Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Day 9 of My 30 Day Countdown - Oh oh, Out to Dinner with Friends!!

Today was a good day! Not nearly as tough as yesterday (2 kickboxing classes and 1.5 hours of weight training)!!!Today was my rest day - now just because it was my rest day, doesn't mean that I would not be moving!!! :) I had an hour long Jiu-Jitsu class today at noon. It was great. Some cardio, a few body-weight strength moves and lots of self-defense techniques including 8 variations of breakfalls!! It's a very good workout! I burn between 450 and 600 calories with that workout! It felt good! I got a good sweat!!

Eating was perfect today!! 2 turkey sausages and one soft boiled egg for breakfast with 1L of water, morning snack was my protein drink (vanilla whey protein, water) and lunch was mixed veggie and chicken breast (cut in strips) stir fry, 1L water! My afternoon snack was 1/2 a baked sweet potato 1/2L water!

Then a few colleagues invited me to join them for dinner. One of the colleagues was from out of town and I really wanted to visit with her as well. I could have said no, but I wanted to go for the whole social aspect of the evening! I was a bit nervous about the eating and temptations - let's just say this would be another test for me.

So we decided that we were going to The Big Easy!! It's a cajun style seafood and steak restaurant. I took a peek at the menu on-line and saw that I could make healthy selections. I sent an email to my colleagues telling them that I would be coming HOWEVER "I WILL NOT BE DRINKING ANY ALCOHOL OR EATING ANY UNHEALTHY FOODS!!" No sharing of deep fried, battered hors d'oeuvres or dessert!! Those were my rules and I had all intentions of sticking to it!! It can be done and I was going to prove it to myself today!!

We got to the restaurant, the waitress came over, with the standard small glasses of water, placed them down on the table and said, "can I get you some cocktails?" with a very pleasant smile and friendly personality (she was really good, actually)! I asked for water and quickly advised her that I will be drinking nothing but water for the entire evening!! I thought this would prevent me from having to say "no, thank you - just more water please" each time she returned! And it worked....she returned with a nice tall glass of water, even decorated it with a lemon wedge. It was perfect! She came by frequently and refilled my glass without me even having to ask as my colleagues enjoyed their yummy looking drinks! :)

Then came the food!! Everything on the menu looked amazing!! My mind started straying a bit and I started getting excited reading all the yummy things on the menu. I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse and stared at the screen for a few minutes. Before I left, I had typed a message to myself which I had planned to read if I got weak. It said, "Joania, don't even think about it!!! Stick to the plan, you've got 3 and a half weeks to go!! YOU CAN DO THIS!!" I read it three times, returned my phone back to my purse and proceeded to order. I had a grilled salmon fillet with a double order of vegetables!! This is what it looked like:
It was delicious and very light, non-greasy. I was quite impressed with the flavor and it was quite filling as well! I was so proud of myself for sticking to the plan! Then came dessert!! I was dying inside as the waitress described all the desserts they offered and made fresh daily at the restaurant!! The one that stuck in my mind was the "sweet potato, chocolate pie" Oh MY GOD, can you imagine...everyone at the table reacted very well to it. One of my colleagues ordered one to share. Oh goodness...I so desperately wanted to have a bite! Would one little small nibble really hurt??? YES IT WOULD!! SO I REFUSED!! That was the toughest part of my night! My colleagues got through most of the dessert and there was still some left!! I kept staring at it thinking, just take a small taste!! I pulled out my phone and read my message once more!!

Then i was good!! I paid my bill and went home!! When I walked out of that restaurant, I FELT AMAZING!!! SO PROUD of myself for getting through it!! It CAN be done, you don't have to sacrifice your social life...this is my new lifestyle!! THIS IS MY NEW LIFESTYLE!!

That's it for tonight! Have a good one

Until tomorrow...
Joania (2KMINE!!!)

11 comments:

Unknown said...

good job! I don't handle group food events well! Thumbs up!

Christine said...

great job joania, maybe in three and a half weeks you can have a celebratory dinner or something. If this is what you want to do right now,you have done the best thing possible in sticking to your guns. Great job again.

Kat said...

You are so committed and very much an inspiration to me. I have had two good days in a row and am going to have another one tomorrow too. If you can handle that dinner, I can handle tomorrow...:-)
Keep up the awesome work Joania!

266 said...

I LOVE your idea of writing the message on the phone. What a great idea and way to go on making it work!

Everyday Superhero said...

I keep telling you that you're an inspiration but you truly are. You stick to your guns girl!

South Beach Steve said...

Joania, you rock! That is a heck of a showing!

Candace said...

You are so determined, good for you~

Anonymous said...

That is great you were able to resist temptation.

At this point in my journey i don't think I would have been able to be that strong. Bravo

Katie said...

Way to go! What a great plan to stay srong! I'm so happy for you.

Brightcetera said...

what a great idea to text yourself with a motivational message!

Lauren said...

Wow, you are truly strong! I've been reading for awhile, but I'm not sure I've commented yet. I think it's interesting that you addressed someone's question about keeping your energy up and eating enough. I, too, have wondered if you feel depleted eating so few calories. Based on your menu samples, it seems like you only eat around 900 calories. Is that about right or do you eat more some days? Personally, I don't consider cucumber slices a "snack" as they have virtually no calorie content.

Love your idea about sending a text to yourself to read! I am definitely doing that from now on in tough situations!