LauraEmerson's Blog

Weekends have been tough on my diet.  Party might as well be a four letter word.  Of course spending time with good friends is always worth it.  But it's so hard to stick to the plan when there's a gorgeous buffet filled with favorites, but I am trying to manage what I call "controlled cheating" when I stray from my diet plan.  At the very least, when the party is over, I'm back to the workouts and the food diary.

One of the two parties this weekend was a small dinner that I hosted.  The menu included grilled chicken and pork, mashed yams, green beans, along with  low carb macaroni and cheese.  By the way Dreamfields pasa, not bad!  Dessert was a choice of fresh berries, ice cream and carrot cake that a couple of the guests were kind enough to bring.  Yes I ate a bit too much.  But in planning the menu, I was going for a combination of healthful and festive.

I'm trying to keep reminding myself that it's not what you do once that matters when it comes to health eating.  What matters is what you do most of the time.

I'm finding that a steady diet of lean protein, complex carbs and veggies requires some time and effort.  I have to make my grocery list carefully, find time to cook and portion things out for planned leftovers and then remember to haul all of those little containers to work.  I'm finding it is worth it.  Being full of brown rice makes it much easier to say "no" when someone in the newsroom is offering to go on an ice cream or burger run.

Another thing that makes the planning and cooking worth it is not having to eat too many of those prepackaged protein bars.  Some taste better than others.  But in my experience, they're not candy bars, just odd, artificial attempts at candy bars.

A daily food log is something I've never done before.  It truly does make you think before you mindlessly start eating something.

To the topic of workouts.  So far, the increase to an hour of cardio at a time has been less difficult than I thought.  Once I've put on the sneakers and gym clothes, sweating for an extra 20 minutes isn't so bad.  I was used to doing 30-40 minutes before.  I just have to get up a little earlier to carve out the extra time before lunch and getting ready for work.

As for the two weekly workouts with The Trainer, he's still teaching me weightlifting one exercise at a time.  We're working up to a full body routine.  I'm surprised at how targeted and specific each exercise is that he has me do.  The weights aren't that heavy.  The number of reps isn't that many.  But within a couple of minutes, I'm maxed out and ready for a rest.  For someone who doesn't have the patience to do a lot of one exercise at a time, I think this'll work just fine.

Keep drinking water, and I'll check in again soon.