My Eats for Week One of the Back to Basics Challenge

I wanted to post daily about what I ate, but it was a busy week. I tend to stick to the same foods most of the week anyway, so it isn't a big deal.

Breakfasts (around 5:30ish): This is one of my two big downfalls this week. I prepped my health Eeg McMuffins, but still craved (and gave into) the real Egg McMuffin as a meal with a Diet Coke. Who needs pop for breakfast? I know most people drink coffee and it is basically the same idea with caffeine to get your day started. Either way, this is one of the things I'll be working on for week two- no McDonald's breakfasts on weekdays before work.

First a.m. snack (7:30ish): I don't have a ton of time once I get to work to get prepped for the day and eat a snack, so I keep it simple and already prepared. Usually some kind of protein or granola bar.

Second a.m. snack (10:00): My staple for this snack is baby carrots and a piece of light string cheese.

Lunch (11:30): This is something that I change week to week, but usually eat the same thing at least all five days of the work week. This week I had a simple chicken recipe (baked chicken breasts with salsa and tortilla chips), rice, and broccoli.

First p.m. snack (2:30-3:00ish): I made some peanut butter protein cookies from a recipe I have on Pinterest. I had them on some days and some days I ate big sugar cookies. I have been craving the frosted cookies that they sell at Family Express. I remember getting them on the drive between college and my parent's house on weekends. The one difference is that now I am overweight and then I was 120 lbs. My goal is to try to avoid the frosted cookies all together, but if the cravings get bad I will get one instead of a six pack to keep around.

Healthy

Not healthy

Dinner (anywhere from 5:00-7:00 depending if I am on my own or my hubby is cooking): My husband made three meals this week and I kept the leftovers for other nights. He made chicken kebabs on the grill, rosemary chicken and broccoli, and campfire chicken packets on the grill.

I can't find my pics of the meals from when I ate them, but these are my leftovers.

Second p.m. snack: (I don't eat this everyday, just when I'm still hungry): Some days I had cookies like I discussed above, some days I had nothing, and some days I had the WW chocolates like I planned.

Since I gained weight back, I haven't bought too much in the way of clothing. I borrowed back some of my old clothes that I gave to my sister and find items on clearance once in a while to help have more choices than the same few outfits. Very little of my clothes make me feel great at the moment, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes that I hope will be big for me sometime soon. Here are a couple of outfits I wore to work in which I did feel good wearing:

Saturday Stuff

I know that it has been a really, really long time since I last wrote a post. Part of it is being busy with getting everything that a teacher needs to get done at the end of the school year. Another part of it is that I have been very wishy-washy with my eating and exercise. I'm back up to 189 again because of it. I was really wanting to walk out of school on the last day at 185. The odds are stacked against me now, since I only have until Thursday! Yesterday I pushed myself to try to eat better and I did. I'm going to try to only eat things that I know work for me and cut back on the candy bars, cookies, or temptations that may arise in the teachers lounge.
On Saturday I began my day with shopping for groceries. I may or may not have walked around a number of stores I didn't need to be in just to get in some extra steps on my pedometer look at clothes and sales. I got almost 6,000 steps by noon!

I got this at Fashion Bug for $8 and thought it might be nice for the upcoming vacation.

Only $1.50 for three pairs of underwear. I can't believe I found them at Walgreen's of all places.

I spent the afternoon mowing the yard and pulling some weeds. It was in the high 80's, so it was definitely good exercise. I thought I was going to die once I was done. I'm not used to this heat yet this year. I also got the bright idea to get some Sun In to lighten my hair while I was working outside. I used to do this once a summer to get some blonde highlights in my hair. It did make my hair lighter and a little redder, but I think I need another round or two before I'm satisfied.

Something to increase the sun's effect on my hair and decrease the sun's effect on my skin!

Saturday night I spent watching some TV and recovering from the heat. Later I started on the monumental task of dog grooming. One of our three was spending the night at grandpa's (which it is probably sad our dogs have sleepovers, but they do like to visit grandpa), so I worked on Sebastion and Lilly. Sebastion I got quite a bit done on, but Lilly wasn't very cooperative. That leaves me with two conclusions- 1) I need to do some more grooming today with someone pinning the dogs down and 2) I need to invest in one of those grooming tables with the neck straps to keep them in place.

At least her ears look good!

Food for the Day:

I don't know what it is about an Egg McMuffin and a Diet Coke, but I crave this for breakfast sometimes.

If you have never tried this flavor of Sierra Mist,  I highly recommend it.