As I drove by the McDonald’s on the way home this afternoon, I noticed that my local restaurant had the new angus snack wraps advertised. Knowing how comparatively healthy the grilled chicken snack wraps are, I thought I’d check the McDonald’s website for nutrition information on the new snack wraps. It wasn’t available, so I used the Contact Us link to place an inquiry directly with McDonalds. So far, I’ve received an auto-response telling me that my question was routed to the appropriate group and that I would receive an answer soon. Hmm.

I did a little more searching online and saw references to the fact that the angus wraps were simply all of the ingredients from the full sandwiches but cut in half, minus the bun and plus the tortilla. That said, I think what I consumed was 390 calories. Not bad for something so delicious! After I added a side salad with lo-cal dressing and some Apple Dippers (minus the caramel dip) I was still under 500 calories for the meal. I won’t indulge often, but when I do, I think that makes a nice choice!

Monday, June 28 — 11o0 calories
Macaroni and cheese (195), Cinnamon Life (120) , S’Mores (130)

Tuesday, June 29 — 1296 calories
Mandarin Orange Cake (287), Tuna Patty (217), Turkey Taco Meat (190)

Wednesday, June 30 — 1149 calories
Tuna Patty (217), Mandarin Orange Cake (191), Thomas Bagel Thin (110)

Thursday, July 1 — 1365 calories
Cube Steak (211), Cinnamon Life (120), Johnsonville Turkey Sausage (110)

Friday, July 2 — 1324 calories
Barbecue Beef sandwich (409), Vanilla Custard (330), Cinnamon Life (120)

Saturday, July 3rd — 1319 calories
Corn Dog (190), Steak Chips (150), Honey Nut Cheerios (110)

Sunday, July 4th — 2214 calories
Cheeseburger (500), Apple Pie (290), Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Extra (190)

Some things you might gather from my log above:

• I don’t deny myself sweets or desserts — although with a holiday and needing to try the (Mandarin Orange Cake, in this example) recipe on my family before I think of passing it off onto others I had much more this week than I usually do.
• When my top three (calorie-wise) items are subtracted from the daily totals it means that I fill the rest of my day with low-calorie options including lots of vegetables!
• It is rare for me to consume any one item that is more than 300 calories by itself. I know that if I do, it will be harder to stay in the 1300 – 1350 calorie target that I set for myself.

I did well at Perkins for breakfast. I had 410 calories that consisted of a border chicken egg beaters omelet with onions, peppers and southwest sauce. It came with wheat toast and a small cup of fresh fruit. I dined there with my husband, kids, and mother-in-law.

My siblings wanted to order pizza in for my mom at her place so we went there for lunch. I managed to limit myself to one slice of Meat Lovers pizza and one stick of garlic bread. However, my sister had picked up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert. It was too good to pass up, and although I had the smallest sliver I could possibly cut, and then shared it with my toddler, the lunch was about 1000 calories, leaving me only about 200 for a salad and a side of zucchini for dinner.

I think I did ok. It could have been a lot worse. Before last August, I could have put away three pieces of pizza, two or three sticks of garlic bread and a thick wedge of ice cream cake no problem!

Anyway, this morning I weighed 207. I’m happy about that. I lost all the yo-yo weight from earlier in the month and lots more. Actually six pounds in total this past week. I don’t know what truly accounts for all of it, but I did devotedly count all my calories and log all my food this past week, to the best of my abilities. I’ll go ahead and bore you with it this first time but probably will not share all the details in future weeks. So, for those that want to read about everything I ate last week, here you go:

One other possible factor (it’s actually probably a combination) is that I have been averaging about 9hours of sleep at night for each of the last four nights. My body always thanks me in this way when I give it enough rest!

In any case, I’m only one pound away from 60 lost, and I’m happy about that!