This is What Happens When You Don’t Plan… – Healing Journey Day 27

Journal:
I knew smoothies were going to take a little more effort than everything I had done so far. It would mean getting a blender to blend my fruit anytime I needed to consume one. This generally works out alright as I have a blender at work and at home. Although it worked well yesterday, today was a different story.

I started out well. I brought a large watermelon and two small watermelons to work with, as well as the last bottle of that pear juice that tasted like liquid honey. I figured if these watermelons were a little less sweet like the last ones, the pear juice would perk it up.

When I cut into the big watermelon, water literally started pouring out of it. In fact, it flooded the cupboard and then the sink. I had a funny feeling this wasn’t a good thing. I then discovered that I could squeeze the two halves of the watermelon and the water would just continue to pour out. So needless to say, I lost my big watermelon.

I then cut into one of the small ones and it seemed to hold up like normal. So without tasting it, I scooped it out, put it in the blender, and poured in some of the pear juice. Then I blended it up. If I could only describe the taste of this smoothie to you. It was literally the worst watermelon thing I have ever tasted. Even so, I managed to drink down half of the smoothie. But the other half, well, I just couldn’t do it anymore;  I ended up pouring it down the sink. It literally was like drinking grass with a slight taste of pear. It was terrible. The pear juice did not do its job. I was so sad because it even looked so pretty… but I guess it’s another example of how looks can be deceiving!

Now, normally, I would have enough time after school to make a smoothie before doing anything else, but because I am flying out first thing in the morning, I had to run home immediately after work to take my dog to the sitter and still make it back in time for our staff/board social tonight. I literally had to fly to get this done in time. Somehow I managed.

Because I didn’t have time to go back home to make a smoothie, and because there was nothing there to make a smoothie with, I caved and ate some food. After a rough day, stress of getting things done in time, and literally living on a couple hundred calories of food, I was hungry to say the least. And this wasn’t a night I could just go to bed hungry and be fine because I knew I still had to stay up and do laundry and pack. Oh my goodness… I would really rather go back and change what I did. But since I’m keeping you guys updated on my progress, here’s what I ate: cauliflower, broccoli, hummus, rice crackers, samosas with chutney, Tostitos with salsa, baguette with a red pepper spread, quinoa salad, and juice (all vegan of course). Even now as I’m writing this, I’m cringing. My stomach is so heavy; it right away started feeling bloated. It even went as far as making my head feel taken aback (not quite headache status, but almost like a pre-headache). Oh man. I wish I could take it all back. The food tasted decent, and I’m really loving cauliflower and broccoli on its own, but the way I feel is not worth it. And thankfully, going back on smoothies will provide my body with enough fibre that it should clean out within a day or two. But even this should be an interesting venture because I’m not sure all the airports I’m going to have only fruit smoothies. Typically there is a sorbet or ice cream that is mixed in with them, but we will see what I can do.

Anyways, I finally came home after a bit of visiting at the social and now I’m just signing off on here for the night while I wait for my laundry to finish and finish packing. I won’t be eating anymore tonight, but will be drinking water for sure! I may make an early morning mango smoothie before I leave, but I’m leaving at such an early hour that I’m not sure that will even happen. I shall keep you posted tomorrow!

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne the same.
-Noticing that my hair has grown so much in the past year since going vegan… wow! Even past students are beginning to comment.
-Cooked/high fat foods leave me feeling yucky; feeling bloated.
-Energy decent.
-Tongue actually looked like a brand new tongue this morning! So impressive!

Weight at the end of the day = 178.6 lbs (up 4 lbs from yesterday… not bad for eating a ton of cooked foods again!)

Total Calories = approx. 2213 (72% carbs, 22% fat, 6% protein… this is my best guess!)

Week 5 Day 7

Today, I’m not hungry again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Someday my appetite has to come back… I already went to bed without fulfilling all of my macros yesterday, I’m not going to do that today!

This was my rest day, but we had a morning full of drama with family issues. And yet, somehow, we still managed to get ready and make it to church on time. I’m really not sure how we pulled this off, but I was so happy we did. It was a great service about opening our spiritual eyes. Excellent sermon!

We then came home and basically did nothing for a few hours. We did take a nap, so that was nice.

Later, we decided to go out after sunset (when Sabbath ends). We got ready, made sure our animals were taken care of, and left. We stopped at Mac’s for my husband to get energy drinks (to get out of his sleepy slump), and I made a stop at Tim Horton’s for a quick pumpkin spiced ice coffee. I love pumpkin everything!

