Week 1 is already in the books . . . . . . .

Hello everyone!  I have an update on week 1 of J-DOC.  I did not officially start the blog back up, but I did make a decision that Monday, June 18 would be the day I turn it around.  Why June 18?  Well, that was officially the first day of my summer, which was brought on 4 days early due to the arrival of this little nugget.

So for about a week leading up to the birth, my first matter of business was to break up with my Dunkin' Donuts people and with my Red Bull guy at the convenience store next door to Dunkin.  I informed them that we can't be friends anymore and that "It's not them, it's me!"  But the days of a toasted bagel with extra butter, a chocolate frosted donut and a Red Bull for breakfast have to be a thing of the past.  That meant that this crew below - they had to get the boot.  :-(  They took it well, but I think secretly, they may shed a little tear around 7:08 every morning.  Maybe one day, we can reunite again - on a very limited basis.

What happened next was interesting.  2 1/2 days of hospital food.  Now I can't say that it was terribly healthy food, but I will say that it really set me on the straight and narrow in terms of portion size.  I ate burgers, fries, stuffed shells, whatever they had on the menu.  But a typical stuff shells meal for me would be 6-8 shells + meatballs.  I made it through this meal with the TWO stuffed shells they gave me, and I was fine with it!  It really reminded me that I don't need to eat as much as I usually do!  It was a helpful couple of days.

Then we came home on Wednesday.  

I set a goal to not eat out (not even 1 time) for the rest of the week, and I succeeded!  I cooked pretty much all week.  Wednesday night, I made breaded chicken in the Air Fryer (which is AWESOME!)  Shared this meal with Karen and Zoe.  Thursday was Manicotti and meatballs.  Shared with Julie and Wes.  (They also brought over RIDICULOUS CUPCAKES that I definitely ate.)  Friday night we did leftovers.  Saturday also leftovers and Sunday I made a home-made pizza.  For breakfast, I have stuck to breakfast sandwiches on bagel thins.  1 day with sausage and the other days with no meat.  For lunch - it was all leftovers, cold cut sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches.  For snacks, I had a few of those cupcakes.  One night I had a piece of cake with some ice cream.  Other than that, a slice of cheese here, a small serving of goldfish there, a rice krispie treat here, a couple of crackers there.  Nothing "healthy" but definitely a considerable amount less than usual, that's for sure.  

As far as the exercise, I went for my first jog on Sunday.  It was only 1.07 miles and about 13 minutes long.  It spent some time jogging, some time walking.  I need to get my legs under me again, but the important thing is that I got out there and did it.  Back when I last was running a lot, I had my mile down around 8.5 minutes, and a treadmill 5k down to about 28 minutes.  My longest run/walk was about 6 miles at that point.  I've got a lot of work to do, but I'll get back there, in time. 

Now for the immediate results:

My weigh-in on Monday, 6/25/18 put me down 3.2 pounds from the weight I was at just before we left for the hospital on 6/18/18.  I think that's a fair amount for the first week.  Back in the day - I may lose 10 pounds in the first week!  I have to say that I didn't make as significant of a change this time around.  As I said, stage 1.  Slow and steady - change the brain around.  I didn't eat 1 single thing since coming home on Wednesday that was not already in the house.  That was HUGE!  And I started the running.  I'm happy so far. 

The other successes of the week:  I definitely had to exercise serious will-power, because as I said, my brain is trained poorly right now.  I have triggers that throw me into bad habits.  Somehow, Home Depot became a trigger for Red Bull because they had a red bull fridge on the way out of the store.  Going to TD Bank on Bloomfield Ave was a trigger for a slurpee and a taquito because of the 7-eleven across the street from it.  I even found it hard not to stop for a slice of pizza every time I went to ShopRite, as I passed multiple pizzerias on my way to and from.   I avoided ALL of these things and reminded myself that I can wait until I get home for a bottle of water or whatever meal was ready to be made for lunch or dinner.  

Well, that's all I have for now.  I am feeling decent about the first week.  Now this week, I have to do even better.  I can be better with the portions.  I can avoid the sweets that I had the first week.  I need to drink more OJ and have some more vegetables this week if possible.  Maybe a fruit smoothie 1-2 days for breakfast instead of the breakfast sandwich.  We'll see.  Regardless, I'm working on my head right now and so far, It's been a good week.  I'll check in again soon. 

Joey V