Day 42 (Achieve Cycle Day 2 -- again)

Today was an exciting day on the wardrobe front!  Because of the number of mosquito and noseeum bites on my legs, I decided to wear long pants for a few days.  I carefully ironed my favourite black dress pants and put them on.  They nearly fell off!  How exciting -- I think I may have dropped that dress size that I wasn't sure about!  What is a girl to do with a wardrobe malfunction like this?  Safety pin in the waistband!!!

Looks like that shopping trip may have to happen sooner than later!

A long while back, in Cycle 1, I was looking at a local shop and found a lovely pair of pants on a clearance rack -- exactly one size smaller than what I was wearing.  Sure hope they're still there...

Today's menu:
Breakfast -- 2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 grapefruit, vanilla green tea, probiotic supplement
Morning Snack -- my favourite 6 oz vanilla yogurt with red grapes, coffee
Lunch -- salmon sandwich (pink salmon mixed with onion and mayo), grape tomatoes, cucumber slices
Afternoon Snack -- no time for one, but should have planned for it...
Dinner -- vegetable based pasta with meat sauce (ground beef, Newman's Own Marinara, mushrooms) -- I overate because I was so hungry -- way to disregard the Hunger/Fullness Meter, dummy...

I made sure that I had my water requirements in for today -- that was a job!  Hard habit to get back into after being away for a week (I found it really difficult to get all the water in while we were on vacation), but I think I'm back on track.

Here's a way to make water more interesting.  Nestea has a product sweetened with Splenda that you can add to a 500 mL bottle of water to flavour it -- only 5 calories per bottle.  I tried the cranberry/grape (extremely yummy) and the lemon green tea (pretty good) while we were away and have the apple/goji flavour to try yet (it is "rich in naturally occurring polyphenol antioxidants" -- whatever that means...).  If you're not a big fan of plain water, this could be a good thing...

Another glass of red wine before bed.  We bought a 4L box (yeah, classy, I know...) for camping and now that it's open, I can't let it go bad...one glass a night until it's gone...besides, there's scientific proof showing that it's good for you in moderation, remember?!  Maybe it will offset my pasta oops from tonight...

Day 41 (Achieve Cycle Day 1 -- again)

My friend "scale" read 132 lbs today -- not sure how a 2 lb drop happened in just one day, but I'll take it!  This really helped me decide where to start back -- if it had still read 134 lbs I would be back to Cycle 1 for 17 days before starting Cycle 3 over again.  So, because for all intents and purposes, I'm right where I was heading into vacation, I've decided to simply start Cycle 3 over again -- I had only done five days before heading out, so it seems a good place to pick up.

Today's menu:
Breakfast -- 6 oz vanilla yogurt with strawberries & 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean mixed in, coffee
Morning Snack -- skipped it -- busy doing stuff around the house and missed my chance...lol!
Lunch -- Dr. Mike's taco salad with about 1 Tbsp of shredded cheddar (not low-fat, so I limit my quantities), probiotic supplement
Afternoon Snack -- frosted sugar cookie (it was the last one and nobody was eating it, so I put it out of my misery...)
Dinner -- BBQ pork/mushroom/green pepper/cucumber kebabs (created by hubby -- he has far more imagination than I do...), 1/4 cup brown rice with mushrooms & soy sauce, small green salad with 1 Tbsp salad dressing (not low fat)

I had the munchies later in the evening, after we got home from an early movie -- resisted the snacks at the theatre, but needed a little something when we got home. I treated myself to a Babybel cheese and a glass of red wine. Hit the spot! I'm back to Monday/Thursday weigh-ins and have vowed to make a more concentrated effort to get that exercise in.  I will also be as strict as possible about the "no carbs after 2:00" rule -- this is a tricky one sometimes with my work schedule (lunch often happens right around 2:00) but it's doable if I plan right.

I'm sad that my vacation is over, but glad to be back to "normal" routines again! Really looking forward to a walk tomorrow morning...