21DSD: Day 18 & 19
TGIMFF! Man, this was a ROUGH week at work! Long, difficult hours, and challenges and obstacles to my game plan popped up all week long. My crazy work life definitely hindered the energy I had leftover to keep up on my daily updates at the end of the day. So once again this week, I'm writing up these past 2 nights to catch up.
In the midst of the stress and chaos this week, it would have been very easy to slip back into bad eating habits, but I'm proud to say that I've stuck with the program! Without my usual go-to stress busters to turn to (wine, sweets), I sought healthier options to ease my stress (yoga, reading). I have had crazy weeks like this in the past (though honestly, the past weeks were even worse), the kind of weeks that would bring me to tears once I got home from work. To be fair, those tears usually came after several weeks in a row of the crazy hours, and my hours are much better on the whole now that I've rotated into a new division, and weeks like the one I just had are no longer the norm. Still, I do think my improved diet helped me with my coping skills and ability to focus this week, even if my work stress today isn't at the same danger-zone level as it has been in the past. No tears, just plowing through and moving on.
Once I end the detox, while I'm definitely going to allow myself to drink wine, I am going to cut way back on the number of nights I week I reach for that glass. This weekend, I'll be plotting out my "day 22 and beyond" plan, and setting some concrete boundaries for myself. It's easy to say "Oh, I plan to more or less stick to the plan most of the time" -- but that seems wishy washy and leaves far too much room for interpretation. Let's face it, I like rules, I like process, I like order -- it's just a part of who I am and how I operate. I've always been one to play by the rules (most of the time, I can get feisty on occasion, step out of bounds and raise a little hell!). Since that's what I know works for me, I'll be writing my personal rule book this weekend to help me continue to navigate down this new path.
All right, let's get to the run down --
Day 19 - Today
Time Went to Bed Last night: 11 pm.
Time got up this morning: 7 am.
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor): good
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor): fair on mood, good on energy. Today was another crazy hectic day at work, which admittedly made me a bit cranky..and unfortunately, I'll be working this weekend too, wrapping up a big project that's due on Monday and that blew up a little at the end here. I worked a long day today trying to get things back into order, well into the evening, which sucks since it's Friday. I am so glad this week is over, even though I have that ~4 hours I'll need to put in this weekend.
Exercise (type/duration): I decided to put an end to my work day around 7 this evening so I could make it to 730 yoga class this evening. I'm so glad I made that judgment call. Since I can't have wine on the detox, yoga really did the job to soothe and relax me. It was just what I needed.
Breakfast: Coffee with cream, egg white muffins with spinach, feta, black olives
Lunch: Leftover Mexican lime chicken with salsa and cheese on top of black beans.
Dinner: Leftover Mexican lime chicken with cheese on top of black beans. Yes, I had the same thing for dinner that I had for lunch, and yes, I ate this earlier in the week too, twice. We purposely prepared it to have lots of leftovers, and they have been a lifesaver this week. My long work hours that have left me coming home with very little energy and brain power to put toward cooking. Technically this meal is a bit of a "cheat" since I'm supposed to stick to 1/2 cup of beans/legumes a day, and today, I had a cup. I hardly count eating an extra 1/2 cup of fiber rich black beans as a big deal. As the kids and their hashtags say #sorrynotsorry
Snack: almonds (clearly my go to snack...), warm apples topped with cinnamon (sliced and sauteed with a little bit of coconut oil)
Water Intake: At least 8 glasses
Day 18 - Yesterday (Thursday)
Time Went to Bed Last night: 12a
Time got up this morning: 5:30 am.
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor): good
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor): good to fair on both accounts. Work has kicked my butt this week, and I haven't been getting the 8 hours of sleep that I need to feel super charged.
Exercise (type/duration): Not today
Breakfast: Coffee with cream, egg white muffins with spinach, feta, black olives
Lunch: I was in a hurry, and I haven't had a lot of time to prep at home, so I got a salad at Subway - lettuce and spinach, lots of veggies, chicken and vinegar, oil, salt and pepper
Dinner: B made dinner - yay! He made zoodles ("noodles" made ouf of zucchini - my new favorite thing!) with spicy garlic shrimp. So yummy. I posted a picture below, and while I've shared links to both in the past, I may as well share them again - zoodles, and spicy garlic shrimp
Snack: Almonds, banana
Water Intake: At least 6 glasses
"Zoodles" with spicy garlic shrimp. So good!
