Day 5

Another successful day of following my meal plan (with one slight tweak) results in another 1.4 lost for a total of 5.8 this week so far! Only 30.6 more to go! :-)
Now it's Friday, and now we enter the challenging part - social obligations. During the week it's not too hard to avoid falling off plan. But the weekends are a whole 'nother story. I'm a social gal, and remember, I love eating & drinking. So this is when I enjoy my "splurges" by having fun with friends and family. But I don't want to backslide completely and lost the progress I've made. Originally I was thinking it would be great if I lost around 2 pounds per week. Since I've done better than that these past 5 days, I'm hopeful that come Monday morning I will still be down 2 pounds even with all the fun coming up. Though Sunday night in particular is a bad eating night that will probably create a lot of water gain come Monday morning. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Today I have a lunch at Cakebread Cellars. I have no control over what is being served, and I plan to just enjoy it without freaking out about it. I will have control over the amount of wine I drink since I have to drive back home after the lunch. Therefore very little wine for me anyway. And I planned an easy dinner for tonight to keep me on track. I know that is going to be the hardest part - having a wonderful lunch and then keeping focused to still cook dinner tonight.

Sunday we are having some friends over for a Nacho Cookoff! Nothing too healthy there. But it should be really fun and yummy, so again, I will just let myself enjoy but try not to go to crazy. The danger will really be the things that go with nachos - beer and margaritas! Yum!

Monday we are going to a SF Giants baseball game. My hubby wants to hit 21st Amendment Brewery for lunch before the game. A friend suggested that I bring a sandwich, but again, that is not what I think of when I think of baseball. If we eat lunch outside the park, I'll have a better chance being good. But this is my daughters' first baseball game, so I know it will involve all sorts of goodies - peanuts & cracker jacks anyone? :-)

So keep your fingers crossed that I can stick with all the other meals I have planned around my "splurges".

Today's Meal Plan:
Breakfast: 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal
1/2 cup Lactaid fat-free milk
1 cup blackberries
Morning Snack: 3 slices turkey
Lunch: Who knows what Cakebread will serve. But I planned calories, etc. for a splurge.
Dinner: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Soup (recipe follows)
2 cups spinach with fat-free/low-fat dressing
1 cup Lactaid fat-free milk
Evening Snack: protein powder in water

RECIPE:
Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
6 cups Low-Fat Chicken Stock (see recipe)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 (3-1/2-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms, stems
removed and thinly sliced (about 1-1/2 cups thinly
sliced shiitake mushroom caps)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cups thinly sliced spinach leaves
1-1/2 ounces somen (wheat noodles) or angel hair
pasta, uncooked

Directions:
Combine first 8 ingredients in a large Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in chicken, spinach, and noodles; cook 5 minutes.

Serves 6
CALORIES 138 (23% from fat); FAT 3.5g (sat 0.9g, mono 1.3g, poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 17.4g; CARB 9.2g; FIBER 1.6g, WW pts=3, Cholesterol: 36mg, Sodium: 450mg, Calcium: 30mg

Source: Cooking Light