We then went to Bulk Barn where my husband picked up some candy and treats. Oh how I used to love picking stuff up at Bulk Barn too, but I fought the desire better knowing I had a snack in my purse that I had packed to fill me later. Planning ahead is a great idea!

We then went to Chapters. Oh how we both love books! We actually had to stop going to bookstores for awhile because we were spending way too much money on books. It was honestly like an addiction. Obviously it’s not a bad addiction other than it was taking our finances, so tonight was a real treat. We allowed ourselves to go through the entire store and pick a couple books. We probably won’t be back at the book store for at least another month or more so this was budgeted and allowed.

After some time at the bookstore, we sat in the car while I ate my snack (picture of it later). It really helped when we went to the theatre, and my husband got popcorn and chocolate for the movie. I wanted some of that stuff so badly. But I kept telling myself that one piece would break me so I needed to stand strong against even the smallest piece. And I did it! Yahoo!

When we came home, we basically had enough time to eat and go to bed. I wasn’t hungry, but the food was good and I managed to shove it in. So here was my food for the day:

Meal 1

I didn’t take a picture because we were in a rush to church. But this was the protein muffin I had several days ago, just chocolate flavoured instead of oatmeal. They are really good!

Meal 2

Tuna Salad Snack with celery, tomatoes and rice crackers.

Meal 3

Spaghetti Bolognese using lean ground beef.

Meal 4

Oatmeal Bake with Strawberries.

Meal 5

Cinnamon Cottage Cheese with finely chopped honeydew and cantaloupe. Took this with me and ate it before the movie.

Meal 6

(I normally don’t eat 6, but I had to make-up for the previous day and it all fit my macros.)

Sirloin Steak (I finished cooking to well done), potato mash and veggies. This was really delicious.

Week 5 Day 5: The Revelation

Sorry guys. I realized I had made a mistake and quickly changed it! Yesterday was not the revelation day, today was and somehow I mixed up the names! Sorry about that. It’s now fixed 🙂

So every Thursday at work, instead of a normal worship, we have “Thankful Thursdays” where we go around saying the appreciations we’ve had. It’s a great thing to do, and one of the things I reflected on was my class this year. Not that they are perfect, not that they are always easy, but that I’ve seen maturity in them, even in the way they accept their consequences. I am so proud of them and look forward to helping them the rest of this year.

Following worship, we went about the usual day but I was so happy to welcome them into my classroom this morning. And when they went to gym, I sat and reflected on something that completely dawned on me: I’ve been happy, truly happy. I don’t know why, I don’t really know anything about it other than I felt completely and totally happy. Can I just say WOW? What a feeling! To be honestly happy. It’s amazing. I know my food and workouts have been going great, I’ve been taking care of all the medical issues, there have been major improvements, my husband is working and hopefully we’ll get his FBI check soon so he can have residency soon, I’m still in debt, but I’m happy. And that says something!

The day went well. We were planning a surprise wedding shower for our principal and it went amazing! We had a million laughs, and come to find out, this was their only shower, and she had never been successfully surprised before! We did awesome!

Now of course you’re probably wondering about my food choices while at this shower. So here is what I did. I ate half of one of my meals before I went. I then allowed myself a small selection on a small plate. I normally would have tried some of everything, but I limited myself. I was hungry for seconds, but I only allowed myself a plate of veggies. I did very well! Though in hind sight, I would have been alright white a lot of those things. They didn’t even seem worth it. Way too much sugar after being without refined sugars. I will know better next time.

We also had a staff meeting afterwards which of course meant that it was a late work night. But I still made it to the gym and had an awesome workout! Tonight was a circuit of shoulders, arms, chest and abs followed by 12 minutes of HIIT.

And of course, here are my meals for the day:

Meal 1

I had to cook this one a little more at home. I like my meat well done. This is a potato mash with egg whites, steak and a tomato.

Meal 2

I ate this one before I could get a picture last time. Homemade hummus with carrots, celery and rice crackers.

Meal 3

A tuna salad wrap with apples. Absolutely yummy!

Meal 4

So apparently I ate this one before a picture was taken. Sorry! It was cottage cheese with cinnamon and a very fine chop of honeydew and cantaloupe.

Meal 5

I didn’t take a picture of this one because you saw it yesterday. But since I don’t eat pork, the other option was to have the same chicken salad I had yesterday. I was so happy to eat it again. Yum!

Week 5 Day 4

There is really not a whole lot to report to you today. I took the rest day that I needed. I had a great day at work, and to tell you the truth, I really can’t even tell you why it was good. There was nothing bad about today at all.

