Weekend Wrap-Up 07

It's been awhile since I've done a Weekend Wrap-Up post but it's long overdue. This weekend was... not the worst weekend I've had but certainly not the best. I seem to have lost a bit of my self-control sometime between Thursday night and... this morning.

I started off my weekend pretty well. At some point during my weekends, I go away from home to stay someplace where I'm not 100% comfortable with utilizing the microwave available to me, so I've been packing one meal that I need to microwave (just in case) and my oatmeal which I can simply eat cold if needed. I ate my oatmeal as sort of a brunch meal but then waited too long to have dinner so I ended up snacking too much on items that were too high in calories/points. To be fair, they were new-to-me products that I had never seen: gluten-free protein bars. Granted, one was 6 WW points+ and the other was 7 points+, so they weren't worth it as that's how much I allocate for a meal (and, if I remember correctly, they were just as high in calories between 235-300 calories for one protein bar).

However, for dinner on Thursday, I tried something new! I had never been to Chick-Fil-A but I went for my first time on Thursday where I tried their Grilled Market Salad. It was SO GOOD. The salad consisted of mixed greens, grilled chicken, blue cheese, chopped apples, blueberries, and sliced strawberries. (I've heard of strawberries and apples in salads but never blueberries.) Therefore, the only thing you had to point on Weight Watchers for the salad was the grilled chicken and blue cheese! Chick-Fil-A also offered Fat Free Honey Dijon dress (one of my favorites) and put the crunchy, nutty toppings in separate packets so you can opt to have them. Next time (because there WILL be a next time), I plan to ask they leave out the crunchy toppings or I just won't put them on the salad at all. I wanted to add them to my salad this time just to try it once. Plus, Chick-Fil-A also offered a fruit bowl in three different sizes as a side dish. PERFECTION.

(Chick-Fil-A also happened to be the best fast-food chain restaurant experience of my life to date. Kudos to you, Chick-Fil-A. Kudos.)

I ended Thursday night by going to see a movie and getting movie theater popcorn. Although I didn't get any additional butter on the popcorn, I should have just skipped the snack because a small is always way too big. Besides, I didn't get any exercising in on Thursday so it's not like I worked out enough to have an extra snack.

Friday wasn't too bad until the very late evening. I stuck to my Weight Watchers points+/MFP calories for the most part all day long. I did my strength training work out at the gym followed by my Scottish Country Dancing class where we learned a confusing new dance. I had a delicious, healthful dinner of a huge salad topped with salmon and brown rice thanks to my wonderful mom. I saw another movie Friday night and successfully skipped the movie theater popcorn since it was right after having a very filling dinner. However, I ended up doing some late-night snacking that I wish I hadn't done. Live & learn though, right?

Yesterday I didn't do too bad up until, yet again, late at night. I stopped at the grocery store and pick up a few snacks that I had been curious about trying. Bad decision. I really need to just... not go to the grocery store except on my designated grocery shopping days (usually Wednesdays). To be fair, one of the snack foods that I picked up was a new awesome find that's low in WW points+/calories and has a lot to the snack -- I might post about it later along with another food find of mine if I can think of a clever post for those kinds of food finds.

I also got my Easter basket last night from my lovely mom who put not only sugar-free candies in my basket but cute plushies and gluten-free mixes as well! It was great! But too bad I had lost ALL of my self-control Saturday night. It went completely out the window since I really wanted to try those new-to-me snacks that I had picked up at the grocery store before heading home. Lesson learned!

The good news is...

• Most/ALL of the tempting food is out of my house/gone
• I didn't buy anything on my Do Not Buy food list (the foods that I cannot control myself at all)
• Even though my usual gym was closed (unbeknownst to me), I still did a 38-minute walk before I started work
• I made it to my SCD class on Friday then got in my second strength-training work-out on Friday and did my HiiT elliptical work-out on Saturday
• There was no big Easter dinner for me to worry or stress out about what food I would or wouldn't be eating without feeling immensely guilty about possibly offending someone for not eating their home-cooked food (crisis averted, phew!)

Overall, for this being the first weekend when I'm back on program, I wish I had done much better. However, every time I say that just means it's another moment (or moments in this instance) for me to learn for future instances. For example, a few things I learned this weekend include:

• If I'm going to pack a protein bar to hold me over when I'm not staying at home, only pack ONE protein bar
• No buying my own bag of popcorn at the movies because I just don't need it -- sharing is caring, even if the other person gets butter on their popcorn... it's better to just have a little bit of someone else's buttered popcorn than to have my own bag of LOTS of popcorn
• Only buy ONE new-to-me snack if I absolutely MUST try the snack; otherwise just don't even both going to the grocery store when it's not my usual grocery trip
• As I mentioned before, asking Chick-Fil-A to leave out the crunch toppings from my salad order (easy thing to do though!)

The only instance I don't know how to fix/work on is late-night snacking. Sometimes I start and just can't stop for whatever reason. Most of the time, I snack because I'm actually hungry so maybe it's advisable if I eat something that's packed with protein (Greek yogurt or PB2). Otherwise my late-night snacking is caused by a salty or sweet craving of mine (sometimes both!) which is also unavoidable.