I’m gonna be honest with you all. After Week Three being such a mess I was really nervous about Week Four, but while I did have a short period of emotional eating, I tracked EVERYTHING and didn’t totally overdo it. I didn’t lose this week, in fact I bounced back a bit from a huge loss, but all in all this week went well!
Sunday
Sunday was my usual deal: walking group and grocery shopping. I had an Overnight Oats Power Bowl for breakfast with fresh banana. I don’t think I’ll use this breakfast in the future: while it was tasty, I found myself hungry very early. I had a protein shake to compensate. After grocery shopping and leftovers for lunch, I made chocolate covered nut bars. Really tasty! They’re small for the calories but it’s whole nuts, honey, cinnamon and chocolate, so it’s pretty satisfying. Dinner was Wedge Salad with Herbed Dressing and Rib Steak! The steak was a little more cooked than I would have liked (since I cooked it I only have myself to blame). Dessert was an entire pint of Halo Top Red Velvet Ice Cream. Thank goodness the whole pint is only 360 calories! Ended the day under the low end of my range. 2079 cals.
Monday
Monday was an awesome day! My cousin Susan, who’s like my big sister, was in town for work so she came over and spent the day with me. We had Key Lime and Mango Parfaits for breakfast and had an awesome kettlebell workout! I had my apple and cheese as a snack while we talked. Then her best friend Deana met up with us and we had Oriental Crunch Quinoa Salad and played with makeup. So much fun! Susan and I also walked Bingley a couple of times and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other’s company. After she left I was hungry again so I had an RX Bar – Blueberry Flavor. I made Shrimp Taco Bowls for dinner, which were really good! I accidentally defrosted all the shrimp so I had extra shrimp with mine. “Dessert” was a 100-cal bag of popcorn and a half serving of dark chocolate. 2049 cals.
Tuesday
I felt really hungry this day. Oatmeal Power Bowl for breakfast. Had some cottage cheese and blueberries before lunch. Leftovers for lunch. Had my chocolate nut bar as a snack mid-afternoon. Dinner was Herbed Barley Salad with Butter Basted Mushrooms. Very good! I guess lack of protein had me snacking after dinner. I had a cup of Halo Top Lemon Cake Ice Cream, a 100-cal bag of popcorn and half a serving of dark chocolate. 2017 cals.
Wednesday
I woke up at 3:30 am and could NOT get back to sleep. I had a Mango & Key Lime Parfait for breakfast and headed to work. I decided around 11 am to treat myself to a large iced coffee with a splash of half and half and some Equal. I had leftover barley salad for lunch, an apple and cheese for a snack, and a protein shake. Dinner was Sweet & Spicy Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Rice, and I could have eaten twice as much, it was so good! Then the girls came over for kettlebells. The best part was afterwards we all laid on my living room floor browsing Facebook on our phones and talking about hot guys like teenagers. It was so much fun! I had a cup of Halo Top Oatmeal Cookie for dessert. 1825 cals.
Thursday
Thursday was my emotional eating day. I’m still working on curbing those urges. I know I need to make myself feel the negative feelings instead of pushing them down with mixed nuts, but it’s a process. Power Bowl for breakfast. I ate my Nut Bar really early, then had leftovers for lunch. I had a protein shake in the afternoon then dinner was really yummy eggplant rollatini! Keeping that recipe. Then things went off the rails a little. I had a cup of Halo Top Oatmeal Cookie (this is seriously the best flavor), and some dark chocolate (1.5 servings), two ounces of mixed nuts, a 100-cal bag of popcorn, and then to cap it all off I shoved a big handful of strawberries in my face, haha. 2681 cals. Could have been worse.
Friday
Back on track on Friday, despite not being in the best headspace this day. Key Lime Mango Parfait for breakfast. A vanilla protein shake with blueberries as my morning snack. Lunch was leftovers. Afternoon snack was cheddar cheese and an orange, because I ran out of apples. Dinner was Cabbage Beef soup which is another keeper recipe. Dessert was a cup of Halo Top Cookies and Cream. 1923 cals.
Saturday
Woke up this morning at 169.8, which means I’ve lost 6.8 lbs in this 4 weeks. Not bad, right?! I wasn’t perfect either, and I know that I’ll drop back down to the 168 I made it to on week two. Overnight Oats Power Bowl for breakfast, and a nut bar as a snack. Cabbage Beef Soup for lunch, and I had some plain Greek yogurt and blueberries as a snack, as well as a premade Core Power protein drink. Dinner was a fabulous Chickpea & Carrot Tagine. For dessert I’m taking The Hubs out for froyo, because he needs a little pick-me-up.
SQUEE!!!! 42 days until my Memorial Day trip!
So, in summary, I really need to work on my emotional eating. But I really enjoyed having planned snacks every day. Taking the thought out of what I was going to eat each day, even snacks, was really liberating for me. However, I think I didn’t plan enough protein at the end of the run. Will I do another round? Most likely yes, but after all my birthday things and my girls trip down the shore for Memorial Day.
I do plan to bundle all of the recipes and grocery lists up into one big PDF in case someone wants to try it themselves. I discovered some awesome recipes and learned a lot about myself.
Did any of you try it, too? I’d love to hear your feedback!
Then we played Bingo! I won a $10 gift card to WaWa as a door prize, but that’s it. But then, oh boy, it was dessert time. I conveniently didn’t take a picture of my dessert plate, but it involved a piece of almost everything chocolate. Afterwards I took Bingley to the local park to walk around and take some pics. The Pot Roast was done when I got home, so we ate. And then my evening consisted of eating almost an entire can of mixed nuts. WTF.
body training so I could walk around outside a lot. I had a Sweet Potato Protein Brownie for a snack (mmm) before we went grocery shopping and then leftovers for lunch. In the
Got Snacks Roasted Coconut Chips – Sweet & Spicy Lemongrass (these taste like Thai food!)
You can access the recipes and the shopping list 
A Measured Life 