Being an RN it's typical that I work long and weird hours. My normal work week includes three 12 hour night shifts. For sleeping purposes, I like to stack my shifts and work them all in a row. It's awesome because that means I usually get four days off in a row! What is not awesome is the fatigue which leads to crappy food choices. I usually eat my dinner at work between midnight and 2am. On WW, I'm calling that meal my breakfast simply because it's the first meal I'll eat during that day. By 4am I am usually starving again. This is when I'll snack on something salty, or chocolatey. Salty is usually chips and chocolate is typically a Snickers or Reeses, although usually miniature sized. What I learned this week is that 4am hunger is probably boredom or sleepiness, not actually hunger. One of my good habits is absolutely no caffeine after 3am. When I get home in the mornings at 8am I don't usually feel like eating a breakfast food. So typically I'll eat leftover pizza, or if I am in a breakfast mood I'll usually do up some eggs and sausage/bacon. Then I'll try really hard to sleep for 8 hours, but I typically get around 6. I wake up, shower, then cram something quick and easy down my throat and repeat the process. I try to eat as much food as I can before work because I have no idea what the night holds and if I'll actually be able to eat anything.
So lessons from the work week and game-plan for this week.
1.) Don't eat out of boredom or sleepiness. Try drinking something instead. If still hungry after 15minutes, have a healthy snack available. I'll try to pack both a sweet and a salty snack to satisfy both cravings.
2.) Eat breakfast. No leftovers.
3.) I'm not really willing to sacrifice sleep for food. So if I need quick food, I'll need a fast food game-plan. I need to have quick, healthful choices at McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King.
Onto diet breaker possibility #2. My friends and I bought something earlier this summer called the country megaticket. What you get is 8 tickets to every country concert that was this summer (except for the Zac Brown Band) for all around $200. Pretty good deal! Well we're hardcore concert goers. We have a group of at least 15 and everyone has their assigned tasks. There's always lots of food and beer. We usually have some kind of cheesy dip, chips, pizza, sandwiches, pasta salad, brownies, cookies, etc. It really is a diet landmine. Well for Keith (WHICH WAS A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE) I was prepared with a plan. I had a plan to eat a 6in. turkey sub from Subway, bought some baked chips, and a diet pop to drink. I gave myself enough points throughout the day so I could eat the whole footlong (half before the concert and half after) and not go over my points. It was freezing cold Friday, and a cold beer actually didn't sound good at all! Plus, I didn't pack any "good beer" and all there was to drink was BudLight, ew. I don't actually like raw veggies (carrot sticks, uncooked broccoli, etc) and was worried that if I was starving I was going to blow the whole day. My subway and one serving of chips was actually perfect and all I needed.
Now about Keith Urban. If you have never seen him live, you must. He was so enthusiastic about being onstage. He rocked out every single song. A good concert is when the musician gives the impression that he is just as happy as you are to be out listening to live music, rather than just singing some songs at you. We got upgraded tickets from the lawn section, to the pavillion. At one point, we were about 3 rows away from Keith. It was awesome! If you haven't bought his new album Fuse yet, go out and buy it soon. It is excellent.
Potential diet breaker #3 was going out to eat at Outback Steakhouse Saturday, and Panera and Tana (a Pittsburgh Ethiopian place) on Sunday. I had a plan for Outback, which I stuck to very well and was able to stay OP without much difficulty. I'm trying to overestimate things, especially if I'm not 100% sure of the point value. I'd rather be honest and overestimate and lose, than underestimate and gain. I always thought Panera was a healthy restaurant, and I was absolutely shocked at the calorie amounts on some of their food! Even though I'm more concerned with fat and carbs right now, almost 900 calories for a "healthy" sandwich seems ridiculous. After much deliberation, I chose (the night before we went out) from the You Pick 2 Menu. I got a cup of black bean soup (6 points) and a half of their Chipotle Chicken Panini (11 points). My husband ordered for me, so I didn't get to pick my side. And I got distracted talking to my girlfriends so before I knew it I had eaten the lil baguette thing that I hadn't planned on eating. I wanted apple slices instead. So that little gem of a side put me over by 7 points (I did eat a packet of butter with it). 7 points for a measly little piece of bread! It was so freaking good, all warm and delicious straight out of the oven...
Every month, hubs and I go out to eat with a group of his co-workers/used to be boss. While we wait for our food we play a trivia game and whoever wins the game gets to pick the next restaurant. Hubs won last time and chose Tana. If you've never had Ethiopian food I highly recommend it. I had all vegetarian items, and I was shocked that my dinner was 20 points. I guess that's not too terribly high (just nearly half of my daily points value), but I thought it would be less cuz of all the veggies. I was wrong obvi, but I left satisfied. I can't wait to go back! There's this beet salad they make called Key Sir Selata and I literally crave it for weeks after we go to Tana.
That's my weekend in a nutshell. I'll post tomorrow with weekly goals and my meal plan. Have a good week everyone!
Now about Keith Urban. If you have never seen him live, you must. He was so enthusiastic about being onstage. He rocked out every single song. A good concert is when the musician gives the impression that he is just as happy as you are to be out listening to live music, rather than just singing some songs at you. We got upgraded tickets from the lawn section, to the pavillion. At one point, we were about 3 rows away from Keith. It was awesome! If you haven't bought his new album Fuse yet, go out and buy it soon. It is excellent.
Potential diet breaker #3 was going out to eat at Outback Steakhouse Saturday, and Panera and Tana (a Pittsburgh Ethiopian place) on Sunday. I had a plan for Outback, which I stuck to very well and was able to stay OP without much difficulty. I'm trying to overestimate things, especially if I'm not 100% sure of the point value. I'd rather be honest and overestimate and lose, than underestimate and gain. I always thought Panera was a healthy restaurant, and I was absolutely shocked at the calorie amounts on some of their food! Even though I'm more concerned with fat and carbs right now, almost 900 calories for a "healthy" sandwich seems ridiculous. After much deliberation, I chose (the night before we went out) from the You Pick 2 Menu. I got a cup of black bean soup (6 points) and a half of their Chipotle Chicken Panini (11 points). My husband ordered for me, so I didn't get to pick my side. And I got distracted talking to my girlfriends so before I knew it I had eaten the lil baguette thing that I hadn't planned on eating. I wanted apple slices instead. So that little gem of a side put me over by 7 points (I did eat a packet of butter with it). 7 points for a measly little piece of bread! It was so freaking good, all warm and delicious straight out of the oven...
Every month, hubs and I go out to eat with a group of his co-workers/used to be boss. While we wait for our food we play a trivia game and whoever wins the game gets to pick the next restaurant. Hubs won last time and chose Tana. If you've never had Ethiopian food I highly recommend it. I had all vegetarian items, and I was shocked that my dinner was 20 points. I guess that's not too terribly high (just nearly half of my daily points value), but I thought it would be less cuz of all the veggies. I was wrong obvi, but I left satisfied. I can't wait to go back! There's this beet salad they make called Key Sir Selata and I literally crave it for weeks after we go to Tana.
That's my weekend in a nutshell. I'll post tomorrow with weekly goals and my meal plan. Have a good week everyone!
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