Day 26/27: Weekend Update III: Weekend Harder

Oh, how wonderful it is to have a long weekend here. :) One more blissful day off to go! Here goes your two for one weekend special. 

Day 26

I didn't have much to do today, so it was a lazy day...to a point. I had my cereal for breakfast, and then rode the couch for a while. My friend and upstairs neighbour, Leanne, had asked if I wanted to walk with her today, so I knew I had to work out before then. I really wanted to do the step. I dragged my butt off the couch around 11:00 or so and did that well-loved video. I had planned on putting the step up a lil' higher today, but I was a bit sore and tired from the day before. I KNOW I  should have a day of rest. YES. I will! I am planning on not working out on Tuesday. OK? One day for my bod to recover from 26 days of activity. I still feel bad doing it though. So where was I? Oh, yes, step. I watched a movie while did it for the second time, and it was great to get my mind of the familiar monotony of the routine. I did the sit-up routine that they do at the end, which I usually do, but haven't mentioned before. Then I had lunch- usual weekend fare- the healthy choice chicken soup and pasta. Mmmm.  The old me would scarf about 1/2 the bag of crackers with it, but now I eat around five (unsalted tops). For a snack I had some almonds and cucumber slices. Mmmm! Love cucumber.

Around 2:30 Leanne and I headed out for our walk. There's a nice park a block or so from our building, so we went there. It was SUCH a nice day! I am so glad that I didn't spend it indoors. THANK YOU Leanne! We walked for about an hour total, but some of that time was getting a drink and looking at some pottery on sale. I think I will take Jason to the park on Monday. 

Dinner was turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes and salad. For fun, I decided to see what a "serving" of stuffing looked like. It was 1/2 a cup, which looked pretty close to what I usually took. Nice. Then, I took 1/2 a cup of mashed potatoes, sorry, garlic mashed potatoes. YUM! Ok, that was a tiny little splat of potatoes! I added a bit more...and this looked like what I'd take (NOW, not in the past!). I think I had about 1/2 a cup of corn and a cup of salad. You know, I figured my portions were really small, but I DIDN'T FINISH MY POTATOES OR STUFFING!! I was feeling full-ish so I stopped eating! Usually, I would just eat it despite the full feeling. Just because it was there. I knew I was going out with my friend Lara to a restaurant, so I was glad to not eat too much. Did I mention I was physically, SO tired at the end of the day?!? Step and a long walk...oooooh. 

Yes, so I had a plan to meet up with Lara again at Boston Pizza. I was worried about eating there so late at night, blah blah. But, I really didn't start this thing to deprive myself. I have been doing REALLY well and not snacking on unhealthy things, or eating sweets, and my calories were even on the low side, so I figured it was ok. I ordered some pizza bread and meat sauce dip. This used to be my favourite thing as a teenager. I also decided to get an alcoholic beverage. Hmm, perhaps a bad choice. Especially when it came and tasted HORRIBLE. Ugh, it was so sweet and fake tasting (supposed to be made with raspberry puree...uh huh...maybe raspberry flavoured syrup!). My friend urged me to tell the waiter...but I really hate doing that. I've never sent back a drink before. I took a few more sips. Ummm no. Can't do it. When waiter dude came by I told him it was terrible, and he took it away. I had a Smirnoff Ice cooler instead. I didn't eat ALL the pizza bread, so I was kinda proud of that. 

Lately, I've been tracking my food on SparkPeople, just for fun. Today's calories were just over 1700. I even looked up the pizza bread on the restaurant's website! My other days are averaging a bit over 1300. According to the website, for my height and weight, I should shoot for 1200-1500 calories. It's kind of a cool site because you can add foods from a database, or you can put them in manually  (usingthe nutritional info on the packaging) if they aren't in there. I did that for my applesauce and salad dressing. If you are a calorie counter, it's a neat tool to use. 

Day 27

Oh, my, another gorgeous day! I had my usual breakfast and soup for lunch. Jason and I lazed around a bit and then went to the mall to buy a new camera! And an iPod Shuffle for ME (early anniversary gift). :)  Yay!! I loooove my new camera, too. It kicks ass on my old one. The shuffle is SO small and cute! Jason is worried I'll lose it. :P Me? Nooo. 

After we dropped our dough, we decided to check out a nature park in our city. I've never been there, and Jason hadn't been since he was a kid. Also, I figured it would be a good place to try out the new camera. No more photos pilfered from the net! 

Here I am at the start of the trail. Just imagine me saying, "Are you going to take the picture now?"

 Some scenery Jason captured...

Flowers...

This is the trail we started out on...

And then we were on this trail...now this is bog country. Jason said this is what our area looked like 200 years ago. There he is, checking out the "mushy" spots on the trail! 

 

Walking this trail was kinda cool because the ground was really spongy. I could feel it sink down as I stepped, and then it would spring back. Neat! There were repercussions....

 (Nice socks, eh?)

 

Must stay hydrated! 

Testing out my camera's "macro" setting. Works well! Pretty fleurs. :)

We walked for about 20 minutes, and I tried to keep a fairly quick pace. After, we stopped at Safeway to get some sandwiches for dinner. Love 'em. I was hungry when we got home, so I had some sliced cucumber and some almonds. For dinner, along with my black forest ham, lettuce and tomato sandwich, I had my chip fix...small bag of BBQ potato chips. Once I was digested I got on the bike to do weights and pedal for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to push it since my knee has been a bit sore the last few days. Did some sit ups at the end as well. 

PHEW! That was a long freakin' post! I am done man.

Stats for the weekend:

Weight: 209 (YES! Finally!!!!!)

Exercise: 125 min. moderate-high intensity