Thursday 29 August 2013

Not working it

Being back at work from vacation this past week has not been a joy.... personality clashes in the team have been escalating. My job is very sedentary, I'm at the computer all day and for the most part I'm responsible for my own work and getting my projects completed on time. There are some projects that require teamwork. The consequence of this situation is that we've had to work longer hours to cover a Passive-Aggressive colleague's work that has been left undone. Sigh.
 
By the time I get home, have supper, run errands, get stuff ready for the next day, get some yoga in there, I'm just wiped out and sleep way into the morning.... and yes, missing my morning workout. This has to change! Since the Labour Day weekend is coming up, I'm hoping to de-stress and get back on track.
 
Eating has been okay but I'm not getting enough water during the work day and drinking too much coffee. Bad combo, I know it! Also not getting enough veggies in and now is the best time to take advantage of farm fresh produce. One cheat: I did eat some bread and paid dearly for it with major gas and nasty intestinal disruptions.  
 
The dial on the scale hasn't moved this week but that could be the dust and grime in it. It's one of those old-timey dial scales that I bought in 1999. This coming week, I am going to spend $40 or so on a digital scale to get more accurate results.


Friday 23 August 2013

Back from vacation

Being back in my own bed feels so so good! But I do miss the sounds of the crickets and tree frogs at the campsite. I do not miss the noisy weekender campers but thankfully I brought along my earplugs and sleeping mask. We spent our days mostly swimming and hanging out at the beach, a couple of days hiking and one day it was so rainy we found a mall and shopped.

We had over 14hrs of driving one way, so we did have to stop for meals and sleep. Although I did bring some provisions with me, they were mainly healthy snack foods. We stopped at roadside diners for the most part because the cooks in the kitchen can be way more flexible with their menu than any fast-food place could ever be.

Close to the campground was a farm with a huge variety of fresh fruit and veggies as well as big fields to "pick-your-own" berries, peaches or cherries.

We did go out a few times for supper at restaurants. I was surprised that many of the menus in New York State had a calorie count beside every item! That was an eyeopener. I had grilled chicken and salad and at another chain restaurant they had a spaghetti squash instead of pasta with a meat sauce so I went for that.

For our main meals we'd go into town every couple of days and buy meat or fish for grilling on the BBQ.

Otherwise here is a typical camping day:

Breakfast
Protein powder shake with water or Scrambled Eggs
Peaches or Pluots (crazy hybrid of a plum and an apricot, tasted more plummy) or other fruit

Snack
Natural Almonds or Dates

Lunch
small tin of Tuna on Lettuce
Cucumbers and Tomatoes
Carrots

Supper
organic Sausage on the BBQ (or other grilled meats or fish)
roasted Corn on the cob
Salad

If still hungry, I ate fresh fruit.
Drank lots of water! As an alternative, I drank some flavoured seltzer once in a while.

As we went through New York City twice, I did Plan Cheats:
Two slices Pizza
One Hot Dog
One Italian Ice

Unplanned cheats
One slice of locally made Rhubarb-Apple Pie
One "Whatchamacallit" Chocolate Bar

I was hoping not to gain any weight while on vacation and I didn't. Still the same. My activity level wasn't up enough to lose any weight.

Overall, I do feel so much less stressed for completely unplugging and just putting my mind on vacation. The only care in the world I had was having enough trashy magazines to read at the beach!

Wednesday 7 August 2013

On Vacation

My man and I are going on vacation shortly and I can guarantee I'll be aiming for a 90% clean eating vacation. Since we'll be camping, we'll be eating lots of veggies and grilling on the bbq at the campsite. We're not going into the remote woods or anything... we'll be about 20 minutes by car away from civilization.
 
While on the road however, sometimes choices are limited. For snacks, I've stocked up on high quality organic natural almonds, dates and some trail mix. Every town has a grocery store, so there's no excuse not to pick up veggies and fruit.
 
I'll also be tracking and will probably post my food journal when I get back. 
 
This is my first long vacation in eight months so I'm looking forward to hiking and swimming every day and to completely unplugging from technology for a few weeks :)