Rough Week

Well, week one is in the books. It was not the best of weeks, but we have done much worse in the past. We knew that it would be a bit of a rocky start when we started, but as with everything, when you start something new, there is a bit of a learning curve. Well, this was not so much of a learning curve, but just the same there were some unforeseen obstacles. In “The Journey” blog, we promised to share the good with the bad and to show you that not every day is filled with success, but some failures. Without further delay, let’s break down the week.

Monday – Out of the gate, we had a wonderful start. We both had a breakfast of our Homemade Pancakes with a banana each. Lunch for me (Scot) was two Polar Bread sandwiches with Roma tomatoes and sliced deli ham from the local IGA, while she (Marie) had cucumbers with Nordic Shrimp Salad. Dinner is where we fell off the wagon. For the past 16 weeks while I was at school, Marie had been making the dinners since I am a very dedicated student and have time for little else during the semester. I was supposed to make the weekly dinner and failed to do so. Thus, we did have dinner out. I have some mobility issues so I am unable to stand in line at Subway, so usually a failed home cooked meal means eating at McDonald’s. I just never have been able to bring myself to be able to order a salad from McDo (one of the names that McDonald’s has in Québec, the other being Clown Droppings). She also had to have dinner out. Even with the dinner out I was able to stay within my calorie limit, but my failure sent her over her calorie limit.

Tuesday – Another not so good day but, again, it started out good enough. Marie had Polar Bread with coffee (blonde and sweet), while I had two more Polar Bread sandwiches with Roma tomatoes and sliced deli ham.  For lunch, she had Nordic Shrimp Salad and cucumbers and I had pita bread with sliced deli ham and Kraft singles. I had started the weekly dinner at this point, but there was a communication issue between us and I had only put in 1/3 of the liquid required and had to add the remaining 2/3 making it so dinner would be too late. I had to get to bed early tonight to take an English Exit Exam on Wednesday, so again I had to eat out and McDo again. She forgot to log her dinner and at the time of this post is unable to remember what she had. This is the reason we find that you need to log the meal before you eat it or while you are eating it. If you don’t, you simply forget. I went over and we are unsure if she did as well.

Wednesday – For me (Scot) this was just a train wreck of a day. I woke up late, because I was unable to go to bed at a decent time, despite the best of intentions, so it was a grab and go breakfast from McDo. Marie was a good girl and had Polar Bread with a banana and coffee (blonde and sweet). After my exam, I was stressed out and famished. One of my biggest problems is that I eat my emotions. So, on the way home from the test, I stopped by for some more Clown Droppings for lunch as well. Marie had her Nordic Shrimp Salad with cucumbers again (we get in a bit of a rut with food as you will come to see). However, not to be deterred, we had our Orange Chicken for dinner. Needless to say, I ended up going over on calories again today (WAY OVER!), but she was able to stay under.

Thursday – This would end up being the best day of the week for both of us. For breakfast, I had Homemade Pancakes with honey, a banana, and a glass of orange juice (unfortunately not fresh squeezed) and Marie had the same, except with real maple syrup instead of honey and coffee instead of orange juice. Lunch for her was her Nordic Shrimp Salad (there is that rut I was telling you about) and I had two Polar Bread sandwiches with Roma tomatoes and sliced deli ham. Today though, I added a bowl of watermelon. I did have a snack later in the day of a single pita bread. Dinner was Orange Chicken for both of us. It was a very hot day today, so we had a Pumpkin Pie Shake for dessert.

Friday – Today was Marie’s last day at her job, she is moving on to bigger and better things. For breakfast, she had Polar Bread with low-fat peanut butter and bananas with a small coffee on the side. I only had two bites of her breakfast that she was too full to eat the rest of. For lunch, she had a basic salad with cucumbers, while I had a single Polar Bread sandwich with Roma tomatoes and sliced deli ham and a bowl of watermelon. As I said, it was her last day at this job, and she was a little happy to leave, so we decided to have a small celebration meal. Marie brought home Mucho Burrito for us with drinks and a small brownie each. Even though we ate out, we were both able to keep to our calories today. I mention this only to show you can eat out and still lose weight. There is a misconception about eating out and not being able to lose weight. You can, we have and so can you.

Saturday – GAME DAY WITH FRIENDS!!! We were very busy today so neither of us logged anything we ate, but we both did have a small meal from McDo and later with friends we had a small amount of chips and dip. Dinner was George Le Roi poutine and pizza shared between us and 4 other people.

Sunday – Celebration day. Rather than celebrating each birthday and many other things that happen during the winter, Marie’s family has a celebration day. This includes four or five birthdays, Mother’s Day, and in this particular case, the end of my semester. I had a small amount of left over poutine for breakfast and she had a large coffee. For lunch, we each had a barbecued cheeseburger, roasted spare ribs with barbecue sauce, roasted chicken drumstick, a fully loaded baked potato, and a slice of cake (I had a scoop of ice cream with it, she did not). For dinner, we had left overs which for me was the rest of the poutine and for her was orange chicken. We had two donuts from Tim Horton’s (I got chocolate milk because she loves me) for dessert.

So, that was are week. Like I told you in "The Journey", we are going to share everything with you. No, it was not the perfect week, but it will get better. Thank you for following us on this journey and taking the time to read about our week. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates (not in as much detail, but still we post daily). Also, hop on over to Pinterest and check out some of the recipes we plan on trying in the near future. Also, take a look at some of the recipes we have used in the past as our breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks on the links in this blog and also at the top of the page. See you next week!