Can't blame Thanksgiving

So, I was quite proud of myself on Thanksgiving - I limited my calorie intake to just 1600 calories for the entire day! I didn't eat until I was uncomfortable and I didn't go home feeling guilty for overindulging.

And then the weekend came ... and so did my mom.

I am proud to say that Mom has lost 25-30 pounds on WeightWatchers and we love to share recipes and weight loss tips. We are both concerned with what we eat and how much - until she comes to visit. Then we go a little hog wild - pun intended.

Kansas City is a wonderful town for those who like food. Sure we have great barbecue here, but there are many other good eateries as well. When I get visitors I tend to take them on an eating tour of KC - and it's pretty tragic for any diet, much less one recovering from Thanksgiving damage!

I honestly can't blame Thanksgiving for the weight gain I've seen each time I've stepped on the scale since Friday morning. Friday was a lovely day for me and the scale - I saw 141.8 for the first time ever! But it was fleeting - Saturday gave me 142.8, Sunday showed 143.4 and this morning was a lovely 145.4. Gulp. I can only blame a food-packed weekend. At least it was good food instead of junk food. I can use that an an explanation, at least.

Saturday started with diet-friendly A-muesling French Toast. But then the day saw the obligatory visit to Oklahoma Joe's (Mom's fave bbq in town) for a lunch of ribs - no comment regarding the calorie count there - and a visit to Julian for dinner. Julian is a restaurant owned by Mom's fave reality star, Celina Tio, who lost in the semi-finals of the Next Iron Chef a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Tio actually delivered our food, cleared our plates and stayed to chat with Mom for a few minutes! It was a great experience and just another reason I love Kansas City.

The food was good too. I had seared whole trout, brown and wild rice, and braised celery with lemon. It seemed healthy, but who knows what actually went into it. Kevin had pasta and Mom had pork tenderloin with brussel sprouts and parsnips. Oh, and we ordered a side of Boulevard Pale Ale Mac and Cheese (Boulevard is our local brewery). All I know is that it was all super tasty! Plus, we shared three desserts that were amazing and I know they weren't healthy: butternut squash cheesecake, "banana cotta" with strawberries and chocolate, and salted chocolate puddin' with ginger donut. "Good" doesn't even begin to describe it.

On Sunday, following a breakfast of cinnamon and sugar monkey bread and cream of wheat, I then arranged lunch for us Sunday at Hereford House, a KC original and famous steakhouse. The idea was to have a light lunch of steak soup. But we decided to split the 8 oz KC center cut that helped make the steakhouse famous. Kevin ate 4 ounces of the steak and Mom and I each had a couple of ounces. Plus, the soup was as thick as gravy! It was very filling and I ended up bringing half of mine home.

Overall, I think we did a good job of mitigating damages while still enjoying, tasting, and savoring, but I certainly didn't stick to 1300 calories a day this weekend. And Thanksgiving isn't to blame one bit. I shifted into some form of vacation brain and lost my mind a little. I made my dinner selections with calories in mind, but wasn't nearly as meticulous as I usually am. It didn't help that I failed to drink my usual 80 ounces of water each day and drank about 80 ounces of coffee instead.

Sunday dinner was the Thanksgiving Meatloaf recipe I posted yesterday - and it was healthy and very low in calories. At least I didn't let Thursday get out of hand!