Surviving Valentine's Day

Surviving Valentine's Day

OK, so I have been thinking a lot about our plans for the big day...Just for the record....I am NOT one of those people who think V day is bogus and "love should be celebrated every day not once a year" stuff. I L-O-V-E love this holiday! Why not?!! It's a celebration of love! What is so bad about that? I mean..yes, you should celebrate each other more than this one day but let me tell you, when you have 5 kids + work and everything else life has us runnin around losin our minds over, an extra day to celebrate each other is FANTASTIC!!!

The last few years we got smart and started having our V day date a day or so before to avoid the crowds and on Feb. 14th we have a fun family meal w/ the kids. They look forward to crepes w/ strawberries and whipped cream. We have dinner and have family movie night. It's fun and I really like missing the crowd.

OK, so back to survival. How do you survive holidays like Valentine's Day where the endless amount of cookies, cake, CHOCOLATE are everywhere!! Not to mention the decadent dinner date! Well, being 29 days into my plan, I was certainly nervous and even considered cancelling our romantic lunch. But, I decided not to because it's a real situation (although not as often as I'd like) going out on a date or any other social occasion where food is present. I was nervous because I've found I'm more successful when I cook my meals myself and know exactly what my intake is.

So, I am going to go out with D on Saturday but I have a game plan. I'm looking forward to the time together, we've been so busy lately. I also feel like it's important for me to find ways that I can stay on my plan with out completely changing my life socially. I look forward to the time when I'm in a maintenance phase and can treat myself every now and then. For now though, I've got only 2 months before the cruise and I really want to reach my first goal. Psss...I'm already over half way there! I only have 7 more pounds till I reach 20! JCrew....here I come!:) No sugar has been totally worth it!

Game Plan:

#1- Go out earlier than later. Indulging earlier in the day when you have time to work off extra calories.

#2- Be informed. Check out the menu before you head to your dining destination. You're more likely to be successful when you go in with a plan and more likely to resist that pasta dish when you know it's loaded with 1200 calories! It's Thursday and I already know that I'm going to order the Sea Bass w/ extra veggies on Saturday! Yum! Can't wait!

#3- Hold the bread and skip the soda! Save calories where you can!

#4- Have a small snack before you go so you're not starving when you get there (making it easier to stick with #3). I keep almonds in my bag for this very reason.

#5- Have a plan- If you want to indulge...go for it! Indulging every once in a while is fine but you just need to plan for it. If you know you're going to have a piece of chocolate lava cake for dessert, stick to your work out plan and eating plan this week to make up for it. It's about calories in and calories out!

#6- If you fall off the wagon...don't feel guilty! Just get back on it!

We are indulging in 2 meals out on Saturday! For lunch we're going to Rick's, a fantastic steak house downtown. Everything I've eaten there is so yummy! I am going to split the crab cake (seriously, all crab and no filler!) w/ D and then I'm having the Sea Bass w/ extra veggies. D usually gets the Cowboy rib eye. For dinner, we're going with friends to Blue fish for SUSHI!!!! I'm going to keep it light w/ miso soup and we'll split the ahi tower and a south beach roll. Since only the ahi tower has rice in and we're splitting it, I'll be OK.

I knew we'd be eating out a lot this weekend so I stuck to my fitness plan this week! I've worked out 3 times already! I even did weights! Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and do yoga and then do my wii fit. Saturday I'm going to do yoga in the am again and some ab work...

Happy Valentine's Day!