Overall pretty pleased...

It's Monday. The weekend is over, which normally would be a huge disappointment, and a new week has started. Since I am on school vacation, Monday is not so disappointing. Normally, Monday is disappointing on two levels. 1- I have to work a 12 hour day, which in and of itself blows and 2- I usually feel pretty gross based on the terrible food decisions I made starting Friday night and ending Sunday night, with dessert at my parents. My body, as often as it consumed and digested horribly bad food, still rebelled and after a weekend of gross, entered into a food coma/hangover that was unparalleled anywhere in the universe. Today, though, I woke up with an unfamiliar feeling. Well, actually, there was a noticeable lack of feeling...I didn't have a stomach ache/headache/sluggish feeling brought on by the sugar/carb/calorie/fat overload that usually defines my weekend.

Now don't get me wrong...Jillian Michaels wouldn't be jumping up and down about my achievements this weekend, but I have to say that I am kind of proud of myself. Form your own opinion, but here is my recap:

Friday-
Dangerous possibilities. I had to go to a wedding which could be a threat on many levels. The food served there is not always prepared the healthiest ways, there are usually delicious appetizers, you don't often eat dinner until later, and obviously...there is cake. I <3 cake, like woah. I was almost doomed to failure when I had about 7 seconds for lunch at work on Friday because we were short staffed. Usually that means I inhale awful for me things after work. This time I just finished what was left of my lunch (which I discussed in previous post) when I arrived home and on the way up to Danville, NH for the wedding I had like 7 reduced fat cheez-its. So we get to the wedding and it's already 6:45 and I haven't eaten dinner so previous experience tells me there is a huge pig out ahead. Warning bells and sirens should be seen flashing here. Luckily, in terms of appetizers my choices were pretty limited to better for me choices. I had some fruit and two crackers. This previously would have been about 20 crackers an djust as many pieces of delicious cheddar cheese. Dinner was served and to my horror it was a buffet. There is no coming back from that. I took my one piece of chicken (breaded and filled with ham and cheese, but chicken nonetheless), some cooked carrots (I prefer non cooked, but desperate times call for desperate measures), a twice baked potato, a scoop of mac and cheese (c'mon, we talked about this), a roll, and some cucumbers. I ate the whole chicken (but not all the breading or filling), half the potato, three bites of mac and cheese, the roll (w. no butter!) and all the carrots. To my advantage, there was no actual cake, but there were pastry trays and I did not even stroll over to them to browse. No dessert again...I think this is a record.

Saturday-
Generally, a really, truly awful day. It generally starts with a breakfast sandwich from Dunkin's (often accompanied by a donut). For lunch it is usually take out of some sort and dinner is eaten out, preceded by an appetizer and proceded by dessert. EPIC FAIL. This day though was a whole new day and I tried my best to keep it together. Breakfast was my protein bar and some raisin bran so it was all good in the hood there, but lunch could have taken a huge turn for the worse. I went out with my sister-in-law to the 99. I am a huge fan of this establishment's "wings and skins sampler", which is a heart clogging combination of honey bbq wings and fried potato skins covered in cheese and bacon. So bad, yet so good. Plus, as if this meat and potato killer isn't bad enough, I usually order a side of warm, crunchy, buttery rustic bread, which in actuality is two pieces. Soooooo the 99 is not a place I frequent for the salads. I glanced at this pleasurable concoction on the menu, but kept right on going. I decided on the honey bbq chicken wrap, which I know isn't the best choice either, but I often ate this while I did WW and still lost the poundage so I considered it to be pretty safe. I tried to remove all temptation and order a baked potato in substitute of french fries, but I was foiled when Ashley (our perky waitress) informed me that baked potatoes are not served until after 4 p.m. Urrrgh. I probably should have just said no to any sort of side, but I chose the fries and steeled my will as to be ready when they arrived. I munched on some popcorn while we waited, but the food came rather quickly and I was pitted against the worthy adversary known as the french fry. I didn't put ketchup on my plate hoping that this subtle move warned my opponent that I meant business. I enjoyed the first half of my wrap and then casually picked at a fry, eating one and only one. Then I enjoyed the second half of my wrap, casually consuming one more fry (which was actually really so small it could be called a frylet). Then, I pushed my plate away from me and stopped eating. What?? Only 2 french fries?? (well 1 fry and 1 frylet) I KNOW!! Seriously, historic moment. I mean I have not ordered french fries before, but never and I mean NEVER have I had so many sit on a plate in front of me and showed such resistance, such will power. EPIC WIN. Dinner was at Finder's Pub that night and I had one spring roll, an individual pizza, baked potato, and some popcorn. Given that I normally would have eaten my own appetizer, hot dogs and fries, and then dessert, I consider this trip to be FTW (for the win) as well. After dinner, at my friend's house, I avoided double stuffed oreos and brownies and enjoyed some sugar free pudding and cool whip. In my past fat girl life I would have had about 3 or 4 brownies and just as many, if not more, oreos (did I mention that they were double stuffed?) Those brownies and cookies sat inches from my eating hand while we played cards, but I kept it under control. God give me strength.

