I Was Sooo Good!

"But... I was doing so well!"

Do you ever find yourself saying those ridiculously useless words? I know I do. I'll be having an excellent, healthy week, and then BUMP right into a caloric Friday night.

Thursday's breakfast consisted of an omelette with sauteed onions and a slice of Swiss (which I recently read is one of the lowest-fat cheeses out there), 3 pieces of veggie bacon, a piece of Whole Foods Sweet & Crunchy bread with orange marmalade, Dunkin with a splash of creamer and fat-free half-and-half, and a pomegranate Chobani. Lunch--because I was a bit off my game yesterday--was a handful of fresh blueberries and a fruit and nut granola bar at 4:00. I sat down for dinner quite late (8:30, to be more precise), and I was certainly glad I had planned and set out my meal: low-sodium Sensibly Seasoned turnip greens with vinegar, and spaghetti with sauteed onions and shiitake mushrooms, fresh organic basil, and Smart Sauce.

What's so bad about Thursday? Well, not much.

All week, I've been unnaturally very, very excited for Girls' Night Out at Olive Garden (my Eden) with Jennifer and Kristin tonight!

Doesn't Kristin look like she got caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be?

I completed day 5 of my 5K training plan this morning, and I felt excellent for two reasons: (1) I worked out 6 consecutive days, which never happens for me, and (2) I was pretty pumped to set an alarm on a Friday and hit the treadmill! Okay, okay, my third reason for being so elated is that I'm almost finished with my first full week of training, and I'm loving it! A celebration was in order ;)

Breakfast this morning was a tough decision between oats with brown sugar, almond slices, flax seeds, and granola, or Kashi with flax seeds and Truvia... I was all out of fresh berries, but that didn't stop this Happy Train.

I ended up going with the Kashi, partially because I need to be using my milk before it expires.

 Now, on to my O.G. overload...

This was how we felt before our scrumptious meal:

A few things to point out -- One, we were on the hunt for the three-course dinner for $12.95 we had seen advertised on TV. Soup or salad and unlimited breadsticks, your choice of entree from a selection of five, and your choice of dessert shooter from a selection of five. Between the 3 of us, I think we did serious damage to 4 bowls of salad. It all sounds like a great deal fiscally, but I may not eat again until next week! Much to my own surprise, I ordered a chicken dish; much to my delight, it was quite tasty!

Oh, and let's not forget the pitcher of wildberry sangria Kristin ordered, and the Quartinos of Roscato Jennifer and I got...

This is a bit more along the lines of how we were feeling after 2.5 hilarious hours at O.G., though truly I have no complaints:

I'm not sure Jennifer knew how to feel, so she went with a combo.

My point in this post is that a less-than-healthy meal doesn't necessarily derail your entire healthy week. However, like my good (real life) friend Colleen says, "Have a cheat MEAL, not a cheat DAY... having a whole DAY of cheats can easily undo a lot of the hard work that I put in earlier in the week."

I see the difference, and I hope this makes sense to you, too. I don't feel derailed, and now I'll be more inspired to purchase tasty, healthy goods when I grocery shop tomorrow :) My meals will include foods that are lean, mean, and definitely green!

I hope your Friday was spent with good company, good food, and a good time. Ta ta!

P.S. What's your favorite indulgent restaurant? I have a really hard time resisting Olive Garden and P.F. Chang's and, in fact, I usually don't resist!

P.P.S. Thanks for your tweets and texts yesterday. I'm glad some of you could empathize with my post. These blog and Twitter communities are so supportive, and for that, I thank you!