan together and for the most part I stuck to it.  I was up and on the road at 445am to take the West Coast Express into Vancouver and then the Canada Line out to the airport where I was flying to Prince George.  I knew that I would have to eat out for two days and so I made a meal plan in my head.  I would have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch and then as healthy a dinner as possible.  I think I did all right.  When I got to my gate at the airport I was delighted to find a Starbucks.  Their Perfect Breakfast oatmeal is only 3PP without any of the toppings!  I also picked up a fruit salad which was 0 points as it is not packed in juice or syrup.

I was very happy with that choice.   When I arrived in Prince George and picked up the rental car I drove around to get myself familiar with where I would be staying and where I would be doing my training.  As I was driving from the meeting place to the hotel I spotted a grocery store that I know does salads for lunches.  I headed into the store, picked up 2 banana's, and a spinach salad.  Perfect lunch and snack.   That evening I had no choice but to head to a restaurant for dinner.  I ordered a grilled chicken burger, hold all the sauce and cheese and asked for veggies on the side instead of fries.  I honestly think that my waitress thought I had lost my mind.  She came back to me twice to ask what sort of veggies I wanted.  I told her whatever they had was fine with me.

Well whatever they had turned out to be some carrot sticks, some cucumber slices and some broccoli,  Not bad for a 12PP dinner.

I was hoping against hope that because I managed to get in 12,534 steps during the day on Wednesday I would do all right. 

Thursday didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped.  I only got in 8148 steps. I tried using the fitness centre at the hotel but their elliptical is much smaller than the ones I'm used to and the treadmill....well, to be honest the whole work out was a struggle and a mess.  It didn't not look pretty!

The two flights in twenty four hours affected my legs as I knew they would and I am retaining water like it's no one's business.  I still don't have any ankles tonight.  Water retention is not a good friend when it happens to be weigh in day.

I was honestly dreading weigh in this morning.  I even told my train buddies that I didn't want to go because I knew I was retaining water.  I knew that I wasn't going to have a loss.  I was prepared for a gain, and honestly, I 'm happy with what I did gain.  I gained 6oz according to today's weigh in.  Considering I didn't have a weigh in last week as I was on the road, I'll take that 6oz gain like a champ, knowing full well that next week, I'm going to have a loss!