Today's Challenge & other things

Today was a great day and an AHA day. My husband works graveyard so we don't always get very much family time during the daylight hours unless he sacrifices sleep and well... doesn't. Today was one of those days. He chose to stay up and spend the day with us as he is off tonight. I got up, made an egg casserole, got Missy up (2 yr old daughter) and we headed off to the park. This is the time of year when I LOVE living in Az and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It was beautiful! We walked around the man made lake (as i was hoping Hubby would walk my mile with me, yeah right!) stopped at the playground and had a blast. I sometimes swear my daughter will end up being a pilot, sky diver or full time swing tester when she grows up. She love to fly and the pure joy on her face when she swings is heart melting. After about an hour on the playground we dragged her over the ducks to feed them and head out for some lunch. Even though the ducks weren't really eating we had a good time working on her throwing. All in all I ended up walking 1/2 a mile while at the park, and although I won't be counting this in my "exercise for the day" it was certainly nice to just be active and moving. From there, we did what i have been dreading... going out to eat. of all places, we ended up at the Golden Corral for lunch! Of all the places, a buffet! How the hell am I going to count points there? So, I set my resolve hit the salad bar first and piled my plate high with as much 0pt vegi's as possible and add some of my favorites in what I already know to be smaller than serving suggestions. Before this month I've already been working hard on NOT putting dressing directly onto my salad so at least this was not part of my problem. I've found it very satisfying to put a dab of dressing on the end of fork before I tackle each bite and by the time I've gotten done I'm OK with my plate not having any sign of dressing. Not what I'm used to... but like I said, still satisfying. By the time I got done I thought, OK, I need some more protein so i went looking for something more... and came back to the table with a whole lotta nothing. Really, no lies. I picked up 1 little piece of fish that i only took 2 bites of as it was just over cooked. Called it done. I so wanted the fried chicken or the Chinese sweet & sour chicken or GOD! The fries... anything fattening and worth ALL my points for the day. but i didn't. I do admit to having 2 bites of banana pudding, 1 cookie and a bite of a disgusting muffin and left full. Salad worked! Since I couldn't figure out my points for the meal I just added an even 10 to my day and figured I was full enough for the rest of the day and if I made dinner lower points but filling... I'd be OK. And boy was I. In the end I realized that even though my hubby is trying to be supportive he really hates the demands I'm putting on our family and doesn't seem to care if I lose weight or not. Says he likes me how I am, but honestly... I know he doesn't so it kinda bothers me why he doesn't seem to care or even want to help. And really, i have a HUGE problem trying to make him happy despite what it does to me... for instance going to golden corral (his choice) compared to my choice of applebees, red lobster or olive garden where I already know, before walking in what is OK and what is not and stick to my guns and stay within healthy eating range (helps to have worked at them at one point in my life). It saddens me in a way and makes me wonder why he is OK with me being 200lbs because I know he's not attracted to it as i know what his "likes" are and it's not this... Anywho....
Dinner proved to me another draw back to my new "lifestyle". Cooking and the things I normally do to ensure a yummy dinner. I've already had in place things like cooking with less oil, no butter, etc... and since the 1st of the month I've been working REALLY hard to not taste test my cooking until I'm ready to sit at the dinner table... well, then last night happens. We sit down and it's so NOT a yummy meal. It's the right dimensions of what i need, low fat, low carb, low everything... but I over compensated in flavor area.... in this case, too much tart lemon. So now I'm wondering how to cook and stick to my guns of not taste testing. I've stopped doing this because I taste test ALOT and end up eating a serving and a 1/4 by the time I sit down to actually eat! Not good. So i don't know, Hubby ended up not eating at all... I ended up eating oatmeal instead for the fiber content to help flush my system from lunch and now it's all in the fridge for me to decide how to fix it as we can't afford to throw away all those vegi's and chicken. Too bad my dad wasn't still around, I used to just call him and ask him what to do to fix it. Now what?

To end this day, I DID get my mile in today. Actually did 1.25mi and to top it, didn't have to push a stroller! WHOHOO!! Hubby kept missy while I went out. It was so nice to be alone and blare my MP3 player and just walk. I did great timing wise and wish every day could be this way. Oh well. I didn't do my bands or video, but hey, I walked 1/2mi at the park I think it counts. :)

Always,
Jules