Tonight, my husband realized that we barely have any groceries. I haven’t even thought of groceries since I’ve had my food ready to go. But it was already fairly late in the evening by the time we both got home, talked about our days, and he had gotten ready to eat supper. So we decided groceries could be gotten tomorrow, and for tonight he’d get some food at Wendy’s.

Since my method seemed to work last time, I assessed my calories that I had left and researched the menu before we went. I had just enough calories for a grilled chicken wrap. And it turned out to be just enough to keep me satisfied while my husband had a burger, fries, and frosty. Oh that frosty looked good. There’s that sweet tooth coming out in me. But I held strong and was so much happier that I did. I didn’t need it.

After we got home, my husband started getting ready for the gym. I wanted to go but knew I had to stay home. I owed it to those sore legs to let them rest. So when he left, I busied myself with dishes, laundry, and finally taking a hot bath with bamboo oil. If you’ve never tried bamboo oil, you should. The stuff is amazing for sore muscles. I would say either comparable or even better than epsom salts. Unfortunately I don’t know where you would find it (maybe health food stores?) because I found it in a shop in my favourite place in the world: St. Andrew’s by the Sea. But seriously check it out!

So here is what I ate!

Meal 1

Granola/Yogurt/Berry parfait. Thought it was a little small, but honestly filled me and was so good!

Meal 2

So filling. Grapes, cheese, rice crackers, and apples.

Meal 3

Ancho Chicken Bowl. Rice, shredded chicken, blacks beans and a cilantro/corn mixture. This one packs some heat!

Meal 4

The most delicious egg white salad I’ve ever had! With tomatoes, celery and rice crackers. Yum!

Meal 5

The most amazing chicken salad spinach salad. No extra dressing required. Even has dried cranberries!

Week 5 Day 3

What a way to wake up this morning – sore as could be! My quads hurt. My glutes hurt. My back muscles were tight. Oh boy! But I knew it was for a good reason, and for that I smiled.

Today was the kind of day where I thought everything was going superb, but it ended up being not quite what I thought. I felt so good doing laundry, taking care of the animals, got some grading done, as well as some computer work. While I’m in the full work mode, I began to notice the time go a little quicker. In fact, it went way too quick and I all of a sudden was in a rush to get ready for work. In fact, it was so much of a rush, I didn’t realize until 2 minutes before I had to leave that today was picture retakes day. Oh no… I was supposed to get retakes done today. So I did the best I could in two minutes (mainly changed my top and tried to fix my hair) and ran out the door.

The rest of the day went pretty good, minus a student doing something utterly ridiculous. But honestly today was a good teaching day. I was quite satisfied with it.

After work, I had a dentist consultation. I had been moulded for Invisalign, and this was my consultation to see how long it would take, how much it would cost, etc. I think it’s almost always safe to say that it’s going to be more than what I would like to pay, but they are honestly treating me so well, charging me for the minimum and taking some discounts out. I’m going ahead with it. It’ll start in November and will take 10 months. Have you ever seen the technology they have to figure these things out? It’s incredible! I got to watch my teeth’s movements and progress ahead of time for the whole ten months! Check it out sometime. It’s amazing.

After that, I came home. I spent some time talking with my husband until he was too hungry to talk. He needed food and decided to go out.

Now here’s a tip if you want to go with a person but you don’t want to get off track. Look up the nutrition for the menu before you go AND eat something! I grabbed a banana knowing I’d need to eat one later so might as well fill myself some with it now.

At the restaurant I had a side garden salad with a chicken breast. I also had already assessed my macros and found I had just enough room for a tiny sundae! Oh how that made me happy. This was definitely my treat for the week and it fit right in my macros!

Following the restaurant, we came home and got ready for the gym. I was so sore that I debated whether I should actually go or not, but decided since I had already eaten my banana (a workout food, not eaten on non-workout days) then I needed to go. So I did 25 minutes of steady state cardio on the recumbent bike and rolled a lot afterwards.

Now for the exciting part, pictures of my meals for the day!

Meal 1

Chicken and egg burrito. Absolutely delicious!

Meal 2

Never had one of these before! So good!

A sneak peak of what they look like. So much different than normal!

Meal 3

Super filling! Rice/quinoa dish with broccoli and chicken. I think I may have over microwaved the chicken… it got a little dry!

Meal 4

(Oops… I may have eaten this one too. I have to get better at this picture taking business! This meal was homemade hummus with rice crackers, celery and carrots.)

Meal 5

Greek and Chicken Chop Salad. Yum!