Sunday-
You know those scenes on TV when the family sits around a table as the mom loads it full of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and other delicious breakfast treats? You know how you watch those scenes and tell yourself no mom out there actually ever does this? Well, my mom does. Every Sunday. Pancakes, bacon, kielbasa, toast, cinnamon buns. Breakfast heaven...or hell, depending on which way you look at. Last Sunday it was heaven...this one, not so much. To make it worse, Linda made muffins. Big deal? Linda NEVER makes muffins. She was testing me...I knew it. I mentioned my efforts to her and she wanted to see how seriously I was taking it this time. Sneaky, sneaky Linda. So I summon all my courage as I sit at the table. I picked 1 piece of bacon (regular) and 2 pieces of turkey bacon, and 1 piece of toast. My nephews sat across the table from me, licking their fingers off frosting and syrup, and it took all I had not to snatch a cinnamon bun out of the pan and shove it in my mouth whole. I did eat 1 muffin, but used butter spray, not real butter to enjoy it. I think I ate another piece of toast, but the smell of sugar started to make me delirious here so my recollection of the entire event is a tad fuzzy. So hard. At about 12:30 I got hungry again and had 2 100 calorie packs and at 3:30 I met a friend for lunch at Panera...holy calories, Batman. I go to Panera for 1 thing and 1 thing only: CARBS. I love carbs. Pasta, potatoes, bread...carbs are wonderful. My usual meal is a breadbowl with baked potato soup, half a grilled cheese, and a side of french baguette. Helllloooooo cheese (maybe my second weakness after carbs) and carbs. So I arrive at Panera early to scope out the non carb loaded menu and weigh my options. Even the small mac and cheese curbs a lot of my efforts so I quickly brushed this aside. The baked potato soup isn't available on Sundays so that helps my situation a tad bit, but the choice is still tough. I settle on a chicken sandwhich, substituting american cheese for cheddar, knocking out some fat and calories, and had them not put mayo (not because I wanted to save, but because I just don't like it). I didn't finish every bite of sandwich, but I did eat the side of french bread. I just love carbs. I had turkey, corn, and mashed potatoes for dinner, but didn't eat the cake my mom made. No dessert. That is seriously getting old.

So I can honestly say that I feel good about this weekend. I know I didn't avoid all temptations, but did stand up to some pretty heavy hitters and took no prisoners. I kicked some ass and took some names (I mean you, 99 restaurant and pub french fries). This week presents its own set of challenges as I am on vacation and have lots of unstructured time on my hands. Unstructured time = unstructured eating. There are probably more restaurants in my future this week than usual and I don't always fare well during public eating. So I am expecting the worst, but hoping for the best, and hopefully will land somewhere in the middle (but nearer to the best).